John Ewington writes:
DR MARY BERRY, who died in Cambridge on 1 May, aged 90, was a nun, a musicologist, and a don of Cambridge University. An Anglican who became a Roman Catholic, she dedicated her life to reviving Gregorian chant, particularly through her renowned group of singers, the Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge.
On leaving school, she spent a year at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris, and studied under Nadia Boulanger, who inspired in her a love of early church music. She came to Girton in 1935 as a Turle scholar, and was soon awarded the John Stuart of Rannoch scholarship in sacred music.
When war broke out, she was nursing with the Red Cross, and, in March 1940, she joined the novitiate of the Canonesses Regular of St Augustine of the Congregation of Notre-Dame de Jupille in Belgium. Two months later, as the German army advanced, she had to flee with the other sisters to Paris, and finally to a suburb of Lisbon, where she helped to open two schools.
She made her final profession in 1945, becoming Mother Thomas More, before being sent to Rome to teach music and English. Later, she was sent to the Institut Grégorien in Paris to study the chant.
Mary returned to Cambridge in 1963, to work for a Ph.D. in musicology, studying with Thurston Dart. She founded centres in England and Ireland for the study and teaching of chant, and wrote articles for The New Grove Dictionary of Music. She was awarded her doctorate in 1968. Now a fully fledged academic, she was appointed director of studies in music at Girton, and two years later was awarded a fellowship at Newnham.
She revelled in dressing up for the ancient liturgies with meticulous attention to detail. As her work became known, her teaching took her all over the world, and, through her encouragement, numerous local chant groups were formed and are still in being.
Her great sense of humour and her radiating smile encouraged many people who had never sung a note of plainchant until they encountered one of her classes. She attracted many fine cantors to sing at festivals and make recordings under her direction.
In 1991, she was awarded the Hon. Fellowship of the Guild of Church Musicians, and, in 2002, the Papal Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice for her work with Gregorian chant.
She was appointed a CBE in 2002 for services to plainsong and Gregorian chant.
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