Nunc dimittis

John Brombaugh was a student of Fritz Noack, Charles Fisk, and Rudolf von Beckerath between 1964–68. He worked as an organbuilder in Germantown, Ohio, from 1968–77, and in Eugene, Oregon, from 1977–2005. 

Cor (Cornelius Herman) Edskes, noted organologist, left this world on September 7, 2015, from his hometown, Groningen, in the northeastern corner of the Netherlands, where he was born on August 1, 1925. He is survived by two younger brothers, Herman and Bernardt, the latter who has been building organs in Switzerland for many years. Another younger brother, Bram (Hilbrand Albert), who was an optometrist and organized many organ concerts and excursions for over 60 years, passed away in March 2013.

Cor Edskes was a leader in organ building from its Romantic twilight through the Organ Reform/neo-Baroque movement of the 1920s through 1960s into the compelling search for historic authenticity in building new organs and restoring historic instruments much as his friend, Gustav Leonhardt, and others such as Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Christopher Hogwood led musicians into the historically informed performance of the music of earlier times.

Edskes received his first organ lessons from Johan van Meurs, the organist at Der Aa-kerk in Groningen who had taught many others, such as the Haarlem Bavokerk organist, Klaas Bolt. Edskes later studied with many others including Helmut Walcha. Around 1940 he became church organist on the 1700 Schnitger organ in Uithuizen, Province Groningen and moved ca. 1942 to the Mennonite church in Groningen, where he served until very late in his life, and where he had a new Marcussen organ installed in 1961. He was appointed to the Organ Commission of the Netherlands Reformed Church in 1957 and in 1963, moved on to assist Hendrik Oussoren, the organ consultant for the Netherlands national Monumental Heritage. In 1954, he began working with Het Orgel (the Dutch equivalent of The Diapason), and became that monthly journal’s chief editor from 1957 to 1963.

Living in the region surrounding the Dollart bay where the Ems flows into the North Sea put Edskes next to the largest collection of extant historic organs of any style in the world. (See https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orgellandschaft_Ostfriesland.) Because the area had lost much of its source of wealth as a medieval shipping center during the Hanseatic ascendancy, funds needed for constant upgrading as organ styles changed had not been available for centuries, so these instruments tended to be left in remarkably unaltered condition. As Germany recovered from World War II, it was ready to spend funds making necessary repairs to poorly maintained historic organs. As part of such work, the organ advisor for the Reformed churches in the Emden, Ostfriesland area asked the Jürgen Ahrend & Gerd Brunzema organ shop—newly founded in nearby Leer in 1954—to restore a late Renaissance organ in Larrelt as their first job. Living not far from Leer, Cor Edskes was to discover their seldom-found skills. This developed a productive friendship between Edskes and A&B that instigated the re-introduction of meantone and restoration of the short-octave keyboards for the first time in our modern era when they restored the 1642 Jost Sieburg organ in Westerhusen in 1955. The team continued restoring other nearby historic organs such as Rysum (1457, which was to be found the world’s oldest known organ that was in virtually original condition) and Uttum, ca. 1660. Edskes was consequently able to advance important ideas working with the small, young firm that was not hindered by resistance to change so typical of the established large, production-oriented firms. (See https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jürgen_Ahrend_Orgelbau.)

Cor Edskes and Gustav Leonhardt also became good friends early on. This influenced Leonhardt to encourage his many American Fulbright students to visit the historic organs in the Groningen/Ostfriesland region. Being able to see, hear, and play such a wealth of historic organs unlike those anywhere else had an enormous effect on their musical ideas. Edskes also worked with young organists—e.g., Harald Vogel—who were interested not only in learning to play in the historic manner, but in the construction of the historic organs. 

This prompted Vogel to encourage builders to adapt their work to the ideas found in the extant organs so prevalent in Groningen/Ostfriesland. Certainly that happened when this writer—by fate—was urged by Vogel to make his first visit to the Groningen/Ostfriesland region in May 1968. Vogel introduced me to Edskes as we went to visit the 1702 Schnitger organ in Der Aa-kerk in Groningen. Needless to say, hearing that organ with Edskes sitting at my side changed my life. But I am not unique; the same has happened with many younger builders after learning of my fate with Vogel and Edskes. Such was particularly the case when my former partners, George Taylor and John Boody, had their first visit with Edskes in Fall 1977. Realizing their skills, Edskes quickly summoned them to dismantle the Schnitger organ in Der Aa-kerk’s high brick Gothic building, which was approaching a structural collapse that could also ruin the exceptional organ in its nave. T&B moved all parts to the nearby Martinikerk. By 1990, Der Aa-kerk was completely restored and its organ could be put back to use with almost no alterations. After my first visit to Der Aa-kerk, Vogel, Edskes, and I walked across town to the Martinikerk to hear the mid-15th-century organ of Groningen origin that Schnitger revised in 1690 as his first project in the Netherlands. This muach-recorded organ is the only Schnitger that has its original pedal façade Præstant 32′ pipes (which, however, begin with the 24′ F with no lower bass pipes).

Cor Edskes continued working to understand the great historic organs in Northern Europe to the end of his life. As a result, he was to become the leading consultant for many significant restorations in this vast region. That included advising the Flentrop firm’s 1965 restoration of the 1671 Pieter Backer organ in Medemblik. As part of that work, Edskes required the Werckmeister’s III Well-Temperament to be reintroduced for the first time in our modern time. Upon hearing a recording soon after that work was done, this writer concluded in 1970 that this better way to hear and play organs must be used in his new work in America; that totally ended (except for his changeable-pitch continuo Positives) his use of equal temperament after finishing only one project in ET done while an apprentice in 1966. 

With Edskes’ connections with Leonhardt, he became advisor for A&B’s 1965 restoration of the 1680 Langlez/1734 Christian Müller organ in the Amsterdam Waalse Kerk where Leonhardt was organist. In 1981, Edskes supervised Marcussen’s restoration of the 1655 Schonat organ in the Amsterdam Nieuwe Kerk where Leonhardt had moved to become organist. In 1984 Edskes worked with Jürgen Ahrend on the major renewal/restoration of the Groningen Martinikerk Schnitger organ that had almost been destroyed in 1939 by conversion to electric action and unfortunate attempts at neo-baroquizing the voicing in an attempt to bring it ‘up to date’. Fortunately, with Ahrend’s skills and with Edskes’ knowledge and his good working relationship with Ahrend, this very tenuous project turned into a grand success, as the many recordings on this organ show. 

From these significant improvements to the instruments he cared for, Edskes was being recognized elsewhere, and in 1991 he worked as adviser along with support of the cathedral’s organist, Kristian Olesen, when Marcussen restored the oldest extant organ in Denmark—at the Danish National Cathedral in Roskilde where all the Danish kings and queens back to the 1100s are buried—which was built in 1555 by Netherlander Hermann Raphael Rodensteen. In the 1990s, Edskes supervised restorations on organs in the Kongsberg Kirke and Røros Kirke in Norway and others in Scandinavia. Perhaps the most significant of all historic restoration work in northern Europe occurred when Edskes worked with Jürgen Ahrend to restore the largest of all remaining Schnitger organs, the 60-stop instrument in the Hamburg Jacobikirche that Bach played in 1720. This organ was re-inaugurated on Easter 1993 to an audience coming from all over the world to celebrate its 300th anniversary. The many recordings made since demonstrate Edskes’ knowledge as an advisor, achieving the finest restoration work found on any historic organ today. 

Among those describing Cor Edskes, Dutch builder Henk van Eeken states: 

His manner of working in which the organ builder had a central rôle, was striking. In his still phenomenal ‘Report on the organ in the Groningen Martinikerk’ prepared in 1972, he chose to re-create the state of the Martini organ as it was in 1740 (soon after Schnitger’s son, Frans-Casper, had brought his father’s work to its present state).

Van Eeken adds:

The possibility of restoring the organ in this way, it is vitally connected with the capability of the person chosen for the restoration, who shall have to satisfy the very highest requirements. If it is not possible to choose a restorer with these qualifications, then the execution of the restoration plan will be completely illusory.

A Groningen documentation film described 

. . . Cor Edskes, a sprightly 85 year old whose career was devoted to the restoration of the historic organs of Northern Europe. His vast knowledge and experience makes him probably the greatest living authority on the subject, and his sparkling personality makes this subject enthralling and entertaining.

