Routley, Erik (Reginald)
Routley, Erik (Reginald)
Routley, Erik (Reginald) , English clergyman, organist, teacher, writer on music, and composer; b. Brighton, Oct. 31, 1917; d. Nashville, Tenn., Oct. 8, 1982. He studied classics at Magdalen Coll., Oxford (1936–40; B.A., 1940) and theology at Mansfield Coll., Oxford (1940–43). In 1943 he was made a minister in the Congregational Church of England and Wales, and then pursued his education at Oxford (B.D., 1946; Ph.D., 1952, with the diss. An Historical Study of Christian Hymnology: Its Development and Discipline; publ. as The Music of Christian Hymnody, London, 1957). In 1948 he became director of music at Mansfield Coll. After serving as a minister in Edinburgh (1959–67) and Newcastle upon Tyne (1967–75), he was prof. of church music at Westminster Choir Coll. in Princeton, N.J. (from 1975). He also appeared as an organ recitalist. From 1964 he was ed. of the Studies in Church Music series. Routley was a composer mainly of sacred music.
Writings
(all publ, in London unless otherwise given): The Church and Music: An Enquiry into the History, the Nature and the Scope of Christian judgment of Music (1950; 2nd ed., rev., 1967); with K. Parry, Companion to Congregational Praise (1953); The English Carol (1958); Ecumenical Hymnody (1959); Hymns Today and Tomorrow (N.Y., 1964); Twentieth Century Church Music (1964); Words, Music and the Church (Nashville, Tenn., 1968); The Musical Wesleys (1969).
Bibliography
R. Leaver, ed., Duty and Delight: R. Remembered. A Memorial Tribute to E. R. (1917–1982) (1985).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire