Editing Herbert Howells (section)

===''Hymnus Paradisi'' and after===
[[File:Herbert Howells 1892-1983 Composer and Teacher lived here 1946-1983.jpg|thumb|[[Blue plaque]] commemorating the residence 1946–1983 of Howells at 3 Beverley Close, in [[Barnes, London]]]]
In 1949, the organist [[Herbert Sumsion]] asked Howells if he had anything that could be performed at the 1950 Three Choirs Festival to be held at Gloucester. Howells decided to bring out the incomplete choral work he had written in his son Michael's memory between 1936 and 1938. (In later years Howells claimed it was at the urging of Vaughan Williams that the piece was disinterred).<ref>{{cite book|author=Spicer|title=Howells|year=1998|page=145}}</ref> The work, retitled ''[[Hymnus Paradisi]]'' at Sumsion's suggestion,<ref name="Spicer 1998 100"/> was completed and orchestrated in time for its first performance on 7 September 1950, the day after the 15th anniversary of Michael's death. It was Howells' greatest public and critical success, and for many years was his best known work.<ref>Palmer (1992). p. 109, Spicer (1998). p. 106</ref> Shorter choral works written around this time include the carol-anthem ''Long long ago'' (1951), the [[introit]] ''Behold O God our Defender'' for the [[coronation of Queen Elizabeth II]] in 1953, and ''The House of the Mind'' (1954) for chorus and strings.

Though not an orthodox Christian,<ref>{{cite book|author=Spicer|title=Howells|year=1998|page=98}}</ref> Howells was chiefly identified with the composition of religious music. His follow-up work to the ''Hymnus Paradisi'' was an extended setting of the Latin Mass for soloists, chorus and orchestra, named ''Missa Sabrinensis'' after the [[River Severn]] and first performed in [[Worcester Cathedral]] as part of the Three Choirs Festival in 1954. It was considered a disappointment after the success of the earlier work,<ref>{{cite book|author=Spicer|title=Howells|year=1998|page=159}}</ref> and its extreme complexity and difficulty has prevented it becoming widely known.<ref>{{cite book|author=Spicer|title=Howells|year=1998|page=162}}</ref> Howells followed it with ''An English Mass'' (1956), a smaller-scale setting to English words for chorus, strings and organ. His final large-scale choral work was the ''[[Stabat Mater]]'', setting a text whose subsidiary theme of a parent mourning a child had obvious personal significance.<ref>{{cite book|author=Spicer|title=Howells|year=1998|page=169}}</ref> He began it in 1959 but found it difficult to complete; it was not performed until 1965. The motet ''Take Him, Earth, For Cherishing'', a posthumous tribute to President John F. Kennedy, was written in late spring of 1964.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Wilson|first1=Elizabeth Leighton|title='Take Him, Earth' Revisited|journal=The American Organist|date=September 2014|page=70}}</ref>  It premiered as part of a 22 November 1964 Canadian tribute to Kennedy at Washington's National Gallery of Art sung by the Choir of [[St. George's Cathedral (Kingston, Ontario)|St George's Cathedral]], Kingston, Ontario, Canada, under the direction of George N. Maybee.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Wilson|first1=Elizabeth Leighton|title='Take Him, Earth, Revisited|journal=The American Organist|date=September 2014|page=68}}</ref> Maybee brought the St George's choir to England in September 1965, and they performed the piece at King's College, Cambridge with Howells in attendance.<ref name="'Take Him, Earth' Revisited"/> ''Take Him, Earth'' is described by Howells' pupil [[Paul Spicer (musician)|Paul Spicer]] as "a classic of twentieth century choral music" and "an undoubted masterpiece".<ref>{{cite book|author=Spicer|title=Howells|year=1998|page=173}}</ref>

Howells continued to compose until his late 80s, but wrote nothing further on the scale of the ''Stabat Mater''. One of the last works to appear in his lifetime was the ''Requiem'', edited for performance from his manuscripts in 1980 and published the following year, almost fifty years after its composition.<ref>Prefatory note to {{Cite book |last=Howells |first=Herbert|year=1981|title=Requiem|place=London|publisher=Novello|isbn=0-85360-694-3}} The statement in this note that the ''Requiem'' was composed in 1936, with the implication that it was a memorial work for Michael Howells, is incorrect (see above)</ref>
He died on 23 February 1983 at the age of 90, in a nursing home in [[Putney]], one day after his good friend [[Adrian Boult|Sir Adrian Boult]], and his ashes were interred in [[Westminster Abbey]].<ref name="Spicer"/>