David Messineo dies at age 45

The European community and in particular, France, lost an important advocate for the organ with the untimely death of Jean Boyer. Mr. Boyer died of cancer on June 28 in Lille, France, at the age of 56.

He was born on October 4, 1948, in Sidi Bel Abbes in Algeria, into a musical family; his organist father was a student of André Marchal. He began his musical studies in Toulouse, a city well known for the quality of its organs. These exceptional instruments played a central role in his musical training, which was completed under the guidance of Xavier Darasse, in whose class he earned a first prize in organ at the Conservatoire de Toulouse in 1969.

In Paris, he was greatly influenced at St-Séverin Church by Francis Chapelet and André Isoir. In 1975 he became co-titulaire of this church, a post he held until 1988; he also served as organist at the historic organ of St-Nicolas-des-Champs until 1995. Mr. Boyer’s recordings have received great praise from the musical press, and in 1972 he was awarded the Grand Prix du Disque. In addition to his concert activities, Jean Boyer was a devoted pedagogue. At the time of his death he was professor of organ at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Lyon.

Mr. Boyer was an excellent organist and organ professor, much beloved by his students. He was a scholar and did a great deal to promote the understanding and accurate performance practice of ancient music and was a strong advocate for the thoughtful restoration of historic organs. He was remembered at a Requiem in Lille, France, July 1.

--Gene Bedient

David Messineo, principal university organist at Princeton University, died June 11 of an apparent heart attack at his home in Shohola, Pennsylvania. He was 45. Born on August 14, 1958, in Hackensack, New Jersey, Messineo began playing the piano at age four and took up the organ at age 11. He served as organist at Grace Episcopal Church in Port Jervis, New York, and Rutherford (NJ) Congregational Church while still a teenager. He attended the Juilliard School in New York City, where he graduated with a Mus.B., M.M. and doctor of musical arts with honors in organ performance. During his time at Juilliard, he served at St. Stephen’s Roman Catholic Church in Kearny, New Jersey, and for eight years was associate director of music/organist at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark. For 16 years, he was minister of music at the Glen Ridge Congregational Church, where he played the organ and directed seven choirs. He also taught organ at Montclair State University for many years. Messineo joined the Princeton staff in 2000. He gave recitals across the United States and performed in historical venues in Germany, the Czech Republic, France and the Netherlands. Messineo also played theatre organ, and in 1979, he opened the new Christmas show at Radio City Music Hall and continued as organist there for several years. He studied theatre organ with a former silent movie accompanist and was known at Princeton for his annual performance around Halloween improvising with the 1925 silent movie, “The Phantom of the Opera.” Funeral services took place on June 16 at the Milford United Methodist Church, Milford, Pennsylvania.

Myron J. Roberts, 92, died May 15 in Camden, Maine, after a brief illness. He was born in San Diego, California, January 30, 1912, and at the age of nine he moved with his family to Palo Alto, California. Raised in a musical family, he developed an early passion for piano and organ. By the time he was in high school, he was studying piano and then organ with Stanford University organist, Warren Allen. Roberts completed his undergraduate studies in 1935 at the College of the Pacific (now the University of the Pacific) in Stockton, California, where he was an organ student of Allen Bacon. He completed a master’s degree in the School of Sacred Music at Union Theological Seminary, where he studied with Clarence Dickinson. After two years as an organist in the greater New York area and as an interim organist in Richmond, Virginia, Roberts joined the faculty of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln in 1940, where he taught organ and music theory for 34 years. He also held positions in Lincoln as organist at First-Plymouth Congregational Church, Holy Trinity Episcopal Church and the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Risen Christ.

Roberts was married to Virginia W. Roberts. Mr. and Mrs. Roberts retired at the same time and moved to Rio del Mar on Monterey Bay in California. After Mrs. Roberts’ death in 1975 Mr. Roberts continued to live in California and resumed playing the organ in public recitals. It was at this time that he met and became long-time friends with Anthony Antolini, who was teaching at Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz County. When Prof. Antolini and his family moved to Maine in 1991 Mr. Roberts decided to join them and moved to Cushing in 1993, where he built a home with a view of the St. George River.

Roberts composed works for organ, choral music and pieces for organ and other instruments. Among his 22 published works are Homage to Perotin (1956), Pastorale and Aviary (1969) and Fanfare and Tuckets (1991) for organ. His best known choral compositions include O Lord, We Beseech Thee (1965), Jubilate Deo (1976) and Magnificat (1977). His most unusual composition is Five for Organ and Marimba (1975). After moving to Maine Roberts continued to compose music and teach organ on a limited basis. He also maintained a lifelong interest in astronomy and gardening.

Roberts was a communicant of the Episcopal Church of St. John the Baptist in Thomaston, Maine where he took an active part in the work of the organ search committee. In 2003 that committee selected the Bedient Pipe Organ Company of Roca, Nebraska to build its new organ. The president and founder of the company, Gene Bedient, was a student of Mr. Roberts at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln many years ago.

A memorial service was held on June 20 at the Episcopal Church of St. John the Baptist, Thomaston, Maine. There were also two performances of the Dvorák Requiem by the Down East Singers in memory of Mr. Roberts on May 23 at St. Andrew’s Roman Catholic Church in Augusta, Maine, and on May at the Rockland Congregational Church, Rockland, Maine.

An in-depth biographical interview with Mr. Roberts was published in the June 1997 issue of The American Organist.

--Anthony Antolini

Lukas Foss, composer, performer, and teacher, died in New York on February 2. He was 86. German-born, Foss was trained in Germany, in Paris, and at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia; he had studied composition with Randall Thompson and Paul Hindemith, and conducting with Fritz Reiner and Serge Koussevitzky. Known for composing in different musical styles, he often combined past and present influences and techniques. He served as the pianist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1944–50, and he conducted numerous orchestras including the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Jerusalem Symphony, and the Milwaukee Symphony. He taught composition and conducting at UCLA from 1953–62 and had served as composer-in-residence at Carnegie-Mellon University, Harvard University, the Manhattan School of Music, Yale University, and Boston University. Foss’s compositional output included many orchestral, chamber, and choral works, as well as several works for piano, and two organ compositions, Four Etudes (1967) and War and Peace (1995). Lukas Foss is survived by his wife Cornelia.

