THE DIAPASON, December 1909

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Replica of Volume I, Number One

Harpsichord News

by Larry Palmer

Larry Palmer is a contributing editor of The Diapason.

A work by Dutilleux

It is extremely rare that I come upon a harpsichord-inclusive piece of music that has not been listed in Frances Bedford's Harpsichord and Clavichord Music of the Twentieth Century, but such was the case when I read the Chicago Symphony Orchestra program for concerts played during the last weekend in January. On the program was Symphony Number Two (Le double) by Henri Dutilleux (born 1916)--scored for two orchestras: a chamber group of oboe, clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, trombone, celesta, timpani, string quartet and HARPSICHORD, plus another complete orchestral force with harp and a large battery of percussion instruments.

Dutilleux' Second Symphony, commissioned by the conductor Charles Munch to celebrate the Boston Symphony's 75th anniversary, resembles a baroque concerto grosso, and is a work lasting approximately 30 minutes. Michael Gielen conducted and Mary Sauer (principal pianist of the Chicago Symphony) was harpsichordist for this set of performances. [With thanks to faithful reader and longtime friend Roy Kehl for sending the Symphony program.]

Violet

The early 20th-century harpsichordist Violet Gordon Woodhouse (1871-1948) is the subject of a dramatic presentation with music, Violet, by her biographer Jessica Douglas-Home. It was performed on December 16 in London's Bush Hall (a 1904 ballroom) by harpsichordist Maggie Cole with actors Maggie Henderson and Robert McBain.

The exotic Violet is surely an apt subject for a drama: drawn to the harpsichord through Arnold Dolmetsch she became a player of exquisite sensitivity, the first to make commercial recordings at the harpsichord. Her intense musicality had its counterpart in her unconventional personal life: married to Gordon Woodhouse, the couple shared a home with three other men in a long-lasting ménage à cinq. Women, too, were passionate in their devotion to Violet, among them the composer Ethel Smyth and the writer Radclyffe Hall. Devotées of her playing included the three literary Sitwells, George Bernard Shaw, T. E. Lawrence, and Serge Diaghilev.

Virginia Pleasants reports from London

The London musical scene has been enriched by the openings of the Handel House Museum (November 8, 2001) and the York Gate Collections at the Royal Academy of Music (February 27, 2002).

To honor one of music's most famous composers the Handel House Trust acquired his longtime residence at 25 Brook Street in central London, the site not only for the composition of several of the composer's most famous works (including Messiah), but also of rehearsals for their performances. Music is again to be heard in regular concerts on two harpsichords: a single-manual William Smith replica of an instrument in the Bate Collection, Oxford, and a two-manual Ruckers-style instrument by Bruce Kennedy. Both commissioned instruments are professionally maintained and are available to students for practice and concerts. A future addition will be a chamber organ, like the harpsichords a replica of an instrument Handel played in these rooms.

Lectures on Handelian subjects, both independently and in conjunction with concerts at nearby St. George's Church, are offered by the Museum. At last London boasts a major tribute to one of its most famous composers! [Contact information: The Handel House Museum, 25 Brook Street, London W1K 4HB; Website: http://www.handelhouse.org;

Email: [email protected]].

The Royal Academy of Music has officially opened its York Gate Collections of Musical Instruments at a site adjacent to the Academy (1 York Gate). There, nine pianos from the collection of Kenneth and Mary Mobbs are on loan. The collection shows the development of the grand piano in England during the first half of the 19th century; it provides a welcome corollary to the Academy's famed collection of string instruments.

Early Music: Chopin (!)

The Oxford University Press journal Early Music (Volume XXIX/3, August 2001) includes Laurence Libin's article "Robert Adam's Instruments for Catherine the Great" and several contributions on the topic "Chopin As Early Music," among them Jim Samson's "Chopin, Past and Present;" Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger's "Chopin and Pleyel;" and Jonathan Bellman's "Frédéric Chopin, Antoine de Kontski and the carezzando Touch."

These articles are highly recommended. I hope our readers will share them with their pianist friends, who, in general, often ignore the gentle sensitivity of Chopin's music and, if one believes contemporary reports, of his own playing.

Some years ago I read with great interest a small volume by Edith J. Hipkins: How Chopin Played (From Contemporary Impressions collected from the Diaries and Notebooks of the late A. J. Hipkins, F.S.A [1826-1903]), published in London (J. M. Dent and Sons Ltd, 1937). In this book the daughter of the harpsichord-playing pioneer relayed her father's observations of the great composer, impressions from very early in Hipkins' career as an employee of the Broadwood piano firm, where Chopin visited in April 1848. Hipkins reported that "Chopin's fortissimo was the full pure tone without noise, a harsh inelastic note being to him painful. His nuances were modifications of that tone, decreasing to the faintest yet always distinct pianissimo." [page 5]

Concerning Chopin's touch, Hipkins wrote "He changed fingers upon a key as often as an organ-player." (A footnote to this statement relates that "At the age of sixteen Chopin was appointed organist to the Lyceum at Warsaw.") [page 5]

Hipkins: "To return to pianos, [Chopin] especially liked Broadwood's Boudoir cottage pianos of that date, two-stringed, but very sweet instruments. . . He played Bach's '48' all his life long. 'I don't practise my own compositions,' he said to Von Lentz. 'When I am about to give a concert, I close my doors for a time and play Bach.'" [page 7]

[A copy of this book having gone "astray" in our university library, I am doubly indebted to Mrs. Rodger Mirrey of London, who sent me a photocopy of the entire 39-page text.]

Still more from Early Music

The issue for February (Volume XXX/1) includes several items of interest to the harpsichordist: "Keyboard Instrument Building in London and the Sun Insurance Records, 1775-87" (Lance Whitehead and Jenny Nex); "The Dublin Virginal Manuscript: New Perspectives on Virginalist Ornamentation" (Desmond Hunter); "Repeat Signs and Binary Form in François Couperin's Pièces de claveçin" (Paul Cienniwa); plus correspondence about Domenico Scarlatti's 'tremulo' (Carl Sloane and Howard Schott) for erudition. And Howard Schott's lovely obituary of Igor Kipnis, for nostalgia.

[Send items for these columns to Dr. Larry Palmer, Division of Music, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX 75275; email [email protected]]

Harpsichord News

by Larry Palmer

Larry Palmer is a contributing editor of The Diapason.

A work by Dutilleux

Violet

Virginia Pleasants reports from London

The London musical scene has been enriched by the openings of the Handel House Museum (November 8, 2001) and the York Gate Collections at the Royal Academy of Music (February 27, 2002).

Email: [email protected]].

Early Music: Chopin (!)

[A copy of this book having gone "astray" in our university library, I am doubly indebted to Mrs. Rodger Mirrey of London, who sent me a photocopy of the entire 39-page text.]

