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Nunc dimittis

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Nunc Dimittis

Joseph Peter Fitzer, born February 6, 1939, in Chicago, Illinois, died July 21. In 1970, he received a doctorate degree from the Divinity School of the University of Chicago, with concurrent study at the School of Music of De Paul University, also in Chicago. He authored two books on nineteenth-century Catholic thinkers, particularly Johann Adam Moehler, as well as numerous articles for The Diapason and The American Organist magazines. He served on the faculty of St. John’s University, New York, from 1970 until 1988, teaching philosophy of religion and modern church history, and also as organist and choirmaster of churches in New York, North Amherst, Massachusetts, and Chicago. Fitzer was married to Susan Pollack Fitzer (died 2012), to Mary Molina Fitzer (died 2005), and to Mary Gifford. Joseph Fitzer is survived by his wife, Mary Gifford, his son, Paul Fitzer, and two granddaughters, Katherine and Elizabeth Fitzer.

 

Michael D. Friesen, 63, died June 19 in Denver, Colorado. He was born August 12, 1953, in Cheyenne, Wyoming, where he attended local schools. He attended Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, Indiana, graduating in 1975 with a Bachelor of Business Administration in marketing degree. In 1977, he earned the master’s degree in international business from the University of South Carolina. As part of his degree work, he interned with Air France in Paris, using his weekends to visit the great organs of Europe by train. He later attended Roosevelt University, Chicago, Illinois, where he earned a master’s degree in public administration around 1991. In 2001, he completed a master’s degree in American history at Northern Illinois University, DeKalb.

After working in international marketing with the Addressograph Multigraph Corporation, Friesen began a career as a civic administrator. After developing an award-winning recycling program for the Village of Hoffman Estates, Illinois, he served as assistant village manager for Algonquin, Illinois, and village manager for Lakewood, Illinois, and later, Meade, Colorado. 

Michael Friesen was married to Susan Werner Friesen from 1978 until 2001. They have one daughter, Elizabeth Ann.

Friesen had a life-long love of the pipe organ, beginning with organ lessons from his mother, Evelyn Friesen. He continued his organ studies while at Valparaiso University. He had developed his own master list of organbuilders by the late 1970s, compiled from The Diapason, The American Organist, and The Tracker, a list from which he planned to visit every builder’s shop. During their honeymoon, the Friesens visited three organbuilders’ shops, and each family vacation included a visit to at least one new builder.

Michael attended his first Organ Historical Society convention with Susan in 1980, in the Finger Lakes region of New York. They were charter members of the Chicago-Midwest Chapter of the OHS, establishing the chapter’s journal, The Stopt Diapason, for which they were the first editors and publishers. Friesen’s extensive research on the history of Chicago pipe organs in the 19th and 20th centuries was and remains highly respected; issues of The Stopt Diapason are archived at the chapter’s website and are still regularly used by researchers in their work today. When the OHS held its first convention in Chicago in 1984, most of the research for the convention handbook was carried out by Michael Friesen. He was a frequent contributor of articles to The Diapason, The American Organist, and The Tracker, as well as articles on pipe organ history for the journals of the Denver Historical Society and the Colorado Historical Society. He served as consultant for new mechanical-action organ projects, as well as relocation and restoration projects for historic pipe organs. He was active in projects commissioning new music compositions, especially “Introit Psalm and Alleluia Verse,” composed by Richard Wienhorst for the Friesens’ wedding, published by Chantry Press. He was dean of the Denver Chapter of the American Guild of Organists from 2010 to 2011.

Michael Friesen is survived by his former wife, Susan Werner Friesen, his daughter, Elizabeth Ann Roscoe (Avery), three grandchildren (Matthew, Julia, and Benjamin), his mother, Evelyn Friesen, two sisters, Sandra Henson (David) and Janice Kuske (Kevin), one brother, Douglas Friesen (Anna-Marie), five nephews and three nieces, three great nieces and three great nephews. A memorial service was held June 24 at St. John in the Wilderness Episcopal Cathedral, Denver, Colorado.

 

Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini, an Italian organist, harpsichordist, musicologist, teacher, and composer, died July 11 in Bologna, Italy. He was born October 7, 1929, in Bologna. He studied, organ, piano, and composition at the conservatory in Bologna, and later studied organ with Marcel Dupré at the conservatory in Paris, France. He graduated from the university at Padua in 1951. He taught at universities and conservatories in Bologna, Bolzano, and Parma in Italy and Freiburg in Switzerland. He was a guest instructor at various universities in the United States, including Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas. He regularly taught organ courses at Haarlem, the Netherlands, and at Pistoia, Italy. He served as organist of the Basilica of San Petronio, Bologna, sharing duties with Liuwe Tamminga. With Renato Lunelli, he founded the journal L’organo in 1960. An active performer, he presented recitals throughout Europe and the United States. Tagliavini was a recognized authority in historical performance practice for the Baroque organ and harpsichord, and was a strong supporter of the historic organ movement in Italy. He was a prolific recording artist, earning several awards for his LP and CD discs. He was awarded several honorary degrees, including a doctorate in music from the University of Edinburgh and a doctorate in sacred music from the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome. As a musicologist, he published numerous papers and edited critical editions of music.

A look at the life and contributions of Luigi Tagliavini is planned for a future issue of The Diapason. Also, see comments on Tagliavini’s work at Southern Methodist University in Larry Palmer’s “Harpsichord News” in this issue.

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Nunc Dimittis

William Brant MillsDon G. CampbellSteven Alan ClarkRockwell Lewis “Wes” Deaton Jr.Dale Alexander GillilandE. Robert Irwin

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Nunc Dimittis

William Brant Mills of Florence, South Carolina, died on February 18 at the age of 68. A diaconal minister in the United Methodist Church, Mills had served as director of music and organist at Central United Methodist Church in Florence for over 42 years. 

Mills earned degrees in organ performance—a Bachelor of Music from Florida State University, and a Master of Music from the University of South Carolina. He also did post-graduate study at Indiana University, Southern Methodist University, Stanford University, and Columbia College. Mills was founder and director of the Masterworks Choir in Florence, which toured Austria and Germany, participated in the Piccolo Spoleto festival, and sang services at Washington National Cathedral. The Masterworks Choir also sang choral works of Robert Powell at Christ Episcopal Church in Greenville, South Carolina, when Powell retired. William Brant Mills is survived by his children, Brantley Rees Mills and Susan Mills Rana, and four grandchildren.

