on Richard Forrest Woods – Part 7

This is one of many installments of a biography of mentor and friend Dick Woods. See here for the entire series.

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The parish of St. John the Divine, Houston

In the early 1990s my professor Clyde Holloway, Organist-Choirmaster at Christ Church Cathedral, Houston, would shrug his shoulders in mild defeat when discussing St. John the Divine, Houston. He said (paraphrased) that St. John’s always … just … kind of … proudly lingered on the fringes of Episcopalianism. There was always … a vague sense … more of … Hey look at us over here … rather than … Hey let us help you with your struggles. Friends of mine have put it more bluntly: “They were just Baptists posing as Episcopalians.”

Dick arrived at St. John’s in 1972. By the time I got there in 1990, it was the third-largest Episcopal parish in the country: 4500 members, right behind St. Michael and All Angels, Dallas (#2), and St. Philip’s Cathedral, Atlanta (#1). And being situated at the portal of River Oaks Boulevard leading into one of the most affluent neighborhoods in the country [anyone who has driven down that street knows what I’m talking about], it was among the wealthiest churches of any sort in all of Houston, and it was helmed at the time by the nation’s highest-paid Episcopal priest.

Speaking ever so subjectively, I’d say St. John the Divine represented a high-level, complex system of self-preservation. With so many successful white collars on the parish roll, it should come as no surprise that there was a careful, corporate approach to the management of the parish. Everything stayed clean, well-organized, and in relatively decent repair although aging by that point. Deferred maintenance was common so as not to overspend, but emergencies were handled straightaway. Money was spent copiously but deliberately. But there was also a vague sense that although the poor were welcome in the door, the rest of us will handle things around here, thank you. I sensed early on that we artists were welcome as members of the parish but would never be members of the club. There were plenty nice enough individuals about, but the parish as an entity seemed to take a greater interest in being the Church of St. John the Divine for River Oaks than in being an outpost of Jesus Christ for all people. Dick sensed all this, too, and we discussed it many times. It’s hard to say unequivocally, but he and I always detected something just a little … cold … about this parish.

On many fronts, St. John the Divine was always one of the most conservative parishes in the country. Members were the ultimate conservative in matters of wardrobe – everyone was dressed to the nines, and not just on Sundays. The parish was painfully conservative in social matters, which was usually [and was here] an extension of painfully conservative scriptural approaches. And of course, they were fiscally conservative. On another hand, the parish was refreshingly conservative in liturgical matters, delivering well-orchestrated, faithful liturgy at all services. That is about the only sector where the parish’s conservatism overlapped with Dick’s.

The parish lay clear at the other end of the spectrum on musical matters. While many other outposts in the diocese were still on an unchallenged, steady diet of motets, anthems, and organ music, St. John the Divine was always clamoring for spirituals, praise choruses, piano music, and ‘renewal music,’ as it was called in those days. Folks didn’t notice or didn’t seem to care about the irony of singing campfire choruses while wearing cufflinks. Virtually no one but us folks in the choir stalls thought twice about the National Anthem being shoe-horned into such Sundays as Lent I just because it also happened to be Boy Scout Sunday, or onto Pentecost just because it also happened to be Memorial Day weekend. Dick and I were in the dissenting minority, but we always dutifully pulled out all the stops for the assembly to sing their hearts out to their country. Dick always longed for them to sing sturdy hymns of the faith so well. I suggested we passive-aggressively carry big mixing spoons around, in protest of the blissfully ignorant mixing of church and state going on.

We nearly had mutiny in the congregation one Sunday when the choir sang the Messiaen O sacrum convivium and I played his Le Banquet céleste during communion. A couple outspoken parishioners hated it all, said that “the music today was awful; just awful,” and left truly angry. One of them even made a groaning sound and bent over like an old man to illustrate how painful it was to sit through that music. When I related that story to Clyde Holloway, he shrugged [as he did at the beginning of this post] and said, “I guess some people just don’t like to be challenged in God’s presence. We do Messiaen at the Cathedral all the time, and people just file by and say, ‘Nice to hear Messiaen again. What’s on deck for next week?’”

Self-preservation existed on various fronts and levels. The tragedy is that the various versions of self-preservation were seldom compatible. There was general toleration on each side, but both sides chose to feel threatened at every turn. Dick was trying to preserve a tradition and an art, but there was fear that he was holding the parish back from bursting in full glory onto the renewal music scene. Dick, meanwhile, felt further threatened because he felt his training meant little to nothing to anyone within those walls, which then put him deeper into survival mode.

