December 2009
Parkey OrganBuilders,
Duluth, Georgia, Opus 10
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church,
Marietta, Georgia
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church made the commitment to a pipe organ in the late 1970s as part of the construction of their new sanctuary. Though a…
John-Paul Buzard Pipe Organ Builders, Champaign, Illinois
Second Presbyterian Church,
Bloomington, Illinois, Opus 37
This instrument of 43 stops and 56 ranks is the 37th new organ built by Buzard Pipe Organ Builders of Champaign, Illinois…
The first installment in this series, “From the Dickinson Collection: Reminiscences by Clarence Dickinson, Part 1: 1873–1898,” was published in the July 2008 issue of The Diapason; next appeared “From the Dickinson Collection: Memorizing…
Paul Otto Manz, widely celebrated organist, dean of American church musicians, and composer of the internationally acclaimed motet E’en So, Lord Jesus, Quickly Come, died October 28 in St. Paul, Minnesota, at the age of ninety years.
Manz’…
Fifteen years ago, on November 5, 1994 to be exact, I first encountered the work that, thus far, appears to win the sweepstakes as the first 20th-century solo harpsichord piece. It was featured in Igor Kipnis’s Spivey Hall recital, the…
Centennial Celebration:
A new beginning
Early in the 20th century, the organ functioned as a community resource. Municipal instruments proliferated, organ concerts were attended by throngs, and competition for popular attention was…
Teaching in 1909
This month, as part of the commemoration of the one-hundredth anniversary of The Diapason, I will take a break from trying to teach about teaching, directly, and instead write a little bit about the state of organ teaching…
The Centennial Sentinel
America’s heaviest president, William Howard Taft (cousin of Frank Taft, art director of the Aeolian Organ Company), was inaugurated on March 4, 1909. Apache Chief Geronimo died on February 17. Isaac Albéniz died on…
Do you long for the days of the Orgelbewegung? Are you nostalgic for the poofy sound of chiff? If it’s missing from the pipe organ you play, then you need Chiff in a Jif! This amazing new kit uses ultra high-tech, black box technology to…
Richard Gladwell, host of WXXI’s With Heart and Voice, died October 15, after battling brain cancer. Since 1989 his weekly program of choral and organ music was heard Sunday mornings on Classical 91.5/90.3, and on more than 100 radio…
100 years and counting
One can only wonder if The Diapason’s founder, Siegfried E. Gruenstein, envisioned the day his magazine would turn 100. The fiftieth anniversary issue, December 1959, noted:
Siegfried E. Gruenstein, a rare…
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