The distinguished Swiss composer Lionel Rogg dedicated a new publication of 35 chorales predues to James David Christie, professor of organ at Oberlin Conservatory. The scores is published by ECS Publishing in Boston.
Mickey Thomas Terry, a native of Greenville, North Carolina, holds degrees from East Carolina University in Greenville, and a Ph.D. in Late Medieval and Early Modern European History from Georgetown University in Washington, DC. Dr. Terry's principal organ teachers have been Clarence Watters, Charles Callahan, and Ronald Stolk (Improvisation). He is currently the organist and minister of music of St. Rita's Catholic Church in Alexandria, Virginia. Dr. Terry has concertized throughout the United States and has been broadcast several times on Pipedreams. Dr. Terry has recently been a featured artist at Washington's John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and organ recitalist at the Piccolo-Spoleto Music Festival in Charleston, South Carolina. In July, 1996, he presented a lecture-recital in St. Paul's Chapel at Columbia University as part of the African-American Organ Music workshop of the AGO National Convention in New York. He will be a featured recitalist at the 1998 AGO national convention in Denver. Dr. Terry has taught on the faculty of Georgetown University and has written several articles for both The American Organist Magazine and The Diapason. He serves on the Advisory board for the ECS/AGO African-American Organ Music Series published by E.C. Schirmer Music Company of Boston. Dr. Terry appears on the Albany Records label compact disc George Walker--A Portrait, playing the organ works of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer George Walker.
In a previous article, "African-American Organ Literature--A Selective Overview," seven composers and their works were featured (The Diapason, April, 1996, pp. 14-17). They included George Walker, Noel Da Costa, David Hurd, Adolphus Hailstork, Thomas H. Kerr, William B. Cooper, and Mark Fax. Through a series of musical examples provided, it was shown that in addition to Negro spirituals and jazz, African-American organ literature is based on several diverse musical sources which include plain chant, German Protestant chorales, general Protestant hymnody, themes of African origin, and original composer themes.1
Also mentioned was the fact that several composers from this school are alumni of major musical institutions. A number of them have been recipients of prestigious composition prizes and academic fellowships.2 Among them is George Walker who, in April 1996, became the first black to receive the Pulitzer Prize for music. This award was for his composition Lilacs for Soprano and Orchestra, commissioned and premiered by the Boston Symphony.
Although attitudes towards black composers are gradually changing, the path of the African-American composer has not been an easy one, and it is still fraught with difficulty.3 Historically, racial bias and negative stereotyping have played a deleterious role in coloring perceptions of and attitudes towards African-American composers. In the U.S., such attitudes have long been documented. One of the earliest setof published writings which reflects this attitude is Thomas Jefferson's Notes on Virginia (c. 1784). In this work, the author relates his general perceptions regarding blacks.4 Added to the problem of historical perception was the existence of the now defunct Jim Crow (i.e., segregation) system which deterred blacks from being woven into the fabric of American society. The combination of both factors has greatly contributed to the current dearth of published musical materials from this school of composers. Furthermore, during the pre-integration era, the extant system of laws, racial codes, and negative perceptions prohibited African-Americans, in most cases from matriculating in traditionally white institutions of higher education. At that time, the academic pedigrees and scholastic achievements of blacks were given little or no regard.5 George Walker's experiences, as related to and documented by several newspaper and journal interviews, constitute a case in point.
Prior to receiving the distinction of being a Pulitzer Prize winner, Walker had the distinction of being the first black graduate of the Curtis Institute (Artist Diploma, 1945) and, subsequently, becoming the first black to receive a Doctoral degree from the Eastman School of Music (D.M.A. in Piano, 1956). At the time, this was really quite a notable accomplishment because many institutions including the prestigious Peabody Conservatory did not admit blacks for a long time.6 Although the achievements of Walker and others continued to be increasingly evident, many such institutions remained closed, nonetheless, to blacks; teaching posts in such institutions were simply out of the question.
Since winning the Pulitzer, Walker's interviews, such as that published in the Philadelphia Inquirer (Oct. 31, 1996), have occasionally indicated long-standing difficulties and disappointments experienced not only as a composer, but as a virtuoso pianist and teacher.7 Unfortunate as these experiences may have been, they are neither unique nor isolated; several black composers have shared similar misfortunes. One of the greatest misfortunes from that period to the present has been the absence of sufficient recognition for their contribution to the classical literature; part of this article's raison d'être is the writer's attempt to help alter that situation.
As mentioned in the previous article, it is not feasible to present a comprehensive survey in the scope of a single article; as such, the writer has, once again, provided a select sampling of talents who have made substantive and qualitative contributions to the literature for the instrument. The various cited examples are intended to demonstrate not only a diversity of composition styles, but thematic influences which may be found among this body of music. For the purposes of this article, the organ compositions cited are stylistically divided into two general categories: neo-classical and symphonic. Among the neo-classical works cited are compositions by Ulysses Kay, Roger Dickerson, and Charles Coleman. The more symphonically conceived works are represented by Olly Wilson, William Grant Still, Eugene W. Hancock, Charlene Moore Cooper, Mark A. Miller, and Jeffrey Mumford. The neo-classical works are presented first, followed by the symphonic compositions.
ULYSSES KAY (1917-1995) received a B.M. degree from the University of Arizona. Kay also studied with Howard Hanson at the Eastman School of Music (M.M. in Composition) and with Paul Hindemith both at the Berkshire Music Center (1941) and Yale University. He also studied with Otto Luening at Columbia University. Kay served as visiting professor at both Boston University and the University of Los Angeles (UCLA). From 1968, he served as Professor of Music at Herbert H. Lehman College (CUNY) until his retirement in 1988. While there, he was appointed as Distinguished Professor (1972). Kay was the recipient of several prestigious awards and fellowships. Twice, he won the Prix de Rome as well as winning the Gershwin Memorial Award (1947). Among the fellowships awarded were: Ditson (1946), Rosenwald (1947), Fulbright (1950), and Guggenheim (1964). In addition to organ works, Kay wrote two operas as well as music for chorus, orchestra, ballet, chamber ensemble, and piano. Commissioned and premiered by Marilyn Mason, Kay's Suite No. 1 for Organ (1958) exhibits the influence of neo-classicism. For the purposes of this article, excerpts from the second and last movements of this work are cited. (See Examples 1 and 2.)
Organ Compositions (Published Scores):
Two Meditations for Organ (H.W. Gray, 1951) [out-of-print]
Suite No. 1 for Organ [Prelude, Pastorale, Finale (1958)] (Carl Fischer Facsimile Edition, 1986)
ROGER DICKERSON (b. 1934) received his B.A. (Music Education) Degree from Dillard University in New Orleans and M.M. Degree (Composition) from Indiana University. He received a Fulbright to study at the Akademie für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna (1959-62). Dickerson was also the recipient of a John Hay Whitney Fellowship and received the Louis Armstrong Award (1981). In 1975, he founded the Creative Artists Alliance. He also received an honorary doctorate from the People's Republic of China. In 1978, he was the subject of a public television documentary film "New Orleans Concerto." Currently, Dickerson serves as Music Coordinator and Choir Director at Southern University as well as Lecturer in Music at Dillard University in New Orleans. He has written for piano, voice, chorus, orchestra, band, and chamber ensemble. The following composition is, at the time of this article's completion, his only contribution for solo organ. Conceived in a neo-classical idiom, it is based on a German Protestant Chorale Das neugeborne Kindelein ("The Newborn Little Child"). (See Example 3.)
