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John Bertalot passed away in the early hours of Saturday 21 February 2026, aged 94 years. His funeral was held at Blackburn Cathedral on Saturday 14 March at 10.30 am, with his committal being at Pleasington Crematorium at 1.30 pm. RIP John. A live stream of JB's funeral and of the committal (username maki6445, password 757127) are available, as is the order of service (pdf, 1.7Mb) for the funeral at Blackburn Cathedral, and the order of service (pdf, 645Kb) for the committal at the Pleasington Crematorium.
==>The Life of John Bertalot (last updated on 2026-04-01) <==
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| This website will continue to be active as a chronology of John’s life and as a resource, including some of his work on number symbolism in Bach’s music, which was a passionate interest of his. The site will gradually be tidied up and other suitable content created by, or about, John may be added. |
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William Fox, the brilliant sub organist of St. Paul's Cathedral, London, (on left in the oval) wrote to JB: "Everyone raves about your books"
Whilst Tom Daggett, OBE Organ Outreach Fellow of St. Paul's Cathedral, London, (on right in the oval) wrote to JB:
"We have all your books on our shelves in Amen Court!
Tom continued: 'I gather that John Scott was once shocked to realise that many of his Choristers were singing a split second behind those who were *actually* doing the sight-singing,
and that was at a presentation you gave at St.Paul's which had led him to this realisation...!"
TOM DAGGETT has now (August 2023) been appointed Director of Music of SHEFFIELD CATHEDRAL where the former hierarchy had disbanded that cathedral's music.
As Tom is known for involving people in music, clearly he will do very well there.
CLICK BOOK 5 at the very top of this Blog...
and you'll discover:
If you're an organist, how to enable your choir to sing better every week!
If you're not an organist - how to begin to be one!
How not to quarrel with your Vicar!
How to enable folk to really hear what you say ... AND SO MUCH MORE!
Discover why you're a church musician!
40 very simple anthems for your choir - FREE AND READY TO DOWNLOAD...
...and so VERY much more!.... Click BOOK 5 at the very top of this page.
EVERYTHING IS FREE IN MY WEBSITE (despite what may be printed re Book 5 - which is out of date!)
(INCLUDING 40 Easy ANTHEMS FOR YOUR CHOIR)
and also this new book which took me several years to create!
ENJOY!! JB
It has A LOT to say to even the most talented church and cathedral musicians, as well as beginners so HAVE A GLANCE THERE-AT ... NOW...
Click BOOK 5 at the very top of this page!
THANKS AGAIN.
JB surrounded by photographs of a life steeped in music.
Sir David Willcocks was one of over 1,000 friends to whom I sent my Christmas Newsletters when I worked for 16 years in the Ivy-league University town of PRINCETON, New Jersey.
One year I was late in mailing them, and so he wrote to me: "I look forward to getting a blow by blow account of the Bertalot saga, if I am still on the mailing list!"
He was!
So please glance at one or two of my Princeton Newsletters which give an almost day-by-day account of my life in that most exciting and rewarding University City. Click PRINCETON NEWSLETTERS, above - perhaps start with the last one!
And when you've done that, look at some of my 35 articles on How to Train a Choir superly and easily!
These are read by choirmasters all over the world! Click CHOIR TRAINING above
Introducing JB!
JOHN BERTALOT, MA (Cantab), Hon D.Mus, FRCO(CHM), Hon FRCCO, Hon FRSCM, Hon FGCM, FISM, ARCM
John Bertalot conducting the choir of Blackburn Cathedral for the final Consecration of the Cathedral
in the presence of HRH Princess Alexandra, 1977
"I have led such a privileged life:
please enjoy sharing some of its highlights with me."
The seeds for JB's career in church music were sown when, at the age of four,
he was taken by his parents to Canterbury Cathedral where the organ happened to be playing.
'I want to play like that,' he said, and eventually he did!
Although JB was born in Kent, his parents eventually moved to Shoreham-by-Sea in Sussex
where he became a chorister in the choir of St Mary's Church (built in AD 1103)
As a chorister he was confirmed by the saintly bishop of Lewes,
had organ lessons at St. Mary's and grew to love the church and all that it stood for.
So I applied for entry to the Royal College of Music, London, and won the major organ scholarship,
where I studied with Dr Harold Darke, and gained my FRCO, CHM and ARCM
(Photo of Dr Harold Darke taken by JB in room 90 of the RCM, 1953)
Dr. Darke has been a pupil of Stanford, see below:
JB's contemporaries as students at the RCM included
Peter Hurford (founder of the St Alban's international organ festival),
James Dalton (Fellow of the Queen's College, Oxford),
John Sanders (Director of Music of Chester and Gloucester Cathedrals),
John Birch (Chichester Cathedral),
Colin Mawby (Westminster Cathedral) and Gerald Hendrie (Professor of Music of the Open University).
Also the guitarist Julian Bream and the operatic star (Dame) Joan Sutherland.
The organ teaching staff included Sir George Thalben Ball (Temple Church),
Sir John Dykes Bower (St Paul's Cathedral), and Sir William Harris (St. George's Windsor Castle).
There were two Directors during JB's time there: Sir George Dyson and Sir Ernest Bullock.
Whilst still a student at the RCM my first faltering steps as an organist and choirmaster were taken when I was appointed to St. James-the-Less church, North Lancing, in Sussex, a 30-minute cycle ride from my home in Shoreham.
The awful organ was a 4-rank ex-cinema organ with a white movable console,
but the choir was full of wonderful people -
one of whom (the diminutive chorister on the far right) contacted me recently.
He's now a Grandfather, and we met up again in 2017 (see below)
with a memorable Reunion visit to St. James the Less Church.
Thanks, ROBIN!
The probationer (front row, extreme left) is TONY.
He, too, joined Robin and me for that most happy reunion!
And here we all are - 63 years after the above photo: Tony, JB and Robin sitting in the seat where the ladies sat -
before we enjoyed a supa lunch with Robin's wife, Jean (who took this photo)!
I said farewell to St. James-the-Less in 1953 (Coronation year) when I won the organ scholarship to Lincoln College, Oxford, where I studied with Dr. Egon Wellesz.
Dr Wellesz had been a pupil of Schoenberg!
So perhaps I could claim to be a Grand-pupil of Stanford and Schoenberg! What a duo!
After a skirmish to pass the necessary GCE Latin exam,
JB transferred Universities by winning the Organ Scholarship to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge which has the oldest Court in Cambridge (1352)
and, at that time, with four cathedral organists amongst its former organ scholars - Corpus had more Cathedral Organists than King's!
The photo (below) is of Corpus' New Court!
,
JB studied with Dr Boris Ord (below, conductor of the famous King's College Choir) and Professor Patrick Hadley
See the video of my vivid memories of that time - Click VIDOES (above) - for I was interviewed at my College in 2015 for their own archives!
Boris Ord was a wonderful great 'teddy bear'of a man who was eminently approachable, yet who had created one of the finest choirs in the world.
Towards the end of his life he was increasingly unwell: the University then awarded him an honorary Doctorate of Music - the highest honour they could bestow!
I was the offical accompanist for the Cambridge University Music Society (CUMS) when they performanced Honegger's Joan of Arc at the stake (in Cambridge Guildhall), and
Handel's Israel in Egypt (in King's College Chapel) when I played the magnificent organ with the 150-voice choir and University orchestra.
