Five Short Pieces founded on Hymn-Tunes

Charles Hylton Stewart (21 March 1884–14 November 1932 was an English cathedral organist, who served in Rochester Cathedral and St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. He also produced several compositions for organ, and a few for choir.

Arthur Charles Lestoc Hylton Stewart was born on 21 March 1884 in Chester, the son of Charles Henry Hylton Stewart (a minor canon of Chester Cathedral and previously Organist and Master of the Choristers of Chichester Cathedral). He was a chorister at Magdalen College, Oxford and organ scholar of Peterhouse, Cambridge.

He was music master at Sedbergh School from 1907 - 1908, and served as organist in a number of significant positions: St. Martin's Church, Scarborough (1908 - 1914),
Blackburn Parish Church [now the cathedral] (1914 - 1916), Rochester Cathedral (1916 - 1930), Chester Cathedral (1930 - 1932), and of St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle 1932, serving less than one year before his death.

The "Five Short Pieces founded on Hymn Tunes" are based upon the following hymn-tunes: Caithness, Babylon's Streams, Croft's 136th, St. Peter, and the popular, Aberystywth. While these tunes are all "old-fashioned," they are still in use, and may be useful to many people.

These works were published by Novello in 1928, and are dedicated: "To Percy Whitlock" (1903-1946), who was Stewart's assistant at Rochester when these pieces were written.

The score is attached below, as well as some photos of Rochester Cathedral, Stewart's longest-held position, a memorial to him in Chester Cathedral, and a photo of Percy Whitlock. I have never seen a photo of C. Hylton Stewart. :-(

Individual timings are:

1 (Caithness) 0:00
2 (Babylon's Streams) 2:35
3 (Croft's 136th) 5:02
4 (St. Peter) 6:40
5 (Aberystwyth) 8:53

Please see the First Comment for brief musical and performance notes for each piece.

You can hear a performance of Stewart's exquisite (and rare) "Evening Service in C" here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUVA1CGuBVY