As with others in similar positions (for example,
John W. Campbell, Jr., the influential editor of
Astounding Science Fiction/
Analog), Foss's primary influence in music was as a developer of music and musicians. In this the primary example must be
Ralph Vaughan Williams, most of whose music in various forms OUP originally published and still produces. Other composers for whom the Press formed a stepping stone to long and successful careers include
William Walton,
Edmund Rubbra, and
Peter Warlock (the last of whom Foss and his first wife had known early in their lives). Hinnells writes that "Foss had a remarkable ear for the work of a new, younger generation," and Foss's willingness to take risks in publishing such then-unknown artists contributed to bringing them before the English public of his day. However, Foss did misjudge at least one leading British composer:
Benjamin Britten. After handling some of Britten's early music, Foss, "in a decision later much regretted by OUP, decided not to continue as his publisher." Foss brought his whole suite of talents to the selection and production of music. Wright quotes Foss as saying that "the literary side of a song is of equal importance with the musical, and that no one should be expected to sing words of an inferior character." His skills in art and typography manifested themselves in originating distinctive and unique covers, artwork, and layout for each of his "stable" of composers by which copies of their music could be visually identified. This pleased his composers as well as acting as a marketing tool for the sale or rental of their music. (His design for the publication of
Constant Lambert's
The Rio Grande is still regarded as an outstanding example of music printing.) With Milford's support, Foss expanded and deepened OUP's music publishing scope from a limited number of hymnals and educational sheet music to a comprehensive inventory of operas, orchestral works, chamber pieces, choral and vocal works, and piano pieces, along with the production facilities and distribution channels to handle them. The educational works were increased and expanded, paralleling increased government support for music education. "The largest part of its publishing came to be of educational and tuitional works. It produced music courses at all levels for schools, textbooks for music colleges and colleges of education, and for universities." Moreover, Foss played a major role in the industry's recognition of the long-term revenue benefits to be gained by renting scores and parts for large musical works (in contrast to trying to sell them in large quantities when demand was unknown or uncertain) and by acquiring performance and mechanical rights. The latter became increasingly important with the growth of radio and of recorded music. Foss, OUP, and Vaughan Williams were among those who originally opposed the
Performing Right Society (PRS) as likely to inhibit musical performance due to their fees. Their position changed, however, as a consequence of decreasing returns from music publication and increasing revenue from broadcasting, and OUP joined the PRS in 1936. As Musical Editor, Foss expanded OUP's publication of books on music, music analysis, and
music appreciation. Continuing OUP's already-established tradition for printing works in series, Foss initiated the booklet series
Musical Pilgrims with such authors as C. S. Terry covering the works of Bach and Cecil Gray on the symphonies of Sibelius. Still another series, Oxford Church Music, provided inexpensive but accurate editions of both old and contemporary music for churches and schools; this series still continues today. In addition to the articles and presentations which would later form the basis for his own studies of Vaughan Williams, Walton, and others, he edited many of the writings of
Sir Donald Tovey. Foss found Tovey "fascinating, inspiring, and exhausting," according to Hinnells; but "Foss was credited as being the only man who could have managed to produce [Tovey's] six volumes of
Essays in Musical Analysis". It was also Foss who encouraged and supported
Percy Scholes during the latter's years as critic and broadcaster; and it was to Foss that Scholes brought what became the first edition of
The Oxford Companion to Music in 1938. Late in life, Foss translated
Léon Vallas' biography of
César Franck. During the same period, he contributed many "
liner notes" for long-playing disk recordings. During the years at Amen House, Foss made the acquaintance of the poet and writer on theology
Charles Williams. Williams and Frederick Page were then editors for the Press, and there was a great friendship among all three men. It was for two of Williams' "Amen House Masques" (in 1927 and 1929) that Foss wrote the music and arranged the dances that were performed by some of the employees for festive occasions in honor of Milford and the staff of Amen House. Williams and Foss at about the same time collaborated on a short essay on "Meaning in Poetry and Music" which appeared in
Music and Letters. Most of Foss's own musical compositions are short forms: songs, piano pieces, and chamber music. As might be expected in one who championed the English tradition, his works often involve folk song and Elizabethan influences. Thus, he avoided atonal or "spiky" elements; Foss's music "frequently included complex chromatic harmonies, but his melodic lines remained lyrical in nature." Among the most notable are his contributions (together with Vaughan Williams and
Clive Carey) of piano accompaniments for
Folk Songs from Newfoundland collected by
Maud Karpeles; and his
Seven Poems by Thomas Hardy for baritone solo, men's chorus, and instruments. Showing the "colorful diversity of [his] tastes," Foss contributed articles and letters on the business and the craft of publishing and printing music, and was one of the founders of the
Double Crown Club, a dining club for leading printers and typographical designers. He also helped organize the (London) Bach Cantata Club and directed some of its performances. The composer
Herbert Howells, speaking at Foss's memorial service at St. John's Church,
St. John's Wood, on 24 June 1953, said that he [Howells]: often pondered the struggles between heart and mind that must have torn [Hubert] in the exercise and responsibilities of his chief enterprise—the building of the Music Department of the Oxford University Press.… The fruits of that work have been rich and abundant.… The heart and mind of a man governing the accumulation of an extensive catalogue ought, under Providence, to be inhumanly poised and balanced. If the catalogue came to include dusty items among its shining riches, need one wonder? If what we now recognize as deadweight seemed, in its springtime, to deserve the first opportunity for young-eyed creative effort, need we complain? Shall we criticize the generous spirit of the man who took a risk? It is precisely that generosity of his that now so moves us to admiration and affection. And there went with it two other qualities—courage and loyalty…. There are in this gathering of his friends so many who could speak with direct authority on other of his activities and cherished causes. Those who were for five or six years his leading collaborators in the Bach Cantata Club have told me of his selfless work for the important music-making of that society. There are discerning musicians who think of him first as the man whose settings of Thomas Hardy revealed the sensitive creative gift that was in him. A series of Christmas cards signed "Dora and Hubert" are of the kind one keeps and treasures: for to their choice and printing and whole presentation went the grace and exquisite taste that marked his influence in many a distinguished product of the Oxford Press. His heart and mind were attuned to the beauty of sound: his eye to the beauty of a printed page. To the excitement of writing a poem he could add that of printing it with all the experienced skill of a born typographer. On small and great things he lavished an equal care and discernment.... ==Selected works==