Organ Compositions (Published Scores):
Chorale Prelude: Das neugeborne Kindelein (1956) [E.C. Schirmer Music Co., 1996]
CHARLES D. COLEMAN (1926-1991) was a native of Detroit. He received his B.M. and M.M. Degrees from Wayne State University in Detroit. Among his teachers were Virgil Fox, Mildred Clumas, and Robert Cato. In 1955, Mr. Coleman founded the Charles Coleman House of Music, formerly known as Northwestern School of Music, Dance, and Drama. In addition to teaching in the Detroit Public Schools, he served as Director of Music for Tabernacle Baptist Church in Detroit. Coleman was also an Associate of the American Guild of Organists (AAGO). His compositions include works written essentially for chorus, organ, and piano. Conceived in a neo-classical idiom, the sonata is dedicated to Dr. Eugene W. Hancock. The Passacaglia constitutes the sonata's first movement. (See Example 4.)
Organ Compositions (Published Scores):
Impromptu for Pedals Alone (1961; Northwestern School of Music Press, 1977) [out-of-print]
Sonata No. 1 [Passacaglia, Adagio, Allegro]8 (Northwestern School of Music Press, 1979) [out-of-print]
OLLY WILSON (b. 1937) received a B.M. Degree from Washington University (St. Louis), an M.M. Degree from the University of Illinois (Urbana), and a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa. In addition to being a recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship (1971 and 1977) and a Guggenheim (1972),Wilson was the recipient of a First Prize in the International Electronic Music Competition (1968) and the Dartmouth Arts Council Prize (1968). In 1974, he received an award for outstanding achievement in music composition from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the National Institute of Arts and Letters. Among his academic positions, he has served on the faculties of Florida A & M University and Oberlin Conservatory. He is currently Music Department chair at the University of California at Berkeley. Wilson has written for various musical media including: organ, piano, voice, chorus, chamber ensemble, and orchestra. Commissioned for the 1979 Hartt College of Music International Contemporary Organ Music Festival, Expansions was premiered by Donald Sutherland. (See Example 5.)
Organ Compositions (Published Scores):
Expansions (1979)
Moe Fragments (1987)
WILLIAM GRANT STILL (1895-
1979) During his lifetime, he was frequently referred to as the "Dean" of African-American Composers. He studied at Wilberforce University (Ohio) and at Oberlin Conservatory. Still also studied privately with George Chadwick and Edgar Varèse. He was the recipient of many honors and fellowships, including a Guggenheim (1933). Among his distinctions, William Grant Still was the first black to compose a symphony, to conduct a major U.S. symphony, and to have a composition performed by a major U.S. symphony. He wrote for almost every musical medium including piano, voice, chorus, chamber music, opera, ballet, and orchestra. Reverie is one of two original organ compositions written by the composer. It was commissioned by the Long Beach, Los Angeles, and Pasadena & Valley Districts of the AGO in celebration of the 1962 American Guild of Organists National Convention. (See Example 6.)
Organ Compositions (Published Scores):
Reverie [AGO Prelude Book (published by Los Angeles area American Guild of Organists chapters, 1962)]
Elegy (Avant Music Co., 1963)
EUGENE W. HANCOCK (1929-1994) was a native of Detroit, as was his friend and colleague Charles Coleman. Hancock received a B.M. Degree from the University of Detroit, a M.M. Degree from the University of Michigan [Ann Arbor], and a Doctorate of Sacred Music from the School of Sacred Music at Union Theological Seminary in New York. Among his organ teachers were Marilyn Mason, Vernon deTar, and Alec Wyton. Hancock studied composition with Seth Bingham. He served as Assistant Organist/Choirmaster of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine (1963-66), and later as Organist/Choirmaster of St. Philip's Episcopal Church (1975-82) and of West End Presbyterian Church (1982-90) in New York. In 1970, Hancock was appointed as Professor of Music at Borough of Manhattan Community College (CUNY), a position he held until his death. Among his professional affiliations, Hancock was an Associate of the American Guild of Organists (AAGO). With several choral publications to his credit, he has contributed much to the genre of sacred music. In his recital work, Hancock had been particularly noted for performing and promoting the works of African-American organ composers. Fantasy is a virtuosic work written for and premiered by Herman D. Taylor in 1985 at the Black American Music Symposium held in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (See Example 7.)
Organ Compositions (Published Scores):
An Organ Book of Spirituals [Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child; We are Climbing Jacob's Ladder; My Lord, What a Morning; Joshua fought the Battle of Jericho; Were You There When They Crucified My Lord; I'm Troubled; Fix Me, Jesus; Swing Low, Sweet Chariot; Go Tell It on the Mountain] (Lorenz Publishing, 1966) [out-of-print]
The Wrath of God (Selah Press, 1993)
(Unpublished Scores)
Suite in Three Movements for Organ, String Quartet, Oboe, Xylophone, and Bass Drum [Variation, Aria, Toccata] (1966)
Fantasy for Organ (1985)
CHARLENE MOORE COOPER (b. 1938) is a native of Baltimore. She received a B.M. Degree (Flute/Music Education) from Oberlin Conservatory. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Counseling Psychology at Catholic University in Washington, DC. Cooper has taught music in both the Baltimore and District of Columbia Public Schools. She has also taught liturgy courses at the Howard University School of Divinity. She is also Director for the Municipal Opera of Baltimore, the NAACP Community Choir (DC), the Best Friends Jazz Choir (DC Metro area), and Director of Music for John Wesley A.M.E. Zion Church in Washington. In addition to writing for the organ, Cooper has written for piano, voice, chorus, chamber ensemble, and orchestra. A Solitary Prayer was originally conceived as a musical tribute to the composer's deceased mother. (See Example 8.)
Organ Compositions (Published Scores)
A Joyful Noise for Trumpet and Organ (1993)
Alleluia (1995)
A Solitary Prayer (1995)
Festal Postlude (1995)
Christmas Morn for Oboe and Organ (1995)
Meditation (1996)
Gloria in Excelsis Deo (1997)
Joy in the Morning (1997)
Resurrection (1997)
JEFFREY MUMFORD (b. 1955) is a native of Washington, D.C. He received his B.A. Degree (Art/Painting) from the University of California at Irvine and his M.A. Degree (Composition) at the University of California at San Diego. Mumford has won First Prize in the Aspen Music Festival (1979) and the National Black Arts Festival-Atlanta Symphony Composition Competition (1994). Also the recipient of several prestigious commissions, he was awarded a commission by the National Symphony in commemoration of the 25th Anniversary of the Kennedy Center. In 1995, he was also the recipient of a Guggenheim in composition. Most recently, Mumford has been awarded a grant from Meet the Composer/Arts Endowment Commissioning Music/ USA to compose a piece for the CORE Ensemble. His compositions consist of music for voice, piano, chorus, solo instrument, chamber ensemble, and orchestra. Mumford's Fanfare for November, so far his only organ composition, was written to be the recessional music for own wedding ceremony in November, 1985. (See Example 9.)
Organ Compositions (Published Scores)
Fanfare for November (1985)
MARK A. MILLER (b. 1967), a native of Burlington, Vermont, received a B.A. (Organ Performance/Composition) from Yale University and an M.M. (Organ Performance) from Juilliard. In 1989, he won First Prize in the National Association of Negro Musicians National Organ Competition. He is currently Director of Music for the Drew University Theological School (Madison, NJ) and Director of Music for Chatham United Methodist Church (Chatham, NJ). Miller is also an organist for the Nightwatch Program at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. In addition to organ music, he has written for voice, chorus, and handbells. Reverie constitutes the second movement of Miller's Verses. (See Example 10.)
Organ Compositions (Published Scores)
Fantasias for Pentecost (1983)
Jubilate (1984)
Toccata on the Mountain (1994
Verses: [Prelude and Fugue, Reverie, Toccata] (1996)
In Jefferson's Notes on Virginia, the author writes: "Whether they [blacks] will be equal to the composition of a more extensive run of melody, or of complicated harmony, is yet to be proved." Should one be in quest of proof today, it is necessary to look no further than the compositions represented in this and the previous article. Some of these composers have attained a certain measure of renown; others are less renown, but there are several unmentioned here who are also very fine, even if unknown but to a small handful of devoted supporters and disciples. Given the findings, it is rather safe to say that African-American classical organ music exists sufficiently both in quality and quantity. No longer is there need for queries and proof, but rather concerts and recitals, recordings and publication, and most of all, a fervent commitment by the performer.
