Byron Lloyd Blackmore dead at 88

David Bartlett

David Bartlett, 76, born August 5, 1947, died December 18, 2023, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His musical career began as a young chorister in the local family church in Folkestone, Kent, England. He attended the Royal College of Music, London, where he was an organ student of Ralph Downes, and then moved to Salzburg where he studied at the Mozarteum with Michael Schneider. He participated many times in the International Summer Organ Academy in Haarlem, the Netherlands. Bartlett moved to the United States in 1975 as a graduate student in musicology at Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri. He was a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists.

David Bartlett served churches in London and in St. Louis before his appointment in 1982 as the ninth organist and choirmaster of the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Detroit, Michigan. In 2000 he moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he directed the music at St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral and then at St. Helena’s Catholic Church, St. Paul, Minnesota, retiring in 2022. He presented organ recitals in the United States, England, and France. In addition to his work as an organist and choral conductor, he composed several hymntunes, anthems, and carol settings, many of which are still in use at the cathedral in Detroit.

David Bartlett is survived by his sister Janet and her family. A memorial service will be held in Minneapolis at a date yet to be determined, as well as a service at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Detroit.

Byron Lloyd Blackmore

Byron Lloyd Blackmore died January 1 in Sun City West, Arizona. He was born March 24, 1935, in Flint, Michigan. In 1953 he graduated from Flushing High School, Flushing, Michigan, where he was valedictorian of his senior class. He was an active high school musician and piano accompanist for several choral groups, becoming a church organist in 1950, when he was a freshman.

Blackmore attended Michigan State University, East Lansing, earning a Bachelor of Music degree in 1957 and a Master of Music degree in 1958. His graduate work in organ performance and church music continued at Syracuse University, the University of Illinois, and Northwestern University.

Following his graduation from Michigan State, Blackmore taught vocal music in the Flint, Michigan, public schools for a brief time before being drafted into the United States Army. He became a chaplain assistant at Fort Meade, Maryland, where he played the organ and directed army chapel choirs. In 1959 while at Fort Meade, he married Mary Lou Watchorn of Flint. In the fall of 1960 they moved to Decatur, Illinois, where Byron became full-time organist and director of music at Grace United Methodist Church.

In 1965 the Blackmores moved to La Crosse, Wisconsin, where Byron was organist and director of music at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church for 32 years and taught organ at the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse for 25 years. He was a champion of the organ music of Jean Langlais. He gave many performances of Marcel Dupré’s Le Chemin de la Croix, a work he studied in depth with his mentor, Arthur Poister, who studied the work with Dupré. He gave annual organ recitals at his church in La Crosse and helped establish an annual American Guild of Organists Lenten organ recital series. Blackmore also had a career as a financial planner for several years with American Express Financial Services in La Crosse.

Blackmore became well known as an organ teacher in western Wisconsin and nearby communities in Minnesota. He had many students who became organists and church musicians and served as a role model for many who are active musicians today. Byron and Mary Lou retired in 1997 and moved to Sun City West, Arizona, where Byron became organist at Crown of Life Lutheran Church in 1999 and gave many organ recitals in the greater Phoenix area.

Byron Lloyd Blackmore was preceded in death by his wife Mary Lou. He is survived by their three children: Rachel Lord (Steve), Joel Blackmore (Maria), and Neil Blackmore (Julie), as well as five grandchildren and two brothers. A memorial service will be held in the spring in Sun City West. Memorial gifts may be made to the music department of Crown of Life Lutheran Church, 13131 West Spanish Garden Drive, Sun City West, Arizona 85375 (colchurch.com).

Robert Charles Shone

Robert Charles Shone died January 13. He was born February 16, 1927. For over three decades in the mid-20th century, he established himself as a Gregorian chant and Renaissance and Baroque music performance presenter and scholar in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. Assuming the position of organist and choirmaster at Ascension and St. Agnes Episcopal Church in the heart of Washington at the age of 30, he developed a select ensemble of singers whose voices suited the early music and Latin-text Masses and motets that he loved, such as those by Heinrich von Biber, André Campra, and Jean Gilles, and that were embraced by the Anglo-Catholic environment of St. Agnes.

