Southend, a school song, India & the Durham music degrees
In 1993 Gerald Usher, an old boy of the High School and professional musician, discovering that the Hutchings version of the school song had undergone some changes over the years, decided to write it out from his own memory. When he later saw a 1940s printed version he realised his memory was well nigh accurate which meant he could, now he was doing some A level teaching in the school, ensure the tune’s survival by encouraging its continued use for official occasions. Accordingly its popularity among students increased so it’s now used for example at term-end assemblies and also at the Old Southendian Association meetings.
"Hutchings’s score [of 1939] is unquestionably one of the finest, if not the finest, of its genre – and that is not merely a personal opinion, since I have shown it to, and discussed it with, many notable musicians around the United Kingdom. The consensus is that, by comparison with ours, the more famous examples from Eton, Harrow, Rugby and the like sound banal and trite. The vigorous and shapely melody with a slight modal touch, and that fabulous bass line, impart a distinction which others can only envy. Southend High School For Boys and the Old Southendian Association can be proud of many unique traditions but none more so than the song that lives on in so many of our hearts". (Gerald Usher). The score of the song can be found on the Documents page
In 1941 during the early WW2 years Hutchings married Marie Constance Haverson (1904-1975). She was the school secretary; they settled in Southend. Arthur however enlisted in the RAF as a class F reservist and was unhappy to find himself detailed for driving duties, for which he possessed little aptitude. A more congenial solution was to deploy him as an entertainments officer at Bicester and other stations where he took classes in music appreciation. One man wrote afterwards “My gratitude to him for awakening a love of Mozart piano concertos grew from the music appreciation classes he ran as education officer in unpromising circumstances at RAF Bicester in the 1940s”. Sometimes he wrote programme notes for concerts given by the RAF Orchestra conducted by Myers Foggin, a concert pianist, who from 1968 would become Principal of Trinity College of Music, Chairman of the Royal Philharmonic Society from 1968 and President of the National Federation of Music Societies from 1967–72. Foggin was also created a CBE.
Service in UK for Arthur was followed by a spell in the Bengali region of India. Here he adopted native dress at times, one time wading a river after removing his shorts - to the consternation of locals. Developing a keen interest in Bengali music he also undertook some broadcast stints. An article he wrote for 'Music & Letters' talks about the cultural differences he noted between the Bengali province and those of other parts of India; his descriptions of scenery, local songs and dances, instruments and musical styles are vivid. "I saw more of the war in London air raids than ever in S E Asia" he writes. Back in Britain the Hutchings's only child Josephine (Jo) was born in 1944. Money at the end of the war was a concern for many people so that a invitation from Eric Blom to write a book for the 'Master Musicians' series was eagerly seized; the subject was Schubert, first published 1945, subsequently revised 1973. Happily Hutchings had been granted exclusive use of the material on Schubert collected by Otto Erich Deutsch (1883-1967) who published in 1951 a "Thematic Catalogue of Schubert's Works in Chronological Order" and hence gave the world the D numbers to identify each work.
Courtesy of Old Southendian Organ Society
The origin of music degrees at Durham
Durham University, founded in 1832, first granted music degrees (BMus and DMus) to external candidates from 1889. From 1897 the professorship was held by Dr Philip Armes, the Durham Cathedral organist, who examined along with Sir John Stainer. Eighty candidates sat for the first examination in 1890. The second professor from 1908 was Joseph Cox Bridge (1853-1929) who was also organist of Chester Cathedral. By the inter-war period Durham music graduates probably outnumbered those from the Music faculties of all other English universities put together. After the death of Cox Bridge the third professor appointed was redoubtable composer and organist Sir Edward Bairstow (1874-1946). Francis Jackson (BMus DMus Dunelm) his successor as organist of York Minster, wrote
"As Professor of Music at Durham (in those days a part-time, non-resident post) Bairstow brought the music degrees to a high standard. His 'Counterpoint and Harmony' was written at Stanford’s suggestion. It took some years in the writing and his pupils were lent the precious manuscript a chapter at a time before Macmillans published it. I believe it is not well enough known. It derives from the belief that counterpoint and harmony should be studied simultaneously. Its purpose is to encourage musicality and thus, even in a textbook concerned with the dry bones of technique, reflects his lifelong preoccupation with beauty. 'The Evolution of Musical Form' grew from lectures he delivered at Hull University College in 1940 and is an attempt to approach form from ‘a more human and friendly point of view’ than that of most textbooks. The textbook entitled 'Singing Learned from Speech' was written in collaboration with Harry Plunket Greene, his great friend of long standing, and testifies to his lifelong interest in the subject"
Anthem for Durham University ceremonies sung by the Cathedral Choir cond by Richard Lloyd
Main music department building (Old Divinity School) on Palace Green
close to the north door of the Cathedral
Room 6 - large lecture & recital space is on the right