NEWCASTLE'S MUSICAL HERITAGE AN INTRODUCTION By ...

easoned defences and the citation of parallels in generally admired composers.
Avison comes to life in this letter and his forthright style is like a breath of fresh
air compared to the stuffy convoluted academic style of his ‘anonymous’
detractor. But to Avison’s detriment he is at times less than eloquent, which sadly
detracts from the cultured image he so carefully cultivated. It is not difficult to
appreciate, even today, why there was all the fuss; Avison, the provincial
musician daring to criticise Handel, the musical God of his day and the King’s
favourite to boot, as regards his over use of pictorialism in music: -
‘What shall we say to excuse this same great Composer, who, in
his Oratorio of Joshua, condescended to amuse the vulgar Part
of his Audience, by letting them hear the sun stand still
It has been said that Avison in his critical writings showed more of the
enthusiast than the unbiased critic but nevertheless they give a first hand insight
into his approach to music and the musical scene of his time.
In his criticism of Handel, Avison was reacting to the over pictorialism or imitation
of nature in music which was a big issue in the 18 th century. The term ‘nature’
was a synonym for feeling, spontaneity, and expressiveness and was seen as an
abuse that indicated nature could mean anything and so it became a convenient
weapon that all factions used for their own purposes. Art viewed as an imitation
of nature reduced it to a pleasing lower truth in that it lacked intellectual
substance. It was largely this that resulted in music being banished by the
philosophers of the day from the domain of art. During the 18 th century, however,
the issue was eventually modified and music was accepted in its own right as art.
Charles Avison died at his home in Green Court, Newcastle, in May 1770 and
was buried beside his wife, now in St Andrews’s churchyard. His death was
marked by a simple obituary in the local paper that read;
‘Thursday died Charles Avison, upwards of 30 years organist in this town. His
loss is greatly lamented by all that had the pleasure of his acquaintance for he
was much valued for the amiableness of his private character as admired for his
skill in the profession and for his excellent compositions’
A century after his death a certain Grand March for harpsichord briefly brought
him the glory of resurrection, but even before that his name was widely known by
a simple strain of music. Thomas Moore, the Irish poet, wrote a poem, which
begins ‘Sound the loud Timbrel’ and in 1816 adapted it to a portion of a
movement from one of Avison's concertos. He penned a footnote to the
arrangement which said ‘I have so altered the character of this Air which is from
the beginning of one of Avison’s old-fashioned concertos that, without this
acknowledgement, it could hardly, I think, be recognised’ It was decent of Moore
to acknowledge the source of his melody but it did not do him any good even
though the tune was a hit and he came in for a lot of criticism. In the music world
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