{{short description|British musician}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}} {{Use British English|date=December 2016}} {{Infobox classical composer | name = Boris Ord | honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|CBE}} | image = File:Boris_Ord_portrait.jpg | image_size = | alt = photograph of Ord seated | caption = 1957 portrait photograph of Boris Ord by Antony Barrington Brown | birth_name = Bernhard Ord | birth_date = {{Birth date|1897|07|09|df=y}} | birth_place = Clifton, Bristol | death_date = {{Death date and age|1961|12|30|1897|07|09|df=y}} | death_place = Cambridge | occupations = Choirmaster, organist, composer | era = 20th-century | spouse = | children = | parents = Clement Ord and Johanna Anthes }} '''Boris Ord''' (born '''Bernhard Ord'''), {{postnominals|country=GBR|CBE}} (9 July 1897 – 30 December 1961) was a British organist and choirmaster of King's College, Cambridge (1929-1957). During World War II he served in the Royal Air Force. He is best known for his choral setting of ''Adam lay ybounden'', his only published composition.
==Early life and education== Bernhard Ord was born at Clifton, Bristol, the youngest son of Clement Ord, a lecturer at the University of Bristol, and Johanna Anthes. Having a German mother, Ord's given name was Bernhard, but he was later universally known by his nickname, Boris.<ref name="oup" /><ref name="beeson">{{cite book |last1=Beeson |first1=Trevor |title=In Tuneful Accord: The Church Musicians |date=2013 |publisher=SCM Press |isbn=9780334048138 |pages=139–40 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N2SmDwAAQBAJ&q=boris%20ord%20RAF&pg=PA139 |accessdate=2 October 2019 |language=en}}</ref>
Ord was educated at Clifton College, Bristol<ref>"Clifton College Register" Muirhead, J.A.O. p288: Bristol; J.W Arrowsmith for Old Cliftonian Society; April, 1948</ref> – as was his successor, Sir David Willcocks<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11872141/Sir-David-Willcocks-choirmaster-obituary.html|title=Sir David Willcocks, choirmaster - obituary|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=17 September 2015|accessdate=20 December 2017}}</ref> – and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he was the John Stewart of Rannoch scholar in Sacred Music.
Ord graduated from Clifton in 1914 aged 17, and he went to study at the Royal College of Music on an organ scholarship as a pupil of Walter Parratt. His studies were interrupted by the outbreak of World War I and Ord went to serve as a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps. After the war, he returned to the Royal College to continue his musical studies. In 1920, Ord won an organ scholarship at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. During his time there, he was very active in the musical life of the university and founded the Cambridge University Madrigal Society, in recognition of which he was awarded a Cambridge Fellowship in 1923.<ref name="beeson"/>
==Career== [[File:King's College Chapel, Cambridge 15.JPG|thumb|The interior of King's College Chapel, Cambridge (pictured February 2011), where Ord was organist from 1929 to 1957]] Ord spent a year working at the Cologne Opera in 1928, before returning to Cambridge as a conductor. In 1936, Ord became director of the Cambridge University Musical Society.<ref name="oup">{{cite web |title=Ord, Boris |url=https://oxfordindex.oup.com/oi/viewindexcard/10.1093$002fgmo$002f9781561592630.article.20410 |website=Oxford Music Online |publisher=OUP |accessdate=2 October 2019 |language=en}}</ref>
In 1929, Boris Ord took the position of organist of King's College, Cambridge, a role which placed him in charge of the chapel choir.<ref name="history-of-the-choir">{{cite web |title=History of the Choir |url=https://www.kings.cam.ac.uk/choir/history-of-the-choir |website=King's College Cambridge |accessdate=2 October 2019 |archivedate=2 October 2019 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20191002081920/https://www.kings.cam.ac.uk/choir/history-of-the-choir |url-status=live}}</ref> He was assisted by an organ scholar, a role held from 1939 by David Willcocks.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sir David Willcocks: Charismatic conductor and organist who raised |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/sir-david-willcocks-charismatic-conductor-and-organist-who-raised-choral-standards-round-the-world-10506561.html |website=The Independent |accessdate=2 October 2019 |language=en |date=18 September 2015}}</ref>
