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University of Michigan Historic Tour XLIX

September 18, 2003
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Te-Min Ong is an engineer and organist. He is a student of Dr. Evelyn Lim at Methodist School of Music, Singapore, and a former student of Dr Marilyn Mason. Don Baber is parish musician at Faith Lutheran Church, Sarasota, Florida

This year's tour, number 49 led by Marilyn Mason, chair of the organ department at the University of Michigan, brought us to new and unexplored regions of Spain and France. We had the opportunity to sample the rich organ heritage of the Basque region, a place where both Spanish as well as French organ traditions melded, as evidenced by the presence of numerous Cavaillé-Coll organs.

The organists on this tour presented a total of six recitals, the first of which was in Pamplona on the splendid Spanish baroque organ in the Church of the Dominicans. The local government extended their hospitality by providing transport to the church and an English-speaking tour guide. The organ was fascinating with several en chamade ranks and a full complement of efectos including tambores (drums) and pájaros (nightingales). There were knee levers for turning on and off the reed stops as well as a cadereta, which was probably a later addition to this organ.

The group played the second recital in the village of Biarritz, France. The Church of St. Martin is home to a 32-stop organ built by Gonzalez in 1975. The next day it was on to Pau where we had our third recital at the Church of St. Jacques on another three-manual Gonzalez. Performers stayed on to practice at this church while the rest of the group proceeded to the Cathedral of St. Martin to try out the organ there.

After this we traveled back into Spain to the beach resort town of San Sebastián where we stayed for four nights. Our fourth recital was held at the organ in the Basilica of Santa Maria del Coro, the most well preserved Cavaillé-Coll organ outside France and subject of numerous recordings. This monumental instrument was built in 1862 and follows closely the design principles of Franck's organ at St. Clothilde in Paris. It was truly a privilege to be able to play this organ.

The next recital was at the Church of Santa María la Real in Azcoitia. This organ--as does the one at the Basilica of St. Ignatius of Loyola--features horizontal stops which are not present on any of Cavaillé-Coll's organs in France. Cavaillé-Coll used Spanish stop nomenclature and measurement units (i.e., palmos instead of feet) as an acknowledgement of his Spanish heritage. Professor Elizondo, an authority on Spanish organs, shared his expertise on the unique Basque instruments.

The final recital was held at the Church of Santa Maria in Tolosa on an 1885 Stoltz Frères organ. This was followed by a reception held in a 17th-century palace by the Friends of the Organ in Tolosa, a relatively young organization dedicated to promoting awareness of the town's organ heritage. The next night was spent at the Parador Argomaniz where we had an opportunity to go visit Vitoria before returning for the farewell dinner in the ancient dining hall of the hotel. After an additional night in Bilbao, the American and Singaporean contingents went their separate ways.

-- Te-Min Ong

On May 1, Marilyn Mason led a merry band of 32 organists and music lovers on an overnight flight to Frankfurt, where we boarded another flight for Bilbao, a city in the Pyrenees of Spain. Our plane was met by Carlos Calvente of Madrid, who had planned the locations and hotels for us, and who stayed with us throughout the trip, acting as guide and interpreter. After a rest in our hotel, we ventured out to San Jacques Cathedral where we enjoyed playing the 2-year-old classical Pellerin-Up organ of 38 stops from DAX of France.

On May 3, we visited the Guggenheim Museum with its works of modern art. Taking an elevator to the top, we worked our way down via the curving walkway. That evening the group enjoyed a welcome dinner at our hotel. The following day we drove to Pamplona on a modern tour bus and walked the street where the bulls run each July. Tour members played a wonderful Spanish baroque organ in Santo Domingo Church. Built in 1660, it was restored in 1991 by Les Franqueses del Vallies of Barcelona. It boasts a powerful horizontal trumpet, or battle trumpet, as the Spanish call it. We learned that the Spanish organbuilders, not the French, were the first to build horizontal trumpets.

The members of our group who were to play a recital on this organ that evening stayed to practice. The rest walked to the Cathedral of Santa Maria where we played the 3-manual Cavaillé-Coll style organ build by the Spanish builder Roques around 1890. It is in this Cathedral that Charles III, King of Navarre, and his wife are buried in front of the high altar.

On May 5 we crossed the border (now an open border due to the E.U. agreements) into France and on to St. Jean de Luz, where we registered at our hotel. Then we then drove to Biarritz where we played the 1973 Danion Gonzalez 3-manual romantic organ built in the style of Cavaillé-Coll. Several members played a recital here in the evening. The organ is placed to the side of the west gallery, rather than spread across the west wall.

May 6 found the group in Lescar. The Cathdral of Notre Dame, a 12th-century church, has a 3-manual, 54-rank, 32-stop organ built in 1760 by Dom Bedos. It was rebuit in 1869 by Wenner. After lunch we drove to Pau to the Church of San Jacques. Here we played the French neo-classic organ built by Merklin in 1872 and modified by Victor Gonzalez in 1971. Some stayed to practice for the recital that evening. The rest toured the Chateau de Pau, which was built in the 14th century and became the residence of the King of Navarre at the end of the 15th century. During the recital that evening, an interesting addition to the organ music was the chirping of a bird that had gotten into the building.

