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sduo.com/SCORES.htm Film & Sound by Tom Scott For more information about Jonathan Scott please visit: http://www.jonathanscott.co.uk ABOUT PETERLOO 1819 by Jonathan Scott I wrote PETERLOO 1819 in 2015 as a programmatic solo organ work which describes the events of the Peterloo Massacre on 16th August 1819. I first performed it in my lunchtime organ series at The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester UK on 4th March 2015. THE PETERLOO MASSACRE On August 16th 1819, a hot, cloudless summer day, a crowd of over 60,000 people from Lancashire gathered in St. Peter’s Fields, Manchester in a peaceful pro-democracy and anti-poverty demonstration. Less than 2% of the population had the vote and hunger was rife due to the corn laws which made bread unaffordable. The crowd consisted of men, women and children of all ages, the majority of whom had attended in their Sunday best and brought food for a summer day out. Magistrates called for the crowd to be dispersed and the cavalry charged into the crowd with their sabres drawn. It is estimated that 18 people were killed and over 700 were seriously injured. The event became known as the “Peterloo Massacre” in an ironic comparison to the Battle of Waterloo where many of the soldiers that day had also served. The cavalry and Magistrates were cleared of any wrong-doing by the official inquiry as it was ruled that their actions had been justified to disperse an illegal gathering. The true events of The Peterloo Massacre were only officially acknowledged in 2007 when a red plaque was unveiled in Manchester on the old Free Trade Hall on Peter Street, close to the site of the events of 16th August 1819. My own Great Uncle, Samuel Bamford (1788-1872), led the large group from Middleton and wrote a full eye-witness account of the day’s events in his autobiography 'Passages in the Life of a Radical'. For his part in the demonstration he was initially confined to Lancaster Castle on a charge of treason. This was eventually dropped and he was imprisoned for a year in Lincoln Jail for inciting a riot. A blue plaque in Middleton reads: “The Middleton contingent congregated here on Barrowfields and marched to St. Peter's Field in Manchester led by Sam Bamford. The meeting popularly known as the “Peterloo Massacre”, was in support of the vote for the working classes. 16 Middleton people were injured” ABOUT THE MUSIC The work depicts the initial peaceful gathering of the people marching from towns far and wide at first light and arriving in Manchester on a perfect summer day. I turned to Samuel Bamford’s account for the ensuing chaos of the cavalry charge: “…waving their sabres over their heads; and then, slackening rein, and striking spur into their steeds, they dashed forward and began cutting the people... In ten minutes from the commencement of the havoc the field was an open and almost deserted space. Several mounds of human beings still remained where they had fallen, crushed down and smothered. Some of these still groaning, others with staring eyes, were gasping for breath, and others would never breathe more.” The music ends not in defeat but rather the realisation that in time those who fought for democracy and freedom will be recognized. Bamford wrote the following lines during his imprisonment in Lancaster Castle: “The more the cruel tryrants bind us, the more united they shall find us!” A sentiment echoed by the poet Shelley in his poem about Peterloo “The Masque of Anarchy”: “Rise, like Lions after slumber In unvanquishable number! Shake your chains to earth like dew Which in sleep had fallen on you: Ye are many – they are few!” THE ORGAN OF ST. PAUL'S, ROYTON, LANCASHIRE UK Harrison & Harrison 1956 Rebuilt by Henry Willis & Sons 2015/16 SPECIFICATION PEDAL ORGAN Harmonic Sub-Bass 32 Open Wood 16 Open Metal 16 Bourdon 16 Octave Wood 8 Principal 8 Flute 8 Fifteenth 4 Harmonic Contra Trombone 32 Trombone 16 Choir to Ped. Great to Ped. Swell to Ped. CHOIR ORGAN (Enclosed) Viole d'Orchestre 8 Harmonic Flute 8 Concert Flute 4 Clarinet 8 Tromba 8 (From Great) Tremulant Octave Sub-Octave Swell to Choir GREAT ORGAN Double Open Diapason 16 Open Diapason I 8 Open Diapason II 8 Claribel Flute 8 Octave 4 Wald Flute 4 Octave Quint 22/3 Super Octave 2 Mixture 17.19.22 Tromba 8 Choir to Great Swell to Great Gt & Pedal Combs Coupld SWELL ORGAN (Enclosed) Open Diapason 8 Lieblich Gedeckt 8 Salicional 8 Voix Celestes [T.C.] 8 Gemshorn 4 Lieblich Flute 4 Mixture 15.19.22 Contra Fagotto 16 (with extra Top octave of Pipes) Trumpet 8 (with extra Top Octave of Pipes) Tremulant Octave Sub-Octave Unison Off Thumb piston 'Oboe 8' which draws: Contra Faggotto/Octave/Unison Off WIND PRESSURES Pedal, Great and Swell 3 ½ Inches Choir, 3 Inches Trombone and Tromba, 9 Inches