Dr. Arthur Henry Mann (16 May 1850 – 19 November 1929), known affectionately as "Daddy Mann", was an English organist, choirmaster, teacher and composer who served as Director of Music at

King's College Chapel, Cambridge King's College Chapel is the chapel of King's College in the University of Cambridge. It is considered one of the finest examples of late Perpendicular Gothic English architecture and features the world's largest fan vault. The Chapel was bui ...

, for more than 50 years.Archive Centre, King's College, Cambridge: The papers of Arthur Henry Mann
Retrieved 10 February 2022.Timothy Day, ''I Saw Eternity the Other Night: King’s College, Cambridge, and an English Singing Style'', Allen Lane (2018).

Family and education

Born to Henry James Mann (1809–1860) and Ann Couzens Jubey (1811–1891) in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

, Mann was a chorister at

Norwich Cathedral Norwich Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Norwich, Norfolk, dedicated to the Holy and Undivided Trinity. It is the cathedral church for the Church of England Diocese of Norwich and is one of the Norwich 12 heritage sites. The cathedral ...

, where he studied as an articled pupil to the cathedral organist and renowned voice trainer

Zechariah Buck Dr. Zechariah Buck (9 September 1798 – 5 August 1879), was an English organist and choir director who is remembered as a preeminent trainer of boys' voices. Early life and family Born to Jeremiah Buck (a tradesman) and Sarah Astbury in Norwich, N ...

. In January 1864, at the age of 13, he appeared with the

Bury St. Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic market, cathedral town and civil parish in Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton A ...

Athaenaem Choral Society in its production of Handel's ''Judas Maccabaeus'', the ''Norfolk Chronicle'' noting the "strength in the voice of the young chorister from Norwich Cathedral (Master A. Mann), whose delightful and judicious singing surprised the audience". Mann later attended

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at th ...

, and was awarded a

Bachelor of Music Bachelor of Music (BM or BMus) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. In the United States, it is a professional degree, and the majority of work consists of prescr ...

degree in 1874 and a

Doctor of Music The Doctor of Music degree (D.Mus., D.M., Mus.D. or occasionally Mus.Doc.) is a higher doctorate awarded on the basis of a substantial portfolio of compositions and/or scholarly publications on music. Like other higher doctorates, it is granted b ...

degree in 1882. In 1874 he married Sarah Ann Rainsford (1854–1918).

Career

Early in his career Mann served as organist of

St. Peter's Collegiate Church, Wolverhampton St Peter's Collegiate Church is located in central Wolverhampton, England. For many centuries it was a chapel royal and from 1480 a royal peculiar, independent of the Diocese of Lichfield and even the Province of Canterbury. The collegiate chu ...

(1870–1871), St. Michael's Church, Tettenhall (1871–1875), and

Beverley Minster Beverley Minster, otherwise known as the Parish Church of Saint John and Saint Martin, in Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire, is a parish church in the Church of England. It is one of the largest parish churches in the UK, larger than one-third ...

(1875–1876) before being appointed Director of Music at

, in 1876, a position he held for over 50 years until his death in 1929. During that time was also music master and organist at

The Leys School The Leys School is a co-educational independent school in Cambridge, England. It is a day and boarding school for about 574 pupils between the ages of eleven and eighteen, and a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. Histo ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

from 1894 to 1922. Mann did much to raise the reputation of the Choir of King's College to the position of excellence it continues to enjoy today, and was renowned as a vocal trainer whose methods helped to enhance the quality of singing at English cathedrals and choral foundations generally. In 1918 the new Dean of the College,

Eric Milner-White Eric Milner Milner-White, (23 April 1884 – 15 June 1963) was a British Anglican priest, academic, and decorated military chaplain. He was a founder of the Oratory of the Good Shepherd, an Anglican dispersed community, and served as its superi ...

, introduced the service of

Nine Lessons and Carols Nine Lessons and Carols, also known as the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols and Service of Nine Lessons and Carols, is a service of Christian worship traditionally celebrated on or near Christmas Eve. The story of the fall of humanity, the ...

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation ...

, and the following year Mann initiated the tradition of using his arrangement of "Once in Royal David's City" as the

processional hymn A processional hymn is a chant, hymn or other music sung during the Procession, usually at the start of a Christian Church, Christian service, although occasionally during the service itself. The procession usually contains members of the clergy a ...

for the service. In 1888 he published his own edition of "

Spem in alium ''Spem in alium'' (Latin for "Hope in any other") is a 40-part Renaissance motet by Thomas Tallis, composed in c. 1570 for eight choirs of five voices each. It is considered by some critics to be the greatest piece of English early music. H. B. ...

" by

Thomas Tallis Thomas Tallis (23 November 1585; also Tallys or Talles) was an English composer of High Renaissance music. His compositions are primarily vocal, and he occupies a primary place in anthologies of English choral music. Tallis is considered one o ...

, which was the first publication ever made of the forty-part

motet In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to Margar ...

. He also revised and edited a

Psalter A psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a liturgical calendar and litany of the Saints. Until the emergence of the book of hours in the Late Middle Ages, psalters we ...

with psalm settings pointed for chanting in the

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

style, which was published in 1912.A. H. Mann (ed.), ''The Paragraph Psalter, Arranged for the Use of Choirs'', Cambridge University Press (1912). He composed several hymn tunes, including "Angel's Story", which was originally written for the hymn "I Love to Hear the Story" but is also sung to the words of "O Jesus, I have promised". He died in Cambridge in 1929 and is buried in the churchyard at

Grantchester Grantchester is a village and civil parish on the River Cam or Granta in South Cambridgeshire, England. It lies about south of Cambridge. Name The village of Grantchester is listed in the 1086 Domesday Book as ''Grantesete'' and ''Grauntset ...

. His memoir was published by the Council of King's College the following year.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mann, Arthur Henry 1850 births 1929 deaths Burials in Cambridgeshire People from Norwich Cathedral organists English choral conductors Alumni of New College, Oxford