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Carols in the Round! One of the delights of the Christmas Season in London before the second World War was to visit the Temple Church in Fleet Street and hear the famous Choir singing Bach's 'Christmas Oratorio' followed by the traditional Carols in the Round Church.
The packed congregation would move aside as the white-robed choir made its way slowly down the church from the choir stalls into the dim winter light of the circular Norman nave. Here the choir would group themselves around the cross-legged effigies of the Crusaders and at a signal from their Organist and Choirmaster, a recital of some of the most loved Christmas carols would begin.
The Round Church was built by the crusading Knights Templars in the 12th century on the model of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. It was consecrated on February 10th, 1185, by Heraclius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, and on Ascension Day, 1240, the pure Early English Gothic Quire—the Oblong-was consecrated with great pomp and ceremony in the presence of King Henry III and the nobles of the Realm.
Many doughty knights were laid to rest in the church of the Templars and their crossed-legged effigies in the Round are world famous. James Boswell recorded in his diary "Sunday 3rd September 1769—1 then went to the Temple Church. The idea of the Knights Templars lying in the Church was solemn and pleasing. The noble music raised my soul to heaven ..."
The Temple Church, set in the quiet surroundings of the ancient Inns of Court, is steeped in history. In the church-yard lies Oliver Goldsmith, and in the Inner Temple Lane, which leads from the church porch through an archway to the bustle of Fleet Street, both Dr. Johnson and Charles Lamb had chambers. Still enigmatically looking down on the carol singers in the Round are Lamb's "grotesque Gothic heads that gape and grin, in stone, around the inside of the old Round Church (my church) of the
Templars".
The Order of the Knights Templars was suppressed in 1312 and their London home eventually passed to the lawyers. The two Honourable Societies of the Inner and Middle Temple secured the freehold of the property by Charter from James I in 1608. One of the conditions of the grant was that they were to maintain the Temple Church and its services for ever. The church is the private chapel of the Benchers and, apart from the Temple precincts, it has no parish, but being a 'Royal Peculiar' it comes directly under the jurisdiction of the Sovereign as Head of the Church, and the Crown has reserved to itself the appointment of the Master of the Temple. There have been many famous Masters, the most celebrated being Richard Hooker who, in the 16th century, rose to a noble eloquence in defence of Church Music in his 'Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity'.
The Temple Church escaped the Great Fire of London in 1666, the flames licking the east wall after destroying the Master's House. Samuel Pepys was a frequent visitor to the Temple, calling to buy music at John Playford's shop next to the great Norman doorway under the church porch. Playford was Clerk of the Temple Church and was one of the first music publishers in the Kingdom. His 'Brief Introduction to the Skill of Musick' (1654) was the standard text book on the subject for nearly a century.
In 1682, Sir Christopher Wren, whose first marriage took place in the Temple Church in 1669, was called in to 'beautify' the building. The Benchers later decided to set up an organ on the new screen between the Round and the Quire and there followed the famous 'Battle of the Organs' between the rival builders Father Smith and Renatus Harris. Dr. Blow and the great Henry Purcell did their best with Smith's organ while Baptiste Draghi, Organist to Queen Catherine, was Harris's protagonist. Competition was fierce, tempers were roused and there was even a clandestine slitting of organ bellows.
The contest dragged on for over five years and eventually the decision on the choice of organ was placed in the hands of the infamous Judge Jeffreys, as Lord Chancellor, who gave his verdict in favour of Smith's instrument. "His habitual intemperance was notorious and a more unsuitable person to decide between the merits of two rival church organs could hardly be imagined." The celebrated blind composer John Stanley was one of the Temple organists from 1734-86 and
Handel himself was often present to hear Stanley play the outgoing voluntary at the end of the service.
That there was a Temple Choir in the time of the Knights Templars is clear from an item—'28 choir copes and four little copes for the choristers'—found in an inventory of the contents of the church made in 1307 at the suppression of the Order in England. The Choir did not survive the upheavals of the Reformation but was re-established by the Benchers in 1842 after a major restoration of the building. Under Dr. E. J. Hopkins, Organist from 1843-98, the Temple Choir became famous and was the model for hundreds of surpliced choirs which sprang up in the Metropolis and beyond during the later half of the last century. When Dr. H. Walford Davies succeeded Dr. Hopkins in 1898, he broadened the musical repertory, introducing in particular the monthly cantata services which . included the annual performances of Bach's 'St. Matthew Passion' and the 'Christmas Oratorio' followed by the Carols in the Round. On this record some of the lovely Walford Davies carols such as 'The Holly and the Ivy' recall those far off days before the Temple was so badly damaged in the last War.
Dr. George Thalben-Ball who succeeded Dr. Walford Davies in 1919 maintained and enhanced the great musical traditions of the Temple. In 1927 came the world-wide success of His Master's Voice first electrical recording taken in a church: Mendelssohn's 'Hear My Prayer' with Master Ernest Lough singing the treble solos. 'Hear Ye Israel', 'I know that my Redeemer liveth' and many other records followed. Ernest Lough and several 'Old Templars' now sing as gentlemen in the choir, in this way maintaining the fine tradition of wonderful singing from boy to man.
Ernest Lough's son Robin sings the treble solo in the carol 'Three Kings' by Peter Cornelius. Another chorister, Richard Brown, reads the lines by Herrick and Dunbar. Dr. Thalben-Ball's playing needs no introduction; he has, for many years, been Britain's leading organist, a favourite soloist at the Promenade Concerts, well-known on the radio as a recitalist and as Music Adviser to the B.B.C.'s Religious Broadcasting Department. He is a past President of the Royal College of Organists, City Organist of Birmingham, and has given recital tours in America, Australia and South Africa. The organ interludes and several carol arrangements on this record are from his pen.
The Temple Church was seriously damaged by fire in the raid on London on May 10th, 1941. Father Smith's prgan was completely destroyed and the Purbeck marble pillars and effigies badly shattered. The boys' choir was discontinued and services ceased. A few ex-choristers, some of whom sing in the Choir to-day, continued to hold a short service in the ruins of the church every Sunday throughout the War 'to keep a song in the Temple', and these weekly meetings continued for thirteen years until the church was restored. As 'The Templars' they broadcast carols on Christmas Eve for several years after the War, from the ruins of the Round Church.
On 23rd March, 1954, the Oblong or Quire of the Temple Church was re-dedicated by the Archbishop of Canterbury in the presence of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, who is a Bencher of the Hon. Society of the Middle Temple.
The new organ, a fine instrument played for the first time on this occasion, was the generous gift of Lord Glentanar and formerly stood in the music room of his Scottish castle at Glen Tanar,
Aberdeenshire.
The restoration of the Round Church, so badly damaged in the War, was finally completed in 1958 and on November 7th of that year a service of re-dedication by the Archbishop of Canterbury was attended by their Majesties Queen Elizabeth and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, and Prince Philip. On that great day boys' voices ring out once again with the words of the Psalmist "I was glad when they said unto me, we will go into the house of the Lord." The 'Christmas Oratorio' and 'Carols in the Round' are once more part of the Church's Year at the Temple. The final carol on this record is Dr. Thalben-Ball's setting of 'Gloria in Excelsis Deo'—a wonderful and very fitting note of thanksgiving.
1959. DAVID LEWER
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