Notes
1. Mickey Thomas Terry, "African-American Organ Literature, A Selective Overview," The Diapason (April, 1996): 14.
2. Mickey Thomas Terry, "African-American Classical Organ Music: A Case of Neglect," The American Organist Magazine (March, 1997): 60n.
3. This reference provides information concerning the historical perspective of the black composer, Ibid: 56-61.
4. Therein, Jefferson briefly assesses the musical capabilities of blacks: "In music they are more generally gifted than the whites with accurate ears for tune and time, and they have been found capable of imagining a small catch. Whether they will be equal to the composition of a more extensive run of melody, or of complicated harmony, is yet to be proved." Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, ed. William Peden (New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1982), 140.
5. Terry, "African-American Classical Organ Music," TAO, 59n.
6. The first black to be admitted to Peabody Conservatory was Paul Archibald Brent (1907-1997) of Baltimore. Brent, an honors graduate, received a teaching certificate in piano (1953). He subsequently received a B.M. Degree from Morgan State University in Baltimore. When interviewed, Anne Garside, Peabody's Information Director, provided the following information regarding the situation: "The director [conservatory] at the time was Reginald Stewart who very much wanted to abolish the color bar because not only had Peabody faculty been teaching African-American students for years under the table, [but] some of these black students were among the best musicians in the city . . . " The Baltimore Sun, Mar. 21, 1997, 5B.
7. Philadelphia Inquirer (Oct. 31, 1996), E6.
8. This sonata is comprised of three movements, none of which has been titled by the composer. The movements listed here are more or less described either by their form or tempo markings. In the case of the second movement, there is neither a title nor tempo marking indicated; consequently, the title indicated is provided by the writer to describe a suggested tempo.
Dr. Carolyn Shuster Fournier thanks Father Michel Chausson, James David Christie, Jean-Louis Coignet, Pierre Farago, Jean Fonteneau, Yves Fossaert, André Isoir, Alain Louvier, Yvonne Mills, Francis Prod’homme, and Pascale Rouet for their assistance in preparing this article. Author of numerous articles for The Diapason, she is a French-American organist, musicologist, international concert organist and titular of the Aristide Cavaillé-Coll choir organ at La Trinité in Paris, France. She has premiered numerous contemporary works, collaborating with composers such as Jacques Castérède, Jacques Chailley, Jacques Charpentier and Daniel Pinkham. In April 2009, she recorded a CD in homage to Nadia Boulanger at La Madeleine in Paris. She is Chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters.
Vital music-making is the heartbeat that animates André Isoir. Honorary organist at the church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris, Chevalier of Arts and Letters and recipient of the National Order of Merit, André Isoir has received the highest distinctions as an international concert and recording artist, with a vast repertoire and more than sixty recordings to his name. An eminent professor, he has taught over 900 organists from all over the world. A Renaissance man, he is also a composer who has made many transcriptions. Fascinated by organ building, he has been a consultant for numerous organ restorations and has served as a corresponding member of both the French Historical Monuments Commission (1970–85) and the Commission of Unclassified Historical Monuments from (1980–84).
Initial inspiration
André Isoir was born on July 20, 1935 in Saint-Dizier (in Haute-Marne, near Reims). He played the bugle in the city band. At age fourteen, his life was transformed when he heard J. S. Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in A Minor, BWV 543, played on the organ in the chapel of his school. He immediately fell in love with this instrument. For the next two years, he studied on this organ with a Salesian priest and accompanied on the harmonium a church choir led by his father, an amateur musician. When Noëlie Pierront1 came to Saint-Dizier with the Philippe Debat Vocal Ensemble2 and performed a stunning rendition of Marcel Dupré’s Prelude and Fugue in G Minor, Isoir had the opportunity of playing Bach’s Fugue in G Minor, BWV 542, for her. Impressed by his immense talent, she encouraged him to come to Paris to study at the César Franck School.3
Musical training
In 1952, André Isoir enrolled at the César Franck School, then located on the rue Vavin, near Notre-Dame-des-Champs, in the Montparnasse district. After studying piano with Germaine Mounier, he then studied with two of Louis Vierne’s former students: Geneviève de La Salle and Édouard Souberbielle. First he entered de La Salle’s organ class.4 An excellent musician, she enabled him to acquire a firm technique and taught him to play with elegant phrasing, varied articulations, and refined registrations. She excelled in the art of registration so much so that Joseph Bonnet requested that she spend hours with him preparing for his concerts and recordings on the Gonzalez organ at Saint-Eustache. She gave her lessons on a Pleyel studio organ with electro-pneumatic action,5 teaching the works of Bach, Alain, Duruflé, Franck, Messiaen, and Vierne, leaving aside those by Widor and Gigout. In February 1956, when Geneviève de La Salle left to teach at the Gregorian Institute in Lisbon, Isoir succeeded her as organist and choirmaster at Saint-Médard in Paris.6
To acquire a solid musical formation, Isoir studied Gregorian chant as well as improvisation and harmony with René Malherbe,7 harmony with Yves Margat, counterpoint with Marcel Bitch, and continued piano with Germaine Mounier. This prepared him to enter Édouard Souberbielle’s8 organ class. This “true aristocrat of the organ” possessed a vast culture and an eminent spirituality that deeply influenced all of his students. He expanded each student’s personal perceptions by making them feel uncomfortable with their own opinions. This enabled them to acquire an elegant style.
In Souberbielle’s class, Isoir continued to play, notably, works by Bach and Franck, but more importantly, he began to play the early French composers. Influenced by his son Léon,9 Édouard Souberbielle served as consultant for the construction of a Roethinger organ in the French classic style (curiously enough with electric action) at the Benedictine Abbey in Limon (in the southern part of the Île-de-France). Voiced by Robert Boisseau, this organ included a Plein-jeu as described by Dom Bédos. It thus served as an inspiration to future constructions in this style by Philippe Hartmann and Pierre Chéron. In addition, Souberbielle’s refined and inspiring approach to improvisation, enrobed with Ravel-like harmonies, concentrated on the free treatment of a theme and, of course, the fugue.
In order to launch a career, it was necessary to obtain a First Prize in organ from the Paris Conservatory. While still enrolled at the César Franck School in September 1957, André Isoir entered Rolande Falcinelli’s10 organ class and Olivier Messiaen’s analysis class at the Paris Conservatory, where his fellow students included Xavier Darasse and Yves Devernay. He remained there for three years, taking lessons on a “really horrible organ”11 and received his Second Prize in organ on June 15, 1959. On June 22, 1960, he unanimously obtained, with the strong support of Maurice Duruflé, a First Prize in organ performance and improvisation. Fifteen days earlier, Isoir had received the ultimate degree that really mattered to him—the Superior Diploma in organ and improvisation at the César Franck School.