James Barclay Hartman died on January 23 at the age of 84. He was predeceased by his wife Pamela in 1983. Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada on January 12, 1925, he was educated at the University of Manitoba (BA 1948, MA 1951), Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, and Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois (Ph.D.). He began a teaching career at Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, returning to Canada in 1967 to teach at Scarborough College, University of Toronto. In 1974 he was appointed director of development and external affairs at Algoma University College, Laurentian University in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, and in 1980 joined the Continuing Education Division at the University of Manitoba as associate professor and director, humanities and professional studies. At the time of his retirement he held the position of senior academic editor.
A skilled photographer, he did commercial photography to help finance his university education. His great passion was music, especially the music of J. S. Bach, and in particular the works for organ and for harpsichord, both of which he played. He served for many years as book reviewer for The Diapason, and authored reviews and articles for numerous academic journals. His chief publication was the book The Organ in Manitoba, published by the University of Manitoba Press in 1997.
Dr. Hartman’s articles published in The Diapason include: “The World of the Organ on the Internet” (February 2005); “Alternative Organists” (July 2004); “Seven Outstanding Canadian Organists of the Past” (September 2002); “Families of Professional Organists in Canada” (May 2002); “Organ Recital Repertoire: Now and Then” (November 2001); “Prodigy Organists of the Past” (December 2000); “Canadian Organbuilding” (Part 1, May 1999; Part 2, June 1999); “Purcell’s Tercentenary in Print: Recent Books” (Part I, November 1997; Part II, December 1997); “The Golden Age of the Organ in Manitoba: 1875–1919” (Part 1, May 1997; Part 2, June 1997); “The Organ: An American Journal, 1892–1894” (December 1995); and “The Search for Authenticity in Music—An Elusive Ideal?” (June 1993).

Thomas A. Klug, age 61, died suddenly at his home in Minneapolis on January 8. He received his bachelor’s degree in music from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, and his master’s degree from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. An accomplished organist for 44 years, he began his musical career at St. Michael’s United Church of Christ in West Chicago, Illinois. He went on to serve the First United Methodist Church in Elgin, Illinois, Olivet Congregational Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, and most recently was the organist for 20 years at St. Michael’s Lutheran Church in Roseville, Minnesota. Tom was a member of the American Guild of Organists and the Organ Historical Society, an outdoor enthusiast, gardener, and an accomplished cook. He will be deeply missed by his family and friends. A memorial service was held January 13 at St. Michael’s Lutheran Church, Roseville. He is survived by his parents, Armin and Marjorie Klug, brothers Kenneth (Cindy) and James (Diane Donahue), five nieces and nephews, one great-niece, and special friend Doug Erickson.
—Frank Rippl

Dutch organist and musicologist Ewald Kooiman died on January 25, on vacation in Egypt. He died in his sleep; the cause was heart failure.
Ewald Kooiman was born on June 14, 1938 in Wormer, just north of Amsterdam. He studied French at the VU University in Amsterdam and at the University of Poitiers, taking the doctorate in 1975 with a dissertation on the Tombel de Chartrose, a medieval collection of saints’ lives. He then taught Old French at the VU University, where he was appointed Professor of Organ Art in 1988.
As a teenager, Kooiman studied organ with Klaas Bakker. After passing the State Examination and encouraged by members of the committee to pursue music studies at a higher level, he continued with Piet Kee at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, earning a Prix d’Excellence—the equivalent of a doctorate—in 1969. While studying French at Poitiers, he simultaneously studied organ with Jean Langlais at the Paris Schola Cantorum, taking the Prix de Virtuosité in 1963.
Kooiman had a long and impressive international career as a concert organist. He twice recorded the complete organ works of Bach—first on LP, then on CD—and was awarded the Prize of German Record Critics in 2003. He was in the midst of recording his third complete Bach set—on SACD, using Silbermann organs in Alsace—which was scheduled to come out in late 2009 or early 2010.
Although Bach was at the heart of his musical activities, Kooiman took an interest in many other parts of the organ repertoire, for example the French Baroque. His study of this repertoire and the relevant treatises was, of course, greatly facilitated by his knowledge of the French language. His interest in the French Baroque organ also led to the construction of the so-called Couperin Organ (Koenig/Fontijn & Gaal, 1973) in the auditorium of the VU University.
But he also loved playing—and teaching—Reger and Reubke; he very much enjoyed learning Widor’s Symphonie gothique when he was asked to play the work as part of a complete Widor series in Germany; and he admitted to having “a weak spot” for Guilmant’s Variations on “Was Gott tut das ist wohlgetan.”
As a scholar, Kooiman edited some 50 volumes of mostly unknown organ music in the series Incognita Organo (published by the Dutch publisher Harmonia). Much of the series was devoted to organ music of the second half of the eighteenth and of the early nineteenth century, traditionally considered a low point in history of organ music. He also published widely on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century performance practice, mainly in the Dutch journal Het Orgel. His inaugural address as Professor of Organ Art was about the nineteenth-century roots of the French Bach tradition.
Besides teaching at the famous International Summer Academy for Organists at Haarlem—at first French Baroque repertoire, later Bach—Ewald Kooiman was for many years chairman of the jury for the improvisation competition in the same city. His fluency—besides French—in English and German and his ability to listen critically to the opinions of his colleagues made him the ideal person for such a job.
Although he was never the titulaire of one of the major historical Dutch organs, Kooiman served as University Organist of the VU University, playing the Couperin Organ in recitals and for university functions. But he also played organ for the Sunday morning services in the chapel of the university hospital.
In 1986, Kooiman succeeded Piet Kee as Professor of Organ at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, mostly teaching international students at the graduate level. I had the pleasure of studying with him for three years before graduating with a BM in 1989, having previously studied with Piet Kee for two years. Although much time was naturally spent with Bach—I learned at least two trio sonatas with him—he also taught later repertoire very well: Mozart, Mendelssohn, Reubke, Reger, Hindemith, Franck, and Alain come to mind. From time to time, I had to play a little recital, and he personally took care of “organizing” an audience by inviting his family.
As Professor Ars Organi at the VU University, Ewald was the adviser for three Ph.D. dissertations, all dealing with organ art at the dawn of Modernism: Hans Fidom’s “Diversity in Unity: Discussions on Organ Building in Germany 1880–1918” (2002); David Adams’s “‘Modern’ Organ Style in Karl Straube’s Reger Editions” (2007); and most recently René Verwer’s “Cavaillé-Coll and The Netherlands 1875–1924” (2008).
Ewald Kooiman was a Knight in the Order of the Dutch Lion; an honorary member of the Royal Dutch Society of Organists; and a bearer of the Medal of Merit of the City of Haarlem. For his 70th birthday, the VU University organized a conference in his honor and a group of prominent colleagues—including American Bach scholars Christoph Wolff and George Stauffer—offered him a collection of essays entitled Pro Organo Pleno (Veenhuizen: Boeijenga, 2008). Piet Kee’s contribution was the organ work Seventy Chords (and Some More) for Ewald. Earlier, Cor Kee (Piet’s father, the famous improviser and improvisation teacher) had dedicated his Couperin Suite (1980) as well as several short pieces to Ewald.
Though clearly part of a tradition and full of respect for his teachers, Kooiman was in many ways an individualist. He enjoyed frequent work-outs at the gym, not only because it kept him physically fit and helped him deal with the ergonomic challenges of playing historic organs, but also because he liked talking with “regular” people. Among colleagues—particularly in Germany—he was famous for wearing sneakers instead of more orthodox organ shoes. One of his favorite stories about his studies with Langlais was that the latter was keen on teaching him how to improvise a toccata à la française, a genre that Kooiman described as “knockabout-at-the-organ”—not exactly his cup of tea. “Non maître, je n’aime pas tellement ça,” he claimed to have answered: “No professor, I don’t like that too much.”
Ewald Kooiman is survived by his wife Truus, their children Peter and Mirjam, and two grandchildren. The funeral service took place at the Westerkerk in Amsterdam on February 4.
—Jan-Piet Knijff

