Robert Ashfield, organist and composer, was born on 28 July 1911. He died on 30 December 2006, aged 95. July 28 is the 209th day (210th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 156 days remaining. ... 1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar). ... December 30 is the 364th day of the year (365th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 1 day remaining. ... -1...

Throughout his long career, Robert Ashfield, organist, scholar, composer, teacher, examiner, adjudicator and conductor, enriched music far beyond the confines of the provincial organ loft and, in the process, helped to nurture generations of aspiring musicians. An organist is a musician who plays the organ, whether pipe or electronic. ...

Robert James Ashfield was born in 1911 at Chipstead, Surrey. Educated at Tonbridge School and the Royal College of Music, he inherited his considerable musical talent from his mother, a fine amateur executant. At the RCM he came under the powerful influence of Sir Ernest Bullock, then organist of Westminster Abbey, and became his assistant. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Tonbridge School is a British independent all boys boarding school in Tonbridge, founded in 1553 by Sir Andrew Judde. ... // The Royal College of Music from Prince Consort Road, London The Royal College of Music is a prestigious music school located in Kensington, London. ... The Abbeys western façade The Collegiate Church of St Peter, Westminster, which is almost always referred to by its original name of Westminster Abbey, is a mainly Gothic church, on the scale of a cathedral (and indeed often mistaken for one), in Westminster, London, just to the west...

Ashfield became a Fellow, by examination, of the Royal College of Organists in 1932, and he served as organist of St John’s, Smith Square, London, from 1934 until 1941. After being awarded his doctorate by the University of London in 1941, he served in the Army during the Second World War. The Royal College of Organists or RCO, based in Birmingham, England, is the United Kingdoms national body charged with promoting organ and choral music and overseeing musical education and training for organists and choral directors. ... The University of London is a university based primarily in London. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ...

In 1946, attempting to restart his musical career, he was appointed magister and rector chori at Southwell Minster. The role proved to be particularly challenging. However, with the unswerving support of the provost, Hugh Heywood, he overcame the many problems placed in his path. Southwell Minster Southwell Minster is a minster and cathedral, in the British town of Southwell in Nottinghamshire, six miles away from Newark. ...

After first establishing a regular and disciplined rehearsal routine, his next priority was to create a cohesive and confident choral unity. Having seen his hard work successfully translate itself into a bold and incisive sound, Ashfield then set about enriching and enhancing the choral repertoire. Before too long he had expanded all aspects of the cathedral’s musical life, his reputation spreading far beyond his rural outpost.

Though dynamic and diverse in equal measure, Ashfield wore his distinction lightly, his outlook finding a particularly happy expression in his next role as organist and master of the choristers at Rochester Cathedral. Moving there in 1956, over the next 21 years he also made his mark on the local community, notably as conductor of the Rochester Choral Society. From 1958 until 1977, he also taught at the RCM. Rochester Cathedral is a Norman church in Rochester, Kent. ...

As an organist, his playing, underpinned by a splendidly natural technique, was fiery and impassioned, his sense of rhythm equally matched by a love of colour. In this context, his arrival at Rochester, proved particularly propitious, coinciding as it did with the welcome opportunity to redesign and completely rebuild the cathedral organ. In consultation with the builders, J. W. Walker, Ashfield rejected much of the piecemeal work that had gone before. Here, his thoughtful back-to-basics approach produced, in 1960, an instrument, that though traditional in look, added a new and vibrant cultural dimension to the work of the cathedral.

As a composer, he proved equally adept. His love of the liturgy allowed him to write well for voices. Here his anthems, services, responses, chants and choral works, often written for special occasions, have retained their place in the repertoire. Particularly fine is his setting of Lionel Johnson’s 1895 poem, The Fair Chivalry, commissioned for the Southwell Diocesan Choral Festival of 1949.

Unjustly neglected is his very individual treatment of the Christmas processional, Corde natus ex parentis. Here, Ashfield deftly opposes the quiet unforced dignity of the ancient choral melody with astringent carillonic organ-writing in what proves to be a most inspirational evocation of seasonal splendour.

In the late 1960s, as relations between clergy and musicians in the Church of England became increasingly strained over the question of fees and salaries, Ashfield, by now an esteemed senior figure, was called in to help to mediate.

Representing the Royal College of Organists and working initially in partnership with William Cole, of the Associated Board, and Gerald Knight, director of the Royal School of Church Music, he helped to provide a series of definitive recommendations. However, frustrated by the procrastination and, as always, preferring a direct approach, Ashfield unilaterally produced his own monetary manifesto. Subsequently championed by the Church Times, the Ashfield Scale, as it popularly became known, stayed in vogue throughout the decade, providing a bedrock of transparency amid an increasingly turbulent landscape. The Royal College of Organists or RCO, based in Birmingham, England, is the United Kingdoms national body charged with promoting organ and choral music and overseeing musical education and training for organists and choral directors. ... The largest church music organisation in Britain, the Royal School of Church Music was founded in 1927 by Sir Sydney Nicholson and has 11,000 members worldwide; it was originally named the School of English Church Music. ...

A member of the council of the Royal College of Organists, Fellow of the Guild of Church Musicians and a special commissioner of the Royal School of Church Music, Ashfield retired from Rochester Cathedral in 1977. Unfettered by everyday commitments and keen to explore new artistic directions, he returned to composition with renewed vigour. To an already expansive and eclectic catalogue was added much chamber music, an opera, The Bishop’s Candlestick, and many instrumental pieces, from bassoon sonatas to a most intriguing and idiomatic neo-Baroque suite. The Royal College of Organists or RCO, based in Birmingham, England, is the United Kingdoms national body charged with promoting organ and choral music and overseeing musical education and training for organists and choral directors. ... The largest church music organisation in Britain, the Royal School of Church Music was founded in 1927 by Sir Sydney Nicholson and has 11,000 members worldwide; it was originally named the School of English Church Music. ... Rochester Cathedral is a Norman church in Rochester, Kent. ...

Of all the compositions, his favourite remained a setting of Robert Bridges’ Christmas Eve, commissioned by the Tudor Consort. Written for voices and chamber ensemble including harp, flute, oboe and sting quartet, it delightfully unites the many strands of the composer’s creative personality.

Modest in outlook but substantial in commitment, Ashfield was a guardian of a great English tradition.

Source

The Times, obituary, 1 February 2007 February 1 is the 32nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD (or CE) era. ...