WENTWORTH, RAYMOND (b. 1933)

Composer Raymond Wentworth was born in 1933 in Worcester, Massachusetts, and started at the age of 10 his long choral singing career in the Choir of Men and Boys of All Saints Episcopal Church there. He sang as a soprano under the direction of William Self until 1946, when he rather suddenly became a bass.

 

After that, he sang (with very few interruptions) in many choirs in many parts of the United States until, in June of 2000, he retired from a 22-year stint as a paid chorister at St. Peter’'s Episcopal Church in Chicago. During his singing years, he functioned not only as a bass but also, when needed, as a tenor and, for two years, as a male alto. While singing in Handel'’s Hallelujah Chorus one Christmastide, he suddenly realized that in the course of his life he had sung all four parts of this famous work. In his teen years, he had studied voice under Emma Reed Mitchell of Worcester, and hadn't turned to composing until he was about 60 years old. He most often writes the lyrics to his compositions as well as the music.