Joseph F. MacFarland, 86, died on December 29, 2008, at the Westport Health Care Center in Westport, Connecticut. A native and lifelong resident of Norwalk, Connecticut, he was born on February 14, 1922. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Juilliard School in New York, and studied organ with David McK. Williams and Jack Ossewarde at St. Bartholomew’s Church. For 56 years MacFarland served as organist-choirmaster at the First Congregational Church on the Green in Norwalk. He also was the accompanist for the Wilton Playshop, Staples High School, and Norwalk High School. He was a lifelong member of First United Methodist Church, Norwalk, Connecticut, and a member of the Bridgeport AGO chapter. He was a veteran of World War II, having served in the U.S. Army Air Corps.

Richard H. (Dick) Peterson died at age 83 on January 29, fourteen years after suffering a debilitating stroke. Besides spending time with Carol, his devoted wife of 53 years, and with his other family members, Richard’s greatest passion in life was applying modern technology to pipe organ building. His goal was always to make organs better, more affordable, and consequently more available for people to enjoy. During his long and prolific career, he was awarded over 70 U.S. and foreign patents.
Dick Peterson was born on February 26, 1925 in Chicago. He served in the U.S. Army as a radio engineer from 1943 until 1946 and studied electronics at the City College of New York. While stationed in New York City, he often visited Radio City Music Hall and loved the room-filling sound of the organ there while also being fascinated by the mechanics of pipe organs. It was during that time that he told his parents his goal in life was to “perfect the organ.”
Mr. Peterson soon co-founded the Haygren Church Organ Company in Chicago, which built 50 electronic organs for churches all around the Midwest. Soon thereafter, he founded Peterson Electro-Musical Products, currently in Alsip, Illinois. In 1952, he presented a prototype spinet electronic organ to the Gulbransen Piano Company. Gulbransen’s president was thrilled with the sound of the instrument, and they soon negotiated an arrangement where Richard would help the piano company get into the organ business and, as an independent contractor, he would develop and license technology to be used in building a line of classical and theatre-style home organs for Gulbransen to sell. One particularly notable accomplishment was Gulbransen’s introduction of the world’s first fully transistorized organ at a trade show in 1957. Gulbransen would ultimately sell well over 100,000 organs based on Peterson inventions.
Meanwhile, many of Peterson’s developments for electronic organs evolved into applications for real pipe organs. Especially notable among over 50 of Dick’s innovative products for the pipe organ are the first digital record/playback system; the first widely used modular solid state switching system; the DuoSet solid state combination action; a line of “pedal extension” 16-foot and 32-foot voices; and the first commercially available electronic swell shade operator. Many thousands of pipe organs worldwide utilize control equipment that is the direct result of Richard’s pioneering efforts. Also carrying his name is a family of musical instrument tuners familiar to countless thousands of school band students and widely respected by professional musicians, recording artists, musical instrument manufacturers and technicians.
In the 1950s, Dick Peterson enjoyed learning to fly a Piper Cub airplane, and in more recent times preceding his illness enjoyed ham radio, boating, and restoring and driving his collection of vintage Volkswagens. He was a longtime member of Palos Park Presbyterian Community Church in his home town of Palos Park, Illinois.
Memorial donations may be made to the American Guild of Organists “New Organist Fund,” where a scholarship is being established in Richard Peterson’s name.
—Scott Peterson

William J. (Bill) Stephens, 84, of Lawrence, Kansas, died suddenly at home of heart failure on December 19, 2008. Born in Jacksonville, Texas on June 28, 1924, his organ playing career began at the Episcopal Church in Jacksonville while in his early teens. He later studied organ with Roy Perry in Kilgore, Texas, and became interested in organ building at the workshop of William Redmond in Dallas. He graduated from the University of North Texas in 1949 with a bachelor’s degree in organ, where he was a pupil of Helen Hewitt. Stephens served in the Navy during WWII as a gunner’s mate 2nd class in the Pacific theater. He subsequently studied organ at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where he was a teaching assistant in organ and a pupil of Everett Jay Hilty in organ and Cecil Effinger in theory.
Stephens taught public school music in south Texas, was the organist-choirmaster of Trinity Episcopal and Trinity Lutheran Churches in Victoria, Texas, and was south Texas representative for the Reuter Organ Company, Lawrence, Kansas. He married Mary Elizabeth Durett of Memphis, Tennessee, in Denton on November 19, 1946. In 1968 Bill moved his family to Lawrence, Kansas, and installed Reuter pipe organs in all of the 50 states except Alaska. He operated an organ building and maintenance service business, covering most of the Midwest. He was also organist-choirmaster at Grace Episcopal Church, Ottawa, Kansas, for three years.
During his years at Reuter he taught many young men the mechanics, care and feeding of pipe organs and was very proud of their work when they became full-fledged “Organ Men.” For 40 years he was curator of organs at Christ Church Cathedral, Houston, and was proud of the recognition he received upon retiring. He also took special pride in rebuilding the organ at Trinity Episcopal Church, Aurora, Illinois. It had been water-soaked and inoperable for 25 years. Kristopher Harris assisted, and Christopher Hathaway played the dedication recital November 11, 2001.
Bill Stephens was a member of the Organ Historical Society. He is survived by his wife, Mary Elizabeth Durett Stephens, five children, four grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
—Rumsey-Yost Funeral Home
Lawrence, Kansas

