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The Ellesmere Polka

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were accomplished pianists and singers, and Felix Mendelssohn became their musical hero. They were very content to sit at a piano and play duets. Albert was an enthusiastic follower of Mendelssohn’s music and it was he who introduced the Queen to Felix’s works for piano and voice. The composer first met the Prince on 14 June 1842, hand delivering a letter from Albert’s cousin, Frederick William IV of Prussia. He was then invited to Buckingham Palace the following evening to meet the Queen. A contemporary eyewitness reports that the “royals were feeling quite nervous about meeting their musical hero, and Mendelssohn apparently felt the same way.” 

Victoria wrote this fascinating account of her first encounter with Mendelssohn in her journal for 16 June 1842, Buckingham Palace: “After dinner came Mendelssohn, whose acquaintance I was so anxious to make. Albert had already seen him the other morning. He is short, dark, & Jewish looking, delicate, with a fine intellectual forehead. I should say he must be about 35 or 6. He is very pleasing & modest.” 

Thereafter, he made several visits to Buckingham Palace in London where he and the royals struck up a close friendship based on their mutual love of music and the arts. In May 1847, she recalled: “We had the great treat of hearing Mendelssohn play. He stayed an hour with us, playing some new compositions, with that indescribably beautiful touch of his. I also sang 3 of his songs, which seemed to please him.” 

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visited Worsley 9-11 October 1851, and stayed with the Earl and Countess of Ellesmere at Worsley New Hall. They were accompanied by the Duke of Wellington, who was a close friend of the Earl. On both of the evenings the Earl entertained a small number of guests in honour of Her Majesty. As part of the celebration, a special piece of music was commissioned. Because of her great affection for German composers, Heinrich Blümer was invited to compose a piece, entitled The Ellesmere Polka. It would appear that it was played just the once and then disappeared into the borough’s archives. 

Curiously, his name does not feature in any list of German composers! 

In September 2012, the music was found and recorded by Dr. Robin Dewhurst, of the University of Salford, and was first played at an exhibition at MediaCityUK. 

The piece can be heard online by visiting: 

st-marks-graveyard.org/media, or st-marks-graveyard.org, where you will see 

the whole site, and look for Archive: Media. 

Written by 

Paul Speakman