University of Michigan 44th Conference on Organ Music

W. Michael Brittenback is currently minister of music at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Plymouth, Michigan. He serves as Chair of Region V of the Association of Anglican Musicians, and as a member of the Executive Board of the Ann Arbor AGO Chapter. Gordon Atkinson is a past president of the RCCO (1976–1978) and currently serves as organist and choirmaster of All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Virginia Beach, Virginia.

The 43rd International Conference on Organ Music, Marilyn Mason, director, sponsored by the University of Michigan, was held October 5–8, 2003, in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, Michigan. The offerings this year represented Germany, Holland, France, Russia and the United States, and the organ music ranged from the beginnings of the North German-Dutch School through the twentieth century. The two cities of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, separated by only a street, boast three thriving university organ programs, and the conference showcased all three schools.

The festivities began with a traditional Lutheran hymn festival on Sunday evening at Concordia University Chapel with the choirs of Concordia University and St. Lorenz Lutheran Church, Frankenmuth, Michigan, conducted by Paul Altvogt, with Michele Johns and Scott Hyslop playing the large Schlicker organ.

On Monday morning the conference began at the University of Michigan School of Music with a lecture by William Gudger on the editing and performance of Handel’s organ concertos. On Tuesday he gave a recital of music by British composers (including Handel) at Eastern Michigan University. Dr. Gudger is currently on the faculty of the College of Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina, and is co-editor of the critical edition of the Opus 4 Organ Concertos of Handel.

The lecture was followed by a splendid recital of music of Sweelinck, Scheidt and Scheidemann given by Gail Archer, director of the music program at Barnard College, Columbia University, New York City, on the Marilyn Mason Organ built by Fisk. On Tuesday, Dr. Archer gave an animated lecture on performance practices of Sweelinck and his contemporaries as well as insights into the organs of the period.

Monday afternoon’s events were held at First Congregational Church of Ann Arbor, featuring the large three-manual Wilhelm organ. Marilyn Mason and Robert Luther gave an exciting recital of organ music for four hands and feet. For the last selection Dr. Mason was joined by pianist Seth Nelson playing the Classic Concerto for Organ and Piano by Leo Sowerby, one of the highlights of the day.

This was followed by a fine lecture on Russian organ music and organs in Russia by Iain Quinn, a Welsh organist and scholar. His lecture made everyone look forward to his recital on Tuesday on the fine Aeolian-Skinner organ at Pease Auditorium on the campus of Eastern Michigan. A recital by Matthew Bogart, Erin MacGorman, Seth Nelson, and Abigail Woods—students of the University of Michigan organ department—closed the afternoon’s events.

The day culminated with a splendid recital by Petr Plany, professor of organ at the University of Olomouc, Czech Republic, on the Létourneau organ at St. Francis Catholic Church in Ann Arbor. The evening began with one of the best performances of the Gothic Symphony in recent memory, and ended with music by the Czech composer Euben Reuchsel. On Wednesday Professor Plany gave an insightful lecture on the organ music and organs of the Czech Republic.

On Tuesday all events were held at Eastern Michigan and began with an exciting recital on the recently restored Aeolian-Skinner organ given by Donald Williams, professor of organ and university organist at Concordia University; Scott Elsholz, visiting instructor of organ at Eastern Michigan University; and James Wagner, adjunct faculty at Marygrove College. The program featured organ music of the 20th century. This was immediately followed with a recital given by Shin Ae Chun, Greg Hand, and David Saunders, graduate students of the organ department of the University of Michigan.

The afternoon events moved into the organ studio at Eastern Michigan where a fine three-manual Kney resides. After Dr. Archer’s lecture and Dr. Gudger’s recital, a discussion was led by Michele Johns, adjunct professor of church music at the University of Michigan, on “Recruitment and Positive People Skills for Church Musicians.” Dr. Johns was assisted by two students: Luke Davis and Kirsten Hellman.

The evening recital was given by Pamela Ruiter-Feenstra, professor of organ and university organist at Eastern Michigan, on the Aeolian-Skinner in Pease Auditorium. The program featured music by Demessieux, Boulanger, Olsson, Lindberg, and Bovet.

The final day was held at First Presbyterian Church of Ann Arbor, showcasing their new Schoenstein organ. The first event was a recital by students from the organ department of the University of Michigan and included Luke Davis, Michael Frisch, Kirsten Hellman, Andrew Herbruck, and Susan DeKam. This was followed by a masterclass in improvisation given by Justin Bischof, on the theory faculty of Manhattan School of Music and organist/choir director of Westchester Reform Temple. His teaching skill made the art of improvisation seem accessible to any musician. Next followed an improvised recital on hymn tunes suggested by the audience. Dr. Bischof performed convincing improvisations in the style of Max Reger, John Adams, and Messiaen, and then played a thirty-minute improvisation in his own style of a complete four-movement symphony for organ.

Following Petr Plany’s lecture on organ music of the Czech Republic, Joseph Daniel performed the final recital of the conference featuring music by Widor, Franck, and Duruflé.

The conference closed with a wonderful patio reception at the home of Marilyn Mason. The extraordinarily high caliber of all of the presenters and the variety of the material presented truly gave something for everyone who attended to learn and enjoy.

—W. Michael Brittenback

The University of Michigan’s 43rd Conference on Organ Music, “The European Connection,” was held October 5–8, 2003, and highlighted music from England, France, Germany, Holland, Russia and the United States. Three full days of organ music and lectures were preceded by the opening program at Holy Trinity Chapel, Concordia University, Ann Arbor, entitled “Oh, That I Had a Thousand Voices—Hymns, Psalms and Spiritual Songs for the Church Year.” The unique triangular shaped building with its stunning stained glass, reminiscent of that at Chartres (the artist Charles Loire’s studio is in Chartres) was an appropriate venue, particularly as the sun set. With important events in the church year outlined by the narrator, Rev. Stephen P. Starke, music was presented with opportunity for congregational participation. The choirs of Concordia University and St. Lorenz Lutheran Church, Frankenmuth, Michigan, with organ, brass quintet and handbells, provided strong leadership, and sang anthems by Alfred Fedak, Scott Hyslop, Martin How and K. Lee Scott. As a result of careful planning, there was great variety in the arrangements of hymns, with some verses sung by choir alone, solo verses, congregation alone, and instrumental solos, the latter affording the congregation time to reflect on the words. Conducted by Brian Altevogt, Andrew Schultz prepared the brass players, and Scott Hyslop was the organist. The 1963 Schlicker provided powerful accompaniment for the 300 people present.

Monday morning’s session, held in the Blanche Anderson Moore Hall at the University of Michigan, commenced with William Gudger’s lecture, “Editing and Performing Handel’s Organ Concertos.” He pointed out that the early concertos were intended for performance with the early oratorios. No. 4 with its “Alleluya” chorus was performed with Athalia, the chorus part founded on the material of the final fugue. This concerto, which is not a reworking of earlier compositions, can be called the first keyboard concerto by any composer. Concerning registration, the single-manual instruments contained two diapasons, one metal, one wood, with metal principals at 4’, 22/3’, 2’ and 13/5’; 4’ flutes were sometimes available. “Swiss cheese registrations” (8’ and 2’, 8’ and 22/3’) have no validity historically. In 1738 John Walsh published a transcription of the Six Concertos for the Harpsichord or Organ, making them available as solos for a single player. Of note, this edition was available by successors to Walsh and others until the late 1890s, when it was supplanted by romantic style editions with flamboyant cadenzas. An excellent handout was provided.

Gail Archer played music by Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck and two of his many students, Samuel Scheidt and Heinrich Scheidemann, with great style and authentic registration. The Fisk Opus 87, which most closely resembles the Silbermann instrument in Rotha, Germany, was wholly appropriate for this recital.

At First Congregational Church, Marilyn Mason and Robert Luther played a program of duets, the commissioned Celebration of Two Hymn Tunes by Alice Jordan; Martyrs, op. 7 of Kenneth Leighton (“not for the faint-hearted, players or listeners”); and Concert Variations on Auld Lang Syne by Eugene Thayer. Dr. Mason, joined by Seth Nelson, played Leo Sowerby’s Classic Concerto with grace and style, the strings arranged for piano by the composer in 1948, in order “that there be more performances.” (I recall hearing Dr. Mason play this with strings conducted by Dr. Sowerby at Westminster Abbey for the International Congress of Organists in 1957.) The Karl Wilhelm instrument is always a joy to hear.

