Phyllis Stringham dies at age 79

Richard Hillert died February 18. He was Distinguished Professor of Music Emeritus at Concordia University Chicago, River Forest, Illinois, and was best known for his work as a composer and composition teacher. One of his most noted works is Worthy Is Christ, of which “This is the Feast of Victory” has been widely published in various worship books.
Hillert received his bachelor’s degree in education from Concordia, and master’s and doctoral degrees in composition from Northwestern University. He also studied composition with Italian composer Goffredo Petrassi. Hillert taught at Concordia from 1959 to 2003. He edited eleven volumes of the Concordia Hymn Prelude Series and was associate editor of the journal Church Music (1966–80).
Hillert’s compositions and publications include liturgical music for congregation, choral motets, hymns and hymn anthems, psalm settings and organ works, concertatos, and cantatas, including settings of The Christmas Story According to Saint Luke and The Passion According to Saint John. Richard Hillert is survived by his wife Gloria Bonnin Hillert, and children Kathryn Brewer, Virginia Hillert, and Jonathan Hillert.

Rev. Richard D. Howell died January 26 in Dallas, Texas. Born June 24, 1932 in Great Bend, Kansas, he earned a master of sacred music degree from Southern Methodist University, and was ordained a deacon in the United Methodist Church. He started playing for church services at age 13, and went on to serve numerous United Methodist congregations in Texas and taught elementary music for the Richardson and Dallas school districts. He played for children’s, youth, and adult choirs and directed handbell choirs, serving as the chairman of the Dallas Handbell Festival. He was active in many organizations, including the American Guild of Organists, Choristers Guild, and the Fellowship of United Methodist Musicians. Richard D. Howell is survived by his wife of 52 years, Bradley Sue Howell, children Mark and Teri Howell, Celeste and Martin Hlavenka, and Jane Walker, along with grandchildren, sisters-in-law, and numerous nieces and nephews.

Richard Proulx died February 18 at age 72. From 1980 to 1994, he was organist–music director at the Cathedral of the Holy Name in Chicago, where he was also responsible for the planning and installation of two new mechanical-action organs for the cathedral: Casavant II/19 (Quebec, 1981) and Flentrop IV/71 (Holland, 1989). Before coming to Chicago, he served at St. Thomas Church, Medina/Seattle (1970–1980), and was organist at Temple de Hirsch Sinai. Previous positions included St. Charles Parish, Tacoma; St. Stephen’s Church, Seattle; and 15 years (1953–1968) at the Church of the Holy Childhood in St. Paul.
A native of St. Paul, Minnesota, he attended MacPhail College and the University of Minnesota, with further studies undertaken at the American Boychoir School at Princeton, St. John’s Abbey, Collegeville, and the Royal School of Church Music in England. He studied organ with Ruth Dindorf, Arthur Jennings, Rupert Sircom, Gerald Bales, and Peter Hallock; choral conducting with Bruce Larsen, Donald Brost, and Peter Hallock; composition with Leopold Bruenner, Theodore Ganshaw, Bruce Larsen, and Gerald Bales.
Proulx was a widely published composer of more than 300 works, including congregational music, sacred and secular choral works, song cycles, two operas, and instrumental and organ music. He served as consultant for The Hymnal 1982, the New Yale Hymnal, the Methodist Hymnal, Worship II and III, and contributed to the Mennonite Hymnal and the Presbyterian Hymnal.

Phyllis J. Stringham, of Waukesha, Wisconsin, died February 12 at the age of 79. Born January 30, 1931 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Calvin College and a Master of Music degree in organ performance at the University of Michigan. Her organ teachers included John Hamersma, Robert Noehren, and Marilyn Mason. She pursued additional study at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, France, studying with Nadia Boulanger and André Marchal. In 1966 she studied with Marie-Claire Alain and Anton Heiller at the Summer Academy for Organists in Haarlem, Holland. While on sabbatical leave in 1972, she spent five months studying at the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna, Austria. Further study was done at the Eastman School of Music with Russell Saunders, and with Delbert Disselhorst at the University of Iowa.
For 43 years, Stringham was Professor of Music and College Organist at Carroll University, Waukesha, Wisconsin (1959–2002). After retirement from teaching, she retained her position as College Organist and Curator of the Organ. In 2007 she was named Organist Emeritus. Her earlier teaching career began at Chatham Hall, an Episcopal school in Virginia. She is listed in Who’s Who in the World of Music. From the late 1960s to 2007 she operated the Phyllis Stringham Concert Management agency. She served the AGO as dean of the Milwaukee chapter and as Wisconsin State Chair.
Phyllis Stringham is survived by her brother James A. (Gladys), nephews, many grandnephews, nieces, other relatives and friends. A memorial service was held February 18 at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, Waukesha.

Gail Walton, director of music at the University of Notre Dame’s Basilica of the Sacred Heart, died February 24 in Indianapolis after a long illness. She was 55 years old. Dr. Walton had served as director of music in the Basilica since 1988, directing the Notre Dame Liturgical Choir as well as the Basilica Schola, which she founded in 1989. She held degrees from Westminster Choir College and the Eastman School of Music, where she earned the doctor of musical arts degree in organ performance, and was awarded the performer’s certificate. Before joining the basilica staff, she taught organ at Goshen College.
Gail Walton performed throughout the midwestern United States and played concerts in the German cities of Bonn, Heidenheim, Mainz, and Rottenburg/Neckar in the summer of 1991. In the summer of 1995, she took the Notre Dame Liturgical Choir on a tour of Italy, giving performances in Florence, Milan, Assisi, and Rome. She frequently played duo recitals with her husband, organist and Notre Dame music professor Craig Cramer.

Allan Wicks, a leading cathedral organist of his generation, died February 4 at age 86. He played a crucial role during the 1950s and 60s in bringing modern works by Messiaen, Maxwell Davies, Stravinsky, and Britten into the regular cathedral repertory. Born in Harden, Yorkshire, on June 6, 1923, the son of a clergyman, Wicks became organ scholar at Christ Church, Oxford in 1942, where he studied under Thomas Armstrong. He became sub-organist at York Minster in 1947, then in 1954 organist and master of the choristers of Manchester Cathedral. During his time there, he oversaw the rebuilding of the war-damaged organ, and championed the music of Peter Maxwell Davies and Malcolm Williamson. He also regularly conducted Stravinsky’s Canticum Sacrum.
In 1961 he was appointed organist and master of the choristers of Canterbury Cathedral, a post he held until 1988.There he regularly performed music by such composers as Messiaen, Ligeti, Tippett, Lennox Berkeley, and Alan Ridout. Wicks made several recordings, released on LP but yet to be issued on CD, of works by Alan Ridout, Messiaen (notably La nativité du Seigneur), Bach, Mendelssohn, Liszt, Franck, Widor, Alain and Reger. Wicks retired from Canterbury in 1988, having served under three archbishops and taught several generations of choristers.

