Percy Whitlock

Synopsis

English composer and organist

• 1903 born in Chatham, England.
• studied music with Vaughan Williams at London's Royal College of Music.
• 1921-1930 assistant organist at Rochester Cathedral.
• 1930-1935 director of music at St Stephen’s, Bournemouth.
• 1932 on he worked full-time at the Municipal Pavilion Theater in Bournemouth. He had a "considerable reputation as both a recitalist and broadcaster" (Oxford Music Online). He also loved railroads, and wrote a book about them. He sometimes wrote or composed under the pseudonym "Kenneth Lark." He also worked with the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra.
• 1946 died in Bournemouth, England from complications of chronic tuberculosis.

Plymouth Suite is probably his most famous work for organ.

For details, see the Wikipedia article on Percy Whitlock.

List of Organ Works

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Opus	Title	Year
Op. ??	6 Hymn Preludes	1923, revised 1944
Op. ??	5 Short Pieces in Various Styles	1929
Op. ??	Two Fantasie Chorales	1931-1933
Op. ??	4 Extemporisations	1933
Op. ??	7 sketches on verses of the Psalms	1934
Op. ??	Sonata in C minor	1935–36
Op. ??	Symphony in G minor for organ and orchestra	1936-1937
Op. ??	Plymouth Suite	1937-1939
Op. ??	Three Reflections: Three Quiet Pieces	1942–45
Op. ??	Fanfare	?

Background and General Perspectives on Performing These Organ Works

From Oxford Music online:

"He wrote a number of slight but attractive compositions, mostly for organ or choir; the harmonic idiom is conservative for its time but imaginative use is made of limited resources."

"Less profound but quintessentially British are the well crafted hymn-preludes and character-pieces of Percy Whitlock."

From Wikipedia:

"Whitlock quickly arrived at a musical idiom that combined elements of his teacher's output and that of Elgar. His lush harmonic style also bore traces of Gershwin and other popular composers of the 1920s. Stanford, Rachmaninov and Roger Quilter are other important stylistic influences. Like Vaughan Williams and Frederick Delius, he often used themes that sounded like folk songs but were, in fact, original creations."

"Whitlock's creative gifts expressed themselves most completely in the smaller forms, and as a miniaturist he can stand alongside many composers much better remembered than he."

Registration and Organs

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See the footnote in the "Notes" section at the bottom of the page

Fingering and Pedaling

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Articulation and Phrasing

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Ornamentation

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Tempo and Meter

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Scores and Editions

Six hymn preludes, ISBN: 0193759020, London: Oxford University Press, 1945, 2 v. of music; 31 cm.

• At Brigham Young University HBLL call number M 11 .W452 .H85 1945 vol.1

Five short pieces, London: Oxford University Press, 1930, 17 p. of music; 31 cm.

• At Brigham Young University HBLL call number M 11 .W452 S56 1930

Recordings

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Free Online

Percy Whitlock's Complete Shorter Organ Music on youtube, played by Simone Gheller: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=percy+whitlock+the+complete+shorter+organ+music

Fanfare from 4 Extemporisations, played by Malcolm Riley at the church of St. Brides, Fleet Street, London: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eV2ZD6GyBJU

Folk Tune from 5 Short Pieces, played by Nigel Potts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlU8KBlkPvs

Organ Sonata in C minor, played by Simone Gheller: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kkN5Yh0OCU

Fantaisie Choral no. 1 in D-flat Major, played by Simone Gheller: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A32Mmd6EAac

Fantaisie Choral no. 2 in F-sharp Major, played by Simone Gheller: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=befIQyikzzQ

Plymouth Suite, played by Simone Gheller: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV1rVMeUBb4

Pay to Listen

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Other Resources

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Notes

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