October 2007
J. F. Nordlie Company, Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Ida Roberts Memorial Chapel Organ,
Kernersville Moravian Church, Kernersville, North Carolina
Dedicated on May 6, 2007, Moravian Music Sunday
From the builderMy first encounter with…
Motto
The noblest desire, the desire to know, imposes on us the duty to investigate.
--Arnold Schoenberg, Harmonielehre (Vienna, 1922)
Beginnings
Composition is the science of putting together consonance and dissonance in such a way that…
Helmut Walcha, the great German organist, may have had the distinction of knowing more keyboard music of Bach by heart than any other individual in history, including quite likely the composer himself. Walcha, who would be 100 years old…
Among his many admiring colleagues, Albert Russell is considered not only a prince of the organists’ realm, but as a gentleman’s gentleman. These attributes are rare enough in this day, but they are uniquely combined with great humility,…
For two weeks this past summer, a handful of American organists participated in the Summer Institute for French Organ Studies, a biennial educational seminar run by Gene Bedient, president of Bedient Pipe Organ Company, and Jesse Eschbach…
The 28th annual International Organ and Church Music Institute took place June 24–26, hosted by the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Under the direction of Marilyn Mason, university organist and…
Relax
At the end of last month’s column, I said that next time I would talk about relaxation, hand position, and posture, and would begin to address the business of teaching experienced pianists to play organ or harpsichord. Let’s start by…
Timelessness
I’ve often heard and I’ve often used the word timeless to describe the sound of a pipe organ. Ten years ago I was finishing the restoration of an organ built by E. & G. G. Hook in 1868, their Opus 466. I was thrilled by…
Stephen Bicknell, British pipe organ designer, builder, and historian, died August 18 at age 49. Among the more important projects he designed were the two instruments in Chelmsford Cathedral, completed in 1994. He also led the team…
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