Wilma Jensen has donated her collected archives to the Sibley Music Library of the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York. Among the nine large binders and boxes of scores and audio and video recordings were included arrangements, creative programs, recital programs, European tour itineraries, and many teaching handouts. The timeline stretches from Jensen’s first concert in 1941 to the program from her ninetieth birthday concert and beyond. The Diapason’s online archive of all issues in PDF format allowed for confirmation of concert dates, identifying recitals and programs that were missing, and collecting of specifics about organ installations. The digital archives were integral in the completion of this multi-year project.
Former organ student John Palmer drove to Nashville, Tennessee, from Memphis to assist with shipping along with Jensen’s assistant, Susan Salley. For information: wilmajensen.com.
Wilma Hoyle Jensen Archives overview and summary
Volume 1, Early years, 1941–1959. This volume is a collection of recital programs, photographs, published reviews and articles, and selected memorabilia from Jensen’s days at the Eastman School of Music. The volume begins with her first concert at the age of twelve and continues through her time at Eastman and her earliest recitals.
Volume 2, North American concerts. Jensen performed many concerts in the United States and Canada during her career. These archives record 334 of these performances including concerts at national and regional American Guild of Organists conventions, churches, and universities. With the European concerts listed in Volume 3, the archives include records of 405 recitals total. A number of the programs from these events are included in the collected material.
Volume 3, European concerts. Across nine European tours from 1977 to 1989, Jensen performed seventy-one recitals in Europe, from small historic churches to cathedrals such as London’s Saint Paul’s Cathedral, the Cathedral Church of Saint Mary in Edinburgh, and three concerts at the Cathédrale de Notre-Dame in Paris.
Volume 4, Publicity. Across her career, Jensen worked with several management agencies such as Colbert-LaBerge Artist Management and Lillian Murtagh Management. This volume presents her biographies, professional headshots, and promotional brochures along with marketing material for concerts and events. A special section at the end of this volume is a students’ gallery with promotional pieces for some of her organ students through the years.
Volume 5, North American published reviews. Recitals and performances were often covered in the press. This volume includes reviews of her concerts in local newspapers, professional journals, as well as several human interest stories featuring her work as a teacher, performer, and church musician. The collection, spanning over seventy years, is also an insight into how writers (often men) wrote about women with careers in music.
Volume 6, European published reviews. This volume covers Jensen’s work in Europe, just as Volume 5 covered reviews in North America.
Volume 7, Teaching handouts. From workshops at AGO conventions to tenures at schools of music, Jensen taught musicians the art of playing the organ by developing technique through natural physical gestures based on the concepts of Tobias Matthay. This volume is a collection of her teaching handouts throughout her instructive career.
Volume 8, Creative programs, musical arrangements, transcriptions, and publications. This collection consists of arrangements and transcriptions as well as special programs featuring various instrumental combinations. Music was created and performed for organ and percussion with musician K. Dean Walker. Jensen also designed a Lenten performance weaving together slides of art, narration, and organ music, which was presented in several settings.
Volume 9, Saint George’s Episcopal Church. Saint George’s Episcopal Church in Nashville, Tennessee, was founded in 1949 and is one of the largest Episcopal churches in the South. Between 1982 and 2002, Jensen served as choirmaster/organist, leading the choral program, planning the music for two services each Sunday, developing and sustaining excellence in the choral program, and taking leadership roles in special events for the community. In 1989 she led fifty-seven singers including the Saint George’s choir and guest singers through Europe, singing eight concerts including appearances at Westminster Abbey, Canterbury Cathedral, Salzburg’s Saint Peter’s Church, Eisenstadt Dom, and Cathédrale de Notre-Dame in Paris.
Recordings
Organ Plus with WJ, 2017. Includes Howard Hanson’s Concerto for Organ, Strings, and Harp as well as compositions by Ennio Morricone, Sigfrid Karg-Elert, Henri Büsser, Pierre Cochereau, Louis Vierne, Gerald Bales, Jean Roger-Ducasse, and Marcel Dupré.
Mors et Resurrectio: Passiontide—Eastertide, 1991. Features works by Jeanne Joulain, Jean-Yves Daniel-Lesur, Paul de Maleingreau, Jean Langlais, Herbert Howells, Larry King, and Charles Tournemire.
Music at St. George’s, 1998. Choral and organ works from Wilma Jensen and Saint George’s Choir including music from the film, The Mission, and works from a variety of composers including Edward Elgar, Marcel Dupré, and others.
In the French Tradition: Sketches and Improvisations, 2003. Includes St. Lawrence Sketches, by Alexander Russell; Méditation à Sainte Clotilde, by Philip James; Cinq Improvisations, by Tournemire; and Méditation, by Vierne.
Wilma Jensen Birthday Concert: 80, 2009. Includes Jensen’s performances from composers ranging from César Franck to Elgar as well as her own arrangement of Morricone’s “Gabriel’s Oboe” from The Mission.
Episodes from Pipedreams, MPR, American Public Media
#8443—Wilma Jensen in Recital, 1984. A recital recorded at Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church, Minneapolis (1979 Robert Sipe organ/four manuals, seventy-five ranks).
#8810—Recital at Riverside Church, 1988. A concert by Jensen with encores composed by Virgil Fox and John Walker played at the New York City landmark.
#9022—Wilma Jensen at Saint George’s, 1990. Jensen plays a recital on churchly themes, from bright preludes and quiet meditations to scenes of the Passion and hymns of the Resurrection.
#1408—Wonder Woman Wilma, 2014. On the occasion of her eighty-fifth birthday, a celebration of the art, music, and indomitable spirit of one of Nashville’s great performers and classy ladies, Wilma Jensen.
Video Recordings
Organizing Notes in Space: Developing Organ Technique and Musicality with Dr. Wilma Jensen, 2011. This two-DVD set with over four hours of instruction and an accompanying booklet with descriptions of all the touches covered in the video sessions, additional information about practice techniques and developing musicality, and a reference bibliography of books Jensen has found most helpful in her own career.
A Concert Celebrating Wilma Jensen’s 90th Birthday, March 8, 2019. Includes both video and audio recordings of the live performances celebrating Jensen’s birthday. Performers included Janette Fishell, James Mellichamp, Rebecca Price, Glenn Miller, and soprano Christi John Bye.
Wilma Jensen’s website: wilmajensen.com
