No.127
The Trusty Servant
Julian Smith (Co Ro, 53-92; visiting singing teacher until 2012)
Keith Pusey (Master of Music, 84-04;
Director of Studies 04-09; Registrar 09-12)
writes:
Julian Smith had more than a
promising start to his singing career.
There might have been some surprise
when, in 1953, at just 23 years of
age, he accepted Walter Oakeshott’s
invitation to join the staff at
Winchester: a position as a full-time
don, and then as a visiting teacher,
that lasted right up to 2012, perhaps
an unprecedented tenure.
Julian had many advantages. He
was tall, imposing and good-looking.
His voice had an encompassing
resonance. With an attractive and
sunny personality, he was at home
presenting music programmes for
television, giving recitals on national
radio, appearing as a soloist for
Beecham and Klemperer, and singing
with some of the finest singers of the
post-War decades: Wilfred Brown,
Janet Baker, Isobel Baillie, Peter
Pears, Heather Harper and Alfred
Deller. On stage, he was an acclaimed
Papageno for Chelsea Opera Group’s
production of Mozart’s The Magic
Flute – in a cast that included Ilse
Wolf, Roger Norrington and John
Shirley-Quirk. A chorister at King’s
College, Cambridge (the Director
of Music was Dr Harold Darke), he
went on to Dulwich College where he
played 1st X1 cricket for three years.
Scoring 94 against Tonbridge in his
final year, he fell to the bowling of
a young Colin Cowdrey. National
Service took him to Vienna, where
he worked as a translator in the
Intelligence Corps. Hauled from a
train whilst in the Russian sector of
the city, he survived by using natural
charm and wit. He read Music at
Edinburgh University, and, already
making a name for himself whilst still
an undergraduate, he sang for two
seasons at Glyndebourne. Studies
with Roy Henderson and Elena
Gerhardt at the Guildhall followed.
With a partial volte-face, he turned
down a scholarship to the Royal
College of Music in order to pursue a
career as a schoolmaster.
In the 1950s music teachers at leading
schools were almost always organists,
but Winchester’s imaginative choice
brought the school a singer of real
quality. This was understood and
successive headmasters encouraged
him to continue to give performances.
Julian’s arrival paid handsome
dividends. When he arrived, Chantry
was the chapel for boys in their
first year, and he directed Chantry
Choir. Taking congregational
practices in Chapel for 30 years
5
with a congregational repertoire
that the boys really wanted to sing
and teaching singing to groups and
to individuals (a large number later
became professional musicians), he
radiated the conviction that music
was something to be passionate
about. An inspirational teacher and
musician, he founded three choirs
(Madrigal Society, the Kingsgate
Singers and St Michael’s Choir),
taught German, ran Printing Soc
and, for a while, was in charge of
Mill. Taking the Yearlings XI for ten
years, he also passed on an infectious
enthusiasm for cricket and golf.
Beyond the school, he invited all the
local primary schools to sing in the
annual Mayor’s Christmas Carols
and he continued the tradition
established by Sir George Dyson
of encouraging local village choirs
to take part in the Winchester and
County Music Festival – often
coaching the choirs himself.
His diversity and sheer zest for life
did not diminish his commitment
to performance. He was the prophet
Elijah, the dashing toreador Escamillo
with whom Carmen fell head-long in
love. Gerald Finzi’s Let us Garlands
Bring displayed his wonderful diction
and enunciation – a hallmark of his
style. He sang as a soloist in the great
choral works, often in the Cathedral,
for more than three decades, and
there were numerous operatic
appearances – The Fairy-Queen, King
Arthur, The Magic Flute and Fidelio.
But perhaps the highest points were
recitals with the exceptional pianists
David Gwilt and Robert Bottone
with whom he established a life-long
collaboration.
In 1979, he became Director of
Chapel Music and the Quiristers.