Local culture, wider influences - a study of provincial music, education and society - Wimborne Minster 1743 – 1765 together with an edition of the works of George Combes

Abstract

Wimborne Minster, former monastery, collegiate church and Royal Peculiar, has a long choral tradition, and was amongst the earliest churches to resume choral worship after the Commonwealth. This study focusses on a particularly rich musical period for the Minster, the mid-18th century, and its leading light, George Combes.
The composition of the choir is examined through detailed reference to the rich surviving archives, tracking many members from birth to death, and establishing their social standing. This builds up a picture of the age range of the choristers, the family relationships within the choir, and
the prevalence of former choristers providing the lower parts, showing an institution that was, to a large extent, musically self-sufficient.
However, outside influence remained a positive force over the musical life of the Minster, with organists coming from Salisbury and Winchester. The main organist and composer examined, George Combes, spent a period away from Wimborne as Organist of Bristol Cathedral, and the impact of his time there is examined through the lens of the Annual Meeting of the Friendly Society of Wimborne Minster. This social and musical event grew to take on the style of a music
festival, featuring substantial works of Handel. It brought musicians from a wide area to the town, further broadening Wimborne’s musical horizons.
A remarkable survival, held in the Chained Library of the Minster, is an extensive collection of manuscript and printed music, further evidence of the vibrant musical activity of the church.
The collection grew and was in practical use for two centuries. Order is sought within the challenging array of books, and dating attempted through the archival evidence. This provides essential groundwork for the final section of this thesis, a critical edition of the works of George Combes.
29 pieces survive complete, and are presented in performing editions, with full critical apparatus. Partially lost works and earlier versions are included in their extant state, to give a rounded picture of George Combes’s musical development.
Through this research we find new material to broaden the understanding of a number of
areas of 18th century musical culture – the lives of musicians working in the zone between professional and amateur, the interconnectedness of sacred and secular institutions, the functioning of an ancient and distinctive organisation in a time of change, the relationship between regional centres of various sizes. It also provides a corrective to the narrative of neglect associated with liturgical music of the period. The critical edition brings an attractive and
functional repertoire to church choirs.

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