Cover: Sophie Anderson (1823-1903), The choir boys. Oil on canvas, 68.6 x 55.3 cm. Copyright © Charlotte Elizabeth O’Neill 2 ORGANIST AND MASTER OF THE CHORISTERS THE CHANGING ROLE OF THE CHURCH MUSICIAN IN THE NINETEENTH-CENTURY ANGLICAN CATHEDRAL FOUR CASE STUDIES ORGANIST EN MEESTER VAN DE KOORZANGERS DE WIJZIGENDE ROL VAN DE KERKMUSICUS IN DE ANGLICAANSE KATHEDRAAL TIJDENS DE NEGENTIENDE EEUW VIER CASESTUDIES (met een samenvatting in het Nederlands) PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit Utrecht op gezag van de rector magnificus, prof. dr. H.R.B.M. Kummeling, ingevolge het besluit van het college voor promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen op woensdag 26 september 2018 des middags te 2.30 uur door Charlotte Elizabeth O’Neill geboren op 10 juli 1976 te Warrington, Verenigd Koninkrijk 3 Promotor: Prof. dr. A.A. Clement 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE 9 INTRODUCTION 11 Research Question 11 Literature Review 13 Tractarians 28 Biographies 29 Instruments 34 Research Approach: Significance, Limitations, Thesis Claim 35 I. ST PAUL’S CATHEDRAL 39 I.1 Origin and Traditions 40 I.2 Musicians 43 SIR THOMAS ATTWOOD (1765-1838) 44 SIR JOHN GOSS (1800-1880) 47 SIR JOHN STAINER (1840-1901) 53 SIR GEORGE CLEMENT MARTIN (1844-1916) 58 I.3 Tractarians 59 I.4 Liturgy 65 Special Services 68 I.5 Choirs 71 Lay Clerks 73 I.6 Repertoire 75 Hymnody and Psalmody 79 I.7 Organs 81 II. WESTMINSTER ABBEY 89 II.1 Origin and Traditions 89 II.2 Musicians 94 THOMAS GREATOREX (1758-1831) 94 JAMES TURLE (1802-1882) 96 5 FREDERICK BRIDGE (1844-1894) 100 II.3 Tractarians 106 II.4 Liturgy 109 Special services and concerts 111 II.5 Choirs 115 Lay clerks 122 II.6 Repertoire 124 Hymnody and Psalmody 128 II.7 Organs 132 III. CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 147 III.1 Origin and Traditions 147 III.2 Musicians 150 HIGHMORE SKEATS (1760-1831) 151 THOMAS EVANCE JONES († 1805) 152 WILLIAM HENRY LONGHURST (1819-1904) 152 HARRY CRANE PERRIN (1865-1953) 156 III.3 Tractarians 157 III.4 Liturgy 159 Special services and concerts 161 III.5 Choirs 164 Choristers 164 Lay clerks 167 III.6 Repertoire 169 Hymnody and Psalmody 172 III.7 Organs 173 IV. LEEDS PARISH CHURCH 181 IV.1 Origin and Traditions 181 IV.2 Musicians 186 DAVID LAWTON (organist: 1791-1807) 186 JOHN GREENWOOD (organist: 1795-1837) 186 HENRY SMITH (organist: 1833-1841) 188 6 SAMUEL SEBASTIAN WESLEY (1810-1876) 189 ROBERT SENIOR BURTON (1820-1892) 199 WILLIAM G. CRESER (1844-1933) 202 ALFRED BENTON (1854-1941) 205 IV.3 Tractarians 208 IV.4 Liturgy 213 Special services 215 IV.5 Choirs 219 Lay clerks 223 IV.6 Repertoire 224 Hymnody and Psalmody 228 IV.7 Organs 229 CONCLUDING REMARKS 239 SAMENVATTING 257 ARCHIVAL MATERIALS 261 BIBLIOGRAPHY 265 APPENDIX 273 CURRICULUM VITAE 277 7 8 PREFACE Whether referencing the Orthodox, Catholic or Protestant forms of Christianity, music is integral to all branches. The provision of music for worship has expectedly evolved over time and undergone much alteration, depending partially on political expediency and social trend. Correspondingly the providers of such music have also undergone transformation, from the chanting monks of the early Catholic tradition to the guitar wielding heavily amplified performers in the mega-churches of the charismatic movement of the USA today. One hardy, familiar image associated with church music is that of the organist. Stereotypically perhaps they are imagined to be quiet, slightly eccentric characters who secrete themselves out of sight in lofts and galleries; only to be discovered when they begin to allow sound to escape from the mighty instrument around them. To be so enduring an image such as this must have some basis in truth, perhaps for smaller churches this is true. This is also an image of the organist as showman, taming the ‘king of instruments’. During the nineteenth century, as the size and power of instruments increased it was this latter which became more prominent, especially in the higher profile cathedrals and abbeys in the country, but occasionally, and contrary to expectation in smaller parish churches too. What once was a form of popular entertainment has now become a very niche market, yet organists such as Carlo Curley, Gillian Weir and Simon Preston, along with those of our cathedrals such as James Lancelot of Durham still draw crowds to recitals and concerts. As a working church musician this phenomenon raises several questions: when did this transformation from workaday jobbing musician to celebrity artiste cum musical director occur? Why did it occur and what circumstances outside direct musical influence occasioned it? For answers to these questions and others it is necessary to look at the social background of church music, the political background of the same, the changes in requirements of fulfilling the role which have occurred, with the concomitant reasons there for, as well as, of course, the alterations to