Still more from Early Music

[Send items for these columns to Dr. Larry Palmer, Division of Music, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX 75275; email [email protected]]

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THE DIAPASON: The First Hundred Years

M. Barone, J. Bethards, M. Friesen, O. Ochse, B. Owen, F. Swann, and J. Weaver

Michael Barone, a native of Kingston, Pennsylvania and graduate (Bachelor of Music History) of the Oberlin Conservatory, has been employed by Minnesota Public Radio since 1968. His Pipedreams program entered national radio syndication in 1982. Jack Bethards is president and tonal director of Schoenstein & Co. Organ Builders, San Francisco, California. Michael Friesen, of Denver, Colorado, is an organ historian who specializes in the history of organbuilding in America in the 18th and 19th centuries. He was president of the Organ Historical Society from 2003 to 2007. Orpha Ochse is Professor of Music Emerita at Whittier College, Whittier, California, and author of several books on the history of the organ and organ playing. Barbara Owen is Librarian of the AGO Organ Library at Boston University and author of several books on the organ and its music. Frederick Swann has been a church and concert organist for nearly seven decades. He is the immediate past president of the American Guild of Organists, and although semi-retired he maintains a full schedule of teaching, recording, and performing activity. John Weaver lives in West Glover, Vermont, having retired from three long-term positions as Director of Music at New York’s Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church and head of the organ departments at the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School. He has honorary Doctor of Music degrees from Westminster College and the Curtis Institute.

Centennial Celebration:
A new beginning
Early in the 20th century, the organ functioned as a community resource. Municipal instruments proliferated, organ concerts were attended by throngs, and competition for popular attention was relatively minimal. Organ installations garnered plenty of press, people enjoyed the effects of which the organ was capable, and famous recitalists (Lemare, Guilmant, Dupré, Bonnet) drew huge crowds.
But things change, always, and for the organ, the post-war (WWII) cultural shifts were monumental. Radio and television offered easy ‘entertainment’, and, along with the proliferation of symphony orchestras, undercut the civic organ’s necessity as a musical means and medium. And an increasingly intellectual direction in concert-giving (and music appreciation) stratified audiences.
Even when some of us were growing up (1950s-plus), the organ had two pivotal superstars whose prominence (and PR savvy) positioned them prominently in the minds of the general population. In those days, players still were the focus, instruments second, and the music simply the conduit.
But the fascination with organ history, period instruments, repertoire, and performance practice has taken the focus off of the virtuoso, and while we have learned a great deal about many things organic, along the way the cult of the performer has faded, and with it the audience.
Still, it could be argued that at this present time we are in a ‘golden age’ for the organ. The number of astonishingly talented young players is amazing, with more skilled youngsters on the way. New instruments of superb quality, in an incredible array of styles and venues, are being built, while historic organs representing every possible era and nationality have been carefully refurbished. We know more about and play more repertoire than ever before, and contemporary composers continue to be attracted to the instrument.
Yet the general public seems uninvolved. Even concerts on the big, new organs in our concert halls generally do not generate crowds of a size in any way comparable to their counterparts in the 1920s and ’30s.
So, unlike 50 years ago when the scene was lively and fun and the person-in-the-street was engaged by organ activity, these days we struggle to demonstrate relevance and can’t simply go along for the ride. Though in so many ways the situation is better than ever, the challenges for the future are as great as they have ever been (and there have been plenty of challenges in past centuries).
As one colleague recently reflected: “We must enhance the quality of life of our listeners, and reach out to communicate the emotional aspects of our music to our audiences, or else all just becomes more noise pollution, something of which we have too much already.”
I expect and hope that The Diapason will be an active participant in, conduit of, and catalyst for those processes that will keep the organ alive in the 21st century, as it has for the past 100 years. If so, this Centennial Celebration will be a new beginning.
Anyone who is interested in the pipe organ has, at some point or another, been introduced to The Diapason. The combination of this magazine’s sleek, non-standard proportions and its efficiently packaged and engaging content proved irresistible, particularly to the young neophyte.
But once the curiosity value had faded, The Diapason—this rare and informative ‘inside passage’ to the realm of the King of Instruments—continued to beguile with its news (and gossip), the important discoveries, and the thoughtful musings on historical and philosophical organ-related topics.
I first subscribed to The Diapason while still a teen, but then let the subscription lapse (money was tight and I could access the journal at the library). Sooner than later I wanted to reinstate my connection, and have been a regular reader for longer than seems comfortable to confess.
Obviously, others are in the same boat, else we’d not be celebrating a centenary here. Heaven knows that the organ, which itself has enjoyed the passage of numerous centennials, generates more copy than any one publication can embrace. I applaud The Diapason for doing its part while maintaining its quality of reportage—and quirky but charming format—with élan and grace through these many decades. Bravo! Now, bring on the second hundred years!
—Michael Barone

Reflections on The Diapason
I wonder how many others were as guilty as I of spending far too much study time in high school and college poring over old issues of The Diapason? Those pages, filled with news of the ups and downs of the organ industry and all of the colorful characters in lofts and factories, were an irresistible lure to daydream about the past and what the future might hold for a young man who also spent far too much time sketching stoplists during lectures. When I joined Schoenstein & Co. in 1977, the opportunities for such fun increased: the company archive started with the April 1911 issue.
What I liked then, and still do today, is that the format of The Diapason has changed only slightly over all these years (not even as much as The New Yorker)! What other magazine in business since 1909 can say that? In fact, how many magazines that old are still in business? The constancy of The Diapason, which stuck to its guns through the great boom of factory organ building during its first 20 years, the tough times of depression and war, the second big boom in the 1950s, and then the controversies that occurred about all aspects of organ design, while the structure of the industry changed from predominantly large manufacturers to a mix of large and small—a kind of cottage industry turning out every kind of tonal and mechanical style imaginable—gave me the feeling that no matter how much things changed, there would always be a pipe organ culture in America.
A delightful recent aspect of The Diapason is its mixture of serious and silly. The Diapason makes room (literally) for both. It is a place for lengthy, academic articles on arcane subjects and also for lighter fare—just check out the classified ad section! [See examples from the whimsy file, page 14.]
I hope The Diapason will continue to stay the course, amid shifting currents, in its second century. As our culture evolves more and more quickly, the organ world will value a familiar friend—The Diapason.
—Jack M. Bethards

Siegfried E. Gruenstein’s success
When Siegfried E. Gruenstein began publication of The Diapason in Chicago in December 1909, he was the first person to create a general-purpose journal devoted to the organ since Everett E. Truette’s effort in Boston in the 1890s. Truette’s journal, The Organ, unfortunately lasted only through two volumes, from May 1892 to April 1894. Truette’s precedent, in turn, was Eugene Thayer’s The Organists’ Journal and Review, itself also a short-lived publication issued in Boston from March 1874 to January 1877. (Both the Thayer and the Truette have been reprinted in complete sets, which are available from the Organ Historical Society.)
The Diapason, however, was to have a different fate. Here it is, still being published a hundred years later, a feat that has been matched by only a handful of journals throughout American history. Publishing is a hard business, and one fraught with constant tension over printers’ deadlines, obtaining and editing copy from multiple contributors, keeping advertisers and subscribers happy, and the like. It is also not usually highly profitable because of the relative mismatch between overhead and operating expenses versus what advertisers and subscribers are willing to pay for distribution and content, respectively. Cost issues were the factors in the demise of the above-mentioned journals, undoubtedly also affected by the fact that the organ world was, and still is, very “thin” compared to circulation numbers possible for mass-market publications.
However, Gruenstein’s effort was timely. The organ market in the United States was reasonably affluent and growing, and by 1909 was entering a period of significant technological change, with increasing demand for instruments built with forms of electric action to replace traditional mechanical-action organs. (Tubular-pneumatic action, a transitional form of technology, had obtained a foothold in the market beginning in the 1880s, but it was not destined to survive much longer.) Thus many organbuilding firms entered the field, and existing ones grew substantially, in the decade after The Diapason was founded. (To give some sense of numerical perspective about this period, M. P. Möller, Inc., for one example, gradually expanded its factory to the point that it could produce an organ every day; the combined annual output of the ten largest manufactories in peak years before the Great Depression began has been estimated at around 1,000 instruments.) Soon there was plenty of publicity about new organs and the activities of organbuilders to go around.
The Diapason became known as the journal where one could find multiple stoplists, descriptions, and pictures of new organs each month, and of course for organists, reading such material is almost akin to an addiction. Usually, an instrument was guaranteed publicity twice—when a contract was announced, and when it was installed and dedicated; often, readers could find snippets of work-in-progress news as well. The journal also promoted the activities of organists, publishing summaries of recital programs, and tracking their careers and travels. To amass such detail, and then publish it regularly every month, must have been a herculean task for Gruenstein, but he did it. Advertisers and subscribers flocked to The Diapason in droves, and he effectively was able to “corner” the market, because no other general-purpose organ periodical exerted significant competition. The American Organist, in its original incarnation as the “house journal” of the American Guild of Organists, was no match for The Diapason until T. Scott Buhrman’s editorship from the 1940s to the 1960s. Regardless, even in spite of the lean years of the Great Depression and World Wars I and II, The Diapason has held its own to the present.
That Gruenstein’s business model was successful is shown by The Diapason today, which still largely follows the format he established. In general, as readership demographics change, periodicals must adjust in order to survive, but a loyal following by organists, organbuilders, and friends of the organ has continued to ensure The Diapason’s success. And of course, today’s “gossip” becomes tomorrow’s “primary source material” for historians, and in that sense, The Diapason’s rich store of back issues, which is often plumbed for information about the twentieth-century organ, is priceless. With adaptation to changes in technology and electronic publishing, here’s to hoping that it will continue to be published indefinitely, and therefore also prove to be a gold mine for information about the organ in the twenty-first century as well.
—Michael D. Friesen

Celebrating a Centennial
The Diapason—what a treasure trove of American organ history! I have leafed through all its pages, discovering not just the facts I was particularly interested in, but also the broad contexts surrounding those facts. For the person who really wants to understand the “ups and downs” of the past century’s organ world, I suggest a decade-by-decade prowl through old issues of The Diapason. Of course, such a process is by its nature leisurely, but it compensates for inefficiency with its revelations about the evolution of style, and changing opinions regarding the essential nature of the organ.
Facts are also there in abundance. One particularly thorough example of journalistic reporting is a blow-by-blow description of the 1936–1937 Federal Trade Commission trials to determine if the electronic instrument developed by the Hammond Clock Company was indeed an organ, and if it could produce effects equal to those of a pipe organ. At one point in the trials, block and tackle were used to raise a Hammond instrument to the top of a pole for some outdoor acoustical tests. Well, you’ll just have to read the whole story in those old Diapasons. Then in the 1940s there were the chronicles of World War II: young organists and organ builders drafted into the armed forces; organ shops converted to war work; restrictions on the use of materials essential for the war effort. So many stories!
One wonders how our own time will appear to the reader half a century or more in the future. However complex and uncertain our present time may seem as we experience it, that lucky reader will be able to see the big picture—where we’ve been, where we’re going—by leafing through the pages of volume 100 and succeeding volumes of The Diapason’s Second Century.
—Orpha Ochse

The Diapason at the century mark
I first encountered The Diapason as a teen-aged baby-sitter. The youngsters were the offspring of my organ teacher, and I minded them in exchange for organ lessons. The latest issue of The Diapason was usually on her coffee table, and after the kids had been tucked into bed, I would read it from cover to cover, soaking up all that arcane information about organ recitals, organists, and the latest new organs in each monthly issue as only a young person newly introduced to the fascinating world of the organ could. By the time I was off to college I had my own subscription, which continues to this day.
While various general musical periodicals had carried news and occasional articles pertaining to organs and organists during the 19th century, it was only near the end of that century that any English-language journals dealing exclusively with the organ made their appearance, the earliest in North America being Eugene Thayer’s Organist’s Quarterly Journal and Review, 1874–1876. Others, equally short-lived, would follow. But it would appear that it was not until the first decade of the 20th century that a large enough potential readership had evolved to sustain a substantial national organ periodical. Thus in 1909 Siegfried Emanuel Gruenstein, a journalist for the Chicago Evening Post and organist of the Lake Forest Presbyterian Church, melded his two professional interests and established The Diapason, the first issue of which appeared in December 1909.
Over the years, The Diapason has served at various times as the official journal of the Organ Builders Association of America, the National Association of Organists, the Canadian College of Organists, the Hymn Society, and the American Guild of Organists. Eventually these organizations either ceased to exist or produced their own periodicals, and for the last several decades The Diapason has stood on its own feet. Today, having outlived various later competitors, it still stands as the only independent organ-related periodical still published in America. And, having reached the century mark, it is also the oldest, and still going strong.
To browse through back issues of The Diapason is to watch the entire history of the American organ in the twentieth century unfold in print and picture. The lives of numerous organists, well known or obscure, are chronicled from their debut recital or first church position to their obituaries. Organ builders come to prominence, change leadership, merge, and fade away or close. Organs for major churches, colleges and cathedrals are featured, many of them to be later replaced by newer organs that are likewise featured. Changing tastes in organ literature are reflected in reviews and recital programs, and contemporary composers of every period critiqued or interviewed. We can trace the rise and fall of residence and theatre organs, and the evolutionary history of the orchestral, American classic, neo-Baroque and eclectic movements in tonal design through stoplists and commentary, as well as opinionated give-and-take in the Letters to the Editor. Even the advertisements (including the classifieds) have a story to tell. And this tradition of chronicling the American organ scene continues into the 21st century.
Read any book about an organist, organ composer, or organ builder of the 20th century, as well as many books and articles concerning organs, organ music and organists, and one is more likely than not to find The Diapason cited in footnotes and bibliography. Researchers (including this writer) love its inimitable resources—and earnestly hope that all 100 years of it will one day be digitized in keyword-searchable form. But we read it too as the denizens of our little organ world have always read it, to keep up with what is going on among our contemporaries and to benefit from their scholarship in worthwhile articles. And yes, I still read every issue cover to cover when it arrives!
—Barbara Owen

The Diapason:
100 years and counting
My sincere congratulations on the 100th anniversary of The Diapason! This historic journal—the longest-lived of its type in the world—has faithfully chronicled the history of organs, organists, church music, and related fields in an informative, interesting, and educational manner. Further, it has done so fairly and without bias as ideas and fads of organ culture have changed over the years.
I received my first issue of The Diapason in 1946 when, as a young teen-ager, I joined the American Guild of Organists. To me, at that age, the primary benefit of AGO membership was the monthly arrival of this fascinating publication, which was then the official journal of the Guild. It immediately enlarged my view and knowledge of a profession that was to become the focus of my life. I devoured every word of each issue, and over this period of nearly 63 years have saved all 750 copies, thinking that someday when I was old I’d sit on the porch and reread them. That hasn’t happened yet, but I have on numerous occasions consulted back copies for news and specific articles.
Soon after I entered Northwestern University in 1948, I was introduced to S. E. Gruenstein, the founder, editor and publisher of The Diapason. He was a kindly gentleman, interested in all matters related to the organ world, and was especially encouraging to young organists. Over the years his successors have continued to update and enlarge the journal. The look and the content have continued to grow and have reached a high standard of excellence.
The longevity of The Diapason affirms that it continues to reach many organists and enthusiasts who believe in the quality and value of its offerings. I am certain that others join me in expressing the hope that the advent of a new century of publication will herald its indefinite continuation.
—Frederick Swann

