Saturday, May 13, 2017

Patrick Meadows Obituary and YouTube Video (35:02) of Memorial Service of a Passionate and Scholarly Advocate of Music of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor


Patrick Meadows (1934-2017)



Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) is profiled at AfriClassical.com, which features a comprehensive Works List and a Bibliography by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma, www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com.

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Foundation Website: www.sctf.org.uk


John Dillon recently informed us of the death of his father, Patrick Meadows.  We replied as follows in an email on April 26, 2017:

Hello John,

My sincere condolences for the recent passing of your father, Patrick Meadows.

In 2013 I posted information from your father on music of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor:

http://africlassical.blogspot.com/2013/10/patrick-meadows-publishes-scores-for.html

This reply is copied to Prof. Janise White and to Hilary Burrage of the Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Foundation, which published an article by your father in 2011.

If you would like to send me an obituary for your father, I will be happy to consider it for publication.  In any event, I look forward to hearing further from you at an appropriate time.

Again, my condolences at this difficult time.

Sincerely,
Bill Zick

John Dillon writes today, May 13, 2017:


Thank you, Bill, for your offer to consider his obituary.  Here is a lovely obit written by Tony and Hannah Bonner, who were very close friends of his.  The only correction is that he went to Florida State University, not the University of Florida.
I will happily share the Spanish version as well if you would like to have it.
Also, here is photo you can use if you like. I believe it's from the early 1970's.
John

Patrick Meadows, who passed away last Saturday, April 22nd, was born in 1934 in West Virginia, in what he always described as the wrong side of the tracks of a small town. He attributed his passion for music to an exceptional teacher he had in school, but he also loved language and went on to get a degree in English literature from [Florida State University]. 
He was a high-school teacher for several years after college. He had three children from a first marriage and a daughter from a second. He arrived in Majorca in 1969, living first in Galilea, and then moving to Deià six years later. There, with his partner Stephanie Shepard, he foundedand directed until 2008the International Music Festival of Deià, organizing concerts every summer in Son Marroig and in the parish church of Deià. He dedicated his retirement years to the edition and publication of music of unknown composers, mostly of the 19th century, and notably of the Anglo-African composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. He also had a literary side, writing murder mystery and science fiction stories, which were published in many magazines.

His family and numerous friends will miss his musicianship, his creativity, his intelligence and his splendid and often mordant sense of humour. 

Finally, also today, May 13, 2017, John Dillon writes this about the YouTube video (35:02) of the Patrick Meadows Memorial Service in Spain:


All,

This is what I sent to my family and friends. Thought you might like it too. Hope you don't mind, Janise, but I quoted you briefly.

----

Here's the video of Patrick's memorial service as a YouTube link. The space was a challenge to shoot (very long and narrow), and you can sometimes hear donkeys braying in the background (how perfectly Mallorquin) but you should get a sense of the place and the sentiment. There may be some updates later but I can share it with you now, as is.  It's 35 minutes long.

https://youtu.be/F6R9VaBYbpI
Many thanks to Hannah for finding Mario and getting his help making this recording.

Special thanks to Suzy and Vera for playing. It would have been wrong to honor Patrick without music. As Suzy also points out in the video (in Spanish), Vera played music in Patrick's very first concerts, so it seems fitting that she should play in his last.
Also thanks to Mike, Francesca, Neil and Geoff for their lovely remarks that flow through the second part of the video, and to everyone else whose names I have sadly forgotten at the moment.
John [John Dillon]

---------------

No comments: