NEWCASTLE'S MUSICAL HERITAGE AN INTRODUCTION By ...

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perhaps honesty is not always the best policy. It was the march, however, that allegedly inspired the poet, Browning to immortalise Avison in his ‘Parleyings with Certain People of Importance in Their Day’. published not long before the poet’s death. The following quote from the work appears on Avison’s gravestone: - “On the List of worthies who by help of pipe or wire expressed in sound Rough Race or Soft Desire Thou Whilom of Newcastle Organist” Today, Charles Avison ranks alongside the best of his English contemporaries and could undoubtedly have had a more distinguished career had he courted success, yet in spite of not doing so his legacy lives on. He still retains a certain distinction for an outsider; an uncompromising provincial musician, in that he continues to have articles written about him and is referred to and discussed in most of the leading musical dictionaries and encyclopaedias as well as in other critical musical publications. Having said all that there still remains that nagging feeling that he is being denied his rightful place in the roll of honour of 18 th century English musicians. But before we explore this let us have a closer look at the tenuous link between Avison and Browning – these two men who lived their lives one hundred years apart. Why should Avison from Newcastle have appealed so much to Browning, who hailed from Dorset It is generally accepted that the little march attributed to Avison which Browning is said to have found in his mother’s papers after her death, inspired him to include the composer in his ’Parleyings’ but in fact Browning must have heard other music by Avison if, as is alleged, he loved him so much. (He even contributed towards a new headstone for Avison) One explanation is that as a young man Browning took musical instruction from John Relfe (1763–1837) organist, English musical theorist and composer. Relfe composed sonatas amongst other things and perhaps because of this and the fact he was a fellow church organist, he would have been aware of Avison and his compositions, some of which were published in London, and through Relfe, Browning was introduced to Avison’s works. Through Relfe, Browning also acquired knowledge of music theory and composition and as a literary man (although long in doubt whether he should not become a musician) would no doubt have acquainted himself with Avison's musical criticisms etc. Browning wrote his ‘Parleyings’ when he was seventy three years old and in a sense it is a summary of his career in that it is full of reminiscences and deals with men whose works connected themselves with his own intellectual sympathies and imaginative pleasures of his early youth. On dealing with Avison, whom it seems Browning had loved as a boy, he wonders whether Avison’s music is as dead as the winter landscape before him (as he gazed into the early spring garden) ‘Once it had captivated audiences and seemed perfect yet now when one has become accustomed to the complicated harmonies of Wagner, Brahms and Liszt it seems so simple. It no longer has the power to shine as it once had’. Browning explains 14
that he is saddened at the transitory quality of great music but considers how it is possible to rekindle the life of the past by putting ourselves in sympathy with the age that had gone before. Avison’s music, he goes on to say, can live again. Browning also reflects on how truth was in human kind from the beginning and though the forms may fade, the art that captured the truth for its age is of infinite value in preserving the truth of that time, and he ends by proclaiming that Avison’s little march provides the harmonic seeds for progress towards new musical moulds. Obviously at the time of its publication someone was impressed enough with Browning’s tribute to have the above-mentioned quote from ‘Parleyings’ chiselled into Avison’s headstone. Whoever chose the wording, chose it carefully because if we refer back to Browning’s original text and extend the quotation the meaning is somewhat different: - “I o’erlooked the band Of majesties familiar, to decline On thee – not too conspicuous on the list Of worthies who by help of pipe or wire Expressed in sound rough rage or soft desire – Thou, whilom of Newcastle organist” 15
Page 1 and 2: NEWCASTLE’S MUSICAL HERITAGE AN I
Page 3 and 4: A History of Music in Newcastle upo
Page 5 and 6: my project with a professional man,
Page 7 and 8: then even in the villages for music
Page 9 and 10: CHAPTER TWO CHARLES AVISON Charles
Page 11 and 12: given in Newcastle. They were held
Page 13: easoned defences and the citation o
Page 17 and 18: men sought Royal Patronage, popular
Page 19 and 20: Avison and began playing the violin
Page 21 and 22: musical dramatist, his arias are st
Page 23 and 24: features, Hawdon’s compositions i
Page 25 and 26: two music academies listed in the D
Page 27 and 28: An ootlandish chap seun appeared on
Page 29 and 30: CHAPTER FIVE THE GRAND MUSIC FESTIV
Page 31 and 32: to Handel Oratorios and I suspect t
Page 33 and 34: CHAPTER SIX THE HARMONIC SOCIETY In
Page 35 and 36: would also have been audience parti
Page 37 and 38: 1826. According to Mackenzie’s 18
Page 39 and 40: successful, such as (once again!) H
Page 41 and 42: CHAPTER SEVEN DR WILLIAM REA I had
Page 43 and 44: exclusive civilised affairs, with t
Page 45 and 46: although I can find no evidence tha
Page 47 and 48: In a cemetery now largely overgrown
Page 49 and 50: direction. That is until 1888 when
Page 51 and 52: acceptable standards and he got out
Page 53 and 54: century at least the divide between
Page 55 and 56: the Swedish Nightingale, Jenny Lind
Page 57 and 58: Musical Comedy as we came to know i
Page 59 and 60: In 1887 Augustus Harris took over t
Page 61 and 62: eat, drink or smoke whilst the ente
Page 63 and 64: disposal a substantial orchestra un
Page 65 and 66:
only the finest artists. The printe
Page 67 and 68:
Cesar Franck. One novel feature int
Page 69 and 70:
especially for these bands and they
Page 71 and 72:
playing, coupled with the means of
Page 73 and 74:
that continued until 1914. One of t
Page 75 and 76:
thought of performing with a bunch
Page 77 and 78:
She danced a full programme of well
Page 79 and 80:
The appearance in Newcastle of Enri
Page 81 and 82:
Renaissance. His teaching staff wer
Page 83 and 84:
Music at 125 Northumberland Street,
Page 85 and 86:
There is surely no need to insist -
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alone limited attendance at these c
Page 89 and 90:
1936: 17 th June. There had been a
Page 91 and 92:
CHAPTER FOURTEEN END OF A GOLDEN AG
Page 93 and 94:
the fact that the town did not have
Page 95 and 96:
iography, Hess’ biographer, who c
Page 97 and 98:
CHAPTER FIFTEEN CULTURE AT A PRICE
Page 99 and 100:
London Symphony and the Halle Orche
Page 101 and 102:
high at this period and the audienc
Page 103 and 104:
audience (who had already paid for
Page 105 and 106:
deterioration into a musical backwa
Page 107 and 108:
work cut out convincing the local c
Page 109 and 110:
country. Amers died in 1936 and God
Page 111 and 112:
Author’s Note Since completing th
Page 113 and 114:
Select Bibliography Anderton, H.O.,
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