Stepping into Vaughan Williams’ shoes

Just when you thought Westminster Music Library’s Behind the Lines programme* was drawing to a close, along comes another workshop, featuring the First World War music of Ralph Vaughan Williams.

This was a specially commissioned adult music workshop for members of Open Age, an organisation with whom Westminster Music Library has forged a fond and fruitful relationship in recent years.

Thanks to generous funding from the Vaughan Williams Charitable Trust, we were able to re-enlist musicians from The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra to facilitate a workshop, focusing on the life and music of Vaughan Williams during The Great War, a composer who holds a special place in our hearts as he opened the library to the public in 1948.

This was also to be a morning of ceremony as we were joined by two distinguished guests – Lt. Cdr Tony Pringle and Honorary Alderman Frances Blois – the former to present to the City of Westminster a copy of the magnificent reference guide – “Stepping Forward” – a tribute to the Volunteer Military Reservists and Supporting Auxiliaries of Greater London 1908 – 2014, compiled by The Reserve Forces’ and Cadets’ Association for Greater London. The book was first published in 2008 as a simple guide to Titles and Battle Honours of the Territorial Army in Greater London since 1908. This new and revised edition now includes all Reserve unit links with the London Boroughs (including Westminster) and contains historical listings of Reserve Forces Centres and the locations of memorials to the fallen.

But back to the music… the focus was first on A Pastoral Symphony. Contemplative in nature, it’s a meditation on a lost generation as well as a celebration of the return of peace; the work embodies a hope that the nation might be healed and made whole again.  This symphony is the third of nine symphonies he wrote, and was composed between 1916 and 1921.  It reflects Vaughan Williams’ experiences in France as a wagon orderly during WW1, not the common misconception that it reflected the English countryside.  The final movement of this symphony includes a wordless soprano line, which the group learnt as the first interactive group activity.  In performance, this is often sung by the soprano from a distance to create a sense of space and emptiness, adding a ghostly lament to the music that depicts the tragedy of the war.  The first half of the session also included an in-depth discussion about the composer and his music.

Following a break we moved on to look at Dona Nobis Pacem – a cantata written at a time when the country was slowly awakening to the possibility of a second European conflict.

Premiered in 1936 and with its dramatic settings of Latin liturgical text and Walt Whitman’s poetry, its emphasis is on reconciliation. Dona Nobis Pacem was performed at countless festivals and concerts in the years leading up to the Second World War.

Given its connections with both World Wars it reminds us that war inevitably brings misery and loss. Vaughan Williams, like everyone else, was a member of his community, and while he was ready to warn his countrymen of the horrors that might lie ahead, he had no hesitation in playing his part in both of the Great Wars once they had started.

Following an interesting discussion between the musicians and participants, the whole group performed their version of two sections of the cantata:  Agnus Dei – a fervent cry for peace, and Dirge for Two Veterans – a mother, portrayed by the moon, watches over the funeral march for her son and husband, who were killed together, symbolic of all families’ losses in lives cut short from one generation to the next.

Time was rapidly running out on our workshop and there was still an important presentation to be made. On behalf of the Reserve Forces and Cadets’ Association for Greater London, Lt Cdr Tony Pringle presented Honorary Alderman Frances Blois with “Stepping Forward”, in memory of all those men and women from the City of Westminster who gave their lives in the Great War 1914-1918. A fitting finale to our workshop, and one which I suspect RVW would have approved.

[Ruth]

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* Between September 2013 and August 2014, to mark the 100^th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War, Westminster Music Library teamed up with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for a programme of workshops focusing on composers who lived through and were influenced by the conflict.

Funded by Arts Council England, Behind the Lines featured interactive and creative workshops for adults, families and primary and secondary school children and concluded with an inter-generational Summer School and final performance at St John’s Smith Square. Using the resources and collections of Westminster Music Library and the expertise of its staff, the workshops were facilitated by a team of musicians from the RPO.

 

The Last Post: A tribute to the First World War generation

In this anniversary year of the outbreak of the Great War, communities across the UK have been commemorating the lives of those who lived through and died in the conflict.

For our part at Westminster Music Library, we in the past year have been exploring the music from the wartime period in our project Behind the Lines; and our participation in Superact’s Last Post Project was an apt culmination.

Fittingly stationed between Remembrance Sunday and Remembrance Day was our poignant “The Last Post” evening. It was our great pleasure to be involved in this project, the initiative of arts organisation Superact (with support from the Department for Communities and Local Government, and funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund). Ours was just one of over 230 such events taking place up and down the country between 4 and 18 November, all featuring an all-important rendition of that well-established remembrance tradition: the Last Post. More information can be found at www.thelastpostproject.org.uk.

