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Places of Music & Song in the Thames Valley
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Places of Music & Song in the Thames Valley |
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| . | London | . | ||
| TQ2883 | Regents Park Rd | Cecil Sharp House: Home of the English Folk Dance & Song Society EFDSS |
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| . | Windsor Forest | . | |
| SU7173 | Reading | Abbey Ruins: Founded by Henry I in 1121,
the abbey was built on a gravel spur between the rivers Kennet and
Thames on a spot calculated to attract travellers between the major
cities of the land. On the wall of the Chapter House is a plaque showing
one of the earliest pieces of written music in England, the round
"Summer is icumen in ", penned by a monk here in the mid
13th century. The abbey was destroyed in 1538 by Henry VIII. |
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| SU9079 | Bray | The Vicar of Bray: Song about vicar who
changed religion with monarch to keep his job. ... what so ever king may reign, Still I'll be the Vicar of Bray, sir |
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| . | Gloucestershire | . | |
| SO9522 | Cheltenham | 4 Clarence Road: Birth place of Gustav Holst. Composer of The Planets and, like his friend Vaughan Williams, much influenced by English folksong, his St. Paul's Suite for example includes the old dance tune Dargason and Greensleeves played at the same time! His home is now a museum open to the public. | . |
| SU0996 | Down Ampney | Birth place of Ralph Vaughan Williams. Composer and collector of folk songs. Wrote many a piece evocative of the English countryside: The Lark Ascending, Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis, Fantasia on Greensleeves, Symphony number 5, English Folk Song Suite, Norfolk Rhapsodies, In the Fen Country, A Pastoral Symphony, Song: Linden Lea. Choral work: "An Oxford Elegy" was inspired by Matthew Arnold's poem The Scholar Gipsy. "In Windsor Forest" is from his opera Sir John in Love (where the Greensleeves Fantasia also comes from) a musical version of Shakespear's Merry Wives of Windsor. | . |
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| . | Mendip, Quantock & Blackdown Hills | . | |
| ST5840 | Pilton | Location of the Glastonbury Music festival. Starting in 1970 with an audience of 1,500 it now attracts in excess of 150,000. Although 6 miles east of Glastonbury it has links with people living alternative life styles in the town and it is the place where travellers to the west catch their first sight of the famous Tor. |
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| . | Other Sites in England & Wales | . | |
| SO8057 | Lower Broadheath | Birthplace of Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934) where there is now a
museum. link to website Elgar's music was very much inspired by the Worcestershire and Herefordshire countryside and the Malvern Hills in particular. Of his Cello concerto he said: "If ever, after I am dead, you should hear someone whistling this tune on the Malvern Hills, don't be alarmed. It's only me." |
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| SP7560 | Northampton | Birthplace of the composer Malcolm Arnold whose Suites of English, Scottish, Irish, Cornish and Welsh dances are so evocative of these landscapes. An annual festival devoted to the composer is held in the town. | . |
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