Herbert E. Nuechterlein passed away May 22, just days before his 90th birthday, which the family did celebrate in his honor as planned. The funeral followed on May 27 at Emmanuel Lutheran Church, where he had long served as director of music. In recognition of his loyalty to his alma mater, the University of Michigan where he received BMus, MMus, and Ph.D. degrees, the Emmanuel choir, in an otherwise traditional Lutheran funeral, sang an unexpected and exuberant performance of the Wolverine Fight Song.
He was born in Bay City (Frankenlust), Michigan on May 26, 1918, and is survived by his wife, Jeanne, three children, five grandchildren, two great grandchildren, and his twin sister. During World War II he served in the U.S. Army as a band leader in the USA and in Germany. He received a Lutheran Teacher Colloquy from Concordia Teacher’s College, River Forest, Illinois, and in addition to his degrees at Michigan he studied at Northwestern University, the Army Music School, and the Westphalian Church Music School in Herford, Germany.
Nuechterlein taught instrumental music in the Grosse Pointe, Michigan public schools from 1946–51, and from 1951–77 served as chair of the music departments at Concordia Junior College and Concordia Senior College, while also an associate professor at Indiana-Purdue, Fort Wayne. From 1952–56 he served as conductor of the Ft. Wayne Philharmonic Chorus, but throughout his years in Ft. Wayne he had a close association with the Philharmonic, using its musicians in the Vespers series he created at Concordia Senior College. Based on an expanded form of the Lutheran liturgy, the Vespers were presented in an architectural masterpiece, Kramer Chapel, designed by Eero Saarinen, with its 90-foot pitched ceiling, reverberant acoustics, and the 53-rank landmark Schlicker organ. The organ put Schlicker on the map and was one of the first instruments of its kind in the U.S. to have a more typically North European specification and voicing with a dramatic open display of pipework.
Nuechterlein’s choirs toured 42 states and Canada and were featured in the Choral Vespers four times a year, which drew capacity attendances. These performances became a vibrant focus in local church music, featuring classics of the Lutheran tradition and an ecumenical breadth of repertoire from the Renaissance to the 20th century. They included motets, settings of the Passion, and 32 Bach cantatas, many of which were first performances in Ft. Wayne. With the closing of the Senior College, the last Vespers in May 1976 featured Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem with the full Ft. Wayne Philharmonic.
During his tenure, many famous organists performed in Kramer Chapel, including E. Power Biggs, who played the dedicatory recital of the Schlicker organ, David Craighead, Michael Schneider, Gerre Hancock, Anton Heiller, Piet Kee, Paul Manz, Robert Noehren, Daniel Roth, and Heinz Wunderlich. Dr. Nuechterlein served as music critic for the Ft. Wayne News-Sentinel from 1961–86, provided program notes for the Philharmonic’s Freimann concert series, and contributed articles to several national music and church periodicals.
He was a member of the American Guild of Organists, Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, Music Critics Association (MCANA), American Musicology Society, and Music Educators National Conference. In 1993 Zion Lutheran Church in Dallas, Texas, through its “Heritage Series” honored Dr. Nuechterlein as a “vibrant churchman steadfastly supportive of the gospel and for his devoted Christian service and extensive music ministry.” He was director of music at Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Ft. Wayne from 1951–96 and served as organist at Trinity Lutheran Church, 1988–2007, playing well into his 89th year.
—Joel H. Kuznik
Jerry Ray Witt died January 12 in San Diego, California, at the age of 76. Born November 3, 1931, in La Crosse, Kansas, he began piano lessons at age seven and studied voice and organ in high school. He earned a bachelor of music degree from Bethany College, Lindsborg, Kansas, and then moved to California, where he began a 41-year career in church music in San Diego: at Christ Lutheran Church, Pacific Beach; All Hallows Catholic Church, La Jolla; and finally 28 years at St. Brigid Catholic Church in Pacific Beach before retiring in 1995. He provided funds for a 51-rank Martin Ott organ installed at St. Brigid in 1993 in memory of his mother, as well as an endowment for ongoing concerts. Witt served on the boards of the San Diego AGO chapter, the Spreckels Organ Society, and the Lyric Opera San Diego, as well as on the music and liturgy commission for the Diocese of San Diego. After retirement he sang in the parish choir at Nativity Church in Rancho Santa Fe.
