Kenneth Shenton writes:
THE hymn arranger and composer David Iliff perhaps never received quite the recognition that he was due. He had a quiet self-confidence, yet without a hint of self-importance, and was perhaps most comfortable in a quiet room with a stack of music proofs and a red pen, seeking out errors. He would then gently give his thoughts and make constructive suggestions on how best to refine, enhance, and improve the musical grammar. In this he reigned supreme and deservedly so.
Born in Margate on 19 March 1939, Iliff was the middle son of the much travelled civil engineer Edgar Iliff and his wife, Vera (née Kirby). The family had a long association with the work of the Church Missionary Society.
From King Henry VIII School, Coventry, Iliff, a talented organist, read music at Goldsmiths’ College, University of London. He then taught at Bushey Hall School in Watford, and became director of music at Emmanuel Church, Northwood.
In the ’80s, he moved to Brussels, to teach at the British School, and he took up a post as director of music of the pro-cathedral in 1996. He moved back to England, and served at Malvern Priory from 2008 till 2012.
Iliff’s roots were based very firmly in Evangelical Anglicanism in 1980, and, in 1997, he became a director of Jubilate Hymns, which had been set up by Michael Saward, Michael Baughen, and Timothy Dudley-Smith. Two years previously, he had undertaken a hugely successful promotional tour of the US. He served as a longstanding member of the music committee that helped to create Hymns For Today’s Church, published in 1982. He went on to advise on its revision five years later. More major Jubilate editions quickly followed, including Carols For Today, Psalms for Today, and Sing Glory.
Together with John Barnard, Iliff compiled and edited four photocopiable publications for the Royal School of Church Music: The Carol Book and The Carol Book Supplement, Season by Season, and Songs, Psalms and Spirituals. A fifth volume, for upper voices, All Glorious Above, produced with Piers Maxim, completed the series. Original arrangements include his treatment of Baughen’s setting of Dudley-Smith’s “Lord, for the Years”, while Brian Foley’s words from Isaiah 53 are admirably supported by his bold harmonisation of the Agincourt Song. Both have entered the core repertoire of hymnody; equally so his many and varied carol arrangements. Each is carefully and precisely imagined, their structures handled with fluency and care.
This talent as a refiner of other people’s music has tended to obscure the merits of Iliff’s own original output, most notably a series of hymn tunes together with a single text. Traditional in style but surprisingly modern in outlook are more than 20 tunes, many set to texts by his Jubilate colleague, Michael Perry. Notable among these is the imaginative Church Close. Tunes, arrangements, and descants are also included in Ancient and Modern: Hymns and songs for refreshing worship of 2013.
His vastly beneficial, but anonymous behind-the-scenes work, retains a quiet dignity not always seen in contemporary English hymnody.
Retirement on his native south coast was sadly clouded by Alzheimer’s and other frailties.
David Iliff died on 4 December 2024, aged 85.