Recollections of The Diapason
When I started reading The Diapason I was about 10 years old—it was probably 1947. I remember the many pages of tiny print listing dozens of organ recital programs from around the county. I assume that they were all set by hand with individual pieces of type. I also recall that there were lots of advertisements for organ pipes for sale. I responded to several of these with letters, which I hoped would not reveal my age or inability to pay. I had visions of buying some ten ranks and building an organ with them. Congratulations on 100 great years.
—John Weaver

Nunc Dimittis

William P. “Bill” Brown died February 2 at his home in Phoenix, Arizona. Born in Battle Creek in 1925 and raised in Columbus, he attended New Mexico Military Institute for high school and college, where he was known as “WP,” and went to Japan with the Army during World War II. Upon his return, he took his MBA at Wharton, then began a career in real estate development. Over the years, he served on the Phoenix Planning Commission, held many offices for the Downtown YMCA and Midtown Rotary, and was active in the Phoenix Ski Club and NMMI and UPenn alumni groups.
Brown may best be known as the owner of the Organ Stop Pizza restaurants, and was an accomplished pianist and theatre organist in his own right. With his restaurants, he entertained vast numbers of people, brought the theatre organ and its music into the vernacular, launched the careers of many artists, and inspired and helped others to create similar restaurants across the country. He was a leader and active participant in all the major theatre organ organizations and also supported the installation of dozens of organs in the valley and across the country, including Phoenix’s Orpheum Theatre. Memorial services were held at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Phoenix, February 10. He is survived by his two sons, daughter, and five grandchildren.

Michael Fleming died January 10 in Surrey, England. Former Warden of the Royal School of Church Music, he was director of music at St. Alban’s, Holborn 1980–98, and had served at several well-known London churches.
Fleming was born April 8, 1928 in Oxford, where his father, Guy Fleming, was curate at the Anglo-Catholic St. Mary Magdalen’s. His grandfather, Arthur Fleming, was Precentor of Gloucester Cathedral and headmaster of the cathedral school. Michael Fleming started organ lessons at age 12 at St. Austell in Cornwall. After National Service he studied music at Durham University, was organist of St. Oswald’s, and had organ lessons with Francis Jackson. Fleming served as organist and choirmaster at St. Giles, Cambridge, and continued organ lessons with George Guest. During his two years as organist of Chingford Church in Essex, he studied with Harold Darke. In 1958 he was appointed director of music at All Saints Margaret Street in London, where he taught in its choir school. A decade later, he moved to Croydon Parish Church and became a full-time tutor at nearby Addington Palace, then home of the Royal School of Church Music. Ten years later, he moved to St. Mary’s, Primrose Hill. In 1980, Fleming was apppointed director of music at St. Alban’s, Holborn.
After retirement from the RSCM in 1993, he continued on the governing bodies of both the English Hymnal Company and the Church Music Society. In 1998, he left Holborn to become director of music at St Michael’s in Croydon. His numerous arrangements for hymns include settings with trumpets and drums. In 1999 he was awarded an MA Lambeth degree “in recognition of his contribution to church music and liturgy.”

Hiroshi Tsuji, Japan’s pioneer organbuilder, passed away on December 22, 2005, at the age of 72, in Shirakawa. He is survived by his wife, Toshiko, a daughter, Megumi Wolter, who presently lives in Berlin, Germany, and three grandchildren. Born in Aichi-ken in 1933, Tsuji showed an early interest in music, and later attended Geijutsu Daigaku (“Gei Dai”) music school in Tokyo, studying organ and graduating in 1958. While there he realized that tinkering with the school’s old organ interested him as much as playing it, and shortly afterward came to the United States, where he apprenticed with the Schlicker Organ Co. in Buffalo 1960–1963. He then went to Holland, where he apprenticed for another year with D. A. Flentrop, studied some of the historic organs, and became convinced of the importance of classical voicing and tracker action.
Returning to Japan in 1964, he established a small workshop in a Tokyo suburb, where he built a few small organs in the “neo-classic” style. Although in this period organs were already being imported to Japan, mostly from Germany, Tsuji was the first native Japanese craftsman to engage full-time in organ-building. In 1971 he returned briefly to Europe to continue his study of historic organs, and shortly afterward moved to the mountain town of Shirakawa, where he established a workshop in a spacious former schoolhouse. By this time he was securing some larger contracts and had several people working for him, some of whom later established workshops of their own.
Tsuji early made a commitment to basing his instruments on historic European models, at first only in the North German style. Later, in the early 1980s, encouraged by Umberto Pineschi and Yuko Hayashi, he went to Italy and became intrigued with the sound of historic organs in Tuscany. In 1982 he restored a small organ of 1762 in Pistoia, and also made a replica of it, which was displayed at the Boston Early Music Festival and is now in Canada. Another replica, of a larger 1755 organ by the Pistoian builder Tronci, was later built for a museum in Gifu, Japan. In 1984 he restored the 1745 Tronci organ in the church of San Filippo in Pistoia, for which he was made an honorary citizen of the city. One of the Italian-style organs that Tsuji had built he kept in his workshop, and at his suggestion the town of Shirakawa has for the past 20 years sponsored an annual Academy of Italian Organ Music there, which has brought several distinguished teachers to Japan. One of the results of this collaboration is that Shirakawa and Pistoia have become “sister cities,” participating in cultural exchange.
While several subsequent organs continued to reflect the North German style, by the late 1980s and early 1990s Tsuji was building some larger organs based on 18th-century Italian principles, culminating in his last instrument for the Community Hall in his home town of Shirakawa, completed in 2005. In this period too he spent some time in Spain, where he restored the historic Renaissance organ in Salamanca Cathedral, a large one-manual instrument. In 1994 he built a sizable organ in the Spanish style for Salamanca Hall in Gifu, the third manual of which is tonally a replica of the Salamanca Cathedral organ. However, most subsequent Tsuji organs were in either the German or the Italian style. Because most Christian churches in Japan are quite small, many of the organs built for them by Tsuji were likewise small, some with only three or four stops and either a coupled pedal or no pedal at all. Some of his larger church organs included those in the Tokyo Lutheran Center (II/15, 1972), St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Tokyo (II/22, 1976), the chapel of the Salesian Boys Home (II/16, 1989), and the Protestant Church in Kobe (II/24, 2001). Most of Tsuji’s larger organs were built for schools and concert halls. These included the Tamagawa School (II/18, 1978), Nagoya Gakuin University (II/14, 1984), Seinann Gakuin University (III/33, 1987), Salamanca Hall, Gifu (III/45, 1994/9), Aoyama Gakuin, Shibuya (II/14, 1994), and Community Hall, Shirakawa (II/21, 2005). Tsuji also made a number of small residence and practice organs, contributing to a total number of 81 organs built between 1964 and 2005. The workmanship of Tsuji’s instruments, regardless of size, was impeccable, the sound refined and balanced, and the casework well-proportioned and of handsome classical design. It is to be regretted that the only examples of his work to be exported to the American continent are a small house organ and a 3-stop continuo organ, both in Canada. —Barbara Owen

Grady W. Wilson, a longtime resident of Columbus, Ohio, formerly of New York City, died January 15 at Dublin Retirement Village. He was 75. Born July 16, 1930, Wilson received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Alabama, Master of Music from Florida State University, and Doctor of Musical Arts in organ from the University of Michigan. Dr. Wilson retired as professor of music at the State College of Jersey City (now Jersey City University) in 1993. He most recently served as organist at Trinity United Methodist Church in Marble Cliff, having previously served churches in New York and New Jersey. Wilson performed as a pianist and organist, both as soloist and with his identical twin brother, the late Dr. Gordon Wilson. The Wilson brothers toured the United States and Europe performing original duets for organ (two performers at one console), releasing a recording of these works in 1977. A memorial service was held February 2 at Trinity United Methodist Church, Columbus, Ohio.

