M. Searle Wright passes away

Ralph Kneeream served as assistant organist and choirmaster at St. Paul’s Chapel for eight years, from 1958 until 1966.

M. Searle Wright died on June 3 at the age of 86. See the “Nunc Dimittis” column on page 8 of the August 2004 issue of The Diapason.

The New York Years

“Let us now praise famous men . . . those who composed musical tunes . . .”

Searle Wright’s days on earth began in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania on April 4, 1918. His family moved to Binghamton, New York while Searle was quite young, and he always considered Binghamton his “hometown.” From his father Clarence he inherited the traditional, quiet, and introspective aspects of his personality. From his mother Josephine he gained not only a name--she was a Searle whose father served in Congress during the McKinley Administration--but also a great sense of humor, an entertaining and insightful manner of talking, and especially a joie de vivre. Searle was an only child and both parents lovingly sought to give him the very best education, certainly in the field of music.

From an early age Searle, along with his parents, began an association with “Phoebe Snow,” the famous Erie-Lackawanna “choo-choo” train. At first the trips were to Buffalo--the city that gave birth to the “mighty Wurlitzer” and to the Schlicker Organ Company--to study with the city’s leading organist, William Gomph. Mr. Gomph was well-known for his abilities, as well as for his “role” in the McKinley assassination which took place in The Temple of Music at the Pan-American Exposition: Mr. Gomph “. . . had reached the highest notes on the great organ, and as he stopped at the height to let the strains reverberate in the auditorium, two shots rang out.” Years later “Phoebe” would carry Searle from Binghamton to Hoboken, with a ferryboat link to Manhattan, for lessons with T. Tertius Noble, the famous organist and choirmaster of New York’s prestigious St. Thomas Church. Then, after Searle became a New Yorker, about 1938, there were many trips on “Phoebe Snow,” returning frequently to Binghamton to conduct the Binghamton Choral Society and to visit his parents and his friends.

Soon after arriving in Manhattan he took some classes at Columbia University, an institution he would serve so well for two decades. He studied improvisation with Frederick Schleider at the School of Sacred Music, Union Theological Seminary, another institution he would join as a faculty member. Another individual who had a profound influence on him in these early New York years was David McK. Williams, the colorful organist and choirmaster of St. Bartholomew’s Church. I could not possibly remember all the interesting stories Searle told me of this man--some relating to his use of striking effects in service playing, others relating to his well-known wit in dealing with events and with people.

In addition to becoming immersed in the New York church music scene, he earned the AAGO certificate in 1939 and the FAGO certificate in 1941, and at the time, I believe, he was the youngest recipient of the latter. So we might say that as Searle moved into his early twenties, he was one of the most promising young New York church musicians.

At an early age, while still living at home in Binghamton, he discovered the theatre organ. It was love at first sight. In his teens he earned pocket money playing the “mighty Wurlitzer” at Binghamton’s Capitol Theatre just as he would do again, years later in semi-retirement, playing half-hour programs prior to Binghamton Pops concerts. Many Friday evenings, Searle, Louise (see below), and other friends and I would have dinner together, sometimes at Schrafft’s on Broadway at 43rd Street (“Mother Schrafft’s” to Searle), or at Longchamps on Madison Avenue at 59th Street. What wonderful evenings they were, much talk of music, the Broadway theatre, the New York scene, and yes, even “shop.” Why were the sopranos having so much trouble with this or that phrase, where can we find a few more tenors, etc.? There was always much laughter, as the most recent jokes would circulate throughout the evening. A well-made cocktail and/or a glass of wine always helped to liven things up. But, the pièce de résistance, on a few occasions, following dessert and much coffee, was a short taxi ride to Radio City Music Hall where we were admitted to one of the rehearsal studios high above the main auditorium. It was there that Searle, or perhaps another theatre organist friend, would “wow” the rest of us with the very best in theatre organ performance. What a treat! Unforgettable!

Armed with his Fellowship certificate, with great talent, and solid training in choral directing, organ playing, improvisation, and composing, he set about establishing himself. His first positions were a small parish in the Bronx and then one in Queens. In 1944 he was appointed organist and choirmaster at the Chapel of the Incarnation (the present Church of the Good Shepherd) on East 31st Street, near Second Avenue. There he began to establish himself as one of New York’s leading church musicians. The building has wonderful acoustics. With a small volunteer choir, and just a handful of paid singers, he prepared ambitious programs of service music, using both standard and new works in the Anglo-American tradition. He presented, as well, more extensive works to be sung at frequent Evensongs. In short, his music program at this small Manhattan parish attracted the interest of many leading New York musicians, and his reputation both as an expert and an innovator grew quickly.

When Columbia University was seeking a director of chapel music at St. Paul’s Chapel in 1952, Searle received this prestigious appointment. He remained in this position for nineteen years, until 1971. Concurrently, he was a member of the music faculty of Columbia and The School of Sacred Music, Union Theological Seminary. 

In addition to his full schedule of services, concerts, and rehearsals at St. Paul’s Chapel, he presented recitals and workshops throughout the United States. He served the American Guild of Organists as a member of the examination board, as national secretary, then from 1969 until 1971 as national president. He was instrumental in starting the AGO Young Organist Competition (1952). He was the first American organist to give a recital in Westminster Abbey (1954). He was co-chair of the program committee for the 1956 AGO Convention in New York City. He was chairman of the American “wing” at the 1957 International Congress of Organists, and for this effort, as well as his accomplishments in the field of church music, he was awarded the FTCL, honoris causa from Trinity College of Music, London. He was a member of the committee that designed Lincoln Center’s new Aeolian-Skinner organ (1963).

As a teacher in organ playing, composition and improvisation, he influenced an entire generation of American church musicians. He was an impeccable service player and a fine choir director. As a composer, he left a corpus of organ, chamber, choral, and instrumental works, both sacred and secular, that will remain a significant part of twentieth-century music.

It was a family tradition to spend time every summer on the St. Lawrence River near Clayton in the Thousand Islands region (and did Searle love Longchamps’ Thousand Island dressing on his salads!). After moving to New York City, he would join his parents for several days at their vacation spot on the river. Some of his compositions were first sketched there; he would also plan his upcoming music schedules. Beginning in the 1950s it was to England where Searle would return each summer, putting his assistant in charge of the chapel music program during those months. Based at the fashionable Park Lane Hotel on Piccadilly, he investigated every nook and cranny in the British capital and traveled to every corner of the English countryside. The summer would culminate with trips to Worcester, Hereford, or Gloucester to attend the Three Choirs Festival, an event that attracted him every year from the mid-1950s into the late 1990s. He was honored several years ago when the festival committee programmed some of his compositions. Each year Searle would return from England laden with a ton of new choral and/or orchestral scores, many of which were premiered by him in America at St. Paul’s Chapel concerts.

