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!

Beware the Wrath of the Church Organist

This article subtitled “Revenge Is Sweet,” is so tongue-in-cheek that I fear the non-church organist may not appreciate the humor of the described wrath. If you have never witnessed this phenomenon, perhaps you’ll be tempted to try it yourself!

Church Celebrates 50th Anniversary of Pipe Organ

The Richland and Kennewick Stakes of the Mormon Church in Richland, Washington, are celebrating the 50th anniversary of their II/16 Casavant organ. It’s rare to find a pipe organ in a Mormon building outside of Salt Lake City, so this is a strong statement from them.

Historic First African Baptist Church Organ in Need of Help

First, you should read this article from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) from last February. (Yes, they did misspell ‘Erben.’) When you’re done with this background, read the more recent article above from the Savannah Morning News. This venerable organ has been passed around for so long that it deserves some special treatment!

ORGAN SHEET MUSIC

1. WEDDING MARCH, by Victor Nessler (1841-1890). To my knowledge, Nessler never wrote for the organ; he was known for his popular operas. I found this arrangement of his Wedding March by Reginald Barrett (who made the famous transcription of “The Lost Chord”), and I thought it might work as a concert march if you simply call it “Nessler’s March.” It’s got what you want in a march: bouncy rhythm with some oom-pah pedals, contrasting quiet section, and a big finish. It’s not too hard, as well!
Nessler-Barrett.WeddingMarch.html

2. MARCH FROM AIDA, by Giuseppe Verdi, transcribed by Edwin H Lemare (1865-1934). You have probably heard this popular opera extract played on organs from concert halls to cinema palaces. If your audience has heard any opera music at all, they’ve heard this one! Lemare’s transcription is from 1931, only three years before his death, and it is not of the difficulty of many of his previous efforts. I offer a live video performance of it by the great Thomas Heywood.
Verdi-Lemare.MarchFromAida.html

ORGAN BOOKS

1. DEDICATION OF THE NEW CARNEGIE HALL ORGAN. On November 4, 1929, with Pietro Yon at the console, a gala musical program dedicated the new IV/59 Kilgen organ in America’s greatest concert hall: “After more than a quarter of a century Carnegie Hall possesses an organ worthy of the admiration of musicians and music lovers.” I have restored the entire program from an original. You may order a print copy or download the PDF for free! As a bonus, I offer a short video clip of this Carnegie Hall organ.
DedicationOfTheNewCarnegieHallOrgan.html

2. THE HEAVENS HEARD HIM by Vera B Hammann and Mario C Yon. This is a biographical novel closely based on the life of the great Italian-American musician, Pietro Alessandro Yon (1846-1943) written, in part, by his son, Mario. I cry every time I read this book! Restoring, correcting errors, and converting this hardback book from 1963 to e-book and Kindle formats has taken 3 months, and I am very proud of it. I offer samples and you can buy a PDF on my site or the Kindle book from Amazon. If you do not know the story of Pietro Yon’s life, this book will explain to you why I am restoring many of his best organ pieces.
Hammann.HeavensHeardHim.html

NEWS

1. I have created a list of my restored music that sounds good on theatre sounding organs including Hammonds. You can see this list and all of my others right here: look at the top of this page for “Suggested Pieces.”

2. In response to the many who voted in the poll and sent emails, I have begun to offer PDFs of selected titles of my restored music. Conversion takes a while, so they will be appearing a few at a time. Here are the ones I began with.

• Ontko.VariationsOnVeniCreator.html
• Thayer.ThreeOffertoiresSet1.html
• Thayer.ThreeOffertoiresSet2.html
• and this month’s pieces as well.

3. Thanks to the hundreds who have subscribed to my blog and leave comments and forward stories, I am receiving more payments from Google. This means I have more money for interesting *new* organ music titles, so watch for some new music coming soon! And, if you don’t read my blog, please consider subscribing. (Options for subscribing are on the right side of this page.)

Thank you all for your notes and for your interest and support of this music.

Cheers!
Michael