Paul Jacobs El Paso recital

Lucien Deiss, C.S.Sp., died on October 9. His funeral was celebrated on October 13 at Seminaire des Missiones in Larue, France. Best known to Roman Catholics in the U.S. through his scriptural songs such as “All the Earth,” “Keep in Mind,” and “Grant to Us, O Lord,” Fr. Deiss was also widely known in Europe and the United States as a scholar in the fields of sacred scripture and patristics. He was selected by Pope Paul VI to coordinate the Lectionary psalter following the Second Vatican Council. His Biblical Hymns and Psalms was one of the first collections of congregational music for Roman Catholics. For this he was given an honorary doctorate in sacred music from Duquesne University. An advocate of the reforms of Vatican II, Fr. Deiss dedicated much of his life to liturgical catechesis through workshops and the well-known “Deiss days” sponsored by WLP (then World Library of Sacred Music).

Czech composer Petr Eben died October 25 at his home in Prague at the age of 78. Born January 22, 1929, in Zamberk, Eben began piano study at age six and organ at nine. At 10, he composed his first musical pieces. As a teenager, he was imprisoned in the Nazis’ Buchenwald concentration camp. After the war, he studied piano and composition at Prague’s Academy of Music.
He taught for several decades, first at Prague’s Charles University, and later at the Academy of Performing Arts. From 1977–78, Eben was teaching composition at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England. In 1990 he became professor of composition at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and president of the Prague Spring Festival.
Over his career he composed some 200 pieces, including works for organ and piano, orchestral and chamber compositions, oratorios, masses and cantatas as well as pieces for children. Among his best-known works were the organ cycle Job; the oratorio Sacred Symbols for the Salzburg Cathedral; Windows (four movements for trumpet and organ inspired by Marc Chagall’s stained glass designs for a synagogue in Jerusalem); and Prague Te Deum. He concertized around the world, performing his compositions as well as improvisations on organ and piano, including at Paris’s Notre Dame Cathedral, London’s Royal Festival Hall, and the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California.
Eben’s music is regularly performed throughout Europe, the USA, Canada, Japan and Australia. He was awarded many prizes for his works: 1990, by the Czech government for his organ cycle Job; 1991, the Ordre Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres from the French Minister of Culture; 1992, Professor (honoris causa) of the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester; 1993, the Stamitz Prize of the German Künstlergilde; 1994, doctorate (honoris causa) from Prague Charles University; and in 2002 he received a high Czech decoration, the Medal of Merit. Eben is survived by his wife Sarka and three sons, Marek, David and Krystof.
Eben’s works for organ include:
Concerto for Organ and Orchestra No. 1 (Symphonia gregoriana), 1954.
Concerto for Organ and Orchestra No. 2, 1983.
Windows on the Pictures of Marc Chagall (trumpet and organ), 1976.
Fantasia for Viola and Organ Rorate Coeli, 1982.
Landscapes of Patmos (organ and percussion), 1984.
Tres iubilationes (brass and organ), 1987.
Two Invocations for Trombone and Organ, 1987.
Sunday Music, 1957–59.
Laudes, 1964.
Ten Chorale Preludes, 1971.
Two Chorale Fantasias, 1972.
Small Chorale Partita, 1978.
Faust, 1979–80.
Mutationes, 1980.
Versetti, 1982.
A Festive Voluntary (On Good King Wenceslas), 1986.
Hommage à Buxtehude, 1987.
Job (organ), 1987.
Two Festive Preludes, 1990, 1992.
Biblical Dances, 1990–91.
Amen, es werde wahr, 1993.
Momenti d’organo, 1994.
Hommage à Henri Purcell, 1994–95.

Albert Fuller, harpsichordist, conductor, teacher and author, died September 22 at his home in Manhattan, at the age of 81. As co-founder in 1972 and artistic director of the Aston Magna Foundation in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, he was among the pioneers of the revival of playing baroque music on the original instruments for which it was conceived. A frequent recitalist, Fuller also recorded extensively, including the first American original-instrument complete set of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos. The 1977 recording, made at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, became the initial release of the Smithsonian Institution’s recording program and went on to sell more than 100,000 copies.
Born July 21, 1926, Fuller grew up in Washington, D.C., where he was a boy soprano with the choir at the National Cathedral and studied organ with Paul Callaway. He went on to study harpsichord at the Peabody Conservatory of Music and at Yale University, where his teachers included Ralph Kirkpatrick and Paul Hindemith, and then went to Paris on a Ditson fellowship. He made his New York debut at Town Hall in 1957, and in 1964 joined the faculty of Juilliard as professor of harpsichord. He was also on the faculty of Yale University, 1976–79.
In 1972, Fuller founded the Aston Magna Foundation. Up to 30 performers gathered for several weeks each summer to study and play early music on the original instruments. Fuller left the Aston Magna Foundation in 1983 and went on to found the Helicon Foundation, a New York-based ensemble whose repertoire included music by Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Brahms.

