| CHOIR | ||||||
William of Wykeham and his college
The tradition of singing at New College goes back six centuries to the year 1379 when the College was founded by William of Wykeham. Wykeham, who was Bishop of Winchester and High Chancellor during the reign of Edward III, had a vision of his new college as a place where the country’s administrative class, both lay and religious, would be educated. In the college statutes he made provision for sixteen boy choristers and a number of clerks to have a permanent place in the College to ensure the musical rendition of the daily office, and to pray in perpetuity for the repose of his soul. The fourteenth-century portrayal of the College shows the Founder attended by his fellows, scholars and choristers. We know relatively little about the life of the Choir during the period preceding the Reformation, though fragments of music with concordances in the Eton Choir Book suggest that it may have had an ambitious repertory at the time.
New College Chapel, looking west
In the sixteenth century Oxford University went through several upheavals as fellows were required to state their allegiance to monarchs and governments of changing colours. Matters did not greatly improve in the seventeenth century, and the fact that Charles I made Oxford a Royalist stronghold during the Civil War further exacerbated relationships. Following the Restoration of the monarchy, a high water mark in the history of New College music came with the appointment of a succession of leading musicians through to the end of the 18th century. Figures like John Weldon and Philip Hayes ensured that New College was associated with the leading London musical personalities of the day. This was the period of visits to the city by Handel and later Haydn, and of the building of England’s first purpose-built music room in Holywell Street, adjacent to New College.
New College ante-chapel
A resurgence in the musical fortunes of the College came in the 20th century through the appointments as Organist of some of the leading figures in the country’s musical life, notably Sir Hugh Allen, Sir William Harris and Sir John Dykes-Bower. Dr H K Andrews, known equally for his scholarly publications, maintained links with musicians of the standing of Vaughan Williams, Howells and Beecham. Under his direction the Choir became a crucial part of the BBC’s religious programming during World War II, and with its regular live broadcasts of choral evensong became a symbol for excellence within the domain of sacred music. On the appointment in 1959 of Dr David Lumsden the Choir’s repertory was enlarged, and the six layclerks were augmented by a number of academical clerks. It was during this period that the Choir began to reach a much wider audience through its LP recordings and through concert tours in the mid-1970s to the USA.
Since 1976, under the direction of Dr Edward Higginbottom, the Choir has developed an extensive touring schedule, both to the continent of Europe and further afield, and has worked with many leading instrumental groups such as the King’s Consort, The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and the Academy of Ancient Music. With an impressive list of over seventy recordings currently available in the CD catalogues and an exciting programme of future concert tours, the Choir continues to maintain its high profile musical role in the new millennium.
