Nunc Dimittis

As this issue was going to press, word was received of the death of Pierre Firmin-Didot on January 5 after a long illness with cancer. Mr. Firmin-Didot was a founder and long-time president of the Grand Prix de Chartres competition and made many contributions to the organ culture in France. An obituary will appear next month.

Gaylord Carter, one of the country's most popular theatre organists for eight decades, died on November 20 at the age of 95. He had performed from the age of 10 until about five years ago in churches, theatres, on radio and on television. Carter was named organist of the year by the American Theatre Organ Society and inducted into its Hall of Fame in 1975. Born in Weisbaden, Germany on August 3, 1905, Carter emigrated to Wichita, Kansas, where his father became a church organist and his mother taught piano. At age 10 he began playing the organ in Wichita's Congregational Church, and at age 14 played for children's matinees in a theatre there. In 1922, the family moved to Los Angeles, where he began accompanying silent films. In 1926 he was hired for $110 a week as organist at the Million Dollar Theatre. In 1935 he moved to radio with his own "Prelude to Midnight" program on Los Angeles KHJ and accompanied several network shows. For 17 years he played "The Perfect Song" to introduce the "Amos'n'Andy" show. During World War II, Carter was a Naval motion picture officer in the Aleutians. Returning to Los Angeles he played for radio's "The Whistler," "Suspense," and "Bride and Groom," and later for television's "Pinky Lee Show" and others. He also had his own local show, "Everybody sing with Gaylord," on KCOP Channel 13. A memorial service was held on December 12 at the First Congregational Church of Long Beach.

Justin A. Kramer died on November 20, 2000. Closely associated with the Reuter Organ Company for much of his professional career, Mr. Kramer represented Reuter in California for many years and left his mark on countless organ projects around the region. Born on June 7, 1924, he graduated with honors from Loyola High School in Los Angeles and attended the University of Southern California where he graduated with honors at the age of nineteen. He continued at USC to earn the Master of Music degree. While a student, he worked as a musician at all the major motion picture studios, was drum major and became interim director of the USC band. On January 1, 1953, he married Jean, his wife of almost 48 years. His love of the music of the Catholic Church was a life long vocation. A Gregorian chant expert, he formed several choirs in many Los Angeles churches, and wrote a book on the proper performance of chant, entitled The Pange Lingua. He devoted much of his work to the study of acoustics, and was awarded more than 20 U.S. patents relating to the organ, sound, and performance. He served as a special consultant to the University of California in the construction of the bell towers at the Riverside and Santa Barbara campuses. As a pipe organ builder and designer, he was a member of the International Society of Organ Builders and of the American Guild of Organists. For the U.S. Bicentennial, he wrote the story of the Liberty Bell entitled "Cast in America," working with such international authorities as Alfred Paccard and Paul Taylor. It was his knowledge of bells that led to his being commissioned to produce a bell profile to replace the original bells that once marked El Carnino Real. His most recent contribution is the design and casting of the International Bell, which thus far has been placed throughout Baja, California, marking the original trail of the Franciscan missionaries. Kramer was especially devoted to Padre Junipero Serra, working for his beatification and then for his canonization. He composed "Cancion de Fray Junipero Serra," the official hymn of the Serra Bicentennial Commission, and, in Serra's honor, established the Schola Cantorum at St. Mary's by the Sea Church in Huntington Beach. At the time of his death, Mr. Kramer was engaged as special bell consultant to the architect for the new Catholic Cathedral of Los Angeles.

Stanley Sorensen died on November 24, 2000 in Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin, at the age of 85. He served as president of the Hammond Organ Company from 1955 until 1971. Mr. Sorensen graduated from Schurz High School in Chicago in 1931. He was hired as one of two office boys for the Hammond Clock Company of Chicago, starting at $8 a week, and worked his way up to becoming president. He expanded the engineering and marketing aspects of the company, increasing the popularity of the electronic organ for home use. Mr. Sorensen is survived by his wife Ethel, two daughters, a brother, two grandchildren, three step-grand-daughters, and a great-grandson.

