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Walter’s Violin
Tuddenhams - Artist,
Musician - and Bohemian
By R.P Tuddenham
Walter Edward TUDDENHAM was
born in 1859 at Cawston. Into a large and very respectable family of some
prosperity. I know very little of his early life other than that he may
have inherited the artistic gene of ancestor Robert (1713-1772), recorded
in the parish register as ‘musician’. He maintained a studio on Duke
Street, Norwich,
from where he taught music and the violin, describing himself as Professor
of Music. He contributed to the musical life of Norwich and also painted
as a hobby. Walter Edward and his contemporaries seem to have pre-empted
Sir Henry Wood with their own version of Promenade Concerts in Norwich. A
cutting (from a sadly, unidentified newspaper) contains a letter of
appreciation of Walter Tuddenham signed by H.D. ABBOT and dated 23 August
1921. This refers to his burial the day before and recalls ‘November
27th 1880 when, before a crammed hall the then sheriff (Dr. Eade)
introduced the new Norwich Orchestral Society, of which WalterTuddenham
was organiser and conductor, with Chas. J CAMPLING Hon. Secretary, and the
following committee, all of whom have also ‘passed over’ Donald GAUL,
Ernest SCOTT; HJ MILLS; FC.
BURTON; Fred H RAY; Frank
DARKEN; Cubitt IRELAND; and George GASTON (the Artillery Bandmaster).
In the letter Mr. Abbott
states that for the five years up to the last season (1881-2) he had
organized the programmes arranged for each Saturday night (October to
April) in St. Andrews Hall and that on occasions when a soloist was
required at short notice, ‘there was no need to send to London or the
Continent for a violinist The vast audiences went into raptures over their
own “citizen genius’ [Walter Tuddenham]. He
goes on to commend the
orchestra and the inspiration it drew from its ‘beloved conductor’
and concludes: ‘whatever he undertook Walter Tuddenham carried through
with loving thoroughness. Like many of his kind he did not get his deserts
as far as this world goes, but an unselfish generous nature like his must
surely have its reward in the next’.
Walter lived life to the full
both privately and professionally. I have a photograph of a painting of
his Paganini violin done by his son Oswald Charles Tuddenham/PEARCE, an
engraving of which adorns Walter’s headstone…………………………….
The article conclude with
details of Walter’s and Raymond’s family history.
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In earlier research notes
Raymond writes how Walter… “ On his way to becoming a well known
musical celebrity in
Norwich, traveled extensively
to Paris as the pupil of Professor James Oury, ……………
On his death, according to
the ‘Music Encyclopedia’ Paganini owned 22 valuable instruments including
7 Stradivari , 2 Amati and 4 Guarneri violins. He died in 1840, nineteen
years before our Walter was born in 1859. Walter did however have a
connection to Paganini through James Ouri. Could it be, that Walter was
enthralling his Norwich audiences by playing a Stradivari !
Violins are well known to be
extremely well cherished and cared for consequently they tend to outlive
several generations of performers As Walter died in 1921 only 87 years
ago, it is not beyond reason to suppose, that the instrument it is still
being played today.
It would be interesting to
find out.
Peter C Tuddenham
Western Australia
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