April 2020

Resurgam

Few pipe organs in history have received as much attention as has the iconic Fratelli Ruffatti instrument dedicated in May 1982 in the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California. For many years it was seen and heard weekly by millions of people via television throughout the United States and in over 130 foreign countries on The Hour of Power with Dr. Robert Schuller. In addition to recordings, tens of thousands experienced it live for over three decades in religious services, solo recitals, and a variety of musical presentations.

The Sibley Music Library of the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York, houses the collected papers of Rolande Falcinelli, professor of organ at the Paris Conservatoire from 1955 to 1986. A finding aid is available through Sibley’s website (www.esm.rochester.edu/sibley/files/Rolande-Falcinelli-Archive.pdf).

Photo: The Leaning Tower of Niles, Illinois (photo credit: Kimberly Schafer)

Photo: The organ that inspired back surgery, 1886 George S. Hutchings Opus 156, Korean Church of Cambridge, Massachusetts (formerly Pilgrim Congregational Church) (photo credit: John Bishop)

Rites of passage

Photo: Thomas Gallia and Paul Déry in Milan, 1971 (photo credit: János Sebestyén)

New offering of János Sebestyén recordings

Longtime Southern Methodist University colleague and friend Robert Tifft has been my principal resource should information about a harpsichord recording be difficult to locate. When he sent me this material concerning the project for releasing historic recordings by one of Robert’s favorite artists I realized that I had never quite heard the entire story of how he became one of János Sebestyén’s best friends and promoters.

Therapy

Robert Hebble, 86, died February 17. Born February 14, 1934, he was a graduate of Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, and The Juilliard School, New York, New York, where he studied with Vittorio Giannini and Roger Sessions. He also spent a year in Paris, France, in private study with Nadia Boulanger.