 

Don G. Campbell, age 65, died June 2 in Boulder, Colorado. A native of San Antonio, Texas, Campbell studied at the Fontainebleau Conservatory in France, and earned two degrees at the University of North Texas. He was the author of 23 books, including the bestsellers The Mozart Effect and The Mozart Effect for Children; his most recent book, released in 2011, was Healing at the Speed of Sound, co-authored with Alex Doman. Campbell founded the Institute of Music, Health, and Education in Boulder in 1988, serving as its director until 1997. He also was involved with Aesthetic Audio Systems, which worked with hospitals and health care systems to provide music systems to optimize healing. Campbell was a member of the Denver AGO chapter, for which he served on the executive board.

The American Music Research Center at the University of Colorado is creating the Don Campbell Collection to house his books, videos, DVDs, and documents, including source material for several of Campbell’s most popular works. The collection will also include private letters from Nadia Boulanger, Campbell’s teacher. 

 

Steven Alan Clark died July 14 in Nashville, Tennessee. He was 60 years old. He began organ study at age eleven, and earned a bachelor’s degree in organ and a master’s in choral conducting at the University of Tennessee. Clark served as organist-choirmaster at six churches in Tennessee and Florida, and served in a number of leadership roles in the AGO. He was also a licensed massage therapist. Steven Alan Clark is survived by his wife, Donna, two daughters, two grandchildren, his father, four siblings, a sister-in-law and two brothers-in-law, and seven nephews. 

 

Rockwell Lewis “Wes” Deaton Jr. died in Davidson, North Carolina on July 26 at age 59. He was organist at Davidson Methodist Church and earned a bachelor’s degree in music in 1974, studying organ with Wilmer Hayden Welsh. He earned a master’s degree from the Peabody Conservatory in 1976, where his major teachers were Cherry Rhodes and Donald Sutherland. Deaton moved to New York City in 1976 and studied with Calvin Hampton, and played for churches in the New York area, including St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Woodhaven, New York, and Church of the Transfiguration. Deaton’s advertising career took him around the world; he served as senior vice president at Publicis New York, among other positions that he held. In 2000, Deaton returned to Davidson, where he established a marketing company and became involved in local organizations. There he served in substitute and interim organist positions. Rockwell Lewis Deaton Jr. is survived by his partner Robert Guttman, two children, two grandchildren, in-laws, and cousins.

 

Dale Alexander Gilliland, age 79, died June 28 in Bellevue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He began organ studies at age twelve and started his 63-year career as a church organist at Knoxville Baptist Church in Pittsburgh in 1949. During the Korean War, Gilliland served as a chaplain’s assistant and organist at Fort Belvoir, Virginia; following military service, he served various churches. Gilliland served as treasurer of the Pittsburgh AGO chapter and was on the 1999 AGO Region III convention committee, was past president and treasurer of the Pittsburgh chapter of the Presbyterian Association of Musicians, and a committee member of the Pittsburgh Organ Academy. Dale Alexander Gilliland is survived by Elizabeth Douglas Gilliland, three daughters, and two grandsons. 

 

E. Robert Irwin died July 28 in Norfolk, Virginia. He was 73 years old. A native of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Irwin studied organ at the Oberlin Conservatory, receiving a bachelor’s degree in 1961. He earned a doctorate in organ and sacred music from the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with David Craighead. Irwin was a professor of music at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, where he taught organ, music history and theory, and organ literature for 24 years and established a program in church music. He was honored twice by the university as teacher of the year. During retirement, he served as a church musician in Michigan, Virginia, and North Carolina. E. Robert Irwin is survived by his wife, Claudette Smith-Irwin, two sons, a daughter, a brother, and five grandchildren.

 

Royston John Merritt Jr. died on July 7 at the age of 84 in Matthews, North Carolina. After serving in the U.S. Army, he earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Georgia and worked at DuPont, Reigle Paper, and First Union Bank. He also enjoyed a 53-year career as organist and choirmaster, serving numerous churches, the last of which was Central Steele Creek Presbyterian. Merritt was active in the Charlotte Oratorio Singers and the Charlotte AGO chapter, the North Carolina Train Host Association, and at the Plantation Estates Retirement Community where he resided. Royston John Merritt Jr. is survived by his wife of 61 years, Jean, three children, ten grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

 

Thomas H. Schleis died July 19 in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. He was 62. Schleis studied piano, organ, and harpsichord at Lawrence University and received a master’s degree in musicology at the University of Wisconsin. He was also a Fulbright scholar, conducting research in Germany. An adjunct faculty member at the University of Illinois since 1981, Schleis taught music history and performance, and served as head coach of the opera department. He received the Excellence in Teaching and Faculty Service Award from the university continuing education association, and served as organist at the campus’s Newman Center for 33 years. Schleis was dean of the East Central Illinois AGO chapter for 15 years. Thomas H. Schleis is survived by a sister, a stepsister, and two stepbrothers.

A tribute to Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini (October 7, 1929–July 11, 2017)

Etienne Darbellay, Bruce Dickey, Susan Ferré, Margaret Irwin-Brandon, and Marc Vanscheeuwijck
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Introduction

Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini—organist, harpsichordist, musicologist, teacher, and composer—died July 11, 2017, in Bologna, Italy. Born October 7, 1929, in Bologna, he studied, organ, piano, and composition at the conservatory in Bologna, and later studied organ with Marcel Dupré at the conservatory in Paris, France. He graduated from the university at Padua in 1951, and then taught at universities and conservatories in Bologna, Bolzano, and Parma in Italy, and Fribourg in Switzerland. Tagliavini was a guest instructor at various universities and presented recitals and lectures for several chapters of the American Guild of Organists throughout the United States. He regularly taught organ courses at Haarlem, the Netherlands, and at Pistoia, Italy. He served as organist of the Basilica of San Petronio, Bologna, sharing duties with Liuwe Tamminga. With Renato Lunelli, he founded the journal L’organo in 1960. An active performer, he presented recitals throughout Europe and the United States. Tagliavini was a recognized authority in historical performance practice for the Baroque organ and harpsichord, and was a strong supporter of the historic organ movement in Italy. A prolific recording artist, earning several awards for his LP and CD discs, he was awarded several honorary degrees, including a doctorate in music from the University of Edinburgh and a doctorate in sacred music from the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome. As a musicologist, he published numerous papers and edited critical editions of music.

 

Editor’s note: the staff of The Diapason invited Susan Ferré to assemble some remembrances of Maestro Tagliavini. What follows are remembrances from Ferré, Marc Vanscheeuwijck, Bruce Dickey, Etienne Darbellay, and Margaret Irwin-Brandon.

