Temple Church Choir

The Church
Templar Church lies on the north bank of the River Thames in the 'City of London'. It was built in the thirteenth century as a large round building to which 50 years later  a large oblong section was added. It was built by the Knights Templar, an order of crusading monks. In the round church are cross-legged effigies of 9 crusaders with gargoyle type gothic heads looking down on them from above. The oblong section is supported by marble pillars which lean outwards.

The Choir
A choir was present in the early days of the Knights but was abandoned at the time of the reformation and later reformed in 1842. It was during this period of the late nineteenth century that the choir became well known under the directorship of Dr E. J. Hopkins. Later Dr. H. Walford Davies would introduce Carols in the Round that consisted of a performance of the 'Christmas Oratorio' followed by carols. Dr George-Thalben Ball took over the choir in 1919 and during this period between the wars the choir became world famous for its recordings, the most famous being Ernest Lough's recording of 'Hear my Prayer'.
The Church and organ were destroyed in 1941 during an air raid and the choir and services were more or less abandoned. It wasn't until 1958 that the church was fully restored. During the late 50s and early 60's the choir made a brief comeback with some popular recordings. For more details of the choir and its history you can read the cover notes to two of these albums released in 1959 and 1961.

The first (Article 1) gives a detailed account of the history of the church and choir while the second (Article 2) describes a recording session in the church.

 Several people have asked if the talk given Aug 2006 in Hereford on the soloists of the Temple Church Choir was recorded, as they would like to have a copy. The producer of the Louis-Alexander Désiré CD, which was recorded earlier in the day, did indeed record the talk and he has offered to produce a limited edition CD complete with musical extracts, including some as yet unpublished in the series 'The Glory of the Temple Church Choir'. Before any CD is produced, it would be useful to know how many people would be interested in having a copy.
In addition to the talk Stephen Beet would hope to include on the CD interviews with the following:
Ernest Lough, Denis Barthell, Master Robin Lough (recorded in 1960 whilst joint head boy), George Thalben-Ball & David Lewer.
Please contact Stephen Beet to express your interest: StephenRBeet@aol.com