On Sabbatical with the Betenbaughs

Gordon and Barbara Betenbaugh

Gordon and Barbara Betenbaugh are organist/choirmasters at First Presbyterian Church in Lynchburg, VA. They have recently returned from a 13-week sabbatical in the UK. They also direct Cantate, the Children's Choir of Central Virginia, and Mrs. Betenbaugh is chapel organist and assistant choral director at Virginia Episcopal School in Lynchburg.

Tim Byram-Wigfield has been the music director at Jesus College in Cambridge since 1999. A former chorister at King's College, he was organ scholar at Christ Church Oxford before he moved to Winchester Cathedral to be sub-organist in 1985. For eight years he was Master of the Music at St. Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh before taking up his present appointment. He combines his work at Jesus College with a busy schedule as an organ recitalist, and has played in France, Australia, Belgium, the USA and Canada. He conducts the Northampton Bach Choir, is organist for the Millennium Youth Choir, and regularly gives workshops for amateur choirs. He is also active as a pianist, arranger and composer. He broadcasts frequently on BBC Radio 3, and has recorded on the EMI, Hyperion, Argo, Priory and Herald labels.

The chapel at Jesus College is the most ancient college building in Cambridge, begun in 1140. We had occasion to speak with Tim over tea prior to his afternoon rehearsal on Friday, May 23. We had previously attended a week's rehearsals and Evensongs at Jesus. The program is distinctive in maintaining two choirs. During university term there are five choral services each week. The Chapel Choir sings three and the Mixed Choir sings two. The alto, tenor and bass voices are common to both groups and are sung by the choral scholars, who each receive £100 per term plus a nominal payment for all the services they sing.

Tim Byram-Wigfield has recently been appointed director of music at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. The chapel runs a conventional cathedral-style set-up of boy choristers and twelve professional men, singing daily services. The building is one of the finest examples of English 15th-century architecture, with fan vaulting, fine stained-glass windows, and a marvelous Harrison and Harrison pipe organ.

BB: Your boy choir doesn't have a choir school like King's College or St. John's, do they?

TB-W: That's right.

BB: Do they pay tuition?

TB-W: No, the college provides it. In fact, the college also pays them a small stipend of £35 per term which is put into a savings account for them. It can accumulate until the time that their voice changes. We also provide some instrumental bursaries for them.

BB: How does that work?

TB-W: An instrumental bursary is a small donation that the college would make to the parents directed toward the cost of their instruments.

GB: Suzuki is not taught much over here, is it?

TB-W: It is in some places and certainly at very young ages. It used to be very popular for children who wanted to learn the violin in large classes. I daresay in London it still happens. I don't know of a class in Cambridge, but there might be one.

GB: Actually, from a choral standpoint it only helps the ear. It doesn't help the reading skills which is paramount.

TB-W: Yes, that's true. When I first came here four years ago there were only 13 full-time choristers, and only about half of them were reading on their instruments. Maybe it's just been through luck or because we've been tapping a different vein, the caliber of chorister we've been getting in terms of their musical ability and literacy has appreciated a bit. Going back to what you were saying, ours is a very different set-up from King's and St. John's. We operate on a part-time basis and can only be on that part-time basis, because the activity is essentially taking place after school at the end of the choristers' day.

BB: In the auditioned children's choir we have at home, the parents pay tuition. We've found that when parents pay tuition to the choir just like they do for soccer or other sports and activities, they feel more inclined to insure that their child attends rehearsal.

TB-W: Yes, that's like having lessons. That's less of a problem with us, because in a sense we're asking them to do us a favor by having the boys come and sing the services for us. In return, of course, we're providing them with a certain element of musical education and other aspects of education as well. Commitment being what it is these days, the amount of things the parents want their children to do affects the choir. We had a full house on Wednesday evening, and then we had less than 2/3 yesterday. This morning I got several e-mails that children would be absent for this, that, and the other reason. You get the idea.

GB: Yes, we have the same thing with church volunteer children's choirs at our church.

BB: Do you teach the boys in a separate theory class?

TB-W: No, it has to be done in the context of the music that we teach them. The only time I get the chance to teach them anything in that vein is when they're probationers and come to their probationers' class, which is on Tuesday afternoons. We only have an hour.

GB: Did you start the mixed choir of boys and girls in Edinburgh at St. Mary's Cathedral?

TB-W: No, my predecessor Dennis Townhill did. That works for them very successfully because they operate like a choir school. We had rehearsal in the morning and a service in the evening. Also, because it's in Scotland, where the tradition is not so firmly embedded in the society, it wasn't seen quite so much as a heresy to introduce boys and girls together, although for a while it was not without its difficulties. One of the strongest arguments there was that it was the only choir school in Scotland, and also because the choir school operated like a specialist music school like Wells Cathedral or Manchester. The argument was that this was a golden opportunity for a child to sing in the choir, so boys and girls should have the same opportunity. That's a pretty strong argument, really! It was for those reasons that they introduced the boys and girls. They kept an eye on the balance, which never really got beyond a third, boys to girls. Here it is a different situation, because this is a volunteer boys choir, just a club really. It could be swimming or it could be football.

BB: Do you have auditions?

TB-W: Oh yes, they are auditioned, and they have to pass that audition. They also have to pass an informal audition having done their probationary training before they become full choristers.

BB: Explain that, please. The earliest we take choristers in our auditioned children's choir is third grade, which is age 8. What age do you start the boys?

TB-W: I take them earlier at age 6, because I want them to get the bug early and get them used to using their voices and get them to understand something of the single line of music in front of them. They come and sing with the older boys once or twice a term.

BB: How often do you meet with these boys?

TB-W: Just once a week for a half an hour on Tuesday for singing with a bit of theory thrown in. It's really learning how to use the voice, and they learn some chorus songs and some easy hymns. They have a little test every term, so they have to learn something from memory, and they have to count rhythms. It's predominantly based on the singing rather than on instruments. That gives them the bug. They get their own cassock in the vestry and have something to aspire to. By the time they're 8 or 9 they are old enough to join the big guys.

GB: I understand that the college has done this for about 150 years.

TB-W: Yes, in 1849 when the stalls were put in and that lovely ancient organ case with the angels painted on it. [Author's note: In 1849 the "Sutton Organ" was built by J. C. Bishop and restored by Mander in 1967.] There was a rededication of the chapel, and we still have the manuscript for an anthem which was written by Thomas Walmisley for four boy choristers to sing. The names of the four boys are on the front of the manuscript. It's really very touching. They clearly were one of the porter's sons or one of the cook's sons or that kind of thing. Ever since 1849 there's been this tradition of getting volunteer boys to come sing in the chapel. That is, I daresay, one of the reasons why Jesus College is distinctive among other college chapels, because they've had the boy trebles, and a number of very distinguished church musicians have cut their teeth by being organ scholars here. There's James O'Donnell, Peter Hurford, Richard Lloyd, Malcolm Archer and a whole host of others who've gone on to work in schools as well as cathedrals. I think we've got four, maybe five, ex-Jesus organ scholars who are now assistants in cathedrals, which is very encouraging. It's a pretty worthy record. So, we don't have as long a tradition as King's or St. John's. One of the reasons that it wasn't as developed was because they never had a director of music to develop the program. The organ scholars were responsible for running it. In days gone by when academic pursuits weren't so pressurized, it was probably possible. In these days what with children's protection, the experience of teaching them, never mind the time it takes to go around to the schools and recruit them, the energy and time you need to devote to the program, you can't expect an 18-year old organ scholar to do that and do his degree also. That's why they created this post.

BB: How do you recruit?

TB-W: I go around to the schools where we already have choristers, and ones which I know are sympathetic. I do know some colleagues in other cathedrals where they have a similar situation where the headmasters won't allow them across the threshold because they think that it's peddling Christianity. This is becoming a real issue of political correctness in this country. You get parents who will refuse to allow their children to sing Christmas carols. I hate to say it, but this has emanated from the other side of the Atlantic. It's very sad in a way, because it undermines and makes us question everything about the oral tradition that we have in this country. In that context, it's actually in some places very difficult to sustain any kind of Christian choir at all. In Cambridge we're lucky because a lot of the people we're appealing to are educated enough to understand about the tradition; secondly there is a huge reservoir of parents who are employed by the university and therefore can understand what's being offered and thirdly, although they might send their child to a state school, they still want their child to be a chorister. Those three things give us an extra edge, but I think in other places it's rather different.

GB: We're going to the Southern Choirs Festival in Salisbury on the Saturday that you'll be there accompanying the Millennium Youth Choir. What kind of commitment do you have with them?

TB-W: Two courses, one at Easter and one in the summer.

GB: You don't accompany them each week then?

TB-W: No, because they come from all over the country. It's drawn from parish church choirs. The whole rationale behind the Millennium Youth Choir is that the RSCM designed this for young people between the ages of 16 and 23. It's for "A" level and university singers who wouldn't otherwise get the opportunity if they sing in their parish church choir to sing to that level of excellence.

GB: We have a chorister, a rising senior, who just e-mailed us that she'd been invited to sing at a new RSCM course at Washington National Cathedral this summer. She was delighted.

BB: She had been to two or three RSCM camps.

TB-W: Right. The RSCM has a number of summer courses as you've probably seen. The Millennium Youth Choir is relatively new as its name might indicate. It's only been going for three years. It was first conducted by Martin Neary. He did it for about 18 months to two years. Now Gordon Stewart conducts it.

GB: Where's he from?

TB-W: He hails from Dundee, but he's operating in the North. He was organist at Blackburn Cathedral and taught in Manchester for a long time. He's now the borough organist of Huddersfield Town Hall. There's a very fine Willis organ there. He does a lot of work with the BBC. He conducts both Daily Service and Songs of Praise as well as The Millennium Youth Choir.

BB: The Millennium Choir basically sings only twice a year?

TB-W: Yes, but there are one or two other opportunities that come along. For instance, they sang on the BBC Songs of Praise which is a television program on Sundays. Generally it's just twice a year, but I'm happy to go and play. It's nice to be able to do that.

GB: The 1971 Mander organ in the chapel is certainly eccentric!

TB-W: Oh, yes. It's really on its last legs now.

GB: Are you going to renovate it?

TB-W: Thirty years ago English organ builders were only just discovering or re-discovering about the principles of German Werkprinzip and tracker action. This was their brave first attempt to build something with tracker action and bold German choruses. That's what it is! It's very much a product of its time. It has the eccentric things like the reed en chamade (laughter, and a nasal YYENT). It's a very strident sound. Everything is starting to wear. It's always been very heavy to play. As I say, it's one of these curiosities that is, in many ways, a pioneering experiment. People recognize that now. There are those that say we should keep it because it was pioneering. That's fine if you don't have to play it every day.

GB: I understand.

TB-W: The college recognizes that something's got to be done. In fact, our strategy has been not to replace it with a new organ, but to replace it with a worthy Victorian instrument that needs a home. We found a 3-manual Hill up in a Baptist church in Portsmouth. It didn't start out there. It came from another church in South London. The Baptist church is closing, so we've purchased the organ, and it's being taken down and put in storage. The next stage now is to finalize how it will fit in the Mander space and whether we want to enhance the specifications at all. We'll then put forward proposals to the college. That's been our strategy rather than to build a new tracker action organ. Also we need some liturgical sounds to do the accompaniments. We need an oboe, a harmonic flute, a swell to choir, just those kinds of basic things.

GB: It will be a 3-manual?

TB-W: Yes, at least a 3-manual.

GB: With pistons and memory?

TB-W: It will have pistons, but it won't have a stepper. I'm not into those sequencers. It will have some memory. A lot of the accompaniment skills relied on in this country is being able to use the manual and the pedal pistons together. There's a coupler that I don't think you have very often in the states called the great to pedal pistons coupler. For many years organists would learn to accompany using great pedal pistons. When you press the great thumb piston, it operates the pedals as well. The idea is that you would use the great and the swell. People like Howells, Whitlock and Ireland learned their craft of organ management by using this skill. That's something which is fast disappearing, because everybody uses sequencers these days to change one of the stops.

GB: I have on my instrument Great 1 and 2 pistons which affect the pedal also. I wired it in mainly for the cadential 32's and accompanying. It's easier than a toe stud, of course.

TB-W: Yes, it is. Our organ will be quite a modest specification, probably about 49 stops. We deliberately decided to go down this route, because a lot of the new organs being built at the moment in Cambridge are of a particular type. Selwyn's having a Létourneau built now.

BB: We'll be there week after next. Létourneau does excellent work.

TB-W: Gerton College has a new Swiss organ by St-Martin. It is a very clever 4-manual with about five stops in each manual. It's a particular style of instrument which does lend itself very easily to turn of the century style music. There are very few romantic symphonic organs in Cambridge--King's is a modest example. St. John's is not really one, but it pretends to be. You should go and see the one in Our Lady and the English Martyrs.

GB: We went down there and saw it, but we haven't heard it yet. I understand it is used in Sarah MacDonald's CD of Howells' Evening Canticles with the Selwyn College Choir.

TB-W: Yes, it's a very fine romantic organ, and they restored it very well.

GB: I love the sound of the crescendo "build up" while accompanying at King's.

TB-W: It's fine up to about mezzo-forte I think. 

GB: I was surprised to see that bass flute inside the organ screen in the staircase to the console.

TB-W: Yes.

BB: Do you ever get to play other instruments in town?

TB-W: I played that Harrison on Monday. The King's Voices (mixed voices) sing the services on Mondays.

BB: Did you play last Sunday for Evensong or was it an organ scholar?

TB-W: Yes, I played.

BB: We were there and have been attending rehearsals of the Men and Boys choir and Evensongs for several weeks.

TB-W: What did we do? The Mathias--the Jesus service, and the Hadley My Beloved Spake. Well, it's quite a nice thing to do and no pressure for me. It's nice not to be in charge and to be at the steering end.

GB: It's quite a room.

TB-W: Yes! What kind of church do you work in?

GB: Presbyterian. It's about 1200 members. We have an adult choir of 40 people, a Youth Choir of about 40+, children's choirs of about 50 and three handbell choirs. We have an auditioned choir called Cantate, the Children's Choir of Central Virginia consisting of two choirs from 3rd-7th grade and 8th grade through high school. I direct the younger choristers, and a colleague does the high school singers. Barbara accompanies one choir and directs a third group called the Cantabile Singers, which is an all-girl choir in grades 8 through 12.

TB-W: Both boys and girls together?

BB: Yes. The original concept was just to be children. The girls could stay until age 15 or 16, and the boys were supposed to leave when their voices changed. They wouldn't go away, so we just changed the concept. The older group sings SATB, and the younger ones all treble.

TB-W: In some cathedrals where there are volunteer choristers, like Carlisle and St. Alban's, they occasionally arrange for the ex-choristers whose voices have recently changed to come and sing with the existing choristers, so that they don't feel that they've been thrown out on the scrap heap. Of course, we are desperate for altos, tenors and basses.

GB: Well, are you playing Monday at King's?

TB-W: Yes, I think so. It's extraordinary, isn't it, that there's so much activity in a radius of about three miles. Most churches in this country are gasping for decent resources. The real sadness of this training is that most choral scholars, especially at Trinity where they have girls, unless they want to make a career as a professional singer, they don't tend to carry on singing in church choirs. It's a real shame. Then, of course, we have a dearth of organists.

GB: I was going to ask you if you have problems like we do in the states.

TB-W: It's getting bad now. Early this month we had the open day for prospective organ scholars, those who would like to apply to Cambridge to be organ scholars. We had 24, which if you consider that we have 22 colleges in the scheme isn't very much.

GB: So the university will have to take everyone?

TB-W: That wasn't the actual competition. That happens in September, but it's indicative of how things are. Last year I asked the question of how many of them were expecting to go on to be a professional organist. I think only two were.

GB: Are the organ scholars at King's going to continue in the profession?

TB-W: I think Daniel Hyde is staying on another year as a postgraduate student, because there are hardly any openings at the moment.

BB: What about Ashley Grote?

TB-W: Ashley still has another year, so he's set there. The really high fliers like the idea of going to London perhaps and maybe being an organ scholar or one of the assistants at St. Paul's or Westminster ABBey. They don't like the idea of going somewhere in middle England and subsequently doing scout mastering or something.

GB: Since you have two choirs, do you have a lot of administration work?

TB-W: I spend a lot of my time dealing with administrative things to do with the choristers and the interaction with child protection monitoring procedures. A lot of administrative work is generated just by having the choristers. If we want the choristers to take part in a concert, either we or the person promoting the concert has to be responsible for getting licenses for those children to take part in that concert. Technically, that means filling in 12-page forms, getting passport photographs and doctor's certificates for the kids to take part.

BB: That's just for them to leave the country?

TB-W: Yes.

BB: Do you take your choir on tour every year?

TB-W: Yes, we do, but we don't undertake concerts for which people are charged, so that problem doesn't arise. There was a story I heard about Wells Cathedral. Wells took their choir to the States about three years ago. They had not only to work out a schedule which corresponded to legislation concerning rehearsal time, sufficient bathroom stops and this sort of thing. They then had to keep a diary about how the actual tour went, so they could compare the two. They had to have something written down in case somebody made any allegations, or wanted to pursue litigation or complained about being tired, became ill, etc. They would have a record. Things are going berserk. Of course, most places take the easy way out and don't want to deal with that. It's hard enough to get choristers in the first place and yet, there is still this much trouble.

BB: What about your mixed college choir? Do you tour with them every year?

TB-W: Yes, we do. We try to have each choir have a project of going away once a year. It's sometimes nice to take the mixed choir away to the Continent whereas the boys choir might go to a cathedral. They've done a lot of touring in the last eighteen months or so. We've taken them to Paris and Copenhagen. In the new year we'll be going to Edinburgh to sing services for Epiphany. One thing I'd like to ask you actually is what's your view of church music in this country coming from the States.

GB: Well, we always said that God lives at King's College! (laughter) The first time I heard a recording of the King's choir was in the early 1960s, and it was the most in tune singing I'd ever heard. I didn't know it was possible to sing like that. I got the bug as an undergraduate and through the years we learned to love the wonderful music making at St. John's and other colleges and cathedrals as well.

BB: We think church music here is wonderful with performances to uncompromising standards in many places.

TB-W: The world even in this country has moved on a great deal since 1960 to 2003.

BB: Oh, sure.

TB-W: Have you seen a copy of the magazine Cathedral Music?

GB: Yes, we take it. It is excellent.

TB-W: In there is an article by the organist at Guilford Cathedral trying to defend a very difficult situation. Guilford, as you probably know, is a post-war cathedral. Barry Rose was the first organist, and he recruited the kids. They started from nothing. He managed to get scholarships at the local schools. 40 years ago it was possible to do that. In a changing society and the way that parents run children's lives these days, it isn't possible to do that nowadays. One couldn't start a cathedral choir from nothing in the way that Barry was able to do in the 1960s. In Guilford, his successors have had to cope with and deal with that legacy. It's been very difficult. In that situation they've decided to scrap the Saturday services, so the boys will have one day of the weekend free. I can see that in some cathedrals that will happen more and more. I do think that things are different. In places like King's and Westminster Abbey where the resources are rich you will always have the tradition continued. When you get to places where they operate on a part-time basis you have trouble even getting an alto at all. When I first went to the cathedral organist conference, it was very obvious some people are having difficulty securing lay clerks. However, they wanted to pretend that they were doing as well as their colleagues were. I think now that organists are beginning to be much more vocal and frank about their experiences in recruiting boy choristers and adults. In trying to persuade parents of the commitment involved, I think we are seeing the start of fragmentation. Maybe in King's and Westminster Abbey it will continue for years and years, but I don't think it's going to continue everywhere. Even if you try and take those kinds of things into account. you then throw in the changing liturgical demands and the more informal stances that the clergy likes to take who perhaps question the need for having such regular formal services. Even initiatives like Common Worship dilute what the Book of Common Prayer offers in terms of musical opportunities. They would say otherwise. They point to all the resources that they produce. Actually it's a dilution of a music that used to be so rich. They are encouraging to ditch 400 years of music and use theirs instead. Their music simply isn't in the same division. Then you're caught in a problem because clearly there are questions of whether Evensong is just a time warp and are you just presenting music that was written 400 years ago. But what else is being offered?

GB: Dumbed down rubbish.

TB-W: It is dumbed down. Some people are just taking the position that you just have to go with the flow.

BB: Any difficulties or problems you may face over here are more than doubled in the States.

TB-W: I think you are further down the track than we are. The only thing we've got that saves us really is the tradition and the history of the buildings that we happen to be in.

GB: I was commenting to Barbara as we walked here today that I think that educated people here in the UK are more cognizant of the arts because of the long tradition. Our parish is an unusual congregation in that almost all are professionals and world travelers, well educated and at the top of their profession. We are very fortunate to have much support for all our endeavors and concerts. However, educated people in the states in general are not usually musically cultured or supportive of the arts. I think that the vast majority of professionals in the states still listen to pop music on the radio for entertainment, and a small percentage support the symphony and community concerts, etc.

TB-W: Certainly. One can't talk of a more superior tradition--you can't talk about the western tradition of classical music as being superior to ethnic musicology or even studies in popular music and jazz music which has over 100 years now. It isn't really possible to talk of Beethoven, Brahms and Bach in the same reverential tones we used to and get away with it. So, the times they are a-changing!

BB: It's not as scary for us in our position.

TB-W: Again, you're further down the track. I've been very lucky to have the opportunity both in Edinburgh and before when I was at Winchester to be able to deal in music which I love and was brought up on. I count my lucky stars that I'm still in a job which allows me to do it.  I'm not quite sure that in another ten years time it will still be there. It's only a trust fund that keeps things going and pays for my salary. That's a big part of my fortune, really. For as long as the college wants it to happen, that's fine. I can see a time, even here, where the dean might retire and the college might say, "Oh, do we really want a dean? Do we really want to have Evensong?"