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It was during a long bus trip to see organs with Maestro Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini that we became friends. He was not obliged to sit beside me. Making sure I boarded the bus first gave him the opportunity of sitting somewhere else. I had interviewed him on public radio, and he knew of my interest in early music and organ restoration. He had read my thesis on Respighi’s organ works and knew of articles I had written on links between Sweelinck and Frescobaldi, through such Neapolitan composers as Giovanni de Macque, Giovanni Maria Trabaci, and Ascanio Mayone, their connections to Antonio de Cabezón, who had traveled to the Netherlands with Prince Phillip, and the numerous questions those links posed, especially concerning the 1635 Frescobaldi Preface.1 We had a lot to discuss, and I was eager to hear his thoughts, which he shared enthusiastically, even with relish. He could have retreated to safety, but instead, engaged fully, listening as intently as he spoke.

During the years I lived off and on in the French Pyrenees (1969–1972), I enjoyed Italian neighbors and friends whose homes I later visited in the Italian mountains. During those visits and traveling to play concerts with Luis de Moura-Castro in Spain and Italy, Maestro Tagliavini took me to play historic organs not yet restored. It was then I met Susan Tattershall, who, with help from Martin Pasi, was busy restoring some of them, much to the delight of Tagliavini. Our paths crossed in Switzerland, in Haarlem, and in Dallas. His passing removed a most brilliant, most informed thinker, and most generous musician from my world. I didn’t know him well, but the loss of this unassuming, humble, gentle, yet wildly virtuosic musician touched me profoundly. It is with joy that I give voice to the following tributes from those who knew him best.

—Susan Ferré

Director, Music in the Great North Woods, www.musicgnw.org

Director, Texas Baroque Ensemble, 1980–2005

 

I first met Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini in November 1986 at an exhibition at San Giorgio in Poggiale, Bologna, where he was displaying his vast collection of harpsichords and organs for the first time. My next encounter with him was at San Petronio in Bologna, during concerts for the celebration of the church’s patron saint in 1990. Of course, I had also encountered his numerous publications on the history of Baroque music in Bologna while I was working on my dissertation at the University of Ghent and was deeply honored when he agreed to be the external expert reader for my dissertation and defense in 1995. In those years I had also discovered his importance as a scholar in Italian and European musicology, organology, and historical performance practice.

When I was a student in the 1980s, historical performance practice was not considered to be part of “serious” musicology (certainly not in Belgium), which could only be either historical or systematic. Performance questions belonged in the conservatories, not in the university. As a musicologist and Baroque cellist myself, I always needed to have both “sides” inform each other and the idea of being institutionally penalized by seeking a perfect collaboration between musicology and performance practice forced me to look for a job as far away from Europe as Oregon.

Tagliavini managed to be a leading authority as a musicologist and a professional keyboard player—specialized not only in performance practices on organ, harpsichord, spinet, clavichord, and fortepiano, but also in organology and in the preservation and restoration of historical instruments through his collection.

In that sense Tagliavini was probably the most influential figure in my entire career, and he has continued to be so. This influence continues through one of his most eminent and talented students, Liuwe Tamminga, who first became his colleague as an organist in San Petronio, and then the curator of Tagliavini’s collection of instruments when it became a public museum in the former convent of San Colombano in the center of Bologna. Thanks to this collection and my friendship with Liuwe and Ferdinando, I have been able to play such beautiful instruments (his collection is the only one in the world in which every single instrument has been restored in a historically relevant manner), and I have also been able to introduce many of my students from Oregon and from various European conservatories and universities to these sounds of the early modern period and, maybe even more importantly for me as a performing musicologist, to Tagliavini’s approach to musicology and historical performance practice as a scholarly discipline, which fortunately is becoming more mainstream even in European universities. His influence thus continues on both continents, and I am trying to make it happen as far as I can through my own teaching.

—Marc Vanscheeuwijck

Associate Professor of Musicology, Area Head, Musicology and Ethnomusicology

University of Oregon,

School of Music and Dance

 

I think I must have met Maestro Tagliavini about 40 years ago, soon after my arrival in Basel at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. I remember that he came to give a talk on tuning and temperament, and that I was astonished, not only by his knowledge of the topic, but also by his extraordinary ability to speak German and English, almost without a trace of an accent and always with eloquence and clarity. After I moved to Bologna in 1985 I came to know him much better and came, at his insistence, to call him Ferdinando, an honor I cherished. I have seldom if ever known anyone who carried his erudition (and in his case it was very substantial) with such lightness and modesty. 

I would like to relate two anecdotes that I think give an impression of his character and personality. Both of these stories relate to rehearsals with the wonderful organs of the Basilica of San Petronio in Bologna, whose renovation he was, of course, instrumental in securing. On one occasion many years ago, I was rehearsing with him for a concert with some pieces for cornetto and one organ. The morning rehearsal was dragging into the early afternoon, and I asked if we could do one more piece before breaking for lunch. He paused for a moment, then said, “Yes, of course, but I will have to call my mother to tell her to hold off tossing the pasta in the water!” I think he was into his 70s at this point.

The other occasion was some six months before he died. He had been very ill in the hospital and then made a sudden miraculous recovery. Enough of a recovery that he was able to participate in a concert at San Petronio with two organs and two cornetti, together with Liuwe Tamminga and Doron Sherwin. I was with the organ played by Tagliavini. Though he was able to play well enough, he did not have the strength to depress the stop levers without climbing down from the bench and putting all of his weight on the lever. That created some remarkably long pauses between sections of the canzona we were playing. Still, I was thrilled that he was able to play the organs he so loved one last time, and I felt enormously privileged to be a part of it.

—Bruce Dickey

Cornettist, Scholar, Professor of cornetto and 17th-century music, Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (1976—2016)

The following is a personal reflection delivered at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) on September 21, 2017, excerpted and translated by Susan Ferré:

Tuesday, July 11, 2017, “Ferdinando has disappeared!” That’s what was announced to me in a pithy email message from Liuwe Tamminga. It was like a return to the ice age. The image as dizzying as the sound of a scaffold falling: now a world without him, an impossible world that rocked silently in the real one. As this was surely the case for many of us, it took me time to understand. Decidedly, I hate the inexorable. Occasionally, time, a matter essential to the musician, an engine full of promise, now raw, delivers us dirty tricks, chilling, unacceptable, engaging mercilessly on a path without return. It was not only as announced by our friend Liuwe Tamminga the collapse of an entire library, but even more, it was the final disappearance of a point of fundamental support for the evolving science and art of music, an emulator without precedent, for all those who, like me, had the great good fortune to know him. There are circumstances in which we truly learn the opaque meaning of the word “vacuum.”