Two recitals and lectures featured music from countries of which many musicians know little, the first by Iain Quinn in his lecture, “The Tsar of Instruments.” He gave an overview of the history of the organ in Russia from Byzantine times to J. S. Bach and beyond. Organs from Holland and England were owned by the nobility, as organs had no place in the Orthodox liturgical world and were denounced by church authorities. During the time of Peter the Great, the mid-18th century, an interest in the culture of Europe developed, and more organs were imported, including those of Arp Schnitger. European artists made tours. Johann Wilhelm Hassler (1747–1822) influenced the musical life of Moscow and introduced the music of J. S. Bach to Russia. The 19th century saw the importation of organs by Walcker, Sauer, Steinmeyer and Ladegast from Germany; from England those by Brindley and Foster; and the Cavaillé-Coll from France for the Moscow Conservatory. Liszt, Widor, Tournemire and Bossi made tours, Widor playing five of his symphonies in one concert. Newly established organ departments of the conservatories of St. Petersburg and Moscow had “non-ecclesiastical” organ studies. A helpful handout of publications listing compositions by Glasunov (“arguably the most important Russian organ composer”), Gretchaninov, Glière, Glinka, Rachmaninov (an Andante for harmonium from Trio elegiaque, written in memory of Tchaikovsky) and Shostakovich shows the extent of organ compositions in the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries.

A daily addition to the conference featured recitals by students in the organ department from the studios of Marilyn Mason, Robert Glasgow and James Kibbie. Matthew Bogart, Abigail Woods, Stephanie Muller, Seth Nelson and Erin MacGorman concluded the afternoon sessions.

That night at St. Francis Catholic Church (Létourneau organ), Petr Plany of the University of Olomouc, Czech Republic, played a program which opened with Widor’s Gothic Symphony. The last movement with its numerous tempi changes was stunningly performed, the player, organ and the building’s sympathetic acoustics a fine match. Chorale preludes and a Prelude and Fugue in f by B. A. Wiedermann (1883–1951) and Promenades en Provence by Eulen Reuchsel (1900–1988) completed the evening.

Tuesday’s events were held at Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti. At Pease Auditorium with its 1960 Aeolian-Skinner recently restored by Schoenstein, Donald Williams opened the first program with Vincent Persichetti’s chorale prelude Give peace in our time, O Lord, the melody introduced by Sally Carpenter, alto. James Wagner played Messiaen’s Consecration and Apparition de l’Eglise eternelle. Calvin Hampton’s Five Dances were played by Scott Elsholz. In the second recital by students of the School of Music, David Saunders, Gregory Hand and Shin-Ae-Chun were heard. In Iain Quinn’s recital he played much of the music he had discussed the previous day. Of particular interest were the Prelude and Fugue in D, op. 93, and Prelude and Fugue in d, op. 98, of Glasunov.

In the organ studio of the Alexander Building with its 1982 Gabriel Kney instrument, Gail Archer shared her enthusiasm for Sweelinck and his disciples in her lecture, “The Foundation of the North German School,” stressing the tuning of instruments and the fingering used. An invaluable handout included the stoplists of the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam, where Sweelinck as civic organist played daily recitals, and St. Moritz’s Church, Halle, where Scheidt was organist; his instructions for playing chorale-based pieces were also included. “Rules for the Organist in the City of Leiden” (1607) directed that recitals start and end on “ . . . the Principal and in between [he] will use and play all the stops . . . ” Slides were shown of churches in Germany where this music can be performed authentically.

Dr. Gudger’s recital featured English music from the 18th to the 20th centuries, with works by William Walond, Handel (Concerto No. 4), Samuel Wesley, Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Charles Villiers Stanford, and Herbert Howells. Again a handout provided much pertinent information.

For the last part of the afternoon, Michele Johns introduced “Recruitment and Positive People Skills for Church Musicians,” presented by Luke Davis and Kirsten Hellman. In the short time available the audience was divided into small groups in which situations both positive and negative were discussed, some of which were reported at the end of the session. From their research, the presenters defined problems and positive ways in which they could be met.

The evening program at Pease Auditorium, played by Pamela Ruiter-Feenstra, professor and university organist at EMU, featured French music by Jeanne Demessieux and Nadia Boulanger, and Swedish music by Otto Olsson and Oskar Lindberg. The 1935 Prelude and Fugue in d# (!) of Olsson was exciting in its intensity, and Guy Bovet’s well-known Salamanca concluded a delightful evening.

Wednesday, October 8, at First Presbyterian Church, Ann Arbor (with its 2002 Schoenstein organ), commenced with the third program by organ students of the School of Music: Luke Davis, Ben La Prairie, Kirsten Hellman, Michael Frisch, Susan de Kam and Andrew Herbruck. For the second time in the conference a composition for organ and piano was featured, Dupré’s Ballade for Piano and Organ dedicated to his daughter, Marguerite, played by de Kam and Herbruck. In his lecture on improvisation, Justin Bischof said that technique in this art form must be developed, by practicing regularly and striving for excellence. He suggested using as a basis I-IV-V-I, keeping the forward movement in strict time. As one progresses one could move to I-I6-IV-IV6-V-V7-I. In playing a hymn, solo the treble line, then put the melody in the pedal, followed by the melody with a different pedal line from that written (using part of the printed chord), and finally adding other chords. Two people volunteered (or were conscripted) to illustrate his suggestions. Dr. Bischof requested hymn tunes from the audience on which he improvised short pieces. His improvisation in the style of Reger demonstrated his familiarity with the composer’s style. The final piece, in which were quotations from several sources, was a brilliant tour de force.

Petr Plany’s noteworthy lecture included many recorded examples. Composers who wrote prolifically for the organ included J. F. N. Seger (1716–1782), B. A. Wiedermann (1883–1951), and major contributions from present-day Jiri Ropek and Petr Eben. Dvorák and Janácek, probably the best known Czech composers, wrote little for the instrument, the former various preludes and fugues, of which the one in D was heard, and the latter some short adagios, apart from the monumental Postlude of his Glagolitic Mass. An extensive handout provided much information concerning composers from the 17th century to the present day, as well as stoplists, manual compasses and the names of organ builders.

In the final recital, Joseph Daniel performed movements from Widor’s Symphony No. 4, Franck’s Choral in a, and the Choral Variations on Veni Creator Spiritus of Duruflé, the alternatim sung by David Hoffman. The conference concluded with a reception at the home of Marilyn Mason and her husband, Dr. William Steinhoff.

As always, The University of Michigan presented a fine conference with time allowed for relaxation. There was much compelling playing by the students with thanks due their teachers, Marilyn Mason, Robert Glasgow and James Kibbie. Conferees from 12 states appreciated the organizational skills of Dr. Mason and Dr. Johns. It was a time for listening, learning, discussion, meeting old friends and making new ones. After being closed for almost two years for restoration and improvement it will be a delight to be at Hill Auditorium for the 44th Conference in October 2004.

—Gordon Atkinson

Herman D. Taylor is Professor of Music at Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, Illinois. /p>

Donald W. Williams is on the faculty of Concordia College, AnnArbor, Michigan.

The University of Michigan's 41st Conference on Organ Music, October 7-10, 2001, under the direction of Marilyn Mason, featured the music of France with the theme, "The French Connection." Most of the music presented was French or French-connected.

The conference opened at Hill Auditorium with a splendid performance of Johannes Brahms' "Ein Deutsches Requiem," featuring a choir of 300 from the University of Michigan Women's and Men's Glee Clubs and the Smith College Glee Club, conducted, respectively, by Sandra Snow, Jerry Blackstone, and Jonathan Hirsh. Stephen Lusmann, baritone, and Kimberley Dolan-ski, soprano, were the soloists along with the Brahms Festival Orchestra. Each conductor took his/her turn conducting.

On Sunday night graduate students in the School of Music, representing  the studios of Robert Glasgow, James Kibbie, and Marilyn Mason, performed works by Bolcom, Vierne, Duruflé, Hakim, Messiaen, and Widor at Hill Auditorium. The organists featured were Gregory Hand, David Dockery, David Saunders, Noriko Ernst, Jean Randall, and Brennan Szafron.

James Wagner, candidate for the A. Mus. D. degree at Michigan, presented a lecture/recital: "The French Influence in Bach: Parallel, Contrary, and Oblique Motion." Mr. Wagner effectively mixed the lecture with performances on the C. B. Fisk organ in Blanche Anderson Moore Hall, and included works by Titelouze, Raison, de Grigny, and three works by J.S. Bach.

Robert Bates, associate professor of organ, Moore School of Music at the University of Houston, presented two sessions. The first, "Early French Organ Music," included works by Caurroy, Titelouze, Racquet, Louis and François Couperin, Guilain, Louis-Claude Da-quin, and two anonymous composers. Cantor David Troiano sang alternatim chants. During the second session, "Alternation Practice in Early French Organ Music," Dr. Bates took us beyond what is generally covered in a typical medieval music course! Providing various examples of chant, he worked with a group of better-than-usual sight-readers. Bates revealed himself to be a relaxed player and thoroughly knowledgeable about his subject matter.

Ralph Kneeream, organist and music director, Temple Sinai, Delray Beach, Florida, presented two lectures on Tournemire's Sept Chorals Poèmesd'Orgue pour les sept paroles du Xrist, Op. 67 and l'Orgue Mystique. Dr. Kneeream's admiration for Tournemire was clear as he showed him to be a great teacher as well as a prolific composer. We were given a notable insight into Tournemire's use of the chorale in the manner of Franck, as well as his use of simple meters and tempo changes. Organist Jean Randall performed Tournemire's Dominca X Post Pentecosten (#36) and the Paraphrase Carillon, In Assumptione B.M.V. (#35) (l'Orgue Mystique).

