T H E JUNE 2020 - Holy Cross Catholic Church New York, New York Cover feature on pages 18-19 - The Diapason
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THE
D I A PA S O N
JUNE 2020
Holy Cross Catholic Church
New York, New York
Cover feature on pages 18–19
PHILLIP TRUCKENBROD
CONCERT ARTISTS
ANTHONY & BEARD ADAM J. BRAKEL THE CHENAULT DUO PETER RICHARD CONTE CONTE & ENNIS DUO LYNNE DAVIS
ISABELLE DEMERS CLIVE DRISKILL-SMITH DUO MUSART BARCELONA JEREMY FILSELL MICHAEL HEY HEY & LIBERIS DUO
CHRISTOPHER HOULIHAN DAVID HURD MARTIN JEAN BÁLINT KAROSI JEAN-WILLY KUNZ HUW LEWIS
RENÉE ANNE LOUPRETTE ROBERT MCCORMICK JACK MITCHENER BRUCE NESWICK ORGANIZED RHYTHM RAÚL PRIETO RAM°REZ
JEAN-BAPTISTE ROBIN BENJAMIN SHEEN HERNDON SPILLMAN JOSHUA STAFFORD CAROLE TERRY JOHANN VEXO
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BRADLEY HUNTER WELCH SEBASTIAN HEINDL INSPIRATIONS ENSEMBLE
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THE DIAPASON Editor’s Notebook
Scranton Gillette Communications
One Hundred Eleventh Year: No. 6, Digital edition promotion
Whole No. 1327 Throughout June, those purchasing a new or renewal one-
JUNE 2020 year subscription will receive a free one-year digital subscrip-
Established in 1909 tion for a friend. This offer is valid when purchasing a print Stephen Schnurr
ISSN 0012-2378 or digital subscription; the free subscription is digital. For 847/954-7989; sschnurr@sgcmail.com
information and to subscribe: toll free, 877/501-7540; local, www.TheDiapason.com
An International Monthly Devoted to the Organ,
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the Harpsichord, Carillon, and Church Music
com/DPP_newfriend; for renewals: https://sgc.dragonforms. completed their goals of study this semester, no matter what
com/DPP_renewfriend. level of study.
CONTENTS
FEATURES
A part of the “new normal” In this issue
Lviv Organ Art: History, churches, music, and As we all adjust to a new life within the time of a pandemic, The feature article for this month is an overview of the
personalities there are creative ways to present recitals, as some of these history of organs and organists in Lviv, Ukraine, by Olena
by Olena Matselyukh 12 events are now presented via livestream. As an example, you Matselyukh. John Bishop, in “In the Wind . . . ,” observes how
NEWS & DEPARTMENTS will read below that the Methuen Memorial Music Hall is now online tools have suddenly changed worship in our churches
Editor’s Notebook 3 offering its summer recitals via livestream. We welcome your and synagogues, particularly as pertains to music. In “Harpsi-
Letters to the Editor 3 news of these events, as we will list them in our Calendar sec- chord Notes,” Larry Palmer pays tribute to the groundbreaking
Here & There 3 tion with the designation “livestream,” hoping that these events career of harpsichordist Elaine Funaro. Gavin Black is taking a
Appointments 4 will reach a wider audience than ever before. break from “On Teaching” this month and plans to contribute
Nunc Dimittis 6 next month.
Carillon Profile by Kimberly Schafer 9 Congratulations Our cover feature is Aeolian-Skinner Organ Co. Opus 908,
In the wind . . . by John Bishop 10
Andrew Schaeffer, our editor-at-large, successfully defended finished in 1933 and recently restored by Foley-Baker, Inc., of
Harpsichord Notes by Larry Palmer 20
his dissertation for completion of his degree of Doctor of Musi- Tolland, Connecticut, for Holy Cross Catholic Church of New
REVIEWS cal Arts at the University of Oklahoma in late April. The staff York City. The organ is ready to inspire future generations of
New Organ Music 20 of The Diapason congratulates Andrew and all who have parishioners and guests. ■
New Recordings 21
CALENDAR 23 Letters to the Editor
RECITAL PROGRAMS 25
CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING 26 Ralph Vaughan Williams Harris may have assisted him at the revised from 1921 to 1930. The first per-
Since the publication of my article on church, the composer John Ireland was formance was given at the Three Choirs
Ralph Vaughan Williams (“Ralph Vaughan to become organist at St. Barnabas in Festival in 1930. Sources disagree on
Williams and the Organ,” January 2020, succession to RVW. which version came first: that for solo
pages 14–18), I have come upon some • Page 16, column 3: RVW was pro- organ or for orchestra.
THE additional information, which suggests a moted to lieutenant in the Royal Gar- • Page 18, column 2: The sentence
D I A PA S O N
JUNE 2020
few points in the article, along with some rison Artillery in 1917, after the Battle of stating RVW’s funeral was the first in
typographical errors, require correction. the Somme. Westminster Abbey for a commoner
• Page 14, column 3: The speaker • Page 16, column 4: The English since Purcell is inaccurate and should
was not RVW’s niece; he had none. He Hymnal should be considered as a com- be disregarded.
did have many young women admir- petitor to Hymns Ancient and Modern, • Finally, in the final footnote
ers, some of whom referred to him as not a successor. (which should be numbered 45, not
“Uncle Ralph.” • Page 17, column 1: The correct 33) the composer’s name should be
• Page 15, column 2: The correct spelling is George Thalben-Ball. spelled Darke.
spelling is T. Tertius Noble. • Page 17, column 2: The Prelude David Herman
• Page 16, column 1: Although W. H. and Fugue in C Minor was written and Newark, Delaware ■
Holy Cross Catholic Church
New York, New York
Cover feature on pages 18–19
Here & There
COVER Events Cancellations
Foley-Baker, Inc., Tolland, Connecticut; The American Guild of Organ-
Holy Cross Catholic Church, ists’ national convention, scheduled for
New York, New York 18
July 6–10, 2020, in Atlanta, Georgia, is
cancelled. In addition, all Pipe Organ
Editorial Director STEPHEN SCHNURR Encounter programs for 2020 are can-
and Publisher sschnurr@sgcmail.com celed; many of these will be rescheduled
847/954-7989 for 2021. For information:
President RICK SCHWER
www.agohq.org.
rschwer@sgcmail.com
847/391-1048 The Association of Anglican Musi-
cians has postponed its 2020 conference
Editor-at-Large ANDREW SCHAEFFER
diapasoneditoratlarge@gmail.com in Richmond, Virginia, to June 19–23,
2022. (There will also be a conference in
Sales Director JEROME BUTERA 2021.) For information:
jbutera@sgcmail.com
608/634-6253 First Presbyterian Church, Kilgore, Tex- anglicanmusicians.org.
