The Organ Scholars of Worcester College, Oxford.
Benjamin Joseph Francis Picton (1903)
Possibly born 1871 . Father may have been an organist
http://boards.ancestry.com/localities.britisles.ireland.arm.general/4204.1/mb.ashx
Charles Bird Allen (1904)
His death in 1956 is recorded in the Book of Remembrance in the Musicians' Chapel, and his occupation given as Organist.
He studied music at the Royal College of Music under Parratt and Stanford and was organ scholar at Worcester College, Oxford, until 1908. He was successively director of music at Loretto, R.N.C. Osborne and Brighton College, from which he retired in 1946. He was then appointed examiner for the Associated Board, in which capacity he traveled to Australia and New Zealand. He served on the committee of the Music Masters' Association from 1927 to 1934 and from 1938 until his death. For the year 1938 he was hon. secretay of the Association and hon. treasure from 1937 until his decease (1 September 1956). One of his recreations was conjuring, and he was a member of the Magic Circle. https://www.jstor.org/stable/938279?read-now=1&refreqid=excelsior%3Ac4ec365ec82bd8c1e4fd3ac6e60147ac&seq=3#page_scan_tab_contents
Reginald Sparshott Thatcher (1907)
Principal of the RAM. Anthem ‘Come ye Faithful’ published in the New Church Anthem Book.
Antony Buller Kitson (1911)
I believe he went on to join the staff at Christ’s Hospital.
http://www.chassociation.org/oldblues/blueyellowpages.php?mode=Staff&letter=W
John Michael Gordon Gray (1914)
I wonder if it's a co-incidence that there’s a Victorian organ builder ‘John Gray’, or this as descendant?
Kenneth Adair Stubbs (1919)
Canadian born, Kenneth went on to be Director of Music at Rugby School, having previously been a pupil there. He presided over the building of a new music school at Rugby. An interesting page or two can be found in this book:
McKie, Sir William (1921)
(b Melbourne, Australia, 1901 - d Ottowa, Canada, 1984)
McKie was organ scholar at Worcester College, Oxford. He later taught at Greelong Grammar School in Australia. From 1941 he was employed by Westminster Abbey, and as Organist and Master of the Choristers he re-assembled the choir of the Abbey in 1947 after it had been disbanded in 1940 during World War II. The choir then sang at the dedication of the Battle of Britain window in July 1947 and at the wedding of Princess Elizabeth in November of the same year. We wait for thy loving kindness, O God was written for the marriage of Princess Elizabeth, and it was also performed at her coronation in 1953 for which McKie planned and directed the music. He retired from the post in 1963 and moved to Canada.
http://www.rmjs.co.uk/composer/cmckie.htm
George Ranken Vickerman (1924)
Born 4 April 1904, Narberth Pembrokeshire Wales Died 8 Feb 1993, Bromley, Kent Organist and choirmaster St Peter's Eaton Square in the 1950s I was a member of his choir in the 1950s, and I have researched him on Ancestry to find his dates. A kind and respected teacher who chain smoked! Information kindly submitted by Paul Cheetham
I don't currently have jstor access, but for anyone that does, these articles appear to have information about him.
http://www.jstor.org/pss/916469
http://www.jstor.org/pss/914320
Herbert Murrill (1928)
Born: May 11, 1909 Died: July 24, 1952
Life
The English organist, choral conductor, broadcasting executive, and composer, Herbert (Henry John) Murrill, studied from 1925 to 1928 at the Royal Academy of Music in London with York Bowen, Stanley Marchant, and Alan Bush. Thereafter he was from 1928 to 1931 an organ scholar at Worcester College in Oxford, where he took courses with Ernest Walker and Sir Hugh Allen.
Herbert Murrill occupied various posts as organist and choral director, and was Professor of Composition at the Royal Academy of Music from 1933 until his death in 1952. In 1936 he joined the staff of the BBC, where he was program organiser in 1942. After working in the British intelligence service from 1942 to 1946, he returned in 1948 to the BBC as assistant head, reaching the post of Head of Music in 1950.
