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Carillon News

Mobile carillons in the news and a new publication

Brian Swager
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The Carillon Academy of Lier, Belgium, offered a carillon summer course in July for beginning and intermediate levels as well as a masterclass for advanced students. The course was taught by Koen Van Assche and Geert D’hollander, with instruction on making carillon arrangements by Anna Maria Reverté. Lodging was in the abbey of Averbode.  

 

Dick Gegner was honored Monday at Memorial Day ceremonies in the Village of Mariemont by being named Mariemont Citizen of the Year, by the Mayor and Council. Gegner has been the carillonneur of the Mary M. Emery Memorial Carillon in Mariemont, an eastern suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio, for 45 years. 

 

Mobile carillons in the news

Dutch carillonneur Boudewijn Zwart took his mobile carillon to Ireland for a series of recitals in Cork City and St. Colman’s Cathedral in Cobh. The photos show the carillon being hoisted into the Blackpool Library in Cork for a series of children’s concerts, and Adrian Gebruers lending a helping hand for a budding carillonneur’s first rendition of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” This attracted considerable media attention, including headline billing on Irish television’s peak-time news bulletins.

 

Cast in Bronze creator Frank DellaPenna commissioned the first mobile carillon ever to be constructed in the United States. The 35 bells on the carillon consist of 25 Petit & Fritsen bells and 10 Eijsbouts bells. Both bell foundries are in the Netherlands. Ewald A. Stellrecht, proprietor of ESE Machines in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, designed and build a keyboard, frame, and carillon action. Michael Shaffer of Bandara, Texas, constructed the wooden music rack.  David Mars, owner of Texas Trans Am Service and Restoration in Fort Worth, Texas, custom-built the carillon trailer. The bourdon, inscribed to Anne and Frank DellaPenna, weighs 640 pounds. The batons (keys) are made from Lucite, which is more weather and rodent resistant than traditional wood. For the audience to visualize the carillon’s similarity with other keyboard instruments, the batons are purposefully colored black and white. The new carillon was inaugurated at Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. DellaPenna created Cast in Bronze, a musical act employing his four-ton mobile carillon, over 20 years ago to bring the haunting beauty of the carillon to more listeners by demonstrating its versatility with other instruments. More info at castinbronze.com.

 

New publication

Publishing company Davidsfonds published a book by Luc Rombouts: Zingend brons. 500 jaar beiaardmuziek in de Lage Landen en de Nieuwe Wereld (“Singing Bronze. 500 Years of Carillon Music in the Low Countries and the New World”). The book gives a complete overview of the past and present of the carillon, starting with the first jingling bells in the Middle East, and ending with the present status of the carillon and the threats to and potential of the instrument in the future. It is written not only for carillon enthusiasts and specialists, but also to arouse interest for the carillon with the greater public. It contains no lists or inventories of carillons, but tells a story of development, flourishing and decline, of aspirations, successes, and disappointments.

Three chapters are devoted to the carillon art in North America: 1) “Memorial Bells,” about the English bell foundries and the creation of carillons in the Anglo-Saxon world between the two World Wars; 2) “Dutch production vs. Carillon Americana,” about the successes of the Dutch bell foundries after WW II and the struggle against electronic “carillons” in the USA and Europe; and 3) “American Beauty,” about the advent of the American carillon movement and the creation of a new carillon repertoire beginning in the 1950s.

Zingend brons is written in Dutch. It contains 460 pages and 230 full-color pictures.

 

Send items for “Carillon News” to Dr. Brian Swager, c/o The Diapason, 3030 W. Salt Creek Lane, Suite 201, Arlington Heights, IL 60005-5025; or e-mail [email protected]. For information on the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America: www.gcna.org.

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Carillon News

Brian Swager

Brian Swager is carillon editor of THE DIAPASON.

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The Petit and Fritsen Bellfoundry delivered a new mobile carillon to the city of Belgorod, Russia. With 51 bells, the carillon has a compass from B-flat to D. Every year in Prokhorovka, approximately 40 kilometers from Belgorod, a significant combat operation between Germany and Russia is commemorated.  A large number of tanks were destroyed in this “world’s greatest tank battle,” which also resulted in many casualties. The battle was a principal turning point in World War II. The carillon is intended to be used in an annual remembrance of the battle. The original plan was to install the carillon in the tower, but they opted for a mobile carillon so that it could be used for a wider variety of events.

Ottawa Dominion Carillonneur Andrea McCrady hosted the 2012 Percival Price Symposium at the Peace Tower carillon. The annual symposium celebrates the legacy of performance, teaching, and campanology of Percival Price, Canada’s first Dominion Carillonneur from 1927 to 1939. Guest artist for the September 2012 symposium was George Gregory.

 

Send items for “Carillon News” to Dr. Brian Swager, c/o The Diapason, 3030 W. Salt Creek Lane, Suite 201, Arlington Heights, IL 60005-5025; or e-mail [email protected]. For information on the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America: www.gcna.org.

Nunc dimittis

Ronald Arnatt

Nunc Dimittis

Ronald Kent Arnatt, 88, died August 23, 2018. He was born January 16, 1930, in London, England, and was a boy chorister at Westminster Abbey and King’s College, Cambridge. He was educated at Trent College, Derbyshire, Trinity College of Music, London, and Durham University. From the latter, he was granted a Bachelor of Music degree in 1954. In 1970, Arnatt was awarded a Doctor of Music degree from Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey.

Over the course of his career he held numerous positions, including instructor, American University, Washington, D.C.; director of music, Mary Institute, St. Louis, Missouri; professor of music and director choral activities, University of Missouri, St. Louis; director of music and organist, Christ Church Cathedral, St. Louis; founder and conductor, St. Louis Chamber Orchestra and Chorus; conductor and music director, Bach Society of St. Louis; director of music and organist, Trinity Church, Boston, Massachusetts; president, American Guild of Organists; director of music and organist, St. John’s Episcopal Church, Beverly, Massachusetts; professor of church music and department head, Westminster Choir College; and editor, ECS Publishing, Boston. He was also the recipient of numerous awards, fellowships, and prizes.

Ronald Arnatt married Carol Freeman Woodward, who died in 2017. They had two daughters who survive, Ronlyn and Sylvia. He is also survived by nine grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

 

Jon L. Bertschinger, 65, died July 13, 2018, in St. Joseph, Missouri. He was born July 25, 1952, in Burlington, Iowa. Bertschinger began taking piano lessons at an early age, followed by organ lessons on the new M. P. Möller organ at his church, Messiah Lutheran Church, in Burlington, in 1958. He sang in and accompanied one of the five choirs at that church while in junior high school.

Bertschinger began work for the Temple Organ Company when it moved to Burlington in 1966, helping to install the rebuilt organ at First Methodist Church in 1967. He was still working with David Cool, son of the company’s founder, Fred Cool, when the church burned in 2007, and he accomplished the tonal finishing for the new 60-rank organ for the rebuilt church.

Bertschinger was on the volunteer staff for the Auditorium and Temple in Independence, Missouri, performing recitals under the direction of Jan Kraybill, former director of music for the Community of Christ Church. He also had regular church jobs in St. Joseph, sometimes two at a time, playing over the years at Westminster Presbyterian, Trinity Presbyterian, First Christian, and, up until his death, Brookdale Presbyterian.

 

Wesley Coleman Dudley, II, 85, of Williamsburg, Virginia, and Bar Harbor, Maine, died July 25 in Williamsburg. He was born in Buffalo, New York, December 15, 1932. He attended Nichols School and graduated from St. Paul’s School, Concord, New Hampshire, before receiving his bachelor’s degree from Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. After two years in the United States Navy in Hawaii, he returned to Buffalo in 1958 to work at Worthington Pump Company. Six years later he became an entrepreneur, managing Auto Wheel Coaster Company, North Tonawanda, New York, before joining his family’s management office. He began spending winters in Williamsburg, Virginia, and summers in Bar Harbor, Maine, allowing him to explore his two dominant passions: pipe organs and boating.

A quiet philanthropist, he supported many projects anonymously, but there was one exception, the public radio program, Pipedreams. He was also a frequent donor to the Organ Historical Society.

Wesley C. Dudley was preceded in death by his daughter, Katherine Mary Dudley. He is survived by his wife of sixty-two years, Lucinda Nash Dudley, and his children, Nanette (David) Schoeder, Donald M. (Janet) Dudley, three grandchildren, Nicholas Schoeder, Katherine Dudley, and MacLaren Dudley, their mother Meg Dudley, and two step-grandchildren, Grace and Madeleine Waters. Memorial contributions may be made to Minnesota Public Radio, attn. Jamie Ziemann, 480 Cedar St., St. Paul, Minnesota 55101, or to the Dudley Scholarship at the Eastman School of Music, attn. Suzanne Stover, 26 Gibbs St., Rochester, New York 14604.

 

Steven E. Lawson, 63, of New York, New York, died suddenly, August 19, of natural causes. He had completed his usual Saturday evening practice at the Church of the Heavenly Rest, where he had served as assisting organist for 21 years, and failed to show up on Sunday morning.

Lawson was born September 9, 1954, in San Diego, California, attended elementary school in Fullerton, California, and high school in Topeka, Kansas. He earned the Bachelor of Music degree in organ performance at Oklahoma City University, where he studied with Wilma Jensen, and the Master of Music degree in organ performance at Indiana University, also studying with Wilma Jensen. At Indiana University, he minored in carillon performance and accompanied the University Singers, working with conductors Robert Shaw and Margaret Hills. Before his appointment at the Church of the Heavenly Rest, Lawson served St. Luke’s Lutheran Church near Times Square in New York City for ten years.

As an active member of the New York City Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, Lawson served as registrar, webmaster, and editor of the chapter’s concert calendar, but his towering achievement was the New York City Organ Project (NYCOP). Starting with his interest in gathering the histories of various pipe organs in churches he served or played in, the NYCOP grew into a seemingly limitless body of information, published online as part of the website of the New York City AGO Chapter. Thousands of organs are diligently documented with histories, specifications, and photographs. (For example, see the documentation of organs at the Church of the Heavenly Rest: www.nycago.org/organs/nyc/html/HeavenlyRest.html.) Friends and colleagues have joked that no one knew the organs of New York City as well as Lawson, given the countless hours he traveled around the city carrying heavy photographic equipment.

Lawson’s passion for collecting and making available this type of information drew him to the Organ Historical Society’s Pipe Organ Database, where he continued his vast contribution to the art of the organ, expanding his boundaries from New York City to include the entire United States. He worked closely with the OHS Database Committee, contributing and updating countless entries of organs, and behind the scenes with the development of a new, more user-friendly version of the database.

Steven E. Lawson is survived by his parents, George W. Lawson and Doris E. Lawson, and his cousin Linda Driskel.

­—John Bishop

 

Frank G. Rippl, 71, died August 11, in Appleton, Wisconsin. Born in Neenah, Wisconsin, Rippl earned the Bachelor of Music Education degree from Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, Appleton, where he minored in organ, studying with Miriam Clapp Duncan. He received a Master of Music degree in Orff-Schulwerk from the University of Denver. Rippl also studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music, as well as the Royal School of Church Music in England.

In 1979 he co-founded the Appleton Boychoir, for which he conducted and played organ for 26 years until his retirement from the organization in 2010. He initiated the Boychoir’s popular Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols held each Christmas in Memorial Chapel, Lawrence University. During Rippl’s tenure, the choir performed as choir-in-residence at the Green Lake Festival of Music under Sir David Willcocks and toured nationally and internationally.

Rippl taught elementary vocal music in the Appleton Area School District for 33 years. Upon retirement from school teaching, he pursued additional organ study with Wolfgang Rübsam. In 1996 he founded the Lunchtime Organ Recital Series held each summer in the Appleton area, attracting organists from all over the country.

Rippl began playing the organ at St. Mary Catholic Church, Menasha, later at Saint Bernard Catholic Church, also of Menasha. He was organist and choirmaster of All Saints Episcopal Church, Appleton, for over 46 years (1971–2018), retiring January 7. At his retirement, the parish established a choral scholarship for Lawrence University students to sing in the church’s choir. (For information on Frank Rippl’s retirement celebration, see the April 2018 issue, page 8.)

Rippl served as dean of the Northeastern Wisconsin Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, was active in the Organ Historical Society (OHS) and the Packerland Theatre Organ Society, and performed on Minnesota Public Radio’s Pipedreams. He penned numerous OHS convention reviews for The Diapason. He accompanied silent movies on the organ for over 20 years for the American Theatre Organ Society. He loved teaching and the pipe organ, and combined these two passions by giving organ lessons to many students.

In 2007, Rippl received the Rotary Club Paul Harris Service Award for service to the community; he played for the Appleton chapter’s weekly meetings for many years. While a student at Lawrence he was Vince Lombardi’s favorite pianist at Alex’s Crown Restaurant, as cited in David Moraniss’s When Pride Still Mattered. In 2014 he became director for the new Memory Project choir, “On a Positive Note,” for those suffering from memory loss and their families.

Frank Rippl is survived by his wife of 43 years, Carol Jegen, his brothers Bill Rippl, Rick (Marie) Rippl, and Dan (Becky) Rippl, as well as numerous extended family members. His funeral was held August 21 at All Saints Episcopal Church, Appleton. Memorial donations may be directed to All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Appleton, the Appleton Boychoir, or his family for an organ scholarship.

 

James Ralph Verdin, of Indian Hill, Ohio, died August 8. He was born July 30, 1936, in Cincinnati. He grew up in Mariemont and graduated from Mariemont High School in 1955. After graduation, Verdin served in the United States Army.

Verdin was president and chief executive officer of the Verdin Company of Cincinnati, a family-owned business since 1842 that installs bells, tower and street clocks, electronic carillons, and organs across the United States and abroad. Notable installations include the World Peace Bell, the Ohio Bicentennial Bell Project, and the Verdin Mobile Bell Foundry.

Verdin’s vision to redevelop and transform the Pendleton Neighborhood in Over the Rhine, Cincinnati, led to the founding of the Pendleton Art Center, Pendleton Square Complex, the old Car Barn (Nicola’s Restorante), and the restoration of St. Paul’s Church. The church became the corporate offices of the Verdin Company and is now the Bell Event Centre.

A funeral Mass was celebrated August 16 at Old St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Cincinnati. James Ralph Verdin is survived by his wife Carole (nee Conners), daughter Jill (Sam) Crew, and grandchildren Caroline Verdin Crew and Samantha Verdin Crew. Memorials may be made to Summit Country Day School, 2161 Grandin Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45208.

Harpsichord News

Larry Palmer
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Buried Treasures: 

The Harpsichord Pages 

in Retrospect (2006–15)

Once upon a time (well, twice actually, in The Diapason issues of January 1974 and February 1979), we offered cumulative indices of harpsichord-related matters in the journal, from Philip Treggor’s first harpsichord column (October 1967), through December 1978. Treggor continued his responsibility for harpsichord news until December 1968. Following his resignation, harpsichord submissions were managed by the magazine’s Chicago staff until September 1969, at which point I took over at the invitation of Editor Frank Cunkle.

As it has been 36 years since we have offered a third cumulative listing of harpsichord-centered writings, it may be time to offer this “backward” look, covering the past ten years. I cannot begin to count the number of instances in which the previous retrospectives have been of use to me: so much so that I keep these indices filed next to my bound copies of the magazine. If this present list proves useful to you, please let me know. I could then plan to complete indexing the years 1979 through 2005. Our January issue includes the journal’s composite index of the previous year; this would be a logical target date for continuing such offerings.

