An Old Favorite and a New Discovery

I was reminded of a book I used to love as a child - Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree by Robert Barry. I found a copy recently and read it to Miss M this evening. A man buys a Christmas tree that's too tall to fit in his house, so he cuts off the top. The top is presented to his maid, but is just a bit too tall for her room, so she cuts off the top. The top is found by the gardener . . . This one tree blesses all kinds of furry creatures, and finally a little mouse who lives in a mouse hole right in Mr. Willowby's house. The book is told in rhyme, and the rhyme works (there's nothing more annoying than rhyme that misses a syllable so that the cadence of a sentence is all out of place and you have to throw in a word to make it right.)

And a discovery - okay, it's not really new new. A few years ago, I was laying in bed with the radio on and they played this piano piece. The guy's fingers kept going and going, it was amazing, and it didn't quit! I strained to hear who the composer was. It was William Sterndale Bennett's Piano Concerto 1 in D. I wrote it down and kept it on a slip of paper on my refrigerator for years. Finally I decided to see about purchasing that piano concerto. It wasn't to be found. I did find a CD of some of his other works, out of print, but available used, so I bought it and played it and loved it. The liner notes say . . .

"I think him the promising young musician I know . . . and I am convinced that if he does not become a very great musician, it is not God's will, but his own." Mendelssohn's curiously prophetic words were written in 1836. A few months later, Schumann declared that if there were many more artists like Bennett, the future of music would be secure. The Grove's Dictionary in 1878 called Bennett the only English composer since Purcell . . . and the New Grove Dictionary of 1980 still characterizes him as "the most distinguished composer of the Romantic school."

Despite these favorable opinions of a century and a half, Bennett's music has virtually disappeared from the repertoire.

I really think something should be done about that. I did find a small music company called Lyrita that still sells two of his CD's, but they're in England (I ordered one anyway!) Other than that, his CD's and sheet music seem non-existent. If you go to Lyrita and click on "William Sterndale Bennett," you can see the two CD's - and if you click on them, you can hear samples. Listen and be amazed! One way or another, I plan to acquire all of the music of his that I can.

Another composer I'd like to see come back from oblivion is Samuel Wesley, 1766-1837. He was related to Methodists John and Charles Wesley (Charles Wesley's son), and was called "The English Mozart" when he was young because he was a child prodigy.