Introduction

Biography

Cummings’ mu­sic­al ca­reer be­gan at age se­ven, when he be­came a cho­ris­ter at St. Paul’s Ca­thed­ral. He stu­died or­gan un­der Ed­ward Hop­kins and se­cured a po­si­tion play­ing the or­gan at Walt­ham Ab­bey while still a teen­ag­er.

In 1847 he was one of the sing­ers when Fe­lix Men­dels­sohn con­duct­ed his Eli­jah at Exe­ter Hall.

Cummings’ ex­cel­lent te­nor voice led him to sing through­out the Unit­ed King­dom and in Am­eri­ca.

He served as sing­ing pro­fess­or at the Roy­al Aca­de­my of Mu­sic for 15 years, be­gin­ning in 1879, then be­came prin­ci­pal of the Guild­hall School of Mu­sic.

He found­ed the Pur­cell So­ci­ety, and be­longed to a num­ber of oth­er mu­sic or­ga­ni­za­tions. In 1900, he re­ceived an hon­or­ary Doc­tor of Mu­sic de­gree from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Dub­lin.

Works

• Ru­di­ments of Mu­sic, 1877
• The Fairy King, a can­ta­ta