The conference was treated to a delightful, spontaneous, and informative lecture by Marie-Claire Alain on aspects of the life of her brother, Jehan Alain. Mme. Alain played passages of music as she discussed members of her family and provided other invaluable insights into their music. On Tuesday evening Mme. Alain  presented a recital at the First Congregational Church on the Wilhelm organ featuring works by de Grigny, Marchand, Balbastre, J. S. Bach, Albert Alain, and five compositions by Jehan Alain, concluding with Litanies.

Jean-Pierre Lecaudey, organist at St. Martin, Saint-Remy-de-Provence, France, played a challenging program of the Three Chorals of Cesar Franck and the Suite, Op. 5, by Duruflé. A very accurate player, he was at home with these works and took the Duruflé Toccata at a breathtaking tempo.

Lecaudey was heard in an informative and helpful session, "Franck's Chorales: Tournemire, the Third Hand at the Piano with his Master." His handouts were of particular value as they dealt with important matters of registration and interpretation. This writer found his knowledge of the registers and couplers on the organ at St. Clotilde, the church in Paris where Franck presided, to be extremely useful.

Dr. Jesse Eschbach, chair, keyboard studies division, University of North Texas, presented an enlightening lecture on "Tournemire's Teaching Methods." He offered a detailed handout with such salient materials as: Significant Biographical Dates in the Life of Charles A. Tournemire; Principal Works for Organ of Charles Tournemire, a compilation from The New Grove (Darasse) and Catalogue (Fauquet); along with the specifications of six instruments that figured prominently in Tournemire's life. Armed with these and other materials and data, Dr. Eschbach proceeded to speak about Tournemire's perspective on such matters as organ building, technical preparation, and improvisation.

On Wednesday, October 10, the second lecture by Eschbach, "Rousseau, Revolution and Restoration," covered the historical setting and the influence of French culture upon the arts.  Rousseau, commenting on imagination writes: "The world of reality has its limits but the world of imagination is boundless."

Michele Johns in her "Choral Reading Session" offered a varied packet of music by Charpentier, Vierne, Jordan, and included two published works by Michigan graduates Larry Visser and Kevin Hildebrand.

Three alums of the doctoral program were heard on the Wilhelm organ. Darlene Kuperas played de Grigny's Pangua Lingua and a Dandrieu Noël with careful articulations; Michael Elsbernde sang the alternatim. Huw Lewis gave us a broad palette of many colors in works by Gounod, Vierne, and Lefébure-Wély. Evelyn Lim evidenced solid understanding of the French manner with stylish articulations and inégales in the de Grigny Veni Creator, and David Troiano provided a satisfying alternatim to the five versets.

The lecture with Marie-Claire Alain and Norma Stevlingson focused on their work on the Alain Compendium. Mme. Alain's master class on Couperin's Convent Mass was inspiring and thorough.

On Wednesday evening, Christian Teeuwsen provided imaginative programming at the Fisk organ in the School of Music. Bach's Pièce d'Orgue,  imitating with its shape the Offertoires of de Grigny and Couperin, is unique in its formal structure--it has no relatives in the Bach canon. Teeuwsen's registrations were imaginative, and utilized the many possibilities of the Marilyn Mason Organ.

 This was an altogether wonderful conference with fine players and informed presenters who delighted attendees.

--Herman D. Taylor

Professor of Music

Eastern Illinois University

Charleston, Illinois

--Donald W. Williams

Faculty, Concordia College

Ann Arbor, Michigan

23rd International Organ and Church Music Institute

The 23rd International Organ and Church Music Institute was held at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor June 23-25. The institute began with a recital of music for violin and organ presented by U-M alums Tapani Yrjölä and Michele Johns, who also taught an improvisation class in addition to performing and organ teaching. The recital included Finnish music for violin and organ by Toivo Kuula and Franz Linnavuori, in addition to works by Bach, Buxtehude, and Vivaldi.

Marilyn Mason conducted an excellent masterclass on the Bach Neumeister Chorales, providing insight into these recently-discovered works. James Kibbie provided a thorough examination of the Bach Clavierübung, part III, in his masterclass. Robert Glasgow presented a very informative session on the interpretation of the organ works of César Franck.

One of the highlights of the festival was a recital by doctoral student William Jean Randall of Baroque music from France and Germany, which included a setting of the Titelouze Magnificat primi toni and the Marchand Te Deum, complete with plainchant sung in alternatim by Chris Meerdink. The last day of the institute included a three-hour masterclass on organ construction and design by Helmut Schick, which was then followed by a closing recital by students of Dr. Mason and Dr. Kibbie, featuring works by Bach, Buxtehude, and Lübeck.

--John C. Bostron

Organist, St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, Boise, Idaho

Organ Faculty, Boise State University

42nd Annual Conference on Organ Music

The University of Michigan's 42nd annual Conference on Organ Music  took place October 6-9, 2002, entitled "The European Connection," and featured the music of Germany, France, and the United States. Hill Auditorium, one of the usual venues for recitals and other events, is being renovated and was not available during this conference; however, Ann Arbor and the surrounding areas are replete with a wonderful variety of fine pipe organs.

The gala opening concert was held in the new sanctuary of Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, Plymouth, Michigan, and featured the new Casavant organ of 31 stops (42 ranks) on three manuals and pedal. The church sanctuary is spacious and the organ speaks effectively. It is an instrument with a rich palette of colors,  accommodates literature from all the periods, and is in a fine acoustical environment. Featured performers for the gala concert were guest organists from the Ann Arbor Chapter, American Guild of Organists, Donald Williams and Edward Maki-Schramm; from the Detroit Chapter, Scott van Ornum and Tom Trenney; from the Toledo Chapter, Brian Rotz and Barbara Dulmage. They performed works by Bach, Clérambault, Dudley Buck, Franck, and Duruflé.

Monday morning's activities were held in the Blanche Anderson Moore Hall of the University of Michigan, which houses the Marilyn Mason Organ, built by C.B. Fisk, which most closely resembles the instrument built by Silbermann for the Georgenkirche in Rotha, Germany. Master's degree student, Kirsten Hellman, performed music of France and Germany which included works by Lübeck, Couperin, and J.S. Bach. She was ably assisted by cantor David Troiano in the Gloria section of the Couperin Messe pour les Convents. Ms. Hellman was very well received as she played comfortably and flawlessly, concluding her program with the Bach Trio Sonata No. 1 and Prelude and Fugue in D Major, BWV 532.

Robert Clark, former Michigan organ faculty member and now Professor Emeritus, Arizona State University, lectured in the morning on the Hildebrandt organ of the Wenzelskirche in Naumburg, and performed the Bach Clavier-übung, Part III, in the afternoon.

The afternoon and evening activities on Monday were held at the First Congregational Church, which houses a fine Wilhelm organ. Graduate students Abigail Woods, Michael Frisch, and Elizabeth Claar, representing the studios of Professors Robert Glasgow, James Kibbie, and Marilyn Mason, gave brief remarks about the composers and music they were about to play, including compositions by Bach and Dupré.

Marilyn Mason blithely stated, as she introduced Susanne Diederich, distinguished German musicologist, that "some Germans love French music, and here is one!" This was an explanation for those wondering why Dr. Diederich was about to present a lecture titled, "Relations Between the Organs and the Music in the Classical French Tradition." Diederich gave lucid explanations of many aspects of French organ music, and her detailed handout provided a wealth of information on instruments, registration, and stoplists. Robert Luther, organist at Zion Lutheran Church in Anoka, Minnesota, played musical examples by Jean Adam Guilain.

Professor Clark's earlier lecture was based on his travels in East Germany and addressed the transitions of the Hildebrandt organ in 1933, 1978, and the restoration of 2000. We were treated with recordings of the present instrument along with a fine, scholarly and illuminating presentation. Mr. Clark played the Clavierübung, Part III, in memory of Robert Noehren, former Michigan organ professor and university organist who died on August 4, 2002. The playing was solid and sure, and the Wilhelm organ was the perfect instrument for this glorious music.

The concluding program for the day was all Bach, performed by Irene Greulich, organist at the Wenzel Church in Naumburg, Germany, since 1971, and included six compositions from the "Leipzig Eighteen," and a prelude and fugue along with the famed Toccata and Fugue in d minor, BWV 565. Her registrations were at times unexpected and effective, particularly in the chorale prelude Komm, heiliger Geist, Herre Gott.

Tuesday morning's activities were held at the First Presbyterian Church, Ann Arbor, with its recently installed Schoenstein organ of three manuals, 33 voices, and 42 ranks, on electric-pneumatic action. This instrument is described as enchambered with great and pedal unenclosed, and swell and choir enclosed. To the eyes and ears of this writer it is a successful instrument on which one is capable of leading church services, accompanying choral and instrumental groups, and performing organ literature of all periods.

