Cummings’ mu­sic­al ca­reer start­ed 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 from the Un­i­ver­si­ty of Dub­lin.

Sources

Music

1. Mendelssohn