Free Republic

Choirmaster who redefined the sound of British choral music and once played the piano under heavy shell fire in Normandy Sir David Willcocks, who has died aged 95, was the most influential choirmaster of his generation, spending 17 years as director of music at King’s College, Cambridge, and 38 years in charge of the Bach Choir. He was a man of immense courage in both musical and military fields, earning an immediate MC during his war service in Normandy. Throughout his long career Willcocks was at the centre of British choral music, moulding voices and raising standards. He injected it...