At the César Franck School, Isoir met many of his future friends and colleagues: Denise and Michel Chapuis, Jeanne Joulain, Éliane Lejeune-Bonnier, Elisabeth and Joachim Havard de la Montagne, Simone and Jean-Albert Villard, Émmanuel de Villèle, Paule Piedelièvre, and others, as well as his future wife, Annie Kergomard, whom he married in 1961.12 During his military service, from 1960 to 1962, he played brass instruments in a military band, along with Francis Chapelet, who became one of his closest friends.13
Beginning a musical career: skills as an improviser and a composer
Following his studies, Isoir’s international career was launched when he won various competitions: in Saint Albans (England), where he received the First Prize in 1965, and in Haarlem (Holland), where he won prizes for three consecutive years (1966–1967–1968). He also won the “Challenge Prize” and is the only Frenchman to have earned that distinction since the beginning of this competition in 1951. Isoir excelled in the ephemeral art of improvisation that enabled him to express his thoughts eloquently. For him, even a minimum amount of imagination, when it’s coupled with an assimilation of various styles and a sufficient preparation of an abundance of fresh ideas, can enable one to improvise well. He was fascinated with presenting, in a short span of time, a coherent form with appropriate registrations that bring out the style of the proposed theme. His vital musical personality, ready to receive and develop unexpected ideas (it is not surprising that he is an avid fisherman!) has been fully revealed through his improvisations.
Animated by a love of accompanying the liturgy, André Isoir used his improvisation skills to prepare the parishioners to pray and become spiritually receptive. From 1956 to 1971, he served as organist and choir master at Saint-Médard in Paris.14 He began his concert career by giving a recital in this church in October 1963, of classical works from the Flemish and German schools (Leonhard Kleber, Sweelinck, Wilhelm Karges, Scheidt, Lübeck, Pachelbel, Buxtehude and Bach). He played in such a manner that the romantic Stoltz instrument (1880) sounded like a German baroque organ!15 Throughout his career, he constantly presented lesser-known works in his programs.
In 1970, he was named as one of the four organists at Saint-Séverin, along with Michel Chapuis, Francis Chapelet, and Jacques Marichal, re-establishing the former Parisian tradition of having four organists. In 1963, Alfred Kern had successfully reconstructed the 1745 Claude Ferrand organ in a neo-classic aesthetic (under Michel Chapuis’ guidance, with Philippe Hartmann redoing the action). Isoir has many fond memories of the pre-Vatican II repertoire that he accompanied there. While at Saint-Séverin, he composed a Ravel-like Agnus Dei, with the text in French. (See musical example.) In 1973, after having served as a consultant for the reconstruction of Haerpfer-Ermann’s organ at Saint-Germain-des-Prés, he was appointed organist there, along with Odile Bayeux, following a long line of blind organists who had served there (notably Augustin Barié, André Marchal, and Antoine Reboulot).16
In February 1974, Les Amis de l’Orgue awarded him with a First Prize for his first organ composition, Variations sur le Psaume 92 [“Variations on a Huguenot Psalm”]. James David Christie was in the audience for this occasion. When he told André that he really loved his piece more than any other and wanted to play it regardless if it won the prize or not, Isoir gave him his personal copy of the score on the spot! When the work was published by Forberg Verlag in Germany in 1979, Christie noticed that one variation had not been published:
When I asked André about this several years later, he told me in his very humble and self-effacing manner that he felt the piece was too long with seven variations and six were enough. The work is an absolute masterpiece and the audiences love it; I have played it in concert often since 1975. I tried to commission André in 1989 for another major organ work, but he refused. He said he found composition too stressful and preferred improvising and performing the repertoire of others. I have often lamented the fact he did not devote more time to adding great repertoire to the organ. I always felt his glorious, exciting improvisations would have been the seeds of many a great composition.17
André Isoir has made numerous transcriptions, many of which have been published by Delatour France.
Interest in organ building and in early French music
Fascinated with mechanics in his youth, Isoir has always loved to tinker with and repair broken clocks. In the early 1960s, at an antique dealer’s near Saint-Séverin, he acquired an eighteenth-century barrel organ [a serinette] from Nancy, a cylindrical instrument that was used to teach domestic birds how to sing. He then constructed a copy of this instrument and installed ten pipes: C, D, E, F, G, A, B-flat, B-natural, C, and D. He reconstructed the cylinder with eight tunes, according to the indications specified by Engramelle, and incorporated an air by Couperin, La petite chasse. He has also built two regals and a virginal.
Francis Prod’homme, the organizer of concerts at Notre-Dame in Pontorson, near Mont Saint-Michel, has related an example of André Isoir’s generosity.18 During one evening meal, Isoir observed that Francis’s clock was not well-regulated and that it needed to be “tuned.” As on numerous other occasions, Isoir proclaimed “I will take care of that for you.” In several minutes, and with a delightful child-like smile that lit up André’s face, the clock was once again happily chiming in universal harmony.
Isoir’s close friend, the organ builder Jean-Georges Koenig,19 taught him how to construct wooden pipes. His friend, Father Michel Chausson (a priest who built organ pipes) taught him how to construct metal pipes. In addition, in 1965, Isoir constructed his first regal with Jean-François Clément and worked with Gérard Fonvielle, who built him a harpsichord. Isoir is not in favor of building exact copies of instruments; he prefers to play mechanical-action instruments that enable the performer to bring out the vocal polyphonic lines and to play a large part of the repertoire. His repair kit has accompanied him on his various concert tours, and he has admitted that on many occasions that he has spent more time repairing and tuning the various organs than rehearsing on them!
The composer Alain Louvier attests to André Isoir’s capacities as a “solitary navigator” [“navigateur solitaire”]:
André Isoir could have constructed a hydraulic organ, an aeolian, solar or geothermal . . . and could have taken it on a non-stop trip around the world on a trimaran sailing raft . . . he knew how to do everything, to repair anything. One would have thought that he was born in an organ case! A true genius in making repairs, with practically nothing he could fix a tremolo, a reed pipe, even its mechanism.
I imagine him—as an organist in the Iron Age—busy cutting down trees, carving wood, casting tin, hammering it, and, finally, creating his own organ, the fruit of his ear and his unbounded imagination.20
Isoir’s innate inventive spirit in improvisation and organ building led to his fascination with the interpretive possibilities of “recreating” early French organ works. Right from the start, Isoir realized that the organs he had played in the 1950s and 1960s in Paris, most of them in the neo-classical style, were not suitable for early French repertoire. This had not stopped interpreters such as Abel Decaux, Joseph Bonnet, and André Marchal from playing this repertoire. With restorations of magnificent organs like Jean-Esprit Isnard’s 1772 basilica organ in Saint-Maximin-en-Provence (restored by Pierre Chéron in 1954) and François-Henri Clicquot’s 1790 organ at Saint-Pierre Cathedral in Poitiers (restored by Robert and Jean-Loup Boisseau in 1971–1972), organists began to discover the splendid sound of these organs as well as a lively, variable wind and a suspended mechanical action, which allowed one to vary the attack.
Obtaining a varied, responsive action is extremely important to André Isoir. The French classical organ, with its sensitive action and lively wind, needs only a minimum amount of material to offer a maximum sound effect. For example, in Poitiers, with a wind pressure of 110 mm., four or five stops suffice to fill the cathedral. Following Alfred Kern’s reconstruction of the Saint-Séverin organ in 1968, René Delosmes, Pierre Hardouin, Jean Fellot, Alain Lequeux, Michel Chapuis, Francis Chapelet, and André Isoir, presided over by Jean Fonteneau, united to protect early French historic organs: they founded the French Association for the Preservation of Early Organs (A.F.S.O.A.—Association française pour le sauvegarde de l’orgue ancien).21
By consulting early sources, Isoir discovered that the early French repertoire can be moving and expressive. Once he had studied the various treatises and documents, notably with the musicologist Jean Saint-Arroman, he realized on the one hand that the knowledge of these texts did not suffice to bring this music to life; on the other hand, he was also aware that spontaneity and freshness never come by chance. To attain the elegance, distinction and well-proportioned expressions that are so characteristic of French art, one must study the various imperative rules and then put them aside, along with any automatic mechanical responses. Instead, one must use one’s intuition to find a harmonious balance, continually determined by good taste, the ultimate guide. As with wine tasting, it is so much more important to “taste” its fragrance than to recite texts about it. Isoir was especially guided by the writings of Eugène Borrel, who wrote that eighteenth-century art was “elegant, distinguished, warm without excessiveness.”22 Simplicity is a sign of real intelligence. Isoir particularly loves playing early French music because it gives the interpreter a great deal of freedom in bringing this music to life.
Organ professor
For André Isoir, teaching is a sacred mission, enabling one to give priceless treasures to others, helping them to feel completely at ease while playing. He taught organ and harmony at the Angers Conservatory (1966–79);23 at the conservatoires in Versailles and Orsay (1974–83);24 and from 1982 to 1996 at the Boulogne-Billancourt Conservatory as well as at various summer academies: Lagny (1982, 1985, 1986), Meaux (1983), Mitry-Mory (1984), Luxembourg (1989) and Nemours (1993). Among his 900 students are Jörg Abbing, Michel Bouvard, Jean Boyer, Monika Dabrowska-Beuzelin, Frédéric Denis, Frédéric Desenclos, François Espinasse, Pierre Farago, Yves Fossaert, Dominique Fournier, Jean-Louis Gil, Juliette Grellety-Bosviel, Emmanuelle Haïm, Makiko Hayashima, Léonid Karev, Joachim Kunze, Sven-Ingvart Mikkelsen, George Ritchie, Henri de Rohan, Pascale Rouet, Christophe Simon, Liuwe Tamminga, Timothy Tikker, Jean-Michel Verneiges, Francis Vidil and Haru Yamagami, to name but a few. Convinced that knowledge about organ building is indispensable to improving one’s interpretation, notably in the art of registration and touch, he also taught his students the rudiments of organ construction and maintenance. According to organist and composer Pierre Farago, his successor as organ professor at the Boulogne-Billancourt Conservatory,
When André Isoir taught and played, the instrument was transformed under his fingers, and relinquishing its mechanical aspects, became purely organic—if I dare say—like a living being gifted with flowing expressiveness. His teaching is subtle and complex, insisting on utmost rigor, with utmost patience, without ever expressing it in the form of a dogmatic principle. The scores we studied were never cenotaphs, empty monuments or museum graphics, but rather sleeping beauties which ought to be brought back to life.25
In the early 1980s, the composer Alain Louvier, Director of the Conservatory in Boulogne-Billancourt, met André Isoir during the construction of the Koenig organ in the concert hall there. In spite of the fact that the city did not really want to invest in what the “very cultivated and refined” mayor Georges Gorse referred to as an “accordion for the wealthy,” Louvier appreciated Isoir’s “sense of humor, in addition to his wide-ranging competence, which both worked wonders.” Louvier had included stops in this organ with the seventh and eleventh harmonics that produced quarter tones. He was astonished by Isoir’s use of these stops:
By combining these experimental stops with the voix humaine, he was able to produce a sort of strange Bombarde 16 on the pedal that the city could not afford . . . thanks to his extraordinary acoustical intuition, one could play a Bach chorale with quarter tones, that were not noticed as such.26
In his teaching, André Isoir constantly emphasized the importance of acquiring a more fluid technique, of becoming sufficiently inventive in bringing music to life. At my first lesson at the Boulogne-Billancourt Conservatory in 1983,27 we spent two hours looking at possible interpretations of the first movement (a Plein-Jeu) of Jean-Adam Guilain’s First Suite. I felt as if André were an optician who kept inserting different lenses to ask me if I could read the letters. It was necessary to understand the structure and the vital expression of this work from the inside out, to let the notes speak naturally. A deep harmonic and melodic analysis of each work, coupled with a fantastic imagination, enables one to perform this music spontaneously.
In the eyes and ears of a great artist, no detail is too small to be taken into consideration. An authentic artist with a vital personality abandons all preconceived static conceptions with prefabricated formulas and continually externalizes his capacity to listen to his playing, thus enabling him to understand more fully and to communicate an inner musical message. Each artist is a medium who communicates the deep spiritual message of the music. When I wrote to Frank Taylor in 1983, to share my experiences with him, he replied:
I’m happy you are studying with André—I think he’s perhaps the greatest eclectic (all round good) organist in the world. And I would rather hear him play anything, than anyone else I can think of. Give him my very most affectionate best wishes when next you see him.28
Recognized as an excellent teacher, in 1991 André Isoir co-authored, with Dominique Ferran and François-Henri Houbart, a practical catalog of the organ repertoire, in order of difficulty for the first ten years of organ lessons. It presents exercises and methods, early music until the seventeenth century, separate chapters on the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the traditional notation and new notation in the twentieth century, concertos and unclassifiable pieces.29
International concert and recording artist with an eclectic repertoire
André Isoir first gave concerts in North America in the 1960s, thanks to his friend Jean Fonteneau, an assistant organist at Saint-Séverin. In 1971, Isoir performed in Oberlin (Ohio), Quebec, Montreal, at Harvard University, and in New York. At that time, Fisk was building his famous organ for the Old West Church in Boston. Isoir provided him with numerous details concerning the construction of the French-style reed stops incorporated into this instrument, thus contributing to the movement in favor of restoring instruments to play early French music in the United States. In 1974, he performed in Toronto and in Buffalo, where he met with the early French music specialist David Fuller. In 1975, he played concerts in Toronto and Montreal. In 1976, he returned to Harvard and gave recitals in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
In November 1989, James David Christie invited André Isoir to come to the United States for a mini-tour in Boston. He testifies to Isoir’s memorable performances in Wellesley and Worcester:
He played a fantastic concert at Wellesley College on the meantone Fisk organ, complete with short octave, sub-semitones, a three-octave keyboard range, etc. He ended his program with a super-charged, exciting performance of his transcription of Bela Bartók’s Roumanian Folk Dances (originally for piano solo).
He played at Holy Cross, Worcester, and ended the program with an incredible improvisation on “B-A-C-H.” I think there is an archival recording of the Holy Cross concert; it was just stunning and André was in his usual top form, having the time of his life.30
During this last tour to the United States, Isoir also gave masterclasses on the Charles Fisk organ at the Old West Church for the AGO national convention. On this occasion, Isoir has quite fond memories of the moments he spent with Frank Taylor, Barbara Owen, and Charles Fisk.
Isoir has inaugurated at least eighty organs. I was privileged to attend the memorable inauguration of the Gonzalez organ at Meaux Cathedral on June 8, 1982. That year, he also inaugurated the Grenzing organ at Saint-Cyprien (in the Périgord, where he also served as a consultant) and the Marc Garnier organ at the church in Esquelbecq. On November 3, 1990, he was especially pleased to inaugurate the restored Aristide Cavaillé-Coll organ in Saint-Dizier, his hometown. In addition, he often plays with other musicians. In 1973, he toured with Georges Brassens in Paris and the Île-de-France, playing twenty-one concerts on a positive organ built by Jean-Loup Boisseau.
Isoir has given numerous concerts outside of France, performing in Freiberg on September 18, 1983. In 1988, he was absolutely delighted to perform for the first time on the magnificent organ in Weingarten, in Sion in 1989, in Lübeck and Hamburg in 1990. He has also performed on numerous occasions in Japan: in 1978, 1987, 1990 and 1993. In 2006, he toured Russia, performing in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
In addition, he performs regularly on the four-stop, one-manual organ that the builder Philippe Vialle built for him. Isoir had added a tremolo and a “cymbale” made up of fifteen pipes that he “invented,” only to discover since then that it is present in several diverse and unknown pieces. He rarely ever plays the same piece on the same organ.
