Herbert Sumsion
Encyclopedia
Herbert Whitton Sumsion was an English
musician who was organist
of Gloucester Cathedral
from 1928 to 1967. Through his leadership role with the Three Choirs Festival
, Sumsion maintained close associations with major figures in England's 20th-century musical renaissance, including Edward Elgar
, Herbert Howells
, Gerald Finzi
, and Ralph Vaughan Williams
. Although Sumsion is known primarily as a cathedral musician, his professional career spanned more than 60 years and encompassed composing, conducting, performing, accompanying, and teaching. His compositions include works for choir
and organ
, as well as lesser-known chamber
and orchestra
l works.
, a cathedral city on the River Severn
. In 1908, at the age of nine, Sumsion became a probationer in the Gloucester cathedral choir, which was then under the direction of Herbert Brewer
. After two years Sumsion became a full chorister and sang with the choir until 1914. Gloucester was (and is) one of the three host cities, along with Worcester
and Hereford
, of the Three Choirs Festival
, an annual festival of choral emphasis first held in the early 18th century. Sumsion would later write of his musically formative experiences at the cathedral: ‘Quite soon after my entry into the choir I was singing with the [Three Choirs] Festival Chorus and gradually absorbing the choral music of the great classical composers and the contemporary writers, of whom the giant was certainly Elgar.' When Sumsion’s treble voice broke at age 15, he became an ‘articled pupil’ to Brewer, a designation connoting a three-year apprenticeship in organ, choral direction, and music theory. As one of Brewer’s articled pupils Sumsion was following in the footsteps of his slightly older contemporaries, Herbert Howells
and Ivor Gurney
. Sumsion passed the Associateship exam of the Royal College of Organists
in 1915, and in July 1916 joined Howells in passing the Fellowship exam; though he was only 17, Sumsion was awarded the Turpin prize for the second-highest marks in the practical component.
From 1917 to 1919 Sumsion served in the Queen’s Westminster Rifles and spent time in the Flanders
trenches. In 1919 he returned to Gloucester cathedral to take up an appointment as assistant organist to Brewer. Sumsion’s duties during this period included serving as accompanist for the Three Choirs Festival Chorus, which occasioned a brief but memorable encounter with Elgar after a rehearsal of The Dream of Gerontius
. Sumsion earned an undergraduate degree in music from Durham University
in 1920 and continued in his post at Gloucester until 1922, when he embarked for London
to become organist of Christ Church, Lancaster Gate
. In 1924 he took on two additional posts—director of music at Bishop's Stortford College
, north of London, and a teaching position at Morley College
. He also studied conducting
with Adrian Boult
at the Royal College of Music
, though Boult observed that Sumsion’s conducting technique was already well-developed.
At the Royal College of Music Sumsion also met R. O. Morris
, professor of counterpoint and composition. When Morris accepted a position at the Curtis Institute of Music
in Philadelphia, he asked Sumsion to serve as his assistant; the two, along with Morris’s wife Emmie, departed for America
at the end of September 1926. The Curtis Institute was then a conservatory in its infancy, but figures such as Leopold Stokowski
, famed conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra
, were associated with it in its early days. Sumsion’s decision to accompany the Morrises was of consequence to his personal life as well as his career. Emmie Morris wrote frequently to her sister Adeline (who was married to Ralph Vaughan Williams
) and reported ‘with interest’ on Sumsion’s courtship of an American girl, Alice Garlichs. Sumsion had been introduced to Alice through her uncle, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania
whom Sumsion had met on board the ship to America. On 7 June 1927, Herbert and Alice were married in Philadelphia.
, the Dean and Chapter at Gloucester negotiated his release from this commitment. Sumsion and his wife left America for England in June 1928.
Despite his relatively late arrival on the scene, Sumsion’s leadership of the 1928 Three Choirs Festival at Gloucester impressed both music colleagues and the press. In those days the resident organist bore the burden of conducting, and though in 1928 several composers were on hand to conduct their own works—notably Elgar and the Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály
—Sumsion was responsible for works such as Verdi’s
Requiem
and Honegger’s
King David, the latter being a Three Choirs debut. It was following the 1928 festival that Elgar made his oft-quoted pun: ‘What at the beginning of the week was assumption has now become a certainty.’
