Paul Jenkins dead at 86

Nunc Dimittis

Paul Rogers Jenkins, Jr., who served as professor of organ at Stetson University’s School of Music in DeLand, Florida, from 1956–93, died on August 12 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Born on June 1, 1929, in Rock Hill, South Carolina, he studied with Robert Noehren both at Davidson College and the University of Michigan.

Earlier in his career, Jenkins held positions at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and Myers Park Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. During his early years at Stetson University, Jenkins served as the organist and choir director at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church. He performed throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. In 1976 he was awarded the university’s newly endowed Price Chair in Organ.

Paul Jenkins spent sabbaticals (and other breaks) studying with Gustav Leonhardt, Cor Kee, and Charles Letistu in Europe. His interest in the first mechanical-action instruments that came to America, made by Rudolf von Beckerath of Hamburg, Germany, inspired him to acquire for Stetson a substantial Beckerath organ in 1961. This instrument, now named the Paul R. Jenkins, Jr. Organ, served as the model of organ-reform design for generations of students, and was followed by five more Beckerath organs on the Stetson campus. The last of these acquired was the Jenkins’ house organ, given to the university at the time Paul and his beloved wife Janice moved to Oklahoma City to be closer to their daughter Catherine and their extended family. 

Paul Jenkins is survived by his wife of 63 years, Janice, their children, Catherine and John, several grandchildren, and many dozens of former students. He was a true pioneer in organ teaching and in the informed instruction on mechanical-action organs and harpsichords. Paul and Janice Jenkins have remained great supporters of organ and harpsichord study at Stetson, and ask that memorial contributions be made to the Paul and Janice Jenkins Organ/Harpsichord Endowment Fund in memory of Paul Jenkins. To make an online gift, visit www.stetson.edu/give or send a check to Stetson University, School of Music, 421 N. Woodland Blvd., Unit 8286, DeLand, Florida 32723.

—Boyd Jones

John E. and Aleise Price Professor of Organ

Stetson University

Myles Kenneth Tronic, 64, of Worcester, Massachusetts, died August 29 of injuries sustained in an automobile accident. Tronic was born August 14, 1951, in Worcester and attended St. Mark’s School in Southborough, where he began organ studies. He received the Bachelor of Arts degree in French from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. He was a music critic for the Worcester Telegram and Gazette, and served as organist and choir director at several Massachusetts churches: First Congregational Church, Milford; St. Columba Catholic Church, Paxton; First Congregational Church, Spencer; and Grafton-Upton Unitarian-Universalist Church, Grafton. At the time of his death, he was director of music for St. Leo’s Catholic Church of Leominster. Myles Kenneth Tronic is survived by two brothers, Michael Tronic and Dr. Bruce Tronic; his sister-in-law, Joan; two nephews, Robert and his wife, Vasanti, and Brian; a niece, Kimberly; and a grandnephew, Kiran. 

Choral conductor, composer, and organist David Willcocks died peacefully at home on September 17. He was 95. Willcocks was famous for his choral arrangements of Christmas carols, many of which were written for the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols at King’s College Cambridge.

Born in Newquay in 1919, Willcocks became a chorister at Westminster Abbey at the age of eight, where he was conducted by Edward Elgar. His connection with King’s College began in 1939 when he became an organ scholar. Elected to a fellowship in 1947, he subsequently held the post of director of music from 1957 to 1974, helping the college choir achieve huge success. He then became the director of the Royal College of Music and, in 1981, was one of musical directors for the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer.

For some 38 years from 1960, he also trained the Bach Choir—the most popular amateur choir in Britain—giving frequent premieres of works by contemporary British composers, including the first performance of Britten’s War Requiem at La Scala in Italy, then in Japan, Portugal, and the Netherlands. Sir David was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 1971 and was knighted
in 1977.

Larry Palmer, Harpsichord Contributing Editor of The Diapason, is the current President of the Southeastern Historical Keyboard Society.

Musical research came to vibrant life in a Friday evening interactive program presented by the Southeastern and Midwestern Historical Keyboard Societies at Stetson University’s Elizabeth Hall. Michigan instrument maker David Sutherland (Ann Arbor) introduced his just-completed fortepiano based on a design by Giovanni Ferrini, an associate and successor to piano inventor Cristofori of Florence. Small details from the Dresden pianos of Gottfried Silbermann indicate an acquaintance with Ferrini’s Florentine piano. Sutherland proposes that instruments of this particular style may have provided the pianos that ultimately gained the approval of J. S. Bach: thus, the genesis of the idea for including early piano in the group of keyboard instruments suitable for Bach’s ensemble music.

Enid Sutherland played the opening of Bach’s Sonata in G for viola da gamba and obbligato keyboard instrument, partnered successively by three possible period instruments: a large Germanic harpsichord after Gräbner (built by John Phillips, played by Wayne Foster); a lautenwerk (by Willard Martin, played by Charlotte Mattax); and the Sutherland-Ferrini piano (played by Gregory Crowell). With each the music worked in subtly differing ways. The harpsichord was loudest; the lautenwerk offered a complementary gut-strung sonority; the piano provided increased possibilities for dynamic gradation. Each was suitable and viable. No absolute favorite emerged, but an intriguing possibility was illustrated and, perhaps, provided some explanation for the many parallel triads and thick repeated chords found in the written-out keyboard parts of certain slow movements in Bach’s accompanied instrumental sonatas.

Another opportunity to hear how effective the early piano could be in solo works of Bach came on Saturday afternoon when the ever-illuminating pianist Andrew Willis (Greensboro, NC) played a mesmerizing program comprising Prelude and Fugue in F (WTC II), Partita in A minor, and the first Contrapunctus from The Art of Fugue. Reminding listeners just how different a modern Steinway piano is from its ancestors, the following program, presented by Marcellene Hawk-Mayhall (Youngstown, OH), featured compositions based on the B-A-C-H motive [B=B-flat, H=B-natural in German musical notation]. Beginning where Willis had ended, Mayhall played the unfinished Contrapunctus 14 from The Art of Fugue on the fortepiano, continuing on the modern piano with unfamiliar works by Rimsky-Korsakov, Roussel, Casella, Poulenc, Malipiero, Honegger, and Liszt (the composer’s piano version of his Prelude and Fugue on BACH).

The same Liszt work, in its more familiar organ version, served as brilliant conclusion to the meeting’s opening concert, played by Stetson University organist Boyd Jones. Opening with works by Buxtehude and Hindemith (the BACH-related Sonate II), Jones offered Bach’s ornamented chorale prelude Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr and the “Dorian” Toccata and Fugue--all selected to limn both the theme of the conference and to showcase Stetson’s historic von Beckerath pipe organ, one of the first large new mechanical-action instruments in America, installed in 1961 on the initiative of [now] emeritus professor of organ Paul Jenkins, and recently spruced up with a handsome new case designed by architect Charles Nazarian, as well as a refurbished action and new console.

A wide range of paper topics kept the interest level high during well-paced daily sessions. Joyce Lindorff (Philadelphia, PA) reported on her recent discoveries of baroque keyboard instruments and music in China during the 17th and 18th centuries, concluding with the reading of a just-translated Vatican Archive letter from missionary/composer Theodorico Pedrini (died 1746)! Ed Kottick (Iowa City, IA) outlined the current state of knowledge about Bach’s harpsichords (“none”) but detailed 18th-century German instruments possibly familiar to the great composer. Two perfectly-timed discussions of possible Bach organ registrations engaged Gregory Crowell (Grand Rapids, MI): “Crazy for France: French Influences on Bach”; and Elaine Dykstra (Austin, TX): “The Range of Possible Organ Registrations in Bach”--each lecturer urging further investigation into the registrational practices of Bach’s contemporaries as a route to a richer palette of tonal possibilities. Sarah Martin (Atlanta, GA) gave an overview of Bach’s number symbolism in his Clavierübung, Part III.

