37180
A sculpture of a young Mozart in Parade Gardens, Bath, Somerset.
The sculpture was commissioned by the City of Bath under the terms of the Purnell Trust to copy the huge Salzsburg statue but eventually scaled down. The sculptor was David Backhouse and unveiled in 1991. Mrs Purnell made a death-bed wish that the statue would commemmorate her music loving son. She died three months before coming to live in Bath. Opening ceremony was attended by Yehudi Menuin (Trustee of Festival) and MP Chris Patten.
The Bath Mozartfest is an annual classical music festival founded in 1991 by a generous bequest from a local resident. It now regularly attracts top international artists to perform the works of W A Mozart and related composers to capacity audiences. It is renowned for excellence and quality and receives the highest critical acclaim from both local and national media. Orchestral, choral and chamber concerts are performed in the Assembly Rooms, Guildhall, Bath Abbey and the Forum.
The Parade Gardens were originally an orchard belonging to the Abbey, the Parade Gardens were first named ‘St James’ Triangle’ when they became the formally designed gardens by architect John Wood the Elder in 1737. The area was a place for the society of Bath to promenade after a visit to the nearby Harrison’s Assembly Rooms, which overlooked the Gardens and riverside path known as ‘Harrison’s Walk’. The Harrison's Assembly building was destroyed by fire in 1820, and the Assembly Rooms we know today were built on the northern slopes of the city near to the Kings Circus.
The Parade Gardens today are still laid out in much the same style as they were in Georgian times. John Wood, famous for his architectural works in Bath such as The Royal Crescent and Queen Square, also designed the houses adjacent to the Parade Gardens in North Parade. Famous residents included Admiral Lord Nelson, William Wilberforce and poet William Wordsworth.
Many commemorative plaques and statues can be seen in the Parade Gardens and include the original ‘Angel of Peace’ sculpted by Trent, dedicated to Edward VII’s acts of diplomacy in Europe. Copies of this statue can be found in parks and gardens all over the UK. Tuscan style columns are incorporated into the surrounding colonnades, salvaged at the end of the 1800's from a house in the nearby Orange Grove, occupied by the Prince of Orange in 1734. The Orrery, a form of sundial was presented to the city and erected on the dolphin pedestal in 1916. Partially hidden treasures include remains of the foundations of the medieval Monks Mill and until recently, an overgrown area covering a Victorian Pets Cemetery. Work was carried out over the winter of 2009/10 to clear and restore the Pets Cemetery area to its former glory.
The riverside path gives a truly spectacular viewing point of the famous Pulteney Bridge - a Palladian masterpiece c1760 designed by architect Robert Adam. Down river is the elegant North Parade Bridge, actually an iron bridge built in 1836, then encased in Bath stone a century later.
37180
A sculpture of a young Mozart in Parade Gardens, Bath, Somerset.
The sculpture was commissioned by the City of Bath under the terms of the Purnell Trust to copy the huge Salzsburg statue but eventually scaled down. The sculptor was David Backhouse and unveiled in 1991. Mrs Purnell made a death-bed wish that the statue would commemmorate her music loving son. She died three months before coming to live in Bath. Opening ceremony was attended by Yehudi Menuin (Trustee of Festival) and MP Chris Patten.
The Bath Mozartfest is an annual classical music festival founded in 1991 by a generous bequest from a local resident. It now regularly attracts top international artists to perform the works of W A Mozart and related composers to capacity audiences. It is renowned for excellence and quality and receives the highest critical acclaim from both local and national media. Orchestral, choral and chamber concerts are performed in the Assembly Rooms, Guildhall, Bath Abbey and the Forum.
The Parade Gardens were originally an orchard belonging to the Abbey, the Parade Gardens were first named ‘St James’ Triangle’ when they became the formally designed gardens by architect John Wood the Elder in 1737. The area was a place for the society of Bath to promenade after a visit to the nearby Harrison’s Assembly Rooms, which overlooked the Gardens and riverside path known as ‘Harrison’s Walk’. The Harrison's Assembly building was destroyed by fire in 1820, and the Assembly Rooms we know today were built on the northern slopes of the city near to the Kings Circus.
The Parade Gardens today are still laid out in much the same style as they were in Georgian times. John Wood, famous for his architectural works in Bath such as The Royal Crescent and Queen Square, also designed the houses adjacent to the Parade Gardens in North Parade. Famous residents included Admiral Lord Nelson, William Wilberforce and poet William Wordsworth.
Many commemorative plaques and statues can be seen in the Parade Gardens and include the original ‘Angel of Peace’ sculpted by Trent, dedicated to Edward VII’s acts of diplomacy in Europe. Copies of this statue can be found in parks and gardens all over the UK. Tuscan style columns are incorporated into the surrounding colonnades, salvaged at the end of the 1800's from a house in the nearby Orange Grove, occupied by the Prince of Orange in 1734. The Orrery, a form of sundial was presented to the city and erected on the dolphin pedestal in 1916. Partially hidden treasures include remains of the foundations of the medieval Monks Mill and until recently, an overgrown area covering a Victorian Pets Cemetery. Work was carried out over the winter of 2009/10 to clear and restore the Pets Cemetery area to its former glory.
The riverside path gives a truly spectacular viewing point of the famous Pulteney Bridge - a Palladian masterpiece c1760 designed by architect Robert Adam. Down river is the elegant North Parade Bridge, actually an iron bridge built in 1836, then encased in Bath stone a century later.