Richard Apperley (organ). Recorded by RNZ Concert, 15 November 2014.
Douglas Mews Photo: supplied
Douglas Mews (1918 - 1993) studied in London, graduating with BMus in 1939 and DMus 1961. Following World War II, he became a Professor and examiner at Trinity College of Music (1946-63) and a lecture at Colchester Technical College (1963-8). Mews emigrated to Auckland in 1969, joining the staff of the Music Department at the University of Auckland where, in 1974, he was made Associate Professor of Music until his retirement in 1984. From 1970 - 1982 he was Director of Music at Auckland’s St Patrick’s Cathedral, and in 1990 received a Papal Knighthood.
Little is known about Douglas Mews's 'Prologue, Fugue and Epilogue on the name "Schnitger'' for organ other than that it was written for a competition celebrating the 17th-Century organ builder Arp Schnitger. Mews has followed the time-honoured compositional tradition of generating a melody from a name, in this case S (the German E flat), C, H (German B), [NIT], G, E, [R].