Searle was admired by legions of colleagues, students, and friends the world over, including many of the outstanding church musicians of the twentieth century. My generation and younger generations looked and will look to this man for guidance and inspiration. Through his compositions, his improvisations, through his innovative program building, and through his students and disciples,  the world of music was and is a far richer place.

I would not be able to end this tribute without speaking of Louise Meyer, the wonderful individual mentioned above. As music secretary during Searle’s tenure at both the Chapel of the Incarnation and St. Paul’s Chapel, she freed him from many tasks--preparing choir schedules, preparing payrolls and service music lists, preparing recital and concert programs for the printer, answering telephone calls, correspondence, etc.--in short, keeping him free to do all the musical things. Louise loved to sing in the choir, and she was a fine second soprano!

What final tribute can we offer this dignified, impeccably dressed, remarkable, good-hearted soul, this special human being? Perhaps an ancient text, a Rabbinic commentary from a Midrash, would be helpful.

Two ships were once seen to be sailing near land. One of them was going forth from the harbor, and the other was coming into the harbor. Everyone was cheering the outgoing ship, everyone was giving it a hearty send-off. But the incoming ship was scarcely noticed.

A wise man was looking at the two ships, and he said: “I see here a paradox; for surely, people should not rejoice at the ship leaving the harbor, since they know not what destiny awaits it, what storms it may encounter, what dangers it may have to undergo. Rejoice rather over the ship that has reached port safely and brought back all of its passengers in peace.”

By the same token, it is the way of the world that when a human being is born, all rejoice; but when the person dies, all sorrow. Rather, the opposite ought to be considered. No one can tell what troubles await the child on its journey into adulthood. But when a person dies after living well, all should give thanks, for he has completed his journey successfully and is departing from this world with an imperishable crown of a good name.

Searle Wright earned the crown of a good name. Our loss of him is great--but the gain of those who knew him is far greater still. He lived well, for himself, for others, and for his God. Requiescat in pace.

J. Bunker Clark died of melanoma on December 26, 2003, in Lawrence, Kansas, at the age of 72. Born on October 19, 1931, he earned a BMus and MMus in music theory, and a Ph.D. in musicology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Further study as a Fulbright Scholar took him to Jesus College, Cambridge University, in England. Bunker Clark's teaching career began in 1957-59 as instructor of theory and organ at Stephens College, Columbia, Missouri. From 1959-61, he served as organist-choirmaster, Christ Church Cranbrook, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Following a 1964-65 position as lecturer in music (music history, harpsichord, piano) at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Dr. Clark began his long tenure at the University of Kansas in 1965 as assistant professor of music history; in 1969 he was promoted to associate professor, and in 1975 he became professor. He retired in 1993 as professor emeritus of music history.

An inveterate author and editor, Bunker Clark wrote on numerous topics and served as editor for Harmonie Park Press in the Detroit Studies in Music Bibliography, Detroit Monographs in Musicology/Studies in Music, and Bibliographies in American Music. In addition, he worked as general editor for Information Coordinators, which later became Harmonie Park Press. Although Dr. Clark's specialty was American church music of the English Baroque, he wrote extensively on early American keyboard music, including these books and articles, among others: Anthology of Early American Keyboard Music, 1787-1830, Recent Researches in American Music, vols. 1-2; "American Organ Music before 1830: A Critical and Descriptive Survey"; The Dawning of American Keyboard Music; American Keyboard Music through 1865; "18th-Early 20th-Century American Piano and Harpsichord Music in Anthologies, Reprints, and Recordings"; and Charles Zeuner (1795-1857): Fantasias and Fugues for Organ and Piano. In addition to his writing and teaching, Bunker Clark presented a series of radio broadcasts entitled Early American Keyboard Music. This series of 13 half-hour programs, funded by a research grant from the University of Kansas--with material gathered in 1972-73 on a National Endowment for the Humanities grant--ran in 1975 on the University of Kansas radio station KANU, and was purchased by other libraries or radio stations across the country.

Bunker Clark was a founding member of the Sonneck Society, now known as the Society for American Music, and he was awarded with the Citation for Distinguished Service at its meeting in Kansas City, February 1998. He was active in the American Musicological Society, Music Library Association, College Music Society (life member), American Musical Instrument Society, Midwestern Historical Keyboard Society, and other music organizations.

Memorial services were held on January 2, 2004, at Trinity Lutheran Church, in Lawrence, Kansas. A Michigan memorial service will be held at the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration on August 8 at Bois Blanc Island.

Richard Frederick Horn, church musician and composer, died on June 5 in De Forest, Wisconsin, at the age of 66. He was born on March 7, 1938, in Mt. Kisko, New York, and grew up in Rochester, New York. At the age of 12 he was appointed assistant organist at his uncle's church in Philadelphia, beginning a 54-year career of church service in Pennsylvania, California, and Wisconsin. He studied organ with Catherine Baxter and Galen Weixel, but was largely self-taught. After attending Haverford College and Susquehanna University, he moved to California where he taught high school choral arts. In 1969 he moved to Madison and became resident musician at the St. Benedict Center. He married Paula Klink in 1974, settled in De Forest, and established the De Forest Piano Service. He served a number of local churches, and for the last 16 years was music director at St. Patrick's Church in downtown Madison. A long-time member of the American Guild of Organists, he achieved Colleague status in 1988. For 16 years he was a member of the Association of Church Musicians in Madison, serving eight years on their executive board and three years as dean. His choral and organ compositions, which have been performed throughout the world, are published by MorningStar Music Publishers of St. Louis. He is survived by his wife, Paula; their son, Paul William, Johannesburg, South Africa; and numerous relatives. A Mass of Christian Burial was held at St. Patrick's Church in Madison on June 9.

