God Among Us: A Theological Analysis of Olivier Messiaen’s La Nativité

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Olivier Messiaen’s faith profoundly influenced his compositions. The compositional techniques systematically outlined in his treatise, The Technique of My Musical Language, provide the musical foundation for his works, but, more importantly, serve the theological bent of his creativity. This paper examines his musical language through a theological lens, exploring his modes of limited transposition, exploration of birdsong, numerological and color signification, use of plainchant, and incorporation of Greek and Indian rhythms (desitalas) in La Nativité du Seigneur (1935). This work is incredibly rich with theological symbolism, and understanding the symbolism enhances our interaction with this landmark organ composition.

Melissa Plamann

Melissa Plamann, DMA, is the Wanda L. Bass Chair of Organ and associate professor of music at Oklahoma City University’s Bass School of Music. She also serves as interim organist at Westminster Presbyterian Church. She holds organ performance degrees from Valparaiso University and Emory University, and was awarded her Doctor of Musical Arts from Indiana University, Bloomington. She maintains an active performing schedule, and particularly enjoys programming twentieth- and twenty-first-century works and collaborative pieces featuring other instruments with the organ. She is the education chairperson for the Oklahoma City AGO chapter, and an Executive Board member of the Oklahoma Alliance for Liturgy and the Arts, a nonprofit organization that fosters liturgical art and encourages creative collaboration between artists, religious groups, and the larger community. She is a strong advocate of integrating global music in congregational worship, and has published a series of online articles for Augsburg Fortress on the topic.

Hyperorgan Technology, Augmented Reality, and the Triumph of Acoustic Music

Advances in computing power have allowed us to integrate technology more seamlessly into our everyday analog lives, moving from “virtual” to “augmented” reality. These advances have also initiated renewed interest in acoustic music-making. Organ builders in France, Germany, and Sweden have integrated digital control technology into acoustic, even mechanical, organs in ways that augment their analog affordances, creating so-called “hyperorgans.” Such examples illustrate how the application of digital technology to the organ does not inevitably lead to electronic organs, but rather to more expressive, versatile, and purely acoustic pipe organs worthy of a central role in twenty-first-century music.

Randall Harlow

Performer-scholar Randall Harlow’s expertise includes empirical performance research, the Inuit organ tradition, hyperorgan technology, and twenty-first-century avant-garde. He has presented at conferences at Harvard University, Cornell University, Westfield Center, the Society for Music Perception and Cognition, Göteborg International Organ Art Center (GOArt), and Eastman Rochester Organ Initiative Festival. Past research includes the first study of the pipe organ culture of Greenland. He currently serves on the AGO Committee for New Music Competitions and Commissions. His numerous premieres include compositions by John Anthony Lennon, Kaikhosru Sorabji, and Karlheinz Stockhausen, concertos by Petr Eben, Tilo Medek, and Giles Swayne, and works with live electronics by Steve Everett, Steven Rice, and René Uijlenhoet. His forthcoming debut recording features a transcription of Franz Liszt’s legendary Études d’Exécution Transcendante. He holds a DMA from the Eastman School of Music and is currently visiting professor of organ and music theory at the University of Northern Iowa.

Blending the Popular and the Profound: Organ Concerts at the Chicago World’s Fair

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The 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago was a watershed moment in American organ culture. Over the course of four months, twenty-one of the finest American organists, along with Alexandre Guilmant of Paris, performed sixty-two solo recitals on a new four-manual organ built by Farrand and Votey, effectively paving the way for the rise of the solo organ concert in the United States. This paper uses a newly created database to present a detailed analysis of concert programming trends at this seminal event, revealing a complex mixture of “popular and profound” elements at play.

Anne Laver

Prizewinning organist Annie Laver has performed throughout Europe and the United States. She has been recognized with a number of awards, including second prize in the 2010 American Guild of Organists National Young Artist Competition in Organ Performance. She holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music (M.M. and DMA, Organ Performance) and Brown University (B.A.). She has studied with Hans Davidsson, David Higgs, and William Porter (Eastman); Jacques van Oortmerssen (Conservatory of Amsterdam); and Mark Steinbach (Brown University). She is an instructor at the Eastman School of Music, where she teaches organ literature for graduate organ majors and healthy keyboard technique for all incoming organ students. Her current research interests focus on historical programming trends in nineteenth-century America. She is music director at two historic city churches in Rochester, The Church of St. Luke and St. Simon Cyrene (Episcopal), and St. Michael’s Church (Roman Catholic).

Tournemire’s Improvisation on “Victimae paschali”: Audio vs. Transcription

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Tournemire did not want his recorded improvisations (1930–1931) transcribed, but, long after his teacher’s death, Duruflé did just that, publishing the Cinq Improvisations in 1958. Digital audio technology allows us to listen more closely to “Victimae paschali” than Duruflé ever could, with his record player in an apartment plagued by street noise. This paper focuses on passages in which the transcription differs from Tournemire’s recording, in order to explore Duruflé’s particular contributions to the notated improvisation. In passages in which sound and print diverge, where do modern performers place authority and draw inspiration?

Kirsten Rutschman

Kirsten Rutschman is a doctoral student in musicology at Duke University, where she is a recipient of the James B. Duke Fellowship. The early stages of her dissertation work involve Swedish music of the early nineteenth century. She also studies organ with Dr. Robert Parkins and performs weekly organ demonstration recitals at Duke Chapel. She holds a master’s degree in language and culture from Linköping University, Sweden, and a bachelor’s degree in German studies from Stanford University.

Reverberation Characteristics of Architectural Spaces: Touching Mystery

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Reverberation characteristics of two [architecturally] contrasting worship spaces were the theoretical basis for this research, centered on participants’ memory (past, present, and future), a theme of aesthetics (as process rather than object-oriented), and the creative imagination as vehicle for participants to articulate their experiences. Themes of awe, wonder, and mystery emerged. The results suggest that reverberation characteristics hold potential to function as a language of mystery, informing the perception of music and addressing its theological significance. We are all challenged to use existing reverberation characteristics more creatively and to factor reverberation characteristics into the design of planned new architectural spaces.

Bruce Wheatcroft

Bruce Wheatcroft, D.Min., has spent most of his working career in the service of the church as a conductor, organist, teacher, and administrator. He holds a D.Min. in theology from St. Stephen’s College, Edmonton, an M.Mus in musicology from the University of Alberta, a B.Mus. in organ performance from the University of Calgary, and the ARCCO diploma from The Royal Canadian College of Organists. He has lectured at undergraduate and graduate levels for the University of Alberta and has taught for the faculty of music at McGill University. He has frequently been heard as a recitalist and conductor for national CBC broadcasts and has performed at national conventions of The Royal Canadian College of Organists. He has held important church music posts in Montréal and Western Canada, is active as an adjudicator, and has developed a distinguished career as a teacher, workshop leader, and lecturer throughout North America.