June
12, 2003, Gazette
Oration honouring David Valentine Willcocks
May 28, 2003
Dr. William Pryse-Phillips
University Orator
Vice-Chancellor:
At the coronation of King George II, Archbishop Wake commented caustically
that there was “No anthem at all … sung, by the negligence
of the choir at Westminster” but by the time the eight-year old
David Willcocks auditioned there for Dr. Ernest Bullock, its organization
had improved.
It was a piano tuner that first recognized Sir David’s perfect pitch
when he was six, after he had detected that a B-flat key was out of tune;
thereafter a career in music seemed obvious. The regime of instruction
that he received at the Abbey and later at Clifton and Cambridge bred
in turn a musician, organist and choirmaster who represents today a distillation
of the choral wisdom of the twentieth century. He stands before you now,
embodying 75 years of solo virtuosity, as I on stage left seek to give
context to this award — praise without flattery, exaltation without
exaggeration, epitome without fabrication. His own words recognize the
pitfalls of my rôle: “It’s rather tricky, the accompaniment”.
Sir David has been organist at the cathedrals of Salisbury and Worcester
and the conductor of orchestras and major choirs in England and internationally,
but it was his work with the choir of Kings College, Cambridge for seventeen
years from 1957 that engraved his and his choir’s reputations and
an awareness of the glory of choral music, on the minds of all who are
not tone- nor stone-deaf. And, by his pioneering the recording of choral
music, his choirs gave joy to the world.
It was said of Ralph Vaughan Williams that: “When he conducts, one
is somehow unaware of the actual notes but is brought vividly to the meaning
behind them.” Sir David spent time, both literally and metaphorically,
at the feet of that great man and — metaphorically but not literally
— fills his shoes. Two of Vaughan Williams’ injunctions to
his choirs were; “I’ve written the music; you’ve got
to interpret it” and “Don’t watch me and everything
will go well.” But, as a choral conductor, Sir David, through empathy,
enthusiasm and eye contact, has achieved yet more perfect interpretations
perhaps especially of church music, adapting it to a level of greater
glory; as in his setting of Adeste Fideles with its towering descant and
the sublime unison that introduces the last verse, emphasizing not just
the unity of the choir but that of all faithful people.
Sir David’s link to Newfoundland has prominently been through Festival
500, though going by the number of voices that he there inspired to produce
beautiful sounds, Festival 1500 would also have been an appropriate name.
In leading this celebration, he showed how an inspirational mentor can
captivate the attention and the admiration of choristers young and old.
Under his tutelage, choirs of disparate origins learned from one another
the techniques that define music as a vital part of the heritage of the
human race. He produced great performances by knowing the people who were
singing and motivating them by warmth of personality, showing unlimited
patience, commanding attention through utter competence and interpreting
the score to fall within the compass of understanding of the singers without
exceeding the limits of their abilities.
Music, the only sensual pleasure without vice, catalyzes spiritual expression
by uplifting the minds of believing people, allowing them better to express
their relationship to the Deity or other friends. The wonder, love and
praise evoked by melody is why, in the words of Alexander Pope, “…
some to church repair / Not for the doctrine but the music there.”
For it is a human characteristic that the graceful harmonies of words
of praise and obeisance do lift up our hearts, allowing at least true
musicians to hear some echo of the voice of God. I quote from the poem
“Music” written by Gillian Langor, a member of the Newfoundland
Symphony Youth Choir, after she experienced Sir David’s direction:
“It is a bold statement/ It is beauty and serenity/… It is
sorrow and shame/ It is happiness and joy/ It is encouragement and strength/
It is so simple, yet so complex/ It is pure and wholesome/ It is the universal
language of the world/ It cries. It laughs. It shouts. It loves. It is
whatever you want it to be.”
So, Vice-Chancellor, by command of the senate but also on behalf of those
millions in the world for whom Sir David Willcocks’ interpretations
have engendered rhythmic, harmonic and spiritual empathies between the
conductor, the choir, the congregation, the composer and the Creator,
I have the honour to present to you this inspired producer and interpreter
of song in quires and places where they sing, to receive at your hand
the degree of Doctor of Letters (at least A through G) (honoris causa),
David Valentine Willcocks, Knight of the Order of the British Empire.
And, Sir David, thank you for the music.