Samuel Sebastian Wesley

Writing in 1875, Samuel Sebastian Wesley could look back on a period of over forty years as a cathedral organist:

I left London when very young for Hereford, intending to compose chiefly for the Church but . . . there is not only no reward for this but, far worse, such efforts bring an artist of eminence into conflicts with the insufficient means for performing music at Cathedrals: this state of things is the natural result of such an anomaly as that of one professional calling being wholly supervised by another – viz., Musicians by Clergymen, with no other laws for order than those of Henry the Eighth’s time and the common law which treats organists as the servants of the Clergy so that no recognition of the Musician as an Artist and gentleman has any place in a Court of Law.

Despite achieving fame as a performer, respect as a composer and a degree of notoriety for his views on the reform of cathedral music, Wesley never enjoyed the recognition or the position in English musical life he felt he deserved. His final years, spent in Gloucester (where he wrote, there was ‘no great demand for any peculiarly experienced musical ability’), were clouded by feelings of bitterness and regret that he had neither escaped from the artistic isolation of a provincial cathedral, nor succeeded in his lifelong battle to raise the standard of cathedral music and the status of musicians.

S. S. Wesley was born in London in 1810. His father, Samuel Wesley (son of the hymn writer and co-founder of Methodism, Charles Wesley), was one of the foremost organists of his day. Through his influence, his son gained admission to the choir of the Chapel Royal, St James’s Palace, in 1817, where Samuel Sebastian received a general, but rudimentary, musical education.

After leaving the Chapel Royal in 1826, Wesley held several organists’ posts, and, by the end of the decade, was beginning to make his mark, not only as an organist but also as a composer. The celebrated Musica Britannica series has now devoted three volumes to his anthems, which demonstrates how prolific he was in this field. The latest volume is, like its predecessors, edited by Peter Horton (Ref MB89 £90.00). Volumes I and II are still available (Ref MB57 £96.00 and Ref MB63 £86.00). All three volumes contain extremely informative notes. Samuel Sebastian died in Gloucester on 19th April 1876.

Although (one hears!) differences of opinion can still exist between organists and clergy, Nigel Ogden has some encouraging words for organists in the notes contained in At Your Service — Fifteen Practical Voluntaries for Church Organists (Ref H456 £5.75). Church organists are among the most versatile of musicians. They create the musical glue that holds together our worship, and because each occasion of prayer and than ksgiving is a real event and not a formula, so that anything can happen and quite often does, they must also have the instincts of a musical stage manager. At a moment’s notice they may be required to create or change the mood of a service, or indeed be ready to paper over the cracks!