Dr Arthur Wills OBE (1926-2020)

[ardcarp]

Well done for tracking down the broadcast! 1975 would fit in with my somewhat vague memory....but I do remember the sound which was just right...not over-refined, but just right for Britten.

[Keraulophone]

Just Francis Jackson still around then, it would seem

George McPhee went to Paisley abbey as organist in 1963 at the age of 24, and AFAIK he is still there.

[Roger Judd]

Arthur Wills was indeed a 'serious' composer. During my four years as his assistant (1968-72), I was present at a number of first performances, organ and choral, and indeed copied some of them out to send publishers a manuscript that was readable! He was a great man in every sense, great fun to be with, and I learnt much from him, some how to do things, and some how not to! Ardcarp referred to the boys as not being over-refined. You could say that of the choir as a whole at that time. The lay clerks were a gloriously disparate group ... in my less-charitable moments I would describe them as the Ely rude mechanicals, but their collective sound was seldom less than exciting, and often very musical and moving. Mention of Britten reminds me that he and Peter Pears came to an evensong one day. The hope was that BB would write something for either the whole choir or the boys. Sadly, his heart problem grew acute just after the visit, and the idea came to nought. In Arthur's passing a notable influence in my musical life has gone, and I give thanks that I had that time working with and for him. RIP.
RJ

[ahinton]

George McPhee went to Paisley abbey as organist in 1963 at the age of 24, and AFAIK he is still there.

Yes, I believe he is - a remarkably long tenure, without doubt - but he has some way to go before attaining Francis Jackson's age of 103!...

[DracoM]

Yes, he was one of the (very competent) O&Cs who was also a serious composer...in the sense of taking the process seriously. I remember hearing a live [?] broadcast of Britten's Ceremony of Carols with Ely trebles in AW's day, and it had the expressive freedom of tone that BB would have approved of.

Sad to hear of his passing.

[Wolsey]

George McPhee went to Paisley abbey as organist in 1963 at the age of 24, and AFAIK he is still there.

He is, however, twenty years (i.e. a generation) or so younger, than Francis.

[Quilisma]

He is, however, twenty years (i.e. a generation) or so younger, than Francis.

Um, I make it nine years younger...

[Wolsey]

Um, I make it nine years younger...

Um, I was referring to George McPhee (b. 1937).

[Quilisma]

Um, I was referring to George McPhee (b. 1937).

Fine, OK then.

[Quilisma]

Arthur Wills was indeed a 'serious' composer. During my four years as his assistant (1968-72), I was present at a number of first performances, organ and choral, and indeed copied some of them out to send publishers a manuscript that was readable! He was a great man in every sense, great fun to be with, and I learnt much from him, some how to do things, and some how not to! Ardcarp referred to the boys as not being over-refined. You could say that of the choir as a whole at that time. The lay clerks were a gloriously disparate group ... in my less-charitable moments I would describe them as the Ely rude mechanicals, but their collective sound was seldom less than exciting, and often very musical and moving. Mention of Britten reminds me that he and Peter Pears came to an evensong one day. The hope was that BB would write something for either the whole choir or the boys. Sadly, his heart problem grew acute just after the visit, and the idea came to nought. In Arthur's passing a notable influence in my musical life has gone, and I give thanks that I had that time working with and for him. RIP.
RJ

Fascinating stuff, Roger, and a very fair portrayal of things as they were. The recorded and broadcast legacy of the choir during the very long Wills era is somewhat variable, but it is never boring and the good periods were indeed very good. As successors of the "rude mechanicals" we have huge respect for them, a point which I have sometimes had to clarify. In a sense it is a shame that tomorrow's broadcast is going ahead because it would have been an ideal opportunity for a repeat of the broadcast which we did four years ago yesterday, which was in celebration of Arthur in honour of his having turned ninety. But we are of course delighted that we ARE allowed to broadcast tomorrow, and indeed today (which will finally go out at Epiphany!)... I should also thank you very much for sending us a particular set of "undiscovered" canticles by a particular late Victorian organist-composer: we look forward to investigating it in due course!

[bach736]

Very sorry to hear this news. I moved up to mid-Suffolk in 1976 and soon discovered Ely Cathedral - I remember attending many evensongs directed by Dr Wills over the next fourteen years. In the eighties there was a documentary made by Anglia TV about the choir and it is now on the Archive of Recorded Church Music's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1xg7pYPx9s

Graham Creelman's 1986 film was very much 'of its time' as were some of the very unreconstructed opinions expressed in it. Btw, who was the Decani songman at the Easter service with the magnificent eyebrows?

[inquires]

Ceremony of Carols

My memory is a bit dodgy, Q, but I'm certain AW did Britten's Ceremony of Carols at some time in the past...more like the late 60s. A friend's son was an Ely chorister at the time...so it's possible I even attended it live. But I do seem to remember a broadcast.....

There was a radio broadcast by the choristers of Ely Cathedral under Michael Howard of 'A Ceremony of Carols' in 1956 and again in in 1976 under Arthur Wills.

[Quilisma]

People may be interested to know that, in common with all services at the moment, Arthur's Requiem Eucharist is being live-streamed on YouTube at 14:30 on Monday 23rd November. It will be an enormous honour to be one of those singing for it. I daresay there will be a further memorial service at some point when the restrictions have been lifted.

[Quilisma]

Graham Creelman's 1986 film was very much 'of its time' as were some of the very unreconstructed opinions expressed in it. Btw, who was the Decani songman at the Easter service with the magnificent eyebrows?

Harold Lindsay, I presume? I think he left about thirty years ago, but the legend of the eyebrows lives on! Yes, that film is... interesting, and some of the singing is... well, maybe not the definitive benchmark we would currently want to aim for! Another interesting archive film is the excerpt from ITV's Highway in about 1988, with the choir singing with Harry Secombe, filmed in Witcham parish church but clearly not recorded there. Some of the lay clerks clearly didn't get the memo about trying to look as if they were enjoying themselves, whereas others might have been overdoing the enjoyment a little bit...

[Finzi4ever]

A little tribute to AWW on this morning's R3 Breakfast with Petroc: The City of Ely March from his Fenlands Suite for Organ and Brass Band; very Waltonesque. I remember his telling me at the time he'd toyed with the idea of calling it Fenlandia (sic).
Petroc said his Torygraph obit. is in today's edition, but I think he's about a fortnight out.