SKU: ST.B946
Composed by Herbert A
Brewer. Edited by John
Morehen. Books & Study
Scores. Edited by John
Morehen. Book. Stainer &
Bell Ltd. #B946.
Published by Stainer &
Bell Ltd. (ST.B946).
ISBN
9780852499467.
Orga
nist of Gloucester
Cathedral from 1896 till
his death in 1928, as
well as composer,
choir-trainer,
adjudicator and teacher,
Sir Herbert Brewer was
involved for over three
decades with the Three
Choirs Festival, and his
Memories of Choirs
and Cloisters offers
a vivid account of the
planning and execution of
the festivals in that
time, those at Gloucester
in particular.
Though his professional
life was spent
exclusively in the
provinces, his
championing of
contemporary music
brought him into wide
contact with composers
and other artistic
figures both from Britain
and the continent,
including Robert Bridges,
Elgar, Glazunov, Rider
Haggard, Parry,
Quiller-Couch, Ravel,
Saint-Saens and Sibelius
(whose Luonnotar
he premiered). John
Morehen's fine new
edition places Brewer's
lively and insightful
recollections of these
and other encounters and
connections in context
for the modern reader,
making the book an
important addition to our
fuller understanding of a
remarkable period in
British music.
Neither a conventional
autobiography nor a
diary, but a collection
of reminiscences compiled
towards the end of his
life, Brewer's
Memories reveals
a scrupulous and astute
musician of great
integrity, warm-hearted
with a devotion to social
justice and civic duty,
and with a mischievous
sense of humour.
Making Memories Of Us