Rudolf “Rudy” O. Inselmann died July 6 in Newport Beach, California at the age of 72. He majored in piano at Wartburg College, Waverly, Iowa, then attended Capital Bible Seminary and became an ordained Lutheran minister. He received an MA in organ from Indiana University and a doctorate in sacred music from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. After teaching music at the University of El Paso, he joined the faculty of Christ College, now Concordia University, Irvine, California. He served as organist at Church of the Good Shepherd in Arcadia; St. Clement’s Episcopal Church, San Clemente; St. Kilian Catholic Church, Mission Viejo; and Our Lady Queen of Angels, Newport Beach. Dr. Inselmann was dean of the Orange County AGO chapter from 1998–2000; he was also a longtime member of the Music Teachers Association of California.

Henry Ray Mann died June 30 in Greenville, Michigan. He was 72. A graduate of the University of Richmond, he earned a master of sacred music degree at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, where he served as organist-director in several churches and formed an organbuilding firm in partnership with Larry Trupiano. Henry Mann was known for his skill and artistry in the manufacture and voicing of wood pipes. He retired to Trufant, Michigan in 1992, subsequently serving as organist at Settlement Lutheran Church.

Bruce E. Mathieson died July 19 in Morgantown, West Virginia, from injuries sustained in an accident. He was 50 years old. Early in his 42 years of organ playing, he won two junior organist competitions. He was a graduate of Holyoke Community College with an associate degree in music. Mr. Mathieson served in the U.S. Navy for 24 years, and was the organist on the U.S.S. Enterprise during his service on that ship; he also played for Pope John Paul II while in Rome. After retiring from the Navy, he worked for West Virginia University and was organist at Point Marion Baptist Church in Point Marion, Pennsylvania; he also assisted the choir of Westover United Methodist Church in Westover, West Virginia. He was a charter member of the new Monongahela AGO chapter in West Virginia. Bruce Mathieson is survived by his wife of 29 years, Karla Landry Mathieson, a son, a daughter, his mother, two brothers, three sisters, and two grandchildren.

Roy G. Wilson died May 31 at the age of 92 in El Paso, Texas. A graduate of New Mexico State College, he earned a master’s degree from Texas Western College and focused his career on school administration in several El Paso schools. A lifelong musician, he served Grace United Methodist Church for over 50 years as organist, choir director, or as both. He regularly provided music for the Grace pre-school program and area school districts, and accompanied for solo and ensemble contestants. A member of the El Paso AGO chapter, he served as dean on several occasions. Mr. Wilson is survived by two daughters, a son, eight grandchildren, and eleven great grandchildren.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Organist, choir director, composer, and teacher Roberta Bitgood died on April 15 at Lawrence and Memorial Hospital, New London, Connecticut, after a brief illness. She was 99. Dr. Bitgood, formerly of Quaker Hill, had been a resident of the Odd Fellows Home of Connecticut (Fairview) in Groton. She was also known locally as Roberta Wiersma, her married name.
During a long career in sacred music, Bitgood served as minister of music and organist in churches and synagogues throughout the United States. She worked first in New Jersey (Bloomfield), later in California (Riverside), and later still in Connecticut (Mystic and Waterford), as well as in upper New York state (Buffalo) and Michigan (Detroit, Bay City, and Battle Creek). She published more than 70 choral and organ compositions, including several pieces for organ and other instruments, and two choral cantatas based on biblical narratives. Her enthusiasm for making music accessible to all, and the broad scope of her musical activities, made her one of the most well-known 20th-century American music educators. She was known to organists worldwide as a committed yet down-to-earth professional leader, and to volunteer choir singers in many states as an inspiring and witty teacher.
Roberta Bitgood was born in New London on January 15, 1908, and began study of the violin at age 5. As a student at the Williams Memorial Institute (1920–24), she was already well known as a gifted performer on the violin and organ in local churches and school orchestras. Graduating with honors from Connecticut College for Women, she received postgraduate and conservatory training in New York, where she was awarded the William C. Carl Medal upon graduation from the Guilmant Organ School (1930), became a Fellow of the American Guild of Organists (also 1930), and earned a master’s degree in music education from Teacher’s College at Columbia University (1932), a master’s degree in sacred music from Union Theological Seminary (1935), and later the doctoral degree in sacred music (1945), also from Union.
Dr. Bitgood was honored for her achievements and service to her profession and maintained an active relationship with her alma mater through fundraising efforts and performances at annual college reunions. In 1974 she was awarded the Connecticut College Medal, and in 1975 was elected president of the American Guild of Organists, continuing until 1981. In 1976, upon retirement from full-time employment in Michigan, Dr. Bitgood returned to her family home in Connecticut, serving for another 18 years in local churches and synagogues.
In 1993, the New London AGO chapter established an annual scholarship competition for new organists in Dr. Bitgood’s honor, as part of a celebration of her contributions to sacred music and her 85th birthday. After retiring from professional life in 1999, Dr. Bitgood remained at home under the care of her family until 2003, when she moved to Groton. A memorial service took place April 21 at St. James Church, New London. Contributions may be made to the New London AGO-Bitgood Scholarship (P.O. Box 423, Quaker Hill, CT 06375), or to the Visiting Nurses Association of Southeastern Connecticut (Waterford).