The Last Post began life humbly, as a bugle call to mark the end of the day in military camps in an era before soldiers had watches. Over the course of the nineteenth century it started to take on a memorial role, being played at the funerals of those killed in battle. During the First World War, as the numbers of those dying grew rapidly, this haunting tune was played with increasing regularity, and now has a central role in the remembrance of the war dead.

Interest in our Last Post event was huge and we were soon so fully booked it was standing room only! The audience of local residents was augmented with the forces of South Westminster and Church Street Community Choirs whom we were delighted to welcome to add extra depth and harmony to the singing. The singing was brilliantly led by Ruth with fine accompaniment from Anthony on the piano.

The evening began with a sing-along featuring all the old favourite First World War songs. Audience, staff and the choirs were in good voice as we launched into It’s a long way to Tipperary and Pack up your troubles – classic uplifting songs from early in the war, reflecting the nation’s optimism and hope in a swift resolution. It soon transpired, though, that the war would last longer than any had dared to conceive. The country’s musical output became more reflective, giving voice to a greater determination and perseverance. Our programme represented this trend with inclusion of the beautiful and wonderfully nostalgic If you were the only girl in the world, Keep the home fires burning and Roses of Picardy.

We then belted out Oh! It’s a lovely war from the satirical music hall show which, when written, tapped into the increasing cynicism as the war dragged on. When the Americans entered the war they brought their popular songs over with them and we joined in rousing versions of Over there and There’s a long, long trail.

To give our singing voices some rest, our songs were interspersed with readings from Ruth. We heard poems and letters home – some humorous, some sad, but all poignant, reflecting the varying experiences of those who lived both through the trenches and on the home front.

Our final song was, perhaps inevitably, the ever popular Good-bye-ee, but the evening’s climax was still to come. As the applause died down, hidden from sight behind the bookshelves, came the words of Laurence Binyon’s poem ‘For the Fallen’, movingly recited by Andrew. You could hear a pin drop. After a moment’s pause we heard the opening notes of the Last Post. The audience spontaneously stood in respect as this ever-moving bugle call, brilliantly played by Jon, broke through the still silence. As the music came to an end, we paused for two minutes’ reflection.

And so our tribute to the First World War generation came to a close. The contrast between the lively sing along and the intensity of the Last Post at the end was stark and heartrending.

Here are some comments from members of the audience:

“A lovely evening with readings and songs and a very moving Last Post”

“Wonderful to have a singing event! Very nostalgic and very moving”

“Wonderful – released all sorts of emotions- excellent readings by Ruth. Whole concert was well thought out and performed”

Finally, we would like to extend our gratitude to South Westminster and Church Street Community Choirs for their support.

Here are Andrew and Jon performing The Last Post:

[Andrew and Jon]

A walk around World War One

Monday 4 August 2014 marked the centenary of Britain’s entry into the First World War. The City of Westminster Archives have been working on WW1 education projects for a number of years and thanks to support from the Heritage Lottery Fund are marking the centenary year with the ‘Playing the Game’ project.

City of Westminster Guide Keith Warner at Parliament Square

In the morning a registered City of Westminster Guide led a free walk through the heart of Westminster telling the story of WW1 using key locations such as Parliament Square, Wellington Barracks, Horse Guards Parade and the Cenotaph on Whitehall. 23 people enjoyed the walk in the bright sunshine and hearing the stories a year to the day was very poignant. Further free walks later in the year are being led from Charing Cross, Pimlico, Paddington, Fulham and Chelsea libraries.

WW1 soldier Robert ‘Pom Pom’ Whiting meets a current soldier from the London Irish Rifles.

‘Fields of Battle: Lands of Peace’ is a major WW1 outdoor exhibition in St James’s Park. On Monday it was officially opened by HRH the Duke of Kent. The exhibition shows large scale photographs of key battlefields as they appear today, reclaimed by nature but still showing the scars of war.

The archives provided further interpretation including soldiers stories from the ‘Playing the Game’ project. One of them, Robert ‘Pom Pom’ Whiting, even turned up to see what all the fuss was!

The exhibition will be in St James’s Park (just opposite Horse Guards Parade) until remembrance week.

“The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our life-time.”

– Sir Edward Grey, 3 August 1914

Finally, after a long day, attention turned to Piccadilly Circus and the national ‘Lights Out’ initiative inspired by Sir Edward Grey’s famous words. ‘Playing the Game’ volunteers at the archives worked on a Westminster Roll of Honour featuring over 2000 names of the men who served and died in WW1. The names and archive photographs were then displayed on the world famous lights at Piccadilly Circus. Kaitlyn Hof-Mahoney, project volunteer, said:

“I was surprised to see the range of regiments the men from Westminster fought in from the Australian Infantry to the East Lancashire Regiment and the Indian Army to local regiments such as the Queen’s Westminster Rifles. They also filled a variety of roles including musicians, chaplains and veterinarians. Hundreds of men died on the Western Front in Belgium and France but many also lost their lives in more unusual locations such as Denmark, Iran, Kenya, and the USA.”

