2020 marks
the 125th anniversary of the installation of our iconic
Walker organ. A gift of Mrs Mary Ann Phipps, the widow
of Pickering Phipps Sr, it was unveiled at the Patronal
Festival in 1895. With 4 manuals and nearly 3,000 pipes,
it is unusually large for a parish church organ, and its
beautiful voicing is known throughout the country. We
had plans to mark this anniversary; The IAO's Midlands
Organ Day was due to take place at St Matthew's this
month, and a recital series was scheduled for this past
summer term. However, all is not lost as we have
commissioned a very special piece for this year's
Patronal Festival. The funds for this endeavour have
come from the Walter Hussey Music Bequest, which
endowment was given to the parish specifically for the
purpose of commissioning new music for St Matthew's Day.
This year's commission, A Little Organ Mass of the
Angels is based on the Missa de Angelis. Some of you who
have been around long enough will be familiar with this
famous plainsong setting. World-renowned composer and
former St Matthew's chorister, Robert Walker, has
designed a mass which can be sung by a cantor alone, or
a socially-distanced choir, depending on the resources
available based on current guidelines. As with 17th
century French 'organ masses', the organ plays a
significant part, alternating with the singers in
sometimes virtuosic flourishes reflecting the text and
melody. It is our intention to premiere this exciting
and versatile work on St Matthew's Day in a service
which will also be broadcast on our Facebook page and
website.
In the 1940s, Walter Hussey made a very bold statement,
when during the height of a world war, he installed
Henry Moore's
Madonna and Child, and commissioned
Benjamin Britten to write what would become one of the
most important contributions to choral literature in the
20th century. In the midst of a global pandemic, we too
are facing troubling times, and the world is crying out
for beauty and comfort. It is my sincere hope that this
year's St Matthew's Day commission might be used by
churches all over world for the glory of God.
About the composer
Robert Walker was born in Northampton and was a pupil at
Northampton Grammar School (now Northampton School for
Boys). At the same time he studied organ with John
Bertalot and sang in the choir at St Matthew's. He spent
a pre-university year at the Royal School of Church
Music in 1964 before gaining a choral scholarship as a
countertenor at Jesus College, Cambridge in 1965, where
subsequently he was appointed to an organ scholarship.
At Cambridge University he studied composition with
Roger Smalley and organ with Arthur Wills. Whilst still
at Cambridge Robert was appointed organist and Master of
the Choristers at St James's Parish Church, Grimsby (now
Grimsby Minster) and taught music at St James's Choir
School, and in1968 he founded and conducted the Grimsby
Bach Choir. During his time at Grimsby (1968-1973) he
had private conducting lessons from Sir Adrian Boult,
and a number of compositions were performed, including
Three Songs of Gerard Manley Hopkins broadcast by Norma
Procter and Paul Hamburger on BBC Radio 3.
In 1973 Robert left full time employment to devote as
much time to composition as possible, and studied
composition with Peter Maxwell Davies at Dartington
International Summer School. His first major commissions
were to write two anthems for the enthronement of Dr
Donald Coggan as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1974: Psalm
150 and Thou Wilt Keep Him in Perfect Peace. In 1975 he
took a lease on 'Brinkwells' in Fittleworth, a
dilapidated and remote thatched cottage in West Sussex
where Edward Elgar had written his cello concerto and
late chamber works.
During the 1980s Robert began to broadcast for the BBC,
first with BBC Schools broadcasts and later writing and
presenting television documentaries for BBC2. He also
presented live broadcasts from the BBC Promenade
Concerts. Fascinated by Balinese gamelan music and dance
he moved to the island of Bali and lived first in Ubud
and later in a house he built himself in Karangasem
where he played in the local gamelan orchestra. In 2000
the political situation in Indonesia was not good, so he
took up a lectureship at Mahidol University in Bangkok
where he also conducted the university orchestra and
chorus. In 2002 he took up a similar position at the
premier arts university in Bangkok, Silpakorn
University. In 2004, Robert returned to the UK and to
his native Northamptonshire where he still lives.
Among one of Robert's many famous works is As the apple
tree, which has been sung by our choir in recent years.
Below is a recording sung by the choir of Robert's alma
mater, the Choir of Jesus College, Cambridge.