On the morning of May 7, we visited St. Jean Baptiste Church, a Basque church with tiers of galleries on three sides of the church, dating from the Middle Ages. All Basque churches have galleries, where the men sat during Mass; the women sat on the main floor in the pews. The original organ, built in 1740, was destroyed during the French revolution; however, the case was not destroyed and remains today. In 1875 Venner built a Cavaillé-Coll style romantic organ here. From there we drove back over the border into Spain and checked into our five-star hotel in San Sebastian, where we would stay for the next three nights.

On May 8, we visited the Basilica Santa Maria del Coro in San Sebastian, where some of the group were to play a recital that evening on the Cavaillé-Coll organ, a 3-manual with 44 stops, built in 1863, and restored in 1972. It has remained an authentic Cavaillé-Coll and is much the same as the organ Franck played at St. Clotilde in Paris, and has been featured on many recordings because of its authenticity. Those not playing in recital that evening also visited San Vicente Church near the Basilica and played a less interesting Cavaillé-Coll organ built in 1868. The city government hosted a reception for the tour group at the City Hall before the concert that evening. Wine flowed freely and we were treated to Spanish tapas (much like our hors d’oeuvres).

May 9: We left early for Bergara, where we played the Stoltz Frères of  Paris 1889 organ at the church of San Pedro. We wondered why we were visiting so many romantic organs and were told that other parts of Spain tend to have classic instruments. Cavaillé-Coll built 36 organs in Spain, and 24 of these are the Basque area, where we were. The Stoltz brothers were competitors of Cavaillé-Coll. This organ (3 manuals and 36 stops) was on the side of the west gallery, like the ones Cavaillé-Coll built, and sounded much like his.

We then drove on to Aranzazu for lunch, where we were served by the Franciscan Order in their complex isolated in the mountains. Located here are the church, monastery and retreat house, with a very large dining room. The church was built in the 1950s when Franco was in power. There was much objection to the church, as it was built in a strange modern style, and the Vatican was called in to support the plans. Our lunch consisted of several courses including wine, bread, vegetable stew, fried squid and other things. Dessert was huge slices of heavily iced cake and ice cream. There were many pilgrims making retreats there.

After lunch, we drove to the Church of Santa Maria la Real in Azkoitia, where we left the recital crew to practice for the evening concert. The rest of the group went on to Loyola and visited the Basilica of Loyola and the House of Ignatius, the founder of the Jesuit Order. The Basilica has an 1899 Cavaillé-Coll organ of 3 manuals and 36 stops, which we played. The recital in the evening was on the 1898 Cavaillé-Coll in Azkoitia, which features a trompette-en-chamade and 72 stops. This was the last large organ built by Cavaillé-Coll which is still in original condition. We were treated to a reception afterward by the city government.

May 10: This morning we visited an ancient historic church sitting in splendid isolation on the very top of a mountain. Santa Maria de Zumarraga was once a Roman building, made of stone with wood ceiling. There are galleries around in the Basque style. The church is used only for special events, such as weddings. At San Martin Eliza Church in Zumarraga, we played a Spanish organ built in 1761—it was a delight. There is a wonderful horizontal trumpet and a single divided keyboard with an octave of pedal tabs. The Basque builder Arragola restored the organ to original condition, only adding a modern keyboard.

We then drove to Santa Maria Church in Tolosa to play the 3-manual 36-stop romantic organ by Stoltz Frères of Paris. For the evening concert a video screen was set up in front of the altar so the audience could see the performers as they played from the west gallery. We were again given a reception, this time by the Friends of the Organ of Santa Maria Church.

May 11: Some of us attended Mass at San Sebastian Cathedral. After lunch we drove to the Parador du Argomaniz, where we would spend the night. We spent the afternoon enjoying a nearby town, Victoria. Everyone, it seemed, was on the streets walking and visiting, and the bars were full of people socializing. We had a farewell dinner that night.

May 12: We drove to Bilbao and checked into a hotel not far from the airport for our 7 am flight to Frankfurt the next day. The hotel was in a country setting. It had been used originally as a seminary.

May 13: We were up at 4 am. At 7 am our plane departed for Frankfurt, and after a four-hour wait we began our overseas flight to the U.S. We were a very congenial group, with ages from 16 up to late 80s. We came home with many happy memories of wonderful historic organs, beautiful scenery in the Pyrenees, new friends and gratitude to Dr. Mason who made it all possible.

--Don Baber, CAGO, Mus.M

Performers in the recitals included Melissa Goh, Nicholas Leow, Evelyn Lim, Robert Luther, Marilyn Mason, Chet Wei Ng, Te-Min Ong, Julia Watson, Helga Weichselbaum, and Ellena Yeo.

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