A new contemporary service materialized in those days. While it got on its feet, its budget was embedded in the music budget at first, and so a new double threat emerged. ‘They’ felt threatened that Dick was going to cheat them or pull rank, and Dick felt threatened that ‘they’ were going to become the preferred service for the entire parish and he’d be washed up and/or sent away. Then, as with most contemporary services, when the service had ripened enough to get its own budget, the threats still didn’t go away. Dick still felt threatened that they were going to take over and start getting some of his budget for themselves. And so the us-vs.-them cold war continued.

Next time: The red sea, a.k.a. the sock drawer

Note by note: Dupré Prelude and Fugue in B

This piece is played a lot. Maybe too much. It’s flashy, but only if you’re the organist. If you’re a first-time audience for it, it’s either thrilling or it’s mush. That’s a nice way of saying that this piece is often played far too fast for its musical merit. Dupré’s metronome markings were notoriously (and impossibly or at least un-musically) fast, and he never achieved them on his recordings, anyway. Metronome markings were (and are) usually included at publisher’s insistence, and they are quite useless most of the time, going all the way back to Beethoven. So just don’t look at them, ever. And for the record, my tempo for the Prelude hovers around 90, and that for the Fugue hovers around 70.

Measures 1 and following: The opening flourish pattern has two instances of common tones: the B from the 6^th to the 7^th sixteenths, and the B across the barline. These can be tied; I don’t feel the sixteenth-note motion suffers from that.

Measures 4, 6, 8, etc.: The Pedal eighth rests may not be long enough if your tempo is really fast. You may need to release those a bit earlier to ‘clear the air.’ Always beware a sense of ‘panic’ to the sound.

Measures 6-7: The sixteenth-note motion has repeated notes across this barline. I tie them.

Measure 13: On the eleventh sixteenth, I take the alto G-sharp with the right hand, which allows the entire sixteenth-note pattern to remain legato into measure 14. And as we all know, any lengths we go to in order to preserve legato in this style is worth the time in the practice room. Don’t be lazy.

Measure 26: I would configure the organ in such a way that the two manuals you’ll be traveling back and forth among are adjacent to each other. Put in some clever ‘thumbing,’ and legato will then be preserved.

Measure 35: The addition of the Pedal couplers is necessary, but on many organs the Positif or Choir is so weak that its presence or absence is immaterial. I add only the Great to Pedal there, so that I don’t have to hit two couplers nor sacrifice a General piston.

Measure 36: I take the final sixteenth with the right second finger, thereby preserving legato in the sixteenths.

Measure 39: I take the final sixteenth with the right thumb, thereby preserving legato in the sixteenths.

Measure 42: I take the right-hand lower Fs with the left hand, to keep the thumbs out of each other’s way. Ditto the first E in measure 43.

Measures 57-65: Feel free to establish a gradual crescendo to your liking. Dupré just adds ‘cresc.’ in 59. I delay the FFF into 68, not only to add to the continuing crescendo, but also because there are no limbs left to hit a piston for the downbeat of 65. And I never sacrifice notes for pistons. Ever.

Measures 93-100: Same crescendo freedom as in measures 57-65.

Measures 100-102: Hold your horses. That pedal cadenza is still music.

The Fugue subject begins on an off-beat. Be sure it sounds like that. Don’t dwell on the first note – rather, arrive on the fourth note (the beginning of the second beat). Then release the quarter note in such a way that the next morsel of the subject is suitably propelled ahead.

Get those feet ready for their first subject appearance! Do your ankle exercises and prepare the first four notes all at once, heels and toes.

Throughout the Fugue, obey Dupré’s staccato markings. Any note without a staccato is to be played legato to the next note. And obey Dupré’s note values, such as in measure 111, where soprano and alto have different values on their first note.

Measure 113: The final C# in the left hand should probably be released early for the next downbeat. The A# need not be, since it is not going to be repeated.

Measure 114: The first C# in the left hand should probably be released in preparation for its re-striking on the next eighth. The upper F# need not be released early.

Measure 116: The first D# should probably be released early to allow for the restrike coming up in the soprano.

Measure 118: The alto G is common to two sixteenths in the middle of the measure. I tie it. Ditto the alto E-flat in 120.

Measure 122: As mentioned for measure 35, the Positif or Choir is often so inconsequential on many instruments that managing its coupler to the Pedal is much ado about nothing. I don’t employ the coupler for this Fugue until the end. Also in this measure, notice Dupré’s exact staccato marking on the first eighth note but not the second.

Measures 123-124: Again, obey Dupré’s exact staccato marks in the Pedal. Yes on beat 4 of 123; No on beat 1 of 124.

Measure 124: I take two notes with the right hand to preserve legato: beat 3 alto G#, and beat 4 alto A#.

Measures 129-151: It might be good to consider a good tempo for these measures before beginning the Fugue. This is where many organists lose their audience due to excessive speed. The rhythm is so vibrant in this section that it sounds plenty fast at a more humane tempo. And again, I just have to take issue with Dupré’s metronome marking – or at least sympathize with him for publishers’ myopic insistence on metronome markings. Italian tempo markings are always much more expressive and informative.

Measure 131: I move to the Récit there, instead of the Positif. It allows the left hand to be heard better at 133.

Measures 138-139. I tie all the common notes among the moving sixteenths.

Measure 140: Notice the staccato first eighth but full-value second eighth. Ditto measure 141.

Measure 144: I take the final two sixteenths with the right hand to smooth out the transition to the next manual. And I do agree with the editorial C# added above the final manual chord.

Measure 149: I take the final sixteenth with the right hand, to smooth out the transition to the Positif.

Measure 151: I take the third and fourth sixteenths with the right hand, to allow the left hand to get to the Great.

Measure 152, downbeat: Again, take Dupré quite literally with his staccato markings or lack thereof. Notice that the final soprano E of 151 will proceed into 152 legato, which in this case probably means tying. And notice that the Pedal low C will proceed to the F# of 152 legato, which means you’ll need the right foot prepared on F# (unless your left foot is really long and its ankle really flexible).

Measure 154: Beat 3, the left hand high F# will have to be released early, because the soprano is about to need to restrike that note. But don’t release early the remaining notes of the left hand there.

Measure 157: Beat 3: The final C# in the right hand will need to be played quite short, to allow the alto to use that note next.

Measure 160: Again, taking Dupré’s legato literally, the final two chords of the left hand should be legato.

Measure 161: The first chord of the right hand might well omit the lower G, since the left hand needs it for its sixteenth-note pattern.

Measures 166-168: The manual chords are not staccato there. They are real sixteenths and should be no shorter. And this section need not go faster. Again, with so much happening at the sixteenth-note level in this piece, a relaxed tempo still sounds fast. And exciting.

Measure 168: The final lower C# in the right hand may be taken by the left.

Measures 169-170: Tenutos are always a guessing game with these French guys. If tenuto means ‘to hold,’ then why can’t the usual, underlying rule of legato suffice here? Therefore, I believe that Dupré’s use of tenuto there actually means ‘release.’ At any rate, it makes sense to release these chords early, to add to the excitement. Dupré is rarely so careless with rhythmic indications.

Finally, if you are playing on a three-manual organ that really should have been two, you could relatively strengthen the Positif by not coupling it to the Great. That would give you some degree of contrast among the three manuals. Of course, couple the Swell to both manuals.

If all you have are two manuals, then you get to decide when you’ll move to each manual during the Fugue. My adoptions are:

Measure 125: Left hand to Great.
Measure 137: Récit.
Measure 145: Great. And stay there in 146.
Measure 150: Récit.

on Richard Forrest Woods – Part 6

This is one of many installments of a biography of mentor and friend Dick Woods. See here for the entire series.

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Gary and Austin

After returning from Paris in 1964, Dick went to work for two years as organist at the [Catholic] Cathedral of the Holy Angels in Gary, Indiana. Interesting choice of denomination. Was there to be no more Episcopal work, especially after what happened in Wichita? LINKLINK Was this cathedral just a suitable choice after returning from Catholic Paris? Or was it just any suitable gateway back into the U.S.? Was Dick trying to live somewhat closer to family back in Pittsburgh? I have no evidence one way or another.

While there, Dick dedicated the Cathedral’s then-new Casavant organ on March 28, 1965.