Giuseppe G. Englert died of cancer on March 29 in Paris. He was 80. Born to Swiss parents in Fiesole, Italy, in 1927, he studied theory and composition with Willy Burkhard at the Zurich Conservatory (1945–48). From 1958 to 1963 he took part in the international summer courses at Darmstadt, attending seminars given by Leibowitz and Cage, among others. From 1970 to 1982 he taught at the University of Paris VIII–Vincennes, where he became a member of the computer department’s Art et Informatique group in 1973. From 1964 to 1969 he was a co-director of the Centre de Musique, an organization founded by Keith Humble that promoted performances of new music at the American Center for Students and Artists in Paris. He joined the Groupe Art et Informatique de Vincennes (GAIV) in the computer department of the same university in 1973. As a composer and performer he toured Europe, Israel, and the United States. Since 1986 he was associated with the Groupe d’Etude et Réalisation Musicales (GERM) founded by Pierre Mariétan in Paris.
In the 1950s Englert studied organ with André Marchal and substituted for him at the church of St. Eustache in Paris. He accompanied André Marchal on a number of his American tours and gave lectures on organbuilding at several American universities. In 1956 he attended the Organ Institute at Methuen Memorial Hall, where he was the translator for André Marchal. He assisted Peter Bartok in the Unicorn recordings of Marchal in 1957 at MIT in Cambridge. In 1961 in Oberlin, Ohio, he lectured on French organbuilding and at the 1963 Midwinter Conference on Church Music at Northwestern University, Evanston. He was married to Jacqueline Marchal in 1954. American organists familiar with Langlais’ Organ Book may remember that it was dedicated to Jacqueline Marchal as a wedding gift and the last piece, “Pasticcio,” contains the names of both Jacqueline and Giuseppe.
Englert’s works include orchestral pieces, chamber music, compositions for organ, cello, and works for ‘new music theatre’ and electronic music on tape for live performance using analog and digital means of production. In 1975 and 1976 he worked in the digital electronic music studio at SUNY/Albany, in 1977 at the New York Experimental Intermedia Foundation, and in 1978 in San Diego for the Ford Foundation at the Center for Music Experiment (CME).
Englert’s works for organ include: Palestra 64 (1959–64) and GZ50 Musica Barbara pro Organo (1979), the latter recorded by Gerd Zacher. In reference to his compositions for organ he stated:
The organ has always played a major role in my musical thinking. But it may be precisely because I know the instrument so well that I’ve written so little for it. The problem with the organ is that no two instruments are identical. Consequently the interpreter needs far more freedom because he or she has to play a piece differently depending on the instrument and the hall or church in which it stands. When I began working with a computer, I was thrilled by the possibility of programming the necessary freedom into an organ composition, in other words, of using a computer program to determine and define indeterminacy. That led to GZ50, the organ piece I wrote for Gerd Zacher’s fiftieth birthday. It gives Zacher enormous freedom of interpretation. Time values are notated proportionally, but the duration of each page is not fixed. That leaves tempo completely to the performer, and the same holds true for tone color.
Until his last days he was surrounded by his former students and his nurses who recalled that they took him to a piano where he improvised a fugue. A large number of friends, colleagues, and former students attended the graveside funeral held April 2 at Père-Lachaise Cemetery. During the interment, Marchal’s recordings of portions of Bach’s Orgelbüchlein were played, interspersed with readings and tributes. Englert is survived by his wife, Jacqueline Englert-Marchal, a nephew and a niece. Contributions may be made to the Académie André Marchal, c/o Ralph Tilden, “Longview,” P.O. Box 2254, Banner Elk, NC 28604.
—Ann Labounsky