The variety of styles in his eclectic repertoire is revealed by the pieces that four composers have dedicated to him. In June 1973, Jean Langlais acknowledge his “classical side,” appropriately dedicated to him his Plein-Jeu, the first movement of his Suite baroque, op. 176.31 In 1983, Alain Louvier’s Etudes for Aggressors, Book Six for Organ (Études pour Agresseurs, livre 6 pour orgue), published by Alphonse Leduc in 1987, were written for the mechanical-action three-manual Koenig organ in the concert hall at the Boulogne-Billancourt Conservatory. He dedicated these pieces to Isoir, who premiered them.32 They use the same techniques as in his previous five books for piano and harpsichord (ten fingers, two palms, two forearms, without fists), but with the addition of two feet! The two last pieces are appropriate tributes to André Isoir, who also plays the trombone and the French horn: Lionel Rogg’s Finale (written in the spring of 1994) was inspired by the sumptuous sonorities of the American big band;33 Pierre Vidal’s piece, entitled Cromorne, was written in 1996.36
In 1971, Jacques Le Calvé, the director of Calliope, was so impressed by Isoir’s performance of this repertoire that he asked him to make his first record at the Church of Saint-Jacques in Compiègne (L’Orgue français au Grand Siècle, works by André Raison, Jacques Boyvin and Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers).
Among his favorite historic French organs, Isoir has recorded numerous times on the J. Boizard (1714) historic organ of the Abbey of Saint-Michel-en-Thiérache: in 1987, The Couperin Dynasty, François “the Great,” Armand-Louis, Gervais-François Couperin (ADDA 581063); in 1993, Nicolas de Grigny, Complete Organ Works (Erato S.A./Radio France, MUSIFRANCE 4509-91722-2); and in 1997, Jean-Adam Guilain, Four Suites for the Magnificat (1706) with the Demoiselles of Saint-Cyr, directed by Emmanuel Mandrin (France Musique, Tempéraments, TEM 316012, Distribution Harmonia Mundi).
André Isoir has always felt comfortable playing a vast repertoire (although never ever Reger!). Among his recordings of romantic works, two were made on the Cavaillé-Coll organ at Luçon Cathedral: César Franck’s Complete Organ Works (Calliope, CAL 9920/1, 1987, recorded in 1975) and The Romantic Organ, works by Boëly, Lefébure-Wély, Guilmant, Pierné, Widor, and Ropartz on the Cavaillé-Coll in Luçon and on the Isnard/Cavaillé-Coll/Boisseau organ in Pithiviers (Calliope, CAL 5922). In 1996, he recorded The Organ in Compiègne during the Second Empire on the Carlier/Plet organ at Saint-Antoine in Compiègne (Calliope, CAL 9934).
Isoir loves performing on successful neo-classical organs, such as the Pascal Quoirin in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence and the Haerpfer-Ermann at Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris. Among the recordings that bear witness to this, he recorded François Couperin’s Messe des Paroisses and French Noëls on the Saint-Séverin organ (Calliope, Le Livre d’Or de l’Orgue français).
Rodin’s most penetrating thoughts concerning French taste that have been perpetuated from the eighteenth century to the twentieth century sum up André Isoir’s approach to an eclectic repertoire:
The additions of previous centuries in our cathedrals, in different styles—chapels, stained-glass windows, decoration—do not destroy the harmony of them, because throughout the various periods these embellishments have been determined by the same French taste.35
In the same spirit, it is not surprising that in November 2000, Isoir recorded repertoire from the fourteenth century to the end of the nineteenth in celebration of the 500th anniversary, in 2001, of the Renaissance organ in Lorris, one of the oldest organs in Europe.36 This is in spite of the fact that this organ only has a 48-note keyboard with a 14-note coupled pedalboard and is tuned at A=405/408! Father Michel Chausson, who initiated the restoration of this historic instrument, admires André Isoir: he is among “all those who have provided great poetical inspiration to twentieth century organ interpretation.”37 Our world needs such a spirit more than ever.
From 1976 to 1993, Isoir crowned his career with an ultimate homage to his great teacher Édouard Souberbielle, by recording J. S. Bach’s complete organ works on six different organs by German builders (fifteen CDs produced by Calliope, 9703-17). His greatest joy was recording Bach’s Passacaglia and Fugue on Josef Gabler’s monumental stunning organ (1737–1750) at Weingarten Abbey, a legendary instrument conceived around the number 6: the number of the beast of the Apocalypse, six windows, six tonal plans, 6,666 pipes.
Grenzing’s Saint-Cyprien organ is among Isoir’s favorites, where he rerecorded, in 1993, Bach’s four Toccatas and Fugues along with the Fantasy and Fugue in G Minor. In 1988 and 1989, André Isoir played in European television broadcasts, notably on the France 3 channel, in programs written and hosted by Gilles Cantagrel and in Alain Duault’s “Musicales.”
In all his interpretations, Isoir’s deeply human approach gives a spiritual dimension to his artistic offerings. His interpretations are well conceived and prepared, yet spontaneous. His wife Annie observed that it was very rare to hear him play a piece in its entirety during his practice sessions. He usually works fragment by fragment, even measure by measure. More than searching for perfection, he aims at playing as naturally as possible. His eyes, ears and mind are constantly receptive to discovering new elements of a musical score. Adapting to each particular circumstance, his elegant playing moves his audiences. As Yves Saint-Laurent said, “without elegance that comes from the heart, there is no elegance.”
Thank you, André, for sharing your immense joy in making beautiful music and for so generously enlightening your audiences and students throughout the world.
All of the citations in French were translated by the author.
All photos are from the Collection A. Isoir, and are published with his kind permission.
Nunc Dimittis
G. Maurice Hinson died November 11, 2015. He was 84. Hinson served as professor of piano at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary from 1957 to 2015, and as organist-choirmaster at churches in Florida, Michigan, and Kentucky from 1943 to 1980, including the First Baptist Church in Gainesville, Florida (starting at the age of 14) and concluding at Calvin Presbyterian Church in Louisville, Kentucky, from 1944–80. He earned a BA degree from the University of Florida and MM and DMA degrees from the University of Michigan; he also studied at the Juilliard School and the Conservatoire National in Nancy, France. The author of 14 books (most published by Indiana University Press) and over 100 articles, he is perhaps best known for his Guide to the Pianist’s Repertoire. He edited more than 300 editions of classical piano music and recorded five DVDs of piano works. A specialist in American piano music, some of his most recent articles appeared in the New Grove Dictionary of American Music.
Hinson’s many awards in piano pedagogy and performance include the Liszt Commemorative Medal by the Hungarian government, and the American Liszt Society’s Medal of Excellence for his research on the music of Franz Liszt. He was the founding editor of the Journal of the American Liszt Society, and served as editor of the American Music Teacher, and contributing editor of The Piano Quarterly and Piano and Keybord. Hinson also served as dean of the Louisville (Kentucky) chapter of the American Guild of Organists.
G. Maurice Hinson is survived by his wife of 64 years, Margaret Hinson, daughter Susan Elizabeth Jordan, grandchildren Kendel, Lindsey, and Michelle Enoch, and Ross Jordan.
René Saorgin, French organist, recording artist, and organ historian, died December 17 at the age of 87 in Nice. Born in 1928 in Cannes, he began his studies at the Nice Conservatoire. At the Paris Conservatoire he was a pupil of Maurice Duruflé and Noël Gallon for composition and took organ lessons from Gaston Litaize. He also studied organ with Fernando Germani. From 1954 to 1996 he was professor of organ at the National Regional Conservatoire in Nice. He served as titular organist at the Church of St. Jean Baptiste, Nice, from 1954 to 1984, and at the Cathedral of the Principality of Monaco from 1984 to 2005. He was a founder in 1962 of the Académie de St. Maximin. Saorgin’s work helped fuel a revival of interest and appreciation of historic French and Italian organs. His efforts facilitated the rediscovery of many instruments. Saorgin’s extensive discography includes more than 20 recordings on the Harmonia Mundi label, including the complete works of Dieterich Buxtehude, as well as recordings of selected works of J. S. Bach and Georg Muffat.
