Brewer lived in Gloucester his whole life. He was the organist at two of its churches, and also founded the city's choral society in 1905. He had been a Gloucester Cathedral chorister in his boyhood, and began his organ studies there under C. H. Lloyd. He was educated at the Cathedral School, Oxford and was the first organ scholar at the Royal College of Music.
Although his professional career was spent in the provinces, his three decades of involvement in planning and organising the Three Choirs Festival brought him into contact with a wide range of composers and other artistic figures both from Britain and the continent, including Edward Elgar, Glazunov, Hubert Parry, Ravel, Saint-Saëns and Sibelius. In 1913 Brewer was entrusted with conducting the premiere of Sibelius's tone-poem for soprano and orchestra, Luonnotar, Op. 70.
He wrote mainly church music and only a very little orchestral music.
Elegy 1916
Written for the organ this piece has been arranged for string orchestra. It is an emotional interlude very much in the style of one Brewer admired, namely Edward Elgar.