CE Chapel of The Queen’s College, Oxford Wed, 30th Oct 2019 [L]

[DracoM]

CE Chapel of The Queen’s College, Oxford


Order of Service:


Introit: My eyes for beauty pine (Howells)
Responses: Rose
Psalms 147, 148, 149, 150 (Stanford, Howells, Rose, Barnby, Stanford)
First Lesson: Baruch 5: 1-9
Canticles: Second Service (Leighton)
Second Lesson: Mark 1: 1-11
Anthem: Coventry Antiphon (Howells)
Hymn: All my hope on God is founded (Michael)

Voluntary: Triptych in Honour of Herbert Howells (Holy is the true light) (David Bednall)

Laurence John (Organ Scholar)
Owen Rees (Director of Music)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0009sxf

[DracoM]

Reminder: today @ 3.30 p.m.

AND it's LIVE!!

[ardcarp]

A very enjoyable CE including a less-often heard Howells anthem. So many Oxbridge colleges now have a ‘professional’ DOM where once the organ scholars ran the show.

[DracoM]

Do you still wish they did?

[ardcarp]

Yes and no! It was a great opportunity for organ scholars (usually the senior one) to get hands-on experience with a choir. OTOH a ‘pro’ will already have honed his/her skills, and generally have more heft with the college powers that be.

[ocarina]

Agree that there seem to be more professional DoMs now (shortage of organ scholars?), but Queen’s has had such for a while going back to at least before ww2 with Bernard Rose followed by James Dalton.

[Keraulophone]

Ah, James Dalton is a name I revere from having heard many of the 22 instalments of his first traversal of J S Bach’s complete organ works on that beautiful Frobenius in 1979. He played the same recitals the day before on the H, N & B at the Royal College of Organists next the RAH. I particularly remember the unusual way he played trills in Bach, springing off the initial note to break before attacking the remainder of the shake, and I concur with the remark of the obit writer in the Church Times, that “his sensitivity to nuance and colour allowed him to take great delight in the occasional grand gesture”. Regrettably, I never heard him conduct the choir at The Queen’s; there were Preston, Rose and Higgi to listen to at CC, Mag & NC!

[Vox Humana]

And the psalms of the day!

[Pulcinella]

And the psalms of the day!

And usually the psalms of today, too?
Except here in York we have a special Eve of All Saint's Day evensong, with psalms 1 and 5!

[Finzi4ever]

I had no idea that HH took his BMus at or at least via (The) Queen's. Is it an external degree? I'm certainly not sure he was ever resident here, unlike later at St John's, Cantab.

[ardcarp]

I’ve not heard about that. As I understand it Howells was not Oxbridge educated. He was an articled pupil (organ) to Herbert Brewer at Gloucester (wonderful system, now defunct) after which he studied at the RCM. He remained teaching composition there for most of the rest of his life, and indeed taught an old friend of mine there. If anyone knows of a link with The Queens College Oxford, it would be good to hear about it. He was awarded an Honoris Causa doctorate from Cambridge.

[bach736]

See Paul Spicer page 181.

[subcontrabass]

I’ve not heard about that. As I understand it Howells was not Oxbridge educated. He was an articled pupil (organ) to Herbert Brewer at Gloucester (wonderful system, now defunct) after which he studied at the RCM. He remained teaching composition there for most of the rest of his life, and indeed taught an old friend of mine there. If anyone knows of a link with The Queens College Oxford, it would be good to hear about it. He was awarded an Honoris Causa doctorate from Cambridge.

He was an honorary fellow of The Queen's College. He had an earned DMus from Oxford, which implies, I think, a previous BMus. Until some time around 1950 (when Oxford introduced an Honours Degree in Music) the BMus could be taken without residence (but still required attachment to a specific college). See https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.10...207CB0F6769514