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Christ Episcopal Church, Bradenton, Florida, announces its 2016–17 series

Christ Episcopal Church, Bradenton, Florida, announces its 2016–17 series:

November 20, Mozart Mass in C (“Sparrow”);
December 4, Advent Lessons & Carols;
12/11, Sarasota Young Voices;
January 22, 2017, Dexter Kennedy in recital;
1/29, lecture by Richard Benedum: Mozart’s Requiem;
February 19, Tenth Anniversary Recital on the Létourneau organ with Richard Benedum, Carol Hawkinson, Dwight Thomas, and the Christ Church Chorale; 2/26, Schubert, Mass in G;
March 12, Stephen Hamilton plays Dupré’s Le Chemin de la Croix.

Two concerts for the Sarasota-Manatee Bach Festival are hosted by Christ Church featuring Bach concertos, November 26 and March 5, 2017.

Advent organ recitals are offered: December 1, John Fraser Jull; 12/8, James Culver; 12/15, Richard Benedum and William Holt.

Lenten organ recitals are offered: March 2, 2017, Glen Olsen; 3/9, John Fenstermaker; 3/16, Cynthia Roberts-Greene; 3/23, Ann Stephenson-Moe; 3/30, Nancy Siebecker; April 6, Julane Rodgers, harpsichord.

The church features Létourneau pipe organ, Op. 96 (2007), three manuals, 68 stops.

For more information: www.christchurchswfla.org.

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The University of Michigan 46th Conference on Organ Music

Marcia Van Oyen

Marcia Van Oyen is Director of Music Ministry at First United Methodist Church, Plymouth, Michigan, and continues to serve as Director for the National AGO Committee for Membership Development and Chapter Support. She received her master’s and doctoral degrees at the University of Michigan, where she studied organ with Robert Glasgow.

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The 46th University of Michigan Conference on Organ Music took place October 1–4, 2006. The event focused on music of Germany, France and the USA, featuring performances by Marie-Claire Alain, Michigan faculty members Marilyn Mason, James Kibbie, and Michele Johns, and a slate of lectures on a variety of topics. The majority of events took place at Hill Auditorium, home of the 4-manual, 124-rank Frieze Memorial Organ.

Children’s choir festival

The conference opened with a children’s choir festival organized by the Ann Arbor Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. Thomas Strode, AGO board member and director of the Ann Arbor Boy Choir, gathered over 85 children from six area churches and schools to sing together. Approximately half the program featured music sung by the combined choir directed by Strode; several groups sang individually as well, including the Messias Temple Youth Choir, whose inspired performance brought the audience to its feet. Charles Kennedy skillfully accompanied the choir, and played three Sketches and a Canon by Schumann. The audience of several hundred comprised largely families with young children, and I was glad to see them exposed to the sounds of both well-trained children’s voices and the pipe organ. Given the disposition of the audience, the stage was perfectly set to engage the multi-generational crowd with organ repertoire or a demonstration designed for such a purpose. Tom Strode did give some impromptu remarks about the organ, which seemed to pique the interest of the adults seated near me, but the program would have had greater impact had it included one of the many light-hearted, educational organ demonstration pieces of recent vintage. Based on the interest of more choirs in participating, the Ann Arbor AGO plans to continue this event in the future. I encourage them to make the most of the opportunity to educate young people about the pipe organ.

Michigan faculty performances

Sunday evening, Marilyn Mason and flautist Donald Fishel gave the Ann Arbor premiere of Breath of the Spirit—Pentecost for flute, organ, and narrators, composed by Michigan graduate Gregory Hamilton, based on poetry by Kenneth Gaertner. The pattern of the work was inspired by Dupré’s La Chemin de la Croix, with the ten sections of the work musically interpreting and commenting upon the poetry. In her opening remarks, Marilyn Mason noted that this concert was one of the first events to take place following the official renaming of the music school. In collegial spirit, she appropriately included two members of the theatre department as narrators in this performance presented by the School of Music, Theatre and Dance.
Here is a brief synopsis of the work, with a few noteworthy quotes from the poetry:
1. Overture—organ alone, featuring big solo trumpet melody.
2. Annunciation—the organ and flute trade motifs, suggesting a dialogue between Mary and the Angel Gabriel, the rounded sounds of the Hill organ blending beautifully with the flute.
3. Children in Praise—children caught up in the excitement and wonder of the quiet Rabbi Jesus healing a crippled man and a man with a withered hand. The flute introduces a sprightly theme, which is echoed by the organ, spiced with mild dissonance.
4. Herod—the poem speculates on Herod’s thoughts about John contrasted with those about his lover Herodias. He is simultaneously upset and intrigued by John, comforted and attracted to Herodias. Unaccompanied flute plays long passages in the low register contrasted with passages in the instrument’s uppermost register.
5. Mary Dancing—the story of Jesus changing water into wine at the wedding in Cana and the dancing at the wedding. For solo flute, nearly moto perpetuo.
6. Judas—for organ solo, beginning with a crashing chord and descending pedal solos, then a decrescendo to a sighing Bach-like fugue section. The movement ends with more clashing dissonance alternating with a funereal fugue. “Mankind’s future is mankind’s sin.”
7. Mary Magdalene/Doubting Thomas—the extended poem is followed by long flowing melodies portraying gentle happiness.
8. Poverty Shared—illustrates the experience of a poor man listening to Jesus preach. It begins seething with tension, then eases and flows into comforting, surging waves of lovely harmonies. The poetry preceding the movement offers these paradoxical thoughts: “Listening to the Rabbi preach, shedding the shroud of poverty, words flew into the ears of his poverty’s corpse. Had not his curse always been his salvation?” The initial tension returns to close the movement.
9. Desert Grief—Jesus appearing to Mary, resurrected. An oboe solo on organ alternates with the flute melody, perhaps indicating an undulating, leaping soul—“the burned sins of the world fell in gray ashes.”
10. Pentecost—recaps the overture, framing the work. Several strong poetic phrases wrap up the ideas in earlier poems: “delusions were ashes,” “truth cut through the oppression of their past,” “died and could not die again.”
Mason and Fishel proved themselves well-synchronized partners performing Breath of the Spirit, deftly navigating the work’s changing rhythmic landscape. For an extended work, it is easy to grasp and enjoyable on first hearing. Its accessible, attractive music would no doubt be enhanced by a church setting to give it a sacred context. The work will be published in the near future, perhaps with some of the movements simplified to promote more performance, especially in a liturgical setting.

