Well, another season comes to an end and we are delighted to welcome back Simon Coombs who will entertain us with the music of the Iberian peninsular.
It has been an excellent year with a wide range of topics (see previous posts) and although we call ourselves the ‘recorded’ music society, we have had a live performance this year and much greater use of the big screen now available in the Guides’ Centre. This has enabled us to explore some historic performances captured on film and broaden our experience of the music. We have been pleased to welcome several new members this year.
The programme is all but finalised for 2026/27 and will be published sometime in the summer – August probably. On we go …
Dual presentation explores the historical role of Black musicians and breaks new ground
April 2026
The title of the presentation was Black musicians in England 1500 – 1800 which might have led you to believe a presentation tending towards the esoteric. Well, not a bit of it and Society members Rosemary Pemberton and Jeremy Barlow broke new ground with a truly interesting presentation on this topic.
What was noteworthy as the evening wore on was the degree of scholarship and research which had gone into it. After all, the subject is a little off the beaten track and the treatment of Black people during the period in question does not show Britain in a favourable light. Black people were considered a lower form of life and the slave trade was at its height by the end of the chosen period.
Rosemary got the idea she said by noticing a piece of Chelsea pottery of a Black musician probably playing an early trombone. Other pictures from that era revealed black musicians often somewhat tucked away. One well known individual was John Blanke (variously spelled) who was a trumpeter in Tudor courts including that of Henry VIII. He was thought to be the first Black musician in Britain.
A Hogarth print showing a Black trumpeter was another example. Another character was Billy Walters who busked outside the Adelphi theatre for many years with a wooden leg. His real leg was strapped up behind we were told.
An interesting fact was the role these musicians played in the army where they were used for signalling. Different melodies or riffs were played to send an order or message. One musician was attached to each squadron. Evidently, they were dressed in ‘reverse’ colours to the rest of the soldiers which did rather mark them out for enemy fire.
The arrival of more Black people in 16th Century was resented then much as some are now, the increasing numbers arriving from captured Spanish galleons.
And not forgetting the music. There were 16 pieces played during the course of the evening. Many were to illustrate particular instruments current during the period including for example the cornu, a huge curved horn.
Jeremy had brought along an unusual instrument native to Spain called the flabiol and there was video of someone playing it. A lot of wind instruments have a hole underneath to allow a change of register. This has two with one open or closed with the little finger which makes it something of a rarity and difficult to play.
There were illustrations of Turkish influence which had a big effect on western music. The recognisable beat appears in the overture to the Die Entführung aus dem Serail by Mozart to illustrate the influence.
An extraordinary character was George Bridgetower a violinist (1791?-1860). The son of an Afro-Caribbean servant and a Polish mother at the Esterhazy palace, he was a student of composer Joseph Haydn and a friend of Beethoven. Beethoven dedicated a violin sonata to him, which was so hard to play many gave up. There was a falling out with Beethoven and the sonata became known as the Kreutzer Sonata. However, he never played it and there are moves to getting it renamed as it was originally.
It was something of a revelation that so many Black musicians were around during this period. It does not counter the appalling treatment that Africans experienced during the two centuries of the triangular trade and their fearful exploitation. But it does show that now and again, talented Black people were accepted into British society.
I cannot fail to mention that one of the pieces – La Volta by Byrd – was played by the Broadside Band, the creation of non other than one of the presenters, Jeremy Barlow, described as a ‘formidable presence’ by the Folk Music Journal.
This was an exceptional evening which illuminated and brought into the light the role played, sometimes in the shadows, by Black musicians in England at that time. The evening also illustrated that learning about the history and background of music and musicians is something the Society can do which is unique locally. The presenters made great use of prints and paintings from the time to illustrate their points.
The chair of the Society, Peter Horwood, in thanking both Rosemary and Jeremy for their work and research in their presentation, noted that Black people have a prominent roles in Jazz and popular music but were less evident in the classical world. Clearly there is work still to be done. He also thanked Robin for juggling discs, YouTube clips and PowerPoint to enable the evening to go smoothly.
