Keltic March

Alec Rowley was born in London on 13 March 1892, teacher, composer, organist, pianist, lecturer and writer, who studied at the RAM with Frederick Corder and where he won sundry scholarships and prizes. He was an organist at several London churches including, during the Second World War, St Margaret's, Westminster. He died on 11 January 1958 while playing tennis.

"Keltic March" is one that I'd call a real winner! It's not all that easy, but you could do it with fewer "registration changes" than I did in my performance. For me the hardest part was maintaining the "relaxed energy" while negotiating the changes of manuals and stops.

It is marked that famous, "dotted-rhythm" that most of us would associate with something "Celtic" or "Keltic" The hard part about this is some of the figurations have the accent on the 2nd note of the group, and some on the first. It's hard to remember which is which and what you are playing! ;-)

"Keltic March" was published by Edwin Ashdown Ltd. in 1957, so this is VERY late Rowley. It is marked by a characteristic "modality" to it, but there is plenty of harmonic color as well.

I've had this one laying on the organ for awhile, and was somewhat put off from it, probably because I perceived some difficulty about it. While there are some tricky spots, I'm glad that I finally did it, and am pleased to share it, as I'm SURE that many will enjoy this!

Hopefully doing this one will get me back on the road to returning to my ROWLEY RIOT! :-)

The score is attached below, as well as the famous photo of Rowley.

More Rowley Riot to come! :-)