A former Sumsion pupil writes that Sumsion’s ‘vision in matters of programme planning together with his skill of direction in a very wide spectrum of works made him one of the most successful conductors’ in the Three Choirs Festival’s history. From 1928 until his retirement in 1967, Sumsion was responsible for planning and serving as the principal conductor for eleven festivals held at Gloucester. Although Sumsion personally acknowledged the challenge that cathedral organists—who were primarily choral conductors—faced in conducting major orchestral works, his own conducting was greatly respected, and his interpretations of Elgar’s works were viewed as being representative of the composer’s own readings. At the first festival following Elgar’s death (1934), Sumsion proposed that the three cathedral organists each conduct one of the Elgar works on the program, a welcome division of labour for the host conductor that would later became standard practice. After the retirement in 1949 of Percy Hull of Hereford and Ivor Atkins
of Worcester, Sumsion remained the only direct link with Elgar amongst the musicians of the three cathedrals.
In his program planning for the festival, Sumsion championed the performance of new English works. Notable premieres at Sumsion’s Gloucester festivals included Gustav Holst’s
Choral Fantasia (1931), Howells’s
Hymnus Paradisi
(1950), and Finzi’s
Intimations of Immortality
(1950); as well as works by Vaughan Williams, Howard Ferguson, Robin Milford
, Tony Hewitt-Jones, John Sanders
, and Sumsion himself. Outside the realm of English music, Sumsion helped sustain a festival connection with Kodály by inviting him back to Gloucester in 1937 and programming his works at six Gloucester festivals.
Sumsion maintained personal friendships with many of the well-known composers who frequented the festival, particularly Vaughan Williams, Finzi, and Howells. Social gatherings at the festival, in which Sumsion’s wife Alice played a significant role, helped to cultivate these relationships. In 2007 Ursula Vaughan Williams
still recalled that her husband had been ‘great friends’ with Herbert and Alice. Sumsion was considered part of Finzi’s intimate circle and was a frequent guest at Finzi’s home at Ashmansworth
in Hampshire
; the Sumsion and Finzi families (the Sumsions had three sons, the Finzis two) also went on holiday together. The Sumsion and Howells families were likewise close, evidenced by the fact that in 1935 the Sumsions hosted Howells and his wife for Christmas following the death of the Howells’s son Michael; and according to one Howells biographer, it was Sumsion who first encouraged Howells to allow Hymnus Paradisi, written in Michael’s memory, to be performed.
Sumsion also led an active professional life outside the cathedral. He had begun composing as a young man and continued to accept commissions when he was well into his eighties. Possibly his last work was a set of hymns entitled 'Four Hymns', by Paul Wigmore and published by Oecumuse in the autumn of 1995, only weeks after Sumsion's death. He composed many works for organ
and choir
, as well as chamber
and orchestra
l pieces and a book of piano
exercises. Sumsion also taught piano, organ, and composition privately, adjudicated at competitions, accompanied vocalists and played with chamber groups, and performed as an organ recitalist. His 1965 recording of Elgar’s Organ Sonata
, which he recorded in one ‘take’, is now regarded as the standard interpretation of that work. Concurrent with his post at the cathedral Sumsion served as director of music at Cheltenham Ladies’ College (1935-1968) and directed the Gloucester Choral and Orchestral Societies. As a teacher and choir trainer he was said to be demanding yet kind and encouraging, displaying ‘that rare gift that made people want to do well for him’. Sumsion was honored with a Lambeth Doctorate
in 1947 and was appointed CBE
in 1961.