More than a teacher who would become a master and a friend, Ferdinando was for me a true spiritual father, a support, a reference of wisdom, insight, and intelligence coupled with rare kindness. Always ready to enter into any serious area of knowledge, whether a random encounter or to solve a particular problem, he was at the same time ready to come out with a joke that demonstrated his unfailing sense of humor, which from a natural distance also afforded him his magical freedom in interpretation, both musical and scientific, open to suggestion and to listening.

His tutelage and his inspiring presence accompanied me in all circumstances of my life in the days when, blessed as a young student and apprentice musician, I met him at the University of Fribourg. His influence had convinced me to sign on to the track of musicology rather than physics, with which I was still hesitant. I have never regretted this choice, and this, was because of his presence in the early days, which never wavered in the following ones.

It was here, 50 years ago, seen at the top of the stairs, with a firm footing, he would head toward a large table on which he posed some music or a book. He would concentrate for a few moments, then, without emphasis or oratorical effect, he would begin to speak on the topic of the day, sometimes with a slight smile and an enigmatic look without a target, which gave us the impression that he was reading in his head. He never stumbled or searched for his words, and in all these various data he was consistently accurate. Throughout his life, he possessed a phenomenal and infallible memory, regardless of the field. What struck me most as a student was his mastery, almost discouraging to his colleagues and students, in all areas of music history and in all languages, including Latin. He would jump without difficulty from the exegesis of a grimoire of the eleventh century to the explanation of a technique of composition in “our” century (the twentieth), or the rapport between the voice of the piano in a song of Schumann opposed to Schubert. Nothing would escape his expertise or encyclopedic knowledge. Recently, I actually saw him in Bologna where, as usual, I went to consult with him about a few issues related to the completion of the edition of the Frescobaldi manuscripts.

Often he demonstrated at the blackboard, very precisely, an idea or a particular mechanism, whether a problem of solemnization or even a calculation of temperament. This last area in which he was incredibly competent (in the image of his friend Patrizio Barbieri) was one of his favorite areas of exploration: at the end of the explanation, the board was covered with numbers, fractions, with values of four or five numbers, which he knew by heart, and which he could infallibly recognize by ear! Often he created a demonstration on a small harpsichord that he himself had brought before class for the occasion, or he would gather us, clustered around the instrument, opening our confused ears.

Noting our notorious incompetence in counterpoint, knowledge of which was indispensable in order to follow his course on any particular writing technique of the Renaissance, he set up a kind of accelerated pro-seminar where he taught us with his usual virtuosity the basics and essential tips, the best courses of “music theory” I have ever had!

The biggest revelation of all—when we were touched by his teaching—was without a doubt, those blessed moments when he rose from his small chair to go to the keyboard—normally one of the big beautiful old Steinways, brown from use. Everything became pure magic. Whether sight reading from any large keyboard or full score (for example a Mahler symphony), he gave us a living example of how to prepare a concert following the rules. His virtuosity, his ease, and his proverbial musical insight were marvels. For example, during a course on Frescobaldi, I discovered this fascinating music­—totally unknown to me­, and with which I became a prisoner—a music that served as a passage between us, a ford over the river of life that separated us until the last months before his death. Having become my preferred subject of study and subsequently an area of specialization, it was this bridge that brought me back constantly to him, after my degree and my PhD, as part of the complete critical edition by the Italian Society of Musicology, an edition for which he was the initiator and, always, the ultimate validating reference. I owe so much to Frescobaldi: it is thanks to Frescobaldi that I stayed in almost permanent contact with Ferdinando, Frescobaldi’s first and most important prophet, both as a performer as well as a musicologist.

He loved teaching, and he loved his students. He spent as much time as he could with them. When he conducted a thesis, I think that none of those who have lived the experience would contradict me in saying that he followed it relentlessly, helping the student in the face of difficulties while reading the work with unfailing attention. For me, it was not only a help, but a pleasure, and major assurance as I walked with my clumsy feet in his most personal garden. I cannot forget to mention that his sympathy for his students almost always brought him to share with them his fondness for fondue. How many times did the fondue at the Café du Midi in the street of Romont (Fribourg) serve as an extremely joyful and festive climax to a semester or a business meeting? Besides, the tradition continued in Geneva, where Ferdinando agreed repeatedly to the thankless task of thesis jury, accepting this burden for many of my students who, even today, are grateful. But the fondue there was not as good . . . .

One of the aspects that characterized Ferdinando the best throughout his life was his taste in riddles—perhaps a form of self-satisfaction in view of his incredible ability to solve them. His students of the 1970s and ’80s remember: be it the Album of the Countess (a nineteenth-century manuscript that he had found, containing if I remember correctly a piece by Liszt and which offered several weeks of hilarious and passionate discussions), or a mysterious inscription between two planks of a newly found old instrument that he had discovered in Italy or elsewhere. Each week he reserved for us the surprises of these little mysteries that he presented with his characteristic smile of satisfaction, that he could still be the one to rule over his new find. With his proverbial passion for antique musical instruments, the organ at the top of the list, these are clearly the different traits of passionate curiosity that led him to establish, almost despite himself, the most important collection in the world of instruments of this type, which he gave to the Foundation Carisbo de Bologna, in order to institute at San Colombano a museum of “living sonic monuments.”  

His immeasurable respect for history and masterpieces of the past rendered him uncompromising in the face of inaccuracies in modern editions of early music. When he was confronted in a modern edition with an inaccuracy due to a colleague, he gave us an informative example without blaming or judging, sometimes even excusing it as a teaching example. His tolerance and kindness were also as proverbial as his mastery without compromise.

In the field of organology, it was the same for thoughtless and reckless restorations of organs or harpsichords. One of his recent battle cries was the problem of successive restorations with the set of choices to which they led. It is the same problem as in the restoration of art: does one scrape the Van Gogh in order to find the Courbet, and then the Courbet to find the Cantarini? The evolution of taste is part of the story: the traces that it leaves on the witnesses, too, are newsworthy, which must be documented. In fact, the ideal situation is the reversibility of any intervention. Ferdinando taught us the vital importance of respect for all who, in history, made history.

Ferdinando was world renowned as an interpreter, even if his audience was unaware of his other talents, which, in the first place, was musicology. We have witnessed many times the enthusiastic way in which young people followed him with lots of gear to record and preserve some exceptional moments, like the amazing concert in Bösingen to inaugurate a restoration of the organ. The exceptional quality of his playing, both in vivacious music and in its technical perfection, always had the same impression on his audience which was to experience one of those exceptional moments of existence that one remembered always, between ecstasy and levitation, of “musical Tiepolo.”

