It is the aim of this dissertation to look at the style and development in style of Howells' evening canticles from the first set, written in 1918 through to the final set of 1975. Chapter one will put Howells' life in the Anglican Church into context. It shows an outline of Howells' life and will observe briefly the musical world into which he was born, viewing the reforms that took place religiously and musically during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Howells' religious scepticism will be discussed alongside the fact that he composed in a style which many believed to be the perfect aid to worship - neither under nor overstated, highly reflective and emotive, yet sensitive and tremendously insightful to the Office of Evensong. How did Howells manage to change the face of Anglican music so much after the dominance of Stanford, as he effectively became the one individual who 'wrote the soundtrack of Anglican cathedral worship' for the twentieth century