Peter Curbishley
The presentersRosemary and Jeremy. Jeremy is holding the flabiol in his left hand.Picture: Salisbury RMS
Our next meeting will tomorrow Monday 13th April when Rosemary Pemberton will present, with slides, a talk entitled ‘Black Musicians in Scenes of English Life, 1500-1850’. Jeremy Barlow will provide the music, with commentary.
Unfortunately our next scheduled speaker is unwell, so we will be amending the rest of this season’s programme as follows:
On Monday 27th April, we will now have, postponed from February, Tim Rowe and Alan Doel will present: “Eric Satie: Gymnopediste!”
Then our final session this season, on 11th May, we will welcome Simon Coombs who will present: “Music from the Iberian Peninsula”
We hope you had a good Easter break and that we shall see you at one or preferably more, of these evenings.
We are delighted to welcome the ‘cellist Catherine Wilmers to the next meeting on Monday 23 March starting at 7:30 as usual. Catherine is a professional musician and played for many years with the LPO. You can read about her on her extensive website which will also give you a flavour of the evening’s presentation.
She will focus on female composers who all too rarely appear on programmes
and in performances. It seems that Dr Johnson’s disparaging comment is still true when told about a woman preaching at a Quaker event: ‘Sir, a woman’s preaching is like a dog walking in his hind legs. It is not done well but one is surprised to see it done at all’ (Boswell).
She will focus on works for the ‘cello and piano by women composers. No doubt she will show it can be done well.
Free if it is your first visit then £5 if you come again. The next meeting is on 13 April. We are at the rear of St Ann St in the Guides Centre with free parking. Access from Carmalite Way. We finish at 9:30.
Tonight’s meeting will be on Monday 9th March at 7.30 when Peter Curbishley will be presenting “My Musical Journey – Half a century of listening””
At the following meeting on Monday 23rd March we will welcome Catherine Wilmers who will present “Works for ‘cello and piano by British women composers”
At our previous members’ evening several members expressed interest in having a copy of the play list, and of the final two YouTubes. If you would like me to send these to you, please would you respond ‘Yes please’, to this email.
We hope to welcome you to one or both of these evenings.
We regret to announce that we are cancelling tonight’s meeting because of the forecast bad weather.
February 2026
The next meeting takes place on Monday 9 February starting at 7:30 as usual and aims to finish at 9:30 with a break in the middle. It will be presentation by two of our members on the French composer, Eric Satie. Born in Honfleur in 1866 he had a French father and English mother. He went to the Conservatoire and left without qualifying spending much of his early life playing in Paris cafes.
He is famous for a narrow range of compositions but, as a member of Les Six he was influential particularly with Ravel, Debussy and Poulenc. It will be interesting to hear a range of his pieces in a concentrated programme.
Non members are welcome and the first visit is free and £5 thereafter. Parking is on the doorstep and there is reasonable access for people with limited mobility. Satnav SP1 2HB.
In these days of jet travel, the internet and international transport, we can forget that in times past, people lived very local lives, often their village and the local market town was the limit of their universe. Many had never heard a symphony orchestra or went to the opera. Their music would have been travelling players in the local church (village and church halls were a rarity) and if they had access to ‘classical’ music at all, it might be a piano transcription of a symphony or other piece.
The middle classes might have an invitation to the ‘big house’ to hear a small ensemble of some kind. It is this world that Ed Tinline illustrated with his presentation featuring wind ensembles. As ever, there were pieces by composers long forgotten who might have been quite famous in their day.
Wind ensembles trace their roots to military bands in the seventeenth and earlier times and came to the fore in the French Revolution. One of the problems for composers was the lack of standardisation of the instruments which meant writing ensemble pieces difficult. Some pieces were composed to fit the players who were available not the other way round.
The twentieth century saw the form come of age so to speak and major composers start to write pieces specifically for these groups.
We started with a piece by a composer you are likely to have heard of, one WA Mozart and his 1781 Serenade, followed by someone who has almost been forgotten, Franz Tausch (1762 – 1817) and his Wind Quartet op 22. Pieces by Antoine Reicha and Franz Krommer followed. Reicha taught at the Conservatoire and pupils included Liszt and Berlioz but he fell into obscurity after his death.
