From The Dickinson Collection:
Clarence Dickinson on YouTube
The Diapason recently published the third installment (February issue) in its “From The Dickinson Collection” series, featuring writings by Clarence Dickinson (1873-1969) from Dr. Dickinson’s own personal library, housed at William Carey University in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Now you can hear Clarence Dickinson play the Skinner organ at Brick Presbyterian Church, New York City, on YouTube! Recorded in 1949 at an American Guild of Organists’ convention, Dr. Dickinson plays Eric DeLamarter’s “The Fountain” in this rare live performance illustrated with vintage photographs of the Brick Church Skinner console and Clarence and Helen A. Dickinson. Additionally, Lorenz Maycher, compiler of The Diapason’s Dickinson series, may be heard in a “Tribute To Clarence Dickinson” on YouTube featuring Dr. Dickinson’s “Andante Serioso,” also coupled with vintage photographs from Dickinson’s lengthy career.
Clarence Dickinson was surely one of the most influential figures in American church music in the first half of the twentieth century. This pioneering musician, composer, arranger, author, educator, historian, and concert organist set the standard for generations of church musicians and organists. He served as organist-choirmaster at Brick Presbyterian Church in New York City for over fifty years and was founding director of the School of Sacred Music at Union Theological Seminary and a founding member of The American Guild of Organists. As a composer, Dickinson was a master of form, counterpoint, and heartfelt melody. Working with his equally famous wife and partner, Helen A. Dickinson, he produced an important body of musical research, including hundreds of lectures on church music and music history, and published countless original anthems and historic editions. As his extant recordings reveal, he was also one of the great concert organists, with a dazzling technique and profound sense of color, drama, and musicianship.
We are very grateful to Patricia Furr and Dr. Gene Winters, of William Carey University, for so generously providing access to Clarence Dickinson’s library and granting permission to publish these important historical documents, preserving the legacy of Clarence and Helen A. Dickinson.
The links are :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCd2vFOGCf0 -- Clarence Dickinson playing the Brick Presbyterian Skinner organ
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pSdwfeGKUk -- Lorenz Maycher's “Tribute To Clarence Dickinson”
--Lorenz Maycher
