Gloucester Cathedral in 1920, a city where Melville Cook was born, sang as a chorister and was assistant organist.
Alfred Melville Cook (18 June 1912 – 22 May 1993) was a British organist, conductor, composer and teacher.[1]
Alfred Melville Cook (18 June 1912 – 22 May 1993) was a British organist, conductor, composer and teacher.[1]
Cook was born in Gloucester. He was a chorister at Gloucester Cathedral (1923–1928) and articled pupil there under Herbert Sumsion (1929–1932). He also studied with Herbert Brewer and Edward Bairstow. He held the ARCO (1931) and the FRCO with the Harding Prize (1931). He studied at Durham University, receiving the B.Mus. in 1934 and D.Mus. in 1940.[2]
Cook was assistant organist of Gloucester Cathedral (1932–1937)[3] and was also organist of All Saints' Church, Cheltenham (1935–1937). In 1937 or 1938, aged 25, he was appointed choirmaster and organist at Leeds Parish Church. (See also Choir of Leeds Parish Church). During the war he served with the Royal Artillery in the Orkney Islands, East Africa, India and the Far East, and it was during this period that he met his wife Marion in Scotland.
By 1946 he had returned to Leeds, during which time he performed on national radio both as a solo organist and choirmaster. He worked as director of the Parish Church Choir where he broadened the musical repertoire of Leeds Parish Church, introducing more unaccompanied music. He was also organist at the Leeds Triennial Festivals in the late 1940s and early to mid-1950s. He became conductor of the Halifax Choral Society in 1948, and founded the Leeds Guild of Singers in the same year. In December 1956 he took up the post of Organist and Master of the Choristers at Hereford Cathedral, where he was principal conductor at the Hereford Three Choirs Festival in 1958, 1961 and 1964.[4]
In 1966 he emigrated to Canada to become director of the Winnipeg Philharmonic Choir[5] and organist and choirmaster at All Saints' Anglican Church, Winnipeg.[6] He was the organist and choirmaster (1967–1986) at the Metropolitan United Church, Toronto, where he organized organ recitals, chamber concerts, choral performances, and presented a number of oratorios with the Metropolitan Festival Choir and Orchestra.[7][8] He taught organ (1974–1977) at McMaster University in Hamilton.[9]
Melville Cook retired to Cheltenham in 1986 and remained there until his death in 1993. A memorial service for Dr Cook was held at Leeds Parish Church in the autumn of 1993.[10]