Musical Works
Herbert Murrill's relatively small output was in a modern vein. His affinities were Francophile and mildly middle-Stravinskian, both influences tempered by an English kind of neo-classicism. His works include a jazz opera, Man in Cage, which was performed in London in 1930 whilst he was still at university. He wrote film scores for And So To Work (1936) and The Daily Round (1937), both early films from the director Richard Massingham. He wrote two cello concertos (1935; El cant dels ocells, 1950), he was married to the cellist Vera Canning and some chamber and choral works, piano pieces, and songs. However, his most frequently performed works now are from his works for church choir and organ: his setting of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in E major (published in 1947), an organ piece called Carillon and his arrangement for organ of the orchestral march Crown Imperial by William Walton.
Source: Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of 20th Century Classical Musicians (1997); Wikipedia Website (based on R. Crichton, 'Murrill, Herbert' in Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy; Accessed: February 4, 2007)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (June 2007)
http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Murrill-Herbert.htm
Cyril William Gell (1931)
Cyril William Gell was born in Bedford in 1909 and educated in the town at Bedford Modern School. After school, he went up to Worcester College, Oxford as an organ scholar and was later appointed organist to the Duke of Bedford at Woburn Abbey in 1930.
Gell was appointed assistant director of music at Bradfield College in 1935 and was later staff organist with the Granada Theatres from 1937 touring with Dudley Beaven (piano and organ show), broadcasting and recording. In 1938 he was appointed director of music at Bedales School but joined the music staff of the BBC in 1955 where he conducted the BBC Singers, in particular for Friday Night Is Music Night. He was musical director of the Plymouth Philharmonic Chorus between 1958 and 1960 and afterwards a professor at the Guildhall School of Music between 1960 and 1973.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyril_Gell
Denis Mason Mulgan (1934-37)
d.2003
Served as 2nd Lieutenant in 1941
http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/35216/supplements/3981/page.pdf
http://musicsack.com/PersonFMTDetail.cfm?PersonPK=100074236
He appears as having edited an oboe quartet by Vanhal
Dennis Mulgan, newly appointed Director of Music at the University of Leicester when it gained its autonomy from the University of London in 1956 .
The newly-appointed Director of Music, Dennis Mulgan, an oboist, had, on his arrival, at the University, formed the Leicester Wind Players who gave the first performance.
Mulgan had been a professional oboist and the work suits the instrument well.
https://lra.le.ac.uk/handle/2381/2690
Humphrey Wheatcroft Moreton (1937)
d.20th April 2003
David Cox (1938)
(1916-97), trained at the RCM and sometime Organ Scholar at Worcester College, Oxford and author of 'The Henry Wood Proms' (BBC, 1980), a study of Peter Warlock and many articles for musical periodicals. His compositions included songs, including settings of Milton, cantatas (e.g. Of Beasts, A Greek Cantata, Songs of Earth and Air and the Christmas piece This Child of Life) and instrumental music, some of it with exotic titles like the Brazilian Song, Indian Ritual Dance and Tangano and Zimbomba, all for piano, and the Shalemy Dance for clarinet and piano. He is worth mention here for his overture London Calling (1982), which incorporated the Big Ben chimes, Lilliburlero (for long the signature tune - arranged by Cox originally - for BBC World Service newscasts) and Oranges and Lemons and which marked the Golden Jubilee of the BBC's external services, another Overture, for strings, and music for BBC radio productions on The Plague, The Opium Eaters and Sir Walter Raleigh. Cox was in the RAF's musical service during the last war and was for twenty years (1956-76) a music producer for the BBC.
http://www.musicweb-international.com/garlands/11th.htm
Anyone who has ever tuned in to hear the news on the BBC World Service over the past 30 years will have become familiar with the lively, foot-tapping arrangement of "Lillibulero" which has so reassuringly introduced the programme on the hour. Its arranger was David Cox, for many years a gentle and most popular figure in the corridors of the BBC.
