The Renaissance, and Renaissance Polyphony, of Westminster Cathedral Choir

Here beginneth a pithy, potted history of the recent fortunes of the great Westminster Cathedral Choir. 

Seven years ago, in the Spring of 2019, the Choir of Westminster Cathedral faced it's latest, and arguably most serious, existential threat. As previously (during the tumultuous, iconoclastic post-Vatican II period), the threat largely came from within (in this instance, the Choir School and the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster). Previous posts from 2019 at my other modest publication give the details (https://acolytestale.blogspot.com), from which you will largely be spared in this post. The short version is that the School and Cardinal (the latter perhaps somewhat unwittingly) embarked upon a scheme that would end full-time boarding for the choristers, but more importantly, drastically reduce their singing (both at services and in song school). The manner in which the changes were conceived, announced and implemented was abrupt, inflexible and in many respects underhand, to put it mildly. It created what was to become an irretrievable breakdown in trust between the Cathedral’s Music Department and the School & senior diocesan clergy (including the Cardinal himself). This led to one of the world’s best Catholic musicians, Martin Baker, departing his role as Master of Music, which he had carried out with great distinction for nigh on two decades.  

An intense (and almost universal) backlash to these events rightly ensued. 

The upshot of the campaign to save the Choir was that the (now retired) Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, commissioned an Inquiry into his own erroneous decision. 

The enormous level of support for the Choir was heartening. See the lengthy list of supporters who took the trouble to write submissions to and /or be interviewed by the Review Panel here: https://rcdow.org.uk/news/report-of-the-strategic-review-of-sacred-music-in-the-mission-of-westminster-cathedral/ (and I assure you that a great many more supported the cause behind the scenes!)  

Upon delivering its Report, His Eminence accepted many (but far from all) of the Panel’s Recommendations. It is difficult to judge how many of the “accepted” Recommendations, especially those concerned with good governance, have actually been brought into effect, due to the continuing lack of transparency in connection with the Catholic Church’s internal administration. What we do know is that a Choral Foundation has been set up to elicit much needed funding for the Choir. 

Another and compounding, challenge that the Choir faced simultaneously was the (literal) plague that hit in the early 2020, which decimated choral singing across the globe (covered in previous posts here).

With the appointment in 2021 of Simon Johnson to lead the Choir, a years-long recovery process began in earnest. Assisted by the brilliant and long-serving Peter Stevens, month-by-month and year-by-year, the Choir has been diligently and lovingly nursed back to strength. 

It is therefore with a great deal of joy and personal satisfaction that it can now be stated unequivocally that the future of the Choir has indeed been ensured. The Choir has now been restored to the position that it previously held under successive Masters of Music, as the pre-eminent Catholic choir in the world, capable of singing complex chant, polyphony and related repertoire to the top professional standard for which it has been justly celebrated since its inception in the early 1900s. 

But don’t just take my word for it. Here we have high-definition evidence of the Choir singing one of the finest (and longest!) of the Tudor-era motets, William Byrd's 12ish minute epic "Infelix ego", potentially the first time a Cathedral/College Choir has recorded this fine piece (notes below). Credit to Ad Fontes, the Buckfast Abbey in-house recording label, for this video (uploaded to YouTube on 20 March 2026).  

 

 

At the Mass of Thanksgiving for Cardinal Nichols several weeks ago, a few words were offered about his time as Archbishop of Westminster. There was one fleeting reference to him "securing" the future of the Choir. Which he did, after first almost causing it to go to rack and ruin. So he does indeed deserve credit for having the grace to (eventually) accept and correct his own mistakes, and then actually seeing the Choir through the awful pandemic and beyond. When he stepped down as Archbishop in February, he did so leaving the Choir in a position, once again, of great strength. And this is just and fitting, most especially because as I noted at the time, His Eminence had been nothing but supportive of the Choir for the ten years since his appointment as Archbishop in 2009 until the bombshell in 2019.

So heartfelt thanks to Cardinal Nichols, to the Review Panel who worked extremely diligently during pandemic (inlcuding the wonderful Msgr Mark Langham, requiescat in pace), to all those who backed the campaign to save the Choir, to the boys who sing in the Choir and their families, to the Master and Assistant Master of Music and lay clerks, to the Choir School, and to all who support this most special of Catholic choirs, including the current crop of Cathedral Clergy (the new Archbishop Richard Moth, his Dean and so on). Long may the Choir continue sing the praises of God in its inimitable style! 

On Infelix ego (credit to Hyperion):

"Infelix ego is the crowning glory of Byrd’s achievement as a composer of spiritual words and one of the greatest artistic statements of the sixteenth century. The text is a meditation on Psalm 50 written by the Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola (1452-1498)... This remarkable text, taking the form of a number of rhetorical statements and questions, shows the whole gamut of emotion from a soul in torment—guilt, fear, embarrassment, anger, but crucially the gift of release when Christ’s mercy is accepted."

I first discovered this piece many moons ago with the excellent recording by Jeremy Summerly and the Oxford Camerata. Subsequently I have placed the recording by the Cardinall's Musick (Andrew Carwood - Simon Johnson's former boss at St. Paul's Cathedral) at the top of the pile. Much to my delight, this motet has become a feature of the repertoire at the Drome. It is always worth popping down to Vespers for "a penny" (cf. C.V. Stanford - more like a few quid for the bus these days) whenever it appears in the music list. To have it now recorded by the Drome Choir is a particular treat. Well done and many thanks to all concerned, especially to the trebles whose superb singing here demonstrates not only their mastery of the tricky technical apsects of this polyphony, but the confidence and flair of once more being able to sing this music as if effortlessly. The huge amounts of hard slogging in song school is definitely reaping rewards, and it looks as though they are enjoying and taking pride in it, which is just as important. Again, a thousand thanks!