After retiring from Gloucester cathedral in 1967, Sumsion remained in Gloucestershire
and continued to teach and compose. He died at Frampton-on-Severn
in 1995 at age 96.
composers like Parry
and Brewer. Despite these influences, however, Sumsion’s music speaks in a fresh and distinctive voice that is appealing to both performers and listeners. His harmonic language is sturdy and conventional, yet often tinged with modality
, and his melodic style is fluid and elegant. In the organ and choral works Sumsion displays a fondness for parallel thirds in the accompaniment, detached bass lines, and the descending minor third in the melody.
Choral and organ music appear most often in Sumsion’s output during his Gloucester tenure and retirement, with many choral pieces dating from his last decade of life. Works such as the Magnificat
and Nunc dimittis
in G major and the anthem They That Go Down to the Sea in Ships have joined the standard repertoire of Anglican church music
and have been recorded by many choirs. A new disc of Sumsion’s choral music featuring the Ecclesium Choir (Philip Stopford, director) was released in 2007 as No. 9 in Priory’s British Church Composers Series. Sumsion’s most significant work for organ is the challenging Introduction and Theme, which has been recorded by Donald Hunt (among others) for the Helios label.
Most of Sumsion’s chamber and orchestral works were written earlier in his career and are unpublished or out of print; however a Piano Trio, the orchestral pieces Overture, In the Cotswolds and Idyll, At Valley Green, and the Cello Sonata have all had public performances, the first three at various Three Choirs Festivals. David Lloyd-Jones
and the Royal Ballet Sinfonia
have recorded an attractive work for strings called A Mountain Tune (‘English String Miniatures’/White Line/2003), which Sumsion originally wrote for cello and piano.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
musician who was organist
Organist
An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists...
of Gloucester Cathedral
Gloucester Cathedral
Gloucester Cathedral, or the Cathedral Church of St Peter and the Holy and Indivisible Trinity, in Gloucester, England, stands in the north of the city near the river. It originated in 678 or 679 with the foundation of an abbey dedicated to Saint Peter .-Foundations:The foundations of the present...
from 1928 to 1967. Through his leadership role with the Three Choirs Festival
Three Choirs Festival
The Three Choirs Festival is a music festival held each August alternately at the cathedrals of the Three Counties and originally featuring their three choirs, which remain central to the week-long programme...
, Sumsion maintained close associations with major figures in England's 20th-century musical renaissance, including Edward Elgar
Edward Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...
, Herbert Howells
Herbert Howells
Herbert Norman Howells CH was an English composer, organist, and teacher, most famous for his large output of Anglican church music.-Life:...
, Gerald Finzi
Gerald Finzi
Gerald Raphael Finzi was a British composer. Finzi is best known as a song-writer, but also wrote in other genres...
, and Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...
. Although Sumsion is known primarily as a cathedral musician, his professional career spanned more than 60 years and encompassed composing, conducting, performing, accompanying, and teaching. His compositions include works for choir
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
and organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
, as well as lesser-known chamber
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
and orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
l works.
Training and early career
Sumsion was born in GloucesterGloucester
Gloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....
, a cathedral city on the River Severn
River Severn
The River Severn is the longest river in Great Britain, at about , but the second longest on the British Isles, behind the River Shannon. It rises at an altitude of on Plynlimon, Ceredigion near Llanidloes, Powys, in the Cambrian Mountains of mid Wales...
. In 1908, at the age of nine, Sumsion became a probationer in the Gloucester cathedral choir, which was then under the direction of Herbert Brewer
Herbert Brewer
Sir Arthur Herbert Brewer was an English composer and organist. As organist of Gloucester Cathedral from 1896 until his death, he contributed a good deal to the Three Choirs Festival for 30 years....
. After two years Sumsion became a full chorister and sang with the choir until 1914. Gloucester was (and is) one of the three host cities, along with Worcester
Worcester
The City of Worcester, commonly known as Worcester, , is a city and county town of Worcestershire in the West Midlands of England. Worcester is situated some southwest of Birmingham and north of Gloucester, and has an approximate population of 94,000 people. The River Severn runs through the...
and Hereford
Hereford
Hereford is a cathedral city, civil parish and county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, southwest of Worcester, and northwest of Gloucester...
