Alegretto pastorale (Twelve Miniatures, No. 11)

Henry Marcellus Higgs (1854-1929) was the son of Marcellus Higgs (1827-1897) and Clara Tomlin. His father, also an organist, published no organ music.

H. M. Higgs worked with several music publishers and published a fairly large output of organ music. I have no indication of any places at which he served as organist, but he clearly knew how to write for the instrument.

Unfortunately, I have little biographical information about Henry Higgs, but THANKS to our member "diapason," we now know that he was organist of Christ Church, Sutton, and St. Paul's Church, Great Portland Street, London. THANK YOU DIAPASON!

"Twelve Miniatures" dates from 1913 and was published by Novello & Co. Ltd. The set was part of the publisher's "Original Compositions for the Organ (New Series)," where it appears as No. 27. It is dedicated: "To A. Healey Foster, Esq." Each piece is different in style and format, and some could be called "studies" as they deal with a particular technical aspect of organ playing.

The eleventh piece, "Allegretto pastorale" is in the key of F major, and written in 6/8 time. In many ways this one is the most "unique" of the set.

It begins with a typical sort of pastorale, rather chromatic and "of the period," before moving into a central section, "piu Lento (alla recit)". This is the part that stands out in the group, as it sounded more like a brief, woodland ballet rather than a "churchy" sort of thing. However you describe it, it is very different from the sort of thing that appears in the rest of the group.

In the section, the wonderfully pungent Orchestral Oboe of the Solo is the prominent solo voice.

Taken as a group, there is a lot of creative variety in these diverse pieces, and tomorrow the grand finale will bring it all to a close! :-)

I have no photos of Henry Marcellus Higgs to share, but the score is attached below, as well as two photos of Christ Church, Sutton, where Higgs served as organist.