I also played the organ in the University Church for Billy Graham's first Mission to Cambridge in November 1955.
The whole University was set on fire by those services that week - everyone was talking about them.
JB also composed two musical comedies for the Corpus May Week concerts: the script for the first, Cinderella and the Wicked Dean, was written by Peter Vincent, nephew of the professor of Italian at Trinity College, Cambridge. Peter eventually became a script-writer for the Two Ronnies, and other major TV comedians!
And I conducted the first Cambridge performance of Meniotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors. The part of Amahl was sung by a chorister from Peterborough Cathedral
through the kindness of its legendary Director of Music, Stanley Vann.
JB conducting the CCC chapel choir in madrigals in the Old Court (AD 1352) after the May Week Concert 1958. "I'll sing you one-o: Green grow the rushes-O!"
In 2015 JB was interiewed by his Cambridge College to explore his memories of those so-privileged formative years.
HERE IT IS (Click! Whoops - the connection doesn't work ... I'll investigate)
Whilst JB was still at Cambridge he was invited by Martin J. R. How, the inspirational Headquarters' Choirmaster at the RSCM, to be a housemaster on a choristers' course at Addington Palace, near Croydon in Surrey, the world HQ of the RSCM.
This was a tremendous thrill for, in those days, the headquarters for the world-wide music of the Anglican
Communion could be said to be at Addington Palace. Residential courses were held there for choristers,
for choirmasters and for organists. Music students from the London Music Colleges were often housed there:
it was a-buzz with activity and Dr Gerald Knight, its Director, was the resident Patron Saint of it all.
This was the first of many courses that JB helped to lead, and later directed, both at Addington and, eventually, all over the world!
It was mainly through these early courses that he learnt 'how' to be an efficient choirmaster - by watching those who knew more than he did (especially Martin How). It was a time of magic and glory!
AN OUTSTANDING STUDENT RAG
I remember, so vividly, after graduatung from Cambridge, as I was leaving Corpus for the last time in the summer of 1958 that I glanced back at the Chapel of King's College, which had meant so much to me during those three formative years (for the Chapel could clearly be seen from the entrance to Corpus);
I also glanced at the Senate House, just beyond King's, and thought I saw something on the Senate House roof - but couldn't make out what it was.
I learnt next day that it was a car! How had it got there?
Well, 50 years later the Daily Telegraph had an article about it, which explained it all:
"Fifty years on an explanation for one of the most ingenious student pranks of all time has finally been provided.
The group of engineering students who carried out the stunt have reunited to reveal their identities
and explain how they winched the Austin Seven to the top of the university's 70ft-high Senate House...
The following day crowds of onlookers gathered in wonder to look at the car
and watch as the authorities tried and failed to construct a crane to hoist it down.
Police, firefighters and civil defence units fought for nearly a week to hoist the vehicle back down
before giving up and taking it to pieces with blowtorches.
The then Dean of Caius, the Rev Hugh Montefiore, had an idea of who was responsible
and sent a congratulatory case of champagne to their staircase, while never revealing his suspicions in public."
1958-1964
After graduating from Cambridge in 1958
I was appointed to the most famous church for patronage of the arts in the UK at that time :
St. Matthew's Church, Northampton.
There is a Madonna and Child, in that church by Henry Moore,
which was the first piece of modern art to be displayed in a church - I can remember when it hit the headlines. Some of the Press were not enthusiastic!
and a Crucifixion by Graham Sutherland , which was the inspiration for the enormous Sutherland Christus tapestry in Coventry Cathedral.
There was (and still is) a magnificent 4-manual 1895 Walker organ (three Open Diapasons and 16, 8 & 4 reeds on the Great, and a real Double Open Wood on the Pedal)
and a superb choral tradition with a choir of dedicated men and boys whose firm foundations stretched way back to the church's founding in 1895, when Charles King was Director of Music.
King composed the tune Northampton for the hymn, Songs of Praise the Angels sang, and gave annual performances of Bach's St. Matthew Passion with the church choir.
King was succeeded by Denys Pouncey who became organist of Wells Cathedral, and later by Alec Wyton who went to St John the Divine Cathedral in New York City,
and then by Robert 'Harry' Joyce who was appointed to Llandaff Cathedral in 1958 leaving the S. Matthew's post vacant - when I was appointed!
I inaugurated the S. Matthew's Concerts under the active patronage of Benjamin Britten.
And I also founded the S. Matthew's Singers, and conducted the Northampton Bach Choir and Orchestra,
and also the Northampton Symphony Orchestra.
One of the S. Matthew's choristers pictured here in 1960 is tenor Brian Ager (extreme Left 2nd row from the back), who sang the treble solo for the first performance of Britten's Rejoice in the Lamb. Another chorister is Robert Walker (back row, second from the left) who became a well-known composer, and yet another was David Holton (middle row, 3rd from the right) who became professor of modern Greek at Cambridge University. Those were the days!
Annual commissions for anthems were made - during Alec Wyton's time the first was Britten's Rejoice in the Lamb followed by Finzi's Lo, the Full Final Sacrifice.
Elizabeth Poston composed JB's first commission in 1959 - a joyful Te Deum
Elizabeth Poston seen here with JB and his parents
During my six years at Northampton I also taught organ and piano at Stowe School, and was, for two years, Music Master at Trinity High School, Northampton, followed by two years teaching 'A' level music at Northampton High School.
The glorious architecture of Stowe School
In 1963 I was invited, by Dr Gerald Knight, to be one of the leaders of the hand-picked RSCM choir which would sing at the Anglican Congress in Toronto.
Dr Knight conducted the choir, Sir John Dykes Bower was our organist and our Chaplain was the Rt. Revd. Ted Roberts, who was the Chairman of the RSCM Council (and who later became Bishop of Ely).
We rehearsed in the Headquarters of the RSCM, ADDINGTON PALACE, Croydon, Surrey
JB was in charge of the A, T, Bs, and Martin How was in charge of the trebles.
and then we flew to Toronto (the first experience of flying for most of us!), stayed in a swish school in Toronto,
and then joined 900 other hand-picked choristers from Canada to sing the opening service in Toronto's ENORMOUS Maple Leaf Ice Hockey Stadium!
The opening procession in that vast Ice Hockey Stadium, of VIPS and Bishops and Archbishops from around the world (and the recession)
each took half an hour - so we ran out of hymns to sing and the organist had to improvise!
Of course, our Archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Ramsey, was the 'star' of the 2-week Congress.
People flocked to him whenever and wherever he was visible.
Photos from Toronto Public Library
Those three weeks were unforgettable for us Brits:
for after singing at the opening service, we sang daily services by ourselves in Toronto Cathedral
and we toured!
We visited Niagara, after singing morning service at Hamilton Cathedral en route.
We were given a lavish and most delicious lunch at Hamilton Cathedral, which I remember vividly 60 years afterwards: especially the orange jelly served with our savoury course!
This was our first experience of New World church hospitality. We hadn't got round to anything approaching that yet in the UK!
Towards the end of our stay in Canada we also sang in Kingston and Ottawa Cathedrals,
and our final concert was in Montreal's Anglican Cathedral. JB conducted this, with Sir John Dykes Bower as our organist and Bishop Roberts sang in the choir. What a privilege that whole exprience was!
Our final anthem at Montreal was Finzi's God is gone up: after which we immediately took a coach to Montreal Airport and flew home. It was all over - but the memories linger on.
