Maxwell Fernie
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Arnott Maxwell Fernie (25 April 191022 May 1999) was a New Zealand
organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...
, teacher and conductor. He was an authority on
Gregorian chant Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainsong, plainchant, a form of monophony, monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek language, Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed main ...
, sixteenth century
polyphony Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice ( monophony) or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chord ...
, organ construction and tonal design.


Life

Fernie was born in
Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...
on 25 April 1910 and received his first schooling from the
Marist Brothers The Marist Brothers of the Schools, commonly known as simply the Marist Brothers, is an international community of Catholic Church, Catholic religious institute of Religious brother, brothers. In 1817, Marcellin Champagnat, a Marist priest from Fr ...
in Newtown and later at
Wellington College Wellington College may refer to: New Zealand * Wellington College, Wellington, New Zealand * Wellington College of Education, now the Faculty of Education of Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand * Wellington Girls' College, Wellington, N ...
. He became a leader in church music while still a young man, taking up the position of choir master and organist at St Joseph's Catholic Church, Wellington. At the outbreak of
World War II 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 ...
, Fernie served with the second
New Zealand Expeditionary Force The New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) was the title of the military forces sent from New Zealand to fight alongside other British Empire and Dominion troops during World War I (1914–1918) and World War II (1939–1945). Ultimately, the NZE ...
in
Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
and Europe. At the end of the war he stayed on in England to study at the
Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools 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 firs ...
in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, gaining several prizes. Fernie returned to Wellington in the early 1950s as the director of music for Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese, a position he held until 1953 when he was called back to London as organist and choir instructor at
Westminster Cathedral Westminster Cathedral, officially the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Most Precious Blood, is the largest Catholic Church in England and Wales, Roman Catholic church in England and Wales. The shrine is dedicated to the Blood of Jesus Ch ...
. After five acclaimed years of intensive organ playing, music making and teaching, he returned to New Zealand to become the Director of Music at St. Mary of the Angels where he supervised the building of the new organ constructed to his design. Fernie's development of sixteenth century polyphony at St. Mary of the Angels became a model for
Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
choirs. In the following years, Fernie schooled choirs, taught piano, organ and singing, and trained celebrated musicians. His notable students included Nicolas Kynaston, Ivan Bootham, Patricia Lawrey, Anthony Jennings, Peter Walls,
Denis Smalley Denis Arthur Smalley (born 1946 in Nelson, New Zealand) is a composer of electroacoustic music, with a special interest in acousmatic music. Biography Denis Smalley studied at the University of Canterbury and Victoria University in his native New ...
, Geoffrey Coker, Roy Tankersley, Christopher Hainsworth and
Barry Mora Reginald Barry Mora (15 November 1940 – 11 October 2021) was a New Zealand classical baritone who had an active international career in concerts and operas from the mid-1970s through the 1990s. Retired from the stage, he was a member of the boar ...
. As well as being a well-known broadcaster and lecturer, he founded and conducted the Schola Polyphonica Choir (specialising in 16th Century polyphony) in 1967. He was Wellington city organist for 27 years and played the Town Hall's massive Norman & Beard pipe organ on numerous occasions for civic receptions and supervised its restoration in the 1980s. From 1963 till 1988 he taught a new generation of young organists at
Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...
, helping to bring about an organ renaissance in New Zealand. In 1978, Fernie was commissioned to arrange new music for the New Zealand national anthem ''
God Defend New Zealand "God Defend New Zealand" (, meaning 'New Zealand') is one of two national anthems of New Zealand, the other being "God Save the King". Legally the two have equal status, but "God Defend New Zealand" is more commonly used. Originally written as a ...
'', making it easier for the general public to sing. He continued as Director of Music at St Mary's until his death on 22 May 1999.


Honours and awards

Fernie was appointed an
Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
in the 1974 Queen's Birthday Honours, for services to music. He received the
Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice ''Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice'' ("For Church and Pope" in Latin) is a decoration of the Holy See. It is currently conferred for distinguished service to the Catholic Church by lay people and clergy. History The medal was established by Leo XII ...
from the
Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
in 1989.


The Maxwell Fernie Organ

The organ at St Mary of the Angels was named after its designer and organist of 40 years, Maxwell Fernie in 2006. The organ was originally built in 1958 by George Croft and Son Limited from
Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...
to the tonal design and pipe-scaling of Maxwell Fernie, who also supervised the voicing of the pipes and the construction of the instrument. According to Maxwell Fernie: "The organ possesses some unique features. The Diapason choruses on both Swell and Great are of "constant scale" and wholly of Schultze-type voicing and scale with generous treble measurements. The swell-reed chorus is complete and independent, voiced in keeping with the large Gothic-type church which houses the three-manual and pedal instrument in the west gallery. The positive section contains probably the first examples of solo flute-mutations in New Zealand and the whole instrument is flexible in the extreme owing to a generous number of inter-manual and pedal couplers. Tonally it might be said that the organ, with mainly pipes from England and parts from Germany, the
Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
and United States has a Continental flavour...acknowledging all schools of composition of the various periods and nationalities. It amply fulfils its prime function as a church organ, and various famous recitalists have praised its ability to enable them to 'make music', without tonal restrictions in their recitals". It is the only organ of its type in New Zealand. It comprises three manuals and pedals with some sixty-five speaking stops and a great many coupling options that give the instrument a unique flexibility to interchange the stops or sounds available between the manuals. In 1984 the instrument was extensively rebuilt and extended by the
South Island Organ Company The South Island Organ Company is a manufacturer of pipe organs in Timaru, New Zealand. The company, in business since 1968, has manufactured and restored over 300 pipe organs throughout New Zealand, Australia and Oceania. Founders South Island ...
of Timaru, once again to the specifications designed by Maxwell Fernie and under his careful supervision. During the period following the 1984 rebuild, the organ suffered serious water and some rodent damage. This particularly affected the right-hand side of the instrument, the section containing parts of the Great, Positive and Pedal organ. Damage to the wind chests, some of the wooden pipes and to the electro-mechanical working of the organ affected the instrument to the extent that several ranks of pipes no longer functioned. An appeal launched in December 2006 raised funds sufficient to restore the organ to its 1958 performance condition and also, to replace the original electrical circuitry with a modern computerised system. The appeal was coordinated by the Friends of St. Mary of the Angels Charitable Trust and involved the wider Wellington community. The organ was decommissioned by the South Island Organ Company following
Easter Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...
2006. The fully restored instrument was welcomed back at a celebration on 29 April 2007.St. Mary of the Angels: The Maxwell Fernie Organ
, retrieved 08-12-2009


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fernie, Maxwell 1910 births 1999 deaths 20th-century Roman Catholics Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music People educated at Wellington College, Wellington New Zealand musicologists New Zealand conductors (music) New Zealand male conductors (music) New Zealand classical organists New Zealand male classical organists Musicians from Wellington City New Zealand Officers of the Order of the British Empire 20th-century conductors (music) New Zealand Roman Catholics New Zealand military personnel of World War II 20th-century musicologists 20th-century New Zealand male musicians