Christopher Hogwood—English conductor, musicologist, and harpsichordist—died September 24 at his home in Cambridge, England. He was 73. Born in Nottingham, England, on September 10, 1941, he received piano lessons as a child and enrolled at Cambridge University, where he switched from studying Greek and Latin to music, and went on to pursue keyboard studies with such talents as Rafael Puyana, Mary Potts, and Gustav Leonhardt.

Early in his career, he performed on the harpsichord with the Academy of Saint Martin-in-the-Fields and was a founder, with David Munrow, of the Early Music Consort of London. He founded the Academy of Ancient Music in 1973, with help from the Decca recording label, and created approximately 200 albums with its musicians.

Hogwood stepped down as the ensemble’s music director in 2006 and assumed the title of emeritus director. Even when he was leading the Academy of Ancient Music, he found time to appear with other ensembles, landing jobs as principal guest conductor with groups in Europe and the U.S., including a long association with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.

His conducting projects were closely connected to his research and editing work. He was in the process of a completing a new edition of Mendelssohn’s orchestral works for Bärenreiter and sat on the board of the Martinů Complete Edition and the C.P.E. Bach Complete Works Edition. In 2010, he launched his latest project as general editor of the new Geminiani Opera Omnia for Ut Orpheus Edizioni in Bologna.
He wrote extensively on George Frideric Handel and gave lectures as well as master classes in Europe. As a conductor, Hogwood received the most acclaim for his renditions of well-known Baroque pieces, particularly Handel’s Messiah and Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. He sometimes made forays into 19th and early 20th-century music, and led performances of music by Schubert, Stravinsky, and Britten.

Hogwood was on the music faculty at Cambridge for many years and recently served as a professor of music at Gresham College in London. He was named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 1982 and a Commander of the British Empire in 1989.

Christopher Hogwood is survived by his sisters, Frances, Kate, and Charlotte, and his brother, Jeremy.

 

Carl B. Staplin died July 12 in Des Moines, Iowa, at the age of 79. Professor emeritus of organ and church music and former chair for the keyboard music department at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, Staplin was also minister of music and organist emeritus at First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Des Moines. He served as a member of the faculty at the University of Evansville, Evansville, Indiana, from 1963 to 1967.

Born December 5, 1934, Carl Staplin was a choirboy and acolyte at St. Paul’s Cathedral, Buffalo, New York. He received organ training with Roberta Bitgood, followed by four years of study under Arthur A. Poister at Syracuse University. His private composition study was with Ernst Bacon. Following military service with the United States Army as the chaplain’s assistant in Frankfurt, Germany, Staplin studied at the Yale University School of Music, under the guidance of Charles Krigbaum and Finn Viderø; he earned his master’s degree in 1963. Private composition study was pursued with Richard Donovan. 

Appointed to the music faculty at the University of Evansville, he took a leave of absence to further his scholarly pursuits in 1965, and returned to graduate studies at Washington University, St. Louis, where he received an appointment as a graduate research fellow and received Phi Beta Kappa Honors while earning his Ph.D. in performance practice, following which were studies in organ performance and musicology with Anton Heiller, Howard Kelsey, and Paul A. Pisk. He received coaching in improvisation in Paris, France, during a 1984 sabbatical with Jean Guillou and premiered Guillou’s La Chapelle des Abîmes. His 1997 recording of Bach’s Clavierübung III was performed with the Chancel Choir of Faith Lutheran Church (Eric Knapp, conductor) on a Dobson mechanical-action organ (Opus 61) at Faith Church, Clive, Iowa, and was released by Calcante Recordings Ltd.  An earlier recording of other Bach works (1975) was made on a Holtkamp tracker instrument (First United Methodist Church, Perry, Iowa), and selections from both recordings have been heard on Pipedreams.

On a 1972 sabbatical, Staplin resided in Paris, France, where he studied with Marie-Claire Alain and André Marchal, studying French organ literature. While working in the Washington University library as part of his 1991 sabbatical research, he located a previously unidentified manuscript composed by J.S. Bach. In 1999, he received coaching by Harold Vogel while surveying Baroque-era German instruments. While in Europe he traveled extensively and recorded more than 35 organs in seven countries. He studied the English choir tradition in a number of English cathedrals and completed a series of five recitals devoted to Bach’s organ masterpieces, a total of 44 works. These recitals were performed in Des Moines, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Freeport, Illinois, and Perry, Iowa.

Staplin’s publications include his doctoral dissertation on the chorale preludes of J.S. Bach, and more than 20 organ, choral, and instrumental compositions released by eight national publishing firms. He presented over 200 concerts and workshops throughout the United States and Europe, appearing at conventions of the American Guild of Organists, and the Music Teachers National Association.

Staplin concertized under Phyllis Stringham Concert Management and was also a touring artist for the Iowa Arts Council. He also performed in Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, Sweden, and Switzerland, consulted for organ installations in numerous churches and institutions, and served as organist for the Des Moines Symphony directed by Joseph Giunta and Yuri Krasnapolsky. A member of the Iowa Composers Forum, recent performances of his works were featured at Drake University, Iowa State University, Coe College, the University of Northern Iowa, and the Iowa Composers Forum Festival. 

Staplin’s former organ students, more than 300 total, occupy leading positions in churches and universities; many have been winners and ranked finalists in organ competitions, and have received grants for postgraduate study abroad.

Carl B. Staplin is survived by his wife of 53 years, Phyllis M. Staplin; two children, Elizabeth Tausner (Eric) and William Staplin (Ruth); and his five grandchildren, Mena, Benjamin, and Samuel Tausner, and Mary and Esther Staplin. 

 

David K. Witt, 72, died August 27. He had fallen and shattered his ankle August 23, and suffered a stroke during surgery from which he did not awake.

