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Nunc dimittis

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Nunc Dimittis

Elizabeth Ayers Compton Bellocchio, 65, of Haverhill, Massachusetts, died August 30. She was an organist, organbuilder, historian, and museum and arts administrator, known professionally as Lisa Compton. Born October 9, 1953, in Greenfield, Massachusetts, she grew up in Exeter, New Hampshire. She began piano lessons at Ellerslie School, Great Malvern, England, where the family lived for a year while her father was an exchange professor at Malvern College.

Lisa Compton was executive director of the Seneca Falls Historical Society, Seneca Falls, New York, from 2000 until 2002, and was from 1998 to 2000 executive director of the Friends of Vista House, Corbett, Oregon. She was the first professional director of the Old Colony History Museum in Taunton, Massachusetts, 1982–1996, and served on the Taunton Historic District Commission, revising and editing the second edition (1986) of Taunton Architecture: A Reflection of the City’s History.

She researched and wrote many entries as editor of the Organ Historical Society’s 2005 Southeastern Massachusetts convention handbook and served on the convention planning committee, co-chaired by her husband, Matthew Bellocchio. She was consultant for the restorations of historic organs at the Congregational Church (c. 1834 E. & G. G. Hook), Berkeley, Massachusetts, and Pilgrim Congregational Church (1890 Johnson & Son), Taunton, Massachusetts.

In 1975, as a fellow in the Summer Museum Studies program at Historic Deerfield, Massachusetts, she researched the history of dancing and ballrooms in early New England and presented programs and lectures based on her research. She later served for two years as assistant curator at the Memorial Hall Museum in Deerfield, creating the summer Old Deerfield Sunday Afternoon Concert Series that continues to date.

She trained and supervised tour guides at Castle Hill, the mansion on the Crane Estate, Ipswich, Massachusetts, as an employee in the Education Department of The Trustees of Reservations, 2007–2010. She was administrator at the Universalist Unitarian Church of Haverhill, 2011–2017, and was a librarian at the Graves Music Library of Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, from 2010 until her recent illness prohibited continuing.

As an organbuilder, Lisa Compton was a member of the American Institute of Organbuilders, having been among the first women to take and pass the AIO examination in 1979 to receive the Colleague Certificate. Employed by the Berkshire Organ Company, she became the New York City service representative. She later worked occasionally with other firms and with her husband at the Roche Organ Co., Taunton, Massachusetts; Bond Organ Builders, Inc., Portland, Oregon; Parsons Pipe Organ Builders, Canandaigua, New York; and Andover Organ Company, Inc., Methuen, Massachusetts.

A 1975 graduate of Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts, with a degree in art history and music, she studied organ with Vernon Gotwals at Smith and earlier with Richard Bennet, organist at her high school, Concord Academy. In 1970, she helped to relocate the 1872 E. & G. G. Hook & Hastings Opus 676 to the academy chapel (and since relocated to the Smithsonian Institution). She served as music director and organist at First Baptist Church, Northampton, Massachusetts; in Taunton, Massachusetts, at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, St. John’s Episcopal Church, and Pilgrim Congregational Church; First Presbyterian Church, Seneca Falls, New York; and as accompanist for the children’s choir at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Portland, Oregon, where she was also a substitute organist at other churches.

Elizabeth Ayers Compton Bellocchio is survived by her organbuilder husband Matthew Bellocchio and their daughter Holly Bellocchio Durso of Abington, Massachusetts. She is also survived by her brother Karl Compton of Rockport, Texas, and her sister Carol Compton of Keene, New Hampshire. A funeral was conducted September 28 at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Taunton, where she had been a member since 1983. She sang in the choir, served on many committees and two terms on the vestry, and sewed the church banner that hangs by the organ case (1899 George Jardine & Son, Op. 1257/1980 Roche Organ Co.). Donations in her memory may be made to the Memorial Fund of St. Thomas Episcopal Church or to the Old Colony History Museum, 66 Church Green, Taunton, MA 02780.

 

Jared Jacobsen, organist, liturgist, choir director, and community faith leader, died August 27. He was born March 18, 1949, in New Castle, Pennsylvania. He grew up in Girard, Pennsylvania, graduating from Girard High School in 1967. He began music studies at age five as a piano student at the Chautauqua Institution, Chautauqua, New York, and had returned every summer since. He studied piano at Villa Maria College, Erie, Pennsylvania, and later enrolled in Westminster College, New Wilmington, Pennsylvania, where he earned a Bachelor of Music degree with honors. At the University of Arizona in Tucson, he earned a Master of Music degree and pursued doctoral study as a Haldeman Fellow in keyboard performance and choral studies.

He began his church music career at age thirteen as organist for Grace Episcopal Chapel, Fairview, Pennsylvania. A California resident since 1976, he served as fifth civic organist of the City of San Diego from 1978 through 1984, playing weekly concerts on the Spreckels Organ in Balboa Park. In 1984 he moved to San Francisco to serve a Catholic parish. While there he was organist for the 1987 papal Mass in San Francisco’s Candlestick Park for a congregation of 70,000 and a viewing audience of 70,000,000; the following year he was invited by Pope John Paul II to the Vatican as a delegate to its historic First World Conference on Church Music. A Presbyterian church called him to service in San Diego in the fall of 1991.

Since 1996, Jacobsen served as the organist and coordinator of worship and sacred music for the Chautauqua Institution. He presided over the Massey Memorial Organ of four manuals located in the amphitheater. He also led the Motet Choir for daily worship services and the Chautauqua Choir for Sunday morning and evening worship, played weekly recitals on the Massey organ and the 1893 Tallman mechanical-action organ in the Hall of Christ, and appeared frequently as soloist with the Chautauqua Symphony and Music School Festival Orchestras.

In recent years, when not at Chautauqua during summer months, Jacobsen served as director of music for First Lutheran Church, San Diego, California, and as a member of the performing arts faculty of The Bishop’s School, an independent college-preparatory middle and high school in La Jolla, California.

A memorial service for Jared Jacobsen was held August 30 in the Chautauqua Amphitheater, the Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson presiding.

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Nunc dimmittis: Thomas Anderson, Harold Andrews, Charles Callahan, James Callahan, Quentin Faulkner, Brian Jones, Uwe Pape, Alice Parker, Michael Radulescu

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Thomas H. Anderson

Thomas H. Anderson, 86, of North Easton, Massachusetts, died December 30, 2023. Born May 25, 1937, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, he met his late wife Susan in Belfast, where they grew up on the same street.

Anderson started working at age 14 as an apprentice pipe maker at an organ pipe manufacturer in Belfast. At age 19, he emigrated to the United States, where he worked at the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company, Boston, Massachusetts, as a pipe maker. Later he started his own company, Thomas H. Anderson Organ Pipe Company. He traveled around the country working on various projects including the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. In his later years, he traveled to teach others to make organ pipes.

Anderson’s wife Susan died December 31, 1996, almost 27 years before the date of his death; they were married 38 years. They raised four children who survive him: Gail McGill and her husband Mark of Raynham, Massachusetts; Thomas Anderson of Lake Wylie, South Carolina; Cheryl Dekeon of Haverhill, Massachusetts; and Elizabeth Lehr and her husband Donald of Berryville, Virginia. He is also survived by six grandchildren, two step-grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

The funeral for Thomas H. Anderson, Jr., was held January 6 at Southeast Funeral and Cremation Services, Easton, Massachusetts, with burial following at South Easton Cemetery. Memorial gifts may be made to Old Colony Hospice and Palliative Care (oldcolonyhospice.org).

Harold Gilchrest Andrews, Jr.

Harold Gilchrest Andrews, Jr., of High Point, North Carolina, died December 3, 2023. He was born March 31, 1932, in Framingham, Massachusetts, and grew up in Centerville on Cape Cod. At the age of eight, under the tutelage of Virginia Fuller, his first piano teacher, Andrews played services at the local Unitarian church. After his 1949 high school graduation, he attended Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Oberlin, Ohio, where he earned a Bachelor of Music degree in organ performance. After college, he served in the United States Army for two years as an organist at West Point. He then moved to Greensboro, North Carolina, playing first at First Friends Meeting House and then at Guilford Park Presbyterian Church. During this same period, he began his long tenure as a professor of organ at Greensboro College, where he remained until 1988. The C. B. Fisk, Inc., organ, Opus 102 (1993), at Finch Memorial Chapel of Greensboro College was donated and installed through his efforts. He also co-founded the Greensboro Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.

Leaving Guilford Park Church, Andrews took the position as organist and master of choristers at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, High Point, where he would spend the next 55 years. While working at St. Mary’s, Andrews completed a Master of Music degree in organ and church music at Oberlin Conservatory and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Boston University.

Andrews founded and owned Organ Craft, a local organbuilding company. He built and installed pipe organs all over the east coast, including part of the organ at Christ United Methodist Church in Charlotte and the organ at Guilford Park Presbyterian Church in Greensboro. The organ at St. Mary’s in High Point was also significantly altered over the years by Andrews.

As an organist, he offered recitals in Europe, including at Canterbury Cathedral; St. Paul’s Cathedral, London; Saint-Sulpice, Paris; and Chartres Cathedral. In his retirement, he finished his manuscript for a study of music in the works of William Shakespeare.

