March 2000

Cover

Trinity United Methodist Church

Racine, Wisconsin

T. R. Rench & Company

Racine, Wisconsin

When The Diapason published an overview of "Harpsichord
and Organ Duos" by Bruce Gustafson and Arthur Lawrence (April, 1974), the
authors noted "Unfortunately . . . this ensemble has not yet attracted
many 20th-century composers. . ." but they were able to cite four works
specifically composed for two harpsichords.

Andrew Pennells died
on October 26, 1999, at the age of 37. He was Managing Director of J.W. Walker
& Sons Ltd, England. Born on January 6, 1962 to parents John and Margaret
Pennells, he won a scholarship in 1973 to Culford School. During vacations he
helped at the Walker factory, showing a great interest in the technical aspects
of the operation. In 1978 at age 16 he began a four-year apprenticeship with
Klais Orgelbau of Bonn, Germany, which included three months study each year at
the School for Organbuilding in Ludwigsburg.

The Development of Musica Poetica

Since the rediscovery of Quintilian's texts in the early
Renaissance, many humanist writers have suggested a link between oratory and
musical composition. With his treatise Musica poetica, Joachim Burmeister
coined the term musica poetica for study of rhetorical relationships in music.
This discipline, musica poetica, rationally explained the creative process of a
composer, the structure of compositions, and the mechanism through which music
moved the listener.

This article first takes up the question of the authentic title
of Bach's last published work. Thereafter, this paper demonstrates a relation
between the theme of the unfinished fugue of this composition and the
well-tempered tuning "wohltemperirt".

Robert Rayfield died on October 18, 1999 in Bloomington,
Indiana at the age of 79, Professor Emeritus of Music at Indiana University.
See "Nunc Dimittis" in the December 1999 issue, pp. 6-7.