James Kibbie: Leipzig Chorales

James Kibbie played all of Bach’s Leipzig Chorales in two sessions, the first on the Fisk organ at Blanche Anderson Moore Hall at the School of Music, and the second on the Wilhelm organ at First Congregational Church of Ann Arbor. Kibbie takes a natural approach to these chorales—his playing is unfussy and elegant. He works with the organ’s natural articulation, adding his own subtle touches, all in keeping with the musical flow and not distracting from the overall effect. His pacing of the chorales is cohesive and appropriate, each tempo and transition carefully considered, and the registrations are apt, tastefully chosen for color and not solely dramatic effect.
The audience sang each chorale tune before Kibbie played Bach’s settings, having been provided with a booklet including the chorales. The booklet also contained comprehensive notes written by Larry Visser in 1992 when he performed the Leipzig Chorales as part of his doctoral studies at Michigan.
James Kibbie is on sabbatical leave during winter term to begin a three-year project to record the complete organ works of J. S. Bach on historic organs in Germany. During 2007, he will record approximately one third of the Bach organ works, including the Leipzig Chorales on the Silbermann organ of Dresden Cathedral and the Kirnberger Chorales on the Silbermann organs in Rötha.

Michele Johns and Kristen Johns

Michele Johns and her daughter Kristen performed a delightful concert of music for horn and organ on Monday afternoon. Kristen Johns has recently earned a DMA in horn performance, and has compiled a list of over 100 pieces originally composed for horn and organ as part of her research. The program included a selection of works composed in the last third of the 20th-century, opening with the fanfare-filled Celebration for Horn and Organ by Randall Faust. Next, Craig Phillips’ tuneful Serenade for Horn and Organ was filled with the composer’s signature harmonies, while Dutch composer Jan Koetsier’s Choral-Fantasie on Gib dich zufrieden un sei stille reminds one of Mendelssohn or Rheinberger. Daniel Pinkham’s The Salutation of Gabriel was commissioned by Joan Lippincott in honor of Karen McFarlane’s retirement. It is a programmatic work in three continuous sections—Gabriel delivers the message, Mary replies, Gabriel departs. Pinkham effectively portrays both the excitement and weightiness of the message, going so far as to instruct the performer to walk off-stage before playing the closing notes of the piece to signify Gabriel departing. Arnatt’s Variations on Divinum Mysterium is a beautifully composed work, keeping the familiar chant tune prominent most of the time. Works by Paul Basler and Gunther Marks rounded out this enjoyable mother/daughter collaboration.

Student performances

Students of Marilyn Mason and James Kibbie performed in several concerts during the conference. Monday morning, doctoral candidate Seth Nelson gave an excellent lecture-recital on Mozart’s flute clock pieces. The temperament of the Fisk organ brought out the character and color of these pieces, particularly the F-minor Fantasy. Doctoral students Marcia Heirman, Andrew Meagher, Alan Knight, Christine Chun, Susan De Kam, and master’s student Thomas Kean performed works ranging from Messiaen to Brahms to Vierne on Monday afternoon. Undergraduate Joseph Balistreri, master’s student Paul Haebig, doctoral student Michael Stefanek, and returning DMA graduates Shin-Ae Chun and Seth Nelson played works by Le Bègue, Langlais, Franck, Sowerby, Bolcom, and Dupré on Wednesday afternoon. Following the organ program, Christine Chun performed her first dissertation recital as pianist of the Michigan Trio, performing chamber works with cellist Amar Basu and violinist Jane Yu. David Saunders gave his second doctoral recital on Wednesday evening, playing music of DeGrigny, Guilain, Franck and Grandjany. Carillonneur Steven Ball gave a short carillon concert prior to the evening event.

Mozart lecture

Music theory professor Ellwood Derr gave an outstanding lecture on Mozart on Tuesday morning. He began by offering a Native American saying, “It is good for the living to perform ceremonies for the dead,” and invited his audience to actively participate in the lecture. Comparing Mozart to Michelangelo and Shakespeare, Derr asserted that Mozart is a magician, a freak due to his unusually high level of skill and his ability to innately and directly communicate with his audience, whether or not they are educated. His corpus of works, which Derr believes to be technically perfect, is so vast it is nearly impossible to listen to it all.
Derr has done research that identifies more than 80 Mozart works that borrow material from J. C. Bach, whom Mozart greatly admired. He recognizes three ways in which existing material can be incorporated into new works: reuse of thematic material, a technique so widely used as to be in common domain; unadorned borrowing for effect; and material retrieved from memory, the most common method of borrowing. He discussed examples from the Great Mass in C minor and the Requiem. In connection with remarks on the high quality of Mozart’s unfinished works, he played a selection from a recent recording of a gorgeous unfinished aria from Davide Penitente. Following the conference, Derr was slated to give this lecture and two additional lectures as part of a series of events celebrating Mozart, his era and his influence.