I still think back more than 30 years ago of a concert at San Petronio (Bologna) on two organs, with Tamminga: dazzling, aerial virtuosity played with acrobatic garlands of sixteenth-century Venetian ornamentation, the rhythmic vivacity of which has had no parallel. Not so long ago, he told me the amazing story that just happened to him in Messina where he had inaugurated the restoration of a famous organ. Approaching in a car with a friend, he found himself stuck in the city because of incredible traffic. He then said to his friend in the form of joke. “It is because of my concert!” And the last straw was that it was true! It almost didn’t happen, as they had to clear a passage for him in a crowd estimated by newspapers the next day to be about 5,000 people. As the maximum that the church could hold was about 400–500 people, he had to give the concert two more times in the following days to satisfy the frustrated audience.

Thanks to him, therefore, I discovered the organ, its stylistic peculiarities so differentiated in its creation according to Italian or Nordic styles. This is true for the harpsichord in its extreme refinements. Ferdinando also gave us several organology classes dedicated to his chosen instruments, their construction, their sound principles, and their history.

With his disappearance, it is really the first time he leaves us. I have the impression of floating in a world without anchor, disoriented, whose entire grounding has disappeared. This weightlessness confuses me, and the void it digs is called loneliness, a kind of erasure of all landmarks, a general loss of meaning. As with all of those who have had the chance to appreciate him, I will need much courage to continue without him who will remain in our memories and our hearts until we face our own deaths.

­—Etienne Darbellay

Honorary Professor

University of Geneva,

Musicologist

 

It was 1962 when I first heard the name “Tagliavini”—a name associated with Italian organs and “early” Italian music. He was, I believe, on his first visit to the United States to give a course on playing the music of Frescobaldi. A young woman in our church choir had attended this course and, knowing I was an organist, would speak of nothing else. Six years later I began to understand why, when I attended the Haarlem (Netherlands) Academy for Organists and took the Maestro’s course. This mind- and life-altering experience, three weeks of daily classes, excursions, concerts, and earnest discussions led me to further investigations of the Italian organ landscape—first through participation in a traveling conference of the Gemeindshaft der Deutsche Orgelfreunde, under the guidance of Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini, during which we visited mostly antique organs, many of which were still playable but in need of restoration—and finally concluding at the Basilica of San Petronio in Bologna, where the two now-famous organs (da Prato and Malarmini) face each other across the choir, both restored under his watchful eye.

There has never been a greater evangelist for the Italian organ and its music than Tagliavini. Through his herculean efforts, and in support of the efforts of others, scores of organs now shine as they once did in centuries past. The treasures of musical composition are opened to new eyes, hearts, and minds. But perhaps the most tangible evidence of his passion is to be found in the Museo San Colombano, Tagliavini Collezione, where upwards of 80 keyboard instruments (and a couple dozen various others) are now on display, in playing condition, and open to the public without charge. In October 2017, a convocation dedicated to Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini, “Il cembalo a martelli: da Bartolomeo Cristofori a Giovanni Ferrini” (the harpsichord with hammers: from B. Cristofori to G. Ferrini), was held at San Colombano, with concerts in the museum and in the Basilica of San Petronio, and papers by scholars in the field. It was my honor to be included as a harpsichordist in one of these memorial concerts, one particularly unusual, in that it included ten of his former students and colleagues, in a program that moved chronologically from Frescobaldi, 1615, to Johannes Brahms, op. 118. This breadth of musical composition in no way traced the boundaries of Tagliavini’s interests, but was clear in its meaning. Music. Music, at the center of his life.

Attending the events of this colloquium the maestro’s two brothers, extended family and friends, shared in the legacy that I believe will accompany his memory in years to come—his keen scholarship, illuminating performance, insightful and inspirational teaching, love of life, jokes, puns, frivolity—all evident in his brilliant fulfillment in a life of music.

—Margaret Irwin-Brandon

Founder/Director, Desert Baroque, Southern California; Director Emerita, Arcadia Players Baroque Orchestra, Western Massachusetts;

Originator, Organs of Italy Tours.

Notes

1. Preface to Fiori Musicali (1635) and its relation to Il secondo libro di toccate (1627).

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Ronald Arnatt

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Ronald Kent Arnatt, 88, died August 23, 2018. He was born January 16, 1930, in London, England, and was a boy chorister at Westminster Abbey and King’s College, Cambridge. He was educated at Trent College, Derbyshire, Trinity College of Music, London, and Durham University. From the latter, he was granted a Bachelor of Music degree in 1954. In 1970, Arnatt was awarded a Doctor of Music degree from Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey.

Over the course of his career he held numerous positions, including instructor, American University, Washington, D.C.; director of music, Mary Institute, St. Louis, Missouri; professor of music and director choral activities, University of Missouri, St. Louis; director of music and organist, Christ Church Cathedral, St. Louis; founder and conductor, St. Louis Chamber Orchestra and Chorus; conductor and music director, Bach Society of St. Louis; director of music and organist, Trinity Church, Boston, Massachusetts; president, American Guild of Organists; director of music and organist, St. John’s Episcopal Church, Beverly, Massachusetts; professor of church music and department head, Westminster Choir College; and editor, ECS Publishing, Boston. He was also the recipient of numerous awards, fellowships, and prizes.

Ronald Arnatt married Carol Freeman Woodward, who died in 2017. They had two daughters who survive, Ronlyn and Sylvia. He is also survived by nine grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

 

Jon L. Bertschinger, 65, died July 13, 2018, in St. Joseph, Missouri. He was born July 25, 1952, in Burlington, Iowa. Bertschinger began taking piano lessons at an early age, followed by organ lessons on the new M. P. Möller organ at his church, Messiah Lutheran Church, in Burlington, in 1958. He sang in and accompanied one of the five choirs at that church while in junior high school.

Bertschinger began work for the Temple Organ Company when it moved to Burlington in 1966, helping to install the rebuilt organ at First Methodist Church in 1967. He was still working with David Cool, son of the company’s founder, Fred Cool, when the church burned in 2007, and he accomplished the tonal finishing for the new 60-rank organ for the rebuilt church.

Bertschinger was on the volunteer staff for the Auditorium and Temple in Independence, Missouri, performing recitals under the direction of Jan Kraybill, former director of music for the Community of Christ Church. He also had regular church jobs in St. Joseph, sometimes two at a time, playing over the years at Westminster Presbyterian, Trinity Presbyterian, First Christian, and, up until his death, Brookdale Presbyterian.

 

Wesley Coleman Dudley, II, 85, of Williamsburg, Virginia, and Bar Harbor, Maine, died July 25 in Williamsburg. He was born in Buffalo, New York, December 15, 1932. He attended Nichols School and graduated from St. Paul’s School, Concord, New Hampshire, before receiving his bachelor’s degree from Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. After two years in the United States Navy in Hawaii, he returned to Buffalo in 1958 to work at Worthington Pump Company. Six years later he became an entrepreneur, managing Auto Wheel Coaster Company, North Tonawanda, New York, before joining his family’s management office. He began spending winters in Williamsburg, Virginia, and summers in Bar Harbor, Maine, allowing him to explore his two dominant passions: pipe organs and boating.

A quiet philanthropist, he supported many projects anonymously, but there was one exception, the public radio program, Pipedreams. He was also a frequent donor to the Organ Historical Society.

Wesley C. Dudley was preceded in death by his daughter, Katherine Mary Dudley. He is survived by his wife of sixty-two years, Lucinda Nash Dudley, and his children, Nanette (David) Schoeder, Donald M. (Janet) Dudley, three grandchildren, Nicholas Schoeder, Katherine Dudley, and MacLaren Dudley, their mother Meg Dudley, and two step-grandchildren, Grace and Madeleine Waters. Memorial contributions may be made to Minnesota Public Radio, attn. Jamie Ziemann, 480 Cedar St., St. Paul, Minnesota 55101, or to the Dudley Scholarship at the Eastman School of Music, attn. Suzanne Stover, 26 Gibbs St., Rochester, New York 14604.

 

Steven E. Lawson, 63, of New York, New York, died suddenly, August 19, of natural causes. He had completed his usual Saturday evening practice at the Church of the Heavenly Rest, where he had served as assisting organist for 21 years, and failed to show up on Sunday morning.

Lawson was born September 9, 1954, in San Diego, California, attended elementary school in Fullerton, California, and high school in Topeka, Kansas. He earned the Bachelor of Music degree in organ performance at Oklahoma City University, where he studied with Wilma Jensen, and the Master of Music degree in organ performance at Indiana University, also studying with Wilma Jensen. At Indiana University, he minored in carillon performance and accompanied the University Singers, working with conductors Robert Shaw and Margaret Hills. Before his appointment at the Church of the Heavenly Rest, Lawson served St. Luke’s Lutheran Church near Times Square in New York City for ten years.

As an active member of the New York City Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, Lawson served as registrar, webmaster, and editor of the chapter’s concert calendar, but his towering achievement was the New York City Organ Project (NYCOP). Starting with his interest in gathering the histories of various pipe organs in churches he served or played in, the NYCOP grew into a seemingly limitless body of information, published online as part of the website of the New York City AGO Chapter. Thousands of organs are diligently documented with histories, specifications, and photographs. (For example, see the documentation of organs at the Church of the Heavenly Rest: www.nycago.org/organs/nyc/html/HeavenlyRest.html.) Friends and colleagues have joked that no one knew the organs of New York City as well as Lawson, given the countless hours he traveled around the city carrying heavy photographic equipment.

Lawson’s passion for collecting and making available this type of information drew him to the Organ Historical Society’s Pipe Organ Database, where he continued his vast contribution to the art of the organ, expanding his boundaries from New York City to include the entire United States. He worked closely with the OHS Database Committee, contributing and updating countless entries of organs, and behind the scenes with the development of a new, more user-friendly version of the database.

Steven E. Lawson is survived by his parents, George W. Lawson and Doris E. Lawson, and his cousin Linda Driskel.

­—John Bishop

 

Frank G. Rippl, 71, died August 11, in Appleton, Wisconsin. Born in Neenah, Wisconsin, Rippl earned the Bachelor of Music Education degree from Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, Appleton, where he minored in organ, studying with Miriam Clapp Duncan. He received a Master of Music degree in Orff-Schulwerk from the University of Denver. Rippl also studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music, as well as the Royal School of Church Music in England.

In 1979 he co-founded the Appleton Boychoir, for which he conducted and played organ for 26 years until his retirement from the organization in 2010. He initiated the Boychoir’s popular Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols held each Christmas in Memorial Chapel, Lawrence University. During Rippl’s tenure, the choir performed as choir-in-residence at the Green Lake Festival of Music under Sir David Willcocks and toured nationally and internationally.

Rippl taught elementary vocal music in the Appleton Area School District for 33 years. Upon retirement from school teaching, he pursued additional organ study with Wolfgang Rübsam. In 1996 he founded the Lunchtime Organ Recital Series held each summer in the Appleton area, attracting organists from all over the country.

Rippl began playing the organ at St. Mary Catholic Church, Menasha, later at Saint Bernard Catholic Church, also of Menasha. He was organist and choirmaster of All Saints Episcopal Church, Appleton, for over 46 years (1971–2018), retiring January 7. At his retirement, the parish established a choral scholarship for Lawrence University students to sing in the church’s choir. (For information on Frank Rippl’s retirement celebration, see the April 2018 issue, page 8.)

Rippl served as dean of the Northeastern Wisconsin Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, was active in the Organ Historical Society (OHS) and the Packerland Theatre Organ Society, and performed on Minnesota Public Radio’s Pipedreams. He penned numerous OHS convention reviews for The Diapason. He accompanied silent movies on the organ for over 20 years for the American Theatre Organ Society. He loved teaching and the pipe organ, and combined these two passions by giving organ lessons to many students.

In 2007, Rippl received the Rotary Club Paul Harris Service Award for service to the community; he played for the Appleton chapter’s weekly meetings for many years. While a student at Lawrence he was Vince Lombardi’s favorite pianist at Alex’s Crown Restaurant, as cited in David Moraniss’s When Pride Still Mattered. In 2014 he became director for the new Memory Project choir, “On a Positive Note,” for those suffering from memory loss and their families.

Frank Rippl is survived by his wife of 43 years, Carol Jegen, his brothers Bill Rippl, Rick (Marie) Rippl, and Dan (Becky) Rippl, as well as numerous extended family members. His funeral was held August 21 at All Saints Episcopal Church, Appleton. Memorial donations may be directed to All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Appleton, the Appleton Boychoir, or his family for an organ scholarship.

 

James Ralph Verdin, of Indian Hill, Ohio, died August 8. He was born July 30, 1936, in Cincinnati. He grew up in Mariemont and graduated from Mariemont High School in 1955. After graduation, Verdin served in the United States Army.

Verdin was president and chief executive officer of the Verdin Company of Cincinnati, a family-owned business since 1842 that installs bells, tower and street clocks, electronic carillons, and organs across the United States and abroad. Notable installations include the World Peace Bell, the Ohio Bicentennial Bell Project, and the Verdin Mobile Bell Foundry.

Verdin’s vision to redevelop and transform the Pendleton Neighborhood in Over the Rhine, Cincinnati, led to the founding of the Pendleton Art Center, Pendleton Square Complex, the old Car Barn (Nicola’s Restorante), and the restoration of St. Paul’s Church. The church became the corporate offices of the Verdin Company and is now the Bell Event Centre.

A funeral Mass was celebrated August 16 at Old St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Cincinnati. James Ralph Verdin is survived by his wife Carole (nee Conners), daughter Jill (Sam) Crew, and grandchildren Caroline Verdin Crew and Samantha Verdin Crew. Memorials may be made to Summit Country Day School, 2161 Grandin Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45208.

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G. Maurice Hinson died November 11, 2015. He was 84. Hinson served as professor of piano at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary from 1957 to 2015, and as organist-choirmaster at churches in Florida, Michigan, and Kentucky from 1943 to 1980, including the First Baptist Church in Gainesville, Florida (starting at the age of 14) and concluding at Calvin Presbyterian Church in Louisville, Kentucky, from 1944–80. He earned a BA degree from the University of Florida and MM and DMA degrees from the University of Michigan; he also studied at the Juilliard School and the Conservatoire National in Nancy, France. The author of 14 books (most published by Indiana University Press) and over 100 articles, he is perhaps best known for his Guide to the Pianist’s Repertoire. He edited more than 300 editions of classical piano music and recorded five DVDs of piano works. A specialist in American piano music, some of his most recent articles appeared in the New Grove Dictionary of American Music

Hinson’s many awards in piano pedagogy and performance include the Liszt Commemorative Medal by the Hungarian government, and the American Liszt Society’s Medal of Excellence for his research on the music of Franz Liszt. He was the founding editor of the Journal of the American Liszt Society, and served as editor of the American Music Teacher, and contributing editor of The Piano Quarterly and Piano and Keybord. Hinson also served as dean of the Louisville (Kentucky) chapter of the American Guild of Organists.

G. Maurice Hinson is survived by his wife of 64 years, Margaret Hinson, daughter Susan Elizabeth Jordan, grandchildren Kendel, Lindsey, and Michelle Enoch, and Ross Jordan.  

 

René Saorgin, French organist, recording artist, and organ historian, died December 17 at the age of 87 in Nice. Born in 1928 in Cannes, he began his studies at the Nice Conservatoire. At the Paris Conservatoire he was a pupil of Maurice Duruflé and Noël Gallon for composition and took organ lessons from Gaston Litaize. He also studied organ with Fernando Germani. From 1954 to 1996 he was professor of organ at the National Regional Conservatoire in Nice. He served as titular organist at the Church of St. Jean Baptiste, Nice, from 1954 to 1984, and at the Cathedral of the Principality of Monaco from 1984 to 2005. He was a founder in 1962 of the Académie de St. Maximin. Saorgin’s work helped fuel a revival of interest and appreciation of historic French and Italian organs. His efforts facilitated the rediscovery of many instruments. Saorgin’s extensive discography includes more than 20 recordings on the Harmonia Mundi label, including the complete works of Dieterich Buxtehude, as well as recordings of selected works of J. S. Bach and Georg Muffat.

 

Robert Schuneman, music publishing executive and long-time owner of ECS Music Publishing, died on December 4, 2015, in Wayland, Massachusetts. He was 81. Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Arlington, Virginia, he was trained in music theory, composition, organ, piano, harpsichord, vocal music, and choral and instrumental conducting. He studied at State Conservatory of Music and University of Freiburg in Breisgau, Germany, Valparaiso University (MusB, 1956), Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, and Stanford University (MA, musicology, 1958).

Schuneman’s extensive career included working with narcotics addicts in Brooklyn; serving as a church musician in Fort Wayne, Indiana; Glens Falls, New York; Chicago, Illinois; and Boston, Massachusetts; choral and orchestral conductor in Cambridge, Massachusetts; and teaching at Oberlin Conservatory, Boston Conservatory of Music, New England Conservatory of Music, and Westminster Choir College. Schuneman also served as editor for The Diapason from 1970 to 1976.

In 1985 Schuneman and his wife Cynthia purchased E. C. Schirmer Music Company, where he had worked as a part-time editor. He became president of the parent company ECS Publishing Company, and in that role oversaw the publications associated with E. C. Schirmer Music Company, Galaxy Music Corporation, Ione Press, and Highgate Press. In 1995 Schuneman began Arsis Audio and went on to master and produce over two hundred recordings. He also served as conductor of the Philovox Ensemble of Boston.

As a music executive and conductor, Schuneman and his wife Cynthia traveled broadly, enjoyed time with their family, and also made time for Robert’s great enthusiasm for watching and playing soccer. He was active in a large number of professional music organizations including the Music Publishing Association of the United States, and was particularly active in the work of the American Guild of Organists, the American Choral Directors Association, and Chorus America. 

Robert Schuneman was preceded in death by his wife Cynthia in 2012. He sold ECS Publishing Corporation in 2013 and spent the last years of his life writing, conducting, traveling, and spending time with family, all the while keeping up an active schedule of playing soccer.

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James Earl Bratcher, Garland P. Bruce, Delores Bruch CannonHenri DelormeMorley J. Lush

 
 
 
 
 
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James Earl Bratcher died on August 14. He was 77. In 1974 he formed the New Mexico Symphony Chorus and served as assistant conductor of the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra. Bratcher earned degrees in voice, organ, and education from the University of New Mexico; after completing his master’s degree, he moved to New York City, where he enrolled in the Union Theological Seminary. He performed with the original Robert Shaw Chorale and as a soloist in concerts with Joan Sutherland and Marilyn Horne, among others. 

Bratcher taught at Bethel College in Tennessee and Columbus College in Georgia, then returned to Albuquerque in 1970 and directed choirs and taught English at Eldorado High School. In the late 1980s, he joined a Lutheran Benedictine monastery in Michigan; when the order became cloistered, he moved to Orlando, Florida, as a Franciscan monk. There he established a home for AIDS patients and homeless men; he returned to Albuquerque in 1995.

