Wagner lovers have Bayreuth and Leipzig. Britten worshippers have the Red House in Aldeburgh.
And now, fans of Ralph Vaughan Williams--with Elgar, the most venerated English composer pre-Britten and post-Purcell--have their own shrine to visit.
The U.K.'s National Trust has finally opened Leith Hill Place, the Surrey home where RVW (as he is affectionately known to his admirers) was born.
It's a temporary opening, until November 3, as a trial.
A pair of concerts will be held in August (21) and September (14). The first will feature the violinist Jessica Coleman and pianist Alison Rhind (to include perennial RVW top of the pops The Lark Ascending); the second will hear the pianist Rebecca Omordia (with various pieces including the Fantasia on 'Greensleeves').
Leith Hill Place has been closed for several years, so National Trust officials are warning visitors not to expect anything like peak condition.
Calls for the house to be used for musical purposes have long gone unheeded. Until 2008, it had spent more than 35 years as accommodations for Hurtwood House School. And rumored plans for Leith Hill to be sold on long lease drew an angry response from Vaughan Williams's closest living relatives in The Times newspaper of 2012.
For full details, do visit the National Trust's website: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/leith-hill.
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