Marguerite Long Thal died December 5, 2008, in Sylvania, Ohio. She was 73. Born January 27, 1935, in Quinter, Kansas, she studied organ with Marilyn Mason at the University of Michigan, where she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music. After graduation, she received a Fulbright grant to study in Paris, France for two years, where she attended the American University and studied with Jean Langlais and Nadia Boulanger. Returning to the U.S., she was appointed minister of music at the First Congregational Church in Toledo, Ohio, and taught organ at Bowling Green State University. In 1961, she married Roy Thal Jr., and they moved to Sylvania, where they remained for more than 40 years.
Active in the AGO, Mrs. Thal was a past dean of the Toledo chapter and served as Ohio district convener. She served as minister of music at Sylvania United Church of Christ for 18 years, gave many solo performances, and appeared with Prinzipal VI, a group of six organists who performed regionally. She is survived by her husband, Norman, two daughters, and three grandchildren.

Organist, choir director, composer, and teacher Roberta Bitgood died on April 15 at Lawrence and Memorial Hospital, New London, Connecticut, after a brief illness. She was 99. Dr. Bitgood, formerly of Quaker Hill, had been a resident of the Odd Fellows Home of Connecticut (Fairview) in Groton. She was also known locally as Roberta Wiersma, her married name.
During a long career in sacred music, Bitgood served as minister of music and organist in churches and synagogues throughout the United States. She worked first in New Jersey (Bloomfield), later in California (Riverside), and later still in Connecticut (Mystic and Waterford), as well as in upper New York state (Buffalo) and Michigan (Detroit, Bay City, and Battle Creek). She published more than 70 choral and organ compositions, including several pieces for organ and other instruments, and two choral cantatas based on biblical narratives. Her enthusiasm for making music accessible to all, and the broad scope of her musical activities, made her one of the most well-known 20th-century American music educators. She was known to organists worldwide as a committed yet down-to-earth professional leader, and to volunteer choir singers in many states as an inspiring and witty teacher.
Roberta Bitgood was born in New London on January 15, 1908, and began study of the violin at age 5. As a student at the Williams Memorial Institute (1920–24), she was already well known as a gifted performer on the violin and organ in local churches and school orchestras. Graduating with honors from Connecticut College for Women, she received postgraduate and conservatory training in New York, where she was awarded the William C. Carl Medal upon graduation from the Guilmant Organ School (1930), became a Fellow of the American Guild of Organists (also 1930), and earned a master’s degree in music education from Teacher’s College at Columbia University (1932), a master’s degree in sacred music from Union Theological Seminary (1935), and later the doctoral degree in sacred music (1945), also from Union.
Dr. Bitgood was honored for her achievements and service to her profession and maintained an active relationship with her alma mater through fundraising efforts and performances at annual college reunions. In 1974 she was awarded the Connecticut College Medal, and in 1975 was elected president of the American Guild of Organists, continuing until 1981. In 1976, upon retirement from full-time employment in Michigan, Dr. Bitgood returned to her family home in Connecticut, serving for another 18 years in local churches and synagogues.
In 1993, the New London AGO chapter established an annual scholarship competition for new organists in Dr. Bitgood’s honor, as part of a celebration of her contributions to sacred music and her 85th birthday. After retiring from professional life in 1999, Dr. Bitgood remained at home under the care of her family until 2003, when she moved to Groton. A memorial service took place April 21 at St. James Church, New London. Contributions may be made to the New London AGO-Bitgood Scholarship (P.O. Box 423, Quaker Hill, CT 06375), or to the Visiting Nurses Association of Southeastern Connecticut (Waterford).

Giuseppe G. Englert died of cancer on March 29 in Paris. He was 80. Born to Swiss parents in Fiesole, Italy, in 1927, he studied theory and composition with Willy Burkhard at the Zurich Conservatory (1945–48). From 1958 to 1963 he took part in the international summer courses at Darmstadt, attending seminars given by Leibowitz and Cage, among others. From 1970 to 1982 he taught at the University of Paris VIII–Vincennes, where he became a member of the computer department’s Art et Informatique group in 1973. From 1964 to 1969 he was a co-director of the Centre de Musique, an organization founded by Keith Humble that promoted performances of new music at the American Center for Students and Artists in Paris. He joined the Groupe Art et Informatique de Vincennes (GAIV) in the computer department of the same university in 1973. As a composer and performer he toured Europe, Israel, and the United States. Since 1986 he was associated with the Groupe d’Etude et Réalisation Musicales (GERM) founded by Pierre Mariétan in Paris.
In the 1950s Englert studied organ with André Marchal and substituted for him at the church of St. Eustache in Paris. He accompanied André Marchal on a number of his American tours and gave lectures on organbuilding at several American universities. In 1956 he attended the Organ Institute at Methuen Memorial Hall, where he was the translator for André Marchal. He assisted Peter Bartok in the Unicorn recordings of Marchal in 1957 at MIT in Cambridge. In 1961 in Oberlin, Ohio, he lectured on French organbuilding and at the 1963 Midwinter Conference on Church Music at Northwestern University, Evanston. He was married to Jacqueline Marchal in 1954. American organists familiar with Langlais’ Organ Book may remember that it was dedicated to Jacqueline Marchal as a wedding gift and the last piece, “Pasticcio,” contains the names of both Jacqueline and Giuseppe.
Englert’s works include orchestral pieces, chamber music, compositions for organ, cello, and works for ‘new music theatre’ and electronic music on tape for live performance using analog and digital means of production. In 1975 and 1976 he worked in the digital electronic music studio at SUNY/Albany, in 1977 at the New York Experimental Intermedia Foundation, and in 1978 in San Diego for the Ford Foundation at the Center for Music Experiment (CME).
Englert’s works for organ include: Palestra 64 (1959–64) and GZ50 Musica Barbara pro Organo (1979), the latter recorded by Gerd Zacher. In reference to his compositions for organ he stated:
The organ has always played a major role in my musical thinking. But it may be precisely because I know the instrument so well that I’ve written so little for it. The problem with the organ is that no two instruments are identical. Consequently the interpreter needs far more freedom because he or she has to play a piece differently depending on the instrument and the hall or church in which it stands. When I began working with a computer, I was thrilled by the possibility of programming the necessary freedom into an organ composition, in other words, of using a computer program to determine and define indeterminacy. That led to GZ50, the organ piece I wrote for Gerd Zacher’s fiftieth birthday. It gives Zacher enormous freedom of interpretation. Time values are notated proportionally, but the duration of each page is not fixed. That leaves tempo completely to the performer, and the same holds true for tone color.
Until his last days he was surrounded by his former students and his nurses who recalled that they took him to a piano where he improvised a fugue. A large number of friends, colleagues, and former students attended the graveside funeral held April 2 at Père-Lachaise Cemetery. During the interment, Marchal’s recordings of portions of Bach’s Orgelbüchlein were played, interspersed with readings and tributes. Englert is survived by his wife, Jacqueline Englert-Marchal, a nephew and a niece. Contributions may be made to the Académie André Marchal, c/o Ralph Tilden, “Longview,” P.O. Box 2254, Banner Elk, NC 28604.
—Ann Labounsky

