The effervescent, witty and extremely music Victoria Wood has died of cancer at 62.
The mortal toll of 2016 is intolerable.
Victoria was outstandingly musical, often performing her own compositions.
She was a regular attender at symphony concerts and a totally civilised human being.
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I am devasted by this. As you say so well Norman, Victoria was the epitome of the civilised, intelligent and gifted professional in her work and so much outside of that. I had no idea she she was ill, and I wish I could have sent some form of message tosay how extraoridinary and beautiful she was, and how incredibly funny. What a great loss this is.
I simply want to echo what Norman and Delphine have said because there should surely be more than one tribute to this wonderfully talented woman. When people queue up to spear this or that conductor or soprano it’s a pity that there is no equivalent outpouring of appreciation for such a talented person and such a warm spirit.
Thank you Ian for this very kind comment, and I so agree – it is so relatively easy to support a positive statement and actually so much harder to be critical! I think that basically the vast majority of people working in the arts are doing it for the sake of communicating to other people. There are egos, of course, and sometimes it is important to be postively critical too. I’m invloved in teaching and assessment all the time, and over the years I have learned (sometimes the hard way) how essential it is to think kindly of the other person in such a situation; no criticism should hurt, it should always be put out there in way that makes the move forward to something better clear, transparent and constructive. Polemic over!
…and I wanted add to that reply that Victoria Wood’s very special and rare gift as a perfomer and writer was that the essence of her comedy was gentle – without being soft or spiteful, but with a bite of perceptiveness and wry observation which underscored the humanity beneath it.
She was also Patron of the charity Jessie’s Fund, which places musicians in children’s hospices – she was wonderfully supportive of them, and here is their statement on her terribly sad and premature death: http://www.jessiesfund.co.uk/index.html
Thak you so much for giving us this information and the link, Ian. Victoria was a very, very special person and it is so good to have knowledge of other things with which she was involved .