M. Searle Wright, 86, of Binghamton, New York, died on June 3 after a period of declining health. Mr. Wright is survived by cousins and numerous friends and colleagues worldwide. He was born in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, in 1918. After his family moved to Binghamton, he took an interest in theatre organs, and as a teenager played the Wurlitzer organ at the Capitol Theatre. He later studied classical organ and church music with T. Tertius Noble at St. Thomas Church in New York City, and with the French organist and composer Joseph Bonnet. He attended Columbia University and the School of Sacred Music at Union Theological Seminary, where he joined the faculty in 1947. Searle Wright was a Fellow of the AGO, of Trinity College, London, and of the Royal Canadian College of Organists. He was the first American to perform a solo recital at Westminster Abbey in London. For many years, he attended and participated in the Three Choirs Festival in England. He was a published composer, with works for orchestra, chamber ensemble, chorus and organ. Many of these works have been recorded, and his last written work was published about three years ago.

From 1952 to 1971, Searle Wright was director of chapel music at St. Paul's Chapel at Columbia University in New York City, and from 1969 to 1971 was president of the AGO. In 1977 he returned to Binghamton to become the first Link Professor of Organ at Binghamton University and organist for the B.C. Pops Orchestra. In addition, he was organist and choir director at the First Congregational Church for 20 years. A memorial service was held on June 13 at Trinity Memorial Church in Binghamton.

Bruce P. Bengtson began his study of the organ at the First Congregational Church, Waterloo, Iowa, and served as organist for the church from 1958–1964. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Northern Iowa in 1964 and a Master of Sacred Music degree in 1966 from Union Theological Seminary in New York City. In 1968 he completed the requirements for the Associate Certificate of the American Guild of Organists. He has served as organist and choirmaster for churches in Waterloo, Iowa; Elizabeth, New Jersey; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Lincoln, Nebraska. He served as organist-choirmaster of Christ Episcopal Church in Reading, Pennsylvania, from 1971–1982; he relinquished the choirmaster responsibilities in 1982, but has continued to serve Christ Church as organist. In the fall of 2005 he celebrated 50 years as a church organist.

