Westminster Pilgrim; Being a Record of Service in Church, Cathedral and Abbey, College University and Concert Room, with a Few Notes on Sport

urn:iso:std:iso:639:ed-3:eng

173-5

text excerpt

The following year, 1898, Mr. Gladstone died, and was buried in the Abbey, a great and distinguished congregation attending. It is recorded of the veteran statesman that in his eighty-fifth year, in the course of an address to twenty thousand people gathered under the walls of Hawarden Castle, he uttered these words: "Music is of enormous advantage both to those who hear and those who perform it. It is a great blessing to the people, and I think that there are few satisfactions in my mind greater than to witness the progress it has made in the course of the last fifty years." Of Mr. Gladstone's personal attainments in music, it is said that he used to play the violoncello and possessed a charming tenor voice. Judging only from his speaking voice, one can easily believe this to be true. It is interesting to recall that in the midst of the long and patiently borne sufferings of his last illness, he found a solace in consoling music. His special interest in Church music is well known. For the funeral service the choir of the Abbey was augmented by those of the Chapel Royal, St. Paul's Cathedral, the Temple Church, and St. Margaret's, Westminster. The music performed on this occasion comprised among other numbers a Funeral-Equale for four trombones, by Beethoven, Schubert's March in B minor, the Dead March in "Saul," Beethoven's March in A fiat minor, Service music by Croft and by Purcell, and hymns. The Right Hon. Herbert Gladstone (now Lord Gladstone) sent me the following letter shortly after the funeral, which I am gratified in being able to append: Hawarden, May 30//J, 1898. DEAR SIR FREDERICK BRIDGE, Accept our gratitude for the most beautiful music you gave us last Saturday at the Abbey. Nothing could have been more solemn and sustaining, and we shall carry the recollection of it all our lives. We could wish to thank all who contributed to it, but that is beyond our power, though perhaps in some quarters you may be able and kind enough to make it known what we feel. very sincerely yours, HERBERT J. GLADSTONE.

excerpt from 'Westminster Pilgrim; Being a Record of Service in Church, Cathedral and Abbey, College University and Concert Room, with a Few Notes on Sport' pp. 173-5 (353 words)

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