Edward Higginbottom

{{Short description|English choirmaster (born 1946)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Edward Higginbottom | honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|FRCO}} | image = | image_size = | landscape =  | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | alias = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1946|11|16|df=yes}} | birth_place = Kendal<ref name=Grove15>{{cite web|last1=Carson|first1=Ian|title=Higginbottom, Edward|url=http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/42800?q=higginbottom&search=quick&source=omo_gmo&pos=1&_start=1|website=Grove Music Online|accessdate=26 August 2015}}</ref> | origin = | death_date =  | death_place = | genre = Choral music | occupation = Musicologists, Organist, Choirmaster | instrument = Pipe Organ | years_active = 1970- | label = Novum | website =  }}

'''Edward Higginbottom''' (born 16 November 1946, Kendal) is a music scholar, organist, choirmaster and conductor.<ref name=NewBiog15>{{cite web|title=Professor Edward Higginbottom Emeritus Fellow, New College|url=http://www.music.ox.ac.uk/about/people/academic-staff/emeritus-fellows/edward-higginbottom/|website=New College Oxford|accessdate=26 August 2015|archive-date=18 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018063653/http://www.music.ox.ac.uk/about/people/academic-staff/emeritus-fellows/edward-higginbottom/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Most of his career has been as organist at New College, Oxford, where he led their choir for more than 35 years and produced a large number of choral recordings.

==Musical biography== thumb|Montiverdi Vespers New College Before moving on to St Mary's Church in Warwick, Edward was a chorister at his local parish church where he started playing the organ.<ref name=OxfordTime14 /> Edward completed his undergraduate and graduate training as organ scholar of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he developed a particular interest in French baroque music<ref name="BachCantatas15">{{cite web|title=Edward Higginbottom (Conductor)|url=https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Higginbottom-Edward.htm|website=Bach Cantatas|accessdate=26 August 2015}}</ref> and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists. He toured regularly in France at that time as director of the Cambridge University Purcell Society.<ref name= NewBiog15 /> As a graduate student, he spent time in France (1970–1972), studying the organ with Marie-Claire Alain while working on his doctoral thesis.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The liturgy and French classical organ music: a study of the liturgical background to organ music in France during the 17th and 18th centuries.|url=http://idiscover.lib.cam.ac.uk/primo-explore/search?vid=44CAM_PROD&lang=en_US&tab=default_tab&query=any,contains,(UkCU)9492-manuscrpdb&search_scope=default_scope&sortby=rank|last=Higginbottom|first=Edward|date=|website=idiscover.lib.cam.ac.uk|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-05-02}}</ref>

He was appointed as the Organist and Director of Music at New College, Oxford in 1976. While the main role of the choir is to provide liturgical music for worship, Edward went further, organizing economically viable choir tours and a broad set of musical recordings. By doing so, he "has helped the cause of such institutions through a period when financial constraints and changes in social attitudes have threatened choral foundations".<ref name=Grove15 />

In 1990 he was made an officer,<ref name=Grove15 /> and subsequently a ''Commandeur'' of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture for "his role in the revival of choir schools in France and support of French cultural activities".<ref name=NewBiog15 />

In 2010 he formed a new recording label for the Choir, novum, and the choir began experimenting with weekly webcasting of their Evensong services.<ref name=Smith10>{{cite news|last1=Smith|first1=Charlotte|title=Edward Higginbottom and the Choir of New College, Oxford announce new recording label|url=https://www.gramophone.co.uk/classical-music-news/edward-higginbottom-and-the-choir-of-new-college-oxford-announce-new-recording-|accessdate=26 August 2015|agency=Gramophone|date=26 July 2010}}</ref>

Retiring from New College in 2014, he continues his musical career as a freelancer.<ref name=OxfordTime14 /> He is the principal conductor of an Oxford ensemble called Instruments of Time and Truth.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Lisle|first1=Nicola|title=Frustration spurred on new Oxford orchestra|url=https://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/leisure/music/classical/13364438.Frustration_spurred_on_new_Oxford_orchestra/|accessdate=20 November 2016|work=The Oxford Times|date=2 July 2015}}</ref> In spite of his retirement, however, he was named in March 2019 as the Director of Chapel Music at St Peter's College, Oxford for the 2019/20 academic year, pending the appointment of a successor to Jeremy Summerly in 2020.<ref name=Peters>{{cite web|title=Edward Higginbottom appointed new Director of Music|url=https://www.spc.ox.ac.uk/news/edward-higginbottom-appointed-new-director-music|website=St Peter's College, Oxford|accessdate=13 September 2019|archive-date=13 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191013051738/https://www.spc.ox.ac.uk/news/edward-higginbottom-appointed-new-director-music|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Personal life== Edward and his wife Caroline have 7 adult children,<ref name=OxfordTime14>{{cite news|last1=Woodforde|first1=Giles|title=Choir director Edward Higginbottom to step down after 38 years|url=http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/features/11170081.Edward_Higginbottom__four_decades_of_direction/|accessdate=26 August 2015|date=24 April 2014}}</ref> including his son (who was also a chorister) Orlando, better known professionally as Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, an animal chiropractor, a jeweller, a doctor, a teacher, a timpanist, and a writer.{{Citation needed|date=November 2025|reason=not sure if all these vocations are of one child or all seven. couldn't find this information in given link}}

An early episode of ITV's Inspector Morse featured a character based on Edward Higginbottom (although the suspect, and his obsession with Spangles and Trebor Mints, bears no similarity to the real Edward Higginbottom).

