Wilhelm Middelschulte: His Life and Works

An overview of the life, career, and organ works of Wilhelm Middelschulte (1863–1943). Photographs from his beginnings in Herren Werve, Germany, student years in Berlin, career years coming to Chicago in 1891, and return to Germany in 1939, and musical samples of his works will be provided.

Brink Bush

Brink Bush is a leading interpreter of German Romantic organ music. He has performed throughout the United States and Europe, and made his German debut at the Berliner Dom in 2001. He has performed and studied the organ works of the German-American composer Wilhelm Middelschulte (1863–1943), and given his lecture, Wilhelm Middelschulte: His Life and Works, at Yale University, the University of Iowa, and the 2006 national convention of the American Guild of Organists. He was featured on American Public Media’s Pipedreams in a program titled Bach, Bush and Middelschulte. His New York debut was at Trinity Church Wall Street during the Virgil Fox Legacy Twenty-fifth Anniversary Concert Weekend. He is the editor of The Innermost Secrets by T. Ernest Nichols, a book about the performance technique of the late great Virgil Fox. He currently serves as organist-director of music at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Beverly Farms, Massachusetts.

Who Framed Bach’s Toccata? A Study in the Sublime

The authorship of J.S. Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 has been in doubt for a generation. Learn about Jonathan Hall’s research on Cornelius Heinrich Dretzel, whom he hypothesizes is the true composer of this enduringly popular work. The presentation covers the stylistic parallels between BWV 565 and works definitely attributed to Dretzel, the influence of the musical sublime on this work, and the broader context of South German and neighboring organ culture.

Jonathan Hall

Jonathan B. Hall, FAGO, Ch.M., is a member of the American Guild of Organists Professional Certification Committee and teaches music theory at New York University. He is music director of Central Presbyterian Church in Montclair, New Jersey, and a frequent contributor to The American Organist and other publications. His book, Calvin Hampton: A Musician Without Borders, is available from Wayne Leupold Publications. He earned the Doctor of Music degree at the Jacobs School of Music of Indiana University, where he studied with Marilyn Keiser and Christopher Young. He also did graduate study at the University of Chicago, earning the Master of Arts in English literature. A New York City native, he lives in Rutherford, New Jersey, and is past dean of the Brooklyn chapter of the American Guild of Organists.

The Acoustician’s Dilemma: Finding the Right Balance of Sight and Sound

An acoustical exploration of worship spaces: size, shape, layout, materials, and how various designs affect the sound of a space, often producing radically different visual vs. audible results. Practical application of acoustics fundamentals are presented for buildings with pipe organs, choirs, and participatory congregations (and the spoken word, of course). Audio-visual material include photos, drawings, computer models, and audio clips showing how acoustical science informs consulting technology as applied to virtual and real-world examples. Perhaps some light will be shed on the conundrum: “Why doesn’t it sound like it looks like it should sound?”

Dan Clayton

Dan Clayton is the principal consultant for Clayton Acoustics Group, which he established in 1992, having worked in the field since 1980. His background in acoustics, music, sound systems, technical theatre, computer technology, and pipe organ building provides a solid foundation for his work on worship and performance space projects. His firm has undertaken more than 275 projects, the majority for churches and synagogues, and many including pipe organs. Prior to founding Clayton Acoustics Group, he worked for Artec Consultants, one of the world’s premier acoustics and theatre consulting firms. He is a member of the AGO (New York City chapter), OHS (vice president 2013–2015), AIO, and several acoustics and audio professional societies. In a previous life, he spent a year working for Charlie Fisk as an apprentice organ builder. He has chaired several technical sessions on pipe organ acoustics for meetings of the Acoustical
Society of America.

An Introduction to Early Spanish Organ Music

Handout

In recent years, pre-eighteenth-century Spanish organ music has emerged from relative obscurity, yet it remains unfamiliar to many organists. Most of this repertoire is easily played on smaller instruments (even without pedals), but some musicians feel intimidated and unsure about how to approach it. This paper introduces the three most significant Spanish organ composers of the time—Cabezón, Correa de Arauxo, and Cabanilles—and focuses on the predominant genre: the tiento. Also included are handouts listing current playing editions and a short bibliography on aspects of performance practice.

