Meditation ("When Evening's Shadows fall."), Op. 29, No. 1

Hugh Blair (25 May 1864 – 22 July 1932) was an English musician, composer and organist. Born in Worcester, he was the son of Rev. Robert Hugh Blair, who founded Worcester College for the Blind in 1866. A chorister at Worcester Cathedral and a pupil at The King's School, Worcester, Blair was organ scholar at Christ's College, Cambridge, graduating B.A. 1886, Mus.B. 1887, M.A. 1896 and Mus.D. 1906.

He was Organist of Worcester Cathedral from 1895 to 1897, having been Acting Organist before that time. Edward Elgar dedicated his cantata "The Black Knight" to Blair, who was conductor of the Worcester Festival Choral Society. Blair also asked Elgar to write an organ voluntary for the visit of some American organists to Worcester, and received Elgar's first Organ Sonata as a result. Amazingly, the work took only two weeks from conception to first performance, but the haste with which Blair had learnt the work showed in a somewhat muddled rendition.

Worcester Cathedral Library contains copies of Blair's compositions, and his splendid Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in B minor for double choir is in the repertoire of every cathedral choir, and is still often performed and recorded.

"Meditation (When Evening's Shadows fall.)" is the first of four pieces, Op. 29. It is dedicated to To A.J.B. Littleton, Esq., and is a fine example of the "typical" early-20th century cathedral style. It is "controlled romanticism" at its best, and "sounds like" a closing voluntary, perhaps improvised, for a weekday evensong.

The score is attached below, as well as a photo of Hugh Blair with the choristers of Worcester Cathedral. (Blair is in the back row, right side.) You can find other compositions by Blair here: http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Blair,_Hugh

If you enjoyed this, you may also want to listen to "Elevation," which I uploaded sometime ago.

http://www.contrebombarde.com/concerthall/music/19819