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www.hymncds.com has a wide range of accompaniments for hymns and worship songs, plus organ voluntaries. Read more >>

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The Sacred Flame - Cambridge Singers   


I'll be honest, my mental image of the Cambridge Singers is of rather heavy handed singing, suitable for John Rutter's jolly carols, but not exactly competition for the Sixteen. However in this collection of Renaissance and Baroque they have proved they can do subtlety too. The Monteverdi pieces bounce along with just enough lightness. There's a wonderful range of the best music here. Gesualdo's O vos omnes, for example, is full of 'he can't do that!' moments - it's electrifying. Buxtehude's chunky and jubilant Magnificat adds a little light relief among the exquisite likes of Victoria and Josquin Desprez... and it runs through neatly through Schütz to the (relatively) trendy 'new' music of Mr Bach.


All in all a great collection.


 

Who was Caleb Simper?

1856-1942

By Brian Clegg

"Composers with ridiculous names: their names are about the one thing these composers couldn't help; other aspects of their activities are less innocent." Ralph Vaughan Williams on Simper and Maunder.

This is not about CDs, but an oddity of a composer. Caleb Simper is not the usual sort of composer you would expect to find on this website. Victorian church composers were often not of the highest quality, and few would rank Simper with Stainer. But the fascination of Caleb Simper is his invisibility. Here was a man who sold over 5 million copies of his sheet music. Just think of that - an army of Simper anthems - yet he is practically invisible. Do a web search on Simper and you will come up with only a handful of entries. He's not in Grove, or many other musical references. Yet he clearly plucked many a Victorian and Edwardian heartstring.

Certainly in some parts, Simper has never gone away. The music cupboard of our rural Wiltshire choir in the West of England contains several Simper masterpieces:

- and one of them, the over-the-top Easter anthem King of Kings remains a hot favourite with our older members. But who was Simper, and what happened to him? The description of Simper and his work below owes much to the pamphlet Sung Throughout the Civilised World by Christopher Turner, published by Devon County Council in 1992.

Photograph from the collection of the North Devon Record Office, reproduced with permission


Where has he gone?

As many as 2.5 million copies sold by 1892. Up to 3.25 million by 1895 and surpassing 5 million by 1920. This was a superstar of the church music business. According to the extravagant claims of the advertising on the back of Simper's music, it was performed in no end of countries, at as many a music festival as you would care to shake a stick at, and even in front of Her Majesty, who, as far as we are aware, was amused.


So how could this man disappear off the musical face of the earth? Nothing short of character assassination at a time when all things Victorian were treated with distain. By the end of his life, Simper was a living fossil (this very Victorian composer was still alive when Britten published Ceremony of Carols). We have to bear in mind that there was a time when even the heights of Victorian genius, even buildings like the National History Museum in London, were considered vulgar and ridiculous. When the legacy had the much more fragile nature of sheet music, it was all too easy to go through the cupboard and dump in the bin anything that smacked of Victorian enthusiasm and naivety.


With little interest from the historians of church music, Simper was destined to be little more than footnotes - and then usually unpleasant ones:



I have not been able to unearth any of his compositions to see whether the scorn and derision poured on his head by the musical authorities is justified. Virginia Osborne (Victorian Church Music - Sentimental or Sublime, Laudate No 17)

In the end, the trouble was that Simper was no great composer, just a workmanlike provider of easy-singing, easy-listening anthems and other church music. Where Simper's anthems have survived they are popular with older congregations and choirs - and are easily singable with the sort of resources most smaller choirs face these days. Perhaps Caleb deserves a little better coverage.


Simper, the man

Caleb Simper was born on 12 September 1856 in the village of Barford St. Martin, a village on the Shaftsbury road to the West of Salisbury in Wiltshire. His parents were Alfred Simper, a "boot and shoemaker", and Elizabeth Clare.


