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Edward
Bloomfield, Director of Music Jan 1959 - Dec 1961
Ted Bloomfield was educated at Bec School, Upper Tooting, from 1931-38. He obtained his ARCO while still at school. He studied at Trinity College of Music from 1939-40 and, after Army service, from 1949-54. During Army service Ted was for some years organist at the King’s Chapel, Gibraltar. After demobilisation he taught part-time at Bec School, joining the full-time staff in 1954. Ted had to fund himself through music college as funding from his Father was not forthcoming - his Father disapproved of him studying music, wanting him to study Classics instead. On the departure of the Head of Music he was appointed to this post, and maintained this position when Bec merged with Hillcroft to form the Ernest Bevin School. He wrote three comic operas for school productions, to libretti by the Classics Master, T.W. Mellhuish. He retired at the age of 60. His church appointments, in addition to St. Alban’s Holborn, included St. Barnabas Pimlico, St. John’s Upper Norwood, St. Mark’s Notting Hill, St. Thomas Durban, the Holy Apostles Pimlico and Holy Trinity Upper Tooting. He moved to the North East of England in 1980 and became organist of All Saints Lanchester, which post he held till his death. Ted regularly conducted amateur choirs and orchestras, notably the Cecilian Consort, the Streatham Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra, and the Avalon Light Operatic Society. He was also associated with Durham Cathedral Choir School, where he was visiting piano teacher. Ted, aged 39, arrived at St. Alban’s when the work of rebuilding the church was underway. But, by this time, the choir had all but fallen by the wayside. Ted brought a few boys from Bec School with him to form the nucleus of a new choir. There were two midweek choir practices. Ted took enormous pride in his choir. He really cared that his singers should achieve their full potential, and that his choir should give their best possible performance to the glory of God. Coupled with his serious approach, though, was a terrific sense of humour. The parish magazines for 1959 are missing, so sadly there is little information about Ted’s first year at S. Alban’s. We can guess though that it was a time of great excitement and anticipation. Ted’s appointment was perhaps an indication that St. Alban’s felt the time had come to reclaim its musical heritage. For services, the choir sang from the balcony to the ground floor hall of the old social centre, and was accompanied on an electronic organ. The organ hissed and spat, and was referred to by the choir as “the chip fryer”. Because of this, and Ted’s great love of polyphonic music, much of the repertoire was unaccompanied. Ted also had a great love for and knowledge of plainsong. Given this, and his preference for High Church ritual, St. Alban’s suited him very well. The chapel, Little St. Alban’s, in the old Social Centre, faced West, the door being at the East end. The choir processed in (the men robed), past the back of the congregation, and up a flight of wooden steps onto the stone balcony, in one long line. 1960 Patronal Festival, described by our Vicar, Fr. Startup: ‘We began with a glorious pilgrimage to the shrine of our Patron Saint in S. Alban’s Abbey on Saturday, June 18th. This year we received permission to sing the English Litany in procession through the Abbey and I hear that one member of the Chapter was so impressed by the singing of our choir that they may find themselves asked to sing at another function. ‘On the Sunday our little church was completely packed out three times, at the 9.30 Mass, then for High Mass and for Evensong. After High Mass there was our Annual Parish Luncheon when I had to give some sad news. Owing to the present enormous amount of building going on in London, our contractors are finding a difficulty in obtaining sufficient skilled craftsmen. They are doing their best to overcome this but the fact remains that the restoration of our church is behind schedule. I had arranged with the Bishop of London that the re-consecration of the church should take place on Feb. 4th. 1961 but I have had to ask him to postpone this. For the moment no definite date is fixed but the contractors assure me that we shall be in our new church by S. Alban’s Day next year.’ Ted wrote in the parish magazine in July: ‘When I arrived at S Alban’s 18 months ago I found a very small but keen group of choristers…..I feel that I must pay tribute to that loyal band who filled the breach so willingly during the days when there was a shortage of choristers. Most of them are still with us, and they have worked very hard indeed in our attempts to raise the standard of our music. We have been fortunate enough to secure the services of good leaders in each of the four parts, around which to build our choir.’ In November Ted took the St Alban’s Choir to sing in the Croydon Music Festival. They entered the Church Choir category, and sang R. Farrant’s Hide not thou thy face/Call to remembrance and Vaughan Williams’ The blessed Son of God. The music was memorised, which was remarked upon by one of the judges, Leslie Reagan. He said it demonstrated that the choir was able to give its full attention to their conductor’s beat. They won first prize - the Professor George Oldroyd Memorial Trophy. (This was a very fitting trophy for the choir to have won, as George Oldroyd had been St. Alban’s Organist and Choirmaster from 1919 to 1920.) 1961 Holy Week. The Vicar writes: ‘We probably could have squeezed in a few more for the Good Friday Liturgy but it would have been very difficult. And what glorious music we had from the choir. Many hours of patient rehearsal must have been devoted to such a wonderful result. As I said at the Parochial Meeting, at the moment I feel we are rather like an athlete about to take his part in an important race. For us the tape goes up on June 17th. All I dare say is that the team is most encouraging - staff, church officers, choirmaster and choir, congregation. Please pray that I may not fail you.’ MUSIC
for the GREAT WEEK 17th JUNE.