, of the Three Choirs Festival
Three Choirs Festival
The Three Choirs Festival is a music festival held each August alternately at the cathedrals of the Three Counties and originally featuring their three choirs, which remain central to the week-long programme...
, an annual festival of choral emphasis first held in the early 18th century. Sumsion would later write of his musically formative experiences at the cathedral: ‘Quite soon after my entry into the choir I was singing with the [Three Choirs] Festival Chorus and gradually absorbing the choral music of the great classical composers and the contemporary writers, of whom the giant was certainly Elgar.' When Sumsion’s treble voice broke at age 15, he became an ‘articled pupil’ to Brewer, a designation connoting a three-year apprenticeship in organ, choral direction, and music theory. As one of Brewer’s articled pupils Sumsion was following in the footsteps of his slightly older contemporaries, Herbert Howells
Herbert Howells
Herbert Norman Howells CH was an English composer, organist, and teacher, most famous for his large output of Anglican church music.-Life:...
and Ivor Gurney
Ivor Gurney
Ivor Bertie Gurney was an English composer and poet.-Life:Born at 3 Queen Street, Gloucester in 1890, the second of four children of David Gurney, a tailor, and his wife Florence, a seamstress, Gurney showed musical ability early...
. Sumsion passed the Associateship exam of the Royal College of Organists
Royal College of Organists
The Royal College of Organists or RCO, is a charity and membership organisation based in the United Kingdom, but with members around the world...
in 1915, and in July 1916 joined Howells in passing the Fellowship exam; though he was only 17, Sumsion was awarded the Turpin prize for the second-highest marks in the practical component.
From 1917 to 1919 Sumsion served in the Queen’s Westminster Rifles and spent time in the Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
trenches. In 1919 he returned to Gloucester cathedral to take up an appointment as assistant organist to Brewer. Sumsion’s duties during this period included serving as accompanist for the Three Choirs Festival Chorus, which occasioned a brief but memorable encounter with Elgar after a rehearsal of The Dream of Gerontius
The Dream of Gerontius
The Dream of Gerontius, popularly called just Gerontius, is a work for voices and orchestra in two parts composed by Edward Elgar in 1900, to text from the poem by John Henry Newman. It relates the journey of a pious man's soul from his deathbed to his judgment before God and settling into Purgatory...
. Sumsion earned an undergraduate degree in music from Durham University
Durham University
The University of Durham, commonly known as Durham University, is a university in Durham, England. It was founded by Act of Parliament in 1832 and granted a Royal Charter in 1837...
in 1920 and continued in his post at Gloucester until 1922, when he embarked for London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to become organist of Christ Church, Lancaster Gate
Lancaster Gate
Lancaster Gate is a mid-19th century development in the Bayswater district of west central London, immediately to the north of Kensington Gardens. It consists of two long terraces of houses overlooking the park, with a wide gap between them opening onto a square containing a church. Further...
. In 1924 he took on two additional posts—director of music at Bishop's Stortford College
Bishop's Stortford College
Bishop's Stortford College is a co-educational independent school for day and boarding pupils from the ages of four to eighteen, with a campus located on the edge of Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, England...
, north of London, and a teaching position at Morley College
Morley College
Morley College is an adult education college in London, England. It was founded in the 1880s and has a student population of 10,806 adult students...
. He also studied conducting
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
with Adrian Boult
Adrian Boult
Sir Adrian Cedric Boult CH was an English conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in London for the Royal Opera House and Sergei Diaghilev's ballet company. His first prominent post was...
at the Royal College of Music
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...
, though Boult observed that Sumsion’s conducting technique was already well-developed.
At the Royal College of Music Sumsion also met R. O. Morris
R. O. Morris
Reginald Owen Morris , almost universally cited in sources and referred to even by his friends by his initials, as 'R.O. Morris', was a British composer whose compositions have been overshadowed by his formidable reputation as a teacher.He was born in York...
