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Nunc Dimittis

September 1, 2004
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The European community and in particular, France, lost an important advocate for the organ with the untimely death of Jean Boyer. Mr. Boyer died of cancer on June 28 in Lille, France, at the age of 56.

He was born on October 4, 1948, in Sidi Bel Abbes in Algeria, into a musical family; his organist father was a student of André Marchal. He began his musical studies in Toulouse, a city well known for the quality of its organs. These exceptional instruments played a central role in his musical training, which was completed under the guidance of Xavier Darasse, in whose class he earned a first prize in organ at the Conservatoire de Toulouse in 1969.

In Paris, he was greatly influenced at St-Séverin Church by Francis Chapelet and André Isoir. In 1975 he became co-titulaire of this church, a post he held until 1988; he also served as organist at the historic organ of St-Nicolas-des-Champs until 1995. Mr. Boyer’s recordings have received great praise from the musical press, and in 1972 he was awarded the Grand Prix du Disque. In addition to his concert activities, Jean Boyer was a devoted pedagogue. At the time of his death he was professor of organ at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Lyon.

Mr. Boyer was an excellent organist and organ professor, much beloved by his students. He was a scholar and did a great deal to promote the understanding and accurate performance practice of ancient music and was a strong advocate for the thoughtful restoration of historic organs. He was remembered at a Requiem in Lille, France, July 1.

--Gene Bedient

David Messineo, principal university organist at Princeton University, died June 11 of an apparent heart attack at his home in Shohola, Pennsylvania. He was 45. Born on August 14, 1958, in Hackensack, New Jersey, Messineo began playing the piano at age four and took up the organ at age 11. He served as organist at Grace Episcopal Church in Port Jervis, New York, and Rutherford (NJ) Congregational Church while still a teenager. He attended the Juilliard School in New York City, where he graduated with a Mus.B., M.M. and doctor of musical arts with honors in organ performance. During his time at Juilliard, he served at St. Stephen’s Roman Catholic Church in Kearny, New Jersey, and for eight years was associate director of music/organist at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark. For 16 years, he was minister of music at the Glen Ridge Congregational Church, where he played the organ and directed seven choirs. He also taught organ at Montclair State University for many years. Messineo joined the Princeton staff in 2000. He gave recitals across the United States and performed in historical venues in Germany, the Czech Republic, France and the Netherlands. Messineo also played theatre organ, and in 1979, he opened the new Christmas show at Radio City Music Hall and continued as organist there for several years. He studied theatre organ with a former silent movie accompanist and was known at Princeton for his annual performance around Halloween improvising with the 1925 silent movie, “The Phantom of the Opera.” Funeral services took place on June 16 at the Milford United Methodist Church, Milford, Pennsylvania.

Myron J. Roberts, 92, died May 15 in Camden, Maine, after a brief illness. He was born in San Diego, California, January 30, 1912, and at the age of nine he moved with his family to Palo Alto, California. Raised in a musical family, he developed an early passion for piano and organ. By the time he was in high school, he was studying piano and then organ with Stanford University organist, Warren Allen. Roberts completed his undergraduate studies in 1935 at the College of the Pacific (now the University of the Pacific) in Stockton, California, where he was an organ student of Allen Bacon. He completed a master’s degree in the School of Sacred Music at Union Theological Seminary, where he studied with Clarence Dickinson. After two years as an organist in the greater New York area and as an interim organist in Richmond, Virginia, Roberts joined the faculty of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln in 1940, where he taught organ and music theory for 34 years. He also held positions in Lincoln as organist at First-Plymouth Congregational Church, Holy Trinity Episcopal Church and the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Risen Christ.

Roberts was married to Virginia W. Roberts. Mr. and Mrs. Roberts retired at the same time and moved to Rio del Mar on Monterey Bay in California. After Mrs. Roberts’ death in 1975 Mr. Roberts continued to live in California and resumed playing the organ in public recitals. It was at this time that he met and became long-time friends with Anthony Antolini, who was teaching at Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz County. When Prof. Antolini and his family moved to Maine in 1991 Mr. Roberts decided to join them and moved to Cushing in 1993, where he built a home with a view of the St. George River.

Roberts composed works for organ, choral music and pieces for organ and other instruments. Among his 22 published works are Homage to Perotin (1956), Pastorale and Aviary (1969) and Fanfare and Tuckets (1991) for organ. His best known choral compositions include O Lord, We Beseech Thee (1965), Jubilate Deo (1976) and Magnificat (1977). His most unusual composition is Five for Organ and Marimba (1975). After moving to Maine Roberts continued to compose music and teach organ on a limited basis. He also maintained a lifelong interest in astronomy and gardening.

Roberts was a communicant of the Episcopal Church of St. John the Baptist in Thomaston, Maine where he took an active part in the work of the organ search committee. In 2003 that committee selected the Bedient Pipe Organ Company of Roca, Nebraska to build its new organ. The president and founder of the company, Gene Bedient, was a student of Mr. Roberts at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln many years ago.

A memorial service was held on June 20 at the Episcopal Church of St. John the Baptist, Thomaston, Maine. There were also two performances of the Dvorák Requiem by the Down East Singers in memory of Mr. Roberts on May 23 at St. Andrew’s Roman Catholic Church in Augusta, Maine, and on May at the Rockland Congregational Church, Rockland, Maine.

An in-depth biographical interview with Mr. Roberts was published in the June 1997 issue of The American Organist.

--Anthony Antolini

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