British choral conductor and arranger
David Willcocks, September 17 at 95 in Cambridge. Director of the King's College choir 1957-74, then director of the Royal College of Music for a decade; conducted at Charles & Diana's wedding in 1981.
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... He is particularly known for his widely used choral arrangements of Christmas carols, many of which were originally written or arranged for the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols at King's and/or the Bach Choir's Christmas concerts. ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Willcocks... when he was about 8 he auditioned for the distinguished London choirmaster Sir Henry Walford Davies.
He recalled the audition in a 1990 interview with [t]he New York Times:
"He gave me some ear tests and then played the piano to me for quite a time ... Suddenly he stopped, played a quiet chord and said, 'Tell me, can you hear God speaking to you in that chord?' I listened hard, but I couldn't. However, I thought of my mother outside the room and didn't want to let her down, so I said, 'Yes, sir, I think I can.' "
That was good enough for Mr. Davies, who helped arrange young David's admission to the choir of Westminster Abbey.
. . .
In its obituary last week, the British newspaper [t]he Telegraph recounted an incident from his time at Salisbury Cathedral:
"On one occasion they were rehearsing on Holy Saturday when the dean interrupted. 'Mr. Willcocks, did I hear the choir singing "hallelujah"?'
"Willcocks explained that they were preparing for the following day's services. Back came the reply: 'Our Lord is still in the tomb; I will not have it!' ...
"Thereafter," the obituary continued, "the choir replaced the offending word with 'fa-la-la-la.' "
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/23/arts/music/...
