Basil Harwood
1859 — 1949
Basil Harwood was an organist and composer in the English church music tradition, best known today for his liturgical works, particularly his anthem O How Glorious is the Kingdom (1898) and his Service in A flat (1892), which still remain popular in English churches. He wrote numerous hymn tunes, several of which became well-known including Luckington and Thornbury (“O Jesus I Have Promised” and “Thy hand, O God, has guided”).
Adapted from the Wikipedia article on Basil Harwood.
From the period sources
Basil Harwood, son of Edward Harwood, Esq., J.P., was born in Gloucestershire in 1859. His education included Charterhouse and Trinity College, Oxford, where he earned degrees in music and also took honors in classics and modern history, according to Grove’s Dictionary (1906). He pursued musical studies with J. L. Roeckel for pianoforte, G. Riseley for organ, and Dr. C. W. Corfe for theory, supplementing this with composition study at the Leipzig Conservatorium under Reinecke and Jadassohn.
Harwood held significant organist positions, serving at St. Barnabas, Pimlico, from 1883 to 1887, then at Ely Cathedral until 1892, and subsequently at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, until 1909, as noted in Grove’s American Supplement (1920). His academic and conducting roles at Oxford included precentor of Keble College, conductor of the Oxford Orchestral Association, and conductor of the Oxford Bach Choir, a post he held “with distinction” (Grove’s, 1906). He also served as choragus of the university and examiner for degrees at Oxford on multiple occasions. His compositions, though “few in number” by 1906, were “marked by most careful workmanship and fastidious taste,” including an organ concerto performed at the Gloucester Festival of 1910 and a psalm, ‘Inclina, Domine,’ which met with “great success” at the 1898 Gloucester Festival (Grove’s, 1906). A History of English Cathedral Music (1908) further places Dr. Basil Harwood among “living writers of such sterling merit” whose compositions represent developments in high-class service music.