Elizabeth Maconchy DBE (1907–94)
Composer
Chair of the Composers Guild of Great Britain
President of the Society for the Promotion of New Music
List of Pieces MoV publishes
Down with the Rosemary and Bay (SS or TT with 4-part round optional)
Nowell, Nowell, Nowell (SAT/B)
Nowell, Nowell, Nowell (SAT/B)
Nowell, Nowell, Nowell was commissioned by Cambridge University Press for The Cambridge Hymnal, edited by David Holbrook and Elizabeth Poston, first published in 1967.
Down with the Rosemary and Bay (SS or TT with 4-part round opt.)
Composed for the Cambridge Hymnal (1967) commissioned by Elizabeth Poston.
World premiere recording by Continuum, a Project Partner of Multitude of Voyces, registered charity 1201139 Part of Multitude of Voyces' Maconchy Project Recording (c) Multitude of Voyces (2025)
Robert Herrick, poet and Anglican cleric (1591–1674)
Down with the rosemary and bays was first published in 1648 within Herrick’s volume Hesperides: or, The Works both Humane and Divine of Robert Herrick Esq.
The verses comprise the first of three sections - ‘Ceremonies for Candlemasse Eve; The Ceremonies for Candlemasse day; Upon Candlemasse day’ - which draw on customs traditional to some communities in England, to mark the Feast of Candlemas.
The text appears as published within The Poetical Works of Robert Herrick (ed. F. W. Moorman) (Oxford At The Clarendon Press, 1915) though both spelling and punctuation have been modernised in this edition.
Elizabeth Maconchy DBE 1907-94
Biography by her daughter, Professor Nicola LeFanu
Elizabeth Maconchy did not come from a musical family, but after she showed early musical promise, her supportive, recently-widowed mother moved the family to London so that she could study at the Royal College of Music (RCM). A suggestion by the director of the RCM that Maconchy would stop composing after marriage proved wrong. Instead she enjoyed a startlingly successful beginning to her career with high-profile premieres including The Land, a four-movement suite for large orchestra, performed at the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts (later the BBC Proms) in 1930. Despite nearly dying from tuberculosis, many performances followed, in England, Ireland and on the continent. She became Chair of the Composers Guild of Great Britain, and Chair, later President, of the Society for the Promotion of New Music. Maconchy composed around 200 works including the acclaimed series of thirteen string quartets, much other chamber music, and many orchestral works. She wrote often for voice: solo songs, choral works ranging from miniatures to cantatas, and a number of operas.
With thanks to Professor Nicola LeFanu (Daughter of Elizabeth Maconchy)
June 25