GB: A turnover of ministers in any church could greatly change musical things. The stories are legion.

TB-W: Of course, the decline in churchgoing is becoming very alarmingly rapid in this country. It's slightly higher in Scotland. Perhaps we should leave for rehearsal now.

Author's note: As we left for that day's rehearsal of men and women and walked through the beautiful grounds of Jesus College, the mood of our philosophical discussion greatly changed. Tim is a high energy, easy-going person who smiles a lot and encourages his choristers in the joy of music. He is also an excellent, natural pianist who plays with much ease and joy. His choristers obviously enjoy making music with him. We look forward to visiting Jesus College again and attending Evensong after the Hill organ is installed. We also look forward to meeting up with Tim at Windsor Castle.

Gordon and Barbara Betenbaugh

Gordon and Barbara Betenbaugh are organists/choirmasters at First Presbyterian Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, as well as directors of Cantate, the Children's Choir of Central Virginia. Mrs. Betenbaugh is also chapel organist and assistant choral director at Virginia Episcopal School in Lynchburg. Last summer they completed a 13-week sabbatical in the UK, visiting Cambridge, Oxford, London and Salisbury. See previous articles from their sabbatical: "London Chats #1: Michael McCarthy," October, 2003, p. 18; "John Tavener's The Veil of the Temple," November, 2003, p. 17; and "Cambridge Chats #1: Timothy Byram-Wigfield," December, 2003, pp. 16-19.

We had a delightful interview with the charming Patrick Russill on June 24, 2003, in his office at the Royal Academy of Music, where he is Head of Choral Direction and Church Music, following a weekend of attending services and rehearsals of his choir at the London Oratory. The Oratory's weekend schedule was one of the busiest we had seen on our trip. The professional all-adult London Oratory Choir supports the Latin services (Mass and Vespers) while the Oratory Junior Choir (boys and girls aged 8 and upwards) serves the English Family Mass. In addition, the Oratory School Schola sings for the Saturday Mass. The newly released CD of Patrick's choir has recently received a favorable review in the August 2003 issue of The Diapason. Our chat began with a discussion of the various types of music programs in the UK, more specifically the Church Music program now available at the Royal Academy.

 

PR: You've seen for yourselves that there is now a wide range of different choirs in English church music: all-professional; adult central London church choirs (like the Oratory); the traditional, historic boys and men's choirs (in the cathedrals and at Oxford and Cambridge); and the all-choral-scholar choirs with young women and men (at Cambridge colleges such as Trinity and Clare in particular). These different types are all central to the current state of professional choral culture in this country.

 

GB: What about church music in the Royal Academy of Music?

 

PR: Well, historically, the London conservatoires always trained church musicians very often either in a gap year or a couple of gap years before students went to university or sometimes at post graduate level after university. This was nearly always through the medium of their organ courses. There would be choir training classes as well. But there was no specific vocational training, nothing in a liturgical context or with theological understanding at all. There was nothing which had a real church music label in any of the British conservatoires until 1987 when the Principal here, who had been my tutor in Oxford at New College, Sir David Lumsden, decided that he was going to have a church music course here in the Academy--and he asked me to set it up. It was to be a contextual, supporting course, predominantly for organists, but also for singers and composers, taking a broader view of church music issues and to fill in gaps. I didn't have church music students as such, and students didn't actually graduate as church music students. They'd graduate as composers, singers, organists or whatever. That was the situation for ten years. No other conservatoire was offering anything like this at all. Of course, at Oxbridge the sort of training you get in church music is entirely based on the liturgical experience of the chapel in which you're working--very often, a rather narrow perspective. I was giving students the experience of going to the local synagogue, of Orthodox music, and giving them an understanding of Catholic church music, and from that basis the European tradition in particular--in addition to the traditional Anglican experience. I was very much aided in that by the Academy's head of organ, Nicholas Danby, who'd been my organ professor when I was at Oxford. He was also organ professor at the Royal College of Music. He, like me, was Catholic but he had great love for and insight into the real essentials of the English tradition.

 

BB: So how did your church music career start?

 

PR: Well, that was thanks to Nicholas Danby. He insisted I make myself known at the London Oratory (which was where he thought I ought to work). The organist there was Nicholas's own old organ teacher, the legendary Ralph Downes, who designed the organs both at the Oratory and at the Royal Festival Hall. Downes showed interest in me and engineered that I became his assistant. He wanted to retire and shortly after I arrived he nominated me to be his successor as organist--a kind of apostolic succession! I have to say I felt very ill prepared. In retrospect I think I should've studied a year or two abroad before going into that job. I did a lot of learning on the job, and I think a lot of my work there initially was very callow.

 

GB: We can all say that, can't we? (laughter)

 

PR: Yes, true, but at age 23 going into a job like that without hardly any previous experience is quite tough. That was in 1977. I then started teaching harmony and counterpoint here at the Academy in 1982 and did some history classes. And then in 1987 I initiated the Church Music program. In 1995 the current Principal, Dr. Curtis Price, who is an American and a former professor of music at King's College, London, was appointed. He felt that we couldn't keep on running a Church Music Course without first-study students, without majors. So, we decided what we had to do was to fill a real gap in British conservatoires: choral direction. Incredibly we were the first Choral Directing Department in an English conservatoire. Things are now beginning to change. The Royal College of Music now has a Master's course for choral conducting. And I understand that there are developments at the Birmingham Conservatoire, which may well be linked with the Royal College of Organists' move to Birmingham. Paul Spicer, conductor of the Finzi Singers, is in the driving seat for this.

 

GB: We heard his concert at the Royal College of Music with the all-volunteer Whitehall Choir and the Brandenburg Sinfonia.

 

PR: We decided at the Academy that we would have to have a primary stylistic focus. So I decided to hang on to the church music context so I could define the repertoire, the stylistic base we're working from--that is, the English experience of the repertoire in English and Latin in a fairly broad-minded view, not peddling any one particular viewpoint. That understanding of style--the importance of ensemble, tuning, clarity, also the function of church music--has really got to be heard in the daily service, because that is where the culture of corporate discipline and style springs from. But even if you take church music out into the concert hall or onto CD, you need an understanding of what that's about. Rather than "church music with some choir training" the course became "choral direction, contexted within church music." Most of my students end up with a Master's degree.

 

GB: Is there usually a problem with an American transferring here?

 

PR: No. They can't bring any accreditation, but they don't need to. In the Academy as a whole we have a lot of Americans--and even an American Principal!

 

GB: Dr. Price studied at Southern Illinois and Harvard?

 

PR: Correct. He said to me, "Can you get the students?" I said, "Yes, fine. How many can I have?" They said, "two a year." Two! Actually this exactly matches the intake of the Academy's Orchestral Conducting course, which is highly sought-after and has a tremendous record. In addition to the choral direction specialists, I also work with the organists. The Head of Organ, David Titterington, and I have a very good, close working relationship. The Academy now has organ courses not just at the bachelor's level and postgraduate level, but we also have a foundation course which doesn't have large numbers, but significant individuals coming on who may be headed for an Oxford organ scholarship. They come here for a year's conservatoire experience of London professional standards, intensive solo organ training which you typically don't get at Oxbridge. The organ scholars there often haven't the time for it since they have to be so focused on the accompanimental arts. Here they get "choir training" training, which at the moment they still don't get at Cambridge, though influential figures in Cambridge such as David Hill and Timothy Byram-Wigfield (at Jesus College, and shortly to move to St. George's, Windsor) are hoping to start building a choir training course. GB: Some of the well known English choir trainers and conductors would not pass the first year conducting course at Westminster Choir College. (laughter)

 

PR: Was that your alma mater?

 

GB: Yes, I also went to Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. With many English conductors the musicianship is there, the skill and knowledge is there, but they can't communicate with their hands. The American way is big on conducting technique. PR: This is a major issue. I only started thinking about conducting technique when I started teaching the choir training class here. I learned on the job, because there had been no tradition of courses in the UK.

 

GB: The Choir College had 3 years of conducting classes at the undergraduate level.

 

PR: I was a singer for a while as a male alto. The physical contact between singing and the conducting technique was something that interested me from watching my Oratory predecessor John Hoban who also was a singer. Also from watching other people work like John Eliot Gardiner. That I found interesting, so then I started to try and quantify what I thought and felt, in terms of relating conducting to breathing and relaxation--actually opening a door for singers rather than putting them in a constricting box. New students who come here are often quite surprised by the emphasis on gestural technique-- though the Americans not so much! One of my important contacts is with the Leipzig Hochschule and their head of choral direction Roland Börger, who is a good friend. We have an ongoing formal professorial exchange arrangement. I was fascinated to see his work. His whole training had been through gestural command. He is a very elegant, economical conductor indeed. He does great work with my students here. Though we very much speak the same musical language, our strengths lie in different areas. When I've gone to work with the Leipzig students, I've had to deal much more with handling singers' morale within a group dynamic and with visual technique: mimicry, questions of enunciation, verbal color, reinforcing pulse and phrasing through the face.

 

GB: I worked with Helmut Rilling many years ago. Of course, he's not a choral man as such, but a wonderful conducting scholar. Basically the Germans, at least the ones I know, are not vocal colorists, are they?

 

PR: It depends where you look. I think they would say they are, but they use a different area of the spectrum, a darker one. My German visitors seem to find the English choirs, the boy choirs, somewhat underdeveloped as regards vocal color. There are exceptions of course. They always seem to respond to the current New College, Oxford choir. Edward Higginbottom there gets a great sense of color and relaxation. There's a wonderful freedom of not just interpretive expression but actual technical expression from the boys. He's had a great record of encouraging young men as well.

 

BB: Of the three different places we were in Oxford, the camaraderie between him and his boys was the best--talking back and forth, chatting with the boys about what they did that day, whereas the other two places were pretty much straightforward.

 

PR: Yes, he clearly has a really interesting mind. The reason why he gets such response from the boys is because he engages them intellectually. Nevertheless, in England we need a greater emphasis on the old adage: "What they (the singers) see is what you (the choral director) get."

 

BB: Yes, exactly.

 

PR: Now in the London professional church situation you actually don't have to show everything. You've got to come to an assessment of how much your singers are able to absorb visually, because they are working under severe time restrictions, very often with music they are seeing for the first time. The singers are always very helpful. The two most commonly asked questions are 1) breathing and 2) dynamics. They want to know that you've got a unified idea and can communicate the simple general shape of a piece. Once they are happy with the essentials, then the more sophisticated aspects can be conveyed by visual and eye contact once you come to the performance--there generally isn't time in the rehearsal to do more.

 

GB: Phrasing?

 

PR: If the singers know how long the breath is then they'll take the phrasing, the actual shaping, from you. They are generally extraordinarily responsive, because, let's face it, most of them are highly experienced interpretative artists in their own right. If there is a fault here, it's that the restrictions on rehearsal time can lead to a very generalized approach to interpretation--favoring choral regimentation and the development of one choral sound over interpretation. But that is the fault of the directors rather than the singers. I'm sure you've come to your own conclusions about those choirs that generally have developed one interpretation, which essentially is the unvarying choir sound, where every piece is made to fit that concept.

 

GB: Yes, several of the top American college choirs work that way. More choirs back in the 1960s used the technique first and then the music superimposed on the technique. However, these days more American college choirs are into correct performance practice and trying to achieve different sounds for the different periods of repertoire, especially in the last 15 to 20 years.

 

PR: I'm glad to hear it. In my teaching I try to encourage the students to be as creative and as quick as they can about developing appropriate sound both through gesture, using their own voices and by the different sounds that they hear from choirs in this country.

 

GB: What sort of students do you take at the Academy?

 

PR: Well, you have to bear in mind I only take postgraduates for a two-year course with two students in each year. Currently I have two Americans, one who is already active as a period instrument orchestral and choral conductor, and the other from a Midwest Lutheran college background--both men. And then there are two women, one English (she's from Oxford) and one Irish (from Dublin). And only the English student is a church musician.

 

GB: When your students graduate, are they going to be able to get a position or positions in this country that equals a full-time wage?

 

PR: It varies. Unless you are working in a cathedral you won't get a full-time post. But most students gradually build up a portfolio of freelance casual work and regular work, often combining church, secular choral and academic teaching work. Even I'm doing something similar--I'm working for the Academy in a half-time post and also working at the Oratory half-time. That suits me fine.

 

GB: The English church choral system seems male-dominated, at least as far as directors are concerned. Do you see that changing in our lifetime?

 

PR: I don't know--it'll certainly take time. But because of the expansion of opportunities for girls in the cathedral and college choirs there will inevitably be more girls coming through the choirs who have ambitions to be directors. One major factor is--how vital is the linkage between organ playing and choral directing? I am a choral director and I'm an organist, but I'm not necessarily the choral director that I am because I am an organist. And the same can also be said for so many English choral directors (though on the other hand there are English organists who direct choirs because they are organists and not because they have a gift with singers!). At the moment there are a handful of women working in the English cathedrals: Louise Marsh at Guildford (a former student of mine), Rosemary Field at Portsmouth for example, but only one director of music, and that at a small Catholic cathedral at Arundel.

 

GB: Patrick, I'm interested that you're holding an influential teaching post here in the English tradition but you are a Catholic. Would you comment on the ecumenical climate for church musicians in the UK?

 

PR: I think the students find me quite an interesting animal, because my education was certainly through the Anglican system, but my background as a child and my working venue now is Catholic. I can happily conduct an Anglican Choral Evensong if I want. The same is true of James O'Donnell (a Catholic) and David Hill (an Anglican). They will find their way around the Latin Mass with Gregorian propers and a Victoria setting as easily as an Anglican Evensong with Smith responses, a Walford Davies Psalm and Dyson in D.

 

BB: Sounds like what we love!

 

PR: That is very much the English culture at the moment--in church music at least there's a very good inter-denominational understanding. I think the thing about Catholic centers like Westminster Cathedral and the Oratory is that they are seen as being just as much part of the London church music as the Anglican places. We're regarded as quite central, largely because of the international repertoire that we perform and because there's an improved perception of Latin as part of European culture rather than as a Roman Catholic emblem. And the recovery of the Latin tradition by the Anglican choirs has had a liberating effect on choral sound, from George Guest's choir at St. John's College, Cambridge in the early 1960s onwards. There is far more emphasis now on the color of choral sound than on perfection of ensemble. Though of course a better understanding of vocal technique by conductors actually makes it easier to achieve a natural musical ensemble of course. Nevertheless, that's not a quality you will hear and see in all choral directors in England.

 

GB: No. At many of the places we visited there were ragged entrances, just from the fact that the culture here is not to breathe for the choir. In first year conducting at Westminster Choir College, if you couldn't breathe and bring the choir in on the downbeat, you got an F. That was the first thing to do. Of course, that was with the choir right in front of you. In a divided chancel without eye contact it's harder.

 

PR: But even in that situation it still works the same way though. The whole point is one should be able to bring in the choir without doing much at all with the hand. Just breathe and come in. I have to say I've not really seen much of what goes on in the States. By and large in England we're all feeling our way as to how to deliver technical teaching. Here at the Academy I do virtually all the technical teaching. Of course there are masterclasses which can be very valuable for the practicalities of how to rehearse. Stephen Cleobury did a fine class with the BBC Singers (organized by the BBC) a couple of days ago. Stephen was wonderful in saying, "What does the choir need to look at--how do we look at it--do we need to do that once more--or do you think the singers will get it right the next time anyway?"--pragmatic things rather than matters of gestural technique. James O'Donnell is also wonderful, very economical indeed. Getting people who are really expert in teaching gestural command that will always get the result, either the first time or at least the second time, is not so easy. One of the members of staff here, Jeremy Summerly (director of the Oxford Camerata), has one of the most vestigial gestural techniques I've ever seen. It's extremely small, yet, coupled with what goes on with the face and diaphragm it's totally explicit, very relaxed, very vocal, very disciplined.

 

GB: That's the way I was taught.

 

PR: Exactly--it's all done on the breath. And then you can control the horizontal melodic line at the same time as the vertical pulse. And that's essential in the polyphonic music which is the heart of the English tradition. Polyphony seems to be one area where I'm conscious of a cultural difference between the Americans and the Brits. There seems to be a different way of analyzing the score. I find that American students find it very difficult to absorb polyphonic scores, to see the wood from the trees. All the entrances are marked, they try to give every single entrance. So, of course, the gestural preparation tends to be too late. Other problems then follow on: how do I indicate the character of the lead? If many leads, which one should I give? Do I mouth each one? But the English tradition is based on the conductor presuming that his singers (even youngsters) already have an informed understanding of the polyphonic concept. People like James O'Donnell and David are very good at that: leading the singers through and trusting the singers to do it.

 

That leads on to another essential characteristic of the English tradition. There's a really different mind-set between chorus-mastering and choral conducting when you've actually got an instrument that already has a built-in intellectual and physical motor. You don't have to do much actually to call that forth, you've got to do other things. That can be very difficult for inexperienced students when they're presented with musical singers. At Academy auditions many candidates come in and just don't know what to do. They've been used to drumming the music into their choirs and so haven't actually started to think about the essence of interpretation. Questions of appropriate tempo, elegant articulation, verbal color and intensity--very often there has been no background in these considerations at all. Fortunately now we have singers in the Academy who are already expert choralists (many of them already working professionally), so my conducting students can experience the truth of "What they see is what you get"! I place much more emphasis on actually showing what you want and not just rehearsing what you want. The initiative needs be taken by the choral director, rather than the old English way of simply listening to the choir's performance and then making a reactive comment. Even though I only have two students a year here, I think there is a growing feeling in England that choral direction is something which can and should be taught and that naturally gifted young directors still need to learn. Of course, you can't instill talent if there's no talent in the first place, but you can help refine it and hone it with technical training. There's not been a sea-change yet in attitudes towards the choral director's training in England, but things are definitely starting to change.

 

GB: Super! This has been great! Would you chat about the deputy system in London?

 

PR: Yes, all the main London choirs with the exception of the BBC Singers are part-time or are to a greater or lesser extent ad hoc, even though conductors are always going to use their favorite singers. If, for example, you are a lay clerk at Westminster Abbey or Westminster Cathedral the job is permanent, but not full-time, even though actually it is well-paid pro rata. Even in St. Paul's or Westminster Abbey the singers will either need to do solo work or they will do consort work outside. You'll find them working with all the concert groups you've heard on CDs and others as well. The only full-time professional choir working 9 to 5, 5 days a week, is the BBC Singers (24 singers). The London singer needs to have the liberty to take on freelance work, even if he or she has got a base in the church. The work of choirs like The Monteverdi Choir, The Sixteen, The Gabrieli Consort, even the Tallis Scholars, is part-time work, paid pro rata by appearance and by rehearsal session. The only way that you can staff that sort of thing, since you're working around people's diaries, is by working with a pool. The deputy system in London is essentially this pool of professional singers whom you need to ring up to fill the balance. This happens with all choirs, particularly the church choirs since they are at the bottom of the heap because their rates are the lowest.

 

Nevertheless, it's surprising how many singers make great efforts to keep their contact with the church even though the rate of pay is less attractive than working with other choirs. If one of my singers is on a 3-week tour with the Monteverdi Choir or The Sixteen, then I won't see them at the Oratory and they will need to send in an approved deputy; but when they get back it's like the return of the Prodigal Son--personal relationships are very strong, and many of them go back to student days or even further. Most choral directors will have their own list of approved "deps" from which the regular singer must provide a deputy. And many of the "deps" are familiar members of the choir "family". Here's my own current list for the Oratory and you'll see I've also made additional private comments [We were shown the list.]--it's my most important tool as a choral director. If I'm away I may need to get a deputy for myself. And there are deputy organists and directors. And I have an orchestral fixer (contractor) for when we have an orchestral mass (generally 3 times a year).

 

BB: You do get vacation from your position at the Oratory?

 

PR: Theoretically, yes! We sing 52 Sundays a year. There is no actual designated holiday period at the Oratory within the year. I'm entitled to 28 days holiday a year including four Sundays.

 

BB: Do you take it?

 

PR: Just about. I don't always take my Sundays off as holidays, actually. Some of them have been when I'm in Leipzig doing my exchange work, because I have to go there once a year to teach.

 

GB: What are the fees for the singers?

 

PR: The Oratory is near the top, it appears, but it's not right at the very top. For a typical Sunday morning at the moment we pay £45, a typical Sunday afternoon £38.

 

GB: Even with all that outside processing around you did last Sunday afternoon? (laughter)

 

PR: They got £45 for that. Weddings go up to £62. The rates are higher for other major liturgical celebrations, especially over Holy Week, when we do the full Latin schedule consisting of Tenebrae on Wednesday night, Mass of the Lord's Supper on Thursday night, Tenebrae on Friday morning, Afternoon Liturgy on Friday afternoon, Tenebrae on Saturday morning, Easter Vigil on Saturday night, Sunday morning Solemn Mass, and Sunday afternoon Solemn Vespers. Those are very long services. I have to say, actually, I think the program at the Oratory is bigger than anywhere else. Generally, the quality of the music is such that the choristers are prepared to do that. Also they like the fact that the liturgy itself is enduring.

 

GB: Good word!

 

PR: It's not "here today and gone tomorrow." Whatever they may think about it theologically, I think many singers find the service to be very traditional, pastoral, cultic, and essentially eternal. It's a sort of musical and cultural bedrock for them.

 

GB: There was no trouble after Vatican II with the music at the Oratory?

 

PR: Actually the Oratory Fathers always wanted to keep it as pre-Vatican II as they can.

 

BB: That's wonderful!

 

GB: Great!