In the following citations, the title or subject appears first, followed by the month and year of publication, page number(s) in parentheses, and author. My contributions are indicated by the letters LP; other, less-frequent contributors, by their full names. I have added a few articles not specifically published under the Harpsichord News rubric. Categories sometimes overlap, particularly those of Personalities
and Obituaries.

 

Instruments and Builders

William Dowd: An Appreciation, Jan 09 (22), LP; The Earliest Surviving English Spinet by Charles Haward [c.1668], July 09 (12, 14), Charles West Wilson; Harpsichord News: ARTEK Goes German, July 15 (13), LP; Autobiography of a Clavichord (Dolmetsch-Chickering 2006), Dec 15 (12–13), LP.

 

Repertoire and 

Performance Practice

Mozart and the Harpsichord: An Alternate Ending for Fantasia in D minor, K. 397, Nov 06 (20), LP; “Entartete” Music: Hugo Distler and the Harpsichord, Aug 08 (22–23), LP; Harpsichord News: Chris DeBlasio Dances, Soler, Scarlatti, Lully, the Borrel Manuscript, May 09 (14), LP; Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s English Suite at 100, Dec 09 (36–37), LP; The Chopin Bicentennial at the Harpsichord, Feb 10 (23), LP; Addenda to Chopin, Aug 10 (11), LP; A Harpsichord Piece by Henri Mulet, Aug 10 (11), LP; Mulet Petit Lied—a complete facsimile, Jan 11 (12), LP; Harpsichord Works of Asiko Hirabayashi, Nov 10 (12–13), LP; J. S. Bach’s English and French Suites with emphasis on the Courante, May 11 (24–25), Renate McLaughlin; Gathering Peascods for the Old Gray Mare: Some Unusual Harpsichord Music Before Aliénor, Dec 12 (27–29), LP; Soler’s Fandango: new edition from Ut Orpheus and recording by Diego Ares, Dec 13 (12), LP; Multi-Media Mozart—Words, Notes, and Sounds [Harpsichord News], Feb 14 (12–13), LP; Christmas Music for Harpsichord, Oct 14 (12), LP; Going [J. William] Greene—Music for Harpsichord, June 15 (11), LP; Pedaling the French: A Tour de France of Revival Harpsichordists 1888–1939, Aug 15 (10–11), LP; Harpsichord Plus: The Accompanied Harpsichord Music of Jacques Duphly, Nov 15 (10), LP. 

 

Personalities in the Harpsichord World

Helmut Walcha, Oct 07 (28–29), Nov 07 (21–23), Dec 07 (21–23), Paul Jacobs; Oscar Peterson, Feb 08 (12), LP; Gustav Leonhardt (anecdote, footnote 3 in AGO National Convention Review), Nov 08 (27), LP; Pavana Lachrimae: A California Tribute to Gustav Leonhardt, Aug 12 (18), Lee Lovallo; Crazy about Organs: Leonhardt interview from 2000, Nov 12 (20–22), Jan-Piet Knijff; Gustav Leonhardt—a Letter to the Editor from Hellmuth Wolff, Jan 13 (3); Mamusia: Paul Wolfe Remembers Wanda Landowska, Oct 12 (23–25), Craig Smith; Janos Sebestyen, May 12 (12–13), Robert Tifft; Harpsichord in the News: Mahan Esfahani, Jory Vinikour, Frances Bedford, and a 1615 quotation from Trabaci about the status of the instrument, July 12 (10, 12), LP; Remembering Irma Rogell (and a review of Martin Elste’s book Die Dame mit dem Cembalo), April 13 (11–12), LP; A Triptych for Rafael [Puyana], May 13 (11–12), Betina M. Santos, Jane Clark, and LP; Virginia Pleasants Turns 100, Feb 12 (11); Harpsichord Playing in America after Landowska, June 11 (19–21), LP; Ralph Kirkpatrick Centennial, June 11 (13–14), Gavin Black; Remembering Wm. Neil Roberts, Sept 11 (12–14), LP; Joseph Stephens—In Memoriam, Sept 14 (15), LP; Remembering Hilda Jonas, Dec 14 (11), Glendon Frank and LP; Remembering George Lucktenberg, Feb 15 (11), LP; Remembering Richard Rephann, Mar 15 (25), Allison Alcorn.

 

Pedagogy and Technique

Dear Harpsichordists: Why Don’t We Play from Memory?, Sept 11 (24–25), Paul Cienniwa; Continuo (On Teaching), Nov 11 (15–17), Dec 11 (11–13), Jan 12 (16–17); Gavin Black; Recital Programing, Aug 12 (13–14), Gavin Black.

 

Reports on Harpsichord Events

Southeastern Historical Keyboard Society 2006 Meeting in Rome, Georgia, June 06 (12), LP; Westfield Center 2006 Conference, Victoria, British Columbia (includes mentions of Colin Tilney and Edoardo Bellotti), Dec 06 (29), Herbert Huestis; Boston Early Music Festival 2007, Sept 07 (22–23), LP; East Texas Pipe Organ Festival 2012: A Harpsichordist in Aeolian-Skinner Land, Feb 13 (20), LP; Continuo: the Art of Creative Collaboration—Westfield Center 2013 Conference at Pacific Lutheran University, 2013, July 13 (20–21), Andrew Willis; Historic Keyboard Society of North America 2013 meeting in Williamsburg, VA, April 14 (10–11), LP; HKSNA International Conference in Montréal and Aliénor Competition, Aug 15 (10–11), LP; Broadening a Harpsichordist’s Horizons: Remembering 2014 ETPOF, Sept 15 (11), LP. 

 

Reviews of Books, 

Music, and Recordings

A Guide to Musical Temperament (Thomas Donahue), reviewed by G. N. Bullat, June 06 (16); Guilty Pleasures: Mark Schweizer’s The Soprano Wore Falsettos, Choices (a novel) by Paul Wolfe, CD of Landowska reissues, DVD: Landowska—Uncommon Visionary [Harpsichord News] Mar 07 (10), LP; Peter Watchorn Plays Bach’s WTC I [Harpsichord News] Aug 07 (12–13), LP; Fernando Valenti’s Scarlatti recordings, Feb 08 (12, 14), LP; Peter Watchorn’s Isolde Ahlgrimm, Vienna, and the Early Music Revival and a published score for Richard Strauss’ Capriccio Suite, June 08 (12), LP; The Best Medicine—a review of Schweizer’s The Diva Wore Diamonds, Aug 09 (10), LP; New Harpsichord Music, Oct 09 (18–19), John Collins; a new compact disc set of Bach’s Six Partitas, and the publication of A Medici Harpsichord Book from Ut Orpheus, April 12 (12), LP; Joys of Re-Reading: Blue Harpsichord, Early Music mystery series by James Gollin, and more, Aug 14 (11), LP; Harpsichord News: Words and Music—Ralph Kirkpatrick Letters and Frank Ferko Triptych, April 15 (12), LP. 

 

Obituaries

Daniel Pinkham (d. 2006), Feb 07 (8); A Pinkham Memoir, Mar 07 (20), James McCray; Albert Fuller (d. 2007), Dec 07 (10); Remembering Albert Fuller—Trombones in Dido and Aeneas?, Feb 08 (14), LP; Fenner Douglass (d. 2008), June 08 (8); Thomas Dunn (d. 2008), Mar 09 (10); Virginia Pleasants (d. 2011), Feb 12 (11); Gustav Leonhardt (d. 2012), March 12 (10); Christopher Hogwood (d. 2014), Nov 14 (10); Bruce Prince-Joseph (d. 2015), July 15 (10); Paul Jordan (d. 2015), May 15 (18–19); Roger Goodman (d. 2015), Sept 15 (10); Alan Curtis (d. 2015), Oct 15 (10).

