A Gloucestershire Rhapsody

I have the deepest respect for anyone with mental health issues who manages to keep going in ‘normal’ life. But for those who do their duty in extremely stressful situations, I have nothing but the greatest admiration.

Such a person was the poet and composer, Ivor Gurney. I have written about him before so readers may remember that he was a local man, a pupil and chorister at Gloucester Cathedral’s Kings School, and a talented student at the Royal College of Music until the First World War broke out. Although he was a very sensitive person with mental health issues, his bravery and patriotism led him to enlist with the Gloucestershire Regiment.

In 1916 Ivor was on the Somme where he was wounded. In 1917 he was transferred and fought in the horrendous Third Battle of Ypres, better known as Passchendale. Here Gurney suffered from a gas attack, eventually returning to hospital in the UK. He went to recuperate in a little mining village I know well from my childhood, Seaton Delaval, in Northumberland. Here he wrote poems, including the famous first book of poetry Severn and Somme, which was published in November 1917.

After all he had been through, Gurney became mentally fragile and had to return to the hospital in London where he stayed until he died before he was 50. Gurney is buried in Gloucestershire where his gravestone commemorates him as ‘poet composer of the Severn and Somme’.

Although Gurney has a loyal following, the marvellous works that he left behind, both poetry and musical compositions were not sufficiently recognised in Gloucestershire until recently, when a magnificent series of stained glass windows were installed in Gloucester Cathedral. And I have the greatest admiration for the Mezzo Soprano, Sarah Connolly, who worked tirelessly to achieve this.

In her own words she tells the story:

“One day, whilst rifling through the English song drawer marked G in the Royal College of Music library, I came across Ivor Gurney’s song, ‘Sleep’, and after playing and singing all the songs I had selected that session, his was the most startlingly beautiful.
Everyone who discovers ‘Sleep’ for the first time is deeply moved by it, history supports that. I was determined to find out about Ivor Bertie Gurney, since I felt his song expressed such character and depth and pain.

If only I had known that my harmony professor, Jeremy Dale Roberts had once been responsible for the fate of IBG’s entire musical oeuvre, after his friend and mentor Gerald Finzi had died. Finzi had successfully fought to rescue Gurney’s works from his jealous brother Ronald who had threatened to chuck the lot on the fire.
Think of the discussions Jeremy and I could have had! We have them now of course and I invited him, Joy and Kiffer Finzi to attend the fundraising concert, the unveiling and dedication ceremony of Tom Denny’s Gurney window in Gloucester two years ago.

The idea for a Gurney window was mine, and if I am grateful for any influence my career has afforded, it is that I did not even need to persuade the wonderful Gloucester Cathedral staff and Tom Denny, since they were unreservedly enthusiastic about it.
A few months later in a meeting with the wonderful Robin Lunn, who very sadly died recently, Tom Denny showed us his watercolour sketch of the 8 lights. I was moved to tears. I had requested that one light showed how Ivor suffered from what would be described today as Bi-Polar disease throughout his life. Shell-shock and the nightmare on the frontline would have heightened that condition to breaking point.
I also suggested to Tom that the lights be influenced directly by IBG’s poetry, since he was respected enough to be included in Westminster Abbey’s Poets’ Corner and a published poet in his own lifetime. Tom selected several poems to cleverly infuse each subject and the whole tone. At my request, the Cathedral agreed to display the poems next to the window.

To raise the funds to pay Tom and the Cathedral for hosting an all-day/evening event, I needed to raise around 26k minimum. Selling 800 seats for the evening concert was proving difficult. Rupert Christiansen very kindly ran an article in the Daily Telegraph Some local museums helped along with a JustGiving campaign under the aegis of the Cathedral’s charitable status.

The funds were raised from the day’s music making and from generous donations. Artists kind enough to give up time in their busy schedules included Simon Callow, Dame Felicity Lott, James Gilchrist, Neal Davies, Vernon Harwood, Joseph Middleton, the English Chamber Orchestra, Tenebrae Choir, Adrian Partington, Professor Jeremy Dibble, Nigel Short, and composer Judith Bingham who also wrote A Walk with Ivor Gurney for myself and Tenebrae to perform on the occasion and to many others who helped and advised me.

At the dedication ceremony, where I sat next to composer Ian Venables, chairman of the Ivor Gurney Society, (of which I am now a proud patron), we both shed a few tears when the Dean Stephen Lake intoned the official words of welcome to Ivor Gurney who at last had a gorgeous tribute fitting to his status and life devoted to music and the Cathedral.”