MMS Organ Music Blog

Rutgers Historic Pipe Organ Goes Silent for Electronic

This headline was a shocker! As you read the article, though, it will become apparent that the electronic was installed with the expectation that it will remain until they raise the money necessary to repair the pipe organ. I’m not an accounting genius, but the expense of a temporary electronic would seem on the surface to be somewhat at odds towards accumulating the funds needed for the rebuild. Why is this money even a challenge at all? This is Rutgers!

“In about as obvious a signal of changing times as they come, a state-of-the-art electronic organ hooked up to an array of discreetly placed speakers was installed less than two weeks ago — a replacement, officials say, that only will remain in place until enough funding can be freed up either to renovate the existing pipe organ or replace it entirely. ‘It couldn’t be used anymore,’ Rutgers’ Mason Gross School of the Arts Dean George B. Stauffer said of the original instrument, parts of which date back to 1917. ‘But this (the electronic organ) is an interim instrument. This is not a replacement by any means.’”

Read more about Kirkpatrick Chapel and this grand old E M Skinner on the Rutgers website.

John Scott Whiteley Lunchtime Organ Music

I noticed that his program at St Helen’s included music of Pietro Yon, the great Italian musician who emigrated to the United States and made his name at St Patrick’s Cathedral and Carnegie Hall. If you went or can provide a program or comments, please send them!

“Programme to include music by Max Reger,Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Benjamin Britten, Pietro Yon, Joseph Jongen and J S Bach. John Scott Whiteley is Organist Emeritus of York Minster, having worked at their from 1975 until 2010 when he retired in order to pursue his freelance career. During the past ten years he has become well-known for his performances on BBC2 and BBC4 television of the complete organ music of J S Bach.” For more details, visit the link above.

Free Noontime Organ Music at National City CC

“The free, 45-minute Friday lunch hour pipe organ recital and demonstration series at National City Christian Church on Thomas Circle NW, continues following resumption last month after an 18-month break to allow for the restoration of the sanctuary’s interior decorative plaster and organ repairs following the August 2011 earthquake.” Read about the resumption of this important cultural facet in our US Capital City.

Liberace Organ Classic TV Commercial

I never saw this charming little commercial on television. Though it was made in Liberace’s garage in the US, it was made and broadcast for Thomas Organs in Australia. Watch it and then visit the Youtube page and read all of the detail behind the scenes. If you remember Thomas organs and their unusual “color” system, this will be a big dose of nostalgia.

Two Organ Concerts in Concord, NC

This announcement is for two decadent organ concerts in Concord, North Carolina. The first is at Epworth Methodist on a II/17 Schantz organ (1998) and the second is at Forest Hill Methodist on two of their organs.

John Apple, a Michigan native, first gained notoriety in his 3rd grade class (for a day) when the local paper announced that his mother had received a phone call from her actress cousin, Gloria Swanson, when she came to town for a live performance at the University of Michigan. His interest in local history has caused him to be the historian for the Charlotte Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and a leader for over 25 years in the preservation of Charlotte’s Carolina Theatre. He is a partner in michaelsmusicservice.com (you are here!), a publisher of forgotten 1860-1930 American organ music. Listed in Who’s Who in America 60th Diamond Anniversary Edition (2006), John is a Colleague of the AGO and organist of Epworth United Methodist Church, Concord, NC.

The program on June 2 on the organs at Forest Hill United Methodist Church. One is a 1987 Schantz organ in their present sanctuary. The other is a Möller organ in the former sanctuary around the corner. This 90 year old organ, one of the oldest organs in the region, was donated in 1923 by William R Odell, local textile manufacturer and former state senator.

The program includes:

• Variations on the Star Spangled Banner, composed by Massachusetts organist Eugene Thayer and first performed 150 years ago in 1863 by him at the Boston Music Hall.
• Music by American composers born 100 years ago: Robert Elmore, Richard Purvis and Gardner Read.
• Music by John Stanley, English composer and organist, friend of Handel, born 300 years ago
• Programmatic and popular music from the 1920s on the 1923 organ.

If you come, please make yourself known! We would love to meet you!

Snapshots Music and Artists Stories: Guillou Vol 1

These videos are a must for all Guillou fans and for all organ music fans for that matter. Jonathan Bewley, producer, offers this:

“In 2005 Jean Guillou visited the Newman Center at the University of Denver to perform several concerts. Over the course of a week several interviews and concerts were recorded for this unique visit of France’s great composer/organist. Jean’s understanding of the artists path and history of the organ were shared in great detail. This film is one of two documents of Jean’s trips to the United States. Part two, Jean Guillou at the Walt Disney Concert Hall will be released in late 2013. Join us in celebrating the legacy of a modern master of music.” Highly recommended.

105-year-old Pipe Organ Gets New Look

“The 105-year-old instrument has an interesting history. A Muslim artisan from Misquith & Co., Madras, had put together the organ in 1908 using various parts imported from UK. Despite the long phase of disuse, the organ remains as sturdy and magnificent as ever.” The II/10 organ in St John the Baptist, Secunderabad, India, had been ignored for decades before the restoration and augmentation which began in 2003.

“This pipe organ must be treasured and treated as a divine and historic object. It has managed to retain its strength and beauty and has stood the test of time.”

Rejoice in 100 Years of Organ Music

“There are many dedicated members at Clinton Presbyterian Church, but only one that has spent a century with the congregation.” Buzard rebuilt it a few years ago.

There is another article with more detail on pantagraph.com.

This is Restoration Proofreading

Sometimes, people ask me what I mean by “restoration.” What do you do, actually, to accomplish it? What’s it for, why is it good, who needs it? I explain in some detail on my website’s Music Restoration page, but in this post I will show you one of the steps in the process. This is step where a proofreader (not me!) goes through what I have produced in a full size printed proof and checks for problems I missed and engraver errors.

The graphic above is from a Wagner transcription I’m working on now. The left shows it as engraved; the rotation was introduced by the scanner operator. The right shows my restoration: The last chord should not contain a G but an A, and any organist seeing this error since it was new in 1885 would have made this change without thinking. Also the staccato dot for the left hand was added for consistency with the engraving style from the remainder of the piece.

The earlier plates and those from certain publishers are well-known for errors, some simple and some serious. They range from missing clefs to incorrect key signatures to wrong notes. Plates were engraved by hand and errors were always a part of their process. Tiny problems would be left in because the organist was sure to correct them and the time to repeat the engraving was deemed impractical.

Below are the notes I got from the proofreader; I think you can figure out the shorthand.

• p4, s1, m1, rh, gap in staff
• p4, m3, rh, b4, “
• p4, m4, rh, b3, “
• p5, s1, m4, b2, rh
• p5, s3, m3, b3, lh, notehead for second note
• p5, s4, m2, b4a, pedal, bad notehead
• p6, s1, m3, b3, lh, mid C ledger incomplete
• p6, s3, m5, rh, bad notehead
• p 7, s2, m1, b4, rh, rest missing
• p8, s2, m4, b4, lh, dot missing on G
• p9, s1, m1, b3, rh, gap in second staff line
• p9, s1, m3, b2, rh, bad notehead on C
• p9, s4, m5, b1, rh, G should be A
• p9, s4 m5, b1, inconsistent staccato dots

My hat’s off to proofreaders! If you have a compulsive streak, this job is for you!