This article was inspired by Ralph Kneeream’s elegant and moving tribute to Searle Wright in the November 2004 issue of The Diapason. Dr. Kneeream strongly encouraged me to memorialize my thoughts and impressions of Searle as a teacher to provide an additional perspective on the talents and contributions of this remarkable man. It was my privilege to study organ, composition and improvisation with Searle from September 1964 through May 1966, and to be able to keep in contact with him after graduation from Union Theological Seminary’s then-existing School of Sacred Music until his death June 3, 2004. As a teacher of composition One of his aphorisms was specifically applicable to this area of music study: “Write quickly, but revise exceedingly slowly and carefully!” While he was referring to musical composition, his cautionary wisdom applies equally well to writing an article! I have endeavored to carefully follow this advice in compiling these thoughts and reflections. As a composer of numerous organ and choral works himself, he often joked about it being said of him that he was in this century (the 20th) but not of it! This self-deprecating humor was generally followed by this remark: “If one is going to write conventionally, one must have something to say and write exceedingly well.” He always advocated that a composition have a good “tune” or melody involved. He was not averse to 20th-century compositional devices (polytonality, 4th-built chords, etc.), but these were used as means to an end, not an end in themselves. He encouraged honest efforts at composition, but he could come down hard in his evaluations. I vividly recall his written comments on one of my own efforts, which I still have: “Good grief, the chords! The piece can’t move! It falls under its own weight!” This sent shock waves through my system at the time. But the encouraging part of his teaching style came to the fore in his comment on the last page: “Big talents carry big responsibilities!” I had been brought down, but also lifted up. He proceeded to outline in writing some of the options that could correct my many compositional errors. As a teacher of improvisation He worked with the Union students in a class setting. He would demonstrate how to build an improvisation with what seemed, and were, very basic and practical methods. It sounded easy when he would demonstrate, but I think there was a certain apprehension in all my classmates when we had to play, knowing his phenomenal reputation as an improviser and our natural desire to avoid making total fools of ourselves! Yet I always felt he was able to correct us without putting us down, and in such a way that we were willing to embrace and work on his corrections and suggestions. I will never forget one time when it was my turn to improvise in class. Somehow I got stuck on a theme from Grieg; no matter how hard I tried, I could not shake the theme or improvise my way out! While the theme was good, I soon ran out of material and ways to deal with the theme. Mercifully, I somehow brought the improvisation to an embarrassing conclusion. As I turned around on the organ bench, I could see the looks on the faces of some of my classmates; all of us awaited his comments. With a broad smile Searle said: “Well, it sounds like Bruce got stuck in a tune taught him by his Swedish grandmother!” He was aware that I am Swedish on my father’s side, and well aware that the composer of the theme was Norwegian. Much relieved, I joined my classmates in a good laugh, and he proceeded to show us all how to escape from such musical traps in the future! Part of our improvisation training was learning how to “decorate” hymns with passing tones and harmonic changes, as well as using hymn tunes as the basis for an improvised prelude to a service. While teaching this subject, he did not hesitate to express his opinion on free accompaniments: “Dr. Noble’s (T. Tertius Noble, Organist and Master of the Choristers at St. Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue, New York City from 1913–1943) free accompaniments are fine, but he didn’t always put the melody in the top voice. If you’re going to do a free accompaniment, leave the melody intact in the top voice.” I never had the privilege of hearing Searle play a service, but Dr. Kneeream tells me that Searle was very careful to play the hymns as written for the services. When I heard this I was reminded of another of Searle’s sayings: “Just because one can do something does not mean one should!” Another valuable lesson he taught was how a chromatic sequence is constructed and functions. Using a variety of examples, he demonstrated how this knowledge can hasten learning the music of Vierne. He progressed from that lesson to show us how to improvise around a cipher, a skill I once heard him demonstrate “under the gun” when he was playing theatre organ for his 75th birthday party in Binghamton, New York. He worked around the persistent cipher for over two minutes, never losing a beat, until it suddenly ceased, allowing him to proceed! As an organ teacher As an undergraduate organ major at the University of Northern Iowa, my organ study was with Philip Hahn (later, Dr. Philip Hahn, AAGO, President of the American Guild of Organists), who was a student of Robert Noehren at the University of Michigan. The question of whom among the Union faculty I should study with arose when I was accepted at Union. Phil suggested I write to Dr. Noehren, since he had heard me play in my sophomore year at UNI when he was at the university to work on final plans for his new instrument slated for installation in the newly completed music building. I well remember Dr. Noehren’s reply: “You have had enough discipline in your training. Now the time has come for you to have some freedom. Therefore, I recommend you study with Searle Wright.” I told this story to Dr. Baker (Dr. Robert S. Baker, Dean of the School of Sacred Music) during my entrance interview with him at UTS and recall his reaction: “Very interesting that Bob (Dr. Noehren) would recommend you study with Searle. They are of very different persuasions, you know!” Thus it came to pass that I studied with Searle. During my first year at Union, I had my lessons on the organ in James Chapel at Union, not at St. Paul’s Chapel, Columbia University, where Searle was the Organist and Director of Chapel Music, because of scheduling problems. Searle was not, to put it mildly, enamored of the sound of the organ in James Chapel! And it was no wonder. The room was dreadfully dry acoustically, which would put any organ at a disadvantage from the outset. Rebuilt and updated in 1960, at a time in American organ building when pipe scales were getting thinner and thinner, making mixtures work properly with the thinly scaled foundational underpinning was a real problem. Dr. Baker had the Swell mixture replaced at least three times after he became Director of the School upon the death of Dr. Hugh Porter. Searle was accustomed to the magnificent G. Donald Harrison American classic Aeolian-Skinner and the reverberant acoustics of St. Paul’s Chapel. I vividly recall Searle’s frustration during one of my lessons while helping me with a registration. Exasperated, he muttered: “This organ is as subtle as a train wreck!” However, that did not stop him from finding combinations that not only worked well for the literature being played, but were beautiful! He had a wonderful ear for sounds and total mastery of the art of registration. One of my many lasting memories is how excited he would become when I came to my lesson prepared with a significant amount of literature to play. He loved it when I was willing to take his ideas on the pieces and at least try them. During my second year at Union, my lessons were in St. Paul’s Chapel. Scheduled to begin at 2 pm on Fridays, they seldom got underway until 2:30. Searle was not a morning person! He often stayed up as late as 4 am practicing or composing, followed by sleeping until noon. Therefore, 2 pm was very early in his day. He would come in late, half-awake, apologizing for being late and saying he had to stop along Broadway to get an orange juice. Upon ascertaining I had prepared a number of pieces for him to hear, he quickly awakened as his enthusiasm bubbled to the surface. Having taken advantage of the 20–30 minutes he was late to work out registrations on the magnificent chapel organ, I would begin to play. His keen ear for color would take over as he would rapidly approach the console from his “listening post” in the nave of the chapel to compliment me on my registration, quickly followed by: “Have you thought of doing it this way?” as he changed all the stops I had selected! In amazement I marveled that I had not thought of it in the new way and would reach for my pencil to jot down the idea. But he would protest, “No, don’t bother to write it down; you could also think about doing it this way,” and quick as a flash, he would again change all the registration. The moral of the story soon became readily apparent: he felt it limiting to be doctrinaire; rather, he encouraged me to use my ear, take into account the resources at my disposal, the acoustics of the room, the structure of the music, etc., to achieve a series of musical sounds that emphasized the music and what it was trying to convey. He was exceedingly generous with his time. If I had a significant amount of repertoire prepared, my “hour lesson” might well run until nearly 5 pm when he had his Friday evening choir rehearsal! I well recall stumbling out of the chapel physically exhausted, but mentally and emotionally on an unbelievable “high” after those lessons. They were so stimulating! His knowledge of the repertoire was comprehensive. Often during lessons he would ask if I knew or played such-and-such work. Often, I not only did not play it, I had never heard of it! He would allow me the time to write down the names of these suggestions. My organ scores are rife with names of works to learn, written in pencil scrawls that fade more and more as the years go by. I am still, after all these years, exploring some of the suggestions he made in those lessons. Though the pencil scrawls are faded or nearly invisible after 40 years, my memory of the man, his teaching and his ideas are as fresh in my mind as if I had just heard them yesterday. As in his teaching of composition and improvisation, he could be a very encouraging organ teacher. After playing a noonday recital at St. Paul’s Chapel, I expressed my disappointment in missing too many notes in the G-Major Voluntary, op. 1, no. 5, by William Walond. Searle pointed out that errors in this type of music can be minimized by first taking care to cover the notes one is about to play, then keeping your hand and wrist as quiet as possible while playing. While he did not often talk about technique or fingering, when he did, it was right on target and to the point. Note that this was brought home to me by the one who was to give me “freedom” and not impose more discipline on me! “Most players have more technique than they need,” he would say. “Technique must be the servant of the music.” He had such a wonderfully fluid technique and sat very quietly on the bench, always playing with an economy of motion; but could he move when the music called for it! I vividly recall his working with me before my master’s recital at St. Thomas, helping me to set registrations, tempi, etc. He would walk around the nave, listening intently. Interestingly enough, he did not radically alter the sounds I had chosen; rather, he adjusted them for balance in the room in a way I could not possibly do from the console. As we worked, he would frequently tell me how the organ was when it was all E. M. Skinner during the time he was working with Dr. Noble. I recall his mild grumbling about Harrison putting the Great manual on the bottom and questioning the wisdom of a French-style organ in an Anglican church. But he loved “his” Harrison Aeolian-Skinner in St. Paul’s Chapel, built almost 20 years before the St. Thomas instrument. On my master’s degree recital, I played Searle’s Introduction, Passacaglia and Fugue. As we were planning the repertoire for my recital, he asked me if I would be interested (note: asked me!) in learning the work. He described it as a big virtuoso piece not many people play. He had written it for Marilyn Mason in 1960, and she gave its first performance at the AGO national convention in Detroit that year. Searle felt it to be a good piece and worthy of the time I would need to spend on it. I readily agreed to tackle it! Since one of the requirements for the Master of Sacred Music degree at UTS in those days was to write both abbreviated and extended program notes on each work in our master’s recital, I arranged to interview Searle and get the background of the piece “straight from the horse’s mouth,” as he said. As we sat in “The Pit” (the “break room” at Union) over coffee, he told me about his life and the piece. He was especially proud of the work; it had come out in print only three years earlier. I shall always treasure the note he wrote in my score after the recital, “Thanks for a great performance!—Searle.” He championed Vierne and Karg-Elert when they were out of vogue in the 1960s. I studied the Vierne Triptyque with him. It ends with the “Stèle pour un enfant defunt,” the last piece Vierne played on his recital at Notre Dame in June, 1937, when he collapsed and died at the console just prior to the customary improvisation. Searle took such pains in teaching these little miniatures, talking about ways to pace and phrase them. I have all his markings in my score, and I treasure them. What he accomplished with me in those lessons was not only to give me a thorough understanding of those specific pieces but also to develop my understanding and feeling for the use of phrasing and rubato, not only in the music of Vierne, but other composers as well. His teaching philosophy • Use your ear, decide on and practice your pacing, don’t forget the big line, and play musically. • There are no difficult pieces, only unfamiliar ones. Your job as a musician is to make familiar that which is unfamiliar and to communicate. • A teacher is constantly in danger of falling into the trap of trying to be all things to all people, of trying to do too much, and of being a jack-of-all-trades. It is good to know something about a lot of things musical, but it is necessary to remember that it is “a little” that one knows. The teacher must take a point of view in order to give the subject studied a personality and a point of departure. The teacher’s viewpoint should be only a point of departure, not the gospel for the student. Epilogue I took my last lesson from him in April, 1993, at the First Congregational Church in Binghamton, New York, his last church position. The entire lesson was devoted to the Final from Vierne’s Fifth Symphony, which Searle had played impromptu for me one time during a lesson at St. Paul’s Chapel to illustrate a point he had been making about “the big line” versus detail treatment. I was so overwhelmed hearing him play the piece at the time that I promised myself I would learn it some day. Before the Binghamton lesson, he had relearned the piece himself so he could teach me. This was so typical of Searle: he believed in preparing and expected the same of his students. I still have all his markings and suggestions in my score. This lesson took place before the articles were published showing that the metronome markings in the Vierne symphonies are wrong. He said that the tempo markings in the score of the Final were “ridiculous!” “Slow it down! Just let the piece happen.” He also talked about the construction of the piece, how to handle the three episodes before the theme recurs in minor, then again in major against the triplet figuration. As always, he talked about the big line and the shape of the piece. “The details are fine, but if you lose the shape of the piece while getting the details, what have you gained?” After the lesson (21⁄2 hours, just like in the “old days!”), I took him out for dinner. He would accept no pay for the lesson! We had a wonderful conversation on a variety of topics. After dinner I bade him goodnight as he headed back to the church—he wanted to practice! He was working on the Roger-Ducasse Pastorale. Even Searle admitted it was a hard piece! It was the last time I saw him alive, but I kept in contact with him by phone the rest of his life. He seldom wrote letters and was generally good for an hour on the phone, joking that he was vaccinated with a phonograph needle! What a legacy he left! May the soul of the faithful departed rest in peace, and may light perpetual shine upon him. Amen.