Simper's parents' wedding certificate reads: 1852 Marriage solemnized at Crow Lane Chapel, Wilton in the District of Wilton Union in the county of Wilts. Second of September 1852 Alfred Simper 31 years Bachelor, Shoemaker, Barford St Martin (father John Simper, Labourer) and Elizabeth Clare 32 years Spinster, Barford St Martin (father George Clare, Dairyman). Married in the said chapel according to the rites and ceremonies of the Independent Dissenters by me, Charles Baker. This marriage was solemnized between us Alfred Simper, Elizabeth Clare in the presence of us, Anna Clare, Lydia Clare, George Simper.


Alfred was a violinist who played with various local ensembles, including Salisbury Musical Society. Unusually for the time, the Simpers seemed to have had a small family - Caleb only had one known sibling, Alfred Clare Simper, five years his junior.


As far as we know Simper had no formal musical training, though his first job that was recorded (certainly not his first employment) was as manager of E. J. Sparks & Co, a music warehouse based at 12 High Street, Worcester (just two doors away from Elgar Brothers, the music shop owned by Edward Elgar's father and uncle). It has been assumed that he moved to Worcester shortly after his marriage in 1879 to Emily Yates, a 30-year-old Australian who was living at the time with her aunt and uncle in Wilton, just a few miles from Barford. These details from Caleb and Emily's marriage certificate show, in fact, that Simper was already in Worcester by then:


Marriage solemnized at the Independent Chapel, Crow Lane, Wilton in the District of Wilton in the County of Wilts Eleventh March 1879


Caleb Simper 22 years Bachelor, Music seller, 54 High Street Worcester (father Alfred Simper, bootmaker)


Emily Yates 26 years Spinster, Wilton, Wiltshire (father Thomas Yates (deceased) manager of stores)

Married in the Independent Chapel according to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Independents by License by me, Henry Platt, Minister This marriage was solemnized between us, Caleb Simper, Emily Yates, in the Presence of us Pardoe Yates, Amy Yates Frances Wiles, Registrar


Although it seems from the location of his wedding (the same as his parents) that Simper came from a non-conformist background, he was soon involved in a Church of England establishment in Worcester. Presumably by now he was a competent keyboard player, as he was appointed organist and choirmaster to St Mary Magdalene church, a neo-gothic Victorian building that at the time was a popular place of worship. He still held this position in 1886 when he was paid £7.10s for 3 months duties as organist and choirmaster.


Dr George Chryssides tells us this about the organ Simper played: "the Worcester instrument is quite an impressive one - a fairly bright three-manual instument. Simper must have written some of this music with this instrument in mind: although his material is usable on any keyboard instrument, he occasionally mentions stop names like 'Cremona' (a variant of 'Krumhorn') - not a terribly common stop name, but it features in St M M's specifications. There is a picture of the instrument on the National Pipe Organ Register's web site (http://lehuray2.csi.cam.ac.uk/npor.html), although the instrument is no longer at Worcester, having been moved to St Chistoforuskerk, Schagen, Holland. It is described as a 'very musical and effective organ though a little throttled in the chamber' (presumably meaning that there is rather a lot of pipework for the area available). There is more information on the organ at www.nicholsonschagen.nl.


"Judging by the dates, it seems likely that Simper was in post at the time when the organ was completed. He would only have been 27 at the time, which raises an interesting question of why such a young man, who apparently lacked musical qualifications, should have been let loose on such a fine instrument. One imagines that, in a cathedral city, there must have been quite a few good qualified musicians around. Was Simper appointed simply because of the quality of his playing? (We don't actually know for sure what was like.)"


It was at St Mary Magdalene, Worcester, that Simper wrote his first anthem He is risen for the choir to sing at Easter - it was published under the name Edwyn (sic) A. Clare. Quite why he used his mother's maiden name isn't clear (unless he found his own name embarrassing).


During their stay in Worcester the Simpers had three children - Alfred Thomas, Edwin Caleb and Roland Chalmers (1889). A few years after Roland's birth the family decamped to the Devon town of Barnstaple, where Simper remained for the rest of his life. Here he started a brief partnership with one John Thomas White (White also moved from Worcester, so they probably knew each other through Sparks). They ran a music warehouse, selling pianos, American organs, harmoniums and sheet music in a building at 84 High Street.