Graduate students Luke Davis, Alan Knight, and Paula Seo, all of whom are directors of music at churches in the area, started out the day by presenting a well-performed program of organ music by Mendelssohn, George Thalben-Ball, and John Weaver. Again, the three players represented the three teaching studios of the Michigan organ faculty.

Marilyn Mason opened her lecture, "A Lifetime of New Music," commenting on and performing Prelude (pour Madame) by Gregory Hamilton and Miniature by Jean Langlais. Both compositions were played with verve, assurance, and absolute aplomb. Many of those present yearned for more of her playing; however, we were contented with cogent comments she made prior to each succeeding student performance. Doctoral students from her studio were Shin Ae Chun, Wm. Jean Randall, and David Saunders, performing commissioned works by John Ness Beck, Charles Callahan, Normand Lockwood, and Gordon Young. All of these organ students acquitted themselves splendidly. The brochure detailing the organ works commissioned by Mason through the years numbered over eighty, all of which she has performed. How many present-day organists can perform over eighty works by composers born in the 20th century?

Michael Gailit, distinguished Austrian organist at St. Augustine's Church in Vienna and a member of the faculty at the Vienna Conservatory of Music, presented a recital, "Mendelssohn and the Organ: The Background," which comprised works of Bach, Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Franz Schmidt. The entire program was cleanly played, always with tasteful, appropriate registrations and sometimes at breathtaking tempos.

Later in the afternoon, at St. Francis Catholic Church, where there is a three-manual Létourneau organ, Mr. Gailit presented an illuminating and often humorous lecture on his recital theme cited above. We were given a fairly exhaustive handout which included a number of composers and organs of the time, along with a graph which detailed the dates of Mendelssohn's organ compositions, publishers, and other useful information.

Irene Greulich, who performed on Monday night, lectured on the Bach Leipzig Chorales, BWV 651, 658, 659, 662, and 668. She discussed the plan for three settings of three chorales and spoke of the various usages of the settings. She was marvelously and amusingly assisted by Susanne Diederich, who also had lectured the day before, since Ms. Greulich was not always able to easily express herself in English. That, along with the consistent idea of "mystery" were sources of great fun and genuine interest.

One can, perhaps, tire of more and more brass groups endeavoring to play the great organ literature of the 17th and 18th centuries. However, the afternoon performance of the ensemble Today's Brass Quintet was refreshing, adding organ and tympani on this particular day. In their own words, "TBQ programs its original arrangements from a full spectrum of styles, ranging from the sparkling Baroque masterpieces of Bach and Pachelbel to the toe-tapping pleasures of Sousa, Gershwin and Ellington." On this occasion we heard some light fare, but in the main, we were feted with solid brass arrangements solidly played, including chorale preludes and an arrangement from Art of Fugue. Janelle O'Malley, organist at St. Francis, very competently joined the quintet on several compositions.

The long day ended splendidly with a performance of very challenging literature performed by Michigan organ professor James Kibbie. Beginning with the Bach Passacaglia in C minor, Professor Kibbie played compositions by Alain, Dan Locklair, Widor (Finale from Symphony VI in G minor), and Two Incantations for Trombone and Organ by Petr Eben. David Lee Jackson, trombonist, matched the organ in dynamics, expressiveness, and tone color. The Eben was a highlight of the recital. Kibbie plays with grace and ease, and one hears a maturity of expression and a total comfort with literature of all periods.

--Herman D. Taylor

Professor Emeritus

Eastern Illinois University

Charleston, Illinois

On Wednesday, October 9, the last day of the conference, conferees were treated to programs on two magnificent E. M. Skinner organs in Detroit. The morning program was held at the beautiful Jefferson Avenue Presbyterian Church, which houses a 68-rank Skinner organ. A program of music by Duruflé, Franck, Messiaen and Willan was performed by U of M doctoral students Gregory Hand, James Wagner, and Brennan Szafron, who used the registration possibilities available on the Skinner organ to the fullest.

The conference moved to the Masonic Temple for the afternoon program. After lunch at The Grill at the Temple, conferees gathered in the auditorium to hear the second Skinner organ. Dorothy Holden, internationally renowned E. M. Skinner expert and author of The Life and Work of E. M. Skinner, gave a very informative lecture on the development of the E. M. Skinner organ, illustrated by bits of music recorded on various notable Skinner organs around the country.

Next on the program was Robert Glasgow, U of M Professor of Music. Lecturing from the organ bench, Dr. Glasgow presented a masterclass on the performance of the Fantaisie in A by César Franck. For reference during the class, conferees were given a copy of the music with suggested annotations for performance by Dr. Glasgow.

The program--and the conference--concluded with the third dissertation recital of doctoral student Wm. Jean Randall. Mr. Randall played music of Dupré and selections from L'Orgue Mystique by Tournemire. Mr. Randall's performance of the Tournemire brilliantly demonstrated what an understanding of the previous scholarly talks on the Skinner organ and performance of late 19th-century French music can produce. It was a fitting conclusion to a rich and varied conference. Following the conclusion of the recital, conferees were invited to play the organ and tour the organ chambers.           

--Kathy Woodbury

Organist, First Church of Christ, Scientist, Norwood, Massachusetts

Marcia Van Oyen is Director of Music Ministry at First United Methodist Church, Plymouth, Michigan, and continues to serve as Director for the National AGO Committee for Membership Development and Chapter Support. She received her master’s and doctoral degrees at the University of Michigan, where she studied organ with Robert Glasgow.

The 46th University of Michigan Conference on Organ Music took place October 1–4, 2006. The event focused on music of Germany, France and the USA, featuring performances by Marie-Claire Alain, Michigan faculty members Marilyn Mason, James Kibbie, and Michele Johns, and a slate of lectures on a variety of topics. The majority of events took place at Hill Auditorium, home of the 4-manual, 124-rank Frieze Memorial Organ.

Children’s choir festival

The conference opened with a children’s choir festival organized by the Ann Arbor Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. Thomas Strode, AGO board member and director of the Ann Arbor Boy Choir, gathered over 85 children from six area churches and schools to sing together. Approximately half the program featured music sung by the combined choir directed by Strode; several groups sang individually as well, including the Messias Temple Youth Choir, whose inspired performance brought the audience to its feet. Charles Kennedy skillfully accompanied the choir, and played three Sketches and a Canon by Schumann. The audience of several hundred comprised largely families with young children, and I was glad to see them exposed to the sounds of both well-trained children’s voices and the pipe organ. Given the disposition of the audience, the stage was perfectly set to engage the multi-generational crowd with organ repertoire or a demonstration designed for such a purpose. Tom Strode did give some impromptu remarks about the organ, which seemed to pique the interest of the adults seated near me, but the program would have had greater impact had it included one of the many light-hearted, educational organ demonstration pieces of recent vintage. Based on the interest of more choirs in participating, the Ann Arbor AGO plans to continue this event in the future. I encourage them to make the most of the opportunity to educate young people about the pipe organ.

Michigan faculty performances

Sunday evening, Marilyn Mason and flautist Donald Fishel gave the Ann Arbor premiere of Breath of the Spirit—Pentecost for flute, organ, and narrators, composed by Michigan graduate Gregory Hamilton, based on poetry by Kenneth Gaertner. The pattern of the work was inspired by Dupré’s La Chemin de la Croix, with the ten sections of the work musically interpreting and commenting upon the poetry. In her opening remarks, Marilyn Mason noted that this concert was one of the first events to take place following the official renaming of the music school. In collegial spirit, she appropriately included two members of the theatre department as narrators in this performance presented by the School of Music, Theatre and Dance.
Here is a brief synopsis of the work, with a few noteworthy quotes from the poetry:
1. Overture—organ alone, featuring big solo trumpet melody.
2. Annunciation—the organ and flute trade motifs, suggesting a dialogue between Mary and the Angel Gabriel, the rounded sounds of the Hill organ blending beautifully with the flute.
3. Children in Praise—children caught up in the excitement and wonder of the quiet Rabbi Jesus healing a crippled man and a man with a withered hand. The flute introduces a sprightly theme, which is echoed by the organ, spiced with mild dissonance.
4. Herod—the poem speculates on Herod’s thoughts about John contrasted with those about his lover Herodias. He is simultaneously upset and intrigued by John, comforted and attracted to Herodias. Unaccompanied flute plays long passages in the low register contrasted with passages in the instrument’s uppermost register.
5. Mary Dancing—the story of Jesus changing water into wine at the wedding in Cana and the dancing at the wedding. For solo flute, nearly moto perpetuo.
6. Judas—for organ solo, beginning with a crashing chord and descending pedal solos, then a decrescendo to a sighing Bach-like fugue section. The movement ends with more clashing dissonance alternating with a funereal fugue. “Mankind’s future is mankind’s sin.”
7. Mary Magdalene/Doubting Thomas—the extended poem is followed by long flowing melodies portraying gentle happiness.
8. Poverty Shared—illustrates the experience of a poor man listening to Jesus preach. It begins seething with tension, then eases and flows into comforting, surging waves of lovely harmonies. The poetry preceding the movement offers these paradoxical thoughts: “Listening to the Rabbi preach, shedding the shroud of poverty, words flew into the ears of his poverty’s corpse. Had not his curse always been his salvation?” The initial tension returns to close the movement.
9. Desert Grief—Jesus appearing to Mary, resurrected. An oboe solo on organ alternates with the flute melody, perhaps indicating an undulating, leaping soul—“the burned sins of the world fell in gray ashes.”
10. Pentecost—recaps the overture, framing the work. Several strong poetic phrases wrap up the ideas in earlier poems: “delusions were ashes,” “truth cut through the oppression of their past,” “died and could not die again.”
Mason and Fishel proved themselves well-synchronized partners performing Breath of the Spirit, deftly navigating the work’s changing rhythmic landscape. For an extended work, it is easy to grasp and enjoyable on first hearing. Its accessible, attractive music would no doubt be enhanced by a church setting to give it a sacred context. The work will be published in the near future, perhaps with some of the movements simplified to promote more performance, especially in a liturgical setting.

