On 1st June 1895 Charles Swinnerton Heap sent a letter to John S Lowe, the BFCS Hon. Secretary, accepting the position of Conductor of Birmingham Festival Choral Society. At a Special Meeting of Members a few nights previously there had been an almost unanimous vote to invite him to succeed William C Stockley as Conductor of the Society.

Why Swinnerton Heap?

He was born in Birmingham on 10th April 1847 and showed early signs of his musical ability. He sang as a soprano in the first Birmingham Musical Festival that Stockley conducted in 1858 (he was then 11), and while he was still at King Edward's Grammar School he acted as organist at Queen's College, Birmingham. In 1860 when he was 13 he became the Rehearsal Accompanist for BFCS, a post he held until he left at the age of 15, with the Society's best wishes, to study under Dr Monk, the famous Organist at York Minster.

In January 1865 while he was still only 17 he became the second person to win the Mendelssohn Scholarship (the first winner being the young Arthur Seymour Sullivan). The Scholarship was open to young composers who had to submit three of their compositions for consideration. Winning the Scholarship meant that he studied at the Leipzig Conservatorium under Moscheles, Hauptmann, E. F. Richter and Reinecke, sometimes deputising as accompanist for the latter at Gewandhaus concerts.

In 1870, when he was 23, he took the degree of B. Mus. at Cambridge and the following year, by special permission, he took his D. Mus. During the period from 1869 to 1878 he also held various organ appointments in Birmingham and Wolverhampton, his reputation as an organist being well known. He was also known in Birmingham for the notable series of chamber concerts he held in the City from 1871 to 1873 and from 1884 to 1886. His experience as a choral conductor was growing for in 1870 he was appointed conductor to the Birmingham Philharmonic Union and held the position until the chorus was dissolved in 1886. in 1881 he succeeded William C Stockley as conductor of the Wolverhampton Festival Choral Society (anticipating BFCS?). He was conductor of the Wolverhampton Festivals in 1883 & 1886 and the North Staffordshire Festivals in 1888 & 1889. In 1884 at the age of 37 he was appointed as Examiner for Music Degrees at Cambridge University.

The local Birmingham boy, who had made his name in the musical world, already had connections from his youth with BFCS and was now invited to follow William C Stockley as Conductor of Birmingham Festival Choral Society. Whereas Stockley had been a traditionalist, Swinnerton Heap brought a more modern approach to music and breathed new life into the Society. J Sutcliffe Smith in his book 'The story of Music in Birmingham' states "I have been told by a member of the chorus who sang under his direction, how Swinnerton Heap was heart and soul in the preparation of the music."

His death on 11th June 1900 at the age of 53 was a great loss to the members of BFCS. It was decided that his all too brief time with the Society should be commemorated and to this end the Swinnerton Heap Memorial Trust Fund was established in 1903 to award a scholarship to a member or members of BFCS for at least one years tuition in music, with the first Scholarship being awarded to Eunice Fowles in 1904. That Scholarship in his memory is still being awarded : see the Diary for the date for this years competition.

Gordon C Allen BFCS Archivist and Historian