New Recordings

by Joseph Horning

Johannes Brahms, who died 100 years ago on April 3, 1897, composed the final installment of his musical legacy--the Eleven Chorale Preludes, Opus 122 --during the last year of his life. They were written during his summer holiday at Ischl, where Brahms had vacationed annually from 1889. But his final visit was clouded by Clara Schumann's recent death and his own illness, cancer of the liver, which had taken his father twenty-five years earlier and the symptoms of which he likely would have recognized.1

 

When considering Op. 122, it is valid to ask: "Are these works all that special?"--because no composer created an endless string of pearls. Indeed, Peter Williams revealed his reservations in a review in The Organ Quarterly:

[While] the stature of the man makes all his works interesting in some way or another, there is something depressing about this music.  I do not mean merely the death-centered theme of Op. 122 but the general tenor of the musical idioms found here, the kind of organ sound most suitable for them and the weird absence--considering who their composer was--of melodic flare or that dramatic sense of sonority and rhythmic impetus we know from the composer's symphonies.2

As these works are chorale preludes, Mr. Williams' mention of "melodic flare" is peculiar. And his comparison to the "sonority and rhythmic impetus" of Brahms' symphonies is irrelevant, as these are clearly miniatures, each wonderful and satisfying when played in an empathetic manner. But it is perhaps unfortunate that the complete organ works of Johannes Brahms--his four early works dating from 1856-7 and the "Eleven"--fit so conveniently on one CD, for they are becoming the most frequently recorded set of organ works, second only to Boëllmann's ubiquitous Suite Gothique. Unlike the latter, however, Brahms' "Eleven" are a collection rather then a suite, and their effectiveness is diminished when heard all at one sitting. I feel they have far more impact and are more enjoyable inserted one or two at a time into an eclectic program.

Clearly, what can be a small masterpiece in the hands of one can be tedious in the hands of another--and even more so for Op. 122.  For with these works, Brahms has hidden eleven treasures inside a maze. In this essay, we will examine the "Eleven" and discuss ways to make these treasures come alive.

Form of the Chorales

To begin, see Table 1 for a survey of the forms Johannes Brahms used in Op. 122.  In addition to simple harmonized treatments, Brahms embellished some chorales into aria form, extended some with interludes, or used each phrase as a motif for the accompanying parts (Pachelbel style), or surrendered to a free fantasy form in which the original melody is almost totally lost.3

One can see from Table 1 that half are on Passiontide or requiem themes.  But only number 10, based on the "passion" chorale, expresses the depths of the emotions implied by the text: "My heart is ever yearning for blessed death's release." Of those based on other themes, numbers 5 through 8 are warm, lovely and contemplative and number 4 is an outburst of joy. Even O Welt, ich muss dich lassen, the last of the "Eleven" and Brahms' final composition, is a gentle farewell to life. E. Power Biggs summed up these works very well in the Preface to his edition of Op. 122:

Composed in memory of his dearest and most faithful friend, Clara Schumann, at the same time the Preludes are a revealing document of Brahms' thoughts on his own life. One biographer, Niemann, points out that most of the Preludes are: "A retrospect and an epilogue, a salutation to youth and its ideals, and a farewell to this world which is, after all, so fair." Somber as many of the Preludes are, they yet have a warm, autumnal quality that is all Brahms' own.4

Baroque or Romantic?

Since the "Eleven" are cast in the traditional German form of chorale preludes, and since Brahms had applied himself diligently to the rediscovery of early music, in particular Bach with whose music he was quite conversant,5 there is the question of whether the interpretation should reflect performance practice of the late 19th century or early 18th century. The great body of Brahms' compositions show that he was a thoroughly Romantic composer of great power. His Classical inclinations, however, restrained him from some of the delicious excesses of, say, a Tchaikovsky. Brahms' "Eleven" require the performance practice of Brahms' age, not the Baroque. When Villa-Lobos' Bachianas Brasileiras, or Dupré's "Chorale in the Style of J. S. Bach" (Fifteen Antiphons), or Franck's Three Chorales are performed--all of which took their inspiration from Bach --the interpretive style should be that of the composer's age, not the 18th century.  So also with the "Eleven." Robert Schuneman makes a key point when he says:

One should not be deceived by the brevity of the chorale preludes, nor with an initial reaction to the printed page which makes them look like chamber music. Their religious nature, the sacredness, otherworldliness, the transcendental quality--all of this is expressed by Brahms (as in other Romantic music) with grandeur, monumentality, and weightiness in terms of organ sound in acoustic space.6

An initial look at the printed page has misled many an organist to think that the "Eleven" are as easy to play as they are short, but Brahms sophisticated writing often seems to jig where the hand wants to jog. Simply learning the notes is the organist's first task.  But it is remarkable how many organists confide that these works are often poorly played even if the notes are correct.  Indeed, Schuneman decried " . . . the stiff, unyielding, ungraceful and ragged performances which are so often heard . . . "7

A Romantic Framework

For idiomatic interpretations of Brahms' "Eleven," it helps to consider them within the context of the 19th century. Born in 1886 in Belgium, the renowned organ virtuoso Charles M. Courboin provides a link with that sensibility. His pupil, Richard Purvis, discusses Courboin's approach:

Courboin always returned to three elemental principles in the consideration of any piece. First, one had to consider the architecture of the work; second was texture; third was emotional content. The architecture was most important. "Where are the high points," he would ask, "and how are you going to do them justice? Where are the transitional points, at which you leave one mood and go to another?"

If the architecture defined the parameters of the piece, the texture was the actual landscape for which Courboin often used visual imagery as might describe an oil painting, an etching or a watercolor.  At other times he would discuss texture in more strictly musical terms: was it contrapuntal, harmonic, a combination of the two?  And what tools were you going to use to emphasize the texture rather than obscure it.  Once you had the architecture and had done justice to the texture, you could then afford to explore the fine points of the emotions you were trying to communicate.  Courboin constantly asked, "What emotions does the piece involve, conjure up, portray?"8

The Brahms Organ

Brahms did play the organ to some degree in the 1850s when he wrote the four early compositions. But as he was never a professional organist associated with a specific organ, there has been an active debate over the years concerning the ideal Brahms organ sound. For example, registrations recommended by Walter E. Buszin and Paul G. Bunjes reveal their ideal Brahms organ to be a Baroque affair on which one should draw no more than one 8' stop per division.9 The result is far from weight, grandeur and monumentality.

A key year in this discussion is 1833, the year of Brahms' birth and the year in which E. F. Walcker completed his first major achievement, a 3-manual, 74-voice trendsetter for the Paulskirche in Frankfurt.10 The Oberwerk had five 8' flues and the Schwellwerk had six. The structure of the 23-voice Hauptwerk was as follows: 32,16,16,16,8,8,8,8,51/3, 4,4,4,31/5,22/3,2,2,13/5,1,V,IV,V,16,8. Walcker built hundreds of organs based on similar principles throughout the 19th century, including a 3-manual, 61-voice instrument built in 1878 for the Votivkirch in Vienna,11 an organ which was certainly known to Brahms as he had settled permanently in Vienna in 1868.  The Oberwerk of the Votivkirch organ had four 8' flues and the Schwellwerk five. The structure of the 23-voice Hauptwerk is: 16,16,8,8,8,8,8,8,8,51/3, 31/5,4,4,4,22/3,2,2,VI,III,V,16,8,4.12 Franz Ebner, who recorded the "Eleven" on this organ, stated:

The instrument on which Brahms' art can most suitably be realized is not the Baroque organ but that type in which the endeavors of the 19th century to attain a full, warm, immediately arresting tone found fulfillment.13

However, a "Brahms organ" does not have to be huge or even large.  As Max Miller pointed out in his article, "The Brahms Chorale Preludes--Master Lesson," the small instruments in every organ culture aspire to the effects of large instruments and thus clearly indicate the idealized sound of the time.14 He offers this 1869 German stoplist in which 60% of the manual voices are of 8' pitch:

Hauptwerk: 16,8,8,8,4,III

Oberwerk: 8,8,8,4

Pedal: 16,16,8.

For a fuller discussion of organ design in 19th century Germany, see Robert Parkins' series of articles in The Diapason: "Rediscovering the German Romantic Organ" (January, February and March, 1989).

Registrations

Robert Schuneman devoted a full page of his Brahms article to excerpts from Hugo Riemann's Catechism of the Organ, which gives an insight into German organ playing from the period 1845 to 1895. This is most valuable reading for those who play Brahms. One of the key concepts is horizontal registrations.  That is, one first combines a succession of 8' stops--from the softest to the Diapason--to create a bed of unison sound to which one adds the Octave, the 16', the 22/3' Quinte, the reed, the 2' and the Mixture in that order. The manuals are coupled to achieve fuller effects, and "gap" registrations like 8'+2' are to be avoided unless the composer has specified it.15

In "Some Thoughts on the Sound of the Organ," John David Peterson offers valuable insights into the ideal Brahms "sound":

Brahms' orchestrations call for a rich blend of dark colors. His favored instruments were the horn, viola, violoncello and clarinet, and his piano works challenge the player to call forth half- and counter-melodies from the tenor register of thick textures. It is not surprising that his organ works share the same sense of musical color.16

The key word which sums up registrations for Op. 122 is "warmth." Thus it is surprising that Robert Schuneman would have said: "Strings, as we know them today [1972], and especially celestes, are not appropriate."17 German 19th century stoplists had many a Gemshorn, Salizional, Fugara and Viola da Gamba and the celesting stops Unda Maris and Voix Celeste were to be found.  If these sounds were part of the organ culture of Brahms' time, and if one of his favorite orchestral effects was massed cellos and violas, what better way can there be to realize Op. 122 than by including strings in the registrations? The quieter chorales--Nos. 5, 6, 8 and 11--are excellent candidates for a celeste. If one has a broad Violoncello Celeste, it might be just the thing for the pedal cantus in No. 10. And how better to let the final notes of No. 11 O Welt, ich muss dich lassen float up into heaven than with a quiet celeste?

Brahms' Markings

While Brahms didn't indicate registrations, he left dynamic indications which, coupled with the precepts in Riemann's Catechism, may well amount to the same thing (see Table 2).

The dynamic markings and performance indications would seem to be clear enough, with the possible exception of "dolce." In Dynamics in the Music of Johannes Brahms, Imogen Fellinger says that dolce implies a weakening of the given preceding dynamic strength, just as expressivo is an intensification of the predominant dynamic strength.18 This may well be so where the dynamic marking is forte. Thus "forte ma dolce" in numbers 1, 3, and 11 would translate "loud but sweetly" or "loud but not strident." However, it seems a bit of a stretch to say that "dolce" in numbers 5 and 8 actually implies a dynamic slightly softer than the indicated "piano." It probably calls for a "sweet" or "gentle" interpretation and has nothing to do with dynamics. In support of this, note that only numbers 2, 7, 9 and 10 are without the "dolce." What is different about them from the rest? Both 2 and 9 are sturdy and forthright (the latter remarkably so), number 7 is a combination of urgency and melancholy, and number 10 is characterized by great pathos.

Tempo

In preparing this article, I studied fourteen organ recordings of Op. 122 and two of the Busoni piano transcriptions of Nos. 4-5 and 8-11. The range of tempi is remarkable. The slowest interpretations of the complete "Eleven" take 42 minutes whereas the fastest last but 21 minutes--half as long, or twice as fast.  The median19 duration was 321/2 minutes. See Table 3.

It is easier and clearer to discuss the tempos of these works, which as Romantic works are subject to considerable rubato, using the duration of the piece rather than metronome indications. The player who wishes to play Brahms musically would be well advised to avoid the extremes of tempo. Speeding through these works with the fastest tempos renders them meaningless and trite, but performances with the slowest tempos lacked energy and were often boring and stultifying. I found it of passing personal interest that the tempos at which I play these pieces are, in most cases, pretty close to the median. These median durations would seem to be a good starting place for those attempting to discover the ideal tempos.

Rubato

In his essay, "Playing Around With Tempo," Robert Schuneman describes tempo rubato:

Most music is mechanical without it in some form. On the other hand, the same music may turn into a caricature of its own intent and content with too much of it poorly applied. It is the most difficult of all musical terms to describe in words, and it takes an extremely sensitive player to use it well.20

As rubato is so difficult to describe in words, I would recommend Arthur Rubenstein's renditions of the Chopin Nocturnes as a most exquisite example of rubato in 19th century music.21

One might divide music into two types: objective and subjective. With objective music, of which Brahms' early a-minor and g-minor Prelude and Fugue are two good examples, if you play all the notes in a reasonably steady tempo, you achieve 80% of the composer's intent.  With subjective music, of which the "Eleven" are an excellent example, if you simply play all the notes in a reasonably steady tempo you realize absolutely none of the musical content the composer put into the work. The worst performances (with the notes played correctly) one will ever hear of Op. 122 are those in which, to paraphrase the popular song, "the beat goes on."

Schuneman makes an excellent point which is quite relevant to Op.122:

With the emergence after 1830 of free forms, program music, salon music, and the seeking out of emotional content over form, declamatory expression (free tempo rubato) became much more indispensable to good performance.  Furthermore, as the 19th  century progressed, tempo rubato became increasingly tied to dynamics. Accelerando means crescendo and vice-versa; ritardando means diminuendo and vice-versa.22

The most important performance points here are that in Op. 122, the beat itself is modified, which is a considerably further modification of tempo than the 18th century notion of rubato, where the melody in the right hand was subject to rubato but the beat in the left hand was not.23

Chorale No. 5, Schmücke dich, provides a clear illustration of the above points. Consider Figure 1, which is a harmonization of the chorale, as it would be sung. The added crescendo and decrescendo markings--not to be overdone, of course--simply indicate what any good choir would do intuitively. This music, all music, for that matter, is meant to be performed expressively. So apply this dynamic pattern to Brahms' realization of the chorale in Figure 2 (expression marks added to the Henle edition). If played on the Swell 8' flues, subtle opening and closing of the swell box is no problem. Per the above discussion of rubato, a subtle accelerando would accompany the crescendo and a ritardando comes with the diminuendo. One might alternatively describe this as a slight increase and decrease in intensity. Then there is the syncopated rhythmic pattern in the left hand which Brahms notated as shown in Figure 3, the way George Bozarth would have preferred to notate it in the Henle edition.24 Then there are the delicious dissonances, Brahms beloved major seconds, which Samuel Swartz always said "Brahms put there to linger over." And finally, there are the notes here and there to which, in expressive playing, one gives agogic accents. Integrate all of this into a performance and one has a small masterpiece. Play it straight on through ignoring these factors, on the other hand, and one has a very trite rendition.

Another excellent example of the necessity for rubato is in Chorale No, 11, O Welt, ich muss dich lassen. The structure of the work has a forte section followed by a piano section followed by a pianissimo section--which is repeated six times. Whether Brahms is simply using a series of echos or is referring to the vigor of youth, the mellowness of middle age and the weakness of old age we cannot know. But all of the pianissimo sections need to end with a ritard and a pronounced pause before beginning the next forte section. It is truly amazing that many play this work as if a metronome were clicking inside their heads, rushing past the pianissimo to get at that forte just in the nick of time. See Figure 4 for the interpretation marks I would suggest, and heed Max Miller's advice:

The variables of building and organ will dictate how much time is to be allowed and how freely the echoes should be taken. The non-harmonic tones require spaciousness and breadth in performance.  Time, for Brahms, has with this last composition ceased its hurry and its very meaning.25

Yet another reason for rubato is to give meaning to one of Brahms' favorite rhetorical gestures, the sigh motiv.  Consider the first four bars of O Gott, du frommer Gott (Figure 5), where the sigh motives are indicated by a bracket.  They are descending in mm. 2-3 and inverted in mm. 4-5.  Played in a metronomical tempo, these gestures are as musical as the regular clicks and whirs of factory machinery.  Played with a slight relaxation of tempo, they define the essence of Op. 122.

Indicated Phrasing

In addition to the dynamic and tempo markings, Brahms indicates a wealth of phrasing. Consider the first four bars of No. 1 in Figure 6. Brahms clearly and deliberately sets out a phrasing pattern which leaves little doubt of his intentions. In No. 3, however, there may be some question about the two-note slurs (see Figure 7). Some organists misinterpret these slurs as phrasing marks, and play the two eighth note figures as an eighth and a sixteenth, with a sixteenth rest before the next group begins. This misguided approach gives a jerky, frenetic sound which is the antithesis of the feeling of the chorale, O Welt, ich muss dich lassen. What Brahms meant by these markings was to give a slight stress to the first note of the groupings of two eighth notes. If strings played this piece, there would be the slightest, almost infinitesimal, pause in the sound as the bows changed direction between the eighth-note groupings. And this is precisely how it should be played on the organ.

It is in the very pianistic No. 4 that the precision markings in the Urtext Henle edition clearly communicate Brahms' intentions--markings which are changed or omitted in some other editions. See Figure 8 for the first four bars of No. 4. The quarter notes in the alto voice form a melody in which some notes are held longer than the precise note values, as indicated by the secondary slurs. In bars 1 and 3 the notes marked A are held for two beats,26 in bar 2 the note marked B is held for five beats, and in bar three the note marked C is held for three beats. This is consistent with 19th  century piano practice.

Leslie Spelman, who has spent a good bit of his extraordinarily long career promoting the "Eleven" in both recital and masterclass, sees a parallel to the above technique in No. 10 (see Figure 9). The notes with the horizontal bars added above them form a melody, and Dr. Spelman suggests holding them beyond their indicated value. The notes with the added slurs are to be held even longer. All the while, observing Brahms' molto legato indication and keeping the pulse nicely articulated in the bass.27 This exquisite chorale is also very pianistic and, in fact, is marvelously realized on the piano with a cello playing the cantus. Organists have been ending this piece with an a minor chord for nearly a century, and the A Major ending in the new editions--correcting an error in reading Brahms' autograph by the original editor Mandyczewski--sounds very strange to ears accustomed to the minor ending. But Henle edition editor George Bozarth points out that all of the minor-key preludes in the "Eleven" do, in fact, end with a Picardy third.28 A pronounced ritard in the penultimate measure and a generous observance of Brahms' indicated Adagio in the final bar does "set up" the A Major chord.

Soloing Out Melodies

In several of the Chorales, Brahms allows a clearly discernible melody in the soprano to move moments later to an inner voice where it can be obscured by the accompaniment above it. For example, this happens in measures 5-6 and 14-16 of Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen and measures 28-31 and 38-41 of O Gott, du frommer Gott. There are two schools of thought on this challenge.  Vernon Gotwals feels it is wrong to solo out melodies because this:

. . . shows an unawareness of the abstract nature of Brahms' conception.  It is wrong to emphasize any voice in the manner of the piano in these organ pieces, as Brahms knew that the melody would be lost when it dipped into the tenor in No. 7 or climbed from tenor to alto in No. 8. His subtle conception is destroyed by those who cannot forebear going beyond his precise registrational directions simply because it is physically possible to do so.29

Of course, this implies that in Op. 122 Brahms' conception was a total departure from almost everything he had written before. In his previous compositions, the pianists, instrumentalists and vocalists were able to emphasize and bring out musical lines in a way most suitable for the performance. I find it very unlikely that Brahms would prohibit emphasis of these obscured melodic lines--in fact, he probably would find the very question incomprehensible.

There are two ways to treat these lines. One can choose "solo" stops of exactly the same character as the accompaniment so that the principal difference between solo and accompaniment is volume, or one can choose a contrasting tone color. The former approach is probably more characteristic, although I must confess that the temptation to solo the tenor portions of Es ist ein Ros' on a Clarinet is very strong. The Clarinet was one of Brahms' favorite instruments, and if one has a nice one it may serve quite well. One doesn't have to play these works exactly the same way each and every time. The tenor melody in Es ist ein Ros' can be played on the pedals as suggested in the Biggs' edition (see Figure 10). But an alternative solution, which Leslie Spelman learned from Joseph Bonnet, is to play both the bass and tenor on the pedals starting on the third beat of m. 5, leaving the left hand free to solo the melody (see Figure 11).30

O Gott, du frommer Gott is one of the longest and most graceful of the chorales. One can very easily play the cantus on the Pedal 4' Chorale Bass. Draw 8' stops (at least the 8' Diapason and flute) on both the Great and Swell and couple them. Thus in the forte sections played on the Great, the Swell box can give an arch to the line. And in the piano sections played on the Swell, the box allows expression and perfect balance whether the solo soars out above or is buried within the accompaniment. The timbre of the Chorale Bass would be quite similar to the Diapason and flute of the Swell, with just a boost to the volume (see Figure 12). For emphasis one can add the Swell 4' Octave in measures 22-26, 50-54 and during the final five bars, but there is no indication that the forte section with which the work concludes should be significantly louder than the forte section with which it begins.

Repeated Notes

In the slower of Brahms' chorales, repeated notes in the soprano and bass should always be articulated, but there are some decisions to make about the inner voices. No. 11 O Welt, ich muss dich lassen is an excellent case in point. Though instances occur throughout the piece, the final three bars with their implied molto ritardando are critical. One might very well separate all the repeated notes in a room with five seconds reverberation. But see Figure 13 for a suggestion of adding ties on the inner voices to have the feeling of repetition without choppiness. This is not to say that Brahms should "ooze." In mm. 24-25 of the same chorale are two instances where added phrasing marks in the left hand and pedal can help set up the ending (see Figure 14).

Conclusion

Brahms' Chorale Preludes are very special compositions. As Fenner Douglas once observed, it's too bad for organists that Brahms didn't have a church job for a while, so that we might have more works from this master. I would urge those interested to seek out the cited articles by Bozarth, Gotwals, Miller, Peterson and Schuneman for a broader scope and fuller understanding of the problems and possibilities these works present. Playing these works expressively on the piano is also very helpful, as is experimenting with legato and super legato touch on the organ. Those who unlock the secrets of Op. 122 will not just have gained eleven lovely pieces for their repertoire--they will have learned things of inestimable value which they can apply in countless other works. n

Appendix: Survey of Opus 122 Recordings

The Early Recordings

Of the four late '50s and early '60s recordings, the best are by Robert Noehren and Franz Eibner, but none of them leaves you wishing for a reissue on CD. Dr. Noehren's Brahms (Lyrichord LLST 7123) is well played with sufficient rubato and convincing transitions between sections. But both of the Noehren organs he recorded on were totally unenclosed 2-manual organs with Positiv rather than Swell. The lack of a swell box and absence of registrational variety limited this recording.

Franz Eibner (Teldec SLT 43018-B) had the best organ of the early LPs. The 3-manual, 61-voice Walcker in Vienna's Votivkirche dates from 1878 and was certainly heard by Brahms. The organ's sound--with its rich palette of flutes, strings and principals--is most appropriate to Brahms. Eibner's playing, though consistently a bit stiff, borders on satisfactory, with suitable rubato at times but some awkward transitions. Some chorales, like Schmücke dich, he trots through with no regard to musical subtleties.

The other two early recordings are very disappointing. Karl Richter's recording on the Steinmeyer in the Herkules-Saal in München (Deutsche Grammophon 138906 SLPM) features a most unattractive organ sound. His registrations overemphasize screechy upperwork and de-emphasize the fundamental, sometimes creating a "music box" effect. Richter's playing is completely insensitive to the music, charging right through Opus 122 from start to finish.

Kurt Rapf's recording on the organ of Vienna's Ursulinenklosters is even worse, with an organ sound lacking fundamental but featuring prominent chiff on the manuals and a loud, deep and murky pedal sound. The plenum on No. 11 has searing mixtures, snarly reeds, booming bass and no "middle." Rapf's playing displays the fastest tempos at which these pieces have ever been recorded. All of the notes are there, but none of the music.

The Best of the Modern Recordings

(Note: All the CDs except Arkay include the complete works of Brahms.)

One of the most satisfying recordings to date is by Carole Terry on the 4-manual Flentrop of St. Mark's Cathedral in Seattle (Musical Heritage Society MHS 512523M). Blessed with a rich palette of principals and flutes in a gorgeous acoustic, the organ has a fine sound although the pair of Gemshorns on the Swell are a far cry from real strings. This recording was made before the recent rebuild added a wonderful 32' Posaune to the Pedal and an 8' Trumpet to the Great, plus enabled the 32' Prestant to actually speak. Ms. Terry's playing is simply elegant. She has a real empathy with Brahms and uses rubato and phrasing to create a truly musical result. The two settings of Herzlich tut mich verlangen are the high point of the recording: No. 9 is quite virile on a big registration and No. 10 is the essence of sensitivity.

Another fine recording on LP, unfortunately out of print, is by Bernard Lagacé (Titanic TI-38).  He recorded Opus 122 on the 1977 2-manual 23-voice Wolff organ in New York's Eighth Church of Christ Scientist. The neoclassic design has its limitations for Brahms, but Lagacé uses it fully and well. His playing is inventive, lively and sensitive.  Hopefully this recording will be reissued on CD.

Nicholas Danby made an elegant recording on the organ of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in London (CRD 3404). This 3-manual 44-voice organ is of some historical interest, having been built by Anneesens in 1876, rebuilt by Bishop in 1914, and completely remodeled in 1926 by Henry Willis III to the designs of G. Donald Harrison and Guy Weitz (organist from 1917 to 1967). Its virile plenum (with tierce mixtures), typically English reeds, rich foundations and colorful flutes make for a varied listening experience. Unfortunately, Danby failed to use the two sets of strings, but his playing is imaginative, solid and sensitive. A high point is an attractively up-tempo rendition of Herzlich tut mich erfreuen with well handled transitions between the forte and piano sections, and a sensible (that is to say, slight) volume differential between the sections. All in all, a rewarding experience.

The Interesting Middle Ground

Georges Athanasiadès has made a charming recording on the huge 103-stop Jann organ of 1989 in the lush acoustics of the wildly Baroque Basilica of Waldsassen (Tudor 790). It missed the first tier only because of a severe lapse of taste on the chorale No. 1, where the cantus in the pedal is registered on flue stops plus a set of tubular bells--the effect is ghastly. But in the remaining ten chorales, Athanasiadès proves to be a resourceful player who provides the most tasteful registrational variety of all the recordings. In Herzliebster Jesu and O wie selig he goes to an extraordinary effort to solo out the melody--unnecessary, but interesting and not at all unpleasant. He makes tasteful use of the tremulant on the pedal cantus of the second Herzlich tut mich verlangen and on a splendid rendition of Es ist ein ros'. In the final chorale he exhibits a sensitive balance between the forte, piano and pp sections, with a very attractive string celeste based pp section. Clearly Mr. Athanasiadès has many good ideas and much to offer on this CD.

Jean-Pierre Leguay, one of the four titular organists of Notre Dame in Paris, has made an impressive recording on the monumental 4-manual 1890 Cavaillé-Coll at the Abbey of Saint Ouen in Rouen (Euro Muses 590073 AD 184).  This organ--lavishly equipped with diapasons, a great variety of flutes, several sets of strings and reeds galore--is actually not far from what one might consider an "ideal" Brahms organ. All the stops are colorful, and there is a great amount of variety in the 8' range. The massed unison stops, which are exhibited in Herzliebster Jesu, sing beautifully. For a climactic effect, nothing in the recorded literature of Opus 122 quite matches the final section of the first chorale, where Mr. Leguay adds the 32' Bombarde to an already grand plenum. Some of the chorales, Nos. 4-6 and 11 for example, are given a rather indifferent treatment, but O Gott, du frommer Gott sparkles in a high-energy high-volume treatment with reeds in both the forte and piano sections. A tasteful Es ist ein Ros' alternates a beautiful string celeste with a quiet flute. Opting for contrast and clarity, Mr. Leguay gives the pedal cantus in Herzlich tut mich verlangen to a Trompette. This recording is recommended for generally excellent playing and a quite stupendous sound.

Jacques van Oortmerssen chose the 1906 Setterquist organ of the Kristine Church in Falun, Sweden for his recording of the works of Brahms (BIS-CD-479). This 2-manual 30-stop instrument is based on the French Romantic organs of Cavaillé-Coll, but the sound is a far cry from St. Ouen. There are some lovely individual stops, but the plenum with pedal is murky and a 2' Octava sticks out rather than blending. Oortmerssen's usually elegant playing is uneven, with one chorale singing and soaring and the next plodding quirkily along. He does observe the implied crescendo in O wie selig and builds to a satisfying forte.

Herman Schäffer chose a 4-manual 92-stop 1911 Steinmeyer at the Christuskirche in Mannheim for his Brahms recording (Motette CD 10711). This instrument offers generally attractive sounds and great variety, but Schäffer's playing is uneven. Herzliebster Jesu has no energy and a painfully slow O Welt, ich muss dich lassen (No. 3) falls flat, but these are followed by an energetic and stylish Herzlich tut mich erfreuen.  Schäffer loves contrast, and solos the melody in Schmücke dich on an oboe, the pedal cantus in Herzlich tut mich verlangen (No. 10) on a trumpet, and the melody in O wie selig on a Nazard combination (with the bass played on a heavy and murky 16' pedal). In Es ist ein Ros', Herzlich tut mich verlangen (No. 9) and O Welt, ich muss dich lassen (No. 11) the contrast between the forte and piano sections is far too great. Within these works, however, there are registrations of great beauty, including some luscious string celestes. In sum, the playing and interpretations are uneven and the largely original historic organ is of interest.

Recordings Of Lesser Merit

One might think that recording Brahms on a 1965 4-manual 56-stop Marcussen organ would give a thin, chiffy and uncharacteristic sound (Nimbus NI 882 286-909). On the organ at the Odense Domkirche this is not so, although the upperwork (used only in the first chorale) is too intense. Kevin Bowyer's registrations prove that this instrument can give an appropriate sounds to Opus 122. His playing is another matter, though--tempos seem either to be too fast or too slow. For example, he makes a race out of Herz-lich tut mich erfreuen. But whether the tempo is fast or slow, he doesn't offer much more than the notes. In O Welt, ich muss dich lassen (No. 3) he misinterprets the slurs over the two eighth note groups for a very choppy result. His favorite chorale would seem to be Herzlich tut mich verlangen (No. 10), as he gives a very sensitive performance of it (at 4:38 the slowest of all the recorded performances) with a lush sound and a lovely articulate solo flute with tremulant for the cantus solo. Would that the other ten chorales had had this degree of attention.

Jonathan Dimmock recorded Opus 122 on a 2-manual 26-stop Frobenius at St. Stephen's Episcopal in Belvedere, California (Arkay AR 6113). A visceral involvement with the music seems to be missing, and there are some note problems. Dimmock followed a basically conservative approach to registration, passing on the opportunity for a true forte even for No. 9 Herzlich tut mich verlangen. Although he did make good use of the Gambe Celeste in two chorales, it was an unfortunate choice to solo the melody in O Gott du frommer Gott on the Swell Oboe, because this precluded a significant contrast between the forte and piano sections, a key element of the work.  Whereas O wie selig is satisfying with a nice Oboe combination, No. 11 O Welt, ich muss dich lassen receives a perfunctory performance without the crucial implied ritards between the pp and forte sections.

Robert Parkins recording on the large Flentrop in the Duke University Chapel would seem to have a lot going for it (Naxos 8.550824). A lush acoustic, large organ, talented performer. Large as the Flentrop is, however, is has no expressive divisions and no strings--one wonders how Opus 122 would have fared on the spectacular Aeolian at the front end of Duke Chapel. Parkins gets around this limitation well, however, and the massed 8' tones provide needed warmth. His tempos are the key problem--Nos. 1, 2, 3, 7 and 9 are or are among the slowest tempos on record. The energy of these pieces drains away and you are left wanting to shout "Get on with it!" Balance this criticism with artful performances of No. 4, 6, 10 and an especially sensitive rubato in No. 11. Interesting though flawed, but at a bargain price.

Rudolph Innig's performance of Opus 122 has little to recommend it (Dabringhaus and Grimm MD+GL 3137). The 3-manual Klais organ at St. Dionysius in Rheine is a lightweight neoclassical design with lots of mutations which Innig, unfortunately, uses.  His interpretations feature separated pickups, which are decidedly un-Brahmsian, and a general lack of sensitivity to the music.

 

Notes

                  1.              Heinz Becker, "Johannes Brahms," The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 1980, Vol. 3, p. 161.

                  2.              Peter Williams, Review in The Organ Quarterly.

                  3.              Anonymous essay on "Brahms' 11 Chorale Preludes" on Lyrichord LP (LL 123).

                  4.              E. Power Biggs, Preface, Brahms' Chorale Preludes, Mercury Music Corporation, 1949, p. 2.

                  5.              Becker, op. cit., pp. 173-174.

                  6.              Robert Schuneman, "Brahms and the Organ," Music/The AGO-RCCO Magazine, September, 1972, p. 34.

                  7.              Schuneman, op. cit., p. 34.

                  8.              Jonathan Ambrosino, "Lessons with Dr. Courboin--A Conversation with Richard Purvis," The Erzähler, Volume 4, Number 3, January, 1995, pp. 3-4.

                  9.              Brahms' Complete Organ Works, ed. by Walter E. Buszin and Paul G. Bunjes, Edition Peters.

                  10.           Peter Williams, The European Organ 1450-1850, published by The Organ Literature Foundation, 1967, pp. 94-95.

                  11.           Vernon Gotwals, "Brahms and the Organ," Music/The AGO-RCCO Magazine, April, 1970, p. 42.

                  12.           Günter Lade, Orgeln in Wien, Austria, 1990, p. 184.

                  13.           Franz Ebner, Program Notes to Teldec LP: SLT 43018-B.

                  14.           Max B. Miller, "The Brahms Chorale Preludes Master Lesson," TAO, April, 1979, pp. 43-46.

                  15.           Schuneman, op. cit., pp. 32-33.

                  16.           John David Peterson, "Some Thoughts on the Sound of the Organ," The Diapason, April, 1981, p. 16.

                  17.           Schuneman, op. cit., p. 34.

                  18.           Imogen Fellinger, Uber die Dynamik in der Musik von Johannes Brahms, (Berlin and Wunsiedel: Hesse 1961), p. 20. Translated by and cited in Schuneman, op. cit., p. 34.

                  19.           The "median" is the middle value in a distribution of data--half of the times are shorter and half are longer than the median.

                  20.           Robert A. Schuneman, "Playing Around With Tempo," The Diapason, May, 1970, p. 16.

                 21.           Arthur Rubenstein, The Chopin Nocturnes, RCA 5613-2-RC (two CD set).

                  22.           Schuneman, "Tempo," op. cit., p. 16.

                  23.           Peter Hurford, Making Music on the Organ, Oxford University Press, 1990, p. 67.

                  24.           George S. Bozarth, "Brahms Organ Works: A New Critical Edition," The American Organist, June, 1988, p. 56.

                  25.           Miller, op. cit., p. 46.

                  26.           Less a brief "lift" on the first quarter note in measure one, so it can sound again on beat three.

                  27.           Leslie Spelman, in a February, 1995, masterclass.

                  28.           Bozarth, op. cit., p. 57.

                  29.           Gotwals, op. cit., p. 48.

                  30.           Masterclass, February, 1995.

Permission to reproduce segments from Werke für Orgel granted by G. Henle Verlag.

 

Other articles of interest:

Franz Liszt and Johann Gottlob Töpfer: A Fruitful Relationship in Weimar

Théodore Dubois and César Franck at Sainte-Clotilde

Brahms Opus 122 in score

Boston, Massachusetts

by Malcolm Wechsler

Wednesday, August 16

Imagine this. A church packed to the rafters with organists
from around the country, parishioners, and Boston organ lovers. An organ in a
stunning case fills the west gallery of the church. The chairs that fill the
nave have all been turned around so the audience can sit and gaze up into the
balcony. A priest steps forward to the railing and says simply, "Good
evening. I'm Fr. Thomas Carroll, rector of this church," followed by what
can only be described as tumultuous applause, shouting, and a standing ovation!
Do this on a regular basis, and seminaries will be overflowing with candidates
for the priesthood--but of course there is a special tale to tell about this
visceral reaction, and Fr. Tom Carroll, organist and OHS member, is the
deserving symbol of a happy ending to an almost sad story. It was in 1986 that
organists and OHS members learned from the organ journals, and later from
mainstream media, that this struggling parish was preparing to make serious
changes to its church. The interior of the building would be sufficiently
reduced in size (to make way for rentable office space) that its landmark
instrument would be rendered unusable. The nave would be vastly forshortened,
leaving a small "worship center." The great space would nevermore be
seen--the great organ would never sound into its intended space again. The OHS,
and later, architectural conservation and preservation groups in the city,
managed to convince the church to reverse its plans. Three ultimately removable
office structures were indeed built in the side aisles of the west end of the
nave, but the word is that plans are afoot to remove them soon. What is left is
by no means shabby. It's a glorious place. In other good news, this parish is
now growing and thriving, with many new members to enjoy the beautiful
architectural and musical treasures left to it by earlier generations.

In part, the OHS exists to honor, protect, and present great
instruments, so perhaps it is at the Church of the Im-maculate Conception that
we see this function at its best. It is therefore fitting that the convention
began and ended with concerts on E. & G.G. Hook Opus 322 (1863) / E. &
G.G. Hook & Hastings Opus 1959 (1902), played by two great musicians who
have supported the work of the Society and been heard in many conventions over
the years. Peter Sykes began the week, which ended with Thomas Murray.

When the pandemonium settled, Fr. Carroll offered a warm
welcome, after which Jonathan Ambrosino, president of the Society (and also
editor of this year's Organ Handbook and Convention Program), officially opened
the convention and introduced Scot Huntington, this year's convention chairman.
Peter Sykes then assumed the bench, accompanied by his registrants, Michael
Murray on the right and Stuart Forster on the left.

A lovely feature of OHS convention recitals/organ
demonstrations is the inclusion of a hymn in every program. It makes perfect
sense to hear instruments doing one of the jobs for which they were designed.
Sykes's chosen tune was Helmsley to the Advent text "Lo, He comes with
clouds descending"--what a fabulous big, rich, unison sound we made in a
splendid acoustic, to a rich, varied, and totally supportive accompaniment.

The first work on the program was Mendelssohn, Prelude and
Fugue in C Minor, op. 37, no. 1. The combination of Peter Sykes, Felix
Mendelssohn, the great Hook and Hook & Hastings, and the acoustic of
"The Immaculate," conspired for a most satisfying experience. From
Annés de Pélerinage of Liszt, we heard two Sykes transcriptions,
Ave Maria von Arcadelt (which demonstrated some of the lovely sounds of this
instrument), and Sposalizio (betrothal), based on a painting of Raphael. Next,
Six Fugues on B-A-C-H, by Robert Schumann. Played together, these works become
something of a satisfying larger sonata. After intermission, Grand
Prélude (from a set of eleven dedicated to Franck) by Charles-Valentin
Alkan, and Franck's Grande Pièce Symphonique (dedicated to Charles
Alkan). Peter Sykes played this spacious and wonderful work with both breadth
and fire.

Thursday, August 17

A marathon day

The day began with a lecture, "Time, Taste, and the
Organ Case," tailored here by Matthew Bellocchio to include some of the
famous Boston organs heard at the convention.

Then on to the bus at about 10:15 to thread our way through
New York-style traffic to Most Holy Redeemer Church, East Boston. Well worth
it! Occasionally at OHS conventions, the program book says "Program to be
announced." This is never the result of indecision, disorganization, or
laziness. It's a signal that at any given moment, up to and including the first
notes of the recital, there is doubt about what will and what will not play on
the organ! In pretty bad shape, this instrument is, nonetheless, worth the
pilgrimage. Not only is it the largest remaining instrument by William Simmons
(1823-1876), but it is also the "oldest extant two-manual organ with a
detached, reversed console," quoting from the Organ Handbook. Kevin Birch
teaches at the University of Maine School of Performing Arts in Orono, and is director
of music at St. John Roman Catholic Church in Bangor, where he has developed an
important musical program, including the preservation of the church's 1860 E.
& G.G. Hook organ. For the convention, he developed a completely satisfying
program which demonstrated the capabilities of the instrument in its present
condition. The instrument is so dusty and dirty that it has not been possible
to tune it completely for a long time, so avoidance of upperwork was the order
of the day. There was lots of foundation tone, and excellent stuff it is, too.
He began with a fine performance of the Bach Pastorale, the perfect piece for
the circumstances, showing a few small but distinguished combinations of
sounds. All of the combinations were announced before he began the work. Next,
three beautiful organ pieces by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Arietta, Elegy, and
Melody, all from 1898. Birch found the perfect solution to the problems of the
organ's state of health by calling on a 'cellist friend, Jonathan Cortolano, to
play the melody lines, requiring that the meager functioning voices of the
organ play only accompaniment for the most part. With a really beautiful 'cello
tone, this enterprise was a great success. 

Birch had promised to demonstrate some of the notes of the
Oboe that were working, and did so charmingly with a bit of Jesu Bambino by
Pietro Yon. After this, an early 18th-century tune (Sweet Sacrament) found in
Worship III to the text "Jesus, my Lord, my God, my All." We had a
great sing, and took full advantage of a very nice harmonization. This is the
organ upon which, in 1975, Thomas Murray recorded the Mendelssohn sonatas,
recently reissued on CD. It is only through many volunteer hours by Richard
Lahaise that we were able to hear any of this marvellous but sadly neglected
instrument.

Next, on to Most Precious Blood Roman Catholic Church in
Hyde Park, to hear Stephen Roberts on the 1892 Carlton Michell instrument, much
of which was probably built by Hunter in London, and which was originally in
St. Stephen's Church in the South End of Boston. Originally tubular pneumatic,
it was electrified by Richard Lahaise when moved to Precious Blood in 1956 and
fitted with a new console. Franz Schmidt, Toccata for Organ (1924); the hymn
Ave Verum Corpus to a 14th-century plainsong tune; Everett Titcomb, Communion
Meditation on "Ave Verum Corpus." It was helpful to have sung the
entire plainsong melody before hearing Titcomb's work based upon it. The
program ended with the brilliant and brilliantly-played Allegro Vivace from the
Widor 5th Symphony.

Then, on to Christ Church Unity (Sears Chapel) in Brookline
for a fine recital by Andrew Scanlon, winner of the 1999 Boston Chapter AGO
Competition for Young Organists, and a student of Ann Labounsky at Duquesne. He
also has studied with John Walker, John Skelton, and David Craighead. Currently
organist and choir director at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Export,
Pennsylvania, he was one of the six young organists chosen to play at the New
York National in 1996. This Sears Chapel has a rather handsome exterior and a
somewhat disappointing interior. The organ is chambered in the west gallery,
with an attractive facade with stenciled pipes, but is a smallish gem (nineteen
stops) being asked to speak down a rather long carpeted nave filled with
thickly cushioned pews. It is all a bit distant, sadly, but the instrument, E.
& G.G. Hook from 1862, is intact and well cared for, and was presented on
this occasion with the handsome OHS plaque. Bach, Prelude and Fugue in C Major
(545); Mendelssohn, Second Sonata: Grave and Adagio; Trumpet Dialogue from the
Couperin Convent Mass; Allein Gott by Dudley Buck; a Rondeau and Deo Gracias by
Joseph Wilcox Jenkins (b. 1928), lovely, modal, spirited stuff, perhaps
somewhat in the Hindemith mode.

The afternoon ended with two rather amazing events. At the
United Parish in Brookline we were all impressed by Peter Krasinski and
Aeolian-Skinner opus 885 and much more. First, we were welcomed in a recording
by Ernest Skinner himself, apparently from a welcoming speech he made to an AGO
gathering at some point very late in his life. It was loud and clear, and a
stunning opening, with no warning whatsoever! But there was more. After singing
"O God our help" from the hymnal in the pews, there was a program of
two works--not your usual organ recital. First, Peter and the Wolf, transcribed
by Peter Krasinski, narrated by a woman from the church's Board of Deacons who
had earlier graciously received an OHS Plaque for the organ. This was clearly a
new translation from the Russian, beginning more-or-less thusly: "Peter
lifted the heavy rolltop, and threw the switch, activating the great Spencer
blower." And then we had Peter being hustled inside, to escape the evil
Clarinet. And then, with Peter, we cowered in the face of "Evil hunters,
seeking unaltered Skinner organs!" It was all so perfectly done--the
narration was really dramatically delivered, and Peter Krasinski--what to say?
The transcription, the performance, the organ--it was nothing less than
fabulous--requiring a chapter of its own in any history ever written about OHS
Conventions We Have Known. For a bit more icing on an already rich cake, Peter
Krasinski's own transcription of von Suppé's Poet and Peasant Overture.

At the end of the afternoon, the astonishing, amazing--whatever--computer-driven
Boston University Symphonic Organ, hosted by its creator, Nelson Barden. The
whole thing had its genesis in a small Skinner (opus 764) instrument in a
Rockefeller mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut. When the organ was disposed of,
it was to become one of the organic wonders of the world. Further donations of
house and other organs kept the thing growing to its present size, and it now
lives in its permanent home on a great balcony overlooking a large kind of
banqueting hall. On screen, one can see what the computer operator sees on his
monitor up in the balcony: the four keyboards plus a short one for the
pedalboard laid out, surrounded by lists of all the stops available--colored
lights indicate which keys and which stops are playing. We heard a performance,
electronically recorded, of Carlo Curley playing Fiddle Faddle, Edwin Lemare
playing the Bach "Jig" Fugue, and lots of other goodies. An exciting
aspect of this is the ability to reproduce here the many performances committed
to paper rolls in Germany in the 20s and 30s, at a time when sound recording
was not yet totally viable on location, and, of course, the immense resources
of this instrument make possible just about any registrational requirement.
After the great show, most of our large party took advantage of being able to
walk right through this marvel, to see, under glass, the whole thing operating.

After dinner, off to The Mission Church to hear Julian
Wachner on Hutchings Opus 410 of 1897, sounding out of its great west gallery
case into a superb acoustical space. Bach, Pièce d'Orgue; Mendelssohn,
Prelude and Fugue in C Minor; Cantabile from Widor 6th, played on a gorgeous
Oboe; Duruflé Prelude and Fugue on ALAIN. After intermission, we were
driven hastily back to our seats by a fabulous improvised fanfare, using the
splendid, if un-Englishy, Tuba; then the Boston premiere of Les Trés
Riches Heures (An Organ Book of Hours) by Marjorie Merryman--the six movements
are entitled 1. Procession, 2. Dialogues, 3. Cycle of the Year, 4. Rebellion,
5. De Profundis, and 6. Celebrations. The evening ended with "Holy Holy
Holy" to, of course, Nicaea. After the hymn Wachner went into a pretty
wild improvisation on Nicaea.

 

Friday, August 18

Promenade day

Friday began with a lecture by Barbara Owen on "The
Hook Years," not an overstatement when you realize what an enormous number
of instruments that workshop turned out each year in the mid-1800s. Then the
convention traveled to Hook Country, Jamaica Plain, and the lovely yellow home
of Elias Hook. We were split into three groups at this time, so that no church
was overly crowded--this meaning, of course, that each performer had to play
three times. My group began not with a Hook, but with Central Congregational
Church's Aeolian-Skinner opus 946 of 1936, a versatile and effective 14-stop
instrument. It can do anything asked of it and today, it met just the right
player to direct it. Possibly, this organ should not really function as it
does--after all, it is stuffed into a chamber on the north side of the
chancel--but the room is welcoming, and aided by 5≤ of wind pressure and
scaling and voicing to match, it reaches every corner of the room. This should
not suggest to anyone that it is loud--it simply projects very well in all directions.
The organ is entirely enclosed in one swell box. The program by Mark Dwyer: the
chorale Freu dich sehr; Pachelbel, Partitia on "Freu dich sehr";
Sowerby, Arioso; Bach, Trio on "Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend";
Darke, Fantasy, op. 39; Dupré, Placare Christe servulis. The splendid
playing of Mark Dwyer is no surprise to those who have heard him play. This
organ, on the other hand, was a total surprise: fourteen stops, and look at the
program it played, and all beautifully and essentially authentically!

We walked through pleasant streets with lovely Victorian
houses all around, to First Baptist Church, with its essentially unaltered 1859
Hook, for a concert by Lois Regestein: Hanff, Wär' Gott nicht mit uns
diese Zeit, using a registration which Hook had set as the plenum, just through
2' on the Great, without the mixture; Pinkham, Pastorale on "The Morning
Star"; three Haydn Musical Clock pieces, Minuet, March, and Andantino,
revealing the absolutely beautiful flutes on this organ; Respighi, Prelude on a
chorale of Bach; Ciampa, Agnus Dei (with singer Dianna Daly); Telemann, Trumpet
Tune in D; Brahms, Prelude in G Minor; and a rousing performance of the hymn
"Praise, my soul, the King of Heaven."

Another pleasant walk led to First Parish, Unitarian, for a
program by Gregory Crowell, director of music at Trinity UMC in Grand Rapids
and on the faculty at Grand Valley State University. The organ is E. & G.G.
Hook Opus 171 of 1854. In 1860 Hook added the Choir organ, which was apparently
prepared for in 1854. The program began with the hymn "Spirit of God,
descend upon my heart" to the tune Morecambe, and included the Mendelssohn
Fourth Sonata.

The last venue in Jamaica Plain was St. Thomas Aquinas
Church. Scot Huntington managed to give lots of his time to trying to get this
glorious 1854 Hook (moved to this church in 1898 and somewhat rebuilt by George
Hutchings) playing--it had not been heard in 20 years! This is a major part of
the OHS Convention History--the hours or weeks of time freely given by OHS member
builders to making ill instruments well enough to be heard at conventions. The
organ was permitted to remain there (west gallery) only because it looked so
nice. (It is indeed an unusually attractive case.) The new pastor welcomed the
OHS in a really fine speech that made it clear where his sympathies lie, and he
was roundly cheered. No doubt with his encouragement many parishioners were in
attendance, some of whom had ventured into the balcony for the first time to
see what the organ really looked like. Scot Huntington demonstrated the organ,
an-nouncing registrations as he went along, and even doing a creditable
performance of the "St. Anne Prelude." He then accompanied the hymn
"O worship the King" (Hanover), and many of the attending
parishioners were overwhelmed. The building is not without resonance, and to
hear 400+ musicians filling that room was impressive.

George Bozeman is always a major presence at OHS
conventions, this sometimes taking the form of an organ he has carefully
restored, but most often in the form of an interesting and somewhat unusual
recital. Here, he fulfilled both roles, playing on an 1860 E. & G.G. Hook
(Opus 283) of 32 stops (rebuilt in 1913), which in 1992 had "tonal
re-instatements and recreations; refurbishment and restoration" at the
hands of George Bozeman--at First Congregational Church in Woburn. The program:
Bach, Prelude & Fugue in G Minor (535); C.P.E. Bach, Sonata in A; the hymn,
"Eternal Spirit of the living Christ," to a strong, unnamed, tune by F.
William Voetberg; Franck, Choral in B Minor; four exquisitely registered and
played chorale preludes of Brahms: Herzlich tut mich erfreuen, Schmücke
dich, O wie selig, and Herzlich tut mich verlangen; three selections from the
Bartok Mikrokosmos; and finally Concert Sonata No. 5 in C by Eugene Thayer.

An OHS Boston Weekend

After a fairly energetic and busy Friday, the prospect of a
somewhat more relaxed convention weekend seemed a good one. Saturday began with
Jonathan Ambrosino's lecture entitled "Ernest M. Skinner & G. Donald
Harrison, Retrospective and Review." Ambrosino is president of the
Society, bringing a distinguished background in both communications and
organbuilding, and he is making his strengths very much felt throughout the
organization.

The first concert of the day was by Richard Hill at First
Parish in Arlington, one of the truly great recitals of the convention, on one
of its very best organs--an 1870 Hook (Opus 529) of fifteen stops, moved into
First Parish's fine modern building from a church in Philadelphia. The program
began with a hymn that rather set the tone for the rest of the program,
"Stand up, stand up for Jesus," to the tune Webb. The organ is tucked
in a corner in the front of the church, and has facades on two sides, and the
whole thing resonates like one big soundboard--it really is rich and full, and
beautiful besides. The Triumphal March of Dudley Buck is the kind of spirited
stuff that can really be effective in the hands of a strong and sure player
with spirit to match--really good fun. Then, by Amy Beach, a lovely work,
Prelude on an Old Folk Tune, very Irish sounding. The next piece was the kind
of thing that would keep a congregation around for the postlude, Toccatina by
George E. Whiting (1840-1923). The beginning was a bit reminiscent of the
Lemmens Fanfare. Next, David the King, based on a theme of William Billings, by
Gardner Read--a lament on the death of Absalom. Finally, the grand finale,
Allegro comodo, from Suite in D by Arthur Foote. This work might have suffered
from a lesser performance, but there was nothing lesser about what we heard--a
great ending, to much applause and a quick stand up!

On to Follen Community Church, the oldest church in
Lexington, boasting as one of its ministers Ralph Waldo Emerson. What a
beautiful place and beautiful instrument, both to see and to hear. E. &
G.G. Hook Opus 466 of 1869 was originally in a church in Stoneham, but was
given as a gift and moved to Follen Church in 1995. Erik Suter, with degrees
from both Oberlin and Yale, is now assistant organist and choirmaster at
Washington National Cathedral. The program: Pinkham, "Festive March"
from Music for a Quiet Sunday, which was commissioned by the church to
celebrate the instrument; Mendelssohn, Third Sonata: Sweelinck, Variations on Balletto
del granduca, for which organbuilder John Bishop operated the hand pump, which
really did make a noticeable difference--the wind was rather gentle and supple.
The program ended quietly with the Paul Manz Aria, which featured the Melodia
stop, living up to its name, and toward the end of the piece, an octave up,
where it was ravishing. The final hymn: "Come down, O Love Divine"
(Down Ampney). Suter launched into a quite cathedral-like improvisation on Down
Ampney which sent everyone out very cheerfully indeed.

Sometimes food claims a place on the list of OHS convention
memories. On this Saturday evening, we had an example of this, and what an
example! At 5:30 in the beautiful evening light we boarded a large and very
fast boat for Thompson Island, the history of which is complex and off topic
here, other than to say it is a quite large, hilly, and scenic place from
which, in the right spot, one neither sees nor senses the presence of the big
city so near. I have been to one clambake in my life, a small, private affair,
memorable for wonderful seafood and for good company. This was that experience
writ large; there was no end to the wonderful food. There were various salad
things, baked beans, a wonderful piece of steak, a large pile of steamed clams
and an enormous lobster on a separate plate. We were seated in a great tent,
with some outside places for those who enjoy mosquitos. At the end
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  we hiked down to the dock through the
cool darkness, and after a bit of a wait, our boat appeared to take us back to
the mainland, giving a gorgeous moonlit ride back to Boston Harbor.

On Sunday morning the Annual Meeting of the Society was
scheduled for 8:30. There were reports from all the committees carrying on the
work of the Society, including the Historic Organs Citation Committee, the
superb OHS Archives in a new home in Princeton, the Biggs Fellowship Committee,
the Convention Committee, the Publications Committee, and so much more. At this
convention about a half-dozen plaques were presented to churches that have
recognized the historic significance and musical importance of their
instruments and have continued to maintain them properly. This recognition,
plus the very presence of several hundred musicians in their church coming to
hear the instrument, sends a strong message of support and encouragement. The
Biggs Fellowship is a great program, and its ability to assist interested
people in attending a convention when they might not otherwise be able to do
so, has been greatly enhanced by a major gift from the estate of Peggy Biggs,
the wife of E. Power, who died recently. This year the convention was enriched
by the presence of four Biggs Fellows: Daniel W. Hopkins of Lockeport, Nova
Scotia; Ted Kiefer of Franklinville, New Jersey; Tony Kupina of
Montréal, Québec; and Daniel B. Sanez of Hollywood, California. A
visit to the OHS Archives in Princeton finds one in a place where one could
happily stay for days on end, exploring the amazing riches, holdings unequaled
by any other resource anywhere in the world. Many have studied there helped by
one of the research grants available through OHS. The Archives were bursting at
the seams in the old space in the Westminster Choir College Library, and
through gifts from business and arts organizations and individuals, the sum of
$85,000 was collected to make possible the move to new and spacious quarters.
Confident in the knowledge that OHS is important to all its members, important
enough that they are willing to help the organization financially over and
above the membership fees, a new fund has been established and announced at
this year's annual meeting. This endowment fund will help stabilize the
finances of the organization and enable it to expand its work in a number of
areas where money has been a bit tight. The goal is a half-million dollars, and
amazingly, a small group of officers and close friends of the Society has
already pledged the sum of $58,000. I hope anyone reading this who is not a
member of OHS will consider now joining. Try: . By
the way, next summer's convention will be in Winston-Salem, North Carolina,
June 21-28.

On this Sunday afternoon, there were some opportunities to
visit Cambridge organs and also the astonishing beauties of Mount Auburn
Cemetery, which for American organists and organbuilders, might be a rough
equivalent to an Englishman visiting Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey. Some
recitals were played in Cambridge, and some churches held special musical
events for conventioneers. I chose to stay close to the hotel before the great
evening event, a concert about which I almost fear to write, so controversial
was it. Catching all the buzz on the walk back to the hotel and in the exhibit
room later, there seemed to be no agreement whatsoever about the instrument,
the player, her registrations, the music she chose--even what she wore! That
Cherry Rhodes is the consummate concert artist cannot be in dispute. Nor can
one deny the historicity and significance of the enormous 1952 Aeolian-Sinner
organ, much upgraded and changed both mechanically and tonally over the years,
but still bearing the stamp of the makers, working under consultant Larry
Phelps. Beyond that, I heard those things that I thought I rather liked being
roundly condemned by some, and those things that I thought I did not like being
roundly praised by others. If nothing else, the organ is a great amusement.
There is much to gaze upon, with all manner of pipes mounted in all kinds of
arrangements. There is nothing to suggest the historic structure of The Pipe
Organ, perhaps even less so than in some of the exposed organs of Walter
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  Holtkamp, Sr. Looking at those, one
usually knew what was where. Not so here in the First Church of Christ,
Scientist, known familiarly as The Mother Church. The great heaps of pipework
are not identifiable without some sort of guidance. The exposed pipework speaks
into an enormous space, seating about eight thousand people, and amazingly, it
projects fairly well, coming to the listener's ear, I think, with the aid of
the various domed shapes in the building. It is capable of gentleness and also
of bombast, all sounding to my ears just a bit on the thin side, and looking at
the pipework, one does have the impression of thin. I am sure I will pay for
this in some way, but I have to say that at the end of the first piece, a large
plenum with tons of mixture ranks in play caused me to say that I thought it
all sounded incredibly electronic.

The program (12 pieces, only two of which I had ever heard)
began with a piece that made use of the spacious layout of the organ, a work by
Frank Ticheli (b. 1958) dedicated in its organ arrangement to Cherry Rhodes.
Pacific Fanfare (1999) began very softly and finally did build up to live up to
its name, exploring the many reeds of various volumes on this instrument. This
was followed by the Sweelinck Bergamasca, using what is called the Continuo
division of the organ; Deuxième Légende of Bonnet, a beautiful
work; from the Vierne Pièces de Fantaisie, "Impromptu";
Méditation by Gabriel Dupont (1878-1914, an organ student of Widor);
Sportive Fauns, by the Yugoslav composer, Deszö d'Antalffy-Zsiross
(1885-1945), who studied with, among others, Max Reger. After intermission, the
obligatory hymn, "I love thy way of freedom, Lord" to a Hubert Parry
tune, Heavenward. The accompaniment was unusual, being almost a gentle wash of
sound much in the manner of some English Psalm accompaniments, very much in the
background. Then Four Pieces for the Mass by José Lidón; Clarence
Mader's "The Afternoon of a Toad"; and Variations on "Victimae
Paschali," by Jiri Ropek (b. 1922 in Prague).

Whatever misgivings people might have had about the concert,
at the end of the Ropek there was a spontaneous and essentially unanimous
standing ovation, and it kept going long enough that it was clear an encore was
needed, the lovely and quiet Salve Festa Dies by Marius Walter. Hailing the
festival day was a very gentle affair, but beautiful. And thus ended Sunday and
the weekend.

Monday, August 21

The recitals this day were part of an elective involving visits
to instruments in the Newton area. The alternative was the Mount Auburn
Cemetery, also available the previous day. A third choice was to do nothing and
ride a bus later to a concert at The Korean Church in Cambridge.

First stop: Church of the Redeemer, Chestnut Hill, Newton,
something of a cookie-cutter Anglican pretend Gothic building, of which there
must be thousands around the country. It boasted pretend Gothic acoustics as
well. Heard from the third row on the south side, the Noack organ was overpowering.
I suspect that this chancel installation caused the builder to push the
instrument so it could lead those in the back row of the church. Gretchen
Longwell gave a program that one might play on a North German-oriented
mechanical-action organ in a good room in an academic environment. The audience
was made up almost completely of organists, but the recital missed one of the
features of OHS programming--showing a variety of things the organ can do. Many
thought that we could have heard some Vierne, Mendelssohn, or anything else
that might show the Romantic possibilities which probably exist in this
instrument. The program: Buxtehude, Praeludium in G Minor; Boehm, Wer nur den
lieben Gott lasst walten; the hymn 
"If thou but trust in God to guide you"; two Schübler
chorales: Meine Seele and Ach bleib bei uns, both really well played; and the
Ernst/Bach, Concerto in G.

The next recital featured a new instrument built by George
Bozeman at Eliot Church (Congregational) in Newton Corner, Newton. The instrument
has rather active or flexible wind, a bit more so than wanted, as there was
clearly no room for the main reservoir right with the instrument--it is in the
next room--and even fitted with concussion bellows, things occasionally get a
bit bouncy. But the overall effect is very good. There is an amazing wooden 16'
Pedal Trombone, tremendously round and full in sound, not loud, and perhaps a
bit slow of speech, but really fun when it opens out. The recitalist was
Kimberly Ann Hess, director of chapel music and college organist at Stonehill
College in Easton, Massachusetts. The program: de Grigny, Veni Creator, played
with glorious ornamentation and clarity on a very sympathetic organ in
Kirnberger I; Schumann, Four Sketches from Opus 58; Bach, Toccata in F (BWV
540), including the most expressive playing of that long Pedal solo I have ever
heard; and the hymn "We are your people" to Sine Nomine.

Brian Jones has been featured at OHS conventions seemingly
forever. To be sure, his playing is always wonderful, but he gives more,
steeped as he is in the history of the instrument, the OHS, and New England
itself. Léfebure-Wély, Boléro de Concert; Concerto in D by
Charles Avison (1817-1953); Jongen, Scherzetto, op. 108, no. 1. The next and
final work on the program was dedicated to Alan Laufman, director of the Organ
Clearing House, who, as a young man, first turned pages for Jones for the same
piece quite a few years back at an OHS Convention on The Cape. Jones gave a
spirited reading of the Bach Prelude and Fugue in A Minor (BWV 543); and
finally the hymn, "How shall I sing that majesty which angels do
admire," to the tune Coe Fen.

Next on the schedule was Nancy Granert at The Korean Church
(formerly Pilgrim U.C.C.) in Cambridgeport, Cambridge. The 22-stop Hutchings instrument
of 1886 was not very telling in a fully carpeted room, unfortunately, and the
program began with three early works that just did not make sense on the
instrument and in the non-intimate environment: Spanieler Tanz of Johannes Weck
(early 16th century), Mit ganzem Willen wünsch ich ihr of Paumann, and
Kochersperger Spanieler of Hans Kotter; then two Bach settings of Liebster
Jesu, the first on the really warm Open Diapason, and the second using the
Dolce Cornet for the cantus, quiet but pungent. We then sang the chorale, with
a chance to sing harmony in the middle stanza. Then George Chadwick,
Canzonetta; Frank Donahoe, Impromptu. We finally heard the (rather
underwhelming) full organ in the Arthur Foote Prelude in C. Nancy Granert is
now organist at Emmanuel Church (Boston) and Temple Sinai (Brookline), and is
on the faculty at the Boston University School for the Arts. The audience stood
all around the walls, around the altar, and in extra seats in each of the
aisles. The organ did not have a chance, but Granert put in a valiant effort,
and it was clear that she is an excellent player.

We had heard four recitals already, and it was getting on
for 5 pm, but most did not accept the proffered escape bus to the hotel,
instead opting to hear Rosalind Mohnsen at the beautiful St. Catherine of Genoa
Church in Somerville, with its fine 1894 Jardine, and decent acoustic. Mohnsen
shared her program with a wonderful, expressive soprano, Maura Lynch, who added
a great deal of interest to the program. First, three Antiphons from the
Fifteen Pieces of Dupré, "His left hand is under my head,"
"Lo, the Winter is Past," and "How Fair and Pleasant art
Thou"; the hymn "Come Holy Ghost, Creator Blest" sung to a
pleasant minor-key tune from the Pius X Hymnal--written by Theodore Marier;
then Schumann, two of the Fugues on the Name of Bach. Ms. Lynch stepped forward
to the balcony rail and sang "The Flag of Prospect Hill" by J.W.
Bailey. We then sang an interesting cantor and response sort of hymn "Now
Help Us, Lord," with Ms. Lynch serving as cantor. Next, for soprano and
organ, Der Schmetterling ist in die Rose verliebt, op. 14, no. 2 of Henry
Hadley (1871-1937). Last on the program was Henry Dunham's (1853-1929) Fantasia
and Fugue in d, op. 19. Rosalind Mohnsen is director of music at Immaculate
Conception Church in Malden, and this was her 15th OHS convention recital.

Dinner on this evening was a barbeque at the Charlestown
Navy Yard. The food really was delicious, and we were only a short walk from
St. Mary Roman Catholic Church, Charlestown, where Dana Robinson played a
stunning recital. This church was one of a number of very old, large, Catholic
churches that have been recently re-stored. This was a great evening of great
organ music suited to the grand old Woodberry and Harris Organ of 1892 in a
fine acoustic. Parker, Introduction and Fugue in E Minor; a duet version of six
Schumann Studies for Pedal Piano (Opus 56) with Paul Tegels assisting; Franck,
E-Major Chorale; the hymn "Immaculate Mary" to the Lourdes Hymn; Widor,
the complete Symphonie Gothique. Dr. Robinson teaches at the School of Music of
the University of Illinois.

Tuesday, August 22

Tuesday the 22nd began with a lecture by Pamela Fox
concerning the Hook & Hastings factory in Weston, which involves more of
interest than might meet the eye. This was an attempt at a complete
"community of labor," with workers' cottages, a company-built
recreation hall, and other facilities. The move to Weston took place in 1880.

This was it--my first chance to hear the legendary
instrument at Old West Church, and its legendary organist, Yuko Hayashi.
Perhaps the experience of the organ was a bit underwhelming (to me) because we
have all heard so many wonderful instruments in a similar style that have been
built since this pioneer Fisk organ appeared in 1971. Many of these, I think,
surpass Old West in terms of color and clarity, an excellent example of which
we heard at our next stop. The program: Buxtehude, Toccata in D Minor; Bach,
Wenn wir in höchsten Nöthen sein; Clérambault, Suite on the
Second Tone. The Basse de Cromorne was something else, given the monster
Cromorne on this instrument, full of color and character. The Récit de
nasard revealed another monster, the Nasard itself--quite big and colorful in
combination. We did sing a hymn, "Now thank we all our God," in the
strange unison version found at number 396 in the 1982 Hymnal. Had anyone
turned one more page, they would have come to the harmonization
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  by Monk, following Mendelssohn's
symphony version, which would have been infinitely more fun.

Next First Lutheran Church, where Richards, Fowkes &
Company Opus 10 was in the final stages of installation, sufficiently far along
to allow William Porter to improvise his way through many combinations of
sounds. This organ, in its hideous Piero Belluschi building, should be a
fabulous addition to the Boston organ scene.

For the next program, Frederick Jodry V gave a really
interesting performance on a 1938 Wicks instrument in a fine acoustical
environment, Most Holy Name Parish, West Roxbury, the instrument designed and
voiced by Henry Vincent Willis. Wow! Broad foundation tone! Reading through the
very detailed stoplist provided, some features stand out. The Great has no
mixture, going only to the 2' Principal. There are, however, two Open Diapasons
at 8'. The flues are on 95mm of wind, but the Great Trumpet is on 145mm. The
Choir (enclosed--73 note chest) has a French Horn with its own tremolo. It is
on 140mm of wind, while the rest of the division is on 95mm. The Swell has flues
on 100mm, a Vox Humana which automatically engages its own Tremolo, on 105mm,
with the four other reeds on 140mm. The Pedal has a 16' Open Diapason and a 16'
Bourdon. All else is either borrowed or extended from somewhere. There is a
small sanctuary organ, but it is not working, and was not made available for
inspection. The program: Woodman, Little Partita for Easter; Chadwick,
Pastorale, demonstrating a truly wonderful Harmonic Flute;
Léfebure-Wély, March; the hymn "The Strife is O'er" at
an incredibly fast clip. The program finished with a really interesting
Postlude on a Theme of Palestrina by Dudley Buck.

One of the happy-making experiences of this convention has
been seeing quite a few ornate, very old, Roman Catholic churches that have
been newly loved and spruced up with great care and taste. Saint Patrick Church
in Roxbury is not one of these, possibly lacking the enormous amount of money
required for a major fix-up. It does have rather nice stations, set in small
tabernacles, perhaps two or three feet high, and lighted indirectly from above.
The room is disfigured by ugly loudspeakers stuck all over the place. The organ
is an E. & G.G. Hook & Hastings from 1880, rebuilt by Hutchings in
1893, adding a Barker lever to the Great and its couplers. The pipework and
chests are original Hook & Hastings, but the Choir organ was added by
Hutchings. It is visually reminiscent of the Covington Holtkamp that has been
discussed on Piporg-l, with exposed pipework in a pleasing pattern--rather
remarkable for its time.

In this church, Kristin Farmer played one of those
"Program will be announced" events, again of necessity, given the
precarious condition of the organ. Kristin and her organbuilder husband John
Farmer have donated countless hours to getting this organ up and playing for
the convention. After the organ received an OHS Plaque, we heard the following
program: Langlais, Hommage; three Dupré Antiphons; Meditation from
Thaïs; and a Gigue by John Bull. The Langlais really worked on the instrument,
which is quite beautiful doing mystic bits, and also capable of some richness
as the volume rises. There is a strong and independent 16' Open on the Great.
In the Dupré "I am black but comely," the Flute had a
wonderful open sound. The John Bull Gigue was played rather full out, and the
upperwork was irritatingly out of tune, sounding for all the world like a
supercoupler forcing into play pipes that have not been noticed (or tuned) in
years--but there is no supercoupler. At the end, we sang "Glory, love, and
praise," to the pleasant tune "Benifold," by Francis Westbrook
(1903-1975).

It was getting on for tea time, and at First Parish
(Unitarian) in Roxbury the convention split into two groups: one group going to
the recital and the other to what was billed in the book as a
"reception." This meant not high tea, but various cool drinks and
cookies out under the trees in back of the church. The recital of one hour and
ten minutes (surely the longest daytime event of the convention) took place on
a rather anemic instrument in a totally dead acoustic in a quite large
building. (The building is quite beautiful, if greatly run down, but a grant
has apparently been secured and further funds are being sought for its
restoration.) Robert Barney gave another performance of the Brahms Prelude and
Fugue in G Minor, which was effective in the space, followed by another good
choice, the Hindemith Second Sonata. But nothing could overcome the effect of
the hour, the hopelessly dull acoustic and the instrument. There was a certain
amount of merriment when folks realized the hymn to come was "Sleepers
Wake! A voice astounds us." But wait, there was yet more to come. The
Reger Fantasy on Wachet Auf really did not belong in this building, on this
organ, and for that trivial matter, at this time of day. Two people were sound
asleep in my pew. We ran, not walked, to the waiting buses.

The evening venue was Holy Cross Cathedral. Anyone, in New
England at least, who receives mail at all, has probably had a mailing from Leo
Abbott concerning his ongoing effort to restore this most wonderful instrument
in a glorious space. The instrument, Hook & Hastings from 1875, is simply
enormous, with all mod cons of the period, including Barker lever to the Great
and its couplers, pneumatic stop action, eight mixtures, and imported French
reeds from Zimmerman, some with Cavaillé-Coll shallots. It was
electrified around 1929 by Laws. Henri Lahaise and Sons have been working
steadily to keep it going, while doing restoration work as time and funds permit.
Along with lots of AGO members and other members of the Boston musical
community, in addition to lots of parishioners, we were a huge audience to hear
four well-known organists in a program that became even more remarkable than we
were led to expect.

George Bozeman led off with some charming Pepping Chorale
Preludes, ones from the Kleines Orgelbüch. Julian Wachner, who had given a
full evening recital earlier in the week, offered the Bach Dorian Toccata and
Fugue. The Toccata was a bit thick for the registration and building, but the
Fugue was magical, with a hardly noticeable but very real build-up that left
one breathless at the final cadence. Next came Wachner's transcription of El
Salon Mexico of Copland. I guess there are cannon shots in the score, and Leo Abbott
was ready in the balcony with an enormous bass drum, which he struck with
immense authority. At the first blow, the whole audience rose quite visibly
just a bit off its seats. Peter Sykes began the second half with a stunning
performance of the Reger Fantasy and Fugue on BACH. This was our first chance
to hear the organ full out in a major piece of organ literature. It was totally
tremendous, and the audience response was enormous. Leo Abbott assumed his
familiar bench at his familiar reversed horseshoe theater organ console (long
story, but the thing works!), and led the hymn "The Royal Banners Forward
Go" (Agincourt Hymn), with lots of wonderful fanfares and interludes. He
then gave a magnificent improvisation on Salve Regina, which, among other things,
was a great tour through the instrument. After the last chord had died away,
there were whoops and cheers, and an audience completely on its feet. What a
night!

The final great day

Wednesday, August 23

On this last day, it was hard to
refrain from commenting on the weather. With the exception of one evening of
some rain, the days were cool, sunny, and dry. One's impressions of a
convention are somewhat tempered, I think, by whether one has or has not sat in
broiling hot churches with perspiration pouring down. We had essentially none
of that.

This day began with a lecture on
"Organ Pedagogy in Boston 1850-1900," and included a discussion of
the personalities, the publications, and institutions of the period. To attend
a Friday noon recital at Trinity, Copley Square, is to learn that this organ
culture remains very much alive today. It will be you and about 299 others in
attendance! The AGO chapter is one of the largest and most active in the
country.

For the first two concerts of
the day we were split into two groups, so today's performers each played twice.
Our group began at First Baptist Church in Framingham at 11:30 with a totally
satisfying event. The church is the oldest in the area, clearly well-loved and
well kept. Victoria Wagner gave a program of organ works and songs in which she
accompanied soprano Nancy Armstrong. The organ is gentle, the room not resonant
but small and clear. The idea of this combination organ concert and song
recital was just right. The instrument, William Simmons of 1853, 17 stops, is
lovely, but not perhaps compelling enough to carry a full program on its own.
Like the church, it has been well cared for, and was presented with an OHS
plaque before the music began. The program: Handel, Voluntary XI; two Purcell
songs, "We Sing to Him" (Harmonia Sacra) and "Tecum principium
in die virtutis" from Dixit Dominus; the hymn "Rock of Ages" to
"Toplady"; James Woodman's song, Rock of Ages. Next, the premiere of
Peter Sykes's "Arise my love" for organ and soprano, a truly lovely
addition to the repertoire for voice and organ. The perfect finish to this
lovely event was Festival March, by Christian Teilman. Victoria Wagner is
director of music at Trinitarian Congregational Church in Concord, organ
instructor at Regis College in Weston, and on the piano faculty at the Noble
& Greenough School in Dedham.

It was lunch time. If you were
in Group A, you ate at St. Andrew's Church, Wellesley, but Group B, of which I
was a member, ate at Village Congregational, also in Wellesley. There were no
concerts scheduled for these churches--only the use of their facilities for the
meal. Then onward to the Chapel at Wellesley College. The complications of the
keyboard require quite a bit of time and understanding. There are split sharps
and a "short octave," and nothing quite feels like what one is used
to at home. But the whole thing represents the kind of creative adventure,
unique, I think, to the questing and curious mind of Charles Brenton Fisk. I
need to quote a bit of history from the ever-helpful Organ Handbook: "In
1972, Wellesley College signed a contract with C. B. Fisk for a two-manual
organ based on Dutch models, c. 1620. Inaugurated in 1981, this organ and its
design underwent considerable evolution in the decade leading to its fruition.
From the beginning, it was intended that a specialized instrument, built
‘in the spirit of uncompromising authenticity' would allow students a
European experience in America." The Pedal Posaune was added in 1983, as
were carved pipeshades. Additional Pedal stops were added in 1987, and the case
was oiled and gilded in 1992. At the other (east) end is an Aeolian-Skinner
instrument which is, in fact, used for accompanying the choir and congregation
up front.

On the above-described Fisk
instrument, Margaret Irwin-Brandon gave a most elegant recital: Scheidemann,
Fantasia in C; Weckmann, Canzon in G Major; a choral prelude by Franz Tunder,
Jesus Christus, unser Heiland, der von uns, served in alternation to our
singing of the chorale in or with various harmonizations. Next, the Buxtehude G
Minor. While there is an electric blower for practice, in normal public
playing, the organ is human-pumped. One person can do it all, although there is
room for two at the pumping apparatus. One must carefully go backwards up a
short staircase, step out over a beam connected to one of the feeder bellows,
and glide down, propelled by one's own weight, on that beam until the bellows
hits bottom. At this point, one goes back up the stairs, and vigilance is
wanted to wait for the last-pumped bellows to rise almost to the top, at which
point one rides down on the other one. It's an exercise that adds a most
graceful visual component to the playing of this instrument. As you look at the
case, to the left, you see the pumper backing up the stairs, and then
ever-so-gracefully riding down quite slowly on the bellows, after which the
work is repeated. A couple of our Biggs Fellows had the honor of raising the
wind.

For various reasons I missed a
recital at St. Mary R.C. Church, Waltham, by Libor Dudas, music director and
organist at the famous Old North Church. The program included the Brahms A
Minor Prelude & Fugue, the Elgar Vesper Voluntaries, and the Franck Finale,
on an 1874 Hook & Hastings instrument, restored by Henri Lahaise and Son
during the 1990s.

The last concert of the
convention took us back to Immaculate Conception where, before an enormous
audience of conventioneers, AGO members, and Boston music lovers, Thomas Murray
gave one final fabulous musical memory. The whole program was a procession of
delights, all played in the elegant Murray manner and wonderfully registered
with great care: Guilmant, Sonata IV in D Minor; Reger, Benedictus; Schumann,
Three Studies for Pedal-Piano; Bonnet, Matin Provençale (No. 2 from Poèmes
d'Automne, 1908); Franck, Fantasy in A Major. We sang a rousing hymn,
"Praise the Lord, ye heavens adore him," to a grand Victorian tune
called "Faben," composed by the first organist of Immaculate
Conception Parish, who served until his death in 1875, John Henry Wilcox. Next,
three more of the Schumann Studies; finally, the Mulet Carillon-Sortie. And
sortie we did, back to the exhibit hall cum bar, for a last social time with
friends from far and near.

What a wonderful convention! I
hope this report might help some readers to consider making plans now to attend
next summer in North Carolina, from June 21st to the 28th.

--Malcolm Wechsler

Mander Organs, USA

 

The author thanks Mark Nelson,
William Van Pelt, Judy Ollikkala, and Anonymous for corrections and additions
to this article after its original Internet appearance.

 

Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, July 13–18, 2008

Frank Rippl

Frank Rippl is a graduate of Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Miriam Clapp Duncan and Wolfgang Rübsam. He is co-founder of the Appleton Boychoir, coordinator of the Lunchtime Organ Recital Series in the Appleton, Wisconsin area, and has been organist/choirmaster at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Appleton since 1971.

On the day before I was to leave for the Organ Historical Society’s 53rd National Convention, I was eating a sandwich and reading the paper. I never read my horoscope, but for some reason I happened to glance at mine (Cancer) and was startled to read: “You’re being taken to beautiful places where there is great attention to detail and where you are enveloped in someone else’s grand vision. Sit back and enjoy the unfolding spectacle.” That got my attention. I had been to Seattle many times before and knew many of the instruments we were to hear, but OHS conventions always put a different spin on things and shine a spotlight on the instruments themselves. I couldn’t wait to experience “someone else’s grand vision” of those instruments and the buildings in which they stand, and, of course, the many outstanding players and builders in the Pacific Northwest. It is, as our handbook stated: “A Young Yet Vibrant History.” Each registrant had received the OHS Seattle 2008 Organ Atlas in the mail before we left on our respective journeys to the West Coast: 174 lavishly illustrated and painstakingly researched pages on the venues and instruments we would visit. The team that put this colorful document together is to be congratulated. So, thus armed, we were ready and eager to get started.

Sunday, July 13
We began with some pre-convention activities on Sunday night. The weather was perfect: a clear sky and temperatures in the low 70s as our buses climbed through the Capitol Hill neighborhood to St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral overlooking Puget Sound. St. Mark’s was to have been a grand Gothic structure, but the stock market crash of the late 1920s brought those dreams to a halt. They were left with what is now lovingly called “The Holy Box.” But it is still grand in its own way and with great acoustics.
Once inside, convention chair David Dahl welcomed us, calling it “a gathering of the family.” There were 310 of us greeting old friends and meeting new ones from all over the world with a common interest: love of the organ.

We came this night, of course, to hear the landmark 4-m 1965 Flentrop organ, with its spectacular and breathtaking 32′ copper façade, in a concert by Thomas Joyce, the assistant organist at St. Mark’s, followed by Compline. Joyce played Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky (1870–1937) as transcribed by Keith Johns. He managed to make this very romantic score work quite well on this beautiful mid-20th century organ with all its neo-baroque accents. My favorite was “Bydlo,” the ever-nearing ox cart thundering past us with its great weight, and then disappearing over the hill; the snarling reeds were very effective. The humor in “The Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks” was most engaging. The organ sparkled as tiny beaks struggled to break through their encasing shells. The majesty of “The Great Gate of Kiev” brought the piece to an end. The sweeping acoustics of this great church and the underpinning of the mighty and blazing reeds and the 32′ stops lifted us from from our pews. It was a brilliant performance.
There was a 40-minute intermission of sorts between concert and Compline. Halfway through this interval, David Dahl invited us to enter into a spirit of silence prior to the beautiful and famous Compline service, sung each Sunday evening since 1955 at St. Mark’s by a volunteer choir of about fifteen men. It usually attracts anywhere from 500–1000 young people who stretch out on the floor or the pews, some bringing bedrolls. They absorb the simple beauty of the chants and the readings. It is broadcast live over KING-FM radio, and can be heard worldwide via the Internet.
We became silent as the hundreds of young people joined us. The sun set, the lights dimmed, candles were lit. There were no “praise” bands, no guitars, no drums. The choir entered wearing black cassocks and long white surplices. They stood in the back of the church in a corner. They were led by Peter Hallock, Canon Precentor Emeritus, who founded the choir and is composer of much of the music they sing. The chanting was elegant and refined but never precious. The tuning in the homophonic sections was perfect. The beautiful anthem was Canon Hallock’s If We Could Shut the Gate, scored for male voices, violin, and organ. It was a tranquil and quietly spiritual end to the first day.