James B. Hartman is Senior Academic Editor for publications of the Distance Education Program, Continuing Education Division, The University of Manitoba. His recent publications include articles on the early histories of music and theater in Manitoba. He is a frequent contributor of book reviews and articles to The Diapason.

                  All excellent things are as difficult as they are rare.

--Baruch Spinoza, Ethics (1677)

The organ has been a prominent feature of the musical life of Canada since the earliest days of the first European settlement. The first organs were brought from France to Québec City around 1600 and organbuilding flourished mainly in Québec and Ontario from the mid-nineteenth century onward.1 Growth in organbuilding accelerated in the years 1880-1950 following the establishment of Casavant Frères in 1879 in Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec. Therefore it is not surprising that organists became prominent around the same time.

As soon as trained musicians began arriving in Canada, usually from England, many of them opened music studios to offer private instruction in piano, voice, organ, and violin. Some were also active in community orchestras or served as church organists and choirmasters. A few took employment in local music stores to supplement their meagre income from professional duties. With the advent of silent films in the early 1900s some organists obtained positions at theaters that had installed pipe organs where they played improvised or specially arranged accompaniments to the events unfolding on the silver screen.

Although the great majority of organists were known only in their local communities, some gifted individuals achieved wider recognition by making exceptional contributions to the musical culture of the country. This article will chronicle the careers and accomplishments of seven such outstanding organists who were active in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Frederick H. Torrington (1837- 1917) was born in Dudley, near Birmingham, England, where he received his early musical training. Later studies in piano, organ, theory, and choral music led to his position as organist at St. Ann's Church in Bewdley at the age of sixteen.

Torrington moved to Canada in 1856, first working as a piano tuner in Montréal then as organist-choirmaster at St. James Street Methodist Church. He taught privately and at several schools, and conducted instrumental and choral groups, including the Montréal Amateur Musical Union. For three years he was bandmaster of the 25th Regiment, Queen's Own Borderers. In 1869 he organized the Canadian section of an orchestra that performed in the First Peace Jubilee in Boston. In the same year he settled in Boston to become organist at King's Chapel and to join the New England Conservatory of Music as teacher of piano and organ; he also conducted various choral groups and was violinist in the Harvard (later Boston) Symphony Orchestra. He gave organ recitals in Boston, New York, and other eastern cities.

In 1873 Torrington returned to Canada to become organist-choirmaster at Metropolitan Methodist Church in Toronto and conductor of the Toronto Philharmonic Society 1873-94. His influence on the musical life of Toronto included conducting choral-orchestral works and organizing musical festivals. Other activities included director of music at the Ontario Ladies' College in Whitby, conductor of the Hamilton Philharmonic Society in the 1880s, and founder of the Toronto Conservatory of Music in 1888, serving as its director until his death.

In the late 1880s Torrington became president of a group modelled on the Royal College of Organists, founded in England in 1864, dedicated to uniting organists and raising the standards of the profession. Although his group did not last for long, it was a predecessor of the Canadian College of Organists, founded in 1909. Torrington's work with various amateur orchestras led to the formal establishment of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1906. He left his organist post at Metropolitan Church in 1907 for a similar position at High Park Methodist Church.

It should be recalled that in these times the organ was regarded as a substitute for the orchestra; consequently, organ recital programs usually included a number of transcriptions. For example, one of Torrington's recitals in 1869 included Rossini's William Tell Overture and the Andante from Beethoven's Septet on the same program with Mendelssohn's Organ Sonata No. 1. Nevertheless, Torrington championed the music of Bach, and his performances of the master's works were enthusiastically received by his audiences. He composed several patriotic songs, a choral work, and some organ music.

