David Trendell - obituary

David Trendell was a dedicated choral director who specialised in the music of William Byrd

David Trendell
David Trendell

David Trendell, who has died aged 50, was an inspirational director of music at King’s College London, developing the chapel choir into one of international standing with his infectious enthusiasm, gentle nature and consistently high musical standards.

He was a remarkable choral director, widely respected for his ability to mould students’ voices into a glorious sound, notably in the Renaissance music of the 16th century in general and of William Byrd in particular, about whom he also lectured at King’s.

Throughout his career Trendell had a far-reaching influence on students and church musicians alike. He was a bright and engaging colleague, an immensely generous teacher, an exuberant raconteur, a true bon vivant and a selfless companion and clubbable man.

A recent review in The Scotsman said of a King’s recording directed by Trendell: “The timbre is fresh, fruity and vibrant, the young voices issuing a quality of a cappella ensemble that combines Italianate ruggedness with English smoothness, a fusion that is the perfect vehicle for the wholesome Allegri masses, motets, and famous Miserere on this disc.”

David Robin Charles Trendell was born in Norfolk on August 17 1964. He was a chorister under Michael Nicholas at Norwich Cathedral where, in 1978, he re-created Ernest Lough’s famous recording of Mendelssohn’s O For the Wings of a Dove, with his picture on the cover. Gramophone magazine declared that “one must salute the admirable freshness of young David Trendell”.

After an organ scholarship at Exeter College, Oxford, where he studied the music of Alexander Zemlinsky, Trendell became assistant organist at Winchester College. He later returned to Oxford as organist of the University Church.

He moved to London in 1992, joining King’s College in succession to Ernie Warrell, who had been director since 1953, and immersing himself in the rich church music tradition of the capital. He was director of music at St Bartholomew the Great in the City from 1996 to 2009 and latterly at St Mary’s, Bourne Street.

Trendell was closely associated with the Edington Festival of Music within the Liturgy, in Wiltshire, first as a singer, then as director from 1987 to 1991, and latterly as director of the Nave Choir until 2000. His organisational skills and passion for the music of the Renaissance were evident throughout, but it was his unswerving commitment to excellence that ensured the renaissance of the festival itself.

Trendell and his King’s choir, made up of 25 undergraduates, made several notable recordings, including of music by Byrd and Taverner in 2001 and Spanish Renaissance polyphony in 2002. They also took part — with the choir of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, under Geoffrey Webber — in performances in 2008 at the Oundle and Spitalfields festivals of The Sealed Angel (1988) by the Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin, later recording the work. This “superchoir” was reunited last year in a programme of German choral music, including Richard Strauss’s fearsome 16-part Deutsche Motette.

Last Christmas Trendell took the King’s choir to Hong Kong for a pair of concerts, one dedicated to British carols and the other showcasing the European Nativity tradition, with music ranging from the 16th-century works of Praetorius to Poulenc in the 20th century.

Trendell, a high Tory and a high, dry Anglican, maintained his deep faith despite the machinations of the Church. Writing in the Edington Festival programme in 1991 he noted: “The General Synod may remain safely beyond the bounds of usefulness and certain comments from Church leaders may show an increasing tendency to the banal, but these can never destroy the fact that it is one’s individual response to the Christian message that is of the most lasting importance.”

Trendell, known to his friends as Trixie, enjoyed entertaining at the Athenaeum. He rehearsed the King’s choir on Monday evening and died in his sleep that night. He was unmarried and is survived by his parents, brother and sister.

David Trendell, born August 17 1964, died October 28 2014