Harold Edwin Darke(29 October 1888 – 28 November 1976) was an English composer and organist. He is particularly known for his choral compositions, which are an established part of the repertoire ofAnglican church music.Darke had a fifty-year association with the church ofSt Michael, Cornhill,in theCity of London.
Harold Darke | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Harold Edwin Darke 29 October 1888 London, England |
| Died | 28 November 1976(aged 88) Cambridge,England |
| Occupation(s) | Organist, composer |
| Era | 20th-century |
| Spouse | Dora Garland |
Life before Cornhill
editDarke was born inHighbury,north London, the youngest son of Samuel Darke and Arundel Bourne. He attendedDame Alice Owen's SchoolinIslington.[1]In 1903 he gained a scholarship to theRoyal College of Musicwhere his teachers wereFrank Bridge,Walter Parratt,Charles Villiers Stanford,Charles Wood,andHerbert Sharpe.[2]
His first organist post came in 1904 at theStoke NewingtonPresbyterian Church.[2]From 1906–11 he was the organist atEmmanuel Church, West Hampstead.He became a Fellow of theRoyal College of Organists(FRCO) in 1907.[2]Between 1911 and 1916 he was the organist atSt James's Church, Paddington.[2]
He served in theRoyal Air ForceduringWorld War I.[1]
Life at Cornhill
editHe became organist at St Michael Cornhill in 1916, and in 1917 was awarded a Mus.Doc. degree from Oxford University.[2]He married Dora Garland, atSt Michaels Church, Cornhill,on 25 July 1918. Dora was a violinist and was the first woman to lead theQueen's Hall Orchestra.[1]He remained at St Michael Cornhill until 1966,[3]except for a brief war-time interregnum in 1941 to deputise forBoris Ordas Director of Music atKing's College, Cambridge.
It is widely accepted that the Cornhill Lunchtime Organ Recitals series begun by Darke in 1916 is the longest-running lunchtime organ concert series in the world. His midday recitals each Monday, playing Bach in the legato style ofSchweitzer,made him a City institution.[4]The series has flourished under his successorsRichard Popplewell1966–1979 and the present organist,Jonathan Rennert,from 1979. Darke also served as organ professor at the Royal College of Music from 1919 to 1969.[1]
Darke's work as Conductor of St Michael's Singers was crowned in 1956 (on the occasion of the Choir's 40th Anniversary) with first performances of a number of now well-established works composed especially for the occasion – notablyAn English Massby Herbert Howells,[5]HierusalembyGeorge Dyson,[6]andA Vision of AeroplanesbyRalph Vaughan Williams.[7]
Life after Cornhill
editDarke continued to be active in his later years. He recorded Elgar’s Organ Sonata in his early 70s and gave recitals at theRoyal Festival Hallto mark his 75th, 80th and 85th birthdays.[4]He died inCambridge,UK, aged 88 on 28 November 1976.[1]
Compositions
editHis famous 1909 setting ofChristina Rossetti's "In the Bleak Midwinter"is often sung at the service ofNine Lessons and CarolsatKing's College, Cambridge,and at similar services around the world. [8][9]
In a poll of choral experts and choirmasters that was published inBBC Music Magazineon 7 December 2008, "In the Bleak Midwinter" was voted the greatest Christmas carol of all time.[10]Comparing Darke's setting to another popular setting byGustav Holst,Deputy Editor Jeremy Pound expressed the view that "While Gustav Holst's charming setting of 1909 is rightly loved by millions worldwide, it is the less well known but infinitely more stylish setting by Harold Darke from two years later that convincingly won the day in our poll."[11][12]Together with ‘Cradle Hymn’ and ´A Christmas Carmen’, it is dedicated to Margaret Agnes Calkin.
Most of Darke's other compositions that are still performed are settings of theAnglicanliturgy,especially his threeCommunionServices in E minor, F, and A minor; and hisMagnificatandNunc Dimittisin F.[8][13]The short cantataAs the Leaves Fall,(1917), setting words by the soldier poet Joseph Courtney (1891-1973), has been recorded by theGuildford CathedralChoir, along with a later cantata,The Kingdom of God(1921), settingFrancis Thompson.[14]
- Organ
- Suite in D minor: Prelude, Pastorale, Toccata
- Prelude and Fugue on "Heinlein"
- Rhapsody in E, Op. 4
- Prelude on "Windsor"
- Prelude in Memory of Parry
- Three Hymn Preludes,Op. 20: St. Peter, Darwall's 148th, On a Theme of Tallis
- Fantasy in E, Op. 39
- Meditation on Brother James' Air
- Retrospection
- Bridal Procession
- Choir
- As the Leaves Fall,Op. 26 (1917), soprano solo, SATB choir and orchestra
- A Christmas Carmen(1916) SATB
- In the Bleak Midwinter
- Communion Service in E minor
- Communion Service in F
- Communion Service in A minor
- Cradle HymnSolo/unison
- Evening Service in F
- Evening Service in A minor
- Harvest Cantata "The Sower" for Solo Quartet, Choir and Organ.Published (1929) by OUP
- Jubilate for chorus & organ in F major
- Love came down at ChristmasSATB
- The Kingdom of God,Op. 31 (1921), soprano solo, SATB choir and orchestra
- O Brother Man
- O gladsome light,Op. 38 No 2 (1929)[15]
- Psalm 10
- Te Deum for chorus & organ in F major
References
edit- ^abcde"Harold Darke (Composer, Arranger) - Short Biography".www.bach-cantatas.com.Retrieved16 February2021.
- ^abcde'An Organist of Today: Harold Darke' by Yorke Bannard.The Sackbut(London: Curwen), Vol. 1, No. 4. August 1920. 190-92. 'ProQuest British Periodicals'. Online resource accessed 28 March 2024.
- ^Rennert, Johnathan(October 2019),Cornhill Visions,Regent Records,REGCD550(CD liner notes)
- ^abWebb, Stanley. 'Darke, Harold (Edwin)', inGrove Music Online(2001)
- ^Notes to Hyperion CDA66488
- ^Notes to Hyperion CDH55046
- ^Notes to Hyperion CDA67503
- ^abWright, David C. H. (2019).The Royal College of Music and its Contexts: An Artistic and Social History.Cambridge University Press. p. 351.ISBN9781107163386.
- ^Michael, Counsell (2015).The Canterbury Preacher's Companion 2016.Canterbury Press. p. 292.ISBN9781848257504.
- ^Leach, Ben (7 December 2008)."In the Bleak Midwinter voted greatest carol of all time".The Telegraph.London.Archivedfrom the original on 20 March 2017.Retrieved4 October2019.
- ^"BBC – Press Office – In The Bleak Midwinter hits top spot as greatest carol ever".BBC.Archivedfrom the original on 4 October 2019.Retrieved4 October2019.
- ^"A Christmas special: 50 Greatest Carols".BBC Music Magazine.December 2008.Retrieved4 October2019.
- ^"Harold Darke Compositions".AllMusic.Retrieved2 October2019.
- ^As the Leaves Fall,Regent REGCD563 (2022), reviewed byMusicWeb International
- ^Five Mystical Songs and other British Choral Anthems,Naxos CD 8.574416 (2022)
External links
edit- Brief biography
- Brief biography
- The Music at St Michael's Cornhill
- Free scores by Harold Darkein theChoral Public Domain Library(ChoralWiki)
- Harold Darke's "In the Bleak Midwinter"onYouTube:a 1968 performance by Guildford Cathedral Choir, directed byBarry Rose
- Recording of Darke'sIn the bleak midwinterfromCoro Nostro,a mixed chamber choir based in Leicester, UK.