 

PR: I'm interested you take that view.

 

GB: With the altar on the back wall?

 

PR: Oh, they wouldn't move the altar! Interestingly, in scholarship and re-reading the original Vatican documents, you find this idea of westward-facing celebration is actually not in the original conciliar documents. It was something that was produced much later. The Oratory Fathers have never gone along with that. While they are absolutely loyal to the authority of the Pope in the modern Catholic Church, they're deeply traditional, very retentive, very consistent, quite insulated and deliberately so.

 

GB: That can be a good or bad problem.

 

PR: Well, it can make some problems for me. For example, the approach to music from the modern era is extremely cautious, but the positive aspect is that I am never asked to do anything that is less than a five-star masterpiece. I can do all the Victoria, Palestrina, Gabrieli I want, and the bigger the better. I'm not being asked to do John Rutter-- perhaps I should complain? (laughter)

 

BB: We enjoyed hearing the Latin Mass.

 

PR: Well, what I really value (and so the singers) is that I'm dealing with something that is central to the European tradition, above all at Easter. I think that the Easter services at the Oratory are the finest representation of the classic Latin liturgy you'll find anywhere in the world wherever it's available in the new rite. It's not the Tridentine rite. It's the new rite in Latin, which is actually the normative form of the new rite, though many American bishops, and even some English bishops, don't admit that. At Westminster Cathedral at 10:30 every morning there is a Latin mass. The only mass the Cathedral choir sings which is in Latin from beginning to end is Saturday morning.

 

BB: Martin Baker invited us to come on Saturday.

 

PR: You're probably going to that and then going to the boys rehearsal afterwards. That's the way my students normally dip their toes into that system.

 

GB: Right, this has been great. Thank you so much for visiting with us. We're late for the Mozart Requiem rehearsal.

 

Prior to our interview that day, Patrick gave us a tour of the Royal Academy of Music, where we also had lunch in the dining hall. Following our interview we sat in on a rehearsal with the Academy Choir and Period Instrument Orchestra as they prepared for a concert the following day of the Mozart Requiem (edition--Robert Levin) conducted by Sir Roger Norrington. Patrick had been a kind and gracious host to us for several days, and we were most appreciative of the opportunity to get a first hand peek from an insider's perspective of both the Oratory and the Royal Academy.

Gordon and Barbara Betenbaugh

Gordon and Barbara Betenbaugh are organists/choirmasters at First Presbyterian Church in Lynchburg, Virginia. They also direct Cantate, the Children's Choir of Central Virginia, and Mrs. Betenbaugh is chapel organist and assistant choral director at Virginia Episcopal School in Lynchburg. Last summer they completed a 13-week sabbatical in the UK, visiting Cambridge, Oxford, London, and Salisbury. See previous articles from their sabbatical: "London Chats #1: Michael McCarthy," October 2003, p. 18; "John Tavener's The Veil of the Temple," November 2003, p. 17; "Cambridge Chats #1: Timothy Byram-Wigfield," December 2003, pp. 16-19; and "London Chats #2: Patrick Russill," February 2004, pp. 20-22.

We met with Sarah MacDonald on June 5, 2003, during exam week, in the lovely garden near the chapel of Selwyn College. On the previous day we had attended a rehearsal of the Selwyn choir and Evensong at the college. Sarah is the first woman in the history of any of the Oxbridge college chapels to hold the position of director of music. She greeted us by giving us publications issued by Cambridge University that included a prospectus and other materials given to all potential students. We learned a great deal from Sarah about the system of the Cambridge colleges. Sarah is a friendly young woman with an ever-present smile and bubbly personality.

Sarah was appointed Director of Music in Chapel at Selwyn in January of 1999. She is Canadian, and studied piano, organ and choral conducting at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto before coming to Cambridge as Organ Scholar of Robinson College. She has taught organ and conducting at the Eton Choral Courses, teaches for the University Music Faculty, and is a winner of the Royal College of Organists' Limpus Prize for organ performance.

GB: Thank you for these materials.

SM: You're welcome! This should give you some information on the 17 colleges out of 23 undergraduate colleges that do offer choral scholarships. It certainly should give you an idea about the range of activities of the various choirs. Of course, they are all made out to sound like every choir is fantastic. You can judge that for yourself! (laughter)

BB: How long have you been here?

SM: I've been at Selwyn for four and a half years. I was here in Cambridge at Robinson College as an undergraduate from 1992 until 1995.

GB: As an organ scholar?

SM: Yes.

GB: Did they have a director of music?

SM: No, I was it—just my kind of organ scholarship!

GB: Let me quiz you about the organ scholarships. How are the lessons worked out for the organ scholars?

SM: Most colleges pay for them completely or subsidize the lessons up to a certain point. The amount you can claim depends on which college you're at. They study with a variety of teachers, including David Sanger, Anne Page and Nicholas Kynaston. Most of the organ teachers come up to Cambridge three times a term. Or one could go down to London for lessons if one preferred.

GB: So, basically they are just coaches, then.

SM: Yes, in a sense they are. Most organ scholars only have three lessons a term. That's really all they have time for. The terms are really short (only eight weeks long). That is actually almost a lesson every two weeks. It does come as a bit of a shock to some of them, because they come from schools where they've had lessons every week throughout the year. David Sanger, who teaches most of them, is very much a kind of Conservatoire coach. He's interested in hearing something once, maybe twice if you're going to play it in a big competition or something. I was really fortunate because I'd done this in piano performance in Toronto. I'd had that kind of teaching for three years already, and I understood it completely.

GB: Where is home base for him?

SM: He lives in the Lake District in a converted chapel which is absolutely stunning.

 

BB: We love the Lake District! It's so beautiful.

SM: Occasionally he will invite students up to spend a couple of days and have a couple of lessons. The nave of the old chapel is his living room, and the organ is in there. It's fabulous! It's not easy to get to—you have to take about three trains and three buses. Then he has to pick you up. It's just amazing once you get there!

BB: Tell us about your new organ here at Selwyn.

SM: Oh, it's going to be excellent! It will be a 3-manual with 30 stops, made by Orgues Létourneau. I knew their organs from Canada although they haven't built very many here. There's one in Pembroke College Oxford and one in the Tower of London. We went down and played the London one, and spoke with the organist who told us two things that really sold us on it—first of all it was the finest organ he'd ever accompanied on. The other thing was that it had been in for a year at that point, and they hadn't had a single technical fault with it. For a new organ that's very impressive.

GB: I knew Létourneau when he was working for Casavant, and I put in a new organ in Nebraska. Of course I know of his instruments around the country like the big installation at First Presbyterian in Greensboro, North Carolina.

SM: I've seen that one advertised.

GB: So he will have large-scaled principals here?

SM: Yes.

BB: When's it due?

SM: It comes in July of 2004 and will be installed over the summer. We'll then sort of "play it in" through Michaelmas term of 2004. We're having it dedicated in January of 2005 by Naji Hakim.

GB: Are you going to have French reeds?

SM: Yes, absolutely, French Canadian reeds! They will have Cavaillé-Coll shallots.

BB: How did you end up studying in Canada?

SM: I am Canadian, grew up there and studied there first of all.

GB: Is that when you studied with John Tuttle?

SM: Yes, that's right.

GB: You studied piano first?

SM: The organ was only ever for fun. I primarily wanted to be a conductor anyway, so I knew I would have to learn to play the organ and decided to do that. I do take my playing very seriously, however. I got the top prize for organ playing in my associateship exam for the Royal College of Organists, but I have not yet had the courage to attempt the fellowship. It costs £300 to take it so I can't afford to fail it! Only a very small proportion of candidates pass it the first time. The keyboard tests in particular are notorious. I think I'll wait until the new organ is installed, when I will really want to practice for it.

BB: Tell us about the instrument you have in your chapel at the moment.

SM: It was built in 1994 by a local Cambridgeshire company. It's actually the same builder as the organ in St. Catharine's College for which Peter LeHuray was the consultant. The St. Catharine's instrument is really quite good, especially following its recent cleaning and revoicing by Flentrop. Ours at Selwyn is not a successful organ though, and has a sad history. There's a place in the world for mediocre parish church organs, but a Cambridge College Chapel with a musical tradition is not one of them. We have an organ repair budget of £10,000 a year. Last year was the point at which we knew we would have to do something. You can imagine how excited the College was about the idea of replacing an organ that was only eight years old. They were fantastic about it, but they were not happy.

GB: That's happened in the States with several builders. At least you're going to have pistons!

SM: Yes, we need them really.

BB: It's good that the College is supportive.

SM: Selwyn has one of the most prestigious traditions of the 20th century, and the college knows it needs to be preserved. There's a long list of important 20th-century church musicians who were organ and choral scholars here including Richard Marlow (Trinity College), Sir David Lumsden, John Harper, Grayston (Bill) Ives, Andrew Lawrence King, Percy Young, Frederick Rimmer. Of the past five organ scholars who've come through here, not a single one of them is playing anymore because they found the experience of three years as organ scholar here so disheartening having to play this instrument. Something had to be done.

BB: Do you play the last hymn and the postlude all the time?

SM: No, only about once a term. I do very little playing, but I do play at an Anglo-Catholic church where I am assistant in my spare time. Because it's exam term the external pressure on the choir is at a maximum. Evensong has to be a fun experience, because the exam pressure is horrendous here. Everything is 100% finals. Your entire degree is based upon these three weeks now. They write five or six essays every week all throughout their 3-year degree, and they don't count for anything. That's one of the reasons that this is a good time for the senior organ scholar to conduct. He's a wonderful player, but not an experienced conductor. The music is easy, and finals are mostly finished now. It's just the 6 or 7 first years who have exams right now that are going to be away. The whole atmosphere is more relaxed, but normally the organ scholars don't conduct unless I'm away. I think it's a bit odd that in England the way the tradition works is that they teach you to play the organ. You play the organ and play the organ and then suddenly get thrown in front of a choir, never having had a conducting lesson in your life. They expect you to know what to do. I think that's a bit unfair, actually. Once or twice a term, I let the organ scholars conduct while I'm there, so that we can actually have a chat right afterwards.

GB: None of the schools here teach basic conducting?

SM: There are a couple of new conducting programs at some of the London Conservatoires. There's a new program at the Royal Academy which started up two years ago which is a Master's in Church Music and Choral Conducting. Again, there are only four or five students per year, and they are teaching you professional choral conducting. The difficulty is that they will become accustomed to working with former Oxbridge choral scholars that sing like a recording whether you can beat time or not. Then you get thrown in front of a choral society or parish choir, and you can't even bring them in.

GB: Right. It's different in the States. In the better colleges much emphasis is put on conducting. You are the first woman in 700 years at an Oxbridge College. Tell us about that.

SM: It is a very male-dominated tradition. I'm now chairing the annual meetings after the choral scholarship trials. It is me and this table full of gentlemen. It's fine actually. In fact, an interesting statistic which I just heard the other day concerns The University Church (Great St. Mary's) which is just now advertising for a director of music.

GB: Yes, we saw that.

SM: They have 17 applicants—not a single woman.

BB: I wanted to ask you if other women had applied for positions and not been accepted or if they just didn't apply.

SM: No, they just don't apply.

GB: Do they think they can't break through?

SM: Yes, there's this mythology that women can't train boys' voices, which isn't true. The feeling is that we haven't gone through what boys do at the age of 12, so we can't possibly know what to do with them before they go through it.

GB: Are there any female organ scholars in Cambridge?

SM: A few, actually! There are girls at Sidney Sussex, Emmanuel, Magdalene, Corpus Christi, and Christ's Colleges this year.

GB: There's a woman who's a sub-organist at one of the cathedrals.

SM: There are three or four women sub-organists, and there are also several women in number one spots in major parish churches, where they are training men and boys choirs perfectly well.

BB: Have you had any problems?

SM: I've had no problems at all. I'd like to think it's because I know what I'm doing and not because I'm female. I've had an easy time of it. I expect that's from a kind of "short list" point of view.

GB: Do you think it will be another 50 years before there are females in the top cathedral positions?

SM: As a matter of fact, there are two women in number one cathedral positions already: one is Judy Martin, a former Selwyn organ scholar, who has recently gone to St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, and the other is Arundel Roman Catholic Cathedral in Sussex, where both the "master" of the music, and also the assistant organist are women. I am not sure how long it will take before one of the traditional cathedrals with a medieval choir school will appoint a woman to the top job.

BB: There are the girls choirs now.

SM: One of the main problems with the girls choirs is that they are creating jobs for women, but they shouldn't be. Why is it that a man can conduct a men and boys choir, but a woman has to be appointed to the position of "Assistant Organist and Director of the Girls Choir." I hope it will not become another unbreakable tradition that if you are a woman you must conduct only a girls choir. It's still discrimination.

Part of the problem is that the real training is still being given too much to the boys only, first as cathedral or collegiate choristers, and then at the traditional all-boys private schools which carry on teaching the choral tradition. The girls choirs are still too new for the effects to be felt at university. I've got three or four ex-collegiate/cathedral boy choristers in the choir. When they arrive at university, the men know the repertoire already. The girls are the weak sight readers, and do not know the mixed choral repertoire. The men know all the organ accompaniments by the time they're 18. They come up here, they do three years and they walk into those jobs because they're already qualified.

GB: Right. I've been very impressed with 18- and 19-year-olds handling huge instruments like at King's, the "accompanying machine." There are very few 18-year-olds in the United States that could handle a big instrument like that with complete mastery and artistry.

BB: I think Trinity College must be the silver slipper. It appears that way to us just from the two or three days we were there.

SM: Yes, anywhere with that kind of tradition and that kind of money to uphold it is nice.

GB: What plans do you have for touring with your choir?

SM: We're going to Finland and Estonia in September, and then we will do a brief tour to Scotland next summer, because we're hoping to go to New Zealand (if we can find the money) in 2005. Bishop Selwyn was the first bishop of New Zealand, and we've still never been there.

BB: If you ever come stateside call us, and we'll work something out.

GB: It would be nice to have you. Does the college underwrite the tours?

SM: They subsidize them. Selwyn choir is not well known. International Record Review two years ago reviewed one of our recent CDs and said that we would easily give any of our better-known neighbors a run for their money. Reviewers can say that, but still when it comes down to it, no one has heard of Selwyn, so we can't charge a big fee.

BB: Maybe that will change.

SM: I would hope so, but I don't expect it to change in the next year or two. Domestic invitations are starting to come in now which is great. Two weeks from now we're going to Birmingham, (not terribly exotic, but the invitation is lovely) to St. Augustine's Church in Edgbaston which is the only parish church for which Howells wrote canticles, and they're on our CD. In March we went to Canterbury and sang the premier of a new work by Jonathan Dove. That was really fantastic. Those things are starting to come in, and I can now actually get expenses paid when we're in the country. However, no one's invited us anywhere more exciting than Canterbury or Birmingham at this point. Choir members have to contribute their own money, which is unfortunate. It's well subsidized, though. They're getting ten days in Finland and Estonia for £150 which is a lot cheaper than they could do if they were actually going on holiday.

GB: That's a good deal!

BB: So, do any of these students have jobs outside of the college?

SM: They're not allowed to. It's against University regulations. You cannot have a job while you're a student. You obviously can when you're home in the summer, but not during term.

GB: We were just punting yesterday, and our punter was a student. I guess his exams are over.

SM: Yes. It's very, very intense academically. That's why I have to be really careful about balancing. My choir does really well academically, and that's important from the college's point of view. I don't want it to appear that choir is "getting in the way" of their studies. Also, there's a great deal of pressure from the media firstly, and the government secondly, to open up Cambridge and Oxford. We're trying desperately hard. In this country only about 40% of the population actually goes to university. They are desperately trying to increase that, but there's no tradition of it. In the UK education system, I think it's 7% of school-age children in the population are in private schools (i.e., schools for which they pay fees); 93% are in state-funded public schools. Cambridge and Oxford, which are government funded universities, are still struggling to get 50% of students from state-funded schools, which obviously is not representative given the percentage of children who attend state-funded schools. One of the areas that have had to deal with that over the past ten years is the choral tradition because we can't let people in now just because they can sing (i.e., they probably went to a private choir school and then a private high school where the choral tradition is still taught). If they can sing, good, great, but they need to be absolutely top class academically as well. They've got to fight evenly against everyone else. If you've got two people, both of whom are equal academically, and one of them can sing, great—in comes the singer. If you've got one who's reasonably good who can sing and one who's brilliant academically who's tone deaf, the tone deaf one comes. We have to do that, and we've all had to learn to deal with it.

GB: Your system is so different than in America. How do beginning harmony, theory, counterpoint, dictation and sight singing work with your system here?

SM: All of that gets taught in the first year. They have weekly one-on-one tuition in harmony and counterpoint. At the end of the year for their exam they have to do a 4-part fugal exposition on a given subject, and they have to complete a piece of 3-part Palestrina where one part is given throughout. There's no keyboard aid—it's all pencil on paper.

GB: So, they're taught harmony and counterpoint at the same time?

SM: Yes, and both are examined at the end of the year in three-hour exams. The harmony exam consists of three questions, and they have to answer two of them. One of them is the harmonization of a sort of "Schubertesque" song, and they have to write the piano part. The other is completion of a string quartet. They will be given four bars of the string quartet which they have to complete to a specified rubric (e.g., "write a further 24 bars with a modulation to the dominant at the half-way point"). The other question is to write up to six variations on a ground bass, either for a keyboard instrument or for strings. Aural training is extremely difficult here, because 20 or 25 of approximately 60 undergraduate musicians in each year have perfect pitch. Coming up with an exam that all of them can take is hard work. For the dictation questions, there are two things rather loosely termed "melodies." They are given the first note and 6 to 8 bars, and they get to hear it twice. These are really horrible—they are designed to test the people with perfect pitch. Then there are four rhythms that they have to memorize which are usually shorter, about four bars. Again, they hear them twice, but they can't write until after the second playing.

GB: It's different in the States.

SM: It's quite a clever trick, actually. You really learn to record and play back in your head. It's a skill that all of us have, but they have to learn to use it. They also have to complete a piece of 3-part keyboard counterpoint dictation, like a Baroque 3-part invention. They are given one part all the way through, and have to take the other part down. They hear that a total of four times. Then they have something called orchestral timbres. They are given a piano reduction of an orchestral score, and they then hear the orchestral version played three times. They then have to fill in boxes and say "that was a Cor Anglais or that was a viola with a mute on playing really high." They have to score up eight bars of it towards the end.

GB: That's all first year?

SM: Yes, it's all one three-hour exam.

GB: So orchestration is first year as are harmony and counterpoint?

SM: Yes. Then they have aural analysis. They hear a four- or five-minute piece of music. On this year's exam it was a piece of Couperin's keyboard music. They hear it three times, and the question is to write an account of the movement. The people who don't necessarily write things very well can just say "this happens or that happens." The kids who are really good actually write proper Schenkerian analysis for something they've heard three times and haven't got a score for. That's quite a big one. There's a mistake-spotting test. They are given a score that has mistakes in pitch and duration. They get played the correct version, and then they have to circle and correct the mistakes. Some of those are easy, and some are not. They have a keyboard exam as well in which they have to transpose a chorale, realize a figured bass, score a string quartet, score a Palestrina piece in C clefs and harmonize a melody.

The other written exams include analysis, in which there are two unseen works plus a set work which is a quick study. They'll find out what that is a couple of weeks before the exams. They would be asked to write three analysis essays in the exam, at least one of which must be on the set work. There are also two history papers (we call courses "papers"), the exams for which are also usually three essays to be written in three hours. The first one is the 19th century, and the other is 20th century. During the second year they choose from a selection of topics. This year's options include a Bach course, a course on Handel in London, one on Paris opera in the 19th century, and that sort of thing. They also have to submit a portfolio of tonal compositions. They have a set number of styles they can write in (sonata form or theme and variations or a collection of three songs or a ritornello) and they also must submit a three- or four-voice fugue. They study fugue all the way through the second year. The tripos1 is in the process of changing, and the major change is that the only compulsory paper (I think we are the only remaining university in the world for this paper) is a four-hour fugue exam. Every undergraduate, by the end of their third year, can sit down and write a fugue without a piano in four hours. It's not nearly as difficult as one thinks. I will ever be grateful that I did it. Now it's my favorite course to supervise. I teach about 15 fugue students, and I love it. I especially enjoy the ones who at the beginning of their third year say, "You must be kidding." By the end if they actually work well through the year, it's not a terrifying exam. They've actually learned how to deal with large-scale form, small-scale harmonic movements, etc., and writing good four-part counterpoint. I don't know what will happen next year, because it's not mandatory. They will have a choice. They will either have to write a 10,000-word dissertation on some scholarly topic of their choice which would be submitted obviously, or they can do the fugue paper. There's still a little bit of academic rigor left, but my guess is that 70% or 80% of them will go for the dissertation, which is a shame, because there are a lot of people who actually end up enjoying fugue who would never choose to do it at the beginning of the year.

GB: For the fugue course, for instance, would you use a textbook?

SM: Nothing is textbook-based in this university.

GB: That's what I thought.

SM: By midway through their second year for their history papers, they are reading journals. It's much more research-based. What I do in fugue, with the students who are reasonably comfortable keyboard players, or who at least have played some pieces, they simply have to write for me a complete fugue every week. We'll have a half-hour or 45-minute session on it every week, just the two of us. With those who struggle a bit, I'll do small amounts, say have them write four expositions, and I'll dictate. I'll have them write one using semiquavers modulating from E-flat to B-flat or whatever or write one in three parts using triplet quavers. I'll dictate a little bit, but I'll do that for the first term, and then I'll insist that they write a complete fugue all the way through. Writing a sequence, using the circle of fifths, bearing in mind that they've learned all of the basics of suspensions, etc. during the first year, they can learn that in about two afternoons, even the weak ones. You need them to consider how they are going to use this little bit of material in the whole thing. Occasionally, you'll get them to practice writing endings of fugues. Can you work your way up to a Neapolitan sixth chord? Anyone can write a Neapolitan sixth chord, but it's getting there and escaping from it that's tricky.

In the third year they all study a major set work, usually a choice of one of six big operas, Boris Godunov was one of them and Così fan tutte. There would be a choice of four other papers on various history topics. There's an in-depth editing and notation paper which this year was on Frescobaldi, so one would be dealing with a lot of nasty tempo relationships and that sort of thing. There would be various other random history papers depending on what research any of the lecturers are doing. One of this year's choices is "Music, Politics and Theology in the English Reformation." That would've been a fun paper to take. They can also write a dissertation if they want, 10,000 words on the topic of their choice. There's also the option to take a performance, which many of them do, but it's only one option, only in the third year. Two-thirds of them will do a 23-minute recital in which there's a set work that you have to perform. They also have to write a 3,000-word essay on the performance reception and history of any of the pieces in your program, which is a little bit nebulous, but there has to be something academic since it's not a performing degree. I did it actually, and my essay was on a piece of Bach on the organ. I did a study of all of the published editions of the piece I played. I went down to the National Sound Archive and listened to loads of recording of it and looked up every reference to it in every book ever written about Bach. You can actually come up with an essay, but it's not easy.

GB: Most of our degrees in the States are performance degrees.

SM: Yes, exactly. You can do that at a Conservatory. There's a gap between the Conservatory and the University. Lots of students graduate from here with a degree and then go on and do a Master's at the Royal Academy. There's some fabulous playing and some fabulous singing that gets done here, but there's even better playing and singing at the Conservatories in the undergraduate programs, because the ones who are really top quality performers will often just go there first.

GB: All of this exam talk is exhausting. I know why the students are looking like they are now. (laughter)

SM: Exactly, and that's just in music. The worst one I think is the English course. They don't do exams at the end of the first year, because there's too much to learn. They only take exams at the end of the second year. The first morning of the exam week they get up and write an exam called 900-1100. Then they get up the next morning, and it's 1100-1300, then 1300-1500, etc. Eight days in a row they will write an exam covering two hundred years of English literature. Then they have to take a second language paper as well and something called literary criticism, analysis of unseen texts.

GB: This is all much more difficult than in the States.

SM: I think it's more difficult here than in most places. Certainly the music course is twice as rigorous as anything I've ever seen in North America. In fact, there was a mathematician visiting a week ago who came in for dinner with someone he knows. He had been looking at the first years' math papers. Bearing in mind that Newton was a mathematician at Cambridge, and Stephen Hawking is here, I think it's allowed to be a difficult course. He was looking at the first year math exam, and he said to me that he had had a Ph.D. in mathematics for 20 years, and he thought he could probably get through about 25% of that exam. I'm sure that he is a top scholar in the specific area, but here it is a huge amount of material our students have to get through in a short amount of time. It's not just that they do everything in no detail. They do things in great detail, but they do an awful lot of stuff in a lot of detail. It's really intense, and that's why they get so stressed at this time of the year, because they have to show what they know now.

BB: That's hard, because they don't get graded at any time until the end. What about people that don't test well?

SM: Women always do worse than men. It's very definitely a man who would've thought of it, because it wouldn't occur to a man that it might not be a good day for a woman to write an exam. Many women do extremely well, but in general the overall performances show that the men do better. The other thing is that more men get in. There are three colleges that admit only women, and there's still a 65/35% gender imbalance across the university, even including those three colleges.

GB: Magdalene was the last college to accept women?

SM: Yes, in 1991.

GB: What was the first year?

SM: In 1972 or 1973 there was a wave of 3 or 4 colleges that accepted women. There was a big bunch in 1976 which included Selwyn. The rest of them jumped on board over the next few years, and Magdalene went in 1991.

GB: Well, we've covered a lot of academic ground.

BB: Thank you for explaining all this. We didn't understand all that we knew about the system in Cambridge. Most Americans don't understand the system here at all.

SM: Unless you've come up through it, you don't realize. You can't do anything resembling a liberal arts degree. If you come up here to read for the Music tripos, then you read for the Music tripos full stop. You can go and attend lectures in any of the other subjects if you want to, but you won't be examined on them, and no one will know. Nobody has time to do that anyway. Some people will finish Part I in a particular course, and then change. The sad ones are those who do Part I in a course they love and then panic and do Part II in Law when they realize that History or English or whatever isn't going to give them a job. That does happen, but it's usually only 3 or 4 students per course in each year that would actually change.

GB: The Oxbridge Colleges are still the only places that give an MA three years after the Bachelor's?

SM: Yes, absolutely.

GB: Free of any advanced study?

SM: Yes.

BB: This would then be different from an MA from the Royal Academy?

SM: That's right. You can do a Master's degree here as well—it's called an M.Phil. It's a one-year postgraduate research degree, and then you do your doctorate. Anyone who knows if your degree says MA Cantab (the abbreviation for the Latin form of Cambridge) they know perfectly you haven't worked for it. The other thing is that the undergraduate degree is really heavily research-based and a ridiculous amount of work. I didn't feel in the least guilty about accepting an MA, because I knew that I did so much intense research for my BA.

GB: I've heard that there were discussions about phasing that out.

SM: I don't know. It's fighting against 700 years of tradition. I would be surprised if they phase it out, especially because if you have a degree from Cambridge people know if it says M.Phil that you worked for it. If it says MA, then it just means that you did your undergraduate degree at Cambridge. If I go back to North America and say that I have an MA, they all assume that I've done a three-year research degree, which in a sense I have. It just comes with the undergraduate one.

GB: What is the total for room, board and tuition for a year?

SM: Tuition for a home student (a UK or EU student are the same) with parents that make money is £1,125 per year for any university in the UK. It's subsidized, you see. Tuition fees only came in three years ago. Before that it was free. You can imagine how painful that was. When I was here as an undergraduate tuition was free, and they still received maintenance checks from the government to go to university. That was their desperate attempt to increase the number of people at university. The maintenance checks were means-tested, so if you had wealthy parents you didn't get one. Fees and loans for home students are now means-tested instead, and grants are no longer available.  There is a huge debate in Parliament right now though about raising university tuition fees significantly (to £3000 a year minimum), and some universities, including Cambridge, are fighting for the right to set their own level of fees, rather than having it set by the government as it is now. In terms of living costs, 95% of undergraduates live in college residence, which keeps costs down. Rent in Selwyn, for example, is actually quite low. The rooms are small, because it was originally formed as a college for priests and for children of poor clergy. It doesn't have any of the big sumptuous rooms that some of the wealthy medieval colleges have. Depending on the size of the room they would be paying between £450 and £600 per term (there are three terms a year), which is quite low actually compared to some of the colleges. They also have to pay something called a kitchen fixed charge, which is about £100 a term. This keeps the prices for meals in hall really low, so they can get a full 3- or 4-course meal served in the formal hall three times a week for only £4, and daily lunch can be bought for as little as about £2.

Fees for overseas students, however, are exorbitant. For a science course, which music is classed as because a lot of the teaching is one-on-one, the tuition when I came ten years ago was £9,750 a year. Then I had to find accommodations on top of that. They expect you to have about £15,000 or £20,000 a year, which is fine except if you're paying it in Canadian dollars worth next to nothing.

GB: What kind of stipend do the organ and choral scholars get?

SM: The choral scholarship, as you will see in the materials, is £100 a year plus singing lessons. The organ scholarship is £300 a year plus organ lessons. There is an agreement across the whole university such that every choral scholar, no matter which college they're at, gets paid £100, and every organ scholar gets paid £300. An instrumental award is £75. It does depend on what college you are as to how much is paid for lessons. Selwyn is quite generous, because we had a nice alumnus about 25 years ago who endowed a music fund. The choral scholars claim up to £300 a year or up to £450 for lessons if they're studying music. This actually isn't bad—you can have a lot of lessons for that kind of money. We do get lots of inquiries from North Americans who think that choral scholarship is an equivalent football scholarship (i.e., is actually substantial financially), but it isn't.

GB: Are they big on early fingering here in Cambridge?

SM: Some of them are, yes. Then the musicians among us will think about the early fingering and how it affects articulation, and then do the articulation with normal fingering! (laughter)

GB: That's what I do—it's easier than refingering everything.

SM: Yes.

GB: What one hears is the main thing.

SM: If you're on your way to King's there's a mass there on Thursdays. It's not Evensong.

GB: Yes, they are doing the Howells Collegium Regale. We have heard the Kodály Missa Brevis twice. I don't know what their rotation schedule is. I haven't figured it out.

SM: My guess is that it's probably not particularly methodical. You can't count anything as being in your repertoire until the third term, because a third of the choir is new at the beginning every academic year.

GB: It's been a joy to hear all the Howells settings, particularly. They are our favorites.

SM: You should get our CD in that case!

GB: Yes, we'll pick one up from the porter.

BB: Thank you for giving us your hour and sharing your knowledge.

SM: Certainly. This has been fun.

Author's note: We left Sarah with promises to meet in cyberspace soon.

by Marcia Van Oyen

"English concert organist John Scott is recognized not only as one of his country's finest organists and musical leaders, but also as one of the most gifted of his generation of concert organists in the performance world today." So begins John Scott's biographical sketch in his management's brochure. Scott's stellar career includes serving as Director of Music at St. Paul's Cathedral and (formerly) Professor of Organ at the Royal Academy of Music, many tours and recordings with the St. Paul's choir and as organ soloist, and a dizzying array of other appearances and awards. In addition to an already demanding schedule, this year he served as a judge at the Dallas International Organ Competition, arranged an exchange with the choir of St. Thomas Church New York City in June, and is performing the complete works of Bach at St. Paul's in twenty-five recitals.

 

On his most recent recital tour to the United States, John Scott visited Glenview Community Church in Glenview, Illinois to play the inaugural recital for a concert series featuring the new Buzard pipe organ and to give a masterclass, "Accompanying the English Anthem." During the visit, he demonstrated a genuine love of his work and approached his tasks with the carefully-paced energy of a veteran performer. He is a most delightful person--confident but soft-spoken, business-like yet very polite, sincere and possessed of a slightly mischievous sense of humor. Following his electrifying recital performance, Scott was asked if constantly being praised for his work becomes commonplace. He responded simply with a smile, "I don't get tired of hearing compliments."

During one of our conversations, Scott began to reminisce about a childhood experience with organ music. That recollection became the stepping stone for a formal interview, an exchange during which he shared some of the details of his experience as a musician in a great English cathedral and how he got there.

 

MVO: During lunch on Saturday, you mentioned a recording that made a great impression on you when you were young--G.D. Cunningham playing the Bach D-minor Toccata and Fugue at Birmingham Town Hall. Was that one of your earliest experiences hearing organ music?

JS: Yes, I'm sure it was. It was a scratchy old 78 record that we had at home. When I was growing up the 78's were already out of fashion, but we had an old player at home that I was fascinated by--the wind-up sort of gramophone. I discovered this recording of G.D Cunningham and I was amazed that there could be such music. I had never heard anything like it. It was something entirely new to me and I couldn't stop listening to it. I think I wore the record out in the end.

 

MVO: How old were you at the time?

JS: I must have been about eight.

 

MVO: Were you already a chorister by then?

 JS: Yes, I became a chorister when I was seven. I had heard organ music, of course, but it was at about the same time that I discovered this recording.

 

MVO: At that time, you were singing in the choir at Wakefield?

JS: Yes. It was what we call a parish church cathedral--a church that had become a cathedral in the late nineteenth century. We had a very good choir of men and boys. All the boys were educated at the local grammar school where we had choral scholarships to help pay for our education. From an early age, I was exposed to a wide variety of good music.

 

MVO: When did you begin playing the organ?

JS: When I finished singing in the choir, I had already been learning the organ for a couple of years--first with Percy Saunders, who very much put me on the right lines and then with the new organist, Jonathan Bielby. He was a great influence on my playing. I studied with him from the age of fourteen to eighteen. He did more than anybody else to develop my technique and my stylistic awareness. He was a very fastidious and demanding teacher, and also a great inspiration. He had been organ scholar himself at St. John's College Cambridge under George Guest. It was he who encouraged me to go for that particular scholarship. I went to Cambridge at the age of eighteen and studied for two music degrees, leaving at the age of 21.

 

MVO: What were you studying in your lessons with Jonathan Bielby? Repertoire or accompaniment?

JS: A mixture of both. To begin with, the main emphasis was on accompanying. I was in the extraordinary situation of finishing in the choir one week, and the following Sunday I was drafted in to play for the services. I guess my organ playing had become suitably proficient. I went literally from being in the choir one week to accompanying it the next week. After a period of some months, during which I was being tried out, it became a regular process. I was eventually appointed assistant organist at the cathedral. I can remember that first Sunday because we sang an anthem by Basil Harwood called "O How Glorious Is the Kingdom," which has quite a difficult organ part. I dread to think now what it sounded like, but I must have been able to cope with it.

 

MVO: In the United States, organ study tends to be very repertoire-based, although the vast majority of organists are going to play in churches and need to accompany, not be solely concert artists. I have the impression that your training had an emphasis on accompanying.

JS: That's right. I was a pupil-assistant to Jonathan Bielby. His main job was to direct the choir; I would do most of the service playing. That meant it was in his interest for the success of the choir that the accompaniment be really well-rehearsed and moulded. We spent a lot of time in my lessons working on the cathedral music. That's not to say that we didn't do repertoire. I remember doing a lot of pieces during the four years that I studied with him. When I went to Cambridge, although I was expected to play for services and accompany the choir on a daily basis, I didn't have any specific instruction in that. My music degree was purely academic. I was working on harmony, counterpoint, history, orchestration--that sort of thing. For the first two years, my studies included no practical part whatsoever other than keyboard harmony. Only in my third year was the practical part significant. During that year I had to play a half-hour recital, but it only counted for ten percent of my final marks. During this time at Cambridge, I began studying with Gillian Weir. It was a profound and remarkable experience to study with someone of her eminence and inspirational quality. But it was very much left up to me whether I wanted to study with anybody and indeed, who that person should be. It wasn't a requirement for my university course at all. The same at Oxford. You could be an organ scholar for three years and never have an organ lesson. It's crazy.

 

MVO: That's incredible! Is that the way it is today?

JS: I'm not sure. I think things must have changed quite a bit since I was there. I think the whole syllabus is not quite so academically based. Practical musicianship has rather more emphasis now. It does seem strange, looking back.

 

MVO: Based on your experience as a cathedral musician, if you could design the curriculum, what would it include for those aspiring to do what you do?

JS: When I was at St. John's Cambridge, my main duties as Organ Scholar were accompanying and conducting when George Guest was away. As I say, there was no formal training as such, you were thrown into it in a way, and you either sank or you swam. With that in mind, it would be sensible for people who want to focus on church music to have courses in choral direction, service accompaniment, realization of orchestral scores on the organ, and of course guidance in repertoire.

You have to realize the distinction between the English university system and the conservatoire system. If you go to university, you would expect to take a music degree in which the greatest emphasis is on academic study, whereas in a conservatoire it's the other way around. You're basically being trained to be a practical musician, though a certain amount of theoretical study is necessary, of course. I chose consciously to go to university rather than conservatoire because I wanted the broader base that that experience could offer--the chance to meet with people from other disciplines and backgrounds. I found that to be more attractive.

Looking back again, in my first week at St. John's--I was overwhelmed by having this world-famous choir to accompany--I had the scary experience of playing for evensong on the first day of term with basically a new choir and Dr. Guest conducting. On the next day and the day after, he was away and I found myself standing in front of a choir, something I'd never done in my life. Nobody had told me what to do, I just simply had to get on with it. To some degree it's a very English mentality--a very dilettante approach. You make of it what you can and learn by your mistakes. If you're trying to conduct a choir and nobody can follow what you're doing, you have to refine your technique so they can. Of course, I had watched other people conduct. That's the great learning process--observing other people who are  experts. You take a lot of that with you. To this day, I've never had a conducting lesson in my life. It may seem very strange indeed, yet that's the way one functions. And I have the privilege of working with a fully professional choir and many times in the year with professional orchestras.

 

MVO: Would you say that your experience is fairly typical? Do you have other colleagues who have been similarly plunged into service?

JS: Yes, I think it is pretty typical. A lot of people do come through the cathedral tradition so they're immersed in it. They know the repertoire. Many of my colleagues who are cathedral organists were cathedral choristers. A lot of them have been to university and had very good organ tuition. The other practical skills are acquired rather than instilled. That has its own merits. In this day and age, we're much more concerned with building courses and curricula based on what people wish to do later. All of these things are being examined. In London at the Royal Academy of Music there's a church music course that's been running for ten years which does give people these basic skills which are required for the profession. It's by no means unique now, though it was unique at the time. There are many other establishments which are providing church music degrees which encompass not only the historical background but practical skills and knowledge as well.

 

MVO: Tell me about your transition from St. John's to St. Paul's.

JS: After four years in Cambridge, I went straight to St. Paul's. I moved to London. I had never lived in London and I was very excited by that prospect. London seemed to be the right place to go. I was invited to take the place of third organist at St. Paul's and assistant organist at Southwark Cathedral, just over the river. Southwark is the cathedral for the diocese of south London, only about a mile away from St. Paul's.  So I was number two at Southwark and number three at St. Paul's, basically playing three days of the week in each Cathedral, usually at Southwark on Sunday. That was a great experience. I did that for seven years--running back and forth over London Bridge. It was a great learning experience, I must say, being involved on the one hand with the professional choir at St. Paul's and the volunteer choir at Southwark cathedral. However two very different liturgical bases as well. St. Paul's at that stage represented all that was very "correct and proper," if that's the right expression--a very traditional form of Anglicanism, whereas Southwark was a more progressive and, dare one say, slightly livelier style of worship.

 

MVO: Were you working under Christopher Dearnley at St. Paul's when you began?

JS: I was working both with Christopher Dearnley and with Barry Rose who at that stage was in charge of the choir. Looking back, I did most of my accompanying for Barry because I tended to play on the days when Christopher was not there. I worked closely with Barry and learned a great deal. He's a phenomenal and inspirational choir trainer. That was a terrific experience at a time when the St. Paul's choir had made a great impact under Barry's leadership through recordings, developing a more public profile than they had previously had.

 

MVO: At that time Christopher Dearnley was mainly playing the organ?

JS: He was really. He was the Director of Music, having the overall say in the music program, but after the organ was rebuilt in 1973-1977, he very much wanted to concentrate on playing the organ, to develop its role in the life of the cathedral and beyond. He concentrated on playing the organ for the services and Barry did most of the choir work. I was gradually brought into that. After a while, I took the choir for one day a week.

 

MVO: So you moved more into Barry Rose's position eventually?

JS: For a year, Christopher took the choir again when Barry left. There's a very nice recording from that time on the Decca label, with Christopher conducting and me accompanying. After about a year, he wished to go back to playing the organ rather more. I think that's where he felt the most comfortable. I was keen to have the opportunity to take the choir on a more regular basis. Although I was sub-organist I found myself directing the choir more and more. I gradually stepped into that position.

 

MVO: Being in a high-profile position, you're probably under scrutiny a lot of the time. How do you handle that?

JS: To be honest, I don't worry about it too much now. I used to worry about it rather more. You're right, it's a bit of a goldfish bowl. There's never a day, even in the depths of winter, when there are fewer than a hundred people at evensong. You're always conscious that the daily choral office is something that is very visible. Certainly, in the summer months, many more people attend. In July we have visitors from all over the world when we do the orchestral masses. It is a very visible position in that sense. One struggles to maintain standards, but I'm very fortunate in the support and set-up that I have from my assistants, my colleagues and from the choir. We all strive to do the best. In recent years we've reached a pretty consistent standard which is there from day to day. Obviously, every choir has its off days, but they seem to be less frequent than they were when I first started doing the choir work. I'm more established in the position. I don't feel so much the weight of what went on before. I've been there long enough, made recordings and feel more comfortable about what I'm doing in the job.  Of course, I'm always concerned to see who's there from day to day and if they're people I recognize. There might be a day when you suddenly see George Guest or David Willcocks sitting in the congregation! If you worried about that too much, you wouldn't be able to get anything done. Just put your head down and get on with it.

 

MVO: Do you find the pressure to be a motivating force?

JS: Undoubtedly. The moment you began to relax, to rest on your laurels, is the moment to move on to something else. Every day has its challenge. There's no such thing as a routine week at St. Paul's. There's always something extra. Whether that's ceremonial services, memorial services or whatever, there's never a chance to settle back into a routine. A daily sung evensong is a challenge in itself because for the most part, you pick up the music with the boys first thing in the morning. You've got an hour in which to mould it in the morning, and half an hour with them in the afternoon before the men arrive. The men rehearse at 4:30 with the service at 5:00. As a full choir, we've really only got about twenty-five minutes to practice forty minutes of music. It's a lot to do. There isn't the oppportunity to work much more than a day at a time. On Monday, I try to look at some of the mass for Sunday, but generally we're living from day to day. There's a lot of pressure in that, just to get things done. We have to work quickly, efficiently, and professionally.

 

MVO: What is the rehearsal schedule?

JS: We rehearse every day except Thursday morning. The choristers are educated in the choir school, which is directly behind the cathedral. They're all boarders--they live there during the term. I see them from 7:50-8:50 every morning except Thursday, which is our day off.  Evensong is sung by the men on Thursday, and the boys sing evensong on Monday. Otherwise, it's full choir on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and three services on Sunday. That's nine choral services each week on a regular basis.

 

MVO: What do you enjoy the most about your work?

JS: Many things, really. I'm very fortunate being based where I am, having this wonderful building in which to work. It's always an amazing experience just to go into St. Paul's. Every morning I go in and think "wow." It's a building that completely overwhelms you. The sound of music in the building is very special as well. With nine seconds of reverberation, it's a unique acoustical environment in which to work. I'm very fortunate with the choir that I have--30 boys and 18 men--fully professional singers. It's a very dramatic and exciting group of singers with which to work. Of course, the organ  itself is tremendously thrilling. It's a fine instrument in every sense. The Willis part of the organ has great quality and refinement. The part built by Mander in 1973-77 added other dimensions that fit the building very well, further developing the potential of the instrument in a way unforeseen previously. It's a very exciting, versatile instrument. This year I'm playing all the organ works of Bach in twenty-five recitals on Sundays and I'm just amazed at how well it copes with that repertoire. It's been remarkably successful. Obviously, one has to register things in a very judicious manner, but many people have been amazed at how well it does work.

 

MVO: During your masterclass on  Saturday, I noticed that while you were playing you had a smile on your face. It seemed obvious that you simply love that music and love what you do. What is it all about for you? 

JS: It's very hard to define! I couldn't put my hand on my heart and say that I like this piece of music more than any other. I enjoy all the different styles of music that we sing. It's basically the English cathedral repertoire, of course, and a lot of eighteenth and nineteenth century music. But in the time that I've been responsible for the choir, I've moved the repertoire backwards quite a lot to encompass more polyphony and early music, music which I very much enjoy. The versatility of the group that I have is very great indeed. The men are not particularly challenged by anything you put in front of them as far as notes are concerned. They can basically read anything! There is little need for note-bashing. It's so much been a part of my musical life to be involved with this particular sort of music--Psalms, hymns, canticles, anthems--it's hard to imagine life without it, really. I've often considered whether at some stage in my life I'd like to be a free-lance organist. I'm not sure. That would have its compensations in many ways because I'm really not playing the organ so much at St. Paul's. But I can't imagine life without pieces like the Balfour Gardiner "Evening Hymn" or the Byrd Great Service. I enjoy them so much. Each time I come back to them I try and find something new and keep myself fresh in that way. I don't feel that I'm remotely tired of this music yet. I hope that in ten years time I can still say that. It's the sort of music that does really inspire me still.

 

MVO: What keeps that musical tradition alive? It's very easy for traditions to become frozen. 

JS: Yes, I know what you mean. Traditions can become fossilized. I think the tradition is continuously being enriched by music from other sources.    The fact is that we're discovering ne repertoire all the time. More and more music is being printed, most notably early music by some very good publishers in England who specialize entirely in Renaissance polyphony--pieces which have not been available before outside of collected editions. The market is being flooded by good quality material. On the other hand, as far as I'm concerned, it's wonderful to encourage our best contemporary composers to write for the church. I'm glad to say that the Dean and Chapter support this endeavor. Part of our annual music budget is given over to commissions. For the millenium, we've pushed the boat out a bit. We had a big service on January 2nd which was televised nationally, attended by the Queen and the Government. We commissioned a setting of "Jubilate" from Sir Peter Maxwell Davies for choir, organ and brass. It was a good commission and will work well on its own with organ accompaniment, so we can do it liturgically. We commissioned some brass fanfares from another of our most eminent composers Sir Harrison Birtwistle. They were stunningly well conceived for the building with four different groups of brass playing around the building. It was really fantastic. Later this year, in July, we'll be doing a premiere of a work that we've commissioned from Luciano Berio, the great Italian composer. Our commissions in the past have been from English composers. I felt it was a time to bring in somebody else, so we commissioned Berio who seems keen to write for us. This is an important part of our life at St. Paul's--the church in its traditional role as patron of the arts must be seen to be lively and energetic. Over the years, we've commissioned pieces from John Tavener, Jonathan Harvey, Francis Grier, and William Mathias, among others. Most years we've had a commissioned piece. I've been very pleased and proud of that tradition.

 

MVO: You seem to view that as a responsibility.

JS: I do. It's all to do with keeping the tradition alive. On the one hand, I like to think that what we're doing is very much in the monastic spirit, as the monks of yesteryear. Our daily office of Evensong has evolved from that tradition. But it has to be renewed of course. We have to be always pushing the boundaries either forwards or, indeed, backwards. That's vital.

 

by Kay McAfee

Kay McAfee is professor of organ and music history at Henderson State University, Arkadelphia, Arkansas, and she serves there as organist for First United Methodist Church.

Twenty-four people traveled to the south and middle of England for the British Organ Music seminar, directed by Christina Harmon, the week of June 24, 2001. The great cathedrals of Winchester, Gloucester, and Liverpool formed part of the itinerary with guide John Norman, formerly of the Hill, Norman, and Beard firm, and now a consultant in Great Britain. Mr. Norman provided brochures and valuable commentary on each instrument prior to arriving at each destination. John Norman studied acoustics under Dr. R.W.B. Stephens at Imperial College, London, and organ under H.A. Roberts. At Hill, Norman, and Beard he learned voicing from Robert Lamb and tonal finishing from Mark Fairhead, working on seven cathedral organs before leaving the firm in 1974. An accredited professional organ consultant and a founding member of the Association of Independent Organ Advisers, Norman is a member of the Cathedrals Fabric Commission for England, of the Organs Committee of the Council for the Care of Churches, and the London Diocesan Advisory Committee for the Care of Churches. He is the author of The Organs of Britain, founder and editor of The Organbuilder, and has been a regular columnist for the Organists' Review for over twenty years.

 

Winchester

Traveling through the beautiful British countryside by bus, the first stop was Winchester, the ancient Roman city whose cathedral boasts the longest nave in Europe. Restored by King Alfred after the Dark Ages, two of the city's original gates are found around the perimeter of the 11th-century cathedral. The church sits in a sea of grass, and its massive thick-walled Roman-esque transepts and Gothic nave and apse protect the tombs of the early English kings. Jane Austen's tomb lies in the north aisle. Music historians are aware of the role played in the creative additions to ninth-century plainsong by the church in the preservation of the Winchester Troper, a manuscript which today is kept at Cambridge. The beautiful Winchester Bible, an illuminated manuscript, is preserved here. The twelve men of the choir, conducted by assistant organist Sarah Baldock, re-hearsed service music of Morales, Taverner, and Robert Stone pieces for the approaching Evensong service. Then, assistant organist Philip Scriven discussed the Henry Willis organ which was built for the Crystal Palace exhibition in 1851. Purchased at the urging of then-organist Samuel Sebastian Wesley, rebuilds and additions were made routinely by Willis, Heil & Co., and Harrison.

Most recently (1987), a division for the nave was added to create better support for congregational singing, a widespread practice in large English churches whose organ chambers were placed predominately on either side of the choir. Scriven demonstrated the Great Trumpet and Grand Cornet, reeds of the Pedal to 32', ringing 8' (two) and 4' Tubas on the Solo, Nave Trumpet, Great 16', 8', and 4' Trumpets, and the Swell reeds. The strings of the Swell (16', 8', 4') are particularly beautiful. Two Open Diapasons grace each of the four manual divisions, with a third on the Great. Scriven showed how any four of them sound lovely in playing the solo line of Bach's Orgelbüchlein setting of "Ich ruf zu dir." The Claribel Flute of the Great is like a harmonic flute. Participants observed the distinctly effective British practice of using a series of graduated pistons to produce crescendo and diminuendo. Participants played Elgar, Bridge, Wesley, Hollins, Handel, and Bach.

Bath Abbey

At Bath Abbey, organist and master of choristers Peter King explained the 1997 Klais organ, a rebuild of an 1868 William Hill/1895 Norman and Beard/

1914 Hill organ which sits in the north transept of the church. Few churches in England retain the organ atop the choir screen as is the situation at Westminster Abbey, Exeter, Gloucester, and King's College Chapel, and in many others, the screen has disappeared altogether. Since the late nineteenth century, the prevailing ideal has been to create an unobstructed view to the altar from the west door entrance, and many choir screens have been removed.

King told of the history of the 19th-century English Renaissance in church music and the symphonic organ required for the music of Stanford, Parry, and Elgar. Klais retained about half the pipes from the old organ and preserved the Hill, Norman, and Beard Positive division. Some of the 1895/

1914 tonal changes were reversed to revive the Hill sound ideal. The 1914 Thomas Jackson case was preserved. King played Bruhns, Mozart, Saint-Saëns, Ireland, and the Bach/Reger Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue.

Bristol

In Bristol at Saint Mary Redcliffe, a church constructed over a period of 200 years by merchants of the city, the entrance is through the north door of the porch, which dates from the 14th century. Only a fragment of the original medieval stained glass remains, the rest having been destroyed in the Reformation.

In 1726, the firm of Harris and Byfield built an organ which featured one of the country's first pedalboards with an octave permanently coupled to the Great. The present instrument by Harrison (1911) is considered one of the finest examples of that firm's work and of the Edwardian ideal. It fills three chambers on either side of the choir. Rebuilt in 1990 with few additions other than the upperwork and the console, the organ comprises 71 stops on four manuals. The tonal palette features a Double Open Wood 32' and Open Wood 16' of the Pedal, Corno di Bassetto of the Choir, and Cor Anglais, Orchestral Oboe, and Vox Humana (normally of the Solo division) and a complement of 16', two 8', and 4' reeds on the Swell. The Great Harmonics mixture includes a flat 21st which was peculiar to Arthur Harrison's design. Organist Anthony Pinell played a Ropartz Prelude, a Howells Psalm Prelude, and Fugue on the name Alain by Duruflé. He then assisted participants who played Honegger, Taverner, Howells, and Elgar on this lovely instrument.

Gloucester

Gloucester Cathedral, containing the tomb of King Edward II, was the site of a small Anglo-Saxon monastery until the 11th century, when it became a Benedictine monastery. The present building, ordered by William the Conqueror, dates from 1089. In 1541, the church became the cathedral for Gloucester. The massive Norman pillars of the nave bear red marks from a 13th-century fire. The choir vault is 14th-century perpendicular Gothic style. King Henry II was crowned there as a boy of 9 in 1216, the only monarch ever to be crowned outside of London.

Evensong canticles, Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis, were by Herbert Murrill, with responses by Walsh. The anthem was Herbert Howells' "Like As The Hart." David Briggs, organist of Gloucester Cathedral, improvised the opening voluntary and later chatted about the organ. It is one of a few remaining atop the choir screen and has a long history of adaptations. It has been over the screen since 1715. The 1640 Robert Dallum chair case on the east side of the screen is all that remains of that organ. Thomas Harris built an instrument in 1665 which contained the earliest mixture stop in Britain--200 pipes of that organ remain today. In 1831, J.C. Bishop added pedal pipes, among them a Flute 16' which is possibly the widest scale Pedal Open in Britain. Father Willis contributed to the organ in 1847 and 1888 as did Harrison and Harrison in 1920. Hill, Norman, and Beard restored the organ and electrified the console in 1971 to create one of the most rapid key-responses of any organ anywhere. With the 2000 restoration by the firm of Nicholson, the organ today can be described as neo-Baroque. Briggs mentioned that most English cathedral organs are rebuilt every 20 years or so "in the fashion" of the day. Henry Willis added a pedalboard. The last rebuild made it a Romantic instrument. Harrison & Harrison changed the voicing but kept all of the pipes. The organ has a grand, rolling sound. Briggs demonstrated the seven stops which remain of the Harris organ of 1665: Great Diapasons (one facing east, one west), two 4' Principals, 12th and 15th, and Choir 4' Principal. Briggs described the foundations as "throwing down to the 16'," perhaps because there are many high cut-ups and not much nicking of the pipes. There are nine seconds of reverberation in the nave when it is empty. Briggs played the Symphonie Passion of Dupré, Fantasie and Fugue in G Minor of Bach, and a long, multi-movement improvisation of symphonic scope based upon a hymn tune. One of his generation's most gifted at improvisation, Briggs then delighted his hearers by improvising in the style of other dazzling exponents of this art: Hakim, Latry, Cochereau, Lefebvre.

Hereford

Traveling through the rich Wye valley with its beautiful truck farms and fruit orchards, we arrived at Hereford, the last cathedral town before the Welsh border. The Romanesque cathedral church contains a late-19th-century Henry Willis built at a time when the firm was copying the tonal design of Cavaillé-Coll.

Of 4 manuals and 67 stops, the 1933 Willis rebuild features a console with couplers on tablets which are below the music rack (a copy of the American design). The pedal contains a 32' Double Open Bass, the Great a Double Open Diapason 16' and three 8' Diapasons, and the Swell a Contra Gamba 16'; the powerful reeds are on high wind pressure, and the wide-scale flues have "stringy" tops. With painted pipes which are often described as looking like "rolls of linoleum," the organ is not much altered from the Willis original. John Norman's firm electrified the console in 1978, the rebuild of which was funded by a local cider maker. Peter Dyke, assistant organist and acting principal organist, spoke of former organists John Bull and S.S. Wesley. He then played Purcell, Wesley's "Air and Gavotte," and the theme and two variations of the Brahms/Rogg Variations on a Theme of Haydn.

Every year, the prestigious Three Choirs Festival is held here with performers located at the west entrance and facing the audience which is seated facing the west entrance. Dyke called our attention to an organ which sits on a wheeled platform in the south aisle. For ease of the organist's sightline, the organ is wheeled to the next bay when the festival conductor's position moves eastward as the choral and accompanying ensemble personnel change.

Birmingham

The group then arrived at Birmingham's Symphony Hall which is part of an arts complex built in the late 1980s. The German firm of Klais was installing a large instrument in this beautiful facility. The interior is surely a sister-hall to the Meyerson in Dallas, so alike are the two. At the time the building was constructed, Simon Rattle was artistic director and conductor of Birmingham's famously fine orchestra, and a poster outside the hall featured a large photo of Rattle with two organ pipes, the feet of which extend sideways from his mouth. Wide-eyed, he appealed for donations for the organ. The Klais firm won the contract in 1989. The group enjoyed taking lunch with Philipp Klais, grandson of the firm's founder and a gracious, personable man of great enthusiasm. He considers his firm's "invasion" of England for restoration and new-instrument contracts a great honor. As participants settled into the audience seats of the concert hall, Klais recalled that many "firsts" were achieved by the British: the Swell Box, the modern bellows system, over-blowing flutes, and double-mouthed pipes. As his crew worked behind him, Klais explained that the organ for the Birmingham Hall would be of four manuals and 82 stops with inauguration scheduled for October, 2001. Thomas Trotter and the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra presented three concerts on Friday and Saturday, October 19 and 20. Only the façade was built for the opening of the facility some 11 years ago. Two consoles, one of tracker and the other of electric action, are provided, allowing one of them to be placed within the orchestra. Klais mentioned that he had visited the Meyerson Center in Dallas to study the acoustical properties there. His firm has recently installed a symphony hall instrument in Singapore and will construct another in Madison, Wisconsin.

Lichfield

Next, at Lichfield Cathedral, which sits in a lovely close surrounded by old and new buildings, Andrew Lumsden, organist and master of choristers, talked of the education and appointment of organists for large English churches. Rarely is the number 2 or number 3 organist elevated through the ranks, an exception being John Scott at St. Paul's London. Lumsden was educated at Saint John's College and was number 2 at Westminster Abbey for a time. The duties of Master of Choristers used to include the teaching of Latin and Greek. The choir schools, and the advent of girls' choirs, are enormously expensive.

The original instrument before the present Hill organ of 1884 was on the choir screen and was purchased by Josiah Spode of the pottery-making family. The Hill instrument was placed on the north transept and the pipes of that organ survive into the current one, a 4-manual instrument placed on either side of the choir. A Baroque choir organ was added in 1973-74 and a recently completed 4-million pound refurbishment by Harrison added the nave organ. The Great reeds are on a separate chest under high wind pressure, and there is a wonderful Edwardian Tuba and massive pedal reeds. Lumsden played the Bach "Liebster Jesu" with choir Cornet and Great Open Diapason, Widor Symphonie V "Adagio" with foundations and strings, and Guilmant's March on a Theme of Handel.

Liverpool

The great industrial city of Liverpool was the last stop before returning to London. Ian Tracey, organist for both Saint George's Hall and the Cathedral, treated us to a well-articulated history of both structures and their instruments. Saint George's Hall is a magnificent civic monument to nineteenth-century British pride and opulence. Built in the 1840s for music festivals, the interior was copied after the Baths of Caracalla in Rome and even displays Roman military insignia on its guilded interior doors. A magnificent marble floor is now covered by wood but is revealed on special occasions, increasing the considerable reverberation by two seconds.

S.S. Wesley directed the building of the Henry Willis organ in 1855. Willis was barely 30 at the time and this organ established his reputation. The instrument featured 100 stops, the first radiating concave pedalboard, stop jambs angled towards the player, and thumb pistons. Rebuilds occurred in 1897 and 1931. The organ was dismantled after a bomb damaged the building in 1940. Many pipes were stolen, and in 1957 Henry Willis IV reconstructed the organ. Since 1989 it has been cared for by the David Wells company, with a campaign now on to further restore the organ. Today it has 120 stops, including two percussions. It still retains a classical English Great Mixture and wide scaled Diapasons.

About 200 people will attend organ recitals at any given time. At Christmas, some 1700 people congregate to enjoy dinner parties and carol singing. At other times, Tracey continues the tradition of playing the 1812 Overture while the audience provides the bell and cannon effects. In the 19th century, W.T. Best, notable for his orchestral transcriptions, would play concerts for school children and for adults, who were charged but a farthing to hear the organ. Once, a woman dressed in black appeared in Best's peripheral vision while he played a Spohr overture. He shooed her away. It was Queen Victoria. George Thalben-Ball was organist here for a time. Tracey played a Purcell March to feature the Tuba Mirabilis and double-leathered Diapason, Thalben-Ball's Elegy, and the Bossi Scherzo.

Liverpool Cathedral contains the largest organ in England. Like the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., Liverpool Cathedral took most of the twentieth century to construct. Like Saint Paul's in London, the church became a national symbol of British fortitude during WWII as Churchill ordered the work to continue on the tower even as Liverpool endured saturation bombing by the Germans. Begun in 1904 and completed in the 1980s, the enormity of the structure is magnified because the nave is very wide, there is an unobstructed view from entrance to altar (1/8 mile), there are two sets of transepts, and the arches under the tower soar to 175 feet. 4000 people can congregate here, as they did when the Queen consecrated the Cathedral in 1978. Giles Gilbert Scott, 18 years old at the time, won the competition for the design. He also designed the Bank Side Power Station (now the new Tate Gallery) in London and the University Library at Cambridge. Henry Willis designed the instrument to accommodate the organist, Henry Goss-Custard, and his considerable gifts for orchestral sonorities. There are 147 speaking stops, 47 of which are reeds, including those on 30 and 50 inches of wind pressure. There are 10 ranks of mixtures on each manual, mutations, and clarinet, bassoon, and flutes, all of which are much more subtle than those at Saint George's Hall. The huge organ is mounted on both sides of the choir and faces into the nave, held up by massive load-bearing piers that were designed to hold two 200-foot towers which were never built.

Little of the organ is changed today, but in 1989 a new moveable console was provided. Tracey demonstrated the five beautiful Open Diapasons of the Great, played the Tournemire Te Deum, Joel Martinson's Aria, and his own transcription of two movements of the Respighi Pines of Rome. Participants played Karg-Elert, Widor and Mulet.

London: Temple Church

Returning to London, participants were greeted by James Vivian, organist at Temple Church, where George Thalben-Ball was organist for over 60 years.  The present organ, a 1927 Harrison & Harrison, was a gift of Lord Glentanner, in whose Scottish castle ballroom it was originally placed. Moved to the church in 1954, a Double Ophicleide was added. In 1989, Harrison revised the Great Mixture and lowered the Great reeds from 15 to 7 inches of wind pressure. The original instrument, a 1684 instrument of 23 stops, was the first 3-manual organ in England. The Echo division (a forerunner of the Swell) had a short compass to Middle C. This and subsequent instruments and their restorations were destroyed in 1941.

Saint Paul's Cathedral

At Saint Paul's Cathedral, the 5 p.m. Eucharist was sung by the choir, with service music by Harold Darke and Introit by Palestrina (Tu es petra). Andrew Reed, the number 2 organist, played for the service. After the church emptied, Huw Williams, assistant organist, led us to the choir loft to demonstrate the 1872 Father Willis organ. Today it is of 108 stops in three parts: the main organ on either side of the choir, the west entrance Trumpet en Chamade and Diapason chorus, and the Quarter Dome Northeast division of 3 tubas and a Tuba Militaire. Willis had split the original Bernard Smith organ of 1697 (a double-sided instrument located on the choir screen) and moved it to its present location on either side of the choir. The case was designed by the architect of the church, Christopher Wren. Willis claimed first use of tubular pneumatic action in this organ. From 1897 to 1900, Willis expanded the Pedal, the pipes of which lie horizontally on the north side of the choir. From 1925 to 1930 the organ was moved to the Wellington monument bay as it was feared that the dome was unstable. Restored in 1960, 1972, and 1977, windchests and other parts of the organ received major overhauls. The Mander company added Diapasons to the quarter dome division. The Swell is particularly fine, an example of an early Willis classic Swell, not deep in the case, and equal to the Great. Williams played Stanford, Howells, and Bossi to demonstrate the colors and families of stops. The finale was Grand Choeur Dialogué by Gigout in which the Royal Trumpets sounded antiphonally with the main organ.

Afterwards, the group proceeded to Saint Helen Bishopgate, near Saint Paul's, where John Norman was the consultant for a new organ. The original instrument was destroyed by an IRA bomb in the 1980s.