==Recordings== Recent recordings include: {| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! Title!! Composer !! Performers !! Year |- | Music for Salzburg Cathedral|| Mozart || Choir of New College Oxford, Collegium Novum || 2013 |- | Musique sacrée|| Charpentier || Choir of New College Oxford, Oxford Baroque || 2013 |- | Britten, The Sacred Choral Music|| Benjamin Britten || Choir of New College Oxford|| 2013 |- | Haydn, Nelson Mass|| Joseph Haydn || Choir of New College Oxford, New Century Baroque, Jonty Ward, Hugh Cutting, Nick Pritchard, Tom Edwards || 2012 |- | Illumina: Music of Light|| Mahler, Rutter, Bach and others|| Choir of New College Oxford|| 2012 |- | Francois Couperin, Exultent superi|| Francois Couperin || Soloists of the Choir of New College Oxford, Collegium Novum|| 2011 |- | W. A. Mozart, Requiem|| Mozart|| Choir of New College Oxford, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment|| 2011 |- | Claudio Monteverdi, Vespro della Beata Vergine 1610|| Claudio Monteverdi || Nicholas Mulroy, Thomas Hobbs, Thomas Raskin, Choir of New College Oxford, Charivari Agreable|| 2010 |- | J S Bach, Motets || Bach || Choir of New College Oxford|| 2009 |- | The Victorian and Edwardian Anthem|| Elgar, Parry, Stainer and others|| Choir of New College Oxford, Nicholas Wearne, David Newsholme|| 2008 |- | Nicholas Ludford, Missa Benedicta & antiennes votives|| Nicholas Ludford || Choir of New College Oxford|| 2008 |- | Haydn, The Creation|| Joseph Haydn || Lawson, Muller, Stout, Choir of New College Oxford, Oxford Philomusica|| 2008 |- | Evensong at New College Oxford|| Harris, Coward, Stanford and others|| Choir of New College Oxford, Nicholas Wearne, Robert Patterson, Jane Shaw|| 2008 |- | The Art of the Chorister|| Mendelssohn, Couperin, Mozart and others|| The Choristers of New College Oxford, Collegium Novum String Ensemble, Collegium Novum Baroque Strings|| 2008 |- | Poulenc and his French Contemporaries|| Poulenc, Francis/Messiaen, Olivier/Villiette, Pierre|| Choir of New College Oxford, David Newsholme, Nicholas Wearne|| 2006 |- | Macmillan and his British Contemporaries|| Macmillan, Anderson, Dove and others || Choir of New College Oxford, Robert Patterson, Nicholas Wearne|| 2006 |- | Handel, Messiah (1751 Version)|| Handel|| Jenkinson, Jones, Brookes, Davies, Spence, Dougan, Choir of New College Oxford, The Academy of Ancient Music|| 2006 |- | Copland and his American Contemporaries|| Copland, Hailstork, Stravinsky and others|| Choir of New College Oxford|| 2006 |- | The Georgian Anthem|| Wesley, Crotch, Battishill and others || Choir of New College Oxford|| 2004 |- | J S Bach, St John Passion|| Bach || Gilchrist, Bernays, Dougan, Bowman, Beale, Baldy, Littlewood, Choir of New College Oxford, Collegium Novum|| 2003 |}

==Publications related to music== Edward Higginbottom has edited music by François Couperin and Michel Corrette, and written articles on French Baroque music.<ref name=Grove15 />

* "Organ Music and the liturgy", Cambridge Companion to the Organ<ref name=Thistlethwaite>{{cite book|editor1-last=Thistlethwaite|editor1-first=Nicholas|editor2-last=Webber|editor2-first=Geoffrey|title=The Cambridge companion to the organ|series=Cambridge Companions to Music|date=1998|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge, U.K.|isbn=0521575842|edition=7th print.}}</ref> * "The French classical organ school", Cambridge Companion to the Organ

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [http://www.newcollegechoir.com/ Choir of New College, Oxford] * [http://www.newcollegechoir.com/novum.html Novum] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304045259/http://www.newcollegechoir.com/novum.html |date=4 March 2016 }} * [https://www.last.fm/music/Choir+of+New+College+Oxford%2FEdward+Higginbottom Last FM, Choir of New College] * [http://www.timeandtruth.co.uk/ Instruments of Time and Truth] * {{youTube|id=cODdMJSpo8g|title=Higgi, Inspiring Voices - Teaser}} * {{YouTube|OvHUgnLXueQ|My New College Moment - Edward Higginbottom, 2020}}

{{s-start}} {{s-culture}} {{s-bef|before=David Lumsden}} {{s-ttl|title=Organist and Master of the Choristers of New College, Oxford |years=1976–2014}} {{s-aft|after=Robert Quinney}} {{end}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Higginbottom, Edward}} Category:1946 births Category:Living people Category:Cathedral organists Category:English classical composers Category:Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Category:Fellows of New College, Oxford Category:20th-century English musicians Category:Fellows of the Royal College of Organists Category:Organists of New College, Oxford Category:21st-century organists

Edward Higginbottom

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