Witt graduated from Vanderbilt University cum laude with a bachelor of arts in mathematics, physics, and music. His career in software development, which began with GE and continued for more than 30 years at IBM, encompassed various programs, such as those related to retail store systems, antiballistic missile systems, and the NASA Gemini Space program.

Witt served as an organist in churches throughout the Southeast, Texas, and New Jersey for over 50 years and was integral in the design of new pipe organs in many of those churches. He served 39 years in the Raleigh area at Hillyer Memorial Disciples of Christ Church, Edenton Street United Methodist Church, and most recently at Hayes Barton United Methodist Church. He made recordings of his original hymn arrangements to raise money for the Methodist Home for Children, where he served on their board and as interim president and CEO. He was also a founding board member of the N. C. Child Advocacy Institute (now NC Child), and served as the Vice-Chair of Trustees with the Institute for Worship Studies, an institute dedicated to Christian worship renewal and education. Witt was active in the American Guild of Organists and served as dean of the Central North Carolina Chapter.

He is survived by his wife of 46 years, Patricia Carroll Witt (Pat), his daughter, Susan Craige and husband, Mark, of Raleigh, two grandsons, John Dakota (Koty) and David Paxton, and his nephew, James David (Jim) Nickle, son of his only sister, as well as many other nephews and nieces. ν

James David Christie, David Craighead, Thomas F. Froehlich, John Grew, Stephen Hamilton,

Recitalist, teacher and recording artist, Marie-Claire Alain is one of the leading personalities in the world of organ music. Born into a family of musicians at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, she studied music at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris, where she won four first prizes, soon followed by several awards in international competitions.
Marie-Claire Alain’s concert tours have led her throughout the world, including numerous trips to the United States and Canada since 1961. Critics praise the clarity of her playing, the musicality of her interpretations, the purity of her style, and her mastery of registration.
Greatly sought after as a teacher and justly famous for her lectures illustrated with musical examples, Marie-Claire Alain bases her teaching on extensive, unrelenting musicological studies in organ literature and performance practices of early music. After teaching for sixteen summers in Haarlem, The Netherlands (1956–1972), she now holds a workshop every summer in Romainmôtier, Switzerland, where the house organ from her family home in France is located. She taught for many years at the Conservatoire National de Region de Rueil-Malmaison, followed by several years at the Conservatoire Supérieur de Paris. Her discography is impressive, containing over 220 recordings, including the famous “integrales” or complete works (J. S. Bach, Couperin, de Grigny, Daquin, Franck, Handel, J. Alain, etc.), which have won her numerous Grands Prix du Disque in France and abroad. In addition, an educational DVD featuring Mme. Alain was produced by the American Guild of Organists in 2002. Marie-Claire Alain has received honorary doctorates from Colorado State University (Fort Collins), Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, The Boston Conservatory of Music, McGill University, Montréal, Canada, and most recently in 2006 from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1984, she was named International Performer of the Year by the New York City AGO chapter, and in 1999 was given the AGO Lifetime Achievement Award. In France, she was awarded the degree “Commandeur des Arts et Lettres.”
As an outgrowth of her great interest in the pipe organs of her own country, Mme. Alain serves on a commission of the French government for the promotion and construction of new pipe organs in France. Classic CD magazine named her one of “The Greatest Players of the Century” in 2001 in a list that included the entire classical music world. For many years, she has been an adjudicator at organ competitions all over the world. In 1999 she was president of the jury of Concours Suisse de l’orgue, and on several occasions she has presided over the juries of the Concours International de Chartres and of the Musashino International Competition in Tokyo.
—Stephen Hamilton
 

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In 1965, a brilliant young student of Arthur Poister, Byron L. Blackmore, moved to my hometown of La Crosse, Wisconsin, to assume the city’s only full-time church position. I had the privilege of being his first organ student at the age of 13, and it was Byron who introduced me to the artistry of Marie-Claire Alain. He had me purchase her recordings of de Grigny, Couperin, Bach, Handel and Jehan Alain, and from these recordings my life completely changed. I immediately fell in love with her incredible musicianship, her extraordinary attention to detail, touch, ornamentation, breath, style and, above all, music-making, and I knew I wanted one day to be her student.
I met Marie-Claire for the first time at a concert she performed in Rochester, Minnesota, when I was 14 years old. She made a very ordinary electric-action organ come alive. Following the concert, we spoke at the reception in French, and she patiently coached our conversation along, helping me with my first year “command” of the language. She was so kind, warm and encouraging. She gave me her home address in L’Etang-la-Ville and told me to keep in touch. I couldn’t believe such a great artist would be so kind and take so much time with a young student. Many years later, I realized I was the same age as her only son, Benoit. She has always had a loving maternal relationship with all of her students.
Throughout my high school and early undergraduate years, I followed her around the country for masterclasses and concerts. The most memorable was her week-long seminar at Fort Collins, Colorado, in 1971. It was amazing to see her deal with so many diverse students. She had an uncanny way of meeting every student where they were and helping them change by opening their ears and minds. She received her first honorary doctorate on this occasion and, twenty years later, I had the honor of placing a doctoral hood over her head as Chair of the Organ and Harpsichord Department at the Boston Conservatory. After my junior year at Oberlin, I decided to take a year off and go to Paris to study privately with Marie-Claire. We worked mainly on classical French works, Buxtehude, and Jehan Alain. Her attention to detail, her pleas to always listen to the music, and her insistence that the organ itself was one’s best teacher changed my approach to performing and certainly influenced me greatly in my own teaching. As I was particularly interested in Buxtehude, she encouraged me to go to North Germany and play the historic organs, which I did. Because of this, I devoted the next ten years of my life to an intensive study of Buxtehude and the North German masters of the 17th century.
Marie-Claire Alain taught all her students to question, to be stylish, eclectic, open, inquisitive, ready to do research, always prepared to learn and change one’s mind, and to live as a 20th-century musician. She stressed the importance of knowing, studying and performing music of our entire heritage and to be “diversified” (she was using this term years before investment companies did!). Her performances of music including the complete classical French masters, Muffat, Bruhns, Bach, Franck, Liszt, Widor, Jehan Alain, Duruflé, Messiaen and Charles Chaynes were all equally thrilling.
The most moving day of my life was in Paris in January, 1995, when Marie-Claire invited me to move from “vous” to “tu”—but it never feels right when I do this. The respect I have for our “Mâitresse” is too great. Happy birthday, dear Marie-Claire—thank you for all you have given the world—you will live forever!
—James David Christie
Professor of Organ
Oberlin Conservatory

