Charles Wood: Hail Gladdening Light

Charles Wood was born in Armagh, Ireland, in 1866. Influenced by his father, a tenor in the choir of the nearby St Patrick's Cathedral, he received organ and piano tuition early in his life at the Armagh Cathedral Church School. In 1883 he became one of fifty inaugural class members of the brand new Royal College of Music, studying composition with Stanford and Parry, and French horn and piano. Following four years of training, he continued his studies at Selwyn College, Cambridge, where he taught harmony and counterpoint. In 1889 he became organ scholar at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, becoming a fellow in 1894.

After Stanford died in 1924, Wood became Professor of Composition at the University. He was made Professor of Harmony at the RCM in 1897 and, like Stanford, held both posts concurrently. Holding four separate degrees from Cambridge (BA, Bmus, MA, MusD), Wood was one of the first Chief Examiners of the Associated Board (founded in 1891). He is chiefly remembered for his Anglican church music, and his St Mark Passion is still sometimes performed. His pupils included Ralph Vaughan Williams at Cambridge and Herbert Howells at the Royal College of Music. He died in 1926 and is still remembered on an hourly basis in Cambridge for the distinctive clock chimes which he composed for the Gonville and Caius College clock.

The words of Hail Gladdening Light come from a poem by the Tractarian John Keble. They are based on the third century Greek hymn Phos Hilaron (Φώς Іλαρόν). Keble held the Chair of Poetry at the University of Oxford in the early nineteenth century, and was one of the prime movers in the Oxford Movement. Keble College Oxford was built as a memorial to him in 1870.

Hail, gladdening light, of His pure glory poured
Who is th'immortal Father, heavenly, blest,
Holiest of Holies – Jesus Christ our Lord.

Now we are come to the sun's hour of rest;
The lights of evening round us shine;
We hymn the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit divine.

Worthiest art thou at all times to be sung
With undefiled tongue,
Son of our God, giver of life, alone:
Therefore in all the world thy glories, Lord, they own.

The music is a strident, antiphonal work for double choir in ternary form. The bright, outer, homophonic sections contrast with a more mellow middle section.