Description
English organist and composer John Ebenezer West was born into a musical family in Hackney, London in 1863. After studying at the Royal Academy of Music he joined the music publisher, Novello as an editor (rising to chief editor), retiring only months before his death in 1929. Alongside this he held numerous organ posts in London and conducted choral societies in the south of England.
He was also a prolific composer. With nearly 500 published pieces to his name his works include organ music for liturgical and concert usage, as well as sacred choral works and orchestral music. During his lifetime, West was a highly esteemed and successful composer in the romantic style, and contemporaries placed his music very “close to that of Edward Elgar,”
His Fantasy on Two Well-known Christmas Carols was published in 1917. In this inventive piece, with an almost improvisatory feel, he first explores The First Nowell, before moving onto Good King Wenceslas, then later returning and combining both in a rousing finale.
