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Herbert Henry John Murrill (11 May 1909 – 25 July 1952) was an English musician, composer, and
organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists. In addition, an organist may accompany congregational h ...
.


Education and early career

Herbert Henry John (later just Herbert) Murrill was born in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, at 19, Fircroft Road in Upper Tooting, the eldest of three children.Murill, Carolyn. Introduction to ''Five Songs''. He lived with his family in South London, where his father Walter was a cork merchant. As a young man, he had a group of musical friends who encouraged and supported him. He was a chorister and a scholarship student at
Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School Haberdashers' Boys' School (also known as Haberdashers', Habs, or Habs Boys), until September 2021 known as Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, is a Independent school (United Kingdom), public school for pupils age 4 to 18 in Elstree, Hertfo ...
in Hatcham from 1920 to 1925. He was awarded a scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music, but in 1925 went instead to the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied with
York Bowen Edwin York Bowen (22 February 1884 – 23 November 1961) was an English composer and pianist. Bowen's musical career spanned more than fifty years during which time he wrote over 160 works. As well as being a pianist and composer, Bowen was a ...
(piano),
Alan Bush Alan Dudley Bush (22 December 1900 – 31 October 1995) was a British composer, pianist, conductor, teacher and political activist. A committed communist, his uncompromising political beliefs were often reflected in his music. He composed pro ...
(harmony) and Stanley Marchant (organ and choir training). He remained there until 1928, winning medals for piano, organ, harmony and aural training, while at the same time serving as the organist of St Nicholas Church in Chiswick. His first works date from this era, including the Rhapsody for cello and piano and the ballet ''Picnic'' from 1927. Ralph Vaughan Williams heard the ballet's performance at the Crouch Festival and liked the work; he subsequently became a friend of Murrill's. He then became an
organ scholar An organ scholar is a young musician employed as a part-time assistant organist at a cathedral, church or institution where regular choral services are held. The idea of an organ scholarship is to provide the holder with playing, directing and adm ...
at
Worcester College Worcester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms w ...
,
Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
from 1928 to 1931, studying with
William Harris William or Will or Willie Harris may refer to: Politicians and political activists *William Harris (born 1504) (1504–?), MP for Newport, Cornwall *William Harris (died 1556), MP for Maldon (UK Parliament constituency), Maldon *William Harris (MP ...
, Ernest Walker and Hugh Allen.


1930s and wartime

After graduating he organised a recital of his own music (shared with Brian Easdale) at the
Wigmore Hall Wigmore Hall is a concert hall located at 36 Wigmore Street, London. Originally called Bechstein Hall, it specialises in performances of chamber music, early music, vocal music and song recitals. It is widely regarded as one of the world's leadi ...
in London on July 1, 1931. In 1933 he was appointed Professor of Composition at the Royal Academy of Music in 1933. The same year he married the concert pianist (1906-2000). They subsequently divorced and she married
William Pleeth William Pleeth OBE (12 January 1916 – 6 April 1999) was a well-known British cellist and an eminent teacher, who became widely known as the teacher of Jacqueline du Pré. Biography Early years William Pleeth was born in London. His ...
in 1942. He was for a time in the 1930s organist of Christ Church, Lancaster Gate, London and St Thomas' Church, Regent Street (now demolished). He also acted as Musical Director of The Group Theatre, where he worked with W. H. Auden and
Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...
, conducting the music Britten composed for ''Timon of Athens'' in 1935. Murrill's second wife was the cellist Vera Canning, whom he married in 1941. They lived at
Blunham Blunham is a village and civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England, about east of Bedford. At the 2011 census date its population was 946. The River Ivel forms the parish's eastern boundary in places and the Riv ...
Rectory in Bedfordshire. There was a daughter, Carolyn Jane Murrill (1942-2008). Between 1942 and 1946 he joined the Intelligence Corps as a Sergeant at
Bletchley Park Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes ( Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years followin ...
. While there he conducted the Bletchley Park Musical Society in performances of Purcell's ''
Dido and Aeneas ''Dido and Aeneas'' (Z. 626) is an opera in a prologue and three acts, written by the English Baroque composer Henry Purcell with a libretto by Nahum Tate. The dates of the composition and first performance of the opera are uncertain. It was com ...
'' and persuaded top class musicians to visit and perform, including
Peter Pears Sir Peter Neville Luard Pears ( ; 22 June 19103 April 1986) was an English tenor. His career was closely associated with the composer Benjamin Britten, his personal and professional partner for nearly forty years. Pears' musical career starte ...
and
Myra Hess Dame Julia Myra Hess, (25 February 1890 – 25 November 1965) was an English pianist best known for her performances of the works of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Schumann. Career Early life Julia Myra Hess was born on 25 February 1890 to a J ...
.


