A once held view was that England was a land without music. If so it was a Gloucester man who led the renaissance in the nineteenth century.

Sir Hubert Parry (1848-1918) whose home was Highnam Court near Gloucester, the pivotal figure in the nineteenth Century renaissance of music in England, established his reputation with the choral ode “Blest Pair of Sirens” in 1887 and is known internationally for his setting of “Jerusalem”.

As director of the Royal College of Music, Parry influenced a whole generation of composers, including a surprising number of great men born in Gloucestershire. Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) at Down Ampney; Gustav Holst (1874-1934) at Cheltenham; Ivor Gurney (1890-1937) at Gloucester and Herbert Howells (1892-1983) at Lyndey.

An earlier musical force (but one which continues to this day) is the Three Choirs Festival, which draws music lovers annually, and in turn, every summer to Gloucester, Hereford and Worcester.

And the tradition continues : Gloucestershire, and inspiration in music.