Herbert A. Fricker (1868-1943) was born in Canterbury, England, where he received his early musical training as a chorister, and later as assistant organist, at Canterbury Cathedral. In London he studied with Frederick Bridge and Edwin Lemare. His subsequent career in Leeds included city organist, symphony orchestra founder and conductor, and festival choirmaster, along with other positions as organist in various churches and schools, and as a choral society conductor.

Fricker came to Canada in 1917 to become conductor of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, a position he held until 1942. His cross-border musical activities began immediately with his choir's program with the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski in 1918; this reciprocal association continued for seven years. Under Fricker's leadership the choir gave Canadian premieres of several major choral works by such composers as Beethoven, Berlioz, and Walton. Fricker served as organist at Metropolitan United Church, Toronto 1917-43, organ instructor at the Toronto Conservatory of Music 1918-32, staff member at the University of Toronto, and conductor of the Canadian National Exhibition chorus 1922-34. He was an active organ recitalist and adjudicated many competition festivals. He was president of the Canadian College of Organists 1925-6.

Fricker composed several organ works and made arrangements for organ, all published by various London firms. His choral pieces included both sacred and secular works. Over his lifetime Fricker accumulated an extensive library of books and musical scores that were given to Toronto libraries after his death.

William Hewlett (1873-1940) was born in Batheaston, England, where he was a choirboy at Bath Abbey before moving to Canada with his family in 1884.

In his new country he enrolled at the Toronto Conservatory of Music where he studied organ, piano, theory, and orchestration, graduating in 1893 with a gold medal for organ playing and extemporization. While in Toronto he served as organist-choirmaster at Carlton Street Methodist Church at the age of seventeen. In 1895 he moved to London, Ontario, to become organist-choirmaster at Dundas Centre Methodist Church and conductor of the London Vocal Society 1896-1902. Later he moved to Hamilton, Ontario, to become musical director at Centenary Methodist Church 1902-38; his Twilight Recitals on Saturday afternoons were a significant aspect of the Hamilton music scene for about twenty-five years. He was one of the founders of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir and served as its first accompanist 1895-7, and he accompanied the celebrated singers Ernestine Schumann-Heink and Dame Clara Butt when they visited Canada. He was one of the co-directors of the Hamilton Conservatory of Music and served as its sole principal 1918-39; during this time he travelled widely in Canada as adjudicator and examiner. He conducted the Elgar Choir, which was frequently joined by the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra. In 1927 he conducted a 1000-voice choir in a celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of the Confederation of Canada.

Hewlett was a prolific composer in the smaller forms; he contributed to the Methodist Hymn and Tune Book (1917) and was one of the compilers of the United Church Hymnary (1930). He was one of the most respected Canadian organists of his generation and an expert on church organ installations. He served as national president of the Canadian College of Organists 1928-9.

Healey Willan (1880-1968) was born in Balham (later part of London), England, and was taught music at the age of four by his mother and his governess. At the age of eight he entered St. Saviour's Choir School, Eastbourne, where he studied piano and organ. By the age of eleven he directed the choir and alternated with the incumbent organist in playing evensong services. After private organ study in London he served as organist-choirmaster at three churches in various parts of England in succession 1898-1913. During this time he developed a reputation as an authority on plainchant in the vernacular (i.e., English, not Latin).

Willan came to Canada in 1913 to head the theory department of the Toronto Conservatory of Music and to become organist-choirmaster at St. Paul's Anglican Church, Toronto. His recital programs around this time exhibited his comprehensive repertoire, including much English music. In 1914 he was appointed lecturer and examiner for the University of Toronto and served as director of the university's Hart House Theatre, writing and conducting music for plays. He was vice-principal of the Toronto Conservatory of Music 1919-25 but his position was terminated as an economy measure and possibly on account of internal politicking involving Ernest MacMillan (see below). In 1921 he became organist-choirmaster at the Anglican Church of St. Mary Magdalene, an association that continued until his death; while there he introduced an Anglo-Catholic style of service music.

Apparently Willan possessed a facetious brand of wit: he was heard to say that the organ was a dull instrument, that organ recitals bored him, and that he was unable to play his own major compositions. On being elected president of the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto in 1923 he promptly set its constitution to music.

Willan held many influential appointments: member of the Arts and Letters Club for fifty years, president 1923; president of the Canadian College of Organists 1922-3, 1933-5; honorary president and life member of the Royal Canadian College of Organists; university organist at the University of Toronto 1932-64 and teacher of counterpoint and composition 1937-50; president of the Authors and Composers Association of Canada 1933; chairman of the board of examiners of Bishop's University; summer guest lecturer at the University of Michigan 1937, 1938; chairman of the British Organ Restoration Fund to help finance the rebuilding of the organ at Coventry Cathedral 1943; summer guest lecturer at the University of California at Los Angeles 1949; co-founder and musical director of the Gregorian Association of Toronto, 1950; founder and musical director of the Toronto Diocesan Choir School; and fellow of the Ancient Monuments Society of England. He was commissioned to compose an anthem for the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953, the first nonresident of Britain to be so honored.

Willan's public honors included the Canada Council Medal 1961, Companion of the Order of Canada 1967, and a diploma from the Province of Ontario in recognition of his role in Canadian musical life. A group of his admirers formed the Healey Willan Centennial Celebration Committee to encourage activities marking the centenary of his birth in 1980, and the Canada Post Office issued a commemorative stamp bearing his portrait.2

Willan was a prolific composer. His works encompassed dramatic music, vocal music with instrumental ensemble, works for orchestra and band, chamber music, piano works, organ works,3 and choral works; many of the latter have been recorded by groups in Canada, the USA, and England. He also wrote twenty-four articles on church music and organ playing.4

Lynwood Farnam (1885-1930), who became a legend in the organ world, was born in Sutton, Québec, a small town southeast of Montréal. Following basic musical training he continued his studies for three years as a scholarship student at the Royal College of Music in London, England, beginning in 1900. He held several church positions in Montréal and taught at the McGill Conservatorium until accepting a post at Emmanuel Church, Boston, in 1913. The story is that he impressed the audition committee by presenting a list of 200 pieces that he had committed to memory, stating that he was willing to perform any of them; he was hired immediately.

After overseas service during the war Farnam became organist-choirmaster at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, New York, in 1919. By the time he played his last recital there in 1920 he had given 500 organ recitals. As a concert organist his performances were noted for their flawless technique, infallible memory, and profound musicianship. His reputation was consolidated among his colleagues by a dazzling performance for the American Guild of Organists in 1920. In 1925 he made organ rolls for two companies that manufactured player organs. 

