Paul Lewis

Seaford Snapshots

This suite of six movements was commissioned by Brian Spiby to celebrate his adoptive home town of Seaford on the Sussex coast and its fascinating history. It is written for Horn and String Quartet with optional Double Bass and depicts various aspects of Seaford.
A full score and all parts are included.

Splash Point In mediaeval times Seaford was one of the most prosperous ports on the South Coast of England with a long history of attacks by the French. Horn calls echoing from ship to shore open the movement and are followed by a rousing melody in sea shanty-style symbolising the spirit of old Seaford.
The Seven Sisters Seven gentle hills slope down to white cliffs as the South Downs meet the sea. Magnificent and moody, these sentinels have guarded the entrance to the Cuckmere River for millennia and now try vainly to protect the fragile edges of our coastline, not from the French, but from the English Channel.
Corsica Hall Built in 1832 from the proceeds of imported Corsican wine, this was the residence of the local MP John Fitzgerald. Over the decades it saw many grand assemblies attended by the great and the good of Seaford, when writers, poets and politicians danced among the columns in the elegant panelled ballroom.
The Esplanade The 1920s and 30s saw Seaford in its heyday with the doubling of the railway line, the increase in the number of schools and its reputation for fresh air! A golf course encouraged an increase in the number of fashionable hotels, dance halls and roller skating rinks, all lending themselves to that very Edwardian habit: promenading.
The Beach Huts In 2018 Seaford re-created some of the atmosphere of the 50s and 60s with its new beach huts, so reminiscent of those candy-floss, kiss me-quick, Donald McGill saucy postcards days.
The Buckle In 1545 the French launched the last seaborne attack on Seaford but were roundly defeated when Sir Nicholas Pelham, (emblem a buckle) did, to quote his epitaph, "repell them back aboord." This love-hate relationship with the French has, thankfully, stabilised over the centuries and the entente is now generally cordiale, only one traditional enemy remaining - the sea.
Duration 18 minutes