Harold Gilchrest Andrews, Jr., is survived by one brother, Robert Francis Andrews. His funeral featuring Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem was held at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, High Point, on January 27. Interment in the church columbarium followed. Memorials may be directed to the music endowment at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, 108 West Farriss Avenue, High Point, North Carolina 27262.

Charles Edmund Callahan, Jr.

Charles Edmund Callahan, Jr., 72, died December 25, 2023, in Burlington, Vermont. He was born September 27, 1951, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Callahan was a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and earned graduate degrees from The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. He held the Associate and Choirmaster certificates of the American Guild of Organists. In 2014 he was honored with the Distinguished Artist Award of the guild.

Callahan taught at Catholic University; Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont; Baylor University, Waco, Texas; Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida; and the Bermuda School of Music, Hamilton, Bermuda. He served as organist and music director for churches in Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., New York, Vermont, and his native Massachusetts. Callahan moved to Orwell, Vermont, in 1988.

He was consulted often on the design of new organs and restorations and improvements of existing instruments. His two books on American organbuilding history, The American Classic Organ and Aeolian-Skinner Remembered, became standard reference works on 20th-century American organ history.

Callahan was a prolific composer; his compositions include commissions for Papal visitations to the United States and from Harvard University. His four-movement orchestral work, Mosaics, was premiered at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, Missouri, and other works have been performed at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton universities.

Charles Callahan was laid to rest with his parents in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Memorial contributions in his memory may be made to the music programs at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, 326 College Street, Middlebury, Vermont 05753, or Cornwall Congregational Church, 2598 Route 30, Cornwall, Vermont 05753.

James P. Callahan

James P. Callahan of St. Paul, Minnesota, died December 28, 2023. Born in North Dakota and raised in Albany, Minnesota, he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1964 from St. John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota, and his Master of Fine Arts degree in piano and a Ph.D. in music theory and composition from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. In addition, he studied at the Mozarteum University, Salzburg, Austria, and Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, Vienna, Austria. His teachers included Anton Heiller, organ; Willem Ibes and Duncan McNab, piano; and Paul Fetler, composition.

Callahan was Professor Emeritus at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota, where he taught piano, organ, composition, music theory, and piano literature over a 38-year period, retiring in 2006. As an organist, Callahan performed recitals in the upper Midwest, New York, and Austria. His performances appeared on the nationally broadcast radio program Pipedreams. He was instrumental in overseeing the commissioning of the organ for the chapel at the University of St. Thomas, Gabriel Kney Opus 105, completed in 1987. On this instrument he recorded a disc for Centaur, James Callahan: Oberdoerffer, Reger, Rheinberger, Schmidt. He also performed solo piano recitals and made concerto appearances. In addition to his solo performances, he was a member of the Callahan and Faricy Duo piano team, performing throughout the upper Midwest.

James Callahan composed over 150 works for piano, organ, orchestra, band, opera, and chamber ensembles. Cantata for two choirs, brass, percussion, and organ premiered at St. John’s Abbey Church and was performed at the Cathedral of St. Paul in 1975. His Requiem was premiered by Leonard Raver in 1990 at the University of St. Thomas. Callahan’s music was published by McLaughlin-Reilly, GIA, Paraclete Press, Abingdon Press, and Beautiful Star Publishing. Awards included a study grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and a Bush Artist Fellowship.

Quentin Faulkner

Quentin Faulkner, 80, died December 30, 2023, in Houston, Texas. He was Larson Professor of organ and music theory/history (emeritus) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, a writer of scholarly books in the areas of church music and J. S. Bach performance practice, the translator of German treatises of the 17th and 18th centuries, and an organ recitalist.

Faulkner earned his undergraduate degree in organ and church music from Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey, where he studied organ with George Markey and Alexander McCurdy. He received graduate degrees in sacred music and theology from Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, where he studied conducting with Lloyd Pfautsch, organ with George Klump, and liturgics with James White. Faulkner completed his doctoral studies at the School of Sacred Music, Union Theological Seminary, New York City, where he studied organ with Alec Wyton. Each of these schools subsequently awarded him its distinguished alumni award for his contributions to the field of church music. While a student in New York City, he served for three years as assistant organist at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, during which time he led the musical celebration honoring Wyton at his retirement and was the organist for Duke Ellington’s funeral.

For 32 years Faulkner served on the faculty at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he developed a comprehensive cycle of courses in church music and received numerous teaching awards. He and his colleague George Ritchie were co-coordinators of a distinguished series of organ conferences at the university, each conference with a distinct topic of scholarly investigation and culminating in the first conference held in Naumburg, Germany, at the newly restored 1746 Hildebrandt organ in St. Wenzel’s Church. In 1998 Faulkner was awarded a Fulbright grant to teach as guest professor at the Evangelische Hochschule für Kirchenmusik in Halle, Germany, a position to which he returned for the academic year 2006–2007 following his retirement from the University of Nebraska.

Faulkner’s professional career included both academic and practical pursuits. He was equally respected for his scholarly investigation in the field of church music (Wiser than Despair: The Evolution of Ideas in the Relationship of Music and the Christian Church, Greenwood Press, 1996) and in historical performance practice of the organ works of Bach (J. S. Bach’s Keyboard Technique: A Historical Introduction, Concordia, 1984; The Registration of J. S. Bach’s Organ Works, Wayne Leupold Editions, 2008; Johann Sebastian Bach, The Complete Organ Works, Series II, Volume I, The Performance of the Organ works: Source Readings, Leupold Editions, 2020). He translated historic German treatises into English, and then edited and annotated the translations to make them accessible to contemporary students and scholars (Jacob Adlung, Musica mechanica organoedi, Parts 1, 2, and 3, Zea E-Books, 2011; Michael Praetorius, Syntagma Musicum II: De Organographia, Parts III–V, Zea E-Books, 2014).

Faulkner reveled in working at the intersections of various disciplines, particularly enjoying the interplay of the scholarly and the performing musician and extensively studying the relationships between and among religion, culture, and the arts. He served as a member of the advisory board for the Encyclopedia of Keyboard Instruments for Garland Publishing Co., as consultant for the J. S. Bach Tercentenary publishing project of Concordia Publishing House, as editor for performance issues for the Leupold Edition of J. S. Bach’s organ works, and as a member of the advisory board of the Institute of Sacred Music at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. He also led multiple tours of Bach’s Organ World in eastern Germany, sharing his passion and knowledge with participants as they studied, played, and listened to instruments with direct connections to J. S. Bach.

Throughout his career and in retirement, Faulkner remained a performing musician, presenting organ recitals, workshops, and lectures. He and his wife served as church musicians in Dothan, Alabama; New York City; Lincoln, Nebraska; and Greenfield, Massachusetts. He was particularly concerned with music in small churches and wrote numerous practical articles for professional journals, composed anthems for small choirs, and served as a clinician for more than fifty church music workshops in Nebraska. He served the American Guild of Organists on various local and national committees and as its national councilor for education. He was an honorary lifetime member of the Lincoln Chapter of the AGO.

Quentin Faulkner is survived by his wife of 56 years, Mary Murrell (Bennett) Faulkner, three brothers, a daughter and son-in-law, a son and daughter-in-law, and four grandchildren. A memorial service will be held April 20 at Christ Church Cathedral, Houston, Texas. Memorial contributions may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association (Attention: Donor Services, 225 North Michigan Avenue, Floor 17, Chicago, Illinois 60601; alz.org/donate), Church Music Institute (5923 Royal Lane, Dallas, Texas 75230; churchmusicinstitute.org/donate), or the charity of one’s choice.

Brian E. Jones

Brian E. Jones, 80, organist and choir director, died November 17, 2023. A native of Duxbury, Massachusetts, he began piano studies at age eight and discovered the pipe organ soon thereafter. During his first visit to Trinity Church, Copley Square, Boston, Massachusetts, as an eager ten-year-old, he was said to have exclaimed, “I want to be the organist here someday!” Some three decades later, his dream became a reality.

After earning an undergraduate degree from Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Jones landed a teaching position at Noble and Greenough School, Dedham, a post he would hold for the next twenty years. Concurrently he completed the Master of Music program at Boston University. While at Noble and Greenough he conducted numerous choral groups and expanded the music program to include the production of a wide variety of musicals.

Soon after commencing his teaching career, Jones was appointed music director of the Dedham Choral Society, a position he held for 27 years. During his tenure, the group grew in size from 25 to 150 members, expanding their audiences by performing in Symphony Hall and Jordan Hall in Boston. In 1984 Jones fulfilled his childhood dream when he was appointed director of music at Trinity Church, Boston. Over the next two decades he and his choirs produced five recordings, including the Christmas CD, Candlelight Carols. In addition to his work as a choral conductor, Jones enjoyed a solo organ career, performing concerts and dedicatory recitals in churches and cathedrals throughout the United States and England. Upon assuming the mantle Emeritus Director of Music and Organist at Trinity Church in 2004, Jones accepted interim positions from as far afield as Albuquerque, New Mexico. In 2007 a number of former Trinity choir members coalesced to form The Copley Singers under Jones’s direction. This semi-professional group of musicians began performing together several times each year, most notably during the holiday season.

Brian E. Jones is survived by his husband, Michael Rocha, with whom he shared the past 35 years, as well as two children, Eliza Beaulac and her husband, Joe, and Nat Jones and his wife, Kiera; four grandchildren and one great-grandson. A celebration of life is planned for spring. Memorial gifts in memory of Brian Jones may be made to the Parkinson’s Foundation (parkinson.org).

Uwe Pape

Uwe Pape, 87, died August 13, 2023, in Berlin, Germany. He was born May 5, 1936, in Bremen, Germany. In his early life, he studied mathematics, physics, pedagogy, and philosophy at Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen, graduating in 1959, earning a doctorate in computing technology at Technische Universität Braunschweig in 1971.

From 1971 to 2001 Pape was professor of business informatics at the Technische Universität Berlin. He was visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1974 and in 1984–1985; at the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1975; at the University of Texas at Austin in 1976; and at the University of Szczecin, Poland, from 1988 until 1998.

Pape was recognized worldwide for his expertise in pipe organs, especially historic mechanical-action instruments. Pape had his first contact with organbuilding in 1953 at the Liebfrauenkirche, Bremen, where he studied with Harald Wolff and had contact with the organ builder Paul Ott. Pape began to document the organs of the Braunschweig Lutheran Church in 1959. In 1962 he founded a publishing house for works on organbuilding history, which exists today as Pape Verlag Berlin. He became a freelance organ expert for regional churches and foundations in Berlin, Bremen, Lower Saxony, and Saxony. From 1985 to 2016 he led a research project on organ documentation that resulted in an organ database at the Technische Universität Berlin. With Paul Peeters of Gothenburg and Karl Schütz of Vienna, Pape was one of the founders of the International Association for Organ Documentation (IAOD) in 1990. He made significant contributions to the documentation of historic north German organs. Among his many book-length publications is The Tracker Organ Revival in America/Die Orgelbewegung in Amerika, first published in 1978. One of his most recent publications is Organographia Historica Hildesiensis: Orgeln und Orgelbauer in Hildesheim, printed in 2014. For The Diapason, he wrote “Documentation of Restorations,” which appeared in the December 2006 issue, pages 20–22.

Alice Stuart Parker

Alice Stuart Parker, 98, born December 16, 1925, in Boston, Massachusetts, died December 24, 2023, in Hawley, Massachusetts. Having grown up in Winchester, Massachusetts, she graduated from Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1947, having studied organ and composition. After earning a Master of Music degree in choral conducting from The Juilliard School in New York City two years later, she began teaching in a high school. Parker would then study and begin a long collaboration with Robert Shaw and the Robert Shaw Chorale. She would meet and marry one of the chorale’s singers, Thomas F. Pyle, in 1954.

As a composer she would pen more than 500 choral works and arrangements, from choral anthems to cantatas and operas. In 1985 Parker founded Melodious Accord, which presents choral concerts, singing workshops, and other events. The Musicians of Melodious Accord, a 16-member chorus, made several recordings with her. Parker authored books including The Anatomy of Melody in 2006 and The Melodious Accord Hymnal in 2010, both available from GIA Publications. She conducted masterclasses and seminars widely.

Alice Stuart Parker was predeceased by her husband in 1976. Survivors include her sons David Pyle and Timothy Pyle; daughters Katharine Bryda, Mary Stejskal, and Elizabeth Pyle; 11 grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.

Michael Radulescu

Michael Radulescu, 80, born June 19, 1943, in Bucharest, Romania, died December 23, 2023. He studied organ and conducting with Anton Heiller and Hans Swarowsky in Vienna, Austria, at the Academy (now University) of Music and Performing Arts, where he taught as professor of organ from 1968 to 2008. His career encompassed work as a composer, organist, and conductor. With his debut in 1959 he presented concerts throughout Europe, North America, Australia, South Korea, and Japan. He regularly presented guest lectures and masterclasses in Europe and overseas, focusing mainly on the interpretation of Bach’s organ and major choral works.

As a composer, Radulescu wrote sacred music, works for organ, voice and organ, choral and chamber music, and orchestral works. He was frequently engaged as a jury member in international organ and composition competitions and as an editor of early organ music. Radulescu conducted international vocal and instrumental ensembles in performances of major choral works. As an organist, he recorded among other items Bach’s complete works for organ, without any technical manipulation.

For his musical and pedagogical contributions, Radulescu was awarded the Goldene Verdienstzeichen des Landes Wien in 2005. In 2007 he received the Würdigungspreis für Musik from the Austrian Ministry of Education and Art. In December 2013 Michael Radulescu’s book on J. S. Bach’s spiritual musical language, Bey einer andächtig Musiq: Schritte zur Interpretation von Johann Sebastian Bachs geistlicher Klangrede anhand seiner Passionen und der h-Moll-Messe, focusing on the two passions and the B-Minor Mass, was published. For The Diapason, his article, “J. S. Bach’s Organ Music and Lutheran Theology: The Clavier-Übung Third Part,” was printed in the July 2019 issue, pages 16–21.

Nunc dimittis: David Barnett, James Litton, Wayne Riddell, Ned Rorem, Frederick Swann

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David Martin Barnett

David Martin Barnett, 75, of Richmond, Virginia, died November 8, 2022. Born on December 6, 1946, he led a varied career in advertising, broadcasting, computers, welfare agencies, and administration of churches and non-profit organizations, including positions as building administrator of Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, 2009–2014; and as facilities manager of St. James’s Episcopal Church, Richmond, 2010–2013.

Barnett served as treasurer of the Organ Historical Society from 1983 until 2010 and managed the OHS catalog between 2007 and 2010. He was vice president and operations manager of Duboy Advertising, 1974–1999, a Richmond firm specializing in advertising via broadcast media for automobile dealers nationwide. There, he wrote and produced more than 10,000 radio and television commercials for hundreds of clients. Barnett also operated DMB & Co., 1988–2011, designing and building computers and networks for small businesses and homes.

From 1965 until 1986, Barnett was weekend news anchor at radio station WLEE in Richmond and from 1965 until 1970 was announcer, studio engineer, traffic manager, and sales manager at radio station WFMV, Richmond’s classical music FM station. In 1964 and 1965, he worked at the Richmond Times-Dispatch as a newsroom copy boy. 

As an audio components salesman, Barnett was employed between 1969 and 1975 by Audio Fidelity Corporation, a central Virginia audio salon. Between 1970 and 1974, he worked for the City of Richmond as a welfare eligibility technician, supervisor, and child welfare eligibility supervisor, and in a similar role in 1972 for the state. He attended the University of Richmond following graduation from George Wythe High School in 1964.

Barnett served as an officer or member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Theatre Historical Society of America, American Theatre Organ Society (several chapters), Organ Historical Society, Cinema Organ Society (UK), Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, and Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. He volunteered extensively for the Mosque Theater (now the Landmark Theatre) and the Byrd Theatre, where he served as announcer beginning in 1982. 

With friends, Barnett installed a nine-rank Wurlitzer organ in his Richmond home. Following closure of Monumental Episcopal Church, Richmond, he helped renovate the 1926 Skinner Organ Company Opus 574 before it was relocated in 1975 to St. Bridget’s Catholic Church, Richmond, and subsequently was incorporated into the organ completed in 2014 by Kegg Pipe Organ Builders at the Cathedral of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania.

James H. Litton

James H. Litton, 87, died November 1, 2022, in Florham Park, New Jersey. He was born December 31, 1934, in Charleston, West Virginia. Recognizing his talent and passion for music, his parents purchased a piano and provided piano lessons at the Mason College of Music and Fine Arts in Charleston. His piano teacher encouraged him to progress to the organ, securing him a position as his assistant organist at a local church to get access to a practice instrument. That teacher later convinced him to pursue his college education at Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey, studying with Alexander McCurdy. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music and continued postgraduate studies at Canterbury Cathedral in England with Allan Wicks.

Litton’s choral music career spanned more than 60 years, serving as organist, choirmaster, and music director at the American Boychoir School, Princeton, New Jersey; Washington National Cathedral, Washington, DC; St. Bartholomew’s Church, New York City; Trinity Episcopal Church, Princeton; Christ Church Cathedral, Indianapolis, Indiana; and Trinity Episcopal Church, Southport, Connecticut. He also served as organist at several churches during his graduate and undergraduate studies at Westminster Choir College (now Rider University) and while in high school.

Litton toured with his various choirs and led choral festivals worldwide. He prepared his choirs for performances of major works with many of the world’s orchestras and for several dozen recordings, including a track with the American Boychoir on a platinum album by Michael W. Smith, Go West Young Man. As organist, Litton played organ recitals throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, South Africa, and Asia.

Litton was assistant professor of organ and head of the church music department at Westminster Choir College and the C. F. Seabrook Director of Music at Princeton Theological Seminary. He also served as visiting lecturer at Virginia Theological Seminary, Alexandria, and at Sewanee: The University of the South.

A Fellow of the Royal School of Church Music, Litton was awarded honorary Doctor of Music degrees from the University of Charleston and from Westminster Choir College of Rider University. The Litton-Lodal music directorship of the American Boychoir School was endowed by a gift from Jan and Elizabeth Lodal in honor of his career.

As a member and vice chairman of the Episcopal Church’s Standing Commission on Church Music, he participated in the preparation and publication of The Hymnal 1982. He was also the editor of The Plainsong Psalter for the Episcopal Church. Litton was a co-founder in 1966 and former president of the Association of Anglican Musicians. He also founded choral ensembles in West Virginia, Connecticut, Indiana, New Jersey, and New York.

James Litton met his late wife, Lou Ann, in seventh grade in Charleston, West Virginia, brought together by their mutual love of music. They married after graduating from college in 1957. 

