Scenes in Kent, Op. 23 (Suite for Organ)

Frederic Herbert Wood (1880-1963) was born in India and was the son of missionaries. He wrote several books on spiritualism, and it is rumored that the British Ministry of Defence occasionally sought his "advice" during World War II. He received degrees from the University of Durham, and was organist of Blackpool Parish Church for 45 years. He composed cantatas, anthems, and songs. His organ works were all published by Stainer & Bell, and include "Scenes in Kent, Op. 23" (1924), "Scenes in Northumberland, Op. 25" (1925), "Scenes on the Wye (1926), and "Scenes on the Downs, Op. 29" (1929). In each publication, Wood included photographs of the appropriate "depicted" places, taken by himself.

He is another one of those "rare" fellows, as his music his largely evaporated (literally, as there are few actual copies), and almost no photographs of him. His books on mysticism are still floating around on Ebay and Amazon, but NOT his music.

"Scenes in Kent" is a suite in four movements, each of which "describe" the scene being portrayed in vividly colorful musical detail.

The four movements, are: I - Aylesford Bridge, on the Medway, II - Allington Lock, III - Orchard Blossom, IV - Rochester Bells.

Individual timings, and notes on the music and on the performances, as well as the motto or "description" that belongs with each movement are given in the First Comment.

Attached below is a photo of F. H. Wood (located by my friend and our member, adrianw), a photo of Blackpool Parish Church, where he was organist, and a series of photos and drawings of the places depicted in the music. Included a youtube link to view Allington Lock as it is today. It would hard to imagine a more peaceful setting than this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqdlAOSWlCU&feature=emb_logo

I dedicate this with friendship to "Graham".

The score, courtesy of John Henderson, is attached below. If you have ANY interest in English organ music, SAVE THIS SCORE! You'll NEVER find it again.