This business seemed to be the reason for moving to Barnstaple, but it was a poorly timed decision for Simper, as it  coincided with the meteoric rise of popularity of his music. Within months of the business opening up, the North Devon Journal of 29 October 1891 carried the following announcement:


The increasing popularity of Mr Caleb Simper as a composer has induced him to apply himself solely to his profession and he has retired in favour of Mr White under whose control and management the business will be conducted hitherto.


Simper was now 34 - he must have been doing pretty well to 'retire in favour of Mr White' at such a young age. Simper began to work from home - 9 Taw Vale Parade in Barnstaple - picking up on successes like the two prizes he had won in a hymn tune competition run by the Manchester Sunday School Union, and the growing revenue from sheet music sales. (George Chryssides comments: "I assume that the competition-winning ones are 'Barnstaple' and 'Suppose', written to 'O what can little hands do' and 'Suppose the little cowslip' respectively. These are in my copy of The Sunday School Hymnary (1905), edited by Carey Bonner. As far as I see, this volume makes no specific mention of the Manchester Sunday School Society, and is published in London.")


At about the same time, Simper took over as organist and choirmaster at Emmanuel Church, Barnstaple, a building belonging to a breakaway sect from the Church of England, the Reformed Episcopal Church. He also seems to have been playing at St John the Baptist, Newport on the outskirts of Barnstaple, from occasional payments that were made.

He moved on to be organist and choirmaster at St Mary Magdalene, Barnstaple in 1897, for which choir his cantata The Rolling Seasons was written, a popular work if this letter from a Dorset vicar is anything to go by:


Our people quite appreciated your cantata, 'The Rolling Seasons', which we used for our Harvest Evensong. Our soloists came from Exeter, one of them being a member of the Cathedral Choir. Our Choir have enjoyed their practices, as the music is in every way tuneful and within the compass of an average Choir.


Next year came what would become Simper's other best-known cantata, The Nativity of Christ, which, like Stainer's Crucifixion, used hymns (or in this case, carols) to engage the congregation. 1898 also saw the first volume of Simper organ pieces published (which also included a piece written by his son Roland at the age of 8).


Specifications of St Mary's organ as played by Simper can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register, which is on-line at http://lehuray2.csi.cam.ac.uk/npor.html. According to Dr Chryssides, "The St M M's organ appears to have been built in 1884, so it seems very likely that Simper would have played it in its original state. It looks a very mediocre, rather stodgy instrument - little upper-work, and the only reed being an oboe at that time. As a practical musician, Simper obviously did not aspire to playing a prestigious instrument. As I remember, some of Simper's voluntaries specify Trumpets - so he was altruistic enough to write for superior instruments to the one he regularly used! Assuming he played his own organ music in church, I wonder how he coped with the crescendo markings, since a balanced Swell pedal was not added until 1959." - Some light on this may come from this observation from John Chryssides: "All the books [of Simper's voluntaries] contain 'hairpin' cresc. and dim. markings. You point out that Simper's organ did not have a balanced swell until a later date, but we don't know whether it had no swell device whatever, or whether it was one which was not balanced - e.g. one of these ratchet affairs."


Around the turn of the century, Simper and family moved to Ashleigh Road, Barnstaple in a house they called Kilbirnie. Simper gave up playing at St Mary Magdalene in 1904, apparently due to ill health, though he was to live more than 40 years longer - and soon become choirmaster at St John the Baptist, Newport, where Roland was already organist. In fact Roland may have been a more accomplished organist than Simper himself, as he is described in Simper's books of voluntaries as "Roland Chalmers Simper FRCO LRAM", where Simper never mentions his own qualifications, if he had any.

It seems that Caleb, though sometimes strict, could be quite a jolly choirmaster - a choirboy under him, William Symons, remembered being taken out with the other boys for a tea of bangers and mash, followed by the cinema.