Kenneth W. Matthews died January 19 in San Francisco at the age of 54. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, his first music lessons were with his father, who played organ in churches and in restaurants. Matthews earned a BA in music from Stetson University in 1976 and an MA in sacred music from Yale Divinity School in 1978. He then moved to San Francisco to study with Richard Purvis at Grace Cathedral. He also studied in Paris with Marie-Louise Langlais and played recitals in France.
Matthews was director of music at Old First Presbyterian Church in San Francisco from 1998 until his death. He had previously served All Saints Episcopal Church and the First Church of Christ, Scientist, in San Francisco, the First Unitarian Church of Berkeley, and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Belvedere. He also supervised the support staff at Boalt Hall at the University of California, Berkeley, 1990–96. He played recitals at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor and at national conventions of the Organ Historical Society. A memorial service took place at Old First Presbyterian Church on February 24.
Monsignor Richard J. Schuler, a major figure in sacred music in the 20th century and founder of the Church Music Association of America, died April 20 at the age of 87. Monsignor Schuler served as pastor at St. Agnes Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, for 32 years, from 1969–2001, and was the founding director of the Twin Cities Catholic Chorale in 1956.
Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, December 30, 1920, he attended DeLaSalle High School and the College of St. Thomas before entering the St. Paul Seminary. He was ordained a priest on August 18, 1945, and was assigned to Nazareth Hall Preparatory Seminary to teach Latin and music. He held music degrees from the Eastman School of Music (M.A.) and the University of Minnesota (Ph.D.), and in 1954 spent a year of study of Renaissance music manuscripts at the Vatican Library on a Fulbright scholarship from the United States government.
An excellent organist and overall musician, he was also a pioneer in the use of large-scale polyphony and symphonic sung Masses after the Second Vatican Council. He is the author of many articles and lengthy studies on music and the liturgy. A funeral mass took place on April 24 at St. Agnes Church in St. Paul. Members of the Twin Cities Catholic Chorale sang the Mozart Requiem with orchestral accompaniment.

Gordon T. Whitley died April 20 at Obici Hospital in Suffolk, Virginia, from congestive heart failure. He was 66. Born November 16, 1940, to Moses and Mary Whitley in Suffolk, he attended Peabody Conservatory. His business included ownership of a beauty salon located in his home. Churches he had served as organist and choirmaster included St. Bride’s Episcopal, Norfolk, Virginia, Faith Lutheran Church in Suffolk, and Murfreesboro (North Carolina) Baptist Church. At the time of his death he was a countertenor in the choir at Trinity Episcopal Church in Portsmouth, Virginia.
Whitley was a member of St. Grace and St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Baltimore. A former dean of AGO chapters in Maryland and Virginia, he was a member of Northeastern North Carolina AGO chapter, serving as dean from 1997–1999. He was a member of the Association of Anglican Musicians and the Friends of European Cathedrals. Survivors include a niece and a sister-in-law. A memorial service was held on April 22 at R. W. Baker Funeral Home Chapel in Suffolk.
—Rodney Trueblood

Alec Wyton died on March 18 at Danbury Hospital in Danbury, Connecticut, at the age of 85. He had been a resident of Ridgefield, Connecticut, for the last 20 years. His career included two decades as organist and choirmaster at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. He was president of the American Guild of Organists 1964–69 and twice served as dean of the New York City chapter.
Born in London on August 3, 1921, he received his early musical training as a boy chorister and held his first job as organist at age 11. He earned the BA from the Royal Academy of Music and the MA from Oxford University and was awarded fellowships in five professional societies. In 1946 he was appointed organist-choirmaster at St. Matthew’s Church, Northampton, and also served as conductor of the Northampton Bach Choir and Orchestra. In 1950 he was appointed organist-choirmaster at Christ Church Cathedral in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1954 he was appointed to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, where he also served as headmaster of the cathedral choir school 1954–62.
Wyton left the cathedral in 1974 to become organist-choirmaster at St. James’ Church, Madison Avenue, in New York City. At that time he also became coordinator of the Standing Commission on Church Music that produced The Hymnal 1982 for the Episcopal Church. In 1987 he left St. James’ Church to become minister of music at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Ridgefield, Connecticut, a position he held until his retirement in 1997.
Wyton’s published compositions number more than 100. In addition to his work on the Standing Commission on Church Music, he edited numerous publications, including Anglican Chant Psalter (Church Publishing, Inc.), and he was a member of the editorial team that produced Ecumenical Praise (Hope Publishing).
Wyton founded the church music department at the Manhattan School of Music in 1984, serving as chairman until 1990. He also taught at Union Theological Seminary in New York City and was chairman of the music department at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey. He was awarded honorary doctorates from Susquehanna University and Virginia Theological Seminary. Services were held at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Ridgefield, Connecticut.