Lee Lovallo (Sacramento, CA) surveyed a broad swath of Sicily’s history in documenting several surviving organs there. David Chung (Hong Kong) gave a thorough comparison of two versions of Bach’s Toccata in D Major, BWV 912, and played the later version stunningly. Midway on Saturday afternoon Larry Palmer (Dallas, TX) spoke on the deeply felt Bach-related art works created by Miami artist Elena Presser. Interspersed among these verbal and visual presentations were short programs of music. Elaine Funaro (Durham, NC) showcased “20th-Century Inventions for Harpsichord” (by composers Stephen Yates, Ruth Schonthal, Miklos Maros, Alexei Haieff, Virgil Thomson, and Béla Bartók). Judith Conrad (Abington, MA) led the group through multiple treatments of the Phrygian cadence in her clavichord recital “What should we, poor sinners, do?”--works by Scheidt, Pachelbel and Bach’s Partite BWV 770 on the eponymous chorale. Dana Ragsdale (Hattiesburg, MS) was joined by baroque violinist Stephen Redfield in a brilliant program of concerted works by Biber, Muffat, and Schmelzer, plus an alternative reading of Bach’s Sonata in G, BWV 1019, in which the solo harpsichord Corrente from Partita VI replaced the unique solo movement usually heard in this often-revised sonata.

Young Israeli-born Michael Tsalka (Philadelphia, PA) played three of Bach’s concerto transcriptions from original works of Telemann and Vivaldi in an engaging early-morning harpsichord program. Charlotte Mattax demonstrated Bach’s affection for the lautenwerk by programming his Prelude, Fugue and Allegro, BWV 998, Suite in E minor, BWV 996, and concluded with her thrilling traversal of the masterful Sonata in D minor, BWV 964. SEHKS founding president George Lucktenberg (Waleska, GA) demonstrated just how effectively a triangular spinet and Bach’s Little Preludes might serve as basic teaching tools for young players. Max Yount (Beloit, WI) beguiled the group with his expressive playing of music by three Bs: Bach and Böhm on the Beckerath organ.

In addition to the instruments already mentioned, harpsichords by Richard Kingston, Douglas Maple, and Robert Greenberg (brought to the meeting by Carl Fudge) were available for playing and viewing by the 80 attendees.

Stetson alumnus S. Wayne Foster, playing with rhythmic drive and musical verve, gave the closing recital on Saturday evening. Continuing the theme of varying keyboards in his program, Foster began with two organ works by Buxtehude (assisted by Boyd Jones playing the pedal lines on the extended-range manual) using the magnificent nine-foot Phillips harpsichord, on loan for the conference from Foster’s church, First (Scots) Presbyterian, in Charleston, SC. For the remainder of the well-crafted program he played Bach: two organ works, Concerto in A minor (after Vivaldi) and Prelude and Fugue in B minor, BWV 544 on the harpsichord; and the (harpsichord) Toccata in D minor, BWV 913 on the organ, offering, in this lengthy work, sufficient color changes to make palatable the hyperbolic sequential writing favored by the young composer. Fine readings of the (organ) Concerto in D minor, BWV 596, and the (harpsichord) Ouverture in the French Style, BWV 831 on their composer-stipulated instruments completed the evening’s elegant music making.

Stetson University provided gracious staff assistance, beautiful, venerable venues for lectures and concerts, and rooms, both accessible and pleasant, for dining and receptions. Given that this conference was organized from scratch in less than a year’s time it was a remarkably cohesive and successful one. The meeting occurred earlier than usual because the following week was “Bike Week,” a huge rally of thousands of Harley-Davidson riders who take over the entire area surrounding Florida’s Daytona Beach. SEHKS and MHKS programs included several extra-musical sounds on Saturday as engines were revved up for the weekend! Harpsichordist/author Frances Bedford quipped that the conference should have been called “The Two-Wheel Inventions!” Not a bad idea, but the broader Bach theme allowed recent scholarship to be shared, friendships and professional relationships to be buttressed once again, the business of the societies to be accomplished, and, most importantly, great music to be experienced and enjoyed together.

For further information on the Ferrini piano, see David Sutherland’s “Silbermann, Bach, and the Florentine Piano” in the most recent volume (21) of Early Keyboard Journal, published by SEHKS and MHKS [available from Oliver Finney, Journal Business Manager, 1704 E. 975 Road, Lawrence, KS 66049-9157; [email protected]]. 

Joyce Lindorff’s article “Missionaries, Keyboards and Musical Exchange in the Ming and Qing Courts” was published in Early Music XXXII/3, August 2004, pp. 403-414.

Clyde Holloway died December 18, 2013, in Houston, Texas. He was 77 years old. The Herbert S. Autrey Professor Emeritus of Organ at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music in Houston, Holloway earned B.Mus. (1957) and M.Mus. (1959) degrees from the University of Oklahoma, studying with Mildred Andrews, and the S.M.D. degree in 1974 from Union Theological Seminary, studying with Robert Baker.

