Horace F Watling - info please

[Colin Pykett]

Horace F Watling was a blind organist (blind from birth I believe) whose life straddled the 19th and 20th centuries.  He wrote some quite attractive pieces for various instruments and ensembles which are played from time to time, though it is probably fair to say nobody would regard them as landmark compositions.  Currently I am trying to work up his "Minuet Antique" for organ (surely it ought to have been titled 'Menuet'?), though am finding it surprisingly tricky.  Somehow it does not seem to lie easily under the hands (at least, mine).  One reason is that it's in D flat major I guess, with frequent modulations.  It seems to ask to be played at a fair lick, about crotchet = 126 I feel, which adds to the problems.

I have an original copy dated 1921 issued by the National Institute for the Blind, and the piece was played by another (and better known) blind organist, Alfred Hollins, when he inaugurated the 'Grand Organ at Johannesburg' according to the copy.

Why on earth is he telling us all this, I hear you cry?  The reason is that I would just like to know when Watling was born and died.  Accepted wisdom says he lived from 1889 to 1959 (though even that date is uncertain).  But in my said copy of the music, it says he was born in 1869.  Surely in the first published edition of this piece, and by an organisation of which he was by then a leading light, he ought to have known when he himself was born?  But, as I said, it flies in the face of all other sources unless it was merely a typo (yet that, too, seems a bit far fetched).

Can anybody confirm the correct dates please, on the basis of primary rather than secondary (or even more remote) sources?

Colin Pykett

[Colin Pykett]

Well, I still don't have his dates, but that hasn't stopped me playing the said "Minuet Antique"!  I've put it on the web at:

http://www.colinpykett.org.uk/MinuetAntiqueWatling.mp3

I tried to adhere as closely as possible to his fairly detailed tempo and registration markings.  As he was blind, I feel his aural sense must have been particularly acute so it seemed inappropriate not to pay attention as to how he wanted it played.  Although I have 12 simulated 2 manual digital instruments available with Prog Organ, this meant I had to use my 3 manual organ because only that has the necessary range of stops and registration aids which the piece demands.

Good to know that I was playing something which was played at the opening recital of the great Hill organ at Johannesburg!

It's a nice little thing as light relief in an otherwise heavy recital programme, maybe?

Paul Derrett has included several of Watling's pieces on various of his "Benchmarks" CD's, including this piece.

Best

Colin Pykett