, professor of counterpoint and composition. When Morris accepted a position at the Curtis Institute of Music
Curtis Institute of Music
The Curtis Institute of Music is a conservatory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that offers courses of study leading to a performance Diploma, Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in Opera, and Professional Studies Certificate in Opera. According to statistics compiled by U.S...
in Philadelphia, he asked Sumsion to serve as his assistant; the two, along with Morris’s wife Emmie, departed for America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
at the end of September 1926. The Curtis Institute was then a conservatory in its infancy, but figures such as Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Anthony Stokowski was a British-born, naturalised American orchestral conductor, well known for his free-hand performing style that spurned the traditional baton and for obtaining a characteristically sumptuous sound from many of the great orchestras he conducted.In America, Stokowski...
, famed conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra
Philadelphia Orchestra
The Philadelphia Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. One of the "Big Five" American orchestras, it was founded in 1900...
, were associated with it in its early days. Sumsion’s decision to accompany the Morrises was of consequence to his personal life as well as his career. Emmie Morris wrote frequently to her sister Adeline (who was married to Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...
) and reported ‘with interest’ on Sumsion’s courtship of an American girl, Alice Garlichs. Sumsion had been introduced to Alice through her uncle, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
whom Sumsion had met on board the ship to America. On 7 June 1927, Herbert and Alice were married in Philadelphia.
Gloucester and the Three Choirs Festival
On 1 March 1928, Herbert Brewer died suddenly of a heart attack, leaving the post of organist at Gloucester vacant only a few months before the cathedral was to host the Three Choirs Festival. Brewer had expressed a desire that Sumsion succeed him, so although Sumsion had just accepted the position of organist at Coventry cathedralCoventry Cathedral
Coventry Cathedral, also known as St Michael's Cathedral, is the seat of the Bishop of Coventry and the Diocese of Coventry, in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The current bishop is the Right Revd Christopher Cocksworth....
, the Dean and Chapter at Gloucester negotiated his release from this commitment. Sumsion and his wife left America for England in June 1928.
Despite his relatively late arrival on the scene, Sumsion’s leadership of the 1928 Three Choirs Festival at Gloucester impressed both music colleagues and the press. In those days the resident organist bore the burden of conducting, and though in 1928 several composers were on hand to conduct their own works—notably Elgar and the Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály
Zoltán Kodály
Zoltán Kodály was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, pedagogue, linguist, and philosopher. He is best known internationally as the creator of the Kodály Method.-Life:Born in Kecskemét, Kodály learned to play the violin as a child....
—Sumsion was responsible for works such as Verdi’s
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
Requiem
Requiem (Verdi)
The Messa da Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi is a musical setting of the Roman Catholic funeral mass for four soloists, double choir and orchestra. It was composed in memory of Alessandro Manzoni, an Italian poet and novelist much admired by Verdi. The first performance in San Marco in Milan on 22 May...
and Honegger’s
Arthur Honegger
Arthur Honegger was a Swiss composer, who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. He was a member of Les six. His most frequently performed work is probably the orchestral work Pacific 231, which is interpreted as imitating the sound of a steam locomotive.-Biography:Born...
King David, the latter being a Three Choirs debut. It was following the 1928 festival that Elgar made his oft-quoted pun: ‘What at the beginning of the week was assumption has now become a certainty.’
A former Sumsion pupil writes that Sumsion’s ‘vision in matters of programme planning together with his skill of direction in a very wide spectrum of works made him one of the most successful conductors’ in the Three Choirs Festival’s history. From 1928 until his retirement in 1967, Sumsion was responsible for planning and serving as the principal conductor for eleven festivals held at Gloucester. Although Sumsion personally acknowledged the challenge that cathedral organists—who were primarily choral conductors—faced in conducting major orchestral works, his own conducting was greatly respected, and his interpretations of Elgar’s works were viewed as being representative of the composer’s own readings. At the first festival following Elgar’s death (1934), Sumsion proposed that the three cathedral organists each conduct one of the Elgar works on the program, a welcome division of labour for the host conductor that would later became standard practice. After the retirement in 1949 of Percy Hull of Hereford and Ivor Atkins
Ivor Atkins
Sir Ivor Algernon Atkins was the choirmaster and organist at Worcester Cathedral for over 50 years . He is well known for editing Allegri's Miserere with the famous top-C part for the treble...
of Worcester, Sumsion remained the only direct link with Elgar amongst the musicians of the three cathedrals.
