Nick Gale, a former Director of Music at St George's Cathedral, Southwark, has died: tragically, in a road accident.
He was an enthusiastic teacher of chant, and led a training day for the schola back in 2011. He promoted a modern, scholarly approach to chant which gave 'shape' to the chants with crescendo and decresendo, with great respect for the text and its own stresses, and ignoring many of the editorial marks from the early 20th century editions which tend to slow the chant down.
Actually, he had so much to say about each piece of ancient chant that it was a challenge to remember it all!
We learnt a lot from him on that and other occasions. He will be missed.
Lux aeterna dona ei Domine. Requiescat in pace.