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Views from the Choir Loft

Sir David Willcocks (1919-2015)

Andrew Leung · September 17, 2015

CTL Sir David Willcocks HE WORLD OF MUSIC have suffered a great loss today. Sir David Willcocks passed away at the age of 95. According to King’s College, he died peacefully at home on September 17. Sir Willcocks was a well-known British choral conductor, organist and composer.

Sir David Willcocks was born in Newquay in 1919, he became a chorister at Westminster Abbey at the age of eight, where he was conducted by Sir Edward Elgar. He directed the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, from 1957 to 1974, where recordings and broadcasts were frequently made. Before that, he served at the Salisbury Cathedral and the Worcester Cathedral. He was also director of the Royal College of Music in London. He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1971 and was created a Knight Bachelor in 1977 in the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Honors. He held honorary degrees from over ten universities in England, USA and Canada.

Sir Willcocks is particularly well-known for his association with the Choir of King’s College. His connection with the college began in 1939 when he became an organ scholar. He was elected to a fellowship in 1947 and subsequently held the post of Director of Music. There, he wrote several descants and carol arrangements for the annual service of the Nine Lessons and Carols. These descants and arrangements were published in the series of Carols for Choirs which he edited along with Reginald Jacques and John Rutter. Under his direction, the Choir of King’s College made numerous recordings and gave concerts worldwide. They also made appearances on television and radio.

His book, 100 Carols for Choirs is one that every parish must have in their music library! It is a selection of one hundred most popular carols and hymns for Advent and the Christmas season. There are some glorious descants and beautiful arrangements of the organ accompaniments in the book.

He wrote the famous arrangement of O Come, All Ye Faithful that being used all over the world every Christmas, including St. Peter Basilica in the Vatican. Here is a video of Choir of King’s College singing the carol at the Lessons and Carols 2009:

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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Andrew Leung

About Andrew Leung

Andrew Leung currently serves the music director of Vox Antiqua, conductor of the Cecilian Singers, and music director at Our Lady of China Church.—(Read full biography).

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Surprising Popularity!

One of our most popular downloads has proven to be the organ accompaniment to “The Monastery Hymnal” (131 pages). This book was compiled, arranged, and edited by Achille P. Bragers, who studied at the Lemmensinstituut (Belgium) about thirty years before that school produced the NOH. Bragers might be considered an example of Belgium “Stile Antico” whereas Flor Peeters and Jules Van Nuffel represented Belgium “Prima Pratica.” You can download the hymnal by Bragers at this link.

—Jeff Ostrowski
15 February 2021 • To Capitalize…?

In the Introit for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost, there is a question regarding whether to capitalize the word “christi.” The Vulgata does not, because Psalm 27 is not specifically referring to Our Lord, but rather to God’s “anointed one.” However, Missals tend to capitalize it, such as the official 1962 Missal and also a book from 1777 called Missel de Paris. Something tells me Monsignor Knox would not capitalize it.

—Jeff Ostrowski
15 February 2021 • “Sung vs. Spoken”

We have spoken quite a bit about “sung vs. spoken” antiphons. We have also noted that the texts of the Graduale Romanum sometimes don’t match the Missal texts (in the Extraordinary Form) because the Mass Propers are older than Saint Jerome’s Vulgate, and sometimes came from the ITALA versions of Sacred Scripture. On occasion, the Missal itself doesn’t match the Vulgate—cf. the Introit “Esto Mihi.” The Vulgate has: “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in domum refúgii…” but the Missal and Graduale Romanum use “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in locum refúgii…” The 1970s “spoken propers” use the traditional version, as you can see.

—Jeff Ostrowski

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I want to say one thing to you strongly, especially today: virginity for the Kingdom of God is not a “no,” it is a “yes!”

— Pope Francis (10/4/2013)

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