By 1967 Shone had built over the course of two years with volunteer assistance a two-manual, 1,000-pipe organ utilizing pipework saved from the 1875 instrument that was original to the church and dismantled in 1945. His intent was to build a dependable and artistically successful instrument voiced according to the concept of the Baroque sound accepted at that time. He managed to accomplish this while working a 40-plus-hour week at his father-in-law’s custom mattress business in order to support his wife and three children. Upon the organ’s completion, Shone conceived and initiated an annual Bach festival that subsequently continued for the 30 years of his tenure at St. Agnes, making the church a center of musical culture with appearances by prominent organists such as Vernon deTar and others as well as early music instrumental ensembles and choirs from the Washington-Baltimore environs.

Shone earned a Bachelor of Music degree from The Catholic University of America, a Master of Arts degree in music from Columbia University, and the Colleague certificate of the American Guild of Organists. He had been continuously involved in church music from the age of eight when he was a boy soprano chorister in Baltimore. During his high school years, Shone became an assistant organist to his teacher, Sherman Kreuzburg, at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Washington, D.C. During his World War II military service, he served as a chaplain’s assistant, ultimately succeeding organist Virgil Fox at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. During this time, Shone commenced organ studies with Paul Callaway at the Washington National Cathedral. University years followed after Shone’s military obligations ended, and concurrent with his studies he held church positions as organist and choir director at a number of churches in the Washington, D.C., and New York areas until accepting the post at St. Agnes.

In addition to the work he was accomplishing at St. Agnes, Shone’s long-standing and intense interest in Gregorian chant led to the development of a select, all-male vocal ensemble, a performance/study group that ultimately sang in Washington monasteries as well as at the National Cathedral, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, and St. Matthew’s Catholic Cathedral, among other venues.

In 1989 Shone relocated to Pinellas County, Florida, and served as organist and choir director at Good Samaritan Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church of Palm Harbor, St. John’s Episcopal Church, St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, and finally the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, each time building a choir and developing an expansive music program. He held his final position until retirement in 2017 at the age of 90.

Throughout his career, Shone actively participated as a member of the American Guild of Organists, having served twice as dean of the Clearwater Chapter. Additionally, he was a frequent recitalist throughout the Washington metropolitan and Tampa Bay areas, performing hundreds of concerts encompassing a wide repertoire of music from all periods. Along with his wife Theresa Villani, a solo cellist, the duo offered programs of cello/organ and cello/piano that often included notable but neglected works of merit. In 2003 the pair recorded a disc of their organ/cello repertoire, A Royal Dialogue, at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in south St. Petersburg, Florida, employing the Casavant organ there.

Father Cyprian Constantine, O.S.B.

Father Cyprian Constantine, O.S.B., 74, a monk of Saint Vincent Archabbey for 48 years, died Sunday, November 12, 2023, after a short illness. A native of Boulder, Colorado, he began the study of piano and violin at an early age, and was locally, regionally, and nationally known as an organist. He was an assistant professor at Saint Vincent College, where he chaired, at various times, both the Music and Fine Arts departments; at Saint Vincent Seminary, he served for a time as academic dean (2004–2007), as director of liturgical formation (2007–2023) and, for the past 20 years, as schola director. He was also concertmaster, first violinist, and principal keyboardist in the Archabbey Baroque Ensemble. For a six-year period he directed the Saint Vincent Camerata, a group specializing in the performance of Medieval and Renaissance vocal and instrumental music.

Father Cyprian earned the Bachelor of Music Education degree in 1971 at the University of Colorado, where he studied violin with Oswald Lehnert and organ with Don Vollstedt. He then entered Saint Vincent Archabbey, where he professed his final vows as a Benedictine in 1975. He earned the Master of Divinity degree from Saint Vincent Seminary in 1976 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1977. In the year 2000, he was granted faculties by the Ruthenian Byzantine Rite Archeparchy of Pittsburgh for Byzantine Rite Catholic parishes.

