April 2000

Basil Harwood was born on April 11, 1859, at the family
estate called Woodhouse, near Almondsbury, Gloucestershire, England. He
received an education that was broader than that of most British organists of
the day. In his teens, he studied piano with J. L. Roeckel at Clifton College
and organ with George Riseley at Bristol Cathedral, then, after attending
Charterhouse School, Godalming, Surrey, took theory and composition with C. W.
Corfe while an undergraduate at Trinity College, Oxford.

The Reuter Organ Company, Lawrence, Kansas, has built a new
organ for Second Congregational Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan. The firm's Opus
2197 comprises 49 ranks, 38 stops, for a total of 2,763 pipes; there are 9
digital voices. The organ is located in three chambers: Swell on the left,
Great in the center, and Choir on the right. The Tuba is housed in a separate
box inside the Choir chamber and has its own set of expression shades; thus one
can use both sets of shades for dynamic control.

Barney Childs,
composer and music educator, died at his home in Redlands, California, on
January 11, at the age of 73. Born in Spokane, Washington, on February 13,
1926, he moved with his family to Palo Alto in 1939. He earned the BA from the
University of Nevada, a BA and MA in English and literature as a Rhodes Scholar
at Oxford University, and PhD in English and music from Stanford University. As
a composer he studied at Tanglewood with Carlos Chaves and Aaron Copland and in
New York with Elliott Carter.

Nothing is more dull in a performance of Baroque music than a
continuo harpsichordist who mechanically plays a chord for every bass note in
the score. Or who reverently plays a printed realization, which usually follows
the same practice. Only rarely one hears a realization exhibiting some element
of spark and imagination.

An important project is happening in Göteborg, Sweden.
In August, 1998, along with about 100 organists from all over the world, I
attended the International Organ Academy of GoArt: Göteborg Organ Art
Center, at Göteborg University, Sweden. This has become a major center of
research, organ-building, teaching and performing. A recent visit there last
year was the occasion to observe progress on the building of a four-manual,
54-stop, mean-tone organ after the style of the late-17th century in North
Germany.

Marilyn Mason led the University of Michigan's
"Historic Organ Tour XL" in Holland and North Germany, August
2–16, 1999. Of the 35 tour members, many had been on previous tours with
Dr. Mason--friendships were renewed as well as new ones made. The tour focused
on the organs of Arp Schnitger, although organs of nineteen builders
representing five centuries were either played or heard during the two-week
tour.

Part 1 was published in the January issue and Part 2 in February.