1916 brought the death of Simper's wife Emily at the age of 65 (on 2 February, of diabetes), followed the next year on 4 April by the death of Roland in Harrogate. The North Devon Journal recorded:


The sad news, which reached Mr Caleb Simper by telegram yesterday was wholly unexpected and came as a terrible shock. Mr Roland Simper had been in good health... but yesterday morning Mr Simper received a letter stating that his son was very ill and could not be moved. Mr Simper at once left Barnstaple for Harrogate, but received a message at Exeter Station to the effect that his son had passed away. Death was due to pneumonia.


Caleb was to remarry shortly after Roland's death to Katherine Ada Pearce, the 32-year-old daughter of a local baker (Simper was 60 at the time). An example of local wit at this significant age difference was: "Why did Caleb Simper? Because Kath pierced his heart."


Simper's composing continued at least until the 1920s, but he was less prolific. He died at home on 28 August 1942, at the age of 85, leaving an estate worth over £20,000 - a considerable sum. Katherine lived on in the same house until she was 86, dying as late as 1971.


Simper's music

As we have already seen, the marks of Simper's composition at its best were tunefulness and ease of singing. His popularity was reflected in letters from enthusiastic organists and choir leaders from Oxfordshire...

How popular your music is! Certainly you are one of the most highly gifted men in - yes the world! You seem to go on year after year with your music as fresh as ever.

... to New York:

I want to tell you how much I have enjoyed your anthems. They are so singable, and not difficult, and entirely lacking the trivial character so often found in anthems. I have used very many of them and recommend them to my pupils who have choirs.


Certainly these pieces moved vigorously off the shelves. His first published anthem, He is risen, reached its 105th edition - each edition being 1,000 copies. Much of his music was published in both stave notation and the then popular tonic sol-fa.


What of the music itself? For organists and choirmasters things were kept simple - apart from introductions and interludes, the organ part largely doubled the choir. This certainly misses a lot of musical opportunities, but anyone who has led a choir with limited abilities will be aware how much easier it can make life. Simper produced a total of 217 anthems, eight of them with orchestral parts (which were also available for the cantatas). He was less prolific in services, but still managed five communion services, one Benedictus and Jubilate and more of the other canticles.


To quote Turner on his compositions:

The form adopted by Simper in many of the anthems tends to be very similar. He uses a sectional or episodic plan, each section being marked by a change of mood. [Listen to the MIDI of King of Kings below for 3 very clear sectional divisions] This is usually accomplished by either a change of tempo, metre, key or scoring, individually or in combination. For example, in the harvest anthem, Blessed Shall Be Thy Basket and Store, the second section is marked by a change to the dominant key of D major with the original tempo marking of andante being replaced by larghetto. The triple metre of the opening is retained, but the almost inevitable 4-part choral texture is replaced by a bass solo which can also be sung by all the basses in unison if required.


This approach is very familiar to anyone who has sung S S Wesley, indubitably of a better class than Simper. Wesley often adopts both the episodic plan and a tendency to rather syrupy solo or single part interpositions. It was interesting to see just what a pace the MIDI of King of Kings moves at - using Simper's metronome settings it rolls along at a cracking pace, putting aside the picture many of us have of funereally slow Victorian music - to be honest, a lot of its appeal is in its energy.


Simper also wrote 192 organ voluntaries in 12 volumes according to turner, though the exact number is in some dispute. As Dr John Henderson of the RSCM has pointed out, he published 12 volumes "of 17 voluntaries", which would imply that there were 204 of them. The mystery is partly explained by John Chryssides who tells us that the correct number (in the 12 volumes) as 199. 17x12 = 204, but we must subtract 10 written by his son Roland (one in each of the volumes 1 - 10), and add 5 (since five volumes contain an extra piece, usually numbered 17a or similar). Thanks to Wayne Warren of Florida for the cover picture of one of the books. Simper also published 2 other organ pieces (March in D 1883 and Silver Clarion March in C 1888, both in piano and organ forms) along with music for everything from a coronation celebration to a meditation. Back to Turner:

... all his music is melodically dominated and of a predominantly homophonic texture. Other features of his style include an almost rigid adherence to regular two and four bar phrases and the characteristic repetition of short rhythmic/melodic motifs which are seldom developed. Indeed there is seldom any attempt at development, and Simper tends to extend his musical ideas through the use of sequence, and his compositions through repetition of ideas. [Once again, listen to the the Kings of Kings MIDI.] However it is probably Simper's use of chromatic chords, chromatic passing notes, chromatic auxiliary notes and sustained pedal notes in addition to his over-use of the chord of the dominant seventh as part of his normal harmonic vocabulary which has prejudiced the twentieth century musician against him.


Without doubt, Simper wrote more hymn tunes than the two mentioned above, but hymnal editors have (probably rightly) not retained any of his tunes in the best known modern hymn books. The 1944 The Church of the Brethren Hymnal (the United Brethren, now the United Methodist Church) contained two Simper tunes, both for harvest hymns - We Plough the Fields and Scatter and Now Let Us Raise Our Harvest Song.


If King of Kings is anything to go by, Simper produced anthems that were energetic if repetitious, and that carried the listening congregation along to the extent that I have heard a congregation applaud after an anthem at evensong. The best Simper anthems seem to be a bit like a good piece of Hollywood schlock - there's no way that it's art, but it is impossible not to be entertained.


Most of Simper's music was published by Arthur Weekes & Company of Hanover Street, London (later subsumed into Stainer & Bell), though the pieces published as Edwyn A. Clare were from Novello.


The compositions (Anthems and pieces with more information)

Simper's music is still in copyright (though confusingly, it wasn't for a while in the 1990s. Copyright used to run 50 years after the writer's death, so expired in 1992. However the period was revised in the 1990s to 70 years, and retrospectively applied, so copyright now expires in 2012. Two Simper anthems are available as sheet music, while Stainer & Bell publish a collection of five Simper anthems under the title 'Five Anthems for the Liturgical Year'. Otherwise, if you want to find some Simper you are dependent on used copies from old music cupboards. One possible source, at least for research, is the RSCM library at Cleveland Lodge, which apparently has a number of sets of Simper (watch out for their music sales - some might become available). We have a number of second-hand copies of Simper anthems for sale: see the second-hand music page.


See more detail on:


Table of Anthems

* - published by Weekes & Co as Caleb Simper, and Novello as Edwyn A Clare

# - published by Novello as Edwyn A Clare


Abide in My love (1904) #   

A Bounteous Harvest

Alleluia! Christ is Risen

All Thy works shall praise Thee (1916) *

And, behold, I am alive for evermore (1895)

And God said, let the earth

Arid He shall reign

And on Earth, peace (1918)

And the Lamb shall lead them

And the Third Day

And thou Bethlehem

And when the day of Pentecost (1893) *

Arise from the dead

Arise, Shine

A Saviour, Christ the Lord (1896) *

Ascribe ye the power

A Son is given

Awake, arise

Awake Lute and Harp

Awake thou that sleepest

Awake up, my glory

Be glad and rejoice

Behold I bring you good tidings *

Behold there was a great earthquake

Behold Thy King

Be joyful, 0 earth

Be thankful unto Him

Blessed be my Rock

Biessed be the King #

Blessed be the Lord God

Blessed shall be thy Basket and Store (1905)

