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Obituary - Colin Mawby
Musician, composer and friend of the Latin Mass Society
The Latin Mass Society were greatly saddened by the death of Colin Mawby last year on 24 November 2019. Mawby, one of a generation of post-war Catholic musicians, was not only an acclaimed composer and choral director but maintained a lifelong devotion to the Latin Mass and was a great supporter of the Latin Mass Society.
Born in Portsmouth, Colin John Beverley Mawby entered the world of Catholic music as a chorister at Westminster Cathedral in 1946 under the great George Malcolm. He then studied composition at the Royal College of Music and whilst there was the young choirmaster at Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory’s, Warwick Street, in Westminster, where the Latin Mass is still celebrated regularly.
After a brief spell at Portsmouth Cathedral and St Ann’s, Vauxhall, he returned to Westminster Cathedral to assist the then choirmaster, Francis Cameron, in 1959. Two years later, he succeeded Cameron as Master of the Music, where he would remain until 1976.
One of our Society members recalls the days at Westminster Cathedral when Colin Mawby was the Director of Music. High Mass and Sung Vespers were celebrated daily, something which did not even happen at St Peter’s in Rome at the time. He remembers how dismayed Mawby was at how easily the clergy accepted the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council and the sadness he felt at how little people fought to save the Latin Mass.
After leaving the cathedral, Mawby taught at Trinity College of Music and then went on to establish the RTÉ Philharmonic Choir in Ireland, also leading ensembles such as the London Mozart Players and Pro Cantione Antiqua. In 2006, he was awarded a Knighthood of the Papal Order of St Gregory by Pope Benedict XVI for services to church music.
Colin Mawby composed a huge amount of both sacred and secular music, including many Mass settings, although he always claimed he did not start composing seriously until he reached his fifties. In an interview in 2006, when asked, what were the key things he learnt as a composer? he replied "Plainchant - it’s the most wonderful thing.”
Colin very generously agreed to become a Patron of the Latin Mass Society in 2012, and attended the founding meeting of the Gregorian Chant Network, following his passion for Plainchant. The aim of this network launched by the LMS was to give chant scholas opportunities to meet and take part in training events. He lent his enormous experience and skill to several of the Network's subsequent Chant Training Weekends as a tutor and organist.
Joseph Shaw, Chairman of the LMS recalls an example of his generosity of spirit, which led to a charming contribution to the work of the Society. “I asked him if he knew a hymn tune which would fit a song I had found. This was a soldiers' song used by Papal Zouaves from the British Isles, which was recorded by an English Zouave, Maurice Powell, who served Pope Pius IX in the final resistance to the Piedmontese takeover of the Papal States and Rome. (It is reproduced in Charles Coulombe's excellent account of the Zouaves, The Pope's Legion.) Colin did not: but in a short time composed one himself! We sing this every year on the Walsingham Pilgrimage.”
Colin Mawby KSG (9 May 1936 – 24 November 2019) Clare Bowskill