William Ernest Baker died August 31, 2007 in Tucson, Arizona. Born in 1938 in Denver, he had enlisted in the United States Air Force as an in-flight computer technician. During this time, he studied organ at the University of the Pacific, and later studied at the University of Colorado. While in Denver, he worked with Fred H. Meunier & Associates. Mr. Baker’s early work took place in California and Nevada; in 1963, he rebuilt the 1877 Johnson organ at St. Paul Episcopal Church in Sacramento. He relocated to New York City in 1968, serving as organist-choirmaster at St. Savior’s Roman Catholic Church in Brooklyn, where he further rebuilt and enlarged the 1911 Reuben Midmer & Sons organ. He eventually settled in Hatfield, Massachusetts, living on the top floor of the wooden-frame building that housed his shop. Mr. Baker would take on difficult projects, such as improving the actions for the slider windchests at St. Thomas Church in New York, and restoring the high-pressure Solo chests of the Skinner organ at Mt. Holyoke College following water damage. Upon retirement, Mr. Baker moved to Mexico. His remains were inurned October 29 at St. John’s Cathedral in Denver.

William Dinneen died July 26, 2007 in Greenville, Rhode Island. He was 91. Mr. Dinneen, a graduate of Harvard University, served as organist for over 60 years, including positions at the chapel of Brown University (where he taught) and First Baptist Church in America, both in Providence. He also directed the University Glee Club and the Rhode Island Civic Chorale, and served as keyboardist for the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra and as music critic for The Providence Journal. A member of the Rhode Island AGO chapter, he served as dean in the 1950s, was a recitalist and accompanist for many Guild programs, and for years offered Sunday afternoon coaching sessions for groups of organists. He was awarded the chapter’s Anna Fiore-Smith Award in 2005. He is survived by Frances, his wife of 64 years, two sons, and two grandsons.

Noel E. Heinze, of Riceville, North Carolina, died on December 14, 2007, of a massive heart attack. He was 67. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, he graduated from Michigan State University with a master’s degree in English and music. During the Viet Nam War, he served as a captain in the U.S. Army Adj. Corps. He worked in contact administration with various firms in Washington, D.C., and most recently with Palmer, Wahl in Weaverville.
He began playing the organ in church at age 11, while attending Cranbrook Academy in Michigan. He served as an organist while in the Army, and held church positions in Michigan, Maryland, Massachusetts, and New York, before moving to North Carolina. Most recently he served as organist at St. Giles Chapel, Deerfield Retirement Community in Asheville. A member of the American Guild of Organists and the Organ Historical Society, he performed in concerts with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra as well as at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Noel Heinze is survived by his wife of 37 years, Kathryn Heinze, a daughter, a sister, and many nieces and nephews.

Herbert A. Severtsen died at age 77 on October 1, 2007, in Spokane, Washington. Born March 4, 1930, he attended the New York Institute for Blind and Bard College, and received a master’s degree and professional diploma in music from Columbia University. He met his wife when she joined the choir at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in New York City, where he was organist-choirmaster for 25 years. In Spokane, he was employed by the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, and the Unitarian Universalist Church, and by Davis & Hosch Music. He served as dean of the Spokane AGO chapter 1978–80 and was awarded a lifetime membership in 2004. He is survived by Billie Marie, his wife of 41 years, five children, and two grandchildren.

Craig Smith died November 14, 2007 in Boston. He was 60 years old. He was the founder and artistic director of Emmanuel Music, the resident ensemble at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Boston. Over the years he built Emmanuel into a major musical center that presented works of Schütz, Handel, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Debussy, Ravel, and contemporary composers, especially John Harbison. Between 1970–77, Smith conducted the complete cycle of Bach cantatas, the first time all these works had been performed in America. Mr. Smith studied at Washington State University and the New England Conservatory. He collaborated with the stage director Peter Sellars on Mozart and Handel operas, and works by Bach, Weill, Gershwin, and Gilbert and Sullivan; the productions were seen in both American and European venues, and on DVD. Mr. Smith was principal conductor of the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels from 1988–91 and had taught at the Juilliard School, MIT, the New England Conservatory, Pepperdine University, and the Tanglewood Music Center.

James Gary Stuart, age 72 and formerly of Lake Bluff, Illinois and Santa Fe, New Mexico, died on January 17, from complications due to cancer. He was preceded in death by his wife Nancy Anderson Stuart, an accomplished singer and music teacher, in 2006. Gary is survived by a sister, a brother, nieces, a grandniece, and a grandnephew. Born on January 28, 1935 in Jacksonville, Illinois, he earned B.Mus. and M.M. degrees from Northwestern University and began a career as a church organist-choirmaster for several churches on the North Shore of Chicago, including St. James the Less (Episcopal) in Northfield, and Church of the Holy Spirit (Episcopal) in Lake Forest, before beginning a music ministry at the Church of the Holy Comforter (Episcopal) in Kenilworth in 1990.
Gary married Nancy Elizabeth Stuart on March 29, 1970 in Lake Forest, Illinois. Together Nancy and Gary spent a lifetime devoted “first and foremost” to church and choral music. In addition to private teaching, he had also served as accompanist for the Chicago Symphony Chorus, the North Shore Choral Society, and the Lake Forest Camerata Singers. Mr. Stuart led two singing tours to England and was the visiting accompanist for a third. He retired as director of music at the Church of the Holy Comforter in Kenilworth in 2002 after establishing a music ministry of quality music and an Evensong series that included performances of Requiem settings by Duruflé, Fauré, and Rutter, and Masses by Gounod and Schubert. A celebration of the Holy Eucharist in thanksgiving for his life was celebrated at the Church of the Holy Comforter on January 23. A choir composed of current and former choir members and colleagues led by current music director Derek E. Nickels sang anthems by Lutkin, Mozart, and Vaughan Williams. The family asks that donations be made to the American Cancer Society, 820 Davis Street, Evanston, IL 60201.
—Derek E. Nickels

Susanne L. Taylor died September 10, 2007, in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, at the age of 89. A graduate of Smith College, Mrs. Taylor also attended the College of Charleston. She served as assistant organist at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Charleston, and in Mount Pleasant served as organist at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church and Christ Episcopal Church, and as junior choir director at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church. She also spearheaded the restoration of the Henry Erben organ at the Huguenot Church in Charleston. A member of the Charleston AGO chapter, Mrs. Taylor served as dean from 1965–67. Preceded in death by her husband, Francis Bergh Taylor, she is survived by her four children and eight grandchildren.