Holloway’s concert career began in 1964 when he won the National Young Artists Competition of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) in Philadelphia. He performed under the auspices of Karen McFarlane Artists, and was a featured artist at numerous AGO conventions, also appearing in recital in Mexico City, the West Indies, and Europe.

His doctoral dissertation, The Organ Works of Olivier Messiaen and Their Importance in His Total Oeuvre, remains an important monograph concerning this music. Holloway worked with the composer on several occasions, examined his works at the organ of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Paris, and performed under his supervision. As a Fulbright Scholar at the Amsterdam Conservatory, he worked with Gustav Leonhardt in the study of organ, harpsichord, and chamber music.

Clyde Holloway began his teaching career in 1965 as the youngest member of the Indiana University School of Music faculty. In 1977, he joined the faculty of Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where he established the organ program and served as Chairman of the Keyboard Department and Director of Graduate Studies. The school’s widely acclaimed Fisk-Rosales organ embodies his unique understanding of how numerous organ-building traditions and tonal designs are manifested in organ literature and will be considered his most profound contribution to Rice University, Houston, and the larger musical world. He also served as organist and choirmaster of Christ Church Cathedral in Houston for many years; in 1993, he was named Honorary Lay Canon and Organist and Choirmaster Emeritus.

Renowned as a gifted pedagogue, Dr. Holloway served on the AGO’s Committee for Professional Education, addressed two conferences of the National Conference on Organ Pedagogy, led workshops and masterclasses, and served as a member of the jury for numerous competitions, including the Concours de Europe, the Fort Wayne Competition, the Music Teachers National Association Competition, the National Young Artists Competition of the American Guild of Organists, and the Grand Prix de Chartres. In 1994 he was invited to perform for the Bicentennial Festival of the celebrated Clicquot organ in the Cathedral of Poitiers, France, and served as a member of the jury for the international competition held at the end of the ten-day festival. 

Sylvie Poirier, 65 years old, passed away December 21, 2013 in Montréal of cancer. Born in Montréal on February 15, 1948 into a family of artists, her father was a goldsmith jeweller, and her mother, a painter and sculptor, was a pupil of the renowned painter Paul-Emile Borduas. Influenced by her parents, she began drawing and painting, and studied piano from an early age and later studied organ at l’Ecole de Musique Vincent d’Indy, Montréal. In 1970 she gained her baccalaureat in the class of Françoise Aubut and went on to study at the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal with Bernard Lagacé, with whom she obtained her Premier Prix in 1975. In 1976 Poirier studied at l’Université de Montréal with the blind French organist Antoine Reboulot. From 1977–1983 she was professeur affilié at l’Ecole de Musique Vincent d’Indy, presenting private music and drawing courses around Montréal.

In 1983 she became the Founding President of “Unimusica Inc.” whose objective was to bring together the art forms of music, painting, enamels, as well as poetry and photography. At the invitation of the oncologist founder of “Vie nouvelle” at Hôtel-Dieu Hospital, Montréal, Poirier taught a course specifically designed for cancer patients entitled “Psychology of Life through Drawing” in the 1980s. 

She gave recitals in North America and Europe and broadcast many times for Radio Canada. Her organ duet career with her husband Philip Crozier spanned eighteen years, with eight commissioned and premièred works, numerous concerts in many countries, several broadcasts at home and abroad, and three CDs of original organ duets.

Sylvie Poirier also recorded Jean Langlais’ Première Symphonie, and Petr Eben’s Job and The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise of the Heart; she gave the latter work’s North American première of the published version in Montréal in 2005. Poirier was also an accomplished painter and portraitist; examples of her work can be found at sylviepoirier.com.

She was predeceased by her only son Frédéric (30) in 2007. Sylvie Poirier is survived by her husband, Philip Crozier.

Phares L. Steiner died in Louisville, Kentucky, on September 14, 2013 at age 85. Born in Lima, Ohio, Steiner earned a bachelor’s degree in organ at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, and a master’s degree in organ performance at the University of Michigan in 1952, where he studied with Robert Noehren and where he began his career as an organ builder, at first working with Noehren. In 1953 with Noehren as consultant, Steiner designed the prototype of an electric-action slider chest. After service in the Army he worked with Fouser Associates in Birmingham, Michigan from 1955 to 1957. He established Steiner Organs Inc. in 1959 in Cincinnati, Ohio, and in 1962 relocated to Louisville, where he was joined in 1966 by Gottfried Reck from Kleuker in Germany. They incorporated in 1968 as Steiner Reck Inc.; Steiner was responsible for tonal matters of more than 90 organs, many of which were mechanical action. 

After retiring from Steiner Reck in 1988, he continued pipe organ work on a freelance basis, including working at Webber & Borne Organ Builders, and R.A. Daffer in the Washington, D.C. area while living in Columbia, Maryland. Phares Steiner returned to Louisville in 2003 with his family, where they became members of the Cathedral of the Assumption, home to one of his largest instruments.  

A charter member of the American Institute of Organbuilders, Steiner was also an active member of APOBA at Steiner Reck and a member of Phi Mu Alpha music fraternity. He also served as organist at several churches, including St. Louis Catholic Church in Clarkesville, Maryland, and Trinity Catholic Church, Louisville. 

Phares L. Steiner is survived by his wife Ellen Heineman Steiner, daughter Adrienne, son Paul, and brother, Donald F. Steiner M.D.

Marianne Webb, 77, of Carbondale, Illinois, died December 7, 2013, at Parkway Manor in Marion, Illinois, from metastatic breast cancer, which she had for the past 20 years. She enjoyed a lengthy and distinguished career as a recitalist and professor of music at Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC).

Miss Webb was born on October 4, 1936, in Topeka, Kansas where she exhibited an early passion for organ music. While in Topeka, she began her studies with Richard M. Gayhart and continued with Jerald Hamilton at Washburn University, where she earned her Bachelor of Music degree, summa cum laude, in 1958. She obtained the Master of Music degree, with highest distinction, from the University of Michigan (1959), as a scholarship student of Marilyn Mason. Further study was with Max Miller of Boston University and Robert Noehren at the University of Michigan.

After teaching organ and piano at Iowa State University for two years, she continued her studies in Paris as a Fulbright scholar with André Marchal. Further graduate study was with Arthur Poister at Syracuse University and Russell Saunders at the Eastman School of Music.

Marianne Webb taught organ and music theory and served as university organist at Southern Illinois University Carbondale from 1965 until her retirement in 2001 as professor emerita of music. She continued to serve as visiting professor and distinguished university organist for an additional 11 years. During her tenure, she built a thriving organ department and established, organized, and directed the nationally acclaimed SIUC Organ Festivals (1966–1980), the first of their kind in the country. The school’s 58-rank Reuter pipe organ she sought funding for and designed was named in her honor.

Miss Webb married David N. Bateman on October 3, 1970, in Carbondale. Together they gave the endowment that established in perpetuity the Marianne Webb and David N. Bateman Distinguished Organ Recital Series that presents each year outstanding, well-established concert organists in recital for the residents of southern Illinois.

As a concert artist, Marianne Webb toured extensively throughout the United States, performing for American Guild of Organists (AGO) chapters, churches, colleges and universities. In addition, she maintained an active schedule of workshops, master classes, and seminars for church music conferences. A member of the AGO, she served the guild as a member of the national committees on Educational Resources, Chapter Development, and Membership Development and Chapter Support. Locally, she re-established the Southern Illinois Chapter of the AGO in 1983 and served as its dean for six years. She performed recitals and presented workshops at numerous AGO national and regional conventions. For many years she concertized under the auspices of the Phillip Truckenbrod Concert Artists. She recorded on the ProOrgano and Pleiades labels and was featured on the nationally syndicated American Public Media program “Pipedreams.” 

Miss Webb maintained a balanced career as both performer and teacher. Her students have distinguished themselves by winning local, area, and national competitions. A sought-after adjudicator, Miss Webb was a member of the jury for many of the country’s most prestigious competitions. She also served as an organ consultant to numerous churches in the Midwest.

A special collection, which bears her name, is housed in the University Archives of Morris Library on the SIUC campus. Upon completion, this collection will include all of her professional books, music, recordings, and papers. Her “Collection of Sacred Music” has been appraised as “one of the largest private gatherings of sacred music in the world with a particular emphasis on the pipe organ.”