 

Esoteric Ephemera

Nineteenth-century harpsichord citings: Bizet and a Chopin student [Harpsichord News], Feb 08 (12), information from John Carroll Collins reported by LP; Historic 20th-Century Harpsichordists in Hungary, Italy, and the Czech Republic [Harpsichord News], Feb 08 (12), Robert Tifft; Bytes from the Electronic Mailbag: Fandango, Misspellings of the Word Harpsichord, April 14 (10–11), LP; November Musings: Blessed Cecilia (In Honor of Isolde Ahlgrimm’s 100th Birthday), Nov 14 (12), LP; A mystery, a cautionary tale: Mark Schweizer’s The Maestro Wore Mohair and Simon Menges’ misadventure [Harpsichord News], Oct 15 (12), LP.

 

And Something New: Mysteries
with Musical References

The American expatriate author Donna Leon (born in New Jersey in 1942) has published 24 books in her series starring Commissario Guido Brunetti of the Venetian constabulary. Number one, Death at La Fenice (1992) introduces the soprano Flavia Petrelli who is singing Violetta in Verdi’s La Traviata at the venerable opera house. German maestro Helmut Wellauer dies before the final act of the opera, and Brunetti finds that he has a complicated bit of detecting to do before solving this clever crime.

For Acqua Alta, book five in the series, Leon brings back this soprano, a “favorite character because of her voice.” By the novel’s end Flavia is off to sing her first Handel opera, a plot twist chosen so that, should Petrelli return in future books, Leon would be able to write about her best-loved music. In real life the author became closely associated with American conductor Alan Curtis; together they created an opera company, Il Complesso Barocco, to perform rare works by Handel and other baroque composers. References to harpsichord are found on pages 201–2 of Acqua Alta, and again on page 229 when Flavia’s companion Brett chooses Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony for listening rather than harpsichord music, the “plunky sound of which would snap her nerves.”

Volume 24 of the Brunetti stories arrived in 2015: Falling in Love is set in La Fenice again, this time with Petrelli starring as Puccini’s Tosca. Music figures prominently, the plot is gripping, and I particularly enjoyed a comment on page 154, where Brunetti is reminded of a CD shop owner who opined that “the weirdest customers were people who liked organ music. ‘Most of them shop at night,’ his friend said. ‘I think it’s the only time some of them ever leave their houses.’”

Further “baroquery” is to be found in Leon’s standalone novel The Jewels of Paradise (2012) which features a musicologist and a plot driven by the legacy of Italian composer Agostino Steffani (1654–1728). Highly recommended for all fans of mystery novels and baroque music. Finally, dear readers, should you come across references to the harpsichord, please send me the citations! ν

 

Comments are always welcome. Please submit them to [email protected] or by post to Dr. Larry Palmer, 10125 Cromwell Drive, Dallas, Texas 75229.

 

The University of Michigan 57th Annual Organ Conference: The Music of Louis Vierne, September 30–October 3, 2017

Linda Dzuris

A native of Michigan, Linda Dzuris is professor of music and university carillonneur at Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina. She is also organist at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Simpsonville, South Carolina.

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On the last day of September in this, the University of Michigan’s bicentennial year, a conference on the music of Louis Vierne, presented by the university in partnership with the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Detroit, was dedicated to concert organist and pedagogue, Robert Glasgow. It was a unique opportunity to hear all six of Vierne’s organ symphonies, several of his character pieces and chamber music, plus works by Vierne’s mentors and students.

 

September 30

The conference began on the evening of September 30 with the final round of the university’s sixth annual Organ Improvisation Competition at First Presbyterian Church of Ann Arbor. Competitors were given two themes and required to improvise a three-movement symphonic suite on the church’s three-manual, 42-rank Schoenstein organ. 

First prize was awarded to Matt Gender, a Doctor of Musical Arts student at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, where he has studied with James Higdon and Michael Bauer. Second prize and the audience prize were awarded to Joe Balestreri, director of music for the Archdiocese of Detroit and episcopal music director at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, Detroit, as well as a member of The Diapason’s 20 Under 30 Class of 2015. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in organ performance from the University of Michigan, where he studied with James Kibbie. Third prize was awarded to Sandor Kadar, organist at First Presbyterian Church of West Chester, Pennsylvania. In addition to studying improvisation privately with Jeffrey Brillhart, he holds degrees in organ performance, sacred music, and conducting from the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, Austria.  

The judges were Ellen Rowe, professor of jazz and contemporary improvisation, University of Michigan; Edward Maki-Schramm, director of music, Christ Church, Detroit, and conductor of the Community Chorus of Detroit; and Pamela Ruiter-Feenstra, hymn festival leader, workshop clinician, and author of music literacy books for children, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Sponsorship was provided by the American Center for Church Music, First Presbyterian Church of Ann Arbor, and the Ann Arbor Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. 

 

October 1

“Music of Vierne for Choir, Voice, Brass, & Organ” was the title of the opening concert on Sunday, October 1, in the historic Norman Gothic stone edifice of the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit. Utilizing both the church’s original 1925 three-manual, 50-rank Casavant Frères organ and its 2003 two-manual, 29-rank Austin organ, the Detroit Archdiocesan Chorus and the Cathedral Singers (Cathedral Church of St. Paul) joined their voices under the direction of Jeremy David Tarrant to present Vierne’s Messe solennelle, op. 16. Trumpets, trombones, and timpani combined with Naki Sung Kripfgans at the organ for the performance of Marche triomphale du centenaire de Napoléon I, op. 46, conducted by Elliot Tackitt. Andrew Meagher accompanied soprano Kathy Meagher in the performance of Les Angélus, op. 57. Vierne’s Tantum ergo, op. 2, and Carillon de Westminster, op. 54, no. 6, were heard before the program moved to the music of other Notre Dame musicians: Ubi caritas by Maurice Duruflé and Olivier Latry’s Salve Regina with Joe Balistreri at the organ.

Later that evening, concert attendees traveled down Woodward Avenue to the Cathedral Church of St. Paul for a gala organ recital by Martin Jean, a former student of Robert Glasgow, current professor at Yale University, and highly acclaimed American organist. Employing all the nuances available from the Opus 23 organ by D. F. Pilzecker & Company of Toledo, Ohio (with several rescaled/revoiced stops from the 1923 Austin and 1951 Casavant instruments), Dr. Jean gave eloquent performances of Widor’s Symphonie Romane, op. 73, and Vierne’s Symphonie V in A Minor, op.47.

 

October 2

Monday commenced with a full morning of presentations at First Presbyterian Church of Ann Arbor that were thoughtfully constructed, earnestly delivered, and well received. Of particular interest to any who knew or heard Robert Glasgow perform was the announcement of plans for making available extant recordings of past performances, many currently on reel-to-reel tape. Jeremy David Tarrant, former student of Professor Glasgow at the University of Michigan and later executor of his mentor and friend’s estate, would like to release a two-CD set that would include recordings made from a 1995 Organ Historical Society Convention recital in Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, among other select events. Another goal is to have concerts available for download on a Robert Glasgow website. 

Mr. Tarrant also presented a survey of Vierne’s Pièces de fantaisie, which included live performance of several of the pieces. Jeremy David Tarrant serves as organist and choirmaster of the Cathedral of St. Paul, Detroit, adjunct professor of organ at Oakland University, and is an active concert organist. The University of Michigan Department of Organ especially recognized him for initiating the partnership between the cathedral and the university that brought this conference concept to realization. 

Jason Alden of Alden Organ Services served on the faculty of Elmhurst College, Elmhurst, Illinois, and Concordia University, Ann Arbor, Michigan. His performance and commentary had us take a closer look at Vierne’s 24 pièces en style libre, while later in the day he gave us a skillful rendering of the composer’s Symphonie IV in G Minor, op. 32.