Donald Trowbridge Bryant, age 95, died on April 11. Born in Chesterville, Ohio, he began piano study at age 8, and received bachelor’s degrees in music education and composition at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. After four years of service in the Army during World War II, he entered the Juilliard School of Music in 1946; he earned a master’s degree in piano, studied singing with Mack Harrell, and served as Harrell’s studio accompanist.

During the next 20 years, Donald Bryant served as director/pianist of the Columbus Boychoir, now known as the American Boychoir. The choir toured Japan, Italy, and South America, recorded ten albums for RCA and Columbia, and appeared many times on NBC-TV. The Columbus Boychoir was involved in such performances in New York as the official opening of Lincoln Center, the American premieres of Leonard Bernstein’s Symphony No. 3 (“Kaddish”) and Britten’s War Requiem, and numerous concerts under Arturo Toscanini.  

In 1969, Bryant moved to Michigan to become the music director of the University Musical Society (UMS) Choral Union and director of music at First Presbyterian Church in Ann Arbor. At the church, he established the annual Boar’s Head Festival and Festival Sundays, which featured larger choral works.

Bryant’s compositions included anthems and responses, and an opera, The Tower of Babel. Commissions included settings for the poems of Hungarian poet Sandor Weores and Polish-American Nobel Laureate Ciesław Miłosz; a choral work, Death’s Echo, set to poetry of W. H. Auden for performance at the 1984 Ann Arbor Summer Festival; and a Missa Brevis, premiered at First Presbyterian in 1988. In honor of his retirement as director of the Choral Union, the UMS commissioned the three-act oratorio Genesis, given its world premiere in a special tribute concert to Bryant on January 14, 1990. In 1992, the U of M’s Museum of Art commissioned him to compose a choral work on the biblical Esther, which was premiered in conjunction with an exhibit featuring the museum’s painting by Guercino of Esther before Ahasuerus. 

After his retirement from First Presbyterian Church, Bryant continued to compose: A Requiem for Our Mothers (premiered at the Chapel of the Holy Trinity at Concordia University in Ann Arbor on June 5, 1999); a set of piano miniatures, Pictures from Childhood; and several songs based on texts by his ancestor, William Cullen Bryant. He also continued to conduct a small choir that performed several times a year, and to practice piano every day, performing a recital as recently as February 27, 2014, for his friends and new acquaintances at Chelsea Retirement Community. 

Bryant was awarded an honorary doctorate by Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey; an Annie Award by the Washtenaw Council of the Arts in Ann Arbor; and was named a Paul Harris Fellow by the Rotary Club of Ann Arbor. 

Donald Trowbridge Bryant was preceded in death by his wife of 62 years, Lela Neoma Cultice Bryant. He is survived by his sister, Doris (Theodore) Bruckner; his son, Milton Travis Bryant of New York City; son and daughter-in-law, Stephen Lee Bryant and Caryl Heaton Bryant of Montclair, New Jersey; grandsons David and Andrew Bryant; and friends and former students.

James K. Hill, age 72, died on April 16 in Bay City, Michigan. He received a bachelor’s degree in music education and a master’s degree in organ performance from Central Michigan University, and a master’s degree in education from Michigan State University. He was a music and elementary teacher in the Essexville-Hampton Public Schools, and a member of the Saginaw Valley AGO chapter. Hill played organ at several regional churches, sang with the Bay Chorale, and played with the Saginaw Valley State University Collegium. 

James K. Hill is survived by his wife Rosemary, a son, a daughter, a granddaughter, a brother, a sister, a niece, and a nephew. 

Frances Kelly Holland died in Charlotte, North Carolina, on April 3; she was 92. Born in Mount Holly, North Carolina, she received a bachelor of music degree from Greensboro College in 1938. She served as organist and choir director at the First United Methodist Church, and the First Presbyterian Church, both in Mount Holly, for many years, until her retirement in 1984. Holland was an officer of the Charlotte AGO chapter for 22 years, and was certified as an organist by the Presbyterian Association of Musicians. Frances Kelly Holland is survived by her husband of 69 years, Thomas Marshall Holland, two children, five grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren. 

Ronald A. Nelson died April 18 at the age of 86. Born in Rockford, Illinois, he received a B.Mus. from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, and an M.Mus. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. In 1955 he became music minister at Westwood Lutheran Church in suburban Minneapolis, serving for 37 years; he directed nine choirs and a resident orchestra and founded a children’s choir school. His compositions were published by Augsburg Fortress, GIA, Santa Barbara, and Selah; he is well known as the composer of Setting 2 of the Communion Service in the Lutheran Book of Worship. Nelson received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from St. Olaf College and the F. Melius Christiansen Award from Minnesota American Choral Directors Association.

Ronald A. Nelson is survived by his wife, Betty Lou, daughter Rachel, sons Peter and Paul, and
a grandson.

Robert J. Schaffer died on May 20 at the age of 92 in Edgewood, Kentucky. Born in 1921 in St. Bernard, Ohio, he received his early education in Cincinnati. During World War II, he served in England in a U.S. Army band, which played the national anthem for Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower during the embarkation ceremony for troops heading to fight on Normandy’s beaches. After the war, he returned to Cincinnati, serving as an organist, freelance trombonist, and pianist, while studying Gregorian chant at the Athenaeum of Ohio and earning a bachelor’s degree in music from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. He moved to New York and earned a master’s degree in musicology from New York University. 

In 1949 Schaffer was hired as organist by the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption in Covington, Kentucky, beginning an association that would endure for more than sixty years. After a short break to conclude his doctoral studies, he returned in 1952, and was named director of music in 1958. In 1953, Schaffer married his wife of 55 years, Rita, former organist at Cincinnati’s Christ Church Cathedral and Church of the Redeemer. She died in 2009. Schaffer composed several Masses and other compositions, which were published by World Library Publications. He taught music in the parish elementary school, in high schools, at Villa Madonna College (later Thomas More College) in Covington, and at St. Pius X Seminary, and served as an organist for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. In 1975, to celebrate the addition of the Matthias Schwab Organ to what were eventually the three organs of the basilica (the pipes and other parts were dismantled and carried two blocks from Old St. Joseph Church, which had formerly housed the instrument), Schaffer began the Cathedral Concert Series. Robert J. Schaffer is survived by his son Gregory Schaffer, daughter Rebecca Wells, and four grandchildren. 

