Finale (Twelve MIniatures, No. 12)

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 twelfth piece, "Finale" is in the key of D major, written in 4/4 time, and marked to be played "Allegro marziale."

This is the perfect English march, and shines out as being representative of the period. It is quite brief, so it would be ideal as a fanfare, postlude, or any liturgical usage. Like a number of these works, the piece is "bigger" than time of duration that it takes to play.

Although the composer makes no indications for use of the Solo Tuba/s, I made sure to work these in during several spots, and was pleased with the outcome. After all, HOW can this be English without the tuba?!?

Taken as a group, there is a lot of creative variety in these diverse pieces. I'm glad to have done the whole set, and hope my listeners have enjoyed them.

Higgs has other works that I may take a look at in the future.

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.