‘The Fire and the Hammer was a powerful introduction to what is surely the founding document of The Religious Society of Friends.’
Keeping score: David & Joolz Saunders remember a dramatic musical composition
‘Here we could experience for ourselves the sheer power of Fox’s journey.’
As this George Fox anniversary year gets underway, those of us of a musical mind might find ourselves recalling a musical composition based on Fox’s life. It was called The Fire and the Hammer, and is a cantata with words by Alec Davison and music by Tony Biggin (readers might remembver them as the co-creators of The Gates of Greenham and Cry of the Earth).
Quakers and music have had an awkward relationship because of early Friends’ attitude towards the arts. Solomon Eccles set fire to his ‘virginals, fiddles and all’, and Fox himself was ‘moved to cry also against all sorts of music… [for it] burdened the pure life, and stirred people’s minds to vanity.’ But in Quaker faith & practice 21.30 we see Elizabeth Fry ‘regret that we as a Society so wholly give up delighting the ear by sound.’ The Fire and the Hammer helped change all that, building on the legacy of Alec and Tony’s memorable work with the Quaker Youth Theatre, whose performances enriched so many Yearly Meetings and Summer Gatherings.
A cantata, as opposed to a sonata, is a piece of music that is intended to be sung. The Fire and the Hammer started life as a Quaker Youth Theatre touring production, but was then developed for concert performance. In its latter form it was first given at Bradford Summer Gathering in 1991, then in Worcester and Birmingham in 1982/3, and, under John Sheldon’s direction, in the USA in the 1990s at: Pendle Hill, Pennsylvania; New England Yearly Meeting Sessions; and at the Summer Gathering of Friends General Conference. We believe it deserves resurrection in this special year.
The Fire and the Hammer brings to life the key events, and troubled journey to faith, of the young George Fox. The words are taken from Fox’s Journal, and are spoken in the first person by a narrator – and sung in the cantata by a tenor soloist, with an accompanying chorus and an instrumental quartet.
Many elements stand out in our memories of the live performances, but perhaps the most powerful was the amazing way in which Barry Wilsher, a professional actor with BBC credentials, brought Fox’s words so vividly and dramatically to life. Wilsher had diligently researched the local accent of Fox’s home area, and so his performance was a true incarnation if ever there was one.
In the piece we hear Fox despairing in his search for spiritual light (a section named ‘Breaking Out’), but later the sheer ecstasy of ‘My Heart did Leap for Joy’, where Fox hears a voice saying: ‘There is one, there is one Christ Jesus who can speak to your condition.’ Meanwhile, Tony Biggin’s music rises to the occasion of the words. The tenor soloist, Gordon Pullin, took the challenging music in his stride, singing with elegance, power and conviction in both performance and recording. There is also a spoken part for Margaret Fell, that integral early Friend, which was brought vividly to life by Jill Wilsher. A recording was made in a Birmingham studio and issued by The Leaveners in cassette form.
The Fire and the Hammer was a powerful introduction to what is surely the founding document of The Religious Society of Friends. The cantata is arranged in sixteen musical sections, which are interspersed with the readings in the first person, in which Fox describes his outward journey through England and also his inner spiritual journey towards faith. For many of us this was our closest encounter with the text of Fox’s Journal. Yes, we knew extracts and key phrases through Quaker faith & practice, but here we could experience for ourselves the sheer power – the agony, but eventually the ecstasy – of Fox’s journey to faith. Reading the original Journal can be challenging, but Alec Davison’s selections give listeners all the essential parts. These demonstrate the sheer power of Fox’s vision in ‘I See a Mighty People’, but also his tender, loving, touching, human side in ‘Dear Heart’. We get Fox in travail, too, in ‘Miserable Comforter’, and the shining conviction of ‘The Seed Reigns’. Then comes the striking sound picture of ‘Travelling.’ The words come over with power and authenticity. The music is a rich kaleidoscope of memorable tunes, strong rhythms, achingly-beautiful solos, rich harmonies and stirring choruses.
‘For the audience it is a stirring experience’, said the Times Educational Supplement. ‘Few of us have heard children sing like this before, absolutely in tune with their own kind of music’. The Gramophone agreed: ‘a thoroughly wholesome piece of inspirational listening.’
It’s invidious to try to identify the best bits, but surely there’s no finer poetic or musical vision of a Quaker Meeting for Worship than: ‘Wait in the Light.’ This section, fortunately, found another life in a subsequent Leaveners’ publication, Sing in the Spirit (number 113). Sadly that songbook, like the cassette, is no longer available to purchase, but may well be lurking in Meeting house libraries and Quaker homes all over the country.
For those of us fortunate enough to have participated in performances and/or the recording, it was a joyful coming together of our precious Quaker spiritual heritage, and with singable, tuneful music.
We hope this article will have whetted your appetite to hear The Fire and the Hammer. The score is available as an ebook or in paper copy, at www.lulu.com/spotlight/tonybiggin. The problem is how to access a copy of the 1993 Birmingham recording. Sadly this is no longer available for sale. It may be, however, that your Meeting house has a copy tucked away somewhere. The cassette has a vivid cover by the artist David Barlow, who depicted George Fox dictating the text of the Journal to Thomas Lower, in Worcester gaol (see above). Sadly the cassette was never re-issued in CD form, which would be ideal for accessing particular sections. Hopefully, some of you still have cassette players, which might then bring the tape back to life.
So start looking, Friends, for this lost treasure – for that is what it truly is, Fox’s Journal brought memorably to life. In this 400th anniversary year, perhaps Meetings might gather together to listen to this rich, powerful evocation of Fox’s spiritual journey. It will remind us twenty-first century Quakers where we came from, and what brought the Religious Society of Friends into being.
David & Joolz have copies of the cassette, and the Friend is in touch to find out whether we can help make it available more widely.
