AD 676 – This is the traditional date of the foundation of the See of Hereford by Bishop Putta, who was himself, ‘a most skilled exponent of Roman chant.’
1246–64 – The cathedral statutes testify to the existence of a school for choristers, suggesting that the foundation of the cathedral school (which is still the choir school) pre-dates the mid-thirteenth century.
1262-68 – The compilation of t
he Hereford Breviary – a collection of liturgies with musical notation – the only surviving copy is held in the cathedral archive.
1307 – First record of an organ keeper.
1395 – The vicars choral (adult singers who were ordained priests), instituted in the 12th century, are incorporated as a college. The Bishop of Hereford at the time, Thomas Charlton, ordered that, with regards to the appointment of new vicars choral, the new vicars, “voce sonora et sciencia precipue artis musice sufficienterimbuto.” (were to have good voices and to be competent musicians.)or et vox musicorum convenire haberent bonum.
1472 – The present College of the Vicars Choral (College Cloisters) built.
1517 – By the end of the fifteenth century, the role of the Cathedral Chorister had been gradually up-graded to that of a highly prized and skilled polyphonic singer; this is epitomised by the Chapter’s advertisement for an instructor of the choristers and organist of the Lady Chapel in 1517. The Cathedral’s first choir master and organist, William Wode, is appointed.
1525 – New organ installed in the quire.
1556 – Canons and vicars choral were ordered to, ‘avoid the company of heretics and other lewd and defamed persons and to refrain from suspicious houses, taverns and alehouses.’
1559 – Protestant Reformation reduces the number of choral services: new settings required in English.
1563 – John Bull was born – he became a chorister and then organist of Hereford Cathedral and a composer: subsequently, he became organist of the Chapel Royal and Antwerp Cathedral.
1647 – Following the English Civil War the vicars choral were evicted from their college and the Cathedral became a meeting house with only sermons and unaccompanied psalm singing.
1660 –The cathedral choir is reinstated following the restoration of the monarchy.
1661 – The choristers are taught music from scratch. Chapter insisted that all the choristers should learn another instrument and that the organ should be brought in to help sustain the chorister’s line. The Chapter also arranged a special payment to the boys of 2s 6d, “when they began to sing in ye chore ... for their Incouragement.”
1715 – Presumed date of the initial ‘music meeting’ of the choirs of Hereford, Gloucester and Worcester, which later became the Three Choirs Festival.
1832 – Dean John Merewether is appointed. Together both men set about ardently reforming the attendance and standard of the choir.
1834 – Finial straw for Dean Merewether on 30th March, Easter Day. The Dean, suspicious of the vicars choral attendance on Easter Day, appointed the Cathedral’s first lay singers, Edward Jones and Richard Barrett. On the day in question not only did the vicars choral not turn up, but Edward Jones also refused to show. This in turn forced Samuel Wesley to pen the now famous, but then laughable, anthem ‘Blessed be the God and Father’ for 1 adult and 8 choristers.
1851 – The Cathedral appoints 6 new Lay Clerks to make up for the continuous absence and removal of 6 of the vicars choral in 1846.
1883 – The first performance of the Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and sections of Handel’s Messiah, by the Cathedral Choir, on the 22nd and 25th December.
1892 – The great nave organ is built by Henry ‘Father’ Willis.
1917 – Percy Hull appointed organist while still a prisoner of war: he was knighted in 1947 for his service to the Three Choirs Festival.
1937 – The college of the vicars choral is dissolved by the Church Commissioners.
1972 – The choir released its first recording under organist Richard Lloyd, with a reviewer remaking how close the sound of the choir was to the famous King’s College sound.
2001 – Dr Roy Massey retires as cathedral organist after 27 years of service and Geraint Bowen is appointed as his successor.
2002 – The choir began a programme of international tours, visiting the USA in 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2013, and South Africa in 2010.
2002 – The choir gave a performance of Bach’s St John Passion in Holy Week, beginning an annual cycle of singing either the St John or the St Matthew Passion each year, as well as Bach’s Christmas Oratorio in alternate years at Candlemas.
2008 – The Cathedral’s first Organ Scholar is appointed followed by Choral Scholars in 2010.
2010 – The first Advent Service is held at the Guards’ Chapel in London, which included an Act of Remembrance for the Fallen of the Special Air Service, who are based in Hereford. This service now takes place annually.
2014 – The Lay Clerks and Scholars record extracts from the Hereford Breviary, to accompany the Hereford 1217 Magna Carta to Houston in Texas – the first time one of the few surviving copies of Magna Carta has left the British Isles.
