For many, Christopher Hogwood’s legacy is the hundreds of recordings, the dozens of scholarly editions, the numerous books and articles – and the no small matter of an orchestra called the Academy of Ancient Music… But in this feature I’d like to go beyond these mementos, and tell you about the Christopher Hogwood Scholarships.
Having run the AAM for a decade until 2007, I got to know Christopher well. I stayed in Cambridge and we kept closely in touch – often over a (strong) G&T at his Brookside home on a Friday after work. When Christopher fell ill in 2014, his mind turned to what he could usefully do after his lifetime. In particular he wanted to help the young, and so the idea of supporting a series of postgraduate scholarships was born.
I was one of the executors of Christopher’s estate, alongside his nephew Richard Hogwood. After Christopher’s death in September 2014, there was a big job to do. The aim was to raise as much money as possible from the estate, so that the residuary estate would generate substantial legacies for the five charities in Christopher’s will. This involved selling properties, his car with its ‘B4 AAM’ numberplate, books on music, books on cookery, books on everything! And probably the largest private collection of porcelain coffee ‘cans’ (look them up if you are not familiar) – some of which are now on display at the Fitzwilliam Museum here in Cambridge. And then there was the collection of 26 historic keyboard instruments…
I have the auction catalogue in front of me as I write this: Thursday 12 March 2015, Gardiner Houlgate, Bath. The auction was of such interest that it even got a mention on Radio 4’s ‘Today’ programme that morning.
The five charities to be supported by Christopher’s estate were: London’s Royal Academy of Music and Royal College of Music; Cambridge’s Pembroke College and Jesus College; and the Academy of Ancient Music itself. In the case of the four educational institutions, the idea was to set up permanent endowments to fund postgraduate scholarships. Christopher understood that the cost of moving from undergraduate to postgraduate study was often prohibitive, and this was a practical way to help a number of young people to continue their studies to a higher level. He wanted to be as flexible as possible, so in the case of the RAM and the RCM there was no restriction on ‘early’ music; and in the case of the two Cambridge colleges, there was no restriction on subject. Thus was born the Christopher Hogwood Scholarship programme.
The first Christopher Hogwood Scholarships were awarded for the 2015-16 academic year, and today there are now 68 Christopher Hogwood Scholars, past and present: 23 at the RAM, 19 at the RCM, 15 at Pembroke and 11 at Jesus. Those at the London music colleges tend to do one-year Masters, while those at the Cambridge colleges tend to do PhDs which last at least three years. Christopher loved nothing more than to introduce people to each other in a social situation, so he would have been delighted to know that we have been gathering the Christopher Hogwood Scholars together at dinners in Cambridge in 2019, 2023 and 2024 (Covid having intervened after 2019); and we will be gathering at the RAM this April for the first time.
This is a very real, and vibrant, part of Christopher’s legacy to the world.
Christopher Lawrence, January 2025