Toronto and Montreal Cathedrals
1964-1982
On JB's appointment to Blackburn Cathedral in 1964 he was succeeded at S. Matthew's by Dr Michael Nicholas who later became Director of Music of Norwich Cathedral
and he was followed by Dr Stephen Cleobury who eventually became the Director of Music of King's College, Cambridge.
And so, for the next 18 years JB was director of music of Blackburn Cathedral in Lancashire,
where he led one of the largest men and boys cathedral choirs in England - which was entirely voluntary and which broadcast many times for the BBC and televised.
During his early years at Blackburn Cathedral, the whole building was radically transformed
for it had become a rather reluctant, though well-intentioned, run-down chrysalis.
After JB had been there only two months he was told to have the organ taken down (this caused consternation in certain old choristers' minds -
until they were told why the organ had to come down!).
For a giant hardboard screen was to be erected between the East end of the Nave and the transepts:
the Nave and the crypt beneath were about to be transformed under the direction of London architect Laurence King.
JB asked J. W. Walker and Sons from Ruislip to do the dismantling (for he knew of their fine work from his six years at St. Matthew's)
and so they carefully stored all the pipewok in large boxes in the crypt and they provided us with a temporary four-rank extension organ which was miraculously efficient.
(It was 'temporary' for five years, for the cathedral's restoration had to be completed and we had no money to buy a new organ!)
The Nave was filled with scaffolding, a new marble floor was laid, and the ceilings were painted in glorious mediaeval colours and John Hayward designed all the new works of art, including a massive Christ the Worker for the West wall of the Nave.
Exactly a year later the glorious Nave was re-hallowed by Bishop Charles Claxton in the presence of HRH The Princess Margaret (The Queen's sister) - even though she was an hour late!
Also there for the Rehallowing on Wednesday 6th October 1965 were Archbishop Donald Coggan from York, and also the very first Bishop of Blackburn, Bishop Herbert who became Bishop of Norwich. JB had invited Dr Francis Jackson to play the (miniature) organ for us for that service!
JB augmented the cathedral choir with six trebles from diocesan churches so that the diocese could be involved musically in the rehallowing.
One of the choristers was young Colin Edmundson who became music scholar at Oxford, and later taught 14-year old David Briggs and 15-year old John Butt the organ!
We worshipped in the Nave for the following 4 years whilst the Transepts and East end were similarly transformed into a brilliantly coloured butterfly full of light and joy with a superb lantern tower which was crowned by a slim aluminium spire and a 15 ft gold-leafed Cross which could be seen from many miles away.
JB also raised the money to purchase a brand new organ (through a meticulously worded letter to generous millionaire William Thompson of Burnley)
and, with Dr Francis Jackson from York Minster and Bert Collop, the Director of J. W Walker & Sons, an ambitious specification was drawn up, which included the unque pedal 32ft reed: SERPENT.
This organ became one of the most exciting cathedral organs in the UK
The Serpent pipes in Walker's factory, August 1969. Doubly mitred to imitate the shape of the Serpent wind instrument.
By December 1969 the Transepts, East end at Lantern Tower had been completed, and the coloured ceilings in the transepts were even more glorious than those in the Nave
JB remembers asking one of the painters and gilders where else he'd painted such ceilings. 'Buckingham Palace!' he answered.
'And which is the best you've ever done?' 'This one!'
John Hayward's scintillating paintings (below) on the ceilings of the four corner-arches at the base of the Lantern Tower:
JB & our new Sub Organist, Ronald Frost, played for the dedication of the organ in December 1969 in front of a packed cathedral.
JB played the 'consecration' piece: Bach's St Anne' Fugue.
And after the service JB gave a short recital on the brand new organ, concluding with Dupre's Variations sur un Noel.
Admiring the console after the service: Bert Collop (MD of Walker's), Bishop Claxton with the Mayor of Blackburn and a highly delighted JB!
The opening recitals in 1970 were given by Dr Francis Jackson, Flor Peeters and Harold Darke.
Dr Jackson composed his first organ sonata for this occasion.
1970 in JB's Studio in St Mary's House, Cathedral Close, Blackburn, immediately after Flor Peeters recital.
L-R: Flor Peeters, Bert Collop, Dots Bertalot, Terence Duffy (Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral) & JB
The unique organ cases were designed by John Hayward, who said: 'The organ should go in and out of the building, and the Swell boxes should be in full view!
Weekly lunchtime organ recitals were inaugurated by JB, and large-scale concerts.
JB founded the Blackburn Bach Choir (now re-named the Renaissance Singers) which won for two years in succession shortly after their formation, the UK rounds of the BBC's international singing competition, Let the Peoples sing. i.e. We were rated as the finest mixed voice choir in the UK.
Our annual Christmas concerts in King George's Hall, Blackburn, attracted capacity audiences of some 1,500.
JB became a Senior Lecturer at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester where he lectured in history, taught harmony and composition, and led weekly choirtraining classes for the organ students, which always included several FRCOs.
He had the privilege of teaching some most gifted musicians during those 18 years, including (below L-R) for choirtraining: Gordon Stewart (who became his successor-but-one at Blackburn Cathedral) and Lyndon Hills (formerly of Preston Minster and now at King's School, Gloucester), and for harmony and composition: Ian Harrison (St Stephen's Church, Bournemouth), Sally Beamish (international composer) and concert pianist Martin Roscoe.
On the othe hand, when meeting one new student at the RNCM JB remembers asking him if he'd composed anything. 'Yes, a two-act opera!' came the reply! That was more than JB had done!
One of JB's fellow Senior Lecturers colleagues at the RNCM was Keith Bond, who'd also been organ scholar of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (two before JB!).
When Ronald Frost became unwell after being with us for two wonderful years, Keith Bond succeeded him. This also was a most creative time for us all. Keith's wife, Ruth, became music secretary and everything flourished.
Keith introduced senior girls into the Young People's Choir (which Ronald Frost had founded - for we had so many ex-trebles who wanted to continue singing with us).
The YPC numbered over 30 teenage singers through Keith and Ruth's pastoral and musical leadership. It's never been so large!
The Cathedral Choir was at its most enthusiastic - and all the singers were entirely voluntary.
And the Blackburn Bach Choir were also in tip-top form:
Two basses who sat next to each other were Harold Darke's Grandson, and Sir John Stainer's Great Grandson!
JB also have the privilege of directing six RSCM Cathedral courses when we sang the daily services for two full weeks in most privileged places, with singers hand-picked from church and cathedral choirs throughout the UK. He directed THREE 2-week courses at Westminster Abbey, and one each at Coventry, Norwich and finally Canterbury Cathedral. The standard was, of course, extraordinarily high (there were several Cambridge choral scholars in our ranks each year, including cathedral-organists-to-be Paul Hale - Southwell and Peter Wright - Southwark: every course ended with a live broadcast of Choral Evensong on the BBC.
The Norwich Cathedral Course, 1969, with a final concert in the Chapel of King's College, Cambridge. JB extreme left, organist Keith Burton-Nickson, extreme right.
The RSCM 2-week Course at Coventry Cathedral 1970, with some Blackburn choristers marked (L-R):
Derek Crompton, Ivor Bolton, David Rothwell, JB and Steve Holmes, Organist, Simon Lindley and Precentor Joseph Poole.
Our organists for these 6 courses were dazzingly distinguished, including Dr Roy Massey (Hereford Cathedral), Simon Lindley (sub organist, Westminster Cathedral), Peter White (Leicester Cathedral) and Keith Burton-Nickson (Rossall School).
