In Tuneful Accord. Trevor Beeson

in 1938) to 12 per cent. It is possible, however, that some good parish church choirs view his work more favourably.

      4. The Beginnings of Reform – Samuel Sebastian Wesley

      Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810–76) was the foremost church musician of the nineteenth century. A brilliant organist – generally considered the best of his time in Britain – he was also an unusually innovative composer, who initiated a breakthrough in church music, and a visionary who had firm ideas as to how the music of cathedrals might be rescued from the abyss into which it had descended during the previous 100 years. He was a long way ahead of his time and, given his combination of gifts and artistic temperament, it was unsurprising that he was a prickly character, quick to take offence, and found it virtually impossible to collaborate with others, especially those who chanced to be his capitular employers. In fairness, however, it must be recognized that his experience of negligent cathedral authorities would have tested the patience of a saint.

      Wesley was the organist of four cathedrals – Hereford, Exeter, Winchester and Gloucester – as well as of the cathedral-like Leeds Parish Church. He composed about 30 anthems, a few service settings and some hymn tunes and psalm chants, but only a small amount of this is in current use. Part of the explanation is that his anthems and chief service settings are of considerable musical complexity and demand cathedral, rather than parish church, choirs for their performance. Fashion is another factor. Although Wesley was a pioneer, most of his music bears the clear stamp of the Victorian era, sometimes exhibiting an element of sentimentality, and many of the twenty-first century’s church musicians do not find this attractive. Dr Arthur Hutchings, who was Professor of Music at Durham in the 1960s, and who denied the existence of any significant church music between Purcell and Stanford, described Wesley’s work as ‘feeble’, but this probably tells us more about the limited taste of the professor than it does about the skill of the musician. Eric Routley, who appreciated him more, described him as

      easily the most cultivated musician of his day ... and the most adventurously unreliable musician. He could write every cliché in the book; but he could also induce a sense of spaciousness and authority which none of his contemporaries could approach.

      Wesley’s style was in fact a reversion to that of the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century composers, but with the addition of the new harmonic concepts of his own time. Of his hymn tunes ‘Aurelia’ is still without serious competition for ‘The Church’s one foundation’, ‘Hereford’ seems just right for ‘O Thou who camest from above’ and ‘Harewood’ appropriately upbeat for ‘Christ is our Corner-stone’. ‘Alleluia’ has just about retained its claim on ‘Alleluia! Sing to Jesus’, but few of his many other fine tunes survived for long and today they are unknown to congregations.

      In 1844 Wesley’s personal experience and accumulated knowledge of many English cathedrals led him to pen A Few Words on Cathedral Music and the Musical System of the Church, with a Plan of Reform. The ‘few words’ were a 90-page monograph which sold for 2s. 6d. and was not designed to win him friends among the deans and chapters. He began with a stark warning to aspiring cathedral organists:

      Painful and dangerous is the position of a young musician who, after acquiring great knowledge of his art in the Metropolis, joins a county Cathedral. At first he can scarcely believe that the mass of error and inferiority in which he has to participate is habitual and irremediable. He thinks he will reform matters gently, and without giving offence; but he soon discovers that it is his approbation and not his advice that is needed.

      The painter and the sculptor can choose their tools and the material on which they work, and great is the care they devote to the selection: but the musician of the Church has no power of this kind; nay worse, he is compelled to work with tools which he knows to be inefficient and unworthy – incompetent singers and a wretched organ. He must learn to tolerate error, to sacrifice principle, and yet to indicate by his outward demeanour the most perfect satisfaction in his office. His position, in fact, is that of a clergyman compelled by a dominant power to preach the principles of the Koran instead of the Bible. This censure may not apply to all Cathedrals, it is allowed; to some it assuredly may and does.

      He then went on to make constructive proposals for reform.

      1 Every cathedral foundation should employ at least twelve Lay Clerks, each to be paid a minimum of £85 p.a. If possible this should be raised to £100–£150 p.a. which would be sufficient to remove the necessity for the men to find additional employment.

      2 Lay Clerks should be chosen by a panel consisting of the cathedral organist, the organists of two neighbouring cathedrals, to ‘judge’ their musical competence, and one or more members of the Chapter to ‘judge the religious fitness of the candidate’.

      3 Besides the twelve Lay Clerks, another three deputies or supernumeraries should be appointed on a retainer of £52 p.a. to take the place of those who might be absent because of illness or for other good reasons. In large towns competent amateur singers should be recruited to augment the contribution of the professionals on special occasions or when the music demands larger forces.

      4 The cathedral organist should be ‘a professor of the highest ability’, competent not only as an organist, but also as a choir-trainer and a composer. He should be chosen by the organists of seven other cathedrals and rewarded with a salary of £500–£800 p.a. (more at St Paul’s and Westminster Abbey) for ‘such men are the bishops of their calling – men consecrated by their genius, and set apart for duties which only the best talent of the kind can adequately fulfil.’ They would, however, be required to take no outside engagements.

      5 A College of Music should be founded for training of all organists, choirmasters, composers and lay clerks – this to serve and be funded by several cathedral or other choral foundations.

      6 A national ‘Musical Commission’ should be founded to advise, and where necessary exercise authority over, the church’s music. It should also administer a common fund to assist with the training of choristers, the purchase of printed music and the repair or rebuilding of organs wherever local resources were limited.

      A few years later (1854) Wesley sent these proposals, accompanied by a number of characteristically pungent comments, in a published Reply to the Inquiries of the Cathedral Commissioners relative to the Improvement in the Music of Divine Worship in Cathedrals.

      Admirable though Wesley’s ideas might, in principle, seem to those responsible for cathedral music in the twenty-first century, it was unrealistic to believe that they would be enthusiastically welcomed in his own time. He probably recognized this and offered them as a challenge that might provoke some positive response. But, although he lived and worked for almost another 30 years, he was destined to be disappointed. It was not until well into the twentieth century that most deans and chapters began to increase significantly the financial resources necessary for the production of high-quality music, and although cathedral music has now reached a standard never previously attained, except possibly in the High Middle Ages, this is due at least as much to the selfless dedication of the musicians as it is to the priorities of those who employ them.

      Samuel Sebastian Wesley was born in London’s West End in 1810. His father Samuel was a son of Charles Wesley, the great hymn writer and brother of John, the founder of the Methodist movement. Samuel was one of the finest organists of his time, a notable composer and an early student and performer in Britain of the works of J. S. Bach, hence the choice of Sebastian for the second Christian name of his son. Samuel Sebastian was, in fact, the first of seven illegitimate children born after the failure of his father’s first marriage and when he had established a new relationship with his housekeeper. This irregularity undoubtedly stood in the way of a cathedral appointment for the gifted father; he also had a depressive personality that quite soon limited both the quality and quantity of his compositions.

      Young Samuel Sebastian displayed unusual musical talent from his earliest years and in 1818 was sent to the Chapel Royal where the choir was under the direction of a notable musician, William Hawes, who combined this with responsibility for the music at the English Opera House and the training of the choristers at St Paul’s Cathedral. The musical education provided by Hawes could not