Dutch organist Sietze de Vries writes in his “In memoriam Cornelius Herman Edskes (1925–2015)”: 

His ‘experience’ may be understood in a most literal sense: no organ consultant has left such pioneering and guidance work as he . . . Edskes was one of the most influential art and antiques experts of his time. When he came as an advisor to the reconstruction of the choir organ in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam, an antiques fair was taking place. All fake glasses disappeared under the table.

Edskes often worked with Harald Vogel and others to publish important historic documentation, such as Arp Schnitger und sein Werk (Hauschild, Bremen 2009, ISBN 978-3-89757-326-0). Much more information (such as many projects not listed here that Edskes was associated with) can be found (in German) at https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornelius_H._Edskes.

Although some think Edskes tended to keep most of his important information to himself—as almost no one was permitted into ‘his’ organ world—he was never secretive when sharing so much of his knowledge with this writer. In recognizing that knowledge, the University of Göteborg, Sweden, under the guidance of Hans Davidsson, crowned Cor Edskes’ achievements with the Doctor Honoris Causa on October 19, 1996. It was also a great privilege for us Americans that he shared his knowledge with us at the Westfield Center conference in Eugene, Oregon, in April 2010, Heer Edskes’ only visit to North America. His funeral took place on September 15, 2015, in his beloved Martinikerk in Groningen with his longtime friend, Wim van Beek, playing the great Schnitger organ that Edskes helped return to greatness and took so many of us to see whenever we could visit Groningen.

Nunc Dimittis

Henry L. “Hank” Hokans, 84, of Ogunquit, Maine, died June 2. Born and raised in Worcester, Massachusetts, he received early musical training from his parents and studied organ with T. Charles Lee and William Self, whom he succeeded as organist at All Saints Church, Worcester, serving for 20 years. Hokans received bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the New England Conservatory and was inducted into Phi Kappa Lambda Honor Society. He was appointed organist of the Worcester Art Museum, director of music at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and chairman of the fine arts department of Worcester Academy. After serving with the 5th Air Force in the Korean War, Hokans received a Fulbright Scholarship to study for a year in Paris with Pierre Cochereau and Jean Langlais. 

Hokans served in residencies, was accompanist for many choral groups, founded and directed the Worcester Concert Choir, and played recitals in abbeys and cathedrals both in England and on the Continent. He accompanied the American choir, Canterbury Singers, USA, in England for the VE Day 50th Anniversary Commemorative Service at York Minster Cathedral in 1995.  

In 1989 he accepted a position at the Cathedral Church of St. Luke in Portland. He served as organist/choirmaster at St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Frederiksted, St. Croix, as musical director of St. Ann’s, Kennebunkport, and since 2001, as music director of St. Peter’s-by-the-Sea, Cape Neddick, Maine. He also worked in organ design, building, and maintenance with several organ builders, and operated his own organ service company, H. L. Hokans Associates.

Henry L. Hokans is survived by his wife of 25 years, Louise (George) Hokans of Ogunquit; daughter Rebecca Hokans Nanof; son Richard W. Hokans; two grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, and sister-in-law Ruth W. Hokans.

Robert L. “Bob” Milliman, 89, died March 1 in Des Moines, Iowa. Born in Des Moines on January 29, 1926, he graduated from East High School and was then drafted into the U.S. Army. He served during World War II in the Pacific from 1944–46. In 1947 he married Twylla Kurschinski at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Des Moines. In 1964 the family moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where Milliman worked for AT&T until his retirement in 1982. They then returned to Des Moines, where he tuned and repaired pipe organs. Milliman was a life member of the Beaverdale V.F.W. Post 9127, Urbandale, American Legion #663, and the Telephone Pioneers. Robert L. Milliman is survived by his wife of 67 years, Twylla, daughters Norma (Robert) Rees and Polly Milliman, six grandchildren, one great grandchild, and brothers, William (Barbara) Milliman and Paul (Kate).