Robert Parkins

Robert Parkins is university organist and professor of the practice of music at Duke University. His publications include articles for several professional journals, including essays on performance practices in early Spanish keyboard music and the chapter on “Spain and Portugal” in Keyboard Music Before 1700 (Routledge). Among his recordings, on various labels, are Early Iberian Organ Music (Naxos) and Iberian and South German Organ Music (Calcante). Early Spanish Keyboard Music, a harpsichord LP first issued by the Musical Heritage Society in 1983, is now available again as a free MP3 download at https://sites.duke.edu/robertparkins/early-spanish-keyboard-music/. He received his degrees from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and the Yale University School of Music. In 1973, he was awarded a Fulbright grant to study in Vienna. His teachers have included Gerre Hancock, Anton Heiller, Ralph Kirkpatrick, Charles Krigbaum, and Michael Schneider.

Resounding Beauty: The Organ Music of Arvo Pärt

Estonian composer Arvo Pärt (b. 1935) is undoubtedly one of the most significant and popular composers of the twenty-first century. Around 1976, he developed a new musical technique called “tintinnabulation.” Since then, he has composed more than sixty pieces for choir and/or organ in this style, which have been embraced by both performers and listeners alike and used extensively in film, television, and social media. This workshop introduces the five works for solo organ and also addresses how to interpret the organ parts of the choral works that use organ.

Andrew Shenton

Andrew Shenton is a scholar, prize-winning author, performer, and educator based in Boston. He first studied at The Royal College of Music in London, and holds bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from London, Yale, and Harvard universities, respectively. He holds the Choir Training and Fellowship diplomas of the Royal College of Organists. He has toured extensively in Europe and the United States as a conductor, recitalist, and clinician, and has received numerous scholarships and awards, including Harvard’s Certificate of Distinction in Teaching and a Junior Fellowship from the Humanities Foundation at Boston University. Moving freely between musicology and ethnomusicology, his work is best subsumed under the heading “music and transcendence,” and includes several major publications on Messiaen, Pärt, and others. He is associate professor of music at Boston University, artistic director of the Boston Choral Ensemble, and director of music at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Weston, Massachusetts.

“Extra” Ornamentation in Baroque Organ Music, Especially Bach

Baroque music, the history books tell us, is highly ornate. Yet, there apparently was a contemporary performing tradition in which players routinely added more ornamentation of their own. Bach’s music was criticized in his time as having all (or most) of the ornamentation written out, leaving no choices for the performer to make, yet, today, we hear ornaments added to his music, as well. Sometimes the elaboration we hear sounds elegant and appropriate, at other times awkward and overdone; old sources all reference “good taste” as an arbiter. How does a performer decide whether or when to add ornamentation, and how much is too much? In this lecture, sources for performance practice are consulted, but study and reflection of music itself serve as a guide for recommendations, with many examples given.

Peter Sykes

Peter Sykes is associate professor of music and chair of the Historical Performance Department at Boston University, where he teaches organ, harpsichord, performance practice, and continuo realization. He is also music director of First Church in Cambridge and director of the Keyboard Day segment of the Boston Early Music Festival. He performs extensively on the harpsichord, clavichord, and organ, and has made ten solo recordings of organ repertoire ranging from the music of Buxtehude, Couperin, and Bach, to that of Reger and Hindemith, to his own acclaimed organ transcription of Holst’s The Planets. His recently released a recording of the complete Bach harpsichord partitas on the Centaur label, and will soon release an all-Bach clavichord recording and the complete Book I of the Well-Tempered Clavier. He also performs and records with Boston Baroque and Aston Magna. A founding board member and current president of the Boston Clavichord Society, he is the recipient of the New England Conservatory’s 1978 Chadwick Medal and 2005 Outstanding Alumni Award, the Cambridge Society for Early Music’s 1993 Erwin Bodky Prize, and the St. Botolph Club Foundation’s 2011 Distinguished Artist Award.

Panel of New Music Commisions Composers

The Community Hymn-Sing is Alive, Well, and Coming to Your Town

Handout

Learn how to prepare and execute a successful, engaging, community hymn-sing festival. Based on the Portland, Maine Kotzschmar Organ’s Centennial Celebration, this workshop covers guiding principles, preparations, development, and implementation. Attendees will receive the Centennial Celebration program booklet and participate in a shortened mock-dress rehearsal, as it was conducted with Portland’s choir of 200 singers. Learn how to create an uplifting experience for your choir and community, and how to have fun doing so!

