Canon Anthony Caesar
Domestic Chaplain to the Queen who jointly made a brilliant revision of the New English Hymnal
CANON ANTHONY CAESAR, who has died aged 94, was a gifted musician who contributed a great deal to the Church of England’s worship, always demanding the highest standards, and ended his ministry as Sub-dean of the Chapels Royal.
Winchester, where he was once a boy chorister and where he eventually became Precentor and Sacrist of the cathedral, was the great love of his life, but his time as chaplain of the Royal School of Music was also important. His widest influence came, however, through his joint editorship of the New English Hymnal (1986).
This revision of a hymn book first published in 1906 (musical editor Vaughan Williams) sought to set a high standard of hymnody during an era which saw an explosion in hymnwriting. In their preface the editors described most of the new hymns as “poor in quality and ephemeral in expression”, while those dealing with social issues were “so contemporary that they quickly become dated”, their subjects better covered in sermons and prayers.
More plainsong was added to the revised book, which is regarded, at least outside evangelical circles, as the best now available. It is widely used in cathedrals and other churches where music is taken seriously.
Anthony Douglass Caesar, the son of a vicar, was born into a musical family in Southampton on April 3 1924. After his years as a chorister at Winchester – during which, he recalled, he once scrambled through one of the cathedral’s largest organ pipes when the instrument was being rebuilt – he was awarded a musical scholarship to Cranleigh School.
He was in the RAF from 1943 to 1946, training in Rhodesia. He became a pilot of the ill-fated Avro Manchester bomber, the precursor of the Lancaster, and twice had to ditch his aircraft in the North Sea owing to engine failure. After the war he acquired a Manchester cockpit control panel which he had affixed to the dashboard of his car, but he had no further engine problems.
On demobilisation he went to Magdalene College, Cambridge, to read Music. A brilliant pianist and fine organist, he was awarded a Musbac and became an FRCO in 1947. After Cambridge he was appointed assistant music master at Eton College, and three years later became Precentor of Radley College where, from 1952 to 1959, and without the resources of a choral foundation, he raised the standard of music to an unusually high level.
Caesar then decided to seek Holy Orders, and after two years’ training at St Stephen’s House, Oxford, he became a curate at St Mary Abbots, Kensington. He was there from 1961 to 1965, exercising a largely pastoral ministry in a fashionable area of west London, supervising the music and enjoying the proximity of the Royal Albert Hall and the music colleges.
When in 1965 the Royal School of Church Music, then at Addington Palace, near Croydon, required a new chaplain, Caesar was seen as ideally suited. He lectured on the link between liturgy and music in parish life and ensured that the worship helped to demonstrate his teaching.
He combined this with a part-time post on the Advisory Council for the Church’s Ministry, where he shared in selection for ordination training and monitored the music content of theological college courses. He also became a Priest-in-ordinary to the Queen, taking a turn in leading the Sunday morning service in the Chapel Royal at St James’s Palace.
By 1970 Caesar was feeling the need for a less pressured ministry, so he moved to St Peter’s Church, Bournemouth, as the senior priest under the Vicar, Colin James, who later became Bishop of Winchester.
In this busy town-centre church Caesar raised the standard of music to the highest in Winchester diocese outside the cathedral, and for three years exercised a much-valued ministry to Bournemouth’s orchestras as well as to the many retired parishioners.
In 1974 he was appointed Precentor and Sacrist of Winchester Cathedral, becoming an Honorary Canon and, in 1976, a Canon Residentiary. A fruitful partnership with the Dean, Michael Stancliffe, and the organist, Martin Neary, gained for the Cathedral international recognition, and Caesar was always open to innovation provided that no compromise was involved. A certain mischievous streak made him popular with the choristers.
After 15 happy years in Winchester he returned to London as Sub-dean of the Chapels Royal and Domestic Chaplain to the Queen. Responsible for only one service a week and one sermon a year, he followed the example of Canon James Mansel, who had developed a pastoral ministry among the staff of Buckingham Palace and the Royal Mews.
As Sub-almoner, Caesar had a prominent part in the annual distribution of the Royal Maundy money. There was also opportunity to devote more time to the revision of the English Hymnal. He was appointed LVO in 1987 and advanced to CVO on his retirement in 1991.
He spent two years as Chaplain of the ancient Hospital of St Cross at Winchester, but this did not really suit him so he moved to the Isle of Wight, accompanied by his two grand pianos.
He was unmarried.