Robert Lawson Van Doren, 99, died May 18 in Columbia, South Carolina. Born in Roselle Park, New Jersey, on March 8, 1916, he became organist at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Roselle Park at age 15. He attended Columbia University and the Juilliard School of Music, where he met his future wife, Lib, who was in the same graduate program. They married in 1943, sharing their passion for music for more than 59 years. After receiving a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from Columbia University and Juilliard, he taught in the public schools of Roselle Park before joining the Army during World War II. In 1950 he received the degree of Fellow, Trinity College of Music, London, England. Van Doren became an instructor in music and music education at the University of South Carolina, where he rose in rank to full professor and retired as Distinguished Professor Emeritus in 1978.

From 1945 until 1970 he served as organist and choirmaster at Trinity Episcopal Church (now Cathedral) and organized and directed the citywide Junior Choir Festival for 25 years. In the 1950s, he was helped organize the Sewanee Conference on Church Music in Sewanee, Tennessee, and taught there for many summers. Van Doren served as president of the Columbia Music Festival Association, dean of the Columbia Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, president of the South Carolina Music Educators Association, and vice president of the Southern Division of the Music Educators National Conference. In 1988 he was elected to the Hall of Fame of the South Carolina Music Educators. He was a member of other clubs, including the “Friends of Music,” University of South Carolina School of Music.  

Robert Lawson Van Doren is survived by a son and a daughter, three grandchildren, and three great-granddaughters. 

Donald Stuart Wright, 74, died June 4. Born on December 26, 1940, he was most recently organist and choirmaster at St. Christopher Episcopal Church in Oak Park, Illinois, and for nearly a decade before that was at St. Richard of Chichester Episcopal Church in Chicago. Throughout his life, he served mainly Episcopal and Lutheran parishes. A graduate of the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, his organ teachers included Thomas Matthews, Austin C. Lovelace, and Flor Peeters. He was active for many years as a recitalist, largely in the Chicago metropolitan area. Don was married for 42 years to his wife, Lisa Curran Wright. He would always be recognized by his Hercule Poirot-like mustache and his dapper attire. Don was also proud of his 1930 V-16 cylinder Cadillac and his “yacht” (the family’s pontoon boat kept at their Wisconsin cottage). His popular piece, A Gigue for the Tuba Stop, published by World Library, was written for his son, Michael Slane Stuart. Donald Stuart Wright is survived by his wife Lisa, children Katherine, Thomas, Nicholas, Alexandra, Veronica Solis, Nathaniel, and Michael, as well as four grandchildren and one sister.

William Brant Mills, Don G. Campbell, Steven Alan Clark, Rockwell Lewis “Wes” Deaton Jr., Dale Alexander Gilliland, E. Robert Irwin

Nunc Dimittis

William Brant Mills of Florence, South Carolina, died on February 18 at the age of 68. A diaconal minister in the United Methodist Church, Mills had served as director of music and organist at Central United Methodist Church in Florence for over 42 years. 

Mills earned degrees in organ performance—a Bachelor of Music from Florida State University, and a Master of Music from the University of South Carolina. He also did post-graduate study at Indiana University, Southern Methodist University, Stanford University, and Columbia College. Mills was founder and director of the Masterworks Choir in Florence, which toured Austria and Germany, participated in the Piccolo Spoleto festival, and sang services at Washington National Cathedral. The Masterworks Choir also sang choral works of Robert Powell at Christ Episcopal Church in Greenville, South Carolina, when Powell retired. William Brant Mills is survived by his children, Brantley Rees Mills and Susan Mills Rana, and four grandchildren.

Don G. Campbell, age 65, died June 2 in Boulder, Colorado. A native of San Antonio, Texas, Campbell studied at the Fontainebleau Conservatory in France, and earned two degrees at the University of North Texas. He was the author of 23 books, including the bestsellers The Mozart Effect and The Mozart Effect for Children; his most recent book, released in 2011, was Healing at the Speed of Sound, co-authored with Alex Doman. Campbell founded the Institute of Music, Health, and Education in Boulder in 1988, serving as its director until 1997. He also was involved with Aesthetic Audio Systems, which worked with hospitals and health care systems to provide music systems to optimize healing. Campbell was a member of the Denver AGO chapter, for which he served on the executive board.

