Liszt’s Monster Instrument Revisited

Carl Parks

Carl Parks, a freelance writer, is organist-choirmaster of Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Holmes Beach, Florida, and a past dean of the Sarasota-Manatee Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. Photographs are by the author.

Saxony’s Organs and Bachfest Leipzig 2004: A study tour of Bach, Luther & Silbermann

Every organist dreams of playing the Saxony region’s baroque organs that were designed, performed on, and approved by Johann Sebastian Bach. That, combined with the annual Bachfest Leipzig 2004, proved irresistible.

The annual Bach Festival in Leipzig, Germany--with day trips to hear and play over a dozen historic organs, many known to J. S. Bach--provided 27 of us an unforgettable study tour May 12 to 26. The tour included 16 festival concerts, lectures by Bach scholar Dr. Christoph Wolff of Harvard University, guided tours of the cities visited, and the opportunity for masterclasses with Thomaskirche organist Ulrich Böhme. It was Historic Organ Tour 50 led by the University of Michigan’s University Organist Dr. Marilyn Mason.

After a bus tour and night in Berlin, we proceeded on May 14 to Wittenberg. Our walking tour took us through the Luther House, which is the world’s largest museum of Reformation history, and the Schloßkirche, where Martin Luther presented his 95 theses and is now buried. After lunch next door in the Schloßkeller we arrived in Leipzig on time for the festival’s opening concert at the Thomaskirche, where Bach was Kantor for 27 years. Three settings of Psalm 98, by Bach (BWV 225 and 190) and Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (Opus 91) were given a world-class performance by the church’s boys’ choir, soloists, and the Gewandhaus orchestra conducted by Georg Christoph Biller. The Sinfonia in D from the Easter Oratorio (BWV 249) opened the concert.

Leipzig

Our walking tour of Leipzig the next morning showed a city coming to life again since the collapse of the German Democratic Republic (DDR) and the reunification of Germany. Construction is everywhere. Historic buildings are being cleaned and restored, while the big, vacant housing projects and other Stalinist architecture are about to be torn down. One grim building about to be razed sits on the site of the University Church, which the Communists dynamited. The church will be rebuilt with an organ designed but never built by Gottfried Silbermann, the great master of organ building during the baroque era. Unfortunately, unemployment in Leipzig is around 20 percent, while in other eastern cities of the former DDR it is as high as 28 percent.

Leipzig is a city of music. Excellent street musicians play the classics everywhere within the ancient confines of this once-walled burg. Walks to the Bach Museum, Mendelssohn House, Musical Instrument Museum or a concert are always a treat. We often paused to hear a flautist, a xylophonist, even a full brass choir playing Henry Purcell’s Trumpet Tune in D.

Thomaskirche

The first of Saturday’s three festival concerts opened with Ulrich Böhme playing Bach’s Passacaglia and Fugue on the Bach Organ in the north gallery of Thomaskirche. This 4-manual, 60-stop organ was built by Woehl in 2000 and replaces an earlier 3-manual instrument built in 1966 by Schuke. It duplicates the organ that Bach knew as a boy in Eisenach. While its location is certainly not what Bach would specify, the large-scale principals and overall tonal design provide the “gravitas” he found so necessary. And the organ sounds well throughout the church despite its location on the side. Jürgen Wolf playing all 30 Goldberg Variations on harpsichord at Nikolaikirche followed. The evening concert in the Gewandhaus featured fortepianos and orchestra in performances of Bach and Mendelssohn works.

Sunday’s services at Thomaskirche and Nikolaikirche are like those in Bach’s day and always include the performance of a Bach cantata at the liturgy of the word. The afternoon festival concert, again on the Thomaskirche Bach Organ, was a reconstruction of Mendelssohn’s organ recital of August 6, 1840, performed by Michael Schönheit. His improvisation on the Passion Chorale in the style of Mendelssohn was similar in structure to the Sixth Sonata and brought a standing ovation, a much less common occurrence in Europe than the United States.

Among the many excellent concerts, Matthias Eisenberg’s Ascension Day performance of  Max Reger’s Fantasie and Fugue on B-A-C-H stands out in particular. The entire sell-out crowd remained through a long, standing ovation until he improvised an equally stunning encore on Thomaskirche’s west gallery organ. That instrument was built by Wilhelm Sauer in 1899, who then extended it to 88 stops in 1907. A fund to restore this big tubular pneumatic has so far raised 100,000 of the 300,000 euros being sought.

Nikolaikirche

A similar romantic organ is almost restored in the west gallery of Nikolaikirche, but was not ready for this year’s Bachfest. It was built by Friedrich Ladegast in 1862 and expanded to 84 stops by Sauer from 1902 to 1903. Near the apse, the church also has a 17-stop organ that was built by Eule in 2002 in the style of Italian organs of the baroque era. As Kantor of Thomaskirche, J. S. Bach was also was the city’s civic director of music, giving him duties at Nikolaikirche. Thus, it was here that many of his cantatas and other works were performed for the first time.

Rötha

A bus trip on May 17 took us to Rötha, a city with two Silbermann organs. Dedicated in 1721 by Johann Kuhnau, the Silbermann in St. George church was the model for the Marilyn Mason Organ built by Fisk for the University of Michigan. A smaller Silbermann at St. Mary’s church was dedicated in 1722. Some of our group joined a masterclass with Ulrich Böhme, while others went on to Weimar. The pedalboards on these old Silbermann organs take some getting used. Not only are they flat, but the spacing is different from modern pedalboards. They also lack a low C-sharp and other notes at the top end. As Marilyn Mason explained, heel and toe pedaling worked out for pieces learned on a modern pedalboard must be changed to a technique using mostly the toes.

European acoustics demand slower tempi and proper phrasing to a greater extent then the dry acoustics of most American churches. For speech reinforcement, Germans take an approach that differs from our boom-box public address systems. Stässer loudspeakers, measuring approximately 18 x 21/2 x 21/2 inches, are mounted on each of a church’s columns, with electronic reinforcement delayed to match the time sound takes to travel. This permits clarity of the spoken word without compromising the divine ambiance for which the music was composed.

Gottfried Silbermann

Gottfried Silbermann was born in 1683, the son of a craftsman-woodworker. From 1702 to 1707 he studied organ-building with his elder brother Andreas in Strasbourg and Thiery in Paris. A condition was that Gottfried would not work in his brother’s territory. So in 1710 Gottfried returned to his native Saxony and set up shop centrally in Freiberg. His first commission was for a small, one-manual and pedal, 15-stop organ for his hometown of Frauenstein. So well-received was this first instrument, completed in 1711, that in the same year Freiberg’s Dom St. Marien (Cathedral of St. Mary) invited the young builder, then only 28 years old, to construct a new organ of three manuals and pedal with 44 stops. This was completed in 1714. Thereafter Silbermann built some 45 instruments, 31 of which are still extant. All are located within or very close to the Saxon borders. 

Gottfried Silbermann was given the official title of Court Organbuilder by Frederick I, at that time King of Poland and Duke of Saxony. Similarly, J. S. Bach had the title of Court Composer. The two were great friends, and often discussed the techniques and acoustics of organ building. Silbermann was Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach’s godfather and a regular visitor to the Bach home in Leipzig. The two even worked together on the escapement mechanism for the world’s first fortepianos.

Silbermann believed that an organ should look as beautiful as it sounds, and his organ cases are truly beautiful. Also, in a play on words of his name, this “silver man” was known for the silver sound of his pipes. His organs typically have a Hauptwerk that is scaled for gravitas, a Brustwerk scaled to be delicate, an Oberwerk to be penetrating, and a Pedal scaled for a grandness of sound that produces foundation without necessarily using a lot of pipes. Compared to Arp Schnitger, the organs of Silbermann are more spacious with the pipes less densely arranged. 

Eisleben and Halle

Another bus trip took us to Eisleben. Here we visited the houses where Martin Luther was born and died, and the church where he was baptized. Further on in Halle, we stopped to play two organs in the Marktkirche, where Georg Friedrich Händel was baptized and learned to play the organ. That organ is a one-manual instrument of six stops built in 1664 by Reichel. It has all of its original pipes as well as meantone tuning. At the other end is a much larger organ in a baroque case. It is a three-manual, 40-stop instrument built by Schuke in 1984. Both had recently been restored, following extensive damage to the church from a broken city steam pipe. We then visited the Handel House, which has several chamber organs, and we took turns playing the newly restored organ built by Johann Gottlieb Mauer in 1770.

Altenburg, Störmthal and Pomßen

On May 21 we visited Altenburg. It is here that Heinrich Trost built an organ in the Schloßkirche from 1736 to 1739, the same year Bach played it. Eule restored it in the mid-1970s. After walking up well-worn stone steps in one of the castle’s circular stairwells, we found ourselves in the balcony opposite this magnificent instrument. Demonstrating was Dr. Felix Friedrich, a scholar of Johann Ludwig Krebs. Marilyn Mason, who was familiar with the instrument, pulled stops for those of us who played and offered suggestions. Among the more interesting stops is a viola that speaks with an attack and harmonic development nearly identical to that of a bowed string instrument, making it ideal for trio sonatas. 

Further on in the village church of Störmthal is the only Hildebrandt organ still in its original condition. Zacharias Hildebrandt was a student of Gottfried Silbermann. He built the two-manual instrument that was inspected and approved by his friend J. S. Bach in 1723. Kantor Thomas Orlovski demonstrated the instrument and registered it for those of us who played. 

The afternoon took us to Pomßen’s 750-year-old Wehrkirche. Originally built as a fortress, this Romanesque church is home to the oldest organ in Saxony. The instrument has one manual and pedals that play 12 stops, plus a Cimbelstern and Vogelgesang. Built in 1570, the organ was purchased second-hand to save money, and it was installed in 1690. It has been well maintained since its restoration in 1934 and was a thrill to play. 

Naumburg

Several of us had expressed an interest in playing the newly restored organ in Wenzelkirche, Naumburg, which was not on our tour. It is the largest instrument built by Zacharias Hildebrandt from 1743 to 1746, comprising 53 stops on three manuals and pedals. His old teacher Gottfried Silbermann examined the instrument and approved it, finding it to be as beautiful as his own but much larger. J. S. Bach had assisted with its design; and, when he played it, he found all the qualities he liked: thundering basses, strong mixtures, and beautiful solo stops. We convinced enough in our group to charter a bus and rent the organ the morning of May 22. 

Words can describe neither the baroque splendor nor the divine ambience of the vast St. Wenzel interior. There, Kantor Irene Greulich demonstrated the organ. Frau Greulich is a fine organist who has performed and given masterclasses at the University of Michigan. She and Marilyn Mason have a friendship that began before Germany’s reunification, when the organ had been playable from an electro-pneumatic console of the 1930s in the balcony below. They registered the organ for those of us who played, thus ensuring that nobody touched the original pen and ink inscriptions in the drawknobs.

A walk to the Dom SS. Peter and Paul revealed a handsome new organ under construction in a fenced-in area in the nave. No information was available, but among the pipes to be installed were wooden resonators, presumably for a Posaune. The building is late Romanesque and Gothic from the 13th century.

That evening we attended a very fine concert of The Creation by Joseph Haydn at the Hochschüle for Music and Theater. It was sung by soloists and choir from the school and the Leipzig Baroque Orchestra, Roland Borger conducting. We heard it as Die Schöpfung, Haydn’s own translation from English for German audiences.

The last day of Bachfest included breathtaking performances of the St. Matthew Passion, the Mass in B Minor, and pieces written for organ, four hands, played by Ulrich Böhme and his wife Martina at Thomaskirche. The Matthäus-Passion performance was a reconstruction of that given by Mendelssohn on April 4, 1841. Thus, orchestration made use of instruments that had replaced those of Bach’s time. A continuo organ was played with the orchestra. The chorales, however, made use of the Gewandhaus’ 89-stop instrument built in 1981 by the Schuke-Orgelbau of Potsdam. The festival closing concert of the B-minor Mass was in Thomaskirche, with 85-year-old Eric Ericson conducting.

Freiberg and Frauenstein

After we checked out of our hotel, our bus took us southeast to Freiberg. There, in the Freiberg Dom we played two fine Silbermann organs. The larger was built from 1711 to 1714 and has a particularly remarkable case with ornamentation by Johann Adam Georgi. It has 44 stops across three manuals and pedal. The small organ of 1719 has 14 stops on one manual and pedal. 

We continued to the Silbermann Museum in Frauenstein, located in a medieval castle, and the only organ museum devoted to just one builder. There, Dr. Marilyn Mason played a short recital on the museum’s replica of a Silbermann organ. It is a copy by Wegscheider Organ Builders, Dresden, of an instrument Silbermann built in 1732 for Etzdorf, and is a working model demonstrating the basic principles of Baroque organ construction.

Part of the attraction of a Marilyn Mason tour is her ability to unlock the doors to organ lofts. She was the first woman to have played in Westminster Abbey, Egypt, and many other places around the world. She is also a very helpful coach in unlocking the secrets of performance for a broad array of organ literature. Dr. Mason offered our group many pointers on the performance of baroque music, and personally advised me on ways to practice the difficult passages and tricky rhythms of Jehan Alain’s Trois Danses, which she had worked out for her own brilliant performances.

Dresden

In Dresden, our excellent tour leader, Franz Mittermayr of Matterhorn Travel, treated us with a surprise visit to the Hofkirche (Roman Catholic cathedral). There we played the magnificent three-manual, 47-stop Silbermann of 1755 that had been hidden in the countryside during World War II. This cathedral was destroyed in the allied firebombing, but the organ was back among us in a newly restored building. For that we gave grateful thanks. Unfortunately, another fine Silbermann in the Frauenkirche was destroyed. A 3-million euro restoration of that church is nearing completion using original, numbered stones wherever possible. A new organ will replicate the destroyed Silbermann. 

It has been said that Germany has too many churches. This is because, like elsewhere, church attendance is down. In Germany approximately nine percent of the population is Protestant, while two percent is Roman Catholic. In the former DDR of Eastern Germany under the Communists, religion was discouraged, so attendance fell even further. Maintaining and restoring these ancient churches is beyond the reach of most congregations, so they survive through tourism and entrance fees. Many are considered museums and are given government funding. In Naumburg, for example, the city paid for the restoration of the Hildebrandt organ. On average, a group pays an entrance fee of 150 euros or about $185 U.S. for each church visited. In Leipzig, the group paid entrance fees on top of concert ticket prices. This was all included in the cost of our tour. An organist traveling alone to play benefit recitals will pay rental fees of similar amounts. 

For a first visit to the Saxony region, this tour provided the best way to play these instruments and learn about them. While our personal playing times were seldom more than five minutes each, the cost was spread over the entire group. An organ tour also makes all the preliminary arrangements to open doors that are otherwise locked. The University of Michigan is known for its excellent tours, and this one proved why. Matterhorn Travel provided us with a guide who had extensive knowledge of the area, numerous contacts, and the ability to run things so smoothly that we never encountered delays.

by Larry Palmer

Isolde Ahlgrimm, harpsichordist, scholar, master teacher, died in Vienna on October 11, 1995. Born July 31, 1914, Ahlgrimm was recognized internationally as a major interpreter of the harpsichord repertoire, particularly the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Her virtually complete Bach cycle was recorded between December 1951 and May 1957 for Philips of Holland. A frequent member of competition juries in Bruges and Leipzig, Ahlgrimm was known for her brilliant concerts and for her teaching at the Salzburg Mozarteum, the Vienna Hochschule für Musik, and in guest professorships at Oberlin and Southern Methodist University.

These notable facts concerning Ahlgrimm’s career are the stuff of biographical dictionaries. But there was so much more! In my article Isolde Ahlgrimm as the “Widow Bach” (The Diapason, June, 1968), I attempted to convey some sense of the lovable human being behind the public figure.

“Frau Ahlgrimm, you are so much at home in the Bach style that I sometimes think you knew Johann Sebastian personally. Are you sure that you’re not Bach’s widow?” I once asked jokingly at a harpsichord lesson in Vienna. Her eyes twinkling, Isolde Ahlgrimm responded, “As I once said to my husband Sebastian . . . ” From that moment she has been the “Widow Bach” to me.

Ahlgrimm had reason to be in a merry mood that morning. Her performance at the pedal harpsichord of Bach’s Art of Fugue had been a resounding triumph the preceding evening. The capacity audience in Vienna’s Mozart-Saal had risen and burst into spontaneous applause as she finished playing the sixth Counterpoint in a fiery, French Overture style. At the conclusion of this monumental work, which she had played from memory, the audience would not allow her to leave the hall without playing an encore. We were all amazed at her sheer endurance as she began the Chromatic Fantasy! Questioned later as to why she had chosen that particular work, she responded simply, “But of course—it is in the same key.”

The Viennese critics were unanimous in their praise of her playing. I chuckled as I read in the New Austrian Daily News: “Isolde Ahlgrimm is deeply immersed in the world of Johann Sebastian Bach,” for she was, at that very moment, demonstrating to Max Yount just what pieces she might one day play on the harpsichord in musical revenge against those pianists who insist on playing the harpsichordist’s repertoire: Debussy, Granados (which sounded very well on the guitar-like sounds of the lute stops), and even a snatch of Kitten on the Keys! . . .

In May 1983 Ahlgrimm gave her last public concert in Vienna, two weeks before she underwent an operation for cancer. She wrote the following January:

I am so thankful, I did not know, that my little concert in May was the last! But to play with the feeling it IS the last, I could not do it. . . In December 1983 it was fifty years that I started officially to play . . . (piano of course) . . . So, I did not make it with the day, but at least with the year [to fifty years of concertizing].

Ahlgrimm continued to teach in Vienna until 1987; her successor, Gordon Murray, was appointed in 1986, but she completed her work with four continuing students from her studio. Her retirement years were not easy ones, for she was increasingly afflicted with Parkinson’s disease. In 1992 she moved from her apartment in the Strudlhofgasse to a pensioner’s room at Türkenschanzplatz. Because of limited space in this small room she gave up her library and her instruments.

Hoping to send something to help in this unsettled time of her life, I found a miniature harpsichord, crafted in exacting detail by Art Bell of Arlington, Texas. We sent this model instrument to “Ille” (the diminutive name by which Ahlgrimm was known to her close friends). Her response (in a letter of July 22th [sic], 1992) was typical of the expressive, if idiosyncratic, way in which she wrote:

How can I thank you? The package has arrived and you should have seen me, the packing was put aside, I started to cry! Having my harpsichord back means so much to me. It was the worst moment of my moving, of the whole moving! I just felt, what it means to say goodbye forever (when I gave my harpsichord to the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde. . . ) As it is now, [the model harpsichord] has a place of honor in my bookshelf, and I feel as if [the real instrument] would have come back, telling me, that I should not be unhappy, it always will keep me in memory . . . I do still hope to get a place on the side of my harpsichord, somewhere on a nice cloud, [with] the little one holding my hand as a little baby.