Lights Out: Westminster Roll of Honour at Piccadilly Circus.

[Stephen]

Irregular Observations: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the outbreak of war

As War was declared in 1914, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was keen to play his part.  He volunteered for service, writing,

“Though I am 55 years old, I am very strong and hardy, and can make my voice audible at great distances which is useful at drill.”

He felt that if he volunteered at his age, others would be encouraged to do so.
The Army turned him down.

Meanwhile, he realised that Sussex, where he lived, would be on the frontline in the event of an invasion.  Approached by a number of concerned locals, he called a meeting on 4 August to discuss setting up of a local defence force.  Before long, drawing on his experience in creating civilian rifle clubs after the Boer War, he was drilling volunteers and having them dig trenches on common outside the house.  He wrote to The Times on 6 August encouraging the setting up of similar local forces.  The letter was published on 8 August:

THE TIMES
8 August 1914
Our Latent Forces

SIR, – The future is dark and we do not know that we will not need our last ounce of strength before we are through. We can afford to neglect nothing.

Will you allow me to point out how a reserve force can be formed which will be numerically large and which if it does nothing else can relieve more mobile and trained troops for the fighting line? In a word, the suggestion is to form civilian companies of the National Reserve. There are tens and hundreds of thousands of men in this country from 35 to 55 who are often harder and fitter than their juniors, but for whom no place is found in our scheme of defence. Many of them are good shots, they are longing to help in any possible way, and they would fall into line instantly if they could only see how to do it. They would speedily become capable of guarding railways or buildings, helping to garrison fortresses or performing many other military duties.

If I may quote the example of this little town, we held our first meeting to discuss this on Tuesday, by Wednesday night we had enrolled 120 men, and to-day we start drill and practice at the butts. Many of the men are fine shots and all are exceedingly anxious to be serviceable. It is not possible for them to take on long engagements or to live out in permanent camps, but they could do much useful work and in case of a raid they would do anything.  They would form our “Landsturm.” But at present there is no organisation into which such men can be fitted. Local effort would rapidly form the various companies, but some method of common action has to be devised.

The obvious danger of such organisation is lest it should divert men from the Territorials or any other more useful branch of the Service. But to recognise the danger is to avoid it. The Reserve company would not go the length of refusing to enlist young men who cannot or will not become Territorials, but it has the constant end before it of encouraging them to go further and preparing them so that if they do join the more active Services they are already partly instructed. I am convinced that if they are properly run these civilian National Reserve companies would be not only of value in themselves but would be a stepping-stone for the younger men to take them into the fighting line.

The official organisations have so much upon them for the moment that the work can only be done by independent local effort.  But when the men are there, as in the case of the existing National Reserve, they will command attention and find some means of arming themselves. We have our own record of organisation, and I should be happy to send copies of our method to anyone who may desire to form other centres.

Yours faithfully,
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE

Windlesham, Crowborough, Sussex, Aug. 6

He heard from some 1,200 towns and villages keen to follow his lead.  The War Office did not want a lot of locally run groups like this and stopped further development a couple of weeks later.  Not to be put off, Conan Doyle worked with a committee chaired by Lord Desborough and by the end of 1914 a new government-sanctioned volunteer force had been set up.  The Central Association of Volunteer Training Corps, with its head offices at Judges’ Quadrangle, Royal Courts of Justice, was formed for directing and organizing the large number of Home Guard corps which had been springing up throughout the country.

You can learn more about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s work during the First World War in the Sherlock Holmes Collection.

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Irregular Observations is an occasional series of musings from the Sherlock Holmes Collection in Westminster Libraries.  The Collection started life in 1951 and is now one of the most comprehensive in the world. If you enjoy Sherlock Holmes and want to learn more, have a look at our website or get in touch.

“The lamps are going out…”

Today, 4 August 2014, is the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War. No veterans survive, and the centenarians who were alive in 1914 are unlikely to have been old enough to have many memories of that time. It is important therefore to commemorate, collectively, the events of 1914-1918 – the history made, the lessons learnt, the stories held in families and places all over the world.

To this end, there is a four year programme of commemorative events and creative endeavour taking place across the country, with all kinds of interesting and educational projects.

            

Being a library service, we have of course compiled a series of book lists – both fiction and non-fiction – relating to WW1. The lists each have a subject focus, eg: the aftermath of war, the home front, or military history. Take a look – you can get to each list by using the drop down box on the First World War reading list page. When you see a book you’d like to read, click on ‘Find in my library’ for more details.

First World War reading lists on the Westminster Libraries catalogue – click on the drop down list (where it says ‘WW1: War poets and poetry’) to choose another list, such as ‘Crime fiction set in and around the war’.