Father Cyprian received the Master of Music degree from Northwestern University in 1979, where he studied organ with Wolfgang Rübsam. Later, he returned to the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in organ in 1992. While a doctoral student at Colorado University, Father Cyprian was organist/director of music at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Denver and served as organist/choirmaster and parochial vicar for Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church in Boulder.

In 1982, he was chosen by the Benedictine Musicians of the Americas to participate in a study-tour of current liturgical music practices in European Benedictine houses. In 1985, he received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for summer research in Gregorian chant at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. The result of his study was Matins at Cluny for the Feast of Saint Peter in Chains, a reconstruction of the service from an 11th century Cluniac manuscript. This reconstruction was published by the Plainsong and Medieval Society of London.

Father Cyprian appeared many times as organ recitalist in the Saint Vincent College concert series and in other series around the country: Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Pittsburgh; Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Harrisburg; the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, D.C.; Whatley Chapel at the University of Denver, Saint Paul’s and Our Savior’s Lutheran churches, Trinity Methodist and First Baptist churches in Denver; as dedicatory recitalist in Covington, Kentucky, and Baltimore, Maryland.

He was on loan to the Archdiocese of Denver from 1993 to 1998. There he was principal organist and associate director of music of the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, chaplain of the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Walburga, and director of liturgy for the Archdiocese of Denver.  He also served on the Music Commission of the Archdiocese and was one of the organizers of the local chapter of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians (NPM). He also served as an organizer and clinician at the national conventions of the NPM and the American Guild of Organists in Denver.

In the summer of 2000, he travelled to Rome to perform in a concert series in the Basilica at Sant’ Anselmo. Father Cyprian also served as a consultant on the construction of the new Buzard Basilica organ, which was dedicated in November of 2014. He gave one of the inaugural concerts on the organ the following spring.

Most of Father Cyprian’s life revolved around music. On a few occasions, he also undertook non-musical roles, including serving as associate director of Admissions and Financial Aid and assistant director of the Opportunity Program at Saint Vincent College; and, in 1990, Father Cyprian was invited to serve as secretary to the Abbot Primate of the Benedictine Order, headquartered at the Collegio di Sant’ Anselmo, Rome, Italy.

He was predeceased by his parents, John George and Marian Olive (Willis) Constantine. Surviving are cousins Connie Jean Magee of Phoenix, Arizona; Janel Hall Schempf of Juneau, Alaska, and Susan Horst of Truckee, California; and close friends Lonnie Graham of Northglenn, Colorado; John-Paul Buzard of Urbana, Illinois, and Jayne Russo.

Reception of the body, visitation, and a wake service were held on Thursday, November 16. Father Prior Killian Loch, O.S.B., served as celebrant 
and homilist.

A concelebrated Mass of Christian Burial was held on Friday, November 17, with Archabbot Martin de Porres Bartel, O.S.B., serving as principal celebrant and Father Jean-Luc Zadroga, O.S.B., as homilist. The Rite of Committal followed in the Marcy Mother of Mercy Mausoleum Chapel at Saint Vincent Cemetery.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Benedictine Health and Welfare Fund at Saint Vincent Archabbey, 300 Fraser Purchase Rd., Latrobe, PA 15650.

W. Thomas "Tom" Smith

W. Thomas “Tom” Smith, 89, died October 16, 2023, at his home in Oaxaca, Mexico. Born April 4, 1934, in Gloster, Mississippi, he grew up in South Carolina and graduated from Fairforest High School in 1952. After studying music for three years at Stetson University, DeLand, Florida, he completed his undergraduate studies at Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1960. Between those years of study, he spent two and a half years in the United States Army, serving as chaplain’s assistant in Verdun, France, and Ft. Stewart, Georgia. Following several years as organist and choir director at Atonement Lutheran Church, Syracuse, New York, and St. John’s Lutheran Church in Summit, New Jersey, he completed his Master of Sacred Music degree at Wittenberg University, Springfield, Ohio, in 1977.

While he was a graduate student at Wittenberg, his work as an instructor of organ and hymnology caught the attention of the president of the Hymn Society of America (now the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada), 
L. David Miller, who also was dean of the music school at Wittenberg. In 1976 Smith was hired as the part-time executive director of the society, the first to hold this position, while he was finishing his master’s degree. One of his first accomplishments was the reorganization of the contents of the Hymn Society office when the headquarters was moved from New York City to Springfield, Ohio. He managed moving the office contents when the Hymn Society headquarters moved to Ft. Worth, Texas, in 1983, where he then taught hymnology at Texas Christian University from 1984 to 1996.

Smith’s tenure as full-time executive director of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada was from 1978 until his retirement in 1996. Under leadership, the Hymn Society experienced tremendous growth and many positive changes as he brought new ideas to the structure of the organization. He traveled extensively as an ambassador for the Hymn Society, providing leadership for a variety of events and programs, particularly for chapters of the American Guild of Organists and the Royal Canadian College of Organists. The annual summer conferences became a highlight for members as they gathered in various places across the United States and Canada for expanded and innovative programming that he initiated. In 1996 Smith was named a Fellow of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada.

Smith’s retirement began in December 1996 when he relocated to Oaxaca, Mexico. He maintained an active musical life, hosting concerts in his home with performances on a four-and-a-half-stop Oberlinger organ that he purchased in 2001. He was known and loved in Oaxaca by many friends, neighbors, and students to whom he taught English for many years. His generosity led him to provide living space in his house for students of limited financial means.

Upon his death Smith was cremated, and his ashes remain in Oaxaca. A private celebration of his life was held in his home on October 29.

Jennifer Lucy Bate, 75, born in London, UK, November 11, 1944, died March 25. She was the daughter of H. A. Bate, organist of St James’s Muswell Hill from 1924 to 1978. An international concert organist, she was considered an authority on the organ music of Olivier Messiaen, having befriended him within the last twenty years of his life as his organist of choice. In 1986, she gave the first British performance of his Livre du Saint-Sacrement at Westminster Cathedral and later made the world premiere recording of the work under the personal supervision of the composer, winning the Grand Prix du Disque. He also endorsed her earlier recordings of all of his other organ works. Bate owned scores that contain many personal markings and references made by Messiaen. In 1995, Bate opened the Messiaen Festival at l’Église de la Sainte Trinité, Paris, France, where his complete organ works were performed and recorded. Among numerous awards for her CD were the Diapason d’Or (France) and Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik (Germany).

Bate performed and recorded a broad repertoire spanning several centuries, including English organ music, the complete organ works of César Franck, and the complete organ music of Felix Mendelssohn. A frequent performer at organ festivals, she often played works written for her. She also presented numerous masterclasses and lectures. She was instrumental in the formation of the annual Jennifer Bate Organ Academy, a course for young female organists, and she was the lead patron of the Society of Women Organists.

Bate was briefly married (as his second wife) to George Thalben-Ball. She received an honorary doctorate from the University of Bristol in 2007. In 1990, Bate was recognized with the Personnalité de l’Année award by the French-based jury, only the third British artist to achieve this distinction, after Georg Solti and Yehudi Menuhin. In 1996, Bate was granted honorary citizenship of the Italian province of Alessandria for her services to music in Northern Italy over 20 years. In 2002, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and in 2008 was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

In 2011, M. Frédéric Mitterand, minister of culture and communication, awarded Jennifer Bate the rank of Officier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres, stating that this honor is awarded to renowned artists and writers who have promoted French culture throughout the world. Subsequently, President Sarkozy appointed Jennifer Bate to the rank of Chevalier in the Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur, stating that this honor was awarded in recognition of her skill as an organist and her contribution to making Olivier Messiaen’s organ works more widely known throughout the world. She received both awards in 2012.

Marillyn Ila Freeman, 85, musician and teacher, died March 24. Born in Marion, Wisconsin, February 23, 1935, she grew up in New London and Appleton, where she began playing the organ for local church services at the age of twelve. She graduated from Appleton High School in 1953 and the Lawrence College Conservatory of Music, Appleton, earning a degree in music performance in 1957. While at Lawrence, she met her future husband Ralph Freeman, and they were married in 1958. Following graduation Freeman taught music at Lawrence and worked in the president’s office at Princeton University, eventually returning to Wisconsin and settling in Green Bay, where she taught piano and played organ in the Moravian church.

In 1965 the Freemans moved to Neenah where a year later she began a 54-year career as organist for St. Paul Lutheran Church. In addition to playing organ and piano, as director of music ministries she planned worship services, directed youth choirs, accompanied the adult Sanctuary Choir, presented church musicals, and guided the church in purchasing a new Dobson organ in 1986. She earned an associate certificate of the American Guild of Organists in 1995 and an associate in music ministry certificate in 2000.

Throughout her career Freeman continued to teach piano and organ, organizing piano recitals, judging piano competitions, and mentoring young musicians in the Fox Valley. She was a member of the Fox Valley Music Teachers, a member of the Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity, served as treasurer of the North Eastern Wisconsin chapter of the American Guild of Organists, and was active in the Hymn Society of the United States and Canada. For many years she and her husband Ralph, a pianist, violinist, and published author of hymn texts, performed organ and piano duets each August as part of the Lunchtime Organ Recital Series in the Fox Valley region.

Marillyn Ila Freeman is survived by her husband Ralph Freeman, five children: Rebecca Freeman (Stephen Fusfeld) of Neenah; Jennifer Timm (Terry) of Neenah; Robert Freeman (Robin) of Darien, Illinois; Jon Freeman of Whitefish Bay; and Paul Freeman (Nicole Berman) of Stow, Massachusetts; twelve grandchildren, and several great grandchildren.

Memorial gifts may be made to the music ministry program at St. Paul Lutheran Church, 200 N. Commercial Street, Neenah, WI 54956, or to either the Melanoma Research Fund or the Surgical Oncology Outcomes Research and Awareness Fund at the University of Wisconsin (supportuw.org/give).

Josephine Lenola Bailey Freund, 90, died February 8 in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. A lifelong musician, she was a professional organist for almost 70 years and taught piano and organ. She performed organ recitals and directed choirs throughout the United States, as well as in Swaziland and Papua New Guinea.

Josephine Bailey was born April 8, 1929, in Indianapolis, Indiana. She began piano lessons at age six and started studying organ at age thirteen. Among her first professional jobs were playing the organ to accompany silent movies and substituting as an accompanist and organist in local churches.

Following graduation from high school in 1946, Bailey attended Wittenberg College, Springfield Ohio, later transferring to Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland. There she earned a teaching certificate in organ and bachelor’s and master’s degrees. In 1952, she was the first female graduate of Peabody to earn a master’s degree in organ performance.

During the 1950s Bailey played at various churches in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia, including serving as music director for First Baptist, Washington, D.C., which President Truman attended; and St. Anne’s Episcopal Church, Annapolis, Maryland, where she was honored to play for a royal visit by Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. From 1956 until 1961, she was associate professor of music at Longwood College, Farmville, Virginia. She was also organist of First Presbyterian Church, Farmville, and taught music in local public high schools.

In 1963, Bailey became the first full-time director of music at Trinity Lutheran Church, Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. She later returned to Indianapolis to teach in public schools and was the organist and assistant choir director at First Presbyterian Church. In the early 1970s, she moved to East Lansing, Michigan, to work on her doctorate in music theory at Michigan State University. She also was associate professor of music and organist and choir director of Martin Luther Chapel at Michigan State. It was there that she met her future husband Roland Freund who was an Australian agricultural missionary working on his master’s degree. They married in July 1971 and moved to the Highlands of Papua New Guinea.

In 1976, the family moved to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where Josephine taught piano and was organist at Grace United Methodist Church. The family spent 1982–1984 working on a U.S. AID and Penn State University project in Swaziland, Africa. There she taught music in several schools and directed the largest choir in the country for a performance of Brahms’s Requiem.

Upon returning to Carlisle, Josephine Freund served as organist and choir director at St. John’s Episcopal Church and Gettysburg College Chapel. She was adjunct professor of organ for Dickinson College and an active member and officer of the Harrisburg Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. Freund played her final organ recital in 2010, but continued to teach piano and organ and to substitute and support church services, weddings, and funerals for a few more years. She was a lifetime member of the national honors fraternity for women in music, Sigma Alpha Iota.

Josephine Lenola Bailey Freund is survived by her husband, Roland Paul Freund of Carlisle; her nephew, Matthew Freund of South Australia; and her son, Colonel Ernie Freund, daughter-in-law Megan Sayler Freund, and granddaughters, Amelia Rose and Adelaide Pearl, all from Burke, Virginia.

Funeral services were held February 15 at Trinity Lutheran Church, Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. Memorial contributions may be made to Residential Hospice, 100 Sterling Pkwy #110, Mechanicsburg, PA 17050 or the Traditional Music Fund at Trinity Lutheran Church, 2000 Market Street, Camp Hill, PA 17011.

Eleanor Marie Fulton, organist and music educator, died February 23 in New Haven, Connecticut. Born August 9, 1939, in Morristown, Tennessee, she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Bennett College, Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1961, and continued her education at the Manhattan School of Music, New York City; the Haydn Conservatory, Eisenstadt, Austria; and the University of Ghana’s International Center for African Music and Dance.

She served as the longtime organist and director of music for Center Church on the Green, New Haven, and was a music teacher for New Haven Public Schools, director of the New Haven Children’s Chorus, assistant organist and director of Christian education for Battell Chapel, Yale University, New Haven, consultant to the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, and a private piano and music instructor. She was the featured performer on a CD released by Raven, performing on the 1971 Beckerath organ of Dwight Chapel, Yale University, with works of Bach, de Grigny, and Mendelssohn (Eleanor Fulton, Organist: Dwight Chapel, Yale University, OAR-810).

Odile Pierre, French liturgical and international concert organist, professor, and composer, died in Paris, France, on February 29, shortly before her 87th birthday. Born in Pont-Audemer (in Normandy) on March 12, 1932, she decided to become an organist at age seven, inspired by a recital by Marcel Dupré on the Cavaillé-Coll organ at St. Ouen Abbey in Rouen. After taking lessons with Madeleine Lecoeur, organist at St. Nicaise Church in Rouen at age fifteen, she served as organist and choir director at the St. Martin Church in Barentin (in the Seine-Maritime region of Normandy). From 1950 to 1952, she studied harmony with Albert Beaucamp and organ with Marcel Lanquetuit at the Rouen Conservatory. She then entered the Paris Conservatory, where she was awarded first prizes in the classes of Maurice Duruflé (harmony), Noël Gallon (fugue), Norbert Dufourcq (music history), as well as organ and improvisation with Marcel Dupré and Rolande Falcinelli. At the age of 23, Odile Pierre became the youngest Marcel Dupré student to win a first prize in organ and improvisation at the Paris Conservatory. She won this prestigious prize the same year as Éliane Lejeune-Bonnier (1921–2015), with the unanimous approval of the jury, which included Jeanne Demessieux.

From 1955 to 1957, Odile Pierre officially substituted for Jean-Jacques Grunenwald, then organist at Saint-Pierre de Montrouge Church in Paris. She then studied organ performance with Fernando Germani at Saint-Cecilia Academy in Rome and at Chigiana Music Academy in Sienne, and with Franz Sauer at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. In 1969, she succeeded Jeanne Demessieux as titular organist of the gallery organ of the Madeleine Church and remained in this post until 1979. By coincidence, on the day after she died, Olivier Périn began his functions as the official assistant to François-Henri Houbart, her successor at the Madeleine.

Well known for her mastery of organ repertoire from early to contemporary masters, Odile Pierre performed at least 2,000 concerts throughout the world, including appearances in Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Canada, Iceland, Russia, Germany, Turkey, Italy, Spain, Austria, and the former Czechoslovakia, including twelve tours in the United States and six in Asia. In 1977, she represented France at the Third International Organ Congress in Washington and Philadelphia. She performed organ concertos under the direction of conductors such as Lorin Maazel, Pierre Dervaux, Antoine de Bavier, and Georges Prêtre.

Odile Pierre recorded for RCA, Mitra, Motette, Festivo, Editions Lade, and IFO. At least two of the recordings were made at the Madeleine Church in Paris: Camille Saint-Saëns’ Preludes and Fugues (1972, RCA LSB 4088) and The Great Romantic Toccatas (1978, RCA/RC 8108). In 1991, she recorded (for SCD 814) Jean-François Muno’s reconstitution of Jean de Joyeuse’s 1694 organ at the Auch Cathedral, which she had inaugurated in 1988 with André Isoir. Her Poetic Symphonic Organ Music (Vierne, Debussy, Duruflé, and Odile Pierre) on the Cavaillé-Coll of the Trinity Church in Fécamp and at St. Godard in Rouen (1988, MP/FR 51190 C) calls upon her Normand origins; her record of Widor, Vierne, and Guilmant at the Orléans Cathedral (1993, Motette 11251), reminds us that she lived nearby, in Tigy, in the Loiret department, at the end of her life.

As professor, Odile Pierre taught organ and music history at the Rouen Conservatoire from 1959 until 1969 and then organ and improvisation at the Paris Regional Conservatoire from 1981 until 1992. Among her students were Michael Matthes, Léon Kerremans, D’Arcy Trinkwon, Kristiyan Seynhave, David Di Fiore, and Lionel Coulon (titular organist at the Rouen Cathedral since 1992, he substituted for her at the Madeleine for four years). In 1991, she gave organ classes at the Scuola Internationale d’Alto Perfezionmento Musicale in Perugia, Italy, and gave masterclasses in numerous colleges and universities. She also served on the juries of international organ competitions. In 1977, she was appointed as a member of the Commission on Organs in Paris.

Her organ works were published as early as 1955: Chorale and Fugue on the first antiphon of the Second Vespers for Christmas (1955, Procure du Clergé), and Chorale and Four-Voiced Fugue (1955, republished by Europart-Music in 1988), Four Pilgrimages at the Virgin Mary for four hands, opus 1 (Leduc, 1988), Variations and Fugue on three Christmas Carols (Leduc, 1990), The Martyr of St. Thomas Becket, op. 4 (Bergamo, Carrara 1994), Chorale and Fugue on the Name of Charles-Marie Widor, op. 5 (Mayence, Schott, 1994), and Canonic Variations and Fugue on Two Christmas Carols from Naples, op. 6 (1955). Her edition of some of Alexandre Guilmant’s organ works was printed by Bornemann in 1983 and 1984. In addition, she wrote about Marcel Dupré’s improvisation exams in 1953 and 1954 (Leduc, undated). Odile Pierre received three awards for her contributions to French culture: Officer in the French Legion of Honor, Commander in the French Order of Merit, and the Silver Medal of the City of Paris.

Odile Pierre is survived by her husband, the historian Pierre Aubé.

—Carolyn Shuster Fournier

Philip Astor Prince, 89, of New Haven, Connecticut, died February 5. Born January 5, 1931, in Evanston, Illinois, Prince attended the Taft School before entering Yale University with the Class of 1952. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Latin, subsequently studied musicology in the Yale Graduate School, but completed a Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music in organ performance under H. Frank Bozyan in 1959. Prince was drawn to the Anglo-Catholic liturgy celebrated at Christ Church, New Haven, and became associated with the music program there, succeeding Richard Donovan as organist and choirmaster in 1966. He became respected among colleagues for his English-language arrangements of Gregorian chants and psalmody and for his hymn accompaniments.

Prince published scholarly articles on Max Reger’s organ music (see “Reger and the Organ,” The Diapason, March 1973) and a performing edition of a sonata da chiesa of Johann Gottfried Walther. He also taught organ students at Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, where he served as university organist for nearly 30 years and played annual recitals. In 1988, he joined the choirs of St. Mary Church, New Haven, and the St. Gregory Society and continued singing with them well into his 80s. Prince became an associate fellow of Ezra Stiles College in 1974. He was a longtime member of both Mory’s and the Elizabethan Club in New Haven, and the American Guild of Organists and Association of Anglican Musicians. Prince was a supporter of the Yale swimming team, and for many years he refereed at swimming matches and tournaments.