John Henry Newman, composer!

[John H White]

Back in 1990, during celebrations to mark the centenary of cardinal Newman's death, I distinctly remember the BBC broadcasting a performance of a sonata for violin and piano written by him. Of course, he is better known in musical circles as the author of the poem upon which Elgar's Oratorio The Dream of Gerontius is based. Sadly, I didn't get that performance taped but it would be interesting to see if the score is available anywhere and if he wrote any other musical works.

[Gareth Vaughan]

Are you sure? I have never heard of a violin sonata (or, indeed, any music by Cardinal Newman). I am intrigued. I expect the BBC would have a record of when precisely it was broadcast and who were the artistes and, more importantly, the whereabouts of the music (probably the Oratory). I presume it remains in manuscript.

[eschiss1]

Hrm. All iLink (the BBC sound archives) seems to turn up under John Henry Newman, 1801-90 are a few settings of his poetry. Still, I may not be searching deeply enough... since surely they've broadcast Elgar's settings more than 6 times (the number of times he appears in the database in all).

[john_boyer]

Cardinal Newman was indeed an avid violinist and amateur musician:


http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:XcdjnATabxIJ:www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-17618801.html+%22john+henry+newman%22+sonata&cd=6&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

http://www.adoremus.org/1109Treacy.html