Augustus Edmonds Tozer

F.R.C.O. The Royal College of Organists (RCO) is a charity and membership organisation based in the United Kingdom, with members worldwide. Its role is to promote and advance organ playing and choral music, and it offers music education, training and de ...

, A.R.C.M. (13 January 1857 – 4 March 1910) was an English

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

and organist.

Early life

Augustus Tozer was born in Little Sutton,Grove, George 'Dictionary of Music and Musicians'. Oxford: Oxford University Press (1999). . at the time a small village on the Wirral Peninsula, but now a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

of the town of Ellesmere Port. He was sent to attend the City of London School in 1870 and, having shown a talent for music, went on to study at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...

Academic life

His particular skill was with the

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks ...

and, having applied for membership of the Royal College of Organists was appointed as a Fellow at the exceptionally young age of 19. He subsequently attained his Licensiateship with the Royal Academy for his ability with the organ in 1882 and was awarded his Associateship of the Royal College of Music for his music theory and composition work in 1887. Following completion of a

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in music at

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_chan ...

, he undertook further studies at Oxford University until, in November 1895, he qualified for his Doctorate.

Appointments

His first formal appointment was as organist and choirmaster was at St. Mary Magdalene, St. Leonards-on-Sea, then an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

church, and, for a period, also held the position of choirmaster at the newly built Holy Trinity, Hastings. Whilst studying in London he converted to

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

and took posts at several Catholic churches before settling on the south coast and becoming musical director for Church of the Sacred Heart, Hove, in 1888. He held this post until close to his death.

Work and recognition

In 1890 he was admitted to the Sylvestrine Order by Pope Leo XIII for his services to Roman Catholic Church Music, having at least composed six full Masses and edited or compiled several Catholic hymnals. He also worked with Elgar, whose mother was a Catholic, on several of his Catholic compositions, and included them in his collection 'The Complete Benediction Manual', although Elgar later recounted to Hubert Leicester how Tozer had changed the harmonies so that the published version was “absolutely different” from, and inferior to, Elgar’s original. One of his most enduring hymn tunes is entitled ''Jazer'' and was set to several different words in both Protestant and Catholic hymnals.'The Methodist Hymn Book', (Tune A7), Methodist Conference Office, ASIN: B0013IZDZK (1933)

Later years

In 1901, Tozer's health deteriorated and he retired from Hove where he was living “on his own means” to Steyning (later the home of John Ireland) where he died in March 1910.''England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995'', 1910, Taaffe-Zwinger, p.77

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tozer, Augustus Edmonds 1857 births 1910 deaths English composers Fellows of the Royal College of Organists Associates of the Royal College of Music Knights of the Order of St. Sylvester 19th-century English musicians