Herman Berlinski
died at the age of 91 on September 27 at Sibley Memorial Hospital in
Washington, after suffering a heart attack and a stroke. His considerable
output included symphonic and chamber works, concertos, song cycles, liturgical
works, as well as music for the organ, which he learned to play at age 40.
Religiously inspired works, such as the oratorios Job and The Trumpets of
Freedom and the organ work The Burning Bush, were among his best known works.
Dr. Berlinski, who fled Nazi Germany in 1933, settled in Washington 30 years
later to become music director at the Washington Hebrew Congregation, a post he
held until 1977. He began his musical career as a pianist, but performed and
recorded on the organ throughout the world well into advanced age. He was
represented by Lilian Murtagh and then Murtagh-McFarlane artist management from
1976-78. Berlinski was a piano graduate of the Leipzig Conservatory of
Music. He moved to Paris in 1933 and composed music for the ballet and the
Yiddish theatre, and studied composition with Nadia Boulanger and Alfred
Cortot. He left Europe in 1941 to live in New York. There he earned the MMus at
Columbia University and a doctorate in composition at the Jewish Theological
Seminary, and served as organist at Temple Emanuel for eight years. His
collection of scores, recordings, correspondence and photographs was given to
the Library of Congress last summer.

Robert Hunter died
on September 10 in Los Angeles at the age of 72. He was accompanist for the
Roger Wagner Chorale and for the Paul Salamunovich choral groups, as well as a
pianist with various groups. Hunter began his career with Wagner in 1946 and
worked with the chorale for a decade. In 1955 he began performing with popular
music groups, including the Freddy Martin Orchestra at the Ambassador Hotel's Coconut Grove, and was Carol Channing's musical director from 1958 to 1971. Hunter later joined Salamunovich to tour with his choruses from Loyola Marymount University and became organist for the St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church Choir. In 1991 he became accompanist for the Los Angeles Master Chorale and remained with the chorale until his retirement in 1996.

Howard B. Kelsey,
professor emeritus from Washington University, died September 18 of heart
failure at the age of 90. Following his wife's death in 1997, Mr. Kelsey
had returned to St. Louis where he lived for the past four years. Born in 1911
and raised in Brighton, Illinois, Howard Kelsey began playing the organ at age
5 and took his first church position at age 14. He graduated from Illinois
Wesleyan University in 1933, and went to New York for graduate study at Union
Theological Seminary under Clarence Dickinson. Upon receiving a Master of
Sacred Music degree, he returned to St. Louis where he taught at Eden Seminary
for six years. In 1937 he married Berenice Strobeck, his wife of sixty years.
Howard Kelsey's association with Washington University began in 1945 when
he became the university organist. He was primarily responsible for the
establishment of the Department of Music in 1947, having secured an endowment
for the department from Avis Blewett. During his time at Washington University,
he brought in internationally known artists to conduct classes and work with
the many organists who came to the University. Students had the opportunity to
work with Anton Heiller, Roslyn Turek, Gillian Weir, Geraint Jones, Suzie
Jeans, Michael Schneider, and the Gregorian chant expert Dom Ermin Virty, OSB.
Many of his students found positions in colleges, universities, and large
churches after completing their degrees under Mr. Kelsey's guidance. In
addition to his work at Washington University, Kelsey also served a number of
St. Louis churches and temples from 1936 to 1973, including First
Congregational Church, Second Baptist Church, First Presbyterian Church, Temple
B'Nai El and Temple Israel. He was also very active in the American Guild
of Organists on the local, regional, and national levels, and served as
consultant for many churches for the purchase and installation of new organs. A
memorial service was held for Howard Kelsey on October 21 at Christ Church
Cathedral in St. Louis, Missouri. He is survived by his three children and four
grandchildren.

-Kathleen Bolduan

Director of Undergraduate Studies

Department of Music

Washington University

Roland Münch
died on September 27 in Berlin, Germany. He was born in Leipzig on February 10,
1936, and studied organ with Diethard Hellmann and Robert Köbler. His
first professional position was at St. Wenzel's Church in Naumburg where
he played the historic organ built by Hildebrandt. From 1975 on, he made many
recordings and radio broadcasts. From 1969 until his retirement in March of
this year, Mr. Münch was organist and music director at the Church of Glad
Tidings (Kirche zur frohen Botschaft) in Berlin-Karlshorst where he presided
over the organ built by Peter Migendt in 1756 for Princess Amalia, sister of
Frederick the Great for whom C.P.E. Bach served as court musician from
1738-67. Münch is survived by his wife Ursula and two sons. His most
recent recording, Münch spielt Bach auf Migendt, is on the Ursus label.

Robert Murphy died
on September 22 in Traverse City, Michigan. Born on April 30, 1936, in Benton
Harbor, Michigan, Murphy earned bachelor's and master's degrees
from Western Michigan University. In 1962 he became a member of the Interlochen
Arts Academy Charter Faculty and was chairperson of the keyboard department for
many years prior to his recent retirement. At Western Michigan University, he
had served as director of the chapel choir, graduate assistant and instructor
of music. During his 39 years at Interlochen, he was chairperson of the
building committee for Dendrinos Chapel and Recital Hall, founder and organizer
of the ICA Chapel Organ Recital Series, and chairperson of the music building
committee for ICA. For nearly four decades he was organist and music director
for Central United Methodist Church in Traverse City. A service celebrating Mr.
Murphy's life took place on October 14 at Central United Methodist Church
in Traverse City. Memorial contributions may be made to the Interlochen Center
for the Arts Organ Scholarship Fund in memory of Robert Henderson Murphy.

The European community and in particular, France, lost an important advocate for the organ with the untimely death of Jean Boyer. Mr. Boyer died of cancer on June 28 in Lille, France, at the age of 56.

He was born on October 4, 1948, in Sidi Bel Abbes in Algeria, into a musical family; his organist father was a student of André Marchal. He began his musical studies in Toulouse, a city well known for the quality of its organs. These exceptional instruments played a central role in his musical training, which was completed under the guidance of Xavier Darasse, in whose class he earned a first prize in organ at the Conservatoire de Toulouse in 1969.

In Paris, he was greatly influenced at St-Séverin Church by Francis Chapelet and André Isoir. In 1975 he became co-titulaire of this church, a post he held until 1988; he also served as organist at the historic organ of St-Nicolas-des-Champs until 1995. Mr. Boyer’s recordings have received great praise from the musical press, and in 1972 he was awarded the Grand Prix du Disque. In addition to his concert activities, Jean Boyer was a devoted pedagogue. At the time of his death he was professor of organ at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Lyon.

Mr. Boyer was an excellent organist and organ professor, much beloved by his students. He was a scholar and did a great deal to promote the understanding and accurate performance practice of ancient music and was a strong advocate for the thoughtful restoration of historic organs. He was remembered at a Requiem in Lille, France, July 1.

--Gene Bedient

David Messineo, principal university organist at Princeton University, died June 11 of an apparent heart attack at his home in Shohola, Pennsylvania. He was 45. Born on August 14, 1958, in Hackensack, New Jersey, Messineo began playing the piano at age four and took up the organ at age 11. He served as organist at Grace Episcopal Church in Port Jervis, New York, and Rutherford (NJ) Congregational Church while still a teenager. He attended the Juilliard School in New York City, where he graduated with a Mus.B., M.M. and doctor of musical arts with honors in organ performance. During his time at Juilliard, he served at St. Stephen’s Roman Catholic Church in Kearny, New Jersey, and for eight years was associate director of music/organist at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark. For 16 years, he was minister of music at the Glen Ridge Congregational Church, where he played the organ and directed seven choirs. He also taught organ at Montclair State University for many years. Messineo joined the Princeton staff in 2000. He gave recitals across the United States and performed in historical venues in Germany, the Czech Republic, France and the Netherlands. Messineo also played theatre organ, and in 1979, he opened the new Christmas show at Radio City Music Hall and continued as organist there for several years. He studied theatre organ with a former silent movie accompanist and was known at Princeton for his annual performance around Halloween improvising with the 1925 silent movie, “The Phantom of the Opera.” Funeral services took place on June 16 at the Milford United Methodist Church, Milford, Pennsylvania.