James H. Litton was predeceased by his wife Lou Ann. He is survived by his son Bruce Litton and daughter-in-law Patricia of Bedminster, New Jersey; daughter Deborah Purdon of Maplewood, New Jersey; son David Litton and daughter-in-law Carol Dingeldey of West Hartford, Connecticut; and son Richard Litton and daughter-in-law Alysia of Wall Township, New Jersey; sister Betty Ray of Charlottesville, Virginia; and three grandchildren. A funeral was held on November 12 at Trinity Church, Princeton. Burial will take place at a later date at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in the village of Litton in Somerset County and the Diocese of Bath and Wells in England. Memorial gifts may be made to the Association of Anglican Musicians James Litton Grant for Choral Training (anglicanmusicians.org/litton-gift) and the Alzheimer’s Association (alz.org).

Wayne Kerr Riddell

Wayne Kerr Riddell, 86, died November 6, 2022. Born September 10, 1936, in Lachute, Québec, Canada, he began playing organ in the local United Church when he was 14. Graduating in 1960 from McGill University, Montréal, he taught music and singing in the public school system. In 1968 he joined McGill’s faculty, where he taught keyboard harmony, ear training, and choral conducting, and was head of choral studies. At the same time, he worked in church music for congregations including Westmount Park Church, Erskine United Church, and American United Church. For 14 years he was director of music at the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul. In 1976, he founded The Tudor Singers, a professional choir that toured the United States, Canada, and Europe. McGill University awarded him a Doctor of Music degree in 2014. He would serve as competition adjudicator, choral workshop clinician, guest conductor, mentor, and philanthropist. 

Wayne Kerr Riddell was predeceased by his life partner, Norman Beckow. A memorial service was held at the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul on November 22. Memorial gifts may be given to the Wayne Riddell Choral Scholarship Fund, McGill University (mcgill.ca), or to the music program, the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul, Montréal (standrewstpaul.com).

Ned Rorem

Ned Rorem, 99, died November 18, 2022, in New York, New York. He was born in Richmond, Indiana, on October 23, 1923. The family would move to Chicago where Rorem was educated at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools and the American Conservatory of Music. He studied at Northwestern University before attending the Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia, and The Juilliard School, New York City. Rorem was raised a Quaker, and this influenced the composition of his organ work, A Quaker Reader, based on Quaker texts.

In 1966 he published The Paris Diary of Ned Rorem. This was followed by Later Diaries 1951–1972 in 1974 and The Nantucket Diary of Ned Rorem, 1973–1985 in 1987. Rorem wrote essays collected in the anthologies Music from Inside Out (1967), Music and People (1968), Pure Contraption (1974), Setting the Tone (1983), Settling the Score (1988), and Other Entertainment (1996). He was the subject of a 2005 film, Ned Rorem: Word & Music. He composed in a wide variety of genres, including operas, orchestral, and chamber music. He also wrote extensively for organ and organ with choral and orchestral forces.

Ned Rorem was predeceased by his life partner, organist James Roland Holmes, in 1999.

Frederick Lewis Swann

Frederick Lewis Swann, 91, died November 13, 2022. Born July 30, 1931, in Lewisburg, West Virginia, he was the son of a Methodist pastor (and later bishop). He began taking piano lessons at age five from the organist at Market Street Methodist Church, Winchester, Virginia, and soon thereafter began taking organ lessons. He began playing his first church services at age ten at Braddock Street Methodist Church, Winchester, where his father was pastor.

Swann’s family moved to Staunton, Virginia, in 1943, and Frederick continued organ study with Carl Broman. After graduating from high school, Swann entered the School of Music at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, studying with Thomas Matthews and John Christensen. Upon graduation, he attended the School of Sacred Music at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, studying with Hugh Porter and Charles M. Courboin. After serving as interim organist at Brick Presbyterian Church during the illness of Clarence Dickinson and serving as Harold Friedell’s assistant at St. Bartholomew’s Church, Swann entered the United States Army for two years.

From 1952 until 1982, Swann worked for The Riverside Church, New York City, first as a substitute organist for Virgil Fox and then appointed organist in 1957. With the retirement of Richard Weagly as choir director in 1966, Swann became director of music and organist through 1982.

At that time, Swann was appointed director of music and organist at the Crystal Cathedral (now Christ Cathedral), Garden Grove, California, where he conducted the choir and presided over the five-manual, 265-rank Hazel Wright organ, appearing weekly on the internationally televised Hour of Power worship services. In 1988, Swann became organist of First Congregational Church, Los Angeles, which houses the largest church organ in the world, serving there until 2001.

Frederick Swann performed recitals throughout North America, Europe, South America, and Asia, including such venues as Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris; St. Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Abbey, London; and the cathedrals of Cologne and Passau in Germany. His accomplishments include more than 3,000 recitals in all 50 of the United States and 12 other countries, including events dedicating new, rebuilt, and restored instruments. He performed with orchestras such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony. Swann announced his retirement as a concert organist with a series of programs beginning in August 2016 at age 85. He would continue to serve as artist-in-residence at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church, Palm Desert, California. For decades he was represented in North America by Karen McFarlane Artists, Inc.

Swann served on the adjunct faculties of the Guilmant Organ School, Union Theological Seminary School of Sacred Music, and Teacher’s College of Columbia University, all in New York City. He also served on the faculty of Manhattan School of Music and was the school’s organ department chair. From 2007 until 2018, he was university organist and artist teacher of organ at University of Redlands in California.

Swann was active in the American Guild of Organists, serving in various capacities including the organization’s president from 2002 until 2008. Also in 2002, he was named International Performer of the Year by the New York City AGO Chapter. At the 2010 AGO national convention in Washington, DC, he was presented the Edward A. Hansen Leadership Award. In 2015, the Royal Canadian College of Organists named Swann a Fellow, honoris causa, and in 2018 the AGO honored him as the organization’s first honoris causa recipient of its Fellow certificate (FAGO). Swann received the honorary Doctor of Music degree from University of Redlands upon his retirement in 2018.

Frederick Swann published more than three dozen anthems for choir, as well as organ works based on hymntunes. Perhaps his best-known composition is his Trumpet Tune in D Major. Swann’s discography of organ and choral recordings includes albums featuring the organs of The Riverside Church, Crystal Cathedral, First Congregational Church of Los Angeles, and the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

For more information, see Steven Egler’s interview, “A conversation with Frederick Swann, Crown Prince of the King of Instruments,” in the November 2014 issue, pages 20–24.

A memorial service for Frederick Lewis Swann will take place January 25, 10:30 a.m., at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church, Palm Desert, California. Memorial gifts may be made to The American Guild of Organists Frederick Swann Scholarship, The American Guild of Organists Herrmann/Swann Fund (agohq.org), or to the Fred Swann Music Endowment, St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church, Palm Desert, California (stmargarets.org).

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Edward Brewer, 82, died April 3 in Leonia, New Jersey. Born in 1938 in Erie, Pennsylvania, his talent for music was revealed at an early age.

Brewer majored in organ at Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Oberlin, Ohio. As a graduate student at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Brewer received a Fulbright Fellowship to continue his studies with organist Helmut Walcha in Frankfurt, Germany. His harpsichord studies continued with Maria Jaeger.

Edward Brewer’s school days ended in New York City in 1963 where he served in the Domestic Peace Corps until 1964, when he became organist and choir director at Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village. As a continuo player he served Amor Artis, Oratorio Society of New York, and New York Choral Society, as well as New York Philharmonic, New York Collegium, Orpheus, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and Philharmonia Virtuosi. He participated in the Madeira Bach Festival, Mostly Mozart Festival, and North Country Chamber Players summer festival. He was founding director of the Soclair Music Festival, a role he filled for 30 years. As founder and director of the Brewer Chamber Orchestra, he participated in a series of first-time recordings of operas by George Frederick Handel for MMG, Nonesuch, Delos, and ESS.A.Y.

Edward Brewer also provided portable pipe organs and harpsichords in European styles of the 18th century for New York musical organizations involved in the performance of Baroque music. This service continues as Baroque Keyboards, LLC, under the management of his son and daughter.

Edward Brewer is survived by his wife of 51 years, oboist Virginia Brewer; his son Barry and wife Tomoko and their daughters Miako and Emiko; and daughter Hazzan Diana Brewer and wife Sara Brewer and their daughter Camilla.

 

Kenneth Gilbert, 88, harpsichordist, organist, musicologist, and teacher, died April 16. He was born December 16, 1931, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He studied organ with Conrad Letendre, piano with Yvonne Hubert, and harmony and counterpoint with Gabriel Cusson. Gilbert won the Prix d’Europe for organ in 1953 and studied for two years with Nadia Boulanger (composition), Gaston Litaize and Maurice Duruflé (organ), and Sylvie Spicket and Ruggero Gerlin (harpsichord). While he was on leave for these studies, he remained the organist and music director at Queen Mary Road United Church, Montreal, between 1952 and 1967. In 1959, he designed and oversaw the installation at Queen Mary Road Church of the first major modern mechanical-action organ in Canada, an instrument built by Rudolf von Beckerath of Hamburg, Germany. Gilbert was a leader in the formation of the Ars Organi society, which influenced organ performance standards in eastern Canada. He received an honorary doctorate degree in music from McGill University in 1981.

While in Paris in 1965 on a Quebec government grant doing research on Couperin in preparation for a CBC series of performances of the composer’s complete works for harpsichord, Gilbert undertook work for a new edition for the Couperin tercentenary in 1968. (He subsequently recorded the Couperin works for RCI, released on Harmonia Mundi in France, RCA in England, Musical Heritage Society in the United States, and other labels in Italy and Japan.) Heugel would publish Gilbert’s four volumes of Couperin works as part of its early-music series, Le Pupitre, between 1969 and 1972. Gilbert prepared a new edition from existing editions of the 555 sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti; eleven volumes were published by Heugel between 1971 and 1984. He prepared a facsimile edition of the complete harpsichord works of Couperin, published by Broude in 1973, and edited the complete harpsichord works of d’Anglebert, printed by Heugel in 1975. He also prepared new editions of Bach’s Goldberg Variations for Salabert in 1979, Frescobaldi’s first and second books of toccatas for Zanibon in 1979 and 1980, and Rameau’s complete harpsichord works for Heugel 1979. In 1980, he began to prepare a reissue of Couperin’s complete works for L’Oiseau-Lyre of Monaco. With Élizabeth Gallat-Morin, he produced an annotated edition of Livre d’orgue de Montréal, published in three volumes by Éditions Jacques Ostiguy in 1985, 1987, and 1988.

Gilbert’s performances were devoted primarily to the harpsichord. In 1968, he gave his first recital in London and commenced an international career of concerts, broadcasts, and recordings. He was a soloist with several Canadian and American orchestras.

Gilbert taught at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal 1957–1974, at McGill University 1964–1972, at Laval University 1969–1976, and at the Royal Flemish Conservatory, Antwerp, Belgium, 1971–1974. In 1988, he began to teach at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, and he became professor of harpsichord at the Conservatoire de Paris. For some years, he taught at Accademia Chigiana, Siena, Italy. Furthermore, he presented masterclasses throughout North America and Europe.

In 1978, the Canadian Music Council named Gilbert Artist of the Year. He was honored with the Prix de musique Calixa-Lavallée in 1981. In 1986, he was named an officer of the Order of Canada and in 1988 was elected to the Royal Society of Canada. He was an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music and Officier de l’Ordre des arts et lettres de France.

 

John Benjamin Hadley, 92, died January 5 in Hendersonville, North Carolina. Born July 1, 1927, in Iowa Falls, Iowa, he began playing organ in local churches at age 13 and received a Bachelor of Music degree from Iowa Falls Conservatory of Music in 1946.

After additional study in boy choir training and organ under John Dexter in Grand Rapids, Michigan, he entered the London School of Church Music, London, Ontario, where he spent three years under the tutelage of Ernest White and Raymond Wicher. While in London, he met and married Dorothy Helen Gallop with whom he would spend 52 years, while raising two daughters, Vicki and Kim.

The Hadleys moved to Chicago, Illinois, in 1951 where they would remain until the late 1980s. His first position was at St. Clement’s Catholic Church, Chicago, as organist and choirmaster, followed by Grace Episcopal Church, Hinsdale, and then Church of the Ascension, Episcopal, Chicago. In 1955, Hadley began assisting S. E. Gruenstein in his duties as editorial director and publisher of The Diapason. Upon the death of Gruenstein in December 1958, Hadley and Frank Cunkle were named associate editors of the journal. Hadley became publisher in August 1958 and left the staff of The Diapason September 1, 1959, for his duties at the Church of the Ascension. During his time in Chicago, he was a sales representative for the Schlicker Organ Company and held several positions with the Associated Pipe Organ Builders of America.

Hadley became an editor at Encyclopaedia Britannica. He made several trips to China in the 1980s as the editorial liaison for the Chinese edition of the encyclopaedia. Additionally, he was a senior editor of Compton’s Encyclopedia and executive editor for The Britannica Book of Music as well as The Britannica Book of English Usage. It was during this time that he became an entrepreneur, and along with the vision of wife Dorothy, they opened a British import store in Door County, Wisconsin, where they had a second home.

In 1993 the Hadleys moved to Hendersonville, North Carolina, to be closer to the Brevard Music Festival. He became passionate about the program, choosing to bequeath the majority of his estate for the continuing funding of its work. In his retirement he served as organist of Hendersonville’s First United Methodist Church and finally St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Asheville, North Carolina.

John Benjamin Hadley was preceded in death by his wife Dorothy, his partner Phyllis Hansen, and daughter Vicki Anderson. He is survived by son-in-law John Anderson, grandson Matt Anderson, and daughter Kim Parr.

 

Edmund Shay died April 21 in Woodbury, New Jersey. He was born in the Bronx, New York City, and attended the High School for Music and Art in Manhattan, followed by The Juilliard School, New York City, where he received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. In 1962 he was awarded a Fulbright fellowship allowing him to study in Germany with Helmut Walcha. He later earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in performance and music theory from the University of Cincinnati.

Shay’s career as concert organist, teacher, and composer included teaching at the University of the Pacific, Beloit College, Pembroke State University, Madison College (now known as James Madison University), and Columbia College, Columbia, South Carolina. He maintained an active recital schedule while teaching and wrote articles for The American Organist and The Diapason. From 1986 through 1991 he wrote organ music reviews for The Diapason. For fourteen years, Shay directed a summer seminar for organists called “Bach Week,” sponsored by Columbia College. Upon his retirement in 2003, Shay relocated to a winter home in Washington, D.C., with a summer home in Vermont. In 2014 he began to battle dementia, and in 2017, he moved to Friends Village in Woodstown, New Jersey, and subsequently to Merion Gardens Assisted Living in Carney’s Point, New Jersey.

Edmund Shay was predeceased by his life partner of over 35 years, Raymond Harris; he is survived by his adopted nephew and niece, Dale and DeeAnn Harris of Salem, New Jersey. Memorial gifts in Shay’s name may be given Alzheimer’s research or your local animal shelter.

 

Nicholas Temperley, professor emeritus of the School of Music, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, died April 8. Born and educated in England, Temperley came to the University of Illinois in 1959 as a postdoctoral fellow, and he joined the faculty in 1967. He taught classes in the School of Music, supervised over fifty dissertations and theses, and served on dozens of doctoral committees. His publications include The Music of the English Parish Church (1979), Hymn Tune Index (1998), editions of music (including volumes for the Musica Britannica series and an edition of Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique), and Bound for America: Three British Composers (2003), as well as several edited essay collections and scores of book chapters and journal articles.

After retiring in 1996, Temperley continued to be a researcher, writer, and editor. He also went on to guide the establishment of the North American British Music Studies Association [NABMSA] (2003) and serve as its first president, and he endowed prizes for student research: the Nicholas Temperley Dissertation Prize (later the Nicholas Temperley Musicology Research Scholarship, University of Illinois) and the Nicholas Temperley Student Paper Prize (NABMSA). In 1977, he was one of the co-founders of the Midwest Victorian Studies Association [MSVA], a group that sought to promote the interdisciplinary study of Victorian culture.

In 2012, a festschrift in his honor (Music and Performance Culture in Nineteenth-Century Britain, ed. Bennett Zon) was published. In April 2019, MVSA presented him with its Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in bringing music into the purview of Victorianists.

A memorial service will be planned for a later date. Memorial gifts may be sent to the Evelyn Burnett Underwood fund at the Urbana School District, which provides musical instruments to students who cannot afford them (contact Stacey Peterik at [email protected]).

 

James Merle Weaver, 82, died April 16 in Rochester, New York. Born in Danville, Illinois, he began piano and organ studies there. He attended the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, during which time he gave piano and organ demonstrations and private lessons at a local music store and played Sunday church services. While on a high school field trip to Washington, D.C., Weaver saw his first harpsichords, displayed at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History. During his sophomore year at the U of I, he went to Amsterdam to study harpsichord and historical performance practice with Gustav Leonhardt.

Returning to Illinois, Weaver completed his bachelor’s (1961) and master’s (1963) degrees. Weaver and his young family then moved to Boston’s North End. His facility as a continuo player developed, both as a concert artist and for recordings. While in Boston, he befriended the music director of Old North Church, John T. Fesperman, who had been Leonhardt’s first American student (1955–1956). Fesperman left Boston in 1965 to take a position at the collection of musical instruments in the Smithsonian’s newly opened National Museum of History and Technology; Weaver followed him to the Smithsonian the next year, where he began a diverse career producing concert programs and exhibits, among other activities. In 1971, he worked to found the Friends of Music at the Smithsonian, which continues to support the Smithsonian Chamber Music Society.

Weaver pursued his exploration of newly restored harpsichords and forte-pianos in the Smithsonian’s collection, producing recordings. He established an ensemble in residence at the museum in 1976, the Smithsonian Chamber Players, which produced recordings through the Smithsonian Collection of Recordings, an arm of the institution’s Division of Performing Arts (DPA), which Weaver joined in the late 1970s.

In 1983, DPA’s functions were absorbed by other portions of the institution, and Weaver returned to the Division of Musical Instruments at the National Museum of American History (NMAH), as the National Museum of History and Technology had been renamed in 1980.

In addition to his Smithsonian activities, Weaver occasionally appeared with the National Symphony Orchestra and various professional choruses of the area. With the Smithsonian Chamber Players, he had a presence in the inaugural festivities for Jimmy Carter and later performed twice, including once as harpsichord soloist, at the Carter White House. He was subsequently invited to play at five inaugural luncheons, from Ronald Reagan’s second inaugural to George W. Bush’s first. Weaver taught at various times at American University, the University of Maryland, Cornell University, the Aston Magna Academy, and the Baroque Performance Institute at Oberlin Conservatory of Music.

Following his move to Washington, D.C., in the 1960s, Weaver served as organist or organist/choirmaster at several churches, including Baltimore’s Mount Calvary Church, Washington’s St. Columba’s Episcopal Church and All Souls Episcopal Church, and finally at All Hallows Episcopal Church, Davidsonville, Maryland.

Following retirement from the Smithsonian, Weaver was appointed executive director (later chief executive officer) of the Organ Historical Society. During the last years of his tenure at the OHS, he supervised the relocation of its headquarters and archives to “Stoneleigh” in Villanova, Pennsylvania. He also expanded the E. Power Biggs Fellowship program.

James Merle Weaver is survived by husband/partner Samuel Baker; son Evan (Jill), three grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by wife Patricia Estell and long-time former partner Eugene Behlen. Memorial gifts may be given to the Biggs Fellowship Program of the Organ Historical Society, 330 N. Spring Mill Road, Villanova, PA 19085; or the Friends of Music at the Smithsonian, P. O.
Box 37012, Washington, DC 20013-7012 (https://www.smithsonianchambermusic.org/donate).

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Jennifer Lucy Bate, 75, born in London, UK, November 11, 1944, died March 25. She was the daughter of H. A. Bate, organist of St James’s Muswell Hill from 1924 to 1978. An international concert organist, she was considered an authority on the organ music of Olivier Messiaen, having befriended him within the last twenty years of his life as his organist of choice. In 1986, she gave the first British performance of his Livre du Saint-Sacrement at Westminster Cathedral and later made the world premiere recording of the work under the personal supervision of the composer, winning the Grand Prix du Disque. He also endorsed her earlier recordings of all of his other organ works. Bate owned scores that contain many personal markings and references made by Messiaen. In 1995, Bate opened the Messiaen Festival at l’Église de la Sainte Trinité, Paris, France, where his complete organ works were performed and recorded. Among numerous awards for her CD were the Diapason d’Or (France) and Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik (Germany).

Bate performed and recorded a broad repertoire spanning several centuries, including English organ music, the complete organ works of César Franck, and the complete organ music of Felix Mendelssohn. A frequent performer at organ festivals, she often played works written for her. She also presented numerous masterclasses and lectures. She was instrumental in the formation of the annual Jennifer Bate Organ Academy, a course for young female organists, and she was the lead patron of the Society of Women Organists.

Bate was briefly married (as his second wife) to George Thalben-Ball. She received an honorary doctorate from the University of Bristol in 2007. In 1990, Bate was recognized with the Personnalité de l’Année award by the French-based jury, only the third British artist to achieve this distinction, after Georg Solti and Yehudi Menuhin. In 1996, Bate was granted honorary citizenship of the Italian province of Alessandria for her services to music in Northern Italy over 20 years. In 2002, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and in 2008 was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

In 2011, M. Frédéric Mitterand, minister of culture and communication, awarded Jennifer Bate the rank of Officier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres, stating that this honor is awarded to renowned artists and writers who have promoted French culture throughout the world. Subsequently, President Sarkozy appointed Jennifer Bate to the rank of Chevalier in the Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur, stating that this honor was awarded in recognition of her skill as an organist and her contribution to making Olivier Messiaen’s organ works more widely known throughout the world. She received both awards in 2012.

 

Marillyn Ila Freeman, 85, musician and teacher, died March 24. Born in Marion, Wisconsin, February 23, 1935, she grew up in New London and Appleton, where she began playing the organ for local church services at the age of twelve. She graduated from Appleton High School in 1953 and the Lawrence College Conservatory of Music, Appleton, earning a degree in music performance in 1957. While at Lawrence, she met her future husband Ralph Freeman, and they were married in 1958. Following graduation Freeman taught music at Lawrence and worked in the president’s office at Princeton University, eventually returning to Wisconsin and settling in Green Bay, where she taught piano and played organ in the Moravian church.

In 1965 the Freemans moved to Neenah where a year later she began a 54-year career as organist for St. Paul Lutheran Church. In addition to playing organ and piano, as director of music ministries she planned worship services, directed youth choirs, accompanied the adult Sanctuary Choir, presented church musicals, and guided the church in purchasing a new Dobson organ in 1986. She earned an associate certificate of the American Guild of Organists in 1995 and an associate in music ministry certificate in 2000.

Throughout her career Freeman continued to teach piano and organ, organizing piano recitals, judging piano competitions, and mentoring young musicians in the Fox Valley. She was a member of the Fox Valley Music Teachers, a member of the Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity, served as treasurer of the North Eastern Wisconsin chapter of the American Guild of Organists, and was active in the Hymn Society of the United States and Canada. For many years she and her husband Ralph, a pianist, violinist, and published author of hymn texts, performed organ and piano duets each August as part of the Lunchtime Organ Recital Series in the Fox Valley region.

Marillyn Ila Freeman is survived by her husband Ralph Freeman, five children: Rebecca Freeman (Stephen Fusfeld) of Neenah; Jennifer Timm (Terry) of Neenah; Robert Freeman (Robin) of Darien, Illinois; Jon Freeman of Whitefish Bay; and Paul Freeman (Nicole Berman) of Stow, Massachusetts; twelve grandchildren, and several great grandchildren.

Memorial gifts may be made to the music ministry program at St. Paul Lutheran Church, 200 N. Commercial Street, Neenah, WI 54956, or to either the Melanoma Research Fund or the Surgical Oncology Outcomes Research and Awareness Fund at the University of Wisconsin (supportuw.org/give).

 

Josephine Lenola Bailey Freund, 90, died February 8 in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. A lifelong musician, she was a professional organist for almost 70 years and taught piano and organ. She performed organ recitals and directed choirs throughout the United States, as well as in Swaziland and Papua New Guinea.

Josephine Bailey was born April 8, 1929, in Indianapolis, Indiana. She began piano lessons at age six and started studying organ at age thirteen. Among her first professional jobs were playing the organ to accompany silent movies and substituting as an accompanist and organist in local churches.

Following graduation from high school in 1946, Bailey attended Wittenberg College, Springfield Ohio, later transferring to Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland. There she earned a teaching certificate in organ and bachelor’s and master’s degrees. In 1952, she was the first female graduate of Peabody to earn a master’s degree in organ performance.

During the 1950s Bailey played at various churches in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia, including serving as music director for First Baptist, Washington, D.C., which President Truman attended; and St. Anne’s Episcopal Church, Annapolis, Maryland, where she was honored to play for a royal visit by Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. From 1956 until 1961, she was associate professor of music at Longwood College, Farmville, Virginia. She was also organist of First Presbyterian Church, Farmville, and taught music in local public high schools.

In 1963, Bailey became the first full-time director of music at Trinity Lutheran Church, Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. She later returned to Indianapolis to teach in public schools and was the organist and assistant choir director at First Presbyterian Church. In the early 1970s, she moved to East Lansing, Michigan, to work on her doctorate in music theory at Michigan State University. She also was associate professor of music and organist and choir director of Martin Luther Chapel at Michigan State. It was there that she met her future husband Roland Freund who was an Australian agricultural missionary working on his master’s degree. They married in July 1971 and moved to the Highlands of Papua New Guinea.

In 1976, the family moved to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where Josephine taught piano and was organist at Grace United Methodist Church. The family spent 1982–1984 working on a U.S. AID and Penn State University project in Swaziland, Africa. There she taught music in several schools and directed the largest choir in the country for a performance of Brahms’s Requiem.

Upon returning to Carlisle, Josephine Freund served as organist and choir director at St. John’s Episcopal Church and Gettysburg College Chapel. She was adjunct professor of organ for Dickinson College and an active member and officer of the Harrisburg Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. Freund played her final organ recital in 2010, but continued to teach piano and organ and to substitute and support church services, weddings, and funerals for a few more years. She was a lifetime member of the national honors fraternity for women in music, Sigma Alpha Iota.

Josephine Lenola Bailey Freund is survived by her husband, Roland Paul Freund of Carlisle; her nephew, Matthew Freund of South Australia; and her son, Colonel Ernie Freund, daughter-in-law Megan Sayler Freund, and granddaughters, Amelia Rose and Adelaide Pearl, all from Burke, Virginia.

Funeral services were held February 15 at Trinity Lutheran Church, Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. Memorial contributions may be made to Residential Hospice, 100 Sterling Pkwy #110, Mechanicsburg, PA 17050 or the Traditional Music Fund at Trinity Lutheran Church, 2000 Market Street, Camp Hill, PA 17011.

 

Eleanor Marie Fulton, organist and music educator, died February 23 in New Haven, Connecticut. Born August 9, 1939, in Morristown, Tennessee, she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Bennett College, Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1961, and continued her education at the Manhattan School of Music, New York City; the Haydn Conservatory, Eisenstadt, Austria; and the University of Ghana’s International Center for African Music and Dance.

She served as the longtime organist and director of music for Center Church on the Green, New Haven, and was a music teacher for New Haven Public Schools, director of the New Haven Children’s Chorus, assistant organist and director of Christian education for Battell Chapel, Yale University, New Haven, consultant to the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, and a private piano and music instructor. She was the featured performer on a CD released by Raven, performing on the 1971 Beckerath organ of Dwight Chapel, Yale University, with works of Bach, de Grigny, and Mendelssohn (Eleanor Fulton, Organist: Dwight Chapel, Yale University, OAR-810).

