Basil Harwood
1859 - 1949
Biography
Basil Harwood (1859–1949) was an English organist and composer noted especially for church and organ music. Born at Woodhouse in Gloucestershire, he studied at Charterhouse and Trinity College, Oxford, before further musical study at the Leipzig Conservatory in 1881–1882 with teachers including Carl Reinecke and Salomon Jadassohn.
Harwood served as organist of St. Barnabas, Pimlico, beginning in 1883 and moved to Ely Cathedral in 1887. From 1892 to 1909 he was organist of Christ Church, Oxford, and precentor of Keble College. He also co-founded and conducted the Oxford Bach Choir, examined for Oxford music degrees, and was musical editor of The Oxford Hymn Book of 1908.
His output included cantatas, anthems, organ works, services, and numerous hymn tunes. He often named tunes after places in and around Gloucestershire, including THORNBURY. That tune, originally part of his own late nineteenth-century church-music output, was later printed with Louis F. Benson's "The Light of God Is Falling," providing another documented musical setting of the text.
Harwood served as organist of St. Barnabas, Pimlico, beginning in 1883 and moved to Ely Cathedral in 1887. From 1892 to 1909 he was organist of Christ Church, Oxford, and precentor of Keble College. He also co-founded and conducted the Oxford Bach Choir, examined for Oxford music degrees, and was musical editor of The Oxford Hymn Book of 1908.
His output included cantatas, anthems, organ works, services, and numerous hymn tunes. He often named tunes after places in and around Gloucestershire, including THORNBURY. That tune, originally part of his own late nineteenth-century church-music output, was later printed with Louis F. Benson's "The Light of God Is Falling," providing another documented musical setting of the text.
Hymns by Basil Harwood
The Light of God Is Falling
Role: Composer