Flowers of the Seasons
Politics Power & Poverty
PROGRAMME
With grateful thanks to our funders
The National Lottery Heritage Fund – National Lottery players,
Hinrichsen Foundation and SCOPS Arts
and our partner Conway Hall Ethical Society
Music 1
Recordings by students from Harlow College and St Marks West Essex Catholic School
are interspersed throughout the programme.
Eliza Flower (1803 – 1846)
Hymns and Anthems “Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter” 1841
Text: The Corn Law Rhymer, Ebenezer Elliott (1781 – 1849)
Frances M Lynch
“TIME – Songs of the Months” 2023
Text from the frontispiece of Flower’s Songs of the Months
Eliza Flower (1803 – 1846)
Songs of the Months: March “Wind & Clouds” 1834
Text: Sarah Flower Adams (1805 – 1848)
Fanny Hensel (1805 – 1847)
“Frühlingslied” H255 1830
Text: Wilhelm Hensel (1794 – 1861)
Franz Schubert (1797 -1828)
“Die Sommernacht” D289 1815
Text: Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (1724 – 1803)
Eliza Flower (1803 – 1846)
Songs of the Months: August “The Harvests of Time” 1834
“The Gathering of the Unions – March & Song” 1832
Texts: Harriet Martineau (1802 – 1876)
“The Day-Labourer’s Song” 1846
“The Barons Bold, On Runnymede” 1832
Texts: William J. Fox (1786 – 1864)
“Norman the Forester’s Song” 1831
from Musical Illustrations of the Waverley Novels
Text: Sir Walter Scott (1771 – 1832) from “Bride of Lammermoor”
Fanny Hensel (1805 – 1847)
“Im Herbst” H407 1844
Text: Joseph von Eichendorff (1788 – 1857 )
Franz Schubert (1797 -1828)
“Winterlied” D 401 1816
Text: Ludwig Hölty (1748 – 1776)
Eliza Flower (1803 – 1846)
Hymns and Anthems “O Lovely Voices Of The Sky” 1841
Text: Felicia Hemans (1793 – 1835)
“Rose Bradwardine’s Song—St Swithin’s Chair” 1831
from Musical Illustrations of the Waverley Novels
Text: Sir Walter Scott (1771 – 1832) from “Waverley”
INTERVAL
Music 2
Frances M Lynch
“TIME – Songs of the Months” 2023
Text from the frontispiece of Flower’s Songs of the Months
Eliza Flower (1803 – 1846)
Free Trade Songs of the Seasons 1845
Text: Sarah Flower Adams (1805 – 1848)
“Spring – The Descent of the Lark”
“Summer – Song of the Brook”
“Autumn – Harvest Home”
“Winter – Promise”
Seasons of Change 2023
Frances M Lynch
“Spring – Rachel”
Anna Appleby
“Summer – Future Dream”
Lilly Vadaneaux
“Autumn – A Day in Autumn”
Text: R.S. Thomas © Elodie Thomas
Amanda Johnson
“Winter – Has the End Begun?”
Text: Hattie Johnson
Eliza Flower (1803 – 1846)
“Sleep, Heart of Mine” (L.E.L’s Song) 1839
Text: Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802 – 1838)
Hymns and Anthems “Nearer My God To Thee” 1841
Text: Sarah Flower Adams (1805 – 1848)
Download the Song Texts on the link below
Flowers of the Seasons Song Texts
Scores of some of Eliza Flower’s Music will become available on this site over the next few months – subscribe to our newsletter for notification.
You can see and purchase all of Fanny Mendelssohn’s songs on the wonderful Hensel Songs Online site created by Tim Parker-Langston.
THE FLOWER TEAM
Frances M Lynch – Artistic Director, Soprano, Composer
Laurence Panter – Pianist, Tenor
Oskar Jensen – Historian, Singer
Lauren Lister – BSL Interpreter
Bryony Witt-Davies – Sarah Flower Adams & Ghost
Herbie Clarke – Sound Production & Marketing Manager
Miranda Melville – Design Production & Stage Manager
Elizabeth Dawson – Costume Design
Elspeth Manders – Artist
With special guests:
De Merc Chamber Choir conducted by Janette Ruocco
Recorded voices of students from Harlow College and St Marks West Essex Catholic School, Harlow.
With thanks to our Trustees, Volunteers and Patrons – Judith Weir (Master of the King’s Music) and Prof. Uta Frith (Fellow of the Royal Society)
THE FLOWER COMPOSERS
SPRING
Frances M Lynch writes for choirs, music theatre, art exhibitions, plays, instrumental ensembles and electronics. Some of her scientific works have been played on BBC Radio 3, including Superposition of State (quantum physics), Virus in Molecular Mode and “Minerva Mathematica”. Collaborations with visual artists include “Miss Amy-Lloyd Folding“ (2023) commissioned by Serpell Lab (Alzheimers’ research) University of Sussex and Firmament which has 4,700 Youtube hits. She has written for Historic Environment Scotland, Great Tapestry of Scotland, The London Gaelic Choir, Barefoot Opera, Science Museum and more. Her stage work “Scottish Superwomen of Science” won 5 star reviews at Edinburgh Fringe.
SUMMER
Anna Appleby (born in Newcastle upon Tyne) is a Manchester-based composer and songwriter. Her classical work has been performed all over the world and she continues to compose spiritual, hard-hitting, melodic and rhythmically-driven work for orchestras, opera companies, choreographers, contemporary music ensembles, soloists and choirs. She also has an experimental electronic music alter-ego called Norrisette. Recent premieres include an opera, Drought, for the BBC Philharmonic, an award-winning collaborative youth opera for Glyndebourne, Pay the Piper.
AUTUMN
Lilly Vadaneaux is a composer, pianist and choral singer currently studying Music at Clare College, Cambridge. She attended Junior Guildhall from 2011 to 2021, where she studied composition with Paul Whitmarsh and Jeffery Wilson. She has also received mentoring from composer Roxanna Panufnik. Lilly was a winner of the NCEM Young Composers Award in 2013 and 2018 and the CASS Saxophone Composition Prize in 2016. She was also highly commended in the 2016 and 2019 BBC Young Composer Competition. Lilly has been commissioned to write new works for the West Wicklow Festival (2019) and the Opera Cameratina Festival (2022).
WINTER
Amanda Johnson is a composer and violinist based in Sheffield with an MA in performance. She composes music which explores the themes of migration, identity and freedom, combining recorded sound with instruments and voices. She recently worked with The National Trust, Sage Gateshead and Britten Pears Arts and her music has been performed at venues including the Glasgow Centre for Contemporary Art, Wentworth Woodhouse and The National Media Museum. It has featured in radio broadcasts in the UK, USA and Switzerland and collected into three public collections. In 2017 she received the Francis Chagrin award and a Finzi Scholarship in 2019.