Classical French music

Monday afternoon, Susanne Diederich and Jean Randall offered a session on the Classical French organ and its music. Using the Frieze organ in Hill Auditorium, Randall demonstrated at the console and Diederich spoke. The main points of the lecture were the importance of stylistic specialties in giving character to French classic music, and that this period represents a rare confluence of instrument, music, style, and performance practice all working together. This era is unique in history; organ builders and organists worked closely together, and the organ was participating in the general development of music. Following this lecture, Stephanie Nofar gave a lecture-recital, “The Other France: Tribute to Unknown Masters.”

Maurice Clerc recital

Maurice Clerc played a recital featuring several transcriptions at Hill Auditorium on Monday evening. Having played at several previous conferences, Clerc seemed at home at the console and utilized the organ’s resources to great effect, preferring full registrations such as he can create at his home church, Notre-Dame in Paris. He began the program with his own bombastic transcription from Verdi’s Don Carlos, and moved on to Franck’s Pièce Héroïque, playing it with a very legato touch. He captured the excitement of the piece effectively, adding an arpeggiated fanfare before the closing chords. His transcription of a suite of character pieces by Fauré provided enjoyable listening, enlivened by colorful registrations. He followed with the Suite Medievale by Langlais, and closed the program with his transcription of a scherzo improvised by Pierre Cochereau in 1974.

Clerc: The art of transcription

On Tuesday afternoon, Maurice Clerc gave a lecture on preparing transcriptions. He cited transcription practices in the 18th century—Bach’s Schübler Chorales, Rameau’s arrangements of his own operas, and Balbastre’s transcriptions of his own works. After being abandoned for a time, transcription again became popular in the latter half of the 19th-century. Liszt arranged favorite orchestral and choral works for organ, and is known to have played the Kyrie from Mozart’s Requiem and transcriptions of classics for Widor. Karg-Elert made arrangements of Wagner’s works, using every possible technique available on the organ. Organ performance was very popular at the time, giving people the opportunity to hear great orchestral works performed on the instrument, since they would have had little or no opportunity to hear the likes of Wagner otherwise. Many composers did not write for the organ at all, deterred by having secular works performed in a sacred space, since most organs are located in churches.
Transcriptions allow us to play works by composers who didn’t write for the organ. The body of organ repertoire can be increased, and allow us to study a composer’s techniques. In addition, Clerc believes organists make transcriptions for their own enjoyment, giving the examples of David Briggs and Daniel Roth, as well as Jean Guillou, who made transcriptions when it wasn’t considered a legitimate art. Clerc discussed two types of transcriptions: adaptations of existing works to the language of the organ, and notations of improvisations. Both Dupré’s and Tournemire’s improvisations have been notated, allowing us to observe their improvisation styles. Clerc has transcribed works of Pierre Coche-reau, whom he describes as “having sparkling musicality, and endowed with staggering speed and an innate ability to use the whole organ from soft to loud.” Transcribing these improvisations captures a moment in time and preserves the uniqueness of the improviser’s art.

Michael Barone

Michael Barone opened his session with this statement: “We think we know everything, but if we don’t know history, we’re destined to repeat it.” His goal was to give a survey of how performers have approached French music over the years. Tinkering patiently with recalcitrant hi-fi equipment, he began with the first recording of early French music, a disc recorded by André Marchal on a Gonzales/Beckerath at Attignon in 1936, wondering “Can we play this music any better today?” Barone created a pastiche of Franck’s Pièce Héroïque, alternating passages played in 1929 by Marcel Dupré and in 1962 by E. Power Biggs, and offered a composite of several recordings of Gigout playing his own B-minor Toccata. He offered 15 examples of the opening section of Franck’s B-minor Choral, noting the balance shift between the manuals and the pedal among the various recordings.
Barone’s open-minded approach allows his audiences to be exposed to many performers and performances that might be ruled out in narrower definitions of what is worthwhile. He chooses recordings of instruments or performances that he deems so beguiling or interesting that they deserve a hearing, and to his credit is not bound by fashionable definitions of authenticity or correctness. He encouraged the audience to spend time listening to how our predecessors performed, noting that any organist worth his or her salt “speaks French.” Known for closing his sessions with a memorable aural example, Barone did not disappoint. He closed with a recording of Messiaen’s La Nativité by a Russian accordion player.