Monday, July 14
Our hotel was the Holiday Inn at the airport, standing in a cluster of airport hotels, including one called “The Clarion Hotel.” My room had a great view of Mount Rainier rising majestically over the “Clarion.” We had a great rate of $82.00 per night, which included a lavish breakfast. Trouble was, we always had an 8:00 a.m. departure. So, if we wished to dine in what was a rather small dining area, we had to be down there by 6:00!

Monday morning took us into downtown Seattle to Benaroya Concert Hall to hear Carole Terry demonstrate the large 3-m concert hall organ by C. B. Fisk. The simple façade of this organ includes some of the open wood pipes of the 32′ Prestant. I’m not normally a big fan of wooden façade pipes, but these blended well with the browns and tans of the Benaroya complex; also in the 32′ department: Untersatz 32′, Tuba Profunda 32′, and Grosse Quinte 102⁄3′. The room is notorious for its poor bass response and generally dry acoustic, so all that 32′ tone proved to be necessary to fill out the bottom of the range.
David Dahl introduced Ms. Terry as “Seattle’s First Lady of the Organ.” She began her program with Dahl’s fine Fanfare Introduction: The National Anthem, which we then sang. She continued with three chorale preludes by Bach, putting various solo voices on display: the reeds, the cornet, and the flutes. Next was William Bolcom’s Sweet Hour of Prayer, in which we heard the Fisk’s strings and foundation stops. Then three pieces from François Couperin’s Messe pour les Convents: Plein Jeu, Premier Couplet du Gloria; Duo sur les Tierces, Troisième Couplet; and Chromorne sur la Taille, Cinquième Couplet, which showed that this versatile organ can speak French quite well. Sowerby’s beautiful Air with Variations showed off the Swell strings, the Solo Clarinet, and later the Flauto Mirabilis. These were full-throated and wonderful pipes! Carole Terry’s last piece was the opening Allegro Vivace from Widor’s Symphonie No. 5. This heavily land-mined piece caused her to stumble slightly a few times, but she managed to bring it off. Her melodic lines were nicely delineated. She chose her literature and registrations well. None of us could come away from this recital complaining that we didn’t hear a fine demonstration of this important instrument—part of a new generation of American concert hall organs.

We then crossed Lake Washington on the Pontoon Bridge and climbed quite high above Puget Sound through well-manicured properties to Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Edmonds, Washington, to hear the church’s 1887 Geo. Kilgen & Son organ, the only surviving 3-m Kilgen tracker. Christopher Marks, assistant professor of organ at the University of Nebraska, was our soloist. Holy Rosary is a modern church built in the round, with the organ standing to the right of the altar. The organ came from the First Baptist Church in Los Angeles, and was relocated to Holy Rosary in 1980 via the Organ Clearing House.
Marks opened with a toccata from Première Suite pour Grand-Orgue (1900) by Felix Borowski (1872–1956, a son of Polish immigrants), which began on the Swell with shades closed, and built to a fortissimo. Another piece by Borowski followed: Allegretto-Allegro leggiero from his Third Sonata (1924), which demonstrated some of the soft sounds of this lovely organ. Two andantes by American-trained organist George F. Bristow (1829–1898) from his Six Pieces for the Organ (1883) were followed by a hymn by Thomas Hastings: “Hail to the Brightness of Zion’s Glad Morning” to the tune Wesley by Lowell Mason. He closed with four selections from Seth Bingham’s Seven Preludes or Postludes on Lowell Mason Hymns (1945), which sounded just dandy on this organ. He played Nos. 1, 2, 4, & 5; the first was based on the hymn we had just sung. I especially liked #4: “Watchman, Tell Us of the Night.” He used the reeds to great effect. I recommend these pieces! Marks, a fine player, gave us a great OHS recital with well-chosen literature to demonstrate the many lovely sounds of this organ.
Our fleet of buses took us to the attractive Trinity Lutheran Church in Lynnwood, Washington, where we were served a tasty box lunch. At 1:00, the tireless convention chairman David Dahl gave a fascinating address: “Tracker Organbuilding in the Pacific Northwest.” He traced the arrival of American tracker organs from the East Coast in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In the mid-20th century, European tracker organs were brought in. The famous Flentrop at St. Mark’s Cathedral in Seattle is a good example. There were others, too: St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Medina has a Metzler from 1971. But late in the 20th century, the Pacific Northwest began to get its own voice from builders such as John Brombaugh, Paul Fritts, and Martin Pasi.

We would hear many fine instruments by these gentlemen and others. In fact, one of them stood to Dahl’s right: Martin Pasi’s beautiful Opus 4 from 1995. This 2-m, 30-stop, mechanical action organ is in a freestanding black walnut case, with eight Italianate arches serving to frame the façade pipes. It was demonstrated by Julia Brown, who was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and received her graduate-level training in organ at Northwestern University studying with Wolfgang Rübsam. She opened with a jolly Noël by Jean-Francois Dandrieu, then two fantasias by Louis Couperin. A charming chorale prelude by Scheidemann was then played on the clear 4′ flutes. Next was a beautiful chorale prelude on Wie schön leuchet der Morgenstern by Niels Gade (1817–1890), leading into the hymn by the same name, which she and the organ led with great ease and grace. Another Noël followed, this one by José Jesus Estrada (1817–1890): Noel en estilo frances del siglo XVIII, which demonstrated more of this wonderful organ’s stops including the Zimbelstern. Brown closed her recital with Buxtehude’s Praeludium in F, BuxWV, in which we heard the fine influence of Professor Rübsam. This was another outstanding recital.
Our buses took us back on the road for a visit to Blessed Sacrament Church in Seattle. The huge building, with gorgeous gardens and a school across the street, loomed large in the neighborhood. The organ stood in the left transept. It came from St. Dominic’s Roman Catholic Church in San Francisco, and was installed in Blessed Sacrament in 2005. The organ began life as an instrument by Henry Erben for a church in Nyack, New York, and was rebuilt by Francis J. N. Tallman (1860–1950), who essentially made it a new instrument. It was rebuilt again in 1914 by Michael A. Clark, and then moved to San Francisco. St. Dominic’s decided after remodeling that the organ no longer met their needs, so it ended up at Blessed Sacrament.
We had arrived early, so Scott Huntington gave us an impromptu introduction to the history of this fascinating instrument as only he can. That, plus the first-rate account of this organ written in the convention atlas by Stephen Pinel, provided us with unusually thorough preparation for the concert.
Our performer was OHS favorite George Bozeman. He began his demonstration of this 2-m, 15-stop organ with
C. P. E. Bach’s Sonate in G Minor, Wq 70/6, perfectly suited to this fine organ. The hymn was “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling” (tune Beecher). He then played his own transcription of Four Sketches, op. 15, by Amy Beach (1867–1944), quite intoxicating and evocative: “In Autumn,” “Phantoms,” “Dreaming,” and “Fire-flies.” George, if you haven’t published these pieces, please do! The music and your performance were both great!

Our next stop was a happy return to St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral back on Capitol Hill. We had time to peruse the fine cathedral shop, where we were given a 10% discount. We also had a cocktail party with delicious snacks on the cathedral grounds, followed by a fine Bastille Day French meal in Bloedel Hall. We took turns entering the beautiful Thomsen Chapel, the only part of the cathedral that was finished in Gothic style (one can only imagine what the whole building would have looked like had it been finished), which now contains a jewel of an organ by Paul Fritts & Co., Opus 22, 2003. This 2-m and pedal, 18-stop organ sits in the west balcony and fills the room with its beauty. Thomas Joyce, assistant organist at the cathedral, played brief demonstrations for us. He is a charming young man with a great future.
But the major event of the evening was in the cathedral itself: a brilliant concert by J. Melvin Butler (who, I’m told, is also a superb violist!), canon organist and choirmaster of St. Mark’s. He opened with a dazzling performance of Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in G Minor, BWV 535. Mel Butler’s talented fingers and toes and the marvelous clarity of the Flentrop organ made the music sing. Two selections from Bach’s Leipzig Chorales followed: Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 661, in which we heard the solo line on a small cornet with a gentle tremolo; and O Lamm Gottes unschuldig, BWV 656. In the middle section, the upperwork glimmered like light glancing off faceted gemstones. The majestic finale (with the cantus firmus in the pedal) was pure muscularity. The first half of the program ended with Buxtehude’s chorale fantasia on Nun freut euch, lieben Christen g’mein, BuxWV 210. It was first-rate playing by one of Seattle’s best organists on an organ that never fails to thrill.
The second half began with Fanfare for Organ by Richard Proulx, which ran a good circuit through the many trumpet stops, vertical and horizontal. It was followed by In Quiet Joy from a composer new to me: Mark Winges, b. 1951. Lovely flutes and deep-water pedal 16′ stops supported the occasional soft solo reed, then turned to quiet strings briefly, and went on as before. The strings returned supporting a solo flute. It is an exquisite piece. The hymn “When in our music God is glorified,” sung to the tune Kaytlyn by Joseph Downing (1982), was followed by Canon Butler’s Fantasy on “Kaytlyn,” a fine piece with moments of quiet and introspection, ending gently with two rings from a chime.
Butler rounded off his program with two pieces by the great 20th-century American organist and composer Leo Sowerby: Arioso and Toccata. Arioso, with its plaintive call from a quiet reed stop, gave us a sense of serenity tinged with longing. It is a masterpiece, and Butler brought out each poignant nuance. By way of contrast, Sowerby’s fiery Toccata drew the evening and first full day to a rousing and blazing close. Butler’s fleet fingers sent the notes flitting from pillar to pillar in this great “Holy Box.” We cheered!

Tuesday, June 15
Tuesday morning found us high atop our hotel in a circular ballroom with a splendid vista of Mt. Rainier. We had come to hear a loving tribute by Mark Brombaugh to his brother John, a seminal figure in American organ building. The lecture was entitled “Singing Pipes: The Artistic Legacy of Organbuilder John Brombaugh.” Mark explained how John’s early training with Fritz Noack, Charles Fisk and Rudolph von Beckerath influenced him. He then proceeded to trace John Brombaugh’s own ideas of voicing: the vocale style of sound—making pipes sing in a beautiful vocal manner. He went through each of John’s instruments, giving well-thought-out descriptions of each. I was especially interested in his Opus 33, which stands four blocks from my house, on the campus of Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. It was also fascinating to hear the list of men who had worked with John over the years and who have now gone on to be fine organ builders in their own right. The list reads like a who’s who of American organ building, and includes Fritts, Taylor & Boody, Pasi, Richards & Fowkes. Not bad! It was a most entertaining and informative summing up of a great career.

Our first concert of the day was at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Auburn, Washington, by Carol Foster on the church’s E. & G. G. Hook & Hastings organ, Opus 591 from 1871. Its caramel-colored pipes and honey-like case gleamed in the modern, light-filled room. The program began with the presentation of the OHS Historic Organ Citation for the 2-m, 12-stop instrument—the 368th such citation the society has given to instruments of historic interest. The organ’s first home was in Philadelphia, then in Camden, New Jersey. St. Matthew’s acquired it from the Organ Clearing House.
Carol Foster, a woman with a long and distinguished career, is currently parish musician at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church on Whidbey Island, Washington. Her first piece this day was a charming Andante & Gavotte from a sonata by Thomas Arne. That was followed by Craig Phillips’s (b. 1960) Prelude on “Divinum mysterium.” The room-filling sound of even the flute stops on this little organ let us know that this was indeed a Hook organ.
Next up was the early American tune “Restoration” from Sacred Sounds by George Shearing (b. 1919), in which Foster gave us a good hearing of the foundation stops. That was followed by Song of Happiness (1914), by Roland Diggle: a sweet, sentimental piece that brought many a smile. Then came Theodore Dubois’ Cantilène religieuse. Foster joked about the tremolo, which was a force unto itself. She used the Oboe (the organ’s only reed), but it sounded like there was a flute with the oboe. She ended with an energetic and jolly performance of Jacques Lemmens’s Fanfare. The hymn “Come, We That Love the Lord” (tune Vineyard Haven) closed this fine recital.
We drove to Olympia, paying a brief visit to handsome government buildings, then went downtown to eat lunch in the lobby of the Washington Center for the Performing Arts. After lunch, Andy Crow performed for us on the theater’s mighty Wurlitzer. He has several silent film scores to his credit. We were treated to his accompaniment to the Laurel and Hardy silent film “Double Whoopee,” which was hysterical. His expert accompaniment kept pace with craziness on the screen. He used the organ’s resources very well, and also played a number of classic American songs. It was a fun midday break.
Our next stop was Spanaway Lutheran Church in Spanaway, Washington, and its attractive 1905 Jesse Woodberry & Co. Opus 225 organ. Built in Boston, it was acquired by the Organ Clearing House. Its walnut case and white façade pipes with gold mouths make for a striking appearance, and its two manuals and 18 ranks work very well in this appealing space, standing as it does to the right of the altar. Much of the restoration work was lovingly done by members of the congregation under the leadership of organbuilder Stephen Cook. Carpeting was pulled up and a hardwood floor was installed.
We began with the presentation of the Historic Organ Citation by Stephen Schnurr. The recital was played by Kevin Birch from Bangor, Maine, where he teaches organ and harpsichord at the University of Maine’s School of the Performing Arts. He began with Arthur Foote’s Festival March, op. 29, no. 1 (1893), which demonstrated the foundation stops nicely—a good solid forte. An additional Foote piece followed: Allegretto, op. 29, no. 2 (1893), which walked us through this fine organ’s softer sounds. The Great Flute d’Amour 4′, played one octave lower, was particularly effective. The Swell shades created an incredible pp. The hymn was “Abide with Me” (Eventide). In a masterful bit of accompanying, he never dominated, he led.
The closing piece was Dudley Buck’s Variations on “The Last Rose of Summer.” Among other fine things, we got to hear the gentle Swell strings. I also liked the Swell Violin Diapason in its rich tenor range. I was struck thus far this week by the number of recitals that ended pianissimo. This was one of them. The magic swell shades on this organ really did their job!

We then went to the Chapel of Trinity Lutheran Church in Tacoma (Parkland). A brass trumpet bedecked with blue ribbons was suspended from a wrought iron stand outside the church’s door to greet us. We came to hear the Geo. Kilgen & Son organ from 1890. Now in its fifth home (!), this well-traveled 2-m and 12-stop organ seems quite happy in its present surroundings. Even though its façade pipes are new, it was given a well-deserved OHS Historic Organ Citation. Our recitalists were husband and wife Tim and Cheryl Drewes. This would be a recital of duet and solo literature, and they jumped right in with Horatio Parker’s Quick March (for two organists). It was played with plenty of brio! Next was Humoresque for organ and piano by Widor—that was new to me. If you are in the market for a good piano/organ duet, I can recommend this one.
Tim Drewes then played Sortie (from L’Organiste Moderne) by Louis James Alfred Lefébure-Wély, which sounded like theatre music—spirited with plenty of contrast. Ah, how different early 19th-century Parisian church music was from what it would become! He then led us in the hymn “All my hope on God is founded” to the tune Michael, written by Herbert Howells and dedicated to his young son Michael, who died of polio. I never fail to be moved by this hymn and tune.
Cheryl then played Rooster Rag by Muriel Pollock (1895–1971), a humorous little piece that would make a good encore. Hopping back on the bench, Tim Drewes played a cheerful Bergamasca by Samuel Scheidt, showing this organ’s versatility. Cheryl Drewes then ended this engaging concert with a fine reading of Mendelssohn’s Sonata in D Major (op. 65, no. 5).
Sometimes you can tell a great deal about an organ builder just by visiting his or her shop. The Paul Fritts & Co. organ shop in Tacoma (Parkland) is a thing of great beauty. The wooden building is stained with an almost amber color. The large main door rises twelve feet or so to a curved arch with faceted wooden insets. We were served wine and snacks and got to look at upcoming projects and parts of an early 19th-century case they are restoring. It was all very inspirational.
We then drove a few blocks to the campus of Pacific Lutheran University. Huge old growth Douglas fir trees towered over rich green lawns and beautiful landscaping. We were served a delicious dinner in the University Center: roast pork with lingonberry sauce! God bless those Swedish Lutherans! We then walked through the beautiful campus to Lagerquist Concert Hall. The building’s entrance windows were decorated in glass flower blossoms by the world-renowned Tacoma artist Dale Chihuly. Upon entering the hall, our eyes beheld the jaw-droppingly gorgeous Paul Fritts organ, Opus 18 from 1998, surely one of the most beautiful organs in North America. The high tin content of the façade pipes and the 250 square feet of basswood pipeshades and fanciful figures all done by Jude Fritts, Paul Fritts’s sister, made for a visual feast. The tall, honey-colored case is made of old-growth Douglas fir logs, which came from local forests including Mount Rainier National Park. The hall itself has adjustable acoustics from one to over four seconds of reverberation.
The recitalist was Paul Tegels, university organist at PLU, who opened his recital with a Toccata in G by Scheidemann. He gave it a grand sweeping sound that seemed to invite us into the world of this instrument. Next we heard two selections from the Netherlands of 1599: from the Susanne van Soldt Manuscript, Branle Champagne and Almande Brun Smeedelyn. Then it was on to four versions of the tune Von Gott will ich nicht lassen, the first a four-part harmonization by J. S. Bach, then three fantasies on Une Jeune Fillette by Eustache du Caurroy (1549–1609), which showed some of the reed stops; the next version of the chorale came from Johann Ludwig Krebs’s Clavierübung, showing us the beautiful flute stops; and the last was a Fantaisie sopra “Une Jeune Fillette” by Bert Matter (b. 1936), which had a variety of sounds rhythmic and pulsating. By the end it receded to quiet flutes, which restated the chorale. Tegels closed the first half of his program with the Praeludium in D Minor (originally E minor) by Nicolaus Bruhns. The small arpeggiated figures on the Positive were delicious. When he brought on the 32′s at the end we were transported. Thrilling playing!
After intermission, we sang the hymn “Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones” (Lasst uns erfreuen) with a fine introduction composed by David Dahl. Tegels then treated us to Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in G Major, BWV 541. The boastful, chest-thumping music bounced along with a sense of self satisfaction, the wind system giving us a lovely crescendo on the final chord. Next was a Suite, op. 34, no. 1, by Widor for organ and flute, in which Tegels was joined by flutist Jennifer Rhyne. It was very pretty music that seemed highly agreeable and accessible, although the Scherzo has challenges.
For his final work, Tegels chose Alexandre Guilmant’s Sonata I in D Minor. He invested a great deal of vitality into the Introduction and Allegro, followed by just the right amount of letting up before the da capo. I am so glad that in the last 25 years or so we are hearing Guilmant’s music once again. The wonderful Pastorale, which I like to use during communion or as a prelude, was very nicely played. There are so many fine 8′ sounds on this organ. The Vox Humana buzzed along nicely with the 32′ humming below. Tegels made the Finale burst forth like fireworks, timing it just right to catch us off guard. From start to finish, it was a virtuoso performance by builder, player and architect. We had ended a long day, but our spirits were quite high!

Wednesday July 16
For the most part, this would be “Episcopal Day.” Our first stop on this bright and sunny morning was Seattle’s St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, in the Space Needle area, nestled among several inviting Asian restaurants. The churchyard featured a labyrinth and imaginative landscaping. The organ we were about to hear is quite a remarkable instrument. It hangs by cables from the trusses of this A-frame structure—even the balcony is suspended. Marie-Claire Alain called it “a flying organ.” On paper, the organ, built by Gebr. Späth (Opus 753, 1963, 2-m, 15 stops), seems rather sparse. The only 8′ on the Great is a Koppelfloete. So we were curious to hear how it would do. Walter E. Krueger, from Portland, Oregon, was our performer. He opened with Buxtehude’s Praeludium in D Minor, Bux WV 140, which he played with great flourish. It was immediately clear that this little organ was not afraid to speak up for itself. Next were two of Bach’s Schübler Chorales. Wachet auf used the Great flutes 8′ and 2′, with the Swell Trumpet 8′. The pedal seemed to be Subbass 16′ and the Choralbass 4′. It worked well. Kommst du nun showed off the twinkle in the eye of this neo-baroque organ. Krueger followed that with a gentle reading of Krebs’s Herzlich lieb’ hab ich dich, o Herr, with the ornamented chorale melody on the Swell Cornet with a sweet tremolo. The hymn was “At the Lamb’s High Feast We Sing,” which was sung in alternatim with Pachelbel’s Partita on “Alle Menschen.” It gave us a fine tour of this instrument. Full organ, complete with zimbelstern, was surprisingly hearty. It was a good demonstration recital.
On a very high bridge, we crossed the ship canal that connects Lake Washington with Puget Sound and entered the University District in bright sunshine. We parked in front of our next venue, University Christian Church, a fine structure in English Gothic style. The interior is dark, with a horseshoe balcony. Great swaths of peach and white fabric were hung from the side balconies to the rear balcony to help relieve the darkness. The windows were attractive, and the ceiling was painted in rosettes of deep blue, pale blue, light green and a rich red. This would be our first electro-pneumatic organ: a large Casavant Frères, Ltée., Opus 1302, from 1929, 4-m, 60 stops. It was dedicated by Marcel Dupré on October 29, 1929, and stands in the front of the church, with the pipes in two chambers on either side of the chancel.
Peter Guy, organist and master of the choristers at Christ Church Cathedral, Newcastle, Australia, was our performer. He also serves as director of chapel music at St. Andrew’s College within the University of Sydney. He has concertized all over the world, and had just turned 27 when we heard him—a charming young man with a quick and ready smile. He opened his program with J. S. Bach’s Now Thank We All Our God as arranged by Virgil Fox, which featured the foundation stops and reeds. This is an intact organ—unchanged; it possesses a warm but somewhat brooding sound. Next up was from Bach’s Orgelbüchlein: Christ ist erstanden, BWV 627, which had plenty of energy. Then came a piece by Graham Koehne (b. 1956), “The Morning Star” from his suite To his servant Bach, God grants a final glimpse, which uses the chorale tune “How brightly shines the morning star.” It was written in a Mendelssohnian style, and Guy played it with great sensitivity. I’d like to hear more music by this composer.
Edouard Batiste (1820–1876) provided the next piece, Andante in G “Pilgrim’s Song of Hope”—a character piece of its era, to feature many of the softer sounds of this instrument. Then came a favorite of mine, Rorate Caeli by Jeanne Demessieux, played with great sensitivity. Peter Guy then played Samuel Sebastian Wesley’s Andante in E-flat, which came off quite well on this organ, which is in need of a thorough restoration. The hymn was another favorite of mine, “O Thou Who Camest from Above,” to the tune Hereford by S. S. Wesley. Our tenors had a grand time! He closed with Louis Vierne’s Hymne au soleil, played with lots of grandeur. If I had anything critical to say about this fine recital, it would be that we seemed to hear too much of the same tone quality: rarely a solo reed, for example. I suspect that the condition of the instrument had much to do with that.

St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Seattle was next, with a recital on its fine 2-m, 47-rank Bond organ, Opus 23 from 1994. Leslie Martin, organist and director of music at the church, was the performer. The church is an A-frame structure, and the organ stands behind the altar. Its mainly copper façade pipes are surrounded by a wall of panels that have lace-like carvings through which we could glimpse a chapel behind the organ. The church also owns a portative organ by John Brombaugh. It has carved figures on three sides of people playing instruments. Brombaugh himself explained many of the details. It came from a group of six instruments built in 1979 in his Eugene, Oregon shop.
Martin began his program with Toccata Quinta by Frescobaldi, followed by Ricercar Quinto Giovanni, by Paolo Cima (1570–1612). Next, Pange Lingua by Nicolas de Grigny: Plein Jeu en taille à 4, Fugue à 5, in which we heard the powerful Great Cornet V and the Swell Trompette, and finally, Récit du Chant de l’Hymne précédent, giving a good airing of the fine Swell Cornet in the tenor register with tremblant.
Next was Brahms’s O Gott, du frommer Gott, demonstrating the versatility of this organ’s foundation stops. He then played Messiaen’s Apparition de l’Eglise éternelle. I visited Messiaen’s church in Paris, Eglise de la Sainte-Trinité, one year ago. Even though I did not hear the organ, this music was in my head, and I wondered at all the glorious improvisations he must have created in that colorful space. Leslie Martin’s tempo and approach were faster and more robust than I would prefer, but in a room lacking reverberation like this one, it may have been a wise choice. He closed with the Adagio from Widor’s Symphony No. 2 in D Major, op. 13, no. 2. We heard the strings and the Great Harmonic Flute to which was added the Great Montre 8′. It was a good, rich sound! The hymn was “O Day of Peace That Dimly Shines” to Parry’s distinguished tune, Jerusalem. I like a more majestic pace for this tune, but it was good to hear it sung by the great voices of the OHS!
We were served a nice box lunch in the parish hall. On the way to the buses many of us were taking pictures of the beautiful flower gardens around the church and in the neighborhood—blue hydrangeas and giant roses of all colors!

We then crossed the attractive Lake Washington again and climbed up the steep bluff to St. John’s Episcopal Church in Kirkland to hear Derek Nickels, director of music at the Church of the Holy Comforter (Episcopal) in Kenilworth, Illinois. I recalled hearing him at the 2006 convention and was eager to hear him again. He did not disappoint—secure, solid rhythm and sensitive musicianship again were the order of the day. The organ was a 2-m, 17-stop Cole & Woodberry, Opus 225, built in Boston in 1892. The OHS Seattle 2008 Organ Atlas has two articles about this fascinating instrument. Tom Foster tells of its original home in Highland Congregational Church, Westford Street, Lowell, Massachusetts. When the church closed, the organ was put in storage, and St. John’s acquired it in 1974. Glenn White of Olympic Organ Builders, Seattle, installed it in St. John’s, and later on Richard Bond Organ Builders did major work on the action. Stephen Pinel also wrote a fascinating essay for the Atlas on William B. Goodwin, who designed the organ. The façade has three large false wood pipes followed by a row of some 27 pipes in a wide flat. Its appearance is unique! Scott Hamilton described some of the other unique features of this instrument—it really was designed to play transcriptions.
Nickels did just that. He made great use of the organ throughout the program, playing expressively in pieces like Meyerbeer’s “Coronation March” (Le Prophète) in an arrangement by Bryan Hesford, which showed contrasting sounds, and he built up to a wonderful ff. Next was John Knowles Paine’s Andante con Variazioni, op. 17. He began on a single string stop that filled the room nicely. The first variation used what sounded like the Doppelflute 8′ on the Swell—a full, rich sound; 8′ and 4′ flutes were up next. He arched the phrases nicely. The strings repeated the opening theme.
Next were two pieces by Schumann: Sketch in D-flat Major and Canon in B Minor, in which he made the most of the resources of this organ. The jolliness of the D-flat gave way to the jingle bell effect of the B-Minor. He brought his fine program to an end with Mendelssohn’s Fugue in E Minor, giving it a spirited performance. Organ and organist were well matched. He managed the wild ride that is the pedal part of this piece with great élan. His clean playing gave life to the music. A superb performance!

I was keen to get to our next church because I always enjoy Bruce Stevens’s concerts, but also because the church, St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Medina, has a 2-m and pedal, 22-stop Metzler Söhne organ, built in Dietekon, Switzerland in 1971. This would be my first Metzler, and I’m told it is the only Metzler in the United States. I have many recordings of Metzler organs, usually played by Stevens’s teacher, Anton Heiller, so I am familiar with their outstanding quality. The church is a cruciform pattern with transepts, and the altar stands at the crossing beneath a lantern tower. The organ and choir are behind the altar.
Bruce Stevens, a well-known and distinguished figure at OHS conventions, serves as organist at Second Presbyterian Church in downtown Richmond, Virginia. He is also adjunct instructor in organ at the University of Richmond, and leads OHS organ tours of Europe. I truly admire and respect his playing. He began with J. S. Bach’s Canonic Variations on “Vom Himmel hoch, da komm’ ich her,” BWV 769. After three variations, we sang the hymn “From Heaven Above to Earth I Come” (Vom Himmel hoch). The organ led us very well. Stevens then played the final two variations, delineating the parts of the canons with clarity and grace.
There followed yet another canonic piece: Schumann’s Piece in Canonic Form, op. 56, no. 5; again we had a clear idea of where the music was going. He ended with Schumann’s Fugue on the Name of B-A-C-H, op. 60, no. 6. Stevens used this wonderful organ very well, letting us hear its fine colors and refined voicing. The glorious ff finale was spine-tingling!
Our next event was a dinner cruise aboard the elegant “Spirit of Seattle.” The relaxing evening took us on a cruise of the beautiful waters of Puget Sound. The food was bountiful, the conversation was friendly and stimulating, and the scenery was magnificent. The huge skyscrapers of downtown Seattle and the graceful Space Needle slowly began to shrink as the natural landscape took center stage. A full moon appeared as mist clung to the shores of islands and peninsulas, while the Cascade Mountains rose behind. Dominating all was Mount Rainier, gazing down like an Old Testament prophet. We began the cruise in the bright sunshine of the late afternoon, returning to shore at dusk just as the lights of the downtown buildings and the Space Needle were beginning to twinkle magically. It was a perfect evening.

Thursday, July 17
Thursday began at Calvary Lutheran Church in Federal Way, Washington, with a recital by Sharon Porter Shull, minister of music at Agnus Dei Lutheran Church in Gig Harbor, Washington, on the church’s Kenneth Coulter organ, Opus 6, built in Eugene, Oregon. Its two manuals, pedal, and 19 stops stand in the rear balcony. Roger Meers’s essay in the Atlas points out that the church’s low ceiling necessitated a Rückpositive. As the church’s music program expanded, the balcony was enlarged, bringing it forward on each side of the Rückpositive.
Shull opened with the Allegro from Vivaldi’s Concerto del Sigr. Meck (sic) as arranged by Johann Gottfried Walther—a most engaging piece, which she played in a most entertaining way. The organ has very sweet tones that were evident in the next piece, Partita on “Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten” by Georg Böhm, which would be the hymn we would sing at the end of the program. We moved forward to the end of the 19th century for Brahms’s O Welt, ich muss dich lassen, and then heard Bach’s Herr Gott, nun schleuss den Himmel auf, BWV 617. The ornamented chorale tune was played on the organ’s Schalmei 8′, but it did not seem to be alone. She then played a gentle little Trio in C by Krebs, followed by Bach’s Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier, BWV 751, for which she used the Rückpositive Cornet with tremolo. We heard the Trumpet on Bach’s Der Tag, der ist so freudenreich, BWV 605, and she closed with Fuga in C (“The Fanfare”) attributed to Bach. Shull gave it a wonderful sense of momentum and joy—fine playing all around!
Our last stop of the morning was Kilworth Chapel at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, with its elegant Paul Fritts & Co. organ, Opus 8, from 1989. We had gotten ahead of schedule, however, so they gave us a brief tour of downtown Tacoma’s invitingly attractive area. Dale Chihuly’s glass workshop is there, as well as three grand old theaters that have been mercifully spared the indignities of the wrecking ball.
We soon arrived at the University of Puget Sound’s campus and its New England-style chapel. The Fritts organ stands on the stage. Its case is white with accents of gold leaf and panels of pale green. Elaborate gold pipe shades stand guard above and below the dark façade pipes, heavy with lead. The organ is essentially North German, but the Swell Oboe 8′ is a copy of a Cavaillé-Coll stop. It was the first Fritts organ to have a Swell division, and Paul Fritts is a graduate of this school.
Our recitalist was Paul Thornock, an alumnus currently serving as director of music at St. Joseph’s Cathedral, Columbus, Ohio, where he presides over a large and magnificently red 2006 Fritts organ. His personality and his playing can best be described as ebullient. Thornock opened with Buxtehude’s Praeludium in E Minor, BuxWV 142. This organ has power and a rich tone, and his playing possessed the power and richness to match it. Next, in a partita by Walther on Jesu, meine Freude, we heard a good variety of the tonal features of this fine 2-m, 34-stop organ. The Great Rohrflöte was very pleasing. The Swell 8′ Principal with tremulant accompaniment by that Great Rohrflöte was a truly beautiful effect. Next, the Cantabile from Louis Vierne’s Symphonie No. 2 demonstrated this organ’s romantic possibilities, including its Cavaillé-Coll-style Oboe.
More romantic literature followed: the brilliant Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, op. 59, nos. 5 and 6 by Max Reger. Thornock’s keen sense of proportion and architecture was evident, and he has a huge technique. The hymn was “Lo, He Comes with Clouds Descending” (Helmsley). This was another outstanding recital at this outstanding convention. And we weren’t done yet! For lunch, we were treated to a midsummer cookout on the grounds of the campus beneath the Douglas fir trees that towered over an incredibly lush green lawn.
Our first recital of the afternoon was given by Rodney Gehrke, director of music and liturgy at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, San Francisco, and at the city’s Temple Emanu-El. He also teaches undergraduate organ at the University of California, Berkeley. He had the good fortune to be assigned the organ by John Brombaugh & Associates, Opus 22, 1979 (2-m, 23 stops) in the modern and strikingly beautiful Christ Church, Episcopal, Tacoma. David Dahl has been organist there for 38 years and told us that while the style is affectionately called “Brutalism” because it is all concrete and heavy wood, the acoustics are great and people can hear each other pray and sing. The organ resounds nicely, too!
The sun had just come out after a cloudy morning, so it was appropriate that we sang as our hymn “Now that the Daylight fills the skies” (Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend). Living as I do just four blocks from John Brombaugh’s Opus 33 (49 ranks) in the chapel at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, I heard many familiar sounds in Gehrke’s first selection, Magnificat on the Third Tone by Lebègue. Brombaugh’s vocale voicing of the principals and flutes, and the rich and full-throated reeds were his trademarks on display. The recently added Erzähler 8′ and Celeste 8′ made for a wondrous sound in Langlais’ “Chant de Paix” from Neuf Pièces. Written at the end of WWII, we can only wonder at the relief the French felt in those days. This music takes us there, and Messrs. Gehrke, Langlais and Brombaugh transported us to that eternal song of peace with their gifts of skill, art, and grace.
The Harfenregal 8′ on the Great (a stop also on the LU organ and a favorite of mine) began Hugo Distler’s Variations on “Frisch auf, gut Gsell, laß rummer gahn” from 30 Spielstücke. It was well played and demonstrated many more of the beautiful sounds of this landmark instrument. Gehrke’s
final selection was Bach’s Partita on “Sei gegrüsset, Jesu Gütig.” The chorale, played on the Great 8′ Principal, was a thing of beauty. Each variation revealed more of this truly great organ. The final variation, with full organ, was powerful, intense, and moving.

Our next stop was the First Presbyterian Church, Tacoma, for a recital by Lorenz Maycher. Whenever I see that Maycher is playing for the OHS, I know I’m in for a treat, especially when he is seated at a big romantic organ like this large Reuter, Opus 138 from 1925 (4-m, six divisions, 80 stops, 55 ranks, 121 registers). He led off with the hymn “Over the Chaos” to a tune by Russell Jackson (b. 1962). Next was a piece by Richard Purvis, “Supplication” from Four Poems in Tone. It was inclusive of all manner of supplication from quiet to intense. Then a work by Jaromir Weinberger (1896–1994), The Way to Emmaus (A Solo Cantata for High Voice with Organ) for which he was joined by gifted soprano Anneliese von Goerken, who sang marvelously. Maycher made great use of the instrument’s many gorgeous solo stops. If you have such an organ and a good soprano, you might find this a useful piece.
I was glad to see that Maycher was playing Sowerby. He is a Sowerby expert, as anyone will tell you after listening to his recordings. Today’s offering, ending the program, was Sowerby’s Prelude on “Non Nobis, Domine,” which was played with great expression and strength.
The evening event began with a blissful late afternoon non-scheduled free hour in downtown Seattle, followed by a delicious meal in Hildebrandt Hall of Plymouth Congregational Church. We then made our way upstairs to the oval-shaped church with its white/ivory walls and small stained glass windows to attend Choral Evensong as sung by the Choir of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Seattle, Gary James, choirmaster. Thomas Foster was the conductor, and Craig Phillips was the organist. The Rev. Ralph Carskadden, from St. Mark’s Cathedral, was the officiant. It was a beautiful service. The choir did very well, the music was well chosen and conducted with grace. Craig Phillips played very well on the church’s 3-m Schlicker, with 53 stops and 63 ranks. All the pipes are behind a screen that stands in back of the altar. Phillips wrote quite a bit of the music performed at this service, including a very nice Prelude from Triptych for Organ, and Serenade for Horn and Organ, for which he was ably joined by Maxwell Burdick. Psalm 150 was sung to an Anglican chant by Charles Fisk (Menlo Park)—a nice touch! Phillips also supplied the anthem, Teach Me, My God and King, that I liked quite a lot, and the postlude, Toccata on “Hyfrydol,” which is a terrific piece.

Friday, July 18
The last day of the convention—some really fine events were coming our way, and we were eager to plunge right in. We began at the large St. Alphonsus Roman Catholic Church in Seattle, which has a fantastic organ by Fritts-Richards, Opus 4 from 1985. With 2-m, 33 stops in a fabulous acoustic, and a drop-dead gorgeous case in the rear gallery featuring a Rückpositive, it is a thing to behold. The case is of painted poplar. The carved and gilded pipe shades were made by David Dahl’s late father. This very German organ was built by two young men still in their twenties who had never been to Europe.
Our recitalist was Dana Robinson, who is on the faculty of the School of Music at the University of Illinois. Those of us fortunate enough to have been at the OHS convention in 2006 heard him give the closing recital on the amazing 19th-century organ in the Troy Savings Bank Auditorium, and will not soon forget his brilliant concert that warm night. So we looked forward to hearing him again—this time on a bright cool morning and on another amazing organ. Robinson began his program with Modus ludendi pro organo pleno by Samuel Scheidt. He used the full plenum, which has a surprisingly powerful sound. Next up were two verses of Durch Adams Fall ist ganz verderbt by Heinrich Scheidemann. The first featured the warm Principal and a quiet reed. The second utilized a 4′ flute, beautifully and expressively played. He then went back for more Scheidemann: Es ist das Heil uns kommen her (two verses)—well played and using more of the instrument.
Up next was Buxtehude’s setting of Nun bitten wir den heiligen Geist, BuxWV 209. I believe we heard the Rückpositiv Sesquialtera II playing the ornamented chorale tune against the Great Violdigamba 8′ (sic)—gorgeous, clear sounds. That was also the hymn, which followed immediately. It was quite an experience to sing this hymn with this very North German organ in the resonant space of St. Alphonsus Church. Then came Buxtehude’s Ciacona in E Minor, BuxWV 160. Robinson began with the 8′ Principal and built from there. Organ, organist, literature and room were superb. Finally, we came to Buxtehude’s great setting of Te Deum Laudamus, BuxWV 218. I especially enjoyed the Great Trommet 8′. This organ has big-scaled pedal reeds, which he used well, including a full-length 32′ Posaunen. We were given a most thoughtful demonstration of this instrument by one of America’s finest players.
After a windy ride through the city, we found ourselves in the beautiful “First Hill” neighborhood overlooking downtown Seattle. We arrived at First Baptist Church and its newly acquired 3-m, 35-rank Aeolian-Skinner from 1953, which came from First Methodist Church in Tacoma, and was meticulously restored by Bond Organ Builders. Stephen Schnurr presented the OHS Historic Organ Citation. The organ is in two chambers on either side of the altar and baptistry.
Our recitalist was Douglas Cleveland, who opened his program with Handel’s Concerto in B-flat Major, a piece played on this organ 50 years ago by David Craighead. The middle section featured what I believe was the English Horn, a lovely stop. Next was Virgil Fox’s famous arrangement of Bach’s Come Sweet Death. Cleveland played it with great tenderness and expressivity. The hymn, “O for a Thousand Tongues” to the tune Azmon, was followed by a charming Scherzetto by Joseph Jongen and the lovely Woodland Flute Call by Fannie Dillon (1881–1897), which I believe was soloed on the Great 4′ Flute Harmonique.
Cleveland closed his program with the brilliant and dashing Four Concert Etudes by David Briggs (b. 1964). Following an introduction, it charged into the toccata-like “Octaves.” The next movement, “Chordes Alternées,” featured the Choir flutes alternating chords in various octaves with a melody in the pedal. Then a “Sarabande,” featuring the lush Aeolian-Skinner strings. The final movement entitled “Tierces” uses many of the motives of the earlier movements: octaves, alternating chords, etc. Cleveland gave a first-rate performance.
We then enjoyed a tasty box lunch in the labyrinthian but cozy basement of the First Baptist Church. After lunch, we returned to the sanctuary for the OHS annual meeting. Orpha Ochse was feted for all her work on behalf of the organ and the OHS. Joseph McCabe, chairman of the 2009 convention in Cleveland, gave us a tantalizing peek at all the good things it promises.
Following the meeting, we had a choice of spending some free time at the Seattle Center, which includes the Space Needle, or attending a recital by Gregory Crowell at German United Church of Christ in Seattle. Since I had been to the Seattle Center before, I chose the recital. True to form, we were early by about a half hour. The little church, in a quiet neighborhood and with a small congregation, has a rare treasure in these parts: a 1917 Hinners organ, Opus 2324. It was built in 1917 for St. Jakobi Lutheran Church in Allison, Iowa, and, after a few moves, it wound up in the safe hands of the Organ Clearing House. Legendary OHSer Randall Jay McCarty, organist of this church, installed the organ in 1976, replacing an electronic substitute. It has one divided keyboard and pedal and is a sweet charmer. Since we were so early, our distinguished recitalist Gregory Crowell, a favorite OHS performer (this would be his sixth convention appearance), agreed to begin 30 minutes early.
It was amazing how much he managed to get out of this six-rank instrument. He began with Huit Fugues pour le Clavecin ou l’Orgue by Johann Philipp Kirnberger: Preludium I & Fuga [1], which worked quite well. The organ was hand pumped. Then, using the electric blower, Crowell played Contrapunctus I from Kunst der Fuga, BWV 1080, by Bach—something I never thought I’d hear on a 1917 Hinners. But the organ held its own, and Crowell played it very well. Next came music by Max Drischner (1891–1971): Choralvorspiele für Dorforganisten; “Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern” was played on the pleasing little 4′ flute; “Die Sonn’ hat sich mit ihrem Glanz gewendet” used the strings; and “In dir ist Freude” employed the full sound. These are very nice and accessible pieces.
Next was the hymn In dir ist Freude, which we sang in German. Again the organ was hand pumped. The next piece was a bonbon: Träumerei, op. 15, no. 7 by Robert Schumann, in an arrangement by Clarence Eddy. Then came a Pastorale by Bossi, which seemed to use every register on the organ—an amazing array of sound and color. Next up was a Capriccio by one A. Pedro Zuazo (fl. 1890) that he played in a cheerfully agreeable manner. Crowell closed his program with Church Sonata I, III. Allegro, by James Woodman (b. 1957). I never cease to enjoy hearing music by composers of our time on old instruments. These instruments are never out of date. This one played music from a wide spectrum and handled all of it with ease. Good organ building is timeless.
We then returned to the hotel for our elegant buffet dinner in the twelfth floor ballroom. Then it was off to St. James Roman Catholic Cathedral, which is perched dramatically on First Hill overlooking the southern end of downtown Seattle, with its mixture of industrial loading cranes for the ships of Puget Sound, office towers, and huge sports venues. We were at St. James for the closing event of the convention: a recital by the cathedral’s organist, Joseph Adam. This magnificent Romanesque church has been remodeled/restored so that the altar stands at the crossing. There is a large oculus above the altar, which, in photographs I’ve seen, sends a dramatic shaft of light into the building from the sun above—like the hand of God reaching in. At the west end, in a beautiful case, stands the historic musical treasure we had come to hear: the great Hutchings-Votey organ of 1906. It had escaped unharmed when the great dome of the cathedral collapsed under the weight of a massive snowstorm in 1916. In 1926 a Casavant sanctuary organ was installed in the east apse. While it had only 21 stops, it had a 4-m console that connected the two organs. The 4-m Hutchings-Votey organ has 48 stops. In 2000, the Casavant was replaced by a new organ by Rosales Organ Builders, retaining five ranks from the Casavant. It totals 48 ranks on four manuals. The Rosales pedal includes a Bombarde 64′, which is unlabeled. Only the BBBB sounds, but it is most impressive. The Rosales case wraps around the wall of the apse in a series of Romanesque arches. Like the Casavant, its console can play both organs.
An ancestor of the cathedral’s first organist, Franklin Sawyer Palmer, was introduced to the audience. The director of music, Clint Kraus, spoke of the last visit by the OHS to the cathedral in 1982, when an historic citation was presented. Kraus said that that presentation was the impetus to restore the Hutchings-Votey organ.
Joseph Adam opened his program on the Hutchings-Votey organ playing Bach’s Chaconne in D Minor as transcribed by Wilhelm Middelschulte. We were all transfixed by the amazing flutes on this magnificent organ. Then came the foundation stops, which were followed by the trumpets. The kaleidoscope of tones being flung into the vast reverberant space was quite wonderful. It calmed down to a pp with rapid repeated notes on the flutes. A big crescendo briefly included the 32′ reeds, followed by a lessening of tone as we heard more and more of this instrument.
The oculus let in the last light of day as we awaited the next selections, three well-known and loved pieces by Louis Vierne: Naïades, op. 55, no. 4; Claire de lune, op. 53, no. 5; and Carillon de Westminster, op. 54, no. 6. In Naïades, his fingers flew over the keys, flutes and strings seeming to race up and down the Romanesque arches of the cathedral. Claire de lune was all tranquility—our thoughts could wander slowly as they do in moonlight. This was heartfelt organ playing. Who could not love the organ hearing such a beautiful solo flute singing to us—lost in beauty, awe and wonder. He played the Carillon de Westminster brilliantly: controlling and holding the reins together until just the right moment when he allowed the music to explode. I’ve never heard it played better.
We then sang the hymn: “Of the Father’s Love Begotten” (Divinum Mysterium), followed by a piece commissioned for this convention, Divinum Mysterium: Solemn Meditation by Timothy Tikker (b. 1958). It is a lovely work, very quiet at first, almost brooding, the music leading into a surrender to faith. It soon brightened, the manuals reflecting the stepwise melody in fast notes while the pedal sounded out the theme in long notes. All the while a crescendo grew. It is a fine piece and a good addition to the repertoire.
After intermission, Adam appeared at the east end of the cathedral, and played the Rosales organ. He began with another piece by Timothy Tikker, Variations sur un vieux Noël. The Rosales organ makes sounds that complement rather than compete with the room’s elder statesman in the west end gallery. We heard bell sounds against strings, reeds creating open fifths, tierces sounding against trumpets. A fugue broke out that was quite lively and grew to full organ. I really liked this piece, and I like this organ. We then sang “Come Down, O Love Divine” (Down Ampney) to his marvelous accompaniment.
Joseph Adam closed this fantastic recital (the cathedral, by the way, was packed—we OHSers only occupied the transepts!) with Maurice Duruflé’s Suite, op. 5. The Prelude used both organs, creating a sonic spectacle that is possible in only a handful of buildings. The Sicilienne featured a solo reed that filled the church. Sweet strings and a bubbling flute lightly danced for us. Adam is an alert and wise musician—able to address composers’ thoughts and bring them to us in an astonishing array of color. Clearly, he knows and understands these remarkable organs completely.
The great and fiendishly difficult Toccata brought the Suite and convention to a dramatic conclusion. Adam’s performance was as magnificent as the organs he was playing. We were all swept away by his powerful strength and energy. The air above and around us was charged with his utter mastery of this music. With the huge 32′ stops giving us ground, it was at times almost gloriously terrifying—a fantastic experience! There was an encore: Dupre’s Prelude in G Minor, a somewhat palate-cleansing feeling to calm and give rest to our spirits. I did not want to leave this building. It was a transforming recital, one none of us will forget anytime soon.

Closing thoughts
This was an unusual OHS convention. While we heard plenty of old instruments, they were transplants from the east or elsewhere. We were witness to a new, more youthful voice on the national and international stage, the emerging influence of the modern organ world in the Pacific Northwest. Two names came up again and again: John Brombaugh and David Dahl. These two gentlemen have led this movement and deserve our admiration. Martin Pasi, Paul Fritts, Richards & Fowlkes, Taylor & Boody, and others got their start here.
I had a great time at this well-organized convention, seeing old friends, making new ones, eating good food, and getting to know the organ world in this part of the country. Much more will come from this school of organ building. Let us enjoy watching it unfold. The Organ Historical Society will be observing it all with great curiosity, and interest. See you next summer in Cleveland, July 5–10! Oh, and my horoscope was dead on!

 

Malcolm Wechsler

Malcolm Wechsler was born in Da Bronx, but grew up in Stamford, Connecticut, totally unexposed to the sound of a pipe organ, but"taking" piano with a local private teacher. Entering Oberlin College, not Conservatory, in 1953, he studied piano as a college elective withthe late Emil Danenberg. Finally, attending student recitals, he experiencedthe sound of a pipe organ, and a passion developed that has continued over theyears. He became an organ student of Fenner Douglass in 1955. Wechsler enrolled at Juilliard in 1958 for graduate study in organ and church music, with Vernon deTar as his major teacher. He earned a Master of Science degree in organ and church music in 1963. After years of teaching and of church appointments inCanada and the U.S., he is now North American Representative of Mander Organsof London (since 1987), and Director of Music at Trinity Church, Stamford,Connecticut.

The 2003 national convention of the Organ Historical Society took place June 19-26 in South-Central Pennsylvania. It was a long, sometimes grueling week, but without question, a week of many happy surprises: organs, organ music, and organists. And let me not forget the opportunity to meet old friends, and to make new ones. There is nothing quite like an OHS convention, and I will attempt to report on it accurately and with balance.

Grand opening of the convention, Thursday, June 12

Erik Wm. Suter

Mr. Suter holds degrees from Oberlin and Yale, and is organist and associate choirmaster at Washington National Cathedral. His recital took place at St. Paul the Apostle R. C. Church in Annville, Pennsylvania, a building in which organ music looked to be contraindicated, partly thanks to heavy carpeting widely applied! However, the early 20th-century builders knew about building effectively for bad acoustics, and the 1902 E. W. Lane tracker organ proved a gentle but projecting instrument. The wind was pleasantly relaxed. The console is at the left side, and the instrument was restored by R. J. Brunner & Company in 2002. The program: Placare Christe Servulis (from Le Tombeau de Titelouze), Dupré; Prelude & Fugue in G Minor, Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen, Schmücke dich (on a single, beautiful flute), Brahms. The hymn, Schmücke dich (of course), was wonderfully sung and played. Then, Sonata IV, Mendelssohn; Torah Song, Craig Phillips (a very fine piece, toying with dissonances and clusters in a completely intelligible way); next, from Book 1 of Gospel Preludes by William Bolcom, "Just as I am," and "What a friend we have in Jesus"; the Duruflé Prelude on the Epiphany Introit; Adagio and Final (Symphony VI), Widor. This E. W. Lane instrument of 19 stops really does wonderfully well in this quite dry acoustic, but a genuine Cavaillé-Coll it is not, and a sort of heavier, more sustained, compensatory approach might have better suited the Widor. All that notwithstanding, this was a wonderful recital, and a perfect opening to yet another splendid OHS convention!

First full day, Friday, June 20

Agnes Armstong

Friday, June 20, was the first full day of the convention, and it began with a very fine lecture by Frederick Weiser. The topic was Pennsylvania German Culture, a perfect orientation to so much that we would see and hear throughout the week. Then buses took a long journey to Lititz to hear Agnes Armstrong in the Chapel of the Lindenhall School for Girls, the oldest boarding school for girls in the U.S. She played on a 7-rank, 1904 Hook & Hastings, restored (in 1998) by Patrick Murphy, whose ties to the OHS go back a long way, he having been the first E. Power Biggs Fellow.

Agnes Armstrong plays in two churches on Sunday--one of which, St. John's Lutheran in Altamont, New York, has a new French organ by Cabourdin. She has advanced music degrees from SUNY, the College of St. Rose, and New York University, has concertized a great deal, and her CDs are available through the OHS. As for Lititz, where the next three recitals took place, here is a quote from one of the many websites devoted to the place: "Located in the heart of beautiful Lancaster County, Lititz has an eclectic history dating well beyond its founding by Moravian missionaries in 1756. Situated among the rolling hills, quiet streams and lush farmlands of Pennsylvania Dutch Country . . . ." Other than the fact that the four days of rain had begun by now in earnest, this is a wonderful part of the world, and as the week unfolded, we learned also of its organic treasures, and I don't mean vegetables.

Agnes Armstrong played beautifully and sympathetically on wonderful and gentle sounds: Prelude in D, Vogler; Voluntary on a Moravian Hymn, Abraham Ritter (1792-1860); Largo in A-flat, Elizabeth Stirling (1819-1895); Will o' the Wisp (Scherzo-Toccatina), Gordon Balch Nevin; Postludium, Adolph Friedrich Hesse (1808-1863). The program ended with a hymn, as does every recital at these conventions, a moment to be looked forward to and savored: "We who here together are assembled," the tune, Covenant, by Christian Gregor, the words by Christian Renatus von Zinzendorf. What a lovely beginning to a fine first full day.

Robert Barney, the Chapel of the Single Brothers' House

Robert Barney drew the task of playing this tiny and quite delicate Tannenberg from 1793: four manual stops, no pedal. He did battle with it manfully, it having a very difficult and delicate action to play. The stops are 8' Gedackt, 8' Gamba (with 17 basses common with the Gedackt), 4' (Open) Floet (spelled thus), and a 2' Principal, lower 29 pipes in the façade. It is all very gentle, and in the first piece, Voluntary in G of Purcell, the clattering of the action nearly drowned out the music! Then followed a Pachelbel Choralthema in D Major with eight variations on the tune Alle Menschen müssen sterben. To me, the pleasures of the hymn singing we do at these conventions are greatly enhanced when we can sing in harmony, as we did this day. The tune is Gregor, in honor of Christian Gregor, who wrote the words "My portion is the Lord." The anonymous tune is from the Choral Buch of the Hernnhut Moravian community in Germany. The program offered next Will o' the Wisp of Nevin (Robert announced what we had all guessed, that this piece, not part of his plan at all, slipped into the book in mysterious ways, obviously from Agnes Armstrong's program just before); then Four Voice Fugue on the name B-A-C-H by Johann de Deo Beranek (1813-1875). Barney is organist at Trinity Episcopal Church, Concord, Massachusetts and associate director of the Treble Chorus of New England. He has an active performing and teaching life in the Boston area.

This organ had been built for a Moravian church in Frederick County, Maryland, which, in 1957, decided to set the instrument free. The Lititz Moravian community got it and packed it off to M. P. Möller for repairs and the move. In recent years, James McFarland & Co. have done further restorative repairs.

Ray Brunner, Auditorium of the Linden Hall School for Girls

This was a lecture that was certainly music to my ears--"Pennsylvania German Organ Building, David Tannenberg's Legacy." Any précis of this wonderful non-stop appreciation of such a strong artistic vein in the history of organ building would require reproducing the entire speech. Nothing could be left out. My small knowledge and experience of Tannenberg's work all came from books and articles. Obviously, by the end of this week, that all changed dramatically, and for me, one of the highlights, almost an emotional experience, was hearing and seeing David Tannenberg's very last organ, built in 1804, now safely situated in a small auditorium at the York County Museum. More about that later.

It was not just in this talk that we heard from Ray Brunner. It was also in the beauties of quite a number of organs heard in this convention, organs that his firm, R. J. Brunner & Company, had restored, repaired, and even rescued. [Ruth Brunner, wife of Ray Brunner, and a master organbuilder in her own right, died of cancer at the age of 45, on November 6, 2003. She worked hard planning this convention, and though clearly ill, kept things in order as the convention progressed. She is missed!] Ray and Ruth were a huge part of putting together and maintaining this distinguished convention. At one of our venues, they were both given an award for distinguished service to the OHS, this presented amidst cheers.

James Darling, the Fellowship Hall of the Single Brothers' House

It is now 1:45, and I must mention that we had a beautiful box lunch which would have been eaten out of doors, were not the heavens continuing to open up. James Darling is perhaps known to many who have made the pilgrimage to Colonial Williamsburg, a wonderful place to visit. He is at the center of a lot of musical activity there, particularly in Bruton Parish Church, where he has served for almost 40 years. Here, he was playing a much-traveled single-manual Tannenberg of nine stops, built in 1787. It found its way to the Fellowship Hall of the Single Brothers' House in 1983, restored and reconstructed by James R. McFarland & Co. The organ had suffered mightily from various forms of ill treatment including a fire, and required extensive work. The 20-note pedalboard has two stops of its own, a Sub Bass at 16' and an Open Wood Oktav Bass at 8'.

The program: Allein Gott, settings by Bach and Pachelbel; Fugue & Chorale, Pachelbel; four Preludes by the English Moravian, Christian Latrobe (1758-1836); the event of the day was the hymn, "Morning Star, O cheering sight," to the tune Hagen, by the Rev. F. F. Hagen, with a very young singer from the Lititz congregation as the excellent soloist; two preludes and fugues from the Well-Tempered Clavier, and closing with a Pachelbel Prelude in D.

Bruce Stevens, Salem Lutheran Church, Lebanon, Pennsylvania

At 2:30, we said goodbye to Lititz and traveled about an hour to Lebanon. Bruce Stevens played on a rather amazing organ of 1888, built by the builder who bid lowest in a competition among many, the Miller Organ Company of Lebanon, Pennsylvania. The Organ Handbook gives the names and bids of the six other builders; Miller's bid was $3,300, for which they produced a lot of organ, 31 ranks on three manuals. The Great is founded on an independent 16' Double Open, the bottom four pipes of which are stopped wood, space clearly being an issue. The Pedal also has an independent Double Open, Bourdon 16', and 8' Violoncello. The Great Trumpet is the only commanding manual reed. The Swell has only a Bassoon Oboe at 8' and the Choir has a Clarionet at 8', yet this organ makes a mighty sound, full of excitement. It is also a beautiful visual presence in the room, if a bit unusual in its presentation.

Bruce Stevens is organist of Second Presbyterian Church in downtown Richmond, and is director of the OHS European Tours, this year's heading to Sweden. His degrees are from the University of Richmond and University of Illinois, with further study in Denmark with Finn Viderø and Gretha Krogh, with Anton Heiller in Vienna, and at the Royal School of Church Music, then in Croydon. He has played recitals internationally and at 12 OHS conventions, and his CDs are available from the OHS Catalogue. The program began with the March on a Theme of Handel by Guilmant; Mein junges Leben, Sweelinck; Second Sonata, Mendelssohn; the hymn, "O Christ the Word Incarnate" (so listed in the Supplement, but as "O Word of God Incarnate" in the printed program), in Mendelssohn's harmonization, connecting us back to the Sonata. At this point, wanting to be sure that we had a complete tour of the organ, Bruce showed us the somewhat audible Choir Dulciana and the gentle Swell Viola, knowing that they would be swamped in the registrations of any pieces on the program. Then, Moderato from Tre Tonstykker, Niels Gade; Fugue (Sonata 11), Rheinberger; three Chorale Preludes, Pepping; and to conclude, the Bach Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor. Following this recital, the entire convention was fed sumptuously in one of the great spaces in these spacious buildings.

Lorenz Maycher, the Memorial Chapel of Salem Lutheran Church, Lebanon

We then moved from the original church to what began as a memorial chapel, but is now really the more used of the two buildings. It is larger as well, and sounds different, too. This place is referred to as Salem Lutheran Church (Memorial Chapel). The organ is Ernest Skinner Opus 683 of 1928. Lorenz Maycher is organist-choirmaster at Trinity Episcopal Church, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and teaches at Lafayette College in Easton. He was an OHS Biggs Fellow in 1990, and has played for six OHS conventions. Having relaxed over dinner, I was slow to enter the chapel; as I arrived the Bach C Minor Fantasy and Fugue was beginning. Whatever do my ears hear? I have not heard Bach on this kind of sound for years--a 26-stop organ, 73-note chests on Swell and Choir, thus supercoupled to be sure, fighting its way out of a chamber on one side of the chancel. The playing was the kind of legato that matches all of this. Next a wonderfully orchestral performance of the Handel Concerto in F; the d'Aquin Cuckoo; Dreams, Hugh McAmis; Suite in E Major, Everett Titcomb; Fanfare d'Orgue, Harry Rowe Shelley; the hymn, "Lord Jesus, we humbly pray" to a tune by Ignaz Pleyel; Grand Choeur No. 2, Alfred Hollins; three Songs of Faith and Penitence, by Leo Sowerby (sung dramatically by Linda Laubach, and Maycher's accompaniments were nothing less than superb); then, Impromptu, Gaston Dethier (1875--1958); and lastly, Improvisation on an Irish Air, by Norman Coke-Jephcott, one-time organist at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York.

And here endeth a very long first day of the convention. A one-hour trip brought us back to the hotel for visiting, drinking, and buying music, books, and CDs.

Second full day, Saturday, June 21

Justin Hartz at St. James Presbyterian Church, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania

We began this day with a short bus ride to Mechanicsburg. St. James Presbyterian Church is a large classroom or assembly sort of room, but with something of a raised ceiling, kind of a square dome effect. There is some acoustic to be enjoyed, not a huge amount, and we were hearing an old instrument (mid-19th century) by William H. Davis, a single-manual with a pedal Bourdon and coupler. This much traveled, much troubled instrument was rebuilt and refurbished by R. J. Brunner & Co. in 1989, including a brand new and very handsome case of simple design. Wow! What projection and richness of sound!

Justin Hartz is organist and choir director at Church of the Incarnation, Morrisville, Pennsylvania, and also frequently appears at the Aeolian organ of Longwood Gardens. A graduate of Westminster Choir College, he has a master's from Juilliard, and was a Biggs Fellow. The program: Voluntary No. 29, Andante (from American Church Organ Voluntaries, Cutter and Johnson), the 8' Open having a lovely sound and a fulfilling projection; Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, Buxtehude; Voluntary 25, Moderato, from Ryder's Short Voluntaries; Andante, K. 616, Mozart, a lovely gem of a piece, and the fluty sounds of the organ were divine; the program closed with a rather quick accompaniment to our robust singing of "Praise, my soul, the King of Heaven." This was a fine recital on a worthy little organ, by a fine organist who looked like he was having fun, the fun being happily contagious. Now, back on the buses to warm up a bit, for the short trip to Camp Hill.

Mark Brombaugh, Peace Church, Camp Hill, Pennsylvania

The organ here has a single manual with six stops, built by Conrad Doll in 1805, and lovingly restored by the Noack Organ Company in 1974. It is gentle but it is lovely, and looks down from a balcony in a truly beautiful church built in 1799. Mark Brombaugh holds degrees from Oberlin College, the University of Louisville, and Yale University. He is director of music at United Church on the Green in New Haven, and is a past national secretary of the OHS. The program: Praeludium and Fugue in A Minor (Clavier Übung 1728), Vincent Lübeck, wonderful sounds, so fresh and clean, with playing also so clean and gently driven; Partita on the Aria Jesu du bist allzu schöne, Böhm; Toccata in C, Sweelinck; Fairest Lord Jesus (five variations) by James Woodman (b. 1957), which really worked well on this small organ. All subtleties were made perfectly clear. We were well prepared, and after the fifth variation, we instantly sang, with the middle stanza in glorious harmony, thrilling in this building. Time for a fairly long bus ride to Mount Pleasant Mills, the tedium beguiled a bit by a very nice box lunch on board.

Susan Hegberg, St. Peter's Lutheran & UCC Church, Freeburg, Pennsylvania

This recital recalls the Bible quote, "it maketh the heart glad." Dr. Susan Hegberg holds degrees from St. Olaf College, the University of Michigan, and Northwestern University, and is professor of music and university organist at Susquehanna University. In addition to what turned out to be a splendid recital, we were also about to hear one of those good, old Möllers (really!). Those turn-of-the-century Möller trackers (in this case, 1904), were really lovely to hear and to behold, and this organ was reasonably substantial at 13 stops and two manuals. And, on top of all that happiness, this church greeted us with an unexpected reception, good things to eat and drink, a great kindness. The program: Sonata in D Major, C. P. E. Bach; I want Jesus to walk with me, in a fairly mild jazz setting by Joe Utterback, written for Susan Hegberg in 2002; Variations on Leoni, by Frank Ferko; after the Finale (the sixth variation), we cleverly picked up our cue, and began to sing Leoni. The whole recital was a model: the playing was solid throughout, and the program was interesting to all. Back on the bus, headed for Mount Pleasant Mills, a 30 minute journey.

MaryAnn Crugher Balduf, Botschaft ("Grubb's") Lutheran Church, Mount Pleasant Mills, Pennsylvania

Well, to begin, what's a Botschaft? My Cassell's says it's Tidings, or News, or a Message. I suppose "Tidings" has the most promise as a church name. Improbably enough, Grubb's refers to someone who actually owned the church at one time, but his name was really Kruppe--that is quite a morph. This was a Reformed congregation, but they became quite weak, and in 1934, the Lutherans took over the church, buying the building for $1, which was worth something in those days, but surely not as much as a church. The organ was built circa 1865 by John Marklove of Utica, New York. It was discovered by the Organ Clearing House, and in 1978 James R. McFarland & Co. relocated it and did the work of reconstruction and restoration.

MaryAnn Crugher Balduf is an old OHS hand, having played many a convention recital over the years. She has a reputation for presenting interesting programs on single-manual instruments, and that is what she got this year (7 stops and a pedal Bourdon): Processional, Grayston Ives (b. 1948); Cornet Voluntary in F, John Humphries (1707- 1730?); Entrée (Messe Basse, op. 30), Vierne; Koraal (Suite Modale, op. 43), Flor Peeters, Andante No. 2, Henry Stephen Cutler (1825-1902); Improvisato (op. 37, no. 6), Arthur Bird (1856-1923) [see "The Organ Works of Arthur H. Bird," The Diapason, February, 1995]; Hommage (Twenty Four Pieces for Organ) and American Folk-Hymn Settings for Organ (which incorporated five stanzas of "Amazing Grace"), Jean Langlais. Not on the printed program was the Sortie of Theodore Dubois, an exciting finale to an interesting recital. On the bus to Danville, for a ride of approximately one hour.

Michael Britt, St. Paul's-Emmanuel UMC, Danville, Pennsylvania

Heretofore, on this day, the convention had been divided in two, but before we heard Michael Britt's fine recital, we were all driven to First Baptist Church, reunited with the other half of our convention and fed a fine dinner. It was then just a short ride to St. Paul's-Emmanuel UMC. Michael Britt is native to Baltimore, and graduated from the Peabody Conservatory. He concertizes as both a "classical" and a "theatre" organist, being a frequent performer at the Capitol Theatre in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. His assigned organ this week: a really fine 19-stop A. B. Felgemaker of 1892, Opus 584, a wonderful looking instrument in addition to being distinguished tonally. The program: American Rhapsody, Pietro Yon (this was Yon at his most exploitative, a bag full of American patriotic melodies crowned at the end by the "Star Spangled Banner," assuring a standing ovation every time!); Count Your Blessings, Dan Miller (b. 1954); Hymn Prelude on the tune Bethany (op. 38), Seth Bingham; world premiere of Prelude on Marching to Zion, Wayne Wold (b. 1954), a fine work, clearly from our century, and totally digestible. The composer was in the audience, and was well cheered by all. Of course, we next sang "Marching to Zion," and the entire convention roared full throat--"We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion; we're marching upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God!" It was really something, and it would not have been possible without a rather incredible accompaniment from Michael Britt. What a great concert! For our next venue, no muss, no fuss, no bus, Gus. With a police escort by the entire police force of Danville, all one of them, we walked across the street to Mahoning Presbyterian Church where Bruce Cornely made a bit of OHS history.

Bruce Cornely, Hymn Sing, Mahoning Presbyterian Church, Danville, Pennsylvania

I'm not sure this evening's event was a "first," but certainly I don't remember anything quite like it at an OHS convention. It was a Hymn Sing that really was a SING. We hardly stopped, and I don't think I was alone in enjoying just about every minute of it. The whole evening was created and "executed" by Bruce Cornely. He is a long-time member of OHS and a strong presence on the Pipe Organ lists. He has studied organ with Ronald Rice, William Weaver, Robert Bennett, Robert Jones, and William Barnard, and is organist at First Baptist Church in Gainesville, Florida. The church was packed with our entire convention and many parishioners. We were well supported by Hook & Hastings Opus 1073 of 1882, a quite powerful 22-stop instrument. The Great has a 16' Bourdon, extended from the 8', a three-rank Mixture, and a Trumpet; the eight-stop Swell contains a Cornopean and a Bassoon/Oboe at 8' pitch; the Pedal has a 16' Open Wood, a 16' Bourdon, and an 8' Violoncello. Bruce varied these resources deftly, with registrations that kept us interested through the entire program. The 17-page booklet we were handed as we entered the church was beautifully organized, and cleverly, too. One could hold the booklet under the hymnal, and with the directions, like unison stanza one, etc., written way over to the left of each sheet, it was possible comfortably to read both the directions and the pages of the hymnal.

"Wind who makes all winds that blow," (Aberystwyth)--as an introduction, Bruce played a Chromatic Fugue by Johann Pachelbel; "Bless the Lord, my soul and being" (Rustington); "New songs of celebration render" (Rendez a Dieu), as introduction, No. 29 of 29 Short Preludes by Carl Nielsen; "With joy I heard my friends exclaim" (Gonfalon Royal), as a prelude, excerpts from Communion by Theodore Dubois; "Give praise to the Lord" (Laudate Dominum); "Let the whole creation cry" (Salzburg); "All praise to God for song God gives" (Sacred Song); "Called as partners in Christ's service" (Beecher); "As those of old their first fruits brought" (Forest Green); "The church of Christ in every age" (Wareham); "We all are one in mission" (Woodbird); "In Eden fair" (Aldersgate), with text and tune by Bruce Cornely. Finally, a somewhat solemn moment: another tune and text by Bruce, Laufman, in honor of the late Alan Laufman, for so many years director of the Organ Clearing House, and also editor of the yearly Organ Handbooks. This was good, and was well sung by all. Despite occasional problems in this massive undertaking, I thought it was a really rich and meaningful event, and lots of fun as well.

Third full day, Sunday, June 22

This was a gentle day, beginning with the Annual Meeting of the Organ Historical Society in the hotel at 9 am. From this meeting, one can always learn a great deal about the workings of the Society, and of the great scope of its influence and importance to us and to our chosen instrument. Michael Barone passed the office of president on to Michael Friesen, who will continue the other Michael's always wise and steady shepherding of the organization. I note with pleasure, as I have been able to do in the past, the large number of members interested enough to awaken early to attend the proceedings. Some slipped away at the Holy Hour of 11:00 to attend church in downtown Harrisburg.

Vaughn Watson, Basilica of the Sacred Heart, "Conewago Chapel," Hanover, Pennsylvania

After a good lunch at the hotel, we took a relaxing post-prandial bus ride to the historic "Conewago Chapel," or really, The Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Hanover, Pennsylvania. "Conewago" comes from a settlement near the St. Lawrence River in Canada, and a similarly named creek that runs somewhere near the church. The present, impressive, building was finished in 1787, and was then the largest church yet built in the United States. It is the oldest Catholic church in the U.S. built of stone. Neither the acoustic nor the organ are shy. Looking at the stoplist of this 10-stop Hook & Hastings instrument, Opus 1866 of 1900, one has to ask whence cometh this wall of sound. The Great has four stops, an Open Diapason, possibly the scale of a smoke stack on the Queen Mary, a Viola da Gamba, a Doppelfloete--all these at 8' pitch--and a 4' Octave. The Swell has five stops, a Violin Diapason, a Stop'd Diapason, and a Salicional, all at 8', and a 4' Flute Harmonique. There is an 8' Trumpet, for reasons unspecified, not the original, but a Hook & Hastings replacement. The sole Pedal stop is a large Open Diapason 16'; oh, and there is an intermanual supercoupler!

Vaughan Watson is a graduate of Fordham University, and has studied for a number of years with William Entriken at First Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. Since 1992, he has been director of music at Abiding Presence Lutheran Church in Fort Salonga on Long Island. His program: Prelude (Three Pieces for Organ, op. 29), Gabriel Pierné (1863-1937); Lo, how a Rose and Herzliebster Jesu (Opus 122 Chorale Preludes), Brahms. Looking at the specification, one sees (and hears) the beauty of the five relatively quiet 8' stops, not, of course, counting the Open Diapason in that. This served both Brahms works wonderfully well. Sortie in E-flat, Lefébure-Wély; Prelude, C. S. Lang; the hymn: "Most Sacred Heart of Jesus," a highly sentimental-sounding tune by a Jesuit, just identified as Fr. Maher, S.J.; Nos. 3 and 5, both in D Major, from Six Little Fugues, Handel; from Three Characteristic Pieces of Langlais: 1. Pastoral-Prelude, an absolutely charming work, and the lovely and introspective Interlude, both perfect choices for the organ and the space; lastly, Variations sur un Noël Bourguignon, André Fleury (1903-1995). After the program, we sang "Faith of our Fathers," all in unison; I guess it was a special favor to someone. Anyway, unison sounded quite o.k. in this building. This was an interesting program, a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon. There were nervous moments, but all in all this was very nicely done, and one is grateful for the chance to hear some music "less traveled."

At this point, a relaxing and short bus ride took us to St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Hanover, which we visited just for a very nice church supper. We were well looked after here, which gives me a chance to point out that, while registration for OHS conventions is a bit higher than is the case with AGO conventions, all meals are included, which is a great time saver for convention-goers, and the food is always well done. Usually, perhaps once when we are at concerts in the downtown area of a large city, we might have lunch on our own--a nice chance to explore restaurants in the area. This happened once during this week, and it was indeed a nice experience. Now, on to New Freedom--sounds good to me.

James Hildreth, St. John the Baptist R. C., New Freedom, Pennsylvania

Since 1987, Mr. Hildreth has been organist at Broad Street Presbyterian Church, Columbus, Ohio. He is also organist for the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. I believe this is his first performance for an OHS convention, and I hope not his last. In a church packed with convention attendees, parishioners, and the larger community, he gave a performance that really satisfied all, both connoisseurs and amateurs alike. We were beguiled by his chosen program and the total competence of his playing; those less familiar with the organ and its repertoire also responded to his spoken comments. Well, we did too. The organ is Opus 2024 (1904) of Hook & Hastings, relocated and rebuilt by R. J. Brunner & Company, purveyors of much organic good in this part of the world. They converted the old tubular pneumatic action to electric action, which made it possible to make the console movable within the small space of the choir area. This organ is not small, with 26 stops on two manuals. Given the great numbers of parishioners present, one would assume that organ recitals here have been popular.

The program began with a solid and exciting performance of the Guilmant Grand Choeur (Alla Handel), op. 18, no. 1, our first experience of the really exciting full sound of this instrument; two Orgelbüchlein chorals, Ich ruf zu dir and Wenn wir in höchsten Nöthen sein; Trumpet Voluntary in D, John Bennett; Prelude & Fugue in G Major, Mendelssohn; Souvenir (op. 27, no. 1), Marcel Dupré, published in 1931; Nocturne, Arthur Foote; Thunderstorm, Thomas P. Ryder (no Orage pedal in sight, we had pedal clusters in abundance); Festival Toccata, Percy Fletcher (1879-1932). We sang the hymn "By all your saints still living" to the tune St. Theodulph. The evening ended with a breathtaking improvisation, merging the tune St. Theodulph with Ut Queant Laxis, the hymn of St. John the Baptist, clever and wonderful in every way. What a great recital.

Fourth full day, Monday, June 23

Thomas Lee Bailey, St. Paul's United Church of Christ, New Schaefferstown, Pennsylvania

This day began with the earliest morning bus departure of the convention: 7:45! Thomas Lee Bailey is organist and choirmaster of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, New York. He holds a bachelor's degree from Virginia Commonwealth University, and a Master of Divinity from Virginia Theological Seminary. The organ is by Samuel Bohler, and is now 110 years old! It was built for Zion Union Church, Womelsdorf, Pennsylvania, and in 1950 was moved to St. Paul's, with some repairs, by Justus Becker. Just this year, it was restored, including a recreation of the original reservoir and wind trunks, by R. J. Brunner & Company. There are 12 stops, with the Pedal containing only a 16' Sub Bass.

The program: Scherzo in Sol Minore per Organo, Marco Enrico Bossi; Prelude in E-flat Minor, Vincent D'Indy; "Humoresque" from L'Organo Primitivo (Toccatina), Pietro Yon; the hymn, "O Master let me walk with Thee," tune de Tar by Calvin Hampton; Andante with Variations (posthumous), Mendelssohn; Roulade, Seth Bingham. (1882-1972). This was a splendid recital.

Rosalind Mohnsen, Old Belleman's Church, Mohrville, Pennsylvania

Rosalind Mohnsen's biography in the Organ Handbook mentions that this was her 17th appearance at an OHS convention! She holds degrees from the University of Nebraska and Indiana University and later studied with Jean Langlais in Paris, and is director of music at Immaculate Conception Church in Malden, Massachusetts. The organ, single-manual with 13-note pedalboard, surmised to be of the 1870s, is also surmised to be the work of Samuel Bohler, and Ray Brunner gives cogent reasons for making this assumption. The disposition is interesting. The manual compass is 54 notes, and the four 8' stops share a common bass, each thus having 37 pipes of its own; all 8': Open Diapason, Clarabella, Dulciana, and Stopped Diapason. One then draws the Stopped Diapason Bass, with its 17 pipes, to provide the lower octave and a bit. There is also a 4' Principal, Twelfth, and Fifteenth. The Pedal has a stop at 16' simply called "Pedal Bass," with 13 pipes, and there is also a pedal coupler. This handsome church is no longer in regular weekly use, but holds four annual services, and is also used for weddings. In this lovely program of ten pieces, I knew only two. There were five composers whose music I had never heard. I present this as a virtue, as none of the music was dull, or less than convincingly played: Concerto in G, Christoph Wolfgang Druckenmueller (listed as from Das Husumer Orgelbuch); Praeludium (from Three Character Pieces, op. 64, no. 1), Rudolf Bibl (1832-1902); next a selection of five quite varied chorale preludes, all of which managed to sound quite fine on this little instrument: Jesu, meine Freude (Neumeister Collection), J. S. Bach; Wo Gott der Herr nicht bey uns haelt, Johann Christoph Oley (1738-1789); Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier, op. 78, Sigfrid Karg-Elert (1877-1933); Herzlich tut mich erfreuen (alla Giga), Gerhard Krapf (b. 1974); Ein' feste Burg, Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg (1718-1795), something of a charming gallop on "full organ"! The hymn was a bit different: we sang "What a friend we have in Jesus" to the familiar tune, but in "Pennsylvania Dutch" or German, perhaps we should say. We had the words and knew the tune, so off we went in glorious unison, stumbling over the words a bit. Next, Fugue in 3 Voices, Charles Zeuner (1795-1857); Impromptu, J. Frank Donohoe (1856-1925); the program ended with Open Diapason March (1879), by Louis Meyer, in three words: corny but effective. It made a fun ending to a most interesting and rewarding recital.

Walter Krueger, Christ Little Tulpehocken UCC

While waiting for Dr. Krueger to begin his recital, we were edified by an attendance board prominently displayed: Attendance today 31, Offering $39.40. [Slightly better than a dollar per person!] Attendance last week 32, Attendance one year ago 26, Enrolment 50. Walter Krueger holds a doctorate from Northwestern University. He teaches music at Portland (Oregon) Lutheran School, is an adjunct professor at Concordia University in Portland, and is director of music at Trinity Lutheran Church, Portland. The instrument, in a high gallery, was built in 1862 by Joel Kantner, and while that is all that is known, there are many mysteries about this organ. It looks in several ways to be an English instrument, and as the Organ Handbook notes point out, and as many noticed early on, it can sound a bit like something out of 1962! There is lots of articulation, and the 4' Principal is louder than the 8', for starters. The tone is, however, gentle and singing, not always a 1962 characteristic. There are eight stops on its single manual, built, fortunately, on an 8' Open Diapason, ending with a 12th and 15th. There is no Pedal. For the perfect beginning, a lovely Toccata in the Aeolian Mode, by Sweelinck; Toccata for the Elevation (Fiori Musicali), Frescobaldi; Fugue on the Trumpet, François Couperin; La Romanesca with Five Variations, Antonio Valente (1520-1580); Berceuse (24 Pieces in Free Style), Louis Vierne; Gehende and Schnelle (from Thirty Pieces for Small Organ), Hugo Distler (1908-1942). The program ended with an attempt to meld a Johann Gottfried Walther Partita with the hymn (chorale) we were to sing. The partita was splendid--the melding process did not work too well, as in each of the three stanzas we were to sing (Jesu, meine Freude, Bach harmonization), we were really left uncertain about where to begin. The whole process began with Dr. Kreuger playing the chorale, as Walther harmonized it. Then we sang stanza 1. The second part of the Partita was played on 4' stops alone, the third on just flutes. Then we sang stanza 2. The Partita continued with part four, in sixteenth notes. Part five was on the softest stops in the organ, and part six was on two manuals. At this point, we sang stanza three of the chorale, followed by part seven of the Partita, on "full organ," an apt ending for a most pleasant concert.

Sally Cherrington Beggs, North Heidelberg UCC Church, Robesonia, Pennsylvania

Upon entering this church, one was immediately plunged into a mood of serenity and expectancy. Something lovely had to happen in this place, and it did, beginning with the visual impact of the late afternoon sun highlighting the gold in the stenciled organ case. Then, the gentle and beautiful qualities of the 1892 single-manual (and pedal) organ by Samuel Bohler. A Pennsylvania native, Sally Cherrington Beggs holds degrees from Susquehanna and Yale universities. She is presently college organist and chairs the music department at Newberry College in South Carolina. In honor of the fact that this church began life as a Moravian congregation, we first heard, from Nine Preludes for Organ of Christian Latrobe (1758-1836), Preludes 2 and 3; Variations on God Save the King, Charles Wesley (1757-1834); Adagio and Scherzo (for mechanical organ), Beethoven; Mozart Changes, Zsolt Gardonyi. Dr. Beggs had been served during this recital by a quiet and efficient page turner and stop puller. He (Stuart Weber) now became soloist, playing a Native American flute in a chorale prelude by Emma Lou Diemer, based on the Native American tune, Lacquiparle; then, Sketch No. 3 in F Minor, Schumann; the hymn, "Jesus makes my heart rejoice."

Following this recital, we hopped on the buses for an hour's ride to Annville, the home of Lebanon Valley College, which provided a very nice dinner in the college dining hall. Many of us managed to get over to the chapel, and some managed to get the Schantz wound up and going. It lacked the historicity needed for us to notice it, but I am glad we got a chance to visit the chapel and organ nonetheless. After dinner, it was back on the buses, heading for Hershey, and the Hershey Theater.

Matthew Glandorf, Hershey Theater, Hershey, Pennsylvania

Matthew Glandorf grew up in Germany, and at 16 entered the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, studying with John Weaver and Ford Lallerstedt. He presently teaches at both Curtis and Westminster Choir College. We were in a rather opulent theater with a 1932 Skinner organ, probably unlike any other, full of brassiness and with a killer Pedal division. Harrison's name is on the console, but it would seem that Skinner was actually responsible for the job, but under the thumb of Hershey's consultant, Dr. Harry Sykes of Lancaster, who probably has a lot to answer for. Certainly, what we heard this evening would not have pleased G.D.H., and possibly not E.M.S. either! Matthew Glandorf offered a mixture of a bit of organ music, several transcriptions, and one very impressive improvisation. I thought the improvisation was the most successful. The room has the deadness of any large theater, with carpets and plush seats. The program began with Sonata Eroïca, Joseph Jongen. I found it unsatisfactory on this instrument, given the over-brassy quality of the sound, which seemed to clash within itself. Glandorf's own transcription of the Rachmininoff Vocalise seemed to work quite well. It was an island of tranquility, and, I think, the sort of piece that survives transcription relatively untarnished. From then on, all hell broke loose. On to two more transcriptions of Rachmaninoff works, the first done by Mr. Glandorf himself of the famous C-Sharp Minor Prelude. With Full Organ engaged most of the time, much of the detail in the piece became muddled. Next, the Prelude in G Minor, transcribed by "G. Federlein," which could be either father (Gottlieb) or the son (Gottfried) who was organist at Temple Emmanuel in New York for many years. When it was over, I still longed for the Steinway, and in the Wagner transcription which followed, the Liebestod, transcribed by Lemare with some Glandorf additions, I wanted a full symphony orchestra to emerge on stage. Next was a brilliant performance of the Dupré Allegro Deciso, the third part of the symphonic poem, Évocation, of 1941. And then, Mr. Glandorf's towering improvisation on The Star Spangled Banner, done brilliantly, and I will happily hear him improvise again--and again. For the "hymn of the day," we then sang, of course, the "National Anthem," quite lustily, and then, it was on the buses for the Crowne Plaza, our home away from home.

Fifth full day, Tuesday, June 24

Gerald E. Mummert, York County Historical Society Museum

Today, the convention was split in three, some going to hear a 1995 organ by Ray Brunner in Mount Joy, Pennsylvania, some going to the Museum of the York County Historical Society in York, and some visiting the National Clock and Watch Museum in Columbia. I frankly regretted the forced choice, wanting to hear Ray's instrument, plus the last Tannenberg, and to visit also the watches and clocks. The strongest contender in the Must Hear category was the Tannenberg in York, and that is where I chose to go. The organ is on display at the front of a small auditorium, and to me, even though simple, it was breathtaking. Ray Brunner, who has done considerable restorative work on this instrument, gave an introduction to it, before, I presume, rushing over to Mount Joy. Quoting Ray Brunner:

"Although 76 years of age and in failing health, Tannenberg completed an organ for this large Lutheran congregation in York. The wagons carrying the organ arrived in York in late April, 1804, and Tannenberg and his assistant began the installation. May 17th, while standing on a bench or scaffold tuning the organ, Tannenberg had a stroke and fell. He died two days later; the organ was finished by his assistant John Hall."

There were eleven stops, nine manual (54 notes) and two pedal (25 notes), but the Trumpet went missing at some point. There are apparently no examples of a Tannenberg Trumpet around to copy, so no attempt has been made to add one so far. The organ survived in original condition for a century, with Midmer doing a rebuild in 1905, and that is how Ray Brunner found it in 1990. There is more restorative work he hopes to do, as budget permits, but at present, the instrument is lovely to behold and to hear.

Gerald Mummert has been since 1971 director of music in the church for which the Tannenberg was originally built, Christ Lutheran Church in York. He holds degrees from Susquehanna and Indiana universities, and is adjunct professor of music at York College of Pennsylvania. A splendid player, he offered an imaginative and interesting program, one well calculated to suit the organ wonderfully. He proved yet again that wonderful music can be made on a single-manual organ, a fact well-known to OHS members. The program began with "Hampton" by The Rev. Johann Georg Schmucker, who was pastor at Christ Lutheran from 1802 to 1836; next, Herz nach dir gewacht, by Michael Bentz, who was organist of Christ Lutheran Church, Lancaster, when the Tannenberg was installed, or possibly a bit after that. Sublime is the only suitable word for the combination of the performance, the Tannenberg, and the Brahms setting of Schmücke dich; then, Elegy (Three Pieces for Organ), William Walton; Versets, Daniel Pinkham; and we closed with a hymn by Michael Bentz, Der Herr ist Sohn und Schild, sung in three parts (SAB), arranged by Gerald Mummert, a lovely ending to this really fine recital.

Scott Foppiano, Covenant UMC, Lancaster

After the sweet gentleness of the very last Tannenberg, the next recital gave something of a jolt--from both the instrument and the player. The organ is a Casavant from 1926, and not a great deal has been done to it since its installation. There was a releathering in 1959, and another in the late 1980s. In 2002, Columbia Organ Works rebuilt the console, and "at the church's insistence" made some additions at that time. The additions were, on the Great: 2' Super Octave, and 4-rank Mixture, and on the Swell, 5-rank Mixture. The given specification fails to list couplers, other than those that have reversible pistons. However, one can surmise from 73-note chests on Swell, part of the Choir, and all of the Solo, that these have super couplers to the Great. The fact that the Great has only 61-note chests comes as a relief.

Mr. Foppiano is from Memphis, where he now serves as director of music in a church not named in his program biography. After studying in Memphis, he was a student of both John and Margaret Mueller at the North Carolina School of the Arts. Further study was with Donna Robertson, David Lowry, Thomas Hazleton, the late William Whitehead, and Gregorian Chant with Dom Daniel Saulnier from Solesmes. The program: Suite for Organ, John Ireland; Prière, Rene Vierne; Tuba Tune, C. S. Lang; the hymn, both text and tune, was written by Benjamin R. Hanby (1833-1867), a pastor in the Church of the United Brethren; Prière à Notre Dame, Boëllmann; Will 'o the Wisp (Scherzo-Toccatina), Nevin; Fest-Hymnus, op. 20, of Carl (or Karl) Piutti (1846-1902). This was a most interesting program, not all the "usual stuff." So, thank you, Scott.

Peter Stoltzfus, Otterbein United Methodist Church, Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Peter Stoltzfus is organist and director of music at All Saints' Church, Worcester, Massachusetts, and was returning to the church in which he grew up and where, for a time, he was organist and choirmaster before heading east. He introduced to us the lady who was his teacher and exemplar at Otterbein, and later in the program, played a piece that she had played all those years ago, a piece that turned him on to the organ, a chorale improvisation on the tune Deo Gratias by Paul Manz, and he managed to play it using the same registration that his teacher had used. The organ is Skinner Opus 805 from 1930. It has four divisions, the usual three with a small two-stop Echo, all of this in only 25 stops, 28 ranks.

The program: Trumpet Tune in D, David Johnson; Deo Gratias, Paul Manz; Gavotta, Padre Giovanni Battista Martini (1706-1784), arranged by Guilmant; Requiescat in Pace, Leo Sowerby; Allegro (Symphony V), Widor. One of the few composers in the tradition of the United Brethren in Christ denomination was Edmund S. Lorenz (1854-1942). In 1890, he established the famous Lorenz Publishing Company, and was also at one time president of Lebanon Valley College. We sang one of his hymn tunes, with a text also possibly by him: "Tell it to Jesus." It is in the gospel song tradition, and the convention no doubt gave it one of the best performances of its life. We were unrestrained in our enthusiasm, and then were similarly unrestrained in saluting Peter Stoltzfus for his good work past and present, including his fine performance of this evening.

Karl Moyer, St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church, Lancaster, Pennsylvania

This evening's concert by Karl Moyer put the singing of the hymn first, "Holy God, we praise thy Name," to a tune whose composer is unknown. Karl established his credentials, as if he had to, as a consummate accompanist for a singing congregation. Not many are so established! Dr. Moyer spent much of his long career on the faculty at Millersville University, while serving several major parishes in the area, most recently Grace Lutheran Church in Lancaster, from which he retired a year ago. He holds degrees from Lebanon Valley College, Union Theological Seminary, Temple University, and has his doctorate from Eastman. He has also run the Boston Marathon!

The organ is a fine Barckhoff instrument from 1891, with mechanical key action and pneumatic stop action. At 26 stops, it is a quite complete two-manual, anchored by a not slender 16' Double Open and a 16' Trombone, the latter added by James McFarland in 1985 at the time of a general restoration. Columbia Organ Works later added a new blower and did further restoration work.

The program: Prelude and Fugue in G (BWV 541), Bach; Ronde Française (op. 37), Léon Boëllmann; As the Dew From Heaven Distilling, Joseph Daynes, (1851-1920), arr. Alexander Schreiner; three movements from Sonata No. 5 in C Minor of Guilmant, 1. Allegro appassionato, 4. Recitativo, and 5. Choral and Fugue; Adagio & Fugue for Violin & Organ (op. 150, no. 6), Josef Rheinberger (with violinist Scott Hohenwarter); Wir glauben all' in einen Gott, Vater, attributed to Johann Ludwig Krebs; two Bach Two-Part Inventions, with an added voice by Max Reger: No. 3 in D and No. 14 in B-flat; Claire de Lune (Three Impressions, op. 72), Sigfrid Karg-Elert; the program closed with two settings of Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, first by Paul Manz, and second, the stupendous setting by Max Reger--a grand, high octane performance, sending us out into the night most cheerfully. What a great program, and what a great organist, a man who had much to do with the success of this convention, and still had time to give us this evening.

Thus ended the fifth full day of this great convention.

Sixth full day, June 25, 2003

Ann Marie Rigler, St. John's UCC, Boalsburg, Pennsylvania

Boalsburg is one of many historic towns in this part of Pennsylvania, and one of its claims to fame seems to be as the birthplace of Memorial Day. In late May, 1864, two families by coincidence met at the cemetery to place flowers on the graves of loved ones who had died in the Civil War. They later decided to meet again at the same time the next year, and others from the community joined them in the same observance. The idea soon spread to other communities, and that is how it all began. St. John's UCC Church was built in 1861, and by 1868 it became the home of the very first church organ built by Charles Durner. Durner was born in Germany in 1838 into a five-generation family of organbuilders. At age 21 he came to Pennsylvania and set up shop. The St. John's organ has 14 stops, including a Great 16' Bourdon (only to tenor g#) and Principals to the Fifteenth, including a Twelfth. The Swell offers two 8' Flutes and a Dulciana, 4' Flute and Vox Humana to tenor C (really a Clarinet). In the Pedal, 16' Sub Bass, and 8' Violin Bass (Open Wood). The organ had been in a west gallery, but at the turn of the century was brought down to a chamber in front. In 1971 Hartmann Beatty rebuilt the instrument, bringing the pedal to 30 notes from its original 20, and in 1990 R. J. Brunner did a proper restoration. This congregation has lovingly cared for the instrument, and has produced a fine booklet about its history.

Ann Marie Rigler is both instructor in music (organ and music appreciation) and reference librarian at the University Park campus of Penn State University. Prior to coming to Pennsylvania, she taught at a number of well-known universities, and has a long list of performance credits, including at AGO conventions. She holds undergraduate and doctoral degrees in organ performance from SMU and from the University of Iowa respectively, and a master's degree in library and information science and musicology from the University of Illinois. Generally, it takes me about five bars to figure out what kind of recital is in store. Dr. Rigler set me at ease in perhaps two bars, with her great musical assurance and musicality, and the program began with the Mendelssohn G Major Prelude (op. 37, no. 2), rather the perfect beginning for a recital on a not very large but totally unforced and honest instrument. It was beautiful sound combined with beautiful playing. Next, Canzonetta (op. 71, no. 4), Arthur Foote; Concert Variations on the Austrian Hymn (op. 3), John Knowles Paine (1839-1906), who was Foote's teacher; we finished with the expected hymn, chosen by the recitalist--in this case, Austrian Hymn, of course. Dr. Rigler's accompaniments were just right. She led us without crushing us. She was under us with just the right amount of support, leaving room for us to hear and enjoy our own singing together.

Following this recital, we strolled around the town's historic district while the other half of the convention heard the same recital. Then buses picked us all up for a short trip to State College, Pennsylvania and lunch at the elegant Nittany Lion Inn.

David Dahl, St. John's Episcopal Church, Bellefonte, Pennsylvania

This, the penultimate day of the convention, is about as perfect a day of music as one could hope for, and not the only such day in this convention, or in other conventions. Please, even if you have never done it before, give serious consideration to attending this summer in Buffalo, New York, July 13-20. You will not believe the roster of artists and the distinguished collection of organs arranged for us by Joe McCabe and his committee. Go to and click on Conventions.

The 15-stop mechanical action organ at St. John's Episcopal Church was built circa 1892 by J. W. Steere & Sons. It is an untouched original, other than for routine maintenance and tuning, and it is in perfect working order. David Dahl's program began with the Buxtehude Toccata & Fugue in F, impeccably and beautifully played; Du, O schönes Weltgebaude, Ethel Smyth (1858-1944); Concerto Voluntary-Homage to John Stanley, David Dahl; Calvin Hampton's lovely Hymn Prelude on America, the beautiful-Materna served as a prelude to our, as always, spectacular hymn singing. We were given the directions we like to have: Stanza 1, Unison; Stanza 2, Harmony, sung quietly; Stanza 3, Harmony, sung boldly. There was not a dry eye to be found. Then, Allegro in C Major (for Flute Clock Organ), Haydn; Sidste Vaar (The Last Spring), Edvard Grieg, arr. Hans Olaf Lien; Toccata in G, Theodore Dubois, a very exciting end to this splendid performance. David Dahl recently retired from Pacific Lutheran University, and continues as director of music ministries at Christ Episcopal Church in Tacoma, Washington. His list of performances in this country and abroad is a long one, and there are numerous recordings.

Kola Owolabi, Trinity United Methodist Church, Bellefonte, Pennsylvania

I first heard Kola Owolabi in Spivey Hall outside Atlanta in 2002. He was a semi-finalist in the Calgary International Organ Competition. He has a bachelor's from McGill, a master's from Yale in organ performance and choral conducting, and is now enrolled at Eastman. In 2002, in Philadelphia, he was awarded Second Prize and the Audience Prize in the AGO National Organ Performance Competition. A published composer, he has received commissions from the Archdiocese of Toronto and the Royal Canadian College of Organists. For his performance here, he played a 1902 Hook & Hastings Organ of 16 stops, Opus 1893, restored by R. J. Brunner & Co. in 1991.

The program: Sonata III in A Major, Mendelssohn; here followed the hymn, Aus tiefer Not; from the Six Canonic Studies of Schumann, we heard No. 4 in A-flat major; Voluntary No. 4, William Russell (1777-1813); O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good (from Portraits from the Psalms), Kola Olowabi; this music is unique and wonderful, while yet accessible to all. Do watch for this name--I know there will be more music. This muse cannot be stilled.

Ken Cowan, Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, Altoona, Pennsylvania

Ken Cowan's recitals always create a great buzz of anticipation. What marvelous new delights will he unleash this time? Then, add in an organ not heard by many previously, but an instrument of incredible importance in organ history. It's an unbeatable formula. We certainly were not disappointed in the least with either organist or organ. The organ at the cathedral was built in 1931 by G.F. Steinmeyer & Company of Oettingen, Bavaria, Germany, as their Opus 1543. It comprises 83 ranks over three manuals and pedal, and a fourth manual and couplers were provided for a Sanctuary division, prepared for in 1931. The organ was restored in 1990-92 by Columbia Organ Works. Cowan began his recital with the Franck E Major Choral, which sent chills down our spines. This organ is capable of tremendous volume, but it all fits incredibly comfortably in the building, so no one is overwhelmed but all are moved powerfully. Next, Variations on Weinen, Klagen, Liszt, arranged from the original piano version by Alexander Winterberger (a pupil of Liszt), and by Ken Cowan; Valse Mignon, Karg-Elert; Max Reger's transcription of the Bach Chromatic Fantasie and Fugue for harpsichord turns it into a big Romantic affair, and it got a blaze of glory at the end. After intermission, we sang Calvin Hampton's tune St. Helena to the text "There's a wideness in God's mercy;" then, O Lamm Gottes (BWV 656), Allein Gott (BWV 664), Bach; and, finally, Hallelujah, Gott zu Loben, Reger. The ovation that followed is best described as tumultuous. It just would not stop, until Ken made it clear he was to offer up one more piece. The "Jig" Fugue was the perfect encore.

Last day, Thursday, June 26

The 2003 convention's last day featured single-manual organs. Over the years, the OHS has taught many organists that for the careful listener, wonderful music can be made on an organ of only one manual and a very few stops. While we miss here a large palette of stops of differing colors, we hear the music, its quality adorned by a mere handful of stops, themselves, hopefully, of great beauty. I have heard people say of, perhaps, a particular 8' Principal or a Flute, that "This is a sound I can listen to all day." It's this kind of experience that validates a day with four recitals on single-manual organs by builders of unquestioned quality, along with players who know how to best exploit them.

John Charles Schucker, Salem United Church, Bethel, Pennsylvania

The first recital of the day was played by John Charles Schucker, a name new to me, and a person I hope to hear again. He was at one time an organ student of Karl Moyer, who was perhaps responsible for bringing him to this convention. Mr. Schucker holds bachelor and master's degrees from the Juilliard School, where he studied organ with Vernon deTar and piano with Earl Wild. He is now pianist and organist with The American Boychoir in Princeton, New Jersey. The organ was built in 1872 by the distinguished Pennsylvania German organbuilder, Thomas Dieffenbach. It is one of two instruments we will hear today that has a Pedal division, in this case, a 16' Bourdon, a coupler, and only 13 pedal keys. The manual division is fairly complete with three 8' stops--Open Diapason, Flute, and Dulciana--a Principal, Flute, and Stopped Diapason at 4', and a 2' Fifteenth. The console is detached and reversed. The Wanamaker organ it is not, but for the careful listener, there is much beauty to be found.

Mr. Schucker's program: Sinfonia in E-flat major, BWV 791 (Three Part Inventions), Bach; two settings of Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten, by Telemann and Jacob Friedrich Greiss; Andantino in E Minor (L'Organiste), César Franck; O Gott, du frommer Gott, Brahms; we also sang the chorale, in Bach's glorious harmonization; Fugue on the name Julian (Three Fugues in honor of Thomas Julian Talley), David Hurd; two choral preludes on Vom Himmel hoch, by Friedrich Wilhelm Zachau (1663-1712) and Helmut Walcha (1907-1991); Fugue in C, Buxtehude. How wonderful, and what a fine recital, resourceful in its choice of music for the instrument, and played with both verve and sensitivity.

Lou Carol Fix at Peter Hall, Moravian College, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

After a relaxing, snoozing trip to Bethlehem and Moravian College, the convention divided into two parts, one having an early lunch, while my group headed upstairs to Peter Hall, with its wonderful little late 18th-century organ by Samuel Green of London. This is smaller than the Dieffenbach instrument, having no pedal division at all, and only four stops. It is also approximately 100 years older! There is an 8' Open Diapason and an 8' Stopped Diapason, a 4' Principal, divided Bass and Treble, and a 2' Fifteenth, also divided. So, smaller instrument, but a new flexibility, reflected in Ms. Fix's fine program. Ray Brunner (R. J. Brunner & Co.) meticulously restored this instrument in 1998.

The organ has an ingenious wind supply system. There is a wooden handle at the back right which can be pumped easily from there, but there is also a foot pedal which is movable. It can slide over to the right side of the case front where the pumper can both pump and, with hands free, turn pages or pull stops. However, this clever pedal can also be moved close enough to the organist so he or she can pump and provide wind while playing the organ.

Lou Carol Fix is artist/lecturer at Moravian College, teaching organ, recorder, and music history since 1985. She has degrees in organ and musicology from Salem College and Indiana University, and is organist and director of music at Peace-Tohickon Lutheran Church in Perkasie, Pennsylvania. The program began with a familiar Moravian hymn by Christian Gregor, "Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes . . ." Next, a hymn setting, thus called to set it apart from a simple chorale prelude. This was an historic manner of accompanying a hymn, Allein Gott, by Van Vleck; Prelude III (Nine Preludes, 1806), Christian Latrobe (1758-1836); the divided stops came into their own in a Trumpet Voluntary by John Bennett (c. 1735-1784); Toccata Terza (The First Book of Toccatas, Partitas), Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643); the mean tone temperament of this instrument combines with this early 17th-century work to create sounds of a rare beauty. The concert ended with Voluntary for the Organ by Benjamin Carr, born in England in 1768, but coming to the U.S. in 1793, and settling in Philadelphia. And so ended a second fine recital on this final day of the convention.

Thomas Dressler, Moravian Historical Museum

Next was lunch and a stroll around the grounds, before hopping on the bus for Nazareth and Whitefield House of the Moravian Historical Museum. The organs are getting smaller! Not so much, actually, as this organ by Tannenberg has four stops as did the Samuel Green instrument, but here the stops are not divided, and there is not an 8' Open Diapason, but rather a Flute Amabile, an open stop beautiful in its own right, but without quite the strength that a Diapason would have. The honor of playing this lovely instrument went to Thomas Dressler who studied as a teenager with James Boeringer, later earning a Bachelor of Music degree, cum laude, at Susquehanna University, and then a Master of Music degree in performance, with honors, at Westminster Choir College. His teachers at Westminster were Mark Brombaugh and Joan Lippincott.

The program began with our magnificent singing of a hymn in glorious harmony, a hymn that is apparently of tremendous significance in Moravian congregations, "Sing hallelujah, praise the Lord" to a tune by Bishop John Bechler (1784-1857); next, Trip to Pawtucket, Oliver Shaw; Voluntary #1 (from American Church Organ Voluntaries, 1856); Rondo, Oliver Shaw; Voluntary in C (Century of American Organ Music 1776-1876, Vol. 3), James Cox Beckel (1811-1880); The Bristol March, Oliver Shaw; Partita on Gelobet seist du, and Capriccio in D, Georg Böhm (1661-1733).

After a suitable interval, we found our way to the buses, heading for Shartlesville, for The Pennsylvania Dutch Dinner at the famous Haag's Hotel. We then were given the choice of taking the bus or a short walk to Friedens Church, still in Shartlesville.

Lois Regestein, Friedens Church, Shartlesville

The final recital of the day, and also of the convention, was given by Lois Regestein, an OHS regular of long standing. She began with the lovely Prelude in F of Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805-1847); Pastorale, Bach; The Nines, a most interesting piece written in 1992 by a well-known member of the OHS family, Rachel Archibald; Nun freut euch, lieben Christen g'mein, Ernst Pepping (1900-1981); a lovely Polish carol, Pospieszcie pastuszki do stajenki, Stefan Surzyuski; Freuet euch, ihr Christen alle, Pepping; The Nighting Gall, Henry Loosemore, (c.1605-1670); The Thunder Storm, Thomas P. Ryder (1836-1887); we sang the hymn quoted in the last movement of the Ryder, the well-known Vesper Hymn, to a tune attributed to Bortniansky. The organ was by Thomas Dieffenbach, built in 1891, one of his last instruments. Like the Dieffenbach we heard first today, the console is detached and reversed. The manual division of this instrument has eight stops, four at 8' (Open Diapason, Stopped Diapason, Flute, and Dulciana); at 4', Principal and Stopped Diapason, Quint (shown as 3' here) and 2' Flauto. There are 20 pedal notes, and the two stops are a 16' Sub Bass and an 8' Violin Bass, plus a coupler.

Mrs. Regestein holds degrees from both Oberlin and the Yale School of Music. Since 1983, she has been organist for the First Congregational Church in Winchester, Massachusetts. In 1987, the OHS conferred on her The Distinguished Service Award for her efforts to protect the splendid 1863 E. & G.G. Hook Organ in the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Boston, from threatened damage or removal.

2004 Convention

Let us all gather in Buffalo this summer, from July 13th through the 20th for the 2004 Convention of The Organ Historical Society. For information: 804/353-9226; www.organsociety.org.

PART TWO OF TWO

Ronald Dean

Ronald E. Dean is Organist and Choirmaster at the Church of the Holy Cross (Episcopal) in Shreveport, Louisiana and Professor of Music, Emeritus, at the Hurley School of Music, Centenary College. A graduate of Williams College and the University of Michigan, his organ study was with Frederick Kinsley, Robert Barrow and Robert Noehren. His reviews appear from time to time in this journal.

Sunday

The day's events began with the Annual Meeting held at the headquarters hotel with OHS President Michael Friesen presiding. Among the items of general interest was a report by Scot Huntington on the following organ preservation successes: St. Thomas, Boston; St. Casimir's, New Haven; and Nativity, Buffalo. Further items of note were as follows: a new endowment fund drive is to begin to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the OHS; Dr. Gregory Crowell is the new Director of Publications; the signing of a protocol of cooperation between the Archives in Princeton and BIOS and RCO in England, a representative of which was in attendance--thus a data base on organs is about to happen. The next OHS convention will be in southeastern Massachusetts (the Old Colony), and Rhode Island, July 12-18, 2005. Later ones are slated to be held in the Saratoga-Albany area in 2006, Indianapolis in 2007, and Seattle in 2008.

Following the meeting, Jeff Weiler delivered an illustrated historical lecture entitled "History of the Wurlitzer Organ." He featured remarks on the Wurlitzer family itself as well as the various enterprises that occupied their time and business talents. He outlined the interest in automatic musical instruments (including the "Gee, Dad, it's a Wurlitzer" jukebox) as well as pipe organ manufacture and their association with the eccentric genius, Robert Hope-Jones (see the remarks on the Ambrosino lecture given on the preceding Friday), and their production of the Hope-Jones Unit Orchestra. They built some 2,200 pipe organs from 1910 until 1943 with the largest being the instrument in Radio City Music Hall.

A short bus ride to the suburb of North Tonawanda brought us to another fine catered luncheon with ample time provided to wander up Melody Lane (!) to view the massive former complex of the Rudolph Wurlitzer Manufacturing Company with its landmark central tower. The facilities are now used for diversified industrial activities, offices and storage. Even though Wurlitzer is long gone, two consoles are on display just inside the main tower entrance.

On our way to the next event, the buses drove down Melody Lane, and at its intersection with Erie Avenue, there appeared a sign proclaiming, "Wurlitzer Pizza Company—We Deliver" (tibia toppings with phonon sauce?). Further on we passed the imposing and well-maintained former home of Farny Wurlitzer, a lovely pillared neo-classical residence with a large garden area to one side.

The first recital of the day was at Ascension R.C. Church in North Tonawanda where Rhonda Sider Edgington played the following program on a lovely restored 1-manual Felgemaker (Op. 601) of 1895: "Duetto III in G" from Clavierübung III, Bach; Partita on "Herzlich tut mich verlangen," Pachelbel; the hymn, "There's a wideness in God's mercy," sung with flute accompaniment to the tune St. Helena; "Pastoral" from Organ Sonata No. 20 in F (op. 196), Rheinberger; "O Welt, ich muss dich lassen" and "Schmücke dich, o liebe seele" from Eleven Chorale Preludes (op. 122, 1897), Brahms; and "Postlude Festival" from Deux Pièces en Ré Mineur, Reuchsel. The organ, situated in the rear gallery of this intimate and neat small church, sounded its solid, yet clear and bright ensembles to great advantage under the expert hands of Ms. Edgington, who wisely chose a program to suit the resources of the instrument.

A modest-sized 3-manual Schlicker of 1966 situated in a typical 1960s building was the venue for the next recital, a program by Frederick Teardo. The church, First Trinity Lutheran in Tonawanda, was Herman Schlicker's home parish. His widow, Alice Schlicker, was in attendance for the program and received an affectionate ovation. The program: Praeludium in d (BuxWV 140), Buxtehude; "Tierce en taille" from Livre d'Orgue, DuMage; "Allegro" from Trio Sonata No. 5 in C (BWV 529), Bach; "Lullaby" from Suite No. 2, Hampton; and The Ninety-Fourth Psalm: Sonata for Organ, Reubke, followed by the singing of the hymn, "The day thou gavest" to the tune St. Clement. The organ, which has received several changes and refinements over the years, has a full-bodied, bright, intense, but never cloying sound. It is well-balanced and features relaxed, warm and singing Principals with mild and charming attack sounds in the speech of the pipes. One's first reaction might be that the Reubke Sonata would not be a good choice for this organ, but Teardo made it work through his registration choices and expansive phrasing. He is a young artist who knows how to communicate music through his elegant playing.

The final recital of the day was played by the energetic and brilliant Gail Archer who prefaced her program with both entertaining and cogent comments. The locale was the rather bleak and undecorated interior of the Kenmore Presbyterian Church, which houses another landmark Schlicker that has undergone several revisions during its lifetime. The instrument became familiar to audiophiles as the one on which Robert Noehren recorded several LPs. Its sound features the fully developed, clear, bright and cohesive sound associated with Schlicker's evolving work.

Instead of a grand evening recital, there was a very enjoyable dinner cruise on portions of the Niagara River and Lake Erie. The continually threatening weather moderated and provided a pleasant backdrop for both good dining and convivial conversation.

Monday

The day's events began with one group going to the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society and another proceeding to the beautiful, park-like and enormous Forest Lawn Cemetery to hear Justin Hartz perform on a gem of a four-rank unified Wurlitzer, Op. 2182 of 1933. Located in an intimate and acoustically superb stone chapel, this fine organ speaks through a wonderfully painted scrim which, at first glance, appears to be a stained glass window. The instrument has a carefully balanced sound and is well-maintained. Hartz entitled his short program &"Going out in Style&": Fountain Reverie, Fletcher; Twilight Musings, Kinder (featuring the Flute, Oboe Horn and Diapason); &"When Day Is Done&" (arr. Hartz) (played in &"Mighty Wurlitzer&" theatre style with reminiscences of both Jesse Crawford and Ethel Smith); Festival Prelude (introducing Palestrina's tune, &"The Strife Is O'er&"), Buck; and the hymn, &"Just a closer walk with Thee.&"

We then exchanged places with the group that had already visited the Historical Society Museum. This marble building is the only surviving one of many that were constructed for the 1901 Pan American Exposition, a World's Fair remembered, among other things, as the place where President William McKinley was shot. The museum houses many fascinating exhibits of Buffalo-area industrial products, and conventioneers had ample time to wander among the displays as a cozily installed Aeolian (Op. 1183 of 1911) demonstrated its voice by means of an automatic playing mechanism. Of interest also in the small auditorium, home of the Aeolian, were a 1-manual Derrick & Felgemaker of 1868 and an anonymous small English cabinet organ. We had a box lunch at the museum as the other group returned from Forest Lawn.

Since more than ample time was allotted for a trip to Middleport to hear two nearly identical Barckhoffs, the group spent some time wandering around the pretty town, which is situated on a working portion of the historic Erie Canal. A local sweet shop, close to the bridge, did an extraordinary business selling soft-serve cones to scores of conventioneers. The owners may have made their year's profit from the visitors during just this one afternoon. Because of limited seating in the two churches, we again split into two groups and were within comfortable walking distance for each repeated program. Former Biggs Scholar J. R. Daniels played a short recital on the 1902 2-manual Barckhoff tracker in the First Universalist Church: Prelude, Harris; Canon, Salomé; the hymn, &"Those who love and those who labor&" sung to the tune Domhnach Trionoide; Prelude on &"Beach Spring&" and Processional in E-flat, Wood. Daniels handled the instrument well and chose his pieces to show the various colors available on the small but solidly distinguished and well-maintained instrument.

Jason Alden performed on Barckhoff's 2-manual tracker of 1906 in the former Trinity Episcopal Church now occupied by the Middleport Fundamental Baptist Church. The organ, although visually quite different from that in the Universalist church, is identical in stoplist except that this instrument has a 2' Flautino in the Swell. The acoustics are certainly a challenge with a totally carpeted interior and a treated ceiling. Alden, always a reliably fine and sensitive player, presented the following program: Echoes of Spring, Friml (arr. Barnes); La Romanesca, Valente; &"Lied&" from Vingt-Quatre Pièces en Style Libre (op. 31), Vierne; A Joyous Postlude, Mallard; and the hymn, &"Shepherd, show me how to go,&" sung to the tune Feed My Sheep.

Following another bus ride through scenic western New York farm lands, we arrived at the charming small community of Wolcottsville where Mary Ann Cruger Balduf exhibited her usual musical creativity and apt programming sense on the second 1-manual organ heard in the convention, an 1897 Hinners and Albertsen in Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church. Prior to the program, the pastor gave enthusiastic welcoming remarks and noted that the instrument has been played every Sunday since its installation in 1897. The intimate church was filled by the large assembly of conventioneers; many parishioners assembled outside, furnished with a sound system that allowed them to hear the music. The same hospitable and appreciative people had set up tables with refreshments that were eagerly consumed following the recital. Balduf played the following program: Processional Fanfare, Rawsthorne; Verset, Lefébure-Wély; &"Improvisation&" from Suite Médiévale, Vierne; Fantaisie in A, Bach; Voluntary in A, Taylor; &"Interlude&" and &"Cantique&" from Sixty Short Pieces, Peeters; &"Chorale&" and &"Ground&" from Fifteen Pieces for Organ, Ridout; the hymn, &"For all the saints,&" sung with great gusto to the tune Sine Nomine; and Festival Postlude, (op. 32), Seifert. Balduf treated this dandy little organ with both verve and expertise, making the most of the keyboard division into treble and bass registers for solo and accompaniment effects. Brian Buehler acted as console assistant.

A bus trip back to Buffalo and the campus of the State University of New York at Buffalo brought us to one of the campus dining halls for dinner. We then took a short and unhurried stroll to Slee Hall for the evening presentation, a concert by the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra with associate conductor Ronald Spiegelman on the podium and David Schrader the featured soloist on the 1990 3-manual Fisk (Op. 95) in three major works: Symphony No. 1 for Organ and Orchestra, Guilmant; Snow Walker (1990), Colgrass; and Concerto No. 1 for Organ and Orchestra in E-flat (op. 55, 1902), Parker. The organ is located in its own alcove above and to the rear of the stage. Though possessing a commanding sound, the instrument was never overpowering and blended with and conversed amicably with the sound of the orchestra. The avant-garde Colgrass Snow Walker was a tour de force for both organist and orchestra, but Schrader, Spiegelman and the Buffalo Philharmonic played the work admirably. The hall, though not very reverberant, is acoustically quite sympathetic, and even with a near-capacity crowd, the organ and orchestral colors bloomed and enveloped the listeners.

Tuesday

The final day of the convention began with an expertly played recital by Bruce Stevens on the historic Garret House 2-manual tracker of 1860 housed in St. Stephen R.C. Church, Shrine of St. Jude, Buffalo. The organ, the largest surviving example by the Buffalo builder House, was originally installed in First Presbyterian's former church building. Stevens's program: two settings of Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland (BWV 659 and BWV 661), Bach; two versions of Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen, one by Heiller and one by Brahms; Introduction et Variations sur un ancient noël polonaise, Guilmant; Prelude on &"The Holly and the Ivy,&" Sumsion; Five noëls from L'Organiste, Franck; Grand-choeur varié sur un noël breton, Marty; Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, Gade; and the singing of the hymn, &"O Morning Star, how fair and bright,&" sung to the tune Wie schön leuchtet. The program was organized to include music suitable for the seasons of Advent, Christmas and Epiphany. The organ, with its elaborately decorated Italianate case, sits grandly in the rear gallery (sharing space with a Hammond) and adds a complementary visual interest to the high-ceilinged and reverberant Gothic church. Stevens handled the instrument masterfully in spite of the fact that it obviously needs (and deserves) a complete restoration. Larry Pruett and Tony Marchesano had worked many hours prior to the recital to provide as much tonal and mechanical ministration as was possible so that one could get more than a hint of the organ's potentially dignified grandeur.

A bus tour to the south of Buffalo offered yet another occasion for viewing some of the varied scenery of this part of western New York. This time we went through rolling hills to the delightful small town of Boston and St. John the Baptist R.C. Church to hear a transplanted 2-manual Felgemaker tracker of 1901. The organ, originally installed in Our Lady of Lourdes R.C. Church on Main Street, Buffalo, was restored in 1991 by Tenerowicz Pipe Organ Service and replaced an electronic in the gallery of the Boston church. After a welcome by the pastor, Tim Socha played the following program and gave helpful comments on his registrations: the chorale, Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, sung by all and followed by the Bach chorale-prelude, BWV 661; Sonata in g for flute (op. 16, no. 10), Vivaldi (with fine flute playing by Melissa Stewart); the chorale, Schmücke dich, sung by all and alternating with the variations by Walther (a very effective procedure); Concerto in F for Flute (op. 10, no. 5), Vivaldi (again with Melissa Stewart on the flute); and the chorale, In dir ist Freude, sung by all and followed by Bach's setting, BWV 615. The early 20th-century organ seemed quite content in its 1967 locale and sang out proudly under Tim Socha's expert playing. In spite of wall-to-wall carpet and acoustical tiles in the ceiling of the side aisles, the organ sound carried well and supported the vigorous hymn singing well.

After a wonderful barbeque lunch topped off with several choices of home-made ice cream (the black cherry was particularly delicious!), we reboarded the buses for a scenic trip to East Aurora (which, curiously, is many miles west of the town of Aurora) and Baker Memorial United Methodist Church for a recital by Peter Stoltzfus on a 2-manual, 18-rank 1928 Skinner, Op. 727. His program: Passacaglia per organo, Frescobaldi (transcribed for piano by Respighi and arranged for organ by Sowerby); &"Allegro&" from Sonata III in F (Wq70, 3), C.P.E. Bach; &"Clair de lune&" from Pièces de Fantaisie, Deuxième Suite (op. 31, 1913) and &"Divertissement&" from 24 Pièces en Style Libre, both by Vierne; Stoltzfus's own Prelude and Fugue (op. 12); and the hymn, &"Christ, whose glory fills the skies,&" sung to the tune Ratisbon. As usual, Stoltzfus displayed his distinguished and elegant musicianship. He was aided at the console by Jonathan Ambrosino. The organ benefits from an ideal central location, thus speaking directly down the central axis of the room. Its big, yet bright and cohesive and clear sound is enhanced by hard reflective surfaces on the walls and ceiling vaults.

Our next stop was in Lancaster, New York, and Our Lady of Pompeii R.C. Church for a program on its 3-manual 1920 Möller, Op. 2959. It had been transplanted to the 1953 vintage church by organist Joe Momot and a group of dedicated and hard-working volunteers. They began the project in 1996 and carried it through its dedication in 2001. For a demonstration, Mark DiGiampaolo, director of music for St. Joseph's Cathedral, Buffalo, played An Organ Mass from the music of Alexandre Guilmant. He had chosen various sections from Guilmant's op. 90, op. 41, op. 49, op. 39, op. 55 and op. 46, organized according to the liturgical sections of a low mass. The building with its barrel vault ceiling helped give a good acoustical home for the organ, which is centrally located behind the free-standing altar with an Echo division in the rear gallery.  The organ (originally in the First Methodist Episcopal Church, Cortland, NY) has the typical 1920s somewhat heavy, yet dignified sound of many Möllers of the time.

After a festive closing banquet back at the Adam's Mark, we walked to the huge St. Joseph R.C. Cathedral, where we joined many parishioners and other guests to hear one of the outstanding events of the convention--a recital played by Ken Cowan on the cathedral's monumental 4-manual E. & G. G. Hook & Hastings organ, Op. 828 of 1876. After some enthusiastic welcoming remarks by Mark DiGiampaolo, Cowan played the following program:  Prelude and Fugue in B-flat, Conte; the hymn, &"Dear Lord and Father of Mankind,&" sung to the tune Repton; &"Scherzo&" from Symphony No. 6 (op. 59), Vierne; &"Clair de lune&" from Pièces de Fantaisie, Deuxième Suite (op. 53), Vierne; &"Prelude to Die Meistersinger,&" Wagner (arr. Warren/Lemare); Ciaccona in c (BuxWV 159), Buxtehude (using the organ's original stops); and The Ninety-Fourth Psalm, Reubke. For encores, he played a transcription of a Scherzo in B-flat, Poulenc, and the &"Final&" from Symphony No. 6 (op. 59), Vierne. As usual, Cowan played magnificently. His unassuming demeanor complements the dual nature of his playing--a combination of technical virtuosity and great musical understanding and sensitivity. For this performance on an extremely hot night in a sweltering catherdral, he was aided at the console by his father, organist David Cowan. The organ, originally built by Hook for the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition of 1876, was brought to St. Joseph's in 1877 and somewhat modified at that time so as to fit in the gallery. Over the years, it has received further rebuildings, the most recent being by the Andover Organ Company in 2001. Its new console was built by Robert M. Turner. The latest tonal additions were made in a style consistent with the heroic sound of the organ and the vast dimensions of the building. As an interesting historical demonstration, Cowan wisely included the Ciaccona of Buxtehude (see the program, above) to highlight some of the stops that were original to the organ. For more information on this important instrument, see Barbara Owen's article in the Bicentennial Tracker of 1976 (pp. 128-135) and Joseph McCabe's in The Tracker, Volume 48, No. 1 (Winter, 2004), pp. 24-27.

Historic organ citations were presented throughout the week to the following instruments and their churches: the Schlicker in St. Francis Xavier R.C. Church, the Kimball in the Church of the Ascension, Episcopal, the Skinner in Central Park United Methodist Church, the Schlicker in Trinity Episcopal Church, the Votteler-Holtkamp-Sparling in Jordan River Missionary Baptist Church, the Wurlitzer in the Chapel of Forest Lawn Cemetery, and the Hinners & Albertsen in Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church. These citations are given to the churches as an acknowledgement of the importance of their instruments and to encourage their use and preservation.

Another important continuing function of the OHS is the awarding of E. Power Biggs Fellowship grants to help subsidize attendance at OHS convention by specially nominated candidates. This year's recipients, announced by Derek Nickels, Chair of the Fellowship, prior to the Scanlon recital at St. Paul's Cathedral, were Michael Diorio, a student at Boston University, and Nathan Lemahieu, a student at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

All OHS conventions are both educational and enjoyable. They allow people with similar collegial interest in the history of North American organ building to gather for several days for live performances on a variety of worthy instruments. This year's convention committee, chaired by the tireless Joe McCabe, spent several years organizing the Buffalo area events, and all involved deserve our sincere gratitude for a successful convention. Buffalo may be New York State's second city, but the gathering was first rate.

The 2005 OHS Convention takes place July 12-18 in southeastern Massachusetts. For information: 

Homer Ashton Ferguson III and Joyce Johnson Robinson

Homer Ashton Ferguson III received his bachelor of arts degree with a major in music from Illinois College in May 2000, studying organ with Rudolf Zuiderveld and piano and conducting with Garrett Allman. In May 2002, he completed his master of music degree at Arizona State University under the direction of Kimberly Marshall, where he is currently working on his doctoral degree in organ performance. He is also the organist and music associate at Central United Methodist Church in Phoenix, Arizona.

Joyce Johnson Robinson is associate editor of The Diapason.

Bach and Beyond: Bach and Bach Reception in the 19th Century

November 7-8, 2003, scholars and performers gathered for the organ symposium “Bach and Beyond--Bach and Bach Reception in the 19th Century,” sponsored by Illinois College (Jacksonville, Illinois), under the direction of Dr. Rudolf Zuiderveld, professor of music and college organist, and co-sponsored by MacMurray College (Jacksonville, Illinois), First Presbyterian Church (Springfield, Illinois), and John Brombaugh (Eugene, Oregon).

Day One: by Homer Ashton Ferguson III

Rammelkamp Chapel at Illinois College and Annie Merner Chapel at MacMurray College were the venues for the first day. Registration began at 1:00 p.m. in the foyer of Rammelkamp Chapel, and James Dawson, owner of Oberlin Music in Oberlin, Ohio, set up a sales booth for conferees to peruse various publications concerning the organ.

After a warm welcome by Dr. Zuiderveld and Dr. Axel Steuer, president of Illinois College, the symposium began with the keynote lecture given by Russell Stinson, the Josephine Emily Brown Professor of Music at Lyon College, Batesville, Arkansas. Stinson’s lecture, “Bach’s Organ Works and Mendelssohn’s Grand Tour,” revealed some new insights into the reception of Bach’s organ music during the nineteenth century, the era of the so-called Bach revival, through the examination of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. The address gave conference participants a preview of Stinson’s recent research which has been codified in his latest book, The Reception of Bach’s Organ Works from Mendelssohn to Brahms, scheduled for publication by Oxford University Press in late 2005. The book will contain four rather hefty chapters on four major figures of 19th-century music (Mendelssohn, Schumann, Liszt, and Brahms) and will investigate how they responded to Bach’s organ music, not only as composers but also as performers, critics, theorists, and teachers.

Mendelssohn was the ideal figure for the “rediscovery” of J. S. Bach’s genius. He composed over thirty works for the organ, often using the organ music of Bach as a model, his editions of Bach’s organ chorales were among the first ever published, and as a concert organist he introduced Bach’s music to the general public. Stinson dwelled on one particular time period in Mendelssohn’s career, his self-named “big trip” of 1830-32, the longest Bildungsreise ever undertaken by a musician in modern times. His travels took him through Austria, Italy, Switzerland, France, and England as well as many German cities.

Mendelssohn’s journey began as a Bach pilgrimage, with stops in Leipzig and Weimar, where he was presented with manuscript copies of two Bach works by the publisher Breitkopf and Härtel. His time was also spent with Goethe, who owned six Bach manuscripts, two of which contained organ compositions. Goethe, a long-time fan of Bach, requested that Mendelssohn visit the local organist. Upon doing so, Mendelssohn reported that he played the “D-minor Toccata.” Stinson continued at some length in establishing that the “D-minor Toccata” reference was definitely a reference to the infamous BWV 565. This conclusion stems primarily from a letter sent from Paris to his family in 1831 in which he requests to be sent copies of six different Bach organ works, including a “Prelude and Fugue in D Minor,” which he identifies by notating the first two beats of the Dorian toccata. This eliminates the Dorian as a possibility because Mendelssohn knew that piece as a prelude, not a toccata.

In late July 1831, Mendelssohn arrived in Switzerland. In need of practice, he began to work on his technique using Bach’s organ works as his pedagogical tool. A letter Mendelssohn wrote to his family while stranded in the village of Sargans revealed that even at this point in his career he still lacked, at least according to his standards, the pedal technique necessary to perform Bach’s big organ works.

Upon his arrival in Munich several weeks later, Mendelssohn continued to focus his attention on mastering his pedal technique. Again, he found himself struggling in his conquest, only this time the organ he had to practice on was partially to blame. Mendelssohn wrote in a letter to his family, “I also play the organ every day for an hour. But unfortunately I cannot practice as I wish because the pedalboard lacks the five uppermost notes.” He did marvel at the beauty of the organ, though, and commented on finding the perfect registration for the famous setting of Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele.

As Stinson continued to demonstrate the influence of Bach’s music upon Mendelssohn, he touched briefly upon Mendelssohn’s sense of profundity in sharing Bach’s organ works with his family and friends. In an account regarding BWV 740, Wir glauben all’ an einen Gott, Vater, Stinson remarked upon the popularity of playing Bach’s organ works as keyboard duets on the piano. Within a rather emotional letter dated November 14, 1831, Mendelssohn sent this chorale to his sisters Fanny and Beckchen to play as a duet, noting, “Now play this chorale with Beckchen, as long as you are together, and think of me while doing so.” Stinson further illustrated this by quoting Fanny in a letter she had written to Felix two years earlier, apropos of Bach’s organ preludes that: “Beckchen is pounding out the pedal part with virtuosity, and it does my heart good to hear her. Old Bach would laugh himself to death if he could see it.” At this point in the lecture Dr. Stinson and his student, Skye Hart, resurrected an old performance practice by playing BWV 740 on the piano, in duet form.

On April 22, 1832, Mendelssohn sojourned back to London, regularly playing the postlude at Sunday morning services at St. Paul’s Cathedral, even as he had done to great acclaim in a previous visit in 1829. The organ at St. Paul’s proved to be the ideal instrument on which to perform Bach’s music, due to its larger compass in comparison to other instruments in London. Mendelssohn’s organ playing there is well documented and Stinson went into detail to support the fact that Mendelssohn’s Bach playing was revolutionary for the English organ scene. It was in London that Mendelssohn achieved the level of mastery that he had sought in the performance of Bach’s organ works.

Within this discussion one of Stinson’s most remarked-upon assertions concerned the Prelude and Fugue in E minor, BWV 533, the so-nicknamed “Cathedral.” Stinson believes that it was Mendelssohn’s introduction and repeated performance of this work to English audiences at St. Paul’s Cathedral that led to its nickname. All of the conference participants, including Christoph Wolff, could not think of any evidence to contradict this assertion and were in agreement that this may very well be the forgotten source of this often-quoted moniker.

Stinson concluded his stimulating opening to this conference, noting, “(Mendelssohn) would continue to occupy himself with Bach’s organ works his entire life--as a performer, composer, editor, antiquarian, pedagogue, and ambassador-at-large. Without question, he was the most influential champion of this repertory during the early Romantic era.”

The conference continued with a recital by Jay Peterson, professor of music and college organist at MacMurray College. Performed in Annie Merner Chapel on the MacMurray College campus, the recital featured the historic 1952 Æolian-Skinner Organ, Opus 1150, of four manuals and 64 ranks. This organ, installed under the auspices of Professor Robert Glasgow, then a member of the music faculty, has been dutifully guarded and maintained by Peterson. He recently completed a compact disc recording of this organ featuring American organ music in celebration of the fiftieth birthday of this landmark.

Dr. Peterson readily showed off the colors of the organ through his performance of 19th-century organ music, demonstrating his ability as a commanding performer. The program: Sonata in B-flat, op. 65, no. 4, Felix Mendelssohn; O World, I Now Must Leave Thee, My Heart Abounds With Pleasure, Blessed Ye Who Live In Faith, O God, Thou Faithful God, My Heart Is Ever Yearning, op. 122, Johannes Brahms; Prelude and Fugue on B-A-C-H, Franz Liszt.

Day one of the symposium concluded with a recital by Douglas Reed, professor of music and university organist at the University of Evansville, on the Hart Sesquicentennial Organ in Illinois College’s Rammelkamp Chapel. This recital attracted a large audience from the surrounding community as it was the November event on Illinois College’s McGaw Fine Arts Series.

Building upon a theme set earlier by Jay Peterson at MacMurray College, Dr. Reed played a program dedicated solely to the masters of the 19th century. His program construction was well-conceived as he “book-ended” his recital by opening with the first movement of the Symphonie Romane by Charles-Marie Widor and then closed with the Final. Originally premiered in 1900 in Berlin, Widor received his inspiration for this symphony from plainchant. Reed continued with a performance of Robert Schumann’s Six Studies for the Pedal Piano, opus 56 (1845). The remainder of his program consisted of Brahms’ Prelude and Fugue in A Minor and Mendelssohn’s Sonata No. 5 in D Major.

The evening ended with a reception in Kirby Rotunda on the campus of Illinois College; organ scholars socialized and expounded upon ideas new and old. The inaugural kickoff of Illinois College’s biannual organ symposium was indeed a success. Events are currently being scheduled for November of 2005 and November of 2007, with focus in ‘07 on Dieterich Buxtehude in commemoration of the 300th anniversary of his death.

Day Two: by Joyce Johnson Robinson

All of Saturday’s events took place at First Presbyterian Church of Springfield, home to John Brombaugh’s 3-manual, 70-rank Opus 35.

The day began with an organ demonstration, “Music around Johann Sebastian Bach,” by Rudolf Zuiderveld, organist of First Presbyterian and professor of music at Illinois College in Jacksonville. The program comprised works by Bach’s predecessors, contemporaries, and successors, from Frescobaldi through Brahms, and included a hymn, “If You But Trust in God to Guide You” (Wer nur den lieben Gott), whose verses were preceded by organ preludes of Bach, Krebs, and Böhm. The Sonatina in d by Christian Ritter showcased the full organ, including the 16’ and 32’ pedal Posaunes. The organ is robustly voiced for a full congregation, and the room has a lively acoustic. Yet even with a sparse population in the church, the full organ was loud but not unpleasantly so. The instrument is essentially north German/Dutch, but can capably handle music of other styles as well. In Dandrieu’s variations on O Filii et Filiae, the organ’s French capabilities were highlighted, including récits de nazard, tierce, basse de trompette, flutes, larigot (siffloete), cromorne (dulcian), cornet, cimbel and Grand Jeu. The reeds offered just enough bite, the flutes were clear and full. The organ most definitely possesses gravitas, as demonstrated in Louis Marchand’s Fond d’orgue (Deuxième Suite), in which the 16’ Praestant enriched the plenum without detracting from its clarity.

Next, organists, including students of Douglas Reed (University of Evansville), Russell Stinson (Lyon College), Dana Robinson (University of Illinois), and graduates of MacMurray College and Illinois College played for the masterclass led by Robert Clark, organ professor emeritus of Arizona State University. All but one played Bach works. Dr. Clark’s suggestions reflected the concerns of making music, as well as matters of technique and registration. In order to accommodate all the students who wished to play, the masterclass continued after the lunch break. Participants in the class and in the subsequent recital were Zach Guenzel, Tim Weisman, Cecilia Bogowith, Alicie Zeilenga, Skye Hart, Jeremy House, Nicole Eyman, Luba Tkachuk, Alison Lewis, Scott Montgomery, Jin-Kyung Lim, and Kirk Rich. See Tsai Chan and Alison Lewis played in the masterclass although not in the recital; Robert Horton and Christine Smith played in the recital only.

Following the masterclass, Christoph Wolff of Harvard University delivered a lecture on the authenticity of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor. Prof. Wolff outlined the claims against Bach’s authorship, which are primarily based on interpretations of sources and on stylistic grounds. His remarks focused on a Berlin Staatsbibliothek manuscript; he considers this source, copied by Johannus Rinck, to be correct in its attribution to Bach. Wolff also discussed details of notation and stylistic traits (such as the arpeggiando figures) which would place the work early in the eighteenth century, and explained the octave doubling at the opening of the toccata as a way around the lack of a 16’ stop on a smaller organ--a way of achieving the effect of a North German plenum.1 Having been reassured that our beloved warhorse was indeed by Bach, we returned to the sanctuary to hear the masterclass participants present their pieces at a recital that capped off the afternoon.

The symposium concluded with a re-creation of Mendelssohn’s “Bach Concert” of August 6, 1840, at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig. The concert began with a full organ introductory work by A. W. Bach, followed by Johann Sebastian’s Fugue in E-flat (BWV 552b), Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele (BWV 654), Prelude and Fugue in A minor (BWV 543), Passacaglia and Thema fugatum (BWV 582), Pastorella in F (BWV 590), Toccata and Fugue in D minor (BWV 565), and closing with Mendelssohn’s Choral and Variation on Herzlich tut mich verlangen, and Allegro (Chorale and fugue) in D minor. Robert Clark, Russell Stinson, Rudolf Zuiderveld, Douglas Reed, and Jay Peterson collaborated with stirring playing; for those who had immersed themselves in details of these works’ histories, stylistic details, and performance practice, the concert was a satisfying ending to the weekend’s events.2