Circulation/ as, Aeolian-Skinner organ
Subscriptions THE DIAPASON The Guild of Carillonneurs in
P.O. Box 300
Lincolnshire, IL. 60069-0300 The tenth annual East Texas Pipe North America and the World Caril-
DPP@omeda.com Methuen Memorial Music Hall, Methuen, Organ Festival will be held Novem- lon Federation have cancelled their
Toll-Free: 877/501-7540 Massachusetts ber 8–12 with headquarters in Kilgore, 2020 conferences at Longwood Gardens,
Local: 847/763-4933
Texas. The event features Aeolian-Skin- Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. For
Designer KIMBERLY PELLIKAN Methuen Memorial Music Hall, ner organs designed and tonally finished information: gcna.org.
kpellikan@sgcmail.com Methuen, Massachusetts, offers organ by Roy Perry (1906–1978), including
847/391-1024 recitals via livestream, Wednesdays First Presbyterian Church, Kilgore, and The Oregon Bach Festival is post-
Contributing Editors LARRY PALMER at 7:30 p.m., at its YouTube channel St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, Shreve- poning this year’s festival to summer
Harpsichord (http://www.youtube.com/c/methuen- port, Louisiana. Recitalists include 2021. For information:
memorialmusichall): June 17, Heinrich Ken Cowan and Lisa Shihoten, the www.oregonbachfestival.org.
BRIAN SWAGER
Carillon
Christensen; 6/24, Janet E. Hunt; July 1, Chenaults, Aaron Tan, Faythe Freese,
Jennifer Pascual; 7/8, Leonardo Ciampa; Jan Kraybill, Organized Rhythm, and The Organ Historical Society
JOHN BISHOP 7/15, Sarah Johnson. For information: others. For information: has postponed its 2020 convention in
In the wind . . . https://mmmh.org. easttexaspipeorganfestival.com. ➤ page 4
GAVIN BLACK
On Teaching
THE DIAPASON (ISSN 0012-2378) is published monthly by Scranton Gillette Routine items for publication must be received six weeks in advance of the month of
Communications, Inc., 3030 W. Salt Creek Lane, Suite 201, Arlington Heights, Illinois issue. For advertising copy, the closing date is the 1st. Prospective contributors of articles
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WWW.THEDIAPASON.COM THE DIAPASON ■ JUNE 2020 ■ 3
Here & There
➤ page 3 member of The Diapason’s 20 Under United States as well as in Canada. He Guild of Organists Southwest Regional
Columbus, Ohio, to July 2022. (There 30 Class of 2019), Daniel Minnick, and has also appeared on numerous occa- Competition for Young Organists and the
will be a convention in Toronto in 2021.) Andrew Morris. Judges are Christian sions as an orchestral soloist. He has fif- 2015 Albert Schweitzer Competition in
For information: Lane, Iain Quinn, and Annette Rich- teen CD recordings to his credit, includ- the Young Professionals’ Division. She is
organhistoricalsociety.org. ards. First prize is $3,500; second prize ing releases on the Arkay, Dominant, a member of The Diapason’s 20 Under
is $1,000; third and audience prizes are Dulcian, Motette-Ursina, Organeum, 30 Class of 2016.
$500 each. For information: Naxos, and JAV labels. For information: In 2019, she graduated from the Curtis
Competitions syracuseago.org. ism.yale.edu. Institute of Music with an artist diploma
in organ and a performer’s certificate in
The Second Wadden Sea Inter- harpsichord, where she studied with Alan
national Organ Competition, open Morrison and Leon Schelhase, respec-
to organists of all nationalities born tively. She obtained her Bachelor of
on or after January 15, 1986, will take Music (2016) and Master of Music (2017)
place January 15–23, 2021, hosted by degrees in organ performance at Rice
the Danish National Academy of Music University, Houston, Texas, where she
in Esbjerg, Denmark. Winners will be studied with Ken Cowan and graduated
offered prizes totaling DKK 250,000 summa cum laude. While in Houston, she
(approximately $36,000) and concert served for two years as full-time organist
engagements in Denmark. Deadline for at Christ Church Cathedral alongside
application is September 1. For informa- Grammy Award-winning director Robert
tion: organcompetition.dk. Simpson. She has been featured at the
2017, 2016, and 2015 Organ Historical
Society national conventions, the 2019
Appointments Meg Cutting AGO regional convention in New Jersey,
the 2017 AGO regional conventions in
Meg Cutting is appointed organ Dallas and Montreal, the 2016 AGO
scholar for St. James Episcopal Cathe- national convention (as a “Rising Star”
dral, Chicago, Illinois, effective in August. and cathedral organist for solemn even-
Cutting is a graduate student at the Yale song), the 2016 East Texas Pipe Organ
Institute of Sacred Music and the Yale Festival, and the 2015 AGO regional
School of Music, New Haven, Connecti- convention in Fort Worth.
cut, pursuing a Master of Music degree Engagements for the 2019–2020
in organ performance in the studio of season include performances at Walt
St. Patrick’s Church of Ireland Cathe- Martin Jean. She earned a Bachelor of Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles,
dral, Armagh, Northern Ireland, 1996 Music degree from Eastman School of California, Spivey Hall at Clayton State
Wells-Kennedy Partnership, Ltd., organ Music, Rochester, New York, where she University in Morrow, Georgia, and
studied with Nathan Laube. Cutting is a international festivals in Helsinki and
The dates for the Northern Ireland native of Salem-Keizer, Oregon, where Lahti (Finland). For information: www.
International Organ Competition she studied piano and organ with Pamela monicaczausz.com, kingofglory.com,
have been provisionally changed to Miller. She was a finalist in the Taylor www.concertorganists.com.
October 23–24, 2020. A streamlined Organ Competition in Atlanta, Georgia,
version of the competition will run con- Craig Cramer and an E. Power Biggs Fellow of the
currently with an altered version of the Organ Historical Society in 2015.
Charles Wood Summer School, which Craig Cramer is appointed visiting Cutting has been featured on Pipe-
has also been postponed from August. professor of organ at the Yale Institute dreams Live! and has performed in ven-
The jury for the competition is chaired of Sacred Music and Yale School of ues such as Slee Hall at the University
by Sophie-Véronique Cauchefer-Chop- Music, New Haven, Connecticut, for the of Buffalo and Central Synagogue in
lin (France), replacing David Tittering- 2020–2021 academic year. He will teach New York City. She currently serves as
ton (UK). Other jury members are David half of the graduate organ majors at Yale the Wilson Family Sacred Music Intern
Hill (UK and USA) and Simon Harden and the organ seminar. at Brick Presbyterian Church, New
(Ireland). Only the senior section of the Cramer holds degrees from Westmin- York City, where she works under min-
competition and a masterclass by Cau- ster Choir College, Princeton, New Jer- ister of music Keith Tóth. She replaces
chefer-Choplin will take place. NIIOC sey, and the Eastman School of Music, Isaac Drewes, who has been appointed
is open to organists aged 21 and under, Rochester, New York, where he earned associate director of music and worship
but a temporary change to the rules for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in for Central Lutheran Church, Minne- Isaac Drewes
this year means that performers who organ performance and where he was apolis, Minnesota.
would have been eligible to take part also awarded the Performer’s Certificate Isaac Drewes is appointed associate
on the original dates, but would be 22 in Organ. His teachers include Russell director for music and worship at Central
by October 24, will be allowed to apply. Saunders, William Hays, James Drake, Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, Minne-
Shortlisting will be by reference rather David Boe, and André Marchal (Paris). sota, effective in August. There he will
than by submission of recordings, for this Cramer is retiring this month as profes- share in service playing, accompany the
year only. For information: niioc.com. sor of organ at the University of Notre Central Choir, and direct the choristers
Dame, where his teaching has been and bell choirs. The semi-professional
The final round of the 2020 Arthur recognized with a Kaneb Distinguished adult choir comprises 70 voices.
Poister Competition in Organ Play- Faculty Award. Drewes is a graduate of St. Olaf Col-
ing will be held November 13 at St. Cramer maintains an active recital lege, Northfield, Minnesota, and Eastman
Paul’s Episcopal Church, Syracuse, New career in North America and in Europe; School of Music, Rochester, New York.
York. The finalists are Carolyn Craig (a he has performed in forty-four of the His principal teachers were Catherine
Rodland and David Higgs. He was the
2019–2020 Association of Anglican Musi-
cians’ Gerre Hancock Fellow at St. James
Episcopal Cathedral, Chicago, Illinois,
Monica Czausz (photo credit: Joseph where he was the principal accompanist
Routon) and assisted in service playing and choris-
ter training. He earned first prize in the
Monica Czausz is appointed direc- 2018 Lynnwood Farnam organ competi-
tor of music and artistic ministries at tion and has performed for two conven-
King of Glory Lutheran Church, Dallas, tions of the Organ Historical Society.
Texas, the largest ELCA congregation in
north Texas. Czausz performs under the Charles Miller is appointed director
management of Karen McFarlane Artists, of music and organist of Cherry Hill
Inc. She has received first prize at com- Presbyterian Church, Dearborn, Michi-
petitions including the 2015 American gan. Prior to this position, he was asso-
ciate organist of the Cathedral Church
of St. Paul, Detroit. Miller is a graduate
BACH AT NOON of the University of Michigan (Bach-
elor of Music degree in organ) and the
AUSTINORGANS.COM Grace Church in New York University of Connecticut (Master of
t8PPEMBOE4U)BSUGPSE$5 Music degree in conducting), and has
www.gracechurchnyc.org served the American Guild of Organists
➤ page 6
4 ■ THE DIAPASON ■ JUNE 2020 WWW.THEDIAPASON.COM
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Colin Monty Elisa Jackson Shin-Ae Leon
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R. Monty Bennett, director •Beth Zucchino, founder & director emerita
Here & There
➤ page 4 Mona, Jamaica. He has also performed Philipp Emmanuel Bach, Jean-Baptiste the Mass for choir, congregation, and
as an organist and harpsichordist with Antoine Forqueray, Jane Savage, and organ; Evening sets the traditional
the Grammy-nominated vocal ensemble Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de La Guerre. Evening Service canticles, Magnificat
Seraphic Fire and the Firebird Cham- For information: www.uoregon.edu. and Nunc Dimittis, for SATB choir and
ber Orchestra, based in Miami. He has organ. Joseph Causby is director of
released two solo recordings, Sacred music and organist for the Chapel of the
Expressions: Twentieth-Century Music Cross. For information:
for Organ and Jacques Boyvin: Four http://www.locklair.com.
Suites from the Second Livre d’Orgue
(1700), both available from Raven
(ravencd.com).
Owolabi, a native of Canada who spent
part of his childhood in Nigeria, has also
been commissioned by the Old Salem
Charles Miller Museum in Winston-Salem, North Car-
olina, to compose a piece inspired by the Marguerite L. Brooks (photo credit: Robert
as coordinator of its 2005 Regions I & African-American tradition to celebrate A. Lisak)
II convention in Hartford, Connecticut; the life of Peter Oliver, a freed slave who
program chair of the 2010 national con- served as a “bellows treader” for a local The National Collegiate Choral
vention in Washington, D.C.; and dean Moravian organ at the turn of the 19th Organization (NCCO) has established Kent Tritle (photo credit: Jennifer Taylor)
of the Washington D.C. chapter. In century. For information: the Marguerite L. Brooks Commis-
addition to his work at Cherry Hill Pres- www.kolaowolabi.com. sioning Fund for New Music. The Kent Tritle is the recipient of Chorus
byterian Church, he is president of Phil- fund is named for the longstanding Yale America’s 2020 Michael Korn Found-
lip Truckenbrod Concert Artists, which Institute of Sacred Music and Yale School ers Award for Development of the
celebrates its 53rd year of concert artist People of Music faculty member who retires this Professional Choral Art. Named after
representation in 2020. For information: month from teaching choral conducting. one of the founders of Chorus America,
www.cherryhillchurch.org and Brooks is a charter member of NCCO this award was established in 1978 to
www.concertartists.com. and a current national board member. honor an individual with a lifetime of sig-
Yale Camerata, founded by Brooks nificant contributions to the professional
in 1985, is one of the university’s first choral art.
campus and city arts collaborations; its Tritle is awarded for his elevation of
60-plus members are students, faculty, professional choral music in the aca-
and staff from throughout the Univer- demic, faith, and community spheres.
sity and singers from the greater New Tritle is in his 13th season as music
Haven community. Brooks is known for director of Musica Sacra, the longest
programming new music by composers continuously performing professional
Guy Bovet and Barbara Baird of a diverse array of gender, ethnic, and chorus in New York, and one of the
racial backgrounds. The fund will sup- charter members of the Association of
Guy Bovet visited the University of port the creation of one new work every Professional Ensembles, the organiza-
Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, for a four-day two years, and the work will receive its tion that became Chorus America. His
residency filled with masterclasses, indi- world premiere performance at the next- work with Musica Sacra carries on the
vidual lessons, and concerts, February occurring biennial conference of the organization’s commitment to celebrate
19–21, the third invited performer to NCCO. The full list of commissioned contemporary composers and large-
Kola Owolabi appear in the John D. Hamilton Visit- composers supported through this fund scale works through live performance
ing Artist series. Hamilton was profes- must represent a spectrum of gender, and recordings. As director of choral
Kola Owolabi is appointed to the sor of organ and harpsichord at the ethnic, and racial diversity. For informa- activities at the Manhattan School of
faculty of the Department of Music and University of Oregon, having served 28 tion: ism.yale.edu. Music, he established the school’s first
Sacred Music at Notre Dame University, years. The John D. Hamilton Organ and doctoral program in choral conducting
South Bend, Indiana, this fall as profes- Harpsichord Visiting Artist Fund was and created collaborations for his stu-
sor of music and head of the graduate given from the estate of Hamilton for the dent ensembles to perform with other
organ studio. Owolabi will replace Craig purpose of bringing visiting artists to the New York musical institutions. Tritle also
Cramer, who is retiring at the end of the School of Music and Dance to work with presented more than 150 concerts after
academic year. Owolabi leaves the faculty students and to present a performance in founding the Sacred Music in a Sacred
of the University of Michigan, where he honor of Hamilton. Space series with the all-professional
has taught courses in organ performance, Bovet’s masterclass was on ornamen- choir and orchestra of the Church of
improvisation, and sacred music since tation and performance practice in early St. Ignatius Loyola, a tradition he has
2014. Before that, he taught at Syracuse Spanish music. His recital on February revived in his current position at the
University, beginning in 2006. 20 at Beall Concert Hall included works Cathedral of St. John the Divine. For
Owolabi earned a Master of Music by Sebastian Aguilera de Heredia, Fran- information: www.kenttritle.com and
degree from Yale University, New Haven, cisco Correa de Arauxo, J. S. Bach, Alex- www.chorusamerica.org.
Connecticut, and a Doctor of Musical andre Pierre François Boëly, Antonio
Arts degree from Eastman School of Diana, and Bovet.
Music, Rochester, New York. He has The last night of the residency fea- Nunc Dimittis
performed at venues across the United tured Bovet and Barbara Baird in a
States and internationally, including the joint concert of duets and solos for harp-
Klosterneuburg Abbey in Austria; Église sichord in the university’s new Oregon
du Bouclier in Strasbourg, France; and Bach Festival building. They performed
the University of the West Indies in works by Antonio Lucio Vivaldi, Carl
Dan Locklair
The world premieres of Dan Lock-
Quality Pipe Organ lair’s Chapel Hill Service Morning and
Chapel Hill Service Evening were pre-
sented February 21 by the choir of the
Building and Service Chapel of the Cross, Chapel Hill, North
Carolina. The pieces were commissioned
since 1969 in 2019 by the congregation in memory Edward Brewer
of Dale Volberg Reed, a member of the
choir for 47 years. Edward Brewer, 82, died April 3
The Chapel Hill Service consists of two in Leonia, New Jersey. Born in 1938 in
services as found in Rite I of The Book of Erie, Pennsylvania, his talent for music
Common Prayer (1979). Morning sets was revealed at an early age.
the traditional parts of the Ordinary of Brewer majored in organ at Oberlin
Conservatory of Music, Oberlin, Ohio.
As a graduate student at University of
A. Thompson-Allen Co., LLC Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Brewer
11 Court Street received a Fulbright Fellowship to con-
New Haven, Connecticut 06511 tinue his studies with organist Helmut
203.776.1616 Walcha in Frankfurt, Germany. His
bedientorgan.com | 402.420.7662 | Lincoln, Nebraska www.thompson-allen.com harpsichord studies continued with
Maria Jaeger.
6 ■ THE DIAPASON ■ JUNE 2020 WWW.THEDIAPASON.COM
Here & There
Edward Brewer’s school days ended in edition of the complete harpsichord time that he became an entrepreneur,
New York City in 1963 where he served works of Couperin, published by Broude and along with the vision of wife Doro-
in the Domestic Peace Corps until 1964, in 1973, and edited the complete harpsi- thy, they opened a British import store
when he became organist and choir chord works of d’Anglebert, printed by in Door County, Wisconsin, where they
director at Judson Memorial Church in Heugel in 1975. He also prepared new had a second home.
Greenwich Village. As a continuo player editions of Bach’s Goldberg Variations In 1993 the Hadleys moved to Hender-
he served Amor Artis, Oratorio Society of for Salabert in 1979, Frescobaldi’s first sonville, North Carolina, to be closer to
New York, and New York Choral Society, and second books of toccatas for Zani- the Brevard Music Festival. He became
as well as New York Philharmonic, New bon in 1979 and 1980, and Rameau’s passionate about the program, choosing
York Collegium, Orpheus, Orchestra of complete harpsichord works for Heugel to bequeath the majority of his estate for
St. Luke’s, and Philharmonia Virtuosi. 1979. In 1980, he began to prepare a the continuing funding of its work. In
He participated in the Madeira Bach reissue of Couperin’s complete works his retirement he served as organist of
Festival, Mostly Mozart Festival, and for L’Oiseau-Lyre of Monaco. With Hendersonville’s First United Methodist
North Country Chamber Players summer Élizabeth Gallat-Morin, he produced Church and finally St. Mary’s Episcopal
festival. He was founding director of the an annotated edition of Livre d’orgue de Church, Asheville, North Carolina.
Soclair Music Festival, a role he filled for Montréal, published in three volumes by John Benjamin Hadley was preceded
30 years. As founder and director of the Éditions Jacques Ostiguy in 1985, 1987, John Benjamin Hadley in death by his wife Dorothy, his part-
Brewer Chamber Orchestra, he partici- and 1988. ner Phyllis Hansen, and daughter Vicki
pated in a series of first-time recordings of Gilbert’s performances were devoted in Grand Rapids, Michigan, he entered Anderson. He is survived by son-in-law
operas by George Frederick Handel for primarily to the harpsichord. In 1968, the London School of Church Music, John Anderson, grandson Matt Ander-
MMG, Nonesuch, Delos, and ESS.A.Y. he gave his first recital in London and London, Ontario, where he spent three son, and daughter Kim Parr.
Edward Brewer also provided por- commenced an international career of years under the tutelage of Ernest
table pipe organs and harpsichords in concerts, broadcasts, and recordings. He White and Raymond Wicher. While in
European styles of the 18th century for was a soloist with several Canadian and London, he met and married Dorothy
New York musical organizations involved American orchestras. Helen Gallop with whom he would
in the performance of Baroque music. Gilbert taught at the Conservatoire de spend 52 years, while raising two daugh-
This service continues as Baroque Key- musique du Québec à Montréal 1957– ters, Vicki and Kim.
boards, LLC, under the management of 1974, at McGill University 1964–1972, at The Hadleys moved to Chicago, Illi-
his son and daughter. Laval University 1969–1976, and at the nois, in 1951 where they would remain
Edward Brewer is survived by his wife Royal Flemish Conservatory, Antwerp, until the late 1980s. His first position
of 51 years, oboist Virginia Brewer; his Belgium, 1971–1974. In 1988, he began was at St. Clement’s Catholic Church,
son Barry and wife Tomoko and their to teach at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Chicago, as organist and choirmaster,
daughters Miako and Emiko; and daugh- Austria, and he became professor of followed by Grace Episcopal Church,
ter Hazzan Diana Brewer and wife Sara harpsichord at the Conservatoire de Hinsdale, and then Church of the
Brewer and their daughter Camilla. Paris. For some years, he taught at Ascension, Episcopal, Chicago. In 1955,
Accademia Chigiana, Siena, Italy. Fur- Hadley began assisting S. E. Gruenstein
Kenneth Gilbert, 88, harpsichord- thermore, he presented masterclasses in his duties as editorial director and
ist, organist, musicologist, and teacher, throughout North America and Europe. publisher of The Diapason. Upon the
died April 16. He was born December In 1978, the Canadian Music Council death of Gruenstein in December 1958,
16, 1931, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. named Gilbert Artist of the Year. He Hadley and Frank Cunkle were named
He studied organ with Conrad Letendre, was honored with the Prix de musique associate editors of the journal. Hadley
piano with Yvonne Hubert, and harmony Calixa-Lavallée in 1981. In 1986, he was became publisher in August 1958 and
and counterpoint with Gabriel Cusson. named an officer of the Order of Canada left the staff of The Diapason Septem- Edmund Shay
Gilbert won the Prix d’Europe for organ and in 1988 was elected to the Royal ber 1, 1959, for his duties at the Church
in 1953 and studied for two years with Society of Canada. He was an honorary of the Ascension. During his time in Edmund Shay died April 21 in
Nadia Boulanger (composition), Gaston member of the Royal Academy of Music Chicago, he was a sales representative Woodbury, New Jersey. He was born
Litaize and Maurice Duruflé (organ), and Officier de l’Ordre des arts et lettres for the Schlicker Organ Company and in the Bronx, New York City, and
and Sylvie Spicket and Ruggero Gerlin de France. held several positions with the Associ- attended the High School for Music
(harpsichord). While he was on leave for ated Pipe Organ Builders of America. and Art in Manhattan, followed by The
these studies, he remained the organist John Benjamin Hadley, 92, died Hadley became an editor at Ency- Juilliard School, New York City, where
and music director at Queen Mary Road January 5 in Hendersonville, North clopaedia Britannica. He made several he received his bachelor’s and master’s
United Church, Montreal, between 1952 Carolina. Born July 1, 1927, in Iowa trips to China in the 1980s as the edito- degrees. In 1962 he was awarded a Ful-
and 1967. In 1959, he designed and Falls, Iowa, he began playing organ in rial liaison for the Chinese edition of the bright fellowship allowing him to study
oversaw the installation at Queen Mary local churches at age 13 and received encyclopaedia. Additionally, he was a in Germany with Helmut Walcha. He
Road Church of the first major modern a Bachelor of Music degree from Iowa senior editor of Compton’s Encyclopedia later earned his Doctor of Musical Arts
mechanical-action organ in Canada, an Falls Conservatory of Music in 1946. and executive editor for The Britannica degree in performance and music theory
instrument built by Rudolf von Becker- After additional study in boy choir Book of Music as well as The Britannica from the University of Cincinnati.
