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(See also DNB; OCM; Julian pp.1257b-1258)
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(See also DNB; OCM; Julian p.1257)
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He was the younger son of Charles Wesley the hymn writer. He could extemporize on the organ at the age of three; composed an accomplished oratorio before he was eight; and though largely self-taught was a first-rate violinist, pianist and especially organist. He was in the forefront of London music-making, was a friend of Mendelssohn, and did much to make the music of J.S.Bach known in England. Attracted by the music, he often attended Roman Catholic services, although he later denied having accepted Roman Catholic doctrines. He wrote much music for Roman Catholic worship, including four masses and many shorter works, as well as several Anglican anthems and services and much secular music. He collaborated in an edition of The Well-Tempered Clavier and other music by Bach.
A head injury in 1787 made him subject to recurring depression and mental instability; but he continued teaching and composing prolifically. He became organist of Camden Chapel (now Parish Church) in 1824; but although acclaimed as the greatest organist of his time, particularly as an improviser, he never held any major posts.
(See also DNB; GDM; OCM)
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He was named Samuel after his father and Sebastian after his father's idol, Johann Sebastian Bach. He studied music first with his father; then was a chorister of the Chapel Royal 1820-25. He was organist of four London churches; then of Hereford Cathedral 1832-35; Exeter Cathedral 1835-41; Leeds Parish Church 1842-49; Winchester Cathedral 1949-65; and Gloucester Cathedral 1865-76.
Like his father before him, he was reckoned the finest organist in the country and was a famed improviser; he also had some of his father's tendency to eccentricity. His enthusiasm for fishing is the subject of many anecdotes.
His notorious quarrels with cathedral authorities arose mostly from a passionate desire for much-needed reform in church music. Described as the greatest English church musician between Purcell and Stanford, he had an influence probably greater than that of any other musician of his time. His chief contributions to hymnody were his music editorship of Charles Kemble's Psalms and Hymns 1864 (? 1853), and The European Psalmist 1872, an anthology of more than 700 hymn tunes and other items, including over 130 of his own composition.
In 1873, on Gladstone's recommendation, Queen Victoria offered him the choice of a knighthood or a civil list pension of 100 pounds a year; he chose the latter and it was continued to his widow.
(See also DNB; GDM; OCM)
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He was educated at Whitgift (now Trinity) Middle School, Croydon and Didsbury Theological College Manchester, and was ordained to the Wesleyan Methodist ministry in 1930. He pursued music studies vigorously, was a distinguished pianist, and became Mus.D. while in the Methodist Circuit ministry. He was ministerial secretary of the Methodist Church Music Society 1945-71; Professor of harmony and counterpoint at the London College of Music 1968-75; and Principal of the Williams School of Church Music, Harpenden 1971-75.
He composed anthems, cantatas and other works, was on the editorial committees of The School Hymn-Book of the Methodist Church 1950 and Hymns & Songs 1969; and edited The Choir from 1948-64.
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He was educated at Isleworth Grammar School, Dartington College, and Rolle College Exmouth.
He is (1997) a primary school headmaster in Brington, Cambridgeshire, and a composer of music for children.
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She served during the 1939-45 war as a musician in the ATS Staff Military Band; and subsequently qualified as a physiotherapist. She worked in hospitals in Great Britain and in Canada, and also at a school for spastic children. In 1968 she qualified as a teacher of music, and in 1969 she took a full-time diploma course in Religious Education. She taught in schools until 1982; she now (1997) works as a free-lance composer and lecturer.
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An insurance broker by profession, he was choirmaster of Higham Hill Methodist Church, Walthamstow 1925-37; of Oxted (Surrey) Congregational Church / URC 1941-94; and conductor of the Oxted and Limpsfield Choral Society 1945-85.
During the compilation of Rejoice & SIng he assisted the Music Committee with the musical settings of the prose psalms.
