Romance (Three Period Pieces, No. 3)

Frederick William Wadeley (also spelled Wadely) OBE FRCO (1882 - 1970) was born in Kidderminster in 1882, and was trained at the Royal College of Music and was then organ scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge.

He was organ scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge (1900 – 1903), organist of St. Andrew’s Church, Uxbridge (1903-1904),
organist of Malvern Priory (1904 - 1910) and finally organist of Carlisle Cathedral (1910 - 1960).

The fine set of "Three Period Pieces" was published by Bosworth in 1948. They show a strong "English accent," but in unique and novel ways.

The third piece in the set is the highly-evocative "Romance," which is aptly named.

The melodies and harmonies are expressive and delightful, and I suppose you could say that this work is real "late Romantic" almost "Impressionistic" in style and effect.

Almost all of the organ's solo voices have their chance in this work, but I tried to "restrict the manner" in which I used it, keeping it within the "cathedral style," without wandering too far off into the realms of fantasy.

I found this one to be a real gem!

I dedicate this, and the previous two uploads, to my great friend, Erzahler, who was kind enough to send me the music. :-)

THANKS, Andrew!

Photos of Malvern Priory and Carlisle Cathedral are attached below.