Bless the Lord

Blow up the Trumpet

Break forth into joy

Call upon His Name

Choirs of Angels (1905) #

Christ being raised

Christ is risen

Christ our Passover

Christ shall give thee light #

Come into His Courts

Come unto Me

Cradled in a Manger -The Story of Bethlehem

Day of Pentecost

Emmanuel

Enter into His Gates

Exalt His Name

Fear not, 0 Land *

Food and Gladness

Give glory unto the Lord

Glad Tidings

Glory and strength

Glory shone around

Glory to God

God is our Hope

God is our Refuge (1916) *

God shone around

Good will to men #

Great and Marvellous

Great is the Lord

Hallelujah! Christ is risen #

Hallelujah! King of Kings (1904) #

Hallelujah! now is Christ

Hallelujah! The Lord is risen

He dieth no more, Hallelujah

He gives us fruitful seasons #

He giveth food

He hath done wonders

He is not here but risen

He is risen  *

He liveth unto God

He maketh peace

He watereth the hills

He will guide you #

Him hath God exalted

His Promise true

His Glorious Name

His Name is excellent

His Name shall be called Jesus

His Name shall be called ‘Wonderful’

His works of Love

Hosanna (1906)

How great is His goodness #

I am He that liveth

I am the Resurrection

If we believe that Jesus died

If ye love Me

If ye then be risen

In my Father’s house

In the beginning was the Word

In wisdom

I will feed my flock (1908)

I will praise the Name of God

I will pray the Father

I will sing to the Lord

Jesus Lives

Keeping Watch

King of Kings (1892)

Let everything praise the Lord

Let God arise

Let not your heart be

Let us keep the Feast

Let us now go even unto Bethlehem

Let us thank the Lord

Lord loveth the gates

Make a joyful noise

Make His Praise Glorious

My peace

Now is Christ Risen *

Now is come Salvation

Now mindful

0 come let us sing

0 give thanks

0 how amiable (1891)

0 let your songs be of Him

0 Lord, how manifold are Thy works *

0 praise ye the Lord

0 send out Thy light

0 sing unto the Lord

Our grateful hearts

Our Help and Shield

0 welcome Peace - Thanksgiving (1918)

Peace and goodwill

Peace glorious Peace

Peace I leave with you #

Peace on Earth

Praise His Holy Name

Praise the Lord, 0 Jerusalem #

Praise the Lord, 0 my soul

Praise thy God, 0 Zion (1894)

Pray for the Peace

Prince of Peace

Rejoice and be glad

Rejoice greatly

Rejoice in all the good things

Rejoice with thanksgiving

Render Thanks and Praise

Righteousness and Peace

Ripened Grain

Seedtime and Harvest (1910)

Shepherds Abiding (1908)

Shout for joy (1908)

Sing a Song of Praise

Sing forth His praises

Sing, 0 heavens *

‘Sing praises

Sing unto God with the voice of thanksgiving #

Tell it out

Thanks be to God (1894) *

The Angel Gabriel

The Brightness of thy Glory

The Blessing of Peace (1916) *

The Comforter

The Day of Pentecost

The earth is full of Thy

The earth is the Lords

The eyes of all wait upon Thee (1896) *

The fear of the Lord

The floors shall be full

The fruit of Thy works #

The glory of the Lord

The Heavenly Babe

The heavens are telling

The King in His beauty

The King of Love

The King shall rejoice

The Lamb shall lead them

The Light hath Shined

The Lord is good

The Lord is in His Holy Temple (1898)

The Lord is King

The Lord is loving

The Lord is my Shepherd

The Lord is my strength (1926)

The Lord is risen indeed

The Lord loveth the Gates of Zion

The Lord of the Harvest

The Lord our God hath blessed us

The Lord reigneth (1892) #

The morning Stars sang together

The Prince of Peace *

The Promise of My Father

Therefore with joy

There were shepherds

Tie Valleys are covered

The Victory

They shall mount up with wings as eagles

They that sow in tears

This is the Day

This is the Lords doing

Thou art God alone

Thou crownest the year *

Thou fillest all things

Thou openest mine hand

Thou Providest

Thou shall keep the Feast

Thou visitest the Earth

Throned on high

Thy barns shall be filled

Tidings of great joy

To Him be the Glory

Trumpet shall sound

Trust in Him always

Unto us a child is born (1895)

Walk about Sion

We have seen His star in the East *

We will rejoice

What shall I render?