 

 

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It is both a privilege and an honor to be invited to join with those who are contributing tributes to Marie-Claire Alain. Like many, I first became acquainted with her through her prolific recordings and writings. It was not until the 1981 organ workshop at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, that I had the opportunity to observe her as a recitalist and teacher, and to get to know her as a person. My wife Marian was at the conference with me, and we were completely captivated at how the remarkable personality of Mme. Alain showed forth in all that she did—conducting classes and performing. Her enthusiasm and love for many different styles of music, along with her attention to detail and appropriate fingering, were things that those of us who were observers could retain far into the future.
Marian and I both found Mme. Alain to be supremely generous with her musical ideas, and gracious in letting us “pick her brain”! I clearly recall Marian remarking wistfully how she wanted so much to play Franck’s E-Major Choral, but her hands were too small. The immediate response was “Oh nonsense! I’ll show you how to do it!”
Aside from music and pedagogy, Marian was quite taken with her many other interests, especially relating to her home life—her children and the roses she tended to with loving care. We couldn’t get over how, being a genius, she was so very down-to-earth!
Regarding Mme. Alain’s stature as a teacher and scholar, the two occasions that gave Marian and me the best opportunities for observation and assimilation were the Fort Collins workshop and then, sometime later, a similar week at the Eastman School of Music.
The five-day Fort Collins event included a recital, which was divided in half and played on two different organs. The first part, devoted to Bach, was played on the 3-manual Casavant (1969) at the university. The second half was at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church where the organ is a 2-manual Phelps (1974). This program included Nivers, Franck, and Alain. It was of interest to me to note the effective way in which she handled the Franck and Alain on an unenclosed instrument that was predominately North German in style.
I was also greatly interested in her class presentation of the connection between French and German organ music. There were five groups of music for illustration:
1. Music written on religious texts. (from Couperin Parish Mass, Bach Partita O Gott du frommer Gott)
2. Use of liturgical melodies (four excerpts from de Grigny Mass; Bach, four chorales from BWV 651) 3, 4. Bach’s influence through the 19th century (Bach Prelude & Fugue in a minor, Franck Choral No. 3 in a minor, Bach Passacaglia, Franck Choral No. 2 in b minor)
5. Connections of J. Alain with J. S. Bach (Bach Sonata No. 3 in d-minor, Alain Variations sur un thème de Clement Janequin, Choral Dorien, Choral Phrygien, Litanies).
Marian and I gained so much from the sessions that week that I find myself wishing I could hear them all over again!
One especial gesture of kindness that I cannot forget is the beautiful note that Mme. Alain wrote to me following Marian’s death ten years ago. This letter completes the esteem and admiration we both had for Mme. Alain for all these years—as a performer, teacher, and a wonderful person!
This is to wish her continuing great joy and success for many, many years!
—David Craighead
Professor Emeritus
Eastman School of Music

 

 

 

 

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Like my friend and colleague Jim Christie, I was also a young person in Wisconsin when I first came to know of Marie-Claire Alain. Playing the organ was my first love, and it was during my senior year in high school that I went to hear her play a recital at Northwestern University. The program made such an impression on me that to this day, 35 years later, I can still remember some of the compositions that she performed.
My decision to enroll at the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music was largely based on the fact that their organ teacher, Miriam Duncan, had recently returned to the States after a year of sabbatical study in Europe. During that year she was a student of Anton Heiller, but also took some lessons from Mme. Alain, specifically to study early French music. So, having the opportunity to study with a student of Marie-Claire Alain, I soaked up information and performance practice like a sponge. All I wanted to do my freshman year was to play early French music! Quite coincidentally, in the fall of my sophomore year, I happened to win a contest in which I played Clérambault’s Second Suite. Anton Heiller was on the jury and was the first to plant the seed that perhaps I might want to study with Mme. Alain myself some day. That’s exactly what I did during my senior year. After graduate school I went back to France for two more years.
Mme. Alain’s students traveled to her home in L’Etang-la-Ville, a western suburb of Paris. (In about the mid-1970s, she affiliated herself with the conservatory at Rueil-Malmaison, and so students after me studied in a more structured conservatory environment.) It was such a relaxed environment (including her cat sitting on the window sill) that it was more an atmosphere of friends getting together than a young student in the presence of a great teacher. My lesson time was on Tuesdays at 10:15, and I was her only student of the morning. Sometimes the lessons were an hour; sometimes they stretched to 90 minutes or more.
I’ll never forget my first lesson. One can imagine what a bundle of nerves I was, yet Marie-Claire put me instantly at ease with a simple admonishment: “You’re not here to impress me with how well you play, nor to make me cry with what beautiful music you can produce. You’re here to learn.”
And so it was, for three years, countless lessons during which we covered all of the major French Baroque literature, nearly the complete works of Bach, and most of the music of Jehan Alain, Franck and other French masters, as well as a generous smattering of North German music, too. The repertoire at each lesson was totally different. Only once did I play the same piece twice.
Mme. Alain’s teaching style was similar to what I had been used to as an undergraduate. She started with the assumption that one could at least play the notes and beyond that very little was ever necessarily right or wrong. Often she would throw out a provocative question about interpretation just to quiz general knowledge of a period and style. On more than one occasion I caught her purposely stating something totally contrary just to see if I’d have the wherewithal (or nerve?) to contradict her! More than anything, Marie-Claire made a very conscious effort to allow her students the freedom to express themselves at the organ. I remember her saying “the last thing the world needs is a bunch of little Marie-Claires running around!” Since then I’ve always been of the opinion that the mark of a really great teacher is one who can teach without stifling the spirit or creativity of the student. Her students bear her imprint without being her clone.
In the 30 years that have elapsed since those days as a student in France, I have been continually impressed with Marie-Claire’s continued interest in her former students. It is often said that her students are like her children and that, while they grow up and move away, the bond remains nonetheless. When I consider the sheer number of students that she has taught over her impressive career, I wonder how she has time to do anything else except to keep up with her extended family. Recently, I’ve heard Marie-Claire play any number of times and, like Horowitz or Rubenstein, who played well into their 80s, she continues to play beautifully. Clearly you’re not ready to retire from performance, Marie-Claire! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your wisdom, your guidance, your inspiration, and, most of all, for your enduring and loving friendship.
—Thomas F. Froehlich
Organist, First Presbyterian Church
Dallas, Texas

