| Music had already been an
integral part of the worship in St. George's Chapel for more than a
hundred years before the present chapel was begun in 1475, and has been
maintained ever since, with only one break during the Commonwealth
period.
The present musical foundation consists of the
Organist and Master of the Choristers, the Assistant Organist, Organ
Scholar, ten lay clerks, two choral scholars, and twenty-two choristers
who are educated at St. George's School within the castle grounds. Two
Minor Canons intone the services, and the overall responsibility for
the ordering of the worship in the Chapel is vested in the Precentor,
who is a Canon, and therefore a member of the Chapter or governing body
of the College.
Although important occasions such as state
funerals and royal weddings and the annual solemnity of the Order of
the Garter in June each year are observed with special music, by far
the greater part of the work of the musicians is devoted to the daily
services, which are sung on six days of the week for all but eight
weeks of the year. Indeed, it is for the maintenance of these services
that the musical foundation exists. Together with the clergy and the
Military Knights of Windsor, it constitutes the College of St. George
which has existed in this place for over six hundred years.
The list of Windsor organists and masters of the choristers stretches
back to 1362, but the truly distinguished names are first met with in
the 16th century. John Marbeck, who probably took up his office in 1530
or 1531, is justly famous for his Booke of Common praier noted, which
was published in 1550, and was one of the first settings of the English
liturgy that was—to quote Grove—"in keeping with
the traditions of plainsong and also conformable to the accentual
qualities of the English language". Such was the unsettled nature of
the times that Marbeck was almost burnt at the stake as a heretic, but
he was fortunately reprieved and so able to continue composing his
music and working on his monumental concordance of the Bible, and live
out his days at Windsor until his death in 1585.
In this
earlier period it was not uncommon for more than one person to share
the responsibilities for training the choristers and playing the organ.
Alongside Marbeck's tenure at Windsor were two distinguished men who
enriched the music of the Church of England considerably—
Richard Farrant and John Mundy. Both are represented by anthems on this
record. Mundy was succeeded first by Nathaniel Giles and then by
William Child, who was expelled during the Commonwealth from 1643 until
1660, but returned to last out another thirty-seven years at Windsor.
The end of the 17th century saw the end of a golden age of music at St.
George's, and it was not until Elvey was appointed organist in 1835
that the tide turned. To quote his own words: "I found things in a very
disordered state. There was no bill drawn up for the Chapel, but the
Service and Anthem for each day were fixed by the organist. The Senior
boy came up into the organ-loft just before the beginning of the
Service to enquire what was to be rendered." There were eleven lay
clerks, but "most of them were aged men and not efficient; in fact only
four of them could sing". Elvey was succeeded by Walter Parratt, at
whose death in 1924 Edmund Fellowes, who had been a Minor Canon since
1900, took over the direction of the choir for three years until
Walford Davies was able to take up his appointment as the new Organist.
Fellowes did an immense amount to rescue from potential oblivion a
great deal of English Tudor Church music, and present it in editions
suitable for performance by modern choirs. Walford Davies was at
Windsor barely five years, and his successor, Charles Hylton Stewart,
scarcely three months. Since 1933, however, only two organists have
held the post, first William Harris and, from 1961 until 1974, Sidney
Campbell.
Harris is represented on this record by his anthem
for boys' voices Behold, now praise the Lord, and Campbell by his
Jubilate, which was written to celebrate the opening of the conference
centre, St.George's House, in 1965, and complements the Te Deum he
wrote for the enthronement of the last Archbishop of Canterbury in 1961.
The choice of works on this record indicates the scope of the choir's
repertoire—from Byrd to Britten—as well as the fact
that boys and men regularly sing services on their own—the
Harris and Walker anthems. The addition of works by other great
composers of English church music, such as Orlando Gibbons, Maurice
Greene and Ralph Vaughan Williams makes this record particularly apt as
a celebration of five hundred years of music in St.George's Chapel.
Alan Kendall |
