The Elgar Enigma series celebrates the 150th anniversary of Elgar's birth, the countryside that so inspired him and his first widely recognised work, Variations on an Original Theme, more commonly known as The Enigma Variations.
|
Variation III (Allegretto) R.B.T. was dedicated to Richard Baxter Townsend, an amateur actor and mimic, capable of extreme changes in the pitch of his voice, a characteristic which the music in the theme imitates.
|
Richard Baxter Townsend
|
Powick Hospital after demolition
|
This cache is not associated with RBT but Elgar's earlier musical career. The location of the cache is just outside the small village of Powick on a path which starts at the end of Hospital Lane. This was the location of the Worcester and County Lunatic Asylum in which Elgar had the job of bandmaster, conducting and composing in an early form of music therapy. The asylum itself was always ahead of its time: in later years it was the main centre in the UK for the theropeutic use of LSD. It closed in the 1980s and the area was converted into a housing estate, although one building was converted into offices (the one at the back of the picture) and another apartments.
|
In later life Elgar would often deflate sycophantic hangers-on with the words "When I was at the Lunatic Asylum..."
Parking is in the housing estate near one of the original buildings. Walk towards the cache down the road beside the old building and then follow the path.