“Our Vierne” was a thought-provoking session led by Lawrence Archbold, professor of music emeritus, Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota, that considered Louis Vierne and his output from the viewpoint of various sub-categories of old and new musicology. History and values for “Old Musicology” covered aspects of biography, score editing, musical form, genealogy, and style analysis. “New Musicology” pushed us further as we considered how music is used and issues such as feminist critique, nationalism, personal stories, and liminal spaces. Good thesis topics.

After some midday free time, the 71 conference registrants and 20 students were invited to watch Vincent Dubois, the newest appointed titular organist at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, teach a masterclass at Hill Auditorium on the Ann Arbor campus. Clair de lune, op. 53, no. 5; Impromptu, op. 54, no. 2; and Lied, op. 31, no.17, were played by undergraduates Julian Goods, Jennifer Shin, and Matthew Durham, respectively. Much attention was paid to the musical shaping of phrases within all pieces, and each student responded well to the animated coaching given by Monsieur Dubois.

“Gems of the Flemish Romantic with an American Interlude” filled the air around Burton Memorial Tower as the sun began to set. The Charles Baird Carillon consists of 53 bells weighing about 43 tons and was played beautifully with tremolo galore by Jeremy Chesman, university carillonist and professor of music at Missouri State University, Springfield. A graduate of the University of Michigan, he was the first person to earn a Master of Music degree in carillon performance.  

Of course, no university conference would be complete without a faculty recital, and we were not disappointed with the evening’s musical offering on the Frieze Memorial Organ, a Skinner/Aeolian-Skinner instrument, since rebuilt, in Hill Auditorium. There are 120 ranks (12 from the 1893 organ built by Farrand & Votey Company of Detroit for the Columbian Exposition in Chicago) with four additional ranks available in the Echo division. James Kibbie, the chair of the organ department and university organist, performed Vierne’s Symphonie VI in B Minor, op. 59, with a mastery of expressiveness and precision. Associate professor of organ Kola Owolabi paired the symphony with a dynamic performance of Prélude, Adagio, et Choral varié sur le thème du Veni Creator, op. 4, by Maurice Duruflé and called to mind the connection between the two musicians in his program notes.  

 

October 3

The first morning session on Tuesday was an eye- and ear-opener. Michael Barone, host of Pipedreams from American Public Media, presented an illustrated talk, “Louis Vierne: His Other Music,” accompanied by recordings of much-overlooked compositions. Vierne gave us 17 opuses for organ, but there are 45 opuses of other music. We listened to works including Largo et Canzonetta for oboe and piano written early in his career, a few of his numerous pieces for piano, excerpts from an orchestral symphony and a rhapsody for harp written a few years after his second organ symphony, a piano quintet from 1917 composed for the death of his youngest son, and Vierne’s op. 61 from 1931, La ballade du déspéré, orchestrated by Maurice Duruflé. Mr. Barone certainly proved there is a trove of worthy music by Louis Vierne besides those works written for solo organ.

Sarah Simko, a master’s student at the University of Michigan and a member of The Diapason’s 20 under 30 Class of 2017, performed Symphonie III in F-sharp Minor, op.28, in a mid-morning recital at Hill Auditorium, holding the audience captivated from beginning to end. A long line of appreciative listeners waited to praise her, as it was an exhilarating performance.

Attendees and the greater Ann Arbor community experienced the unusual treat of seeing at ground level, rather than having to ascend a tower, how a carillon is played by means of a full 48-bell (26,000 lb.) carillon attached to a flatbed of a semi truck. Tiffany Ng, assistant professor and university carillonist at Michigan, secured a bicentennial celebration grant from the university to bring the Mobile Millennium Carillon in from the Chime Master Company of Lancaster, Ohio. Three of Dr. Ng’s current carillon students performed pieces for a masterclass outside Rackham Auditorium. Jeremy Chesman, who performed a solo concert the previous evening, delivered helpful instruction while maneuvering between the small cabin housing the playing console and street level via a small ladder. Kevin Yang, Rachael Park, and Michelle Lam each quickly adjusted their playing to produce more sensitive delivery of musical passages.

Students continued in the spotlight as six studying with James Kibbie and Kola Owolabi took the stage back at Hill Auditorium. Jennifer Shin, Joe Mutone, Dean Robinson, James Renfer, Sherri Brown, and Joseph Moss each played a movement of Symphonie I in D Minor, op. 14, competently representing the strength of the organ department.

The afternoon sessions reconvened at First United Methodist Church of Ann Arbor where Naki Sung Kripfgans is organist.  She is also a staff collaborative pianist for the University of Michigan string department and university choir. In her presentation on “Vierne’s Harmonic Language,” Dr. Kripfgans posed questions about impressionism and how the label may or may not work in reference to the composer’s various works. 

Then we had soup—literally. A local chef demonstrated how to make the base for a classic bouillabaisse or seafood stew from the port city of Marseilles during her presentation “A Taste of France with Christine Miller.” When it was ready, sampling for all commenced.

A sweeter treat awaited us in the sanctuary. More intimate than the other venues we had been in, the space was a good choice for pianist Nicole Keller from Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Music in Berea, Ohio, with the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre, and Dance’s Ivalas Quartet members (violinists Anita Dumar and Reuben Kebede, violist Caleb Georges, and cellist Pedro Sánchez) and award-winning Australian cellist Richard Narroway. Mr. Narroway, who is pursuing a doctoral degree with Richard Aaron at the University of Michigan, played Cello Sonata, op. 27, written when Vierne was 40 and prior to his third organ symphony. The performance was followed by String Quartet, op. 12, written some 16 years earlier. Deeply committed to sharing string quartet repertoire both new and old, the Ivalas Quartet graciously answered questions posed by Michael Barone after their spirited performance. We learned that op. 12 is the first composition by Vierne the musicians have taken on, and that they were not familiar with any of his chamber pieces beforehand. The quartet agreed they did find it an interesting composition and they would indeed continue to hone the work to include on future programs.

The penultimate conference event was a faculty recital by Tiffany Ng. Again, the Mobile Millennium Carillon was featured as she played selections in tribute to Louis Vierne including an athletic piece that referenced the Westminster chime and an arrangement of Ravel’s impressionist-style La vallée des cloches. Dr. Ng is responsible for the commissioning of several pieces, three of which were heard Tuesday evening. An advocate of new music for carillon with a social significance, she programmed Ashti by Jung Sun Kang (b. 1983) first. The composer, a Korean immigrant, was moved by the story of an artist acquaintance, an Afghan refugee.  

Handbells and mobile carillon combined during an alumni spotlight to allow Dr. Ng to relocate to Burton Tower’s instrument. Student carillonist Michelle Lam was joined by Handbell Adventure, and was directed by Wm. Jean Randall for the performance of a recent composition by Joseph D. Daniel. Mr. Daniel is an organ department graduate, composer, and member of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America. He was happy to be in attendance to hear his Five Miniatures (2106) for the first time while not having to direct or play. 

At the Charles Baird Carillon, Dr. Ng gave us some special collaborative, electroacoustic music composed in 2017. The first of two commissions in this portion of the recital was The Seer by Laura Steenberge (b. 1981), who describes this scene: “High in her tower, [the Seer] weaves space and time together with the vibrations of the ringing bells.” And the second commission, Euler’s Bell by John Granzow (b. 1976), seamlessly merged live performance with pre-recorded sounds created to showcase the connection between bells and history in the following way as noted by the composer: 

 

As history tells, bells are shattered in their belfries for easy transport to military furnaces. If the bell withstands the concussion, it may rebound and spin on its mouth’s edge with ratios of wobble to rotation redolent of Euler’s Disk, a physics toy used to investigate this type of oscillation. Euler’s Bell integrates the sound of such a bell wobbling on the hard ground, a sound that might forestall, just briefly (and yet longer than you might expect) the perennial recycling of metals and history.

