Walford Davies

Walford Davies (left) in about 1932 with fellow musicians Sir Hugh Allen (centre) and Cyril Rootham (right)

Sir Henry Walford Davies KCVO OBE (6 September 1869 – 11 March 1941) was a British composer, who held the title Master of the King's Musick from 1934 until 1941.

Early life and education

Henry Walford Davies was born in Oswestry on the Wales-England border, seventh of nine children of John Whitridge Davies and Susan, née Gregory, and the youngest of four surviving sons. His middle name Walford was his maternal grandmother's maiden name; he later dropped his first name Henry, becoming generally known as Walford Davies. John Whitridge Davies was a leading figure in the local musical scene, playing the flute and the cello, and leading the choir at the Congregational church, Christ Church, where his brother was organist. He brought up his children to make music together. Performances of oratorios by Handel and others by Henry Leslie's Oswestry choral society were reviewed warmly in the London Musical Times.

Walford's brothers Charlie and Harold were, successively, organists at Christ Church succeeding their uncle, Charlie from the age of eleven. Charlie died young after emigrating to Australia. Harold also emigrated to Australia, where he took the first musical doctorate from an Australian university and ultimately achieved considerable fame as Professor of Music at Adelaide University and Principal of the Elder Conservatorium. Tom, the eldest, followed a family tradition by entering the ministry.

Walford Davies grew up, like his siblings, playing any instrument he could lay his hands on, often in an informal band with his brothers, cousins and friends, but it was as a singer that he was first noticed and entered, against misgivings from his Nonconformist family, for a choristership at St. George's Chapel, Windsor. In this he was successful, and from the age of twelve he was singing fourteen services a week as well as attending school. Here he came under the influence of Walter Parratt, a leader in the late Victorian organ renaissance, and Randall Davidson, as Dean of Windsor.

Davies studied under, and was assistant to, Parratt for five years before entering the Royal College of Music in 1890 where he studied under Hubert Parry and Charles Villiers Stanford.

Career

Davies remained at the College as a teacher of counterpoint from 1895, one of his pupils being Rutland Boughton and another Leopold Stokowski. During this time he held a number of organist posts in London including St Anne's Church, Soho (1890-1891), Christ Church, Hampstead (1891-1898), culminating in his appointment in 1898 as organist of the Temple Church, where Stokowski was also his assistant. Davies continued there until 1917. In that year he was appointed the first director of music to the newly created Royal Air Force, which led to him writing the march, "RAF March Past", still played by many marching bands today.

In 1919, Walford Davies was made professor of music at Aberystwyth. He subsequently did much to promote Welsh music, becoming chairman of the Welsh National Council of Music. From 1927 he was organist at St. George's Chapel, Windsor. One of his assistant organists was Malcolm Boyle.

In 1924, Davies became Professor of Music at Gresham College, London: a part-time position giving public lectures.

From the 1920s, he also made a series of records of lectures, which led to his being employed by the BBC. He made radio broadcasts on classical music under the title Music and the Ordinary Listener. These lasted from 1926 until the outbreak of World War II in 1939, and Davies became a well-known and popular radio personality. His book The Pursuit of Music (1935) has a similar non-specialist tone.

Walford Davies was knighted in 1922. Following the death of Sir Edward Elgar in 1934, he was appointed Master of the King's Music. He died in 1941 in Bristol and is buried in the grounds of Bristol Cathedral.