And because JB had such talented choristers at Blackburn Cathedral (including Ivor Bolton, who became an international orchestral conductor) he was able to invite half a dozen or more of his Blackburn choristers to enjoy these courses with him.
Blackburn Choristers from the 1971 course at Westminster Abbey
L-R: Philip Carr (became church warden at Blackburn Cathedral), David Rothwell (became an executive of Pilkington Glass) Alan Carr (Phil's twin) Ian Harrison (St Stephen's Bournemouth) Ivor Bolton (International orchestral conductor), Derek Crompton (who is currently a tenor soloist in Blackburn Cathedral choir), Philip Crozier (who became an organ virtuoso in Canada) Peter Holroyd (manager of Booth's supermarkets) Jonathan Stephenson (lost touch) and JB
Here's a phtograph of the whole 1971 course at the Abbey: there were some wildly talented musicians there: for example, towards the right, under a WHITE CROSS you can just see PAUL HALE who has recently retired as Director of Music of SOUTHWELL MINSTER.
The two clergy, on the left are (lower) Canon RONALD JASPER who became Dean of York, and to the left, Canon RENNIE SIMPSON, the Abbey's Precentor, who had been Precentor at Blackburn. (JB is just above Rennie Simpson)
At our first Abbey course we were the first Anglican Choir to give a concert in Westminster Cathedral, by the kind invitation of Colin Mawby (JB and Colin had been fellow students at the RCM. It pays to know the right people!)
JB's final cathedral course was at Canterbury Cathedral in 1973
JB's Mum and her sister Nell Humphrey came for our final concert in Canterbury Cathedral which, for us three, was an emotional moment, for it was the fulfilment of JB's wish, at the age of four in 1935 in the presence of his parents and Aunt Nell that he heard the organ playing in that blessed place and wanted to make music just like it.
COMPOSING & PUBLICATIONS
One of JB's greatest privileges was to be asked to be Godfather to the first-born son of Phil and Joan Hunwick, who were both members of JB's Blackburn Bach Choir. (Phil is still a long-time tenor in the Cathedral Choir). When Phil drove JB the next day to see mother and baby in hospital, it looked just like a Nativity scene: the father standing there so tall and the baby so small - Ah, it rhymes!
So JB decided to give the baby (his name is Christopher) an everlasting present by composing a Christmas carol for him, based on his name. Christ-over appears in the chorus, and this carol is now sung worldwide.
Little baby, born at dark midnight, Came from God that we may walk in Light;
Now a star is in the heaven, and Christ on earth,
Christ over us all doth shine. Alleluia.
Order 'Little Baby, born at dark midnight' (SATB or unison with piano) from
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Chris is now archivist to the Duke of Northumberland, who owns Alnwick Castle (second only in size to Windsor Castle).
And Chris's wife, Geraldine, is senior archivist to Newcastle City!
And if that weren't enough, Phil and Joan's second son was called Noel (because he was born on Christmas Day). So Noel had a carol written for him, too. As JB wanted Noel to become a Cathedral Chorister (as had his elder brother) his carol was called Alleluia, SING, Noel!
Alleluia, alleluia, sing to Jesus:
Sing Alleluia, sing Noel, blow up the trumpet and ring-a the bell;
Jesus is standing where Adam fell, Mary's Son, Emmanuel.
Sing Alleluia, Jesus is born: Alleluia, Sing Noel!
Order SING NOEL (SATB or unison with piano) from
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This carol is also sung worldwide. Noel is now Managing Director, with his business partner, of THREE superb restaurants in the heart of London, called INAMO, where the tables transform themselves into computers - and you can actually see photos, on the empty plate before you, of the food you order! The first restaurant is in Wardour Street (134-136), the second is in COVENT GARDEN, and the newest is immediately opposite MORNINGTON CRESCENT tube station
You'll have a meal and a gastronomic experience which you will relish - and want to return to again and again!
Voted the best new restaurant in London!
And this is Noel today!
WORLD TOURS
JB's World tours increased during his 18 years at Blackburn. He visited South Africa four times during his career -
leading the country's main RSCM courses in Cape Town and Johannesberg.
He lectured at the Universities of Pretoria and Port Elizabeth, led choral workshops all over that vast country, and was resident musician three times at the Drakensberg Boychoir School For example, there were at least two Drakensburg boys every year who could sing the Queen of the Night aria!!
JB conducting the superb Drakensberg Boychoir in South Africa
In addittion to conducting six RSCM Cathedral Courses, and many other RSCM courses in the UK, and visiting South Africa four times, plus his first visit to Australia to lead choristers' and choirmasters' courses, and to lecture...
...JB led nine separate residential choir courses across the Atlantic! Four for the oldest choir course in the USA - called Wa-Li-Ro (named after the founding Bishop of Ohio, Warren Lincoln Rogers) which were held on an idyllic island in Lake Erie. The composer-in-residence was Dr Leo Sowerby who always composed an anthem for these annual courses.
JB led a course in Florida, three courses in Canada (at London Cathedral and Kingston Cathedral, Ontario and Toronto Cathedral) plus the major USA choristers' course which was held at Princeton University
when his assistants included the Directors of Music of Washington National Cathedral and San Francisco Cathedral. The final service of the Princeton course was held in Saint Thomas's Church, Fifth Avenue, New York City. What a privilege! (That was the year before he knew that there was a Trinity Episcopal Church in Princeton!)
He also adjudicated at music festivals in the UK - from Ayre in Scotland to Bournemouth in the south of England, and he also adjudicated for two months at music festivals across Canada - from Halifax Nova Scotia to Toronto and Winnepeg.
(How did he find time to do all this as well as to keep his cathedral and RNCM work going? Happily there was abounding energy in those days as well as vacations!)
Just before he left the UK for his new post in the USA JB had the enormous privilege of playing the organ in the Royal Albert Hall, London, for the Annual Festival of Remembrance, which was televised live by the BBC.
Towards the end of the 90-minutes of military displays there was a service which was led by hand-picked singers from churches throughout the UK. Not only did JB lead 6,000 people in singing Eternal Father, strong to save, but he was told to improvise on the organ for exactly 3 minutes (after the military displays) whilst the choir and clergy processed onto the platform from the far end of the Royal Albert Hall. Even though JB could improvise, he felt that, on this occasion, he should write out his improvisation to make it appropriate for the occasion. So he included extracts from Vaughan Williams' Sea Symphony (for the Royal Navy), Onward, Christian soldiers (for the army), a quotation from the Dam Busters' March (for the RAF) and, as the next day was the birthday of Prince Charles, he hid (successfully) Happy birthday to you in the counterpoint.
(He wrote a letter to the Prince the following week telling him what he'd done - and he received a reply!)
In the Royal Box were The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles, Princess Diana, The King of Norway and Margaret Thatcher.
What a thrill it was to play, before my Queen, two verses of the National Anthem in company with the massed bands of the Grenadier Guards!
It doesn't get any better than that!
Two months later JB moved to the USA to take up my new post.
1983-1998
In January 1983 JB succeeded Dr. James Litton as Director of Music of Trinity Episcopal Church in Princeton, NJ, where he led one of the most ambitious Episcopal choir programs in the USA. He was also an Adjunct Associate Professor at Westminster Choir College, Rider University, Princeton.
