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Santa Barbara Chapter |
| Last updated: September 19, 2007 |
Message from the Dean |
| Charles Talmadge
Dean, SB-AGO 403 Northgate Drive, Apt. C Goleta, CA 93117 (805) 320-7075 cell ctalmadge@earthlink.net |
Local Events |
August 26, 2007
September 22, 2007
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Newsletter |
September 9, 2007
FRENCH AND GERMAN ORGAN MUSIC AT ITS BEST Summer 2007 impressions by Douglas Fossek, AGO-SB Have you ever relished the golden tones of Cavaille-Coll's Romantic creations or the silver sounds of Silbermann's Baroque instruments? These machines and the delights of the period composers demonstrated by French and German organists were the source of great pleasure for the professionals and music lovers who attended the French Organ Music Seminar (FOMS) and the German Organ Music Seminar (GOMS) each for a week in early July, 2007. FOMS Now in its eighteenth year, this biennial event, organized and directed by American organist Christina Harmon and French organist Marie-Louise Langlais, takes participants to the organ lofts of Parisian and vicinity churches and cathedrals to see, hear, and play some of the world's finest instruments. Thanks to the diligent effort of some key figures in the Parisian organ world, plus the support of the French government, many of these eighteenth and nineteenth century organs have been restored and preserved for use today. The touch of tracker action responding to our fingers much as it did for Franck, Widor, Gigou or the earlier Clerambault, Daquin, and de Grigny, brought sonorities from Clicquot, Cavaille-Coll, and Gonzalez that are still resonating in the minds of the thirty of us musicians plus a few friends and spouses. An amazing number of participants this year (10 of 30) were young musicians, age 15 to 24, many of them scholarship recipients, all of them fabulous organists well on their way to fulfilling musical careers. Over half of the others were "veterans" who had been on one or more previous FOMS adventures in Paris. Because of good group rates at excellent hotels--and the friendly, helpful locals--we had a very affordable and enjoyable entre into 28 organ lofts, plus the Paris Conservatory, the Institute for Blind Youth, where Langalis studied as a boy and later taught, and the private apartment residence of Marie-Madeleine and Maurice Durufle (complete with Danion-Gonzalez organ). In spite of such a busy program, there was ample time for private lessons and master classes with such great teachers as Marie-Louise Langlais, Susan Landale, Frederic Blanc, Francois Espinasse, Christopher Mantoux, Kurt Lueders, Sylvia Mallet, Francoise Levechin, Didier Matry, Naji Hakim and Marie-Bernadette Dufourcet. A highlight of the seminar for interested musicians was the opportunity to sing Langlais' mass Salve Regina with four combined English and American choirs celebrating a Jean Langlais Centennial at Notre Dame Cathedral, Sunday morning, July 1, Olivier Latry at the grande orgue. Some of these opportunities come but once in a lifetime; yet word of another FOMS seminar in summer 2009 gives promise to all. Keep your eye open for an announcement as soon as next summer in The American Organist, or access the website www.bfoms.com for details. GOMS If trotting up and down the stairs of the Metro and ascending the twisty escaliers to the organ lofts kept us physically toned in Paris, the comfort of a private bus in Germany gave us a welcome repose while delivering us to two dozen organs in nine communities of Northern and Eastern Germany. Twenty-two of us from FOMS were joined by eighteen more organists, composers and organ builders from the US, Europe and New Zealand to spend a fabulous week seeing, hearing and playing the historical instruments of Arp Schnitger, Hildebrand and Silbermann. We were in Bach's country, and his spirit seemed to follow us everywhere we went, starting at the famous Marienkirche of Lubeck, where he had walked for two weeks in order to audition for Buxtehude (of course we all know why he turned down that job--and the reason was not the organ), and concluding at Bach's home base, Thomaskirche, in Leipzig, where we laid hands on both the new Bach organ (2000 Woehl), built in keeping with the principles of eighteenth-century middle German organ specifications, and the post-Bach 1889 Sauer. It was very assuring to see how the German government, federal and local, has taken responsibility for restoration of historical churches and organs in this region, some abused by the Kaiser's military machine, some damaged by the Allies, all neglected by the Communists. Our GOMS experience was directed by two knowledgeable, good-humored German organists, Michael Gruber and Miriam Jedele, from ORGAN-promotion (www.ORGANpromotion.org). They led the way through the hinterlands to small Baroque organs built by Schnitger and Silbermann in parish churches too poor through the years to ever modernize or "improve" their instruments, and also to the grand instruments of the region, played by Bach and others. The original Baroque sonorities, as well as original, quirky consoles could be experienced by all. Good-byes at the conclusion of these seminars are always difficult, though bonding is sincere and lasting friendships are established. The most gratifying aspect to behold, however, is that in some parts of the world, organs, organ music, and organists are strongly supported by governments and local friends, where public recitals attract a full house of listeners drawn from all sectors of society. |
Membership |
| We welcome any organists and people interested in the organ and its music to join our chapter! Please contact our membership coordinator, Steve O'Connor, for further information.
Steve O'Connor steve@allsaintsbythesea.org Director of Music Ministries All Saint's-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church 83 Eucalyptus Lane Santa Barbara, CA 93108 (805) 969-4771 x109 |
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| Employers and job seekers are invited to post and search listings of available positions on the Guild's National Website. |
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