In his program planning for the festival, Sumsion championed the performance of new English works. Notable premieres at Sumsion’s Gloucester festivals included Gustav Holst’s
Gustav Holst
Gustav Theodore Holst was an English composer. He is most famous for his orchestral suite The Planets....
Choral Fantasia (1931), Howells’s
Herbert Howells
Herbert Norman Howells CH was an English composer, organist, and teacher, most famous for his large output of Anglican church music.-Life:...
Hymnus Paradisi
Hymnus Paradisi
Hymnus Paradisi is a choral work by Herbert Howells for soprano and tenor soloists, mixed chorus, and orchestra. The work was inspired in part by the death of his son Michael in 1935. Howells wrote the work from 1936 to 1938, but then retained the music privately, without public performance...
(1950), and Finzi’s
Gerald Finzi
Gerald Raphael Finzi was a British composer. Finzi is best known as a song-writer, but also wrote in other genres...
Intimations of Immortality
Intimations of Immortality
Intimations of Immortality, Op. 29, an ode for tenor, chorus, and orchestra, is one of the best-known works by English composer Gerald Finzi. It is a setting of nine of the eleven stanzas of William Wordsworth's "Ode: Intimations of Immortality", cast as a single continuous movement...
(1950); as well as works by Vaughan Williams, Howard Ferguson, Robin Milford
Robin Milford
Robin Milford was an English composer.- Biography :Milford was born in Oxford, son of Sir Humphrey Milford, publisher with Oxford University Press. He attended Rugby School from 1916 where his musical talent for the piano, flute and theory was recognised, and studied at the Royal College of Music...
, Tony Hewitt-Jones, John Sanders
John Sanders (musician)
John Derek Sanders OBE, MA , D.Mus , FRCO, ARCM, HonRSCM, was an English organist, conductor, choir trainer and composer...
, and Sumsion himself. Outside the realm of English music, Sumsion helped sustain a festival connection with Kodály by inviting him back to Gloucester in 1937 and programming his works at six Gloucester festivals.
Sumsion maintained personal friendships with many of the well-known composers who frequented the festival, particularly Vaughan Williams, Finzi, and Howells. Social gatherings at the festival, in which Sumsion’s wife Alice played a significant role, helped to cultivate these relationships. In 2007 Ursula Vaughan Williams
Ursula Vaughan Williams
Ursula Vaughan Williams, née Joan Ursula Penton Lock was an English poet and author, and biographer of her second husband, the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams.-Biography:...
still recalled that her husband had been ‘great friends’ with Herbert and Alice. Sumsion was considered part of Finzi’s intimate circle and was a frequent guest at Finzi’s home at Ashmansworth
Ashmansworth
Ashmansworth is a village and civil parish in the Basingstoke and Deane district of the English county of Hampshire.-Location:It is about south of Newbury in Berkshire, and from Andover in Hampshire. The village has the distinction of being not only one of the highest villages in Hampshire, but...
in Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
; the Sumsion and Finzi families (the Sumsions had three sons, the Finzis two) also went on holiday together. The Sumsion and Howells families were likewise close, evidenced by the fact that in 1935 the Sumsions hosted Howells and his wife for Christmas following the death of the Howells’s son Michael; and according to one Howells biographer, it was Sumsion who first encouraged Howells to allow Hymnus Paradisi, written in Michael’s memory, to be performed.
Sumsion also led an active professional life outside the cathedral. He had begun composing as a young man and continued to accept commissions when he was well into his eighties. Possibly his last work was a set of hymns entitled 'Four Hymns', by Paul Wigmore and published by Oecumuse in the autumn of 1995, only weeks after Sumsion's death. He composed many works for organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
and choir
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
, as well as chamber
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
and orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
l pieces and a book of piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
exercises. Sumsion also taught piano, organ, and composition privately, adjudicated at competitions, accompanied vocalists and played with chamber groups, and performed as an organ recitalist. His 1965 recording of Elgar’s Organ Sonata
Organ Sonata (Elgar)
The Sonata in G major, Op 28 is Sir Edward Elgar's first sonata composed for the organ and first performed on 8 July 1895. It also exists in an arrangement for full orchestra made after Elgar's death...
