Christopher Herrick
Encyclopedia
Early life
Born in Bletchley, BuckinghamshireBuckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
, Christopher Herrick was a boy chorister at St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral, London, is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. St Paul's sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the mother...
and attended its choir school; he sang at the coronation
Coronation of the British monarch
The coronation of the British monarch is a ceremony in which the monarch of the United Kingdom is formally crowned and invested with regalia...
of Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
in 1953 and later that year went with the choir on a three-month tour of America which included a private concert in the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
and a meeting with President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
. At the age of 12, he was inspired to learn the organ after Sir John Dykes Bower
John Dykes Bower
Sir John Dykes Bower CVO was an English cathedral organist, who served in Truro Cathedral, Durham Cathedral and St Paul's Cathedral-Background:John Dykes Bower was born on 13 August 1905 in Gloucester. He was one of four brothers...
, organist of St Paul's, asked him to accompany him to the cathedral organ loft to turn pages for him for a BBC recording. His response to Herrick's aspiration to become a concert organist was not encouraging: 'Well... I suppose it might be just possible to be an organist giving concerts, with no permanent church appointment – but even Thalben-Ball has a city church.' He later attended Cranleigh School
Cranleigh School
Cranleigh School is an independent English boarding school in the village of Cranleigh, Surrey. It was founded in 1865 as a boys' school and started to admit girls in the early 1970s. It is now co-educational. The current headmaster is Guy de W...
, where he was able to continue his organ study.
Student days
From 1959 to 1962, he held an organ scholarshipScholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
at Exeter College, Oxford
Exeter College, Oxford
Exeter College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England and the fourth oldest college of the University. The main entrance is on the east side of Turl Street...
, where he studied music. Following this, he obtained a Boult scholarship to study at the Royal College of Music
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...
. His interests expanded to the harpsichord
Harpsichord
A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
. 'The harpsichord had also fascinated me, and Millicent Silver
Millicent Silver
Millicent Irene Silver was an English harpsichordist, who began her career as a pianist and violinist.- Early life :...
became my professor [...] From a historical point of view, of course, everything about her approach was wrong. But the experience of working with her gave me a vivid taste of an unknown world.' He studied organ privately with Geraint Jones at the time he was discovering the German mechanical instruments with straight pedal boards. He studied conducting
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
with Sir Adrian Boult
Adrian Boult
Sir Adrian Cedric Boult CH was an English conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in London for the Royal Opera House and Sergei Diaghilev's ballet company. His first prominent post was...
.
Professional career
Malcolm Russell, one of London's principal suppliers of harpsichords, was an early neighbour, and Herrick was able to acquire a DulckenDulcken
The Dulcken family were Flemish harpsichord makers of German origin.Joannes Daniel Dulcken was born in Wingeshausen, the son of Georg Ludwig Dulcken . In 1736 he was in Maastricht, but by 1738 he had moved with his wife Susanna Maria Knopffell and their son to Antwerp where they became members of...
harpsichord on permanent loan. This led to the formation of the Taskin
Pascal Taskin
----Pascal Joseph Taskin was a French harpsichord and piano maker. Born in Theux, near Liège, he lived most of his life in Paris.- Biography :...
trio (violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
, viola da gamba, harpsichord), playing baroque music
Baroque music
Baroque music describes a style of Western Classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1760. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era...
on period instruments. He has performed Bach
Bạch
Bạch is a Vietnamese surname. The name is transliterated as Bai in Chinese and Baek, in Korean.Bach is the anglicized variation of the surname Bạch.-Notable people with the surname Bạch:* Bạch Liêu...
's complete Well-Tempered Clavier on the harpsichord at London's South Bank
South Bank
South Bank is an area of London, England located immediately adjacent to the south side of the River Thames. It forms a long and narrow section of riverside development that is within the London Borough of Lambeth to the border with the London Borough of Southwark and was formerly simply known as...
.
He was assistant organist at St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral, London, is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. St Paul's sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the mother...
from 1967 to 1974. He became an organist at Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
in 1974, and was sub-organist from 1979 to 1984, playing at royal and state occasions and giving over 200 solo recitals there in that time. In 1984 he embarked upon a solo career as a concert organist and toured worldwide. He gave the solo organ concert in the centenary season of the Proms in 1994.
He has recorded the complete organ works of J. S. Bach on Metzler
Metzler Orgelbau
Metzler Orgelbau is a firm of organ builders based in Dietikon, near Zurich, Switzerland. It is one of the most important makers of the European classical organ revival and has built many important and respected instruments throughout Europe...
organs in Switzerland; on 16 CDs. It was a gradual undertaking:
In 1998, he was invited to perform Bach's complete organ works at the Lincoln Center Festival in New York; he played fourteen concerts on fourteen consecutive days on the Kuhn organ in Alice Tully Hall
Alice Tully Hall
Alice Tully Hall is a concert hall at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. It is named for Alice Tully, a New York performer and philanthropist whose donations assisted in the construction of the hall...