Leonard Edwin Bearse Sr. died in Amesbury, Massachusetts on May 4, at the age of 73. Born in Hyannis, Bearse had his first church job at age 14, at the First Baptist Church there. He studied the organ in Germany while serving with the Armed Forces there, and studied choral conducting with Robert Shaw. He earned a master of music degree from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, studying organ with Donald Willing. He was a public school teacher in various eastern Massachusetts towns, and held music positions in various churches, most recently as minister of music at the Congregational Church in Kensington, New Hampshire, where he played his last service on March 16. Leonard Bearse is survived by his wife, Ellen, and his children Leonard E. Jr., Bruce, and Stephanie.

Michael Cohen, age 69, died June 21 in Asheville, North Carolina. A native of Tampa, Florida, he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music from Florida State University–Tallahassee. He taught music in the Florida public schools for 39 years, and was organist-music director for the Church of the Holy Spirit in Apopka, Florida, for the past 17 years. A past dean of the Central Florida AGO chapter, he was a member of the Winter Park Bach Festival Choir. Michael Cohen is survived by his partner, Carl Brown; his brother Paul (and wife Donna), and brother Joel (and partner Barry Dingman).

Robert E. Glasgow, Professor Emeritus at the University of Michigan School of Music, noted concert organist, and one of the most widely respected artists in the field of organ performance and pedagogy, died on September 10 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He was 83.
Professor Glasgow taught organ at the University of Michigan School of Music for 44 years. He received his B.M. and M.M. degrees from the Eastman School of Music in 1950 and 1951, respectively, earning Eastman’s Performer’s Certificate as well. At Eastman, he studied with Harold Gleason. From 1951 to 1962, he was associate professor of organ and college organist at MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Illinois. He joined the University of Michigan School of Music in 1962 as assistant professor, and was promoted to associate professor in 1964, full professor in 1973, and professor emeritus in 2006.
In 1973, Glasgow was awarded the Doctor of Musical Arts degree, honoris causa, by MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Illinois. The New York Chapter of the American Guild of Organists named him International Performer of the Year for 1997. Glasgow returned to his alma mater in January 2002, where he was given the school’s Alumni Achievement Award. On the same occasion, he taught a masterclass, influencing yet another generation of Eastman students. Glasgow’s faculty colleagues at the University of Michigan also recognized his pedagogical efforts by awarding him the Harold Haugh Award for excellence in the teaching of performance.
For over 50 years, he successfully combined a brilliant teaching career with an impressive career as a concert organist, both in the United States and abroad. He was best known for his stirring performances of the organ literature of the 19th century, and was regarded by some as the greatest living interpreter of Romantic organ music. He was a regularly featured performer for national and regional conventions of the American Guild of Organists as well as the International Congress of Organists. He was selected to perform and teach at the American Classic Organ Symposium on the occasion of the completion of the renovation of the great Tabernacle Organ at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Dr. Glasgow’s performances of the music of Liszt, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Widor, Vierne, and especially César Franck were legendary; in one review he was given the appropriate nickname “the Philadelphia Orchestra of Organists.” In addition to a number of broadcast recordings for the BBC, Glasgow made one commercial recording for Prestant Records in 1987, Robert Glasgow plays César Franck, recorded on the Aeolian-Skinner organ in All Saints Church, Worcester, Massachusetts.
A leading educator of uncompromising standards, Robert Glasgow helped to form some of the most gifted organists in the world. His students are to be found in important church and academic positions throughout the United States. He was an artist in the truest sense, and a teacher who constantly reminded his students that they must not strive merely to be organists, but always musicians— communicating musical ideas in spite of the inherent difficulty of the instrument.
Robert Ellison Glasgow was born on May 30, 1925 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the son of Floyd Lafayette Glasgow and Elizabeth Mary Jenkins. His death is mourned by his many devoted students, friends, and colleagues. (See the interview with Stephen Egler, “Robert Glasgow at 80,” The Diapason, May 2005.)
—Ray Henry
Rochester, Michigan

Walter A. Guzowski died September 17 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He was 68. Born and raised in Buffalo, New York, his career had a dramatic beginning. While still a high school student, he observed an organ technician tuning the Schlicker organ at his church, and informed the pastor that he could do what the technician had done, and save the church some money. Later, while doing some tuning, Guzowski slipped off the walkboard onto the chest below, crushing numerous pipes; to rectify this, his father brought him to Herman Schlicker, and Guzowski began working at the Schlicker Organ Company, where he worked (except for two years serving in the Army) until 1979. While at Schlicker he became head voicer and tonal finisher, working on a range of instruments, from two-rank residence organs to the large organ at First Congregational Church in Los Angeles. After moving to Fort Lauderdale in 1979, he founded a service business, which with John A. Steppe and Christopher B. Kane, became Guzowski & Steppe Organbuilders, Inc. in 1983. Walter Guzowski is survived by his sister Margaret, her husband Walter, and cousins and friends.

Gerhard Krapf died in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, on July 2. He was 83. Krapf was renowned for his organ, choral, and vocal compositions, his scholarly writings on the organ, his teaching at the University of Alberta (1977–87, for which he was named professor emeritus), and for designing the 1978 Casavant organ there. He contributed significantly to the development of graduate programs in keyboard and library resources at the University of Alberta; in the 1960s, he had established and built the undergraduate and graduate organ programs at the University of Iowa’s School of Music. Gerhard Krapf is survived by his wife, Trudl, three daughters, a son, a brother, sister, and four grandchildren.

John S. Peragallo, Jr. died Friday, September 12 at the Hospice of New Jersey, Wayne, New Jersey, at age 76. Born in New York City and a lifelong resident of Paterson, he took several classes at the Newark College of Engineering, and served in the U.S. Army during the Korean Conflict as a chaplain’s assistant and in the honor guard.
As a boy he helped his father in the family business, the Peragallo Pipe Organ Company, founded by his father, John Peragallo, Sr., in 1918. John Jr. joined the company in 1949. He was responsible for the construction and care of many of the pipe organs of New Jersey and the complete renovation of the organs at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York City. John Jr.’s sons, John III and Frank, have been actively involved in the family business since the 1980s and now have a fourth generation of Peragallos, Janine, Anthony and John IV, to work alongside them. The company has installed almost 700 new instruments and currently maintains approximately 400 instruments, up and down the East Coast of the United States, including the organs of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York.