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Northgate Hall

2025-01-15T16:07:23Z

192.76.8.80:

{{Short description|Former church in Oxford, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Location map |Oxford (central) |label= |position=right |label_size=120 |mark=Blue pog.svg |marksize=12 |lat=51.7535 |long=-1.2594 |width=280 |float=right |caption=Location of Northgate Hall within central Oxford }}

[[File:Northgate Hall, St Michael's Street, Oxford.jpg|thumb|The Northgate Hall in 2022]]

The '''Northgate Hall''' is the home of Oxford Presbyterian Church.<ref>[https://www.oxfordpres.co.uk/ Oxford Pres website]</ref> Situated at the 18 [[St Michael's Street]], [[Oxford]], [[England]], the building is owned by Oxford City Council.

It was built in 1870–71 as a [[United Methodist Free Churches|United Methodist Free Church]] chapel and schools to the designs of [[J. C. Curtis]]. Until the twentieth century it was described as being in [[New Inn Hall Street]], as what is now St Michael's Street was then known as New Inn Hall Street East. It is a Grade II Listed Building.<ref>[https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1369447 Historic England List Entry 1369447]</ref>

==History of use==
The following report in ''Jackson's Oxford Journal'' of 15 October 1870 describes the new building:
<blockquote>METHODIST FREE CHURCH, NEW INN HALL STREET [now St Michael's Street].
The congregation at present assembling in the Old Quaker's Chapel have a new Chapel in course of erection in New Inn Hall-street. The site is on that portion of the old city walls whereon stables were lately built, and in digging for the foundation the workmen came upon one of the bastions in a state of perfect preservation, but part of it had to be removed for the new erection. The building will be in the Grecian Doric style of architecture, from the designs of Mr. J. C. Curtis, Mr. Dover being entrusted with the contract. It is to be 52 feet in length and 48 feet in breadth, comprising two storeys, on the basement being the schools, and above the chapel, with the chapel-keeper's residence and other necessary offices. The chapel will accommodate about 500 people, and the contractor anticipates finishing the work before March next, although we believe the stipulated time is the last day in January. The site is held on a lease from the Corporation for 75 years, and the total cost, inclusive of the lease, is estimated at £1500.
</blockquote>

It was renamed the Northgate Hall in the late 1920s. Following [[Methodist Union]] in 1932 the building was no longer needed by the Methodists as the [[Wesley Memorial Church, Oxford|Wesley Memorial Church]] was only about 100 m away. In 1933, it was purchased by five Brethren men, led by Montague Goodman. In 1934, the [[Oxford Inter-Collegiate Christian Union]] (OICCU) began meeting in the basement for daily prayer meetings, before Goodman gave the Hall to OICCU in 1948. After this, it was held in trust for OICCU and administered by the OICCU Standing Committee, made up of former Presidents and local church leaders. Financial constraints and the increasing cost of repairs forced OICCU to leave the Hall in the summer of 1989.

In 1991 Sir Ian McKellen opened the Oxford Lesbian and Gay Community Centre at the Northgate Hall, and it remained here until 2004. Also from 1991 it was the home of the Gatehouse, a drop-in centre for homeless people set up by churches in the centre of Oxford. In 2001, it suffered damage from a fire.<ref>[http://www.oxfordstudent.com/mt2001wk0/news/northgate_fire Northgate Fire] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081204131410/http://www.oxfordstudent.com/mt2001wk0/news/northgate_fire |date=2008-12-04 }}, ''[[The Oxford Student]]'', Michaelmas Term, 2001.</ref>

The Gatehouse remained in part of the building, but in January 2011 the City Council issued a statement that they were giving it notice to move out, <ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-12182029 "Oxford homeless cafe set to close", BBC News website]</ref> citing financial pressures and the fact that the building was underoccupied as users of other parts of the building had left.<ref>[http://www.oxford.gov.uk/PageRender/decN/FutureofTheGatehouse.news "Future of the Gatehouse", Oxford City Council]</ref> Gatehouse moved to new premises in 2012.<ref>[https://oxfordgatehouse.org/about-us/ Oxford Gatehouse website]</ref>

From 2013 to 2020 the former hall was occupied by the Bill's Oxford restaurant.

The lease of the whole building was sold in 2022, and in November that year a planning application was approved for change of use from a restaurant back to its original function as a chapel and church hall.<ref>[https://public.oxford.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=RHKN2EMFMET00 Oxford City Council Planning Application 22/02144/LBC]</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2022-11-17 |title=Oxford's North Gate Hall to be renovated back into a church |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-63650367 |access-date=2023-11-13}}</ref> It is now the home of Oxford Presbyterian Church, a congregation of the [[Evangelical Presbyterian Church in England and Wales]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=North Gate Hall |url=https://www.oxfordpres.co.uk/north-gate-hall-project/ |access-date=2023-11-13 |website=Oxford Presbyterian Church |language=en-US}}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{coord |51.7535|-1.2594|type:landmark_region:GB-OXF|display=title}}

[[Category:Grade II listed buildings in Oxford]]
[[Category:Former churches in Oxford]]
[[Category:Former Methodist churches in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Methodist churches in Oxfordshire]]
[[Category:Presbyterian churches in England]]

Organ Sonata (Elgar)

2024-10-25T23:21:49Z

192.76.8.80: /* Structure */ Typo!