. A critic from The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
wrote: 'Mr Herrick was at the peak of his considerable form, combining precision with panache, interpretive freedom with sheer joy in virtuosity. The playing was, in a word, triumphant.'
In 1984 he met Ted Perry, the owner-director of Hyperion records
Hyperion Records
Hyperion Records is an independent British classical record label.-History:The company was named after Hyperion, one of the Titans of Greek mythology. It was founded by George Edward Perry, widely known as "Ted", in 1980. Early LP releases included rarely recorded 20th century British music by...
and proposed an album of virtuosic repertoire, on the Harrison & Harrison
Harrison & Harrison
Harrison & Harrison Ltd are a British company that make and restore pipe organs, based in Durham and established in 1861. They are well known for their work on instruments such as King's College Cambridge, Westminster Abbey and the Royal Festival Hall....
organ of Westminster Abbey. This has led to the Organ Fireworks
Fireworks
Fireworks are a class of explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. The most common use of a firework is as part of a fireworks display. A fireworks event is a display of the effects produced by firework devices...
series, virtuosic and spectacular music, well-known and rare, recorded on great organs all over the world, which is on its 14th volume.
A contrasting series called Organ Dreams, of more tranquil repertoire, has reached its 4th volume.
Other recordings include Louis-Claude Daquin
Louis-Claude Daquin
Louis-Claude Daquin , was a French composer of Jewish birth writing in the Baroque and Galant styles. He was a virtuoso organist and harpsichordist.-Life:...
's Noël
Noel
Noel is a masculine French given name derived from noël . The actual feminine form is Noelle, but in English-speaking regions Noel is sometimes used for females as well...
s on the restored 1739 Parizot organ in St Rémy
Saint-Rémy-Boscrocourt
Saint-Rémy-Boscrocourt is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Haute-Normandie region in northern France.-Geography:A village of farming and associated light industry situated in the Pays de Caux, some northeast of Dieppe at the junction of the D78, D126 and the D22...
, Dieppe
Dieppe, Seine-Maritime
Dieppe is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in France. In 1999, the population of the whole Dieppe urban area was 81,419.A port on the English Channel, famous for its scallops, and with a regular ferry service from the Gare Maritime to Newhaven in England, Dieppe also has a popular pebbled...
, and 2 CDs of music by Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck was a Dutch composer, organist, and pedagogue whose work straddled the end of the Renaissance and beginning of the Baroque eras. He was among the first major keyboard composers of Europe, and his work as a teacher helped establish the north German organ...
on a copy of the 17th-century organ of Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
's German church, now in Norrfjärden
Norrfjärden
Norrfjärden is a locality situated in Piteå Municipality, Norrbotten County, Sweden with 1,423 inhabitants in 2005....
in northern Sweden. He utilised historically informed performance practice, including original fingerings, not using the thumb very much, which caused some difficulties: "only when I went in for physical therapy did I finally adapt." He has also recorded Josef Rheinberger
Josef Rheinberger
Josef Gabriel Rheinberger was a German organist and composer, born in Liechtenstein.-Short biography:...
's suites for organ, violin and cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
.
In 2007, he commenced work on a five year project to record the complete organ works of Dieterich Buxtehude
Dieterich Buxtehude
Dieterich Buxtehude was a German-Danish organist and composer of the Baroque period. His organ works represent a central part of the standard organ repertoire and are frequently performed at recitals and in church services...
.
He lives in Kingston-upon-Thames where he is able to play the Frobenius
Frobenius Orgelbyggeri
-History:Frobenius Orgelbyggeri was founded in Copenhagen by Theodor Frobenius in 1909. The firm moved to Lyngby in 1925. Theodor's sons Walther and Erik joined the company in 1944, at the same time that they began to build organs in the classical tradition, with mechanical actions and slider...
organ of Kingston Parish Church. Aside from organ playing, he has conducted the Twickenham
Twickenham
Twickenham is a large suburban town southwest of central London. It is the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and one of the locally important district centres identified in the London Plan...
Choral Society for nearly 30 years.
Sources
- Stanley Webb: 'Herrick, Christopher', Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 6 May 2007),
- Malcolm Bruno: Interview with Christopher Herrick, Choir & Organ (May/June 2002)
- The Wall Street Journal, Personal Journal, Time Off/Backstage: Christopher Herrick (29 October 2004)
External links
- http://www.christopherherrick.org/ - personal website
- Hyperion records: Christopher Herrick