Bratcher was one of the originators of Opera Southwest, which began in 1972 as Albuquerque Opera Theatre, serving as its artistic/music director from 1979–1987 and in the mid-1990s. A member of the University of New Mexico John Donald Robb Musical Trust board of directors since 2003, Bratcher arranged and edited John Donald Robb compositions and traditional Hispanic music, most recently editing Robb’s Requiem for its April 2012 debut by the Bach Society of St. Louis. He was completing manuscripts for the second edition of Robb’s Hispanic Folk Songs of New Mexico at his death. He also staged Robb’s folk opera Little Jo at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in 2005, and designed the program for a February 2012 Robb Concert. In 2004, Bratcher received the Albuquerque Arts Alliance Bravo Award for Excellence in Music. 

 

Garland P. Bruce died July 9 in Bluefield, West Virginia. He was 82. A Bluefield native, in his youth he played in small churches as a substitute pianist and organist; he studied organ with Elizabeth French. For more than 30 years he was organist-choirmaster at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Bluefield, where he built the music program; the annual Christmas candlelight service was the area’s largest musical event. Bruce appeared on the March of Dimes telethon on WVVA, and played at venues throughout the area. Garland P. Bruce is survived by his wife of 45 years, Mary Josephine, four stepchildren, six grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

 

Delores Bruch Cannon, of Lee’s Summit, Missouri, died October 22. Born September 22, 1934, in Independence, Missouri, she earned an associate’s degree from Graceland College in 1954 and a B.S.Ed. in 1956 from Central Missouri States. She taught high school English and music for two years at the Laboratory School in Odessa, Missouri, and subsequently music in elementary schools in Independence, Missouri. 

She received an M.M. from the University of Missouri at Kansas City in 1969 and a D.M.A. from the University of Kansas in 1979. Her college teaching career began at Emporia State University in 1975, followed by three years as an assistant instructor at the University of Kansas. In 1978 she was appointed assistant professor and artist in residence at Park College. She joined the organ department in the School of Music at the University of Iowa in 1979 and was appointed professor of music in 1987; she was head of the organ department from 1989–92, and associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts in 1992–93. She retired from the University of Iowa in 1999. 

Her interest in historic instruments led to fellowships and research grants in Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, and Mexico. She performed in the United States, Mexico, Canada, and Europe. She held leadership positions at local, regional and national levels in the American Guild of Organists. As a founding member of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, Cannon served on its national board of directors and was a contributing editor for the journal CrossAccents. As a member of the Organ Historical Society, she was a founding member of the Eastern Iowa chapter. Cannon was married to Ron Bruch and later to Donald Cannon, who survives her, along with sons Cris Alan Bruch and Gregory Scott Bruch; a sister, a brother, stepdaughters, and stepsons, along with numerous other family members.

 

Henri Delorme, organist of the Clicquot organ of Souvigny, France, died on August 18, just before his 69th birthday. As a young man, while studying French, Latin, and Greek to become a teacher, Henri Delorme studied organ with Joseph Hetsch and Michel Chapuis, piano with Hélène Boschi, and musicology with Marc Honegger. After he had passed the agrégation (the highest competitive exam for teachers in France), he spent most of his teaching career at the Lycée Banville in Moulins (Allier), where he was appreciated for his diverse cultural background, his good humor, and love for the humanities, which he endeavored to impart to and share with his pupils. 

Upon the untimely death of organist and organ scholar Henri Legros, Delorme became the incumbent organist (titulaire) of the François-Henri Clicquot organ (1783) of Souvigny, from 1971 until his death. He wrote articles for Marc Honegger’s music dictionary (Dictionnaire de la Musique) and also published the exhibition catalogue and the papers of the symposium he had organized for the 1983 bi-centenary of the Souvigny organ. The publication also included an inventory of the organs of the Allier region. During his career, he wrote several articles on the organ for various journals.

Henri Delorme conducted many organ classes for various age groups, from primary school pupils to university students and professional musicians. He was a guest teacher for the Souvigny week of Summer Institute for French Organ Studies (SIFOS), founded by Gene Bedient and Jesse Eschbach. Delorme was an indefatigable advocate of his instrument and gave organ recitals in France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Canada, and the USA.

The founder of the Association Saint-Marc, which now runs the music festival of Souvigny, he was the chairman of the Fédération Francophone des Amis de l’Orgue (FFAO) from 1992 to 2002. He was also the official organ adviser for historical organs in the Auvergne region and in Brittany from 1996 to 1998.

Learned, curious, good-humored, Henri Delorme was an endearing man and very special organist, with a great gift for improvising in the French classical style. He knew, understood, and played the Clicquot organ in Souvigny better than anyone else and contributed greatly to its reputation. His death will be a great loss to the organ world.

—Pierre Dubois

Pierre Dubois is Professor of English at the University of Tours, France. He has been deputy organist at Souvigny since 1984 and is artistic director of the Souvigny music festival (Journées Musicales d’Automne de Souvigny).

 

In the mid-1970s, when I first began hearing about historic French organs, the name of a town that surfaced regularly was Souvigny. Little did I know that a few years later, I would not only visit the church but have the opportunity over many subsequent trips to study in detail the treasure of St-Pierre et Paul: the 1783 organ of François-Henri Clicquot. Equally important, I would become an acquaintance and subsequently a good friend with the Souvigny organist, Henri Delorme. 

Jesse Eschbach and I hatched the concept of the Summer Institute for French Organ Studies in 1985 and we took our first small group to Souvigny/St-Dizier the summer of 1986. Henri Delorme was first and foremost a gentleman in the best sense of the word. He was always generous with his time, his knowledge, his musicianship, his scholarship, and his willingness to help visitors understand and appreciate French culture and an important part of that: the French organ. In 1994 I organized a small Bedient organ recital tour for him in America.

To quote my colleague, Jesse Eschbach, “Henri was a big voice in France and we will feel his loss acutely.”

—Gene Bedient

Morley J. Lush, age 93, died July 11 in Concord, Massachusetts. Born in Cambridge, he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Harvard. He was the chief engineer and president of Rawson Lush Instrument Co., a maker of scientific instruments in Acton, Massachusetts. Lush served as organist and choir director for the Church of the Good Shepherd, Acton, was a bell ringer at Christ Church, Cambridge, and producer of the radio show The King of Instruments on WCRB for 50 years. He was an active member of the Acton Historical Society and the Boston AGO chapter. Morley J. Lush is survived by his wife of 63 years, Mary Nutter Lush, a daughter, a son, three grandsons, and a brother.

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