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(See also DAB; DNB)
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(see also Julian pp.1276b-1277a)
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He was born of a Quaker family, who were third-generation immigrants from England to America, his great-grandfather having settled in Massachusets in 1638. In his early years he worked on the family farm; but he quickly discovered an interest both in reading and in writing poetry, and attracted the attention of a local newspaper editor who encouraged him to continue his literary education.
He left home at age 21 or 22 to take up journalistic writing and editing, later returning to the family home, with whom he lived for the rest of his life. He held a number of editorial positions with journals and literary magazines, particularly those connected with the Anti-Slavery movement of which he was a strong supporter; and he contributed frequently to journals and newspapers, especially in New England. He was a close friend of Oliver Wendell Holmes, and a co-founder of and regular contributor to the Atlantic Monthly.
He never married, and died at the age of 84 while his literary reputation was still at its highest.
His output of poetry was huge; though with one or two exceptions it shows little variation of his characteristic style. Although some of his poems are described as hymns, and a few were apparently written for use on specific occasions, most of the verses appearing in hymn-books are centos from longer poems. Julian lists about 30 hymns or centos, which found most favour in Unitarian churches, his Quaker-inspired Christology being much in evidence in the poems. In the U.K., Garrett Horder was mainly responsible for introducing centos from Whittier into English hymnody; and Worship-Song (1898 &c.) contains a number of these. Some of these were taken up by other hymn-books, mainly those sympathetic to the humanistic ideas of the author. At the end of the 20th century Whittier is represented mainly by the centos which are used in RS (See list at end of this note; and a separate file with full texts of Garrett Horder's selection together with their originals.
Whittier had a wide, if somewhat superficial, knowledge of the Old and New Testaments, and the poems contain frequent allusions to biblical sayings or scenes. But at the same time he also showed a wide acquaintance with other religious traditions, through either their legends or their scriptures; though these are often quoted only to contrast them unfavourably with his own "simple" faith. He was particularly scornful of anything that involved either ritual or priestly mediation.
See also a Hymn Society Bulletin article by Erik Routley "Ought we to sing Whittier".
For a short biography, prefaced to an 1894 edition of Whittier's Collected Poems, click here > > .
(See also DAB; Julian p.1277-1278a)
Xrefs:
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(See also DNB)
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Little is known of him, although his Christian name suggests Puritan ancestry. A cloth-worker by trade, he was an amateur musician who seems to have had local fame as a singer and composer of anthems and hymn tunes.
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He was a music engraver and teacher in West Smithfield, London, who also served as clerk to the Scots Church. London Wall.
He compiled and published many collections of church music, including The Universal Psalmist 1763, Royal Harmony 1766, The New Universal Psalmist (4th edition 1770), Harmonia Coelestis (6th edition 1765), and Psalmody in Miniature (3 books, 1778).
Xrefs:
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He was educated at King Edward VII School Sheffield, and at Selwyn College Cambridge where he was organ scholar. He was head of the music department of Cambridge University Library 1970-89. He then moved to Norfolk to be organist at the (anglican) Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham.
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(See also DWB)
- [ Guide me, O thou great Jehovah ]
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(See also DNB; DWB; OCLW)
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He was a basket-maker, blind from birth. He was said to have been an able musician and a good singer with a quick ear and ready memory.
It is not certain whether he composed the tune Llanfair or simply recorded an existing folk-tune.
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Although his main occupation was insurance, he had studied music with David Evans, and served as organist of Mount Elim Chapel, Pontardawe, before moving to Llanelli in 1903. There he was organist of Zion Chapel 1903-13; and precentor of Calfaria Chapel 1913-31.
He wrote many hymn tunes and some anthems.
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Williams, Ralph Vaughan (see Vaughan Williams, Ralph)
(see DNB; DWB; OCLW; Julian pp.1284b-1285a)
- Guide me, O thou great Jehovah
- Most gentle, heavenly Lamb
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End of Biographies W2. Return to Top . . .
(The Rejoice & Sing Enchiridion:edited by David Goodall; last amended 28/12/03)