During his tenure at King's, Ord began to introduce more 16th-century music into the choral repertoire, replacing much of the Victorian music favoured by his predecessor, Arthur Henry Mann.<ref name="beeson"/> Ord became well acquainted with the dean of the college, Rev Eric Milner-White, who originally devised the service of Nine Lessons and Carols in 1918. When the Nine Lessons was first televised in 1954 by BBC Television, the choir was conducted by Ord.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Humphreys |first1=Garry |title=The Choir of King's College, Cambridge made world-famous by Boris Ord. |url=https://www.semibrevity.com/2012/05/the-choir-of-king%E2%80%99s-college-cambridge-and-the-man-who-made-it-famous-part-1/ |website=www.semibrevity.com |accessdate=2 October 2019 |date=20 May 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Coghlan |first1=Alexandra |title=Carols From King's |date=2016 |publisher=Random House |isbn=9781473530515 |page=168 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vvmpCwAAQBAJ&q=boris+ord+nine+lessons+1954+televised&pg=PA168 |accessdate=2 October 2019 |language=en}}</ref>
After the outbreak of World War II, both Ord and Willcocks left King's to join the armed forces. Ord served in an administrative role in the Royal Air Force, now being considered too old to fly. The composer Harold Darke deputised for Ord during that period.<ref name="history-of-the-choir" /><ref name="beeson"/>
In August and September 1948, Ord conducted the University Madrigal Society in the ruins of Berlin, as part of a Foreign Office soft-power tour in support of the Berlin Airlift.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Sweet Victory|last=Pearson|first=Joseph|date=2025|publisher=Pegasus Books|isbn=9781639368587|location=New York|publication-date=2025}}</ref>
In the mid 1950s, Ord began to suffer from disseminated sclerosis, and it was decided to split Ord's role into two new positions. Ord took on the new title of "director of music", while Willcocks was appointed to the role of organist. Ord retired in 1957, and Willcocks took over his role under the title "organist and director of music", a title which has since been held by all his successors.<ref name="history-of-the-choir" />
==Personal life== Ord was widely known within the music profession to be homosexual, and he never married.<ref>{{cite book|author=Day, Timothy|title=I Saw Eternity the Other Night: King's College, Cambridge, and an English Singing Style|year=2018|publisher=National Geographic Books |isbn=9780241352182}}</ref>
==Death== Ord died on 30 December 1961, aged 64, and was cremated on 5 January 1962 at Cambridge Crematorium. His ashes were interred in King's College Chapel.<ref>{{cite web |title=Bernhard "Boris" Ord |url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/188481224/bernhard-ord |website=Find a Grave |accessdate=2 October 2019}}</ref>
==Composition== Ord is known for his only published piece of music, a choral setting of a medieval text, ''Adam lay ybounden'', written in 1957.<ref name="kennedy">{{cite book |last1=Kennedy |first1=Michael |last2=Bourne |first2=Joyce |title=The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music |date=2004 |publisher=Oxford University Press, USA |isbn=9780198608844 |page=[https://archive.org/details/conciseoxforddic00kenn/page/533 533] |url=https://archive.org/details/conciseoxforddic00kenn |url-access=registration |quote=boris ord adam lay 1957. |accessdate=2 October 2019 |language=en}}</ref> Ord's carol is frequently performed at the popular annual service Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King's,<ref>{{cite web |title=King's College Chapel Choir 100 Years of Nine Lessons & Carols KING'S COLLEGE CAMBRIDGE KGS0033 [MR] Classical Music Reviews: November 2018 - MusicWeb-International |url=http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2018/Nov/Kings_100_KGS0033.htm |website=MusicWeb International |accessdate=2 October 2019}}</ref> sometimes alternating with the other settings by Peter Warlock and Philip Ledger.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Sinden |first1=David |title=2017 Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols: Adam's Fall – Richard Elfyn Jones {{!}} blog.sinden.org |url=http://blog.sinden.org/2017/12/2017-festival-of-nine-lessons-and_4.html |accessdate=2 October 2019}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== Jacobs A. ''A New Dictionary of Music 3rd edition''. Penguin Books, Middlesex, 1973.
==External links== *{{youTube|Rr6yZ-deibU|The 1954 Carol Service in King's College Chapel, Cambridge, conducted by Boris Ord}}
{{s-start}} {{s-culture}} {{succession box | title=Director of Music, King's College, Cambridge | before=Arthur Henry Mann | years=1929–1957 | after=Sir David Willcocks}} {{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ord, Boris}} Category:1897 births Category:1961 deaths Category:People educated at Clifton College Category:Fellows of King's College, Cambridge Category:English classical organists Category:English choral conductors Category:Royal Air Force officers Category:Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Category:20th-century British classical musicians Category:20th-century English musicians Category:20th-century British organists Category:20th-century British male musicians Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:British male classical organists