Marek Kudlicki to make 40th North American tour in March

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

This year’s gathering marked the fiftieth anniversary of the University of Michigan Conference on Organ Music, directed by its creator, Marilyn Mason. Organists from France, Germany, Poland, and the U.S. performed on the Aeolian-Skinner on the stage of Hill Auditorium. The shimmering golden pipes of this organ made this year’s theme especially appropriate: “Pure Gold: Music of Poland, France and Germany.” The conference was dedicated to the memories of Erven Thoma, a Michigan DMA graduate in church music, and William Steinhoff, Professor Emeritus of English at U-M and husband of Marilyn Mason.

Sunday, October 3
Frédéric Blanc, 43-year-old native of Angoulême, opened the conference with a program of all-French music. He introduced his program by saying that Fauré, Ravel, and Debussy are never far away in nineteenth and twentieth-century French organ music. Their influence was undeniable in the works Blanc performed, a mix of well-known and loved repertoire—Franck, Choral in A Minor and Cantabile; Vierne, Carillon de Westminster and Méditation Improvisée (reconstructed by Duruflé), repertoire that is occasionally heard—Prelude in E-flat Minor (from Suite, op. 5) by Duruflé and Allegro (from Symphony VI) by Widor, and repertoire that is rarely heard—Introduction et Aria by Jean-Jacques Gruenwald, Toccata (from Le Tombeau de Titelouze, on Placare Christe Servulis) by Dupré, and Prelude (from the suite Pélleas et Mélisande) by Debussy, transcribed by Duruflé.
Blanc’s technique is formidable and his choice of registration was both poetic and daring; however, his playing became more impassioned and inspired in his improvisation—a Triptych Symphony based on three submitted themes: Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, Hail to the Chief, and Somewhere Over the Rainbow. His imagination and creativity were dazzling as he altered rhythms and keys of the submitted themes, seamlessly moved from dark and somber to warm and brilliant colors, from pensive to ebullient moods, and ending with a bombastic pedal toccata. He delighted in making the instrument hum, growl, and break forth in glorious trumpeting.

Monday, October 4
On Monday afternoon Frederic Blanc gave a lecture entitled “A Mind’s Eye.” He spoke informally of how his life as a musician has been shaped and influenced by unique circumstances, his teachers, and his views on improvisation. While he was a student at the Bordeaux Conservatory, Xavier Durasse heard him play and persuaded him to come to Toulouse, where he was then asked to be organist at St. Sernin. There he had all his nights to play the organ, and there he met Jean-Louis Florentz, André Fleury, and Madame Duruflé. When she heard him improvise, she said, “I will take you to Paris and I will make you work very hard.” He told how he was not prepared to play Dupré’s Variations on a Noël, one of the required pieces for the Chartres competition, and she told him he had to be able to play it from memory in fifteen days or she would never see him again. She was delighted when he came back in fifteen days and played it from memory. Blanc said that the most important thing he learned from her was that “each piece has its own way to be played, you must express yourself, your sensitivity must flow through the music.”
Blanc’s candid answers to questions about his own improvisation left me feeling that here is a man whose life is charmed, who is fully conscious of the rare gift he has been given, and is fully committed to nurturing it. When asked who taught him how to improvise, he answered: “I wasn’t. I listened to Madame Duruflé, Pierre Cochereau, Jean Langlais, and to recordings of Tournemire. Nobody can give you the gift. If you are not given the gift you will never be able to improvise a symphony . . . I heard Cochereau at Notre Dame and it was like magic, like being pierced by a sword, raised to heaven. He was at one with the organ.”
When asked about the state of organ building in France today, Blanc lamented that there are no organs in concert halls, and the organist cannot be seen in the lofts in churches. He commented that Cavaillé-Coll was a builder who turned toward the future and restored his own organs for new music, especially those organs in Notre Dame and Sacré Coeur.
Blanc’s final dictum concerning how to play French organ music: “After historicism, it must be the music and what you have inside.”
Charles Echols, Professor Emeritus of St. Cloud State University, lectured on “Observations on American Organ Music 1900–1950,” covering a large variety of topics: the movement of American composers to create “American” music; changes in musical style and organ building between 1930–1950; approaches to researching organ music by American composers; and an introduction to the organ music of René Louis Becker, whose scores have been given to the University of Michigan by his family, who were present at the lecture.
On Monday evening Martin Bambauer, 40-year-old organist and choirmaster at the Konstantin Basilika in Trier, played Dupré’s Poème héroïque, op. 33; Tournemire’s Triple Choral, op. 41; Liszt’s Eglogue (from Années de Pèlerinage), transcribed for organ by Bambauer; Karg-Elert’s Partita Retrospettiva, op. 151; Iain Farrington’s Fiesta!, plus his own improvisation. He played with great precision and refinement. His performance of Tournemire’s Triple Choral, op. 41 was an Ann Arbor premiere. Farrington’s four-movement work, Fiesta!, was a bit of fresh air, conjuring up all sorts of secular venues, from a stripper’s stage to a cocktail lounge.

Tuesday, October 5
On Tuesday, Martin Bambauer began his lecture, “Tournemire’s Triple Choral,” by saying that it was Tournemire’s first major organ work, and he had learned it in a week (!) and played it for the fourth time in public yesterday, and that it was not a very popular piece. Truly, I would have thought he had been playing the piece for years. This early work of Tournemire is introspective and cerebral, and at the same time hints at the other-worldliness that would characterize his later work. Bambauer mentioned that in 1896 the Liber Usualis became Tournemire’s constant companion, and when he became Franck’s successor at the Basilica of St. Clotilde in 1898 he only improvised on chant in the services. He thought sacred music was the only music worthy of the name, and when Langlais questioned him, asking what about the music of Debussy, Ravel, and Stravinsky, he said it didn’t matter! Bambauer recommended listening to Tournemire’s eight symphonies, among them Search for the Holy Grail and Apocalypse of St. John. Tournemire was drawn to the mysterious and supernatural, apparent not only in his music, but in his biography of Franck in 1931, and the naming of his two cottages “Tristan” and “Isolde”—his Opus 53 bears those names.
Bambauer pointed out that Tournemire was recognized as a great improviser, and Vierne described him as being “impulsive, enthusiastic, erratic, and a born improviser.” Tournemire’s Five Improvisations, recorded in 1930 at St. Clotilde and transcribed by his student, Duruflé, are his most popular works. His L’Orgue Mystique, fifty-one liturgical sets of five pieces each, was composed between 1927–1932 and is the Catholic counterpart to Bach’s Orgelbüchlein. Bambauer explained that the first edition of L’Orgue Mystique was dedicated to César Franck and states in the preface that the performer is free to choose the registration; however, in the second edition Duruflé includes registration and manual changes.
Bambauer’s insightful analysis of Tournemire’s Triple Choral not only focused on his compositional techniques—use of imitation, paraphrase, and inversion—but how and when Tournemire used the same harmonic vocabulary as Franck. Bambauer illustrated the meticulous craftsmanship in this early work of Tournemire based on his newly created chorals entitled “The Father,” “The Son,” and “The Holy Spirit,” and discussed how the prose with which Tournemire prefaced each choral was mirrored in the music. Tournemire’s prose offers a poignant testimony of his profound faith and allows the listener to participate in Tournemire’s personal vision.
Bambauer commented that the highlight of the piece occurs at the end as the three chorals softly merge together. Bambauer treated us to another performance of Tournemire’s Triple Choral and “the knowing made all the difference.”
Tuesday evening James Kibbie, Professor of Organ at U-M, presented a stunning memorized recital. He has a special affinity for the music of Marcel Dupré, Jehan Alain, Dan Locklair, and Jirí Ropek. He played Dupré’s Prelude and Fugue in B Major, op. 7, no. 1, with conviction and assurance. The pleasure of hearing Alain’s rarely played Two Preludes was heightened by being able to read the texts that accompany them. Kibbie’s sensitive interpretation made the images of the text take on a life of their own.
Dan Locklair’s Voyage was another kind of tone poem, providing a journey to fantasy lands filled with sounds of the ebb and flow of tides, jazz, bird song, chimes, and billowing waves evoked by hand glissandi. Kibbie managed to weave together these disparate elements into a fabulous and entertaining voyage.
It was a pleasure to hear Kibbie speak of his meeting Jirí Ropek when he won the Prague Organ Competition in 1979 and of his continuing friendship with this celebrated organist/composer who suffered greatly during the Communist oppression. Kibbie related conversations he had had with Ropek that offered insight into his music. Of the three Ropek pieces on the program, Kibbie said that the Toccata and Fugue (dedicated to Kibbie) was the most complex and dissonant, and mirrored in the work is Ropek’s philosophy: “Life is not only one melody, but many and dissonances, but in general I’m quite melodious. No frightening the audience.” To hear this account made Ropek’s Toccata and Fugue, filled with haunting and aggressive motives, a kind of musical autobiography. Kibbie also explained the compositional process of Ropek’s Fantasy on Mozart’s Theme. In 1775 Mozart improvised a work in a monastery, and only the first 57 measures were written down. Ropek was asked to play it and he added a cadenza. He worked on it over the years and finally he attached his own music to Mozart’s original piece. It was one of the last things he wrote before he died and is dedicated to the students of James Kibbie at the University of Michigan. It was published in 2009.
Kibbie mentioned that he had just played Ropek’s Variations on “Victimae Paschali Laudes” in Prague the week before and made a recording for the radio at the Basilica of St. James where Ropek was organist for 35 years. This beautiful work has become a signature piece for Kibbie.

Wednesday, October 6
Five recitals were performed on Wednesday, an intense day of listening.
The first recital of the day was played by Andrew Lang on the Létourneau organ in the School of Public Health. Lang is a student of James Kibbie and commutes from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. His program was well suited for the room and instrument: “The Primitives” and “Those Americans” (from Five Dances for Organ) by Calvin Hampton; Dies sind die heiligen zehen Gebot, BWV 678, Fughetta super Dies sind die heiligen zehen Gebot, BWV 679, and Prelude and Fugue in B Minor, BWV 544, by Bach. Lang played with verve and energy; the contrapuntal lines were electric with clarity and precision.
The day’s second recital was played at Hill Auditorium by Józef Kotowicz, who received his doctoral degree in 2001 from the Music Academy in Warsaw. He is active, playing recitals in music festivals throughout Europe, producing a radio program devoted to organs of northeast Poland, recording on the organ in the Cathedral Basilica (Bialystok), and teaching and serving as organist at St. Adalbertus Church. Two of the most interesting pieces of his ambitious program were works by Mieczyslaw Surzynski (1886–1924), Improvisation on the Polish Sacred Song “Swiety Boze,” and Stefan Lindblad (b. 1958), Espanordica. Kotowicz explained to me that “Swiety Boze” is a very popular hymn in Poland and is sung often during funeral services. A translation of the first line reads: “Holy God, Holy [and] Mighty, Holy [and] Immortal, have mercy on us.” The hymn has inspired many composers.
After hearing the performance of Surzynski’s Improvisation, it is easily understood why he is the most revered Polish composer of organ music. The work began with a statement of the hymn, and six dramatic variations followed, with variations one and five being the most riveting. In variation one, thundering chords are played in the manuals while the cantus firmus is heard in the pedals. In variation five, a fiery toccata is in the manuals while the cantus firmus thunders in the pedals.
Kotowicz’s performance of Lindblad’s Espanordica was electrifying. Each of the three movements—Rhapsodia, Nocturno, and Litanies—is built on Spanish dance motifs. Kotowicz told me that Stefan Lindblad lives in Göteborg, Sweden. Lindblad has composed two large works for organ, Hommages and Espanordica, which Kotowicz has performed in Ann Arbor. Both of these pieces have never been printed and he is the only Polish organist who has the scores. He also commented, “It’s interesting that Lindblad is almost completely unknown in Sweden, so I feel like his promoter. I know him personally because I often play in Sweden.”
In honor of Chopin’s 200th birth year, Arthur Greene, Professor of Piano at U-M, performed an all-Chopin recital. It was truly a gift to hear such great artistry.
His program provided a rich and tantalizing view of Chopin’s brilliant oeuvre. Greene drew sounds out of the piano like a magician—singing, soaring, langorous melodies, and thunderous, tumultuous chords. Greene is a master in knowing how to use his body in eliciting such sounds, and in controlling the exact timing of each key and creating suspense through poignant pauses. The audience was captivated by the huge gamut of emotions, from laughter to dark despair, that were portrayed in Greene’s memorized recital. In his hands each piece became a sort of microcosm of its own, glowing with its own unique beauty. His program included three short Mazurkas (op. 67, no. 3; op. 24, no. 3; op. 24, no. 4), the well-known Nocturne in E-flat Major, op. 9, no. 2, Écossaise, op. 72, and four Ballades (op. 23, op. 38, op. 47, and op. 52).
The 4 o’clock recital featured graduate students of James Kibbie and Marilyn Mason. Each performer played with such artistry, conviction, and joy. Their discipline and dedication to their art was obvious. Those performing from Kibbie’s studio included Joseph Balistreri (In Organ, Chordis et Choro by Naji Hakim); Susan De Kam (Partita sopra “Nun freut euch” by Lionel Rogg), and Richard Newman (Final from Symphony No. 5, op. 47, by Louis Vierne). Mason’s students included Timothy Tikker (Pièce Héroïque by César Franck) and Louis Canter (Adagio, Fugue from The 94th Psalm by Julius Reubke).
The final concert of the conference was played by Charles Echols. His entire program was devoted to the music of René Louis Becker (1882–1956). In his notes, Professor Echols described Becker’s career as a musician in the Midwest, and commented that among the many churches Becker served as organist were Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in Detroit and St. Alphonsus Church in Dearborn, Michigan. Echols also indicated those pieces that have been published and those that are in manuscript form. Echols’s playing was flawless, and he is to be thanked for advancing this composer’s work, which recalls the music of Mendelssohn.
Professor Marilyn Mason has been responsible for the organ conference at the University of Michigan, a “happening” in Ann Arbor for 50 years. When I asked her what inspired her to begin this incredible conference she told me: “I began the conference for our students; my then manager, Lillian Murtagh, urged me to sponsor Anton Heiller, who had never played in Ann Arbor. Further, I realized since the students could not have a European experience there, we could provide it for them here: especially to hear organists who had not played in Ann Arbor. Some firsts in Ann Arbor were the Duruflés, Mlle Alain, Anton Heiller, and many more. This contact also provided a window of opportunity for the students, many of whom went on to study with the Europeans after having met them here.” This gathering together of world-class performers and teachers continues to nurture and inspire. We are indebted to Marilyn Mason for literally bringing the world to us.