What a family with which to contemplate eternity: Sebastian (apologies to Anna Barbara and Anna Magdalena Bach!), the hundreds of students who are Ahlgrimm’s “children,” and both double-manual and model-sized harpsichords! And for us who say “goodbye” (or better, “Auf Wiedersehen”), we do so with profound gratitude for the beauty of the music and the beauty of spirit she shared with us. Thankyou, and peace . . . Professor, Frau Ahlgrimm, Widow Bach, Ille, . . . beloved teacher and friend.   

by Joseph Horning

Johannes Brahms, who died 100 years ago on April 3, 1897, composed the final installment of his musical legacy--the Eleven Chorale Preludes, Opus 122 --during the last year of his life. They were written during his summer holiday at Ischl, where Brahms had vacationed annually from 1889. But his final visit was clouded by Clara Schumann's recent death and his own illness, cancer of the liver, which had taken his father twenty-five years earlier and the symptoms of which he likely would have recognized.1

 

When considering Op. 122, it is valid to ask: "Are these works all that special?"--because no composer created an endless string of pearls. Indeed, Peter Williams revealed his reservations in a review in The Organ Quarterly:

[While] the stature of the man makes all his works interesting in some way or another, there is something depressing about this music.  I do not mean merely the death-centered theme of Op. 122 but the general tenor of the musical idioms found here, the kind of organ sound most suitable for them and the weird absence--considering who their composer was--of melodic flare or that dramatic sense of sonority and rhythmic impetus we know from the composer's symphonies.2

As these works are chorale preludes, Mr. Williams' mention of "melodic flare" is peculiar. And his comparison to the "sonority and rhythmic impetus" of Brahms' symphonies is irrelevant, as these are clearly miniatures, each wonderful and satisfying when played in an empathetic manner. But it is perhaps unfortunate that the complete organ works of Johannes Brahms--his four early works dating from 1856-7 and the "Eleven"--fit so conveniently on one CD, for they are becoming the most frequently recorded set of organ works, second only to Boëllmann's ubiquitous Suite Gothique. Unlike the latter, however, Brahms' "Eleven" are a collection rather then a suite, and their effectiveness is diminished when heard all at one sitting. I feel they have far more impact and are more enjoyable inserted one or two at a time into an eclectic program.

Clearly, what can be a small masterpiece in the hands of one can be tedious in the hands of another--and even more so for Op. 122.  For with these works, Brahms has hidden eleven treasures inside a maze. In this essay, we will examine the "Eleven" and discuss ways to make these treasures come alive.

Form of the Chorales

To begin, see Table 1 for a survey of the forms Johannes Brahms used in Op. 122.  In addition to simple harmonized treatments, Brahms embellished some chorales into aria form, extended some with interludes, or used each phrase as a motif for the accompanying parts (Pachelbel style), or surrendered to a free fantasy form in which the original melody is almost totally lost.3

One can see from Table 1 that half are on Passiontide or requiem themes.  But only number 10, based on the "passion" chorale, expresses the depths of the emotions implied by the text: "My heart is ever yearning for blessed death's release." Of those based on other themes, numbers 5 through 8 are warm, lovely and contemplative and number 4 is an outburst of joy. Even O Welt, ich muss dich lassen, the last of the "Eleven" and Brahms' final composition, is a gentle farewell to life. E. Power Biggs summed up these works very well in the Preface to his edition of Op. 122:

Composed in memory of his dearest and most faithful friend, Clara Schumann, at the same time the Preludes are a revealing document of Brahms' thoughts on his own life. One biographer, Niemann, points out that most of the Preludes are: "A retrospect and an epilogue, a salutation to youth and its ideals, and a farewell to this world which is, after all, so fair." Somber as many of the Preludes are, they yet have a warm, autumnal quality that is all Brahms' own.4

Baroque or Romantic?

Since the "Eleven" are cast in the traditional German form of chorale preludes, and since Brahms had applied himself diligently to the rediscovery of early music, in particular Bach with whose music he was quite conversant,5 there is the question of whether the interpretation should reflect performance practice of the late 19th century or early 18th century. The great body of Brahms' compositions show that he was a thoroughly Romantic composer of great power. His Classical inclinations, however, restrained him from some of the delicious excesses of, say, a Tchaikovsky. Brahms' "Eleven" require the performance practice of Brahms' age, not the Baroque. When Villa-Lobos' Bachianas Brasileiras, or Dupré's "Chorale in the Style of J. S. Bach" (Fifteen Antiphons), or Franck's Three Chorales are performed--all of which took their inspiration from Bach --the interpretive style should be that of the composer's age, not the 18th century.  So also with the "Eleven." Robert Schuneman makes a key point when he says:

One should not be deceived by the brevity of the chorale preludes, nor with an initial reaction to the printed page which makes them look like chamber music. Their religious nature, the sacredness, otherworldliness, the transcendental quality--all of this is expressed by Brahms (as in other Romantic music) with grandeur, monumentality, and weightiness in terms of organ sound in acoustic space.6

An initial look at the printed page has misled many an organist to think that the "Eleven" are as easy to play as they are short, but Brahms sophisticated writing often seems to jig where the hand wants to jog. Simply learning the notes is the organist's first task.  But it is remarkable how many organists confide that these works are often poorly played even if the notes are correct.  Indeed, Schuneman decried " . . . the stiff, unyielding, ungraceful and ragged performances which are so often heard . . . "7

A Romantic Framework

For idiomatic interpretations of Brahms' "Eleven," it helps to consider them within the context of the 19th century. Born in 1886 in Belgium, the renowned organ virtuoso Charles M. Courboin provides a link with that sensibility. His pupil, Richard Purvis, discusses Courboin's approach:

Courboin always returned to three elemental principles in the consideration of any piece. First, one had to consider the architecture of the work; second was texture; third was emotional content. The architecture was most important. "Where are the high points," he would ask, "and how are you going to do them justice? Where are the transitional points, at which you leave one mood and go to another?"

If the architecture defined the parameters of the piece, the texture was the actual landscape for which Courboin often used visual imagery as might describe an oil painting, an etching or a watercolor.  At other times he would discuss texture in more strictly musical terms: was it contrapuntal, harmonic, a combination of the two?  And what tools were you going to use to emphasize the texture rather than obscure it.  Once you had the architecture and had done justice to the texture, you could then afford to explore the fine points of the emotions you were trying to communicate.  Courboin constantly asked, "What emotions does the piece involve, conjure up, portray?"8

The Brahms Organ

Brahms did play the organ to some degree in the 1850s when he wrote the four early compositions. But as he was never a professional organist associated with a specific organ, there has been an active debate over the years concerning the ideal Brahms organ sound. For example, registrations recommended by Walter E. Buszin and Paul G. Bunjes reveal their ideal Brahms organ to be a Baroque affair on which one should draw no more than one 8' stop per division.9 The result is far from weight, grandeur and monumentality.

A key year in this discussion is 1833, the year of Brahms' birth and the year in which E. F. Walcker completed his first major achievement, a 3-manual, 74-voice trendsetter for the Paulskirche in Frankfurt.10 The Oberwerk had five 8' flues and the Schwellwerk had six. The structure of the 23-voice Hauptwerk was as follows: 32,16,16,16,8,8,8,8,51/3, 4,4,4,31/5,22/3,2,2,13/5,1,V,IV,V,16,8. Walcker built hundreds of organs based on similar principles throughout the 19th century, including a 3-manual, 61-voice instrument built in 1878 for the Votivkirch in Vienna,11 an organ which was certainly known to Brahms as he had settled permanently in Vienna in 1868.  The Oberwerk of the Votivkirch organ had four 8' flues and the Schwellwerk five. The structure of the 23-voice Hauptwerk is: 16,16,8,8,8,8,8,8,8,51/3, 31/5,4,4,4,22/3,2,2,VI,III,V,16,8,4.12 Franz Ebner, who recorded the "Eleven" on this organ, stated:

The instrument on which Brahms' art can most suitably be realized is not the Baroque organ but that type in which the endeavors of the 19th century to attain a full, warm, immediately arresting tone found fulfillment.13

However, a "Brahms organ" does not have to be huge or even large.  As Max Miller pointed out in his article, "The Brahms Chorale Preludes--Master Lesson," the small instruments in every organ culture aspire to the effects of large instruments and thus clearly indicate the idealized sound of the time.14 He offers this 1869 German stoplist in which 60% of the manual voices are of 8' pitch:

Hauptwerk: 16,8,8,8,4,III

Oberwerk: 8,8,8,4

Pedal: 16,16,8.

For a fuller discussion of organ design in 19th century Germany, see Robert Parkins' series of articles in The Diapason: "Rediscovering the German Romantic Organ" (January, February and March, 1989).

Registrations

Robert Schuneman devoted a full page of his Brahms article to excerpts from Hugo Riemann's Catechism of the Organ, which gives an insight into German organ playing from the period 1845 to 1895. This is most valuable reading for those who play Brahms. One of the key concepts is horizontal registrations.  That is, one first combines a succession of 8' stops--from the softest to the Diapason--to create a bed of unison sound to which one adds the Octave, the 16', the 22/3' Quinte, the reed, the 2' and the Mixture in that order. The manuals are coupled to achieve fuller effects, and "gap" registrations like 8'+2' are to be avoided unless the composer has specified it.15

In "Some Thoughts on the Sound of the Organ," John David Peterson offers valuable insights into the ideal Brahms "sound":

Brahms' orchestrations call for a rich blend of dark colors. His favored instruments were the horn, viola, violoncello and clarinet, and his piano works challenge the player to call forth half- and counter-melodies from the tenor register of thick textures. It is not surprising that his organ works share the same sense of musical color.16

The key word which sums up registrations for Op. 122 is "warmth." Thus it is surprising that Robert Schuneman would have said: "Strings, as we know them today [1972], and especially celestes, are not appropriate."17 German 19th century stoplists had many a Gemshorn, Salizional, Fugara and Viola da Gamba and the celesting stops Unda Maris and Voix Celeste were to be found.  If these sounds were part of the organ culture of Brahms' time, and if one of his favorite orchestral effects was massed cellos and violas, what better way can there be to realize Op. 122 than by including strings in the registrations? The quieter chorales--Nos. 5, 6, 8 and 11--are excellent candidates for a celeste. If one has a broad Violoncello Celeste, it might be just the thing for the pedal cantus in No. 10. And how better to let the final notes of No. 11 O Welt, ich muss dich lassen float up into heaven than with a quiet celeste?

Brahms' Markings

While Brahms didn't indicate registrations, he left dynamic indications which, coupled with the precepts in Riemann's Catechism, may well amount to the same thing (see Table 2).

The dynamic markings and performance indications would seem to be clear enough, with the possible exception of "dolce." In Dynamics in the Music of Johannes Brahms, Imogen Fellinger says that dolce implies a weakening of the given preceding dynamic strength, just as expressivo is an intensification of the predominant dynamic strength.18 This may well be so where the dynamic marking is forte. Thus "forte ma dolce" in numbers 1, 3, and 11 would translate "loud but sweetly" or "loud but not strident." However, it seems a bit of a stretch to say that "dolce" in numbers 5 and 8 actually implies a dynamic slightly softer than the indicated "piano." It probably calls for a "sweet" or "gentle" interpretation and has nothing to do with dynamics. In support of this, note that only numbers 2, 7, 9 and 10 are without the "dolce." What is different about them from the rest? Both 2 and 9 are sturdy and forthright (the latter remarkably so), number 7 is a combination of urgency and melancholy, and number 10 is characterized by great pathos.

Tempo

In preparing this article, I studied fourteen organ recordings of Op. 122 and two of the Busoni piano transcriptions of Nos. 4-5 and 8-11. The range of tempi is remarkable. The slowest interpretations of the complete "Eleven" take 42 minutes whereas the fastest last but 21 minutes--half as long, or twice as fast.  The median19 duration was 321/2 minutes. See Table 3.

It is easier and clearer to discuss the tempos of these works, which as Romantic works are subject to considerable rubato, using the duration of the piece rather than metronome indications. The player who wishes to play Brahms musically would be well advised to avoid the extremes of tempo. Speeding through these works with the fastest tempos renders them meaningless and trite, but performances with the slowest tempos lacked energy and were often boring and stultifying. I found it of passing personal interest that the tempos at which I play these pieces are, in most cases, pretty close to the median. These median durations would seem to be a good starting place for those attempting to discover the ideal tempos.

Rubato

In his essay, "Playing Around With Tempo," Robert Schuneman describes tempo rubato:

Most music is mechanical without it in some form. On the other hand, the same music may turn into a caricature of its own intent and content with too much of it poorly applied. It is the most difficult of all musical terms to describe in words, and it takes an extremely sensitive player to use it well.20

As rubato is so difficult to describe in words, I would recommend Arthur Rubenstein's renditions of the Chopin Nocturnes as a most exquisite example of rubato in 19th century music.21

One might divide music into two types: objective and subjective. With objective music, of which Brahms' early a-minor and g-minor Prelude and Fugue are two good examples, if you play all the notes in a reasonably steady tempo, you achieve 80% of the composer's intent.  With subjective music, of which the "Eleven" are an excellent example, if you simply play all the notes in a reasonably steady tempo you realize absolutely none of the musical content the composer put into the work. The worst performances (with the notes played correctly) one will ever hear of Op. 122 are those in which, to paraphrase the popular song, "the beat goes on."

Schuneman makes an excellent point which is quite relevant to Op.122:

With the emergence after 1830 of free forms, program music, salon music, and the seeking out of emotional content over form, declamatory expression (free tempo rubato) became much more indispensable to good performance.  Furthermore, as the 19th  century progressed, tempo rubato became increasingly tied to dynamics. Accelerando means crescendo and vice-versa; ritardando means diminuendo and vice-versa.22

The most important performance points here are that in Op. 122, the beat itself is modified, which is a considerably further modification of tempo than the 18th century notion of rubato, where the melody in the right hand was subject to rubato but the beat in the left hand was not.23

Chorale No. 5, Schmücke dich, provides a clear illustration of the above points. Consider Figure 1, which is a harmonization of the chorale, as it would be sung. The added crescendo and decrescendo markings--not to be overdone, of course--simply indicate what any good choir would do intuitively. This music, all music, for that matter, is meant to be performed expressively. So apply this dynamic pattern to Brahms' realization of the chorale in Figure 2 (expression marks added to the Henle edition). If played on the Swell 8' flues, subtle opening and closing of the swell box is no problem. Per the above discussion of rubato, a subtle accelerando would accompany the crescendo and a ritardando comes with the diminuendo. One might alternatively describe this as a slight increase and decrease in intensity. Then there is the syncopated rhythmic pattern in the left hand which Brahms notated as shown in Figure 3, the way George Bozarth would have preferred to notate it in the Henle edition.24 Then there are the delicious dissonances, Brahms beloved major seconds, which Samuel Swartz always said "Brahms put there to linger over." And finally, there are the notes here and there to which, in expressive playing, one gives agogic accents. Integrate all of this into a performance and one has a small masterpiece. Play it straight on through ignoring these factors, on the other hand, and one has a very trite rendition.

Another excellent example of the necessity for rubato is in Chorale No, 11, O Welt, ich muss dich lassen. The structure of the work has a forte section followed by a piano section followed by a pianissimo section--which is repeated six times. Whether Brahms is simply using a series of echos or is referring to the vigor of youth, the mellowness of middle age and the weakness of old age we cannot know. But all of the pianissimo sections need to end with a ritard and a pronounced pause before beginning the next forte section. It is truly amazing that many play this work as if a metronome were clicking inside their heads, rushing past the pianissimo to get at that forte just in the nick of time. See Figure 4 for the interpretation marks I would suggest, and heed Max Miller's advice:

The variables of building and organ will dictate how much time is to be allowed and how freely the echoes should be taken. The non-harmonic tones require spaciousness and breadth in performance.  Time, for Brahms, has with this last composition ceased its hurry and its very meaning.25

Yet another reason for rubato is to give meaning to one of Brahms' favorite rhetorical gestures, the sigh motiv.  Consider the first four bars of O Gott, du frommer Gott (Figure 5), where the sigh motives are indicated by a bracket.  They are descending in mm. 2-3 and inverted in mm. 4-5.  Played in a metronomical tempo, these gestures are as musical as the regular clicks and whirs of factory machinery.  Played with a slight relaxation of tempo, they define the essence of Op. 122.

Indicated Phrasing

In addition to the dynamic and tempo markings, Brahms indicates a wealth of phrasing. Consider the first four bars of No. 1 in Figure 6. Brahms clearly and deliberately sets out a phrasing pattern which leaves little doubt of his intentions. In No. 3, however, there may be some question about the two-note slurs (see Figure 7). Some organists misinterpret these slurs as phrasing marks, and play the two eighth note figures as an eighth and a sixteenth, with a sixteenth rest before the next group begins. This misguided approach gives a jerky, frenetic sound which is the antithesis of the feeling of the chorale, O Welt, ich muss dich lassen. What Brahms meant by these markings was to give a slight stress to the first note of the groupings of two eighth notes. If strings played this piece, there would be the slightest, almost infinitesimal, pause in the sound as the bows changed direction between the eighth-note groupings. And this is precisely how it should be played on the organ.

It is in the very pianistic No. 4 that the precision markings in the Urtext Henle edition clearly communicate Brahms' intentions--markings which are changed or omitted in some other editions. See Figure 8 for the first four bars of No. 4. The quarter notes in the alto voice form a melody in which some notes are held longer than the precise note values, as indicated by the secondary slurs. In bars 1 and 3 the notes marked A are held for two beats,26 in bar 2 the note marked B is held for five beats, and in bar three the note marked C is held for three beats. This is consistent with 19th  century piano practice.

Leslie Spelman, who has spent a good bit of his extraordinarily long career promoting the "Eleven" in both recital and masterclass, sees a parallel to the above technique in No. 10 (see Figure 9). The notes with the horizontal bars added above them form a melody, and Dr. Spelman suggests holding them beyond their indicated value. The notes with the added slurs are to be held even longer. All the while, observing Brahms' molto legato indication and keeping the pulse nicely articulated in the bass.27 This exquisite chorale is also very pianistic and, in fact, is marvelously realized on the piano with a cello playing the cantus. Organists have been ending this piece with an a minor chord for nearly a century, and the A Major ending in the new editions--correcting an error in reading Brahms' autograph by the original editor Mandyczewski--sounds very strange to ears accustomed to the minor ending. But Henle edition editor George Bozarth points out that all of the minor-key preludes in the "Eleven" do, in fact, end with a Picardy third.28 A pronounced ritard in the penultimate measure and a generous observance of Brahms' indicated Adagio in the final bar does "set up" the A Major chord.

