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1849-1863 – The ‘Fly Sheets Controversy’, and more
The next few years witnessed some very serious discontent within the Wesleyan community, with North Norfolk particularly badly affected. It was such a serious dissonance that a number of members of the Richardson family were torn apart by it. John and his uncle Isaac remained with the Wesleyans, but one of John’s older brothers, another…
1848 – Revolution!
On our adventurous train journey out of London, I could hear anxious voices above the hissing steam engine and rattling machinery as the passengers discussed the news of ‘revolutions’ in Sicily, France, Germany, Italy and the Austrian Empire. For me, all this excitable ‘chatter’ resonated with those experiences of conflict I had picked up at…
Changing hands yet again & back to Norfolk
Early in 1845 my friends Isaac and Esther Richardson back in Norfolk had seen a newspaper advertisement for a female domestic servant in the home of a prominent London musician. Many local women and girls were taking work in London, and it did cross my mind whether Isaac had had an ‘inkling’ that I might…
1837-1848 In the hands of the Master of the Queen’s Musick!
After four years of ‘being made use of’, I was finally rescued by the Master of the (new) Queen’s Musick, Franz Cramer. Of all the luminaries around John Ella, Franz Cramer was the only one who had that special Schleiermacher ‘Stimmung’ quality which had now become firmly ingrained into my frame and sounding board. And…
1833-1837 – Changing hands again!
Samuel Wesley told the truth about my being stolen to his close friend Vincent Novello. Perhaps it was at a Freemason’s Lodge Meeting, where all manner of secrets are shared. To cut a long story short – or to bring this over-long Norfolk ‘symphony’ to its coda – Sir George Smart had ‘cut a deal’…
1828 onwards – a new world, with ‘stimmung’
For a couple of years Isaac and I travelled relentlessly from one Methodist meeting to another across swathes of north Norfolk, accompanying the hearty singing of these well-meaning people, in Meeting Houses, chapels, farmer’s barns, in beer shops, public houses, and often in the open air. These were people who had clearly found a voice…
Isaac has to deal with Discordant feelings!
When we entered The Black Swan, we interrupted a Methodist Class Meeting led by Benjamin Gregory, a charismatic character, very popular among the poor in the area. Isaac’s wife Esther liked him, and it was she who had arranged for this little Class Meeting to be held in their pub. I was intrigued by what…
Enter the Richardson family
While Samuel Wesley and I were caught up in this ecstatic musical crucifixion, I was aware of a young tall bearded man standing at the back of the communal room, who was clearly absorbed in our playing. However, his body language was a mixture of enraptured admiration and intense anger focussed on the disturbed man…
1827 – Meeting Samuel Wesley
In the summer of 1827, back in England, Sir George took me to Norwich to take part in the fashionable Norfolk and Norwich Triennial Festival. He had been engaged to lead and conduct a performance of G F Handel’s oratorio ‘Jeptha’ in the St Peter Mancroft Church. After the final rehearsal, we went to visit…
1825 – My bizarre encounter with Beethoven
My new association with Sir George Smart, and his playing of me, profoundly resonated with the pervasive and new ‘Romantic’ way of thinking sweeping across Europe in the wake of Napoleon’s demise. I felt caught up in something momentous, of huge significance for all of Western culture and thought. An extraordinary event This affected me…