Samuel Wesley - Senior and Junior!
15th April 2022
The composer Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810-1875) has an interesting story. He was the grandson of the hymn writer Charles Wesley and the son of organist and composer Samuel Wesley (1766-1837) who was a great champion of JS Bach’s music at a time when it was unfashionable. Although he came from an illustrious line, there were challenges: His mother was in fact the housemaid and he grew up in the shadow of some family disapproval! His father Samuel was evidently an organist of great renown, referred to as the English Mozart, and he played to Mendelssohn at the end of his life. Samuel's compositional style was eclectic, with influences from the late Baroque era, Classicism and, later, early Romanticism.
Charles Wesley recalled, "He (Samuel) was full eight years old when Dr Boyce came to see us and accosted me with, 'Sir, I hear you have an English Mozart in your house'. I called Sam to answer for himself. He had by this time scrawled down his Oratorio of Ruth. The Doctor looked it over very carefully and seemed highly pleased with the performance. Some of his words were, 'These airs are some of the prettiest I have seen. This boy writes by nature as true a bass as I can do by rule and study'."
Samuel (Snr) married Charlotte Martin in 1793 after "a scandalous delay" and they produced 3 children but the marriage ended following the discovery of his affair with Sarah Suter, the kitchen maid. Although they never married, he remained with Sarah for the remainder of his life and had four more children, including Samuel Sebastian (born in 1810). If there was family disapproval over his domestic arrangements there was also concern about his conversion to Roman Catholicism. His hymn-writing father wrote:
"While ready and resolved is he to plunge into the dark abyss
And cast his soul away
That poison of the Romish sect
O let not his soul infect."
Despite the disadvantages, Samuel Sebastian (no doubt named after Bach) proved to be a very gifted choirboy (of the Chapel Royal) and musician and began his working life in the London theatres. He took the role of Cathedral Organist at Hereford (though he regretted it!) and later moved on to Exeter, Leeds and Winchester and began adding some avant garde works to the world of church music in which his chromaticism and theatrical style would have shocked many listeners. You will probably know a number of his well-loved hymn tunes as well as his anthems. He worked closely with Father Willis (the great organ builder) and is credited with some technical innovations in organ building. At a time when English church music was becoming staid and sterile, it seems that SS Wesley reinvigorated it with energy and mastery.
“Blessed be the God and Father” is of course, with its great tunes, dramatic recitatives and rumbustious finale, every chorister's favourite church anthem since it was written over 150 years ago! Listen out for it this Easter or, better still, come and listen to it in St Michael's Linlithgow when it will be accompanied on the Willis organ by Oxford organ scholar, Alastair Stone!