Soloing Out Melodies

In several of the Chorales, Brahms allows a clearly discernible melody in the soprano to move moments later to an inner voice where it can be obscured by the accompaniment above it. For example, this happens in measures 5-6 and 14-16 of Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen and measures 28-31 and 38-41 of O Gott, du frommer Gott. There are two schools of thought on this challenge.  Vernon Gotwals feels it is wrong to solo out melodies because this:

. . . shows an unawareness of the abstract nature of Brahms' conception.  It is wrong to emphasize any voice in the manner of the piano in these organ pieces, as Brahms knew that the melody would be lost when it dipped into the tenor in No. 7 or climbed from tenor to alto in No. 8. His subtle conception is destroyed by those who cannot forebear going beyond his precise registrational directions simply because it is physically possible to do so.29

Of course, this implies that in Op. 122 Brahms' conception was a total departure from almost everything he had written before. In his previous compositions, the pianists, instrumentalists and vocalists were able to emphasize and bring out musical lines in a way most suitable for the performance. I find it very unlikely that Brahms would prohibit emphasis of these obscured melodic lines--in fact, he probably would find the very question incomprehensible.

There are two ways to treat these lines. One can choose "solo" stops of exactly the same character as the accompaniment so that the principal difference between solo and accompaniment is volume, or one can choose a contrasting tone color. The former approach is probably more characteristic, although I must confess that the temptation to solo the tenor portions of Es ist ein Ros' on a Clarinet is very strong. The Clarinet was one of Brahms' favorite instruments, and if one has a nice one it may serve quite well. One doesn't have to play these works exactly the same way each and every time. The tenor melody in Es ist ein Ros' can be played on the pedals as suggested in the Biggs' edition (see Figure 10). But an alternative solution, which Leslie Spelman learned from Joseph Bonnet, is to play both the bass and tenor on the pedals starting on the third beat of m. 5, leaving the left hand free to solo the melody (see Figure 11).30

O Gott, du frommer Gott is one of the longest and most graceful of the chorales. One can very easily play the cantus on the Pedal 4' Chorale Bass. Draw 8' stops (at least the 8' Diapason and flute) on both the Great and Swell and couple them. Thus in the forte sections played on the Great, the Swell box can give an arch to the line. And in the piano sections played on the Swell, the box allows expression and perfect balance whether the solo soars out above or is buried within the accompaniment. The timbre of the Chorale Bass would be quite similar to the Diapason and flute of the Swell, with just a boost to the volume (see Figure 12). For emphasis one can add the Swell 4' Octave in measures 22-26, 50-54 and during the final five bars, but there is no indication that the forte section with which the work concludes should be significantly louder than the forte section with which it begins.

Repeated Notes

In the slower of Brahms' chorales, repeated notes in the soprano and bass should always be articulated, but there are some decisions to make about the inner voices. No. 11 O Welt, ich muss dich lassen is an excellent case in point. Though instances occur throughout the piece, the final three bars with their implied molto ritardando are critical. One might very well separate all the repeated notes in a room with five seconds reverberation. But see Figure 13 for a suggestion of adding ties on the inner voices to have the feeling of repetition without choppiness. This is not to say that Brahms should "ooze." In mm. 24-25 of the same chorale are two instances where added phrasing marks in the left hand and pedal can help set up the ending (see Figure 14).

Conclusion

Brahms' Chorale Preludes are very special compositions. As Fenner Douglas once observed, it's too bad for organists that Brahms didn't have a church job for a while, so that we might have more works from this master. I would urge those interested to seek out the cited articles by Bozarth, Gotwals, Miller, Peterson and Schuneman for a broader scope and fuller understanding of the problems and possibilities these works present. Playing these works expressively on the piano is also very helpful, as is experimenting with legato and super legato touch on the organ. Those who unlock the secrets of Op. 122 will not just have gained eleven lovely pieces for their repertoire--they will have learned things of inestimable value which they can apply in countless other works. n

Appendix: Survey of Opus 122 Recordings

The Early Recordings

Of the four late '50s and early '60s recordings, the best are by Robert Noehren and Franz Eibner, but none of them leaves you wishing for a reissue on CD. Dr. Noehren's Brahms (Lyrichord LLST 7123) is well played with sufficient rubato and convincing transitions between sections. But both of the Noehren organs he recorded on were totally unenclosed 2-manual organs with Positiv rather than Swell. The lack of a swell box and absence of registrational variety limited this recording.

Franz Eibner (Teldec SLT 43018-B) had the best organ of the early LPs. The 3-manual, 61-voice Walcker in Vienna's Votivkirche dates from 1878 and was certainly heard by Brahms. The organ's sound--with its rich palette of flutes, strings and principals--is most appropriate to Brahms. Eibner's playing, though consistently a bit stiff, borders on satisfactory, with suitable rubato at times but some awkward transitions. Some chorales, like Schmücke dich, he trots through with no regard to musical subtleties.

The other two early recordings are very disappointing. Karl Richter's recording on the Steinmeyer in the Herkules-Saal in München (Deutsche Grammophon 138906 SLPM) features a most unattractive organ sound. His registrations overemphasize screechy upperwork and de-emphasize the fundamental, sometimes creating a "music box" effect. Richter's playing is completely insensitive to the music, charging right through Opus 122 from start to finish.

Kurt Rapf's recording on the organ of Vienna's Ursulinenklosters is even worse, with an organ sound lacking fundamental but featuring prominent chiff on the manuals and a loud, deep and murky pedal sound. The plenum on No. 11 has searing mixtures, snarly reeds, booming bass and no "middle." Rapf's playing displays the fastest tempos at which these pieces have ever been recorded. All of the notes are there, but none of the music.

The Best of the Modern Recordings

(Note: All the CDs except Arkay include the complete works of Brahms.)

One of the most satisfying recordings to date is by Carole Terry on the 4-manual Flentrop of St. Mark's Cathedral in Seattle (Musical Heritage Society MHS 512523M). Blessed with a rich palette of principals and flutes in a gorgeous acoustic, the organ has a fine sound although the pair of Gemshorns on the Swell are a far cry from real strings. This recording was made before the recent rebuild added a wonderful 32' Posaune to the Pedal and an 8' Trumpet to the Great, plus enabled the 32' Prestant to actually speak. Ms. Terry's playing is simply elegant. She has a real empathy with Brahms and uses rubato and phrasing to create a truly musical result. The two settings of Herzlich tut mich verlangen are the high point of the recording: No. 9 is quite virile on a big registration and No. 10 is the essence of sensitivity.

Another fine recording on LP, unfortunately out of print, is by Bernard Lagacé (Titanic TI-38).  He recorded Opus 122 on the 1977 2-manual 23-voice Wolff organ in New York's Eighth Church of Christ Scientist. The neoclassic design has its limitations for Brahms, but Lagacé uses it fully and well. His playing is inventive, lively and sensitive.  Hopefully this recording will be reissued on CD.

Nicholas Danby made an elegant recording on the organ of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in London (CRD 3404). This 3-manual 44-voice organ is of some historical interest, having been built by Anneesens in 1876, rebuilt by Bishop in 1914, and completely remodeled in 1926 by Henry Willis III to the designs of G. Donald Harrison and Guy Weitz (organist from 1917 to 1967). Its virile plenum (with tierce mixtures), typically English reeds, rich foundations and colorful flutes make for a varied listening experience. Unfortunately, Danby failed to use the two sets of strings, but his playing is imaginative, solid and sensitive. A high point is an attractively up-tempo rendition of Herzlich tut mich erfreuen with well handled transitions between the forte and piano sections, and a sensible (that is to say, slight) volume differential between the sections. All in all, a rewarding experience.

The Interesting Middle Ground

Georges Athanasiadès has made a charming recording on the huge 103-stop Jann organ of 1989 in the lush acoustics of the wildly Baroque Basilica of Waldsassen (Tudor 790). It missed the first tier only because of a severe lapse of taste on the chorale No. 1, where the cantus in the pedal is registered on flue stops plus a set of tubular bells--the effect is ghastly. But in the remaining ten chorales, Athanasiadès proves to be a resourceful player who provides the most tasteful registrational variety of all the recordings. In Herzliebster Jesu and O wie selig he goes to an extraordinary effort to solo out the melody--unnecessary, but interesting and not at all unpleasant. He makes tasteful use of the tremulant on the pedal cantus of the second Herzlich tut mich verlangen and on a splendid rendition of Es ist ein ros'. In the final chorale he exhibits a sensitive balance between the forte, piano and pp sections, with a very attractive string celeste based pp section. Clearly Mr. Athanasiadès has many good ideas and much to offer on this CD.

Jean-Pierre Leguay, one of the four titular organists of Notre Dame in Paris, has made an impressive recording on the monumental 4-manual 1890 Cavaillé-Coll at the Abbey of Saint Ouen in Rouen (Euro Muses 590073 AD 184).  This organ--lavishly equipped with diapasons, a great variety of flutes, several sets of strings and reeds galore--is actually not far from what one might consider an "ideal" Brahms organ. All the stops are colorful, and there is a great amount of variety in the 8' range. The massed unison stops, which are exhibited in Herzliebster Jesu, sing beautifully. For a climactic effect, nothing in the recorded literature of Opus 122 quite matches the final section of the first chorale, where Mr. Leguay adds the 32' Bombarde to an already grand plenum. Some of the chorales, Nos. 4-6 and 11 for example, are given a rather indifferent treatment, but O Gott, du frommer Gott sparkles in a high-energy high-volume treatment with reeds in both the forte and piano sections. A tasteful Es ist ein Ros' alternates a beautiful string celeste with a quiet flute. Opting for contrast and clarity, Mr. Leguay gives the pedal cantus in Herzlich tut mich verlangen to a Trompette. This recording is recommended for generally excellent playing and a quite stupendous sound.

Jacques van Oortmerssen chose the 1906 Setterquist organ of the Kristine Church in Falun, Sweden for his recording of the works of Brahms (BIS-CD-479). This 2-manual 30-stop instrument is based on the French Romantic organs of Cavaillé-Coll, but the sound is a far cry from St. Ouen. There are some lovely individual stops, but the plenum with pedal is murky and a 2' Octava sticks out rather than blending. Oortmerssen's usually elegant playing is uneven, with one chorale singing and soaring and the next plodding quirkily along. He does observe the implied crescendo in O wie selig and builds to a satisfying forte.

Herman Schäffer chose a 4-manual 92-stop 1911 Steinmeyer at the Christuskirche in Mannheim for his Brahms recording (Motette CD 10711). This instrument offers generally attractive sounds and great variety, but Schäffer's playing is uneven. Herzliebster Jesu has no energy and a painfully slow O Welt, ich muss dich lassen (No. 3) falls flat, but these are followed by an energetic and stylish Herzlich tut mich erfreuen.  Schäffer loves contrast, and solos the melody in Schmücke dich on an oboe, the pedal cantus in Herzlich tut mich verlangen (No. 10) on a trumpet, and the melody in O wie selig on a Nazard combination (with the bass played on a heavy and murky 16' pedal). In Es ist ein Ros', Herzlich tut mich verlangen (No. 9) and O Welt, ich muss dich lassen (No. 11) the contrast between the forte and piano sections is far too great. Within these works, however, there are registrations of great beauty, including some luscious string celestes. In sum, the playing and interpretations are uneven and the largely original historic organ is of interest.

Recordings Of Lesser Merit

One might think that recording Brahms on a 1965 4-manual 56-stop Marcussen organ would give a thin, chiffy and uncharacteristic sound (Nimbus NI 882 286-909). On the organ at the Odense Domkirche this is not so, although the upperwork (used only in the first chorale) is too intense. Kevin Bowyer's registrations prove that this instrument can give an appropriate sounds to Opus 122. His playing is another matter, though--tempos seem either to be too fast or too slow. For example, he makes a race out of Herz-lich tut mich erfreuen. But whether the tempo is fast or slow, he doesn't offer much more than the notes. In O Welt, ich muss dich lassen (No. 3) he misinterprets the slurs over the two eighth note groups for a very choppy result. His favorite chorale would seem to be Herzlich tut mich verlangen (No. 10), as he gives a very sensitive performance of it (at 4:38 the slowest of all the recorded performances) with a lush sound and a lovely articulate solo flute with tremulant for the cantus solo. Would that the other ten chorales had had this degree of attention.

Jonathan Dimmock recorded Opus 122 on a 2-manual 26-stop Frobenius at St. Stephen's Episcopal in Belvedere, California (Arkay AR 6113). A visceral involvement with the music seems to be missing, and there are some note problems. Dimmock followed a basically conservative approach to registration, passing on the opportunity for a true forte even for No. 9 Herzlich tut mich verlangen. Although he did make good use of the Gambe Celeste in two chorales, it was an unfortunate choice to solo the melody in O Gott du frommer Gott on the Swell Oboe, because this precluded a significant contrast between the forte and piano sections, a key element of the work.  Whereas O wie selig is satisfying with a nice Oboe combination, No. 11 O Welt, ich muss dich lassen receives a perfunctory performance without the crucial implied ritards between the pp and forte sections.

Robert Parkins recording on the large Flentrop in the Duke University Chapel would seem to have a lot going for it (Naxos 8.550824). A lush acoustic, large organ, talented performer. Large as the Flentrop is, however, is has no expressive divisions and no strings--one wonders how Opus 122 would have fared on the spectacular Aeolian at the front end of Duke Chapel. Parkins gets around this limitation well, however, and the massed 8' tones provide needed warmth. His tempos are the key problem--Nos. 1, 2, 3, 7 and 9 are or are among the slowest tempos on record. The energy of these pieces drains away and you are left wanting to shout "Get on with it!" Balance this criticism with artful performances of No. 4, 6, 10 and an especially sensitive rubato in No. 11. Interesting though flawed, but at a bargain price.

Rudolph Innig's performance of Opus 122 has little to recommend it (Dabringhaus and Grimm MD+GL 3137). The 3-manual Klais organ at St. Dionysius in Rheine is a lightweight neoclassical design with lots of mutations which Innig, unfortunately, uses.  His interpretations feature separated pickups, which are decidedly un-Brahmsian, and a general lack of sensitivity to the music.

 

Notes

                  1.              Heinz Becker, "Johannes Brahms," The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 1980, Vol. 3, p. 161.

                  2.              Peter Williams, Review in The Organ Quarterly.

                  3.              Anonymous essay on "Brahms' 11 Chorale Preludes" on Lyrichord LP (LL 123).

                  4.              E. Power Biggs, Preface, Brahms' Chorale Preludes, Mercury Music Corporation, 1949, p. 2.

                  5.              Becker, op. cit., pp. 173-174.

                  6.              Robert Schuneman, "Brahms and the Organ," Music/The AGO-RCCO Magazine, September, 1972, p. 34.

                  7.              Schuneman, op. cit., p. 34.

                  8.              Jonathan Ambrosino, "Lessons with Dr. Courboin--A Conversation with Richard Purvis," The Erzähler, Volume 4, Number 3, January, 1995, pp. 3-4.

                  9.              Brahms' Complete Organ Works, ed. by Walter E. Buszin and Paul G. Bunjes, Edition Peters.

                  10.           Peter Williams, The European Organ 1450-1850, published by The Organ Literature Foundation, 1967, pp. 94-95.

                  11.           Vernon Gotwals, "Brahms and the Organ," Music/The AGO-RCCO Magazine, April, 1970, p. 42.

                  12.           Günter Lade, Orgeln in Wien, Austria, 1990, p. 184.

                  13.           Franz Ebner, Program Notes to Teldec LP: SLT 43018-B.

                  14.           Max B. Miller, "The Brahms Chorale Preludes Master Lesson," TAO, April, 1979, pp. 43-46.

                  15.           Schuneman, op. cit., pp. 32-33.

                  16.           John David Peterson, "Some Thoughts on the Sound of the Organ," The Diapason, April, 1981, p. 16.

                  17.           Schuneman, op. cit., p. 34.

                  18.           Imogen Fellinger, Uber die Dynamik in der Musik von Johannes Brahms, (Berlin and Wunsiedel: Hesse 1961), p. 20. Translated by and cited in Schuneman, op. cit., p. 34.

                  19.           The "median" is the middle value in a distribution of data--half of the times are shorter and half are longer than the median.

                  20.           Robert A. Schuneman, "Playing Around With Tempo," The Diapason, May, 1970, p. 16.

                 21.           Arthur Rubenstein, The Chopin Nocturnes, RCA 5613-2-RC (two CD set).

                  22.           Schuneman, "Tempo," op. cit., p. 16.

                  23.           Peter Hurford, Making Music on the Organ, Oxford University Press, 1990, p. 67.

                  24.           George S. Bozarth, "Brahms Organ Works: A New Critical Edition," The American Organist, June, 1988, p. 56.

                  25.           Miller, op. cit., p. 46.

                  26.           Less a brief "lift" on the first quarter note in measure one, so it can sound again on beat three.

                  27.           Leslie Spelman, in a February, 1995, masterclass.

                  28.           Bozarth, op. cit., p. 57.

                  29.           Gotwals, op. cit., p. 48.

                  30.           Masterclass, February, 1995.

Permission to reproduce segments from Werke für Orgel granted by G. Henle Verlag.

 

Other articles of interest:

Franz Liszt and Johann Gottlob Töpfer: A Fruitful Relationship in Weimar

Théodore Dubois and César Franck at Sainte-Clotilde

Brahms Opus 122 in score

Artis Wodehouse

Pianist and harmoniumist Artis Wodehouse has a BM from the Manhattan School of Music, an MM from Yale, and a DMA from Stanford. A National Endowment for the Humanities grant led to her producing CDs and publishing transcriptions of recorded performances and piano rolls made by George Gershwin, Jelly Roll Morton, and Zez Confrey. In 2000, Wodehouse began performing on antique reed organs and harmoniums that she had painstakingly restored and brought to concert condition. She founded the chamber group MELODEON in 2010 to present little-known but valuable music from 19th- and early 20th-century America, using her antique instrument collection as the basis for repertoire choice. 

During its prime in the nineteenth-century, the reed organ was the preferred instrument in American homes and also deemed a fit substitute for the more expensive pipe organ. Large reed organs became common in civic gathering halls and smaller churches. Despite the popularity of reed organs in America,¹ music for them consisted primarily of simplified arrangements of European art music, easy-to-play popular and sentimental ditties, polkas, marches, and waltzes, or hymns and other service music associated with worship or civic gatherings.

Toward the end of the nineteenth century it became apparent that design variation from company to company and from organ to organ, even within a given company’s fleet of models, was preventing composers from writing idiomatic original music for the American reed organ. The limited market for music crafted for one or another of the competing designs was too small to sustain widespread printing and marketing of scores.²

Without its own literature, such as had been created during the nineteenth century for its European counterpart, the harmonium, the American reed organ had an uncertain future. It would continue to be regarded at best as “a sort of weak substitute for the church organ.”³ Then, in the mid-1890s, at essentially the beginning of the end of the reed organ era, Mason & Hamlin⁴ began to address the problem by introducing an action design⁵ whose capabilities would “insure the greatest advantages to the composers, at the same time enable the manufacturer to place his instruments on the market at as low a price as possible.” The new action design was called the “Normal-Harmonium.” This was the action design for which the American composer Arthur Bird (1856–1923) wrote his compelling body of reed organ music. Figure 1 shows the Mason & Hamlin American reed organ, with Normal-Harmonium action design. Two knee levers are above the foot pedals. The right lever controls the internal swell shades; the left lever activates the Grand Jeu.

Mason & Hamlin’s Normal-Harmonium action design and Arthur Bird’s creation of a substantial, idiomatic music for the American reed organ came too late. Piano sales that had roared ahead after the Civil War rapidly displaced the reed organ. In the 1880s, reed organ sales slipped below that of pianos. By World War I, the glory days of the reed organ were over.⁶

 

Two competing
19th-century instruments: 

The American reed organ
and the European harmonium 

In the 1840s, United States inventors and businessmen founded companies that offered distinctive fleets of reed organ models. Reed organs were built in a bewildering variety of brands, sizes, and stoplist configurations. They ranged from diminutive four-octave home models that traveled to the West in covered wagons, to large, expensive instruments with powerful tone, full pedalboards, and many stops. 

The American reed organ used one or more sets of brass “free reeds” in order to generate tone. The performer’s foot pumping activated suction bellows that generated a stream of moving air, much like a vacuum cleaner. When the performer depressed a key, this moving air passed through a small chamber in which the reed was affixed at one end, but free to vibrate on the other end (hence the designation, “free reed”). The reeds varied in length, and the longer the reed, the lower the tone. Air rushing through the chamber caused the reed to vibrate, and tone to be produced. When a reed organ had more than one set of reeds, a set could be brought into play or silenced by allowing or blocking the moving air via stop pulls. As with the pipe organ, a set of shutters or swell shades located within the action facilitated dynamic contrasts. The performer opened or shut them on a gradient via a knee paddle. 

The largest and most prominent reed organ companies were Mason & Hamlin in Boston and Estey in Brattleboro, Vermont, but scores of others proved successful. As the nineteenth century progressed, American reed organs became increasingly complex. Inventors developed voicing techniques that produced a broad range of distinctive and contrasting timbres, named using terms derived from pipe organ nomenclature.⁷ Instruments built with multiple sets of differently voiced reeds featured multiple stops and a divided keyboard⁸ so that the player could choose contrasting timbres in the treble and bass of a single keyboard. Large reed organs were sometimes built with multiple keyboards, like pipe organs. The more reeds in an instrument, the more expensive it would be. 

Another keyboard instrument employing differently voiced sets of free reeds in airtight chambers arose in Europe during the nineteenth century. A Frenchman, Alexandre Debain, patented this instrument in 1842, naming it a “harmonium.” (See Figure 2.) 

Like the American reed organ, the European harmonium came to offer a broad range of distinctive and contrasting timbres controlled by stop pulls, and a divided keyboard that enabled the choice of different timbres in the treble and bass. (See Figure 3.)

Despite some similarity in design to the American reed organ, the European harmonium did not employ the American-style bellows system (suction) that pulled moving air in and through the reed chamber. Instead, in the European system, air was pushed through and out via pressure, producing sound like a trumpet or an oboe. The different airflow systems require different technical skills of the performer and produce distinctly different tonal characteristics. (See Figure 4.)

Foot pumping on the harmonium manages two important functions because of the way harmonium bellows were designed to work: the performer maintains constant airflow while simultaneously adjusting the relative airflow speed responsible for dynamic contrasts.⁹ Manipulating airflow velocity to effect dynamic changes was called “expression,” and this function had its own specially assigned stop pull. An additional European innovation for facilitating dynamic contrast was the invention of the so-called “double expression.” It was installed in the more costly European harmoniums. Double expression, a capability arising no doubt from a desire to mimic the piano’s ability to balance melody and accompaniment, allowed the performer to control not only the overall loudness but also the relative volume of the treble and bass on a gradient. Double expression is controlled by two knee levers installed under the keyboard and above the two foot-pump pedals. The skill required to play smoothly and expressively on the harmonium demands much practice.  

Late-speaking reeds, i.e., those with a time lag between the act of depressing a key and the sounding of its corresponding tone, hampered performers on both the American reed organ and the European harmonium.¹⁰ Although quick airflow delivery to the reeds was a design priority for both reed organ and harmonium builders, the Americans felt that beyond a certain point, slight lags were an acceptable characteristic of the instrument for which the performer was expected to make appropriate adjustments. The Europeans, however, took a different approach. To mitigate the problem of late speech (and to provide an additional tonal effect) they positioned small felt-covered hammers next to each of the reeds of the set most frequently used in performance. These little hammers were controlled by a stop pull, referred to as “percussion.” When the percussion stop is pulled and a key is depressed, the little hammers simultaneously strike the sounding reed, causing it to speak more quickly and incisively, like a crisp piano attack. The harmonium’s percussion makes performance of rapid passagework more predictable when compared to the American reed organ.

The most far-reaching advantage the harmonium held over the American reed organ was the standardization of stops generally agreed upon by the European companies. Standardization had two benefits: it made it possible to print in music scores commonly understood registration that could be used across instruments built by different companies. Secondly, performers could move from one harmonium to another with a minimum of adjustment.¹¹

It should be noted that the terms “harmonium” and “reed organ” were and continue to be used interchangeably. Lack of a clear and consistent terminology must be laid at the door of the overlapping and competing terms originally used. In their heyday, American reed organs were most frequently referred to as simply “organs,” but other names were used as well. These included Organ-Harmonium and Cabinet Organ, two different terms used by the same company, Mason & Hamlin. There were also fanciful names such as Phonorium, used by Estey.¹²

 

Harmonium and American reed organ repertoire

The capabilities of the European harmonium and the move towards standardization¹³ attracted several important nineteenth-century European composers. Elgar, Strauss, Schoenberg, Webern, Mahler, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, and Rossini made good use of the harmonium in some of their orchestral and/or choral works. Berlioz, Franck, Saint-Saëns, Guilmant, Widor, and many others wrote high quality solo and chamber music for it. Finally, the German composer Sigfrid Karg-Elert (1877–1933) made it his mission to develop a body of repertoire that would exploit the unique sonic and expressive capabilities of the Art Harmonium. During the early twentieth century Karg-Elert wrote what has proved to be the single most significant body of solo and chamber music for the instrument. The popularity of the European harmonium peaked about 1900, slightly later than the American reed organ’s peak of popularity.

Relatively few harmoniums made it across the Atlantic during the nineteenth century. On the other hand, American reed organs were exported and sold in fair numbers throughout Europe, particularly those built by Mason & Hamlin.¹⁴ Also, several European manufacturers such as Lindholm, Mannborg, and Shiedmayer adopted the American suction bellows system for their instruments.¹⁵ Nevertheless, despite significant cross-Atlantic distribution of the American reed organ and the availability of native European instruments with some shared characteristics, the American reed organ never established an artistic foothold through a representative body of high-quality music comparable to that written for the harmonium. This cannot be fully explained by the technical differences between the two as outlined above. Although the American instrument may have lacked the harmonium’s more refined control of dynamics and its useful percussion stop, the best American instruments, such as the Mason & Hamlin Liszt Organ, have a distinctive tonal beauty and a multiplicity of sounds equal to those of their European counterparts. 

The promotional prominence and enlarged, relatively standardized capabilities of Mason & Hamlin’s flagship Liszt Organ may therefore have been the impetus behind Boston-based American publisher Arthur Schmidt to print a few works for it during the 1890s. Schmidt’s publications for the Liszt Organ included both original compositions as well as arrangements of famous European works for organ solo, duets with piano, and chamber pieces. But apart from Eugene Gigout’s excellent Romanza for the Liszt Organ, unfortunately none of the rest rose to a similarly high quality.

 

Arthur Bird, American expatriate composer (1856–1923) 

Around 1896, Mason & Hamlin likely encouraged and may have actually commissioned the American composer Arthur Bird to write idiomatic art music for the standardized action they introduced during the 1890s, called the Normal-Harmonium. 

No documentation has yet surfaced indicating payment to Bird for his work by the firm. Nevertheless, key musical and personal circumstances link Arthur Bird to the most significant people associated with the Mason & Hamlin Company. Central to the connection between Arthur Bird and Mason & Hamlin was Franz Liszt. A canny seer, Liszt bet correctly on the ability of eager young American pianists and composers to hold high the torch of pianism and to carry forward the music of the future. Liszt welcomed them, offering his inspired pedagogy and worldly professional connections free of charge. Liszt’s generosity forged a well-documented bond among his pupils. Liszt’s first American student was the pianist William Mason (1829–1908). Mason studied with Liszt beginning in 1849, and brought back to the United States Liszt’s pedagogic principles through an extensive career of teaching, performing, and publishing. William Mason also happened to be the brother of Henry Mason, who in 1854 co-founded the Mason & Hamlin Company. Henry and William Mason were in turn sons of Lowell Mason, an important American hymn composer and musical educator during the first half of the nineteenth century. 

Liszt owned and wrote music for numerous keyboard instruments provided for him by both European and American companies.¹⁶ Among such instruments in his sizable collection was a Mason & Hamlin cabinet organ that he acquired in the 1870s. Later, Mason & Hamlin’s flagship high-end model came to be named the “Liszt Organ,” a likely outcome of the close connection between Liszt, his pupil William Mason, and the Mason & Hamlin Company.¹⁷ The Mason & Hamlin Liszt Organ was introduced about 1880. Complex, colorful, powerful, and versatile, the Liszt Organ was designed to compete with the best European harmoniums. While the Liszt Organ shared many tonal and functional features with the Normal-Harmonium design, it had a different tessitura (five octaves, C to C, versus the Normal-Harmonium’s F to F) and a different split point (E–F versus B–C for the Normal-Harmonium).

Arthur Bird was also one of Liszt’s American pupils, coming to him during Liszt’s later years.¹⁸ Bird’s musical and personal background strikingly resembled that of William Mason. Born in Belmont, Massachusetts in 1856, Bird’s early musical training came from his father and uncle, who were born-and-bred American church musicians. Arthur’s father, Horace Bird, and his uncle, Joseph Bird, were active in the New England of the 1840s and 1850s as voice teachers, composers of hymns and songs, and editors of singing books written to develop score-reading literacy. Upon the advice of William Mason’s father, Lowell Mason, young Arthur Bird was sent in 1875 to study in Germany at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik. Returning to North America two years later, he took a church music position in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he began to compose. He returned to Berlin in 1881 to study composition and orchestration. It was during this time that Bird came into the Liszt orbit.  

By his early 30s (in the mid-1880s), Bird had become well established as an organist and pianist. His compositions were published and performed widely in Europe. Bird spent most of his life abroad, mainly in Berlin, where he married a wealthy German widow and apparently lived lavishly. In 1897 Bird returned for some time to the United States in what proved to be a failed attempt to have his comic operetta, Daphne, performed in America. Reading between the lines of William Loring’s biographical work on Arthur Bird, is it possible that Bird wished to forge a closer connection to his native country? Certainly a major production of an opera by a United States-born composer within the United States would be an excellent vehicle for that scenario. During the late 1890s, when the quest for “genuine” American composers was in full swing, Bird may have sensed an opportunity. In any event, in that same year (1897), the first of Bird’s pieces for the Mason & Hamlin “American Harmonium” (op. 37) were published by Breitkopf and Härtel, an important German firm still operating that publishes high-art European music.¹⁹

 

Characteristics of Arthur Bird’s “American Harmonium”

The historic trajectory mating Arthur Bird with the Normal-Harmonium came just at the point when the piano had overtaken reed organ sales. Mason & Hamlin realized that in order to survive in the long term, the reed organ needed some good original music. The publication of Arthur Bird’s music for the “American Harmonium” came at a historic crossroad for the American reed organ, largely due to the rise of the American piano. From the 1850s, pianos, and particularly American pianos, started to benefit from standardization and mechanical manufacturing methods of the industrial revolution. Prior to this time, pianos were mainly handcrafted items. Likewise around 1850, the design of the piano, particularly the American piano, moved rapidly toward increased durability and a greater dynamic and pitch range. Piano types coalesced into three categories: square, grand, and finally, upright. Each of these types served a clear purpose. As a result, consumers began to turn to the piano as a viable keyboard alternative to the reed organ, particularly in the home market, where the reed organ had ruled uncontested.²⁰ Sales of pianos grew steadily through the nineteenth century.

In contrast to the piano industry, American reed organ manufacturers from the 1850s to the 1900s offered consumers instruments of a wide variety of sizes, competing capabilities, nomenclature, and above all, case styles.²¹ After the Civil War, American manufacturers also developed complex instruments of considerable beauty, sophistication, and expense. These large instruments with enhanced performance capabilities were aimed at a smaller “niche” market, for placement in the homes of the wealthy, civic or religious meeting halls, and small churches. But after a sustained growth period lasting about 40 years, sales of the American reed organ began to decline in the 1880s.

The Normal-Harmonium action design of the 1890s for which Bird wrote was conceived to meet these market challenges. Mason & Hamlin worked with and adopted the Normal-Harmonium design in collaboration with two entities associated with the company: their German representative Paul Koeppen and the Bender firm in Leiden, Holland.²² Mason & Hamlin’s goal was to provide a standardized instrument that could compete with the piano and its plentiful repertoire. Their instrument had to be sophisticated enough to attract composers to write good music for it and be of a reasonable cost. 

Mason & Hamlin met both of its goals. First, the cost of an instrument with Normal-Harmonium specifications was indeed lower by half or more than that of the top of the Mason & Hamlin line, the Liszt Organ. The price of the Liszt came in at $700, but instruments with Normal-Harmonium capabilities could be had between $260 and $300.²³ Second, the Normal-Harmonium action provided attractive and useful performance capabilities. These included a pitch range of five octaves from F to F and multiple sets of reeds offering an elaborate stoplist. American reed organs with the Normal-Harmonium action design began to be manufactured in the 1890s and continued to be built until the company ceased reed organ production in the early 1920s.

As mentioned previously, inconsistent nomenclature and lack of a simple explanation for actual performance capability plagued the field. Although Mason & Hamlin offered a standardized action design in the Normal-Harmonium, Bird’s music itself was identified on the score as being intended for the “American Harmonium” and/or the “Normal-Harmonium.” Nomenclature had still not jelled. Therefore it must be stressed that the terms “American Harmonium” and Mason & Hamlin “Normal-Harmonium” do not refer to any one specific instrument, but rather to an action design embodying certain specific capabilities. 

Figure 5 shows the overhead view of interior of the Mason & Hamlin American organ with Normal-Harmonium specs. To the upper right is the paddle that is activated to rotate by the Vox Humana stop. The upper left box houses the very large Sub Bass reeds. The specific capabilities of the Normal-Harmonium are as follows. 

 

Stoplist:

Diapason Dolce 8′—the Diapason, mechanically softened. 

Sub Bass 16′—consists of 13 notes, the chromatic octave upward from low C. This stop uses the largest, longest reeds, producing a deep, rich, and powerful sound.

Eolian Harp 2′—two detuned sets of reeds producing a shimmering, ethereal vibrato.

Diapason 8′—pure, organ-like tone. 

Viola 4′—resembles the sound of the orchestral instrument for which it is named.

Viola Dolce 4′—the Viola, mechanically softened.

Vox Humana—adds a vibrato or tremolo. Can be used in combination with any of the other drawn stops in the treble. Activated by the turning of a windmill-like paddle located inside the action.

Seraphone 8′—differs from the Diapason in timbre. Focused and slightly nasal.

Flute 4′—resembles the sound of the orchestral instrument for which it is named.

Melodia 8′—continuation in the treble of the Diapason reeds.

Vox Celeste 8′—another stop combining two sets of detuned reeds that creates a vibrato effect. 

Octave Coupler—when pulled, mechanically connects a note to that of one an octave higher.

Melodia Dolce 8′—mechanically softened Melodia. 

 

The split point on the keyboard is between B and middle C. Stops from Seraphone 8′ up activate the treble, the stops from Viola Dolce, down, the bass.

 

Mechanical devices:

Grand Jeu—activated by a knee paddle located under the keys above the left foot pump pedal. The Grand Jeu causes all the reeds to sound at once, producing the instrument’s fullest and loudest sound.

Swell—activated by a knee paddle located under the keys above the right foot pump pedal. This device controls the internal shutters responsible for dynamic contrasts. (See Figure 6.)

 

Arthur Bird as composer

During his lifetime, Arthur Bird was recognized as an active, widely published, and well-received composer of some stature, particularly in Europe. Incidentally, his successful European career was launched in no small part because of the positive public and private endorsements Bird received from the influential Franz Liszt. 

Bird’s oeuvre is extensive, including opera and theatre works, orchestral music, songs, piano materials, chamber works (particularly those for wind instruments, for which he is best-remembered today), organ, and many other forms. Bird wrote a sizeable number of short solo piano pieces in well-established standard dance forms and topical styles—march, waltz, minuet, gavotte, lullaby, and mazurka. His extensive experience composing in this genre prepared Bird well to write for the American reed organ. Bird’s music is available in score at the Library of Congress through the generous donation of his widow and has been amply documented through the International Music Score Library Project.²⁴

Relatively little of Bird’s music has been recorded.²⁵ What is available tends to confirm the critical reception his work received during his lifetime. Reviewing a performance of [Bird’s] Serenade for Wind Instruments, op. 40, the Berliner Borsen Courier said: “It is distinguished for the freshness and spontaneity of its invention, as well as the clever craftsmanship and the clear and compact disposition of its different parts . . .” Another critic comments: “Characteristically his music is pleasing and melodious in composition. It is coherent and well developed in form. It lies easily within the range of the instruments, and displays no little knowledge of their resources.” Of him, [Arthur] Farwell wrote: “Arthur Bird is known as the possessor of a fertile and truly musical imagination and a thorough technique . . .
Bird is a musician of German training and French sympathies and calls himself a conditional modernist.” Mentioning that Bird composed in almost all forms, [Louis] Elson says of him: “He is an excellent contrapuntist, yet uses his skill in this direction as a means rather than as an end, seldom making a display of his knowledge. It is a pleasure to find an American composer who is not anxious to out-Wagner and who goes along the peaceful tenor of recognized and classical ways.”26 Bird was even described as “the most promising American composer of the middle and late Eighties” by no less than the important conductor,
Arthur Nikisch.²⁷ 

The amount and dating of Bird’s production seem to confirm Loring’s supposition²⁸ that after 1900, Bird’s work dwindled, though his reed organ works of 1905 (op. 45) maintain his previously held high standard. On the other hand, his simplified arrangements, American Melodies Specially Adapted and Arranged for Normal-Harmonium of 1907, appear to have been written simply for profit and lack the artistic value of his earlier work for the American Harmonium.

 

Arthur Bird’s music for the American Harmonium

Those who either possessed or might  have considered purchasing an instrument with the Normal-Harmonium action design would likely be individuals of some performance ability and/or a level of musical sophistication high enough to appreciate the artistic features of the instrument. They would also likely appreciate piano music of the better salon variety, up to and including Schumann’s, Chopin’s, or Grieg’s short works for solo piano. Finally, they would most likely be of the social class that would appreciate hearing this music, most likely in the home setting. 

Bird’s conservatism—informed by fine craftsmanship, deft handling of instrumental color, and fluency in miniature forms—may not have been enough to place him into the compositional pantheon of his trailblazing European contemporaries (Mahler, Debussy, etc.), but his abilities ideally suited him for writing salon-oriented character pieces of the type popularized by Mason & Hamlin’s Normal-Harmonium. An already accomplished American composer, Bird’s impeccable, media-worthy credentials and network of connections to Mason & Hamlin were a further plus. Bird was a perfect fit.

Bird published six opus numbers for the Normal-Harmonium.²⁹ All contain interesting and beautiful music, but the best of these was his first, the ten pieces of op. 37.³⁰ In the first printing, the op. 37 pieces were identified directly on the score’s front pages as being intended for the “American Harmonium”³¹ or for the Mason & Hamlin “Normal-Harmonium.” A page is devoted to an explanation of the stops required and their manner of notation in the score. Bird used circled letters derived from the stop name. For instance, Diapason is D; Viola, V; Voix Celeste, VC; and so forth. Later print runs of op. 37 contain the same explanatory page, but also indicate standard stop numbers, i.e., 1 for Diapason, 3 for Viola, 5 for Eolian Harp, etc., that would correspond to numbers appearing on European suction instruments of equivalent capability.³²

While no piece in the op. 37 set lasts more than three minutes, each exhibits a mastery of craft: beautifully spun-out melodies, masterful counterpoint, subtly personalized inflections of nineteenth-century harmonic practice, and traditional formal structures handled with deft assurance. Bird’s forms are not unusual (ABA, sonata, rondo). But because the Normal-Harmonium’s unique instrumental colors are an integral component of Bird’s structural designs, the listener experiences an additional dimension of thematic transformation. In his music for Normal-Harmonium, Bird’s assimilation of instrumental color as a component of structural rhetoric relates his music to that of the nascent French impressionists at the turn-of-the-century. The following briefly describes salient features of each of the pieces in Bird’s op. 37:

1. Meditation—a sarabande. In this mini-Wagnerian contrapuntal ramble, Bird employs kaleidoscopic stop changes that underscore the evolving melodic twists and turns.

2. Preludium—brooding and dramatic four-part writing in an ABA structure. Registration is simple, but Bird uses the octave coupler at the recapitulation, reinforcing and underscoring the harmonic excursions introduced as the piece moves toward an impassioned final cadence.

3. Adagio—elegiac four-part mini-sonata. Development section comprises a series of recitative-like meandering arpeggios over sustained chords. Recapitulation re-registers the opening material over low pedal points. With more recitative-like arpeggios at the coda, the piece concludes with a simple fadeout on the ethereal Eolian Harp stop.

4. Reverie—features a long-breathed, haunting, and tentative treble melody on the flute stop set against slithering countermelodies registered on the atmospheric Eolian Harp stop. In ABA form, the melody’s return is entirely recast in a fuller texture with the foundation 8′ and 4′ stops. In partnership with a walking bass line, the melody’s tentative first appearance is thereby transformed into an affirmative point of arrival. The coda brings the listener back to the ethereal Eeolian Harp, rounding the piece off as it began.³³

5. Postlude—hearkens back to Bird’s American past, a spirited march that suggests a full wind band.³⁴ Bird’s registration indicates that the piece must be played in its entirety using only one setting, the circled G indicating “Grand Jeu.” Because Grand Jeu causes all the stops to sound at once, finger strength and vigorous foot pumping are required throughout. 

6. Improvisato—a fierce, somewhat virtuosic piece. Registration involving the basic 8′ and 4′ stops is augmented at the recapitulation by use of the Grand Jeu. Rapid, conjunct passagework in the wild coda comes off surprisingly well, despite the lack of a percussion stop. Bird was a hands-on composer and knew what the Mason & Hamlin organ could do.³⁵ 

7. Offertoire—This piece would be suitable for use in a church setting. It is an atmospheric sweet/sour composition with change of mode. 

8. Scherzo—This is the most technically demanding of the set, an extended rondo. Rapid sixteenth notes scattered throughout the piece when the octave-coupler is drawn or the Grand Jeu is activated require finger strength and precise articulation. Not only the performer’s skill is tested: Bird takes the instrument itself to the edge of its mechanical ability to sound quick notes on the fly. Registration is extraordinarily full and rich, suggesting an orchestra. 

9. Auf dem Lande—a melancholy, minor “folksong” melody is transformed to a grand, affirmative conclusion in major mode.

10. Pastoral—perhaps the most inventive and idiomatic of the entire set. Bird’s motivic ideas have a symbiotic relationship with the instrumental colors he brings to bear. Set above continuously sustained low pedal points, a flowing conjunct melody in the treble twines about an ostinato pattern in the mid range. In order to keep the pedal points depressed while so much action is occurring that requires two hands, lead weights must be used to hold down the pedal-point notes.

 

The American reed organ, Arthur Bird, and the future

The composition of high-quality, original repertoire for the European harmonium during the nineteenth century has proved to have far-reaching consequences. Once thought lost to history, beginning in the 1980s the harmonium has been going through a steady revival, centering in the Netherlands. It seems likely the harmonium will continue to reestablish the place it once held in the classical repertoire. While there continues to be a small but passionate interest in the American reed organ,³⁶ a revival similar in scope and momentum has not yet begun.

As the rise and fall of the American reed organ demonstrates, the key to an instrument’s survival is not its mechanical capabilities, but rather the repertoire written for it. Not just any music will do. What is needed is music that will continue to offer listeners an aesthetic experience independent from the era in which it was created.

In the case of the European harmonium, the point where form and function met occurred when distribution was growing and the instrument’s capability achieved sufficient standardization. This favorable environment attracted a fair number of composers to write significant music for it. Unfortunately for the American reed organ, standardization arrived at the very point when distribution was falling. 

Nevertheless, we are grateful that one composer, Arthur Bird, stepped in during a brief moment of opportunity in the history of the American reed organ. With his ideal combination of skills, commitment, and inspiration, he provided us with music that stands poised to move into the future. ν

 

Special thanks to Carson Cooman and Whitney Slaten

 

Notes

1. American publishers also churned out a deluge of reed organ method books intended for the large market of rank amateurs in the United States. 

2. Paul Hassenstein, “The Normal Harmonium And Its Literature,” The Music Trade Review 41:3, July 1905, 87. 

3. Ibid., 87.

4. Mason & Hamlin began as a reed organ manufacturer, but in 1883 started making pianos as well. About 1920 the company ceased making reed organs, but continued their piano line. 

5. “Action design” refers to a specific set of performance capabilities contained within the mechanism of an instrument. Action design was independent of case style. The same action could be enclosed in a variety of cases.

6. Robert F. Gellerman, The American Reed Organ (Vestal, New York: Vestal Press, 1973), 18.

7. Ibid., 97–99. Gellerman’s list of stop names gives some indication of the diversity and lack of standardization among the American reed organ manufacturers.

8. The point of division between bass and treble was called the “split point.”

9. The harmonium did not employ the swell shade of the American system for dynamic contrast because the pressure system made possible quick changes in air speed. Quick control of air speed permits the execution of sharper accents and faster dynamic changes than is typically possible on the American instrument. Simply put, the American instrument is easier to learn how to play, but lacks the degree of potential interpretive refinement offered by the harmonium.

10. The phenomenon is due to inertia. Lowest reeds speak quite slowly: they are the largest reeds, sometimes several inches in length.

11. Gellerman, American Reed Organ, 107.

12. I have consistently used “American Reed Organ” or simply “reed organ” to refer to the suction bellows action design, and “harmonium” to describe the European pressure instrument.

13. Standardized pitch range, split point, sets of stop pulls, shared nomenclature. Nevertheless, as the 19th century progressed, European harmonium manufacturers (like their American counterparts) succumbed to the lure of increased capability that culminated with the celebrated “Art Harmonium.” The Art Harmonium offered a whole new range of attractive colors and capabilities. Music written for the Art Harmonium could not be played on more basic harmonium models.

14. Casey Pratt, e-mail to the author, July 30, 2013. Casey Pratt is a United States reed organ restorer who specializes in the Mason & Hamlin. Exact numbers are not known to date.

15. Ibid. 

16. For instance, Liszt owned a piano-harmonium specially designed for him by Erard and Alexandre and a Chickering grand that was used in his piano master classes. He also collected then “antique” pianos that belonged to Mozart and Beethoven.

17. The Liszt Organ has a set of uniquely voiced, so-called “Liszt” reeds of great tonal beauty. 

18. The main biographical information to date regarding Arthur Bird was amassed by Dr. William Cushing Loring (1914–2002). Loring was a Harvard graduate and an urban sociologist. After retirement, he focused on American art and music, working with Scarecrow Press to develop a series of more than twenty books on various North American composers. 

19. Available at the International Music Score Library Project website: http://imslp.org.

20. Another likely reason piano sales surged ahead of the reed organ resulted from the installment purchase plans offered by piano companies. Once a luxury item of the upper classes, the piano then became affordable to the burgeoning middle class.

21. The flamboyant case styles of American reed organs clearly indicate a function beyond that of simply a musical instrument. In addition to ornate carvings, some reed organ cases featured a façade of non-functional organ “pipes,” mirrors, candle holders, and the like.

22. This information was communicated by Frans Vandergrijn, a Netherlands-based authority on reed organs and harmoniums in a posting on Yahoo’s Reed Organ Restoration newsgroup, August 9, 2013. 

23. Pratt, e-mail to the author, August 10, 2013. To put these prices in perspective, average United States yearly income in 1900 was $438.

24. http://imslp.org/wiki/10_Pieces_for_Harmonium,_Op.37_(Bird,_Arthur_H.)

25. Modern recordings include music for piano 4-hands, op. 23, Vladimir and Nadia Zaitsev, pianists; Introduction and Fugue, op. 16, Tony and Mary Ann Lenti, pianists; Serenade for Wind Instruments, op. 40, Suite for Double Wind Quintet, op. 29 (Naxos), and Carnival Scenes for Orchestra, op. 5 (Albany).

26. William C. Loring, Jr., “Arthur Bird, American,” The Musical Quarterly 29:1, January 1943, 87. 

27. Ibid., 88.

28. Ibid., 86.

29. Op. 37, 1897; op. 38, 1901; op. 39, 1903; op. 41, 1906; op. 42, 1905; op. 44, 1903; op. 45, 1905. All are available at the Library of Congress.

30. Not all of the op. 37 pieces scanned and available in IMSLP come from the original 1897 printing, several being from later editions. The only difference is that additional equivalent registration intended for European suction instruments was added. 

31. My supposition is that Breitkopf titled them for the “American Harmonium” in order to alert purchasers that the intended instrument would be one of American design. European suction instruments could have been more or less acceptable alternatives, but only the Mason & Hamlin Normal-Harmonium would have had the subtle specificity of timbres and tonal balances characteristic of the Mason & Hamlin sound.

32. On IMSLP: http://javanese.imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/2/2d/IMSLP65232-PMLP1327…

33. See performance at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIC9EwIjmks

34. And Percy Grainger’s later work for the reed organ.

35. See performance at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi6yjMzjKe.

36. The American Reed Organ Society has been in existence since 1981.

 

References

Archival Sources

Music Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D. C. Music of Arthur Bird. Includes all his published music for reed organ, plus some manuscript scores.

 

Books and Articles

Brown, Andrea Elizabeth. “A Descriptive Analysis of Arthur Bird’s Suite in D.” DMA diss., University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2010.

Elson, Louis C. American Music. New York, NY: MacMillan Co., 1904.

Gellerman, Robert F. The American Reed Organ. Vestal, NY: The Vestal Press, 1973.

———. The American Reed Organ and the Harmonium. Vestal, NY: The Vestal Press, 1996.

Good, Edwin M. Giraffes, Black Dragons, and Other Pianos. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001.

Hendron, Michael, ed. Manufacturers Music Album Reed Organ Society Anthology Series. Palmer, Massachusetts: The Reed Organ Society Publications Office, 2001.

Hiles, John. A Catechism for the Harmonium. London: Brewer and Company, 1877.

Loring, William C., Jr. “Arthur Bird, American.” Musical Quarterly 29, no. 1 (1943): 78–91.

———. Arthur Bird: His Life and Music. Newton Centre, MA: n.p., 1941.

———. The Music of Arthur Bird: An Explanation of American Composers of the Eighties and Nineties for Bicentenial Americana Programming. Atlanta: n.p., 1974.

Milne, H. F. The Reed Organ: Its Design and Construction. Chancery Lane, England: Office of Musical Opinion, 1930.

 

Recordings

Bird, Arthur. Suite in D. On Bird Songs: Romantic Chamber Music of Arthur Bird, North Texas Chamber Players. Eugene Corporon, conductor. CD (digital disc). Klavier, KCD-11071, 1995.

———. Suite in D. On Collage: A Celebration of the 150th Anniversary of the Peabody Institute, 1857–2007. Peabody Conservatory Wind Ensemble. Harlan Parker, conductor. CD (digital disc). Naxos, 8.570403, 2008.

———. Suite in D. University of Cincinnati Chamber Players. Rodney Winther, conductor. CD (digital disc). Mark Records, 7212, 2007.

———. Amerikanische Weisen, op. 23, Three Characteristic Marches, op. 11,  American Souvenirs Piano Music for Four Hands, Nadia and Vladimir Zaitsev, pianists, CD (digital disc), Gleur De Son-Qualiton/The Orchard, 57928, 2004.

Bird, Arthur; Dussek, Jan Ladislav; Liszt, Franz; Grieg, Edvard; and Onslow, George; Forgotten Piano Duets, Vol. 2, Tony and Mary Ann Lenti, pianists, CD (digital  disc), ACA Digital Recording, B004QEZC2, 2011.

Part 1 was published in the May 1996 issue of THE DIAPASON, pp. 10-13.

by Sally Cherrington

The Introduction of Organ Voluntaries: The Organist as Solo Performer

Despite the emphasis on the organist as an accompanist in
the first half of the nineteenth century, the playing of voluntaries did not
suddenly commence in 1850.  The use
of voluntaries became common in some churches after about 1810, although in
other churches (particularly those in rural locations) voluntaries were not
played until much later in the century. In 1835, Musical Magazine in New York
City published an article complaining about abuses in voluntary playing, which
contained the following comments on the problem of inappropriateness:

Every real proficient on the organ, knows that voluntaries
upon that noble instrument, ought to consist of broken passages, scattered
chords, etc., etc., which will not seize upon the attention of the listener but
rather soothe his mind, into calm collected meditation. Any thing like a
regular air would here be out of place. Even the learned harmonies of the
Germans, impressive and beautiful as they are, prove for the most part too
spirit-stirring, in their influence, for American voluntaries. Some of our
organists, however, have but little invention, and others but little taste. So
when they should either be silent or be endeavoring merely to soothe the
worshipers into devout meditation, they rouse them by a march, an overture, a
sonata, or a thundering chorus. . . . Such abuses, if tolerated, will bring
voluntaries into disrepute; if not lead to the expulsion of the organ from our
churches.57

Orpha Ochse adds wryly that if the situation was so bad in
the cultural and intellectual climate of New York City, one could only imagine
what sorts of things the untutored village organists were playing for
voluntaries.58

The common complaint of too much showmanship, which had been
levelled at the performance of interludes, was also carried over to
voluntaries. For example, Jane Rasmussen notes that Episcopal churches were
often the first in an area to get an organ, and whenever possible they would then hire a competent organist from Europe, New York, or Philadelphia. The organists often played virtuosic voluntaries as a form of advertising in order to attract students to supplement their church salaries.59 Whether justified or not, this virtuosity was generally considered distracting to the tone of the
service.  In non-Episcopal (or less
wealthy) churches, this problem would probably have occurred somewhat later in
the century due to the later technical development of native players, but it
became a problem nonetheless.

Charles Zeuner

Prior to the publication of Zeuner's collections of organ
voluntaries, most organists who played voluntaries improvised them.
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  Zeuner presented an alternative for
those who did not yet possess this skill. Zeuner's Voluntaries for the Organ, published in 1830, was the first collection of organ music published in the United States, and consists of six voluntaries.60 Although the use of the term "voluntary" and his designation of the pieces as "Before Service" or "After Service" suggests that he intended the pieces for church use, Zeuner indicated on the score that the pieces were "composed and dedicated to the Handel and Haydn Society, Boston,"61 a secular musical society. However, his second organ publication, Organ Voluntaries, published in 1840, is clearly a volume for the church organist. This is a longer and more comprehensive work than his first collection, and consists of two parts. The first part involves 165 interludes and short preludes in a variety of keys (to be used with hymns). Part II contains "Practical Voluntaries to be used before and after services in churches," with intended uses specified for each piece.62
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  These voluntaries have no pedal parts,
and contain dynamic markings but only minimal registration indications. This
collection forms a sort of bridge between the earlier "methods" and
the forthcoming collections of music with instructive introductions: it is the
first comprehensive printed collection for church use of interludes and (more
importantly) voluntaries, which were becoming the new focus of most organists,
but it does not yet include any of the descriptions and admonishments for
performing them that the later collections include.

The opposite situation occurs in an article from The
American Journal of Music, published in Boston on February 25, 1845, and
entitled "On the Use of the Stops of the Organ."63 The anonymous
author explains that although the organ is the instrument best suited for
extemporizing (voluntaries in church), he has never seen any "practical
treatises" on this subject. Therefore, he provides stylistic and
registration suggestions for voluntary playing. In contrast to Zeuner, this
instructional treatise is all text and no music.

Thomas Loud

Thomas Loud's organ method with its extraordinarily lengthy
title, discussed briefly in the first of this series of articles, was also
published in 1845.64   As the
title suggests, The Organ Study: Being an Introduction to the Practice of the Organ; together with a collection of Voluntaries, Preludes, and Interludes, original and selected; a Model of a Church Service; Explanations of the Stops and their Combinations; Studies for the Instrument; and Examples of Modulation intended to aid the Extempore Student; accompanied by an Engraving and description of the Mechanical construction of the Organ begins with explanations of organ basics important to Loud. These include descriptions of the basic organ mechanisms and stops, as well as practical matters such as beginning and releasing chords (Loud recommends rolling the notes individually from the bottom until all notes are sounding) and playing shakes. Significantly, he uses this material to lead into pointers on accompanying, illustrated in his model service for the Episcopal Church, before turning his attention to playing voluntaries. He does include two sample voluntaries in his "model service":  an introductory voluntary (shown in Example 1) and a voluntary for before the second psalm or hymn (in other words, an offertory). These voluntaries are musically straightforward, with basic registrations provided. Both include trills (shakes), an ornament that Loud seemed to feel was absolutely essential to the church organist's success. While the first voluntary is manualiter, the second indicates that the organist is to play certain bass clef notes with the pedals. Loud, however, provides small notes at these spots for those organists whose instruments do not have pedalboards.