We moved into later periods with music by Gabriel Pierné and Paul Taffanel who both lived into the twentieth century.
The second half had contributions from Carl Nielson and his Wind Quintet and Leoš Janáček. Someone less well known is John Fernström with his 1943 Wind Quintet. He is another of those who had a significant output of works but who has largely disappeared. Born in China, most of his life was spent in Sweden where he was an orchestral player and conductor.
After a Wind Quintet by Eugène Bozza (1905 – 1991) we listened to an unusual piece for 4 saxophones by Philip Glass. Finally, and cheating a bit (there’s a piano!), was the Quintet in B♭ by Rimsky-Korsakov.
An interesting programme with a variety of forgotten compositions interspersed with works by established composers.
Our next meeting features the work of the eccentric Frenchman Eric Satie on 9 February.
Our final meeting in 2025 will be on 1st December when David Davies will be asking “Are you sitting comfortably?” and presenting some Classical Music Signature Tunes.
In the new year we will resume on Monday 26th January 2026 when Ed Tinline will present: “With few strings attached”, music for wind ensembles.
Our next meeting will be at 7.30pm on Monday 3rd November 2025. It will commence with a short Annual General Meeting followed by our Members’ Evening. For this Robin now has almost sufficient pieces for what should be a thoroughly enjoyable evening. Any last minute ideas for possible inclusion if there is time to Robin please.
Following this on 17th November we will have a presentation entitled: “Seventh Son” An appreciation of the work of Gordon Jacob. Written and presented by Geoff Ogram
On 1st December at our final session before Christmas, David Davies will present some Classical Music Signature Tunes. To help him prepare for this, David has asked me to forward the following to members:
“The meeting on December 1 is entitled ‘Are you sitting comfortably? These words began Listen with Mother at 1.45 every weekday on the BBC Light Programme from January 1950 and on into the 60s. And every programme ended with the Berceuse from Faure’s Le Jardin de Dolly suite for piano duet. The words and the tune are still remembered fondly by a whole generation.
“But what else in radio and television (including adverts) has used classical music as a signature tune? We shall have a not-too-serious discussion on this topic, and I would appreciate your letting me know your suggestions.
You can email me at davidracheld@gmail.com Thank you. David Davies“
We hope you will be able to join us at these sessions.
Frederick Delius is well known English composer born of German parents in Yorkshire. He showed early promise and clearly had an eventful life. He was not actually christened Frederick but Fritz. He father was a successful wool merchant but Delius resisted going into that line of business and opted to manage an orange grove in Florida as you do.
He returned some years later and spent much of his early life in Paris. He received a formal musical training in Leipzig. His talent was spotted by Greig.
The presentation was by Alan Doel, a member of our Society, who gave us a lot of background to his life and compositions. Delius was key in the revival of English music and listening to an evening of his compositions, there was a powerful sense of the languid landscape that seemed to emerge, a kind of tonal colouring. This was particularly true of the first, and one of his best known pieces, On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring. Another piece which captured that quality was In a Summer Garden.
He was somewhat overlooked as a composer until he was taken up by Sir Thomas Beecham who premiered some of his works. It’s interesting to note that his early success was in Germany. His time in America and the influence of negro music showed through with compositions like Appalachia of which we heard the final part. Another piece with American associations was the Florida Suite.
It was an interesting evening and we learnt a lot more about this English composer who’s works do not appear that regularly in concert programmes. Other works included Sea Drift, the Cello Concerto and an extract from the opera Irmelin first performed in Germany. The audience expressed its appreciation for the work Alan had put into preparing the presentation.
Alan set us some homework which was to listen to The Song of the High Hills conducted by Sir Mark Elder.
The next meeting on 3 November will be preceded by a brief AGM followed by a members’ evening. If you have a piece, lasting less than 10 minutes ideally, which means something to you or you would like others to hear, please let Robin Lim know robert.lim@virginmedia.com.
Salisbury Recorded Music Society 