Oliphant Chuckerbutty

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Soorjo Alexander William Oliphant Chuckerbutty (1884-1960) (A.K.A. Wilson Oliphant) was a composer and a cinema and church organist.

Very seldom heard of as a composer (except for his piece "Pæan" which has entered the standard repertoire), Chuckerbutty wrote mainly for organ. He began playing the piano at six, and was composing by 14. As a performer he was unique among organists, playing the instrument both for church and for cinema, professionally, simultaneously. Quentin MacLean called him "the only organist I know who combines whole-time cinema work with whole-time church work and makes a job of both."

1 Career
2 Works
3 Bibliography
4 The Chuckerbutty Ocarina Quartet
5 External links
6 Sources

[edit] Career

c. 1902? - Studied piano with Epstein
c. 1906? - Graduated as Bachelor of Music, London University
c. 1908-1914 - Assistant Organist, Southwark Cathedral
1909-1948 - Organist and Choirmaster, Holy Trinity Church, Paddington ^[1]
1914 - "An Old Song" published by Boosey
1920-1927 - Organist, Angel Theatre, Islington

[edit] Works

An Old Song - Boosey 1914
Pæan - A Song of Triumph (organ) - Bosworth
Queen's Procession March (organ) - Bosworth 1952
A Southern Night (piano) - Bosworth

[edit] Bibliography

To be or not to be - a cinema organist - CHUCKERBUTTY, S. W. The Musical Times 1938-39 (available online here.)

[edit] The Chuckerbutty Ocarina Quartet

The name of Chuckerbutty lives on, with the only professional British ocarina quartet.

"Named after the justly neglected English composer, Oliphant Chuckerbutty, Michael Copley's virtuoso Quartet specialises in playing music by almost anybody else. Their performance includes music played on ocarinas (pottery wind instruments), digital horns (electronic saxophones), crumhorns, bagpipes, panpipes, eunuch flutes and, of course, a quartet of rubber trout."