Loud follows his model service with many pages of hymn
preludes and interludes in a variety of major and minor keys before furnishing
15 pages of voluntaries for church use, composed by himself and a variety of
other composers (Rinck, Cross, Russell, etc.). He does include several
voluntaries which are transcriptions, principally of religious works by Haydn.
He avoids the popular music pitfalls decried earlier in this article; although
he does include one "Religious March" by Gluck, it is quite austere
in character. At the end of this section, Loud adds a page illustrating the
"fine effect" of embellishing the end of a voluntary with a simple
suspension, emphasizing again the modest nature of this music.

At the end of his method, Loud provides some interesting
directions showing how to produce registrations of increasing power on instruments varying in size from four stops to modest three- manual stoplists, as well as ways to achieve particular registrations "effects." This leads into his closing and quite notable conclusions on voluntary playing, with which he ends his method. His concern is that voluntaries be consistently used, but not abused:

The style of performing (voluntaries) on this instrument
should always be in accordance with the use made of it, as forming a part of
the service of the Sanctuary; nothing therefore, opposed to the sacredness of
the place, can with propriety be introduced: whatever may be the character of
the Stops made use of, the music should be chaste and solemn, and all the
variety of the instrument, should (in the hands of the efficient performer) be
made conducive to the same subject. . . . Voluntaries should as much as
possible be suited to the subject of the discourse or character of the service
. . . 65

Loud continues by explaining how specific divisions or stops
can help to achieve these lofty goals. He concludes by explaining how to play
"fancy voluntaries," which his text implies are improvised and
probably not for use in church. 
His final admonishment is still applicable for improvisers today: "
. . . above all, remember to stop in time--a common fault with performers is,
that they never know when they have done enough."66

Cutler & Johnson

Before returning to Johnson's important American Church
Organ Voluntaries (mentioned in the first
article), we will make a brief digression to examine another of Johnson's
publications. Johnson originally published the Voluntaries in 1852 under his
name.  When it was republished in
1856, H. S. Cutler's name was included as well (see Example 2 - portraits of
Johnson and Cutler). A discussion of Cutler and the reasons for his addition in
the second edition is beyond the scope of this article, but apparently his
contribution was minimal (it is thought that perhaps he penned the
"Remarks"). Whatever the case, Johnson had originally intended to
write a second book, apparently planned in conjunction with American
Church Organ Voluntaries, called Instructions in the Art of Playing Voluntaries and Interludes and of Composing Simple Music. This book was conceived as a combination of an organ method and harmony book. It is thought that it existed in draft form and that Johnson was using it to teach his organ students. Unfortunately for the history of organ pedagogy, it was never published.67

Instead, Johnson published in 1854 his Practical
Instructions in Harmony, upon the Pestalozzian or Inductive System; Teaching
Musical Composition, and the Art of Extemporizing Interludes and Voluntaries. This book was unique in organ "methods" published to this point in that it was directed at the more sophisticated music student.68 Basically, it is a book of music theory with practical keyboard exercises. It was probably intended as a successor to Johnson's popular Instructions in Thorough Base which had undergone at least six reprints by this time, testifying not only to the need for these types of materials but also to the growing technical sophistication of the organist.

Johnson's Practical Instructions, however, contains no
discussion concerning church voluntaries, but approaches them from a completely
technical standpoint. This is not the case in American Church Organ
Voluntaries. The volume opens with
"Remarks," wherein the editors comment that one should speak of an
"opening voluntary" rather than a "voluntary before the
service" (as Zeuner does), since this voluntary is a part of the service
and should arouse the proper feelings in the listener for the worship which
will follow. They waste no time in criticizing the commonplace habit of playing
popular music, including bits of opera, as voluntaries. They warn the organist
not to give in to popular opinion which supports this sort of music, even if
they are getting pressure from a wealthy person in the congregation who has
money but no taste, ending by saying that in such cases it is better to
"vacate your office and retain the good opinion of all whose good opinion
is worth having" rather than to give in to "depraved taste."69
In regard to voluntaries after the service, Cutler and Johnson admit that there
are differing opinions on the value of playing music while people are leaving. They justify this practice by saying that there is already unavoidable noise at the end of the service as people prepare to leave, and therefore playing
appropriate music while this is happening will remind people for as long as
possible that they are still in the House of God. "What more appropriate
monitor than the solemn Diapasons judiciously managed?"70 The
"Remarks" answer many of the contemporary complaints mentioned
earlier.

The complete pre-publication title of this anthology, Organ Voluntaries, a Complete Collection, adapted to American Church Service, and designed for the use of Inexperienced Organists who have not Progressed far Enough in Their Studies to be able to Play Extemporaneous Voluntaries (i.e., improvised), indicates Johnson's purpose in compiling this collection--providing music for amateur organists. The voluntaries are all manualiter. Numbers 1-35 are opening voluntaries, while numbers 36-41 are opening voluntaries for use on festival occasions. Twelve closing voluntaries are included. Many of the voluntaries are by either Johnson or Cutler, but works by Haydn, Muller, Rinck, and Mendelssohn are included, as well as works by lesser-known composers of that period. The pieces contain some tempo, dynamic, and keyboard indications. The tempi vary, although in both the opening and closing voluntaries the majority of tempi designations provided are moderate. The voluntaries are one to two pages in length and generally homophonic in style. There are only isolated indications of sections with solo stops, marked in tiny print "solo . . . solo ends" (see Example 3 for the first half of an opening voluntary with these frugal registration markings). Thus there is nothing about these pieces which would relate them to popular music. Pinel suggests in the Foreword to the edition that although these pieces seem very plain to our contemporary ears, they would have been harmonically innovative, even "exhilarating," to mid-19th century rural listeners.71 (The harmony, while hardly daring, is more chromatic than that of the average hymns and service music.) One reason for the lack of excess in these pieces (and those in Loud's method) may have been the fact that Protestants were still strongly affected by the recent appearance of organs and conservative views of the appropriateness of instrumental music in
general.72 

The several printings of American Church Organ
Voluntaries testify to its popularity.
Gould comments that in his travels he did visit some congregations where the
voluntaries were appropriate and therefore useful (although he had many
negative experiences as well). Thus, Johnson and Cutler's music or at least the
approach to service-playing which it and Loud exemplified was represented in
practice and was not just a theoretical goal.

Southard & Whiting

Although organ methods from the Continent, American
materials for playing the harmonium or cabinet organ, and other unannotated
volumes of voluntaries appeared after Johnson's anthology, the next significant
collection was that of L. H. Southard and G. E. Whiting, entitled The Organist (1868). This volume is also an anthology of music for service use, with an introduction discussing registration and other useful information for the church organist. However, as will soon become evident, there are many
differences between this collection and that of Cutler and Johnson, despite the
similarity of their subjects and their separation in publication by only 16
years.

In the second half of the 19th century, one can observe the
rise of concert organs and concert organists. Large organs were built at
Tremont Temple in Boston (1853) and the Boston Music Hall (1863). The
increasing popularity and professionalism of orchestras fueled the popularity
of orchestral transcriptions for organ. 
Organists adopted some of the Romantic excesses of European organists,
such as the fascination in trying to recreate "storms" on the organ.
It is noteworthy that the first piece performed on the new Walcker organ in
Boston's Music Hall was the "Overture to William Tell" by Rossini.73
At the same time, the technical improvements and expanded size of organs made
it more practical to perform legitimate organ literature of greater magnitude
than the voluntaries.  The
dedication recitals of organs in churches now were devoted exclusively to organ
solos, whereas previously these events consisted of vocal solos accompanied by
organ with perhaps a few organ voluntaries.74 Several sources mention that Bach
organ works were performed in America for the first time in this period (about
the mid 1860s). Most of the concert organists, however, were English or
European.

In examining The Organist, these changes in organ literature in the second half of the 19th century are reflected.  The subtitle of the volume indicates that it is "a collection of voluntaries, studies, and transcriptions of moderate difficulty," and includes information on registration (which will be explored shortly).  The editors explain in the introduction that "melodious and piquant Voluntaries" are part of the church organist's responsibilities, and that therefore the aim of this volume is to supply opening and closing voluntaries which meet these requirements, complete with registrations.75 Like the Cutler and Johnson volume, this collection was apparently intended primarily for less experienced players who were not yet adept enough to improvise appropriate service music.  It is interesting that, unlike Johnson who taught improvisation based on models of Bach, Southard and Whiting refer the aspiring church improviser to the piano sonatas of Mozart and Haydn as a basis of study, pointing already to a sharp difference in outlook.

The music supplied for opening and closing voluntaries by
Southard and Whiting differs markedly from that of Cutler and Johnson. Even the
titles underscore this difference: although the term "voluntary" is
used in the introduction, the pieces are entitled "Prelude" and
"Postlude" (or "Postludium"--see Example 4). This implies a
slightly different function than the term "opening voluntary" which
Johnson carefully chooses (probably something closer  "voluntary before the service"). In addition,
several of the pieces have titles like "Reverie" or
"Romanza," reflecting a strong Romantic secular influence. The pieces
are much longer than those in American Church Organ Voluntaries
style='font-style:normal'>, and all include pedal parts on separate staves.
Three of the pieces are identified as transcriptions of Haydn, Mendelssohn, and
Mozart. The pieces are very pianistic technically, and include a multitude of
interpretive marks, including articulation, phrasing, and many dynamic
markings. Big chords alternate with solo passages, with all sorts of pianistic
accompaniment figures; one prelude even has a cadenza (#4), and piece #5, a
"Pastorale," contains running scale passages in 32nd notes. The
Postludes are all loud pieces, but the style of the Preludes varies widely, and
one is not always sure which category the pieces with other titles fall
into.  There is even a
"March," one of the styles specifically attacked by church music
critics of the previous generation.

It is interesting that the final piece in The Organist is Bach's "Celebrated Prelude and Fugue in e minor" (BWV 533), as edited by Mendelssohn. This seems to be a direct reflection of the apparently successful introduction of Bach into the concert organ repertoire at this time. It also suggests that organists were no longer expected to be able to distinguish sacred music from secular or concert repertoire, since both were equally acceptable in church. Apparently the responsibility of the organist to musically interpret the text and mood of the hymns and scriptures which had been emphasized earlier in the century was no longer a principal focus.

One of the most conspicuous differences between the two
organ anthologies, however, is in the treatment of organ registration. Here a
brief digression is necessary to survey the changes which had taken place in
organ construction between the writing of these two volumes. Although Americans
had begun building their own instruments instead of importing them from England
in the first half of the 19th century, the English influence remained very
strong.  By 1850, although loud
organs (by early standards) were increasing in popularity, the basic sound was
light and bright, emphasizing the diapasons and flutes, with some reeds and
strings included.  The manuals and
pedalboards were not standardized--both the Pedal and Swell divisions tended to
have incomplete ranges.76 The first large American organ was the Hook and
Hastings instrument installed in the Tremont Temple, Boston in 1853, with four
manuals and 70 stops.77 Thus, from about 1860 on, the enthusiasm for
increasingly louder organs continued, with a bolder, brighter sound appearing.
Console controls and nuances of the expression pedals became more important.
Organs now tended to be placed in the front of the church rather than hidden in
the balconies, and cases were often eliminated.78

These changes say a lot about the change in the role of the
organ in the church service. Around 1841, one writer complained that the organs
were sometimes unsuited for leading congregational singing, one of the possible
problems being that they were too small to really lead the singers and keep
them on pitch.79 However, by about 1850, Gould writes that performances were
gradually getting louder, complaining that in some churches the choir and
congregation combined could not sing above the organ, satisfying only those
"who are more pleased with noise than with sense."80 Johnson and
Cutler warn the organist about playing too loudly while accompanying in their
opening remarks, explaining that the organ should be subordinate to the
singers.81 However, it is interesting that in The Organist
style='font-style:normal'>, although the organs by this time must certainly
have been louder, this warning is never mentioned.

To return now to the topic of registration, both volumes
include information on registration in their introductions, as well as sample
specifications. (See Example 5 for the basic specification list from the Cutler
& Johnson collection.) As might be expected from the changes in organ
building, a much wider variety of stops is mentioned in the later volume. Both
collections describe stops, but Johnson and Cutler add information on the
purpose of some of these stops in worship.  For example, they recommend the diapason as "well
suited to church purposes in general," but guard against using the flute,
which "is a fancy stop, and generally much abused . . . when used as a
solo stop . . . the effect is suggestive of the theatre, or ball-room, rather
than the church."82 Within the pieces themselves, Johnson and Cutler
suggest only one specific stop in the entire volume, sometimes designating
where a solo stop should be used but not suggesting a particular stop. Southard
and Whiting, on the other hand, provide detailed registration suggestions at
the beginning and throughout every piece, as well as directions to use the
couplers, expression pedals, and tremulant. They also suggest in the
introduction that one of the responsibilities of the organist is to create
"striking and delicious effects of the organ," which they advise
requires the use of varied registrations and separate manuals.83

This emphasis on registration, coupled with the changes in
organs observed above, suggest that the role of the organist was changing by
about 1870. Although Johnson and Cutler provide basic material on registration
for the stops generally appearing on a "modern" organ, they are not
as concerned with how the organist applies or combines these stops as they are
with the spiritual effects that various stops induce.  Southard and Whiting, however, comment from the start that
"the chaotic droning and ridiculous combinations of stops which were
satisfying until within a few years, will no longer be endured by Congregations
of average musical culture."84 This implies a concern that the organist
have a greater technical knowledge of registration than was previously
considered satisfactory. But this comment also suggests that the organist is
now expected to start with the registration concepts of "musical
culture" of the society at large and apply them to the service of the
church, reflecting the increasing importance of musical culture in society in
general. This differs from the earlier outlook on registration which assumes
that the organist chooses stops based on their contribution to solemn worship
without regard for (or deliberately in contrast to) the types of sounds
associated with secular culture.

A final point of contention regarding registration is
illustrated in the closing comment of the introduction to The Organ
style='font-style:normal'>ist,
where the editors comment that they hope that their collection will "tend
to improve the taste and ability of players, and thereby create a general
demand for more complete and effective organs than are often found outside of
two or three of our largest cities."85 This is in marked contrast to
Cutler and Johnson, who, although they would agree with the goal of improving
the taste and ability of players, are trying to "improve" it in the
opposite direction from the goals of Southard and Whiting. It is noteworthy
that Gould writes in 1853 that organists should be careful that their playing
serves no other purpose than to recommend the organ and organ-builder86--what
Southard and Whiting seem to be suggesting as a positive goal.

It is interesting to note that in looking at the two
above-mentioned church music anthologies, there is scarcely any mention of
accompanying hymns and psalms. This may reflect the new rise of the use of
voluntaries and corresponding lack of suitable literature (thus the focus on
this aspect), or it may be considered a commentary on the relative lack of
importance of hymn-playing to these editors.  Southard and Whiting, for example, ignore the subject
altogether.

In studying the voluntaries in The Organ
style='font-style:normal'>ist, it
becomes apparent that some of the registration changes must have required
pistons, which as stated were becoming more popular. This makes the fact that
this volume excludes a discussion of registering hymns even more interesting,
since changes between verses of hymns to illustrate the meaning of the text
would now have been much easier and smoother. Perhaps due to the emphasis in
earlier years on accompanying, the editors were interested in looking ahead to new directions in church music.

by Malcolm Wechsler

Malcolm Wechsler, of N. P. Mander, Ltd. - U. S. A., is Organist/Choirmaster at Trinity Episcopal Church, Stamford, CT.

Day One - Sunday, June 21

The convention day began at 1 p.m., the morning being filled with arrivals and registrations. First venue: The Paramount Theater, with its remarkable 20-rank WurliTzer, which speaks clearly and forcefully into the room from big, open chambers on either side. The Pedal is incredibly strong and quick. There is a tremendous variety of solo sounds, all of which we heard. The program began with the two consoles rising majestically from under the stage, with Joel Kremer and Robert Castle at the main console and "slave" console,  respectively, giving us a great medley of popular show tunes. It being Sunday, we made a feeble attempt to sing "The church's one foundation," accompanied by Robert Castle in something other than the "cathedral tradition," and without us having words in front of us. Robert then pushed a switch on the left side of the "slave," that sent it slowly back to the basement. Joel Kremer continued with several solo pieces, ending with "The Stars and Stripes Forever." Professor of History at the University of Colorado, Thomas Noel, then gave us, with slides, some history of Denver's development, which was partly spurred by a secondary gold rush, about a decade after the great one to California. James Mosby Bratton, complete with slides, spoke to the topic "Hook Your Hastings to a Steere," a history of Denver and area churches and organs. All too often, seeing the slide of a wonderful, old church building, we learned that it had been torn down or the organ replaced by an electronic substitute.

After a break, we returned to our seats for "White Desert," a full-length, wonderfully-made 1925 silent film about the building of the railroad through the mountains west of Denver. This was both a "cliff-hanger" and a "tear jerker," the effect heightened greatly by Robert Castle's seamless and suitable accompaniment on the great organ. Everyone was a bit drained and teary-eyed when the lights came up.

After dinner on our own, we were bussed to St. John's in the Wilderness Episcopal Cathedral for a glorious, if to some, a bit radical, Evensong. I was personally moved by the whole service, and in at least one place, to my great surprise. Donald Pearson is the Cathedral's musician, and his very capable associate is John Repulski. The organ is the justly celebrated 1938 Kimball, recently restored. Donald Pearson began with the ravishing Frank Bridge Adagio, followed by the Invitatory, from a set of Responses by Pearson, all of which we heard during the course of the service. Phos Hilaron was a plainsong-like setting by Richard Proulx, with several refrains for us all to sing. Psalm 138 was sung to an attractive verse-with-fauxbourdons sort of music by Glen McGrath. The Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis were the South American Rhythm-inspired settings by Bryan Kelly. We sang the Apostles' Creed on one note, accompanied by a lush chordal organ accompaniment by Jeffrey Rickard. In Donald Pearson's setting of the Versicles and Responses, the versicle was in each case accompanied richly, using mostly harp-like sounds, on an electronic keyboard played by John Repulski. I have an innate resistance to the presence of loudspeakers in church music-making, but I have to say, I found this very effective, and even beautiful. The music is well-written, the performance was solid, and there was clear amplification of the sound, with no distortion. Here followed three fine anthems, confidently sung by the very large Cathedral Choir: "O sing to the Lord with hymns newly made," by Donald Pearson; "How lovely are the messengers," Mendelssohn; and "How lovely are your dwellings," by John Leavitt. We finished with a rousing singing of Lauda Anima, "Praise, my soul, the King of Heaven," as only an OHS congregation can provide.