Among numerous honors during her long and distinguished career, Miss Webb has received the Distinguished Service Award from Southern Illinois University Carbondale, life membership in the Fulbright Association, the AGO’s Edward A. Hansen Leadership Award recognizing her outstanding leadership in the Guild, and the St. Louis AGO Chapter’s Avis Blewett Award, given for outstanding contributions to the field of organ and/or sacred music. From the Theta Chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota at Washburn University she received the Sword of Honor and the Honor Certificate.

Miss Webb is survived by her twin sister, Peggy Westlund; a niece, Allison Langford; a nephew, Todd Westlund; a godson, R. Kurt Barnhardt, PhD; and her former husband, Dr. David N. Bateman.

Throughout her lifetime Miss Webb was confronted with great adversities, which she overcame to become a nationally recognized organ teacher and recitalist. She leaves an impressive legacy of students holding positions of prominence in colleges and churches throughout the United States. She will be remembered not only for her musical artistry and excellence in teaching, but as a woman of quiet strength, courage, and abiding faith. In gratitude to God for her lifelong career, she established the St. Cecilia Recital Endowment in 2007 to present world-renowned concert organists in recital during the biennial national conventions of the American Guild of Organists.

At a later date, a memorial organ recital played by Paul Jacobs will take place in Shryock Auditorium, Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Memorials may be sent to SIU Foundation to benefit the Distinguished Organ Recital Series Endowment. 

—Dennis C. Wendell

Earl V. Kelone, 82, of Little Rock, Arkansas, died on May 10 from a stroke. He was born on November 18, 1919 in Little Rock and was a member of Our Lady of the Holy Souls Catholic Church, where he served as organist and choir director for 48 years. He also served as treasurer of the Central Arkansas AGO chapter for several years, and was an Army veteran of World War II in the Pacific Theatre. Mr. Kelone is survived by his wife of 55 years, Gertrude Kelone, a daughter, a brother, a sister, and two grandchildren. Memorials may be made to the Msgr. Allen Trust Fund, c/o Our Lady of the Holy Souls Church, 1003 N. Tyler St., Little Rock, AR 72205; or St. Joseph's Endowment Fund, 1115 College Ave., Conway, AR 72032.

Frederick A. Lake, age 72, died on June 28 at Kaiser Hospital in San Francisco, California, after a lengthy illness. Fred served as senior voicer at Schoenstein & Co., San Francisco, where was employed since 1981. In his 21 years of dedicated service to the company, he was a major contributor in developing their American Romantic tonal style. He carried out numerous voicing research and development projects based on the firm's studies in France, Germany and England, and conducted numerous tonal experiments toward the creation of new stops such as the Schoenstein Symphonic Flute. Fred also took part in tuning and tonal finishing activities.

According to members of his family, Fred developed a passionate interest in the pipe organ and its music as he grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He studied organ in school and college and held posts as a church organist through much of his career. His organ work started with an apprencticeship at the firm of Rudolf von Beckerath in Hamburg, Germany. His training was primarily in flue voicing. In 1958 he joined John Shawhan, the Casavant representative in Saginaw, Michigan, where he took part in the installation and finishing of many new Casavant organs as well as rebuilding projects and tuning. In 1968, Fred joined the Berghaus Organ Company in Bellwood, Illinois, where he served as voicer and handled other organ building, rebuilding, and service responsibilities until moving to San Francisco and joining the Schoenstein organization. He was a member of the American Institute of Organbuilders.

Fred Lake was highly respected by co-workers and clients alike. He was a gentlemanly, soft-spoken, and learned colleague with extensive interests and knowledge in a wide range of scientific subjects. His thorough dedication to the study of pipe organ tone made him a valued member of the pipe organ community. He is survived by his sister Ruth Ann Saunders of Kirkland, Washington.

--Jack Bethards

President, Schoenstein & Co.

Robert Noehren died on August 4 in San Diego, California. He was 91. Dr. Noehren enjoyed a long career as a recitalist, teacher, scholar, and organ builder. He taught at the University of Michigan from 1949 to 1976, serving as head of the organ department and university organist, and was named professor emeritus in 1977.