Post war and the BBC

Murrill's primary musical role from 1936 onwards (interrupted by the war) was working for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, first as assistant to
Victor Hely-Hutchinson Christian Victor Noel Hope Hely-Hutchinson (26 December 1901 – 11 March 1947) was a British composer, conductor, pianist and music administrator. He is best known for the ''Carol Symphony'' and for humorous song-settings.Hurd, Michael'Hely ...
and then to
Steuart Wilson Sir James Steuart Wilson (21 July 1889 – 18 December 1966) was an English singer, known for tenor roles in oratorios and concerts in the first half of the 20th century. After the Second World War he was an administrator for several organ ...
, whom he finally succeeded as Head of Music in 1950. During his brief tenure as head he clashed with the conductor
Malcolm Sargent Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent (29 April 1895 – 3 October 1967) was an English conductor, organist and composer widely regarded as Britain's leading conductor of choral works. The musical ensembles with which he was associated include ...
. Sargent's biographer Richard Aldous portrays Murrill as an archetypal BBC Music Department insider of that period: "home to the dispossessed of English musical life, a place where frustrated composers and academics...licked their wounds and passed judgement over their more successful contemporaries". Alan Frank disagreed, calling him "an outstanding success" at the BBC as well as "a skilled organist and pianist, a stimulating teacher nda composer of considerable charm". Towards the end of 1951 Murrill was diagnosed with cancer, and had left his post at the BBC by Christmas. He died in London and was cremated at Marylebone Crematorium on 29 July 1952.