When thou hast gathered in thy Corn

When Jesus was born

While the earth remaineth (1892)

Why seek ye the living among the dead *

With Angels Sing (1926)

Worship Him, and sing of Him (1894)

Worthy is the Lamb

Ye are My Flock.

The hunt for Simper

I was pricked into action when trying to put together some programme notes for an upcoming Easter extravaganza and discovering there was very little information on Simper to be found. An excellent article by Gordon Rumson of Calgary, Canada on the Music and Vision site highlights the lack of information, but also gave the clue that there was a Simper biography, a very short book (or a long pamphlet) written by one Christopher Turner, produced by a rather unlikely publisher - Devon County Council.


Attempts to get hold of a copy of the biography failed, but Devon Council admitted to having a copy in their Barnstaple library. It looked like a visit to the West Country was going to be necessary to fill in the gaps. But just as I prepared to undertake the journey I had another contact from Devon Council. They were sure that Simper's biographer, Christopher Turner would welcome a contact. I was given his home and work telephone numbers. It seemed that I was on my way to discovering Simper.


For several days I tried the numbers with no success - then another e-mail arrived, this time from the music publisher Stainer & Bell, for whom Turner had edited some Simper anthems. They had a sad explanation of why I was unable to reach Christopher Turner. He died in 2002. The only hope, then was the copy in Barnstaple Library. I called their Local Studies section. Yes, they knew about the pamphlet... but when I had been in touch with the council they had tried to look it out and couldn't find it.


Luckily, within hours they rang back. The copy had been located - and even better they were prepared to part with a copy of it. Simper was about to get a wider audience...


What's next? and Worldwide Simper sightings

If you have further information on Simper, have Simper anthems in your cupboard, or have a query, please drop me an e-mail.


I am pleased to say that I have had a number of emails on the subject of Simper - here are some highlights:


Brian Clegg


Hear something Simper

As far as I am aware, there are no commercial recordings of Caleb Simper's choral music (though I continue to look). I am aware of just one track of his organ music. There is something labelled "Melody for Organ" on an American recording called Historic Organs of San Francisco. You can hear part of it by following this link to Amazon.com, then scroll down to 'listen to samples' and click where it says "see all 19 tracks for this disk". The alleged Simper piece is track 16 (Melody). But I am assured by a reliable source that this is actually Recit de Hautbois by Lefebure-Wely. The other recording was brought to my attention by Anne-Kirstine of Denmark, who tells me there's a CD of a Danish organist called (the CD, not the organist) Orglet Danser (the organ dances) which features a march by Simper.


Inevitably a number of choirs have made private recordings featuring Simper. Thanks to Colin Brownlee for pointing out that there is an all-Simper evensong recording on cassette made by the Choir of St. John's Church, Newport, Barnstaple.



Staffan from Australia has recorded a Simper anthem with his choir: he has posted a copy of their performance of King of Kings on YouTube. It's a bit slower than I'd do it, and is rather thin in places, but gives some of the feel of a Simper piece.


Christopher Turner who wrote the booklet on Simper recorded an album of Simper organ music, probably only on tape, under the aegis of the County Council. The catalogue details are as follows: Caleb Simper : a selection of sacred organ works : played by. - Exeter : Devon County Council , 1992. - Phonocassette. - Christopher Turner on the Viscount organ ... Fingringhoe, Essex. [Record number: 15009] - Westcountry Studies: A/V 74.


 Click here to hear a MIDI file of Simper's King of Kings. Note that this just the organ accompaniment and does not have the voice parts where they are not doubled in the organ - but it gives a feel for the Simper style.



Brian Clegg is editor of the Church Music Site. He is a director of Creativity Unleashed Limited, and when not providing training in business creativity writes books on popular science. He is musical director of a choir that serves four village churches in North Wiltshire.


Many thanks to those who have provided information for this site, particularly to John Chryssides and George Chryssides, Tjeerd van der Ploeg (the organist at St. Christoforuskerk, Schagen (North Holland) who now plays Simper's Worcester instrument) and also to Norman Lincoln for many useful facts.