Herbert Howells

Herbert Howells

Herbert Norman Howells was born on October 17, 1892 in Lydney, Gloucestershire, England. He was born into a very poor family and had eight older siblings of which five were brothers and two were sisters. His father was a plumber and also played the organ at a local Baptist chapel. Howells' older sister was the one who taught him how to play the piano but he also assisted his father on the organ quite often. Howells was interested in music composition his whole life and knew from a very young age that he wanted to be a composer. In 1912 Howells won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music after a friend who attended the College persuaded Howells in submit one of his pieces. At the Royal College of Music he received his primary education in composition studying music history and literature with Sir Hubert Parry, composition with Stanford, lessons in harmony and counterpoint with Charles Wood, lessons in organ performance with Sir Walter Parratt, and choral techniques with Sir Walford Davies. When Howells was twenty-three, he developed a severe case of hyperthyroidism or Graves Disease. He had a resting pulse of 130. He was unable to walk and talk at the same time. He was given six months to live. With the short time he supposedly had left in his life, he agreed to try a new experiment with radium. He was given radium treatments twice a week for two years. The treatments seemed to have been effective as Howells lived to age ninety. During World War I, however, he felt extremely guilty that he was unable to serve in the British army as many of his musical peers did because of his disease. In 1920, he married Dorothy Dawe, a young singer. In 1923, he and his wife had their first child, a daughter named Ursula and on April 12, 1926 they had a second child, this time a son named Michael. Nine years later on September 3, 1935, Michael contracted what some sources say was polio and others say was meningitis. In memory of his son, Howells wrote many pieces including "All My Hope On God Is Founded" and Hymnus Paradsi. From 1936 to 1962 he was director of music at St. Paul's Girls School. At 1950 he was appointed King Edward VII Professor of Music at London University. He was he own worst enemy and extremely over-sensitive to criticism. He was very hard on himself throughout his whole career. Herbert Howells died in London on February 23, 1983 at the age of 90 and is considered by