Princeton is an exceptional place: it is home to one of the great Ivy league Universities in the USA; it has a graduate college where 1200 post-graduate students study for their doctorates, and it has the Institute for Advanced Study where Einstein was, and which has the most gifted scientists and highly charged brains in the world doing advanced research. It has the largest Seminary in the USA (directly opposite Trinity Church) and also one of the leading music colleges in the USA (Westminster Choir College). In addition, it would not be an exaggeration to say that there's a millionaire living on almost every corner!
And everyone is so full of enthusiasm that, when leadership is offered, many are the folk who wish to join in!
Although the church building is relatively small, every cubic inch packs a punch,
and there was a magnificent four-manual tracker Casavant organ which is tuned to Werkmeister II (which makes accompanying Howells in tune somewhat tricky!)
I quickly discovered that Trinity church was full of interesting people:
A choir Grandmother had played the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz:
One of our parishioners had a top film star son, who was all the rage at that time:
A former Trinity chorister was now a four-star general: Norman Schwarzkopf who commanded the invasion of Iraq.
My senior choirman was a University Professor of Music (he was most supportive)
my Associate Director of Music was tri-lingual and my Head chorister was bi-lingual,
and at least three more choir parents were Professors (or higher) at Princeton University
and three of my choir mothers were studying (in their spare time) for their doctorates!!
My Trinity church choir of men, (including some professional singers), teens, boys and six senior girls sang several times in Washington National Cathedral - which included concerts before our Choral Evensongs.
The choirs of Trinity Episcopal Church, Princeton were most enthusiastic throughout my 16 years with them, as this recording demonstrates, which was made at our first concert in Washington National Cathedral! (The six girls asked if they could scoop up to a top B flat at the end - Yes!)
I founded the Princeton Singers which won international acclaim through their concerts and broadcasts not only in the US but also in England and who were rated as one of the top three mixed-voice choirs in the USA.
Under my direction they were the featured choir at two national conventions of the Association of Anglican Musicians, and also sang four concerts to the American Guild of Organists Centennial Conference in NYC which was attended by 3,000 delegates from all over the world. (Dr. Ronald Arnatt, past President of the AGO, said that their concert was the finest of the whole conference!)
My Princeton Singers made three concert tours of England - including singing each time to capacity audiences in Blackburn Cathedral.
They also gave a concert at the historic Three Choirs' Festival in Hereford Cathedral where they sang to an audience 1,400, as well as giving concerts to capacity audiences in Westminster Abbey and in the Chapel of Kings College, Cambridge, where their performance was reviewed by the international music magazine CHOIR & ORGAN (November, 1996) with adjectives such as seamless, faultless and sheen of perfection. "[The Princeton Singers] are undoubtedly a fine example of American choral singing at its strongest."
Photo below of The Princeton Singers immediately before their concert in the Chapel of King's College, Cambridge.
with Drs Stephen Cleobury and George Guest in the audience!
Centre front row L-R: Dr Stephen Cleobury, Trinity Organ scholar Scott Dettra (who later became organist of Washington National Cathedral) JB and Dr George Guest.
Their CDs are available through GOTHIC RECORDS of California and ETHEREAL RECORDINGS of NYC.
Two years earlier, for our second UK tour, we received an encouraging and gracious letter from the President of the United States, BILL CLINTON -
we were greatly encouraged indeed!
JB led choir courses and gave lectures at Universities in New Zealand and during his second tour of Australia. The two choir festivals he conducted in Sydney on each occasion he regarded as the best prepared festivals he had ever conducted.
With Heloise Barr, wife of H.H. Judge Barr who hosted JB for his second visit to Sydney
He also conducted a concert in Melbourne Cathedral through the kind invitation of Dr June Nixon - the legendary Director of Music of that Cathedral. Dr. Nixon held that post for exactly forty years and her choir was the only cathedral choir outside the UK to sing daily services. And they were entirely voluntary.
BACK IN THE USA...
JB enjoyed the privilege not only of welcoming choirmasters to Trinity Church from many parts of the USA who came to observe JB's programme of music, (one choirmaster even made the journey from New Zealand to observe JB's rehearsals... YES, REALLY!) but he also led very many choir courses throughout the USA
from San Francisco in the West to Washington National Cathedral in the East:
In San Francisco with former Trinity Head Chorister Jesse Antin, who became concerts manager and lead alto of 'Chanticleer' - perhaps the finest men's choir anywhere in the world.
There were also marvellous vacations to some of the best places in the USA!
JB ALSO LED COURSES IN Florida (three times) in the South, to Denver, Colorado (twice) in the North;
to Lexington, Kentucky in the centre, to Canada over the border;
and to many other cities in between...
...including five annual week-long courses at Westminster Choir College, Princeton which were attended by choirmasters from all over the US, as well as abroad - including Japan!
Just before he retired from Princeton he was invited by Dr Fred. Swann to conduct the 80-strong professional adult choir of the Crystal Cathedral, Garden Grove, California, in JB's own arrangement of Amazing Grace. This was televised to 154 countries around the world. Dr. Swann wrote afterwards, Everyone has RAVED about you! Thank you so very much for coming and being such a joy of my people. Dr. Robert Schuller, in welcoming Bertalot to the Crystal Cathedral, invited him to return as often as he could!
Order JB's arrangements of AMAZING GRACE and ABIDE WITH ME
from augsburgfortress.org
PRINCETONIAN DELIGHTS:
One of the delights of working in the privileged University town of Princeton is that one gets to make friends with folks who have influence. John Baker, a former Captain in the US Navy, managed to get JB to play the world's largest organ - in Atlantic City, New Jersey. This was an amazing experience for it not only had full length 64ft pedal stops and 100 inch wind-pressure tubas, but it had seven manuals, the lowest two had additional two-octaves of keys. Full organ was like blowing up a thunderstorm!
The Convention Center is ENORMOUS. The organ pipes are hidden behind gallaries which (you can see) run round three sides of the hall.
We were given a tour of the two sections at the 'east' end of the auditoriam (i.e. the platform end) where the 100-inch tubas are and also the giant 64ft pipes. The 7-manual organ console is in its own 'building' to the right of the stage.
It was a breathtaking experience, and such an abounding privilege.
Another thrilling privilege was to play the legendary Wanamaker organ in the the Lord and Taylor emporium in Philadelphia (the American equivalent of Selfridge's). Recitals are given three times every day during shopping hours - Marcel Dupre had improvised his Symphony Passion on this organ; the present organist is Peter Conte whose playing is also legendary and hospitality abounding.
SPECIAL PRINCETONIAN FRIENDS:
Almost EVERYONE in Princeton is a Person of Influence ... none more so than the good folk who rallied round during my 16 years there, to help organise the church choirs and enhance my Princeton Singers.
Ann McGoldrick (left) was not only chair of the church choir steering committee for two creative years but she also volunteered to become Concerts Manager of my Princeton Singers. She gathered round her top influential people to become members of the Singers' Board and she became a dazzling efficient Mother to us all! (See page 170 of my Immediately Practical Tips book, for the 'Mrs Silver' mentioned there is based on Mrs McGOLDrick!
In the center is Robbie Ellsworth who was also chair of the choir steering committee, and organised the second visit of the choir of King's College, Cambridge, to Princeton so that, although their fee was $15,000 we made $15,000 profit. And that came from untold hard work on her part. She is a marvel!