Saint Margaret Lothbury

Saint Margaret Lothbury, a small church nestled next to the Bank of England, was our next stop. We were greeted by Richard Townend, who is resident recitalist at Saint Margaret Lothbury and music director for Holy Trinity Church at Sloane Square. Townend was a choirboy at Westminster Abbey and sang for the funeral of Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1958. He studied at the Royal College of Music with Harold Darke and Herbert Howells, and in Switzerland with Lionel Rogg and Guy Bovet. He is also director of music for the Hill House school, which Prince Charles attended.

Saint Margaret Lothbury was designed by Christopher Wren and built after the great fire of 1666. In danger of collapse, it was rebuilt in the 1970s. An organ of two manuals was placed in the west gallery in 1801 by G.P. England and a Choir division was added in 1845 by James Butler. In 1881 Bryceson moved the whole organ to the gallery and added the treble case from the church of St. Mildred Poultry. In 1938, Hill, Norman and Beard added a large Great Open Diapason and discarded the Great Mixture. The console was electrified and detached from the case. In 1983-84, J.C. Bishop and Son, under the direction of John Budgen and Richard Townend, completely reconstructed the organ, restoring the case to its original form. The remaining stops by England and James Butler have been incorporated in a new instrument built in the style of the original. Both Felix Mendelssohn and S.S. Wesley played here.

In 1830, the organ at St. Margaret Lothbury featured the first addition of the bottom 12 notes of pedals in England. It contains warm Open and quiet Stopped Diapasons. According to Townend, the instrument is a quintessential British organ, of "polite" sound and singing quality, but not built for playing polyphony. The Great 4' Flute "bubbles up." In English music whenever a flute is called for, it means a 4' Flute. There is an "elderly" Trumpet. The classic English chorus is 8' Open Diapason, 4' Principal, Twelfth, Fifteenth, and Mixture. The English Cornet is of 3 ranks: 8', 4', 22/3'. The Swell is soft--the Great louder. Adding the Trumpet to the Cornet gives a "Frenchy Grand Jeu." The Cremona with metal resonators, fatter than the French Cromorne, is for solo melodies.

Westminster Abbey

The group attended Evensong at Westminster Abbey to hear responses by Aylesbury, Magnificat and Nunc dimittis by Howells, and an anthem by Stanford. Afterwards, Stephen LePrevost, assistant organist, spoke briefly of the organ as playing time was limited. The organ is a 1937 rebuild by Harrison & Harrison of a William Hill instrument from 1848 and 1884. The first instrument was by the firm of Schrider & Jordan in 1727. The choir Stopped Flute and 4' Flute are reputedly from the Jordan instrument. The Bombarde division was added by Simon Preston and features the borrowing of reeds from the Great and Solo manuals. Participants played Howells, Tournemire, Handel, and Walton.

Westminster Cathedral

The imposing Roman Cathedral of Westminster, loosely based on the design of St. Mark's in Venice, was built in 1901. Past the nave with its three domes, the group gathered in the choir loft which is behind the high altar. Martin Baker, organist of Westminster Cathedral, explained that it costs around $400,000 per year to maintain the choir school. The sound of the famous choir is more "continental," rather than that of the British "hooty" sound. 95% of the music is in Latin, and the boys actually have trouble singing in English after learning the Italianate Latin vowel sounds. The Apse Organ of two manuals accompanies the choir. The large Willis Grand Organ in the west gallery is playable from the Apse Organ through setting pistons from the Grand Organ, but the two-second delay takes some getting used to.

Walking down the south triforium gallery towards the west gallery, we stopped at a bay close to the Great Organ. Comparable to the Liverpool instrument, it was built by Henry Willis III and rebuilt by Harrison in 1984. It features a Double Diapason 16' and three Open Diapasons on the Great. There is a Double Open Bass 32' and Open Bass and Open Diapason 16' in the Pedal. The Swell and Solo both contain beautiful orchestral reeds: Waldhorn, Cor Anglais, French horn, and Corno di Bassetto. The Cor de nuit celestes on the Choir are velvety and beautiful. In 1976, Stephen Cleobury directed the raising of the Apse Organ and part of the Great Organ to concert pitch. In 1985, David Hill, who began the Grand Organ Festival, had all of the Great Organ raised to concert pitch. Baker improvised on "Adoro te devote," and participants played Stanford, Parry, and Mulet.

London options

On July 1, with several Sunday service choices in London, one group of participants returned to Westminster Cathedral for a Festival Mass in celebration of the centennial anniversary year of the church. Kyrie, Gloria, and Agnus Dei, sung by the choir, were by Widor. The anthem was Parry's "I Was Glad," accompanied by both the Great Organ and the Apse Organ. The congregation sang the rest of the Latin Mass from printed plainsong. The 1700 seats of the nave were full. At Richard Townend's church, Holy Trinity at Sloane Square, an orchestra accompanied a Mozart Mass and a youth choir from Alaska participated.

Afternoon choices included hearing recitals at Saint Paul's (John Scott), Westminster Cathedral (Martin Baker), and Westminster Abbey. Participants practiced for and played a recital at Holy Trinity church at 7:00 p.m. Open to the parishioners and public, the program featured music by Walond, Lang, Howells, Rutter, Thalben-Ball, and Vierne. The interior of the church, an arts-and-crafts-Gothic design, features a breathtaking window above the altar which was the largest window ever built by the William Morris Company. Its beautiful stained-glass images were designed by pre-Raphaelite painter Edward Burne-Jones. J.W. Walker & Sons built an organ here in 1891 which was almost totally destroyed during WWII. It was rebuilt in 1966 by Walker, and Simon Preston inaugurated the instrument in 1967.

The British Organ Music Seminar provides participants access to great instruments and their artist-curators. For those unfamiliar with the vast repertoire of British organ music, especially that of the 19th and early 20th century, playing these works on the instruments for which they were conceived is a revelation. The reverberation of the environment, the velvety Diapasons, the exquisite Swell divisions with their strings and orchestral reeds, and the fire of the British tubas resonates long after the experience is past. The hospitality of our hosts was among the finest. At many venues, the church's staff provided a meal, either in the undercroft, or a parlor, or in a great hall. Such is what creates memories surrounding the experience of beautiful music and instruments.           

Malcolm Wechsler

Malcolm Wechsler was born in Da Bronx, but grew up in Stamford, Connecticut, totally unexposed to the sound of a pipe organ, but"taking" piano with a local private teacher. Entering Oberlin College, not Conservatory, in 1953, he studied piano as a college elective withthe late Emil Danenberg. Finally, attending student recitals, he experiencedthe sound of a pipe organ, and a passion developed that has continued over theyears. He became an organ student of Fenner Douglass in 1955. Wechsler enrolled at Juilliard in 1958 for graduate study in organ and church music, with Vernon deTar as his major teacher. He earned a Master of Science degree in organ and church music in 1963. After years of teaching and of church appointments inCanada and the U.S., he is now North American Representative of Mander Organsof London (since 1987), and Director of Music at Trinity Church, Stamford,Connecticut.

The 2003 national convention of the Organ Historical Society took place June 19-26 in South-Central Pennsylvania. It was a long, sometimes grueling week, but without question, a week of many happy surprises: organs, organ music, and organists. And let me not forget the opportunity to meet old friends, and to make new ones. There is nothing quite like an OHS convention, and I will attempt to report on it accurately and with balance.

Grand opening of the convention, Thursday, June 12

Erik Wm. Suter

Mr. Suter holds degrees from Oberlin and Yale, and is organist and associate choirmaster at Washington National Cathedral. His recital took place at St. Paul the Apostle R. C. Church in Annville, Pennsylvania, a building in which organ music looked to be contraindicated, partly thanks to heavy carpeting widely applied! However, the early 20th-century builders knew about building effectively for bad acoustics, and the 1902 E. W. Lane tracker organ proved a gentle but projecting instrument. The wind was pleasantly relaxed. The console is at the left side, and the instrument was restored by R. J. Brunner & Company in 2002. The program: Placare Christe Servulis (from Le Tombeau de Titelouze), Dupré; Prelude & Fugue in G Minor, Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen, Schmücke dich (on a single, beautiful flute), Brahms. The hymn, Schmücke dich (of course), was wonderfully sung and played. Then, Sonata IV, Mendelssohn; Torah Song, Craig Phillips (a very fine piece, toying with dissonances and clusters in a completely intelligible way); next, from Book 1 of Gospel Preludes by William Bolcom, "Just as I am," and "What a friend we have in Jesus"; the Duruflé Prelude on the Epiphany Introit; Adagio and Final (Symphony VI), Widor. This E. W. Lane instrument of 19 stops really does wonderfully well in this quite dry acoustic, but a genuine Cavaillé-Coll it is not, and a sort of heavier, more sustained, compensatory approach might have better suited the Widor. All that notwithstanding, this was a wonderful recital, and a perfect opening to yet another splendid OHS convention!

First full day, Friday, June 20

Agnes Armstong

Friday, June 20, was the first full day of the convention, and it began with a very fine lecture by Frederick Weiser. The topic was Pennsylvania German Culture, a perfect orientation to so much that we would see and hear throughout the week. Then buses took a long journey to Lititz to hear Agnes Armstrong in the Chapel of the Lindenhall School for Girls, the oldest boarding school for girls in the U.S. She played on a 7-rank, 1904 Hook & Hastings, restored (in 1998) by Patrick Murphy, whose ties to the OHS go back a long way, he having been the first E. Power Biggs Fellow.

Agnes Armstrong plays in two churches on Sunday--one of which, St. John's Lutheran in Altamont, New York, has a new French organ by Cabourdin. She has advanced music degrees from SUNY, the College of St. Rose, and New York University, has concertized a great deal, and her CDs are available through the OHS. As for Lititz, where the next three recitals took place, here is a quote from one of the many websites devoted to the place: "Located in the heart of beautiful Lancaster County, Lititz has an eclectic history dating well beyond its founding by Moravian missionaries in 1756. Situated among the rolling hills, quiet streams and lush farmlands of Pennsylvania Dutch Country . . . ." Other than the fact that the four days of rain had begun by now in earnest, this is a wonderful part of the world, and as the week unfolded, we learned also of its organic treasures, and I don't mean vegetables.

Agnes Armstrong played beautifully and sympathetically on wonderful and gentle sounds: Prelude in D, Vogler; Voluntary on a Moravian Hymn, Abraham Ritter (1792-1860); Largo in A-flat, Elizabeth Stirling (1819-1895); Will o' the Wisp (Scherzo-Toccatina), Gordon Balch Nevin; Postludium, Adolph Friedrich Hesse (1808-1863). The program ended with a hymn, as does every recital at these conventions, a moment to be looked forward to and savored: "We who here together are assembled," the tune, Covenant, by Christian Gregor, the words by Christian Renatus von Zinzendorf. What a lovely beginning to a fine first full day.

Robert Barney, the Chapel of the Single Brothers' House

Robert Barney drew the task of playing this tiny and quite delicate Tannenberg from 1793: four manual stops, no pedal. He did battle with it manfully, it having a very difficult and delicate action to play. The stops are 8' Gedackt, 8' Gamba (with 17 basses common with the Gedackt), 4' (Open) Floet (spelled thus), and a 2' Principal, lower 29 pipes in the façade. It is all very gentle, and in the first piece, Voluntary in G of Purcell, the clattering of the action nearly drowned out the music! Then followed a Pachelbel Choralthema in D Major with eight variations on the tune Alle Menschen müssen sterben. To me, the pleasures of the hymn singing we do at these conventions are greatly enhanced when we can sing in harmony, as we did this day. The tune is Gregor, in honor of Christian Gregor, who wrote the words "My portion is the Lord." The anonymous tune is from the Choral Buch of the Hernnhut Moravian community in Germany. The program offered next Will o' the Wisp of Nevin (Robert announced what we had all guessed, that this piece, not part of his plan at all, slipped into the book in mysterious ways, obviously from Agnes Armstrong's program just before); then Four Voice Fugue on the name B-A-C-H by Johann de Deo Beranek (1813-1875). Barney is organist at Trinity Episcopal Church, Concord, Massachusetts and associate director of the Treble Chorus of New England. He has an active performing and teaching life in the Boston area.

This organ had been built for a Moravian church in Frederick County, Maryland, which, in 1957, decided to set the instrument free. The Lititz Moravian community got it and packed it off to M. P. Möller for repairs and the move. In recent years, James McFarland & Co. have done further restorative repairs.

Ray Brunner, Auditorium of the Linden Hall School for Girls

This was a lecture that was certainly music to my ears--"Pennsylvania German Organ Building, David Tannenberg's Legacy." Any précis of this wonderful non-stop appreciation of such a strong artistic vein in the history of organ building would require reproducing the entire speech. Nothing could be left out. My small knowledge and experience of Tannenberg's work all came from books and articles. Obviously, by the end of this week, that all changed dramatically, and for me, one of the highlights, almost an emotional experience, was hearing and seeing David Tannenberg's very last organ, built in 1804, now safely situated in a small auditorium at the York County Museum. More about that later.

It was not just in this talk that we heard from Ray Brunner. It was also in the beauties of quite a number of organs heard in this convention, organs that his firm, R. J. Brunner & Company, had restored, repaired, and even rescued. [Ruth Brunner, wife of Ray Brunner, and a master organbuilder in her own right, died of cancer at the age of 45, on November 6, 2003. She worked hard planning this convention, and though clearly ill, kept things in order as the convention progressed. She is missed!] Ray and Ruth were a huge part of putting together and maintaining this distinguished convention. At one of our venues, they were both given an award for distinguished service to the OHS, this presented amidst cheers.

James Darling, the Fellowship Hall of the Single Brothers' House

It is now 1:45, and I must mention that we had a beautiful box lunch which would have been eaten out of doors, were not the heavens continuing to open up. James Darling is perhaps known to many who have made the pilgrimage to Colonial Williamsburg, a wonderful place to visit. He is at the center of a lot of musical activity there, particularly in Bruton Parish Church, where he has served for almost 40 years. Here, he was playing a much-traveled single-manual Tannenberg of nine stops, built in 1787. It found its way to the Fellowship Hall of the Single Brothers' House in 1983, restored and reconstructed by James R. McFarland & Co. The organ had suffered mightily from various forms of ill treatment including a fire, and required extensive work. The 20-note pedalboard has two stops of its own, a Sub Bass at 16' and an Open Wood Oktav Bass at 8'.

The program: Allein Gott, settings by Bach and Pachelbel; Fugue & Chorale, Pachelbel; four Preludes by the English Moravian, Christian Latrobe (1758-1836); the event of the day was the hymn, "Morning Star, O cheering sight," to the tune Hagen, by the Rev. F. F. Hagen, with a very young singer from the Lititz congregation as the excellent soloist; two preludes and fugues from the Well-Tempered Clavier, and closing with a Pachelbel Prelude in D.

Bruce Stevens, Salem Lutheran Church, Lebanon, Pennsylvania

At 2:30, we said goodbye to Lititz and traveled about an hour to Lebanon. Bruce Stevens played on a rather amazing organ of 1888, built by the builder who bid lowest in a competition among many, the Miller Organ Company of Lebanon, Pennsylvania. The Organ Handbook gives the names and bids of the six other builders; Miller's bid was $3,300, for which they produced a lot of organ, 31 ranks on three manuals. The Great is founded on an independent 16' Double Open, the bottom four pipes of which are stopped wood, space clearly being an issue. The Pedal also has an independent Double Open, Bourdon 16', and 8' Violoncello. The Great Trumpet is the only commanding manual reed. The Swell has only a Bassoon Oboe at 8' and the Choir has a Clarionet at 8', yet this organ makes a mighty sound, full of excitement. It is also a beautiful visual presence in the room, if a bit unusual in its presentation.

Bruce Stevens is organist of Second Presbyterian Church in downtown Richmond, and is director of the OHS European Tours, this year's heading to Sweden. His degrees are from the University of Richmond and University of Illinois, with further study in Denmark with Finn Viderø and Gretha Krogh, with Anton Heiller in Vienna, and at the Royal School of Church Music, then in Croydon. He has played recitals internationally and at 12 OHS conventions, and his CDs are available from the OHS Catalogue. The program began with the March on a Theme of Handel by Guilmant; Mein junges Leben, Sweelinck; Second Sonata, Mendelssohn; the hymn, "O Christ the Word Incarnate" (so listed in the Supplement, but as "O Word of God Incarnate" in the printed program), in Mendelssohn's harmonization, connecting us back to the Sonata. At this point, wanting to be sure that we had a complete tour of the organ, Bruce showed us the somewhat audible Choir Dulciana and the gentle Swell Viola, knowing that they would be swamped in the registrations of any pieces on the program. Then, Moderato from Tre Tonstykker, Niels Gade; Fugue (Sonata 11), Rheinberger; three Chorale Preludes, Pepping; and to conclude, the Bach Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor. Following this recital, the entire convention was fed sumptuously in one of the great spaces in these spacious buildings.

Lorenz Maycher, the Memorial Chapel of Salem Lutheran Church, Lebanon

We then moved from the original church to what began as a memorial chapel, but is now really the more used of the two buildings. It is larger as well, and sounds different, too. This place is referred to as Salem Lutheran Church (Memorial Chapel). The organ is Ernest Skinner Opus 683 of 1928. Lorenz Maycher is organist-choirmaster at Trinity Episcopal Church, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and teaches at Lafayette College in Easton. He was an OHS Biggs Fellow in 1990, and has played for six OHS conventions. Having relaxed over dinner, I was slow to enter the chapel; as I arrived the Bach C Minor Fantasy and Fugue was beginning. Whatever do my ears hear? I have not heard Bach on this kind of sound for years--a 26-stop organ, 73-note chests on Swell and Choir, thus supercoupled to be sure, fighting its way out of a chamber on one side of the chancel. The playing was the kind of legato that matches all of this. Next a wonderfully orchestral performance of the Handel Concerto in F; the d'Aquin Cuckoo; Dreams, Hugh McAmis; Suite in E Major, Everett Titcomb; Fanfare d'Orgue, Harry Rowe Shelley; the hymn, "Lord Jesus, we humbly pray" to a tune by Ignaz Pleyel; Grand Choeur No. 2, Alfred Hollins; three Songs of Faith and Penitence, by Leo Sowerby (sung dramatically by Linda Laubach, and Maycher's accompaniments were nothing less than superb); then, Impromptu, Gaston Dethier (1875--1958); and lastly, Improvisation on an Irish Air, by Norman Coke-Jephcott, one-time organist at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York.

And here endeth a very long first day of the convention. A one-hour trip brought us back to the hotel for visiting, drinking, and buying music, books, and CDs.

Second full day, Saturday, June 21

Justin Hartz at St. James Presbyterian Church, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania

We began this day with a short bus ride to Mechanicsburg. St. James Presbyterian Church is a large classroom or assembly sort of room, but with something of a raised ceiling, kind of a square dome effect. There is some acoustic to be enjoyed, not a huge amount, and we were hearing an old instrument (mid-19th century) by William H. Davis, a single-manual with a pedal Bourdon and coupler. This much traveled, much troubled instrument was rebuilt and refurbished by R. J. Brunner & Co. in 1989, including a brand new and very handsome case of simple design. Wow! What projection and richness of sound!

Justin Hartz is organist and choir director at Church of the Incarnation, Morrisville, Pennsylvania, and also frequently appears at the Aeolian organ of Longwood Gardens. A graduate of Westminster Choir College, he has a master's from Juilliard, and was a Biggs Fellow. The program: Voluntary No. 29, Andante (from American Church Organ Voluntaries, Cutter and Johnson), the 8' Open having a lovely sound and a fulfilling projection; Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, Buxtehude; Voluntary 25, Moderato, from Ryder's Short Voluntaries; Andante, K. 616, Mozart, a lovely gem of a piece, and the fluty sounds of the organ were divine; the program closed with a rather quick accompaniment to our robust singing of "Praise, my soul, the King of Heaven." This was a fine recital on a worthy little organ, by a fine organist who looked like he was having fun, the fun being happily contagious. Now, back on the buses to warm up a bit, for the short trip to Camp Hill.

Mark Brombaugh, Peace Church, Camp Hill, Pennsylvania

The organ here has a single manual with six stops, built by Conrad Doll in 1805, and lovingly restored by the Noack Organ Company in 1974. It is gentle but it is lovely, and looks down from a balcony in a truly beautiful church built in 1799. Mark Brombaugh holds degrees from Oberlin College, the University of Louisville, and Yale University. He is director of music at United Church on the Green in New Haven, and is a past national secretary of the OHS. The program: Praeludium and Fugue in A Minor (Clavier Übung 1728), Vincent Lübeck, wonderful sounds, so fresh and clean, with playing also so clean and gently driven; Partita on the Aria Jesu du bist allzu schöne, Böhm; Toccata in C, Sweelinck; Fairest Lord Jesus (five variations) by James Woodman (b. 1957), which really worked well on this small organ. All subtleties were made perfectly clear. We were well prepared, and after the fifth variation, we instantly sang, with the middle stanza in glorious harmony, thrilling in this building. Time for a fairly long bus ride to Mount Pleasant Mills, the tedium beguiled a bit by a very nice box lunch on board.

Susan Hegberg, St. Peter's Lutheran & UCC Church, Freeburg, Pennsylvania

This recital recalls the Bible quote, "it maketh the heart glad." Dr. Susan Hegberg holds degrees from St. Olaf College, the University of Michigan, and Northwestern University, and is professor of music and university organist at Susquehanna University. In addition to what turned out to be a splendid recital, we were also about to hear one of those good, old Möllers (really!). Those turn-of-the-century Möller trackers (in this case, 1904), were really lovely to hear and to behold, and this organ was reasonably substantial at 13 stops and two manuals. And, on top of all that happiness, this church greeted us with an unexpected reception, good things to eat and drink, a great kindness. The program: Sonata in D Major, C. P. E. Bach; I want Jesus to walk with me, in a fairly mild jazz setting by Joe Utterback, written for Susan Hegberg in 2002; Variations on Leoni, by Frank Ferko; after the Finale (the sixth variation), we cleverly picked up our cue, and began to sing Leoni. The whole recital was a model: the playing was solid throughout, and the program was interesting to all. Back on the bus, headed for Mount Pleasant Mills, a 30 minute journey.

MaryAnn Crugher Balduf, Botschaft ("Grubb's") Lutheran Church, Mount Pleasant Mills, Pennsylvania

Well, to begin, what's a Botschaft? My Cassell's says it's Tidings, or News, or a Message. I suppose "Tidings" has the most promise as a church name. Improbably enough, Grubb's refers to someone who actually owned the church at one time, but his name was really Kruppe--that is quite a morph. This was a Reformed congregation, but they became quite weak, and in 1934, the Lutherans took over the church, buying the building for $1, which was worth something in those days, but surely not as much as a church. The organ was built circa 1865 by John Marklove of Utica, New York. It was discovered by the Organ Clearing House, and in 1978 James R. McFarland & Co. relocated it and did the work of reconstruction and restoration.

MaryAnn Crugher Balduf is an old OHS hand, having played many a convention recital over the years. She has a reputation for presenting interesting programs on single-manual instruments, and that is what she got this year (7 stops and a pedal Bourdon): Processional, Grayston Ives (b. 1948); Cornet Voluntary in F, John Humphries (1707- 1730?); Entrée (Messe Basse, op. 30), Vierne; Koraal (Suite Modale, op. 43), Flor Peeters, Andante No. 2, Henry Stephen Cutler (1825-1902); Improvisato (op. 37, no. 6), Arthur Bird (1856-1923) [see "The Organ Works of Arthur H. Bird," The Diapason, February, 1995]; Hommage (Twenty Four Pieces for Organ) and American Folk-Hymn Settings for Organ (which incorporated five stanzas of "Amazing Grace"), Jean Langlais. Not on the printed program was the Sortie of Theodore Dubois, an exciting finale to an interesting recital. On the bus to Danville, for a ride of approximately one hour.

Michael Britt, St. Paul's-Emmanuel UMC, Danville, Pennsylvania

Heretofore, on this day, the convention had been divided in two, but before we heard Michael Britt's fine recital, we were all driven to First Baptist Church, reunited with the other half of our convention and fed a fine dinner. It was then just a short ride to St. Paul's-Emmanuel UMC. Michael Britt is native to Baltimore, and graduated from the Peabody Conservatory. He concertizes as both a "classical" and a "theatre" organist, being a frequent performer at the Capitol Theatre in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. His assigned organ this week: a really fine 19-stop A. B. Felgemaker of 1892, Opus 584, a wonderful looking instrument in addition to being distinguished tonally. The program: American Rhapsody, Pietro Yon (this was Yon at his most exploitative, a bag full of American patriotic melodies crowned at the end by the "Star Spangled Banner," assuring a standing ovation every time!); Count Your Blessings, Dan Miller (b. 1954); Hymn Prelude on the tune Bethany (op. 38), Seth Bingham; world premiere of Prelude on Marching to Zion, Wayne Wold (b. 1954), a fine work, clearly from our century, and totally digestible. The composer was in the audience, and was well cheered by all. Of course, we next sang "Marching to Zion," and the entire convention roared full throat--"We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion; we're marching upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God!" It was really something, and it would not have been possible without a rather incredible accompaniment from Michael Britt. What a great concert! For our next venue, no muss, no fuss, no bus, Gus. With a police escort by the entire police force of Danville, all one of them, we walked across the street to Mahoning Presbyterian Church where Bruce Cornely made a bit of OHS history.

Bruce Cornely, Hymn Sing, Mahoning Presbyterian Church, Danville, Pennsylvania

I'm not sure this evening's event was a "first," but certainly I don't remember anything quite like it at an OHS convention. It was a Hymn Sing that really was a SING. We hardly stopped, and I don't think I was alone in enjoying just about every minute of it. The whole evening was created and "executed" by Bruce Cornely. He is a long-time member of OHS and a strong presence on the Pipe Organ lists. He has studied organ with Ronald Rice, William Weaver, Robert Bennett, Robert Jones, and William Barnard, and is organist at First Baptist Church in Gainesville, Florida. The church was packed with our entire convention and many parishioners. We were well supported by Hook & Hastings Opus 1073 of 1882, a quite powerful 22-stop instrument. The Great has a 16' Bourdon, extended from the 8', a three-rank Mixture, and a Trumpet; the eight-stop Swell contains a Cornopean and a Bassoon/Oboe at 8' pitch; the Pedal has a 16' Open Wood, a 16' Bourdon, and an 8' Violoncello. Bruce varied these resources deftly, with registrations that kept us interested through the entire program. The 17-page booklet we were handed as we entered the church was beautifully organized, and cleverly, too. One could hold the booklet under the hymnal, and with the directions, like unison stanza one, etc., written way over to the left of each sheet, it was possible comfortably to read both the directions and the pages of the hymnal.

"Wind who makes all winds that blow," (Aberystwyth)--as an introduction, Bruce played a Chromatic Fugue by Johann Pachelbel; "Bless the Lord, my soul and being" (Rustington); "New songs of celebration render" (Rendez a Dieu), as introduction, No. 29 of 29 Short Preludes by Carl Nielsen; "With joy I heard my friends exclaim" (Gonfalon Royal), as a prelude, excerpts from Communion by Theodore Dubois; "Give praise to the Lord" (Laudate Dominum); "Let the whole creation cry" (Salzburg); "All praise to God for song God gives" (Sacred Song); "Called as partners in Christ's service" (Beecher); "As those of old their first fruits brought" (Forest Green); "The church of Christ in every age" (Wareham); "We all are one in mission" (Woodbird); "In Eden fair" (Aldersgate), with text and tune by Bruce Cornely. Finally, a somewhat solemn moment: another tune and text by Bruce, Laufman, in honor of the late Alan Laufman, for so many years director of the Organ Clearing House, and also editor of the yearly Organ Handbooks. This was good, and was well sung by all. Despite occasional problems in this massive undertaking, I thought it was a really rich and meaningful event, and lots of fun as well.

Third full day, Sunday, June 22

This was a gentle day, beginning with the Annual Meeting of the Organ Historical Society in the hotel at 9 am. From this meeting, one can always learn a great deal about the workings of the Society, and of the great scope of its influence and importance to us and to our chosen instrument. Michael Barone passed the office of president on to Michael Friesen, who will continue the other Michael's always wise and steady shepherding of the organization. I note with pleasure, as I have been able to do in the past, the large number of members interested enough to awaken early to attend the proceedings. Some slipped away at the Holy Hour of 11:00 to attend church in downtown Harrisburg.

Vaughn Watson, Basilica of the Sacred Heart, "Conewago Chapel," Hanover, Pennsylvania

After a good lunch at the hotel, we took a relaxing post-prandial bus ride to the historic "Conewago Chapel," or really, The Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Hanover, Pennsylvania. "Conewago" comes from a settlement near the St. Lawrence River in Canada, and a similarly named creek that runs somewhere near the church. The present, impressive, building was finished in 1787, and was then the largest church yet built in the United States. It is the oldest Catholic church in the U.S. built of stone. Neither the acoustic nor the organ are shy. Looking at the stoplist of this 10-stop Hook & Hastings instrument, Opus 1866 of 1900, one has to ask whence cometh this wall of sound. The Great has four stops, an Open Diapason, possibly the scale of a smoke stack on the Queen Mary, a Viola da Gamba, a Doppelfloete--all these at 8' pitch--and a 4' Octave. The Swell has five stops, a Violin Diapason, a Stop'd Diapason, and a Salicional, all at 8', and a 4' Flute Harmonique. There is an 8' Trumpet, for reasons unspecified, not the original, but a Hook & Hastings replacement. The sole Pedal stop is a large Open Diapason 16'; oh, and there is an intermanual supercoupler!

Vaughan Watson is a graduate of Fordham University, and has studied for a number of years with William Entriken at First Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. Since 1992, he has been director of music at Abiding Presence Lutheran Church in Fort Salonga on Long Island. His program: Prelude (Three Pieces for Organ, op. 29), Gabriel Pierné (1863-1937); Lo, how a Rose and Herzliebster Jesu (Opus 122 Chorale Preludes), Brahms. Looking at the specification, one sees (and hears) the beauty of the five relatively quiet 8' stops, not, of course, counting the Open Diapason in that. This served both Brahms works wonderfully well. Sortie in E-flat, Lefébure-Wély; Prelude, C. S. Lang; the hymn: "Most Sacred Heart of Jesus," a highly sentimental-sounding tune by a Jesuit, just identified as Fr. Maher, S.J.; Nos. 3 and 5, both in D Major, from Six Little Fugues, Handel; from Three Characteristic Pieces of Langlais: 1. Pastoral-Prelude, an absolutely charming work, and the lovely and introspective Interlude, both perfect choices for the organ and the space; lastly, Variations sur un Noël Bourguignon, André Fleury (1903-1995). After the program, we sang "Faith of our Fathers," all in unison; I guess it was a special favor to someone. Anyway, unison sounded quite o.k. in this building. This was an interesting program, a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon. There were nervous moments, but all in all this was very nicely done, and one is grateful for the chance to hear some music "less traveled."

At this point, a relaxing and short bus ride took us to St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Hanover, which we visited just for a very nice church supper. We were well looked after here, which gives me a chance to point out that, while registration for OHS conventions is a bit higher than is the case with AGO conventions, all meals are included, which is a great time saver for convention-goers, and the food is always well done. Usually, perhaps once when we are at concerts in the downtown area of a large city, we might have lunch on our own--a nice chance to explore restaurants in the area. This happened once during this week, and it was indeed a nice experience. Now, on to New Freedom--sounds good to me.

James Hildreth, St. John the Baptist R. C., New Freedom, Pennsylvania

Since 1987, Mr. Hildreth has been organist at Broad Street Presbyterian Church, Columbus, Ohio. He is also organist for the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. I believe this is his first performance for an OHS convention, and I hope not his last. In a church packed with convention attendees, parishioners, and the larger community, he gave a performance that really satisfied all, both connoisseurs and amateurs alike. We were beguiled by his chosen program and the total competence of his playing; those less familiar with the organ and its repertoire also responded to his spoken comments. Well, we did too. The organ is Opus 2024 (1904) of Hook & Hastings, relocated and rebuilt by R. J. Brunner & Company, purveyors of much organic good in this part of the world. They converted the old tubular pneumatic action to electric action, which made it possible to make the console movable within the small space of the choir area. This organ is not small, with 26 stops on two manuals. Given the great numbers of parishioners present, one would assume that organ recitals here have been popular.

The program began with a solid and exciting performance of the Guilmant Grand Choeur (Alla Handel), op. 18, no. 1, our first experience of the really exciting full sound of this instrument; two Orgelbüchlein chorals, Ich ruf zu dir and Wenn wir in höchsten Nöthen sein; Trumpet Voluntary in D, John Bennett; Prelude & Fugue in G Major, Mendelssohn; Souvenir (op. 27, no. 1), Marcel Dupré, published in 1931; Nocturne, Arthur Foote; Thunderstorm, Thomas P. Ryder (no Orage pedal in sight, we had pedal clusters in abundance); Festival Toccata, Percy Fletcher (1879-1932). We sang the hymn "By all your saints still living" to the tune St. Theodulph. The evening ended with a breathtaking improvisation, merging the tune St. Theodulph with Ut Queant Laxis, the hymn of St. John the Baptist, clever and wonderful in every way. What a great recital.

Fourth full day, Monday, June 23

Thomas Lee Bailey, St. Paul's United Church of Christ, New Schaefferstown, Pennsylvania

This day began with the earliest morning bus departure of the convention: 7:45! Thomas Lee Bailey is organist and choirmaster of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, New York. He holds a bachelor's degree from Virginia Commonwealth University, and a Master of Divinity from Virginia Theological Seminary. The organ is by Samuel Bohler, and is now 110 years old! It was built for Zion Union Church, Womelsdorf, Pennsylvania, and in 1950 was moved to St. Paul's, with some repairs, by Justus Becker. Just this year, it was restored, including a recreation of the original reservoir and wind trunks, by R. J. Brunner & Company. There are 12 stops, with the Pedal containing only a 16' Sub Bass.

The program: Scherzo in Sol Minore per Organo, Marco Enrico Bossi; Prelude in E-flat Minor, Vincent D'Indy; "Humoresque" from L'Organo Primitivo (Toccatina), Pietro Yon; the hymn, "O Master let me walk with Thee," tune de Tar by Calvin Hampton; Andante with Variations (posthumous), Mendelssohn; Roulade, Seth Bingham. (1882-1972). This was a splendid recital.

Rosalind Mohnsen, Old Belleman's Church, Mohrville, Pennsylvania

Rosalind Mohnsen's biography in the Organ Handbook mentions that this was her 17th appearance at an OHS convention! She holds degrees from the University of Nebraska and Indiana University and later studied with Jean Langlais in Paris, and is director of music at Immaculate Conception Church in Malden, Massachusetts. The organ, single-manual with 13-note pedalboard, surmised to be of the 1870s, is also surmised to be the work of Samuel Bohler, and Ray Brunner gives cogent reasons for making this assumption. The disposition is interesting. The manual compass is 54 notes, and the four 8' stops share a common bass, each thus having 37 pipes of its own; all 8': Open Diapason, Clarabella, Dulciana, and Stopped Diapason. One then draws the Stopped Diapason Bass, with its 17 pipes, to provide the lower octave and a bit. There is also a 4' Principal, Twelfth, and Fifteenth. The Pedal has a stop at 16' simply called "Pedal Bass," with 13 pipes, and there is also a pedal coupler. This handsome church is no longer in regular weekly use, but holds four annual services, and is also used for weddings. In this lovely program of ten pieces, I knew only two. There were five composers whose music I had never heard. I present this as a virtue, as none of the music was dull, or less than convincingly played: Concerto in G, Christoph Wolfgang Druckenmueller (listed as from Das Husumer Orgelbuch); Praeludium (from Three Character Pieces, op. 64, no. 1), Rudolf Bibl (1832-1902); next a selection of five quite varied chorale preludes, all of which managed to sound quite fine on this little instrument: Jesu, meine Freude (Neumeister Collection), J. S. Bach; Wo Gott der Herr nicht bey uns haelt, Johann Christoph Oley (1738-1789); Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier, op. 78, Sigfrid Karg-Elert (1877-1933); Herzlich tut mich erfreuen (alla Giga), Gerhard Krapf (b. 1974); Ein' feste Burg, Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg (1718-1795), something of a charming gallop on "full organ"! The hymn was a bit different: we sang "What a friend we have in Jesus" to the familiar tune, but in "Pennsylvania Dutch" or German, perhaps we should say. We had the words and knew the tune, so off we went in glorious unison, stumbling over the words a bit. Next, Fugue in 3 Voices, Charles Zeuner (1795-1857); Impromptu, J. Frank Donohoe (1856-1925); the program ended with Open Diapason March (1879), by Louis Meyer, in three words: corny but effective. It made a fun ending to a most interesting and rewarding recital.

Walter Krueger, Christ Little Tulpehocken UCC

While waiting for Dr. Krueger to begin his recital, we were edified by an attendance board prominently displayed: Attendance today 31, Offering $39.40. [Slightly better than a dollar per person!] Attendance last week 32, Attendance one year ago 26, Enrolment 50. Walter Krueger holds a doctorate from Northwestern University. He teaches music at Portland (Oregon) Lutheran School, is an adjunct professor at Concordia University in Portland, and is director of music at Trinity Lutheran Church, Portland. The instrument, in a high gallery, was built in 1862 by Joel Kantner, and while that is all that is known, there are many mysteries about this organ. It looks in several ways to be an English instrument, and as the Organ Handbook notes point out, and as many noticed early on, it can sound a bit like something out of 1962! There is lots of articulation, and the 4' Principal is louder than the 8', for starters. The tone is, however, gentle and singing, not always a 1962 characteristic. There are eight stops on its single manual, built, fortunately, on an 8' Open Diapason, ending with a 12th and 15th. There is no Pedal. For the perfect beginning, a lovely Toccata in the Aeolian Mode, by Sweelinck; Toccata for the Elevation (Fiori Musicali), Frescobaldi; Fugue on the Trumpet, François Couperin; La Romanesca with Five Variations, Antonio Valente (1520-1580); Berceuse (24 Pieces in Free Style), Louis Vierne; Gehende and Schnelle (from Thirty Pieces for Small Organ), Hugo Distler (1908-1942). The program ended with an attempt to meld a Johann Gottfried Walther Partita with the hymn (chorale) we were to sing. The partita was splendid--the melding process did not work too well, as in each of the three stanzas we were to sing (Jesu, meine Freude, Bach harmonization), we were really left uncertain about where to begin. The whole process began with Dr. Kreuger playing the chorale, as Walther harmonized it. Then we sang stanza 1. The second part of the Partita was played on 4' stops alone, the third on just flutes. Then we sang stanza 2. The Partita continued with part four, in sixteenth notes. Part five was on the softest stops in the organ, and part six was on two manuals. At this point, we sang stanza three of the chorale, followed by part seven of the Partita, on "full organ," an apt ending for a most pleasant concert.

Sally Cherrington Beggs, North Heidelberg UCC Church, Robesonia, Pennsylvania

Upon entering this church, one was immediately plunged into a mood of serenity and expectancy. Something lovely had to happen in this place, and it did, beginning with the visual impact of the late afternoon sun highlighting the gold in the stenciled organ case. Then, the gentle and beautiful qualities of the 1892 single-manual (and pedal) organ by Samuel Bohler. A Pennsylvania native, Sally Cherrington Beggs holds degrees from Susquehanna and Yale universities. She is presently college organist and chairs the music department at Newberry College in South Carolina. In honor of the fact that this church began life as a Moravian congregation, we first heard, from Nine Preludes for Organ of Christian Latrobe (1758-1836), Preludes 2 and 3; Variations on God Save the King, Charles Wesley (1757-1834); Adagio and Scherzo (for mechanical organ), Beethoven; Mozart Changes, Zsolt Gardonyi. Dr. Beggs had been served during this recital by a quiet and efficient page turner and stop puller. He (Stuart Weber) now became soloist, playing a Native American flute in a chorale prelude by Emma Lou Diemer, based on the Native American tune, Lacquiparle; then, Sketch No. 3 in F Minor, Schumann; the hymn, "Jesus makes my heart rejoice."

Following this recital, we hopped on the buses for an hour's ride to Annville, the home of Lebanon Valley College, which provided a very nice dinner in the college dining hall. Many of us managed to get over to the chapel, and some managed to get the Schantz wound up and going. It lacked the historicity needed for us to notice it, but I am glad we got a chance to visit the chapel and organ nonetheless. After dinner, it was back on the buses, heading for Hershey, and the Hershey Theater.

Matthew Glandorf, Hershey Theater, Hershey, Pennsylvania

Matthew Glandorf grew up in Germany, and at 16 entered the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, studying with John Weaver and Ford Lallerstedt. He presently teaches at both Curtis and Westminster Choir College. We were in a rather opulent theater with a 1932 Skinner organ, probably unlike any other, full of brassiness and with a killer Pedal division. Harrison's name is on the console, but it would seem that Skinner was actually responsible for the job, but under the thumb of Hershey's consultant, Dr. Harry Sykes of Lancaster, who probably has a lot to answer for. Certainly, what we heard this evening would not have pleased G.D.H., and possibly not E.M.S. either! Matthew Glandorf offered a mixture of a bit of organ music, several transcriptions, and one very impressive improvisation. I thought the improvisation was the most successful. The room has the deadness of any large theater, with carpets and plush seats. The program began with Sonata Eroïca, Joseph Jongen. I found it unsatisfactory on this instrument, given the over-brassy quality of the sound, which seemed to clash within itself. Glandorf's own transcription of the Rachmininoff Vocalise seemed to work quite well. It was an island of tranquility, and, I think, the sort of piece that survives transcription relatively untarnished. From then on, all hell broke loose. On to two more transcriptions of Rachmaninoff works, the first done by Mr. Glandorf himself of the famous C-Sharp Minor Prelude. With Full Organ engaged most of the time, much of the detail in the piece became muddled. Next, the Prelude in G Minor, transcribed by "G. Federlein," which could be either father (Gottlieb) or the son (Gottfried) who was organist at Temple Emmanuel in New York for many years. When it was over, I still longed for the Steinway, and in the Wagner transcription which followed, the Liebestod, transcribed by Lemare with some Glandorf additions, I wanted a full symphony orchestra to emerge on stage. Next was a brilliant performance of the Dupré Allegro Deciso, the third part of the symphonic poem, Évocation, of 1941. And then, Mr. Glandorf's towering improvisation on The Star Spangled Banner, done brilliantly, and I will happily hear him improvise again--and again. For the "hymn of the day," we then sang, of course, the "National Anthem," quite lustily, and then, it was on the buses for the Crowne Plaza, our home away from home.

