|
organist, composer and choral conductor
The death of Dr Dennis Townhill, OBE, has robbed the musical world of one of its venerable elder statesmen. Organist, composer, teacher, examiner, administrator, lecturer, adjudicator and noted choral conductor, as one of Scotland's favourite adopted sons, he enriched music far beyond the confines of the organ loft and, in the process, nurtured generations of aspiring musicians.
Dennis William Townhill was born in Lincoln in 1925. Brought up initially by his grandparents, at the age of 9 he began his illustrious musical career as a chorister at Lincoln Cathedral. Six years later, he undertook a nine-year apprenticeship as pupil-assistant to the cathedral organist, Dr Gordon Slater. In 1949, now fully qualified and newly married, he served first as organist of Louth Parish Church, before, in 1956, fulfilling a similar role at Grimsby Parish Church.
Five years later, in 1961, Townhill's talents found a particularly happy and expressive outlet in his new role as organist and master of the choristers at St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh. Here, over the next 30 years, he would also play a pivotal role in the cultural life of the community. In addition to his many and varied commitments, he also lectured at Edinburgh Theological College and taught for many years at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.
Throughout his distinguished tenure at the cathedral, Townhill maintained a consistent, committed and extremely loyal ensemble. As a choral technician, he was meticulous, exacting and demanding by degrees, his quiet demeanour belying a dogged determination to achieve the highest standards whether amid the intimacy of the cathedral choir or the vast resources of larger choral forces. Within a short time he had given the choir a distinctive voice, enriched and enhanced the repertoire and expanded all aspects of the cathedral's musical life. Thus, before long, amid extensive tours throughout Europe and America, 18 in total, the choir was equally happy to exchange choir stall for concert hall, proud ambassadors for their city.
Over the years, always encouraging, Townhill took a particular delight in commissioning young composers, many Scottish, to create new and challenging works for the cathedral. No less adventurous was his early, and at the time, highly unfashionable championing of the integration of female voices into collegiate choirs. Equally progressive was his determined concept for the future expansion of the then fledgeling annual Border Cathedrals Festival involving the choirs of Carlisle, Newcastle and Edinburgh Cathedrals.
Proving far more contentious, however, was the somewhat divisive issue of the chronically ailing Cathedral Choir School. In 1970, after years of indecision, Townhill became the driving force behind an enlightened plan not only to safeguard its future but transform it into a new and vibrant entity. Modelled on Yehudi Menuhin's pioneering specialist music school, based at Stoke d'Abernon in Surrey, the newly emerging St Mary's Music School exceeded all expectations. Now, in addition to educating the cathedral choristers, it quickly made its mark as a centre of excellence for exceptionally gifted young musicians north of the border.
One of the finest organists of his generation, Dennis Townhill revelled in the opportunities afforded by the instrument. Fiery and impassioned, his sense of rhythm more than matched by a love of colour, underpinning everything was a splendidly instinctive natural technique. Dynamic and diverse as always were his many broadcasts and recitals, particularly during the Edinburgh Festival. Here his often challenging programmes would be incomplete without reference to the music of his hero, J. S. Bach. Perhaps a most fitting memorial to his talents will prove to be the 1990 recordings of the complete organ works of his great friend and composer, Kenneth Leighton, Reid Professor of Music at Edinburgh University.
While claiming no special merits as a composer, nevertheless his particular feel for the liturgy allowed him to write well for voices. Here his anthems, responses, chants and imaginative descants, often written for specific occasions, have retained their place in the repertoire. Most appropriately, his fine anthem, Lo God Is Here, formed the centrepiece of the cathedral's centenary celebrations in October 1979.
On retirement from St Mary's in 1991, Townhill was appointed organist emeritus. Now unfettered by everyday constraints, he was, for the first time in his life, able to judiciously mix business with pleasure. Periods spent either as a locum at a number of English cathedrals or as a special commissioner for the Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) would be interspersed, courtesy of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, with examination tours to more exotic climes.
Appointed OBE in 1992, for many years his hectic schedule of commitments continued unabated. A member of the council of the RSCM, here his unstinting devotion to the cause over a long period was recognised with his election to an honorary fellowship. Always an assiduous administrator with a keen eye for detail, he served on the management committee of the Incorporated Association of Organists, was chairman of the Scottish Episcopal Cathedral Organists' Association, a past president of the Edinburgh Organists' Society and, for a time, chairman and later honorary vice president of the Federation of Cathedral Old Choristers' Association.
In 2000 he published a volume of reminiscences entitled "The Imp and the Thistle" [available from the Cathedral Office]. Dennis Townhill, organist, composer and choral conductor, was born on May 25, 1925. He died on July 18, 2008, aged 83
From "The Times" 24 September 2008
|
