ABSTRACT
Henry Walford Davies began his life in music as a chorister at St George's Chapel, first under Elvey and then Sir Walter Parratt, with whom he also studied the organ. Walford Davies had reorganized the choir, which had deteriorated under the ageing E.J. Hopkins, and had widened the choral repertoire, establishing monthly cantata services and introducing the St Matthew Passion and Christmas Oratorio in the proper seasons. The Brahms Requiem was not reviewed, but the continuing progress of the choir can be judged from the very favourable reviews of the January and March concerts. Although no detailed records of recruits to the choir are available, the lists of current members, reproduced in the concert programmes, indicate that there was a considerable number from the upper classes of society. The concert on the preceding 18 May proved to be the last in St James's Hall, the venue for so many important performances.
