Church service celebrates life of Sir Arthur
NEWMARKET St Agnes Church will host a special service on Sunday to commemorate one of the country's best loved musicians and composers.
Sir Arthur Sullivan, who with his partner, W S Gilbert, wrote the likes of The Mikado, Trial by Jury, HMS Pinafore and The Pirates of Penzance, was a great fan of the Turf and as a result made many visits to Newmarket, staying in the town and going to the races.
He often stayed at Godolphin House in The Avenue and it was while spending the summer of 1886 there with the Clay Ker Summers family that he wrote the final part of the Golden Legend oratorio which, during his lifetime, was second only to Handel's Messiah in popularity.
The one-time organist was a great friend of Caroline, Duchess of Montrose, who lived at Sefton Lodge in Bury Road, and was Newmarket's leading society hostess.
She built St Agnes Church close to her home as a memorial to her husband Stirling Crawfurd who died in 1883. It was dedicated to her own name-saint St Agnes and she asked Sullivan to design the organ for it, which he did.
Sunday's service will be held at the Bury Road church, which remains a fine example of a high Victorian church with the interior exactly as the duchess planned it.
Sunday's celebration, which starts at 6.30pm, features the choir of St Mary's in Newmarket, which will be leading the service of choral evensong, with hymns set to Sullivan tunes.
As an anthem, the choir will sing The Lost Chord. which Sullivan composed while watching at his brother Fred's bedside during his last illness. The manuscript is dated January 13, 1877, and Fred Sullivan died five days later.
The success of the song was immediate and it became particularly associated with Mrs Ronalds who often sang it at society functions, None other than the Prince of Wales was said to have remarked that he would travel the length of his future kingdom to hear her sing it.
Sullivan later said: "I have composed much music since then, but have never written a second Lost Chord,"
Visitors to Sunday's service will also have an opportunity to see St Agnes' unusual decor, as well as an exhibition of old photographs featuring Bury Road. Seating is limited to a 100 and car-parking will be available at the church and at the Bedford Lodge hotel.
For further details, contact the Rev John Hardy on 01638 660729.
'
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Newmarket
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 22 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: East