Farnam's New York fame gained him an appointment in 1927 as head of the organ department at the Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia, where he taught weekly until his death at the age of forty-five. His pupils included a number of prominent Canadian and American organists. At the climax of his career in 1928-9 he played the complete organ works of Bach in twenty recitals in New York, repeating each program at least once in response to public demand.

Although Farnam did no improvising and composed only one piece for organ, he was one of the great interpreters of his time, introducing North American and European audiences to contemporary organ music, particularly that of French and American composers, as well as to the forerunners of Bach. Louis Vierne dedicated his Organ Symphony No. 6 (1931) to Farnam's memory.

Ernest MacMillan (1893-1973) was born in Mimico (Metropolitan Toronto), the son of a Scottish Presbyterian minister who became an internationally recognized hymnologist. He began his organ study at the age of eight with the organist of Sherbourne Street Methodist Church in Toronto and performed in public shortly thereafter. He accompanied his father to Edinburgh, Scotland 1905-8, where he had the opportunity to take lessons from Alfred Hollins, the noted blind organist, occasionally substituting for him at St. George's West Church, Edinburgh. Around the same time he enrolled in music classes at the University of Edinburgh in preparation for his first diploma. Upon returning to Toronto, now at the age of fifteen, he took an appointment as organist at Knox Presbyterian Church, where he remained for two years. He then returned to Edinburgh and London to complete his work for the Fellow, Royal College of Organists diploma and extramural Bachelor of Music degree at Oxford University, both awarded in 1911 before his eighteenth birthday. Back in Toronto he served as organist-choirmaster at St. Paul's Presbyterian Church in Hamilton, commuting on weekends.

Thinking that his piano training had been neglected on account of his concentration on the organ, he went to Paris in 1914 for private study. While visiting Germany at the outbreak of war he was detained as a prisoner of war; there he befriended other English composers (including Quentin Maclean, see below), organized a camp orchestra for musicals, and concentrated on composition, including a work later submitted as part of the requirements for his Doctor of Music degree from Oxford University.

Back in Canada in 1919 he embarked on a lecture-recital tour of the west in which he played organ pieces and described his experiences as a war prisoner. In 1920 he began teaching organ and piano at the Canadian Academy of Music, and in 1926 became principal of the amalgamated Toronto Conservatory of Music. As an examiner and festival adjudicator, he travelled extensively throughout Canada offering stimulation and encouragement for musical development in small centers. In the following year he became dean of the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto, initially a titular position.

By this time MacMillan had moved away from the organ as an exclusive preoccupation; his new interests included education, administration, and developing systems and policies, although he continued to conduct and to compose new music and arrange old music as required. One of his unusual projects, in collaboration with an ethnologist in 1927, was recording and notating music of native peoples in northern British Columbia. In 1931 MacMillan became conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, a position that enabled him to develop an unused potential. In 1935 King George V knighted him for his services to music in Canada. In the late 1930s he gained fame as a conductor in the USA, appearing in such prominent series as the Hollywood Bowl concerts and with the symphony orchestras of Chicago, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC.

1942 was a banner year for MacMillan: first, he was offered, but did not accept, an invitation to succeed Donald Francis Tovey in the Reid Chair of Music at the University of Edinburgh; second, he succeeded Herbert Fricker as conductor of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir (see above). In 1945 he filled conducting engagements in Australia, and in Rio de Janeiro in the following year. Also in 1946 he was instrumental in establishing the Canadian Music Council and served as president of the Composers, Authors, and Publishers Association of Canada until 1969; one of his first projects was the organization of a concert of Canadian music for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. As part of his renewed interest in the piano he performed piano concertos with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, gave recitals, and made radio broadcasts. In 1950, during a weeklong festival to celebrate the Bach bicentenary, he offered a lecture-recital on the Clavierübung, playing all of Book 3 from memory. Although he resigned as conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1956, and of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir in 1957, he still accepted conducting engagements with other musical organizations, travelled throughout Canada to initiate new projects to encourage young musicians, and acted as a classical disc jockey for a Toronto radio station.

MacMillan was a productive composer of musical works for the stage, orchestra, orchestra and choir, band, chamber groups, keyboard, and choir and voice. His writings included works on music instruction, articles in music journals, and other publications. He has been the subject of numerous articles by other writers.

Recognized as Canada's musical elder statesman, in later years MacMillan served as a member of the first Canada Council 1957-63 on account of his extensive participation in the musical arts. He participated in the formation of the Canadian Music Centre, serving as its president 1959-70, and of the Jeunesses musicales of Canada, serving as its president 1961-3. He received the Canada Council Medal in 1964. He was recognized by many public tributes on his seventieth and seventy-fifth birthdays, and these events were marked by special publications and revivals of his works. In 1970 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.

Quentin Maclean (1896-1962) was born in London, England, and studied organ there in the early 1900s and with Karl Straube (organ) and Max Reger (composition) in Leipzig 1912-14. During World War I he was interned in Germany where he met Ernest MacMillan (see above). In 1919 he served as assistant organist at Westminster Cathedral, then toured British theaters with newsman Lowell Thomas, providing background music for a lecture-film on Palestine. He was theater organist at many English cinemas 1921-1939 and began to broadcast regularly on BBC radio in 1925.

Maclean moved to Canada in 1939 where he continued his theater organ career in Toronto for ten years. He became one of the best-known organists of his time for his frequent radio broadcasts of background organ music for plays, poetry readings, and music for children's programs. He was organist-choirmaster at Holy Rosary Church 1940-62 and taught at the Toronto Conservatory of Music and at St. Michael's College, University of Toronto.

Maclean composed concertos for organ (two), harpsichord, piano, electric organ (two), harp, and violin; works for solo organ (eight), pieces for orchestra and other solo orchestral instruments, a string quartet, piano pieces, a cantata, and other choral works, among others. He was noted for his diverse musical interests, technical skills, musical memory, and high standards in the composition and performance of serious music, secular and liturgical.

