Herbert Sumsion Herbert Whitton Sumsion CBE ( 14 January 1899 – 11 August 1995 ) was an English musician who was organist of Gloucester Cathedral from 1928 to 1967 . Through his leadership role with the Three Choirs Festival , Sumsion maintained close associations with major figures in England ' s 20th - century musical renaissance , including Edward Elgar , Herbert Howells , Gerald Finzi , and Ralph Vaughan Williams . Although Sumsion is known primarily as a cathedral musician , his professional career spanned more than 60 years and encompassed composing , conducting , performing , accompanying , and teaching . His compositions include works for choir and organ , as well as lesser - known chamber and orchestra l works . Biography . Training and early career . Sumsion was born in Gloucester , a cathedral city on the River Severn . In 1908 , at the age of nine , Sumsion became a probationer in the Gloucester cathedral choir , which was then under the direction of Herbert Brewer . After two years Sumsion became a full chorister and sang with the choir until 1914 . Gloucester was ( and is ) one of the three host cities , along with Worcester and Hereford , of the Three Choirs Festival , an annual festival of choral emphasis first held in the early 18th century . Sumsion would later write of his musically formative experiences at the cathedral : ‘ Quite soon after my entry into the choir I was singing with the [ Three Choirs ] Festival Chorus and gradually absorbing the choral music of the great classical composers and the contemporary writers , of whom the giant was certainly Elgar . ' When Sumsion ’ s treble voice broke at age 15 , he became an ‘ articled pupil ’ to Brewer , a designation connoting a three - year apprenticeship in organ , choral direction , and music theory . As one of Brewer ’ s articled pupils Sumsion was following in the footsteps of his slightly older contemporaries , Herbert Howells and Ivor Gurney . Sumsion passed the Associateship exam of the Royal College of Organists in 1915 , and in July 1916 joined Howells in passing the Fellowship exam ; though he was only 17 , Sumsion was awarded the Turpin prize for the second - highest marks in the practical component . From 1917 to 1919 Sumsion served in the Queen ’ s Westminster Rifles and spent time in the Flanders trenches . In 1919 he returned to Gloucester cathedral to take up an appointment as assistant organist to Brewer . Sumsion ’ s duties during this period included serving as accompanist for the Three Choirs Festival Chorus , which occasioned a brief but memorable encounter with Elgar after a rehearsal of " The Dream of Gerontius " . Sumsion earned an undergraduate degree in music from Durham University in 1920 and continued in his post at Gloucester until 1922 , when he embarked for London to become organist of Christ Church , Lancaster Gate . In 1924 he took on two additional posts — director of music at Bishop ' s Stortford College , north of London , and a teaching position at Morley College . He also studied conducting with Adrian Boult at the Royal College of Music , though Boult observed that Sumsion ’ s conducting technique was already well - developed . At the Royal College of Music Sumsion also met R . O . Morris , professor of counterpoint and composition . When Morris accepted a position at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia , he asked Sumsion to serve as his assistant ; the two , along with Morris ’ s wife Emmie , departed for America at the end of September 1926 . The Curtis Institute was then a conservatory in its infancy , but figures such as Leopold Stokowski , famed conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra , were associated with it in its early days . Sumsion ’ s decision to accompany the Morrises was of consequence to his personal life as well as his career . Emmie Morris wrote frequently to her sister Adeline ( who was married to Ralph Vaughan Williams ) and reported ‘ with interest ’ on Sumsion ’ s courtship of an American girl , Alice Garlichs . Sumsion had been introduced to Alice through her uncle , a professor at the University of Pennsylvania whom Sumsion had met on board the ship to America . On 7 June 1927 , Herbert and Alice were married in Philadelphia . Gloucester and the Three Choirs Festival . On 1 March 1928 , Herbert Brewer died suddenly of a heart attack , leaving the post of organist at Gloucester vacant only a few months before the cathedral was to host the Three Choirs Festival . Brewer had expressed a desire that Sumsion succeed him , so although Sumsion had just accepted the position of organist at Coventry cathedral , the Dean and Chapter at Gloucester negotiated his release from this commitment . Sumsion and his wife left America for England in June 1928 . Despite his relatively late arrival on the scene , Sumsion ’ s leadership of the 1928 Three Choirs Festival at Gloucester impressed both music colleagues and the press . In those days the resident organist bore the burden of conducting , and though in 1928 several composers were on hand to conduct their own works — notably Elgar and the Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály — Sumsion was responsible for works such as Verdi ’ s " Requiem " and Honegger ’ s " King David " , the latter being a Three Choirs debut . It was following the 1928 festival that Elgar made his oft - quoted pun : ‘ What at the beginning of the week was " assumption " has now become a certainty . ’ A former Sumsion pupil writes that Sumsion ’ s ‘ vision in matters of programme planning together with his skill of direction in a very wide spectrum of works made him one of the most successful conductors ’ in the Three Choirs Festival ’ s history . From 1928 until his retirement in 1967 , Sumsion was responsible for planning and serving as the principal conductor for eleven festivals