James Kibbie: Leipzig Chorales

James Kibbie played all of Bach’s Leipzig Chorales in two sessions, the first on the Fisk organ at Blanche Anderson Moore Hall at the School of Music, and the second on the Wilhelm organ at First Congregational Church of Ann Arbor. Kibbie takes a natural approach to these chorales—his playing is unfussy and elegant. He works with the organ’s natural articulation, adding his own subtle touches, all in keeping with the musical flow and not distracting from the overall effect. His pacing of the chorales is cohesive and appropriate, each tempo and transition carefully considered, and the registrations are apt, tastefully chosen for color and not solely dramatic effect.
The audience sang each chorale tune before Kibbie played Bach’s settings, having been provided with a booklet including the chorales. The booklet also contained comprehensive notes written by Larry Visser in 1992 when he performed the Leipzig Chorales as part of his doctoral studies at Michigan.
James Kibbie is on sabbatical leave during winter term to begin a three-year project to record the complete organ works of J. S. Bach on historic organs in Germany. During 2007, he will record approximately one third of the Bach organ works, including the Leipzig Chorales on the Silbermann organ of Dresden Cathedral and the Kirnberger Chorales on the Silbermann organs in Rötha.

Michele Johns and Kristen Johns

Michele Johns and her daughter Kristen performed a delightful concert of music for horn and organ on Monday afternoon. Kristen Johns has recently earned a DMA in horn performance, and has compiled a list of over 100 pieces originally composed for horn and organ as part of her research. The program included a selection of works composed in the last third of the 20th-century, opening with the fanfare-filled Celebration for Horn and Organ by Randall Faust. Next, Craig Phillips’ tuneful Serenade for Horn and Organ was filled with the composer’s signature harmonies, while Dutch composer Jan Koetsier’s Choral-Fantasie on Gib dich zufrieden un sei stille reminds one of Mendelssohn or Rheinberger. Daniel Pinkham’s The Salutation of Gabriel was commissioned by Joan Lippincott in honor of Karen McFarlane’s retirement. It is a programmatic work in three continuous sections—Gabriel delivers the message, Mary replies, Gabriel departs. Pinkham effectively portrays both the excitement and weightiness of the message, going so far as to instruct the performer to walk off-stage before playing the closing notes of the piece to signify Gabriel departing. Arnatt’s Variations on Divinum Mysterium is a beautifully composed work, keeping the familiar chant tune prominent most of the time. Works by Paul Basler and Gunther Marks rounded out this enjoyable mother/daughter collaboration.

Student performances

Students of Marilyn Mason and James Kibbie performed in several concerts during the conference. Monday morning, doctoral candidate Seth Nelson gave an excellent lecture-recital on Mozart’s flute clock pieces. The temperament of the Fisk organ brought out the character and color of these pieces, particularly the F-minor Fantasy. Doctoral students Marcia Heirman, Andrew Meagher, Alan Knight, Christine Chun, Susan De Kam, and master’s student Thomas Kean performed works ranging from Messiaen to Brahms to Vierne on Monday afternoon. Undergraduate Joseph Balistreri, master’s student Paul Haebig, doctoral student Michael Stefanek, and returning DMA graduates Shin-Ae Chun and Seth Nelson played works by Le Bègue, Langlais, Franck, Sowerby, Bolcom, and Dupré on Wednesday afternoon. Following the organ program, Christine Chun performed her first dissertation recital as pianist of the Michigan Trio, performing chamber works with cellist Amar Basu and violinist Jane Yu. David Saunders gave his second doctoral recital on Wednesday evening, playing music of DeGrigny, Guilain, Franck and Grandjany. Carillonneur Steven Ball gave a short carillon concert prior to the evening event.

Mozart lecture

Music theory professor Ellwood Derr gave an outstanding lecture on Mozart on Tuesday morning. He began by offering a Native American saying, “It is good for the living to perform ceremonies for the dead,” and invited his audience to actively participate in the lecture. Comparing Mozart to Michelangelo and Shakespeare, Derr asserted that Mozart is a magician, a freak due to his unusually high level of skill and his ability to innately and directly communicate with his audience, whether or not they are educated. His corpus of works, which Derr believes to be technically perfect, is so vast it is nearly impossible to listen to it all.
Derr has done research that identifies more than 80 Mozart works that borrow material from J. C. Bach, whom Mozart greatly admired. He recognizes three ways in which existing material can be incorporated into new works: reuse of thematic material, a technique so widely used as to be in common domain; unadorned borrowing for effect; and material retrieved from memory, the most common method of borrowing. He discussed examples from the Great Mass in C minor and the Requiem. In connection with remarks on the high quality of Mozart’s unfinished works, he played a selection from a recent recording of a gorgeous unfinished aria from Davide Penitente. Following the conference, Derr was slated to give this lecture and two additional lectures as part of a series of events celebrating Mozart, his era and his influence.

Classical French music

Monday afternoon, Susanne Diederich and Jean Randall offered a session on the Classical French organ and its music. Using the Frieze organ in Hill Auditorium, Randall demonstrated at the console and Diederich spoke. The main points of the lecture were the importance of stylistic specialties in giving character to French classic music, and that this period represents a rare confluence of instrument, music, style, and performance practice all working together. This era is unique in history; organ builders and organists worked closely together, and the organ was participating in the general development of music. Following this lecture, Stephanie Nofar gave a lecture-recital, “The Other France: Tribute to Unknown Masters.”

Maurice Clerc recital

Maurice Clerc played a recital featuring several transcriptions at Hill Auditorium on Monday evening. Having played at several previous conferences, Clerc seemed at home at the console and utilized the organ’s resources to great effect, preferring full registrations such as he can create at his home church, Notre-Dame in Paris. He began the program with his own bombastic transcription from Verdi’s Don Carlos, and moved on to Franck’s Pièce Héroïque, playing it with a very legato touch. He captured the excitement of the piece effectively, adding an arpeggiated fanfare before the closing chords. His transcription of a suite of character pieces by Fauré provided enjoyable listening, enlivened by colorful registrations. He followed with the Suite Medievale by Langlais, and closed the program with his transcription of a scherzo improvised by Pierre Cochereau in 1974.

Clerc: The art of transcription

On Tuesday afternoon, Maurice Clerc gave a lecture on preparing transcriptions. He cited transcription practices in the 18th century—Bach’s Schübler Chorales, Rameau’s arrangements of his own operas, and Balbastre’s transcriptions of his own works. After being abandoned for a time, transcription again became popular in the latter half of the 19th-century. Liszt arranged favorite orchestral and choral works for organ, and is known to have played the Kyrie from Mozart’s Requiem and transcriptions of classics for Widor. Karg-Elert made arrangements of Wagner’s works, using every possible technique available on the organ. Organ performance was very popular at the time, giving people the opportunity to hear great orchestral works performed on the instrument, since they would have had little or no opportunity to hear the likes of Wagner otherwise. Many composers did not write for the organ at all, deterred by having secular works performed in a sacred space, since most organs are located in churches.
Transcriptions allow us to play works by composers who didn’t write for the organ. The body of organ repertoire can be increased, and allow us to study a composer’s techniques. In addition, Clerc believes organists make transcriptions for their own enjoyment, giving the examples of David Briggs and Daniel Roth, as well as Jean Guillou, who made transcriptions when it wasn’t considered a legitimate art. Clerc discussed two types of transcriptions: adaptations of existing works to the language of the organ, and notations of improvisations. Both Dupré’s and Tournemire’s improvisations have been notated, allowing us to observe their improvisation styles. Clerc has transcribed works of Pierre Coche-reau, whom he describes as “having sparkling musicality, and endowed with staggering speed and an innate ability to use the whole organ from soft to loud.” Transcribing these improvisations captures a moment in time and preserves the uniqueness of the improviser’s art.