Born on December 16, 1910, in Buffalo, New York, Noehren studied organ with Gaston Dethier, Ernest Mitchell and Lynnwood Farnam, and composition with Paul Hindemith. Early in his career he served as a church organist in Germantown, Pennsylvania; Buffalo, New York; and Grand Rapids, Michigan. He taught at Davidson College prior to his appointment to the University of Michigan. Noehren made over 40 recordings and was the first organist and one of only two non-French organists to receive the Grand Prix du Disque (for his recording of the Bach Trio Sonatas). In 1978 he received the Performer of the Year Award from the New York City AGO chapter.

Through grants from the Carnegie Foundation and the University of Michigan, Noehren toured France, Germany, and Holland extensively, gathering scaling and voicing data on the organs of those countries. Articles based on those experiences appeared in The Diapason beginning in 1948. He formed his own organ company in Ann Arbor and built 20 organs between 1955 and 1979, including large four-manual instruments at St. John's Cathedral, Milwaukee; First Presbyterian Church, Buffalo, New York; and First Unitarian Church, San Francisco. In 1999, Harmonie Park Press (Warren, Michigan) published Noehren's collection of essays, An Organist's Reader, which details his life in music and organ building. Recent recordings include The Robert Noehren Retrospective (Lyrichord LYR-CD-6005) and Johann Sebastian Bach (Fleur de Lis FL 0101-2).

[A tribute will appear in a later issue.]

Robert E. Fort, Jr. died on January 29 in DeLand, Florida. A native of Ocala, Florida, he was a graduate of the University of Florida, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with David Craighead. He earned a doctor of sacred music degree from the School of Music of Union Theological Seminary in New York City, where he studied with Vernon deTar. Dr. Fort taught at Coker College in Hartsville, South Carolina, and at Stetson University, and was a lifelong church musician, serving most recently as organist-choirmaster at the First Presbyterian Church in DeLand. Active in the Presbyterian Association of Musicians, he was an honorary lifetime member and had served as its president; he also served as dean of the Central Florida AGO chapter and was a member of the Hymn Society and the American Choral Directors Association. Dr. Fort wrote widely on church music topics and led workshops and hymn festivals throughout the country. Robert Fort is survived by his wife of 49 years, Patricia Mims Fort, and his children, Robert Fort III and Carolyn Fort.

Timothy J. Oliver died in Frankfort, Kentucky on January 5. He was 71. Born in Cincinnati, he earned a bachelor’s degree from San Diego State College and subsequently studied organ with Arnold Blackburn at the University of Kentucky, where he earned a master of music degree. Active in the Lexington, Kentucky AGO chapter, Oliver initiated and for many years maintained the chapter’s organ academy; he had also been a member of the music and liturgy commission of the Episcopal Diocese of Lexington, helping to plan and rehearse the 1995 diocesan centennial service. Timothy Oliver had served as organist at Midway Presbyterian Church, following his retirement as organist-choirmaster at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Versailles after a long tenure. He held a similar position at Versailles Presbyterian Church, establishing a children’s and a handbell choir, and leading the renovation of the church’s Pilcher organ; he also served at Church of the Ascension in Frankfort. He twice directed the Woodford Community Choir and was a member of the Association of Anglican Musicians and the Organ Historical Society. Timothy Oliver is survived by many friends and several cousins.