Dr. Granzow is an assistant professor in the University of Michigan Department of Performing Arts Technology. His resulting eerie sonance with Dr. Ng was stunning.

Recently appointed continuing guest artist at the University of Michigan, Vincent Dubois regaled us with a closing concert that completed our journey through the organ symphonies of Vierne as he expertly performed Symphony II in E Minor, op. 20, followed by Dupré’s Symphonie-Passion, op. 23. With a rousing, grand finale send-off in the form of an improvisation on the name of Louis VIERNE, it was farewell until the next annual organ conference.

Gathering Peascods for the Old Gray Mare: Some Unusual Harpsichord Music Before Aliénor

Larry Palmer
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The 2012 inaugural meeting of the new Historical Keyboard Society of North America (HKSNA), formed by the merger of the Southeastern Historical Keyboard Society (SEHKS, founded 1980) and its slightly younger sibling, the Midwestern Historical Keyboard Society (MHKS, organized 1984), was an historic event in itself. The late March gathering in Cincinnati included both the seventh iteration of the Jurow Harpsichord Playing Competition and the eighth occurrence of the International Aliénor Composition Competition, plus scores of scholarly presentations and short recitals, loosely organized into ten sessions, each with a general connecting theme.  

For my contribution to Session Seven (The Old Made New) I attempted to craft a title enigmatic enough that it might pique the curiosity of a few potential auditors, but with the higher goal of providing information about some of the earliest and relatively obscure “new” compositions for harpsichord from the early 20th-century. I hoped, as well, to underscore, at least by implication, the major stimulus for a continuing creation of new repertoire that has been provided by the Aliénor’s prizes, performances, and publications since its inception in 1980. 

 

Woodhouse plays Cecil Sharp

As early as July 1920, Violet Gordon Woodhouse, the most prominent and gifted of early 20th-century British harpsichordists, recorded three of folksong collector Cecil Sharp’s Country Dance Tunes. Thus Sharp’s 1911 piano versions of the tunes Newcastle, Heddon of Fawsley, and Step Back serve as the earliest “contemporary” music for harpsichord committed to disc.1

These were followed, in 1922, by recorded performances of two more Cecil Sharp transcriptions, Bryhton Camp and the evocatively titled Gathering Peascods.2 While the 1920 recordings were already available in digital format, courtesy of Pearl Records’ Violet Gordon Woodhouse compact disc,3 I had never heard the 1922 offerings. Peter Adamson, an avid collector of these earliest discs, assured me that he could provide the eponymous work listed in the title of this article. Both of us were surprised to find that Gathering Peascods was never issued in the United Kingdom, but Peter was able to send me some superior dubs from the original 1920 discs, as well as a few seconds of authentic 78-rpm needle scratching. Combining this acoustic noise with Sharp’s keyboard arrangement, quickly located online via Google search, made possible the restoration of Peascods to the roster of earliest recorded “contemporary” harpsichord literature. It is equally charming, though perhaps less historically informed, when performed without the ambient sound track. 

 

Thomé

New harpsichord music composed for the earliest Revival harpsichords4 actually predates any recording of the instrument: Francis Thomé’s Rigodon, opus 97, a pièce de claveçin, was written for the fleet-fingered French pianist Louis Diémer, and published in Paris by Henry Lemoine and Company in 1892.5

 

The first 20th-century harpsichord piece?

There are currently two contenders for “first place” in the 20th-century modern harpsichord composition sweepstakes. The first may be Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s English Suite, originally committed to paper in 1909 during his student years in Florence, then recreated in 1939 shortly after the Italian composer’s immigration to the United States. That version, sent to prominent harpsichordist Ralph Kirkpatrick in 1940, seems to have been ignored by the artist, but it was ultimately published by Mills Music in New York in 1962.6

A second contender (dare we call it a “co-first”?), which is, thus far, the earliest published 20th-century harpsichord work, is Henri Mulet’s tender and charming miniature Petit Lied. Mulet is most often remembered, if at all, for his ten Byzantine Sketches for Organ, a set that ends with the sometimes-popular toccata Tu es Petrus (Thou art the rock). Comprising a brief seventeen measures, Mulet’s “Little Song” is dedicated to fellow organist Albert Périlhou, who was characterized by his more famous contemporary Louis Vierne, as “a composer of the 18th century.” So perhaps this delicate, nostalgic work, published in 1910 “pour claveçin [ou piano]” was intended to pay homage to Périlhou’s antiquarian tendencies.7

 

Busoni

1916 saw the publication of Ferruccio Busoni’s 1915 Sonatina ad usum infantis Madeline M.* Americanae pro Clavicimbalo composita8—a strange, but ultimately satisfying keyboard work that, with some imaginative editing, is playable on a two-manual harpsichord, which one assumes the composer did, since he was also the proud owner of such a 1911 Dolmetsch-Chickering instrument.9   

 

Delius

Often described as “unplayable,” the very original Dance for Harpsichord (for piano) by Frederick Delius came into being in 1919, inspired by the artistry of Violet Gordon Woodhouse. Kirkpatrick included it in a unique program of 20th-century harpsichord music presented at the University of California, Berkeley in 196110 and Igor Kipnis recorded it in 1976.11 I have occasionally enjoyed playing Delius’s purple-plush harmonies in a shortened version arranged by Baltimore harpsichordist Joseph Stephens. Each time I play the work I find fewer notes to be necessary, and decide to omit more and more of them, often an approach that best serves these piano-centric harpsichord refugees from the early Revival years. Since Delius surely ranks among the better-known composers who attempted to write anything at all for the harpsichord, it seems worth the effort to forge an individual version that serves to bring this quite lovely piece to the public.

 

Grainger

Inspired by the recent anniversary year (2011) of the beloved eccentric Percy Grainger (he died in 1961), it seemed fitting to rework another of my own arrangements, that of his “Room-Music Tit-Bits,” the clog dance Handel in the Strand, particularly after coming across Grainger’s own mention of the harpsichord’s influence on his compositional career. In a letter to the pianist Harold Bauer, Grainger wrote:

 

. . . the music [of my] Kipling Settings . . . [is] an outcome of the influence emanating from the vocal-solo numbers-with-accompaniment-of-solo-instruments in Bach’s Matthew-Passion, as I heard it when a boy of 12, 13, or 14 in Frankfurt. These sounds (two flutes and harpsichord . . .) sounded so exquisite to my ears . . . that I became convinced that larger chamber music (from 8-25 performers) was, for me, an ideal background for single voices . . .12    

So why not present Grainger’s Handelian romp edited for one player, ten fingers, and two manuals? Grainger’s own arrangement (“dished-up for piano solo, March 25, 1930, [in] Denton, Texas” according to the composer’s annotation in the printed score) provides a good starting place.13

 

Persichetti and Powell

Two major solo works from the 1950s composed for the harpsichordist Fernando Valenti deserve more performances than they currently receive: Vincent Persichetti’s Sonata for Harpsichord (now known as that prolific composer’s Sonata No. One), still, to my ears, his most pleasing work for our instrument, and Mel Powell’s Recitative and Toccata Percossa—another wonderful work included on Kirkpatrick’s contemporary music disc.14

 

Duke Ellington

For aficionados of jazz, the 44 measures of Duke Ellington’s A Single Petal of a Rose comprise three manuscript pages now housed in the Paul Sacher Foundation (Basel, Switzerland), available only as a facsimile in Ule Troxler’s invaluable volume documenting the many commissions bestowed on contemporary composers by the wealthy Swiss harpsichordist Antoinette Vischer.15 About Ellington’s unique work, Mme. Vischer wrote to the composer late in 1965: 

 

Just on Christmas Eve I received your marvelous piece . . . I am very happy about your composition and I want to assure you of my greatest thanks. . . . could I ask you the favour to give me the manuscript with the dedication to my name as all other composers are doing for me, with a photo from you who always belong to my collection . . .16  

 

When Igor Kipnis asked whether I had any idea as to where he might find this score, I shared the citation information with him. Some years later he reciprocated by sending an arrangement made in collaboration with jazz great Dave Brubeck. A damper pedal would certainly make playing even this somewhat more idiomatic keyboard arrangement easier, but the gentle beauties of Ellington’s only “harpsichord” work deserve to find their place in our repertoire. In the spirit of jazz improvisation, I suggest adapting the written notes to fit one’s individual finger span, as well as assuming a free approach both to some of the notated rhythms and repeats, and not being afraid to toy with the tessitura by changing the octave of some notes in order to achieve a more lyrical legato line on our pedal-less instrument.

