Herbert Howells: Educational Music, Texture, Equal Voices, and the Gloucester Magnificat

Extant studies of Howells leave some details about his early choral music and certain mechanics of his mature church music undiscussed. In evaluating certain mechanics of a quintessential mature church piece (the Magnificat dedicated to Gloucester Cathedral), a texture of three-part, equal voice treble counterpoint, new to Howells’ church music, is exhibited. Prior to his arrival as a mature church music composer in the 1940s the majority of Howells’ choral music was limited-texture educational music, which has not received scholarly focus. The reduced ranges of exclusively treble voices necessitated by the educational idiom promoted the equal voice practice generally, and there are three examples of three-part, equal voice treble writing in this area of Howells’ music. In a separate survey of the development of Howells’ earlier church music, the use of texture in general is exhibited as a significant aspect of his style, Howells’ interactions with idioms and the associated expectations are discussed, and the absence of three-part equal-voice writing confirms the educational music’s primary role in developing that specific texture. The much-discussed opening of the Magnificat dedicated to Gloucester Cathedral is a display of Howells’ mastery of expressive use of texture, a novel use of three-part, equal-voice counterpoint in his church music, and a stylistic culmination that combines use of texture, expectation, and idiom with the incorporation of lesser-known practices associated with educational music. Thus, a quintessential piece of Howells’ mature church music was significantly influenced by the educational music, and there is now a musical explanation to contribute to the current explanations of this moment and the larger matter of Howells’ arrival as a master composer of church music.