The American Music Research Center at the University of Colorado is creating the Don Campbell Collection to house his books, videos, DVDs, and documents, including source material for several of Campbell’s most popular works. The collection will also include private letters from Nadia Boulanger, Campbell’s teacher. 

Steven Alan Clark died July 14 in Nashville, Tennessee. He was 60 years old. He began organ study at age eleven, and earned a bachelor’s degree in organ and a master’s in choral conducting at the University of Tennessee. Clark served as organist-choirmaster at six churches in Tennessee and Florida, and served in a number of leadership roles in the AGO. He was also a licensed massage therapist. Steven Alan Clark is survived by his wife, Donna, two daughters, two grandchildren, his father, four siblings, a sister-in-law and two brothers-in-law, and seven nephews. 

Rockwell Lewis “Wes” Deaton Jr. died in Davidson, North Carolina on July 26 at age 59. He was organist at Davidson Methodist Church and earned a bachelor’s degree in music in 1974, studying organ with Wilmer Hayden Welsh. He earned a master’s degree from the Peabody Conservatory in 1976, where his major teachers were Cherry Rhodes and Donald Sutherland. Deaton moved to New York City in 1976 and studied with Calvin Hampton, and played for churches in the New York area, including St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Woodhaven, New York, and Church of the Transfiguration. Deaton’s advertising career took him around the world; he served as senior vice president at Publicis New York, among other positions that he held. In 2000, Deaton returned to Davidson, where he established a marketing company and became involved in local organizations. There he served in substitute and interim organist positions. Rockwell Lewis Deaton Jr. is survived by his partner Robert Guttman, two children, two grandchildren, in-laws, and cousins.

Dale Alexander Gilliland, age 79, died June 28 in Bellevue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He began organ studies at age twelve and started his 63-year career as a church organist at Knoxville Baptist Church in Pittsburgh in 1949. During the Korean War, Gilliland served as a chaplain’s assistant and organist at Fort Belvoir, Virginia; following military service, he served various churches. Gilliland served as treasurer of the Pittsburgh AGO chapter and was on the 1999 AGO Region III convention committee, was past president and treasurer of the Pittsburgh chapter of the Presbyterian Association of Musicians, and a committee member of the Pittsburgh Organ Academy. Dale Alexander Gilliland is survived by Elizabeth Douglas Gilliland, three daughters, and two grandsons. 

E. Robert Irwin died July 28 in Norfolk, Virginia. He was 73 years old. A native of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Irwin studied organ at the Oberlin Conservatory, receiving a bachelor’s degree in 1961. He earned a doctorate in organ and sacred music from the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with David Craighead. Irwin was a professor of music at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, where he taught organ, music history and theory, and organ literature for 24 years and established a program in church music. He was honored twice by the university as teacher of the year. During retirement, he served as a church musician in Michigan, Virginia, and North Carolina. E. Robert Irwin is survived by his wife, Claudette Smith-Irwin, two sons, a daughter, a brother, and five grandchildren.

Royston John Merritt Jr. died on July 7 at the age of 84 in Matthews, North Carolina. After serving in the U.S. Army, he earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Georgia and worked at DuPont, Reigle Paper, and First Union Bank. He also enjoyed a 53-year career as organist and choirmaster, serving numerous churches, the last of which was Central Steele Creek Presbyterian. Merritt was active in the Charlotte Oratorio Singers and the Charlotte AGO chapter, the North Carolina Train Host Association, and at the Plantation Estates Retirement Community where he resided. Royston John Merritt Jr. is survived by his wife of 61 years, Jean, three children, ten grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

Thomas H. Schleis died July 19 in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. He was 62. Schleis studied piano, organ, and harpsichord at Lawrence University and received a master’s degree in musicology at the University of Wisconsin. He was also a Fulbright scholar, conducting research in Germany. An adjunct faculty member at the University of Illinois since 1981, Schleis taught music history and performance, and served as head coach of the opera department. He received the Excellence in Teaching and Faculty Service Award from the university continuing education association, and served as organist at the campus’s Newman Center for 33 years. Schleis was dean of the East Central Illinois AGO chapter for 15 years. Thomas H. Schleis is survived by a sister, a stepsister, and two stepbrothers.