William Stanley Vann Hon FTCL FRCO

ARCM Associate of the Royal College of Music (ARCM) was a professional qualification awarded by the Royal College of Music. Like the Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music (LRAM), it was offered in teaching or performing. There is no obvious succes ...

(15 February 1910 – 27 March 2010) was an English composer,

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 ...

choral A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

conductor, and choir trainer, primarily in the

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

cathedral tradition.

Early life

Born in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

, he started to learn the piano around the age of six. He turned to the organ in 1927, achieving his

ARCO Arco may refer to: Places * Arco, Trentino, a town in Trentino, Italy * Arco, Idaho, in the United States * Arco, Minnesota, a city in the United States * ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California, home of the Sacramento Kings Companies * ARCO (b ...

and FRCO diplomas by 1930.

The start of a musical career

1931 saw his appointment as Assistant Organist at

Leicester Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Martin, Leicester, commonly known as Leicester Cathedral, is a Church of England cathedral in Leicester, England, and the seat of the Bishop of Leicester. One of the city centre's five surviving medieval ch ...

, whilst still a pupil under the organist George Charles Gray. This was followed by his becoming the Organist at

Gainsborough Gainsborough or Gainsboro may refer to: Places * Gainsborough, Ipswich, Suffolk, England ** Gainsborough Ward, Ipswich * Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, a town in England ** Gainsborough (UK Parliament constituency) * Gainsborough, Saskatchewan, Ca ...

Parish Church in 1933, and then a move to

Holy Trinity Church, Leamington Spa Holy Trinity Church, Leamington Spa is a Grade II listed parish church in Leamington Spa, England. History Holy Trinity Church was started in 1825 as a daughter church of All Saints' Church and opened in 1847. It was designed by Mitchell of L ...

to be Organist in 1939. Whilst in Leamington he founded the Royal Leamington Spa Bach Choi

and (in 1940) the Warwickshire Symphony Orchestr

His time at Leamington was interrupted between 1942 and 1946 by service in the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

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 ...

. After his initial service, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant on 17 December 1943, later rising to the rank of

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

. In 1949 he was appointed as Organist of

Chelmsford Cathedral Chelmsford Cathedral, formally titled the Cathedral Church of St Mary the Virgin, St Peter and St Cedd, is an Church of England, Anglican cathedral in the city of Chelmsford, Essex, England, dedicated to Mary (mother of Jesus), St Mary the Virgi ...

and Professor of

Harmony In music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harm ...

and

Counterpoint In music theory, counterpoint is the relationship of two or more simultaneous musical lines (also called voices) that are harmonically dependent on each other, yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. The term originates from the Latin ...

Trinity College, London Trinity College London (TCL) is an examination board based in London, United Kingdom which offers graded and diploma qualifications across a range of disciplines in the performing arts and English language learning and teaching. Trinity College ...

. Once in Chelmsford, he started the Essex Symphony Orchestra. He also acted as Chorus Master for the Leicester Philharmonic for both

Sir Henry Wood Sir Henry Joseph Wood (3 March 186919 August 1944) was an English conductor best known for his association with London's annual series of promenade concerts, known as the Proms. He conducted them for nearly half a century, introducing hundr ...

and

Sir Malcolm Sargent Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent (29 April 1895 – 3 October 1967) was an English conductor, organist and composer widely regarded as Britain's leading conductor of choral works. The musical ensembles with which he was associated include ...

Peterborough

Sargent had himself been a pupil/assistant organist or 'Articled Pupil' at

Peterborough Cathedral Peterborough Cathedral, properly the Cathedral Church of St Peter, St Paul and St Andrew, and formerly known as Peterborough Abbey or St Peter's Abbey, is a cathedral in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, in the United Kingdom. The seat of the Church ...

in 1909 and it was to Peterborough that Vann moved next, being appointed Master of the Music in 1953. He held this post until his retirement in 1977. Much of his discography comes from this period, and bears witness to the extremely high standard to which he raised the choir. In 1971 he was awarded a Lambeth doctorate by the then

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

in recognition of his "eminent services to church music". Following his retirement, he moved the short distance to Wansford where he ran the parish choir at St Mary's church and continued giving singing lessons to several local singers. He also continued the composition which had always run in parallel with the various posts he held. He composed over 200 items of vocal or choral music, the majority of which could be classified as

Anglican church music Anglican church music is music that is written for Christian worship in Anglican religious services, forming part of the liturgy. It mostly consists of pieces written to be sung by a church choir, which may sing ''a cappella'' or accompanied b ...

. There is also a large body of organ music. Larger scale works are chiefly represented by the Billingshurst Mass, for large chorus and orchestra, a concert setting of the

mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

that also interpolates the

Ave Maria The Hail Mary or Ave Maria (from its first words in Latin), also known as the Angelic or Angelical Salutation, is a traditional Catholic prayer addressing Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary, the mother of Jesus. The prayer is based on two biblical pa ...

into the usual text. Premiered in

Chichester Cathedral Chichester Cathedral, formally known as the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Chichester. It is located in Chichester, in West Sussex, England. It was founded as a cathedral in 1075, when the seat of th ...

in 2000, following a commission from the

Billingshurst Billingshurst is a large village and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. The village lies on the A29 road (the Roman Stane Street) at its crossroads with the A272, south-west of Horsham and north-east of Pulboro ...