Kenneth W. Matthews died January 19 in San Francisco at the age of 54. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, his first music lessons were with his father, who played organ in churches and in restaurants. Matthews earned a BA in music from Stetson University in 1976 and an MA in sacred music from Yale Divinity School in 1978. He then moved to San Francisco to study with Richard Purvis at Grace Cathedral. He also studied in Paris with Marie-Louise Langlais and played recitals in France.
Matthews was director of music at Old First Presbyterian Church in San Francisco from 1998 until his death. He had previously served All Saints Episcopal Church and the First Church of Christ, Scientist, in San Francisco, the First Unitarian Church of Berkeley, and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Belvedere. He also supervised the support staff at Boalt Hall at the University of California, Berkeley, 1990–96. He played recitals at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor and at national conventions of the Organ Historical Society. A memorial service took place at Old First Presbyterian Church on February 24.
Monsignor Richard J. Schuler, a major figure in sacred music in the 20th century and founder of the Church Music Association of America, died April 20 at the age of 87. Monsignor Schuler served as pastor at St. Agnes Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, for 32 years, from 1969–2001, and was the founding director of the Twin Cities Catholic Chorale in 1956.
Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, December 30, 1920, he attended DeLaSalle High School and the College of St. Thomas before entering the St. Paul Seminary. He was ordained a priest on August 18, 1945, and was assigned to Nazareth Hall Preparatory Seminary to teach Latin and music. He held music degrees from the Eastman School of Music (M.A.) and the University of Minnesota (Ph.D.), and in 1954 spent a year of study of Renaissance music manuscripts at the Vatican Library on a Fulbright scholarship from the United States government.
An excellent organist and overall musician, he was also a pioneer in the use of large-scale polyphony and symphonic sung Masses after the Second Vatican Council. He is the author of many articles and lengthy studies on music and the liturgy. A funeral mass took place on April 24 at St. Agnes Church in St. Paul. Members of the Twin Cities Catholic Chorale sang the Mozart Requiem with orchestral accompaniment.

Gordon T. Whitley died April 20 at Obici Hospital in Suffolk, Virginia, from congestive heart failure. He was 66. Born November 16, 1940, to Moses and Mary Whitley in Suffolk, he attended Peabody Conservatory. His business included ownership of a beauty salon located in his home. Churches he had served as organist and choirmaster included St. Bride’s Episcopal, Norfolk, Virginia, Faith Lutheran Church in Suffolk, and Murfreesboro (North Carolina) Baptist Church. At the time of his death he was a countertenor in the choir at Trinity Episcopal Church in Portsmouth, Virginia.
Whitley was a member of St. Grace and St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Baltimore. A former dean of AGO chapters in Maryland and Virginia, he was a member of Northeastern North Carolina AGO chapter, serving as dean from 1997–1999. He was a member of the Association of Anglican Musicians and the Friends of European Cathedrals. Survivors include a niece and a sister-in-law. A memorial service was held on April 22 at R. W. Baker Funeral Home Chapel in Suffolk.
—Rodney Trueblood

Alec Wyton died on March 18 at Danbury Hospital in Danbury, Connecticut, at the age of 85. He had been a resident of Ridgefield, Connecticut, for the last 20 years. His career included two decades as organist and choirmaster at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. He was president of the American Guild of Organists 1964–69 and twice served as dean of the New York City chapter.
Born in London on August 3, 1921, he received his early musical training as a boy chorister and held his first job as organist at age 11. He earned the BA from the Royal Academy of Music and the MA from Oxford University and was awarded fellowships in five professional societies. In 1946 he was appointed organist-choirmaster at St. Matthew’s Church, Northampton, and also served as conductor of the Northampton Bach Choir and Orchestra. In 1950 he was appointed organist-choirmaster at Christ Church Cathedral in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1954 he was appointed to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, where he also served as headmaster of the cathedral choir school 1954–62.
Wyton left the cathedral in 1974 to become organist-choirmaster at St. James’ Church, Madison Avenue, in New York City. At that time he also became coordinator of the Standing Commission on Church Music that produced The Hymnal 1982 for the Episcopal Church. In 1987 he left St. James’ Church to become minister of music at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Ridgefield, Connecticut, a position he held until his retirement in 1997.
Wyton’s published compositions number more than 100. In addition to his work on the Standing Commission on Church Music, he edited numerous publications, including Anglican Chant Psalter (Church Publishing, Inc.), and he was a member of the editorial team that produced Ecumenical Praise (Hope Publishing).
Wyton founded the church music department at the Manhattan School of Music in 1984, serving as chairman until 1990. He also taught at Union Theological Seminary in New York City and was chairman of the music department at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey. He was awarded honorary doctorates from Susquehanna University and Virginia Theological Seminary. Services were held at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Ridgefield, Connecticut.