 

 

 

 

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One of the great pleasures for me during the past 30 years of teaching at McGill has been those numerous occasions when Marie-Claire Alain came to give masterclasses and play concerts. The most memorable of these was in November 2001 when her visit happily coincided with the Fall Convocation, and McGill was able to confer a Doctor of Music, Honoris Causa, on her. The text of the citation that I read was as follows:
“Marie-Claire Alain is one of the legendary musicians of our time. Mme. Alain was born in 1926 at Saint-Germain-en-Laye into a home full of music. Her father, Albert Alain, who had studied with Caussade, Guilmant, and Vierne, was an accomplished church musician, performer, and composer. Her brother, Jehan, killed in action in 1940, left a legacy of some of the 20th century’s finest organ music. A second brother, Olivier, became a leading musicologist. By the age of 12, Marie-Claire was already, on occasion, replacing her father in the organ loft. Her own teachers, after her father, included such illustrious musicians as Marcel Dupré, Maurice Duruflé, André Marchal, and Gaston Litaize: a goodly heritage indeed.
“As concert organist, Mme. Alain has toured worldwide and made over 200 LP recordings and more than 60 CDs, and earned numerous prizes, including multiple Grands Prix du Disque. “As a pedagogue, Mme. Alain has had a spectacular career. Students from the four corners of the globe have flocked to Paris to study with her, their names reading like a veritable Who’s Who of the organ world today. Probably no other organ teacher has produced so many prize winners at international competitions. Her courses are legendary, her teaching marked by an open questioning manner and a quest for authenticity in matters of historical performance practice.
“Mme. Alain has also been a champion of historical instruments, evidenced by the great care she takes to choose the most historically appropriate instrument for each recording project. This obviously entails exhaustive research.
“As a scholar, Mme. Alain has published numerous articles on performance practice, many of which have been widely translated. We are pleased to note frequent citation in musicological literature of one of her articles published by McGill in L’Orgue à notre époque, a collection of papers and proceedings of an organ symposium held at the University in 1981 on the occasion of the installation of the French classical organ in Redpath Hall.
“Marie-Claire Alain has been named a member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Music. The city of Lubeck granted her the Buxtehude Prize in recognition of her work promoting early German music, and the city of Budapest awarded her the Franz Liszt Prize. In France, she is a Commander of the Légion d’honneur and a member of the Ordre Nationale du Mérite and of the Ordre Nationale des Arts et Lettres.”
The 2001 visit of Marie-Claire also happily coincided with the 20th anniversary of the splendid Wolff organ in Redpath Hall. She gave masterclasses on both weekends before and after convocation and played a memorable recital. During the planning stages of this organ in the late 1970s, she was always ready and willing to answer questions, or to point us in the right direction and open doors. Needless to say, planning an historical copy in the 1970s was somewhat more nerve wracking than it might appear today. It was a great adventure, and Marie-Claire knew how to encourage us to stay the course whenever doubts set in.
There are many anecdotes that come to mind. One of the most memorable for me dates from 1969 when she invited all her students to come to Poitiers. She had just completed a recording session over the preceding two days, and there she was giving us a class on this great Clicquot. The energy and the generosity were breathtaking to say the least. And of course there was wonderful food and wine in a little restaurant sympathique!
A story that I love to tell my students, especially those having difficulty remembering where the stops are, concerns a visit to play a concert on the von Beckerath in my church in Montréal. I met her at the airport around 11 am and we proceeded to the church. She spent about half an hour trying out various registrations and asking my opinion but she never wrote anything down. Then we went off for a leisurely lunch bien arosé. After lunch she went to her hotel to rest and to study her scores. That evening she played her concert from memory and pulled all her own stops in the process. All the registrations worked magically! What métier!
There were the many occasions when she traveled for concerts and I would go along as assistant, especially during the Haarlem organ academies. Not only did I get a chance to play some incredible organs, but we drank some splendid wine.
When all the faculty were assembled to teach at the 2003 McGill Summer Organ Academy, I realized that half of the fourteen were her former students. I think that even she was a little surprised—at least momentarily—when I announced this at the opening dinner. Has there ever been an organ teacher more admired and loved by her former students than Marie-Claire Alain?
—John Grew
University Organist, Chair of Organ Area, Schulich School of Music,
McGill University
Artistic Director,
McGill Summer Organ Academy

 

 

 

 

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It was in 1961, when I was a 13-year-old organ student, that the Des Moines (Iowa) Chapter of the American Guild of Organists presented Marie-Claire Alain in a concert at University Christian Church on the Walter Holtkamp pipe organ. It was impressive to hear her performing from memory, and captivating to hear Litanies for the first time.
From that moment, I became obsessed with finding all of her recordings. My quest took me to every bookstore and record shop in central Iowa, and unearthed recordings of Couperin, de Grigny, Buxtehude, Pachelbel, Franck, Alain, and Widor; Musical Heritage Society had the good sense to issue her performances of all the works of Bach.
In 1967 during my college years, Mme. Alain performed in St. Louis at the Priory on an instrument with mechanical action. I remember her playing all six of the Bach Schübler Chorales, the third Trio Sonata, the St. Anne Prelude and Fugue, and the Franck Pastorale as well as Messiaen’s Dieu Parmi Nous and both of the Jehan Alain Fantasies. The clarity and vibrancy of her rhythm coupled with her registrations made this concert an unforgettable example of personal expression and music making.
From 1972 to 1986, I taught organ and theory at a small college in Virginia that was fortunate to have a new concert hall housing a Flentrop organ. In 1973, 1978, 1982 and 1985, Marie-Claire Alain came to campus for concerts and masterclasses. It was inspiring and exciting to hear her perform and teach as well as to have the opportunity to solidify a blossoming friendship. As a pedagogue, Mme. Alain has sought out scores and documents that helped bring historical research alive and into the mainstream of today’s teaching.
In 1973, an inquiry about private study took me to Paris for the first of several such sojourns. Her enlightened teaching brought current performance practices to my inner musical ear and new expressive sensitivity to my playing especially in early French music and the music of Bach. Our lessons on her house organ or at her church at St. Germain-en-Laye shall forever remain as highlights of my career.
Since moving to New York City in 1991, it has been a joy to present Mme. Alain in concert at The Church of the Holy Trinity (Episcopal) in four special events. Her New York City appearances have been inspiring. Her preeminence as a musician has been noted in the New York Times referring to her as “the Grande Dame of the organ world” and by the New York City AGO chapter bestowing upon her its “Performer of the Year” accolade. The AGO national council presented her with a lifetime achievement award following her concert at The Church of the Holy Trinity in October 1999. The education committee of the Guild further endorsed Mme. Alain’s prominence as a teacher by filming her masterclasses at Holy Trinity and the University of Kansas for the AGO Master Series.
We all come together to honor Marie-Claire Alain on her 80th birthday as a performer, teacher, scholar and friend, and to celebrate her life, her love of music, and her lasting influence on our profession. —Stephen Hamilton
The Church of the Holy Trinity (Episcopal)
New York City