After a short stretch, we were treated to "A Concert of Mighty Organ Duets," played by Donald Pearson and John Repulski: Mozart, Fantasia K.608, four hands enriching the harmonies; Danse Macabre (Saint-Saëns), four hands; the C Major Soler Concerto, Andante and Minuet, with John Repulski going to a small Casavant continuo/chamber organ; The Ride of the Valkyries, with a wonderful thick texture, made possible by four hands. After singing "O filii et filiae" from the 1982 Hymnbook, we heard John Rutter's variations on it for two organists; Ragtime by Charles Callahan; and finally, French Toccata on the name Helmut, by Ralf Bölting (b. 1953). The performers were buoyed by the great ovation at the end, including many shouts of Bravo.

And so ended a great OHS first day!

Monday, June 22

Day two begins in Lyons, CO, and in line with convention policy, we are gradually experiencing higher and higher altitudes. Yesterday, it was enough just to adjust to mile high Denver. Today, we are at 8,500 feet. Tomorrow is a day in Denver, and on Wednesday, we will spend some of the day at over 10,000 feet. On this clear, beautiful day, we are surrounded by snow capped mountains, and are told we will be throwing snowballs by day's end! Enough travelogue.

The first musical event of the day took place at The Old Stone Church of Lyons with Will Headlee, Professor of Organ Emeritus, Syracuse University. The organ: Hook & Hastings two-manual, 9 stops, Opus 1948, built in 1902, an organ of great charm and beauty. Will Headlee is a regular at OHS conventions, and his cheerful playing, programming, and comments are always a delight. He also makes a point of telling helpful bits about his registrations, which really explored the organ very effectively. The program: Mendelssohn, Allegro con brio (Sonata 4); J.S. Bach, Wer nur den lieben Gott (Schübler); Rheinberger, Vision; Hobart Whitman (1904-1952), Elegy (1947); Charles Quef (1873-1931), Noël Parisien (1904); hymn, a rousing performance of "When morning gilds the skies" (Laudes Domini, Barnby).

First United Methodist Church, Boulder--Bruce Stevens, another welcome regular at these conventions. The organ: Frank Roosevelt, No. 382, built in 1888, a gutsy 3-manual instrument of about 35 stops. The program, a stolid collection of music, none of which I had heard before, full of interest, and beautifully played: Fleury, Variations on a Burgundian Noel "When, in the frosty season"; Soler, Sonatas in E minor and G Major; Fr. Davide da Bergamo (1750-1830), Sonatina for Offertory or Post Communion; Bonnet, Second Legend, op. 7, no. 10; Jongen, Cantabile, op. 37, no. 1; Rheinberger, Sonata No. 5 in F-sharp Major, op. 111; hymn, "I vow to thee, my country" (Thaxted, Gustav Holst).

Next came the great climb up to Central City, at 8,500 feet, first stop St. James United Methodist Church, to hear Jane Edge. As you will see below, she manages to find totally unusual programs--I thought I knew nothing on her list, but did discover that I recognized Narcissus, which I think I must have played on the piano as a child. The whole recital was great fun, played with spirit, and with registrations that showed careful thought, therefore showing off this charming instrument beautifully. The organ: J. W. Steere and Son, Opus 456, 1899, 16 stops. The program: hymn, "Praise, my soul, the King of Heaven" (Lauda Anima); F. Opel (??), Opening Voluntary (arr. from Farmer's Mass); Ole Bull (1810-1880), Solitude on the Mountain (arr. for organ by Claude F. Saunier); W. Hewitt (??), French Air With Variations (The Air turned out to be Twinkle twinkle, little star); Stravinsky, Berceuse from The Firebird (arr. for organ by J. T. Quarles); Horatio Parker, Impromptu, op. 17, no. 2; Ethelbert Nevin, arr. for organ by Reginald Goss-Custard, 1. The Rosary, 2. Narcissus; Easthope Martin (d. 1928), Evensong; Liszt, Adagio; Whiting, "Onward, Christian Soldiers" (something I would love to do as a postlude at home--possibly on my very last Sunday!).

A walk down the hill brought us to St. Paul's Episcopal Church, a fine-looking stone building, with a rather chaotic interior. The Anglican Spirit greeted us right inside the door, where we were offered iced cappuccino and lots of cookies, and a big collection basket seeded with dollar bills already. We were well and truly crammed into this church, with people standing all around. The charming James Mosby Bratton, retired U. of Denver professor whom we had heard talk at the Paramount the day before, presented a recital on a Mason & Risch Vocalion (a "first class reed organ"), No. 1033 (1893). He had some help with pumping, apparently much more strenuous at 8,500 feet, given the thin air. We began by singing a song, "Colorado Home," to the tune of "Home on the range." The rest of the program: Bach, Prelude in d minor (BWV 539); Willing, General Custer's Funeral March, op. 43; Louis Adolphe Coerne (1870-1922), Bagatelle, op. 24, no. 1; Gustav Baumhauser, Pike's Peak March (c. 1875); Lefébure-Wély, Fugue in d minor, op. 122, no. 6.

After this program, we were at liberty to explore the town and find some dinner on our own. Colorado has permitted three dying old mining towns to open casinos, and Central City is full of them. As is true in casinos elsewhere, meals are available at very low prices, and we ate in the dining room above one such, with Prime Rib for about $3. The food was good and plentiful, too.

Winding down the mountain on the bus, we reached the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Denver, where Fred Hohman delivered himself of lots of bombast, interspersed with some more delicate fare. The room is quite vertical, and despite carpeting everywhere, there is plenty of resonance bouncing off the hard surface walls and ceiling, and plenty of organ sound to do the bouncing! The organ was basically a Kimball, but is now, at least in large part, a new 3-manual instrument of about 35 stops by Ivan P. Morel & Associates, a well-regarded area builder. Fred, who is well-known for his skill as a transcriber, played a program entirely of works originally for the organ, as follows: Vierne, Symphony No. 2 in E, op. 20, Allegro, Scherzo; Naïades (Pièces de Fantaisie, Fourth Suite, op. 55); Franck, Choral No. 2 in B minor; Widor, Finale from the Sixth Symphony; Dupré, The World Awaiting the Savior (Symphonie-Passion); Langlais, Cantilène (Suite Breve); Mulet, Tu es Petra (Byzantine Sketches); Duruflé, Sicilienne and Toccata (Suite, op. 5).

Tuesday, June 23

Day three began at the Scottish Rite Masonic Temple, where three stars were in evidence: Richard Purvis, Kenneth Matthews, and the mighty Kimball, all working together for good. Kenneth was a student of Purvis, and also presided over another great Kimball, at a Christian Science Church in San Francisco for some time--so he came to his task with experience. This 1924, 3-manual Kimball, very much a theatre style instrument, is located all over the ceiling, but despite what look like relatively small places for tonal egress, it has immense impact. It appears to be about 18 stops, greatly unified and extended. Kenneth Matthews knew exactly what to do to demonstrate all the organ's virtues, using as a vehicle Christmas music of Purvis. We could not have asked for a better demonstration of the organ's resources, including the Bass Drum, Chinese Gong, Harp, and Chimes. The program, all Purvis: Prelude Solennel (Veni Immanuel); Offertory (Resonet in Laudibus); Communion (Gaevaert); Carillon (Puer Nobis Nascitur); Greensleeves (from Four Carol Preludes); Pastorale (Forest Green, from 7 Chorale Preludes on Tunes Found in American Hymnals); hymn: "O come, all ye faithful," with our sopranos having some success with the Willcocks descant from memory; Carol Rhapsody.

We walked across the street to the First Baptist Church of Denver, to hear a large organ built originally in 1945 by Aeolian-Skinner for the ubiquitous Senator Emerson Richards, of New Jersey. By 1949, he was tired of it, bought a replacement, and Opus 1047 was sold to the Denver Baptists. If it sounded in New Jersey as it now sounds in Denver, I have no problem understanding the Senator's wish to replace it. In Denver, it is buried in chambers, and speaks out only with difficulty. I could not help wondering if our ears ever thought that was a wonderful sound! To be fair, there may be beauty in small combinations and solo stops, but we never did get to hear any of them. Raymond Garner chose a program that basically featured full organ primarily, not this organ's happiest mode. The program: Wagner, Fanfares from Parsifal, arr. Virgil Fox; Widor, Allegro from the Sixth Symphony; hymn, "Behold a Sower."

Jonathan Ambrosino took the lectern, and delivered himself of a splendid lecture entitled "The Transition from the Symphonic to the English Ensemble 1925-1940: Denver's Response to a National Trend." I do hope the text of this will become available--I have no doubt it will.

We had a pleasant lunch at the Temple Events Center Uptown, a former Jewish Temple. We could see but not hear the 1911 Estey with two similar cases. Imagine two large auditoria side-by-side, completely open to each other at the point of joining. In each of these auditoria is a platform, and a choir loft above with an organ case. There is only one console, at the case to the right. One assumes that the left side auditorium was for the great overflow of the High Holy Days, and that this was a clever, if expensive, way to provide equal organ coverage in both places.

Our next stop, the fine former Second Church of Christ, Scientist, now The Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Denver. Baha'i worship makes no use of the organ, and the congregation had plans to try to sell it, but the local OHS gang stepped in, and made a case, successfully it would seem, that the organ should be preserved in situ. The Baha'i community has now embraced the instrument, and is planning a concert series in which it can be heard. That this large (3-manual, 34 stops) and wonderful Hook & Hastings, Opus 2370 of 1916, is worthy of preservation was more than amply demonstrated in a fine recital by Charles Rus, from San Francisco. He registered with wonderful care and imagination, enabling us to hear just about every possible combination of sounds. The program: Howells, Master Tallis' Testament; Schumann, No. 1 in C and No. 4 in D-flat of the Four Sketches for Pedal Piano; hymn, "Creation Spirit, by whose breath" (Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend'), with us singing the four stanzas of the hymn, one each after each of four variations on this tune by Georg Böhm. We sang in unison the rhythmic version found in the ELCA Hymnal. How lovely it would have been for us, glorious harmonists as we are, to have sung in four parts; Craig Phillips (b. 1961), Fantasy: Torah Song (Yisrael Voraita).

In yet another event demonstrating well the beauty of an old instrument, Dana Robinson of Davenport, Iowa played the following program in the South Gate Masonic Lodge Hall: Widor, Praeludium Circulaire from Symphony No. 2; Boëly, Andante con moto; Mozart, An Andante for a Cylinder in a Little Organ (K 616), Lasst uns mit geschlungnen Handen (Let us now with joined hands), appropriately from "A Little Freemason Cantata"; Liszt, Ave Maria von Arcadelt; hymn, "The spacious firmament on high," on which I thought we did quite well; and then, in a further inspired choice, Handel, Variations in E (The Harmonious Blacksmith). The organ--a tiny (7-stop) Farrand & Votey, Opus 776, c. 1897--made lots of music this day!

Next stop, the Iliff Theological Seminary Chapel to hear a rich and satisfying 1910 Wirsching organ of 16 stops. Richard Robertson, Denver, played the following program, which showed off the great power and variety of this instrument: Hurd, Suite in Three Movements (commissioned for this convention); Reger, Benedictus; Warlock, from Capriol Suite: 1. Pavane and Basse, 2. Danse; Mendelssohn, Prelude & Fugue in F Minor, op. 35.

After dinner at our hotel, back to St. John's Cathedral to hear the perfect match of music, instrument, and musician. I do believe that Thomas Murray is one of the most thorough of all performers in working out registration, and will limitlessly complicate his time at the console, if it means getting just the right effect. He also listens, as do very few, to what the instrument and building are telling him about tempo, texture, and touch. In addition to which, there is no more sensitive swell pedal foot in the organ world. We, and a large audience of non-OHS types as well, were the beneficiaries of all that work, in the following lovely program: Bach, Sinfonia from Cantata No. 29; Saint-Saëns, Prelude & Fugue in B Major; Elgar, Severn Suite, op. 87 (1932), transcribed by Thomas Murray. After a short intermission, Barbara Owen presented to the Junior Warden of the Cathedral, the OHS Plaque awarded to churches that have "instruments worthy of preservation," and have kept them well--certainly a well-deserved honor in this place. Fleury, Variations on a Burgundian Noël (heard earlier in the week); hymn, "Come down, O love divine" (Down Ampney); Rheinberger, Sonata No. 13, op. 161 (the opening theme of which is almost identical to the opening phrase of Down Ampney); encore: The last of Saint-Saëns Seven Improvisations, op. 150.

Wednesday, June 24

We reached maximum altitude, peaking at 11,300 feet at one point. Leadville, where we began our day, is, we were told, just 12 feet less than two miles above sea level, and I for one, really felt this, as did many others. It became most noticeable during the hymn singing. There clearly was not as much air to go around as one is used to. One of the local people told me that it can take six months to fully adjust. Around us, and slightly above us, was quite a bit of snow.

Lois Regestein, another regular at OHS conventions, played at St. George's Episcopal Church, on a gentle but lovely little George Ryder (1882) organ of 11-stops. Besides the fact that her program showed off the little organ very well, she made thoughtful and interesting connections with the organ and the town. Her program: Mendelssohn, Prelude in G, op. 37, no. 2; Woodman (b. 1957), Variations (selected) from Greensleeves; Mendelssohn, Fugue in G, op. 37, no. 2; (I did not get to ask Lois why she chose to break the Mendelssohn up in the manner of the Bach St. Anne in the Clavier Übung, part III. Did Mendelssohn somehow conceive of a split performance like that?) Having discovered the quality of the Oboe on this organ when she arrived in Leadville for the first time, Lois added at this point a little trumpet tune sort of piece of Telemann; Thomas Ryder (1836-1877), Moderato (Thomas Ryder was the brother of George Ryder, the organbuilder, and often dedicated his brother's instruments.); Douglas Moore, The Willow Song (from The Ballad of Baby Doe); (This was sung by Patti Smith, a wonderful soprano living in Leadville, but with a career well beyond her community. We had an interesting discussion about practicing daily in Leadville, with its very thin air, and then appearing in places closer to sea level. Apparently, in terms of breathing, this puts her at a decided advantage. Anyway, this was an ingenious bit of programming, as Baby Doe herself lived in Leadville!--well done, Lois!) Vaughan Williams, Prelude on Rhosymedre; hymn: "My song is love unknown" (Rhosymedre).

I first met and heard Grant Edwards last year at OHS in Portland, and thought his a very special musical personality, full of control, confidence, and good cheer, with clearly very careful preparation in every detail. Today's concert continued in that mold. It having been announced that the organ for today's performance might well be at least the second highest pipe organ in America, if not the first, Grant explained that he was convinced he was given this assignment because of his complaints last year in Portland about the bench not being high enough! We are now in First Presbyterian Church, Leadville, and the organ is a 13-stop instrument by William Schuelke, Opus 67 (1889). The program: Böhm, Partita on "Ach wie fluchtig, ach wie nichtig"; hymn: "What does the Lord require" to the lovely Erik Routley tune, Sharpthorne; Kodaly, Six Epigrams (charming pieces which Grant graciously substituted for the Vaughan Williams Rhosymedre, when he realized that Lois Regestein was going to play it); Widor, Pastorale from Symphony No. 2; Diemer, Farewell, Good Friends (Shalom Chaverim - 1996).

Next stop, Georgetown, and its very small Grace Episcopal Church. The group was broken into three parts, and Marilyn Stulken, another old hand at OHS conventions, had to play her program three times, while the rest wandered this interesting old town. I went to the group 3 recital, at the beginning of which, the church was given an OHS Plaque honoring its organ of "historical interest, and worthy of preservation." Quite a number of members of the congregation showed up for this--I think they are justly quite proud of the single manual, seven-stop instrument. It is a rare, intact survivor by Denver organbuilder Charles Anderson, built in 1876, and may well be the oldest organ in the state, although somewhat altered tonally. Marilyn gave a good demonstration of the organ, beginning with the Bach Partita on "O Gott, du frommer Gott." This was followed by two interludes from "Melodia Sacra," c. 1850, by George Frederick Bristow, after which we attempted to sing an old hymn written out with the melody in the tenor, "Jesus, the Conqueror reigns," to a tune called Germania. We were not a success. This was followed by two more of the Bristow interludes, after which we sang another hymn, "Awake, and sing the song," to Festal Song. We did much better this time around. The program finished with a Festival Postlude in D by W. Eugene Thayer.

At this point, music was done for the day. We were treated to a delightful narrow gauge steam train ride on the Georgetown Loop Railroad. The old steam engine was a marvel, making all the wonderful noises steam engines make, and with a very complex chord for a whistle! The scenery was spectacular. We then partook of a barbecue in the city park, with entertainment by the Queen City Jazz Band, playing in the old band stand. Back at the hotel, it was time to visit the last night of the exhibits and sales desks, and to spend, spend, spend on all the wonderful books, music, and CDs.

Those who know the OHS Catalogue will not be surprised that the many tables were littered with probably more organ and church music CDs than might have ever been seen under one roof. Joseph Vitacco was there representing his company, JAV Recordings, Ray Biswanger had a display and materials representing the Friends of the Wanamaker Organ, a truly worthy endeavor. Several members of the Richard Bond organbuilding team (Portland, Oregon) were on hand with large pictures of this excellent builder's work, and with a brand new, fine, and very attractive, three-stop continuo organ.

Thursday, June 25

We were scheduled for an earlier departure this morning--8:15 instead of the usual 8:30--but the bus company, creatures of habit, showed up at the usual time. No one would have minded, were it not for the fact that the Pharmacy Association was having its convention beginning today, and in the large lobby where we await the busses, there was laid out a most impressive breakfast spread. Most of us, unbreakfasted, tried removing our OHS badges and looking like pharmacists, but the tables were well guarded. No luck!

We bounced along I-225 South to Colorado Springs, and the Air Force Academy, to hear two organs in the Roman Catholic and Protestant Chapels respectively. Here, the work of designing the instruments and the job of building them were separate contracts, that in a state institution had to be put to tender separately. Walter Holtkamp Sr. won the design contracts, and Möller the building contracts. Holtkamp, I believe, voiced and finished the organs. Joseph Galema has been at the Academy since 1982, as Music Director of the Cadet Chapels since 1989. He is organist at the Protestant Chapel, and is responsible for ten choirs! He began his peripatetic recital in the Roman Catholic Chapel on the three-manual, 28-stop organ, as follows: Bach, Six Schübler Chorales; Gade, Festligt Präludium over Choralen "Lover den Herre." This Chapel is the basement of the chapel building, relatively low ceilinged, without resonance of any kind, but nonetheless clear and intimate. The Schüblers were probably the perfect vehicle for a demonstration, and much about the sound of this instrument strikes me as honest and good, after all these years. The Gade piece was a bit of a meander, I thought, not signifying very much, but I know others did indeed like it. A trumpeter was on hand just to play the choral and a bit more at the end.

