Martin J. Argall, 91, MCPO U.S.N. Ret., died January 23. Argall grew up in Chicago, playing piano. He won a citywide piano contest at age 11, but because of the Great Depression, his family could not afford formal training. By high school, he began playing organ, often practicing on the theatre organ at the Symphony Theater, where the owner would accompany him on his violin. Argall was active as an organist in Chicago. A 33rd-degree Scottish Rite Mason, he served as organist for over 50 years for Masonic lodges, including 20 years for the Scottish Rite Cathedral. He was a member of the Medinah Shrine Temple, serving there as organist for 20 years, and as a volunteer at Shriner’s Hospital for Children for 12 years. A member of the American Guild of Organists for 70 years, Argall was organist for 30 years at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Charlotte, two daughters, four grandchildren, and a brother.
Lloyd E. Cast, Jr. died on January 26. He was 75. Born in Hollywood, California, he received bachelor and master of music degrees from Indiana University, as well as a Doctor of Music (honoris causa) from Nashotah House Seminary, Nashotah, Wisconsin. He was organist and director of music, emeritus of the Cathedral of All Saints, Albany, where he served for 37 years. Cast served as dean of the Bloomington, Indiana, and Eastern New York chapters of the AGO and was on the board of directors of the Royal School of Church music in America. He is survived by his partner of 45 years, William L. (Roy) Gordon, a brother, two nieces, a nephew, and four grand nephews.
August E. Knoll, 65, died unexpectedly on February 7 at his home in Wheatland, Iowa. His death was discovered when he failed to appear for his scheduled work as organist of St. Paul United Church of Christ on Sunday morning.
Born in Des Moines, Iowa, November 11, 1942, he graduated from Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, and received his master’s degree from the University of Iowa. He was band master of Calamus-Wheatland schools for 39 years, receiving many awards on a state and local level. He was minister of music at St. Paul’s for 38 years. Knoll held leadership positions in both the River Valley and Blackhawk AGO chapters and the Eastern Iowa OHS chapter, of which he was a founding member. He was an annual recitalist on the Clermont Organ Series, helping thereby to maintain public support for the 1896 Kimball organ in the Union Sunday School building, a state historical site.
Knoll was a familiar and beloved supporter of many organ events in the tri-state area of Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin. He was an inveterate convention-goer at meetings of both the American Guild of Organists and the Organ Historical Society. He served on the committee that planned and executed the 1986 OHS convention in eastern Iowa.
August Knoll was well known as a successful mentor of many music students, and many of these students went into careers in music. He was also a familiar figure playing and directing in many community bands throughout the area. His constant support and interest in all things musical will be deeply missed.
—Mark R. Nemmers
Karlheinz Stockhausen, age 79, died December 5, 2007. He began musical studies at age six, with a local organist, Franz-Josef Kloth, and studied composition with Swiss composer Frank Martin in Cologne and with Olivier Messiaen and Darius Milhaud in Paris. An influential German composer, he was prominent in the avant-garde movement in the mid to late 20th century; he wrote many compositions that included electronic sound. His 362 compositions include 45 choral works. He founded the Stockhausen Foundation for Music in 1994, to preserve his works and provide instructions on performing his music. Details can be found at <www.stockhausen.org>.
Lyndell P. Watkins, Sr., died November 13, 2007 at the age of 85. Born in Kensett, Arkansas, he played piano as a youth, winning a talent contest held by a Memphis radio station. During World War II he served as a chaplain’s assistant, providing music for religious services. Following the war, he graduated from Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas, and did graduate study with Marilyn Mason at the University of Michigan, and doctoral study with Jon Spong at the University of Missouri (Kansas City) Conservatory of Music. He was music department head at Arkansas College (now Lyon College) for 14 years, associate professor of music at Delta State University in Mississippi for 23 years, and served as organist-choir director at St. Luke United Methodist Church in Cleveland, Mississippi, and First Presbyterian Church, Greenville, Mississippi. A long-time member of the AGO (Jackson, Mississippi chapter), he also held memberships in the Mississippi Music Teachers Association, the Music Teachers National Association, and the Organ Historical Society. He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Doris Darby Watkins, a daughter, two sons, and four grandchildren.
Richard Westenburg, a choral conductor who founded the Musica Sacra Chorus and Orchestra in 1964, died February 20 in Norwalk, Connecticut, at the age of 75. Born in Minneapolis, Westenburg won several small piano competitions as a child. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree in organ at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, and a master’s in musicology, with a minor in film, at the University of Minnesota. In 1959 he went to Paris to study with Nadia Boulanger, Pierre Cochereau and Jean Langlais. After two years as director of music at the First Unitarian Church in Worcester, Massachusetts, he moved to New York in 1962 and enrolled at the Union Theological Seminary, joining the seminary faculty in 1963 and completing his doctorate in sacred music in 1968.
In 1964 Westenburg was hired as organist and choirmaster at Central Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, and he quickly assembled an early version of the Musica Sacra Choir. He was also music director of the Collegiate Chorale from 1973 to 1980 and a lecturer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art from 1979 to 1982. In 1990 he became music director at the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church.
In addition to conducting, Westenburg taught choral music and conducting at the Mannes College of Music from 1971 to 1977, and led the choral department at the Juilliard School from 1977 to 1989. He was also a visiting professor at Rutgers University from 1986 to 1992. He is survived by his two sons, two daughters, and six grandchildren.