Marie-Claire Alain

When Marie-Claire Alain stepped onto the platform to perform her concert Tuesday evening, she was greeted by an extended ovation from the capacity audience of conference attendees, church members, and locals. She had given a masterclass on the music of Jehan Alain that afternoon, and the evening’s event only seemed to bring forth more energy in her. She began with a set of guitar pieces by Campion transcribed for organ, which showed off the colors of the instrument, followed by two settings of Schmücke dich by Bach. She took the familiar BWV 654 at a lively pace, and deftly negotiated handfuls of notes in BWV 759. Closing a set of three Bach works, the C-major prelude and fugue, BWV 547, sparkled in her hands. This work too often suffers from plodding and heavy rendition, but Marie Claire moved it along under perfect control, clearly feeling very comfortable with the piece and the instrument.
The second half included Dupré’s Virgo Mater, op. 40, which is dedicated in memory of Jehan Alain, followed by three pieces by her father, Albert Alain. Though written in the 20th century, these pieces hark back to earlier styles, and are particularly akin to the works of Vierne and Widor. The contrast between Albert’s music and Jehan’s is interesting, the former steeped in French tradition, and the latter unbound by tradition. The younger Alain’s Deux Danses and Suite bring this point home. Marie-Claire had played well all evening, but her performance really caught fire performing her brother’s works. Following a long standing ovation and her 85-minute program, she tossed off a riveting performance of “Litanies” as an encore as if it was the first piece of the evening.
Brandon Spence: multi-cultural worship
Brandon Spence, a Michigan graduate, is director of music at St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This parish is home to people who speak English, Spanish, and Polish, as well as some who neither speak English nor are able to read. Spence approaches his task by asking two questions: who is present in worship? What are your musical resources? How do we make the music relevant? He cleverly illustrated with the movie “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?” asserting that there is a parallel between preparing a meal according to the needs of diverse guests and preparing music for worship. For Spence, the main issues are inclusiveness, enculturation, and fidelity to tradition. Worship should be inclusive, inviting, and engaging. Worship works best when people can feel that they belong and feel invited. With the assistance of a cantor from St. Andrew’s, he demonstrated using settings of Psalm 34 in different styles ranging from the Basilican Psalter to jazz and gospel in order to reach the various sectors of his diverse congregation.

Conclusion

The varied events of the 46th annual organ conference once again combined to provide current students and attendees with an excellent opportunity to delve into the riches of pipe organ repertoire and performance. Many thanks to Marilyn Mason and her colleagues who organize this valuable conference each year.

The 45th Conference on Organ Music: The University of Michigan, October 9–12, 2005

Marcia Van Oyen

Marcia Van Oyen earned master’s and doctoral degrees in organ and church music at the University of Michigan, where she studied organ with Robert Glasgow. She is associate director of music/organist at Plymouth First United Methodist Church in Plymouth, Michigan. She is on the steering committee for the 2006 national AGO convention and serves on two national AGO committees. More information is available online at .

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Organ conferences centered on repertoire, performance practice, and history rather than purely practical matters are few and far between. Outside of the American Guild of Organists conventions and pedagogy conferences, or single-topic workshops given by other entities, the annual University of Michigan Organ Conference stands out for its breadth and depth. The conference’s three days, packed with presentations by local, national and international experts, offer a terrific opportunity to delve into academic topics and re-engage with the details of the organ and its history. In addition, the conference is a bonus for Michigan students, exposing them to topics, lecturers and performances beyond the tutelage of the excellent Michigan faculty.
The annual organ conference is the brainchild of Dr. Marilyn Mason. When asked how long she has been involved with the conference, she replied:
Yes, I have been responsible for all of them!! I began the first conference in 1961 because my manager, Lillian Murtagh, had written that Anton Heiller would be coming to the USA. Right then I said we wanted him in October, and we signed him for the first Conference on Organ Music. Through the years I have had assistance from both James Kibbie and Michele Johns, but I have been responsible (with a conference committee) for the program and presenters.
All of the conference events this year, except for one lecture and one concert, were held at Hill Auditorium, home of the Frieze Memorial Organ. Having survived several tonal re-workings, water damage two decades ago, and gloriously emerging following an extensive renovation of the auditorium completed in late 2004, the organ is in fine shape. In expert hands and played with clarity, this instrument is quite versatile. The deepened color scheme of the auditorium and the organ’s newly gold front pipes lend an aura of warmth and ambiance previously lacking, and in this environment the organ’s smoky-sounding strings, full-bodied principals, and high-pressure reeds shine. Conference lectures took place in a pleasant, light-filled meeting room on the mezzanine level of the facility, allowing easy access to the auditorium downstairs and the array of colorful restaurants in Ann Arbor’s downtown area. Anticipation was in the air as the first lecturer, Christoph Wolff, the world’s foremost Bach scholar, took the podium.
Christoph Wolff, born and educated in Germany, is Adams University Professor at Harvard University. He has published widely on the history of music from the 15th to the 20th centuries; recent books include Bach: Essays on His Life and Music, The New Bach Reader, and Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician. Wolff is simultaneously erudite and engaging, bringing the listener into his research process, sharing how he has arrived at connections and conclusions. He is an articulate speaker, and conference attendees were privileged to hear him present four lectures on J. S. Bach and his music.

Bach lectures by Christoph Wolff

Wolff’s first lecture, “J. S. Bach and His Circle,” offered insight into the societal and musical influences surrounding the great master. The circle, as defined by Wolff, consisted of musicians of the Bach family, influential musicians outside the family, students of Bach, and patrons of Bach. The historical depth of his musical family is unique to Bach. The combination of profundity and expressivity in the music his relatives composed is fundamental to understanding Bach’s work. The young Bach was immersed in this music, full of innovative practices.
One of the prominent musicians influencing the young J. S. Bach was family friend Johann Pachelbel, who trained keyboardists with a mixed repertoire of Italian, French and German music. Central Germany was a colorful cultural scene, with many small political entities, and this was reflected in its music. German composers took the best of what existed from eclectic sources and combined it in a new way, creating a cosmopolitan style. Pachelbel was an important transmitter of this mixed style.
As a teacher, Bach allowed his students to develop along their own path, according to their own tastes and pace, and nurtured their best individual qualities. His students worked with him all day every day, and those with professional ambitions became his assistants.
The query “Did Bach write concertos for organ and orchestra?” provided the motivation for Wolff’s second lecture. His conclusion is that the bulk of Bach’s harpsichord concertos originated as organ concertos that were later reworked into cantata movements. He guided listeners along the trail that led to this thesis. Some of the signposts along the trail included these facts: The bulk of the orchestral repertoire is from the Leipzig period. The Brandenburg Concerti, though dedicated in 1721, are actually pre-Cöthen and have a relationship to the Weimar cantatas; these works could not have been written in Cöthen for political reasons. Idiomatic writing in the E-major harpsichord concerto and its keys, range, and style point to organ performance. Wolff plans to present an edition of concertos using the right hand parts Bach typically wrote out (he improvised the left hand) and the full harpsichord part.
Wolff’s third lecture was “Bach and the Silbermann Connection.” Johann Sebastian Bach and organbuilder Gottfried Silbermann met in 1724 when Bach played a concert in Dresden on the new organ at the church of St. Sofia. Bach was a technical expert, able to converse at Silbermann’s level, and frequently examined the structure, mechanics, and acoustics of new organs. Another important meeting occurred in 1736 when Bach played the dedication of a new Silbermann organ at the Frauenkirche. When Silbermann was experimenting with building a fortepiano, he called on Bach to examine the prototype. The two were also known to have examined a new organ in Naumburg in 1746, the largest instrument built by Hildebrandt.
Wolff’s final lecture was on the Clavierübung Part III. Both Kuhnau and Lübeck had published volumes titled “Clavierübung” to train performers and composers, and Bach selected this title in order to accommodate several volumes of his work. At the St. Thomas School and Leipzig University, Bach was surrounded by colleagues who were publishing. Bach was at a disadvantage because he had no academic degree, but needed to establish that he had the credentials to teach. He wanted to publish a series that would show he was a very experienced, innovative, scholarly musician, highly qualified to serve as music director and cantor at St. Thomas. In 1723, Bach added a title page to the Orgelbüchlein (composed in Weimar), doing the same for the Inventions and Sinfonias and the Well-Tempered Clavier in order to document his teaching method.
While Part IV of the Clavierübung, the Goldberg Variations, portrayed Bach as a keyboard master, it was Part III that identified him as an organist, confirming his public reputation. Such a collection of organ music was unprecedented, including works at the upper limits of organ technique, testing Bach’s ability as a composer as well. At the time, there were probably only twelve organists with the ability to play the large chorales in the collection, so as a marketing strategy, Bach added the smaller chorales and duets, which could be played on the harpsichord or clavichord. In addition, the pieces are a musical catechism to be studied daily, using teachings of the Lutheran faith and hymns of the Mass. The title page of the Part III includes the phrase “for the recreation and education of the soul,” and is the only volume of the four that refers to education. In addition, it is the most comprehensively thought out and profound of all Bach’s collections, standing at the threshold of Bach’s late works.
The Clavierübung was a systematically developed project, composed in the second half of the 1730s, and published in 1739. Part III is an ideal organ concert as Bach would have conceived it, beginning with a prelude, ending with a fugue, with chorales in between; he may have played the large pieces for the dedication of the Silbermann organ in the Frauenkirche in Dresden in 1736. On the heels of Wolff’s lecture on Part III, doctoral students of Marilyn Mason (David Saunders, Andrew Meagher, Marcia Heirman, Kirsten Hellman, Monica Sparzak, and Kim Manz) played the complete work on the Fisk organ in Blanche Anderson Moore Hall at the School of Music. Wolff gave a brief description and guide for listening to each piece.
Typically, the chorales or the prelude and fugue are excerpted for concert use, but hearing the collection as a whole brings to light Bach’s carefully planned compositional architecture and enhances the beauty of the works. By the time the final fugue is played, no introduction or explanatory note is necessary—the work is heard as a natural conclusion to what has come before. Hearing the pieces in one sitting is demanding for the listener, weighty stuff even for the organ crowd, but it is a very satisfying experience.
Dr. Mason’s students played the demanding pieces very ably, handling the sensitive action of the Fisk organ well. This organ is an important historical teaching tool, and its tonal palette and unequal temperament provided the requisite colors to elucidate Bach’s works.

The Global Bach Community

Following the Bach concert, conference attendees were invited to join a lunch-time discussion with leaders of the Global Bach Community: president Samuel Swansen, vice president Marilyn Mason, secretary Toni Vogel Carey, and advisory board member Christoph Wolff. The community was founded in 2000 with the following mission: to recognize and foster the common spirit that exists universally among lovers of Bach’s music, to facilitate Bach-centered projects worldwide—artistic, educational, social and spiritual, to help the Bach community flourish, in part through the ability to raise funds not normally available to individual Bach organizations. In cooperation with The Bach Festival of Philadelphia’s website, the Global Bach Community has emerged as the central resource for Bach organizations worldwide (www.bach-net.org).

Lectures—Innig, Hamilton, and Barone

Rudolf Innig has concertized throughout the world and made numerous recordings for radio broadcast as well as commercial sale, including the complete works of Messiaen. His organ teachers include Gaston Litaize and Michael Schneider. He won the competition of the Conservatories of the Federal Republic of Germany in the organ category in 1975. His current project is recording the complete organ works of Rheinberger on 12 CDs, and he lectured on this music. The soft-spoken Innig confessed his initial skepticism about recording Rheinberger, but having become fond of Rheinberger’s music, then told the audience, “I want not only to inform, but to convince.” Compared to his contemporaries Mendelssohn, Brahms, and Liszt, Rheinberger’s life and education at the Munich conservatory were unremarkable. He wrote music simply to express joy, his style was provincial rather than cosmopolitan, and his music is not innovative. Innig asserted that Rheinberger’s music has receded into history due to these factors. By the time he began to write organ sonatas late in life, Rheinberger had already composed numerous symphonies, operas and songs. It is in the organ sonatas that he truly developed his personal style, composing at least one large organ work per year 1875–1894. Innig hopes to garner attention for these works with his recording series.
Stephen Hamilton is minister of music at the historic Church of the Holy Trinity (Episcopal) in New York City and has recorded Marcel Dupré’s La Chemin de la Croix to great acclaim. He studied with Marie-Claire Alain, had the opportunity to play L’Ascension for Messiaen, and has an extensive collection of correspondence between Marcel Dupré and both Arthur Poister and Robert Shepfer. During his lecture, “The French Connection,” he shared anecdotes, recounting his experiences with various teachers, including Russell Saunders (who taught the fourth-grade Hamilton), as well as personal reflections. The bulk of his presentation dealt with the life of Marcel Dupré and his value as a pedagogue. He distributed a complete listing of Dupré’s organ works, encouraging the performance of the extensive oeuvre beyond the six or seven typically played works.
Michael Barone, host of the radio program “Pipedreams,” and self-proclaimed master of playing CDs rather than playing the organ, is clearly more comfortable when fiddling with the knobs and controls of hi-fi equipment rather than giving a formal lecture. He has the self-confidence and sense to let the music speak for itself, rather than interrupting or pre-empting it with unnecessary chatter. He reminded the audience that the art of recording the pipe organ is relatively new, coming into its own after the invention of electricity in the 1920s. His presentation was an enjoyable musical survey of playing styles entitled, “They Did It That Way?!”
Drawing from his vast library of recordings, Barone made his point by juxtaposing Widor’s performance of his Toccata at age 80 with a lightning-fast rendition played by G. D. Cunningham, Dupré’s whirlwind take on his own G-minor Prelude and Fugue in his youth and a much older Dupré playing one of the Preludes and Fugues from Opus 36. He offered a “kaleidoscope of interpretive possibilities” by playing several contrasting renditions of Bach’s first Trio Sonata and injected some levity with an outlandish performance of Bach’s D-minor Toccata. Most interesting was a performance of Franck’s B-minor Choral played on the piano by Vladimir Viardo of the University of North Texas. (If you play or are fond of this piece, this is a must-have recording, available from .)
Every so often, Barone would punctuate the music with a subtly humorous facial expression and a cryptic comment—vintage Barone. At the end of the session, he offered this thought, demonstrating his own openness to and fascination with the variety present in the pipe organ world: “There is never any one way any more than there is any one player.” He closed with one more recording: the Toccata from Boëllmann’s Suite Gothique played by an accordion band. “It’s the ultimate in flexible wind,” Barone quipped.

Organ concerts—Hamilton, Disselhorst and Innig

Three artists presented evening concerts in Hill Auditorium: Stephen Hamilton, Delbert Disselhorst, and Rudolph Innig. Hamilton’s selection of repertoire, labeled “Alain and His Circle,” included L’Ascension by Messiaen, the Te Deum by Langlais, Trois Mouvements pour orgue et flute by Jehan Alain, and Prelude and Fugue in B major by Dupré. Hamilton’s playing is fluid and virtuosic, and he knows how to coax the loveliest sounds from the Hill organ. He is expressive with his physical movement at the console, even “conducting” with a free arm at times. His performance of the sustained prayer in L’Ascension didn’t seem static, but felt alive, moving forward. He attributes this feeling of forward motion to a year spent accompanying for Robert Shaw: subdivide always. Flautist Donald Fischel joined Hamilton for Alain’s Trois Mouvements for organ and flute, a work that deserves to be heard far more often. Particularly in the second and third movements, the organ and flute blend seamlessly with beautiful effect. The Dupré B-major began brilliantly, but spun out of control due to a glitch with the piston sequencer. Despite an accelerated tempo, Hamilton held the piece together to finish with success. Hamilton returned for an encore—Alain’s Litanies—played with a frantic, exciting, if blurry, rush of virtuosity.
Delbert Disselhorst, professor of organ at the University of Iowa and graduate of Michigan, is an organ conference regular, performing every few years. His memorized program was ambitious, opening with the Prelude and Fugue in G minor by Brahms, negotiated with seamless manual changes, perfectly under control. Following the chorale prelude and fugue on Meine Seele by Bach, he launched into another tour de force, a Passacaglia by Swiss composer Otto Barblan. This Brahmsian work includes rhythms reminiscent of the Bach C-minor Passacaglia dressed in weighty, dense harmonic clothing. After intermission, Disselhorst offered a solid rendition of Mendelssohn’s Sonata III, followed by Bach’s Sonata III, played with an unfussy neutral touch. The Theme with Variations by Johann Friedrich Ludwig Thiele, a virtuosic torrent of notes, closed the program with moto perpetuo pedal and a cadenza for the manuals. Disselhorst delivered an heroic performance with a pleasing variety of texture and drama in the repertoire selected.
Rudolph Innig has clearly developed a passion for Rheinberger’s organ music. He approached the console and took command immediately with expressive, dramatic playing. His program consisted of three sonatas, including the F major, op. 20, the last sonata Rheinberger composed (1899). This sonata is subtitled “Zur Friedensfeier”—for the ceremony of peace, and celebrates the confidence in Germany at the time that a world war in the near future would be avoided. Rheinberger’s sonata forms are irregular, but the movements are often related to one another with common themes and intervals. Sequential writing, as in the D-minor Sonata, op. 148, often lends shape to the movements. The works are rhythmically energetic, akin to Mendelssohn but with denser writing, although they are not dissonant or highly chromatic. Innig’s registration consisted of foundation stops with reeds at various volume levels for the most part.
Following Innig’s concert, university carilloneur Stephen Ball and his students hosted a candlelit reception in Burton Tower, home of the Baird memorial carillon. Guests had the opportunity to view the massive bells and try out the carillon’s keyboards. Recently, Michigan has recently become home to a second carillon, located in a modernistic tower on the north campus.

Student recitals

Three doctoral recitals by students of Marilyn Mason afforded the performers a larger audience than they otherwise would have had and a nice opportunity to play for professional colleagues. Seth Nelson played the complete Widor First Symphony, whose fifth movement is the famous “Marche Pontificale.” Performing gargantuan works such as this from memory happens only in the rarefied atmosphere of intense study and focus, a feat always eliciting admiration from an audience. Doctoral candidates Shin-Ae Chun and Alan Knight also performed dissertation recitals, Ms. Chun particularly shining in her rendition of the Liszt Prelude and Fugue on B-A-C-H. Joseph Balistreri, Michael Stefanek, Elizabeth Claar, Matthew Bogart, students of James Kibbie, played a concert at Hill Auditorium on Tuesday afternoon, each giving a commendable performance.

Church music at the conference

For a number of years, the conference has opened with a worship service or hymn festival, and has included a lecture or two on a worship-related topic. The inclusion of church music elements in an otherwise scholarly conference acknowledges the importance of service-playing skills for organists, gives a good opportunity for the local AGO chapter to participate, and provides another event to which the public can be invited. This year, the Ann Arbor AGO chapter organized a choral festival, dedicated to the late Donald Williams, and Herman Taylor gave a lecture entitled “The Joys and Sorrows of Contemporary Church Music.”
At the choral festival, Ann Arbor AGO Dean Edward Maki-Schramm gave opening remarks, pointing out that this effort relies upon the copious hours of dedication and practice of many volunteers. He illustrated his point by attempting to tabulate the cumulative number of practice hours for all involved in the service, which featured a choir comprising volunteer singers from the AGO board members’ churches. The choir sang two anthems by Vaughan Williams and Mendelssohn tentatively, but seemed to relax and enjoy singing Moses Hogan’s Music Down in My Soul. Dr. Schramm confidently accompanied the choir, and David Hufford played the prelude, a solo within the service, and a solid performance of the Toccata from Duruflé’s Suite for the postlude.
The festival service included the singing of several hymns as well, capably led by Dr. Schramm at the console, among them Sing a New Song to God, with its athletic but very singable tune composed by Kevin Bylsma. Unfortunately, for all its charms, Hill Auditorium is not conducive to worship, and is deadly for congregational singing, especially when the “congregation” is spread out among the padded seats. Future planners of the conference’s worship event would do well to choose one of the nearby churches as the venue rather than the 4000-seat auditorium.
One highlight of the choral festival was the homily given by the Reverend JoAnn Kennedy Slater, J.D., Ann Arbor AGO chaplain. “Music,” she said, “is one of the more visceral, organic thresholds to God. Because of God’s incredible trust and vulnerability we each then have a share in that divinity and that joy and wonder; and music is one way to create and sustain such a sacred space in our bodies, mind, and souls, in the sacred spaces of our places of worship as well as in the secular world of music as entertainment.” Her remarks were heartfelt and sincere, descriptive rather than didactic, displaying an understanding of the ephemeral art of music.
On a more practical note, Herman Taylor presented a lecture/demonstration he dubbed “The Joys and Sorrows of Contemporary Church Music.” Having retired from teaching at Eastern Illinois University, he now serves as organist at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Charleston, Illinois. He earned his master’s and doctoral degrees at Michigan, and is a presenter or performer at the conference every few years.
For Taylor, the sorrow is that contemporary (read: pop style) church music in its raw state is overly simplistic, devoid of through-composition, modified strophic forms, or creative harmonization. Recognizing quality in many of the “contemporary” melodies and texts, however, Taylor finds joy in enhancing the songs with more sophisticated harmony. He realizes that many composers of contemporary songs simply lack the musical training to harmonize their melodies with any complexity. He has contacted them about modifying and elaborating on the harmony of their songs, receiving positive responses. Taylor’s harmonic alterations are subtle but do add richness to the songs, which he invited the audience to sing while he demonstrated his techniques. His wife, Vivian Hicks Taylor, served as cantor. Dr. Taylor also addressed “gospelizing” hymns, a practice that includes adding rhythm and passing tones to create a Gospel feel.

A tribute to Robert Glasgow

Professor Robert Glasgow has formally retired from teaching, and as a tribute, nine of his former students played a concert at Hill Auditorium. Thomas Bara, Monte Thomas, Charles Kennedy, Christopher Lees, Ronald Krebs, Joel Hastings, Deborah Friauff, Douglas Reed, and Jeremy David Tarrant demonstrated the Glasgow legacy with excellent performances of a wide variety of repertoire. Tom Bara’s taut, compelling rendition of Mendelssohn’s Allegro, Chorale and Fugue was particularly noteworthy, and Charles Kennedy played the Brahms Chorale and Fugue on “O Traurigkeit” with understated elegance. Joel Hastings played Vierne’s Naïades to perfection, the fountain of notes bubbling effortlessly and unaffectedly, and Jeremy David Tarrant negotiated the mammoth Prelude, Andante and Toccata by Fleury with ease. Douglas Reed lent a touch of humor to the program by choosing to play two movements from De Spiritum by William Albright, a work requiring two assistants. Following the program, guests mingled at a reception on the stage, offering their greetings and congratulations to Dr. Glasgow. One was struck by the legacy Glasgow leaves in the form of his many fine students. He taught as much by the example of his own playing as he ever did with words. Observing his quiet and elegant technique, coupled with masterful and expressive interpretations, was a year’s worth of lessons in itself.
Marilyn Mason’s considerable energy, enthusiasm, and extensive connections in the organ world make the Michigan organ conference a high quality event, serving both current Michigan students and dozens of attendees from out of town. She has done yeoman service by offering a conference brimming with serious academic content over a wide a range of topics, sustaining her efforts for nearly half a century to present a valuable, educational opportunity each autumn. Kudos to you, Dr. Mason.
 

125 years of music at Michigan
1880–2005

Organists loom large in the establishment of the School of Music, perhaps none more prominently than classics scholar Henry Simmons Frieze. Music, though his avocation, was his passion. Known for his deep religious faith and keyboard skill, Frieze had supported himself as a church organist and music director prior to launching his academic career. It was Frieze, then professor and acting university president, who instigated the formation of a Messiah Club involving four Ann Arbor churches in 1879, formalizing a collaboration that had been active since 1860. The Club was soon reorganized as the Choral Union.
The following year, the University Musical Society was founded, bringing together the Choral Union and the student orchestra, with Leipzig-trained Calvin B. Cady as director. At Frieze’s suggestion, Cady was also hired as instructor of music in the College of Literature, Science and the Arts. Cady started the Ann Arbor School of Music, precursor of the Michigan School of Music, in 1880 with four teachers. Cady taught piano, organ, harmony and composition.
Following half a century of European artists holding sway in the realm of serious music-making in the United States, after about 1850 Americans began to establish their own institutions for musical training. In 1862, Harvard University appointed an instructor of music, and within the next two decades a number of colleges and universities had followed suit, including Michigan. Conservatories also began to be established in the East, Peabody in Baltimore the first of these.
Cady’s successor, Albert A. Stanley, a composer and organist from Providence, Rhode Island, also had studied at the Leipzig Conservatory and gave frequent organ recitals to establish his authority as a performer. In 1888, he was hired as professor in the university as well as director of the Ann Arbor School of Music, with 248 students enrolled. By 1889 the Ann Arbor School of Music was floundering, and Stanley resigned as director.
In 1892, the Ann Arbor School of Music was reorganized as the University School of Music, with Albert Stanley as director. Lacking a decent instrument, the University Musical Society acquired the Columbian Exposition organ in 1893, an instrument built by Farrand & Votey of Detroit for the occasion. This organ had been heard by thousands in Chicago during 1893, and its installation in University Hall in Ann Arbor sparked interest in organ playing. Stanley played the dedication concert before a packed house, including the governor of Michigan. The organ was designated the Frieze Memorial Organ in tribute to Henry Simmons Frieze, who had died in 1889. In 1913, the organ was moved to the newly constructed Hill Auditorium, which has been its home ever since.
When the time came to appoint a new director for the School of Music, Archibald T. Davison of Harvard and Gustav Holst were considered, but it was organist Earl V. Moore who was appointed professor of music in the University, director of the Choral Union, and musical director of the School of Music in 1923. Moore had come to the university in 1908, completing his B.A. in 1912. He was appointed head of the organ department in 1913, and became university organist in 1914. Moore was made Dean of the School of Music in 1946, a post he held for thirty-seven years. The present School of Music building, designed by Eero Saarinen and built in 1964, was named the Earl V. Moore building in 1975. Palmer Christian had succeeded Moore as university organist in 1924, holding the position until 1947, and he in turn has been succeeded by only two others: Robert Noehren (1949–1976) and Marilyn Mason (1976–).
Several noteworthy facts offer insight into the development of the Michigan School of Music. In 1929, the School of Music was accepted into the University of Michigan, giving faculty members academic rank in the university. The master’s degree was also created at this time. In 1940, the School of Music was made an autonomous unit of the University of Michigan, with professors on salary rather than relying on student fees, and in 1941 the School of Music began to provide summer programs at Interlochen. In 1945, the school offered a Ph.D. in musicology and music education, and less than a decade later in 1953 the D.M.A. in composition and performance was created to certify teachers for new college positions.
The Michigan School of Music, one of the oldest and largest such schools in the country, celebrates its 125th anniversary this academic year. Musicology professor Mark Clague cites the following hallmarks of the music school’s history: excellence in performance and scholarship, entrepreneurial spirit, service to the university and community, balance of openness and tradition, and sensitivity to race and gender. A fine example of these hallmarks is William Bolcom’s epic Songs of Innocence and Experience, which has received three Grammy awards, including Best Classical Album. In the vein of entrepreneurial spirit, the School of Music has recently launched Block M Records, giving Michigan students and faculty the opportunity to record, produce and distribute original material without having to go through an outside company. This venture affords students hands-on experience with recording and production, and allows University-based musicians to receive greater benefit from recording sales. All recordings are distributed via the Internet at , which is a particular boon for avant-garde artists seeking an audience.

 

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