The King of Instruments

A consideration of the record series made by the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company

John A. Hansen

John A. Hansen, a native of Council Bluffs, Iowa, began his pipe organ career at the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company in Boston in May of 1961, working in the console shop. Most of his time at the firm was spent in the Engineering Department. Sensing trouble in the distance, he left the company in 1965, returning to the Omaha, Nebraska, area (of which Council Bluffs is a part) to become a tuning and service technician. In 1985 he became Regional Representative of Austin Organs, Inc., for Nebraska and Western Iowa.

The arrival of the post-World-War-II 331/3-r.p.m,
high-fidelity, long-playing recording was
embraced by the legendary Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company of Boston as a
means of promoting its product. In the course of approximately twenty years,
thirty volumes of the series, entitled The King of Instruments, were released.
The series can be divided into three groups, (1) The Harrison Era, (2) The
Whiteford Era, and (3) The Post-Whiteford Era. The impetus for entering into
the venture came from Joseph S. Whiteford, who served as associate and
successor to the legendary English-born President and Tonal Director, G. Donald
Harrison.

The Harrison Era

Perhaps the most important recording of the entire series is
Volume 1, The American Classic Organ, a lecture-demonstration narrated by no
less than G. Donald Harrison. Many of the tonal examples were recorded at the
Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston, the organ there played by George Faxon.
Other organs used were those in Symphony Hall, Boston; First Presbyterian
Church, Kilgore, Texas; and New York's Cathedral of St. John the Divine, played
by Thomas Dunn, Roy Perry, Norman Coke-Jephcott, and Mr. Whiteford.
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> (The latter's efforts include the
improvised demonstration of the legendary St. John the Divine State Trumpet.)
The urbane, English verbiage of Mr. Harrison and the very persuasive musical
presentations are, even after almost fifty years, highly contagious. (Roy
Perry, however, did express to the writer regret that the examples of
string-tone stops were from Boston's Symphony Hall rather than those in the Kilgore
organ, which he felt were superior.)

Volume 2, Organ Literature: Bach to Langlais, features the
organs of Symphony Hall, Boston; the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston; and
First Presbyterian Church, Kilgore, Texas. The playing of, respectively, the
Bach Trio Sonata No. 1 and the
Allegro from the A Minor
Concerto of Vivaldi/Bach by George Faxon at
St. Paul's Cathedral may be the chief treasures of the disc, followed closely
by Roy Perry's unique rendition of Davies' A Solemn Melody
style='font-style:normal'>. Thomas Dunn is said to have played the three Bach Schübler
Chorales and the Alain Litanies
style='font-style:normal'> at Symphony Hall, listed as the "Staff
Organist," while William Watkins received a similar listing, very
effectively playing the Sowerby Carillon on the Kilgore organ. It might be argued that the use of three organs
to demonstrate the versatility of Aeolian-Skinner's work would have been better
served by a single instrument, but the recording is still very effective.

The next two issues, Volume 3, Organ Recital: Robert Owen
and Volume 4, Hilliar at St. Mark's, employed organs somewhat unique, in that
they both had divided Swell divisions. The first of these was recorded at
Christ Church, Bronxville, New York, and garnered perhaps the highest critical
praise of the early releases in this series, with the possible exception of
Volume 1. Owen's playing of the Walther Partita, Meinen Jesum lass ich nicht
style='font-style:normal'> and Messiaen's The Prayer of Christ
ascending to the Father may be the high
points of that recording. Edgar Hilliar was organist at St. Mark's Church, Mt.
Kisco, New York, and his playing of the Bach Trio Sonata No. IV in E
Minor is truly a marvel--a brilliant
example of how deft touch control can affect the pipe speech of a
non-mechanical action instrument. The Mt. Kisco acoustic is very dry; and,
perhaps somewhat unique in this series, no attempt was made to add artificial
reverberation to it. (The writer had the pleasure of hearing Mr. Hilliar in
recital at St. Mark's and will never forget his masterful playing of the Bach
"Little" Fugue in G Minor,
using but a single flute stop.)

The "dry" acoustic at Mt. Kisco is placed in sharp
contrast by Volume 5, The Music of
Richard Purvis, recorded in the spacious confines of San Francisco's Grace
Cathedral. Despite the listing of the player as the "staff organist,"
the organist was, in fact, the composer of the music. (One can only assume that
the player's designation was designed to avoid conflict with his other
recordings.) The most notable piece is the Partita on
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> Christ ist Erstanden
style='font-style:normal'>.

New York's Cathedral of St. John the Divine is the setting
of Volumes 6 and 8. The former, The Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, New
York City, is played by Alec Wyton and is perhaps most notable for Sowerby's Prelude
on Deus Tuorum Militum,
style='font-style:normal'> written for the Cathedral's justifiably famous State
Trumpet. The latter, Norman Coke-Jephcott at Saint John the Divine, features
Wyton's Cathedral predecessor. Whereas Volume 6 was somewhat closely
"miked" to deal with the lengthy reverberation, Volume 8 seems to
revel in the vastness of the space. Coke-Jephcott's Toccata on
"St. Anne" is very exciting, and
the four opening notes on the lower registers of the State Trumpet in his Bishops'
Promenade are truly awesome!

One of Harrison's landmark organs of the mid-thirties is
that in St. John's Chapel of the Groton (Massachusetts) School, and it was used
for the series' Volume 7, Marilyn Mason in Recital. In addition to a very
spritely performance of Bach's Prelude and Fugue in D Major
style='font-style:normal'>, the recording is also notable for the performance
of Robert Crandell's Carnival Suite for Organ
style='font-style:normal'>.

The largest organ built by Aeolian-Skinner was that in the
Mother Church, First Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston. Volume 9, The Mother
Church, Boston, features Ruth Barrett Phelps, for some years organist at the
Mother Church. Her playing of the Buxtehude Prelude and Fugue in G Minor
style='font-style:normal'> stands out in the writer's consideration, proving
that a large, electro-pneumatic-action organ can be a model of clarity. (The
writer once played the Buxtehude on this record for an organ-enthusiast friend
without telling him what the organ was, and asked him what sort of instrument
he assumed it might be--his response was that it must have been a North
European tracker!)