Choral Society (a committee member being a former Peterborough chorister), it was later performed in Peterborough Cathedral. 2000 also marked his 90th birthday, which saw a celebratory concert by the Peterborough Chamber Choir at All Saints' Church, Peterborough, which received favourable reviews in the ''

Church Times The ''Church Times'' is an independent Anglican weekly newspaper based in London and published in the United Kingdom on Fridays. History The ''Church Times'' was founded on 7 February 1863 by George Josiah Palmer, a printer. It fought for the ...

''. 2002 saw him finally leave the Peterborough area, moving to

Richmond, North Yorkshire Richmond is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It is located at the point where Swaledale, the upper valley of the River Swale, opens into the Vale of Mowbray. The town's population at the 2011 ...

to be closer to family members.

Later life

In 2005 a collection of his major organ works was published, and a scholarship and trust in his name was founded by Major and Mrs Vernon Yon, an American who heard the Peterborough Cathedral Choir whilst posted to the UK. The object of the Trust is to enhance Anglican choral music by the grant of an annual Scholarship (The Stanley Vann Scholarship) for young choir trainers and directors in the Anglican tradition. 24 September 2006 edition of the Sunday

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

programme ''The Choir'' celebrated the forthcoming 80th anniversary of the weekly broadcast of

Choral Evensong Evensong is a church service traditionally held near sunset focused on singing psalms and other biblical canticles. It is loosely based on the canonical hours of vespers and compline. Old English speakers translated the Latin word as , which ...

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

. Amongst the items selected from across the 80-year period was a recording of Peterborough Cathedral Choir, under Vann, from 23 November 1962, singing the

plainsong Plainsong or plainchant (calque from the French ; ) is a body of chants used in the liturgies of the Western Church. When referring to the term plainsong, it is those sacred pieces that are composed in Latin text. Plainsong was the exclusive for ...

hymn ''O blest creator''. This was followed by a series of broadcasts of complete archive editions of Choral Evensong. Peterborough Cathedral Choir was featured on Wednesday 13 December 2006 by the broadcast of a service originally heard on 11 October 1972. On Monday 15 February 2010 Vann celebrated his 100th birthday. The previous day his family and a few former choristers joined him for lunch. To mark his 100th birthday Peterborough Cathedral issued a commemorative CD, ''Harken to the Whispering Angels'', with a compilation of recordings by both the current choir and earlier recordings made during his tenure as organist. Excerpts from the CD, and from Vann's recording of

Sir John Stainer Sir John Stainer (6 June 1840 – 31 March 1901) was an English composer and organist whose music, though seldom performed today (with the exception of '' The Crucifixion'', still heard at Passiontide in some Anglican churches), was very p ...

's ''

The Crucifixion The crucifixion of Jesus was the death of Jesus by being nailed to a cross.The instrument of crucifixion is taken to be an upright wooden beam to which was added a transverse wooden beam, thus forming a "cruciform" or T-shaped structure. ...

'', were broadcast during BBC Radio 3's ''The Choir'' on 21 February, along with an interview with his former assistant, Barry Ferguson. On 24 February the cathedral choir again broadcast Choral Evensong live on BBC Radio 3 with music composed by Vann and an anthem composed by Herbert Howells, commissioned by Vann during his time at Peteborough. Vann suffered a

fall Autumn, also known as fall (especially in US & Canada), is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September (Northern Hemisphere) or March ( Southern Hemispher ...

at home on 20 March 2010 and broke a hip. Attempts were made to operate, but he suffered a bad reaction to the anaesthetic, and subsequently developed

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

. He died one week later, 40 days after his 100th birthday. His funeral was at Peterborough Cathedral on 19 April 2010, and a memorial service was held there on 18 July 2010, and at its conclusion Vann's ashes were interred in the south aisle of the cathedral.

References

Catalogue of works and discography, as well as biographical information
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20110718193603/http://www.music4.me.uk/wso%2022-09-05/history.html Warwickshire Symphony Orchestrabr>Further biographical information included in a CD reviewThe Stanley Vann Scholarship

External links

Stanley Vann: Master of the Music at Peterborough Cathedral
''

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 ...

'', 26 April 2010. {{DEFAULTSORT:Vann, Stanley 1910 births 2010 deaths 20th-century British classical composers Accidental deaths from falls Accidental deaths in England British Army personnel of World War II Cathedral organists Deaths from pneumonia in England English men centenarians English classical organists English classical composers English conductors (music) British male conductors (music) Musicians from Leicester Royal Artillery officers Fellows of the Royal College of Organists Associates of the Royal College of Music Bach musicians People from Wansford, Cambridgeshire 20th-century British composers 20th-century British conductors (music) British male classical organists