, which he recorded in one ‘take’, is now regarded as the standard interpretation of that work. Concurrent with his post at the cathedral Sumsion served as director of music at Cheltenham Ladies’ College (1935-1968) and directed the Gloucester Choral and Orchestral Societies. As a teacher and choir trainer he was said to be demanding yet kind and encouraging, displaying ‘that rare gift that made people want to do well for him’. Sumsion was honored with a Lambeth Doctorate
Lambeth degree
A Lambeth degree is an academic degree conferred by the Archbishop of Canterbury under the authority of the Ecclesiastical Licences Act 1533 as successor of the papal legate in England...
in 1947 and was appointed CBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
in 1961.
After retiring from Gloucester cathedral in 1967, Sumsion remained in Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
and continued to teach and compose. He died at Frampton-on-Severn
Frampton-on-Severn
Frampton-on-Severn is a village in Gloucestershire, England. It lies on the east bank of the River Severn, and on the west bank of the River Frome, from which it takes its name. The village is approximately 10 miles south of Gloucester, at . There is a parish council, consisting of nine members....
in 1995 at age 96.
Works
Sumsion’s compositional style reflects the influence of his more famous contemporaries Howells, Finzi, and Vaughan Williams, while at the same time retaining something of the ‘diatonic strength’ of EdwardianEdwardian period
The Edwardian era or Edwardian period in the United Kingdom is the period covering the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910.The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 and the succession of her son Edward marked the end of the Victorian era...
composers like Parry
Hubert Parry
Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, 1st Baronet was an English composer, teacher and historian of music.Parry's first major works appeared in 1880. As a composer he is best known for the choral song "Jerusalem", the coronation anthem "I was glad" and the hymn tune "Repton", which sets the words...
and Brewer. Despite these influences, however, Sumsion’s music speaks in a fresh and distinctive voice that is appealing to both performers and listeners. His harmonic language is sturdy and conventional, yet often tinged with modality
Musical mode
In the theory of Western music since the ninth century, mode generally refers to a type of scale. This usage, still the most common in recent years, reflects a tradition dating to the middle ages, itself inspired by the theory of ancient Greek music.The word encompasses several additional...
, and his melodic style is fluid and elegant. In the organ and choral works Sumsion displays a fondness for parallel thirds in the accompaniment, detached bass lines, and the descending minor third in the melody.
Choral and organ music appear most often in Sumsion’s output during his Gloucester tenure and retirement, with many choral pieces dating from his last decade of life. Works such as the Magnificat
Magnificat
The Magnificat — also known as the Song of Mary or the Canticle of Mary — is a canticle frequently sung liturgically in Christian church services. It is one of the eight most ancient Christian hymns and perhaps the earliest Marian hymn...
and Nunc dimittis
Nunc dimittis
The Nunc dimittis is a canticle from a text in the second chapter of Luke named after its first words in Latin, meaning 'Now dismiss...'....
in G major and the anthem They That Go Down to the Sea in Ships have joined the standard repertoire of Anglican church music
Anglican church music
Anglican church music is music that is written for liturgical performance in Anglican church services.Almost all of it is written for choir with or without organ accompaniment...
and have been recorded by many choirs. A new disc of Sumsion’s choral music featuring the Ecclesium Choir (Philip Stopford, director) was released in 2007 as No. 9 in Priory’s British Church Composers Series. Sumsion’s most significant work for organ is the challenging Introduction and Theme, which has been recorded by Donald Hunt (among others) for the Helios label.
