Stanley Vann

(b 1910)

For more information see www.stanleyvannmusic.org.uk

At the age of 23, when already chorusmaster of Leicester Philharmonic under Sir Henry Wood, Stanley Vann obtained his first full time post as organist and choirmaster at Gainsborough Parish Church. Sir Henry had been asked if he would write a testimonial and did so with the proviso “this is on condition that you will still continue with the Philharmonic Society”.

Some thirty-three years later, Stanley Vann had been Master of the Music at Peterborough Cathedral for thirteen years when Sir John Betjeman, in his script for ‘English cathedrals and their music’ said “You will now hear the choir of Peterborough Cathedral sing … and I think you will agree that they are a matchless choir”. Dr Vann’s contribution to this accolade can be measured in terms of the candid announcement by his predecessor at Peterborough who confessed “I’m afraid I’ve left you with an awful choir”

Recognised as one of England’s outstanding choir trainers, Dr Vann has composed for much of his life and with added energy since retirement. His Billingshurst Mass reflects the influences of eighty years at the very heart of English choral music.

Stanley Vann was born in 1910 in Leicester, son of Bertha and Frederick Vann, a builder in the firm of Vann & Bennett. According to his parents, he would come home from church when he was about five years old and play the hymns on the piano, complete with harmony. He finds this difficult to believe, but does recall trying ‘a bit of composition’ when he was seven. By the time he reached eleven he realised he had a passion for music, but it was not until he was fifteen and began lessons with Victor Thomas that he really started to develop. Thomas accepted him for organ lessons at seventeen and by the age of twenty he had acquired the diplomas of ARCM, ARCO and FRCO and was appointed assistant organist at Leicester Cathedral under Dr George Gray. With typical modesty he observes “I suppose I must have progressed fairly well”. When his mentor, Victor Thomas, retired as chorusmaster with Leicester Philharmonic, Sir Henry Wood asked for Stanley to replace him, although the formal appointment was made by the committee.

Surprisingly, Stanley had never sung as a chorister and attributes his love of choral music to regular church attendance in his early years. His father wished him to join the family firm to learn the architectural side of building and this he did for two years, but by the age of seventeen he was conducting two Leicester choral societies and taking singing lessons, so realised that music was taking over.

As Sir Henry had requested, Stanley continued as chorusmaster for Leicester Philharmonic following his appointment at Gainsborough. He remained with the society when Sir Henry was succeeded by Sir Malcolm Sargent, combining this with conducting the Breckin choir at Doncaster and directing the music at the Queen Elizabeth Grammar and High schools in Gainsborough.

In April 1939 Stanley moved to Leamington Spa as organist and choirmaster of Holy Trinity, taking with him his wife Frances whom he had married in 1934. He lost little time in forming the Leamington Bach Choir (“still going strong”, in Stanley’s words) and in March 1940 gave a performance of Bach’s St Matthew Passion. His contribution to the war effort began when the secretary of the choir, who was Works Manager of the Rover car works in Coventry, became aware of Stanley’s architectural and mechanical drawing experience and asked him to help in the drawing office. Active service followed in 1942 when he joined the Royal Artillery, rising to the rank of Captain. His time overseas was not a total musical desert, however, for he conducted the Garrison Orchestra in Osnabruck and had an organ recital broadcast from Hamburg. He returned to Leamington in 1947 with the ambition to obtain a BMus and to found a symphony orchestra. The BMus was achieved following study under Dr George Oldroyd at London and Sir Edward Bairstow at Durham, while the founding of the Warwickshire Symphony Orchestra (also still going strong) fulfilled the second ambition.

The graduation to cathedral music followed in 1949 when he moved to Chelmsford and again made his mark by founding the Essex Symphony Orchestra of which he was made President in 1990. During his time at Chelmsford he was appointed Professor at Trinity College of Music, London, and was awarded an honorary Fellowship of the College when he moved to Peterborough Cathedral in 1953 as Master of Music.

Stanley Vann’s 24 years at Peterborough set the standard against which English cathedral music has come to be judged. Comparison with the more nationally recognised achievements of Sir David Willcocks at nearby King’s College, Cambridge, may be dangerous, but Stanley would perhaps maintain that the purity of his ‘Peterborough sound’ was more appropriate for the acoustic of such magnificent buildings. Rivalry was keen but friendly, with both choirs featuring regularly on radio broadcasts and achieving increasing television exposure. His first commercial recording, of music by Batten and Dering, was made in 1961 and a 1965 recording by Canadian TV is considered a classic. Under his leadership the choir began to make overseas tours and was the first Anglican choir to sing High Mass at Notre Dame in Paris.

Throughout his time at Peterborough he was composing, but mainly for ‘internal’ consumption, preferring the concept of people visiting various cathedrals to hear something unique to each choir. His insistence on detail and precision is particularly evident in the full set of psalm chants which he composed for the daily offices and the very particular phrasing which he demanded from the choir. Each chant was written to get the feeling and atmosphere of the individual psalm, reflecting the deep personal faith which shows in all of his sacred composition. The practicalities of reproducing sufficient copies for all of the choir (in the days before photocopiers) were easily resolved by enlisting choristers to copy the chants by hand – a measure of the loyalty and respect he engendered.

Peterborough almost lost him when he was invited to apply for the vacancy at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor. The post went to Sidney Campbell but one of the Canons later confided that the Chapter were equally divided with Sidney’s doctorate giving him the edge. Much later, in 1971, this inequality was remedied when the Archbishop of Canterbury conferred on him a rare Doctorate (Lambeth) for eminent services to church music.

Dr Vann retired from Peterborough in 1977, bequeathing a pre-eminent Cathedral choir and a thriving Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra of which he was Founder-Conductor.

Twenty three years of ‘retirement’ in the picturesque village of Wansford, near Peterborough, has seen a prodigious output of anthems, motets, carols, organ works and choral arrangements of folk-songs and of Handel. Published works include seven settings of Missa Brevis and the Missa Sancti Pauli – written for St Paul’s Cathedral – and Evening Services for eleven cathedrals. In addition, Dr Vann has been much in demand as a festival adjudicator in Britain, Canada and Hong Kong. It was festival adjudicating which brought him into contact with Ralph Vaughan Williams (at the Leith Hill Festival) and it is not surprising that someone who has been involved in choral music for over eighty years can also recall associations with Benjamin Britten, Sir Andrew Davis, Albert Coates and Leslie Heward in addition to those mentioned earlier.

There appears to be no single influence shining through in Dr Vann’s individual style of composition. He does note that his style has become increasingly chromatic and perhaps difficult to tune, trying to preserve simplicity and beauty and avoid too much rich harmony but perhaps becoming a little more austere than some people would like. The Billingshurst Mass is arguably his most complex and complete work, being for chorus, orchestra and soloists, and sets out to avoid this austerity, combining rich tonality with some quite beautiful chromatic phrasing and a very moving interpretation of the traditional Latin text.

Profile © DAVID L LOWE, with acknowledgement to Barry Ferguson FRCO.
Quotes reproduced from October 1999 issue of Choir & Organ by permission of Orpheus Publications Ltd.
Extract © Choir & Organ 1999.