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Nunc Dimittis

September 29, 2004
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Marvin Beinema, 84,
died July 29 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Born on October 28, 1919, in
Worcester, Massachusetts, he was proficient at the keyboard at an early age;
from age 12 he served as accompanist to his father, a professional singer, and
he was keyboard accompanist in his high school. In 1940 he began studies at the
New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, where his teachers were Everett
Titcomb and Carl McKinley. His studies were interrupted the following year,
however, when he entered U.S. Navy, serving as chaplain’s assistant. On
December 16, 1942, he married Pauline (“Polly”) Anderson. After the
war he returned to the conservatory and graduated (cum laude) in 1949. While at
the conservatory he was summer organist at Old South Church and served for one
year as interim organist at the Church of the Advent, a position which, he
explained, “put me on the track towards a career as an Episcopal
organist.” With that goal in mind he entered Union Theological Seminary
in New York, studying with Carl Weinrich, and graduated in 1951 with the degree
of Master of Sacred Music.

Mr. Beinema was appointed organist-choirmaster at Trinity
Episcopal Church in Ossining, New York, in 1949, and then, in 1953, at Christ
Church in Roanoke, Virginia, where he also taught music classes and directed
youth conferences and community singing. In May, 1959, he was appointed
organist-choirmaster at Trinity Episcopal Church in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania,
where he led a choir of men and boys until 1970, when Trinity went to a choir
of men and women. He and Polly raised their two children, Peter and Nancy, in
Bethlehem, and Marvin also found time for the composition of sacred music. His
output includes church anthems, Anglican service music, and a three-year cycle
of psalm settings. He retired from Trinity on October 1, 1995. He was a
longtime member of the American Guild of Organists and served as dean of the
Lehigh Valley chapter.

Mr. Beinema is survived by his wife, two children, and three
grandchildren. In recognition of his 37 years of service to the church, Trinity
Church presented him with an annual organ concert in his name, given by a
prominent concert organist, in 2002. Charles Callahan and Marilyn Keiser have
been the guest recitalists to date, and Leo Abbott is presenting this
year’s recital in October. Contributions supporting this annual concert
may be made to the “Marvin Beinema Memorial Fund,” with checks made
payable to Trinity Episcopal Church, 44 E. Market St., Bethlehem, PA 18018.

--Lorenz Maycher

Composer Jean-Louis Florentz died July 4, 2004 in Paris, after a prolonged coronary illness. Born
December 19, 1947 in Asnières, he studied piano then organ in his youth,
later studying natural sciences, literary Arabic and ethnomusicology at the
Universities of Lyon and Paris, and music at the Paris Conservatoire with
Olivier Messiaen, Pierre Schaeffer and Antoine Duhamel. Composition awards
include the Lili Boulanger Composition Prize (1978), the Georges Wildenstein
Prize (Institut de France, 1985), Grand Prix Musical de la Ville de Paris
(1989), the Grand Prix Musical of the Fondation Price Pierre de Monaco (1990),
SACEM’s Grand Prix for Symphonic Music (1991), and the René
Dumesnil Prize (Académie des Beaux-Arts, 1993). He was elected a member
of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1993. His music is published by
Alphonse Leduc, Paris.

Professor of Ethnomusicology at the Conservatoire National
Supérieur de Musique in Lyons, Florentz carried out extensive field
research in music and animal acoustics in the West Indies, Polynesia and
especially Africa. His compositions reflected this research, filled with
African birdsongs, Coptic and Muslim chants, as well as complex polyrhythms and
an essentially modal melodic and harmonic language.

His four published organ works are Les Laudes style='font-style:normal'> (Lauds), op. 5 (1985), a seven-movement work
celebrating the religious faith of Ethiopian Christians; Debout sur
le Soleil
(Standing on the Sun), op. 8
(1991), an extended single-movement work inspired by a book by Jacques
Leclercq, priest at Notre-Dame Cathedral;
La Croix du Sud style='font-style:normal'> (the Southern Cross), op. 15 (2000), based on a
Tuareg poem; and the Prélude of l’Enfant noir style='font-style:normal'> (The Black Child), op. 17 (2002), the only completed
portion of what was to have been a 14-movement cycle inspired by a novel by
Guinean author Camara Laye. All these works exhibit a rich and powerful
symphonic command of the organ medium, also featuring the use of numerous and
unusual mutation stops.

Choral works include Magnificat: Antiphone pour la
Visitation
, op. 3 (1980) for tenor solo,
chorus and chamber orchestra;
Asún (Requiem de la Vierge style='font-style:normal'>), op. 7 (1988) for 3 soloists, chorus,
children’s chorus and orchestra; and Asmara style='font-style:normal'>, op. 9 (1992) for mixed chorus a cappella. All
Florentz’s works are published by Alphonse Leduc, Paris.

--Timothy J. Tikker