French organist Michel Pinte died of a heart attack in Malaga, Spain, on October 21, 2008. Born on July 21, 1936 in Etrepagny (Eure, in Normandy), he was buried in the nearby cemetery in Doudeauville-en-Vexin. A Requiem Mass was celebrated in his memory on November 8, 2008, at the Saint-Augustin church in Paris, where he had served as organist for 29 years.
Michel Pinte began to play the organ for Masses at the parish church in his home town at the age of ten. Two years later, he began organ lessons in Rouen with Jules Lambert (substituting for him) and then with Marcel Lanquetuit. In 1956, during his military service, he served as organist at the Saint-Philippe cathedral in Algiers. When he returned to Paris in 1962, he studied piano with Irène Baume-Psichari, harmony with Yves Margat, Gregorian chant with Henri Potiron at the Institut grégorien, and organ with Jean Langlais at the Schola Cantorum, where he received his diploma in virtuosic organ interpretation and improvisation in 1964. He also studied later with Marie-Madeleine Duruflé-Chevalier, Marie-Louise Girod, and Suzanne Chaisemartin.
After substituting at numerous churches (notably in Paris at Notre-Dame-de-Grâce in Passy and on the choir organs at Saint-Augustin and the Versailles cathedral), in 1968 Pinte was named titular of the Cavaillé-Coll/Mutin choir organ at the Saint-Augustin church in Paris. In 1973, he requested Victor Gonzalez to enlarge this organ to 32 stops with six adjustable pistons, enabling him to play the entire repertory comfortably. He later entrusted the maintenance of this organ to Bernard Dargassies. In 1979, Michel Pinte also assisted Suzanne Chaisemartin on the 1868 Barker/Cavaillé-Coll/Mutin Grand Orgue (III/53) and was appointed as her co-titular in 1990. He retired in June 1997, and spent his final years in Marbella, Spain (Malaga).
During his retirement, Michel Pinte performed even more concerts in Europe and the United States. In Spain, he performed for the organ weeks in Grenada in 1999 and in Madrid in 2000, and at the Palau de la Música in Valencia in 2007 (for more details, see <www.musimem.com&gt;). Audiences appreciated his eclectic programs that highlighted nineteenth and twentieth-century repertory (notably works by Demessieux, Vierne, and Widor as well as lesser-known works) and were captivated by his final brilliant improvisation on a well-known theme.
His solid technique and his open spirit allowed him to express himself easily and freely, to fully share his vital love of music with others. To cite one example, those who attended his concert at St. John’s Church in Washington, D.C. on November 13, 1986, will never forget his stunning improvisation on America the Beautiful. This cultural ambassador will long be remembered for his vast artistic knowledge, his creative imagination, and his good sense of humor.
—Carolyn Shuster Fournier
Paris, France

Travis R. Powell, age 36, died on January 19 in Carey, Ohio. A student of Donald MacDonald, he earned a bachelor of church music degree from Westminster Choir College, and a master of sacred music degree from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, where he was a student of Robert Anderson. Powell was director of music–organist at the Basilica and National Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation in Carey, Ohio, where he directed the shrine chorale and a children’s choir and played over 650 Masses a year. He also taught general music at Our Lady of Consolation School and was artistic director of the Carey Ecumenical Choir; he had previously served at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church and Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe Cathedral in Dallas. He was a member of the American Guild of Organists, National Association of Pastoral Musicians, Organ Historical Society, American Choral Directors Association, Choristers Guild, and the Conference of Roman Catholic Cathedral Musicians.

Robert Wendell Robe died on January 24 in Tampa, Florida. He was 79. Born July 8, 1929, in Zanesville, Ohio, he attended Meredith College in Zanesville and Capitol University. A church musician for 64 years, he began his musical career as organist for St. Luke’s Lutheran Church and played for “The Coffee Club,” a local radio program. He held organist positions at Webb City Presbyterian Church, New Haven Presbyterian Church, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Forest Hills Presbyterian and Wellspring United Methodist churches, both in Tampa, Florida, and until last year at the Kirk of Dunedin Community Church in Dunedin, Florida. He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Mary Robe, two daughters and three sisters.

Mary Landon Russell died November 20, 2008, in Montoursville, Pennsylvania, at age 95. She attended Dickinson Junior College and in 1936 earned a bachelor of music degree from Susquehanna University. In 1957 she earned a master of arts degree from Pennsylvania State University, and did further study at the Chautauqua Institution School of Music, the Juilliard School, and the Eastman School of Music. She taught at Lycoming College from 1936 until her retirement in 1978, when she was named associate professor of music emerita and continued as a part-time piano teacher there for another twenty years.
Mrs. Russell was a member of numerous professional organizations, including the American Guild of Organists, of which she was a past dean of the Williamsport chapter, the Williamsport Music Club, and the National and Pennsylvania Federations of Music Clubs. She was also a 50-year member and honorary regent of the Lycoming Chapter, Daughters of the America Revolution, and was awarded the Martha Washington Medal from the Tiadaghton Chapter (Sons of the American Revolution) for her “History of the Music of Williamsport, Pennsylvania.” She is listed in Outstanding Educators of America; during her 50th year of teaching at Lycoming College, the school’s Alumni Association established the Mary Landon Russell Applied Music Fund, which provides financial aid to musically gifted students. Mrs. Russell frequently served as organist at Covenant-Central Presbyterian Church, and in other area churches.