{{Short description|Sonata by Edward Elgar}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{more citations needed|date=May 2012}}
[[Image:Worcester Cathedral Organ.jpg|thumb|right|250px| The Worcester Cathedral organ for which the Sonata was written]]The '''Sonata in G major''', Op. 28 is [[Edward Elgar]]'s only [[sonata]] composed for the [[organ (music)|organ]] and was first performed on 8 July 1895. It also exists in arrangements for full [[orchestra]] made after Elgar's death.

The first movement of the Sonata was played at the [[funeral of Queen Elizabeth II]].

==Structure==
The genesis of the work was a request to Elgar to write an organ voluntary for a convention of American organists in the English city of [[Worcester, England|Worcester]] in 1895. Instead, Elgar decided on a four movement sonata of nearly half an hour's length.<ref name=Moore>{{cite book |last=Moore |first=Jerrold Northrop |author-link=Jerrold Northrop Moore |date=1984 |title=Edward Elgar: A Creative Life |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=188–195 |isbn=0-19-315447-1}}</ref>

The four movements are:

:I. Allegro maestoso
:II. Allegretto
:III. Andante espressivo
:IV. Presto (comodo)

The opening theme resembles the beginning of Elgar's ''[[The Black Knight (Elgar)|The Black Knight]]'', a [[cantata]] completed two years earlier and gaining acceptance when Elgar began work on the organ sonata.<ref name=Moore/> The outer movements follow the classic [[sonata form]]; the inner movements are in three-part A-B-A form. [[Michael Kennedy (music critic)|Michael Kennedy]] observes that to play the finale successfully, the organist needs to be a mental and physical athlete.<ref name=Kennedy>{{cite book |last=Kennedy |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Kennedy (music critic) |date=1987 |title= Portrait of Elgar |edition=Third |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=58, 342 |isbn=0-19-284017-7}}</ref>

Elgar wrote, "one week's work", in the score inscription, but that measures only the final constructive push. He had worked on the piece off and on for nearly three months. Biographer [[Jerrold Northrop Moore|Jerrold Moore]] notes that Elgar depended, in order to complete a work, on the stimulation of an imminent deadline. This was the first time, but not the last, that Elgar cut it so close that there was insufficient time for rehearsal.<ref name=Moore/> It was first performed by the [[Worcester Cathedral]] organist, [[Hugh Blair (composer)|Hugh Blair]], on 8 July 1895.<ref name=Kennedy/>

The work was dedicated to Elgar's friend and fellow-musician [[Charles Swinnerton Heap]] (1847-1900).<ref name=Kennedy/>

==Orchestration==
In the 1940s, following Elgar's death in 1934, the publishers decided that an orchestration of the sonata should be commissioned, and having consulted the composer's daughter and the conductor [[Adrian Boult|Sir Adrian Boult]], they entrusted the job to [[Gordon Jacob]]. The orchestrated sonata was performed in 1946 (by the [[BBC Symphony Orchestra]] and Boult). It was neglected for decades thereafter, being revived only in 1988 in a recording by the [[Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra]] conducted by [[Vernon Handley]], made in the [[Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool]] in 1988 for [[EMI]]. The notes to that recording aver that "due to Jacob's sympathetic scoring the version may be described as Elgar's Symphony No 0". In 2007 a second recording of the orchestrated sonata was issued by [[Chandos Records]], with the [[BBC National Orchestra of Wales]] conducted by [[Richard Hickox]].

==Recordings==
The Organ Sonata in its original form has been recorded by, among others, [[Jennifer Bate]], [[Christopher Bowers-Broadbent]], [[Carlo Curley]], [[Harold Darke]], Gareth Green, [[Christopher Herrick]], Donald Hunt,<ref group=notes>on the organ of Worcester Cathedral, for which it was originally written</ref> [[Nicolas Kynaston]], [[James Lancelot]], [[Thomas Murray (organist)|Thomas Murray]], [[Simon Preston]], [[Wolfgang Rübsam]], [[Arturo Sacchetti]], [[John Scott (organist)|John Scott]], [[Herbert Sumsion]], [[Robert Quinney]] and [[Thomas Trotter (musician)|Thomas Trotter]].

=="2nd Organ Sonata"==
A sonata for organ was arranged by [[Ivor Atkins]] from Elgar's ''[[Severn Suite]]'', written as a test piece for a 1930 brass band competition.

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=notes}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*Notes to Bayer CD BR-100049 (recording by Wolfgang Rübsam) and EMI EMI CD-EMX 2148 (orchestral version).
*[http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/details/67363.asp Hyperion recording notes]

==External links==
*{{IMSLP|work=Organ Sonata, Op.28 (Elgar, Edward)|cname=Organ Sonata}}

{{Edward Elgar}}
{{Portalbar|Classical Music}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Compositions by Edward Elgar]]
[[Category:1895 compositions]]
[[Category:Organ sonatas|Elgar]]
[[Category:Compositions in G major]]