We then walked upstairs to the Protestant Chapel with a three-manual, 62-stop instrument: hymn, "All creatures of our God and King" (Lasst uns erfreuen); Mathias, Jubilate, op. 67, no. 2; Gardner, Sonata da Chiesa sopra una tema di Claudio Monteverdi. I thought, given the great, soaring space (well worth seeing, inside and out) and a larger instrument (striking to look upon), we would hear something spacious and grand. I found the organ not really supportive in the hymn, nor projecting very well in the Mathias. Here is perhaps an example of a situation in which an encased instrument could really prove itself. In ensemble with two wonderful trumpet players in the Gardner, the organ was at its best--and what a truly amazing and wonderful piece this is, I say, as a long time Gardner fan. The main theme (there may have been others I did not recognize) was the majestic opening of the Coronation of Poppea, which, once heard (and seen), can never be forgotten. What Gardner does with it in four glorious movements is nothing less than magical. I am really grateful to Dr. Galema for bringing this to us.

We bussed to the dining hall at The Colorado College, also in Colorado Springs, for a sumptuous lunch, with many different food stations on offer, with all sorts of edibles, hot and cold, all one could eat, courtesy of Marriott Catering. I think I went to college too soon.

We walked across campus to Shove Memorial Chapel, wherein Frank Shelton, organist at Grace and St. Stephen's Parish, and College Organist, gave us a brilliant program full of interest, after Jonathan Ambrosino presented a "significant organ" plaque to a college official who had been instrumental in keeping the instrument and interest in it alive. The program: Simpson, Fantasy and Fugue on "My Lord, what a morning" (1994); Payne, Prelude, op. 19, no. 2; hymn, "O God, our help in ages past" (St. Anne) (The Colorado College Hymn!); Weaver, Passacaglia on a Theme by Dunstable (1978). The organ: Welte-Tripp Organ Corporation, Sound Beach, Connecticut, Opus 314, 1931, three manuals, 42 stops. There is a fascinating article in the convention book about this organ, and two names of great interest are involved in the history of the instrument: Richard Whitelegg and Charles Courboin. The convention book is available from OHS, and is full of information about a place that is very important in the development of the pipe organ in this country. And not at all by-the-way, this organ sounds really wonderful! I do believe that in some ways, it outdoes some Aeolian-Skinners of that time (1931). I found myself wondering if the Great chorus through mixture was truly of that period. It was silvery and brilliant.

We walked the few blocks to Grace and St. Stephen's Parish, Episcopal. In my little mental database of "Best Recitals Ever" was one played by Thomas Brown at the OHS Mini-Convention at Round Lake, New York last summer. Now I have to start a Tom Brown file, and put today's recital in beside the other one. It was an Anglophile's Orgy, played as last year entirely from memory, with everything perfectly in place--beautifully registered and wonderfully musical. There were lots of smiles around, and a spontaneous standing ovation at the end. The program: Bairstow, Prelude in C; Whitlock, Reflections (Three Quiet Pieces for Organ); Mendelssohn, Sonata in F minor; Karg-Elert, Chorale Prelude on "O Gott, du frommer Gott"; Vierne, Naïades; Grayston Ives (b. 1948), Entrata; hymn, "Sing we of the Blessed Mother" (Rustington - C. H. H. Parry). Methinks me heard the spirit of Henry Willis (Father) rustling around at the first notes of the play-through of this hymn. There are six manual 16' stops on the organ--I think perhaps they were all on! The organ: Welte (NY) opus 261, 1928, three manuals, 49 stops--a splendid organ, of great historic significance, and Frank Shelton, who had played at Shove Chapel, organist of Grace Church, accepted an OHS plaque.

Our next journey was to Manitou Springs, by way of an astonishing natural wonder, a place called The Garden of the Gods--gigantic outcroppings of a beautiful red rock, amongst many evergreens. It was like a very oversized sculpture park--around every corner, as we climbed, was yet another sight to take the breath away. Our goal was the Community Congregational Church, a lovely stone building, charming outside and in, and on the national register of historic buildings. There are two transept balconies, and I was busy dreaming up programs of Gabrieli and company. Surrounded as we were by great, high mountains, the inscription on the organ case announced: "Thy Righteousness is Like the High Mountains." The organ is our second by Charles Anderson of Denver: two-manual, 13 stops, built in approximately 1879. It seemed a bit transparent, after the two Weltes we had just been hearing. MaryAnn Crugher Balduf has been a regular at OHS conventions for some time. On the first day of the convention, she slipped getting off the bus (where is her lawyer when needed?) and was in some pain. But as always, gamely, she gave us the following interesting program, with helpful comments about her registrations: Pachelbel, Toccata in F; Benjamin Rogers (1614-1698), Prelude (Voluntary); Selby, A Fuge or Voluntary; Held (b. 1914), Flourish; Cadman, Legend, op. 30, no. 1; West, Passacaglia; Howells, Miniatures for Organ, nos. 12, 17, 18, 21; hymn, "O beautiful, for spacious skies" (Materna); Langlais, Prelude Modal; Sjogren, Fantasia, op. 15, no. 1.

Next, we rode to Pueblo, and to the Pacific Union Depot, a disused train station, now a restaurant, where we had a quite wonderful dinner. This was as close to a convention banquet as we get, so it was a time for a little OHS business and some heartfelt thanks to the members of the Denver committee, who had truly done a wonderful job with program and with organization. After dinner, we walked to the Memorial Auditorium, which contains Austin organ No. 860, of 1920, an instrument of 56 full stops, plus various bells and whistles, all of which got a workout during the evening. There are pipes all over the place, on the side and in the ceiling, plus an echo organ in back, all of which made possible a strong presence despite a very dead acoustic. The audience was not entirely our convention, we being joined by many others, possibly tourists, possibly town folk, or both. Paul Fleckenstein, I discovered tonight, is the perfect "town hall organist," possessed of great showmanship, total technical assurance, and a prodigious memory, and my goodness, he certainly knows how to get around that kind of instrument--finding an endless array of combinations. It was a terrific show, all from memory, beginning with the Choral, Minuet Gothique, Prière à Notre Dame, and Toccata from the Boëllmann Suite Gothique. This was followed by the seven parts of the ballet music from Gounod's Faust, in a terrific transcription, uncredited, so possibly Paul's own. Sharing in this concert was the Pueblo Chorale, a large and enthusiastic amateur choir, conducted by Charles Merritt. There were some lovely moments, but quite often, the inbuilt vocal limitations, particularly of the tenor variety, gave cause for alarm. I thought the choice of music a bit odd (Vierne Messe Solennelle), perhaps being something of a stretch for the non-musicians in the audience, not accustomed to a Latin Mass or the style of Louis Vierne. However, having thought that, I was probably wrong. The audience seemed genuinely interested, the choir was obviously very much into the music, and there was a great ovation at the end. Paul Fleckenstein's coloration and support at the organ were superb. After the Chorale left the stage, we all rose and sang, not half badly, the Star Spangled Banner, after which Paul played the Budley Duck variations really well. We hit the busses pretty quickly, and managed to get back to the Denver Doubletree just a bit after midnight.

Friday, June 26

What a beginning to the day! In a not terribly prosperous neighborhood, we walk into a church of great beauty, built by German immigrants--Annunciation Roman Catholic Church. The windows are thought to all be from Munich. As a fan of the Father Dowling Mysteries on TV, I was delighted to learn that this is the very church used in these wonderful programs! The irrepressible James Mosby Bratton gave us a fabulous musical start to our second last day. We had previously heard him on the Vocalion. Today, we took a great step up in the reed organ hierarchy, and heard his own 1887 instrument by Victor Mustel, of Paris. The sound, brilliant, somewhat steely, and perfectly adequate for the large-ish building we were in, is quite different from American harmonia some of us have known. It was placed down front, against the south wall. It would be somewhat underpowered for leading hearty hymn singing, but wonderful for lots of repertoire. Jim began with a really powerful and passionate performance of the Allegro assai from the Guilmant 4th Sonata. After being rewarded with thunderous applause, he gathered some friends around him--a 'cellist and a harpist--and they gave us a beautiful performance of the ravishing Nocturne in E flat, op. 21 for 'cello, harmonium and harp, by Marcel Fournier (1879-1951). Then, harmonium alone in Introduction and Fugue in D Minor, op. 62 by Franz Lachner (1803-1890), and last, with a pianist, Finale, op. 8, no. 6 (for harmonium, four hands) by Saint-Saëns, great fun, with a pianist who was able to balance well with the somewhat gentler harmonium. From the balcony, Robert Barney took over at the organ, leading us in singing Lobe' den Herren, aided by a trumpet player in a long introduction, in interludes, and in some verses of the hymn. The rest of the program: Karg-Elert, Lobe' den Herren, op. 65 (rather a perfect piece for demonstrating the virtues of the organ, beautifully and clearly played); Mozart, Andante, K. 616; Zeuner, Fugue No. 14 (just about as pallid as its name!); Schmidt, Prelude and Fugue in D. The organ is a 1910 Kilgen of 20 stops, much of which is really lovely and full, with only the full ensemble seeming a bit unblending.

I think I lack the Purvis gene. I have never appreciated the style and idiom of a lot of his music, although I did like some of the Christmas pieces that Kenneth Matthews played earlier in the week. I have mused about this a bit, particularly in regard to George Bozeman's program at the Chapel of Our Most Merciful Saviour, Episcopal. I have, in my wisdom, decided that you had to have been there, Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, that is--to have known the man, and heard the pieces in the context of a service, on that organ, and in that acoustic. He had to have been a remarkable person, as the people I know, and it is not a few, who had contact with him as students, choristers, or just listeners and friends, are immensely loyal to his music and his memory. Or maybe it is genetic after all. Some of the pieces in today's program required chimes, and George brought along his trusty synthesizer, which I heard and hated in Round Lake last summer, and did not grow to love any more today. (To think that I even helped him carry it upstairs at the beginning of the convention!) Having got all that out of my system, let me say that George played wonderfully well, as always, and I did really find lots to like in some of the pieces. The program: hymn, "Once to every man and nation" (Ton-Y-Botel or Ebenezer); Chorale Preludes on Tunes found in American Hymnals: Fantasy on Ton-y-Botel (dedicated to Ruth Barrett Arno), Pastorale on Forest Green (to George Henninger), Canzona on Liebster Jesu (to Frederic Freeman), Grand Choeur on Austria (to Porter Heaps), Contemplation on Tallis' Canon (to Alma Morse), Poeme Mystique on Manna Mercy (to Sally Harris), Toccata Festiva on In Babilone (to Clarence Snyder). The organ is by Farrand and Votey, Opus 88, 1890, of two manuals and 17-stops. Not possessed of great power, there are individual stops and combinations of beauty, and its decorated case pipes are wonderful to look at.

We next visited the Lotus in the Flame Temple, Denver Zen Center, a building which was formerly the Fourth Church of Christ Scientist. The members of the center were in a retreat when we arrived, one involving silence, so while we were able to talk, once in the church auditorium, and obviously make music, we were asked to enter the building in complete silence. Given our usually voluble nature, our success at this was all the more remarkable. The organ is a 1925 Austin, Opus 1233, of four manual divisions (Swell, Great, Choir, Echo and Pedal) over only 20 stops. Everything on the choir is from the Great, except a celesting rank. There is only one Pedal stop not borrowed. The highest pitched stop on the organ is one 2' on the Swell, and that is an extension, and is only a Flautino. Not an instrument of great brilliance or power! Thomas Brown, who played so wonderfully earlier in the week, gave us four completely brilliant improvisations on familiar hymn tunes: A sonata-allegro form on Salve festa dies; a Rondo (Scherzo) on Puer Nobis; Free form on Eventide; and Fugue and Finale on Salzburg.

Thomas Murray then stepped to the podium, to deliver a truly fascinating lecture entitled "Recording the Organ: The First Ten Years (1926-1936)." We heard 27 short examples recorded by all the great names in organ playing at the first part of this century, on a large number of significant pipe organs, recorded onto tape from Tom's extensive collection of 78s, accompanied with lots of interesting commentary and also some slides. With each example, we saw on the screen (a really nice touch) a slide of the actual record label--sometimes two labels, one for the original European or English release, and one for U.S. release. When possible, other slides were shown, perhaps the artist, or the building or organ. The organ was a "phonographic black sheep," because of its range, and powerful bass, but became less so with the advent of electric microphones in the mid-20s. The problem was getting such low frequencies on the grooves. Another problem for all music was the shortness of time available before a record had to be turned over--41/2 to 5 minutes on a 12-inch record, less on a 10-inch one. This was a fascinating history not only of developments in recording techniques in the 20s and 30s, but also of the organs and players of the time, and the music they chose to play.

Next, to Messiah Baptist Church, to hear Mary Gifford play the following program: hymn, "When the roll is called up yonder" (Roll Call) (We really shouted it out!); Roy Spaulding Stoughton (1884-1953), The Courts of Jamshyd, from Persian Suite; Edward d'Evry (1869-1950), Nocturnette; Gawthrop, Passacaglia, from Sketch Book 1 for Organ. The organ is a gutsy little thing, despite having only one 4' stop, the Orchestral Flute on the Swell. The scaling and voicing are such that there is real power and brightness, despite the way it looks on paper. Mary Gifford commented about the Open Diapason that "parts the Red Sea!" The organ is two manuals, with just eight stops, Kimball (1914). Rick Morel, who services and has built a number of organs in the area, got the roll player working for this organ, and we heard two rather fun organ rolls, provided by Jonathan Ambrosino.

Next, to All Saints Roman Catholic Church, a large, modern structure with a quite small Hook and Hastings, Opus 1702, 1896 way back in a very deep balcony. Lovely as it might be close up, sitting downstairs, it is insufficient for the singing of hymns--you simply cannot hear it. Nor did it have much oomph in the recital. Joseph Adam, organist of St. James Cathedral, Seattle, played the following program: Berlioz, Marche Hongroise (Damnation of Faust); Saint-Saëns, Improvisation in A Major; Vierne, Scherzo from Symphony No. 1; Herzogenberg, Orgel Fantasy on Nun danket, alle, Gott; hymn, "Now thank we all our God."

After a short break back at the hotel, on to Trinity United Methodist Church, where we were fed dinner, and then heard the splendid Peter Sykes. The organ is by Frank Roosevelt, No. 380, 1888, a wonderful and very large instrument of 65 stops, housed in a case that is a huge fantasy in beautiful wood, designed by George Ashdown Audsley! The Pastor of the church accepted an OHS Plaque from Mary Gifford, who announced that this was the church she attended as a child--so the presentation was particularly important to her. The program: Franck, Choral no. 1 in E Major; Whitlock, Three Extemporizations, Carol (Homage to Frederick Delius), Divertimento, Fidelis; Janacek, the organ solo from the Glagolitic Mass; Reger, Benedictus; Reubke, Sonata on the 94th Psalm; hymn, "God of Height and Depth and Sweep," to the fine tune "Shoemaker," composed by Peter Sykes. A recital by Peter Sykes is always a great event, and this was no exception. I think the most thrilling piece on the program for me was the Reubke Sonata--truly brilliant!

On our last day, we are on the busses, and heading up into the high mountains for a tour of Rocky Mountain National Park, having just heard the last two recitals of the convention, both played by David Macfarlane, of New York. The first was a somewhat bitter-sweet occasion, as the fine old building (the former Asbury Methodist Church) has been bought by a developer. Mike Rowe, convention chairman, says a great effort is being made to find a new home for this one of not-too-many remaining organs by Denver builder, Charles Anderson. This may not be an easy task, as the instrument is not small, and is divided in two cases on either side of a window. It's not fabulous, but is solid and good, if not overly colorful. It might also be one of those cases in which the owner would be just happy to find someone to take it out, without asking for money. David's program: hymn, "Father, we praise thee" (Christe Sanctorum); Saint-Saëns, Prelude & Fugue in G, op. 109, no. 3; Sweelinck, Variations: Balletto del Granduca; Vierne, Communion (Messe Basse) op. 30; Woodman, Noel Anglais; Mendelssohn, Allegretto and Finale from Sonata 4.

This program served to demonstrate all the possibilities of the instrument, built by Anderson in 1882, with two manuals and 16 stops. We next drove a short way to what is now a Roman Catholic home for the elderly, called The Gardens at St. Elizabeth's, with the lovely Chapel of Christ the King, built in 1903. The style is Christopher Wren, and the windows are by Clayton & Bell of London. The organ is one of the oldest extant Austins, Opus 92 from 1902/3. David's program was cleverly entitled and organized as "A Little Organ Mass," and was as follows: Introit, Frescobaldi, Toccata IX (2nd Book of Toccatas); Kyrie, de Grigny, Fugue à 5; Gloria, Bach, Allein Gott (BWV 663); Offertoire, Reger, Ave Maria (op. 80, no. 5); Elevation, Gaspard Corrette, Dialogue des Flutes (Missa Octavi Toni); Communion, Milhaud, Pastorale; Sortie, Langlais, Point d'Orgue; hymn, "From all who dwell below the skies" (Duke Street).

I think to do a program like this wants an organ of color, articulation, and variety, and also, perhaps, in a room which will give it space to expand. On a rather pallid instrument of 10 stops, with the highest pitch being four-foot flutes on both divisions, I don't think a program of such scope really works, being more "eye candy" than "ear candy." However, there were things to like, and many thanks to David for doing two recitals on two different organs back to back.

I wish I could "review" Rocky Mountain National Park for you, but mere words will not do. Go see it. Nor are mere words adequate to describe how wonderful was this convention. Like all OHS events, it was organized and run essentially flawlessly, by an army of totally devoted local volunteers, assisted and advised by the headquarters staff in Richmond. Great thought went into deciding what instruments, artists, and music would be heard, and how best to combine these elements. Great care and consideration was given to the comfort and convenience of several hundred attendees. I hope those of you who have made it to the end of this review will want to give serious thought to attending next year's convention, different in two ways from those in the past. Next summer, the convention will run from a Thursday through the following Wednesday. This requires only one Sunday off from playing in church, and includes an overnight Saturday, important to lower air fares. The second difference in this year's convention is the fact that it is outside of the U. S., in the magnificent cosmopolitan city of Montréal, with visits to many organs, old and newer in the region, and also to Ste. Hyacinthe, which may, in terms of numbers of builders, be the organ-building capital of the world! The dates: Thursday, August 19 through Wednesday, August 25th. The phone number in Richmond for joining OHS: 804/353-9226. I hope to see you there!