John Sullivan

From 1992 through his alleged retirement in 2007, John Sullivan, FAGO, was the “music man” at Poughkeepsie Day School, where he taught elementary and middle school classroom music. He is currently the district convener for Northern New England for the American Guild of Organists, and organist and music director at St. George’s Episcopal Church, York Harbor, Maine. He has served the Guild as dean of the Central Hudson Valley and Portland chapters, coordinator of the Regions II/III convention in 2005, and the Portland chapter’s Pipe Organ Encounter in 2013. He was also on the planning committee for the Kotzschmar Community Hymn Sing in 2011. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Marist College, Poughkeepsie; a Master of Arts in music education from New York Universit;, and the Fellowship Certificate from the Guild.

Terrie Harman is director of music at Trinity Church in York Harbor, Maine, and is organist and choir director at St. Theresa Catholic Church in Rye Beach, New Hampshire. She previously served as organist and music director at South Church (Unitarian), Portsmouth, New Hampshire; organist at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Portsmouth, New Hampshire; and interim minister of music at Christ Church Episcopal, Exeter, New Hampshire. In addition to her music endeavors, she maintains an active law practice in Portsmouth,  representing individuals and businesses where finance and law intersect. She is a contributing member of the American Guild of Organists and holds the Guild’s credential of Associate.

The Organ Music of Ned Rorem

American composer Ned Rorem (b. 1923) has contributed an important body of work to the organ repertory. His compositions encompass a variety of styles and levels of difficulty, ranging from short, simple tonal movements in two voices through extended, virtuosic works that include bitonality and atonality. This workshop surveys Rorem’s entire corpus of solo organ music, and includes live performances of a selection of contrasting individual pieces and excerpts. A list of Rorem’s organ compositions in graded order of difficulty are provided, as well as a list of movements suitable for use in worship services.

Charles Tompkins

Charles Boyd Tompkins is university organist and professor of music at Furman University, Greenville. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music and the University of Michigan, he has performed at universities and major churches throughout the United States, and has played recitals at Notre-Dame, Paris; the Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C.; for the Piccolo Spoleto Music Festival, Charleston; and for national and regional conventions of the American Guild of Organists, Association of Anglican Musicians, Music Teachers National Association, and the College Music Society. His performances have been broadcast on American Public Media’s Pipedreams radio program. Organist of Greenville’s historic First Baptist Church since 1997, he has also served as organist and choirmaster of Hamline United Methodist Church, St. Paul, Minnesota, in a joint appointment as professor of music at Hamline University, and as organist of Christ Church Cathedral, Rochester.

Gregorian Chant for Children’s Choirs

Following a brief review of Gregorian chant basics, this workshop explores rehearsal methods and conducting techniques for introducing chant to children or any group of singers who might find the repertoire intimidating. Participants consult ancient paleographic sources and discuss how even very young singers can intuitively interpret such manuscripts to achieve a highly nuanced performance. Participants have an opportunity to conduct a demonstration choir of children from the St. Gregory Conservatory of Sacred Music, and receive a bibliography, a guide to online resources, and recommendations for further study.

Michael Olbash

Michael Olbash, CAGO, Ch.M., is the founding director of both the Stepping Stone Chant Project, whose recording Blessed Is the Ordinary (Brave Records) was released in 2009, and St. Gregory Conservatory of Sacred Music, an organization of Catholic homeschooling families dedicated to the study of Gregorian chant and sacred choral music. He holds an undergraduate degree in music from Harvard University and a Master of Arts in sacred music from St. Joseph’s College. He is president of the Southeastern New England chapter of the Choristers Guild and New England regional coordinator of the American Federation Pueri Cantores. He has presented numerous Gregorian chant lectures and workshops throughout New England and at the Midwinter Chant & Polyphony Symposium, sponsored by the Greater Columbia (South Carolina) chapter of the American Guild of Organists. He serves on the Executive Committee of the Guild’s Boston chapter and is the recipient of the 2012 S. Lewis Elmer Award.