 

Prokofiev (for two)

In 1936 Sergey Prokofiev surprised the western musical world by forsaking Paris and returning to live out the rest of his days in his native Russia. One of his first Soviet musical projects was the composition of incidental music for a centenary production of Pushkin’s play Eugene Onegin. In this dramatic and colorful orchestral score a dream scene is integrated with the house party of the heroine, Tatyana. 

In his recent book, The People’s Artist, music historian Simon Morrison writes,

 

The party scene opens with the strains of a . . . polka emanating from a distant hall. Aberrant dance music represents aberrant events: much like Onegin himself, the dance music offends sensibility. It sounds wrong; it is a breach. Prokofiev scores the dance (No. 25) for two provincial, out-of-tune harpsichords, the invisible performers carelessly barreling through the five-measure phrases at an insane tempo—a comical comment on the hullabaloo that greets the arrival . . . of a pompous regimental commander. There ensues an enigmatic waltz (No. 26), which Prokofiev scores first for string quintet and then, in a jarring contrast, for the two harpsichords . . .17   

 

One wonders just how many provincial harpsichords there were in mid-1930s Russia, but this Polka from Eugene Onegin, played at a slightly more moderate pace, has served as a delightful encore for performances of Francis Poulenc’s Concert Champêtre when that enchanting work is performed as a duo with piano standing in for the orchestral parts, just as it was presented by Wanda Landowska and Poulenc in the very first, pre-premiere hearing of Poulenc’s outstanding score.18   

 

The Old Gray Mare, at last

Having fêted a pompous general with Prokofiev’s Polka, it is time to explain the reference to The Old Gray Mare. American composer and academic Douglas Moore composed a short variation set based on the popular folk tune to demonstrate the culminating amicable musical collaboration between the previously antagonistic harpsichord and piano, a duet that concludes the mid-
20th-century recording Said the Piano to the Harpsichord. This educational production has had a somewhat unique cultural significance as the medium through which quite a number of persons first encountered our plucked instrument. While Moore’s variation-finale remains unpublished, it is possible to transcribe the notes from the record, and thus regale live concert audiences with this charming entertainment for listeners “from three to ninety-plus.” 

Other musical examples utilized in this clever skit include a preludial movement, the mournful Le Gemisante from Jean-François Dandrieu’s 1èr Livre de Claveçin [1724]; the violently contrasting Military Polonaise in A Major, opus 40/1 by Fréderic Chopin, in which the piano demonstrates its preferred athletic and happy music and then goads the harpsichord into a ridiculous attempt at playing the same excerpt, sans pedal. That confrontation is followed by Jean-Philippe Rameau’s ever-popular Tambourin, which manages to sound nearly as ridiculous when the piano tries to show that it “can play your music better than you can play mine!”—an attempt heard to be futile when the harpsichord puts that notion to rest by playing it “the way it ought to sound.”

 

The 2012 Aliénor winners chosen by judges Tracy Richardson, David Schrader, and Alex Shapiro from some 70 submitted scores: Solo harpsichord (works required to emulate in some way the Mikrokosmos pieces by Béla Bartók): composers Ivan Božičevič (Microgrooves), Janine Johnson (Night Vision), Kent Holliday (Mikrokosmicals), Thomas Donahue (Four Iota Pieces), Mark Janello (Six Harpsichord Miniatures), and Glenn Spring (Bela Bagatelles). Vocal chamber music with one obbligato instrument and harpsichord: Jeremy Beck (Songs of Love & Remembrance), Ivan Božičevič (Aliénor Courante), and Asako Hirabayashi (Al que ingrate me deja).19 ν 

 

Notes

1. Jessica Douglas-Home, The Life and Loves of Violet Gordon Woodhouse (London: The Harvill Press, 1996). Discography (by Alan Vicat), p. 329. 

2. Ibid. Matrices issued in France with the catalogue number P484.

  3. Great Virtuosi of the Harpsichord, volume 3. Pearl GEMM CD 9242 (1996).

4. Three newly constructed two-manual harpsichords built by the piano firms Érard and Pleyel, and by the instrument restorer Louis Tomasini, were shown at the Paris Exposition of 1889, and heard in performances at the event. The modern harpsichord revival is often dated from that year.

5. See Larry Palmer, “Revival Relics” in Early Keyboard Journal V (1986–87), pp. 45–52, and Palmer, Harpsichord in America: A 20th-Century Revival (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989; paperback second edition, 1993), pp. 4–6; page six is a facsimile of the first page of Rigodon.

6. See Larry Palmer, “Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s English Suite for Harpsichord at 100.” The Diapason, December 2009,
pp. 36–37.

7. See these articles in The Diapason: Donna M. Walters, “Henri Mulet: French organist-composer,” December 2008, pp. 26–29; Harpsichord News, August 2010, p. 11; and, for a complete facsimile of the original publication, the issue of January 2011,
p. 12. 

  8. Edition Breitkopf Nr. 4836 “for Piano Solo.”  

9. See Larry Palmer, “The Busoni Sonatina,” in The Diapason, September 1973, pp. 10–11; Palmer, Harpsichord in America: “Busoni and the Harpsichord,” pp. 25–26; the first harpsichord recording of this work is played by Larry Palmer on Musical Heritage Society disc LP 3222 (1975). A fine 2002 digital recording, Revolution for Cembalo (Hänssler Classic CD 98.503) features Japanese harpsichordist Sumina Arihashi playing the Busoni Sonatina, as well as Delius’s Dance, Thomé’s Rigodon, and other early revival works by Ravel, Massenet, Richard Strauss, and Alexandre Tansman.

10. The list of included composers is given in Palmer, Harpsichord in America,
p. 146. Kirkpatrick also recorded this program in 1961. 

11. “Bach Goes to Town,” Angel/EMI S-36095.

12. http://www.percygrainger.org/prog not5.htm (accessed 20 October 2011).

13. Published by G. Schirmer.

14. Persichetti’s ten sonatas for harpsichord are published by Elkan-Vogel, Inc., a subsidiary of the Theodore Presser Company, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010; the First Sonata, opus 52 (1951), was published in 1973. The Powell work remains unpublished.

15. Ule Troxler, Antoinette Vischer: Dokumente zu einem Leben für das Cembalo (Basel: Birkhäuser-Verlag, 1976). Published by Schott & Co. Ltd., London; U.S. reprint by G. Schirmer.

16. Ibid., pp. 99–100. 

17. Simon Morrison, The People’s Artist—Prokofiev’s Soviet Years (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009). The quotation is found on page 130. I assembled the two harpsichord parts by cutting and pasting them from the orchestral score of Eugene Onegin (his opus 71).  I am unaware of any other published edition.

18. Personally I find the balances for the Poulenc much better in duo performances than in live harpsichord and orchestra ones. Another interesting possibility, at least as demonstrated by a recording, may be heard on Oehms Classics compact disc OC 637, where harpsichordist Peter Kofler is partnered by organist Hansjörg Albrecht and percussionist Babette Haag in a compelling performance, recorded in 2009 in Munich.

