May 1997

Music publisher Donald Hinshaw died on December 30, 1996 at the age of 62. He founded Hinshaw Music in 1975, specializing in choral and sacred music. The firm also publishes textbooks and instructional videotapes related to choral music. Hinshaw began his musical career at age nine when he was appointed pianist at Mt. Pleasant United Methodist Church in Boonville, NC. He earned a bachelor's degree in music education in 1955 from Davidson College, and a degree in church music in 1958 from the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

A 45-year period around the turn of the century was the "Golden Age" of the organ in Manitoba. More than one-third of all the known pipe organ installations in the province up to the present occurred in this period, many of them in newly constructed churches. This article presents a brief chronicle of the organ--the instruments, the builders, and the players--during this period of slightly more than four decades.

Call for papers

From August 9 through 13, 1998, the biennial congress of the
World Carillon Federation will take place in Mechelen and Louvain, Belgium. As
part of this event, the Catholic University of Louvain will sponsor a congress
on campanology. Since campanology is an interdisciplinary field of scholarship,
papers from various areas of research are welcome, including but not limited to
musicology, history, sociology, psychology, theology, law, physics, and
environmental science. Topics will be organized in the following categories:

Wigton Pipe Organs, Inc., Dryden, MI, has built a new organ, opus 20, for Sts. Cyril & Methodius Catholic Church of Sterling Heights, MI. The free-standing case was placed near the main axis of the diamond-shaped church, which seats about 300. Use of valuable sanctuary floor space was minimized by designing a small pedestal for the organ, and by placing the Pedal stops and wind system in a shallow chamber behind the back wall. The case is made of rift- and quarter-sawn white oak, with pegged mortise-and-tenon joints.

Johannes Brahms, who died 100 years ago on April 3, 1897, composed the final installment of his musical legacy--the Eleven Chorale Preludes, Opus 122 --during the last year of his life. With these works, Brahms has hidden eleven treasures inside a maze. In this essay, we will examine the "Eleven" and discuss ways to make these treasures come alive.