A COUPLE of musical questions for you. Firstly, who was the ‘English Mozart’? Secondly, who was the ‘English Stradivari’
If you live in or around Chichester, you might know that the first was John Marsh (1752–1828), composer of more than 350 works, including 39 or 40 symphonies, astronomer, philosopher, geometer and diarist. In 2002, there was an anniversary exhibition, and presumably concerts, in Chichester, where he spent most of his career, but I first heard of him the other day, when a memorable piece was broadcast on Radio 3, and I suspect my ignorance is widely shared.
The second is a tantalisingly obscure figure, Daniel Parker. His labels are sometimes found, but not even his dates are known, although he was active from about 1700 to 1725 and was one…
