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About

The catalyst for this years festival was brought about by a magnanimous gesture from the maker of the Wilfred Owen Violin and other instruments to donate these to the town of Owen's birth. In 2014 and as a poignant commemoration of the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, Edinburgh based instrument maker, Steve Burnett crafted a violin that resonates – not just with an exceptional warmth and depth of tone but with literary and historical associations that reach back over the century. Called the "Wilfred Owen Violin" and like Wilfred Owen’s poem, ‘Anthem for Domed Youth’, this instrument is Steve’s musical lament for all those who died in the Great War.

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It is a touching story that begins in 1917 when Wilfred Owen underwent treatment for shell-shock at Craiglockhart War Hospital in Edinburgh. Here he met Siegfried Sassoon, who became his literary mentor and encouraged the young poet to write. A century later, Steve used the branch of a sycamore tree growing in the grounds of this former hospital to create his violin. Was the tree there when Owen was recuperating? Yes. Did he sit under this tree as part of his rehabilitation? It would be nice to think so.

 

Owen’s most well-known poems were written following his time at Craiglockhart, when he felt compelled to speak out about the ‘Pity of War’ and the brutality faced by his men. It was another poem, however, composed in 1910, that was Steve’s inspiration for this project. â€‹â€‹â€‹â€‹â€‹â€‹â€‹â€‹â€‹The Edinburgh instrument-maker writes:

​"For some time I had in mind to make a violin/fiddle to honour the memory of Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon and their generation. Now is the most fitting time to realise this idea, with the approach of the centenary of the beginning of the Great War. Inside the violin are the words of Owen’s pre-war poem, ‘Written in a Wood, September 1910’. We have chosen a limb from a sycamore tree growing alongside a lovely copper beech tree at Craiglockhart and this will make this a poignant statement of the sacrifices of that generation.’

WRITTEN IN A WOOD, SEPTEMBER 1910

Full ninety autumns bath this ancient beech
Helped with its myriad leafy tongues to swell
The dirges of the deep-toned western gale,
And ninety times hath all its power of speech
Been stricken dumb, at sound of winter's yell,
Since Adonais, no more strong and hale,
Might have rejoiced to linger here and teach
His thoughts in sonnets to the listening dell;
Or glide in fancy through those leafy grots
And bird-pavilions hung with arras green,
To hear the sonnets of its minstrel choir.
Ah, ninety times again, when autumn rots
Shall birds and leaves be mute and all unseen,
Yet shall I see fair Keats, and hear his lyre.

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This branch came down at the end of January 2014 in a standard pruning operation, and six months later Steve was holding the finished violin. Part of what makes it special, therefore, is not only the fact that the host sycamore tree is still alive, but that, like ‘The Sherlock Violin’ and ‘Conan Doyle Quartet’ before it, Steve has crafted this instrument out of green, unseasoned wood. A remarkable undertaking. Only the combination of Steve’s pioneering expertise in this field, the use of Italian renaissance techniques and his considerable experience making stringed instruments made it possible for him to craft this wood while it still felt alive – a fact belied by the warmth of tone produced. The Wilfred Owen Violin has been created to give voice to this living wood and to commemorate the poet’s love of language for a new generation.

 

Steve has since added to this unique instrument by using the same wood to create a string quartet of instruments, The Siegfried Sassoon Violin, The Robert Graves Violin, The Rivers & Brock Cello (named after the two Doctors who looked after Owen at Craiglockart and the Maggie Mc Bean Viola (who nursed him there)

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Below, Steve Burnett tells his own story of the journey he and the The Wilfred Owen Violin & The Wilfred Owen String Quartet have taken since their conception.

An Envoy For Peace, Respect and Reconciliation through the Power of Music & A Voice of a Living Tree.
These instruments are unique, having been created from the limb of an old living Sycamore, that still grows in the wooded grounds of Craiglockhart, Edinburgh-the former World War I shellshock Hospital. They are made by Edinburgh based instrument maker and nature conservationist Steve Burnett, who is known for making instruments from the wood of trees with connections to historic figures in support of Nature Conservation and Humanitarian causes. They were made between 2014–2018 to mark the centenary of the outbreak, and Armistice of World War 1, in tribute to Wilfred Owen, and his lost generation. The instruments also commemorate the poets love of language, of the natural world, and music and alongside his poetry, highlight for a new generation, in the poets own words, “The Pity of War.”

In May 1917, Wilfred Owen having endured the horrors of trench warfare on the Western front, was diagnosed with shellshock, and in June 1917 sent for treatment to Craiglockhart War Hospital in Edinburgh. It was at Craiglockhart, that Owen famously met fellow officer and poet Siegfried Sassoon, who had also been sent for treatment to Craiglockhart in July 1917. Sassoon had narrowly escaped court martial for writing "A Soldier’s Declaration" - (a public statement condemning the prolongation of the war, that was read out in the House of Commons, which made headlines in newspapers worldwide), but thanks to the intervention of his fellow Poet officer, and friend Robert Graves, managed to convince the military authorities that Sassoon’s behaviour was a direct result of shellshock… Graves was ordered to escort by train Sassoon to Craiglockhart.

Wilfred Owen met Siegfried Sassoon at Craiglockhart for the first time around August 20th 1917, when Owen, the aspiring unknown poet introduced himself to his fellow renowned poet and published author Siegfried Sassoon, and a great literary friendship was forged. It was a pivotal meeting for both men ,and under Sassoon’s mentorship, during their short time together at Craiglockhart in Scotland, and in the final year of Owen’s short life, that Owen went onto write some of his greatest poems, including Dulce et Decorum Est, and Anthem For Doomed Youth. By the end of October 1917 Owen was declared fighting fit, and sadly, a year later was killed in action on the banks of Oise-Sambre Canal in Ors, France on the 4th November 1918-just a week before Armistice.