 

 

 

 

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In the late 1960s, while I was an undergraduate student at St. Olaf College, my teacher, Robert Kendall, arranged for his students to travel to Minneapolis to hear a recital by Marie-Claire Alain. The recital was held in the cavernous sanctuary of Central Lutheran Church, and on that evening every seat was occupied. There was a sense of anticipation as the crowd was waiting for the first sight of the performer, and it was evident that we would be experiencing something exceptional that evening. I remember the thunderous applause when she appeared—a tiny figure facing that huge crowd—and I remember that she performed completely from memory. But even now, over 40 years later, I vividly remember being completely transported by her music making. I had no idea that organ playing could be so beautiful, could communicate so clearly. I wanted to meet her after the recital, but the crowd completely engulfed her, and we students were whisked away back to Northfield. That evening I vowed to meet her someday and thank her for that recital. Little did I know how our lives would intersect. Through the years, I heard her play many times both in North America and in Europe. I not only got to meet her, but to study with her, and she became the dominant musical force in my life. I discovered that not only can she communicate with her playing, but that as a teacher Marie-Claire is without peer. Whenever I feel my busy schedule overwhelming me, I have only to remind myself of Marie-Claire’s prodigious output as a performer, recording artist, teacher, and scholar, and I realize I’m moving in slow motion in comparison. While most of us know Marie-Claire as the recipient of numerous awards and honors, her greatest pride has been her family—both the family that she grew up in and the family that she created. Without the inspiration, love and support of her family, she could not have had the career that has brought her so many accolades. Her home is full of laughter, good food and good wine. My wife Patti and I treasure the evenings that we spent with Marie-Claire and her late husband, Jacques Gommier. I don’t think we have ever laughed more than on those occasions. The close and gregarious relationship that she enjoys with her children and grandchildren is reflected in her music making. Marie-Claire likes good food. She likes to read books; in fact, she learned English in large part by reading novels in English. She loves flowers, especially roses, and has always made room for a big garden in her yard. She finds knitting a good way to relax. She loves to drive—fast!! She has traveled more than anyone I know.
I recently reminisced with Marie-Claire about the first time I heard her play. She was pleased to know that she had achieved the goal she sets each time she performs—to communicate her love of the music. It has been my great fortune to know Marie-Claire—as a teacher, a colleague and a friend. Happy Birthday Marie-Claire!
—James Higdon
Dane and Polly Bales Professor of Organ
The University of Kansas

 

 

 

 

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Some 40 years ago, I took a carload of students from Albion College (Michigan) to hear a little-known organist from Paris perform one of her first concerts in the United States. We were all dazzled by her technique, musical sensitivity, versatility of style, but above all, her ability to communicate with the audience. My friendship with this great artist, Marie-Claire Alain, began when we met and visited after her recital.
As a result of that first encounter I arranged to study with her during the early summer of 1966 at the Alain family home in St. Germain-en-Laye on the now famous “Alain Organ,” and also on the smaller house organ in her home in L’Etang-la-Ville. Later that summer I took her classes at the International Summer Academy for Organists in Haarlem, the Netherlands.
This petite young lady sat on the bench at that huge St. Bavo console, would swing around to face the various student groupings, and instantly switch from French to German to Italian to English. Amazing! She had a command of the music like no one else I had ever known. Always gracious and kind, she gently corrected and coached us with skill and authority.
A particularly memorable experience happened during that Haarlem experience. She announced to the class that she would be playing a recital on the famous Schnitger organ in Zwolle, and since I had a car I volunteered to be her chauffeur. Now if I were preparing a recital—anywhere—I’d arrive at least one day in advance. But arriving mid-afternoon on the day of the recital was apparently plenty of time for her, and that commenced only after we first took time for a beer to quench the thirst after a warm afternoon drive.
She graciously let me spend some time “trying out” the great Schnitger—a real challenge for me since its pitch was one step higher than A=440, and my ears and fingers couldn’t reconcile playing the Bach E-flat Prelude in the key of F. Obviously this was not a problem for her.
We had dinner across the town square, and when the check hadn’t arrived just minutes before the recital was to begin, I remained to settle up while she hurried across the plaza. By the time I arrived she had already begun what was to be a brilliant performance to a packed church. What an ability to concentrate!
After that wonderful summer there were many more occasions to experience our friendship, usually in conjunction with a recital. Many of those times she was a guest in our home, occasionally joined by her husband Jacques Gommier. Being a true friend, she invited us to be their guests in Paris and Maule. Marie-Claire Alain has countless friends in this country and Europe as witness the long receiving lines after every recital. Even though she may be exhausted after a demanding day of teaching and playing, she’s always warm and friendly to all who greet her, and always available for advice and counsel—and a hug.
This remarkable artist has made more friends for the organ than any one other person I know. Happy birthday, dear friend.
—John Obetz
Professor Emeritus
Conservatory of Music
University of Missouri at Kansas City Organist Emeritus, the Community of Christ World Headquarters (formerly RLDS), Independence, Missouri

 

 

 

 

