Sir Sydney Nicholson 1875-1947 - founder of the RSCM

I can still recall with pleasure my graduation from choir probationer to a full member of the choir at St. James, Devizes. In the short ceremony I was able to put on my surplice and the choirmaster gave me my Royal School of Church Music badge on its blue ribbon. I have to admit that at the time the concept of a Royal School being based at Addington Place conjured up the idea that the Queen was somehow involved in church music. For many years afterwards the RSCM was an integral part of my life and development as a chorister. Much was also made of Sir Sydney Nicholson as its founder but it was not until much later that I became aware of his many other accomplishments.

This year we celebrate the150^th anniversary of Nicholson’s birth in February 1975. His father, Sir Charles Nicholson, (1808-1903) was a very accomplished man, and all three of his sons were clearly inspired by the achievements of their father. Charles was an ecclesiastical architect, Archibold designed and built stained-glass windows and Sydney was a very talented musician. The image above is of Archibold’s signature (and studio address!) on a window in the baptistry of St. Nicolas Cranleigh in Surrey.

After graduating from New College Oxford Sydney Nicholson studied at the Royal College of Music under Charles Villiers Stanford and Walter Parratt. Among his initial appointments were as organist at Manchester Cathedral. He moved to Westminster Abbey as Organist and Master of the Choristers in 1919. The BBC broadcast of Choral Evensong came from the Abbey in 1926, and somewhat remarkably Nicholson took the choirboys on a tour of Canada in 1927.

In 1922 the Archbishops of Canterbury and York had set up a committee to review the state of church music. In its report Music in Worship a recommendation was made that there needed to be some form of central body to support those who wished to improve the standard of choral worship. Nicholson was a member of the committee. He felt strongly about the need for better training for choristers and better advice for members of the clergy. In 1928 he resigned from his position at the Abbey and founded the School of English Church Music. The inaugural meeting was held in the Jerusalem Chamber of Westminster Abbey held on 6 December 1927, the feast of St Nicolas. The Royal Society of Church Music was granted its Royal Charter in 1945.

The history of the RSCM is well documented on its website – in this post I want to focus on Nicholson’s other achievements.

Hymns Ancient and Modern was first published in 1861 and was an immediate success. A supplement developed by Nicholson was published in 1916, who by then was a member of the Editorial Committee. A new version was published in 1922 with Nicholson as Music Editor. He remained in this position until he died in 1947, latterly working with Gerald Knight and John Dykes Bower who were leading the development of the (maroon) 1951 edition. Nicholson wrote several hymn tunes, most notably Crucifer for “Lift High the Cross”.

Nicholson’s lasting contribution to choral worship was his promotion of speech rhythm in the singing of the psalms. The principles were set out in the preface to The Parish Psalter published in 1932. The royalties were vested in the RSCM. There is a fascinating audio track on You Tube of Nicholson talking about his approach. This has been transcribed from a recording issued by the School of English Church Music in 1931 specifically to support the use of the Psalter. As well as providing pointing for every psalm and canticle Nicholson also selected the chants, including a Single Chant he composed for Psalm 136.

Also on YouTube is a recording of choral evensong from St. Nicolas Chislehurst, where the SECM was initially established as St. Nicholas College at Bullers Wood, a large country house which Nicholson had purchased.

In 1944 Nicholson wrote Peter – The Adventures of a Chorister 1137-1937. This was a fictional biography of a young boy who undergoes a succession of lives as a chorister in the eight centuries between 1137 and 1937. As an orphan in the Foundling Hospital, he was chosen by Handel as a soloist for Messiah; he sang in a village church during the Victorian religious revival; and finally he was a chorister representative for his cathedral at the coronation of George VI in Westminster Abbey.

Nicholson wrote an autobiography entitled ‘Musings of a Musician’ which seemingly was not published at the time. The title was eventually published by the RSCM in 2013 in an edition edited by John Henderson and Trevor Jarvis. It includes unpublished photographs and some of Nicholson's own watercolour paintings. Also included is the first publication of his anthem 'My song is love unknown'. He composed a number of anthems and a setting of the Holy Communion in G, all of which are available from the RSCM Shop.

Nicholson was awarded a Lambeth DMus in 1928 and in 1938 was knighted for his services to church music. He died on 30 May 1947 and his ashes are interned in the West Cloister of Westminster Abbey.