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Nunc Dimittis

August 2, 2003
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Edward Hansen, 69, died on December 13 from complications of multiple myeloma. Hansen received his undergraduate and doctoral degrees from the University of Washington. He was organist at First United Methodist Church in Seattle for five years before his appointment as Organist and Choirmaster of Plymouth Congregational Church in 1957. He retired from Plymouth in 1991. During his tenure he was involved with the planning and development of the new church structure and the design and installation of two new Schlicker organs. While at Plymouth he also began a series of Wednesday noontime recitals. Over 650 of these recitals featured both local and visiting organists. In 1970 he joined the faculty of the University of Puget Sound as Chairman of Organ and Church Music Studies, a position he retained until 1993. As Professor Emeritus, he continued as University Organist and organ teacher until 1997. He served as President of the AGO from 1981-86, and has since held a number of offices within the Guild. From 1985-87 Hansen served on the Board of Directors of the National Music Council. He is survived by his wife, Jeanne Martinelli Hansen, three children, five grandchildren, a sister, and two brothers. Memorial services were held on January 9 at Plymouth Congregational Church.

Joseph Horning--In Memoriam

Joseph Horning, a freqent contributor to these pages, died on October 6, 1998, at the age of 53, after a long struggle with cancer. A native of Salem, Ohio, Horning attended Kent State University where he earned degrees in Political Science and Communications. Later, he earned an MBA from Pepperdine University in Malibu and became Vice President of Marketing for Henry Company, a national roofing products firm in Los Angeles. Along the way, he worked as a printer, photographer, television producer, baker and national sales manager for three different companies. Here follow two reflections on his life and work, from Los Angeles organ builder, Manuel Rosales, and Thomas Neenan, Music Director at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, Pacific Palisades.

Joe Horning's friendship was not easily won but, like most that is worthwhile, it certainly merited the effort to pursue and cultivate.  His personality was highly objective, critical and analytical while maintaining a perspective of creativity, sensitivity and artfulness.

He deeply, truly loved the pipe organ and worked hard at learning to play a wide cross section of its literature.  He studied and read avidly which afforded an understanding of historic and contemporary instruments, performance practices and registrations. Coupled with his innate mechanical ability and an analytical mind, he was able to absorb and digest the musical value of an instrument while also understanding and evaluating its tonal design and mechanical integrity. Consequently, he was able to comprehend an instrument both from the player's and builder's point of view, allowing him to perceive the builder's intentions and to evaluate the effectiveness of the musical results.  Often, this lead to serious, interesting and often heated dialogue with many of the builders.

Being a frequent traveler in his business life afforded him the opportunity to visit many instruments around the country. I fondly remember how he would call after returning from one of his trips to tell me all about his latest organ tour. His reports were both informative and entertaining while always revealing some relevant facts and observations about a particular builder's opus.

He was firmly convinced that every church deserved a real pipe organ regardless of its size and financial resources. His imagination and creativity produced designs for small, affordable instruments many of which were the subjects of his articles for the organ journals. The maximization of the musical resources and versatility of every instrument were chief among his concerns as was practicality and ease of use for the accompaniment of church services.

With the passing of Joe Horning the organ world has lost a friend, supporter and creative spirit. His wit, counsel, critiques and friendship will be very much missed.

--Manuel J. Rosales

Joe Horning was an amateur musician in the best sense of the word--a "lover" of music--what the Germans call "ein Liebhaber." Indeed, the energy he devoted to mastering the musical arts and increasing his knowledge of the pipe organ was equalled only by the tremendous energy and creativity he devoted to his professional life and to his beloved wife, Alice.

At the memorial service following his death, colleagues from Henry Co. were staggered by the recounting of his musical achievements and his musical friends were equally amazed by the list of his achievements in the fields of marketing and communications. (Among other things, he created a highly successful arm-chair travel log in the company's marketing brochure with articles on all manner of places and things from whale watching in the San Juan Islands to the treasures of the Chicago Art Institute to the family attractions in San Diego, especially the city's famed Balboa Park--with its historic Spreckles Organ Pavilion. It is a mark of Joe Horning's creative chutzpah that he would attempt to--and succeed in--selling roofing tar by showcasing a pipe organ in a park in San Diego!)

Shortly after settling in Los Angeles, Joe made his presence known at St. Matthew's and began what would become more than a decade's worth of music-making, both as organist and choir member. Week after week he serenaded the congregation while the choir took its Communion. You never knew what was coming . . . one week, an obscure pastorale or canzona from the Italian literature which he knew and loved so well; the next, a homemade organ transcription of a work by Debussy or Chopin--always transposed, if necessary, into a key with fewer than 4 sharps or flats (he had a great disdain for distant keys); the next, a standard work from the organ literature, played with such an interestingly fresh perspective that I frequently altered my own approach to the piece as a result of hearing him play.

He loved Christmas Eve. For years the choir at St. Matthew's has had the tradition of singing for an hour before the Christmas Eve service begins. Soon into his tenure as "non-stipendiary assistant organist," Joe began dotting the Christmas carols, hymns and solos with the most delectable array of Christmas bagatelles. He could make the church's 30-stop Fisk organ sound like a 16th-century one-manual Italian instrument from Pistoia; a 19th-century American classic; an E.M. Skinner orchestral organ or a pizza-house theater organ, depending on the context. He also loved accompanying soloists and instrumentalists, always pushing his soloist, just a bit, toward his rather specific music ideals. When not playing the organ, he served as unofficial cheerleader in the bass section, encouraging and challenging those he felt could, with just a little more effort and perhaps a little friendly instruction, do better.

Never one to countenance mediocre or shoddy music, organs, scholarship, or musical performance, he was a tough critic--especially of himself. When his illness began to influence his ability to play the organ and sing, he taught himself to paint, creating in the last year or so of life some masterful works which, along with some recorded organ performances, will be cherished by his family and friends. A true Renaissance man, he will be sorely missed.

--Thomas Neenan

Diapason bibliography

IN-Group Forum, November, 1991, p. 2

Organ Design Based on Registration Revisited, April, 1993, pp. 12-13

Brahms' Chorale Preludes, May, 1997, pp. 13-16

Recording the Organ, Part 1, February, 1998, pp. 16-18; Part 2, March, 1998, pp. 13-15

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