Michael Barone

Michael Barone opened his session with this statement: “We think we know everything, but if we don’t know history, we’re destined to repeat it.” His goal was to give a survey of how performers have approached French music over the years. Tinkering patiently with recalcitrant hi-fi equipment, he began with the first recording of early French music, a disc recorded by André Marchal on a Gonzales/Beckerath at Attignon in 1936, wondering “Can we play this music any better today?” Barone created a pastiche of Franck’s Pièce Héroïque, alternating passages played in 1929 by Marcel Dupré and in 1962 by E. Power Biggs, and offered a composite of several recordings of Gigout playing his own B-minor Toccata. He offered 15 examples of the opening section of Franck’s B-minor Choral, noting the balance shift between the manuals and the pedal among the various recordings.
Barone’s open-minded approach allows his audiences to be exposed to many performers and performances that might be ruled out in narrower definitions of what is worthwhile. He chooses recordings of instruments or performances that he deems so beguiling or interesting that they deserve a hearing, and to his credit is not bound by fashionable definitions of authenticity or correctness. He encouraged the audience to spend time listening to how our predecessors performed, noting that any organist worth his or her salt “speaks French.” Known for closing his sessions with a memorable aural example, Barone did not disappoint. He closed with a recording of Messiaen’s La Nativité by a Russian accordion player.

Marie-Claire Alain

When Marie-Claire Alain stepped onto the platform to perform her concert Tuesday evening, she was greeted by an extended ovation from the capacity audience of conference attendees, church members, and locals. She had given a masterclass on the music of Jehan Alain that afternoon, and the evening’s event only seemed to bring forth more energy in her. She began with a set of guitar pieces by Campion transcribed for organ, which showed off the colors of the instrument, followed by two settings of Schmücke dich by Bach. She took the familiar BWV 654 at a lively pace, and deftly negotiated handfuls of notes in BWV 759. Closing a set of three Bach works, the C-major prelude and fugue, BWV 547, sparkled in her hands. This work too often suffers from plodding and heavy rendition, but Marie Claire moved it along under perfect control, clearly feeling very comfortable with the piece and the instrument.
The second half included Dupré’s Virgo Mater, op. 40, which is dedicated in memory of Jehan Alain, followed by three pieces by her father, Albert Alain. Though written in the 20th century, these pieces hark back to earlier styles, and are particularly akin to the works of Vierne and Widor. The contrast between Albert’s music and Jehan’s is interesting, the former steeped in French tradition, and the latter unbound by tradition. The younger Alain’s Deux Danses and Suite bring this point home. Marie-Claire had played well all evening, but her performance really caught fire performing her brother’s works. Following a long standing ovation and her 85-minute program, she tossed off a riveting performance of “Litanies” as an encore as if it was the first piece of the evening.
Brandon Spence: multi-cultural worship
Brandon Spence, a Michigan graduate, is director of music at St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This parish is home to people who speak English, Spanish, and Polish, as well as some who neither speak English nor are able to read. Spence approaches his task by asking two questions: who is present in worship? What are your musical resources? How do we make the music relevant? He cleverly illustrated with the movie “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?” asserting that there is a parallel between preparing a meal according to the needs of diverse guests and preparing music for worship. For Spence, the main issues are inclusiveness, enculturation, and fidelity to tradition. Worship should be inclusive, inviting, and engaging. Worship works best when people can feel that they belong and feel invited. With the assistance of a cantor from St. Andrew’s, he demonstrated using settings of Psalm 34 in different styles ranging from the Basilican Psalter to jazz and gospel in order to reach the various sectors of his diverse congregation.

Conclusion

The varied events of the 46th annual organ conference once again combined to provide current students and attendees with an excellent opportunity to delve into the riches of pipe organ repertoire and performance. Many thanks to Marilyn Mason and her colleagues who organize this valuable conference each year.

Marijim Thoene received a D.M.A. in organ performance/church music from the University of Michigan in 1984. She is an active recitalist and director of music at St. John Lutheran Church in Dundee, Michigan. Her two CDs, Mystics and Spirits and Wind Song, are available from Raven Recordings. She is a frequent presenter at medieval conferences on the topic of the image of the pipe organ in medieval manuscripts.
Lisa Byers received master’s degrees in music education and organ performance from the University of Michigan, and a J.D. from the University of Toledo, Ohio. She is retired from teaching music in the Jefferson Public Schools in Monroe, Michigan, as well as from her position as organist/choir director at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Tecumseh, Michigan. She subs as organist in the Monroe area.
Photo credit: Bela Fehe

The University of Michigan 49th Conference on Organ Music was dedicated to the memory of Robert Glasgow, brilliant organist and much loved professor of organ at the University of Michigan. The conference was truly a celebration of his life as a scholar, performer, and teacher. His raison d’être was music—organ music of soaring melodies and transcendent harmonies. He shared his passion with his students and has left a legacy that can be kept alive through generations of students who instill in their students his ideas.
During the conference, a wide variety of lectures were presented that reflected years of research, along with performances of four centuries of organ music. The conference was international in scope, with lecturers and performers from Germany, Italy, Hungary, Canada as well as the U.S. The themes of the conference focused on the influences of J. S. Bach and Mendelssohn’s role in arousing public interest in Bach’s music.

Sunday opening events
The initial event was an afternoon “Festival of Hymns” presented by the UM School of Music, Theatre, and Dance and the American Guild of Organists Ann Arbor chapter. Led by organist-director Michael Burkhardt, it featured the Eastern Michigan University Brass Ensemble, the Detroit Handbell Ensemble, and the Ann Arbor Area Chorus. Special care was taken to choose, coordinate, and connect music by Bach, Mendelssohn, and Charles Wesley. Many hymn verses and arrangement variations kept the presentation musically interesting and enjoyable. Dr. Burkhardt was masterful in his organ solos, accompaniments, improvisations, conducting, and composing. His leadership from the console was met with great enthusiasm from the appreciative, participating audience. (Review by Lisa Byers)
Sunday evening’s organ recital program featured music of Spain and France performed by musicians from the University of Michigan’s Historic Organ Tour 56 to Catalonia and France. Janice Feher opened with an excerpt from a Soler sonata. Gale Kramer performed the “Allegro Vivace” from Widor’s Symphony V, followed by Joanne V. Clark’s rendering of the “Adagio” from Widor’s Symphony VI. Mary Morse sang the versets of a Dandrieu Magnificat for which Christine Chun performed the alternate versets. Timothy Huth played a section from Tournemire’s In Festo Pentecostes, and Paul Merritt closed the program with the Dubois Toccata. The various composition styles, registrations, and favorable interpretations performed excellently and sensitively on the Hill Auditorium organ were well received and greatly acknowledged by the audience. (Review by Lisa Byers)

Monday, October 5
Jason Branham, a doctoral student of Marilyn Mason, set the stage for celebrating not only Mendelssohn’s two hundredth birthday but also his profound influence in bringing the forgotten music of J. S. Bach to the attention of Berlin and consequently to Western society. Branham’s program was a reprise of Mendelssohn’s Bach recital presented at St. Thomas-Kirche in Leipzig in 1840, performed to raise money to erect a monument to Bach in Leipzig: Fugue in E-flat, BWV 552; Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele, BWV 654; Prelude and Fugue in A Minor, BWV 543; Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor, BWV 582; Pastoral in F Major, BWV 590; and Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 565. Branham’s performance was exciting and earned him thunderous applause.
Christoph Wolff, Professor of Musicology at Harvard, eminent Bach scholar, and author of Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician, gave four illuminating lectures during the conference. In his first lecture, “J. S. Bach the Organist—Recent Research,” he presented arguments supporting Bach’s authorship of the D-minor Toccata and Fugue, BWV 565, dated 1703. Peter Williams, who questioned Bach’s authorship in the 1980s, maintained that such a piece could not have been composed by Bach before 1730. Wolff presented convincing arguments based on an analysis of both the oldest manuscripts and the music itself. He also drew a connection to the discovery in 2008 of Bach’s Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns hält, BWV 1128, in the library of Halle University. The work is a large free fantasia dated ca. 1705, with compositional features shared by the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. Wolff maintained that Bach, whose organ technique was formidable at an early age, composed the D-minor Toccata and Fugue to dazzle his audience with improvisatory passages borrowed from pieces like Buxtehude’s D-minor Toccata. Wolff concluded that this work was written as a showpiece for Bach himself and not intended to be circulated and copied by his pupils; hence only one copy exists, in the hand of Johannes Ringk, dated 1730.
Michael Barone’s handout listing Mendelssohn recordings was a testimony to his impressive knowledge of recorded organ music. Of the many Mendelssohn pieces he played, the most compelling was a 1973 recording of Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, op. 25, played by Robert B. Pitman, piano, and George Lamphere, organ, at the Methuen Music Hall (Pipedreams CD-1002; live performance). The playing was stunning in its youthful exuberance and virtuosity.
Professor Wolff showed images of historical organs and churches connected to Bach, many of which unfortunately no longer exist, in his lecture “Silbermann and Others—The World of Bach Organs.” The most riveting information regarding performance practice of the organ in Bach cantatas came from a view of the original Mülhausen balcony. The balcony was large enough to accommodate strings, woodwinds, brass, and choir; kettle drums were fixed onto the railings overlooking the audience. The choir stood below the instruments. The large organ was used—not a little Positiv. A performance incorporating this practice is on John Eliot Gardner’s recording, Bach Cantata Pilgrimage, using the Altenburg organ in Cantata 146.
James Kibbie, Professor of Organ at the University of Michigan, announced that his recordings of the complete organ works of Bach, performed on historical instruments in Germany, can be found at the website <blockmrecords.org>. The project is supported by a gift from Dr. Barbara Sloat in honor of her late husband J. Barry Sloat. Additional details are available at <www.blockmrecords.org/bach&gt;.
Istvan Ruppert is Dean and Professor of Organ in the Department of Music of the Szechenyi University in Gyor, Hungary, and is also an organ professor at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music. His program included music by Mendelssohn, Karg-Elert, Max Reger, Liszt, and three Hungarian composers. He has formidable technique and played with great energy and abandon. It was refreshing to hear intriguing and unknown compositions by Frigyes Hidas, Zsolt Gárdonyi, and Istvan Koloss. The humor in Gárdonyi’s Mozart Changes was appreciated. Ruppert is a real enthusiast in sharing music by Hungarian composers by graciously offering to send scores to those who wished to have them.

