Romeo Cascarino

Bill says: “We have a local hero in William Penn. He lived in a house on this site and a plaque to him was unveiled in 1951. We know the name but we don’t know the man and his times.”

Bill put his birthday present, a new computer, to good use researching the Penn connection. “I got hooked on the subject,” says Bill. “I was Googling and there were more than one million entries on Penn. There’s a Penn school in Sussex, the Pennsylvania pub and Penn Heights, both in Rickmansworth.

“I’m just discovering how much there is about this chap. It’s amazing how things have come my way.” Among the fruits of his internet research, Bill discovered an opera entitled William Penn, which was created by the late American composer Romeo Cascarino in 1982 for the 300th anniversary of Penn’s arrival in what would become Pennsylvania. In October 1682, Penn arrived in New Castle and named the settlement Sylvania, the Duke of York (later James II) added the prefix Penn in tribute to Penn’s father, an honour which William reluctantly accepted.

Bill discovered the opera, which charts Penn’s early persecution for his religious beliefs in London and his emotional separation from his wife and children – Penn’s first wife Gulielma was the stepdaughter of Isaac Penington, another oft imprisoned dissenter, who lived at Bury House, Amersham. The opera then describes his departure from England aboard The Welcome, and his experiences while founding the new colony.

To kickstart the heritage centre project, Three Rivers Museum has assembled a small but significant display of memorabilia. There are items generously supplied by Romeo Cascarino’s widow Dolores Ferraro, who sang the part of Gulielma.

Dolores and Romeo had meticulously researched Penn’s life for the opera and Dolores has sent several books over to Bill for the exhibition, including Gulielma’s cookbook, plus photographs, the script and a CD recording of the opera recorded in performance in 1982 with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, The Philadelphia Singers and Thomas Jefferson Chorus with John Cheek singing the part of William Penn. Continue>>