Hughes, Dom Anselm

Hughes, Dom Anselm, eminent English musicologist; b. London, April 15, 1889; d. Nashdom Abbey, Burnham, Buckinghamshire, Oct. 8, 1974. He studied at Keble Coll., Oxford (B.A., 1911; M.A., 1915), and at Ely Theological Coll. (1911–12). He was ordaineda priest (1913). He was a curate and choirmaster in several London churches (1912–22) before joining the Anglican Benedictine community at Pershore Abbey. He was professed there (1923) and served as its director of music (1922–45) and prior (1936–45), continuing after its 1926 move to Nashdom Abbey. He was a leading authority on medieval and Renaissance music. He contributed articles to the 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th eds. of Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians and to the 2^nd ed. of The Oxford History of Music, edited the 2^nd and 3^rd (with G. Abraham) vols, of The New Oxford History of Music, and also edited the Old Hall Manuscript (with H. Collins). Hecomposed Missa Sancii Benedicti (1918) and other sacred pieces.

Writings

Latin Hymnody: An Enquiry into the Underlying Principles of the Hymnarium (London, 1922); The House of My Pilgrimage (London, 1929); Index to the Facsimile Edition of MS Wolfenbüttel 677 (Oxford, 1939); Liturgical Terms for Music Students (Boston, 1940); Medieval Polyphony in the Bodleian Library (Oxford, 1951); Catalogue of the Musical Manuscripts at Peterhouse, Cambridge (Cambridge, 1953); Septuagesima: Reminiscences of the Plainsong and Mediaeval Music Society (London, 1959); Plainsong for English Choirs (Leighton Buzzard, 1966).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire