Andante in G Minor (Introductory Voluntary)

I recently uploaded "Fantasia upon the Plainsong Melody 'Ad coenam Agni'" by Healey Willan, which was published by Novello in their large series, "The Village Organist," which featured music by many fine composers, some well-known, and some long forgotten.

Edmund Horace Fellowes CH MVO (11 November 1870 – 21 December 1951), was a Church of England clergyman and musical scholar who became well known for his work in promoting the revival of sixteenth and seventeenth century English music. His name will be well-known to any lover/scholar of the English choral tradition, but completely unknown to others.

His importance was not as a composer, but in the work he did to revive the works of the 16th and 17th centuries. His editions, which are "dated" today, were ground-breakers at the time they were published, and helped to revive many long-forgotten masterpieces by William Byrd, Orlando Gibbons and others.

He was a clergyman and a Minor Canon at St. George's Chapel, Windsor, and was named as "acting" director of the choir their upon the death of Sir Walter Parratt. He was a choir trainer of rare skill - something that was not all that common at the time, and did much to elevate the standard of singing by the boys of the choir. The problem was the men... (See the First Comment).

This little "Andante in G Minor" is a small and refined work, not terribly interest, but balanced and tidy. The musical ideas are certainly not "new," and we can hear why Fellowes real contributions were in the area of scholarly research and musical editing.

In addition to being a clergyman, musician, and scholar, E. H. Fellowes was a keen cricketer, and wrote "A History of Winchester Cricket." He also wrote the interesting book, "Memoirs of an Amateur Musician."

A photo of Fellowes during his time as choirmaster of St. George's Windsor is attached below. He is the one sitting in the middle, wearing a robe that makes him look like a wizard!

For an interesting read, see First Comment.