Sir Frederick Ouseley, the foundation of St Michael’s college, Tenbury Wells, and the ideals of Anglican choral tradition in the Victorian age

Abstract

The Church and College of St Michael and All Angels, Tenbury Wells was founded in 1856 by The Rev'd Sir Frederick A. G. Ouseley. It wasintended to serve as a model to the cathedral churches of England and choral services were performed twice daily by a choir of men and boys. The choristers were to benefit from Ouseley's second aim at St Michael's - the provision of a good grammar school education. Ouseley's decision to devote his life to the improvement of the choral aspects of church life in this way, was clearly a result of his personal experiences. However, as a composer, scholar, antiquarian, gentleman, Ouseley was representative of the ideal Victorian churchman. Consequently, his philosophy is inherently linked with that of the Victorian Church in general. His work must be considered in the context of the test of strength facing the Church in the form of poor finances, low morale and various intellectual developments that questioned its basic doctrines. The importance of St Michael's was acknowledged by the brief account edited by M, F. Alderson & H. C. Colles in 1943 (updated in 1988 by Watkins Shaw). However, these books do not consider this important relationship between the college and events in the Church in general. In looking at the life of St Michael's, one can draw parallels with the trends in the Church as a whole - the improvements for which the Oxford Movement was striving, the revival of Gothic architecture and the Victorian conception of a "sacred" musical style. It is also possible to see the implementation of Ouseley's personal beliefs, and to consider the extent to which these influenced the lives of those boys and young men who came into contact with Ouseley and St Michael's in their formative years.