Robbie lives with her delightful family in one of Princeton's lovely houses (all Princetonians have lovely houses!) where she invited me to stay for more than several visits to the USA after my retirement. Robbie is a continual joy to be with - inspiring, energetic, creative and so very welcoming. What a privilege it was to have such amazing friends and creative colleagues during my most happy years in Princeton! Thank you!
Two more choir families who also welcomed me so warmly into their homes were
(L-R) Dr Rob & Pegi Stengel, and Drs May & Costa Papastephanou, and Costa's gracious Mother, (who made me three glorious ties)!
I imagined May's home for the meeting mention on page 170 of my Immediately Practical Tips, and the choir parent mentioned on p. 260 of that book was Dr Rob Stengel!
And, needless to say, all these wonderful parents had their children in Trinity's choirs - and all of them are now doing very well indeed in the Big Wide World! Alleluia!
FAREWELL, PRINCETON
Just before JB retired from Princeton he received a letter from Rider University, Princeton, offering him an honorary doctorate of music, in recognition of [his] tremendous musical achievements and contributions to sacred music,
The letter said: "Previous honorary degree recipients have been Leonard Bernstein, William Mathias and Riccardo Muti. We look forward to awarding one to you as well." How could I refuse? I was thrilled.
And so, decked in my splendid new doctorate robes, I conducted my final Choral Evensong at Trinity - the last piece being Jonathan Willcocks' most beautiful God be in my head ... and at my departing! Tears were very near the surface.
And as a farewell gift, Trinity Church made me Director of Music Emeritus. What an honor!
1998-
And so, in 1998, I returned to England - to live in a village just outside Blackburn in Lancashire, where the Romans had a lookout on the top of the hill 1900 years ago!
Whatta view from the top of the hill!
Blackburn Cathedral is only 12 minutes away, and as a 'welcome home' gift, the Dean of Blackburn made me Cathedral Organist Emeritus. What an honour!
It was a particularly happy coincidence that the new Director of Music of Blackburn Cathedral, RICHARD TANNER, arrived in Blackburn the same week that JB did.
For many exciting things were about to happen!
The first exciting thing was a visit from HRH the Princess Royal, Princess Anne, who came to Blackburn Cathedral for the dedication of the restored Lantern Tower
(The former had, alas, been built of 'modern' materials, and had, effectively melted!
I was asked to compose an anthem for the entry of the Princess.
Well, there's only one anthem on which to model a Royal Entry and that is Parry's I was rather Pleased. So, taking that as my matrix, off we went - and it sounded glorious, sung by the cathedral choir, with organ, brass and timps, conducted by the recently arrived cathedral Director of Music, Richard Tanner.
After the service the Princess asked me how long it took me to compose it: About 2 months!
L-R: Dean David Frayne, The Princess Royal, Richard Tanner and JB
The next exciting thing happened almost immediately - the rebuilding of the magnificent organ in Blackburn Cathedral.
(You'll remember that it was brand new in December 1969: well it had been very well used during those musically busy 30 years and it was now in urgent need of restoration and enlargement.)
David Briggs was appointed as our advisor (he'd given his very first organ recital - at Blackburn at the age of only 14 - and he'd played it entirely from memory!)
The Dean and Richard Tanner generously invited JB to be part of the planning team
and Canon Andrew Hindley undertook to raise the £300,000 which it would cost.
There's a super 12-page booklet ready for downloading right now (Click (BLACKBURN ORGANS)- with specifications of the organs from 1826 to the present day, lots of photos and mouth-watering details!
It was a special thrill for JB to be asked to play the organ for part of that service (Greg Morris was our most talented Assistant DoM and organist) - for JB had played for the opening of that brand new organ 33 years before!
The next exciting thing that happened to JB was that he accepted the post of organist of a village church 10 miles from Blackburn.
The organ was terrible (last rebuilt in 1937) there wasn't a Vicar and the adult choir hadn't rehearsed for a year!
The choir quickly doubled in size, their enthusiasm was infectious, the new Vicar arrived, AND the church raised enough money to buy a brand new digital organ which JB had designed and Copeman Hart built.
It had four 32fts, two en chemades, bells, four harpsichord stops, flute celestes, and everything else that one could possibly wish for,
AND the Sunday dedication took place exactly on JB's 72nd birthday! WHATTA BIRTHDAY PRESENT!
L-R: Vicar Richard Adams, Choirman/treasurer/electrician Stuart Warford, JB, Ernest Hart, the Archdeacon of Blackburn and Geoff Wormwell, Chairman of the Appeal Committee.
That organ had everything an organist could possibly want - as you will see -
for every year, when Ernest Hart came to give it the 'once over', I asked for more, such as a complete set of pedal mutations.
My last request was for a Pedal SUB OCTAVE stop which went right down to the very bottomest CCCCC! (64ft!)
JB was there for 11 most creative years - the choir personnel were marvellous - incredibly keen -
100% punctual, 100% enthusiastic and great Christians.
JB taught them to sight-sing - and wrote a book about it - for IT WORKED!
Published by Kevin Mayhew - it's a best seller!
Richard Tanner's creative work at Blackburn Cathedral during his twelve years with us was very exciting indeed.
He organised most ambitious concerts (not only the Bach Passions and B minor Mass) but also works such as Monteverdi's Vespers, and David Fanshaw's African Sanctus, and he introduced regular Christmas Spectactular Concerts which attracted capacity audiences.
All these, and many more cathedral activities, were published in Music & More; a magazine which promotes not only the tremendous music programme at Blackburn Cathedral, but also some of the many other pastoral programmes of outreach. JB found himself as creator and editor of this magazine which goes all over the world.
Click FILES above for free copies!
Richard's delightful wife, Philippa Hyde, was a tremendous asset to the Blackburn musical scene, for she is a superb soprano soloist and graced many of our concerts with her lovely voice and gracious presence.
VISITS TO THE USA
A recurring great thrill, after my retirement to the UK in 1998, was to re-visit some of my many friends in the USA.
My very first friends in the USA (for they met me at Kennedy Airport when I arrived in the US at the very end of 1982) are (center) John Sully and Dr Kathy Rohrer who were founder-members of my Princeton Singers, sang in the church choirs, and their daughter was also a leading light in the choirs. No words of mine can tell how very much their abounding friendship means to me. (And Kathy was one of my interviewers when I came to be vetted for the post, way back in 1982!)
The Sullys live in an amazing house in the wild countryside 30 minutes from Princeton which is continually being extended.
Either side of them are Jim and Ruth Thornton - again, a most lovely couple who were devoted members of my adult choir at Trinity and the very dearest friends!
Another of my special delights when re-visiting dear friends in the USA after my retirement
is to host swish dinners in New York for some of my former Princeton choristers who live or work in NYC.
What a thrill it is to see them growing up - doing well at college and their professions - introducing their own young ladies and eventually having families of their own!
Similarly it was my supreme joy, in 2010, to escort the Bride's Mother (Dr Kathy Rohrer)
into Princeton University Chapel for the wedding of her daughter, Clare Sully, to John Rose.
Clare had been one of my leading choristers in Trinity Choir. Her father, John Sully, adjusts her veil before that amazing service.
Clare & John now have four wonderful children - three boys and a girl!
And here's another of my Trinity chorister's wedding - there were five brothers in my choir at Trinity Church, two of them were twins,
and all of them eventually studied at Princeton University
and all of them are now married! Wow!
Similarly it is also very good to be hosted by distinguished colleagues for swish dinners.
