ORGANIST'S RECORD UNIQUE IN N.Z.

Radio Record, Volume IX, Issue 15, 18 October 1935, Page 16

ORGANIST'S RECORD UNIQUE IN N.Z.

Robert Parker, C.M.G., | -G.O.M. of Our Music "THAT charming author of books on musical subjects, Sydney Gren, maintains that whereas pianists, singers and violinists, and even composers tend, as time passes, to fall together into a general mass, out of this only a few individuals detach themselves. But each organ-player remains a separate being, who: can be contemplated as clearly as if he (or, of course, she) were the solitary example one had ever~ known. This is readily understood, es-' pecially as the long terms of organists’ service.are more and more investigated. In the case of Mr, Robert Parker, C.M.G., .who, on Sunday: last, entered upon his 58th year of continuous service as:organist and choirmaster at St. ‘ Paul’s Pro-Cathedral, Wellington, it: is ‘pleasing to note he is stiil hale and ~ particularly hearty in this, his 89th year. Mr. Parker is, of course,. known to a very. wide circle of people beyond his adopted city because of his broadcast talks through 2YA, which. afford him ‘an audience as appreciative as it is widespread. _. His musical services’ at St.. Paul’s, made familiar: to radio listeners every Sunday evening in the days of 2ZW, _and now at rarer intervals through 2YA, have also gained for him an army of grateful friends, "Among the. rea- _ sons-for this universal affection and . esteem-are Mr. Parker’s :sterling oh i _ eal gifts and his unique . ‘quality and outlook, which combine to. give us a thorough-going Victorian .with a sym- ', pathetic outlook on. modern life and contemporary music. Mr... Parker, before leaving England in 1869, vacated _ & post at Cambridge University, wherein he was succeeded by Sir (then Mr.) Charles Stanford, one of. the. stalwarts of. British: music. In the intervening ‘years Mr. Parker has witnessed many changes in- his art and _ -profession: Like any other sensible-minded Englishman, Mr. Parker: has adapted himself to tliese- changes and did not resent-:.them. ‘The latest, and perhaps the greatest of them all, radio: found in him a.valued and enthusiastic supporter, Through its means thousands of listeners have beén , permitted’ on occasion to share his vast knowledge and varied store of reminis- \ cence. One and all will wish him con- _ tinued health and strength and a happy eventide. of life, London, tie heart of the Empire, gave to Wellington. the Empire City of the Southern Seas, a musician who might have, .written his "name much larger on the scrojl of fame _at Home: had not delicate. health as a young man compelled him to seek a more genial climate, New Zealanders and music-lovers especially are thankful for his.lengthy period of service to his beloved art in this new country. ; The long-service roll of honour devoted to organists contains many other | unique records, two of. which may fittingly be referred to here. Among’ English organists the absolute record for long service seems to belong « to Charles Bridgeman, organist of All Saints, Hertford, for 81 years © (17921873). This important parish church welcomed a boy organist of 14, who held % a

t \ f the post until he reached the patriarchal age of 95! And well does J. T. Frye, the Essex boy-organist, deserve commemoration ‘in the stained-glass window erected to his memory in the church to which he went as a boy of eight in 1820 to serve the Parish Church, Saffron Walden, for no less than 64 years! There is a familiar ring about the following extract frém the 1868 files of the "Hertford Mercury" anent the

90th birthday of Mr. Bridgeman referred to above. The "Mercury" of nearly 70 years ago says: "Everything . changes now, and church music is not what it was, Some young people like the psalms played -to jig tunes, and musicians of the old classical school don’t like it. Our venerable nonagenarian organist always was of that school, and those who love its musicsweet, solemn, reverent and chasteare still refreshed by performances

which have lost but little of the grace and beauty which made Mr. Bridgeman eminent in years gone by." _ Much the same may be said of Mr. Robert Parker, C.M.G., New Zealand’s "Grand Old Man of Music."