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These articles represent the ten sessions that I reviewed (each session is designated by roman numerals I–X).
I. Sunday, October 3, 4 pm, A Grand Night for Singing, Hill Auditorium
This inaugural event was a multi-choir extravaganza led by conductor and artistic director Professor Jerry Blackstone. He was assisted by other U of M faculty conductors, vocalists and instrumentalists. Six U of M student auditioned groups participated, with approximately 650 students. Composers ranged from Monteverdi to Sondheim, fourteen in all, and many various ensembles, representing a variety of musical genres. Each of the sixteen presentations, including choirs, solos, opera, theater, and musicals, was greatly appreciated by the audience, which rendered a standing ovation.

II. Monday, October 4, 10:30 am, dissertation recital by Jason Branham, at Moore Hall, the School of Music, on the Marilyn Mason Organ built by Fisk
Branham’s recital featured Buxtehude’s Praeludium in E Major, BuxWV 141, Bach’s Liebster Jesu, wir sind heir, BWV 731, and Trio Sonata No. 5 in C Major, BWV 529, Clerambault’s Suite du deuxième ton, and Mendelssohn’s Sonata No. 4 in B-flat Major, op. 65. Branham performed with an understanding of musical forms, in a sensitive and confident manner. The variety of works presented allowed him to demonstrate well many registration possibilities of this unique instrument. This performance was acknowledged with great applause.

III. Monday, October 4, 4 pm, dissertation recital by Christopher Reynolds at Hill Auditorium
Cantabile by Franck, Passion, op. 145, No. 4 by Reger, Prelude on Picardy by Near, Meditation on Sacramentum Unitatis by Sowerby, Elegy in B-flat by Thalben-Ball, Praeludium in g, BuxWV 149 by Buxtehude, from Zehn Charakteristische Tonstücke, op. 86, Prologus tragicus by Karg-Elert, and Concert Variations on The Star-Spangled Banner, op. 23 by Buck. Reynolds appropriately approached and performed well the pieces that required a reflective and meditative interpretation. His registrations, musical sensitivity, and facility made his selections interesting for the listeners who aptly responded with approval.

IV. Tuesday, October 5, 9:30 am, Organs of France
IX. Wednesday, October 6, 9:30 am, Organs of Bach Country
X. Wednesday, October 6, 10:30 am, Organs of the Austro-Hungarian Empire
Janice and Bela Feher presented three narrated photographic summaries of the European pipe organs visited and played on University of Michigan Historic Organ Tours, 2005–2009.
Organs of France were viewed via a PowerPoint presentation of pipe organs from various regions of France. The Fehers showed examples of French Baroque, Classic, Romantic, and Symphonic organs, and they highlighted sites and instruments associated with important organists and composers. Instruments included organs built by Dom Bedos, François-Henry, Louis-Alexandre, and Robert Clicquot; Jean-Pierre Cavaillé (grandfather), Dominique (father) and Aristide Cavaillé-Coll (son); and Moucherel. The photographs of the organs were enhanced by illustrations of their settings; highlights of the organs included historical cases, consoles, and principal internal components.
Organs of Bach Country traced the life of Bach, with photographs of the places where he grew up, the churches where he worked, and the organs he designed and played, along with additional photographic documentation of the organs of Andreas and Gottfried Silbermann, and Arp Schnitger.
Organs of the Austro-Hungarian Empire included pipe organs of Hungary (Budapest, Esztergom, Tihany, Zirc), Austria (Vienna, Melk, St. Florian, and Salzburg), and the Czech Republic (Prague). Historic and modern organs were presented from a variety of churches, cathedrals, abbeys, and concert halls. The photographs showed churches and organs associated with Mozart, Bruckner, Haydn, and Liszt. The photographs and information about these organs and their sites will be available in the near future from the University of Michigan Organ Department website.
The photographs described above and information are contained in several books available through <blurb.com>. The Fehers, along with Marilyn Mason, have produced a photo book about historical organs of Germany and Demark related to Bach and Buxtehude, entitled Sacred Spaces of Germany and Denmark. Their second book on the organs of Hungary, Austria, and the Czech Republic is entitled Sacred Spaces of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. They are beginning to work on another book about the organs of France and Northern Spain. All books may be previewed and ordered from <blurb.com>.

V. Tuesday, October 5, 10:30 am, lecture by Christopher Urbiel, “The History of the Frieze Memorial Organ at Hill Auditorium, The University of Michigan”
Urbiel’s interesting history of this grand organ housed in Hill Auditorium began with the early instrument at Festival Hall at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Farrand & Votey organ, 1876 and 1893. Albert Stanley purchased the instrument for $15,000 during U of M President Angel’s tenure. It was placed in University Hall and named for Professor Frieze, founder of the University Musical Society and Choral Union, in 1894. In 1912 it was moved from University Hall. The organ has been changed, modified, and “rebuilt” through the years: Hutchings (1913), Moore, Palmer Christian, E.M. Skinner (1928), G. Donald Harrison, Noehren/Aeolian-Skinner (1955), Koontz (1980), renovated in 1900s, and rededicated to Frieze in 1994. Urbiel was very detailed and thorough in his presentation on the Hill Organ, a large unique instrument, and the audience showed great appreciation for his informative and delightful lecture and pictures.

VI. Tuesday, October 5, 11:30 am, lecture by Michael Barone, “Louis Vierne (1870–1937): The ‘Other’ Music (songs, piano pieces, chamber and orchestral works).”
Michael Barone presented the audience with a detailed listing (seven pages), containing comments, performers’ names, disc identification, and other information of Vierne’s “other” music as described in his lecture title. He discussed Vierne’s life and provided insight into the interpretation of his music based on the tragedies and pain Vierne suffered in the losses of his brother and son, coupled with the difficulties Vierne endured in his career, health, and home life. Barone provided more than 20 recorded excerpts, with verbal descriptions and information in an entertaining and interesting manner. Near the end of the seven-page compilation, Barone listed a disc summary of Vierne’s non-organ repertoire. The audience appreciated Barone’s thorough work, sense of humor, and sensitive presentation.