Today, and over a hundred years on, Craiglockhart is now owned and occupied by Napier University, and still surrounded by it’s beautiful leafy grounds .The building now also houses the “War Poets Collection “established and developed into its present form by the late Catherine Walker MBE ,its dedicated curator, who with her infinite passion and knowledge of the War Poets, and the history of Craiglockhart, established a lasting tribute  to the medical staff and former patients of Craiglockhart War Hospital .

Craiglockhart War Hospital.
In the late 1870’s, Craiglockhart Hydropathic Institute was built and established in Edinburgh. Between 1916-1918 the MOD commandeered the building and grounds, becoming Craiglockhart War Hospital for officers, in the treatment of shell shock, which had dramatically increased after the Battle of the Somme. It is estimated that around 1800 patients were treated in this time at Craiglockhart, which was an important hospital in its day, through the dedicated work of its medical staff and their pioneering treatment of shell shocked patients, especially the work of Dr WHR Rivers and Dr AJ Brock who treated Sassoon and Owen and through their therapies  helped lay down the foundations for modern day treatments of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and other conditions.
Unfortunately, not so much is documented about the nursing staff and their crucial work, other than Matron Maggie McBean, who was in charge of Craiglockhart for most of that time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

The Instruments
The Wilfred Owen instruments like the other historically inspired instruments by Steve Burnett are named after the important historical figures relating to the various tree and within the Wilfred Owen Violin is transcribed the beautiful poem by the 17 year old Wilfred Owen, "Written In A Wood, September 1910" which partly inspired the making of these instruments and echoes the important nature conservation dimension.

The three violins are named after the three war poets; Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon (both W.O & S.S violins are made of the same book-matched piece of the Craiglockhart sycamore limb cut through and opened up like a book, symbolising their literary bond and connection at Craiglockhart ) and the Robert Graves Violin being the important catalyst who brought them all together. The Viola is named after Maggie McBean, the Matron in charge of running Craiglockhart War Hospital and also in tribute to the countless, often overlooked Nurses/Nursing staff and Stretcher Bearers in both past and present conflicts; and finally the cello ,which has a back made from two jointed boards from the sycamore limb representing Dr William Rivers and Dr Arthur Brock.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

​        Steve Burnett at work on the Wilfred owen Violin in his Edinburgh workshop.


In 2017 BBC Radio 4 recorded for the first time the Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon Violins playing together, a duet arrangement of the famous WW1 Danny Boy tune to a UK wide audience marking the centenary of the poets Craiglockhart meeting.

In 2018, the violin was invited to Oswestry to be part of the first Wilfred Owen Festival in 2018 by the event founder and organiser Chris Woods. The violin also appeared with various musicians at a number of public events and schools during the four years often introducing for the first time school children to the War Poets with the violin adding a musical dimension to the Wilfred Owen Poems. This now seems very poignant with Wilfred Owen now removed from the national school syllabus !

The violin collaborated with various artists and was played and endorsed by a number of violinists, musicians and composers during this period, including violinists Nigel Kennedy, Maxim Vengerov, Scottish Fiddler Thoren Ferguson, Danny Safford, and the young multi- award winning composer/musician Viktor Seifert, and Scottish Soprano Natasha Day, who performed at a number of events a musical arrangement of Owen’s poem "Written In A Wood, September 1910."

Also in 2018 The Wilfred Owen Violin was invited to Ors, France with Thoren Ferguson to play at Wilfred Owen’s graveside on the centenary of his untimely death, attended by an international audience.

The Wilfred Owen String Quartet was finally fully completed in November 2018 and played for the first time at the Craiglockhart on the centenary of WW1 Armistice, performing a String Quartet piece composed by Scottish composer Ken Dempster in a commissioned play by Playwright / Theatre director Anna Furse, called “ Shocks”.

It is now 2024, and ten years on from the outbreak of WW1’s centenary,  the world is still plagued with war and  conflict, but it seems fitting that a living tree’s envoy of peace as musical instruments have found a new and permanent home in Oswestry, Shropshire - the birth town of Wilfred Owen where the instruments will now form a musical fulcrum and dimension to “The Wilfred Owen Festival”, founded by Chris Woods and taking place in Oswestry on an annual basis, promoting the Poetry of Wilfred Owen and endorsing World Peace, Respect and Reconciliation! The festival will also link Ors, Oswestry and Edinburgh through the Poetry of Wilfred Owen, and a living tree.

 

And in the words of 18th century German writer/poet, Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe:
"Musik fangt dort an, wo die Worte enden"   "Music begins where the words end"

On May 24th 1914 Wilfred Owen wrote to his mother Susan Owen :

“Music? If only I dare say Yes! I certainly believe l could make a better musician than many who profess to be, and are accepted as such. I love music, violin first, piano next, with such strength that l have to conceal the passion for fear it may be thought weakness.
My temperament l have now no right to doubt. That I believe infallible; though it remains to know which, if any, music, painting, sculpture, or verse is the most possible.”

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Finished on the centenary of the outbreak of WW1, The Wilfred Owen Violin gained a lot of media coverage throughout the commemoration period, including a BBC Radio Scotland programme,” The Sycamore Sings “. It went on to being invited to take part in a number of the key WW1 commemorative ceremonies and events around the UK including being invited to take part in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of "The Christmas Truce" in Stratford on Christmas Eve 2014. In 2015 the violin collaborated in many events around Scotland and in 2016 took part along with Scottish Fiddler Thoren Ferguson in The Somme commemorations in London.

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