Sir Henry Walford Davies, born, Oswestry, Shropshire, 6 Sep 1869; trained in choir of St George's Chapel, Windsor, and was pupil assistant to Walter Parratt; entered Royal College of Music under a composition scholarship, 1890; studied with Charles Parry and Charles Stanford; became teacher of counterpoint, RCM, 1895-1918; organist at St George's Kensington, St Anne's, Soho, and Christ Church, Hampstead; organist and choirmaster at the Temple Church, 1898-1919; conductor of the Bach Choir, 1903-1907; appointed director of music to the Royal Air Force, 1918; professor of music, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, 1919-1926; chairman of the Welsh National Council of Music; knighted, 1922; appointed Gresham Professor of Music in the University of London, 1926; made his first radio broadcast to schools, 1924; his popular radio series 'Music and the Ordinary Listener' commenced, 1926; records for His Master's Voice Melody Lectures (HMV C 1063 to 1701) and Twelve Talks on Melody (HMV C 1759 to 1767); organist, St George's Chapel, Windsor, 1927-1932; music advisor at the BBC, 1927-1939; appointed Master of the King's Musick, 1934; died, Wrington, Somerset, 11 Mar 1941.

Works

Most of Davies' compositions were religious in flavour, and include the oratorio Everyman, other works for orchestra, choir and soloists, and a large number of services and anthems. He also wrote a setting of the Christmas carol "O Little Town of Bethlehem", a well-known choral arrangement of "The Holly and the Ivy" and the Solemn Melody, which can be heard on YouTube in a performance by Julian Lloyd Webber (cello) with Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields.

• Symphony in D, 1894
• Overture in D minor, 1897
• Cantata "Three Jovial Huntsmen," 1902
• Oratorio "Everyman," 1904
• Solemn Melody for Cello, Organ and Orchestra, 1908?
• Symphony in G, 1911
• Cantata "Song of St Francis," 1912
• Royal Air Force March Past (original version), 1918
• Anthem "Let us Now Praise Famous Men"

Publications: Rhythm in Church (London, 1913); The Pursuit of Music (London, 1935); Welshmen in London, 1897.

Papers

Papers of Sir Henry Walford Davies, 1890-1969, including correspondence on his music and career (correspondents include Dean Albert Baillie, Robert Bridges, Henry Colles, Sir George Grove, August Jaeger, Charles Parry, Sir Walter Parratt, Sir Charles Stanford), 1891-1937; engagement diaries, 1890-1941; notebooks, c1917-1931; music note and sketch books, c1891-1927; manuscript music of arrangements compiled as a student at the Royal College of Music, 1890s; lists of published musical works; copyright and royalty correspondence, 1895-1954; correspondence relating to publications and proposed publications, including 'New Fellowship Song Book', 'Music and Worship', First steps in music and A four years' course in music, 1930-1934; manuscript music for a proposed song book for schools, 1938-1939; typescripts, correspondence relating to 'The Psalter newly printed', 1933, the BBC hymn book, 1938-1939, and the Army hymn book, 1940; letters and papers relating to the School of Church Music and the College of St Nicolas, 1933-1936; manuscript notes and printed programmes of lectures by Davies, 1909-1938, including Royal Institution lectures 'Music in relation to other arts' (1910) and 'To untrained listeners' (1915), and Gresham music lectures, 1924-1938; typescripts of Davies' BBC radio broadcasts to schools on music with printed scholars' manuals, 1924-1938; typescripts of Davies' BBC radio broadcasts `Music and the ordinary listener', 1926-1939; associated correspondence and printed material relating to BBC radio broadcasts, 1924-1941; typescripts and notes for 'Keyboard talks', 1933-1935; manuscript music, notes and typescripts of Davies BBC radio broadcasts 'Melodies of Christendom' and Empire Day talks, 1934-1939; private correspondence relating to his work for radio, 1933-1937; letters from BBC listeners, 1936-1937; letters to Lady Davies on Davies death, 1941; biographical material on Davies compiled for Walford Davies: a Biography by H C Colles (London, 1942), including published material on Davies, 1919-1943; papers relating to commemoration of centenary of Davies' birth, 1969.

Sources

• Colles, H. C. Walford Davies, 1942
• New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 1980, rep 1994

External links

• Free scores by Walford Davies at the International Music Score Library Project
• Free scores by Walford Davies in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)

Court offices
Preceded by Sir Edward Elgar	Master of the King's Musick 1934–1941	Succeeded by Sir Arnold Bax