All his life a man of Kent, he was born in Broadstairs and except for his early years, when the family lived in Australia, and a short time in London after the death of his first wife, he was devoted to his homes first in Dunton Green, then Magpie Bottom and latterly at Pratt's Bottom, all in the Orpington and Sevenoaks area. On returning to England from Australia in 1935 he entered the Royal College of Music, where his composition teachers were Ralph Vaughan Williams and Herbert Howells, with another composer, Arthur Benjamin, for piano, from 1937 to 1939. At the same time he was an organ scholar at Worcester College, Oxford, until 1940, serving also as assistant organist at Christ Church Cathedral. His war service was with the RAF from 1941 to 1945, when he also played the clarinet in the RAF Band.
After the war Cox joined the BBC, where he was to remain until his retirement in 1976. His first appointment was as a music producer and with the World Service, where he started with the Latin American services. From there he went to the Third Programme before returning to Bush House in l956 to become music organiser for the overseas services for the rest of his career.
On his retirement his association with the BBC continued until 1989 as a valuable member of the Audition Panel, listening anonymously to would-be young broadcasters, as well as being a member of the larger group of prestigious musicians who gave their time as members of the outside Listening Panel, independently reporting on the standards of first broadcasts of artists. Both of these tasks he took very seriously and reported with perception and fairness.
The music of Peter Warlock was particularly dear to David Cox and gives a clue to his own compositional style. This is heard to its best in his Three Songs from John Donne of 1959 and the Five Songs after John Milton of 1975. In addition to his arrangements and signature tunes, his best known orchestral work is the overture London Calling which he wrote for the 50th anniversary celebrations of the BBC External Sorvices and first performed in 1982, in which he incorporated not only "Lillibulero" but other themes associated with the service.
Choral works also feature in his output, many of them festival commissions. Among these are the Cantata of Beasts (1957), Songs of Earth and Air, on texts of Dryden (1960) and A Greek Cantata (1967). In 1969 his one opera, The Children in the Forest, used his own libretto adapted from the Arthur Ransome story and was written for the Cookham Festival. A number of attractive piano works and music for recorder and piano make up his principal instrumental works.
The Henry Wood Proms (1980) and Debussy Orchestral Music (1974) will remain his main books but his contributions to the study of the music of Warlock should not be forgotten, notably in Peter Warlock: a centenary celebration (1994) which he compiled and edited with John Bishop. He was a regular contributor to musical periodicals and wrote a number of articles for the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1980).
His particular musical interests were for English music of the 20th century, with French music coming a close second. After his retirement he considered writing a philosophical study on the essence and meaning of music but this never progressed beyond long and fascinating discussions on the topic with his musical friends and colleagues. He also wrote a novel, based in Yugoslavia, which remains unpublished.
David Cox was a good friend in the best sense of the term. His quiet, sincere manner and occasional hesitancy in conversation concealed a sharp, searching and perceptive mind. A fine linguist and fascinating conversationalist, his gently dry humour matched a remarkable patience occasionally disturbed only by some of the more extremes of modern music or the later trends in music broadcasting.
David Vassall Cox, composer: born Broadstairs, Kent 4 February 1916; married 1954 Barbara Butche r (died 1982; one son, two daughters), 1992 Sybil Bell; died Pratt's Bottom 31 January 1997.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-david-cox-1265281.html
Alastair Kennedy Cassels Brown (1945)
http://www.eds.edu/sec.asp?cat=1&page=118
For additional information, contact episcopal divinity school events at: events@eds.edu
The Cassels-Brown memorial concert honours both the memory of Dr. Alastair Cassels-Brown and his legacy of enriching worship through beautiful organ music.
Dr. Alastair Cassels-Brown was the professor of church music at ets and eds from 1967 until his etirement in 1992. Many alumni/ae returning to the school will remember him as their professor of church music, liturgics, but most of all, as a daily presence in St. John’s memorial chapel. In the chapel, he led the music from the organ loft, and played the works of the great composers during his twenty-five year tenure at the school. Throughout his career, he maintained a busy schedule of organ recitals in the United States and abroad and directed choral and chamber music concerts in the new york/new England area. His compositions include choral and orchestral works, music for organ, a Cella concerto, chamber music, and an opera. Dr. Cassels-brown was also a contributor To the 1982 edition of the Episcopal church hymnal. Some of his own sacred music was first heard, and some even recorded, in Saint John’s memorial chapel.
