Percy Whitlock: An American Pen Portrait from 1939 Part 1

In 1938, Dr Hamilton C MacDougall and his wife spent the summer abroad visiting the United Kingdom. On 23 September they set sail from Southampton on board the Cunard liner, the Queen Mary, docking in New York on 3 October. The result of these travels was a series of articles written for the popular organists’ journal, The Diapason. In these he describes many of the instruments and musicians that he met on his travels. In April 1939 he published his thoughts about composer/organist Percy Whitlock. The first section looks at his life, and the second considers his compositions. I have provided some notes and made a few editorial changes. 

"Change of Scene to Bournemouth. Bournemouth (or “Bawn-muth” as the ordinary English pronunciation has it) is a delightful all-the-year pleasure resort: in 1920 it had a population of 78,000 and by now it must be close to if not over the 100,000 mark. [1] It is situated in Hampshire, [about] 107 miles by rail from London. It was my second visit, the first having been made in 1908. So far as I am aware there is no seaside resort, except Scarborough in Yorkshire, that can with any success challenge Bournemouth’s claim to be the premier beauty spot of England. [2]

A century ago, this wonderful town was merely a wide expanse of gorse, heather and pines, through which ran a brook called the Bourne. As the town grew this brook and the hilly ground on each side were recognized as assets and were cultivated. Citizens have recognized the advantages of the town’s situation and have developed them with almost devotional care. The cliffs at the oceanside are crowded with hotels, a pier (that characteristic British institution) has been built and the pavilion, with casino, concert hall, cinema with large Compton organ, and a restaurant, added. [3]

Our good friend Thomas Cook billeted us in the Grand Hotel, [4] only five minutes from the Glen, the Pavilion, the pier and the surf. This situation pleased me, for I was intent on interviewing Percy Whitlock, whose name had become increasingly familiar to me as the composer of pieces for the organ—Scherzo, Folk Tune, Canzona from the Sonata in C minor, Fantasie Chorale No. 1, etc.

By appointment, I found Whitlock in his office at the Pavilion. The photograph accompanying this article is an excellent one and, if I am any judge, pictures a man who has already made his mark on this generation’s music and who will continue to enrich organ literature as long as good health and encouragement are his lot. [5] Whitlock, a young man (born in 1903), is a year or two younger than Dr Thiman [6]; he is of a ruddy complexion, and is of the physical type that carries off hard work easily. It was as a choir boy in Rochester Cathedral under C. Hilton Stewart that Whitlock was inducted into the traditions of cathedral music. For five years he was the assistant organist. Some songs attracted attention and gained for him, after competition, the Kent scholarship (composition) at the Royal College of Music, London. Here he had for teachers Vaughan Williams, Gustav Holst, and Charles Wood, deceased; he speaks with special affection of Vaughan Williams, whose simplicity of character and modesty are marked. For organ master he had Dr Henry Ley, now precentor of Eton. [7]

Ralph Downes, formerly organist at Princeton, now of the Brompton Oratory, London, was at the college at the same time as Whitlock. The Pavilion is under the control of the town government and Whitlock’s official title is “Organist to the Corporation of Bournemouth.” The organ by John Compton was built in 1929 and enlarged in 1934. It is a cinema organ of the well-known type. The total number of pipes is 1,852, enclosed in two concrete chambers; wind pressures are from thirty inches in the main trunk to six inches for the softest ranks. We had a brief go at the instrument, which will roar for you like the Royal Scot on its way to Edinburgh or will purr as softly as the house-cat warming himself at the fireside. Yes, sir-ee!

The Bournemouth Corporation is a big amusement enterprise so far as it concerns itself with the Pavilion. I take the program for a single week. Here it is:

Carl Rosa Opera Company, eight performances, Carmen, Barber of Seville, La Boheme, etc., with the municipal orchestra. In another week on Sunday the municipal choir and municipal orchestra give the Bach St Matthew Passion; Monday, Dr Malcolm Sargent (with Ethel Bartlett and Rae Robertson in their specialty) gives the Brahms Third Symphony, conducting the Municipal Orchestra; Tuesday the orchestra again, with Moiseivitsch in Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody and playing the Tchaikovsky’s E minor Symphony; and so on through the week. Ordinarily there are Sunday afternoon orchestral concerts with light programs, or organ recitals by Whitlock: at these recitals he plays the standard repertoire and transcriptions. It will be noted that with a municipal chorus, a full-sized municipal orchestra and a concert organist the range of entertainment is almost without limit. 

Dr Hamilton C. MacDougall, The Diapason 1 April 1939 p.1 

Notes:
[1] Some 85 years later, the population of Bournemouth stands at more than 183,000.
[2] I guess that many resorts and “beauty spots” would challenge Dr MacDougall’s assertion.
[3] In 2023, the Bournemouth Pavilion is still and active part of the entertainment scene in the town. The organ is regularly used for lunchtime recitals.
[4] The Grand Hotel is still open for business.
[5] Sadly, Percy Whitlock died on 1 May 1946, only seven years after this article was written.
[6] Eric Thiman [pronounced Tee-Man] (1900-75) was a British composer, conductor, teacher and organist. He composed much music, including part-songs, carols and anthems. There is also a good corpus of organ music. Sadly, he has been largely eclipsed in the last fifty years.
[7] Another of Percy Whitlock’s teachers at the Royal College of Music was Charles Villiers Stanford.



To be continued…