Myron J. Roberts, 92, died May 15 in Camden, Maine, after a brief illness. He was born in San Diego, California, January 30, 1912, and at the age of nine he moved with his family to Palo Alto, California. Raised in a musical family, he developed an early passion for piano and organ. By the time he was in high school, he was studying piano and then organ with Stanford University organist, Warren Allen. Roberts completed his undergraduate studies in 1935 at the College of the Pacific (now the University of the Pacific) in Stockton, California, where he was an organ student of Allen Bacon. He completed a master’s degree in the School of Sacred Music at Union Theological Seminary, where he studied with Clarence Dickinson. After two years as an organist in the greater New York area and as an interim organist in Richmond, Virginia, Roberts joined the faculty of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln in 1940, where he taught organ and music theory for 34 years. He also held positions in Lincoln as organist at First-Plymouth Congregational Church, Holy Trinity Episcopal Church and the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Risen Christ.

Roberts was married to Virginia W. Roberts. Mr. and Mrs. Roberts retired at the same time and moved to Rio del Mar on Monterey Bay in California. After Mrs. Roberts’ death in 1975 Mr. Roberts continued to live in California and resumed playing the organ in public recitals. It was at this time that he met and became long-time friends with Anthony Antolini, who was teaching at Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz County. When Prof. Antolini and his family moved to Maine in 1991 Mr. Roberts decided to join them and moved to Cushing in 1993, where he built a home with a view of the St. George River.

Roberts composed works for organ, choral music and pieces for organ and other instruments. Among his 22 published works are Homage to Perotin (1956), Pastorale and Aviary (1969) and Fanfare and Tuckets (1991) for organ. His best known choral compositions include O Lord, We Beseech Thee (1965), Jubilate Deo (1976) and Magnificat (1977). His most unusual composition is Five for Organ and Marimba (1975). After moving to Maine Roberts continued to compose music and teach organ on a limited basis. He also maintained a lifelong interest in astronomy and gardening.

Roberts was a communicant of the Episcopal Church of St. John the Baptist in Thomaston, Maine where he took an active part in the work of the organ search committee. In 2003 that committee selected the Bedient Pipe Organ Company of Roca, Nebraska to build its new organ. The president and founder of the company, Gene Bedient, was a student of Mr. Roberts at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln many years ago.

A memorial service was held on June 20 at the Episcopal Church of St. John the Baptist, Thomaston, Maine. There were also two performances of the Dvorák Requiem by the Down East Singers in memory of Mr. Roberts on May 23 at St. Andrew’s Roman Catholic Church in Augusta, Maine, and on May at the Rockland Congregational Church, Rockland, Maine.

An in-depth biographical interview with Mr. Roberts was published in the June 1997 issue of The American Organist.

--Anthony Antolini

Nunc Dimittis

Donald A. Grooms, 78, died May 7, following complications caused by a stroke. Born in Paris, Texas, he was an honor graduate of Paris High School. During his high school and college years, he served as organist for several churches. He studied organ under Helen Hewitt at North Texas State University. In 1965, he graduated from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, and in 1971, he was elected a Fellow to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Dr. Grooms served as a Major in the Army, attached to the 25th Evacuation Hospital, Da Nang, Vietnam, after which he relocated to New York City where he was associated with the international division of Pfizer Pharmaceuticals for 20 years. Following his retirement from Pfizer, Dr. Grooms became a partner in Petty-Madden Organ Builders, a position he held well into his seventies.