October 6
Prof. Wolff pointed out in his lecture “Bach’s Organ Music—From 1750 to Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy” that Bach’s Clavier Übung III offered a textbook of organ playing. Wolff lamented that Mendelssohn’s inclusion of historical music by Bach, Handel, Mozart, and Haydn into the Gewandhaus concerts had unfortunate consequences in our concert programs today. While only five percent of his concerts were devoted to “historical composers,” the remaining works were by contemporary composers, himself, Liszt, Schumann, and Schubert. Today our programs are mainly old music, with five percent devoted to new music.
Susanne Diederich received a PhD from Tübingen University. Her dissertation, “Original instructions of registration for French organ music in the 17th and 18th centuries: Relations between organ building and organ music during the time of Louis XIV,” represents some of the ground-breaking research on French Classical organs; it was published by Bärenreiter in 1975. In her lecture, “The Classical French Organ, Its Music and the French Influence on Bach’s Organ Composition,” Diederich pointed out that the French Classical organ was complete by 1665, and Guillaume Nivers’ First Organ Book of 1665 contained the first description of all the stops. Her handout was especially informative in showing how Bach’s table of ornaments in his Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm
Friedemann reflected his assimilation of ornament tables by Raison, 1688, Boyvin, 1689, and Couperin, 1690. Robert Luther, organist emeritus of Zion Lutheran Church in Anoka, Minnesota, played movements from Guilain’s Second Suite, and Christopher Urbiel, doctoral student of Marilyn Mason, played movements from de Grigny’s Veni Creator, Marchand’s Livre d’orgue Book I, and Bach’s Fantaisie, BWV 542, to illustrate features Bach borrowed from the French Classical repertoire.
Seth Nelson received his DMA in organ performance from the University of Michigan in 2003; he is organist at the First Baptist Church in San Antonio, Texas, and accompanist for the San Antonio Choral Society and the Trinity University Choir. His lecture/recital, “Music of the Calvinist Reformation: Introducing John Calvin’s Theology of Music,” included an explanation of why Calvin did not approve of the use of the organ in services. The reasons were many: the Old Testament mentioned its use, thus it is not appropriate to use an old instrument in the new age; it is wrong to imitate the Roman Church; it is an unnecessary aid; it is too distracting; it is against Paul’s teaching, “Praise should be in all one tongue.” The highlight of the program was hearing Seth Nelson’s spirited playing of Paul Manz’s introduction to Calvin’s setting of Psalm 42 and Michael Burkhardt’s introduction and interlude to Calvin’s setting of Psalm 134.
The evening concert featured Mendelssohn’s six organ sonatas played by James Hammann, chair of the music department of the University of New Orleans. It was a rare treat to hear these technically demanding pieces all played at one sitting. Dr. Hammann’s years of investment in this music is apparent. His recording of Mendelssohn’s organ works on the 1785 Stumm organ in St. Ulrich’s Church in Neckargemünd is available on the Raven label.

October 7
Tuesday morning began with the annually anticipated narrated photographic summary of European organs presented by Janice and Bela Feher. This year featured the UM Historic Organ Tour 56 to Northern Spain and France. The PowerPoint presentation included at least 600 photographs of organs in 35 religious locations and the Grenzing organ factory in Barcelona. The organs dated from 1522 to 1890 and included builders Dom Bedos, François-Henry, Louis-Alexandre, Clicquot, Cavaillé family, Cavaillé-Coll, Moucherel, and Scherrer. The photos showed views of cases, consoles, mechanical works, stained glass windows, altar pieces, sacred art, and other enhancements. The Fehers provided a written list with detailed information for each picture. Their first book, with Marilyn Mason, is available by mail order from <Blurb.com>. (Review by Lisa Byers)
Stephen Morris is a lecturer in music at Baylor University, Waco, Texas; organist-choirmaster and director of music ministries at the Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit in Houston, Texas; and maintains a studio as a teacher of singing, largely concentrating on early adolescent female voices. His presentation, “Acclaim, Slander, and Renaissance: An Historical Perspective on Mendelssohn,” incorporated visual images and music. Among the lesser-known facts is that Mendelssohn was admired and befriended by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. They chose Mendelssohn’s March from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” for their daughter’s wedding. It became a favorite for productions of Shakespeare throughout Europe. However, due to anti-Semitism fueled by Richard Wagner, Mendelssohn’s March was banned by Nazi Germany, and ten other composers were commissioned to replace it. Ironically, the Nazis preferred Bach above all composers, yet they never would have known about him without Mendelssohn. Morris noted that there is a great wealth of information on Mendelssohn research at <www.
themendelssohnproject.org>.
Professor Wolff concluded his Bach-Mendelssohn lectures with a fascinating presentation, “The Pre-History of Mendelssohn’s Performances of the St. Matthew Passion.” He described Sarah Itzig Levy, Mendelssohn’s maternal great aunt and a famous harpsichordist, as the moving force who began the revival of
J.S. Bach’s music. She introduced family members and friends to many of Bach’s works. She studied with W.F. Bach and commissioned C.P.E. Bach to write what turned out to be his last concerto: one for harpsichord, fortepiano, and orchestra. She regularly performed in weekly gatherings in her salon as soloist with an orchestra from 1774–1784. In 1823 Mendelssohn was given a copy of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion by his grandmother, Bella Salomon, Sara Levy’s sister. It took Mendelssohn five years to persuade his teacher, Carl Friedrich Zelter, to have the Singakademie of Berlin perform it. The 19-year-old Mendelssohn conducted Bach’s St. Matthew Passion to a packed audience that included the Prussian king. This performance enthralled the audience and thus began J. S. Bach’s reentry into the hearts of German people and to the world at large. Mendelssohn continued conducting performances of the St. Matthew Passion when he became director of the Gewandhaus in Leipzig in 1834, at the age of twenty-six. He re-orchestrated it, shortened some pieces, omitted some arias, and introduced the practice of having the chorale Wenn ich einmal soll scheiden sung a cappella. That score and the performing parts are now in the Bodleian Library.
Eugenio Fagiani, resident organist at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church in Bergamo, played a recital at Hill Auditorium featuring Italian composers Filippo Capocci, Oreste Ravanello, Marco Enrico Bossi, and four of his own compositions. His playing was impeccable, and his compositions reflect the influence of one of his teachers, Naji Hakim, in style and use of exotic sounds and feisty, driving rhythms. His Victimae Paschali Laudes, op. 96, has a wide variety of striking timbres, ranging from a clarinet plus mutation stops to a big-band sound. His creativity as a composer was undeniable in his Festive Prelude, op. 99b, composed for this conference. Here the pedal occasionally sounded like percussive drums. The work sizzled with energy and ended in a fiery toccata. Fagiani played “Joke,” another of his compositions, as an encore. The audience enjoyed his quotations from J. S. Bach and John Lennon. More can be learned about this impressive composer/organist at his website:
<www.eugeniomariafagiani.com&gt;.
Michele Johns, Adjunct Professor of Organ at the University of Michigan, presented an interesting lecture on the changes of taste reflected in hymnals from four denominations over the past forty years. She noted that the texts have become more gender inclusive, hymns in foreign languages are included (“What a Friend We Have in Jesus” appears in four languages in the Presbyterian Hymnal), and there is greater variety in styles from “pantyhose music”—one size fits all—to Taizé folk melodies; she proved her point that in today’s hymnals there is “Something Old, Something New.”
One of the most exciting recitals of the conference was played by Aaron Tan, a student of Marilyn Mason and a graduate student in the School of Engineering at the University of Michigan, organist/choirmaster at the First Presbyterian Church in Ypsilanti, and director of the Ypsilanti Pipe Organ Festival. His memorized recital shimmered with grace and energy: Alleluyas by Simon Preston; Prelude and Fugue in G Minor, op. 7, no. 3, by Marcel Dupré; Sicilienne from Suite, op. 5, by Maurice Duruflé; Prelude and Fugue in A Minor, BWV 543, by J. S. Bach; Moto ostinato from Sunday Music by Petr Eben; Naïades and Final from Symphony No. 6 by Louis Vierne. The audience gave him a standing ovation.
The concluding recital was played in Hill Auditorium in memory of Robert Glasgow by some of his former students. The program was a beautiful tribute to his life—a life devoted to the study, performance and teaching of organ music, especially the music of Franck, Mendelssohn, Vierne, Widor, Schumann, Liszt, and Brahms. The performers brought with them some of his spirit, some of his light, some of his joy in creating something that puts us in another dimension. His attention to the minutest detail of the score, his total commitment to breathing life into each phrase was mirrored in these performers:
Mark Toews, director of music, Lawrence Park Community Church, Toronto, past president, Royal Canadian College of Organists, Variations de Concert, op. 1 by Joseph Bonnet; Ronald Krebs, vice president, Reuter Organ Company, O Welt, ich muss dich lassen, op. 122, no. 11, Fugue in A-flat Minor, WoO8, by Johannes Brahms; David Palmer, Professor Emeritus, School of Music, University of Windsor, organist and choir director, All Saints’ Church, Windsor, Ontario, L’Apparition du Christ ressuscité a Marie-Madeleine by Olivier Messiaen; Joanne Vollendorf Clark, Chair of the Music Department, Marygrove College, Detroit, minister of music, Hartford Memorial Baptist Church, Detroit, Pastorale, op. 26, by Alexandre Guilmant; Charles Miller, minister of music and organist, National City Christian Church, Washington, D.C., Pièce héroïque by César Franck; Joseph Jackson, organist, First Presbyterian Church, Royal Oak, Michigan, “Air with Variations” from Suite for Organ by Leo Sowerby; and Jeremy David Tarrant, organist and choirmaster, the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Detroit, Andantino, op. 51, no. 2, and Carillon de Westminster, op. 54, no. 6, by Louis Vierne.
Professor Marilyn Mason made the 49th Conference on Organ Music at the University of Michigan a reality. She invested countless hours of planning and organizing into making it happen, because she has an insatiable thirst for learning and thinks “we all need to learn.” She has brought brilliant scholars and performers together for 49 years to teach and inspire us. The list includes such figures as Almut Rössler, Umberto Pineschi, Martin Haselböck, Todd Wilson, Janette Fishell, Madame Duruflé, Catherine Crozier, Guy Bovet, Peter Williams, Lady Susi Jeans, Wilma Jensen, Gordon Atkinson, and Marie-Claire Alain (to name only a few). We thank her for such priceless gifts.

