Allegro (Twelve Miniatures, No. 9)

Henry Marcellus Higgs (1854-1929) was the son of Marcellus Higgs (1827-1897) and Clara Tomlin. His father, also an organist, published no organ music.

H. M. Higgs worked with several music publishers and published a fairly large output of organ music. I have no indication of any places at which he served as organist, but he clearly knew how to write for the instrument.

Unfortunately, I have little biographical information about Henry Higgs, but THANKS to our member "diapason," we now know that he was organist of Christ Church, Sutton, and St. Paul's Church, Great Portland Street, London. THANK YOU DIAPASON!

"Twelve Miniatures" dates from 1913 and was published by Novello & Co. Ltd. The set was part of the publisher's "Original Compositions for the Organ (New Series)," where it appears as No. 27. It is dedicated: "To A. Healey Foster, Esq." Each piece is different in style and format, and some could be called "studies" as they deal with a particular technical aspect of organ playing.

The ninth piece, "Allegro" is in the key of D minor, and written in 3/4 time. From beginning to end, this piece is all about a great storm, sweeping the listener along as the furor rages on. Often, these "storm pieces" end happily in the major, but here, Higgs keeps it minor to the end, final reaching a thunderous conclusion.

The work is very reminiscent of some of the "Preludes and Fugues" by Mendelssohn, and elements of Rheinberger's style is also present.

The registration indicated just says "Full Organ," but I've done some subtle shading in terms of "full," only reaching the fullest full at the very end. :-)

I have no photos of Henry Marcellus Higgs to share, but the score is attached below, as well as two photos of Christ Church, Sutton, where Higgs served as organist.