Ernest Lough
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Ernest Arthur Lough (; 17 November 1911 – 22 February 2000) was an English singer who was the soloist in
Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions inc ...
's " Hear my prayer", which includes the famous "O for the Wings of a Dove", for the
Gramophone Company The Gramophone Company Limited was a British phonograph manufacturer and record label, founded in April 1898 by Emil Berliner. It was one of the earliest record labels. The company purchased the His Master's Voice painting and trademark righ ...
(later
His Master's Voice His Master's Voice is an entertainment trademark featuring a dog named Nipper, curiously peering into the horn of a wind-up gramophone. Painted by Francis Barraud in 1898, the image has since become a global symbol used across consumer elect ...
and then
EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...
) in 1927. The record became His Master's Voice's biggest seller for 1927, and made the piece, the choir and the soloist world-famous. The original master recording wore out, and a second version had to be recorded to replace it in 1928. In 1962, it became EMI's first million-selling classical record, earning it "
gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...
" status.


Early life

Lough was born in
Forest Gate Forest Gate is a district of West Ham in the London Borough of Newham, East London, England. It is located northeast of Charing Cross. The area's name relates to its position adjacent to Wanstead Flats, the southernmost part of Epping Forest. ...
,
County Borough of West Ham West Ham was a local government district in the extreme south west of Essex from 1886 to 1965, forming part of the built-up area of London, although outside the County of London. It was immediately north of the River Thames and east of the Rive ...
, Essex, England. His father worked for an insurance company. He was a treble in the local church choir, at St Peter's, Forest Gate. He auditioned at
Southwark Cathedral Southwark Cathedral ( ), formally the Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Saviour and St Mary Overie, is a Church of England cathedral in Southwark, London, near the south bank of the River Thames and close to London Bridge. It is the mother c ...
, but joined the choir of the
Temple Church The Temple Church, a royal peculiar in the Church of England, is a church in the Inner Temple, Inner and Middle Temple, Middle Temple, London, Temples located between Fleet Street and the River Thames, built by the Knights Templar for their En ...
in London in 1924, which was under the direction of organist and choirmaster
George Thalben-Ball Sir George Thomas Thalben-Ball (18 June 1896 – 18 January 1987) was an Australian organist and composer who spent almost all his life in England. Early life George Thomas Ball (he later took the additional name of "Thalben") was born in Sydn ...
, who had just succeeded Sir
Walford Davies Sir Henry Walford Davies (6 September 1869 – 11 March 1941) was an English composer, organist, and educator who held the title Master of the King's Music from 1934 until 1941. He served with the Royal Air Force during the First World War, du ...
. As a chorister of the Temple Church, Lough had a choral scholarship to the nearby
City of London School The City of London School, also known as CLS and City, is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school for Single-sex education, boys in the City of London, England, on the banks of the River Thames next to the Millennium Bridge, ...
.


Recording

Lord Justice Eldon Bankes suggested that the Temple choir should make a record; on 15 March 1927, the
Gramophone Company The Gramophone Company Limited was a British phonograph manufacturer and record label, founded in April 1898 by Emil Berliner. It was one of the earliest record labels. The company purchased the His Master's Voice painting and trademark righ ...
brought its new mobile recording unit to the Temple Church where the choir recorded
Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions inc ...
's " Hear my prayer". Lough, then aged 15, sang the famous solo "O for the Wings of a Dove". It is said that he had to stand on two large books to be near enough to the microphone. The recording sold over one million copies by 1962, and was awarded a
gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...
by the
RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
. His Master's Voice issued its record, C1329, in June 1927. It was an instant hit and became His Master's Voice's biggest seller for 1927. It made the piece, the choir and the soloist world-famous. Crowds of people packed the congregation to hear Lough sing at Sunday services, and his singing on the recording was considered so beautiful that a legend grew up that he had died after singing the last note. The original master recording wore out, and a second version had to be recorded to replace it in 1928. This recording continued to sell throughout the twentieth century. In January 1963, it earned a gold disc specifically to mark the 35th anniversary of the recording and the completion of over 35 years of co-operation between the Temple Church and His Master's Voice. It is known that it did sell over a million copies, but the number was not exactly recorded. It is still available on CD, and has now sold over six million copies. It was described in ''The Record Guide'' (1951) as "one of the outstanding best-sellers of gramophone history". Ernest Lough's voice broke in 1929, after he had made a number of other recordings, although none of them achieved the iconic status of "O for the Wings of a Dove". He continued to sing in his spare time as a baritone, and was one of the "gentlemen" or adult members of the Temple choir.


Later life

After he left school, Lough approached the management of His Master's Voice and reminded them that he had made a great deal of money for them, and felt it was fair to ask for a favor in return. His Master's Voice gave him a position in their advertising department, where he met Ethel Winnifred Charlton. They were married in June 1938, and had three sons. Two became choristers at the Temple Church, and one at the
Chapel Royal A chapel royal is an establishment in the British and Canadian royal households serving the spiritual needs of the sovereign and the royal family. Historically, the chapel royal was a body of priests and singers that travelled with the monarc ...
. HUM also made several recordings of Lough as a baritone, but he did not pursue a career. Lough served in the fire service during the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, and was present when the Temple Church burned down in 1942. He appeared as a fire-control operator in a wartime propaganda film about the fire service in London, entitled '' Fires Were Started'', which was filmed using actual firefighters rather than professional actors. After the war, he worked at the advertising agency Mather and Crowther (later Ogilvy and Mather). He was a member for many years of the Bach Choir, singing 1st bass, together with his son Graham. He died at Watford General Hospital, Hertfordshire, England, aged 88, survived by his wife and three sons. His obituary appeared in ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' and ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' on 24 February 2000, and there is a commemorative plaque to him in the Temple Church.


References


Other sources

*Elizabeth Forbes, "Lough, Ernest Arthur (1911–2000)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'',
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, 2004; online edn, May 201
accessed 17 November 2011Obituary
''The Guardian'', 24 February 2000

''The New York Times'', 6 March 2000 *Record sleeve LP of: ''The Ernest Lough Album'', "My Life in Music". Ernest Lough and the Choir of the Temple Church, London. Organist and Director of Choir Dr. George Thalben-Ball. EMI Records Limited, Hayes, Middlesex, England.


External links


Master Ernest Lough
at the Archive of Recorded Church Music

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lough, Ernest 1911 births 2000 deaths Boy sopranos People educated at the City of London School 20th-century English singers 20th-century English male singers