held at Gloucester . Although Sumsion personally acknowledged the challenge that cathedral organists — who were primarily choral conductors — faced in conducting major orchestral works , his own conducting was greatly respected , and his interpretations of Elgar ’ s works were viewed as being representative of the composer ’ s own readings . At the first festival following Elgar ’ s death ( 1934 ) , Sumsion proposed that the three cathedral organists each conduct one of the Elgar works on the program , a welcome division of labour for the host conductor that would later became standard practice . After the retirement in 1949 of Percy Hull of Hereford and Ivor Atkins of Worcester , Sumsion remained the only direct link with Elgar amongst the musicians of the three cathedrals . In his program planning for the festival , Sumsion championed the performance of new English works . Notable premieres at Sumsion ’ s Gloucester festivals included Gustav Holst ’ s " Choral Fantasia " ( 1931 ) , Howells ’ s " Hymnus Paradisi " ( 1950 ) , and Finzi ’ s " Intimations of Immortality " ( 1950 ) ; as well as works by Vaughan Williams , Howard Ferguson , Robin Milford , Tony Hewitt - Jones , John Sanders , and Sumsion himself . Outside the realm of English music , Sumsion helped sustain a festival connection with Kodály by inviting him back to Gloucester in 1937 and programming his works at six Gloucester festivals . Sumsion maintained personal friendships with many of the well - known composers who frequented the festival , particularly Vaughan Williams , Finzi , and Howells . Social gatherings at the festival , in which Sumsion ’ s wife Alice played a significant role , helped to cultivate these relationships . In 2007 Ursula Vaughan Williams still recalled that her husband had been ‘ great friends ’ with Herbert and Alice . Sumsion was considered part of Finzi ’ s intimate circle and was a frequent guest at Finzi ’ s home at Ashmansworth in Hampshire ; the Sumsion and Finzi families ( the Sumsions had three sons , the Finzis two ) also went on holiday together . The Sumsion and Howells families were likewise close , evidenced by the fact that in 1935 the Sumsions hosted Howells and his wife for Christmas following the death of the Howells ’ s son Michael ; and according to one Howells biographer , it was Sumsion who first encouraged Howells to allow " Hymnus Paradisi " , written in Michael ’ s memory , to be performed . Sumsion also led an active professional life outside the cathedral . He had begun composing as a young man and continued to accept commissions when he was well into his eighties . Possibly his last work was a set of hymns entitled ' Four Hymns ' , to words by Paul Wigmore , and published by Oecumuse in the autumn of 1995 , only weeks after Sumsion ' s death . He composed many works for organ and choir , as well as chamber and orchestra l pieces and a book of piano exercises . Sumsion also taught piano , organ , and composition privately , adjudicated at competitions , accompanied vocalists and played with chamber groups , and performed as an organ recitalist . His 1965 recording of Elgar ’ s Organ Sonata , which he recorded in one ‘ take ’ , is now regarded as the standard interpretation of that work . Concurrent with his post at the cathedral Sumsion served as director of music at Cheltenham Ladies ’ College ( 1935 – 1968 ) and directed the Gloucester Choral and Orchestral Societies . As a teacher and choir trainer he was said to be demanding yet kind and encouraging , displaying ‘ that rare gift that made people want to do well for him ’ . Sumsion was honored with a Lambeth Doctorate in 1947 and was appointed CBE in 1961 . After retiring from Gloucester cathedral in 1967 , Sumsion remained in Gloucestershire and continued to teach and compose . He died at Frampton - on - Severn in 1995 at age 96 . Works . Sumsion ’ s compositional style reflects the influence of his more famous contemporaries Howells , Finzi , and Vaughan Williams , while at the same time retaining something of the ‘ diatonic strength ’ of Edwardian composers like Parry and Brewer . Despite these influences , however , Sumsion ’ s music speaks in a fresh and distinctive voice that is appealing to both performers and listeners . His harmonic language is sturdy and conventional , yet often tinged with modality , and his melodic style is fluid and elegant . In the organ and choral works Sumsion displays a fondness for parallel thirds in the accompaniment , detached bass lines , and the descending minor third in the melody . Choral and organ music appear most often in Sumsion ’ s output during his Gloucester tenure and retirement , with many choral pieces dating from his last decade of life . Works such as the Magnificat and Nunc dimittis in G major , the Preces and Responses , and the anthem " They that go down to the sea in ships " have entered the standard repertoire of Anglican church music . A new disc of Sumsion ' s choral music featuring the Ecclesium Choir ( Philip Stopford , director ) was released in 2007 as No . 9 in Priory ' s " British Church Composers Series " . Sumsion ' s most significant work for organ is the challenging " Introduction and Theme " , which has been recorded by Donald Hunt ( among others ) for the Helios label . Most of Sumsion ' s chamber and orchestral works were written earlier in his career and are unpublished or out of print ; however a Piano Trio , the orchestral pieces " Overture , In the Cotswolds " and " Idyll , At Valley Green " , and the Cello Sonata have all had public performances , the first three at various Three Choirs Festivals . David Lloyd - Jones and the Royal Ballet Sinfonia have recorded an attractive work for strings called " A Mountain Tune " ( ‘ English String Miniatures ’ / White Line / 2003 ) , which Sumsion originally wrote for cello and piano .