Nunc Dimittis
James Raymond Lawson died on October 14, 2003, in his hometown of Cody, Wyoming, at age 84. Lawson's life was devoted to the carillon, and he was known to carillonneurs and carillon enthusiasts worldwide.
Lawson discovered the carillon while a student at the University of Chicago. After graduation he became carillonneur of Hoover Tower at Stanford University. Following army service during World War II, the G.I. bill gave him the opportunity to study at the Belgian Carillon School in Mechelen and then a year at the University of London where he studied library science. Lawson's next carillon position was at the University of Chicago. From there he went to New York City where he was carillonneur at the Riverside Church for nearly 30 years, working also as a librarian at Lehman College. In 1989 he returned to Cody, Wyoming. A year later, his former colleague from the Riverside Church, Frederick Swann, invited Lawson to dedicate the new carillon at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California, and become its first carillonneur. Lawson continued there until his declining health forced him to retire again to Cody in 2002.
Lawson was known more for his creative programming than his performing ability. He was an untiring promoter of the instrument, garnering much publicity. He established and ran the Societas Campanariorum through which he published and distributed compositions, transcriptions and arrangements for carillon. He was a prolific correspondent and had the habit of sending a copy of his program to composers and arrangers whose music he had performed.
Lawson was quite a controversial character, loved by many, damned by others. While not known for his "political correctness," he certainly was known for his generosity, his kind heart, and his ingratiating sense of humor. His offbeat wit was aimed at himself as often as at others. For example, Jim wrote me following an earthquake, insisting that it had rattled the bells and that neighbors called the Cathedral exclaiming: "Lawson, you've never sounded better!" At one point in his career he dared to work for vendors of electronic bell instruments and later came under fire again by unknowing carillonneurs when he associated himself with the controversial major-third carillon at the Crystal Cathedral. Lawson responded by writing an article on this new phenomenon for The American Organist. He also contributed articles on a variety of subjects to the Bulletin of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America.
"Carillonneuse" was how Jim referred to all female carillonneurs, and he wrote this poem for one:
To a Fair Carillonneuse
Attending a Convention of Carillonneurs
Must beat on tortured bronze?
Fright the young, pain the old, deafen all?
This sport was meant for beasts
Caged (as is proper) twixt earth and sky
Pounding, stomping, grunting, they storm heaven
Then fall in sweat, defeated.
Beauteous belle, thou should toll a better song
Thy tierce, thy quint, thy octave were tuned above
Divine founder's hands shaped thy profile
(O envied clapper that rings thy nominal!)
Cast not thy partials before brutes
Let them rave and rend the air
Join not their rage, go thou in quiet
Thy beauties best seen, not heard.
Jim's fondness for Cody--where he was born on May 25, 1919--never waned, and there is something poetic about his returning there to pass his final days. But then, Jim always said that "old bell ringers don't die; they just drop their clappers."
Fire, Sunday, 2 November 2003
52 Sanchez Street, San Francisco
On Sunday, 2 November 2003, a fire destroyed the apartment building where The Diapason carillon editor Brian Swager lived. He had returned home from playing for morning church services, made lunch, and began working at this computer when he felt the building shake and smelled smoke. Living on the third floor, he barely had time to escape the building, grabbing a few essential items and running down the stairs and out the back door. At that point the entire wall of the building next door was already engulfed in flames.
The apartment next to Brian's and the one below it were completely gutted. The fire had worked its way into his apartment by the time the firemen extinguished the flames. Nothing was untouched: what wasn't consumed by flames was damaged by water, smoke, and the falling ceiling.
Friends have been very supportive. For three days crews helped sort through the rubble and salvage many things. Fortunately 90% of his music scores survived, and only a few CDs melted. A friend has offered housing and other friends have made work space available. In addition to losing his home and work space, his practice organ was destroyed, his harp burned, and virtually all furnishings, appliances and electronics will need to be replaced.
Contributions are welcome; for information on Brian's wish list visit <http://www.spiritouch.org/fire.html>; to send an email message:
