The scribe (1957) was the first of two works dedicated to Vaughan Williams, the other being the Stabat mater. This partsong stands apart from Howells’s other choral works of the period, as it is more tonally secure and homophonic. It also resonates more with the earlier, more intimate anthems The house of the mind (1954) and Behold, O God our defender (1952), rather than with the maximalism of the Missa Sabrinensis. De la Mare’s poem depicts a lone writer and questions the nature of writing itself, making it a fitting text for a figure such as Vaughan Williams, who, in his eighty-fifth year, was facing rejection in academic music circles in favour of younger composers like Britten, Tippett and the Manchester School.

from notes by Tom Edney © 2025