VII. Tuesday, October 5, 1:30 pm, lecture/demonstration by Michele Johns, “Organ ‘Plus’”
Dr. Johns began her lecture/demonstration by sharing some down-to-earth tips when deciding to use the organ with other instruments in services and concerts. She discussed conducting from the organ, getting funding, how to pay performers, ways to obtain band and orchestra members, vocalists, planning rehearsals, and rehearsing. Her program featured three pieces written for organ, two trumpets and two trombones, which she conducted from the organ. In celebration of this 50th annual University of Michigan Conference on Organ Music and in honor of the Organ Department, an arrangement of “Angels We Have Heard on High” for congregation, brass quartet, tympani and organ was premiered. This was a welcomed and enjoyed opportunity for the conferees to participate in this rousing and exciting setting written by Scott M. Hyslop. Dr. Johns received thanks for her expertise.

VIII. Tuesday, October 5, 2:30 pm, lecture by Steven Ball, “Music of René Becker”
Dr. Ball gave a brief history of René Becker, son of Edouard, who was an organist at Chartres Cathedral. Born in 1882, Becker and his four siblings trained at Strasbourg’s Conservatory of Music. In 1904, Becker moved from France to St. Louis and taught piano, organ, and composition at the Becker Conservatory of Music, which he formed with his brothers. He later taught at St. Louis University and Kendride Seminary. In 1912, Becker and his wife moved to Belleville, Illinois, where he became organist at St. Peter and Paul Cathedral. It was at this time that son Julius was born, the only living child of René. Julius, a retired banker, presently lives in Birmingham, Michigan.
René Becker became the first organist of the newly built Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in Detroit in 1930; an AGO member, he helped to establish the Catholic Organists Guild, and with his son founded the Palestrina Institute. Becker retired in 1952 at the age of 70 from St. Alphonsus Church in Detroit. He left over 160 compositions for organ when he died in 1956. Dr. Ball shared some pictures of René Becker and introduced Becker’s son Julius and his family to the conferees. It was a delight to see Julius Becker (keeper of some of Becker’s compositions) in person. Steven Ball received a four-year grant to record René Becker’s compositions. 

Andrew Peters studied with Wilma Jensen while serving a church outside of Nashville, Tennessee. He holds degrees from St. Olaf College and the Cleveland Institute of Music and is Pastoral Musician at Second Presbyterian Church in St. Louis. He plays recitals and released a recording in 2008 on the Schoenstein organ in Franklin, Tennessee. For more information, go to www.andrewjpeters.com.

Wilma Jensen is heralded as an outstanding recitalist, church musician, and teacher. Her extensive concert career has taken her throughout the United States. She has played on countless well-known instruments, including those at First Congregational Church in Los Angeles, the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., Riverside Church in New York City, St. Paul’s Cathedral in St. Paul, St. Philip’s Cathedral in Atlanta, and the West Point United States Military Academy. Having played for several regional conventions and three national conventions of the American Guild of Organists, she is in demand as a recitalist, lecturer, and clinician for choral workshops, church music workshops, and organ masterclasses. Numerous European tours have taken her to Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, France, Poland, the Netherlands, and England. In addition, she has made a recording for West German Broadcasting, Sender Freis Berlin.

Dr. Jensen earned her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where she was a student of Catharine Crozier and Harold Gleason. During that time she received the Performer’s Certificate in organ. She received an honorary doctorate from Piedmont College in May 2004. Recognized as a successful teacher, Wilma Jensen has served on the faculties of Oklahoma City University, the Blair School of Music of Vanderbilt University, Scarritt Graduate School, and Indiana University, where she was a tenured professor.

In addition to two professional solo recordings—Mors et Resurrectio (Arkay label) and Sketches and Improvisations (Pro Organo label)—Wilma Jensen also made two recordings conducting the St. George’s Choir on the Pro Organo label. She has given numerous masterclasses around the country at sites including the Juilliard School, Curtis Institute of Music, Westminster Choir College, Eastman School of Music, and many others. She has a full upcoming schedule of recitals and masterclasses and will present a pre-convention recital for the 2012 AGO National Convention in Nashville. Additionally, she will teach two workshop masterclasses. For more information, go to www.wilmajensen.com.

Andrew Peters: You’ve had a lengthy career in the organ world. What first interested you in the organ?

Wilma Jensen: My father was a Methodist minister in south central Illinois. By the age of ten, I wanted very much to try the organ, having started piano lessons at age five. Of course I was in church every Sunday and could play many hymns on the piano at a very young age, as well as do some playing “by ear.”

AP: You’ve had experiences in three aspects of the organ world: church music, teaching, and performance.  Can you talk a bit about your experience with service music and hymn playing?

WJ: When I was twelve, I had a regular job on a two-manual pipe organ in my father’s church, since there seemed to be no one else to play. I have no memory of what I might have used for voluntaries. They were probably poor, but I did enjoy working out the hymns with pedal, although at this point I was self-taught. I was extremely proud of my salary of $1 per week! A well-known organist, Dr. Frank Collins, gave a recital in my hometown, and my parents asked him to hear me play. He suggested I should study with a good teacher and recommended Ruth Melville Bellatti at MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Illinois. She was a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, having studied with Harold Gleason, and was a classmate of Catharine Crozier. She insisted I play every note of the first edition of the Gleason Method. Also, she was instrumental in my attending Eastman for undergraduate and graduate study.

AP: You had a long tenure at St. George’s Episcopal Church in Nashville. Did you have a choral background before serving there? 

WJ: Unfortunately, no. I conducted only one other church choir for a short time before coming to St. George’s. I realized I was in no way ready for the position, so I sought out excellent teachers to help me with conducting, diction, and repertoire. (This happened over a number of years.) Lois Fyfe and her staff at Lois Fyfe Music in Nashville provided invaluable assistance for the selection of choral music. An associate priest at St. George’s spent hours helping me each week in the study of the church year and planning appropriate music for the specific Sunday lessons from the Lectionary. Also, I listened to and studied numerous recordings of choirs from all over Europe and the U.S.

AP: Did studying choral skills in your mid-life give you a unique perspective on choral music and the voice?

WJ: Yes, it certainly did. Conducting makes one so conscious of the “time and dynamics between the beats,” the shaping of the musical line, and the timing of consonants for perfecting ensemble. Unifying proper vowels contributed more to the beauty of the sound than I ever previously could have imagined.  

During my tenure at St. George’s, the choir made two recordings and was chosen from an audition tape to sing for the national convention of the American Choral Directors Association in 1989. By that time, I had been choirmaster/organist for seven years and had been studying and growing as a musician. That summer, the choir made an extended tour of Europe, singing in England, Austria, and France. Our tour concluded at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, where we sang a pre-service a cappella program prior to singing the Vierne Messe Solennelle at Sunday morning Mass. (I also played the afternoon organ recital.)