THE CONSECRATION DAY. The Solemn Pontifical Mass will
be the “Aeterna Christi Munera” by Palestrina. Before the Communion hymn the
choir will sing the motet “Sacerdotes Domini” by Byrd. 18th JUNE. TRINITY III. 11 a.m. An orchestra will accompany this Mass and Mr. Arnold
Richardson will be playing the organ; he will play a Handel Organ Concerto with
the orchestra after the Mass. Mass: Mozart in B flat Motet: “How lovely are thy dwellings” by Brahms. 6 p.m. Canticles - Weelkes
Te Deum - Stanford in B flat. 22nd JUNE. S. ALBAN'S DAY. 12 noon. “Masse for Four Voyces” - Byrd. 6.30 p.m. Canticles - Holmes (Fauxbourdon) Anthem: “I was glad” - Bloomfield. Saturday June 17th. THE
DAY OF CONSECRATION, described
by the Vicar in the Bourne Echo: ‘Even at
9.30 the congregation had begun to arrive and the first trickle became a steady
stream…..At 10.25 a few seats were left and so those who had no tickets were
admitted and the church was completely full….10.40 - a procession of nearly
100 priests entered the church and was followed a few minutes later by the Mayor
of Holborn attended by Councillors.’ Sunday June 18th:
‘At 11 o’clock came the Solemn Mass in the presence of our dear
Bishop of Stepney, who also preached. An
orchestra accompanied the music, Mr. Arnold Richardson played the organ and it
was easy to shed a tear when the fanfare greeted the consecration in the Mass. ‘Then came the next thrill of
the nine days. Somewhat earlier
than I had expected him, but all the more welcome, there arrived Father Henry
Ross. Nearly 45 years ago he came
to S. Alban’s as Vicar and it is hard to believe that in two months’ time he
will be 97. Although he is very
alert, his sight is not too good and so he preached without notes. ‘The nine days brought us many
happy memories and they had been helped by the glorious music, and again the
Lord had provided in the person of Mr. Bloomfield and the choir he had gathered
together and inspired.’ The consecration service was
recorded, and two 10” vinyl LP records were produced, one of music, one mainly
of the spoken parts of the service. The
music LP includes music from the following day also. Ted’s empathy with plainsong is very evident - the ebb and
flow of the plainsong echoing around the new church is a joy.
The trumpet fanfares, especially at the elevation of the host and the
chalice, are stunning. It seems likely that they were composed by Ted.
The orchestra (which performed at Mass the day after the Consecration) is
slick and polished, and the singers produce a gentle, warm, well-blended sound.
Brahms “How lovely are thy dwellings” is serene - all anyone could
wish for to mark the end of the 20 year wait for the rebuilding of the church. July: Mr. Arnold Richardson (Organist & Choirmaster 1936-41) is
recording a recital on the new organ in our church and this will be broadcast on
the Home Service on Sunday, July 30th at 11.06 p.m. ORGAN RECITALS A
series of THURSDAY Recitals at 6.15 p.m. to inaugurate the new Organ 21st September Organ Recital - Arnold Richardson This recital was reviewed by
Adrian Gaster. He wrote:
‘Mr. Arnold Richardson is an artist of catholic tastes, but one who
seems to have a natural affinity of mind with the Romantics.
His playing of Liszt’s Prelude and Fugue on B.A.C.H. was quite
brilliant and showed that though organ builders still like their instruments to
be capable of a lot of noise, a true artist will only rarely take advantage of
such power. Even more impressive was Mr. Richardson’s tender and
sensitive handling of Franck’s Prelude,
Fugue and Variation. Mr.
Richardson put the instrument through its paces with a programme that ranged
from Couperin to Gigout and apart from Vierne’s Clair
de Lune, all copies of which ought to be ceremoniously burnt in Trafalgar
Square, all the music was interesting and well-played.’ 5th October Demonstration Recital - “How it works” EDWARD BLOOMFIELD (assisted by Michael Foley,
Assistant Organist., St. Alban’s Holborn) 19th October Organ Recital - Harold Darke Organist of S. Michael’s,
Cornhill 2nd November Organ Recital - Margaret Cobb Organist of St. Lawrence, Jewry,
E.C.2 16th November CECILIAN CONSORT Conductor - Edward Bloomfield Organ - Michael Foley Choral and organ items, including first London performance of a work by Clifford Curwen 30th November Recital of Early English Music Michael Parker
- Counter-tenor with Harpsichord, Viola da Gamba etc. At the weekend following the Cecilian Consort concert the choir had a celebration lunch at the “Cheshire Cheese” pub. School Nativity Play Monday & Wednesday, December
11th and 13th at 7p.m. ‘The music has some special
items of interest - in particular, the Magnificat
and Psalms 23 and 84 in a new translation and to music by Gelineau, a setting of
the Nunc Dimittis by our own Organist,
Edward Bloomfield, and Psalm 150 and the Sanctus from Geoffrey Beaumont’s Folk Mass - a completely
“modern” setting with a jazz flavour.’ December: Stop Press. ‘It is with many regrets that I have to announce the resignation of our Organist, Mr. E. Bloomfield. His place will be taken for the time being by Mr. Michael Foley as from the first Sunday in the New Year. Space this month is rather restricted and so I cannot say more except how much we regret Mr. Bloomfield’s departure and welcome Mr. Foley.’ Ted Bloomfield died on Easter
Monday, 23 April, 1984. A memorial
service was held on his birthday, 10th June, at Holy Trinity Church,
Upper Tooting. The music
included a Kyrie, Sanctus and Benedictus composed by Ted in 1977. Music performed at St. Alban’s under Edward Bloomfield
This list is certain to be incomplete, given that some parish magazines are missing, and that the magazine at that time did not always include the monthly music list.
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Copyright © 2007
S. Alban the Martyr, Holborn
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