June 1999

Introduction

Even as the 60th anniversary of Jehan Alain's death
approaches, researching musicians are still encountering a lack of readily available material regarding the interpretation of his organ works. The major factors limiting accessibility are linguistic and geographic. Most written
documentation is available only in French. Many French journals are not
available in the United States. Research of primary sources, such as
manuscripts and the instruments themselves, can only be done on location in
France and Switzerland.

Part 1 appeared in the May issue, pp. 16-18.

The first part of this article chronicled the early history of organbuilding in Canada and the activities of those companies that were founded between 1879 and 1979. This part covers the accomplishments of several smaller companies, founded between 1984 and 1996, and discusses the future of organbuilding generally.

On April 17th, 1999, a large group gathered in
Boston's Trinity Church in Copley Square for a memorial service
celebrating the life and accomplishments of Lawrence I. Phelps, the
distinguished American organbuilder who died on February 22nd of this year.
Present there were family, friends, professional colleagues, and organists who
came to stand with Larry's widow, Gillian Weir, to honor the work and
influence of this special man.

In 1990 THE DIAPASON became the first organ journal to create an electronic index to articles and other information which appeared in its pages since its founding in the year 1909. Herbert L. Heustis Index was created by contributing editor, Herbert L. Huestis, with the help of half a dozen volunteers who typed mountains of information into the data base. The latest installment to that index includes the years 1993 to 1999 and will bring these records up to date, which in a way, will make the index "Y2K compliant."