Another way to find out about WW1 is via our extensive collection of online resources:

• Several of the newspaper archives stretch back to before 1914 so you can see contemporary reports, often as they appeared at the time. Take a look at The Daily Express, The Daily Mirror, The Economist, The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Times and – perhaps most interesting of all – The Illustrated London News. Just log in with your Westminster Libraries membership card.
• Oxford University Press have put together a range of WW1-related resources, from ‘First World War Lives’ in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography to a First World War timeline in Oxford Reference Online. 100 Words That Define the First World War is the interactive offering from the Oxford English Dictionary.

A previous post described four ‘Westminster Heroes’ and the Lights Out campaign. A longer-term educational project led by Westminster City Archives, working across the Triborough area (Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham) and supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund is ‘Playing the Game: Football on the battlefields of the First World War‘.

The project uses the narrative of Michael Foreman’s award winning children’s book ‘War Game’, building up to the Christmas Truce of 1914. The fictional story is put into context by introducing real soldier’s stories and the wider history of World War One.

The Playing the Game website is live and really worth a look – it includes soldier’s stories, images, educational resources and this documentary video:

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“The lamps are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our life-time”

– Sir Edward Grey, August 1914

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[Ali]

Westminster Heroes of World War 1

Lights Out is a major national initiative asking people to turn off their lights between 10.00pm and 11.00pm on Monday 4 August, marking 100 years since Britain entered the First World War in 1914.

In the four working days leading up to 4 August, Westminster Archives has been remembering a Westminster Hero each day, and we’ve brought all four together here in advance of Monday’s events:

Public information leaflets: No 2 – Your gas mask. Masking your windows, 1939

Edward Harrison, Millbank

Educated at the United Westminster Schools, and then the School of Pharmacy at the University of London. Edward Harrison was the inventor of the gas mask, after joining the new chemists’ corps of the Royal Engineers in 1915. His invention was regarded as the most effective gas mask of the war. It was adopted by American forces in a modified form.

In November 1918, weakened by two and a half years of constant work and the gas inhaled during the early stages, Harrison died a hero. Memorials to him were unveiled by the Pharmaceutical Society in Bloomsbury Square, and the Chemical Society at Burlington House, and both organisations continue to award prize medals in his memory.

 

Sir Geoffrey Keynes, Smith Square

Handwritten note from the Capt W G Lidderdale of the Royal Army Medical Corps certifying that Weeks was free of lice scabies and other infectious diseases in 1919

Geoffrey Keynes served as a Lieutenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps during World War I and then worked as a consultant surgeon, becoming an expert in blood transfusion. His work to create a portable blood transfusion device was recognized as saving thousands of lives during World War I. 

 

Drainage plan from 1893 for 02 The Studios, Queen’s Terrace NW8, owned by Solomon J Solomon.

Solomon J Solomon, Maida Vale

Solomon J Solomon was a landscape and portrait artist who lived at 120 Maida Vale, had studios at 2 St John’s Wood Studios and ran an army camouflage school just north of the Magazine building in Hyde Park.

During World War I, Solomon was a pioneer of camouflage techniques, and in March 1916, became a technical advisor to the army.

In May, he began helping to develop tank camouflage and in December established a camouflage school in Hyde Park (which was eventually taken over by the army).

 

Lena Ashwell, Paddington

Lena Ashwell

During the First World War Lena Ashwell was an enthusiastic supporter of British war aims.

In 1915, she began to organise companies of entertainers to travel to France and perform; by the end of the war there were 25 of them, travelling in small groups around France. She also organised all-male concert parties to perform shows near to the front line.

She is remembered as being the first person to organise large-scale entertainment for troops at the front.

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You can find out more about Light Out on the 1418now website: http://www.1418now.org.uk/lights-out/

Poetry, Prose and Song: 1914

On Tuesday 10 June the Mayfair Community Choir performed in VOICES: Poetry, Prose and Song to commemorate the start of the First World War. They sang wartime songs to a full house and received great applause and many compliments.  The evening also included readings of English, French and German poetry, newspaper cuttings, war correspondent reports and diary entries – some funny, most poignant.

The choir was started less than a year ago and has a membership of over 30 made up of library customers, church staff and congregation, Grosvenor Estate and people who live and work in the area as well as from further afield – a real Community Choir. Anyone interested in joining can attend their open evenings in September – Tuesdays at 6.30pm. More details from Mayfair Library.

[Katrina]

“My Dear…” – give me a call.

The Home Library Service’s telephone book group, Book Talk – run in conjunction with Open Age – recently read the Cityread London 2014 title, “My dear, I wanted to tell you“.

There were some enthusiastic reviews of the book:
“Well written and researched”
“Dealt with the themes of social mobility and the different gender roles well”
“Fascinating insight to early plastic surgery.”

One of the members was born in the year the First World War started and so is celebrating her centenary this year!

[Elaine]