Musical works

Murrill's affinities were Francophile (
Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...
) and mildly middle- Stravinskian, both influences tempered by an English take on neo-classicism. The early works include the jazz opera ''Man in Cage'' (1930), which ran for eight weeks at the Grafton Theatre in London while he was still at university. He wrote film scores for ''And So To Work'' (1936) and ''The Daily Round'' (1937), short educational films directed by
Richard Massingham Richard Massingham (31 January 1898 in Sleaford, Lincolnshire – 1 April 1953 in Biddenden, Kent) was a British medical doctor who is principally known for starring in public information films made in the 1940s and early 1950s. Life After ...
, as well as incidental music for two plays by
W. H. Auden Wystan Hugh Auden (; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry was noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in ...
, '' The Dance of Death'' and ''
The Dog Beneath the Skin ''The Dog Beneath the Skin, or Where is Francis? A Play in Three Acts'', by W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood, was the first Auden-Isherwood collaboration and an important contribution to English poetic drama in the 1930s. It was published ...
''. In October 1937 he and his wife Alice Good were at Alexandra Palace playing two pianos to accompany the live television revue ''Full Moon'', written by Archie Harradine and produced by
Eric Crozier Eric Crozier OBE (14 November 19147 September 1994) was a British theatrical director, opera librettist and producer, long associated with Benjamin Britten. Early life and career Crozier was born in London and studied at the Royal Academy of Dr ...
, with music by Murrill. The orchestral ''Three Hornpipes'' (1934) were performed several times at the
BBC Proms The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hal ...
, and are reminiscent of
William Walton Sir William Turner Walton (29 March 19028 March 1983) was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera. His best-known works include ''Façade'', the cantat ...
's ''Portsmouth Point'', while the 1945 ''Country Dances'' for string orchestra show the influence of
Peter Warlock Philip Arnold Heseltine (30 October 189417 December 1930), known by the pseudonym Peter Warlock, was a British composer and music critic. The Warlock name, which reflects Heseltine's interest in occult practices, was used for all his published ...
's ''Capriol Suite''. But Murrill's personal voice comes over most clearly in the second of his two cello concertos, subtitled ''The Song of the Birds'' (1951). Written for and dedicated to Pablo Casals it quotes the popular Catalan song of the same name and has been called his "masterpiece". His wife Vera Canning gave the first performance in 1951. The score of an unfinished Violin Concerto, dating from 1952, is among his manuscripts. Of the chamber music, the String Quartet of 1939 is the most notable example.Frank, Alan. ''Modern British Composers'' (1953), pp. 86-91 It was dedicated to the Leighton Quartet, whose cellist was Vera Canning.
Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams, (; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...
thought it "full of invention and imagination without extravagance". Murrill requested in his will that the quartet's slow movement, marked ''con intensita'', be played at his funeral.Riley, Malcolm
'Herbert Murrill Centenary'
in ''Chombec News'' (University of Bristol), Issue 7, Summer 2009 He also wrote vocal works (such as the madrigal ''Love Not Me for Comely Grace'' and the ''Two Songs from Twelfth Night'', dedicated to the memory of Peter Warlock). For the keyboard (Murrill's instrument) there are the two piano Impromptus of 1933, paying homage to Chopin and Poulenc respectively, the ''Suite Française'' (1938) for harpsichord or piano, which was dedicated to Marcelle de Lacour, and three concert pieces for piano, ''Toccatina, Canzona'' and ''Presto Alla Giga''. He made a popular arrangement for piano duet (or organ) of the orchestral march '' Crown Imperial'' by
William Walton Sir William Turner Walton (29 March 19028 March 1983) was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera. His best-known works include ''Façade'', the cantat ...
. His piano duet arrangement of Walton's First Symphony was published by OUP. However, his most frequently performed works now are his choral and organ works written for the church: his setting of the ''
Magnificat The Magnificat (Latin for " y soulmagnifies he Lord) is a canticle, also known as the Song of Mary, the Canticle of Mary and, in the Byzantine tradition, the Ode of the Theotokos (). It is traditionally incorporated into the liturgical servic ...
'' and ''
Nunc dimittis The Nunc dimittis (), also known as the Song of Simeon or the Canticle of Simeon, is a canticle taken from the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke, verses 29 through 32. Its Latin name comes from its incipit, the opening words, of the Vulgate ...
'' in E major (published in 1947), a Double Chant in G used in the ''Baptist Hymn Book'' (1962), the hymn tune ''Carolyn'' (1951), and an organ piece called ''Carillon''.Humphreys, M and Evans, R.
Dictionary of Composers for the Church in Great Britain and Ireland
' (1977) Murrill was also responsible for the official, martial orchestral version of the
Indian national anthem "" (Sanskrit: जन गण मन) is the national anthem of the Republic of India. It was originally composed as '' Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata'' in Bengali by polymath Rabindranath Tagore. The first stanza of the song ''Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhat ...
, approved by
Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...
before independence in 1947.''The Times of India'', 21 April 2007
/ref>


References


Sources

* Crichton, Ronald. "Murrill, Herbert". ''Grove Music Online'' (2001). * Frank, Alan. ''Modern British Composers'' (1953), pp. 86–91 * * Riley, Malcolm
'Herbert Murrill Centenary'
in ''Chombec News'' (University of Bristol), Issue 7, Summer 2009. (Includes full list of works).


External links


The Herbert Murrill Centenary

Magnificat from the Evening Service in E
performed by Stanford Chamber Chorale
''Suite Française''
(1938) played on the piano by John Peace {{DEFAULTSORT:Murrill, Herbert 1909 births 1952 deaths BBC music executives English classical organists British male organists Bletchley Park people Musicians from London Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music Academics of the Royal Academy of Music 20th-century classical musicians 20th-century English composers 20th-century organists 20th-century British male musicians British Army personnel of World War II Intelligence Corps soldiers Male classical organists