That’s all I have for Dick’s time in Gary, Indiana. The Cathedral did not respond to my initial queries. As I said in the post on St. James in Wichita, one can only wonder if perhaps the Cathedral didn’t want to discuss it or if they’re just lousy about returning messages. Bell’s Rules of Order state that neither case is acceptable.

In 1966, Dick left Gary to begin a post as Lecturer in Church Music at the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest, Austin, Texas. By 1969 he was listed in the faculty directory as Adjunct Professor in Church Music and Organist of Christ Chapel. He taught liturgy and music, directed the Chapel choir, and played for the services.

At the Seminary he organized and hosted five-day Summer Schools of Church Music. By 1971, that was now called Summer School of Church Music and Liturgics, for which he was listed as ‘dean’ in promotional materials. He invited luminaries such as Clyde Holloway, Alec Wyton, the Rt. Rev. Chilton Powell, Bishop of Oklahoma, and several Seminary professors to perform and lecture.

Dick designed the Holtkamp organ, Op. 1835, in Christ Chapel at the Seminary. He played the dedicatory recital on May 9, 1969. Walter Holtkamp himself was present. The program is here, courtesy the awesome library research staff at the Seminary.

Also during those years, Dick wrote a booklet on liturgy and music, presumably as a music resource for the liturgies to be included in the upcoming edition (1979) of the Prayer Book. Other than the present blog, about the only other Internet mention of Dick is as the author of that booklet, which still shows up in searches for him:

From World Church in Brief, published by Diocesan Press Service, December 1, 1968 [71-11]: “Associated Parishes, Inc., has issued a new brochure ‘Music for the Liturgy of the Lord's Supper,’ intended for use with the Trial Liturgy. The booklet was written by Richard Forrest Woods, lecturer in Church Music at the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest, Austin, Tex.”

In May 1971 Dick was invited to perform during the International Festival of Organists held in Morelia, Mexico. He would subsequently return there a handful of times. On one of those trips, he purchased a ring that he wore for the rest of his life and which now lies with him in his urn, along with a watch that he also wore for years. I remember seeing the ring every day in the early 1990s. It was a hammered abstract in gold; it looked like a melting-down in progress. You can see it in a photo here. The watch was just a watch as far as I know, and I don’t know where he got it – black band, gold trim, analog. Perhaps it was a gift or some reminder for him. Incidentally, these accessories were part of a refreshingly old-school gentlemanly persona, from which I learned a lot. Dick carried Montblanc pen and pencil in his shirt or coat pocket, and he always wore coat and tie [with a single, centered dimple in the knot] on Sundays or whenever he had a meeting. When not at a Mexican restaurant, his drink of choice was scotch and water. His Mexican drink of choice was margaritas straight up, no salt.

In Austin, Dick also continued to practice his craft in the field, first at St. David’s and then at St. Matthew’s. St. David’s was a repeat of Wichita, I’m sorry to report. Dick was fired for being gay, and that was that. He moved on to St. Matthew’s, apparently as an interim, judging from the accounts I have gotten from that church.

Then in late 1971 / early 1972, assertive and headstrong rector the Rev. Thomas Roberts got in touch and invited Dick to be the Organist/Choirmaster at the Episcopal Church of St. John the Divine in Houston. It’s always nice to be recruited outright, and the money was probably better. So off Dick went in the summer of 1972.

Next time: St. John the Divine, Houston

Note by note: Mulet Carillon-Sortie

This piece has always been with me. I always thought the main theme is so lovely and tuneful and has a certain French café air about it.

Measure 1: I begin with the box slightly open and close it in time for measure 2. Don’t know why. I just like that. I do the same thing with other pieces that begin similarly.

Opening measures: Sixteenth notes: always legato. There should be no phrasing, lifting, or other anachronistic techniques employed in any sixteenths in this piece. Matter of fact, ditto for eighths.

Measures 2-14: Except where otherwise indicated (such as measures 4, 5, and 9), the left-hand melody is not intended to be played detached in the least. This style is always legato unless otherwise indicated. The phrase marks in French Symphonic literature are designed to ‘land’ on the first note and carry on to the very last, but that does not dictate a break of any sort. When these French guys want you to break, they’ll write a breath mark or a rest. It’s quite scientific sometimes.