AP: You’ve played recitals on organs of various historic periods throughout the United States and Europe. Out of the hundreds of recitals you’ve played, do any stand out in your mind? 

WJ: I am very grateful for the experience of playing so many diverse instruments, both electro-pneumatic and tracker. Some have been in large cathedrals with much reverberation and some have been small historic instruments. I appreciated being able to play the first Cavaillé-Coll of 1850 in Paris at the Cathedral of St. Denis, as well as later instruments of the same builder. At St. Denis, because the pedal pipes are so far from the console and there is no Barker lever for the pedal, I had to stand on final long notes with all the weight I could manage in order for all the pipes to sound! I enjoyed playing an Åkerman instrument in Uppsala, Sweden (Åkerman was a pupil of Cavaillé-Coll), a Schnitger organ in Germany, St. Paul’s in London, and many small tracker instruments in the Netherlands. I must admit I love a reverberant cathedral sound. This wide variety of experiences helps in my understanding of the overall repertoire and my ability to communicate appropriate registration to students. I do enjoy spending time planning the registration.

AP: You’re continuing to learn new repertoire. Do you have a particular style, period, or composer in which you specialize? 

WJ: I especially enjoy learning, performing, and registering the Romantic and contemporary literature. Additionally, I keep exploring repertoire for voluntaries for services, both for myself and students, and occasionally substitute for services at St. George’s and other churches. I have been given some out-of-print repertoire, which I later performed and recorded. As a result, several of these compositions now appear as archival editions. I am so looking forward to playing soon the newly renovated 1932 Aeolian organ at Duke Chapel. I have just learned all three of Eric Delamarter’s Nocturnes and will use the Chimes, Harp, Celesta and many solo stops as indicated in the score.

AP: You have current and former students across the country. Are there students with whom you are still in touch?

WJ: There are too many to name! Some are high-profile professionals. I am equally proud of many other students who are making invaluable contributions in their current positions. I stay in touch with many former students and enjoy hearing about their teaching, church positions, and performing. You might say talking on my cell phone to former students is my hobby!

AP: Do you still teach a monthly masterclass in Nashville? 

WJ: Yes, I did teach a monthly masterclass for many years for anyone who wanted to attend. This season, however, I am so busy with recitals, classes, and other commitments that, at least for the moment, I am taking a break.

AP: You recently released an extensive teaching video and booklet, “Organizing Notes in Space.” Why did you start this project?

WJ: This project was important to me to help communicate some of my teaching concepts as part of my legacy. After considerable study of the physical aspects of keyboard technique, I have developed an approach to help students overcome problems and develop a facile technique. And, of course, one arrives at a satisfactory musical result only through a controlled technique. As a result, I wanted to demonstrate these ideas by teaching former students in a video.

 AP: Is it true that you once played in a masterclass for Bonnet?

WJ: Yes, I played in a masterclass for Joseph Bonnet when I was twelve. I thought it was a recital, not a class. Since I was the first to play, I was humiliated that he stopped me for his suggestions.  At the conclusion of my playing, I went to a corner in the back of the room and shed many tears.

AP: Besides being a past dean of the Nashville AGO chapter, have you served in other AGO positions?

WJ: In addition to being Dean-elect and Dean for the two-year period, I have served on many program, executive and education committees through the years. Also, I have judged competitions, taught at Pipe Organ Encounters—both beginner and advanced—and taught masterclasses throughout the U.S. I am on the workshop committee for the Nashville 2012 AGO national convention. 

AP: What are your thoughts on the need for piano study before studying organ?

WJ: I think piano study is essential at a young age for developing a natural, flexible, facile technique. In mid-life, I had developed some wrist tension, too heavy thumbs, and resulting weak fourth and fifth fingers. I sought the coaching of Ernestine Scott, an incredible piano teacher in Oklahoma City. This study and extensive readings she recommended have changed my approach to technique and resulting musicianship. My new teaching video is dedicated to her. Sometimes when we are young we have a natural, facile technique that may change with lack of continued piano practice. Finding those skills again is a truly valuable gift at any age.

AP: Would you like to tell us a bit about your family? 

WJ: I have two children, seven grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. I frequently visit my daughter and her family near Chicago. The oldest two of three girls attend Indiana University School of Business, and I was able to visit them in Bloomington while attending conferences last year. My son lives in Orlando. His three girls and one boy are rather scattered geographically, but we all manage to meet in Orlando. 

My daughter played the piano well and was fortunate to study with my teacher, Ernestine Scott. When she was in junior high, she was the registrant for my first European tour in Holland. She thought it was not as glamorous as she had expected! All seven grandchildren stomped their feet and said, “We are not taking any more piano lessons!”

AP: What changes in organ design have you seen during your career?

WJ: I recall experiencing the Orgelbewegung; then later Romantic organs including trackers, which became larger and larger; again more small historic trackers into the mix; and back and forth we go. I love it all!

AP: What do you perceive are the challenges of music in the contemporary church?

WJ: Just as we cannot seem to make up our minds about what kind of organ is best for each church, we seem to be having issues in choosing a traditional service with classical music or a contemporary service thought to be more appealing to young people. This issue has just come to the forefront at St. George’s in Nashville. The first modern liturgical service was just held a few weeks ago in a secondary worship space, which has been created with an altar, screens, microphones, etc. I attended the first service, and it was very successful and well done. I am pleased it was held in a place other than the main worship space. I believe it is essential to make the traditional service as beautiful, moving, and exciting as possible. The music of this new service was sensitive, set in a liturgical context, and still within the form of this modern style of worship. If that happens, there will be a place for both services to exist peacefully “in harmony.”

As for positions for church musicians, I believe if you can develop a really fine program that has meaning musically and spiritually, as well as make yourself invaluable to the program, there will be a good job for you.

AP: Thank you so much, Wilma!

Noel Goemanne, Catholic Church musician and composer, died January 12 in Dallas. He was 83. Born in 1926 in Poperinge, Belgium, Goemanne was a graduate of the Lemmens Institute of Belgium, and studied organ and improvisation with Flor Peeters, and at the Royal Conservatory of Liege. During World War II, he refused an offer from the Nazis to become a composer for the Third Reich; he was later arrested for playing the music of Mendelssohn during the Nazi occupation of Belgium.
In 1952 he and his wife Janine immigrated to the United States, settling in Victoria, Texas, where he was organist at St. Mary’s Catholic Church. In response to the liturgical changes brought about in the 1960s by the Second Vatican Council, he composed the first Vatican II-approved Masses in English. During that time he gave sacred music workshops on college campuses; he also established the sacred music program at St. Joseph College in Rensselaer, Indiana.
Goemanne held organist and choirmaster positions in the Detroit area, at St. Rita’s Catholic Church and Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Church, and in Dallas, at St. Monica’s Catholic Church, Holy Trinity Seminary, and Christ the King Church, where he served from 1972 until this past summer.
His compositional output includes over 200 sacred compositions, with over 20 Masses. His organ work Trilogy for Dallas was the first work commissioned for the Lay Family Organ at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center.
Goemanne’s many honors include an award from the Institute of Sacred Music in Manila, Philippines in 1974; the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice Cross from Pope Paul VI in 1977; honorary doctorates from St. Joseph College in Rensselaer in 1980 and Madonna University in Livonia, Michigan in 1999; and numerous ASCAP awards. Goemanne was a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, the American Guild of Organists, the American Choral Directors Association, and the National Association of Pastoral Musicians. He is survived by his wife Janine, daughter Claire Page and husband Mike, son Luc and wife Candy, and three grandchildren.