 

Odile Pierre, French liturgical and international concert organist, professor, and composer, died in Paris, France, on February 29, shortly before her 87th birthday. Born in Pont-Audemer (in Normandy) on March 12, 1932, she decided to become an organist at age seven, inspired by a recital by Marcel Dupré on the Cavaillé-Coll organ at St. Ouen Abbey in Rouen. After taking lessons with Madeleine Lecoeur, organist at St. Nicaise Church in Rouen at age fifteen, she served as organist and choir director at the St. Martin Church in Barentin (in the Seine-Maritime region of Normandy). From 1950 to 1952, she studied harmony with Albert Beaucamp and organ with Marcel Lanquetuit at the Rouen Conservatory. She then entered the Paris Conservatory, where she was awarded first prizes in the classes of Maurice Duruflé (harmony), Noël Gallon (fugue), Norbert Dufourcq (music history), as well as organ and improvisation with Marcel Dupré and Rolande Falcinelli. At the age of 23, Odile Pierre became the youngest Marcel Dupré student to win a first prize in organ and improvisation at the Paris Conservatory. She won this prestigious prize the same year as Éliane Lejeune-Bonnier (1921–2015), with the unanimous approval of the jury, which included Jeanne Demessieux.

From 1955 to 1957, Odile Pierre officially substituted for Jean-Jacques Grunenwald, then organist at Saint-Pierre de Montrouge Church in Paris. She then studied organ performance with Fernando Germani at Saint-Cecilia Academy in Rome and at Chigiana Music Academy in Sienne, and with Franz Sauer at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. In 1969, she succeeded Jeanne Demessieux as titular organist of the gallery organ of the Madeleine Church and remained in this post until 1979. By coincidence, on the day after she died, Olivier Périn began his functions as the official assistant to François-Henri Houbart, her successor at the Madeleine.

Well known for her mastery of organ repertoire from early to contemporary masters, Odile Pierre performed at least 2,000 concerts throughout the world, including appearances in Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Canada, Iceland, Russia, Germany, Turkey, Italy, Spain, Austria, and the former Czechoslovakia, including twelve tours in the United States and six in Asia. In 1977, she represented France at the Third International Organ Congress in Washington and Philadelphia. She performed organ concertos under the direction of conductors such as Lorin Maazel, Pierre Dervaux, Antoine de Bavier, and Georges Prêtre.

Odile Pierre recorded for RCA, Mitra, Motette, Festivo, Editions Lade, and IFO. At least two of the recordings were made at the Madeleine Church in Paris: Camille Saint-Saëns’ Preludes and Fugues (1972, RCA LSB 4088) and The Great Romantic Toccatas (1978, RCA/RC 8108). In 1991, she recorded (for SCD 814) Jean-François Muno’s reconstitution of Jean de Joyeuse’s 1694 organ at the Auch Cathedral, which she had inaugurated in 1988 with André Isoir. Her Poetic Symphonic Organ Music (Vierne, Debussy, Duruflé, and Odile Pierre) on the Cavaillé-Coll of the Trinity Church in Fécamp and at St. Godard in Rouen (1988, MP/FR 51190 C) calls upon her Normand origins; her record of Widor, Vierne, and Guilmant at the Orléans Cathedral (1993, Motette 11251), reminds us that she lived nearby, in Tigy, in the Loiret department, at the end of her life.

As professor, Odile Pierre taught organ and music history at the Rouen Conservatoire from 1959 until 1969 and then organ and improvisation at the Paris Regional Conservatoire from 1981 until 1992. Among her students were Michael Matthes, Léon Kerremans, D’Arcy Trinkwon, Kristiyan Seynhave, David Di Fiore, and Lionel Coulon (titular organist at the Rouen Cathedral since 1992, he substituted for her at the Madeleine for four years). In 1991, she gave organ classes at the Scuola Internationale d’Alto Perfezionmento Musicale in Perugia, Italy, and gave masterclasses in numerous colleges and universities. She also served on the juries of international organ competitions. In 1977, she was appointed as a member of the Commission on Organs in Paris.

Her organ works were published as early as 1955: Chorale and Fugue on the first antiphon of the Second Vespers for Christmas (1955, Procure du Clergé), and Chorale and Four-Voiced Fugue (1955, republished by Europart-Music in 1988), Four Pilgrimages at the Virgin Mary for four hands, opus 1 (Leduc, 1988), Variations and Fugue on three Christmas Carols (Leduc, 1990), The Martyr of St. Thomas Becket, op. 4 (Bergamo, Carrara 1994), Chorale and Fugue on the Name of Charles-Marie Widor, op. 5 (Mayence, Schott, 1994), and Canonic Variations and Fugue on Two Christmas Carols from Naples, op. 6 (1955). Her edition of some of Alexandre Guilmant’s organ works was printed by Bornemann in 1983 and 1984. In addition, she wrote about Marcel Dupré’s improvisation exams in 1953 and 1954 (Leduc, undated). Odile Pierre received three awards for her contributions to French culture: Officer in the French Legion of Honor, Commander in the French Order of Merit, and the Silver Medal of the City of Paris.

Odile Pierre is survived by her husband, the historian Pierre Aubé.

—Carolyn Shuster Fournier

 

Philip Astor Prince, 89, of New Haven, Connecticut, died February 5. Born January 5, 1931, in Evanston, Illinois, Prince attended the Taft School before entering Yale University with the Class of 1952. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Latin, subsequently studied musicology in the Yale Graduate School, but completed a Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music in organ performance under H. Frank Bozyan in 1959. Prince was drawn to the Anglo-Catholic liturgy celebrated at Christ Church, New Haven, and became associated with the music program there, succeeding Richard Donovan as organist and choirmaster in 1966. He became respected among colleagues for his English-language arrangements of Gregorian chants and psalmody and for his hymn accompaniments.

Prince published scholarly articles on Max Reger’s organ music (see “Reger and the Organ,” The Diapason, March 1973) and a performing edition of a sonata da chiesa of Johann Gottfried Walther. He also taught organ students at Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, where he served as university organist for nearly 30 years and played annual recitals. In 1988, he joined the choirs of St. Mary Church, New Haven, and the St. Gregory Society and continued singing with them well into his 80s. Prince became an associate fellow of Ezra Stiles College in 1974. He was a longtime member of both Mory’s and the Elizabethan Club in New Haven, and the American Guild of Organists and Association of Anglican Musicians. Prince was a supporter of the Yale swimming team, and for many years he refereed at swimming matches and tournaments.

Nunc dimittis

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Richard Bond, 73, died in Portland, Oregon, February 17. Bond first became interested in organbuilding at age fifteen. After graduating with a degree in engineering science from the University of Redlands, Redlands, California, he began his organbuilding career in the company of other builders in Los Angeles, including Manuel Rosales and Michael Bigelow. In 1976, Bond and his wife Roberta moved to Portland to found their own firm. Under his leadership, Bond Organ Builders, Inc., has built thirty-six new organs and maintains instruments throughout the Pacific Northwest, as well as in California and Montana. The firm has also completed numerous rebuilds, additions projects, restorations, and relocations of significant historical instruments. For many years, Richard Bond was curator of the famous hanging Casavant organ at Portland’s Lewis & Clark College. More recently he took up the care of the Rosales organ at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, also in Portland, where he and Roberta sang in the choir. In addition to his membership in the American Institute of Organbuilders, Bond served on the Historic Organs Committee of the Organ Historical Society. Bond Organ Builders, Inc., holds membership in the Associated Pipe Organ Builders of America and the International Society of Organbuilders. Richard Bond is survived by his wife Roberta and a son Tim.

John C. Gumpy, 80, of Macungie, Pennsylvania, died September 29, 2019. Born in 1939 in Danville, Pennsylvania, John owned and ran Lehigh Organ Company for over thirty years, building and rebuilding organs. For sixteen years, he also served as organist for Trinity Episcopal Church, Easton, Pennsylvania, home to his Opus 128, a three-manual instrument of thirty-six ranks. His home congregation was Grace Church, Bethlehem. He was a founding member of the American Institute 
of Organbuilding. For his projects, Gumpy generally favored electric-valve windchests and open-toe nickless voicing for chorus work; he was a skilled recycler of older pipes as well. Some Lehigh projects included Opus 30 at First United Church of Christ in Reading, Pennsylvania (1986), in which a 1958 M. P. Möller organ was expanded to 80 ranks, including a new Great division and other material. John C. Gumpy is survived by his wife of fifty-seven years, Margery; son, Edward J. Gumpy and wife Kathryn of Vernon, New Jersey; daughter, Katherine E. and husband Jeffrey Crawford of Golden, Colorado; and grandson, Logan Gibson Gumpy. A memorial service was held October 4, 2019, at New Goshenhoppen U.C.C. in East Greenville, Pennsylvania.