*

Two features are noteworthy with respect to the individuals surveyed here. With the exceptions of Farnam and MacMillan they were born in England and received their early musical training there, which undoubtedly influenced their later musical orientation. Two of them lived for some time in the USA: Torrington 1869-73 and Farnam 1919-30, periods in which their careers flourished. The wide range of the experience and achievements of the seven organists is impressive. Taken collectively, they exhibited exceptional competence in a broad variety of activities: church musician, concert recitalist, teacher, lecturer, composer, arranger, conductor, festival organizer and adjudicator, examiner, writer, academic administrator, academic staff member, president of a professional organization, and expert on organ installation. At least one became a recognized authority in a specialized field (Willan, plainchant). All of them can be counted among those who have contributed significantly, in their specialized fields, to the musical life of Canada. 

Notes

                  1.              For a brief history of organbuilding and the major manufacturers, see James B. Hartman, “Canadian Organbuilding,” The Diapason 90, no. 5 (May 1999): 16-18; no. 6, (June 1999): 14-15.                 

                  2.              With Canadian soprano Emma Albani (1847-1930), who was commemorated in the same way at the same time, Willan was the first Canadian musician to be honored in this fashion.

                  3.              Willan made significant contributions to music for the organ. His monumental Introduction, Passacaglia and Fugue (1916) was described by Joseph Bonnet as the greatest of its genre since Bach. Other works combine Englishness and European chromaticism reminiscent of Reger and Karg-Elert. After 1950 his works became more contrapuntal, and chorale preludes became his most frequent form of expression.

                  4.             See, for example, “Organ Playing in its Proper Relation to Music of the Church.” The Diapason 29, no. 10 (October 1937): 22-23. He discusses the different--but sometimes overlapping--functions of concert organists (excelling in technique) and church organists (beautifying the liturgies or verbal forms, supporting the congregation, accompanying the choir, and welding the entire service into an appropriate whole). “As a general rule, I do not like large organs, large choirs or large noises of any sort, but there are occasions when grandeur is not only appropriate, but positively necessary . . .” (23). 

The biographical information in this article is derived from the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada, Second Edition, and is used by permission from the University of Toronto Press.

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.

Felix Aprahamian, noted music critic, died in London on January 15. Born in London on June 5, 1914, he was honorary secretary of the Organ Music Society 1935–70; concert manager of the London Philharmonic Orchestra 1940–46; and deputy music critic, Sunday Times 1948–89.

Mr. Aprahamian attended Tollington High School and studied organ with Eric Thiman, whom he assisted at Park Chapel, Crouch End. He worked for the Organ Music Society from the age of 17, and as assistant secretary was in correspondence with the leading organists of the day. His interest in and knowledge of French music led him to become organizer of the Concerts de Musique Française for the Free French in London in 1942. From 1946–84, he worked for United Music Publishers, the principal agent for French music in the UK. He served on the BBC Central Music Advisory Committee 1958–61.

Aprahamian wrote record reviews for Gramophone from 1964 to 1975. He also wrote many articles, reminiscences and introductions to books, and edited and translated Claude Samuel’s Conversations with Olivier Messiaen (1976). He lectured widely, including at Morley College, the City Literary Institute and Surrey University, and from 1989 was visiting professor at the University of East London. In 1991 he was Regents Lecturer at the University of California. He was made an honorary member of the Royal College of Organists in 1973 and an honorary fellow in 1994. He lived in the same house in Muswell Hill for 85 years, where his music room had an organ inherited from André Marchal, two pianos, scores and books.

Robert Baker died on January 24 at his home in Hamden, Connecticut, at the age of 88. He was predeceased by his wife of 61 years, Mary Frances Depler Baker, who died on July 23, 2004. He is survived by a son, a daughter, and two grandchildren. A memorial service took place at Spring Glen Congregational Church in Hamden.
Born in 1916 in Pontiac, Illinois, Robert Baker began playing the organ at the age of 12. He attended Illinois Wesleyan University, where he studied the organ with Frank Jordan. After graduation he moved to New York City and studied with Dr. Clarence Dickinson at Union Theological Seminary. There he earned the Master of Sacred Music degree in 1940 and the Doctor of Sacred Music degree in 1944.
He served as organist/choirmaster at Hitchcock Presbyterian Church, Scarsdale, New York 1938–41; at First Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn Heights 1941–53; and in New York City at Temple Emanu-El 1945–61, St. James Episcopal Church 1969–74, and First Presbyterian Church 1975–88.

He was named director of the School of Sacred Music at Union Theological Seminary in 1961 and dean in 1965. He was the founding director of Yale Institute of Sacred Music, New Haven, Connecticut 1973–76, and retired from the Yale faculty in 1987.

As a concert artist (under the Lilian Murtagh Concert Management for many years), he played recitals on virtually every important organ in the United States, including those at St. John the Divine, West Point Naval Academy, Grace Cathedral, and many others. In 1966, he was one of two American organists to perform for the 900th anniversary of Westminster Abbey. He held honorary doctorates from Illinois Wesleyan University, Bradley University, Westminster Choir College, and Susquehanna University.

Memorial services are scheduled for May 1 at First Presbyterian Church, New York City, and October 10 at Yale University’s Woolsey Hall.

Mary McCall Stubbins died December 25 in Washington, DC at the age of 90. Mrs. Stubbins served for 55 years as organist of First United Methodist Church, Ann Arbor until her retirement in 1997. Born in Toluca, Illinois, she began piano study at age seven in Homewood, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. This led to lessons and competitions at Mary Wood Chase School of Musical Arts, Columbia School of Music and the Chicago Conservatory of Music. She began playing church services on the piano for the Chicago Heights Christian Science Church at age 16. She studied organ with Edgar Nelson in Chicago, and earned a BA in music at the University of Chicago. In 1939 she married William H. Stubbins and they moved to Ann Arbor, where Mr. Stubbins taught clarinet at the University of Michigan until his death in 1975.

After moving to Ann Arbor, Mary Stubbins began playing organ and later directed the choir at First Congregational Church. In September 1942 she was appointed organist at First United Methodist Church. She received her MMus degree in organ from the University of Michigan, studying with the late Palmer Christian. She served as organist for more than 25 years with the University Musical Society, and played with the Philadelphia Orchestra when the Choral Union sang at the May Festival.

Mrs. Stubbins was a member of two international honorary musical fraternities—Mu Phi Epsilon and Phi Kappa Lambda—as well as a member of the American Guild of Organists. She was a charter member of the Ann Arbor chapter and served as treasurer and a member of the executive board. She is survived by two daughters and four granddaughters.