JOHN MARSH 1752-1828
250th Anniversary Celebrations
Chichester is hosting the 250th anniversary celebrations
of the birth of John Marsh by a week of events – talks, walks, concerts
and an exhibition, from 21st to 30th June 2002. Who was Marsh?
JOHN MARSH was a man of the southern counties.
Born in Dorking in 1752, he was resident in Gosport, Romsey, Salisbury
and Canterbury before settling in Chichester in 1787 until his death
in 1828. His lifelong activity was devoted to music. As a composer,
he numbers over 350 compositions, including forty symphonies; as a concert
organiser he was responsible for the music making in the towns and cities
where he worked, Romsey, Salisbury, Canterbury and especially in Chichester,
where he led the subscription concerts for some 35 years. He was man
of means, with interests in astronomy, change ringing, philosophy, travel,
theatre, in addition to involving himself in business, church and charitable
activities in the city. He was author of books and articles on music,
geometry, astronomy and religion, but his greatest achievement was in
maintaining his diaries, which vividly recount his daily activities
from birth to death, and paint a revealing portrait of provincial life
at the time.
Brian Robins, from Eastbourne, has edited the Marsh
Journals to 1802, with copious footnotes, which are a mine of information
about life in Georgian England and of especial relevance to our area
and are published by Pendragon Press, New York: Amazon
UK Amazon
US Ian Graham-Jones, who recorded five of the symphonies in 1989,
has just completed an edition of the nine extant Marsh symphonies and
the three finales for orchestra, and are now published by A-R Editions,
USA, details of which are given below.
The celebration week is organised by the John Marsh
Anniversary Group, chaired by Timothy McCann, deputy county archivist,
West Sussex Record Office, Chichester.
Friday 21st June
Opening talk on John Marsh by Brian Robins, County Record Office, 7.30.
Exhibition open. Georgian refreshments.
Friday 21st June – July 20th
Exhibition at County Record Office.
Saturday 22nd, 7.30
Opening concert, Assembly Rooms, North Street, Chichester.
The Consort of Twelve choir and period orchestra, with Close
Harmony.
A mixed concert re-creating a typical programme that Marsh
might have organised at the Assembly Rooms c. 1790, including
music by Boyce, Handel, Purcell, Marsh (movements from symphonies),
and glees, sung by the lay clerks of Chichester Cathedral.
Sunday 23rd, 3pm
John Marsh guided walk round Chichester, led by Brian Robins
meeting point: Pallant House – SOLD OUT
Monday 24th, 7.30
"John Marsh and Intellectual Life in Chichester"
Talk by Alison McCann, County Record Office.
Tuesday 25th, 1.10
Cathedral lunchtime concert. Organ voluntaries and duets by Marsh and
others; readings from the John Marsh Journals.
Tuesday 25th, 7.30
Concert by Fitzwilliam String Quartet, Assembly Rooms
Programme includes quartets by Marsh, Rosetti, Haydn and Mozart.
Wednesday 26th
"Goodwood through the eyes of John Marsh" Talk by Timothy McCann, Goodwood
House Ballroom.
Thursday 27th, 7pm
Ensemble Türk – classical concert in St Johns Chapel
Programme to include Marsh Sonatinas, arrangements, etc.
Friday 28th, 6.30pm
Repeat of guided walk – SOLD OUT
Sunday 30th, 7.30
Orchestral concert, St. Paul’s Church, Chichester.
The Chichester Concert perform Symphonies by Marsh, Boyce and
Arne on period instruments.
(Chichester Festivities concert)
Marsh’s anthems will be sung at services in Chichester cathedral on
22nd, 25th and 30th June. (evensong 5.30pm, 3.30 Sunday)
Tickets for talks and walk, £2.50. Goodwood house talk £5.
Tickets for concerts £10 (£30 for all four concerts)
Cathedral lunchtime concert free.
John Marsh, Symphonies: Part 1, The Salisbury and Canterbury Symphonies
(1778-1784), edited by Ian Graham-Jones, Recent Researches in the Music
of
the Classical Era, vol. 62 (Middleton, WI: A-R Editions, 2001), xxi
+ 255
pp. (ISBN 0-89579-486-1), $127.00.
John Marsh, Symphonies: Part 2, The Chichester Symphonies and Finales
(1788-1801), edited by Ian Graham-Jones, Recent Researches in the Music
of
the Classical Era, vol. 63 (Middleton, WI: A-R Editions, 2001), xviii
+ 213
pp. (ISBN 0-89579-487-X), $92.00.
Further details from Ian Graham-Jones at igraham-jones@clara.net