John B. Haney, longtime Canon Organist and Choirmaster of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Columbia, South Carolina, died February 13 at age 77. Born in Illinois, he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in organ from the University of Illinois, and received the Master of Sacred Music degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York City.
In 1970 he moved to Columbia, South Carolina, to become organist and choirmaster at what was then Trinity Episcopal Church, where he served for the next 33 years. Prior to that, he held positions at Reveille United Methodist Church, Richmond, Virginia; Central Presbyterian Church, Montclair, New Jersey; and Temple Emanu-El, New York City.
While at Trinity, he began the cathedral choir’s periodic residencies at English cathedrals and developed the Wednesdays at Trinity concert series. Haney was a member of the American Guild of Organists and the Association of Anglican Musicians.

John Wright Harvey died December 31, 2009. “Organ—my hobby, my work, my play, my vocation, my recreation. Recital work a specialty.” So wrote Professor Harvey on a faculty information sheet dated October 26, 1961. He went on to list “Carillon—(and bells of all sorts)—a lifelong interest.” These dual interests defined John’s 24 years as professor of music at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a career which began in September 1960, and ended with his retirement in June 1984. In 1962 the UW Memorial Carillon received 27 new bells and two claviers, enlarging it to a total of 51 bells. On February 2, 3, and 4, 1970, John gave identical recitals initiating the Austin Organ Company’s Opus 2498 in the University’s Eastman Recital Hall. John taught organ and carillon to students from freshman level to doctoral candidates. Announcements of his carillon recitals appeared regularly and often.
John Harvey was born in Marion, Indiana, on June 15, 1919. He began piano study at age 8, trombone at age 14, and organ at 15. He completed a Bachelor of Music degree in organ from Oberlin Conservatory in 1941. The degree was awarded in absentia since John was by then stationed aboard a destroyer participating in the Battle of Midway. While in the Navy, John served as a musician, a signalman, and a quartermaster. He survived the loss of the USS Atlanta, sunk off Guadalcanal in November 1942. Following the war, John received a bachelor’s degree in music education from Oberlin in 1946 and a master’s degree from the School of Sacred Music at Union Theological Seminary in 1952. His master’s thesis was on the history and development of the organ in the chapel at West Point. Before coming to Madison, he served the First Presbyterian Church in Englewood, New Jersey; Webb Horton Memorial Presbyterian Church in Middletown, New York; Central Union Church in Honolulu, and National City Christian Church in Washington, D.C.
Beginning in 1947, John was active in the American Guild of Organists. In 1952 he organized the Northern Valley chapter in Englewood, serving as dean for its first three years and scholarship chairman for two years. In 1958 he was secretary of the Washington, D.C. chapter. In Madison he was dean of the AGO chapter from 1964–66. In 1953–56 John contributed to The American Organist, including a three-issue story on the West Point organ.
In Madison and beyond the university, John was active as well. He was organist at First Congregational Church. He also served as organ consultant and advisor to many congregations, including St. John’s Lutheran, Luther Memorial, Bethany Methodist, and Mt. Olive Lutheran. He was particularly involved with the design of the Austin organ at First United Methodist. An instrument of interest was the Hinners organ at St. Mary’s in Pine Bluff. John gave recitals statewide, in venues large and small, including several on the Casavant organ at St. Norbert’s Abbey in DePere.
John Harvey’s interests extended well beyond music. Pictures of Clarissa, his 1932 Chevy roadster, appeared in the newspaper, as did pictures of his model railroad. He also collected disc recordings from the early 1900s.
John married Jean Cochran on May 25, 1945, and was the father of three daughters, Ann, Carol, and Jane. John suffered from Alzheimer’s and died on December 31, 2009. Survivors include his wife, Jean, his daughters, and a brother.
—John R. Krueger
Madison, Wisconsin

August “Ed” Linzel, Jr., died January 19 in Arlington, Texas, at the age of 84. Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, he attended the Princeton School of Music, and served as organist and choirmaster at St. Mary the Virgin Episcopal Church in New York City for 16 years. He was active in the American Guild of Organists, performing as organist, harpsichordist, and conductor at national (1948, 1950, 1952) and regional conventions. Linzel also served as dean of the New York City AGO chapter from 1956–59. In 1964 he served as organist-choirmaster at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Indianapolis, Indiana, and in 1972 he served in that same capacity at St. Boniface Episcopal Church in Sarasota, Florida. He later returned to Little Rock, where he was organist at Pulaski Heights Presbyterian Church, Christ Episcopal Church, and First Presbyterian Church in Jacksonville, Arkansas. August Linzel, Jr. is survived by his sons Ted and John, daughters Patricia and Jennifer, and brothers Milton and Jesse.

William Bernard MacGowan, concert organist, choir director, and college professor, died December 15, 2009 in Gainesville, Florida. He began organ study with Nelson Brett in Jacksonville, and during the 1940s studied organ with Robert Baker and piano with Percy Grainger at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Michigan, where he studied with Palmer Christian, Robert Noehren, and Maynard Klein. A naval communications officer during the Korean War, MacGowan established choirs and singing groups on the ships where he served. When in port, he studied choral conducting with Robert Shaw and musicology with Julius Herford.
His many positions included those at St. Philip’s Church in Durham, North Carolina; Old North Church in Boston, Maple Street Congregational Church, Trinity Episcopal Church, and the Tanglewood Music Center, in Massachusetts; All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, California; and Bethesda by the Sea Episcopal Church in Palm Beach, St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in High Springs, and St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Gainesville, in Florida. As a recitalist, he performed at important venues in New York City, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and in Assisi, Italy, and in Germany. MacGowan was a member of the American Guild of Organists, Society of St. Hubert, Phi Gamma Delta, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia; his hobbies included scuba diving and snorkeling.
William Bernard MacGowan is survived by brothers Bradford and John and their wives, two nephews, and two nieces.

Richard Thornton White died on December 8, 2009, in Memphis, Tennessee, in his home across the street from St. John’s Episcopal Church, where he served for 36 years. He was 95. His first organ study was with Adolph Steuterman; in 1935, he was awarded the William C. Carl Scholarship to the Guilmant Organ School in New York City. In 1937, he won a gold medal in performance from that school. The Diapason (July 1, 1937), in reporting the event, noted that “Guilmant graduates have built up an enviable reputation for brilliancy, interpretative power, and poise in their playing, and the class of this year sustained that reputation.” White also studied with Frank Wright and Frederick Schlieder. He held organist-choirmaster positions in New York City and New Jersey, served in the U.S. Army in the South Pacific during World War II, and in 1950 returned to Memphis to serve at St. John’s Episcopal Church, where he led the music program until his retirement in 1986. White was also active in the Sewanee Church Music Conference, which he served as a faculty member and secretary/registrar.
He earned Associate (1938) and Fellow (1940) certifications with the American Guild of Organists, of which he was a member for 74 years, serving the Memphis chapter as dean several times, and also as chapter examination coordinator.
Richard Thornton White is survived by his wife Anna, whom he married in 1938, sons Richard White, Albert White and his wife Betsy, two grandchildren, and nieces and nephews.

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.

Jerry Jelsema is organist and music director at the First United Methodist Church in Evanston, Illinois. He earned a Master of Music degree from the University of Michigan where he studied with Robert Glasgow, while his undergraduate studies took place at Central College in Pella, Iowa, a liberal arts college affiliated with the Reformed Church of America.

The 47th annual conference on organ music took place on the University of Michigan campus from September 30 through October 3, with a major emphasis on the life and work of North German composer and organist, Dieterich Buxtehude. Commemorating the 300th anniversary of the composer’s death, numerous recitals featuring his music were presented and the well-known Buxtehude scholar, Kerala J. Snyder, presented a series of lectures concerning his organ music. Her topics included the composer’s origins in Denmark, his move to Lübeck, his contact with other significant composers and organists of the time, as well as source materials and performance options for the contemporary player.
The only all-Buxtehude organ recital of the conference took place at the School of Music on the two-manual Fisk organ, an instrument fashioned on the famed Gottfried Silbermann organ at the Georgenkirche in Rötha, Germany. Marcia Heirman, a doctoral candidate at the school, played a wonderful program of works including several chorale preludes, two large praeludia as well as the Toccata in D Minor and the Ciacona in C Minor.
Polish organist Jozef Kotowicz presented a stunning recital featuring music of Buxtehude, Bach, Petr Eben and contemporary Polish composers on Monday evening. Heard on the Karl Wilhelm organ at the First Congregational Church, Buxtehude’s Prelude and Fugue in F Minor and Bach’s well-known Passacaglia in C Minor were especially suited to this instrument with modified Werckmeister III tuning.
An additional Buxtehude concert of organ and vocal works also took place at the Congregational church on Tuesday evening. Pamela Ruiter-Feenstra and the Collegium Musicum from Eastern Michigan University alternated music for organ with pieces for various voice and stringed instrument combinations.The solo songs accompanied by viola da gamba and organ continuo were especially engaging. This creative and energetic program gave a more complete picture of Buxtehude as composer and church musician.
The final day of the conference began with an elegant recital by Les Deux Clavecins, composed of duo harpsichordists Thomas Marshall and Allen Shaffer, both former students of the university’s music school. They performed transcriptions of Bach’s Suite No. 3 in D Major and Buxtehude’s Fantasia on “Nun freut euch.” The final piece on the program was a work commissioned by the duo from composer Pamela Decker, entitled Portales. Composed in 2000, Portales uses as a springboard a number of Spanish dances including the tango, fandango and charrada. The writing as well as the performance of this piece was virtuosic.
Also part of the conference was a lecture-recital by Timothy J. Tikker on a single work by French composer Jean-Louis Florentz, Debout sur le Soleil: Chant de Resurrection, pour orgue (Standing on the Sun: Song of Resurrection, for organ). A short recital of organ works by American composers was performed by Michele Johns at Bethlehem United Church of Christ on Tuesday. Sowerby’s Comes Autumn Time and Bolcom’s What A Friend We Have in Jesus showed the colors of the Casavant Frères organ of 54 stops. On Wednesday, the final day of the conference, two recitals were presented by students currently in various degree programs at the university, with both events held at Hill Auditorium.
Two lectures complementing the conference’s Buxtehude theme included Bela Feher’s impressive video presentation of churches and organs in Northern Germany and southern Denmark. Based on last summer’s tour of the University of Michigan’s annual organ travels, the presentation followed the steps of Bach and Buxtehude including churches, museums and monuments. An additional session included Pipedreams personality Michael Barone, who detailed the available recordings showcasing the organ works of Dieterich Buxtehude.
The Global Bach Community held an open meeting during the lunch hour on Wednesday, to introduce people to the organization. The GBC was written up in The Diapason in May 2006. Its mission is to foster a sense of community among Bach lovers, performers and scholars worldwide. Formed in 2000, in addition to individual members, about 25 Bach organizations now belong to the GBC, which recently awarded its first small grant. The GBC advisory board includes Christoph Wolff and Helmuth Rilling; its board of directors includes Marilyn Mason and Richard Benedum.
The 47th conference on organ music was especially significant in that it was a celebration of leadership, dedication and artistry embodied in the work and life of Marilyn Mason, who marks her 60th year of teaching at the University of Michigan. Faculty, students (both current and former), and friends gathered for a splendid banquet honoring Dr. Mason on Monday evening. Former students gave testimony to her teaching, her wonderful sense of humor, her commitment to the instrument, her encouragement in careers and her graciousness and generosity. Fellow faculty members also spoke of her dedication to the school of music and to the university itself. The current dean of the school, Christopher Kendall, announced at the end of the ceremonies that Dr. Mason will leave a very generous bequest to the School of Music, which will endow the organ chair in perpetuity. The announcement was followed by a standing ovation and thunderous applause, all in appreciation of a respected and loved organist and musician.
The banquet festivities were followed by an impressive program of great organ favorites, played by former students of Marilyn Mason. Jonathan Tuuk opened the recital with a commanding performance of Tournemire’s Victimae paschali. N. Seth Nelson deftly played the Fantasie, K. 608 of Mozart, followed by an inspired Pièce Héroïque performed by Shin-Ae Chun. Herman Taylor gave us Si bemol-mineur from Deux Esquisses by Dupré, and Joseph Galema stylishly dashed off Naïades and Toccata by Louis Vierne. The program closed with the toe-tapping music of William Albright: Tango and Alla Marcia from his Flights of Fancy, both brilliantly played by Douglas Reed.
The 47th conference on organ music at the University of Michigan was indeed a worthwhile event centered around the life and work of Buxtehude. The additional celebration of the life and work of Dr. Marilyn Mason made the conference even more exciting and wonderful.

Marilyn Mason 60th anniversary tributes
Many tributes on the occasion of Marilyn Mason’s 60th anniversary at the University of Michigan were offered at the banquet Monday evening at the Michigan League. The following is a sampling.

Marilyn Mason. There are few organists and lovers of the instrument who do not know your name. Your influence is far-reaching. Performing over the years on six continents, adjudicating at major competitions, and, importantly, leading the European tours to hear and play historical organs, you have opened the minds and ears of those fortunate to attend.
Wide-ranging in your interests—poetry, English literature—your gift of welcoming with warmth is gratefully remembered. Enthusiastic in all you undertake, be it walking, quoting poetry—yes, and cooking—all is accomplished with an infectious fervor. Your sense of humor, with your bon mots, is memorable.
Congratulations, Marilyn, on the magnificent achievement of 60 years at the University of Michigan, from one who was privileged to be your student. Thousands of students and audience members today say “Thank you.”
—Gordon Atkinson, MMus
formerly of Canada and the USA, now retired in Melbourne

My earliest memory of our class was a party in the MM Organ Studio celebrating the 450th anniversary of the Reformation. In just 10 years we will celebrate the 500th anniversary! We all wore Halloween costumes. I played Ein feste Burg. In those days before the European tours, we traveled with Marilyn around Michigan. We took the trio sonatas and the Clavier-Übung III to Olivet College, Mariner’s Church, and Andrews University.
Our Marilyn is like a “jewel.” She has many facets: the nurturing teacher, the professional, the gourmet, the bon vivant, the raconteur, and the deeply prayerful, reflective and grateful human being. And like a jewel she is precious to us all!
—Gale Kramer, DMA
organist emeritus, Metropolitan
Methodist Church, Detroit

I don’t remember the exact day, time, or place. What I do remember is that during my lesson, as I played, I had the uneasy feeling that Prof. Mason was becoming more and more agitated. After several more pages, she shouted, “Stop, you are working too hard at that piece. Watching you play that is like me trying to eat peas with a knife.” Then she said something that I will always remember: “Let the instrument be your teacher. The instrument will tell you exactly how it wants to be played, if you will just listen.”
I have found that statement to be true; and those of us who have journeyed on the University of Michigan Historic Organ Tours have studied with some of the world’s oldest and greatest teachers. This became clear when in Bologna, Italy, I found myself standing in the magnificent Church of San Petronio. The tour members were to play a recital that afternoon, and the organist asked if I wanted to play the “old” organ or the “new” organ. The old organ was completed around 1470, and the new one somewhere around 1510. I played the old organ and I listened. As it predated Columbus’s voyage, it had a lot to say.
I have been fortunate to tour with Prof. Mason on five Historic Organ Tours. She is always the consummate hostess for her aficionados. She does, however, like to take the occasional nap during the bus tour portions of the day. One particular day, our Italian tour guide stopped the bus in front of a house and proudly said, “This is where Marconi invented the radio.” Roused from her sleep and not yet fully awake, Prof. Mason piped up, “How convenient—the house where macaroni was invented.”
The University of Michigan organ tours allow a student to soak up the sights, sounds, and yes, even smells of a particular region. You hear the music as it would have actually sounded—sometimes sweet, sometimes harsh, and sometimes even out of tune. You just try keeping a 16th-century Trompeta Real in a freezing cold Spanish cathedral in tune sometime! As Prof. Mason would often say to us as we grimaced at the sounds, “It is not out of tune. It is authentic.”
Traveling with her, you will find that in Spain, Tapas, Tia Maria, and Tientos do go nicely together. In Italy it is Pedals, Pipes, and Pizza. And in Germany it is true enough that Beer and Bratwurst do make Bach better. I skipped the French tours and over the years, I have regretted it as I still struggle with the age-old question, “When playing Franck, does one serve red or white wine?”
Prof. Mason has often said that the most important person to know is the man with the key. I once remarked to a gentleman with a huge ring of keys attached to his belt, “Wow, you must be very important.” He replied, “No, if I were important, I would have only one key—the master key.”
Prof. Mason, you are indeed a Master Key. You have unlocked the potential in each person under your tutelage. You have been the key to successful careers in music. And, you continue to unlock a world greater than any we could imagine on our own, or ever experience.
—Philip Burgess, DMA
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church
Salisbury, NC

When Michele Johns called with the invitation to say a few words about Marilyn this evening, I had just been to the bookstore and gotten Doris Kearns Goodwin’s chronicle of the World War II years of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. I have borrowed the title of her book, No Ordinary Time, because I think that it best describes time with Marilyn, and why generations of students, and hundreds of organ aficionados on her tours have been attracted to her. Ordinary time is also that portion of the church year when there are no large festival times or feast days—but time with Marilyn usually seems like a festival, and often involves a feast.
Three important personality traits stand out whenever I think of Marilyn: her immense vitality, her ability to celebrate and be “in the moment,” and her insatiable curiosity. We students, in my era, had two nicknames of affection for Miss Mason: one was “Our Lady of Perpetual Motion,” and the other was “Ms. Monsoon,” because she truly is a force of nature! This vitality is focused into the joy and importance of the moment, resulting in lessons where it seemed that the most important thing in life was playing and understanding the composition that was being studied. She also makes every second count. No time is wasted, and while “multi-tasking” is a recent buzzword, she has been a master at it for six decades.
Marilyn’s insatiable curiosity has resulted in her having played almost every organ composition of significance. In addition to the many commissions and premiers of new music, her repertoire is voluminous, and covers every era and school of composition. This same curiosity has led to invitations to many renowned performers and scholars related to the organ, and consequently their presentations of recitals and master classes here in Ann Arbor. No one is ever more attentive at these, and a better student, than Marilyn herself. This is evident at lessons when she remarks, “Marie Claire Alain says this or that,” “Maurice Duruflé said to play it this way,” “Anton Heiller suggests this phrasing,” or “Peter Williams advocates this registration.”
Yes, Marilyn, for six decades now, it has been NO ORDINARY TIME, in fact it has been quite an EXTRAORDINARY TIME! Thank you!
—James Hammann, DMA
University of New Orleans
Chapel of the Holy Comforter

The Ann Arbor Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, in response to the generosity of Marilyn Mason over the years, is pleased to announce the establishment of the “Marilyn Mason Young Musicians Scholarship Fund.” This fund will provide financial assistance to pre-college organ students to attend a Pipe Organ Encounter such as will take place in Holland, Michigan during summer 2008. By offering this opportunity to the community, the Ann Arbor AGO hopes to honor one of our founding members who has given so much for the advancement of organ playing.  
—James H. Wagner, A.Mus.D.
Dean, Ann Arbor AGO chapter

Thanks from Marilyn Mason
This is to thank all who participated in my 60th anniversary celebrations during the 47th U-M Conference on Organ Music. I have had, in 60 years of teaching, many distinguished and wonderful students. I have taught future administrators, deans, and chairs of organ departments. BUT, I did not realize that my legacy included a Buxtehude scholar, Kerala Snyder. She reminded me, at the occasion of her four splendid lectures during our conference, that she studied the organ with me at Columbia University during the summers of 1954 and 1955.
—Marilyn Mason
University Organist
Chair, Organ Department
University of Michigan
School of Music