Parish magazine article
This year we celebrate Claude Debussy, Rossini, Tchaikovsky and Leonard Bernstein. None of them wrote anything for the organ but there are some transcriptions! Charles Gounod is perhaps best known for “Ave Maria” based on the Bach prelude and the opera “Faust”.
However Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry 1st Baronet (1848- 7 October 1918) did write a great deal for the organ including some very difficult chorale preludes on hymn tunes and the towering Fantasia and Fugue. I can play the preludes on “Rockingham” (“When I survey”) and “Melcombe” (“New every morning”). His Bridal March and Finale from The Birds of Aristophanes is little played nowadays but there is a beautiful Elegy composed for the funeral of Sidney, 14th Earl of Pembroke April 7th, 1913 which I will be playing in November. Parry is probably best known for “Jerusalem” and the tune “Repton” for “Dear Lord and Father of mankind”. He also composed the splendid “Laudate Dominum” for “O praise ye the Lord” (A and M 753). Also in our hymnbook are “Intercessor” and “Rustington” both good strong tunes. “Blest pair of sirens” is another favourite and of course the wonderful “I was glad” sung at coronations. We sang it on Horse Guards parade for the Queen Mother’s 90th birthday and as she arrived in the carriage with Prince Charles the sun came out! It was conducted by the much-missed John Scott.
Parry also composed 5 symphonies and choral works and had an enormous influence of English music through his work at the Royal College of Music. There is a plaque on his house in Kensington Square. He was a keen sailor and you can hear this in his Wanderer Fantasia and Fugue.
After early attempts to work in insurance, at his father's behest, Parry was taken up by George Grove, first as a contributor to Grove's massive Dictionary of Music and Musicians in the 1870s and 80s, and then in 1883 as professor of composition and musical history at the Royal College of Music, of which Grove was the first head. In 1895 Parry succeeded Grove as head of the college, remaining in the post for the rest of his life. He was concurrently Heather Professor of Music at the University of Oxford from 1900 to 1908. He wrote several books about music and music history, the best-known of which is probably his 1909 study of Johann Sebastian Bach.
Both in his lifetime and afterwards, Parry's reputation and critical standing have varied. His academic duties were considerable and prevented him from devoting all his energies to composition, but some contemporaries such as Charles Villiers Stanford rated him as the finest English composer since Henry Purcell; others, such as Frederick Delius, did not. Parry's influence on later composers, by contrast, is widely recognised. Edward Elgar learned much of his craft from Parry's articles in Grove's Dictionary, and among those who studied under Parry at the Royal College were Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gustav Holst, Frank Bridge and John Ireland.
On his death his friends produced “A Little Organ book” based on a wreath of melodies played at his funeral in St Paul’s cathedral on October 16th, 1918. Among the composers are Stanford, Frank Bridge, Herbert Brewer, Alan Gray, Ivor Atkins, Walter Alcock, Harold Darke, Charles Wood, Walford Davies, Henry G.Ley and George Thalben-Ball. I had the pleasure of meeting Darke and Thalben-Ball in the 1970s and I will be playing from this book during July. The Alan Gray has a lovely ending when he quotes the phrase “O may we soon again renew that song” from “Blest pair of sirens”.
However Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry 1st Baronet (1848- 7 October 1918) did write a great deal for the organ including some very difficult chorale preludes on hymn tunes and the towering Fantasia and Fugue. I can play the preludes on “Rockingham” (“When I survey”) and “Melcombe” (“New every morning”). His Bridal March and Finale from The Birds of Aristophanes is little played nowadays but there is a beautiful Elegy composed for the funeral of Sidney, 14th Earl of Pembroke April 7th, 1913 which I will be playing in November. Parry is probably best known for “Jerusalem” and the tune “Repton” for “Dear Lord and Father of mankind”. He also composed the splendid “Laudate Dominum” for “O praise ye the Lord” (A and M 753). Also in our hymnbook are “Intercessor” and “Rustington” both good strong tunes. “Blest pair of sirens” is another favourite and of course the wonderful “I was glad” sung at coronations. We sang it on Horse Guards parade for the Queen Mother’s 90th birthday and as she arrived in the carriage with Prince Charles the sun came out! It was conducted by the much-missed John Scott.
Parry also composed 5 symphonies and choral works and had an enormous influence of English music through his work at the Royal College of Music. There is a plaque on his house in Kensington Square. He was a keen sailor and you can hear this in his Wanderer Fantasia and Fugue.
After early attempts to work in insurance, at his father's behest, Parry was taken up by George Grove, first as a contributor to Grove's massive Dictionary of Music and Musicians in the 1870s and 80s, and then in 1883 as professor of composition and musical history at the Royal College of Music, of which Grove was the first head. In 1895 Parry succeeded Grove as head of the college, remaining in the post for the rest of his life. He was concurrently Heather Professor of Music at the University of Oxford from 1900 to 1908. He wrote several books about music and music history, the best-known of which is probably his 1909 study of Johann Sebastian Bach.
Both in his lifetime and afterwards, Parry's reputation and critical standing have varied. His academic duties were considerable and prevented him from devoting all his energies to composition, but some contemporaries such as Charles Villiers Stanford rated him as the finest English composer since Henry Purcell; others, such as Frederick Delius, did not. Parry's influence on later composers, by contrast, is widely recognised. Edward Elgar learned much of his craft from Parry's articles in Grove's Dictionary, and among those who studied under Parry at the Royal College were Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gustav Holst, Frank Bridge and John Ireland.
On his death his friends produced “A Little Organ book” based on a wreath of melodies played at his funeral in St Paul’s cathedral on October 16th, 1918. Among the composers are Stanford, Frank Bridge, Herbert Brewer, Alan Gray, Ivor Atkins, Walter Alcock, Harold Darke, Charles Wood, Walford Davies, Henry G.Ley and George Thalben-Ball. I had the pleasure of meeting Darke and Thalben-Ball in the 1970s and I will be playing from this book during July. The Alan Gray has a lovely ending when he quotes the phrase “O may we soon again renew that song” from “Blest pair of sirens”.
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