Robert Schuneman, music publishing executive and long-time owner of ECS Music Publishing, died on December 4, 2015, in Wayland, Massachusetts. He was 81. Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Arlington, Virginia, he was trained in music theory, composition, organ, piano, harpsichord, vocal music, and choral and instrumental conducting. He studied at State Conservatory of Music and University of Freiburg in Breisgau, Germany, Valparaiso University (MusB, 1956), Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, and Stanford University (MA, musicology, 1958).
Schuneman’s extensive career included working with narcotics addicts in Brooklyn; serving as a church musician in Fort Wayne, Indiana; Glens Falls, New York; Chicago, Illinois; and Boston, Massachusetts; choral and orchestral conductor in Cambridge, Massachusetts; and teaching at Oberlin Conservatory, Boston Conservatory of Music, New England Conservatory of Music, and Westminster Choir College. Schuneman also served as editor for The Diapason from 1970 to 1976.
In 1985 Schuneman and his wife Cynthia purchased E. C. Schirmer Music Company, where he had worked as a part-time editor. He became president of the parent company ECS Publishing Company, and in that role oversaw the publications associated with E. C. Schirmer Music Company, Galaxy Music Corporation, Ione Press, and Highgate Press. In 1995 Schuneman began Arsis Audio and went on to master and produce over two hundred recordings. He also served as conductor of the Philovox Ensemble of Boston.
As a music executive and conductor, Schuneman and his wife Cynthia traveled broadly, enjoyed time with their family, and also made time for Robert’s great enthusiasm for watching and playing soccer. He was active in a large number of professional music organizations including the Music Publishing Association of the United States, and was particularly active in the work of the American Guild of Organists, the American Choral Directors Association, and Chorus America.
Robert Schuneman was preceded in death by his wife Cynthia in 2012. He sold ECS Publishing Corporation in 2013 and spent the last years of his life writing, conducting, traveling, and spending time with family, all the while keeping up an active schedule of playing soccer.
Contrary to popular belief, there is a substantive body of African-American classical music. This music draws upon a wealth of influences which are not just limited to Negro spirituals and jazz. The same can be said for the organ literature of African-Americans. Of the 332 entries listed in Paula Harrell's 1992 dissertation "Organ Literature of Twentieth-Century Black Composers: An Annotated Bibliography," only 74 are based on spirituals.1 In fact, African-American organ literature draws upon a multitude of influences which include spirituals, melodies of African origin, general protestant hymnody, German Protestant chorales, plainchant, as well as original composer themes. A few organ compositions have even been inspired by musical themes, individuals, and historical events associated with the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s.2
Regarding the composers, several have had extensive training
and expertise in the field of composition. Many of these, at one time or another, have been the
recipients of prestigious music fellowships3 and/or composition awards.4
As is the case with a large segment of 20th-century organ
music, African-American organ literature has been influenced by neo-classical
as well as symphonic organ composition styles. The composers who have written utilizing a neo-classical
idiom include, but are not limited to, such names as George Walker (b. 1922),
Ulysses Kay (1917-1995), and Mark Fax (1911-1974). In terms of symphonic
writing for the instrument, there is, for instance, the music of Thomas H. Kerr
(1915-1988), William B. Cooper (1920-1993), Eugene W. Hancock (1929-1994), and
Adolphus Hailstork (b. 1941). Some composers such as Noel Da Costa (b. 1929)
and David Hurd (b. 1950) display a diversity of stylistic influences in their
compositions.
Much of the literature for the instrument represents a
varied number of compositional forms such as sonata, fugue, rondo, theme and
variations, as well as free form. There is also a considerable body of
literature for organ and other instruments which encompasses everything from
concerti with orchestra to chamber music.5 Before embarking upon a discussion
of the literature and its composers, it is necessary to provide some background
into its history and to discuss the nature of a few deterrants to performance.
The accessibility of music scores is perhaps the central
problem regarding the performance of this music. The reason for this is because
the vast majority of this literature, with few exceptions, remains
unpublished.6 Much of it exists only in manuscript form, the legibility of
which could itself constitute a deterrent to performance. Most of the scores
may be obtained directly either from the composers or their estates. The fact
that a large segment of this music remains unpublished has no bearing on its
quality, for the quality of the music is equal to much of that which already
appears in print, and in several instances, exceeds it. The lamentable truth of
the matter is that bias and negative racial stereotyping of black intellectual
capacity have been at fault.7 In the past, music publishers generally displayed
little interest in publishing the classical works of African-Americans,
Hispanics, women, or anyone who was not traditionally considered to be a part
of the male-dominant social mainstream. Since that time, music publishers have
slowly, but surely, begun to express an interest in publishing the works of
women and a handful of minority composers;8 however, for many years, this was
not the case. Much of this music went virtually unnoticed and unperformed. This
was even true for Thomas Kerr's AGO prize-winning composition Arietta, the
latter of which was once published commercially, but is currently unavailable
in print.9 It is for this reason that a survey, however succinct, is not only
desirable, but necessary. Although it is not feasible in the scope of a single
article to provide a comprehensive survey of African-American organ literature,
it is nonetheless possible to provide a brief, informative overview of a select
opus belonging to an equally select cadre of composers from this group.
For the purpose of this article, the composers discussed are
divided into two general styles of organ composition: symphonic and
neo-classical. Brief composer biographical sketches accompany a selective opus
listing. For each composer, a few measures from one or more compositions have
been extracted which reflect the wide variety of thematic sources and stylistic
influences from which these pieces are derived. We will start with the symphonic
compositions of Thomas H. Kerr, Adolphus Hailstork, and William B. Cooper.
Thomas H. Kerr
(1915-1988) served on the music faculty of Howard University as Professor of
Piano from 1943 until his retirement in 1976. An alumnus of the Eastman School
of Music, Kerr graduated with highest honors and was later awarded an M.M.
degree from the same institution. Kerr became the recipient of a Rosenwald
Fellowship in Composition (1942) and was subsequently awarded First Prize in
the Composers and Authors of America Competition (1944). In addition to his
recital activity, he was presented twice as a concerto soloist with the
National Symphony. Kerr's contributions to musical literature have been in the
area of piano, voice, chorus, woodwind ensemble, and organ. Although primarily
trained as a pianist, Kerr became masterfully familiar with the organ and its
resources, thus enabling him to write most effectively for the instrument.
Here, two of Kerr's compositions have been selected. The
first example is the theme from the Concert Variations on a Merry Xmas Tune,
which is based on the Christmas carol "Good King Wenceslas." (Example
1)
Another popular Kerr composition, Anguished American Easter-1968, is a brilliant set of theme
and variations based on the Easter spiritual "He 'rose." Written upon
hearing news of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Kerr completed the
original manuscript in 10 days. It is dedicated to Dr. King's memory. (Example
2)
Organ Compositions (Published Scores)
Arietta [1957]-[Now out-of-print]
(Unpublished Scores)-[selected]
Anguished American Easter-1968 (Dedicated to the Memory of
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.)
Concert Variations on a Merry Xmas Tune ("Good King
Wenceslas") [Revised 1969]
Thanksgiving-1969 (Somber Variations on Handel's "Thanks
Be to Thee")
Suite Sebastienne: (Theme and Cantus, Frolicking Flutes,
Miniature Antiphonal on a Pedal Point, Fugato and Toccata, Trio, Allegro
barbaro, Reverie, Toccata-Carillon) [Revised 1974]
Adolphus Hailstork
(b. 1941) received his degrees from Howard University (B.M. degree) under Mark
Fax, and at the Manhattan School of Music (B.M. and M.M. degrees) under
Vittorio Giannini and David Diamond. He later received a Doctorate of Music in
Composition from Michigan State University where he was a student of H. Owen
Reed. Hailstork pursued additional study with Nadia Boulanger at the American
Institute at Fountainebleau. Currently, he is serving as Professor of Music and
Composer-in-Residence at Norfolk State University in Norfolk, Virginia. Among
his composition awards are the Ernest Bloch Award for Choral Composition
(1972), the Belwin-Mills Max Winkler Award (1977), and First Prize in the
Virginia College Band Director's National Competition (1983). In addition to
organ works, Hailstork has written for chorus, voice, various chamber
ensembles, and band.