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Study

I first heard Marie-Claire Alain play in Detroit in 1964. The following day, she was on campus at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, with Marilyn Mason. Dr. Mason was driving her to Lansing for a masterclass and recital, and I was invited to accompany them. As I observed Mme. Alain’s work with students in the masterclass, I realized that she had not only an enormous wealth of knowledge to share and could immediately analyze what might help the person’s playing, but also was exceptionally kind and down to earth. Right then I began to formulate the idea of studying with her. A few weeks later when she played in Evanston, Illinois, I drove over to hear her. Afterwards I got up the nerve to ask if I might come to study with her.
I went to Paris after completing my master’s degree at Michigan. I was 22 years old, knew little French, yet felt instantly at home. As it turned out, I was her first full-time American student.
On the day of my first lesson, she picked me up at the train station in St. Germain-en-Laye and took me to the family home. In the parlor was a 4-manual organ. My lessons would be on the Alain organ! We got right to work and later that afternoon I went back to Paris with a large list of repertoire to learn. From then on, after lessons I tried to write down everything she said in a notebook as I took the return train. I still have that notebook.
Our lessons were usually two hours in length. As they progressed, I came to understand that pieces needed to be learned in their entirety for the first lesson, and “perfected” by the second. Except for large Bach works, pieces were seldom brought a third time. My repertoire grew by leaps and bounds. She would allow me to play a piece through before making comments. Good work on my part was met with generous praise; criticisms were delivered gently. She got to the important things immediately. Once in a while, for example, she might show me fingerings for a small hand. But her approach to everything was musical first and foremost; technical work came only when necessary to express the music. She was always kind, often funny, and lessons were an absolute joy. (See continuation of this article.)

John C. Campbell died March 4 in Abilene, Texas. He was 73. A long-time teacher and organist, he began piano study with his mother at age eight; his father acquired a two-manual and pedal Estey reed organ for their church, and Campbell began playing the organ in church at age 13. At Hardin-Simmons University, he studied piano with Thurman Morrison and organ with T. W. (Jack) Dean and Edward Wetherill; after graduation, he entered the U.S. Navy and for five years served as a pilot on an aircraft carrier. He later earned a master of music degree at the University of Oklahoma, studying organ with Mildred Andrews, and a doctorate at the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Russell Saunders. He also studied organ with Michael Schneider and harpsichord with Hugo Ruf at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Cologne.
Campbell taught for three years at Berea College in Kentucky, and was professor of organ and church music and university organist at Hardin-Simmons University from 1971–2000. He had also served as organist of the First Baptist Church in Oklahoma City (where he met Lillie Spurgin, whom he married in 1966), and First Baptist Church of Abilene, Texas. He was a member of the Big Country AGO chapter. John C. Campbell is survived by his wife, Lillie, sons Russell and Matthew, a sister, two brothers, and uncles, nieces, nephews, and cousins.

Lawrence G. “Larry” Kelliher died on June 2 in Madison, Wisconsin. He was a lifelong resident of Madison. For the greater part of his career, he was director of music/organist at Bethel Lutheran Church in Madison, where he led a 70-voice choir and coordinated a regional church music workshop in cooperation with the University of Wisconsin. Kelliher received his bachelor of arts degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and his master’s degree in organ performance there in 1954. While attending UW-Madison, he was a teaching assistant for organ majors and an accompanist for choral groups and voice studios.
He was organist and director of music at Trinity Lutheran Church 1957–60 and at Bethel Lutheran Church 1960–92. From 1994–96, he was the organist and choir/handbell director at St. Luke’s Church in Middleton. He served as the organist for the First Unitarian Society, Luther Memorial, Holy Cross, Grace Episcopal, First Congregational, St. John’s, and Central Lutheran churches in Madison. Before retiring, he was the choir director/organist at Monona Lutheran Church. He also served as an organist for the Madison Symphony. He was dean of the Madison AGO chapter 1959–60. A memorial service was held on June 9 at Bethel Lutheran Church in Madison, with music led by current director of music/organist, Gary Lewis.

Hazel-Thomas Baker King died at age 71 on April 8, in Charlottesville, Virginia. An alumna of Agnes Scott College, she received a fellowship to study in Belgium with Flor Peeters. For 31 years she was organist-choirmaster at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Charleston, South Carolina, and a member of the AGO; the Charleston chapter produced a recording of her performance on the restored 1845 Erben organ at the French (Huguenot) Church. Mrs. King was also featured in recitals at Piccolo Spoleto. A talented choral director, she had studied at the Royal School of Church Music in England, and served as director of choral activities at Ashley Hall School, was accompanist for the Charleston Symphony Singers’ Guild, and was a member of the Charleston Baroque Singers. Hazel-Thomas King is survived by her husband, two children, one sister, and three grandchildren.

Paul E. Koch died on May 12 at age 79 in Springfield, Illinois. Born May 24, 1929 in Vanlue, Ohio, he was a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University (BMus), the Naval School of Music, and Union Theological Seminary (MSM). He served in the Army 1951–54 as a bandsman and chaplain’s assistant. He held church music positions as organist and choir director in churches in Oak Park, Springfield, and Decatur, Illinois. He was active in the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers, the American Guild of Organists, the Fellowship of United Methodists in Music and Worship Arts, and the Presbyterian Association of Musicians.
Koch played recitals and was a published composer; among his works are a volume of handbell music, a work for flute and organ, five anthems, two organ works, and two hymns. He taught numerous piano and organ students, and he was also a communications consultant with Illinois Bell Telephone 1970–1982. Paul E. Koch is survived by his wife Susan, three sons, a daughter, two stepdaughters, a sister, two grandchildren, and five stepgrandchildren.

George M. Williams, director of music and organist at the Northfield Community Church (UCC) of Northfield, Illinois since 1967, died June 11, after a nine-month battle with recurrent lymphoma. Williams was a member of the American Guild of Organists, past dean of the North Shore chapter, and a trustee at the Music Institute of Chicago. In 2007, on the occasion of his fortieth anniversary at Northfield Community Church, the church established an endowed organ scholarship in perpetuity in his name at the Music Institute of Chicago.
Born December 3, 1935, Williams was a graduate of Chicago Musical College (now the Chicago College of Performing Arts of Roosevelt University), where he received bachelor’s and master’s degrees and won the Oliver Ditson Award in organ. He later became an instructor of organ at his alma mater, and he taught music and conducted the chorus for ten years at Englewood High School in the Chicago Public School System. In 1968, he joined the faculty of Loop Junior College (now Harold Washington College), one of the City Colleges of Chicago, where he taught music theory, piano, and vocal music for thirty-four years.
Williams retired from the college in 2002 as an associate professor. In addition to being an organ recitalist, church musician and conductor, Williams was classical music critic for The Chicago Crusader, the oldest African-American-owned Chicago area weekly newspaper. George M. Williams is survived by his wife, the former Barbara Wright-Pryor, two children and two grandchildren.

