Westminster Cathedral : Martin Baker resigned

[PJPJ]

https://catholicherald.co.uk/news/2020/01/07/westminster-cathedrals-master-of-music-resigns/

P

[Vox Humana]

Sad, but not unexpected. More geese than swans now live, more fools than wise.

[DracoM]

Serious blow.
My sense of it is as a conflict between a rock and a hard place.
BUT Mr Baker's letter of resignation and some parents' lobbying hits the nail on the head. The Drome as we have known it is on the slide to invisibility as a major choir leader. Desperate, desperate days: Dart, Malcolm etc etc?

[Pulcinella]

The Letter of the month in January's Gramophone is from a previous chorister, in a tribute to Stephen Cleobury. Interesting that he mentions that the choir and school were under severe threat in the few years before Cleobury was appointed Master of Music there.

[Serial_Apologist]

Not having followed it, is this story symptomatic of the paucity of intake of young choristers at choral academies for one reason or another? I only ask as one who was a member of the choir at the boarding school I attended, and eventually its leader, having made the transition from boy treble to bass by way of alto unbroken.

[ardcarp]

Sad, but not unexpected.

Yes. Here's the governing body if anyone feels like wielding a pen...

http://www.choirschool.com/governors.html

[DracoM]

I've written.

[Roger Judd]

The writing was on the wall when the choir school abolished the long-standing recording week. Since then it appears that the Governors, backing the Headmaster, have adopted some specious arguments about boarding school life, and forced them on the choristers. Quite why the Cardinal Archbishop chose to ignore the warnings of the extremely distinguished Master of Music we'll never know. For Martin's very wonderful time at the Cathedral to end this way is a total tragedy on every level. One can imagine what the atmosphere in the choir stalls must be like presently. Cardinal Basil Hume will be remembered and celebrated as the man who stood up for the choral tradition at the Cathedral, and brought in Stephen Cleobury to revitalise it ... I fear that Cardinal Nichols will be remembered as being the man who dealt it a savage blow.
RJ

[Jack Pudding]

Dreadful

The writing was on the wall when the choir school abolished the long-standing recording week. Since then it appears that the Governors, backing the Headmaster, have adopted some specious arguments about boarding school life, and forced them on the choristers. Quite why the Cardinal Archbishop chose to ignore the warnings of the extremely distinguished Master of Music we'll never know. For Martin's very wonderful time at the Cathedral to end this way is a total tragedy on every level. One can imagine what the atmosphere in the choir stalls must be like presently. Cardinal Basil Hume will be remembered and celebrated as the man who stood up for the choral tradition at the Cathedral, and brought in Stephen Cleobury to revitalise it ... I fear that Cardinal Nichols will be remembered as being the man who dealt it a savage blow.
RJ

Quite so, Roger. What a tragedy.

[Lordgeous]

Very sad news. At least what a wonderful recorded legacy Martin Baker has left.Do the Cathdral authorities deseve a choir of such international standing? Echoes of Gearge Malcolm's time there, though apart from a live broadcast, Britten Missa Brevis, the choir wa only allowed to make one recording (Vittoria).

[Wolsey]

Cardinal Basil Hume will be remembered and celebrated as the man who stood up for the choral tradition at the Cathedral, and brought in Stephen Cleobury to revitalise it ... I fear that Cardinal Nichols will be remembered as being the man who dealt it a savage blow.

I couldn't agree more; it's a truly shameful state of affairs. By their actions, both the Headmaster and the Cardinal will go down in history as philistines. I do hope that Martin's considerable talents will be quickly employed elsewhere where they are appreciated.

[ardcarp]

...it's almost as if they want to follow France's example. Apart from a few exceptions, choral music of a decent standard doesn't seem to be regarded as part of the Opus Dei.

[Vox Humana]

Apart from a few exceptions, choral music of a decent standard doesn't seem to be regarded as part of the Opus Dei.

It is debatable to what extent the British have ever valued professional music, at least since Charles II died, if not before. Timothy Day's book I Saw Eternity the Other Night shows how our high standards of cathedral music were won only in the late nineteenth century in the face of considerable disinterest and even opposition. For a brief period. maybe 60 years or so, good choral music became fashionable and desirable. Today, in the cathedrals and chapels that support professional music, the general standard has probably never been higher, but almost everywhere else the story has been one of steady decline since the second world war, spurred on by a parallel decline of interest in classical music generally, an interest increasingly seen as niche, even elitist, and of no great value or importance. The Headmaster and Cardinal may well go down in history as philistines, but they will have plenty of good company.

[DracoM]

I couldn't agree more; it's a truly shameful state of affairs. By their actions, both the Headmaster and the Cardinal will go down in history as philistines. I do hope that Martin's considerable talents will be quickly employed elsewhere where they are appreciated.

Hear, hear!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

It is debatable to what extent the British have ever valued professional music, at least since Charles II died, if not before. Timothy Day's book I Saw Eternity the Other Night shows how our high standards of cathedral music were won only in the late nineteenth century in the face of considerable disinterest and even opposition. For a brief period. maybe 60 years or so, good choral music became fashionable and desirable. Today, in the cathedrals and chapels that support professional music, the general standard has probably never been higher, but almost everywhere else the story has been one of steady decline since the second world war, spurred on by a parallel decline of interest in classical music generally, an interest increasingly seen as niche, even elitist, and of no great value or importance. The Headmaster and Cardinal may well go down in history as philistines, but they will have plenty of good company.

I think that this isn't exactly right, VH; in the immediate postwar period there was huge promotion of public funded Arts, including Music. The Festival of Britain, the South Bank Centre, the number of Orchestras, the foundation of the Arts Council, the Third Programme, the promotion of Arts on the BBC, the Open University - I would say that the period 1945-79 was a golden age for the Arts - including Classical Music - in Britain.

You're absolutely right, of course, in your assessment that there is a strong tradition of philistinism in post-Industrial Revolution British History, which, as now, often had the dominant voice in political power. But this tradition has also been periodically successfully challenged by those who value the Arts - figures like Newman & Wood, Robert Meyer, William Glock, Jennie Lee - and the enlightened Heads mentioned in Day's excellent book who swam against the prevailing tide in the 19th Century and who employed and supported their Directors of Music.