Most of Sumsion’s chamber and orchestral works were written earlier in his career and are unpublished or out of print; however a Piano Trio, the orchestral pieces Overture, In the Cotswolds and Idyll, At Valley Green, and the Cello Sonata have all had public performances, the first three at various Three Choirs Festivals. David Lloyd-Jones
David Lloyd-Jones
David Matthias Lloyd-Jones is a British conductor who has specialised in British and Russian music. He is also an editor and translator, especially of Russian operas.- Biography :...
and the Royal Ballet Sinfonia
Royal Ballet Sinfonia
The Royal Ballet Sinfonia is the Orchestra of Birmingham Royal Ballet.The Sinfonia appears with Birmingham Royal Ballet in its home town, in London and around the UK, and frequently appears with The Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House and on tour...
have recorded an attractive work for strings called A Mountain Tune (‘English String Miniatures’/White Line/2003), which Sumsion originally wrote for cello and piano.
Choral
- As With Gladness, for SATB choir and organ
- Benedicite, Omnia Opera in B-flat major, for SATB choir and organ
- By the Cross of Jesus, for SATB choir
- A Child This Day is Born, for SATB choir and organ
- Communion Service in A and D for SSATB and organ
- Communion Service in F major, for SATB choir and organ
- Fear Not O Land, for SATB choir and organ
- Festival Benedicite in D major, for SATB choir and organ or orchestra
- The Holy Birth, for SATB choir and organ
- Hosanna to the Son of David, for SATB choir
- I Was Glad, for TTBB and piano
- I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes, for SATB choir and organ
- In Exile, motet for double chorus unaccompanied
- The Lord Ascendeth Up on High, for SATB choir and organ
- Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in A major, for SATB choir and organ
- Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in D major, for trebles or SATB choir and organ
- Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in G major, for SATB choir and organ
- Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in G Major, for ATB choir and organ
- Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in G Major, for treble choir and organ
- Nine Introits for Seasons of the Church's Year
- And the Angel said, Behold (Christmas)
- Arise, Shine for your light has come (Epiphany)
- Timor et Tremor
- With a Voice of Singing
- You shall receive power
- Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God
- Lift up your heads
- O praise the Lord, ye Angels of his
- Dilexit Justitiam
- O Be Joyful in the Lord, for SATB choir and organ
- O Lord, Thou Hast Searched Me Out, for SATB choir and organ
- One Thing Have I Desired of the Lord, for SATB double choir
- Praise the Lord, O My Soul, for SATB choir
- Praise to the Lord (St. Patrick’s Breastplate), for SATB choir and organ
- The Spacious Firmament, for SATB choir and organ
- Te Deum Laudamus in G major, for SATB choir and organ
- There is a Green Hill Far Away, for SATB choir and organ
- They That Go Down to the Sea in Ships, for SATB choir and organ
- Thou Wilt Keep Him in Perfect Peace, for SATB choir and organ
- Two Carols (I Sing of a Maiden and Herrick’s Carol), for unaccompanied mixed voices
- Versicles, Responses, and the Lord’s Prayer, for SATB choir
- Watt’s Cradle Song, for unison choir
- We Love the Place, O God, for SATB choir
Organ
- Air, Berceuse and Procession
- Allegretto
- Canzona
- Carol and Musette (Vaughan Williams) arranged for organ
- Ceremonial March
- Chorale Prelude on ‘Down Ampney’
- Cradle Song
- Elegy
- Four Preludes on Well-Known Carols
- Intermezzo
- Introduction and Theme
- Pastorale
- Procession
- Quiet Postlude
- Sarabande and Interlude
- Toccata on ‘University’
- Variations on a Folk Tune
Chamber and orchestral
- Idyll, At Valley Green for orchestra
- Lerryn, for orchestra
- A Mountain Tune, for cello and piano
- A Mountain Tune, arr. for string orchestra
- Overture, In the Cotswolds, for full orchestra
- Piano Trio (1931)
- Piano Trio (1982)
- Romance, for string orchestra
- Sonata in C minor, for cello and piano
- Sonata in E minor, for violin and piano
- String Quartet in G major
- Variations on a Folk Song, ‘I Will Give My Love an Apple’, for piano solo
- Variations on a Folk Tune, for flute and piano