Scenes in Northumberland, Op. 25 (A 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 Northumberland" is dedicated: "To my friend William Wolstenholme" (1865-1931), the well-known blind organist, pianist, and composer. It is a suite in four movements, each of which "describe" the scene being portrayed in vividly colorful musical detail.

Individual timings, and notes on the music and on the performances are given in the First Comment.

Attached below is a photo of F. H. Wood (including with the score too), and located by my friend and our member, adrianw. THANK YOU, Adrian! There is also a photo of Blackpool Parish Church, where he was organist. A photo of the dedicatee, William Wolstenholme is attached.

Also attached are a number of photographs of the places being depicted, not in any particular order.

I recently purchased my copy from Michael's Music Service. Michael has also restored "Scenes on the Downs", and Stainer & Bell have recently reprinted 2 movements each from the other two suites.

Here is a link to the score: http://michaelsmusicservice.com/music/Wood.ScenesInNorthumberland.html