Joseph Barnby, son of organist Thomas Barnby, was a composer, conductor and (like his father) an organist. He entered the choir of York Minster at age seven, and was an organist and choirmaster at twelve. In 1854 he went to London and entered the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied under Cipriani Potter and Charles Lucas.
In 1856, Barnby competed for the first Mendelssohn Scholarship. When the examinations were over, of the nineteen applicants, he was tied for first place with Arthur Sullivan. After a second test, Sullivan won. (Which is probably why the D'Oyly Carte is more popular that the York Minster Choir; wjm)
In 1878, he helped found the London Musical Society, becoming its first director and conductor. Under his baton, the Society produced Dvorak’s Stabat Mater for the first time in England. In 1884, Barnby conducted the first performance in England of Wagner’s Parsifal as a concert in the Albert Hall. From 1886-88 he conducted rehearsals and concerts of the Royal Academy of Music, of which he was a fellow.
Barnby was knighted in 1892.
Barnby was quite prodigious in his musical output, and three of his chants chants are included in The Canadian Psalter, and seven in The Anglican Chant Psalter. He edited five hymn books, including the 1872 edition of The Hymnary. Common Praise contains his Laudes Domini ("When Morning Gilds the Skies").
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/b/a/r/barnby_j.htm
The links below let you hear the Barnby chant, played by the computer on a synthesised organ.
The buttons will play the chant in the browser, if the correct plugin is installed.
It will play twice, and clicking on the link again will cause it to repeat.
You might need to click Refresh on your browser, or press F5 before playing, as the chant files change regularly.
Go back to Psalm of the Week.
J. Malton
March 15, 2008
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