Homer H. Lewis, Jr., a reed voicer who worked for both M. P. Möller and his own firm Trivo, died May 4 in Hagerstown, Maryland. Known familiarly as “Junie,” Lewis was 93. In 1942, while still a high school senior, Lewis began employment at Möller doing defense work. In 1943, he enlisted in the United States Navy, serving aboard the USS Bronstein, a destroyer escort, as a fire control man, Third Class, in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. At the conclusion of World War II, Lewis returned to Möller to become a reed voicer alongside his uncle, Adolf Zajic (1909–1987), who had come to Möller from Welte-Tripp in 1931. In 1963, Lewis, Joseph E. Clipp, and Edward Lushbaugh founded the Trivo Company, initially as a part-time enterprise. In 1969, the partners incorporated the business as Trivo Company, Inc., to provide voicing and reconditioning of reed stops, as well as new pipes. Lewis retired from Möller in 1972. While continuing to work part time at Trivo, he taught principles of electricity at Victor Cullen Reform School for Boys in Sabillasville, Maryland, a correctional institute run by the State of Maryland. In 1974 when the state relocated the school, Lewis switched to full-time work at Trivo, and in 1983, Lewis and Clipp bought out Edward Lushbaugh’s share of Trivo. Lewis retired in 2012 at age 86. His career in the organ business spanned seven decades. Lewis was a member of the Improved Order of Red Men #84, Williamsport, Maryland; Washington County Amvets (Post 10), Hagerstown; and the American Legion. He was a founding member of the American Institute of Organbuilders. His wife, Nancy, who frequently joined her husband at AIO conventions, died last year.

Marvin Garrett Judy, 76, founder of Schudi Organ Company, died February 29. Born in Saint Louis, Missouri, in 1943, he moved with his family to Dallas, Texas, in 1952. He studied ’cello through high school and college years. After attending Southern Methodist University for several years, he left in 1963 to work for Robert Sipe and Rodney Yarbrough at the Sipe-Yarbrough Organ Company, Texas’s second 20th-century builder (after Otto Hofmann) to concentrate on mechanical key action. When Sipe went to the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company in that firm’s final years (1969–1972), Judy installed that firm’s organs in the south and southeastern states, a phase of his career that drew to a close with Aeolian-Skinner’s bankruptcy, Sipe’s return to Texas, and Judy’s founding of Schudi in Garland, Texas, in 1972. In all, the Schudi firm built twenty-seven new organs, primarily in Texas but also Oklahoma, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, and Washington, D.C. Beginning with Opus 17 (1980), a two-manual tracker in Texarkana, Texas, the Schudi shop concentrated on mechanical action. Keyboards, slider windchests, key and stop actions, casework, and consoles were made in-house; pipes, blowers, and electronic components came from other firms. Schudi’s first instrument to draw national attention was a three-manual electric-slider instrument, Opus 6 of 1978, for St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, Dallas. Opus 6 was expanded in 1987 and became widely noticed that year for Todd Wilson’s recording of the complete organ works of Maurice Duruflé (DELOS 3047). As esteemed was the firm’s Opus 38 (1987) in the Crypt Church of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, D.C. In addition to servicing Schudi organs, Judy maintained those by others, notably his twenty-two-year curatorship of C. B. Fisk’s Opus 100 at Meyerson Symphony Center, Dallas. In all of the shop’s endeavors, Marvin was surrounded by considerable talent: the conceptual and creative input of George Gilliam early on; long-term staffers Charles Leonard, Jim Lane, James Stillson, Jonathon Maedche, Ivan Witt, Szymon Januszkiewicz, and Piotr Bolesta; also the now-deceased David Zuber, Moises Carrasco, and E. O. Witt; the periodic support of friend and colleague Mark Lively; and through it all, the business and logistical support of Nanette Gordon, initially hired in 1980 to carve pipe shades. She and Marvin Judy married in 1983. The financial downturn of the late 1980s and early 1990s dealt harshly with several organbuilding establishments, Schudi among them. Despite the loss of contracts and a reduction of scope, Judy persevered, with a genial nature and persistent work ethic that continued to the end. Even until his final months, he remained active in rebuilding and service work in the Dallas area. Marvin Judy is survived by his wife Nanette; his son, John Judy, of Savannah, Georgia; a daughter, Allison Gordon and Stephen Shein of Houston, Texas; and his brother, Dwight Judy, and sister-in-law, Ruth Judy of Syracuse, Indiana.  —Jonathan Ambrosino

David C. Scribner died April 16. Born September 21, 1947, in Chicago, Illinois, he received most of his organ instruction as a student of Arthur C. Becker and René Dosogne at DePaul University. At Saint Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, Scribner became Becker’s assistant and then successor as organist. During his time in Chicago, Scribner was a member of the Windy City Gay Men’s Chorus. Scribner would move to San Francisco, California, Pensacola, Florida, and finally Little Rock, Arkansas. His most recent organist position was at Christ Episcopal Church, Little Rock, as a substitute. He also served as a vestryman of that parish, where he freely contributed computer expertise to allow the church to spread its ministry through social media. Having previously worked for other organ firms, Scribner spent the last twenty years at Nichols & Simpson Organbuilders in Little Rock. David Scribner was an active member of the American Institute of Organbuilders, the Organ Historical Society, the American Guild of Organists, the Atlantic City Convention Hall Organ Society, the Organ Media Foundation, and Pipechat.org, the latter being his creation. All these organizations he served in numerous ways, much of which involved his expert computer technical knowledge. In addition to his passion for the pipe organ, Scribner was a lifelong railroad enthusiast, greatly enjoying travel on Amtrak and anything else with a connection to train tracks. In this vein, he supported numerous historical clubs and railway museums. Per his wishes, Scribner’s cremains were interred in Christ Church, Little Rock, on May 1, as near to the organ as possible. A memorial organ concert in his honor will be scheduled in the future at Christ Church, where memorial donations may be made in his name.

William Chandler Teague, 97, died June 27. He was born July 8, 1922, in Gainesville, Texas, where he began musical training at age three with his mother. At age 12 he became the organist for a large Methodist church. As a teenager he studied organ in Dallas, Texas, and entered Southern Methodist University at age 16. His studies were interrupted when Alexander McCurdy invited him to study at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His studies at Curtis were interrupted by World War II, as he joined the United States Army Air Force as a chaplain’s assistant. He returned to Curtis after the war to study and serve as McCurdy’s assistant, playing for Sunday oratorio performances at First Presbyterian Church. Accompanying Teague to Philadelphia was his young bride, the former Lucille Ridinger, whom he had married during the war. They had met at a Methodist camp when they were 12 years old. Teague’s organ teachers included Dora Poteet Barclay, Alexander McCurdy, Marie-Claire Alain, Harold Gleason, and Catharine Crozier. After graduation from Curtis in 1948, Teague came to Shreveport, Louisiana, to accept the position of organist/choirmaster at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church (now the location of The Church of the Holy Cross, St. Mark’s having relocated in 1954 and in 1990 became a cathedral) and a teaching position at Centenary College of Louisiana in the organ and sacred music departments. He taught for 44 years earning the rank of full professor. He was later designated Professor of Music Emeritus at the college, which granted him an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree. He served as accompanist as he and his wife traveled with the Centenary College Choir to various countries including China. He served St. Mark’s Cathedral for 39 years before being designated Organist Emeritus. Teague maintained an active concert career, performing in such venues as Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, Austria, Westminster Abbey, Trinity Church Wall Street and the Riverside Church in New York City, National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., and the armed forces academies. He was invited to play behind the Iron Curtain with concerts in East Berlin, Poland, and in other countries. He and Lucille were in East Berlin at the Wall when the first blows were struck to tear it down. He would perform in Japan, Australia, all over the United States and Europe, and in North Africa. In addition to solo organ concerts, William joined his son, Chandler, in presenting music for organ and percussion in concerts across the United States. Following his retirement from St. Mark’s Cathedral, Teague was interim organist for churches throughout the region. Teague was active in the American Guild of Organists, the Association of Anglican Musicians, the Sewanee Music Conference, and the Evergreen Summer Conference. He was a Fellow in Church Music at Washington National Cathedral. For ten summers Teague was summer organist at St. Ann’s by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, Kennebunkport, Maine. He was a founding member of Baroque Artists of Shreveport, founded the Great Masterpiece Series at St. Mark’s Cathedral, recorded a weekly organ concert for radio broadcast for eight years, trained thousands of choristers in the tradition of Anglican music, and played for hundreds of weddings, funerals, and festivals. Raven Recordings released a two-CD set of organ music performed by Teague at St. Mark’s Cathedral, The Aeolian-Skinner Sound (OAR-800), including works by Dupré, Messiaen, and Willan. In 1988, the City of Shreveport honored him with William C. Teague Day, and the Teague Music Scholarship was established at Centenary College. The Teague-Smith Scholarship Fund for young choristers was later established at St. Mark’s Cathedral. Teague is listed in volumes of Who’s Who including the International Who’s Who, and was recently honored by the East Texas Pipe Organ Festival. William Chandler Teague is survived by a son, Chandler Teague, and wife, Janis Adams Teague, of Shreveport, Louisiana; a daughter, Lynda Gayle Teague Deacon of Memphis, Tennessee; three grandchildren, Sandra Deacon, Clay Deacon, and Hunter Deacon; and four great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife of 77 years, Lucille Ridinger Teague. A combined service for Dr. and Mrs. Teague will be held at a later date. Memorials may be made to the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra, 616 Jordan St., Shreveport, LA 71101; the Teague-Smith Scholarship Fund at St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, 908 Rutherford St., Shreveport, LA 71104; or the Teague Music Scholarship Fund at Centenary College, 2911 Centenary Blvd., Shreveport, LA 71104.

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