ath of Hamburg, Germany. Gilbert was a training and organ under John Dexter Book of English Usage. It was during this ➤ page 8
leader in the formation of the Ars Organi
society, which influenced organ perfor-
mance standards in eastern Canada. He
received an honorary doctorate degree
in music from McGill University in 1981. ATLANTA CHAPTER, AGO
While in Paris in 1965 on a Quebec
government grant doing research on A N N O U N C E S
Couperin in preparation for a CBC
series of performances of the composer’s
complete works for harpsichord, Gilbert
undertook work for a new edition for the
The Taylor Organ
Couperin tercentenary in 1968. (He sub-
sequently recorded the Couperin works
for RCI, released on Harmonia Mundi in
Competition
France, RCA in England, Musical Heri-
tage Society in the United States, and Saturday, April 17, 2021
other labels in Italy and Japan.) Heugel OPEN TO INDIVIDUALS BORN AFTER JUNE 1, 1998
would publish Gilbert’s four volumes of
Couperin works as part of its early-music
series, Le Pupitre, between 1969 and $10,000
1972. Gilbert prepared a new edition
from existing editions of the 555 sonatas
of Domenico Scarlatti; eleven volumes
were published by Heugel between
1 st
prize and a solo
recital in Atlanta 2 nd
prize $5,000
1971 and 1984. He prepared a facsimile
Application deadline October 15, 2020
0LOQDU2UJDQ For complete details including repertoire,
&RPSDQ\ please see www.taylororgancompetition.com
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WWW.THEDIAPASON.COM THE DIAPASON ■ JUNE 2020 ■ 7
Here & There
➤ page 7 sought to promote the interdisciplinary Museum of History and Technology;
Shay’s career as concert organist, study of Victorian culture. Weaver followed him to the Smithsonian
teacher, and composer included teach- In 2012, a festschrift in his honor the next year, where he began a diverse
ing at the University of the Pacific, Beloit (Music and Performance Culture in career producing concert programs and
College, Pembroke State University, Nineteenth-Century Britain, ed. Bennett exhibits, among other activities. In 1971,
Madison College (now known as James Zon) was published. In April 2019, MVSA he worked to found the Friends of Music
Madison University), and Columbia presented him with its Lifetime Achieve- at the Smithsonian, which continues
College, Columbia, South Carolina. He ment Award for his work in bringing to support the Smithsonian Chamber
maintained an active recital schedule music into the purview of Victorianists. Music Society.
while teaching and wrote articles for The A memorial service will be planned for Weaver pursued his exploration of
American Organist and The Diapason. a later date. Memorial gifts may be sent newly restored harpsichords and forte-
From 1986 through 1991 he wrote organ to the Evelyn Burnett Underwood fund pianos in the Smithsonian’s collection,
music reviews for The Diapason. For at the Urbana School District, which producing recordings. He established an
fourteen years, Shay directed a sum- provides musical instruments to students ensemble in residence at the museum in
mer seminar for organists called “Bach who cannot afford them (contact Stacey 1976, the Smithsonian Chamber Players,
Week,” sponsored by Columbia College. Peterik at speterik@usd116.org). which produced recordings through the
Upon his retirement in 2003, Shay relo- Smithsonian Collection of Recordings,
cated to a winter home in Washington, an arm of the institution’s Division of
D.C., with a summer home in Vermont. Performing Arts (DPA), which Weaver
In 2014 he began to battle dementia, joined in the late 1970s.
and in 2017, he moved to Friends Village In 1983, DPA’s functions were
in Woodstown, New Jersey, and sub- absorbed by other portions of the institu-
sequently to Merion Gardens Assisted tion, and Weaver returned to the Division
Living in Carney’s Point, New Jersey. of Musical Instruments at the National Jehan Alain: Mourir à trente ans
Edmund Shay was predeceased by his Museum of American History (NMAH),
life partner of over 35 years, Raymond as the National Museum of History and Schauerte-Maubouet: Jehan Alain:
Harris; he is survived by his adopted Technology had been renamed in 1980. Mourir à trente ans (Jehan Alain: To Die
nephew and niece, Dale and DeeAnn In addition to his Smithsonian activi- at the Age of Thirty) (9782752103991,
Harris of Salem, New Jersey. Memo- ties, Weaver occasionally appeared with €32). The book, in French, presents the
rial gifts in Shay’s name may be given the National Symphony Orchestra and composer’s life and works according to
Alzheimer’s research or your local ani- various professional choruses of the unpublished primary source materials,
mal shelter. area. With the Smithsonian Chamber letters, and personal accounts. Included
Players, he had a presence in the inau- are numerous illustrations, a catalog of
Nicholas Temperley, professor gural festivities for Jimmy Carter and his works and manuscripts, as well as his
emeritus of the School of Music, Univer- later performed twice, including once as biography. For information:
sity of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, died James Merle Weaver harpsichord soloist, at the Carter White www.editions-delatour.com/en/.
April 8. Born and educated in England, House. He was subsequently invited to
Temperley came to the University of James Merle Weaver, 82, died April play at five inaugural luncheons, from
Illinois in 1959 as a postdoctoral fellow, 16 in Rochester, New York. Born in Dan- Ronald Reagan’s second inaugural to Recordings
and he joined the faculty in 1967. He ville, Illinois, he began piano and organ George W. Bush’s first. Weaver taught
taught classes in the School of Music, studies there. He attended the Univer- at various times at American University,
supervised over fifty dissertations and sity of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, dur- the University of Maryland, Cornell
theses, and served on dozens of doctoral ing which time he gave piano and organ University, the Aston Magna Academy,
committees. His publications include demonstrations and private lessons at and the Baroque Performance Institute
The Music of the English Parish Church a local music store and played Sunday at Oberlin Conservatory of Music.
