Cathedral Music
Review of Howells Biography in Cathedral Music February 1999
Who better than to write this biography than Paul Spicer, whose group of musicians, the Finzi Singers, has performed and recorded most of Howells's repertoire. This biography is excellently written and extremely well-researched. Spicer gets to grips with his subject getting into all the nooks and crannies and presents his findings in a compelling narrative. Included are the tragic circumstances that befell HH's family. Some readers might be surprised to learn that the music he wrote for the church and in fact the music we all know him by was composed in his later years. Spicer had access to Howells's diaries and the help of his daughter, Ursula. One niggle - as with quite a number of biographies these days - those writing seem to forget, that many of us would like, for either research or general interest, to see a discography or chronological list of compositions. Mr Spicer does present us with an excellent bibliography. Elgar died on February 23 1934, exactly 49 years later on the same date in 1982 Howells died, his great friend and colleague, Sir Adrian Boult, died the night before. At his thanksgiving service Take him, earth for cherishing; Like as the Hart and the Collegium Regale Te deum were sung, as of course, was his hymn tune Michael. This is one of the most interesting books I have read for some time, containing so much well presented, clear detail, with every page offering something new to think about. Well recommended.
Daniel Reed