Who was William Ralph Driffill?
He was my grandfather, born in 1875 in Dunstable, Bedfordshire. The only son of William and Maria (nee Potter), has father owned a thriving plumbing business in Dunstable. He was a student at the Royal Academy of Music where he recieved various medals for his playing and composition. He then became organist for the parish church of Monken Hadley, Hertfordshire, where he also undertook to tutor private students, conucted choirs as well as composing and performing concerts throughout the south of England. He was often accompanied by his cousin Frederick Gostelow.
He married Kate Prior in 1908 and his eldest daughter was born in 1914.
He died suddenly in 1922 from pneumonia, 6 months before my mother was born. The family went into shocked, prolonged mourning and all his music was put away until my aunt died in 1998. My mother inherited the boxes but did nothing with them. I have them now, they include a lot of parlour songs as well as, church music and some unfinished manuscripts.
I had never heard any of his music until I found a recording by Jan Klaus Muller of his Toccata, and I have only just found some new pieces performed by Bardon Music. I would be really pleased to hear more of his compositions played, there do seem to be quite a few published scores out there as well as the ones I have. It is only down to the internet that I have been able to find out more about him, it is a shame that my mother did not live to hear his work but if more people played his pieces in public then his talents would become more well known. They may not all be great works but I think they deserve more promotion.