Douglas Guest

Douglas Albert Guest CVO (9 May 1916 – 18 November 1996)[1] was an English organist, conductor, teacher and composer[2] best known for his 1971 anthem for remembrance, For the Fallen.[3]

Education

Guest was born in Mortomley, Sheffield, Yorkshire, England. He was educated at Reading School, Berkshire from 1929 to 1933. He went on to study at the Royal College of Music from 1933 to 1935[4] where he studied with Sir Ernest Bullock, among others.[5] He became Organ Scholar of King's College, Cambridge from 1935 until 1939.[6]

Career

During the Second World War he served as a Major in the Royal Artillery and was involved in the battle for the liberation of Caen, Normandy. He was 'twice severely wounded'[1] sustaining a leg injury which left him with a permanent, though eventually slight limp. His first major appointment came in 1945 as Director of Music at Uppingham School.[7] From there he became Organist of Salisbury Cathedral, a post which he held from 1950 until 1957,[8] before moving to become Organist and Master of the Choristers at Worcester Cathedral.[5] His final post was as Organist and Master of the Choristers at Westminster Abbey from 1963 until 1981.[9]

Compositions and awards

His most well-known composition is a setting of Lawrence Binyon's poem, "For the Fallen", composed in 1971 for the Choir of Westminster Abbey.[3] He also composed music for the organ, including a Voluntary for Easter,[10] composed in 1956. The following year, he wrote Missa brevis.[11] His other appointments have included being professor at the Royal College of Music (1963-1981),[6] and as an examiner for both the Royal College of Organists and the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music.[12] In 1975 he was appointed CVO.[13]

References

1. Neary, Martin (23 November 1996). "Obituary: Douglas Guest". The Independent. Retrieved 4 May 2024. Douglas Albert Guest, organist, conductor, teacher and composer: born 9 May 1916...died 18 November 1996.
2. "Douglas Guest". Oxford Reference. Retrieved 4 May 2024. Eng. organist and composer. Dir. of mus., Uppingham Sch. 1945–50, org., Salisbury Cath. 1950–7, org. Worcester Cath. 1957–63, dir. of mus. Westminster Abbey 1963–81, prof. RCM 1963–81. CVO 1975.
3. "Douglas Guest". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 5 May 2024. His setting of Binyon's "For the Fallen" is well known.
4. International Who's who in Music and Musicians' Directory. Melrose Press. 1996. p. 361. ISBN 978-0-948875-22-9. Guest Douglas Albert, b. 9 May 1916, Mortomley, Yorkshire, England ... Reading School, 1929-33; Royal College of Music, London, 1933-35...
5. Boden, Anthony; Hedley, Paul (2017). The Three Choirs Festival: A History. Boydell & Brewer. p. 246. ISBN 978-1-78327-209-9. Douglas Guest (1917-1996) was appointed Organist at Worcester Cathedral in 1957 ... Guest was a student at the Royal College of Music from 1933 to 1935, and studied with Sir Ernest Bullock, among others.
6. Humphreys, Maggie; Evans, Robert (1 January 1997). Dictionary of Composers for the Church in Great Britain and Ireland. A&C Black. ISBN 978-0-7201-2330-2. LCCN 96041998. Educated at Reading School, Berkshire (1929-1933), the Royal College of Music (1933-1935) and King's College, Cambridge (1935-1939).
7. Rainbow, Bernarr; Morris, Andrew (2014). Music in Independent Schools. Boydell & Brewer Ltd. p. 287. ISBN 978-1-84383-967-5. Eighty years of sustained endeavour by two remarkable men, Paul David (for forty-three years) and Robert Sterndale Bennett (for thirty-seven years) gave Douglas Guest a firm foundation on which to build in his five dynamic years at Uppingham before he left to go to Salisbury Cathedral as Organist and Master of the Choristers in 1950.
8. The International Who's Who, 1989-90. Europa Publications Limited. 1935. p. 610. ISBN 978-0-946653-50-8. Guest, Douglas, C.V.O., M.A., MUS.D., F.R.C.M., F.R.C.O., F.R.S.C.M.; British organist and conductor; ... Salisbury Cathedral 1950-57, Worcester Cathedral 1957-63...
9. Beeson, Trevor (1997). A Dean's Diary: Winchester 1987-1996. SCM Press. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-334-02711-9. When Douglas Guest retired in 1981 we took advice from the church music establishment, drew up a shortlist,...
10. Arnold, Corliss Richard (1 January 1995). Organ Literature: Biographical Catalog. Scarecrow Press. p. 345. ISBN 978-1-4616-7025-4. Guest, Douglas Albert b Mortomley, York, Eng, May 9, 1916... A Voluntary for Easter, in Festive Album, p 12.
11. Kennedy, Michael (1985). The Oxford dictionary of music (Repr. with correc ed.). Oxford: Oxford Univ. Pr. p. 304. ISBN 978-0-19-311333-6. LCCN lc84022803. Comp. Missa brevis, 1957.
12. Who was who. St. Martin's Press. 1996. p. 233. ISBN 978-0-312-29366-6. Examiner, Associated Bd of Royal Schs of Music, 1948–81...
13. Boden, Anthony (1992). Three Choirs: A History of the Festival : Gloucester, Hereford, Worcester. Alan Sutton. p. 205. ISBN 978-0-7509-0082-9. Douglas Guest... CVO in 1975...

External links

• Biography (archived)
• Obituary

Cultural offices
Preceded by David Willcocks	Organist and Master of the Choristers of Salisbury Cathedral 1950-1957	Succeeded by Christopher Hugh Dearnley
Preceded by David Willcocks	Organist and Master of the Choristers of Worcester Cathedral 1957-1963	Succeeded by Christopher Robinson
Preceded by William McKie	Organist and Master of the Choristers of Westminster Abbey 1963–1981	Succeeded by Simon Preston