12 hours ago
Find out who owned this gramophone on display at city museum
THIS gramophone is featured in the recently-opened Your Worcester exhibition at Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum.
It is an example of the beautiful HMV 157 (His Master's Voice), manufactured between 1927 and 1939, made of oak with a wind-up turntable.
Its large swan neck tone-arm picks up information from the record via the needle and amplifies it through the horn-like soundbox in the body.
But this gramophone has a much greater association with music than simply being able to play records.
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It was once owned by Sir Edward Elgar and given as a gift to the family that inspired one of his greatest works.
The Pomp and Circumstance Marches are quite possibly his most recognisable works, well known as the melody for Land of Hope and Glory and used to evoke patriotism and national pride.
The Enigma Variations led to his international fame. These incredible pieces captured the raw emotions he felt towards friends and places. They demonstrate Elgar's great gift of encapsulating human feelings in music.
Enigma Variation VIII is dedicated to Winifred Norbury, of Worcester Philharmonic Society, and was inspired by both her and the beautiful house in which she lived with her sister Florence.
It was to Florence Norbury that Elgar gifted this gramophone and some of his records in 1931.
In 1942 the gramophone was re-gifted by Sir Edward's daughter Carice Elgar and ultimately donated to the Worcestershire County collection with supporting letters.
It remains an incredible link to the composer but also to friends and places he forever immortalised in music.
See Elgar's gramophone at Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum. Your Worcester is free to visit, open from 10am-4pm, Tuesday-Saturday, and 10am-3pm on Sunday.
It is closed on Mondays and bank holidays.
