Craig Sellar Lang (13 May 1891 – 24 Nov 1971) was a New Zealand-born British organist, composer and music teacher.

Education

Born in

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west a ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

, CS Lang (known to his friends as "Robin") was educated at

Clifton College ''The spirit nourishes within'' , established = 160 years ago , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent boarding and day school , religion = Christian , president = , head_label = Head of College , hea ...

, and was a pupil of

Walter Parratt Sir Walter Parratt (10 February 184127 March 1924) was an English organist and composer. Biography Born in Huddersfield, son of a parish organist, Parratt began to play the pipe organ from an early age, and held posts as an organist while sti ...

and Charles Stanford at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...

. He was an

ARCM Associate of the Royal College of Music (ARCM) is a diploma qualification of the Royal College of Music, equivalent to a university first degree. Like the Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music diploma (LRAM), it was offered in teaching or perf ...

and received his Doctorate of Music from The University of Durham.

Teaching

Lang returned to Clifton as assistant music master in 1921. His works from this period include the secular cantata ''Lochinvar'' (Op. 7, 1927), ''Two Hundred Tunes for Sight-Singing'' (1928) based on his teaching experience, and a variety of arrangements and new works created so the entire school congregation could join the choir and organ in psalms and canticles. In 1929 he was appointed Director of Music at

Christ's Hospital Christ's Hospital is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 11–18) with a royal charter located to the south of Horsham in West Sussex. The school was founded in 1552 and received its first royal charter in 155 ...

school in

Horsham Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an a ...

, to where the choristers of

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

were briefly evacuated during the Second World War. An obituary recorded his "personal magnetism" and determination to awaken "the budding musicianship of every sort of pupil". Lang resigned from this post in 1945 in order to devote more time to examining and composition. His instructional works, aimed at students, were highly influential. Generations of organists were brought up on his ''Harmony at the Keyboard'', ''Exercises in Score Reading'', as well as his books entitled ''Exercises for Organists'', designed to prepare organ students for the keyboard tests of the Royal College of Organists' diploma exams.

Composition

CS Lang's choral music includes service settings (such as the ''Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in B flat'', Op.16), and anthems such as ''He shall give his angels charge over thee'' (1941). His fine setting of Psalm 8 has remained popular. There are also many anthems for trebles' voices, composed for use at Christ's Hospital, as well as numerous secular choral works. His best-known work is the ''Tuba Tune'' for organ, Opus 15, a favourite of recitalists. This dashing little piece, which owes its title to the boisterous melody sounded forth on the organ's tuba stop, begins in the style of

Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concertos. Handel received his train ...

but, in its central section, has some brief key changes that could belong to no century except the 20th. Lang's numerous other works for organ include a lengthy ''Sonata in D minor'' (Op. 47, 1947), the ''Introduction and Passacaglia in A minor'' (Op.51, 1952), the ''Fugue-Trilogy on E.G.B''. (Op. 58, 1952), and many hymn preludes and sets of preludes and fugues.

External links

Published works by C.S. Lang (Chester Novello catalogue)

Collection of (largely unpublished) works
at the

Library
Tuba Tune
on

last.fm Last.fm is a music website founded in the United Kingdom in 2002. Using a music recommender system called "Audioscrobbler", Last.fm builds a detailed profile of each user's musical taste by recording details of the tracks the user listens to, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lang, Craig Sellar 1891 births 1971 deaths Associates of the Royal College of Music New Zealand emigrants to England New Zealand expatriates in England Christ's Hospital staff English classical organists British male organists English people of Scottish descent Male composers New Zealand composers New Zealand music teachers New Zealand people of Scottish descent People educated at Clifton College 20th-century English composers 20th-century organists 20th-century British male musicians Male classical organists

Education

Teaching

Composition

Further reading

External links

References