Measure 10: One might extrapolate left-hand detachment here, to match measure 9. And one has to wonder why measures 5 and 9 have a tie but measure 10 has a dotted half-note for the same value. Also in measure 10: play the Pedal F# with the right foot, just like all the other Pedal pairs, so that it doesn’t sound different. Discerning ears can hear that difference!

Measures 5, 9, 10: Pedal ‘stabs,’ both notes, should have exact releases. The French way is to measure that break, probably an exact eighth rest (or sixteenth, if it doesn’t sound too panicked). The note being held in the Great should probably be released as the same time as the second Pedal note, so that those releases don’t sound ragged. The left-hand markings in measure 10 suddenly don’t support the pattern, but I continue the pattern, anyway. There’s just not a compelling musical reason not to.

Measures 17-18: The dotted rhythm in the RH there is possible legato, and Mulet has not indicated anything else. So loosen up those fingers and get ready to cross them over and under each other. There is precious little time (if any) for substituting your way through those two measures. Likewise the left hand a few bars later.

Measure 18: I move the right hand to the Swell for its final sixteenth note, rather than on the next downbeat. Doing so on an eighth gives me more time to make the switch and doesn’t sound panicked.

Measure 48: I ‘thumb’ the alto D with the left hand, to help the right hand with the parallel sixths. Likewise measure 49, for the alto D and Ab.

Measures 52-56: Limber up those ankles and play all those consecutive black notes legato! If there’s room on your pedalboard, the right heel could play the Eb in measure 53. Play the Db in measure 56 with the right toe or the left heel. Heels on black notes in the tenor range don’t always work if the expression shoes overlap the notes (which is a design flaw, if you ask me).

Measure 71: If there is one, I’ll add the Zymbelstern for the recap. (Hey, it’s a bell piece!) I remove the Zymbelstern in measure 99, after one of those chords, either one.

Measure 80: The final alto A in the right hand is problematic for right-hand legato. Solution: since both hands are together on the Great, play that A (and hold it for its eighth-note value) with the left hand.

Measure 82: It’s good news that the left hand is permitted an ad lib there. I take advantage of that to allow a little ‘daylight’ before reintroducing the melody in 83 in the new texture. Likewise measure 94 for the right hand, but to buy time to move the hand to the Swell.

Measures 91-99: The left-hand octaves could be played on a solo reed, so long as the balance is still pleasing. I move that hand back to the Great for the second chord of 99.

Final chord: It’s admirable that the French approximate the ‘boom’ of the big Bourdon bells with Pedal resultants. That works in France. But in the U.S., the fifth of a Pedal resultant is very often too heavy. Instead, I play D octaves in the Pedal and transfer the left hand to a lower inversion of the chord, namely, low A/tenor D/tenor A. In my old age, I have become increasingly less apologetic about making such changes. If something sounds better that way on a non-French organ, then why apologize? No one has ever noticed. I wonder if Mulet would have.

on Richard Forrest Woods – Part 5

This is one of many installments of a biography of mentor and friend Dick Woods. See here for the entire series.

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Paris

“Going to study in Europe” has been a thing for American musicians for decades. France, Germany, and the Netherlands have tended to be prime territory, but the list of teachers and their locations covers the entirety of the continent, and a list of their American students contains some of America’s most household names of our time. Dick’s generation of organists and church musicians routinely went to Europe to study playing, improvising, and conducting, and they tended to come back to rather successful careers.

After his appalling dismissal from St. James in Wichita, Dick somehow made his way to Paris for two years, 1962-1964. I don’t know where his funding came from, but it does not appear to have come from the popular and bountiful Fulbright U.S. Student Program that usually comes to mind when discussing American study abroad. It could be that Dick’s years in the Navy Band gave him some connections and/or some funding or at least ignited the idea of studying abroad.

Dick studied conducting privately with Nadia Boulanger, who taught some of our most acclaimed American composers, including Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, even Burt Bacharach. Boulanger herself was a pupil of Gabriel Fauré. Dick received valuable, firsthand insight into the Fauré Requiem from her. It was from that study that he developed a ‘perfect’ performance of the piece in his head, which he told me about when we were once preparing the piece at St. John the Divine, Houston. He told it with a sense of longing rather than of celebration, because he knew that neither he nor any choir could pull off the perfect performance rattling inside his head. I found that oddly defeatist in tone, and it informed my observations of him from then on.