(1979), Hymn Tune Index (1998), edi- church services. While on a high school Following his move to Washington,
tions of music (including volumes for the field trip to Washington, D.C., Weaver D.C., in the 1960s, Weaver served as
Musica Britannica series and an edition saw his first harpsichords, displayed at organist or organist/choirmaster at
of Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique), and the Smithsonian Institution’s National several churches, including Baltimore’s
Bound for America: Three British Com- Museum of Natural History. During his Mount Calvary Church, Washington’s
posers (2003), as well as several edited sophomore year at the U of I, he went St. Columba’s Episcopal Church and All
essay collections and scores of book to Amsterdam to study harpsichord and Souls Episcopal Church, and finally at
chapters and journal articles. historical performance practice with All Hallows Episcopal Church, David-
After retiring in 1996, Temperley Gustav Leonhardt. sonville, Maryland. J. S. Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier
continued to be a researcher, writer, Returning to Illinois, Weaver com- Following retirement from the Smith-
and editor. He also went on to guide pleted his bachelor’s (1961) and master’s sonian, Weaver was appointed executive
the establishment of the North Ameri- (1963) degrees. Weaver and his young director (later chief executive officer)
can British Music Studies Association family then moved to Boston’s North of the Organ Historical Society. During
[NABMSA] (2003) and serve as its first End. His facility as a continuo player the last years of his tenure at the OHS,
president, and he endowed prizes for developed, both as a concert artist and he supervised the relocation of its head-
student research: the Nicholas Temper- for recordings. While in Boston, he quarters and archives to “Stoneleigh”
ley Dissertation Prize (later the Nicholas befriended the music director of Old in Villanova, Pennsylvania. He also
Temperley Musicology Research Schol- North Church, John T. Fesperman, who expanded the E. Power Biggs Fellow-
arship, University of Illinois) and the had been Leonhardt’s first American ship program.
Nicholas Temperley Student Paper Prize student (1955–1956). Fesperman left James Merle Weaver is survived by
(NABMSA). In 1977, he was one of the Boston in 1965 to take a position at the husband/partner Samuel Baker; son
co-founders of the Midwest Victorian collection of musical instruments in the Evan (Jill), three grandchildren, and
Studies Association [MSVA], a group that Smithsonian’s newly opened National two great-grandchildren. He was prede-
ceased by wife Patricia Estell and long-
Confident pedal work time former partner Eugene Behlen.
Memorial gifts may be given to the Biggs Sigfrid’s Unbeaten Tracks
comes with practice and Fellowship Program of the Organ His-
the right shoes torical Society, 330 N. Spring Mill Road,
Villanova, PA 19085; or the Friends
Fugue State Films announces new
CDs, available in the United States from
on the of Music at the Smithsonian, P. O.
Box 37012, Washington, DC 20013-7012
Raven. J. S. Bach: The Well-Tempered
Clavier, Books I and II, features Colin
pedals (https://www.smithsonianchambermu-
sic.org/donate).
Booth performing on a harpsichord he
built in 2016. Each book is available in a
2-CD set, priced at $16.98.
x Men’s & Women’s Organ Shoes Sigfrid’s Unbeaten Tracks ($18.98)
Publishers features Graham Barber performing
with suede soles and heels Éditions Delatour France his transcription of Sigfrid Karg-Elert’s
x Whole & Half announces a new book by Helga Sonata for Harmonium, op. 46, plus
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Alain: Trois Danses and other organ
8 ■ THE DIAPASON ■ JUNE 2020 WWW.THEDIAPASON.COM
Here & There
Carillon profile
Longwood Gardens
Kennett Square, Pennsylvania
Royal Eijsbouts Bell Foundry, Asten, the Netherlands
Carillon bells (photo credit: Scott Hummel)
1930, Longwood founder Pierre S. du
Pont bought a set of chimes from J. C.
Carillon clavier (photo credit: Scott Hummel) Deagan Company in Chicago, Illinois.
These large tubular bells could play
tunes programmed on player rolls,
similar to the mechanism in player
pianos. These bells were replaced by
an electronic carillon from the same
company in 1956. In this mechanism,
bell rods are struck in the tower and
then amplified by loudspeaker. In
Carillon tower, Longwood Gardens, 1977, a set of traditional bells was
Kennett Square, Pennsylvania (photo proposed for the tower, but the idea
credit: Shelly Krocker)
was set aside at that time. Finally, in
2000, Longwood Gardens hired Royal
Eijsbouts to cast true bells for the tower.
The current carillon is equipped to be played manually via a traditional baton
keyboard and also via multiple methods of automation. The bells can be rung by
a small digital piano keyboard, which activates all 62 electric strikers. Tunes can
be programmed into the computer controller directly or via this same keyboard,
Pear-shaped basin with carillon tower (photo credit: William Hill) allowing melodies to be played on demand or on a schedule.
The carillon is performed on by guest carillonneurs in multiple concerts during
Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, uses its spectacular gar- the summer and fall. The bells are played via automation on a daily schedule.
den setting to present inspirational, educational, and artistic experiences for its Audience members can meet the carillonneur and tour the Chimes Tower and
guests. As part of Longwood’s mission to showcase the arts, the Chimes Tower carillon following performances.
houses a five-octave carillon that is played in live concerts for 1.5 million guests Longwood Gardens was the site for the 2009 congress of the Guild of Carillonneurs
annually. The 62-bell carillon was cast and installed by the Royal Eijsbouts Bell in North America. It was also the planned site for the joint congress of the Guild of
Foundry in Asten, the Netherlands. The bells arrived from overseas in March Carillonneurs in North America and the World Carillon Federation in June 2020. Due
2001 and were dedicated on Memorial Day of the same year. By number of bells, to measures to mitigate the spread of Covid-19; however, the congresses have been
the Longwood carillon is the tenth largest in North America. Inspired by a forti- cancelled. The carillon will resume its performance schedule at a later time. ■
fied tower at Châtillon-Coligny on the Loing River in France, the tower sits next —Kimberly Schafer, PhD
to a waterfall flowing into a pond, creating a picturesque setting perfect for taking Founder and Partner,
in carillon music. Community Bell Advocates, LLC
The installation of the carillon in the new millennium marks the culmination www.communitybelladvocates.com
of years of other bell systems in the tower. When the tower was completed in communitybelladvocates@gmail.com
Jehan Alain: Trois Danses and other or-
gan works
works (OAR-163, $15.98 postpaid) is a
two-CD set featuring Christophe Man-
toux performing on the 1890 Cavaillé-
Coll organ of four manuals in the Abbey Symphonic Splendor: Masterworks for
Church of Saint-Ouen, Rouen, France. Organ & Orchestra
The recording was originally issued
as a single CD by Studio SM, France, set, co-produced with the Friends of the
and reissued by Motette, Germany, but Wanamaker Organ. Rossen Milanov
is now enhanced with more of Alain’s conducts the orchestra known as Sym-
works. (The original recording received phony in C, with Peter Richard Conte “superb musicianship, masterly technique and savvy programming … Archer’s
a Grand Prix du Disque.) at the Wanamaker Organ, Philadelphia. sweeping assurance and stamina enable you to hear the music behind the virtuosity.”
Symphonic Splendor: Masterworks Works by Saint-Saëns, Poulenc, and — GRAMOPHONE (JAN 2018) —
for Organ & Orchestra (OAR-159, Elgar are included. For information:
MORE INFORMATION: gailarcher.com TO PURCHASE: meyer-media.com
$29.99, postpaid) is a two-disc DVD/CD ravencd.com. ■
WWW.THEDIAPASON.COM THE DIAPASON ■ JUNE 2020 ■ 9
In the wind...
