R.I.P Ephraim Segerman
Long-standing members of NWEMF, especially those with a particular interest in instrument-making as well as those who attended the first NWEMF Summer Schools in Ambleside, are likely to have vivid memories of Eph. He was a member of the original Committee when NWEMF came into existence in November 1977; in preparing this article and filling gaps in my own knowledge of him, I noted with interest that, on Sunday 16 September 1974, he was the second non-native Briton to be featured in a four-part series on BBC1 entitled It Takes A Stranger in which ‘foreigners look at Britain’. Eph had come from New York (a graduate and doctoral graduate of Cornell University) to settle in NW England in 1964 where (the Radio Times article notes) he combined “his research work and his job as a university careers adviser with a passion for early English music. He sees the North West not only as the home of industry and of scientific research but also as a centre for art and music. He sets out to demonstrate how he combines his career and crafts in a way which would have been impossible in New York.”
He was an active member of FoMRHI (The Fellowship of Makers and Researchers of Historic Instruments), and the author of various books and articles, a number of these still available as a search on Google will testify. Readers who are instrumentalists, particularly string players living in or near Manchester, will have positive memories of buying instruments or accessories from NRI (Northern Renaissance Instruments), or going to Eph to have instruments repaired.
One of my clearest memories of Eph – and causes for gratitude to him – takes me back to the early days of NWEMF when I was simultaneously Secretary, Treasurer and Editor of the Newsletter: a few times a year I used to travel to Eph and Djilda’s house to use their electronic typewriter, and be surrounded by books, music and instruments – a most stimulating environment.
May you rest in peace, old friend…
Roger Wilkes
Published in April 2019 Newsletter