Here are (L-R) David Briggs, JB and John Scott, after John Scott had conducted anthems by David and JB at a Choral Evensong in St. Thomas, Fifth Avenue.
John was equally gracious in recording my arrangement of LORD OF THE DANCE sung by his superlative choir on their Christmas CD!
Two of my professional colleagues and special friends are Dr. James Litton (center), who was my predecessor at Trinity Church, and Tom Whittemore, our successor at Trinity, whose talents and abounding energy enlivens the music program at Trinity so creatively.
What a thrill it is to rub shoulders with such musical leaders.
When Tom brought his Trinity choirs to Blackburn in 2007...
it was my special joy to welcome him and John Sully & Kathy Rohrer to my home - and to enjoy the view from the top of my hill. Such friendships are one of the most special privileges of my life. Thank you!
It was a painful joy, during one of my return vacations to the US, to visit Dr Alec Wyton in his lovely home in Connecticut, for he was unwell.
I owe more to dear Alec than I can ever express, for he was not only my predecessor-but-one at St. Matthew's Northampton all those years ago, but it was initially through him that I was appointed to Trinity Church, Princeton. He had been not only Director of Music of the enormous St. John the Divine Cathedral New York City, but also President of the American Guild of Organists. He was America's Mr Church Music.
Every memory of dear Alec is lovely and inspiring.
But to return to unalloyd joys in the UK:
Very special friends near Blackburn (who go way back to the time when I was DoM of Blackburn Cathedral last Millennium) are known as DDD - as you'll see from their names.
More than several times we made visits to Europe:
Our dinner in the historic Cafe Mozart in Vienna was very special indeed:
And it was the most tremendous privilege to attend a superb concert in Vienna's golden Musikverein - with seats in the fourth row. Magical!
And, whilst we're at it, one of the most moving moments I've ever experienced occurred at the start of the Sunday morning service in St Thomas' Church, Leipzig, when a churchwarden placed a lighted candle upon Bach's flower-strewn grave in the chancel.
JSB was indeed there amongst us.
And if that weren't enough, when we were in Leipzig for the Bach festival, we discovered that my 1970s Blackburn Cathedral Chorister, Ivor Bolton, was conducting a concert in Bach's other church in that city - the Nicolaikirche. So, of course, we went (Ivor took several standing ovations -
I was very proud of him) and afterwards we met him in a vestry for a compulsory photo, and then went on to enjoy late night drinks with him outside a nearby cafe. Hallelujah!
David & Ruth Demack and JB with Ivor Bolton in the Nicolaikirche.
Touristy photo: An hour's bus journey from Leipzig was this very famous castle - which was being turned into a tourist attraction. Colditz!
What a pretty village it was, with the attractively restored castle looming over the hospitable town square!
There was no hint of the heroic things that had happened there during WWII.
Some members of my village church choir also organised trips to Europe...
- Florence / Venice / Pisa / Rome ... it was moving to visit the place where St Paul was imprisoned in Rome and, of course, there were very many photos:!
Another JB touristy photo with members of my village church choir!
Breathtaking photo of St. Peter's Dome
Mind-blowing Vatican Corridor
Since returning to the UK it has been my privilege to meet Royalty:
Please excuse this - but if you had photos of yourself with Royalty or the President of the USA
you'd want to share them too, wouldn't you?
I'd already been presented to HRH Princess Alexandra, the Queen's cousin (see above) - when she came to the Final Dedication Service of Blackburn Cathedral, and I was to meet her again in 2008 when she came to Blackburn Cathedral for a special concert conducted by Richard Tanner.
One of the items was by me - and so I presented a copy to HRH bound in red -
here she is with Richard Tanner and me:
And, of course, I'd been presented to HRH The Princess Royal (Princess Anne - Charles' sister) when she came for the rededication of the Lantern Tower (see above)
Next was HRH the Duke of Kent, the Queen's cousin who came to Blackburn Cathedral for aninformal visit: Here he is when Dean Christopher Armstrong presented me. Due to my great age I can remember the Duke when he was a small page boy in a kilt for The Queen's Wedding!
And finally and triumphantly - I (along with 175 others), was presented to HM The Queen when she came to Blackburn Cathedral for the annual Maundy Service in 2014.
For that brief moment I looked at her face close-up - and she was exactly like all her photos. Wow!
In these my latter years I have been showered with honours - for which I am overwhelmingly grateful:
The first was being made an honorary Fellow of the Royal School of Church Music at a special service in Coventry Cathedral
for my'significant and distinctive contribution to church music in Britain and America'
L-R: JB, Sir David Harrison, Chairman of the RSCM, Professor John Harper, Director General of the RSCM, and Dr. Edward Higginbottom - fellow Awardee
The next was to be made an honorary Fellow of the Guild of Church Musicians at a special service in Westminster Cathedral
L-R: JB, Archbishop Desmond Tutu (fellow Awardee) and HE Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, who presented the Awards.
80th
To celebrate (!) my 80th birthday I was invited not only to conduct a Sunday Choral Evensong in Blackburn Cathedral
but also to conduct a Choral Evensong in my Cambridge College Chapel - which was a great thrill for it was the highest honour they could bestow.
My joy was made complete by the presence of two of my student contemporaries - Dean Alan Warren and Canon Brian Macdonald Milne
(See photo above: seated: L-R The Chaplain, JB, Canon Brian and Dean Alan)
This was followed by a supa dinner in Hall where Dean Alan and I were guests of The Master at high table . Wow!
And what a joy it has been to return to Corpus for annual luncheons, hosted by the Master,
for those of us who have remembered the College in our Wills.
Here we are in 2010 with the Master (centre) - and my delightful guest, Ruth Bond seated 2nd from end on far right, with JB standing behind her.
70 years!
At a most happy RSCM service in Blackburn Cathedral
Bishop Nicholas Reade presented me with a stunning certificate which marked my 70 years as a church musician
which had began all those years ago as a choirboy in St Mary's Church, Shoreham-by-Sea, Sussex.
The exquisite certificate had been created by the oldest 'Old Chorister' of Blackburn Cathedral, ALBERT OGDEN who had joined the choir in 1936!
50 years!
One of the most special concerts we celebrated was the 50th anniversary - almost to the day - of my founding of the BLACKBURN BACH CHOIR -
now renamed THE RENAISSANCE SINGERS. Photo (below) of our very first rehearsal, top left, almost exactly 50 years before.
What a thrill it was to welcome not only the former conductors who succeeded me, but also many Alums,
including some founder Alums who joined us for the photo (standing immediately behind the seated conductors).
Front row seated L-R: the conductors who took part in that amazing concert:
SAM HUDSON, GORDON STEWART, JB (in white!) RICHARD TANNER, JAMES DAVY who had driven from Chelmsford that afternoon,
and founder Secretary/Treasurer/Librarian and Archivist, BERNARD J. WEST
59 years!
The most recent honour (2017) was to be made Organist Emeritus of St. Matthew's Church, Northampton -
the church where I began my professional career 59 years before!
This meant very much to me, not only because it was during those 6 formative years that I began to discover how 'to do the job', but also because this honour came through the initiative of the new Director of Music of St. Matthew's, JUSTIN MILLER (photographed below next to the Rector, Fr. Nicholas Setterfield, holding a reproduction of John Piper's painting of St. Matthew's which he presented to me.
Justin Miller is a highly talented musician.