If a tree fell in the and social movement founded by 1874
forest and there was no for the purpose of bringing cultural expe-
one there to hear it . . . riences to rural communities. Started as
Suppose that we are sharing Christmas a summer camp on the shore of Lake
dinner. We are sitting with family and Chautauqua in western New York, it
friends at a “groaning board” festooned grew to have chapters across the country.
with Granny’s stemware and china, President Theodore Roosevelt com-
ironed linen napkins, and the best silver, mented that the Chautauqua Assembly
freshly polished. Red juices flow from was the most American thing in America.
the beef tenderloin as slices fall from the In the June 1883 issue of the journal, The
knife. Please pass the potatoes. Chautauquan, the question was posed,
Over the clinking of silverware I hap- “If a tree fell on an island where there
pen to mention, “By the way, did you were no human beings, would there be
hear that all the churches will be closed any sound?” The essay went on to say,
for Easter?” Silence. “And not just Eas- “No. Sound is the sensation excited in
ter, Palm Sunday, and all of Holy Week.” the ear when the air or other medium is
Shazam! I was right! To be truthful, I set in motion.” I am not smart enough
did not foresee it. No one did. Accord- to second guess such an august source of
ing to Science Daily (April 9, 2020), philosophy, but my crude understanding
by Christmas 2019, COVID-19 was of the science of noise is that sound is
more than a glimmer in the eye of a created by the vibration of air stimulated
Chinese bat, but no one imagined that by some physical source and exists as
it would be spreading across the globe sound waves that travel whether or not
like wildfire a few months later. When there is a receptor. That rhetorical ques- John Cantrell, choirmaster and organist, St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, New York,
my family and I left New York City for tion is reminiscent of Neils Bohr chal- New York. John records rehearsal tracks for choir members, they practice and send
our house in Maine on March 14, there lenging Albert Einstein to prove there is in their videos, and he mixes them into a virtual choir, adds readings recorded by
parishioners at home, sermon, and voilà! (Photo credit: Kathleen Cantrell)
were fewer than 500 cases reported in a moon without looking at it.
the city. Three weeks later there were Because of the widespread shutdown in
more than 20,000. Today, just one month response to COVID-19, we are learning exhale goes into the blower intake, and Ventura and Santa Barbara where I
later, there are over 110,000 confirmed a lot about working empty rooms. Late- a great circle is established. That is not noticed a group of at least fifty people
cases with over 10,000 deaths in New night television hosts are trying to get big happening on Zoom. gathered on a bluff staring at the ocean
York City alone. With the deadline for laughs while sitting in their living rooms. with binoculars. I was curious—what
submissions to The Diapason six weeks Symphony orchestras are presenting live Alternative worship would bring so many people together so
before publication, writing these essays broadcast concerts in empty halls. And we This phrase brings fear into the early in the morning—so I parked my car
is no way to report the news. I am writing hear the peace and word of the Lord by hearts of many organists, conjuring up and walked toward the group.
in mid-April, and you are reading in early way of a MacBook Pro, a church’s organist images of guitars, drum sets, and songs Someone welcomed me in and explained
June—plenty will have happened in the leading Zoom worship from his piano at with four notes, four chords, four lines, what was going on. The Los Angeles
meantime. I hope some of it was good. home. All performing artists know that four stanzas, and four tuned strings. Chapter of the American Cetacean Soci-
March 14 was the day Pope Francis audience reaction is palpable. When you Several years ago, I was assembling the ety was counting migrating whales. There
announced that Saint Peter’s Basilica are playing before an enthusiastic crowd, restored tracker action of a nineteenth- were tables set up with coffee and pastries.
in Vatican City would be closed to the you can feel the excitement, even if you century organ, working toward an Easter The people with binoculars were shouting
public and Easter Masses would be cel- are sitting with your back to them, buried deadline. The church’s contemporary out numbers while people with clipboards
ebrated with no congregation. Thousands behind a massive Rückpositiv case. Many ensemble needed to practice, and I were recording them. There was a strong
of churches around the world shared the of my performing friends have identified needed the time, so we agreed that I sense of comradery driven by a common
example. The internet was rich with video this as a challenge during recording ses- would just keep working quietly inside purpose, and I quickly abandoned my plan
clips of worship being led by two or three sions. Does your performance sound, feel, the organ while they rehearsed. One of going to church. Standing by the ocean
people in an empty church or by individu- and project differently when the audience thing was certain: they needed to prac- with a group of friendly people watching
als participating in orders of worship indi- is absent? How do you get that fire in your tice. Another thing was certain: it didn’t the glory of creation swim by was wor-
vidually from their homes, iPhone videos belly when playing for a few recording help. Their rehearsal technique was to shipful enough for me that day, lifting my
spliced together for broadcast on Sunday engineers and a roomful of microphones? barge through a song four or five times spirits and clearing the mess from between
morning. Thousands of brass players Part of the magic of public worship is shar- compounding the mistakes and slapping my ears.
and singers lost income. Hundreds of ing the experience with the people around each other on the back as if they had just That singular Easter has just passed.
thousands of volunteer choir members you, both old friends and strangers. finished their set at Woodstock. We are all learning new ways to worship.
missed the high point of the season. And I love the notion that congregational But alternative worship can mean Facebook is often a wormhole of self-
thousands of preachers delivered Resur- singing led by a pipe organ is a physi- many different things. A little over satisfaction. I am not interested in your
rection messages via their laptop screens. ological phenomenon in which all the twenty years ago, I was working on a haircut or your magnificent meal. But I
The New York Chautauqua Assembly producers of tone are using the same project on the campus of UCLA and sure am interested in the dozens of posts
was an adult education, entertainment, body of air as fuel. What the singers staying in a twenty-room hotel on cam- I have read from colleagues sharing what
pus that was operated by students in it was like to participate in virtual Easter.
the hotel management school. The icy Some showed clips of people dressed
phone calls during which my first wife casually, leading a hymn from the piano
and I were separated happened when I in their living room, shifting to a pastor
was in that room. It was not a fun time. sitting at a desk leaning earnestly toward
I was interested in hearing and see- the screen speaking of the Resurrection
ing the mammoth organ at the First “in this unusual time.” Others showed
Congregational Church in Los Angeles elaborately vested social-distancing
and planned to attend worship there on priests at a high altar festooned with lilies,
Sunday, but I was on Eastern time and beeswax candles afire, a group of singers
woke up at three in the morning. Organ standing six feet apart, and the organist
Proud builders
pipe organ kit
preludes would start at 10:30 a.m., so I raising the dead with blazing trumpets.
figured I had plenty of time for a drive Our rector in New York City spoke
up the coast, thinking that some wind off of taking a walk in abandoned lower
the ocean would ease the darkness I was Manhattan and seeing a small fleet of
of the
feeling. I do not remember just where I refrigerated trucks serving as temporary
wound up. A glance at a map suggests morgues behind a neighboring hospital.
it must have been somewhere between Realizing what they were and struck by
the tragic loneliness of the scene, he
stopped and offered a blessing. How’s
that for an Easter message?
follow
us on Resiliency
facebook!
