Godfrey Hewitt’s choral music published

A new book has just been published containing all of the sacred choral music composed and performed by Dr. Godfrey Hewitt through his nearly five decades as organist and master of the choristers at Christ Church Cathedral, Ottawa, from 1931 to 1980.

The book was a labour of love for Frances Macdonnell, its general editor. Hewitt was her first organ teacher, she told Crosstalk, and she served as his assistant organist for the last few years of his working life at the Cathedral before she succeeded him as organist and music director at the Cathedral in 1980.

Born in England, Hewitt nurtured and influenced generations of young church musicians, singers and organists in Ottawa and beyond. He was one of the only four church musicians in Canada ever to be awarded an honorary Lambeth Doctorate by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Macdonnell said.

“Godfrey never published any of his music (except a couple of descants in various hymnbooks — one of them is in Common Praise.)  But during the last two years, I have led a group of musicians who had all been singers in Godfrey’s Cathedral Choir in earlier days to re-create this music and get it published,” she explained.

The new book, Sacred Choral Music of Godfrey Hewitt, includes all of Hewitt’s choral music for the Eucharist, Matins, and Evensong, his original Psalm chants, descants, and an Introit. “It also for the first time publishes his reharmonizations of hymn tunes,” she said.

“All his working life, Godfrey played his own reharmonizations of the final verses of hymns–but he never wrote them down. They are wonderful and should be more often played. Their movement and harmonic development always completely illustrate the mood and meaning of the words,” said Macdonnell, who re-created these reharmonizations from her own memories of Godfrey’s playing over many years.

The music was all engraved by Ross Jewell, a former Cathedral Choir member and retired electrical engineer, who took up music engraving as a retirement project.

The academic preface to the book, describing Hewitt’s life and work, was written by Dr. John Brough, a member of the Cathedral choir as a boy and young man, who now teaches music at the University of Alberta. His doctoral thesis was written on the history of church music at Christ Church Cathedral, Ottawa.

The publication of this book was made possible by the Godfrey Hewitt Memorial Fund, established through the Royal Canadian College of Organists (RCCO) after Dr. Hewitt’s death in 2002, Macdonnell said. This fund helps to produce the highly trained organists the Canadian church needs for the future by providing:

• an annual scholarship of $6,000 for a graduate student in organ
• a bi-annual grand prize of $6,000 for the RCCO national organ-playing competition
• an annual grant of $3,000 to the RCCO’s Summer Academy for young organists
• an annual grant of $2,500 to various organ recital series in Ottawa and across Canada

All this is made possible by donations to the fund in Godfrey Hewitt’s memory and in aid of the training of young Canadian organists.  Donations to the fund are very welcome and eligible for charitable tax receipts.

To make a donation to the fund or to purchase a copy of the book ($30, plus $5 for postage), please contact Frances Macdonnell by email: [email protected] or by mail at 303 – 3099 Carling Avenue Ottawa ON K2H 5A6.