Cover Feature: Community of Jesus, Orleans, MA
The Saint Cecilia Organ, Church of the Transfiguration; Community of Jesus, Orleans, Massachusetts
If we all embrace a new vision, special guidance and support will surely come.
—Nelson Barden
Digital Edition URL
PDF URL
Issue Content
Programmatic considerations in Julius Reubke’s Organ Sonata on Psalm 94
The Organ Sonata on Psalm 94 of Julius Reubke (1834–1858) is perhaps the best example of programmatic music in the organ repertoire—wholly unusual for a mid-nineteenth-century composition in multiple regards. Firstly, composers and performers exploited the expressive and virtuosic capabilities afforded by the piano. The use of the piano in solo and collaborative works was undoubtedly a hallmark of nineteenth-century composition. In contrast, relatively few major compositions for the organ were produced during this period.
Jean Langlais’ Suite médiévale and Vatican II
Jean Langlais (1907–1991) composed his organ Mass Suite médiévale in 1947, drawing on a rich tradition of French organ suites composed for use during the “low” Mass. Changes to the liturgy after the Second Vatican Council (“Vatican II”) in 1962 drastically reduced the role of the organ during the Mass, thereby eliminating the need for the French organ Mass. Suite médiévale is one example of a body of small-scale liturgical organ compositions that no longer carry their intended relevance due to changes to the liturgy.
Organ Projects: Russelly Mayer & Associates Opus 14
Russell Meyer & Associates, Lawrenceville, Georgia, Opus 14
First Presbyterian Church, Clarkesville, Georgia
Historic First Presbyterian Church of Clarkesville, Georgia, was built in 1848 by Jarvis Van Buren, a first cousin of President Martin Van Buren. The first pipe organ in the building was installed in the rear gallery by the Greenwood Pipe Organ Company in 1983.
Harpsichord Notes: Johann Mattheson CDs
Mattheson: The Melodious Talking Fingers and Harmony's Monument
Johann Mattheson: The Melodious Talking Fingers (Die Wohlklingende Fingersprache), Colin Booth, harpsichordist. Soundboard, SBCD-220, $16.98.
Johann Mattheson: Harmony’s Monument (Harmonisches Denckmahl), The Twelve Suites of 1714, Colin Booth, harpsichordist. Soundboard, SBCD-208 (2 CDs), $16.98. Both available from ravencd.com.
Nunc dimittis: James P. Autenrith and John Kuzma
James P. Autenrith
James P. Autenrith, 97, of Potsdam, New York, died September 20 in Canton, New York. Born in New Berlin, New York, on October 1, 1923, he was raised in Newport and graduated from West Canada Valley Central School. He served in World War II as a chaplain’s assistant in Mannheim, Germany, and was assigned to play the organ in Heidelberg at the funeral of General George S. Patton.
