A musical gazetteer of Great Britain & Ireland

the long version

"Containing more than 3,000 entries, [this gazetteer] lists the places where musicians were born and died, and where important composers, like Elgar, Vaughan Williams and Britten, wrote their works. It is equally concerned with the visits of foreign composers, such as Haydn, Mozart, Berlioz, Wagner, Puccini and many others, and provides addresses at which they stated, often presenting their comments on British habits, food, weather and much else. Famous occasions, like the world première of Messiah in Dublin and Mendelssohn's trip to Fingal's Cave, are described in detail. There are accounts, too, of less familiar episodes such as Sousa disappearing through the floor in Merthyr Tydfil, Liszt in Chester, and Dvořák in Hove. Composers and authors of favourite hymns are also included, and we learn precisely where Sullivan composed the tune of 'Onward, Christian soldiers' and where Lyte wrote 'Abide with me'."--Jacket.