Philip Hahn, the immediate past president of the American Guild of Organists, died peacefully at his home in San Francisco, California on April 13, 2003, from complications of myelofibrosis, a disease of the bone marrow. From 1992 to 2002, he was a member of the AGO National Council and served as president from 1998 to 2002.

Hahn received bachelor and master of music degrees from the University of Michigan where he studied with Marilyn Mason and Robert Noehren, and earned a DMA in composition and organ performance from the American Conservatory of Music, Chicago, studying with Stella Roberts and Robert Lodine. He received certificates in organ, composition, and solfeggio from the Conservatoire Americain, Fontainebleau, France, where he studied with Nadia Boulanger and André Marchal, and held the AAGO certificate.

During his career, he was an associate professor of music at the University of Northern Iowa, where he oversaw the installation of a large four-manual organ built by Robert Noehren, and was director of music at Waterloo's First United Methodist Church. After moving to California, Hahn served as director of music at the First Presbyterian Church in Palo Alto for several years before being appointed artistic director of the San Francisco Boys Chorus. He played many recitals on notable instruments and was a featured recitalist, workshop leader, and adjudicator at many AGO conventions.

Philip Hahn was also a professional chef, holding the position of sous chef at the Clift Hotel in San Francisco, later running his own restaurant, Fanny's, in San Francisco. For several years Hahn ran the restaurant and served as organist at the First Presbyterian Church of San Anselmo, returning exclusively to church music in 1980. From 1990 until his death, Hahn served as organist-choirmaster at St. John's Episcopal Church in Ross, California.

Dr. Hahn's compositions include sacred anthems, pieces for trumpet and organ including The Trumpet Sings Thanksgiving; Spiritual; Fanfare for Five Trumpets and Organ; and two large concerted works: Fantasy for Orchestra and Acclamations! A Fanfare for Concert Band. For the organ, he wrote several short hymn-based compositions plus larger works including Sonata for Organ; Songs from the Forest: A Suite for Organ and Synthesizer; and Suite for Organ Celesta, Vibraharp, and Timpani. His Sonata for Violin and Piano was the recipient of a Sigma Alpha Iota Prize. His short ballet The Dance in the Desert was fully staged at both the First Presbyterian Church, Palo Alto, and at St. John's Episcopal Church in Ross.

He is survived by his partner of 29 years Norman Nagao, two sisters, and a number of nephews and nieces. A memorial service was held at St. John's Episcopal Church in Ross, California, on May 4.

Richard L. Johnson, 61, of Buffalo, New York, and East Longmeadow, Massachusetts, died on December 6, 2002, in Buffalo. Dr. Johnson was professor of humanities at Medaille College, Buffalo, joining the faculty in 1984. An accomplished musician and dedicated educator, he was known for his innovative theatre and music classes. He also directed numerous stage productions and was named the college's Professor of the Year for 2000-2001.

Dr. Johnson was born on May 17, 1941, in San Antonio, Texas. Upon receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree in music from Trinity University of San Antonio in 1963, he went on to earn his Master of Music degree from Yale University in 1965. He spent 1966-67 in Copenhagen, Denmark, on a Fulbright Scholarship, studying organ with Finn Viderø. Returning to the United States, he held faculty positions at Wake Forest University, Amherst College, Smith College, and the University of Maine. In 1973, he graduated from the University of Michigan with a Doctor of Musical Arts degree. In 1992, he received a National Endowment for the Humanities award to study theatre at Columbia University, and at the time of his death he was pursuing a post-doctoral Master's degree in Theatre at SUNY-Buffalo.

In addition to teaching, Dr. Johnson performed organ recitals at venues across the country, including the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, and St. Thomas Church in New York City. Several of his recordings aired on National Public Radio stations throughout the country. He is survived by his parents, a sister, brother, nieces and nephews, and his long-time partner, Richard LaBorde of East Longmeadow.

Richard Eugene Livesay died on February 24 at the age of 87. A resident of Alexandria, Virginia, he was organist at Cherrydale United Methodist Church in Arlington from 1947 to 1988, when he was named organist emeritus. At that church he had played for more than 2,000 Sunday services, 600 weddings, and countless funerals, and helped design the church's Wicks pipe organ of 37 ranks. He was a former Dean of the Alexandria AGO chapter and was a guest organist at Washington National Cathedral. Born in Tulsa, he began piano study at age 12 and organ at age 16, and he attended Blackburn College in Illinois, Park College in Missouri, and American University. In the late 1930s, he worked for Jenkins Music Co. and demonstrated Hammond organs at churches around Tulsa. Mr. Livesay was also a Defense Department official from 1940 until retiring in 1973 as staff secretary to the secretary of defense. He is survived by his wife of 64 years Veradell Elliott Livesay, two children, and five grandchildren.

Dale Wood died on April 13 after a valiant battle against esophageal and lung cancer, at his Sea Ranch, California home. A renowned composer, organist and choral director, he was known for his numerous published choral works and hymn tunes, and his compositions for handbells, harp, and organ. He was for many years organist and choirmaster in San Francisco at the Episcopal Church of St. Mary the Virgin and served in a similar capacity in Lutheran churches in Hollywood and Riverside, California. He had published numerous articles on worship, liturgy, and church music, and was a contributing editor to the Journal of Church Music for over a decade. His monthly column appeared in the Methodist journal Music Ministry for three years. Wood headed the publications committee of Choristers Guild from 1970-74. After serving as music director of the Grace Cathedral School for Boys in San Francisco (1973-74), he was appointed executive director for The Sacred Music Press, a position he held from 1975-96, and was editor emeritus 1996-2001. The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) honored Dale Wood annually since 1967 for his "very important contribution towards the creation and development of contemporary American Music." The Board of Regents of California Lutheran University awarded Dale Wood the title of "Exemplar of the University," citing him as "an example of excellence in service and a worthy model of a good and useful life."