In 1835 he moved to Exeter Cathedral. He improved the choir there and persuaded the authorities to renovate the organ. He had a good salary there, but soon got fed up because he argued with his employers. He often went fishing instead of going to work, sending one of his choir boys to play the organ instead. One day, when Wesley was supposed to play “God Save the King” he played “Rule Britannia”. This sort of behaviour did not do his reputation much good. He wanted to get a doctorate degree from Oxford University so he wrote an anthem "O Lord thou art my God". The professor at Oxford, William Crotch, wanted him to make some changes in the music, but he refused. In the end he was given the degree anyway.
The next job he had was at Leeds Parish Church. This was the only job he had in his life which was not at a cathedral, but his choir at Leeds was probably better than any of the cathedral choirs he had. The services there were very good, and he improved the choir singing. Leeds was not a nice town in those days. It was very badly polluted through industry. Wesley earned extra money by giving music lessons. He was also in demand for giving organ recitals in different churches. He gave the choir more modern music to sing, including his own compositions. He wrote an introduction to a book of psalm tunes in which he criticized the state of the church in England. He did it in a very personal way and it made his employers angry.
One day he went fishing when he should have been at choir practice. He fell when climbing over a stile and broke his leg. After that he always walked with a limp. While he was in hospital he wrote an anthem "Cast me not away" to words from Psalm 51. When the music gets to the words “the bones which thou hast broken” he set them to strange, crunching chords.
In spite of his awkward behaviour the people in Leeds were sorry when he left. He conducted a performance of the "Messiah" and he was given a portrait of himself.
He went to Winchester Cathedral. At first he got on very well with the clergy. He performed and composed new music. He spent a lot of time collecting and publishing all the anthems he had written. He composed hymn tunes. He persuaded his employers to spend money on improving the organ.
Although he was being paid a good salary (£80 a year) Wesley did less and less work. He performed less and left a lot of the playing to his pupils so that he could go fishing and sailing. He did not like the new precentor who was appointed in 1858.
In 1863 he composed an anthem "Give the King thy Judgement" for the marriage of the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII and Princess Alexandra of Denmark). He did not like Winchester. He said there were no other good musicians to talk to.
When the job of organist at Gloucester Cathedral became available he took it and left Winchester very quicky. Once again he found himself in a cathedral with a bad choir and an organ in a bad state of repair, but this time he seemed to make little effort to do anything about it. He spent a lot of time editing other people’s music. Once more, after a gap of 30 years, he was able to perform in the Three Choirs Festival. He conducted the music of Louis Spohr, his father Samuel Wesley and also some music by the young Hubert Parry who was not yet well-known. When he conducted he often did not think about what he was doing and got muddled. In 1871 he conducted Bach’s St Matthew Passion, the first time it had been performed in England outside London.
He was offered a knighthood but chose to be given money instead. He started to become ill. He had a kidney disease. The last time he played the organ was at Christmas in 1875. He died on 19th April 1876 and was buried next to his daughter in Devon. There was no music at all at his funeral.
Wesley is remembered for his music composed for the Church of England. He wrote many anthems, including "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace", "Blessed be the God and Father", "The Wilderness" and "Ascribe unto the Lord". The last two of these are verse anthems (anthem which contrast sections for the full choir with sections for a few soloists). The popular short anthem "Lead me Lord" is part of "Praise the Lord, O my soul".
He wrote a number of organ works. One of his most charming pieces is "Holsworthy Church Bells" (1874). He also wrote chamber and orchestral music.
Wesley had an important influence on organ building. He went to the Great Exhibition in 1851 and saw organs with pedals that, instead of being exactly parallel, spread out at the top like a fan. He liked these radiating pedal boards and persuaded the great organ builder Henry Willis to put pedal boards like that in the organs he built.
Samuel Sebastian Wesley was a very famous performer and throughout his life he was often asked to play the first concerts on new organs (“inaugural concerts”). His music is still very popular today, and some of his short anthems are not too difficult for the average church choir to sing.
Quickborn
Quickborn is a town in the district of Pinneberg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is about 17 km east of Elmshorn, and 20 km north of Hamburg.
Quickborn is twinned with Uckfield, East Sussex.
Quickborn, Dithmarschen
Quickborn is a municipality in the district of Dithmarschen, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.
Iguana
Iguana is a type of lizard that lives in tropical areas of Central and South America and the Caribbean. There are only two species of Iguana": the Green Iguana and the Lesser Antillean Iguana"
The two species of lizard both have a dewlap, a row of spines running down their back to their tail, and a third eye on their head. This eye is known as the parietal eye, which looks just like a pale scale on the top of their head. Behind their neck are small scales which look like spikes, and are called tuberculate scales. They also have a large round scale on their cheek called a subtympanic shield.
Iguanas have excellent vision and can see long distances, shapes, shadows, color and movement. An iguana uses its eyes to navigate through trees and forests, as well as for finding food. They also use their eyes to communicate with members of the same species. An iguana's ear is called a tympanum. It is the iguana's ear drum and is found right above the subtympanic shield and behind the eye. This is a very thin, delicate part of the iguana, and is very important to its hearing.
La bohème
La bohème (pronounced, "La bo-EM") is an Italian opera in four acts. The music was written by Giacomo Puccini. The libretto was written by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa.
The opera tells the story of a love affair between a poor poet and an equally poor seamstress in 19th century Paris. The opera is based on a book by Henri Murger called "Scenes from Bohemian Life" ().
Arturo Toscanini conducted the first performance of "La bohème" on February 1, 1896 at the Teatro Regio in Turin, Italy. The opera was adapted to a movie in 1965 and the 1996 Broadway musical, "Rent".
Henri Murger was born in 1822 to an immigrant German tailor in Paris. He worked as a secretary until 1841 when he became a journalist and joined the poor artists and writers who called themselves Bohemians.
From 1845 to 1848, Murger's stories about Bohemian life in Paris were serialized (published in parts) in a French magazine. The book brought Murger little income. Playwright Théodore Barrière suggested making a play of the book, and Murger accepted. The play appeared in 1849. It was a success.
Almost every chapter of Murger's book mentions an incident or event which found its way into Puccini's opera. However, the love affair between the poet and the seamstress appears only as a little tale in the book about a sculptor named Jacques and a seamstress named Francine.