Humphrey Clucas
Encyclopedia
Humphrey Clucas is a British
composer
, singer and author.
Clucas read English at King’s College, Cambridge, where he was a choral scholar
. Having taught English in schools for twenty-seven years, while maintaining a separate singing career, he finally gave up teaching on his appointment as a Lay Vicar (member of the choir) of Westminster Abbey
, from which he retired in 1999.
As a composer he is self-taught, and though well known for a set of Responses
, written as an undergraduate, nearly all his serious work has been done since 1979. He has written a great deal of choral music, much of it liturgical. But there are also concert works for choir and orchestra and for unaccompanied choir (including a Stabat Mater with string quartet and an unaccompanied Requiem
), a Housman song cycle
for countertenor
, a Clarinet
Sonatina
, a large body of organ music, including an Organ Symphony a series of works for double bass
- and so on. He has written for a large number of English cathedrals, and also for the Vasari Singers, Gothic Voices, the organists Martin Baker, Robert Crowley and Peter Wright, and others. His latest work (Christmas, 2009), was a carol for the BBC Boy and Girl Chorister of the Year, the Choir of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, and the Royal Harpist.
His two books of verse, 'Gods & Mortals' and 'Unfashionable Song', were published in 1981 and 1990. There is also a collection of Catullus translations (1985) and a small book of essays on A.E.Housman (1996). Items from the Catullus have been anthologised by both Penguin and O.U.P., and the whole collection was reprinted as an appendix to Aubrey Burl's biography of the poet (2004).
Clucas's memoirs, 'Taking Stock: The First Sixty Years', appeared in 2005. The longest chapter describes the rather unhappy musical establishment at Westminster Abbey in the 1990s. In 2009, he published 'Royal and Peculiar', three (fictional) crime stories set in Westminster Abbey (with poems by Anne Middleton).
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, singer and author.
Clucas read English at King’s College, Cambridge, where he was a choral scholar
Choral scholar
A choral scholar is a student either at a university or private school who receives a scholarship in exchange for singing in the school or university's choir...
. Having taught English in schools for twenty-seven years, while maintaining a separate singing career, he finally gave up teaching on his appointment as a Lay Vicar (member of the choir) of Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
, from which he retired in 1999.
As a composer he is self-taught, and though well known for a set of Responses
Response (liturgy)
A response is the second half of one of a set of preces, the said or sung answer by the congregation or choir to a versicle said or sung by an officiant or cantor...
, written as an undergraduate, nearly all his serious work has been done since 1979. He has written a great deal of choral music, much of it liturgical. But there are also concert works for choir and orchestra and for unaccompanied choir (including a Stabat Mater with string quartet and an unaccompanied Requiem
Requiem
A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead or Mass of the dead , is a Mass celebrated for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, using a particular form of the Roman Missal...
), a Housman song cycle
Song cycle
A song cycle is a group of songs designed to be performed in a sequence as a single entity. As a rule, all of the songs are by the same composer and often use words from the same poet or lyricist. Unification can be achieved by a narrative or a persona common to the songs, or even, as in Schumann's...
for countertenor
Countertenor
A countertenor is a male singing voice whose vocal range is equivalent to that of a contralto, mezzo-soprano, or a soprano, usually through use of falsetto, or far more rarely than normal, modal voice. A pre-pubescent male who has this ability is called a treble...
, a Clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
Sonatina
Sonatina
A sonatina is literally a small sonata. As a musical term, sonatina has no single strict definition; it is rather a title applied by the composer to a piece that is in basic sonata form, but is shorter, lighter in character, or more elementary technically than a typical sonata...
, a large body of organ music, including an Organ Symphony a series of works for double bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
- and so on. He has written for a large number of English cathedrals, and also for the Vasari Singers, Gothic Voices, the organists Martin Baker, Robert Crowley and Peter Wright, and others. His latest work (Christmas, 2009), was a carol for the BBC Boy and Girl Chorister of the Year, the Choir of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, and the Royal Harpist.
His two books of verse, 'Gods & Mortals' and 'Unfashionable Song', were published in 1981 and 1990. There is also a collection of Catullus translations (1985) and a small book of essays on A.E.Housman (1996). Items from the Catullus have been anthologised by both Penguin and O.U.P., and the whole collection was reprinted as an appendix to Aubrey Burl's biography of the poet (2004).
Clucas's memoirs, 'Taking Stock: The First Sixty Years', appeared in 2005. The longest chapter describes the rather unhappy musical establishment at Westminster Abbey in the 1990s. In 2009, he published 'Royal and Peculiar', three (fictional) crime stories set in Westminster Abbey (with poems by Anne Middleton).