Volume 10, Music of the Church, was recorded at First
Presbyterian Church, Kilgore, Texas, where Aeolian-Skinner's first horizontal
Trompette en Chamade was installed. Four anthems, with Roy Perry at the console
and the church's choir augmented by the choir of Austin College, make up the
bulk of the recording. A rousing performance of C. Hubert H. Parry's I was
glad--including the Coronation vivats
style='font-style:normal'>--begins the record. While the tempi, particularly in
the John Ireland Greater Love hath no man and David McK. Williams' In the Year that King Uzziah died
style='font-style:normal'> are sometimes unusually slow, the performances are
still quite beguiling, certainly helped by the removal of the church's
carpeting for the recording. (The Texans certainly sang with great zeal, and
the "quasi-tympani" effect of multiple notes played on the 32'
stops after the words, . . . and the house was filled with smoke, in the
Willams anthem is especially notable.) Perry's playing of the evocative,
impressionistic evensong Prelude on Iam Sol recedit igneus
style='font-style:normal'>, by Bruce Simonds, is a wonderfully quiet conclusion
to this, one of the series' most popular releases.

Henry Hokans at All Saints' is the title of Volume 11,
comprising pieces by Walond, Whitlock, Franck, and Dupré. The Worcester,
Massachusetts, organ was another of Harrison's "landmark" instruments
of the 1930s. As it evolved over a number of years, it was perhaps the most
"French" of his organs until his final one in St. Thomas' Church, New
York City. Mr. Hokans, successor to William Self at All Saints' Church, is one
of the most gifted players the writer has ever heard. His performance of
Dupré's Variations sur un Noël,
Opus 20, is absolutely electrifying!

Volume 12, Pierre Cochereau at Symphony Hall, contains, not
surprisingly, all French literature. Most significant is the player's Triptych
Symphony, in Four Movements, a splendid
example of the art of improvisation. Works of Fleury, Dupré, and Vierne
complete the release.

The Whiteford Era

The death of G. Donald Harrison in 1956, while he was
completing the great organ in St. Thomas Church, New York, although portending
a gloomy future for Aeolian-Skinner, did not, by any means, spell the end of
the company's record series. An alliance was forged with Washington Records,
the first release of which was Volume 13, Organ Music and Vocal Solos, recorded
in the Mother Church, Boston, featuring organist Ruth Barrett Phelps and the
church's then tenor soloist, Frederick Jagel, who had a long and distinguished
career on the opera stage. Of the organ works, the Franck Fantaisie in A
style='font-style:normal'> and the Buxtehude Ciacona in E Min
style='font-style:normal'>or are particularly memorable.

Volume 14, also on the Washington Records label, is entitled
New Dimensions in Organ Sound and features Catharine Crozier playing the large
organ in the Auditorium of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints in Independence, Missouri. The major work on this release is the
monumental Sonata on the Ninety-fourth Psalm of Julius Reubke, and the issue was the first to incorporate stereo
sound. The mystical atmosphere of Crozier's performance of Alain's Deuxième
Fantaisie is notable, as are the
reservoir-bottoming tone clusters! Joseph Whiteford, who seemed afraid of bold
sounds, felt that the tapes made at the Crozier recording sessions had too much
mid-range emphasis and instructed Mr. John Kellner, who had made the tapes, to
electronically lessen that emphasis while adding artificial reverberation from
the company's then-new reverberation system. Unhappily, the final tonal results
have a harsh, thin ambiance.

A number of the Harrison Era recordings were re-issued on
the Washington Records label.

The technical quality of the Washington Records releases was
a disappointment, and Volume 13, originally issued with monaural sound, was
re-released, under the previous arrangements for pressings, in stereo. (Interestingly,
it was found that the vibrato of Mr. Jagel--well past his prime when the
recording was made--was too slow; so the master tapes were speeded up, raising
the pitches of all pieces on the recording--vocal and organ--almost a
semitone.) At the same time, because of popular demand, Volumes 1 and 10 were
also re-issued. Since more pieces were recorded by Crozier than appeared on
Volume 14, two releases, Volumes 15 and 16, called, respectively, Catharine
Crozier, Program I and Catharine Crozier, Program II, were issued, with the
elegance of the Bach Trio Sonata No. 5 in C Major being perhaps the most particularly special addition.

The instrument used in Volume 17, Phillip Steinhaus, was
that in All Saints' Church, Pontiac, Michigan, a three-manual organ of more
modest proportions than most used in this series. Steinhaus, who would
ultimately serve a brief tenure as a company vice-president in the later 1960s,
recorded a diverse program ranging from Buxtehude to Langlais, with Paul de
Maleingreau's Tumult in the Praetorium
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> being perhaps the most unusual. Also
quite different is the rendition of Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue in C
Minor, which contains a cadenza, adapted
from the same composer's Prelude and Fugue in F Minor.

Two Great Organs is the title of Volume 18, which features
Albert Russell playing, respectively, the organs in Philharmonic Hall, Lincoln
Center, New York City, and in Asylum Hill Congregational Church, Hartford.
(Russell was organist/choir director at the Hartford church.) The sound of the
now former concert hall instrument, playing pieces by Dupré, Buxtehude,
Bach, and Langlais, is impressive, invoking sadness that it was not retained in
what is now called Avery Fisher Hall. The writer, while an employee of
Aeolian-Skinner in the early 1960s, served on the installation team of the
Hartford organ and considers it one of the best of the Whiteford organs. Roy
Perry, who began the tonal finishing, agonized to Mr. Whiteford that he could
not get what he desired out of the Great 8' Spitzprinzipal, which, with
its tapered configuration, reflected Whiteford's reluctance to create a bold
principal chorus. (Donald Gillett, chief tonal finisher and, briefly, company
president after Whiteford's departure, liked to refer to "Joe's
'string-quartet' Greats!") After promising a new set of pipes, the
replacements had even more taper than the originals, prompting a plea to Arthur
Birchall, Assistant Tonal Director, from Perry. The third--and final--set, sent
by Birchall, was not tapered and was quite satisfactory. A large, four-manual
Austin console, which had replaced that of the previous E.M. Skinner organ,
contains the pressure regulator of the Rückpositiv division, making it
perhaps the only Austin console in which there is pressurized wind. The major
work played on the recording at Asylum Hill Church is Healey Willan's massive
Introduction, Passacaglia, and Fugue; and, even though the composer expressed
reservations about Russell's performance, it is a splendid reading.

The Hartford organ was also used in Volume 19,
Duruflé: Requiem. The writer had
the pleasure of hearing Albert Russell conduct and accompany this glorious work
on two occasions, once at Asylum Hill Church and later at Trinity Church,
Boston. Unforgettable was the sight, at the latter venue, of Russell's
gyrations while directing from the console and delivering a beautifully
conceived and executed organ accompaniment. The recorded Hartford performance
is superb, with the unnamed mezzo soprano's singing of the haunting Pie Jesu
bringing one close to tears. The Requiem is preceded by Myron Robert's Prelude & Trumpetings
style='font-style:normal'>, in which the opening ascending notes in the lower
register of the Krummhorn are very effective.

While at Aeolian-Skinner, the writer had the very good
fortune of hearing John Weaver in recital on the famous Walcker/Aeolian-Skinner
organ in Methuen. His program concluded with an astounding performance of
Liszt's massive Fantasy and Fugue on Ad nos, ad salutarem undam.
style='font-style:normal'> As the final thunderous chord began to die away, one
could clearly sense the audience gasping! Fully equal to that transcending
performance is the one on Volume 20, John Weaver playing Liszt and Mozart,
recorded at the Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity, New York, where Mr. Weaver
was organist and choirmaster at the time of the major rebuilding by
Aeolian-Skinner of the E.M. Skinner instrument in the mid-1960s. There would
doubtless be those who would express dismay at Weaver's use of shimmering
celestes at the beginning and closing of the Mozart Fantasy in F
Minor, K.594, but the performance is most
convincing even so. (It is sad to consider that an organ sounding so fine was
ultimately removed!)

