Kenneth Shenton writes:
THROUGH his writings and editorial work, the musicologist Nicholas Temperley was able to bring a vibrant new dynamic, particularly to sacred-music scholarship. His outlook was shaped by early years in the organ loft, and he went on to enjoy international prominence. Perhaps his greatest legacy lies in his ability to bring special character to the many lesser-known stars of 19th-century music and culture: mere names in books until Temperley put flesh on scholarly bones with unfailing regularity.
A native of Beaconsfield, born in August 1932, into a family with a military background, Nicholas Mark Temperley was educated at Eton College, where he was guided by Sydney Watson. From there, in 1952, after he had spent 12 months at the Royal College of Music, his musical gifts took him to King’s College, Cambridge, where his tutors included Philip Radcliffe, Hubert Middleton, and Robin Orr. He also had organ lessons from Gordon Phillips.
After gaining his degree, he embarked on a three-year course of research, published as “Instrumental Music in England 1800-1850”. From 1959, he spent two years in the United States, with a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Illinois.
Back in England, he served as a fellow of Clare College and an assistant lecturer in the music faculty at the University of Cambridge. While there, acting as artistic adviser, Temperley made headlines by successfully resurrecting Edward Loder’s long-neglected opera, Raymond and Agnes, at the city’s arts theatre. It was subsequently broadcast by the BBC and then released on record.
Five years later, in 1966, he returned again to the US, initially as an assistant lecturer at Yale University before moving back to the University of Illinois, now as an associate professor. In 1972, he was appointed professor and chairman of its musicological division, subsequently becoming an American citizen.
Erudite and persuasive, Temperley proved a fine writer. Throughout his career, he contributed a wealth of finely written and knowledgeable articles and critiques to a wide range of specialist periodicals, including The Musical Times, Music and Letters, The Listener, The Organ Yearbook, and The Journal of the American Musicological Association. More expansive contributions featured in Encyclopedia Britannica, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, and, as an individual volume on Haydn’s oratorio The Creation, one of the impressive set of Cambridge Music Handbooks. Likewise, his sleeve notes increasingly graced the catalogues of all the great record companies.
Attracting particular widespread acclaim was his magisterial two-volume study, published in 1979, The Music of the English Church. No less impressive was his editorship both of Volume Five of the Athlone History of Music, Music in Britain: The Romantic age 1800-1914, and The Lost Chord: Essays on Victorian music. Temperley also made a definitive contribution to Roger Fiske and Harry Johnstone’s 1990 volume Music in Britain: The eighteenth century. Emanating from a 2007 conference, Music, Cultural History, and the Wesleys, held at the University of Bristol, was a joint volume edited in collaboration with Stephen Banfield, Music and The Wesleys.
Temperley’s reputation as a scholar had initially been forged during the 1960s with the publication of the score of Raymond and Agnes. Collaborating closely with Peter Tranchell, Peter Le Huray, and David Willcocks, the quartet issued two volumes of Tudor anthems for male voices.
In 1979, along with Geoffrey Bush, together they produced their critically acclaimed volume in the landmark Musica Britannica series, English Song 1800-1860. Produced in partnership with Sally Drage, a further collection of 18th-century psalmody appeared in 1985. From this, the pair extracted a more practical performing edition of eight hymns and psalms, Sing We Merrily.
An equally enduring legacy remains his contribution to our understanding of the music of the French composer Hector Berlioz. Temperley took responsibility for a definitive new edition of Symphonie Fantastique. His revised vocal score of Haydn’s Creation also attracted great acclaim, as did the 20 volumes of The London Piano School 1766-1860. A longstanding member of the Hymn Society of Great Britain and Ireland, he proved no less tireless in his many efforts to help to set up The Hymn Tune Census of English Language Hymn Tunes in Printed Sources from 1553 to 1820. His compositions include a Morning Service for double choir, organ works, and numerous songs.
The first President of North American British Music Studies Association, he was also co-founder of the Midwest Victorian Studies Association. In honour of his 80th birthday, colleagues from far and wide formulated a most warm and touching tribute, the Festschrift Music and Performance Culture in Nineteenth Century Britain: Essays in honour of Nicholas Temperley.
He died on 8 April, aged 87. His wife predeceased him. He is survived by a son and two daughters.
