(pictured: the chapel) In 1941, Howells took the post of acting organist of
St John's College, Cambridge, standing in for
Robin Orr who was away on active service in
World War II. Howells attended a tea party held by
Eric Milner-White, then
Dean of
King's College. There, he also met the Director of Music at King's,
Boris Ord, and the organist of
Gonville and Caius College,
Patrick Hadley. The three men challenged Howells to a
bet of one
guinea that he could not compose a canticle setting for the
Choir of King's College Chapel. Howells successfully produced a setting of the ; he later remarked that it was "the only
Te Deum to be born of a decanal bet". Following the challenge made at the Deanery tea, other settings followed: the for Mattins in 1944, and in 1945 he completed the and for
Choral evensong. He revisited the music in 1956 for his setting of the
Office of the Holy Communion (Collegium Regale). Praising the
Collegium Regale settings,
Paul Spicer, a pupil of Howells, has stated that "one guinea kickstarted music for the Anglican Church into a whole new phase of existence". Howells's
Collegium Regale evening canticles are among his best-known works and noted for their use of choral voices. While many Anglican settings of the begin with full choir or male voices, Howells opens the work with treble voices, emphasising the feminine voice of Mary's song. Correspondingly, the words of Simeon in the are initially conveyed by a solo tenor voice. Explaining his choice of voices, Howells stated that "… if I made a setting of the Magnificat, the mighty should be put down from their seat without a brute force which would deny this canticle’s feminine association. Equally, that in the Nunc dimittis, the tenor’s domination should characterize the gentle Simeon. Only the Gloria should raise its voice." ==Recordings==