Christopher Hugh Dearnley (1948)
Christopher Dearnley, who has died in Australia aged 70, served the cause of cathedral music in two hemispheres with great distinction for half a century. As organist and director of music at St Paul's cathedral from 1968-90, he masterminded the music for many state occasions: the thanksgiving service for the Queen's silver jubilee in 1977, the wedding of the Prince and Princess of Wales in 1981 and the Falklands war thanksgiving service in 1982.
Born in Wolverhampton, the third son of an Anglican clergyman, Dearnley was educated at Cranleigh school and Worcester College, Oxford, where he held an organ scholarship from 1948-52. He read theology jointly with music for his BA degree and, in his fourth year, took the degree of B Mus.
This academic grounding stood him in good stead. He produced two books: The Treasury Of English Church Music (Volume III) and English Church Music, 1650-1750, the definitive work on the period, which includes thorough research into the history of the Chapels Royal. In addition, he edited anthems and services, and sat on the editorial board of the New English Hymnal.
After leaving Oxford, Dearnley did his national service in the RAF at Melksham. As the base was near Salisbury, he made contact with the cathedral organist, Douglas Guest, who invited him to play for some services; this led to his appointment as assistant organist.
In 1957, he succeeded Guest, and began a fruitful 11-year tenure, living in the shadow of the tallest spire in England and master of the cathedral's wonderful "Father" Willis organ. Dearnley seized the opportunities; together with Alwyn Surplice and John Birch, the organists of Winchester and Chichester, he worked to revive the Southern Cathedrals Festival and set it on course to become the premier festival of liturgical music in the world.
He introduced instrumental teaching for the choristers to enhance their musical education, something he believed in very strongly. One of the music teachers who responded to his advertisement, Bridget Wateridge, later became his wife and bore him three sons and a daughter. This meant that when he was appointed to St Paul's in 1968, he became the first occupant of the organist's house in Amen Court for more than a century with young children .
The contrast between the plain early English Gothic of Salisbury and the Renaissance splendour and vast acoustic of St Paul's could not be greater. Always forward-looking, Dearnley, who was still only 38, made a positive virtue of the change and enthused his family for the excitements of London, especially the Thames, where he led them on explorations of the shore.
In his new post, he had a dynamic influence, introducing the European tradition of orchestral masses by Mozart, Haydn and Schubert as settings for the Sunday Eucharist. He drove through the rebuilding and enlargement of the cathedral organ, which included a new division over the great west doors featuring a full chorus of horizontally-mounted royal trumpet pipes. Although inaugurated to great effect, they have startled royalty on many occasions, and are now banned when Prince Philip is underneath.
International celebrity organ recitals were given, as well as choral concerts, which drew large audiences. A brilliant recitalist himself, Dearnley was always keen to seize opportunities to make the instrument more accessible, taking part in organ galas at the Royal Albert Hall and Alexandra Palace.
Together with Barry Rose, his sub-organist, he made many superb choral and organ recordings. Always pragmatic, he found things worked best when he played the organ and Rose conducted, so he re-designated him master of the choir, thereby releasing himself from directing at services, and was thus able to provide splendid accompaniments. Choral services were enriched; broadcasts of evensong were electrifying. His last recital in England was a virtuoso performance last June, on the magnificent organ he helped to create.
Dearnley joined the Friends of Cathedral Music (FCM) in 1965, becoming its chairman in 1971. For 19 years, he led a team of dedicated volunteers, who all shared his determination to overcome the many threats to the tradition, by attracting bequests and making grants. During this per- iod, FCM grew tenfold in funds and membership.
Dearnley and his wife emigrated to Australia in 1990, ostensibly to live quieter lives as naturists, and for Dearnley to concentrate on teaching. In the event, after his first post at Christ Church, St Laurence, in Sydney, he was head-hunted by one cathedral after another to direct their music: Hobart, Perth, Sydney and Newcastle, plus the University of Melbourne. He is survived by his wife and children.
Christopher Hugh Dearnley, organist, born February 11 1930; died December 15 2000
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2001/jan/24/guardianobituaries1