Bob Whitley was organist/choirmaster at St. Luke's Episcopal
Church, San Francisco, where Volume 21, Music at St. Luke's, was recorded. Side
1 comprises pieces by Sidney Campbell, Leo Sowerby, Frederick Karam, Helmut
Walcha, and Jean Langlais, while Side 2 offers Searle Wright's fine cantata, The
Green Blade Riseth. The small choir, while
obviously well trained, did not have a good blend--too many wide vibratos.

Christ Church Cathedral, St. Louis, was the venue of Volume
22, Maurice and Marie-Madeleine Duruflé. Madame Duruflé is heard
on Side 1, the major work being her husband's Prelude, Adagio, and Choral
style='font-style:normal'> with Variations on Veni Creator
style='font-style:normal'>. While she was generally considered the virtuoso of
the pair, her husband's playing of his own Prelude from the Suite, Opus 5, and
of Tournemire's majestic Improvisation on the Te Deum
style='font-style:normal'> are perhaps the chief glories of this very
impressive recording. Before coming to St. Louis, the Duruflés expressed
reservations about the organ's specifications but became quite enthusiastic
about the instrument after playing it.

The St. Louis organ was also used for the final King of
Instruments recording of the Whiteford Era, Volume 23, Ronald Arnatt. Arnatt,
at the time of the recording, was organist/choirmaster at the Cathedral. The
writer was on hand for the recording sessions, contributing a last-minute
tuning of the hooded Trompette de Reredos, located at a dizzying height behind
the stone reredos, and by holding one of the narthex doors to prevent rattling,
in soft passages, caused by the very effective electronic 32' Bourdon. The
soft movement of Sowerby's Sonatina is a
highlight of this release, which also includes works of Brahms, Bach, and
Arnatt.

Some of the Whiteford Era releases were issued as
pre-recorded, reel-to-reel tapes by Ampex. The writer has three of these
(Volumes 15, 16, and 18). The acetate backing of the tapes has not held up
well.

The Post-Whiteford Era

In 1966, Joseph Whiteford moved to the desert southwest,
assuming the title, Vice Chairman of the Board. At that time, John J. Tyrrell,
who had been company President since 1960, became the Board Chairman. In 1968,
Tyrrell left Aeolian-Skinner, and Whiteford sold his controlling interest in
the firm to Donald M. Gillett, who became President and Tonal Director. Gillett
was soon joined by Phillip Steinhaus, the organist featured on Volume 17, who
became Executive Vice President. Within three years the company's financial
condition had deteriorated significantly, and the controlling interest was
purchased by E. David Knutson, of Oklahoma, in 1969. Knutson appointed Dallas
tracker organ builder Robert M. Sipe to the position of Vice President, and
Sipe quickly became in charge of Aeolian-Skinner's operations. The company's
record series was of interest to him and; even though two post-Whiteford
recording sessions had been carried out prior to Sipe's arrival, he saw to it
that the next issue would be Volume 24, Paul Van Veelen, with that Dutch
organist playing the 18-rank, 2-manual Sipe & Yarbrough mechanical action
organ at St. Stephen United Methodist Church, Mesquite, Texas, built in
1963--six years before Sipe's association with Aeolian-Skinner. The program
consists of shorter works, ranging from pre-Bach to Piet Kee; and the sound of
the little organ, while rather arresting, is far removed from the
"American Classic" sound that had been associated with the company's
work. It is obvious that Sipe was making a clear declaration that
Aeolian-Skinner was heading in a much different tonal--and
mechanical--direction.

The next record to be issued--Volume 25, Clyde Holloway--is
the first of the two pre-Sipe recordings referred to earlier. Mr. Holloway plays
the Liszt Prelude and Fugue on BACH;
Mozart's familiar Fantasy in F Minor,
K.608; and the Reubke Sonata.
(The latter work also appears on Volume 15.) The organ used is that in the
National Presbyterian Church, Washington, D.C.

A pet project of Phillip Steinhaus was the organ for the
Cathedral Church of Christ the King, Kalamazoo, Michigan, which was used for
Volume 26, Alexander Boggs Ryan. Mr. Ryan played a varied program, with the
Franck Choral III in A Minor and the
Reger Fantasy on Wachet auf!
being perhaps the most notable. Aeolian-Skinner was very late in completing
this organ; and, because a dedication recitalist had been contracted for well
in advance, it was necessary to temporarily install the small organ that had
been in Steinhaus' residence and would ultimately find a home in Memphis.
(Organ builders would be well advised to include an iron-clad clause in
new-organ contracts prohibiting the scheduling of opening recitals until
installation has been completed!)

When Robert Sipe came to Aeolian-Skinner, he brought with
him a contract for a 3-manual, mechanical action organ for Zumbro Lutheran
Congregation, Rochester, Minnesota, components for which were already on order
from a German organ supply house. Robert Anderson, of Southern Methodist
University, Dallas, was engaged to play for three releases in The King of
Instruments series. The first of these, Volume 27, Robert Anderson in a Program
of 20th Century Organ Music, consisted of two LP discs; and some of the pieces played
are very much avant garde, such as Ton Bruynèl's Reliëf
style='font-style:normal'> (Organ and 4 Electronic Sound Tracks). While the
writer feels that the Zumbro organ is not ideal for the Alain Trois
Danses, Anderson's performances are very
convincing. Also included, among others, is Vincent Persichetti's Shimah
b'Koli, which was commissioned for the
opening concert on the company's short-lived organ in Philharmonic Hall,
Lincoln Center. Of the three players on that remarkable program, Virgil Fox
(the other recitalists being Catharine Crozier and E. Power Biggs) was given
the task of performing the premiere of the Persichetti twelve-tone
composition--hardly typical of the traditional Fox repertoire! (Joseph
Whiteford was, like Virgil, less than kindly disposed to the work.) The writer,
who was in attendance at the premiere, also heard the piece played by Anderson
in a recital on the superb Aeolian-Skinner in First Central Congregational
Church, Omaha, Nebraska; and, while he is not sure that such serial
compositions fully qualify as music, he feels that Anderson did a masterful job
of splashing tone colors around the church and made the listening experience a
compelling one!

Volume 28, Robert Anderson in a Program of 19th Century
Organ Music, includes music by Schumann (Six Fugues on the Name BACH),
Franck, Widor, and Ives. The familiar Variations on America by the latter
composer is perhaps this disc's greatest success. While quite a step away from
traditional Aeolian-Skinner sounds, those of this tracker organ prove that
romantic literature can be played successfully on such an instrument, although
not as effectively as on the organs used previously in this record series.

Volume 29, Robert Anderson in a Program of 18th Century
Organ Music, comprises works by Cabanilles, Seger, Zipoli, Greene, C.P.E. Bach,
Dandrieu, and J.S. Bach--literature, along with some of the pieces on Volume
27, better suited to this organ.

