Gloucester Rhapsody

Composer Notes...Dedicated to Ronald Barnes, this composition is based on a tune in the aeolian mode for the chime of Gloucester Cathedral by Stephen Jeffries 1662-1712.

Gloucester is a city standing on the river Severn to the West of London. It boasts a fine Cathedral dating back to Norman times but at a later stage was given an update in the Gothic Perpendicular Style. It now has a huge east window, a Lady Chapel behind the east end, one of the most interesting organs in England and a chime of bells. The composition is in the style of a fantasia with a fugato section at its centre and ending with a flourish of notes with the theme in the bass. It was finished on May 5th 1989.