He is an American who studied at Princeton, was organ scholar of Blackburn Cathedral (where we met), and also held positions at
Ripon, St Albans, Winchester and Worcester Cathedrals. He is doing a wonderful job at St. Matthew's where it's an honour to support him.
CATHEDRAL ORGANISTS' ASSOCIATION
Another great privilege is to be a member of the Cathedral Organists' Association
there are 42 Anglican Cathedrals in the UK plus RC Cathedrals, and our members also include those who have retired.
We meet every six months at a cathedral - every other meeting is an overnight - usually in or near London.
It's been my privilege to take photographs of us all from time to time.
Here we are in 1978 at Westminster Abbey
And here we are again at the Abbey in 2011
Extreme left: Terence Duffy (ex Liverpool RC) 5th from L: Dean John Hall (with Martin Baker immediately behind - Westminster Cathedral), Richard Lloyd (ex Durham), James O'Donnell (W. Abbey)... final 3: Andrew Lumsden (Winchester), James Thomas (St. Edmundsbury) & JB
These COA gatherings are made all the more joyful
when there's a high proportion of former Blackburn Cathedral organists present.
For example, when we met at King's College, Cambridge, there were no fewer than five 'Blackburnians' present:
L-R: Samuel Hudson (current DoM), JB, and three former Blackburn Assistant DoMs:
James Davy (now DoM at Chelmsford), James Thomas (DoM St. Edmundsbury) & Ben Saunders (DoM Leeds RC)
It has been my privilege to lead three workshops for the Cathedral Organists' Association
on how I teach children to sight-sing,
and also how I teach children to think for themselves and to take responsibililty for their own singing -
and it's so SIMPLE and the children find it such FUN! Smiles are always in evidence when I led those workshops.
Two of the workshops were at a COA Conference in Carlisle Cathedral, and the third was at Exeter Cathedral (above)
where I worked with four probationers - who are clearly enjoying every moment! (below)
I also led a similar workshop at St. Paul's Cathedral, by kind invitation of John Scott, for the Cathedral Assistant Organists' Association,
and also at Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue, New York City!
SMILES were always evident, as well as rapid progress at every JB workshop.
See my Choirtraining Articles 33 & 34 (above) - for notes I gave to all the Cathedral Organists who attended my workshop at Exeter Cathedral.
It's also been my privilege to tutor Blackburn Cathedral Organ Scholars for the paperwork for their Associateship of the Royal College of Organists.
My most recent joy was to help our brilliant sub Organist, SHAUN TURNBULL for his FRCO paperwork (especially the writing of FUGUE).
Here's an example: NB: keep it SIMPLE!!!
Shaun passed all sections of the FRCO first time, and so my added joy was to present him with my FRCO hood!
I'm so very fortunate in my maternal cousins -
My cousin JOANNA (far left seated in front of me) and her husband LLEWELLYN (far right)
live, most conveniently, near Sloane Square, London -
within walking distance of HARRODS!
Seated in the centre are 1st cousin PETER and his Thai wife, ALICE, who live, at present, in Surrey,
but who will soon be moving to THAILAND where they are building a most delightful house.
Here are Peter's twin brother, NICK and wife and HELEN after I'd hosted them for dinner at the Cambridge Double Tree (by the river Cam)
Both Nick and Helen are in the education business!
In a recent TV quiz programme one of the contestants said that CARDIFF was known for being the City where the first cheque for ONE MILLION POUNDS had been signed!
I immediately pricked up my ears - for it was my Grandfather, John Allcock, who had signed it!
I immediately wrote a letter to the TV producer with a copy to the County Archives and to City Hall:
And this was my Grandparents' house - which I remember so well even though he died when I was 7
for my parents and I always spent Christmas and Easter there. Those were most blessed times.
There were 6 bedrooms, two live-in maids, and a daily maid, 'red-haired Annie'.
And this is my Grandfather, c 1934 - John Allcock OBE, who signed that cheque,
And this is his modest desk which still smells, so nostalgically, of cigar smoke.
On the desk is a silver epergne, which belonged to my Grandparents and was kept beautifully polished by the maids!,
and a silver tankard given to John & Caroline Allcock for their 25th wedding anniversary.
Also a photo of the present owners of the desk, Great-grandson Nicolas and his wife Helen
BACK TO THE PRESENT...
One of my annual delights has been to enjoy the music of the Southern Cathedrals Festivals - Winchester, Salisbury and Chichester.
One year, Dr. Alan Thurlow, DoM Chichester, invited me to lead a public workshop with the choristers of Chichester and Winchester Cathedrals
(for the Salisbury choir were singing Evensong at Chichester that day).
'What do you want me to do?' I asked Alan. 'Anything you like!' came the answer.
So I had those talented choristers sight-singing all sorts of challenging things - and ended up with them sight-singing a high descant in canon
whilst the capacity audience sang Tallis's Canon in four-parts - what a glorious 6-part sound!
That evening Alan Thurlow instroduced me to a notable Chichester resident who supports the Festival most generously.
You'll recognise her for she's on the TV seemingly almost every day in long-time repeats!
More recently it was my privilege to host a dinner at Bill's restaurant at the Chichester 3-Choirs:
my guests included 3 Lambeth Doctors of Music and a former Bishop of Blackburn!
L-R: JB, Neville (husband of Dr. June Nixon from Australia), Dr. Roy Massey (ex Hereford), Dr. June Nixon (ex Melbourne)
Dr Alan & Tina Thurlow (ex Chichester) and Bishop Alan Chesters (ex Blackburn
The world of church and cathedral music was thrilled
when it was announced, in June 2019, that Dr. Stephen Cleobury
has been awarded a knighthood for his services to church music
and especially for his 37 years as Director of Music of the choir of King's College, Cambridge.
When JB attended a Sunday morning Eucharist in King's Chapel in the summer of 2017
the singing of the choir (RVW Double Choir setting) was so exquisitely perfect
that JB was moved to tears. That was an experience of a lifetime.
Here's a copy of the card that JB sent to Sir Stephen to congratulate him upon his kinghthood:
Our former DoM, SAMUEL HUDSON, took up his new position as DoM of WORCESTER CATHEDRAL in September 2019:
he was succeeded by JOHN ROBINSON (see below)
Here are Sam and John greeting each other in Blackburn Cathedral after Sam had given a fabulous recital!
It was a special joy to welcome JR as our new Director of Music of Blackburn Cathedral this September (2019)
JOHN ROBINSON was a chorister at Hereford Cathedral under Dr ROY MASSEY,
he was organ scholar of St. John's College, Cambridge,
Sub Organist of Carlisle and Canterbury Cathedrals, respectively, and then Director of Music of a fabulous Boys & Men's choir in Boston, USA.
His 2nd week at Blackburn Cathedral coincided with our Choristers' Annual Reunion when we also welcomed RICHARD TANNER, former Blackburn DoM
who is now DoM of RUGBY SCHOOL. Richard received the highest honour we could give him: the CHORISTERS' ORDER OF MERIT.
Here we are - two former DoMs of Blackburn Cathedral and our new DoM:
L-R: Richard TANNER, John BERTALOT & John ROBINSON
For the Choristers' Reunion Evensong in Blackburn Cathedral
John Robinson did me the honour of inviting me to take part of the rehearsal:
I was delighted that pretty well everyone was watching me - for that's what it's all about (see all of my books on choirtraining!) i.e. IT WORKS!