As Aeolian-Skinner was in its early-70s death throes, the
final King of Instruments record, Volume 30, was issued, interestingly using
the title of Volume 10, Music of the Church. Zumbro Lutheran Congregation,
Rochester, was the recording's venue. That church's choir, along with the
Parish Choir of Calvary Episcopal Church of the same city, was conducted by
composer Gerald Near, with Zumbro's organist at that time, Merrill N. Davis
III, at the console. Davis opens the program with a quite rousing performance
of Vierne's Maestoso in C-sharp Minor,
an organ solo arrangement by Alexander Schreiner of the Kyrie from the Messe
Solennelle. The well-trained choirs sing
works by Fetler, Near, Vaughan Williams, Scheidt, and Zimmerman, while mezzo
soprano Anne Suddendorf is very effective in Hovhaness' Out of the
Depths and Ives' Abide with Me
style='font-style:normal'>. Avant garde composition is also represented by
Felciano's God of the Expanding Universe, for organ and electronic tape.

Reverberation

One of the chief interests of Joseph S. Whiteford was the
acoustical properties of churches and concert halls. Correctly observing that a
majority of American churches, often because of lack of knowledge on the
subject and inept planning by architects, are acoustically hostile to organ and
choral music, he set about to design a synthetic reverberation system as a
cost-effective remedy to this situation. The result was a system consisting of
a specially modified tape recorder in which the tape would pass over one record
head, where the live sound would be planted on the tape, and then pass, in
turn, over eight playback heads, each sending its sound to its own series of
amplifiers and loudspeakers. (A patented randomizing circuit was also used to
smooth out the reverberation.) The most remarkable use of such a system was at
an outdoor concert, conducted by Thomas Schippers, concluding the 1960 Festival
in Spoleto, Italy. (A most fascinating description of this project, written by
John Kellner, company recordist [succeeding Mr. Robert Breed], reverberation
system builder, and the person who set up and ran the system in Spoleto,
appears in Charles Callahan's great 1996 book, Aeolian-Skinner Remembered--A
History in Letters [ISBN 0-9652850-0-6, published by Randall M. Egan].) With
the possible exception of Volume 21, all of The King of Instruments releases
from the Whiteford Era had artificial reverberation added, with Volumes 14, 15,
16, 17, 18 (Asylum Hill Church only), 19, 22, and 23 using the Aeolian-Skinner
system. For those volumes, the system set up in the company's electronics
department, on the fourth floor of its South Boston plant, was used; and it was
necessary for John Kellner to add the reverberation in the "wee hours of
the morning" in order to avoid noises generated by vehicular traffic,
aircraft, office personnel, the pipe shop, and the voicing rooms.
Interestingly, nothing on the record jacket notes indicates use of synthetic
reverberation.

Jacket Art

The jacket fronts of the original issues, Volumes 1 through
8, designed by John Tyrrell, are rather simple, having two sketches of classic
moldings, with a background of a large color panel (different colors on
successive issues) and a smaller white one. Pictures began to appear on the
jacket backs with Volume 6; and the front of Volume 9 has a large picture of
the Mother Church organ façade, with Mrs. Phelps, at the console,
pictured on the back. Volume 10 has a large picture of the Kilgore, Texas,
Trompette en Chamade, below a stained-glass window, on its cover; and the same
picture was used on the fronts of Volumes 13 (first release), 15, 16, 17, 18,
19, 20, 21, 22, and on the re-releases of Volumes 1 and 10. Volumes 11, 13
(second release), 23, 24, 25, 26, and 30 have front pictures of the respective
organs used. (On the jacket fronts of Washington Records' original release of
Volume 13 and on the re-releases of the earlier recordings, the ubiquitous
Kil-gore cover appeared with varying, much-less-than-flattering background
colors.) The cover of Volume 12, Pierre Cochereau at Symphony Hall, is a
departure from the norm, containing instead a sketch of Notre Dame, Paris,
drawn by Aeolian-Skinner Assistant Vice-President M. A. Gariepy, on the lower
left and a drawing of three manual keyboards on the upper right. (There are no
pictures of the artist or of the Symphony Hall organ on Volume 12.) The front
of Volume 14, from Washington Records, has a picture of the Independence,
Missouri, organ (arguably one of the finest examples of an uncased pipe
display, a marvelous testimony to the architectural artistry of John Tyrrell);
but, unfortunately, the pipes in the picture are gold in color, which is not
the case in actuality. ("Let's have some razzmatazz!!") Although the
Kilgore picture "graces" the front of Volume 18, Two Great Organs,
fairly large pictures of both of the organs used appear on the back; and there
is an insert with programs, stop-lists, and a picture of Albert Russell. The
Antiphonal division of the National Presbyterian Church instrument ap-pears in
a somewhat fantastical, kaleidoscopic manner on the front of Volume 25. The
jacket fronts of the three Robert Anderson releases are a major departure, each
containing its own original drawing by Jeanne Bastinier, who was a company
secretary during some of the firm's waning years. Because it contains two LP
records, the first Anderson issue has a folding jacket, with program notes and
the artist's picture on the insides of the folds. Volumes 28 and 29 have
inserts with those items. All three Anderson volumes have a large photograph of
the handsome Zumbro organ and its stoplist on the jacket backs.

In Conclusion

Aeolian-Skinner was not unique among organ companies in
issuing recordings of its instruments; but, to the writer's knowledge, no other
builder has ever come close to the sheer number of volumes that comprise The
King of Instruments series. Those, like the writer, fortunate enough to possess
the entire series doubtless realize what a treasure they have; and, if they
have access to a computer that can "burn" compact discs, they may
wish to follow the writer's example and copy the series to that format. (A tip:
both of the releases featuring the organ in the Cathedral of St. John the
Divine [Volumes 6 and 8] fit nicely on a single CD.)

To the writer's knowledge, three professionally issued
compact discs containing parts of the series are available. JAV Records has
issued their JAV-121, entitled Studies in Tone & King of Instruments,
containing both Volume 1 and an early-1940s 78 r.p.m. recording entitled
Studies in Tone. (John Kellner recollects of being told that Studies in Tone
was narrated by an English organist who sounded very much like G. Donald Harrison;
but, given the similarity of the verbiage to that of Volume 1 and the sound of
the narrators' (?) voices, the writer is hard-pressed to detect that different
persons narrated, respectively, the two recordings.) The William Watkins'
Kilgore, Texas, performance of the Sowerby Carillon, which is part of Volume 2,
Organ Literature: Bach to Langlais, is included on Raven OAR-310, Lorenz
Maycher plays Sowerby (also
recorded at Kilgore). Pierre Cochereau's improvised, four-movement Triptych
Symphony at Boston's Symphony Hall is
included on a two-CD set, Cochereau Les Incunables, available from the Organ
Historical Society as SOCD-177/8.

Mr. William T. Van Pelt, of the Organ Historical Society,
relates that Mr. Knutson "bequeathed" a large number of tapes, possibly
including the masters of The King of Instruments series, to the Society. The
tapes are apparently in very poor condition.

Those interested in the fascinating history of
Aeolian-Skinner are urged to read the Charles Callahan book mentioned earlier
and also his 1990 masterpiece, The American Classic Organ--A History in
Letters (ISBN 0-913499-05-06, published by
The Organ Historical Society).

A sad testament to Aeolian-Skinner's demise in the early
1970s exists at the bottom right-hand corner of the back of the jacket of the
writer's copy of Volume 30--the final issue. A small box declares that the
record was "Produced for Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company, Inc., by King of
Instruments Records," addressed at a post office box in Dallas. The name
of the supposed record company and its address are rather crudely blocked by an
office stamp giving the organ company's address as 29 Melcher Street, Boston.
The once-great firm had degenerated to a small office that would soon also be
only a memory.

THE DIAPASON, December 1909

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