SIR DAVID WILLCOCKS (1919-2015)

MUSICAL DIRECTOR OF THE BACH CHOIR (1960-1998)

A CELEBRATION OF HIS LIFE

MONDAY 11 JANUARY 2016 | 7.30PM WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL HALL

LONDON SW1

SIR DAVID WILLCOCKS CBE MC

Musical Director of The Bach Choir for 38 years, and Conductor Laureate from his retirement in 1998 until his death in 2015, David Willcocks was not only responsible for taking the Choir to new levels of excellence during his time at the helm, but was also a very good friend to many of the Choir’s singing and associate members.

David Willcocks became Musical Director of The Bach Choir in 1960, on the strong recommendation of Adrian Boult (himself a previous Musical Director), after the then MD, Reginald Jacques, was forced to resign due to ill health. His first concert with the Choir – a performance of Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast and the Mozart Requiem – was very well received by the critics, the Times describing it as ‘exhilarating’ and going on to say that David Willcocks ‘had every reason to be satisfied with his new choir, and the choir with its new conductor’. In his book The Bach Choir: The First Hundred Years Dr Basil Keen wrote: ‘Willcocks was soon pointing the Choir in new directions by programming Honnegger’s King David and Howells’ Hymnus Paradisi in his first season, and Delius’s Sea Drift, Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass, Walton’s Coronation Te Deum and Fricker’s Vision of Judgement in his second. A successful innovation was his decision to invite children on to the platform to sing carols with the Choir during the Family Carol Concert.’

Through David’s connections with Benjamin Britten, The Bach Choir sang on the first Decca recording of the War Requiem with Britten conducting; this went on to sell 200,000 copies in the first five months after its release and is still the seminal recording today. More recordings followed, including Howells’ Hymnus Paradisi, as well as backing vocals for Marianne Faithful and the Rolling Stones. Under David Willcocks, the Choir was now much busier, responding to invitations which sometimes involved singing under different conductors, undertaking special engagements and taking part in foreign tours, and its profile was considerably heightened as a result.

To mark The Bach Choir’s centenary in 1976 David conducted the Mass in B minor on April 26, the date of the first performance, and the Choir’s excellence was marked by the Prince of Wales becoming its President.

David Willcocks’ musical contribution to The Bach Choir was immeasurable, but the Choir is also indebted to him for his knowledge of, and concern for, individual members. Many personal letters of kindness and sympathy were received by members experiencing personal problems or distress. It was no surprise that his final concerts, performances of the St Matthew Passion in the spring of 1998, attracted capacity audiences.

He will be greatly missed.

PROGRAMME

Introduction and welcome – David Hill

Handel Zadok the priest

Handel The king shall rejoice

Tribute – Pippa Dutton

Bach Sanctus (from the Mass in B minor)

Brahms Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen (from Ein deutsches Requiem)

Tribute – Jennifer Vernor Miles

Parry Blest pair of sirens

Willcocks Birthday carol

Closing tribute – John Rutter

Parry I was glad

Party

Sir David Willcocks famously said that on his death he would like there to be a party, rather than a memorial. We hope that

he would have approved of tonight’s event. DAVID HILL succeeded Sir David Willcocks as Musical Director of The Bach Choir in 1998.

PIPPA DUTTON was a soprano in The Bach Choir from 1974 until 2013. She was PA to Sir David Willcocks at the RCM and, from 1974 to 1980, Secretary of The Bach Choir.

JENNIFER VERNOR MILES was first a soprano and then an alto in The Bach Choir from 1963 to 2009. In the 1980s she was the Choir’s Sponsorship Manager before taking over as Concert Manager in 1989, a post she held for ten years.

JOHN RUTTER’s links with Sir David Willcocks are well-known; he has been associated with The Bach Choir for many years, becoming a Vice-President in 2006 before succeeding Leopold de Rothschild as the Choir’s President in 2013.

Accompanist: Peter Holder

The Bach Choir General Manager: Nick Cutts

PO Box 61756, London SW1H 0UZ Tel: 020 7127 4677 genman@thebachchoir.org.uk

Top: DVW and The Bach Choir in King’s College Chapel, Cambridge (Photo: Craig Easton)

Left: A favourite party trick (Photo: Mihai Dragutescu)

Below: DVW with HRH The Prince of Wales, Leopold de Rothschild, and Pippa Dutton in 1976 (Photo: Jennie Walton)