An authoritative and engrossing account of the life and work of Herbert Howells, 1892-1983, of English, Welsh and Scottish blood, composer and organist, writer and broadcaster, compiled by a former pupil. 22 black-and-white photographs.

Astudiaeth awdurdodol a gafaelgar o fywyd a gwaith Herbert Howells 1892-1983, o dras Seisnig, Cymreig ac Albanaidd, cyfansoddwr ac organydd, llenor a darlledwr, a luniwyd gan gyn-ddisgybl iddo. 22 o ddarluniau du-a-gwyn.

Born in rural Gloucestershire in 1892 Herbert Howells achieved recognition as one of the supreme English composers of his generation. Paul Spicer, a former pupil, has written a balanced biography covering the life and work of a man whose music seems to be curiously neglected at the moment. I hope that this book may go at least some way to a renewed interest.

He was a pupil of Parry and Stanford and numbered among his friends Vaughan Williams and Walter de la Mere. He held a teaching post at Salisbury Cathedral and built up a reputation for church music. He also taught at St John’s, Cambridge and St. Paul’s school for girls. As a young man he became very ill and, on a purely experimental basis, was treated with radium, the first person to receive this treatment. Although he recovered, doctors could not foresee him living beyond early middle age. In fact he died at the age of ninety in 1983.

His daughter, Ursula Howells, became a well-known actress and she speaks frankly about her father’s strengths and weaknesses. He was certainly weak where women were concerned and became emotionally involved at the drop of a hat. When he lost his eight-year-old son to polio he never really recovered from the loss.

Paul Spicer is a former student and so has the advantage of having known his subject personally. He describes him as ‘a great musician and composer, a complex man and devoted and devastated father, a sensualist . . .’ I welcome this inclusion to Seren’s splendid Border Lines series of biographies which must rank as one of the most enterprising in Welsh publishing.

Dewi Roberts


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