Fifth full day, Tuesday, June 24

Gerald E. Mummert, York County Historical Society Museum

Today, the convention was split in three, some going to hear a 1995 organ by Ray Brunner in Mount Joy, Pennsylvania, some going to the Museum of the York County Historical Society in York, and some visiting the National Clock and Watch Museum in Columbia. I frankly regretted the forced choice, wanting to hear Ray's instrument, plus the last Tannenberg, and to visit also the watches and clocks. The strongest contender in the Must Hear category was the Tannenberg in York, and that is where I chose to go. The organ is on display at the front of a small auditorium, and to me, even though simple, it was breathtaking. Ray Brunner, who has done considerable restorative work on this instrument, gave an introduction to it, before, I presume, rushing over to Mount Joy. Quoting Ray Brunner:

"Although 76 years of age and in failing health, Tannenberg completed an organ for this large Lutheran congregation in York. The wagons carrying the organ arrived in York in late April, 1804, and Tannenberg and his assistant began the installation. May 17th, while standing on a bench or scaffold tuning the organ, Tannenberg had a stroke and fell. He died two days later; the organ was finished by his assistant John Hall."

There were eleven stops, nine manual (54 notes) and two pedal (25 notes), but the Trumpet went missing at some point. There are apparently no examples of a Tannenberg Trumpet around to copy, so no attempt has been made to add one so far. The organ survived in original condition for a century, with Midmer doing a rebuild in 1905, and that is how Ray Brunner found it in 1990. There is more restorative work he hopes to do, as budget permits, but at present, the instrument is lovely to behold and to hear.

Gerald Mummert has been since 1971 director of music in the church for which the Tannenberg was originally built, Christ Lutheran Church in York. He holds degrees from Susquehanna and Indiana universities, and is adjunct professor of music at York College of Pennsylvania. A splendid player, he offered an imaginative and interesting program, one well calculated to suit the organ wonderfully. He proved yet again that wonderful music can be made on a single-manual organ, a fact well-known to OHS members. The program began with "Hampton" by The Rev. Johann Georg Schmucker, who was pastor at Christ Lutheran from 1802 to 1836; next, Herz nach dir gewacht, by Michael Bentz, who was organist of Christ Lutheran Church, Lancaster, when the Tannenberg was installed, or possibly a bit after that. Sublime is the only suitable word for the combination of the performance, the Tannenberg, and the Brahms setting of Schmücke dich; then, Elegy (Three Pieces for Organ), William Walton; Versets, Daniel Pinkham; and we closed with a hymn by Michael Bentz, Der Herr ist Sohn und Schild, sung in three parts (SAB), arranged by Gerald Mummert, a lovely ending to this really fine recital.

Scott Foppiano, Covenant UMC, Lancaster

After the sweet gentleness of the very last Tannenberg, the next recital gave something of a jolt--from both the instrument and the player. The organ is a Casavant from 1926, and not a great deal has been done to it since its installation. There was a releathering in 1959, and another in the late 1980s. In 2002, Columbia Organ Works rebuilt the console, and "at the church's insistence" made some additions at that time. The additions were, on the Great: 2' Super Octave, and 4-rank Mixture, and on the Swell, 5-rank Mixture. The given specification fails to list couplers, other than those that have reversible pistons. However, one can surmise from 73-note chests on Swell, part of the Choir, and all of the Solo, that these have super couplers to the Great. The fact that the Great has only 61-note chests comes as a relief.

Mr. Foppiano is from Memphis, where he now serves as director of music in a church not named in his program biography. After studying in Memphis, he was a student of both John and Margaret Mueller at the North Carolina School of the Arts. Further study was with Donna Robertson, David Lowry, Thomas Hazleton, the late William Whitehead, and Gregorian Chant with Dom Daniel Saulnier from Solesmes. The program: Suite for Organ, John Ireland; Prière, Rene Vierne; Tuba Tune, C. S. Lang; the hymn, both text and tune, was written by Benjamin R. Hanby (1833-1867), a pastor in the Church of the United Brethren; Prière à Notre Dame, Boëllmann; Will 'o the Wisp (Scherzo-Toccatina), Nevin; Fest-Hymnus, op. 20, of Carl (or Karl) Piutti (1846-1902). This was a most interesting program, not all the "usual stuff." So, thank you, Scott.

Peter Stoltzfus, Otterbein United Methodist Church, Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Peter Stoltzfus is organist and director of music at All Saints' Church, Worcester, Massachusetts, and was returning to the church in which he grew up and where, for a time, he was organist and choirmaster before heading east. He introduced to us the lady who was his teacher and exemplar at Otterbein, and later in the program, played a piece that she had played all those years ago, a piece that turned him on to the organ, a chorale improvisation on the tune Deo Gratias by Paul Manz, and he managed to play it using the same registration that his teacher had used. The organ is Skinner Opus 805 from 1930. It has four divisions, the usual three with a small two-stop Echo, all of this in only 25 stops, 28 ranks.

The program: Trumpet Tune in D, David Johnson; Deo Gratias, Paul Manz; Gavotta, Padre Giovanni Battista Martini (1706-1784), arranged by Guilmant; Requiescat in Pace, Leo Sowerby; Allegro (Symphony V), Widor. One of the few composers in the tradition of the United Brethren in Christ denomination was Edmund S. Lorenz (1854-1942). In 1890, he established the famous Lorenz Publishing Company, and was also at one time president of Lebanon Valley College. We sang one of his hymn tunes, with a text also possibly by him: "Tell it to Jesus." It is in the gospel song tradition, and the convention no doubt gave it one of the best performances of its life. We were unrestrained in our enthusiasm, and then were similarly unrestrained in saluting Peter Stoltzfus for his good work past and present, including his fine performance of this evening.

Karl Moyer, St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church, Lancaster, Pennsylvania

This evening's concert by Karl Moyer put the singing of the hymn first, "Holy God, we praise thy Name," to a tune whose composer is unknown. Karl established his credentials, as if he had to, as a consummate accompanist for a singing congregation. Not many are so established! Dr. Moyer spent much of his long career on the faculty at Millersville University, while serving several major parishes in the area, most recently Grace Lutheran Church in Lancaster, from which he retired a year ago. He holds degrees from Lebanon Valley College, Union Theological Seminary, Temple University, and has his doctorate from Eastman. He has also run the Boston Marathon!

The organ is a fine Barckhoff instrument from 1891, with mechanical key action and pneumatic stop action. At 26 stops, it is a quite complete two-manual, anchored by a not slender 16' Double Open and a 16' Trombone, the latter added by James McFarland in 1985 at the time of a general restoration. Columbia Organ Works later added a new blower and did further restoration work.

The program: Prelude and Fugue in G (BWV 541), Bach; Ronde Française (op. 37), Léon Boëllmann; As the Dew From Heaven Distilling, Joseph Daynes, (1851-1920), arr. Alexander Schreiner; three movements from Sonata No. 5 in C Minor of Guilmant, 1. Allegro appassionato, 4. Recitativo, and 5. Choral and Fugue; Adagio & Fugue for Violin & Organ (op. 150, no. 6), Josef Rheinberger (with violinist Scott Hohenwarter); Wir glauben all' in einen Gott, Vater, attributed to Johann Ludwig Krebs; two Bach Two-Part Inventions, with an added voice by Max Reger: No. 3 in D and No. 14 in B-flat; Claire de Lune (Three Impressions, op. 72), Sigfrid Karg-Elert; the program closed with two settings of Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, first by Paul Manz, and second, the stupendous setting by Max Reger--a grand, high octane performance, sending us out into the night most cheerfully. What a great program, and what a great organist, a man who had much to do with the success of this convention, and still had time to give us this evening.

Thus ended the fifth full day of this great convention.

Sixth full day, June 25, 2003

Ann Marie Rigler, St. John's UCC, Boalsburg, Pennsylvania

Boalsburg is one of many historic towns in this part of Pennsylvania, and one of its claims to fame seems to be as the birthplace of Memorial Day. In late May, 1864, two families by coincidence met at the cemetery to place flowers on the graves of loved ones who had died in the Civil War. They later decided to meet again at the same time the next year, and others from the community joined them in the same observance. The idea soon spread to other communities, and that is how it all began. St. John's UCC Church was built in 1861, and by 1868 it became the home of the very first church organ built by Charles Durner. Durner was born in Germany in 1838 into a five-generation family of organbuilders. At age 21 he came to Pennsylvania and set up shop. The St. John's organ has 14 stops, including a Great 16' Bourdon (only to tenor g#) and Principals to the Fifteenth, including a Twelfth. The Swell offers two 8' Flutes and a Dulciana, 4' Flute and Vox Humana to tenor C (really a Clarinet). In the Pedal, 16' Sub Bass, and 8' Violin Bass (Open Wood). The organ had been in a west gallery, but at the turn of the century was brought down to a chamber in front. In 1971 Hartmann Beatty rebuilt the instrument, bringing the pedal to 30 notes from its original 20, and in 1990 R. J. Brunner did a proper restoration. This congregation has lovingly cared for the instrument, and has produced a fine booklet about its history.

Ann Marie Rigler is both instructor in music (organ and music appreciation) and reference librarian at the University Park campus of Penn State University. Prior to coming to Pennsylvania, she taught at a number of well-known universities, and has a long list of performance credits, including at AGO conventions. She holds undergraduate and doctoral degrees in organ performance from SMU and from the University of Iowa respectively, and a master's degree in library and information science and musicology from the University of Illinois. Generally, it takes me about five bars to figure out what kind of recital is in store. Dr. Rigler set me at ease in perhaps two bars, with her great musical assurance and musicality, and the program began with the Mendelssohn G Major Prelude (op. 37, no. 2), rather the perfect beginning for a recital on a not very large but totally unforced and honest instrument. It was beautiful sound combined with beautiful playing. Next, Canzonetta (op. 71, no. 4), Arthur Foote; Concert Variations on the Austrian Hymn (op. 3), John Knowles Paine (1839-1906), who was Foote's teacher; we finished with the expected hymn, chosen by the recitalist--in this case, Austrian Hymn, of course. Dr. Rigler's accompaniments were just right. She led us without crushing us. She was under us with just the right amount of support, leaving room for us to hear and enjoy our own singing together.

Following this recital, we strolled around the town's historic district while the other half of the convention heard the same recital. Then buses picked us all up for a short trip to State College, Pennsylvania and lunch at the elegant Nittany Lion Inn.

David Dahl, St. John's Episcopal Church, Bellefonte, Pennsylvania

This, the penultimate day of the convention, is about as perfect a day of music as one could hope for, and not the only such day in this convention, or in other conventions. Please, even if you have never done it before, give serious consideration to attending this summer in Buffalo, New York, July 13-20. You will not believe the roster of artists and the distinguished collection of organs arranged for us by Joe McCabe and his committee. Go to and click on Conventions.

The 15-stop mechanical action organ at St. John's Episcopal Church was built circa 1892 by J. W. Steere & Sons. It is an untouched original, other than for routine maintenance and tuning, and it is in perfect working order. David Dahl's program began with the Buxtehude Toccata & Fugue in F, impeccably and beautifully played; Du, O schönes Weltgebaude, Ethel Smyth (1858-1944); Concerto Voluntary-Homage to John Stanley, David Dahl; Calvin Hampton's lovely Hymn Prelude on America, the beautiful-Materna served as a prelude to our, as always, spectacular hymn singing. We were given the directions we like to have: Stanza 1, Unison; Stanza 2, Harmony, sung quietly; Stanza 3, Harmony, sung boldly. There was not a dry eye to be found. Then, Allegro in C Major (for Flute Clock Organ), Haydn; Sidste Vaar (The Last Spring), Edvard Grieg, arr. Hans Olaf Lien; Toccata in G, Theodore Dubois, a very exciting end to this splendid performance. David Dahl recently retired from Pacific Lutheran University, and continues as director of music ministries at Christ Episcopal Church in Tacoma, Washington. His list of performances in this country and abroad is a long one, and there are numerous recordings.

Kola Owolabi, Trinity United Methodist Church, Bellefonte, Pennsylvania

I first heard Kola Owolabi in Spivey Hall outside Atlanta in 2002. He was a semi-finalist in the Calgary International Organ Competition. He has a bachelor's from McGill, a master's from Yale in organ performance and choral conducting, and is now enrolled at Eastman. In 2002, in Philadelphia, he was awarded Second Prize and the Audience Prize in the AGO National Organ Performance Competition. A published composer, he has received commissions from the Archdiocese of Toronto and the Royal Canadian College of Organists. For his performance here, he played a 1902 Hook & Hastings Organ of 16 stops, Opus 1893, restored by R. J. Brunner & Co. in 1991.

The program: Sonata III in A Major, Mendelssohn; here followed the hymn, Aus tiefer Not; from the Six Canonic Studies of Schumann, we heard No. 4 in A-flat major; Voluntary No. 4, William Russell (1777-1813); O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good (from Portraits from the Psalms), Kola Olowabi; this music is unique and wonderful, while yet accessible to all. Do watch for this name--I know there will be more music. This muse cannot be stilled.

Ken Cowan, Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, Altoona, Pennsylvania

Ken Cowan's recitals always create a great buzz of anticipation. What marvelous new delights will he unleash this time? Then, add in an organ not heard by many previously, but an instrument of incredible importance in organ history. It's an unbeatable formula. We certainly were not disappointed in the least with either organist or organ. The organ at the cathedral was built in 1931 by G.F. Steinmeyer & Company of Oettingen, Bavaria, Germany, as their Opus 1543. It comprises 83 ranks over three manuals and pedal, and a fourth manual and couplers were provided for a Sanctuary division, prepared for in 1931. The organ was restored in 1990-92 by Columbia Organ Works. Cowan began his recital with the Franck E Major Choral, which sent chills down our spines. This organ is capable of tremendous volume, but it all fits incredibly comfortably in the building, so no one is overwhelmed but all are moved powerfully. Next, Variations on Weinen, Klagen, Liszt, arranged from the original piano version by Alexander Winterberger (a pupil of Liszt), and by Ken Cowan; Valse Mignon, Karg-Elert; Max Reger's transcription of the Bach Chromatic Fantasie and Fugue for harpsichord turns it into a big Romantic affair, and it got a blaze of glory at the end. After intermission, we sang Calvin Hampton's tune St. Helena to the text "There's a wideness in God's mercy;" then, O Lamm Gottes (BWV 656), Allein Gott (BWV 664), Bach; and, finally, Hallelujah, Gott zu Loben, Reger. The ovation that followed is best described as tumultuous. It just would not stop, until Ken made it clear he was to offer up one more piece. The "Jig" Fugue was the perfect encore.

Last day, Thursday, June 26

The 2003 convention's last day featured single-manual organs. Over the years, the OHS has taught many organists that for the careful listener, wonderful music can be made on an organ of only one manual and a very few stops. While we miss here a large palette of stops of differing colors, we hear the music, its quality adorned by a mere handful of stops, themselves, hopefully, of great beauty. I have heard people say of, perhaps, a particular 8' Principal or a Flute, that "This is a sound I can listen to all day." It's this kind of experience that validates a day with four recitals on single-manual organs by builders of unquestioned quality, along with players who know how to best exploit them.

John Charles Schucker, Salem United Church, Bethel, Pennsylvania

The first recital of the day was played by John Charles Schucker, a name new to me, and a person I hope to hear again. He was at one time an organ student of Karl Moyer, who was perhaps responsible for bringing him to this convention. Mr. Schucker holds bachelor and master's degrees from the Juilliard School, where he studied organ with Vernon deTar and piano with Earl Wild. He is now pianist and organist with The American Boychoir in Princeton, New Jersey. The organ was built in 1872 by the distinguished Pennsylvania German organbuilder, Thomas Dieffenbach. It is one of two instruments we will hear today that has a Pedal division, in this case, a 16' Bourdon, a coupler, and only 13 pedal keys. The manual division is fairly complete with three 8' stops--Open Diapason, Flute, and Dulciana--a Principal, Flute, and Stopped Diapason at 4', and a 2' Fifteenth. The console is detached and reversed. The Wanamaker organ it is not, but for the careful listener, there is much beauty to be found.

Mr. Schucker's program: Sinfonia in E-flat major, BWV 791 (Three Part Inventions), Bach; two settings of Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten, by Telemann and Jacob Friedrich Greiss; Andantino in E Minor (L'Organiste), César Franck; O Gott, du frommer Gott, Brahms; we also sang the chorale, in Bach's glorious harmonization; Fugue on the name Julian (Three Fugues in honor of Thomas Julian Talley), David Hurd; two choral preludes on Vom Himmel hoch, by Friedrich Wilhelm Zachau (1663-1712) and Helmut Walcha (1907-1991); Fugue in C, Buxtehude. How wonderful, and what a fine recital, resourceful in its choice of music for the instrument, and played with both verve and sensitivity.

Lou Carol Fix at Peter Hall, Moravian College, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

After a relaxing, snoozing trip to Bethlehem and Moravian College, the convention divided into two parts, one having an early lunch, while my group headed upstairs to Peter Hall, with its wonderful little late 18th-century organ by Samuel Green of London. This is smaller than the Dieffenbach instrument, having no pedal division at all, and only four stops. It is also approximately 100 years older! There is an 8' Open Diapason and an 8' Stopped Diapason, a 4' Principal, divided Bass and Treble, and a 2' Fifteenth, also divided. So, smaller instrument, but a new flexibility, reflected in Ms. Fix's fine program. Ray Brunner (R. J. Brunner & Co.) meticulously restored this instrument in 1998.

The organ has an ingenious wind supply system. There is a wooden handle at the back right which can be pumped easily from there, but there is also a foot pedal which is movable. It can slide over to the right side of the case front where the pumper can both pump and, with hands free, turn pages or pull stops. However, this clever pedal can also be moved close enough to the organist so he or she can pump and provide wind while playing the organ.

Lou Carol Fix is artist/lecturer at Moravian College, teaching organ, recorder, and music history since 1985. She has degrees in organ and musicology from Salem College and Indiana University, and is organist and director of music at Peace-Tohickon Lutheran Church in Perkasie, Pennsylvania. The program began with a familiar Moravian hymn by Christian Gregor, "Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes . . ." Next, a hymn setting, thus called to set it apart from a simple chorale prelude. This was an historic manner of accompanying a hymn, Allein Gott, by Van Vleck; Prelude III (Nine Preludes, 1806), Christian Latrobe (1758-1836); the divided stops came into their own in a Trumpet Voluntary by John Bennett (c. 1735-1784); Toccata Terza (The First Book of Toccatas, Partitas), Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643); the mean tone temperament of this instrument combines with this early 17th-century work to create sounds of a rare beauty. The concert ended with Voluntary for the Organ by Benjamin Carr, born in England in 1768, but coming to the U.S. in 1793, and settling in Philadelphia. And so ended a second fine recital on this final day of the convention.

Thomas Dressler, Moravian Historical Museum

Next was lunch and a stroll around the grounds, before hopping on the bus for Nazareth and Whitefield House of the Moravian Historical Museum. The organs are getting smaller! Not so much, actually, as this organ by Tannenberg has four stops as did the Samuel Green instrument, but here the stops are not divided, and there is not an 8' Open Diapason, but rather a Flute Amabile, an open stop beautiful in its own right, but without quite the strength that a Diapason would have. The honor of playing this lovely instrument went to Thomas Dressler who studied as a teenager with James Boeringer, later earning a Bachelor of Music degree, cum laude, at Susquehanna University, and then a Master of Music degree in performance, with honors, at Westminster Choir College. His teachers at Westminster were Mark Brombaugh and Joan Lippincott.

The program began with our magnificent singing of a hymn in glorious harmony, a hymn that is apparently of tremendous significance in Moravian congregations, "Sing hallelujah, praise the Lord" to a tune by Bishop John Bechler (1784-1857); next, Trip to Pawtucket, Oliver Shaw; Voluntary #1 (from American Church Organ Voluntaries, 1856); Rondo, Oliver Shaw; Voluntary in C (Century of American Organ Music 1776-1876, Vol. 3), James Cox Beckel (1811-1880); The Bristol March, Oliver Shaw; Partita on Gelobet seist du, and Capriccio in D, Georg Böhm (1661-1733).

After a suitable interval, we found our way to the buses, heading for Shartlesville, for The Pennsylvania Dutch Dinner at the famous Haag's Hotel. We then were given the choice of taking the bus or a short walk to Friedens Church, still in Shartlesville.

Lois Regestein, Friedens Church, Shartlesville

The final recital of the day, and also of the convention, was given by Lois Regestein, an OHS regular of long standing. She began with the lovely Prelude in F of Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805-1847); Pastorale, Bach; The Nines, a most interesting piece written in 1992 by a well-known member of the OHS family, Rachel Archibald; Nun freut euch, lieben Christen g'mein, Ernst Pepping (1900-1981); a lovely Polish carol, Pospieszcie pastuszki do stajenki, Stefan Surzyuski; Freuet euch, ihr Christen alle, Pepping; The Nighting Gall, Henry Loosemore, (c.1605-1670); The Thunder Storm, Thomas P. Ryder (1836-1887); we sang the hymn quoted in the last movement of the Ryder, the well-known Vesper Hymn, to a tune attributed to Bortniansky. The organ was by Thomas Dieffenbach, built in 1891, one of his last instruments. Like the Dieffenbach we heard first today, the console is detached and reversed. The manual division of this instrument has eight stops, four at 8' (Open Diapason, Stopped Diapason, Flute, and Dulciana); at 4', Principal and Stopped Diapason, Quint (shown as 3' here) and 2' Flauto. There are 20 pedal notes, and the two stops are a 16' Sub Bass and an 8' Violin Bass, plus a coupler.

Mrs. Regestein holds degrees from both Oberlin and the Yale School of Music. Since 1983, she has been organist for the First Congregational Church in Winchester, Massachusetts. In 1987, the OHS conferred on her The Distinguished Service Award for her efforts to protect the splendid 1863 E. & G.G. Hook Organ in the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Boston, from threatened damage or removal.

2004 Convention

Let us all gather in Buffalo this summer, from July 13th through the 20th for the 2004 Convention of The Organ Historical Society. For information: 804/353-9226; www.organsociety.org.