the instruments which have occurred to facilitate such changes. I offer my sincerest thanks to Prof. Dr. Albert Clement for his guidance and support through this process. His superb supervision skills and patience have ensured the completion of this project as well as immeasurably improving my writing, analytical and research skills. Thanks must also be offered to the staff of the cathedral libraries I used, particularly Dr Joe Wisdom at St Paul’s Cathedral as well as to the staff of the West Yorkshire Archive service in 9 Wakefield who went out of their way to locate extra documentation. Mr Christopher Price was especially helpful in detailing the life of W.H. Longhurst through personal correspondence. I am especially grateful to my family members and friends who have provided unceasing support and encouragement; particularly to those who proof read the entire disser- tation or parts thereof and gave interesting and enlightening commentary. It was my intention to create a picture of the life of the cathedral organist, his working conditions and the music which he heard on a daily basis. I hope that these figures, through this study, can gain life in the imagination. 10 INTRODUCTION Research Question Examining the multitude of Anglican organists who worked in the UK, in their myriad places of work, from the earliest records forward is far beyond the scope of this investigation. Instead I have chosen to focus this enquiry on one particular period and in a few, selected institutions. The period studied within the framework of this PhD thesis is that of the nineteenth century, chosen because of the rapid social, scientific and political change, both inside and outside religious spheres. The institutions are the cathedrals of St Paul, London; Metropolitan Church of Christ, Canterbury; Westminster Abbey and Leeds Parish Church, dedicated to St Peter-at- Leeds. Each of these institutions has unique qualities which demonstrate the differences as well as the similarities in the role that the organists they employed fulfilled; social, political and other influences differ between them, yet all have played a significant part in the evolution of the role of the organist with society and church music itself. These four have also been selected as representatives of the main post-Reformation church foundations within the Church of England. During the Reformation commencing in 1534 King Henry VIII ordered the closure of the Roman Catholic monastic foundations, the dispersal of their assets and inhabitants. His purge forced the destruction of many abbeys and monasteries across the British Isles. Others, notably the most architecturally or religiously significant were spared, becoming instead cathedrals and abbeys of the ‘new foundation’. Canterbury as the seat of the Church of England became one such. Westminster Abbey, although formerly a Benedictine monastery was converted to a non-monastic establishment, being spared the brutality meted out to many by its designation of ‘Royal Peculiar’.1 Those establishments which were not monastic were, for the most part untouched and retained their previous status, together with the designation of ‘Old Foundation’. St Paul’s Cathedral, London, once described as ‘the parish church of London’; is an example of the old foundation. 1 A ‘Royal Peculiar’ is a church or chapel under the direct control of the reigning monarch. The Dean answers to them rather than the Archbishop of Canterbury. There are five in London and two outside, the best known being the Chapel Royal, St George’s, Windsor and Westminster Abbey. 11 Parish churches, whilst smaller were not exempt from the ravages of the reforming Henry, many larger ones losing their estates and income streams. Leeds Parish Church, then, as now based in the city centre survived relatively unscathed, tending to the growing popula- tion of one of the major industrial cities of the North. After the ravages of the Reformation and the turbulence of the century immediately after it, the Church of England became more settled as the established Church of the nation. Public music too became more normalised, with London becoming a European hub of musical excellence, attracting visits from such luminaries as Georg Frederic Handel. Such men, whilst making their fortunes as composers, performers and impresarios were no strangers to church music, all having worked as Kapellmeister or similar for noble houses across Europe. Whilst music as a secular enterprise was expanding during the Stuart (with the exception of the Civil War and Puritan regime 1642 to 1659) and Georgian periods (1714 to 1830) church music and attendance fell into decline. The prebendary system fuelled the indifference of the clergy; many had livings in multiple parishes and preached only occasionally in each one, leaving much of the pastoral work to underpaid curates whilst maintaining a lifestyle inaccessible to the majority of parishioners, funded by the tithes of the same.