Hailstork's fiery Toccata on 'Veni Emmanuel' is based on the
Advent plainchant known in English as "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel."
(Example 3)
Organ Compositions (Published Scores)
Suite for Organ: (Prelude, Andantino, Scherzetto, Fugue)
[Hinshaw Music, Inc., Chapel Hill, NC, 1975]
(Unpublished
Scores)
First Organ Book-Eight Short Pieces for Organ: (Who Gazes at
the Stars [1978], Toccata on "Veni Emmanuel"
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> [1983], Prelude and Postlude on
"Shalom Havayreem" [1983], Prelude on "We Shall
Overcome" [1983], Prelude and
Scherzo on "Winchester New"
[1983], Prelude and March in F [1983], Prelude on "Veni
Emmanuel" [1983])
Prelude [1967]
Andante [1967]
William B. Cooper
(1920-1993). Born in Philadelphia, Cooper received his B.M. and M.M. degrees
from the Philadelphia College of Performing Arts and a Doctorate of Music from
Columbia Pacific University (California). In 1988, he was awarded a Doctorate
of Sacred Music (honoris causa) from Christ Theological Seminary in Yonkers,
New York. Cooper pursued additional music studies at the School of Sacred Music
of Union Theological Seminary (New York), the Manhattan School of Music, and
Trinity College of Music (London). He not only served on the music faculties of
Bennett College (Greensboro, North Carolina) and Hampton University (Hampton, Virginia), but taught 26 years
in the New York City School System. Cooper also served as Minister of Music at
historic St. Philip's Episcopal Church (1953-1974) and St. Martin's Episcopal
Church (1974-1988) in Harlem. His musical output, which is considerable,
includes works for organ, voice, chorus, solo instruments, orchestra, and
ballet.
Here, three of Cooper's compositions are cited for their
thematic diversity. The first of these, Cooper's Meditation on 'Steal Away', is
based on the Negro spiritual bearing that name. (Example 4)
The theme of Cooper's Lulliloo-Ashanti Cry of Joy is African
in origin, being based on an Ashanti tribal melody. (Example 5)
Based on a melody from the shape-note hymnal Southern
Harmony is Cooper's Pastorale. (Example 6)
Peaceful Warrior [1961]
In the Beginning-Creation [1962]
Diferencias con Quattro [1962]
Meditation on "Steal Away" [1964]
Poem II-To the Innocents [1967]
Rhapsody on the Name FELA SOWANDE [1968]
Pastorale No. III [1973]
Jesu, Joy of Our Desiring (Air) [1978]
style='mso-tab-count:1'>
Toccata on "John Saw" (The Holy Number) [1978]
Concerto for Cello and Organ [1979]
Symphony No. II for Organ [197-?]
Lulliloo-Ashanti Cry of Joy [1981]
Spiritual Lullaby [1981]
Paraphrase on "Everytime I Feel the Spirit" [1985]
The African-American organ compositions which have been
selected for their neo-classical influence are by composers George Walker and
Mark Fax.
George Walker (b.
1922). A native of Washington, D.C., George Walker was a piano child prodigy.
He attended Oberlin Conservatory (B.M. degree), and later, the Curtis Institute
of Music (Philadelphia) where he received the Artist Diploma. He also pursued
study at the American Academy at Fountainebleau (1947) where he was a student
of Nadia Boulanger and Robert Casadesus. At the age of 23, he won the
Philadelphia Youth Auditions and played the Rachmaninoff Third Concerto with
Eugene Ormandy conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra. In 1956, Walker became
the first African-American to receive a Doctorate of Music at the Eastman
School of Music. For years, he concertized as a piano virtuoso under the
Columbia Concert Artists and National Concert Artists Management. Walker later
headed the Music Department at Rutgers University. He was also the recipient of
several prestigious awards and fellowships such as a Fulbright, Guggenheim, and
Rockefeller. With many compositions to his credit--works for piano, voice,
chorus, chamber ensembles and orchestra--the Three Pieces for Organ constitute
his only contributions to the instrument to date.
Originally conceived as a movement from a Protestant organ
service, Walker's Chorale Prelude on Jesu, wir sind hier (also known by the
title Herzliebster Jesu) is based on the German Protestant chorale. (Example 7)
Organ Compositions (Published Scores)
Three Pieces: (Elevation, Chorale Prelude on "Jesu, wir
sind hier," Invokation)
(M.M.B. Music, 1991)
Mark Fax (1911-1974)
was a native of Baltimore. He received his B.M. degree in Piano at Syracuse
University, graduating with highest honors. He was subsequently awarded a M.M.
degree in Composition from the Eastman School of Music where he was an Eastman
and a Rosenwald Fellow. Fax joined the faculty at Howard University in 1947
where he served as Professor of Composition. He later became Assistant to the
Dean of Fine Arts prior to his appointment as Acting Dean of Fine Arts. He was
later appointed as Director of the School of Music. Fax composed for many
musical media including piano, chorus, chamber ensemble, orchestra, and has
three operas to his credit.
In the example, Fax mixes elements of neo-classicism with
influences of the Black Church. The first movement of his Three Pieces for Organ
is based on a Negro spiritual. (Example 8)
Organ Compositions Unpublished Scores)-[selected]
The Pastor [1944]
Prelude and Chorale [1952]
Variations on Maryton [1960]
Three Pieces: (Free, Hauntingly [1963], Allegretto [1965],
Toccata [1966])
Three Organ Preludes: St. Martin [1964], Crusader's Hymn
(Offertory-Transposed to A Major), St. Anne [Fragment, 1964]
Two Chorale Preludes: Crusader's Hymn [1964], Kremser [1968]
Postlude on "I'll Never Turn Back" [1972]
Noel Da Costa (b.
1929) was born in Lagos, Nigeria. He later moved to Jamaica where he lived
until the age of 11, at which time he came to the United States. He received a
B.A. degree from Queens College (City University of New York) and was awarded a
M.A. degree from Columbia University. While still in graduate school at
Columbia, Da Costa became the recipient of the Seidl Fellowship in Music
Composition. He later studied with Luigi Dallapiccola in Florence under a
Fulbright Scholarship (1958-61). Currently, Da Costa holds the post of Associate
Professor of Music in the Mason Gross School of the Arts in Rutgers University
where he has taught since 1970. His musical output consists of a large variety
of compositions which include music for piano, solo instruments, chamber
ensemble, voice, chorus, orchestra, as well as five operas.
Exemplifying Da Costa's stylistic diversity are two
examples, the first of which is the theme from Da Costa's Variations on
'Maryton', based on the English hymntune known as "O Master, Let Me Walk
with Thee." (Example 9)
A second example of a composition based on a melody of
African origin is Da Costa's Chililo: Prelude for Organ after an East African
Lament, which is based on the Mozambique ceremony of lamentation. (Example 10)
Organ Compositions (Unpublished Scores)
Maryton (Hymntune and Variations) [1955]
Generata (for solo organ and string orchestra) [1958]
Chililo: Free Transcription for Organ [1970]
Chililo: Prelude for Organ after an East African Lament
[1971]
Triptich for Organ (Prelude, Processional, Postlude) [1973]
Spiritual Set for Organ (Invocation, Affirmation, Spiritual,
Praise) [1974, Publ. by Belwin-Mills (unavailable since 1986)]
Ukom Memory Songs (Organ and Percussion) [1981]