Fr. Columba Kelly, OSB, 87, a monk and priest of St. Meinrad Archabbey, St. Meinrad, Indiana, died on June 9 at the monastery. He was a jubilarian both of profession and priesthood. Born in Williamsburg, Iowa, on October 30, 1930, he was given the name John Joseph at his baptism. He attended St. Ambrose College, Davenport, Iowa, for several years before transferring to St. Meinrad College. Invested as a novice monk on July 30, 1952, he professed simple vows on July 31, 1953, and his solemn vows on August 6, 1956. Fr. Columba completed his theological studies in Rome and was ordained to the priesthood on July 5, 1958. The following year, he received a licentiate in sacred theology from the Pontifical Athenaeum Sant’ Anselmo. He then pursued graduate studies, earning his doctorate in church music at Rome’s Musica Sacra in 1963. He studied semiological interpretation of chant under Dom Eugène Cardine, OSB, monk of the Abbey of Saint-Pierre in Solesmes.

When Fr. Columba returned to Saint Meinrad in 1964, he was named choirmaster of the monastic community and began to teach in both the College and the School of Theology. His lasting contribution was to introduce chant in English into the celebrations of the Divine Office and the Eucharist. The monastery’s collection of his chant compositions numbers nearly 2,000.

In addition to his many years teaching at Saint Meinrad, he taught courses on liturgical music for 12 summers at St. Joseph’s College, Rensselaer, Indiana. Other summer teaching assignments included University of Wisconsin, Madison, and California State University-Los Angeles. Through his many workshops to parishes and religious communities, and through the collections of his antiphons published by GIA and Oregon Catholic Press, his work is known by many cantors, choirs, and parish communities throughout the United States.

Fr. Columba was a charter member of the Benedictine Musicians of the Americas, a member of the American Musicological Society, the American Guild of Organists, the National Catholic Music Educators Association, the Church Music Association of America, and the Composers’ Forum for Catholic Worship. He was also a standing member of the Chant Division of the National Pastoral Musicians Association. In 2015, he was named the second recipient of the Spiritus Liturgiae Award, given by the Liturgical Institute in Mundelein, Illinois.

In addition to his music scores, Fr. Columba contributed to the literature on chant and sacred music. These include his 2003 book, Gregorian Chant Intonations and the Role of Rhetoric; “The Organ,” an article in a book sponsored by the National Liturgical Conference and the Church Music Association; and, in 2006, his translation of and notes to the first volume of Agustoni and Göschl’s An Introduction to the Interpretation of Gregorian Chant. Fr. Columba also contributed entries on the Kyrie, Gloria, Agnus Dei, Benedicamus Domino, and Ite Missa Est for the New Catholic Encyclopedia.

The funeral Mass for Fr. Columba Kelly was celebrated June 13. Burial followed in the Archabbey Cemetery.

Henry Willis, IV, the last living family member of the Henry Willis & Sons organbuilding dynasty, died at a hospital near his home in India on June 23, at the age of 91. Willis was born January 19, 1927, to Henry Willis, III and Clara Constance (Sinclair) Willis at Streatham Hill, London. Educated at Gladstone Preparatory School, London, Westminster School, London, and Giggleswick School, North Yorkshire, he left school in 1944 to join the Royal Army during World War II. He was promoted to Lance Corporal in 1945 and commissioned to the Queen’s Royal Regiment in 1946, where he was placed in charge of a Japanese prisoner of war camp and the repatriation of British prisoners.

Willis joined the family organbuilding firm in 1948 as a laborer (at the insistence of his father) and then trained as a pipemaker and voicer under George Deeks. He was sent to manage the Liverpool Branch in 1954, principally to oversee the restoration of the great 1855 Willis concert organ in St. George’s Hall, which had been severely damaged by wartime bombing, theft, and general mishandling. He returned to London to manage the Head Office in 1965 due to his father’s worsening health. Following Henry Willis, III’s death on February 27, 1966, he began the search for property to construct a purpose-built organ factory in Petersfield, where he opened a shop in 1968 on land that had been the site of old dairy buildings.