19. For more information about Aliénor and its history, consult www.harpsichord-now.org.

 

2012 marks the 50th anniversary of harpsichord editor Larry Palmer’s first published writing in The Diapason: a brief article about Hugo Distler in the issue for November 1962. Since those graduate student days he has taught at St. Paul’s College and Norfolk State and Southern Methodist Universities, served as President of SEHKS from 2004–2008, and is a continuing member of the advisory board for Aliénor. At the Cincinnati gathering in addition to “Gathering Peascods” he played Glenn Spring’s Bela Bagatelles at the Awards recital and chaired the Sunday session devoted to “Swingtime—The Mitch Miller Showdown.” 

 

Haarlem International Organ Festival 2012: From Sweelinck to Szathmáry’s Fukushima Requiem

In the second half of July, leading figures from the international organ world gathered again in Haarlem, the Netherlands, for the 49th edition of the Haarlem International Organ Festival

Stephen Taylor

Stephen Taylor was a chorister at Bristol Cathedral and organ scholar of Jesus College, Oxford. In the Netherlands he studied with Ewald Kooiman, Nico van den Hooven, and Jan Welmers, and was awarded the Prix d’Excellence in 1977. He was organist of the Nicolaïkerk in Utrecht for more than twenty years and is active as a soloist and continuo player and as an author and translator. Taylor joined the Haarlem Festival organization in 2007. His translation of Ton de Leeuw’s Music of the Twentieth Century was published by Amsterdam University Press. In 2006 he was awarded the St. Martin Medal of the city of Utrecht for his contribution to its cultural life. His three-volume tutor on practical harmonization, The Lost Chord, has recently been published for the first time in English.

 
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In the second half of July, leading figures from the international organ world gathered again in Haarlem, the Netherlands, for the 49th edition of the Haarlem International Organ Festival. It was here, in this wonderfully picturesque town very near Amsterdam, that the first Haarlem improvisation competition was held in 1951. Four years later, in 1955, the summer academy was launched, and the two events were held annually until 1986, and thereafter biennially. 

 

Improvisation competition

The competition is unique in its focus on contemporary improvisation. In each round, after an hour’s preparation with pencil and paper only, competitors offer a 10-minute concert improvisation. Eight participants from France, Poland, the USA (Jason Roberts, Connecticut), and Holland were selected in the spring of 2012 by means of submitted recorded improvisations on short motifs by Louis Maillié (Lyon and Paris). In the first two rounds, all eight selected competitors showed their skills first on the monumental Müller organ in St. Bavo’s and then on the Cavaillé-Coll instrument in the Philharmonie Concert Hall. The theme in Round 1 was a melody from the 16th-century Antwerp Liedboek. Round 2 was something of a surprise: instead of a musical idea, a semi-abstract, 90-second film served to inspire the competitors! The three finalists were presented with the following theme from the hand of the Viennese organist (and Haarlem veteran!) Peter Planyavsky. 

The five-member jury (Lionel Rogg, Wolfgang Seifen, Naji Hakim, Joost Langeveld, and the Dutch composer Klaas de Vries) reflected different schools of thought. Winner of the 2012 competition was the Frenchman Paul Goussot, who competed in the grand finale against French colleague Noël Hazebroucq and the Polish organist Edyta Müller (at last, a female improviser!). The Dutch national daily De Volkskrant wrote: 

 

Although the three finalists were a good match, Goussot achieved the most convincing balance between the virtues of ‘organistic’ freedom and the binding power of the theme. He employed lucid rhythms, well-sounding harmonies, and did not shy away from adventurous harmonic progressions. Just before the end, chords erupted from the pipes like flashes of fire, but then he suddenly slowed, finishing his improvisation in a whispering coda. This winner of the 49th improvisation competition is a man who combines musical instinct and craftsmanship with a sense of theatre. 

Another leading national daily added: “With the Haarlem International Organ Improvisation Competition many great organ careers have been launched . . . ” 

 

The International
Summer Academy

The Haarlem Summer Academy 2012 offered an 11-day program of masterclasses plus a two-day symposium. In daily two-hour sessions, capita selecta from more than four centuries of organ repertory were discussed in depth. Center stage in the academy is the Müller organ in St. Bavo’s (where the gallery fortunately accommodates up to 30!) But other important historic and modern instruments in the town are also used, all within walking distance. 

Teachers at the 2012 summer academy were Harald Vogel on Sweelinck, Margaret Phillips on early English music, Ton Koopman, Jean-Claude Zehnder, Jacques van Oortmerssen and James David Christie on J. S. Bach, Olivier Latry and Louis Robilliard on French and German Romantics, Martin Sander on Max Reger, Roman Summereder on contemporary ‘keystones’, Zsigmond Szathmáry (working with young composers), Jos van der Kooy and Peter Planyavsky on improvisation, and Leo van Doeselaar on repertory for organ and strings.

This year’s academy was attended by 85 students from 27 countries and five continents. In addition to a group of young Russian players (regular guests for some years), a new group of Chinese students included young teachers from Beijing and Shanghai. Previously officially a postgraduate program, the academy now accepts undergraduate music students, reflecting the festival’s policy to attract the very best young players. Daily lectures and discussions allowed both students and the general public to meet and hear all the academy teachers. 

 

Festival symposium

Midway between the two academy weeks, the festival symposium “From Sweelinck to Bach” took the entire academy to the famous organs at Oosthuizen and Edam and to Amsterdam (Oude and Nieuwe Kerk), where lectures and recitals were given by Harald Vogel, Margaret Phillips, Jean-Claude Zehnder, and Christoph Wolff, among others. 

 

Young talents

For the second time, the Haarlem summer academy included a six-day course for young talents aged 13 to 18. After an international call, six players were selected on the basis of a written recommendation from their teachers and a submitted recording (a fast movement from a Bach trio sonata and a Pièce de Fantaisie by Vierne). In six two-hour sessions, the young players (from Holland, Germany, France, Croatia, Ireland, Portugal, and the USA) were coached by Olivier Latry and Margaret Phillips. These young organists made good use of the opportunity to attend all festival activities and to visit other masterclasses. No fewer than three of the young talents from the 2010 course returned to Haarlem to take part in other masterclasses—the Haarlem disease is highly contagious!

 

Young composers

The Haarlem young composers’ course took place again under the inspirational direction of the Hungarian-German Ligeti pupil Zsigmond Szathmáry. After an international call, three new organ pieces by young Dutch and German composers were selected for discussion during the six-session masterclass. Important considerations in the selection process were composition technique, originality, and whether a work was idiomatically suited to the organ. The new works were discussed with the composers (two of whom performed their own works) and presented to the public during a festival recital in St. Bavo’s. 

For the second time, the Leipzig Summer Academy will include this concert and a preparatory course under Szathmáry in its 2013 program. Thus young composers are assured of repeat performances of their new works at prominent international venues. 

 

New music

The festival concert programs featured many premieres: Zsigmond Szathmáry’s Fukushima Requiem was broadcast live on Dutch national radio; Dutch premieres included EOOS for organ and panpipes by Klaas de Vries, Radulescu’s Madrigali, Kagel’s Phantasie für Orgel mit Obbligati for organ and tape, Der Dom und das Meer for organ and tape by Mesías Maiguashca, and Szathmáry’s Leichte Brise—grosser Orkan. In a spectacular closing recital, Olivier Latry and Shin-Young Lee performed Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring

 

50th anniversary

The 50th edition of the Haarlem International Organ Festival will take place July 11–26, 2014. Newcomers to the festival—and Haarlem veterans—will be warmly welcomed!

Note

Many of the items referred to in this article, including competition themes (and film), academy repertoire, and audio and video recordings of recitals and concerts (including Fukushima Requiem and The Rite of Spring), are available through www.organfestival.nl, where news of the 2014 festival will appear in the coming months.

 

 

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