In the relative safety and serenity of
our place in Maine, we have had two
Photo courtesy of Eric Harrison
16355, av. Savoie, St-Hyacinthe, Québec J2T 3N1 CANADA
t 800 625-7473 mail@letourneauorgans.com
Visit our website at www.letourneauorgans.com
10 ■ THE DIAPASON ■ JUNE 2020 WWW.THEDIAPASON.COMBy John Bishop
The new normal
I wonder when things will go back to
normal. I wonder what the “new normal”
will be. We were living in an unusual
time before the start of the pandemic.
Yesterday, CBS News reported that this
is the first March since 2002 without a
school shooting in the United States.
Why? Simple. Schools are closed. Every
significant arts organization in the coun-
try is closed. Thousands of orchestral
musicians, actors, stagehands, ushers,
and administrators are out of work.
When the Metropolitan Opera laid off
its entire staff with pay ending on March
31, I wondered if that fantastic assembly (photo credit: Félix Müller)
of talented skilled people could ever be
gathered together again? But it is not In this column in the May 2017 issue of
as if disgruntled, they would take other The Diapason, I wrote under the title,
jobs. There are no other jobs. “Music in terrible times.” Wendy and
I can imagine sitting down again with I had just heard the Boston Symphony
trusted friends for a drink or a meal, Orchestra play Shostakovich’s Leningrad
maybe not so long from now. I can imag- Symphony. I started that essay with Leon-
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. High altar ready for virtual ine taking an unessential drive to a park ard Bernstein’s famous quote from the
Easter. (Photo credit: Robert McCormick) for a picnic. I can even imagine booking Vietnam era: “This will be our response
a hotel room and working on a job away to violence: to make music more inten-
dramatic weather events in the last few employer. He is a man of rigid routine. from home. But knowing how I feel sively, more beautifully, more devotedly
days. In the afternoon of Holy Thursday, Early in the film, arriving home from the when I have to walk past an unmasked than ever before.” I wrote of the siege of
the wind came up, heavy rain turned to office, he sings: stranger in a grocery aisle, I cannot Leningrad in which more than a million
far heavier snow, the power went out, imagine walking through a foyer into a people died, a battle that inspired Shosta-
the generator came on, and the storm I feel a surge of deep satisfaction crowded theater or concert hall, expos- kovich’s masterpiece. I wrote of the
Much as a king astride his noble steed.
whipped through the night. On Good When I return from daily strife to hearth ing myself and those I love to whatever bombing of Coventry, England, in 1940
Friday, we woke to six inches of white and wife, foolish indiscretion a seatmate might from which came Benjamin Britten’s War
wet glop, nearly impossible to walk on. How pleasant is the life I lead . . . . have committed. I assume I will go to Requiem. I wrote of Stalag VIIIA where
Lichen-encrusted branches had fallen . . . I run my home precisely on schedule.
a concert again, but I cannot imagine Olivier Messiaen was a prisoner of war
everywhere, and walking a few dozen At 6:01, I march through my door. it yet. A vaccination against COVID-19 and a sympathetic guard provided him
yards up the driveway with a dog was My slippers, sherry, and pipe are due at must be the greatest brass ring for medi- with pencil and paper, allowing him to
like running a gauntlet with snow and 6:02, cal research since polio. create Quartet for the End of Time.
debris falling from trees every few steps. Consistent is the life I lead. The community of the church choir Those great masterpieces are all the
The driveway is a half-mile long. It was has always been a source of recreation expressions of creative geniuses respond-
grocery day, and I was planning to go to The trouble is that while he is singing, and spiritual enhancement. In a video ing to vast human crises. The people who
town. I put a saw in the car and spent a Winifred is trying to interrupt to tell him interview produced by the publisher lived those days must have wondered if
couple hours moving stuff off the road the children are missing. J. W. Pepper in 2015, composer and it would ever end. And horrible as they
into the ditches. I can hear Wendy snickering. Cock- conductor John Rutter says, “. . . choral were, they all did end. Many people suf-
The power was out all day, through tails here are at six-oh-oh. Dinner at music is not one of life’s frills. It is some- fered, many people died, families were
Friday night, through Saturday night, eight-oh-oh. The routine is regular thing that goes to the very heart of our destroyed, and dreams were shattered.
and into Sunday afternoon, coming back enough that Farley the Goldendoodle humanity, our sense of community, and I trust that we will see each other at the
on just as hundreds of colleagues would can tell time. “Paws up” on the bed at our souls.”1 I first sang in a children’s symphony again. We will go to the theater
be launching into “the Widor” across 6:30 in the morning. (That is the only choir in 1966 when I was ten years old. again. We will go to ball games again. We
the country. The head of our driveway time he ever gets on furniture.) A couple I have vivid memories from a few years will go sailing again. For now, we have to
is four miles down a rural road from minutes before cocktails, he is sitting later of using my new grown-up voice stay strong, take care of the people we
the village, and the power lines snake watching me. He gets an ice cube or as a member of the adult choir singing love, and nourish the creativity within.
through a maze of branches. There was two when I am fixing drinks and a dental Bach’s Cantata 140. (Va-ha-ke-het auf, Now go practice while you have a
a heavy ice storm shortly after we moved “chewy” when we sit down with them. Va-ha-ke-het auf, Va-ha-ke-het auf— chance. ■
in the winter of 2001, and the power was He depends on that routine as much two, three, one—ruft die Stimme!) I
out for nearly a week. That was when we as I do. We have laughed about it many trust that future generations will have Notes
installed the generator, and it has been a times. Sometimes wryly. similar thrills, knowing the joy of singing 1. You can see the interview at https://
trusted part of the household since. But consistent no more. Our daugh- closely with others. www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm-Pm1FYZ-U.
On Easter Monday, the rain started ter, son-in-law, and granddaughter who
again, and the wind whipped up to gale live in Brooklyn, New York, came to
force. The temperature was mild so there Maine with us—and their dog. Remem-
was no snow, but that storm stood out for bering those refrigerated trucks, we are
the velocity and ferocity of the wind. The glad we can offer them shelter from the
trees along the shore at the bottom of ravages of the city. We are four adults,
the yard were whipping wildly back and a toddler, and two dogs, and the quiet,
forth. After dinner I sat on the deck in comfortable routine of two empty nest-
the lee of the storm watching the crazy ers is on sabbatical, if not just gone. We
motion in the darkness and listening to are five weeks into it now, and I have
the roar of the wind when it stopped. had some tough moments adjusting.
It did not lessen and die down. It just But think of our Brooklynites. At least
stopped. The roar became silence. The we are at home. We have lived in this
next morning, we confirmed that noth- house for almost twenty years, the lon-
ing new had fallen in the yard or on the gest either of us have lived in one place.
driveway. After all that whipping about, We have clothes in the closets, unread
no trees had fallen. Such resilience. Such books on the nightstands, extra tooth-
strength. Such stability. A metaphor for brushes in the drawers in the bathroom.
facing life today. It is familiar. They have left their home
In the 1964 film Mary Poppins, behind, all their daily routines, and all
George Banks (played by David Tomlin- their stuff. We are coming up with new
son) works for the Dawes Tomes Mously common daily rhythms, and the great
Grubbs Fidelity Fiduciary Bank. He news is that we are getting more time
is the father of Jane and Michael, hus- with our granddaughter than we could
band of Winifred, and Mary Poppins’s have imagined.
www.ruffatti.com
WWW.THEDIAPASON.COM THE DIAPASON ■ JUNE 2020 ■ 11You can also read