Willis was invited to attend, and became one of the founding members of, the American Institute of Organbuilders at its first annual convention in 1974, thereby beginning a relationship with his American organbuilding colleagues. A frequent attendee and lecturer at subsequent conventions, his last appearance was in Washington, D.C., in 1993, where he lectured on and demonstrated organ pipemaking and voicing. His acerbic wit and entertaining style covered quite a bit of useful information to those who “listened between the lines” during those lectures and demonstrations. His wife, Barbara, was a charming lady who did her best to keep Willis as well-behaved as possible, especially during times set aside for evening socializing!

In 1997 Willis stood down as Managing Director of Henry Willis and Sons. New management and new ownership relocated the firm to the Liverpool Branch in 2001 where the firm now survives him. He was a Freeman of the City of London and served as Master of The Worshipful Company of Musicians, of which he was the longest holder of the Livery.

Henry and Barbara Willis moved to India in 2008 where his mother’s family had been coffee planters in the 19th and 20th centuries. They purchased land and built a house there, in which he and Barbara have lived up to the present. He died peacefully at home in the Nilgris District of Tamil Nadu.

—John-Paul Buzard

Roger Beebe Arnold, of Omaha, Nebraska, died on February 10. Born in Willimantic, Connecticut, Mr. Arnold began piano lessons at the age of nine, and decided, in his teens, to make his life's work that of a church organist. After serving as a chaplain's assistant in the Navy during World War II, he pursued his Bachelor's studies at Yale University, where his organ teacher was Luther Noss. Receiving his Master of Sacred Music degree in 1950 from Union Theological Seminary, where among his teachers were Hugh Porter, Searle Wright, and Harold Friedell, he took a position at Huntington Court Methodist Church, Roanoke, Virginia. In 1959 he became minister of music at First Central Congregational Church, Omaha, Nebraska, which houses a 1947 G. Donald Harrison Aeolian-Skinner organ. During his tenure there, which concluded at the end of 1983, Mr. Arnold was instrumental in the design and installation of a two-manual-and-pedal antiphonal organ. He taught privately for many years and served three terms as Dean of the Omaha AGO Chapter. In 1984 he became organist at St. Paul United Methodist Church, Omaha, where he oversaw major tonal and mechanical improvements to the 1957 Reuter organ, and from which he retired in 1998. He is survived by his wife, four daughters and their husbands, eight grandchildren, a brother, three sisters, nieces and nephews.

Theodore Marier, FAGO, ChM, died on February 24. He was 88 last October 17, a birthday he shared with Herbert Howells, whose music he performed and admired. Born in Fall River, Mr. Marier grew up in Dedham and held degrees from Boston College and Harvard University, as well as honorary doctorates from Catholic University, Washington, DC; St. Anselm's College, New Hampshire; and the Pontifical Institute, Rome. He was also honored as a Knight Commander of St. Gregory by Pope John Paul II. A distinguished choral conductor, organist, composer, editor, and author, he taught at many colleges and universities in this country and in Europe. He was known worldwide for his passion for Gregorian Chant and his teaching and performance of chant. His most recent work included conducting the Benedictine Sisters of the Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, Connecticut, in two CD recordings of Gregorian Chant, and the publication of two books: Gregorian Chant Practicum (Catholic University Press), and his hymnal, Hymns, Psalms and Spiritual Canticles. He was at work on revisions for a new edition of the hymnal just days before his death. Perhaps his most significant achievement was the founding of the Boston Archdiocesan Choir School at St. Paul's in Cambridge (Boston Boy Choir), which he accomplished in 1963 during his 52-year tenure as parish music director. When he “retired” from St. Paul's at the age of 74, he became Justine Ward Professor of Liturgical Music at Catholic University in Washington, DC, a post he held until his death. Marier is survived by his daughter, two sons, and five grandchildren. Over 40 choir school alumni and friends joined the choirboys in his tribute at a funeral liturgy at St. Paul's, presided over by Bernard Cardinal Law, who, as a Harvard student, had sung under his direction.