The University of Michigan

The University of Michigan School of Music presented its 40th annual Conference on Organ Music, October 15-18, 2000, an international event featuring music of Germany, France, and Russia. The conference was directed by Marilyn Mason, chairman of the Organ Department.

 Prof. James Kibbie opened the conference with the 14th of his 18 Bach recitals on the Fisk organ in the Blanche Anderson Moore Hall. The performance of the complete organ works of J.S. Bach is the centerpiece of his project mark-ing the 250th anniversary of the composer's death. Prof. Kibbie revealed himself to be a well-prepared Bach performer with a clean technique, judicious articulation, and particularly tasteful ornamentation. This program achieved his stated goal of presenting "audience-friendly" programs planned as individual units so that the listener could experience the rich variety of Bach's genius.

Dietrich Wagler is organist and church music director at the Cathedral in the old Saxonian city of Freiberg.  His program on the three-manual Wilhelm organ at the First Congregational Church, "Bach and His Circle," included music of J.S. Bach, Krebs, Schneider, W.F. Bach, Homilius, and C.P.E. Bach. An organist of international reputation, Mr. Wagler performed all of the music with ease and clearly enjoyed playing the Wilhelm. Noteworthy were his delightful performance of two Krebs chorales, effective registration for the C.P.E. Bach Fantasy and Fugue in C minor, and an especially spirited performance of the J.S. Bach Prelude and Fugue in E-Flat.

October 16

Rose Van Mersbergen, graduate student in organ performance and theory at Michigan, presented a lecture/performance entitled, "J.S. Bach's Weimar Years (1708-1717):  Encountering and Synthesizing the Italian Concerto," on the Marilyn Mason Organ  at the School of Music. Her ideas were well presented and illustrated by her performance of the music. She demonstrated the characteristics of the concerto: structural insights; responding to the three-movement structure; the ritornello; and characteristic motifs. Van Mersbergen also presented "The Orgelbüchlein: A Working Demonstration of Synthesis."

 Michigan Prof. Ellwood Derr lectured on the topic, "Observations on Method in Bach's Compositions." The basis of the lecture dealt with the process of securing themes and proceeding to develop them. He pointed out, with effective examples, the absolute indispensability of chorales in whatever genre the composer happened to be working.  Chorales are the basis for the Praeambula and Fantasias which Bach wrote for Wilhelm Friedmann Bach; these later received the titles "Inventions and Sinfonias."

In  his lecture, "The Spiritual Bach," Dennis Schmidt emphasized Bach's piety as the source of his music. Schmidt demonstrated the spirituality of Bach by setting his work in the context of the Reformation and stressing death as the fulfillment of life from Bach's treatment of the chorale texts. He cited the marginal notes from Bach's Biblical commentary and supplied readings and examples from artists contemporary with Bach, notably a painting of the crucifixion by Cranach. In a second session, Dr. Schmidt described the completed restorations of the organs at the Bachkirche, Arnstadt, and St. Thomas Church, Leipzig. He presented the history of these organs and the philosophy guiding the restorations as planned by the present organists of the churches where Bach was organist and kantor.

At the Frieze Memorial Organ, the following organ majors performed varied repertoire:  Paula Lee and Steph-anie Muller (pupils of Robert Glasgow); Christopher Lees and Michael Elsbernd (pupils of James Kibbie); and Sean Jackman and Jean Randall (pupils of Marilyn Mason).

Wolfgang Baumgratz, cathedral organist at Bremen Dom and Professor, Hochschule für Kunst, Bremen, Germany, played an all-Bach concert on the Frieze Memorial Organ. The large works of  BWV 547 and 542 were sandwiched between the Glorias of the Leipzig Chorales. The Reger transcription of Bach's Chromatische Fantasie und Fuge, BWV 903, was an Ann Arbor premiere.

October 17

Michael Elbernd gave a lecture-recital,  "Organ Works of Johann Adam Reincken," on the Wilhelm organ at the First Congregational Church. Russian pianists Sofia Lissitchenko and Alexei  Melentiev, students at the Moscow Conservatory, played a concert of varied  music. They demonstrated superb technique and compelling virtuosity. The enthusiastic audience called them back for two encores.

Michele Johns conducted a colorful program of music for handbells, organ, and choir. The compositions had been chosen as challenging material for each ensemble. Performers included Jean Randall, Sara Hazen, Kay Ray, Eileen Page, Pat McOmber, and Ed Maki-Schramm, organist. The music had been donated by Beckenhorst  Press, Columbus, Ohio. The RACC Trio brilliantly played music of Mendelssohn and Schumann. Christie Abe, violin; Katri Ervamaa, ‘cello; and pianist Rakhee Sung displayed solid training in chamber music.

The lecture, "Matters of Registration in the Bach Organ," by Baumgratz, brought a  North German perspective on Bach's registration. It is hoped that his lecture will be published in article form. Jean Randall performed Couperin's Messe pour les Couvents with an historically informed sense of style, and was assisted by Matthew Moore, who sang the alternatim chant in sympathetic style. The  evening recital, "Music of France," by Jean-Pierre Lecaudey,   included works of Widor, Franck, Duruflé, Bonnal, and Messiaen. He pulled out the stops of the Frieze Memorial Organ resulting in a performance of great panache.

October 18

Carole Halmekangas provided an illustrated viewpoint of "Worship Renewal," particularly through the hymn singing as performed at Ward Church, Livonia, Michigan, where she serves as director of music. Mark Rich offered an excellent side-by-side comparison of Te Deums by LeBègue, Buxtehude, and Bach and included thoroughly satisfying performances of the three works. The cantor, Chris  Meerdink, sang alternatim with a fine sense of style.

The recital by Gregory Hamilton, "Music of Johann Gottfried Walther"  on the Marilyn Mason Organ, showed many varied compositions of the composer, and was an excellent combination of performer, music and organ. At Hill Auditorium, Jeremy Tarrant, recently appointed organist and choirmaster at the Cathedral of St. Paul, Detroit, discussed Widor's Symphonie Gothique and gave a compelling reading of this great work. Two carillonists played recitals: Judith Ogden on October 16, "Music by Bach"; and on October 17, University carillonist, Margo Halsted, "A Program of French Music."

In sum, there were twenty-one guest presenters. Two organists, Prof. Baumgratz and M. Lecaudey, and the two Russian pianists appeared in Ann Arbor for the first time. The conference closed with a gala reception on the stage of Hill Auditorium for all performers and guests.

Contributors to this article include Alan Knight, Marilyn Mason, and Herman Taylor.