Surely training abroad is life-changing, but Dick never discussed it much. However, he was passionate in talking about Boulanger’s insistence on learning all about Dick the man, so that they could cultivate the deepest musical foundation possible. She would insist they take long walks so that she could learn about him. This probably explains why her roster of students is so diverse. The way Dick talked about it made it sound like therapy! I wish I had been older and wiser to know more of what to ask him and how to process the information.

Dick also studied organ with Jean Langlais at the Schola Cantorum and with André Marchal privately. Normally, one does not study concurrently with multiple organ teachers in Paris, because inter-animosity tends to run high (it’s a French thing). But Marchal had taught Langlais, and their mutual admiration endured. Marchal even subbed for Langlais on occasion at the Schola.

During this time, Langlais recorded the complete solo organ works of César Franck, the first recording of its kind. Dick and another classmate (perhaps Allen Hobbs, perhaps Ann Labounsky) pulled stops for it. Dick once wryly told me that he ‘turned pages’ for those recordings [Langlais was blind!]. He also told me that he screwed up a stop change once, which forced a furious Langlais into an extra take.

Somehow, Langlais screwed up Dick’s playing, to put it bluntly. Dick told me that Langlais insisted that the third beat in a measure always be very strong. Whether something got lost in translation from Langlais’s mouth to Dick’s ears or from Dick’s memory to my ears or from my memory to this blog, I cannot say. But I saw [and heard] firsthand that Dick’s third beats in his playing were always rushed outright rather than merely strong, and it skewed his hymn playing. My own teacher Clyde Holloway taught me that I should always endeavor to sound like Dick when playing for church so that the congregation would never be distracted by being able to tell the difference between us. That’s a noble professional tenet, but on the point of third-beat heaviness, I just couldn’t. Sorry, Clyde, and sorry, congregation.

On June 6, 1964, Dick was among the first four Americans to receive the Diplôme Schola Cantorum, with distinction in organ playing and improvisation. That translated back in the U.S. as ‘Dr. Woods’ from then on.

Next time: Gary and Austin

Note by note: Dupré Cortège and Litany

I haven’t combed through a piece since my Franck series. So let’s dig into a piece today:

The Dupré Cortège and Litany is uncommonly beautiful. Dupré was often heavily gothic and chromatic, but this early work seems to come from a young Dupré still being a romantic.

The piece is a transcription of a transcription of an original. It began as incidental music for a handful of players for a stage work. Then it became a piano transcription. Then it became the organ transcription, which was written on a train at a presenter’s request. Then it became an organ & orchestra piece. All that to say that with so many layers of transcription present, I feel emboldened to make tiny alterations here and there, whether to honor Dupré's insistence on wall-to-wall legato or to preserve my hands and wrists against tendonitis. From the scores of times I have performed this piece, I dare any listener to point out the alterations. :)

Measure 1: The opening registration is one of the most optimistic I’ve ever seen. What organ will have those stops, let alone have them on those manuals? We all know that adjustments must be made from organ to organ; the composers are always the first to say so. But what on earth was Dupré thinking here? Not even Saint-Sulpice had all that! Anyway, my opening registration will be on some sort of string. Not too much, because I’m going to bring in the entire ‘string section’ at measure 13. For these first measures, don’t put breath marks where Dupré doesn’t. Wall-to-wall legato was the name of his game.

Measures 4-5: Don’t be a hero with those widely-spaced chords. We can hear the panicked lunging from chord to chord there. Just use a dead Pedal with the manual coupler on to help you through those wide reaches, then you can touch a Pedal divisional piston on the downbeat of measure 6 to bring the Pedal back to life for its bass function. Dupré wants it coupled, anyway, so you don’t have to remove the coupler there.

Measure 9: This is one of those spots where breaking so many voices sounds too much like a major event. I tie the alto C# to mitigate. Depending on the organ, acoustic, etc., that may not be necessary. I do break all repeated notes going into measure 10, since that is a phrase point. Although Dupré doesn’t ask for a breath there, his writing repeated notes creates a break.

Measure 13: I bring on lots of strings there and maybe even a 4’ flute, if it’s gentle enough. A super-coupler would be nice, but only if the chests go that high. I punch the piston for this section on the final sixteenth-note value of measure 12, during which the hands are ‘taking their breath,’ and that also gives the Pedal some crescendo into 13. It’s a nice effect, once you have the piston timing and the manual release worked out.

Measures 15, 18, 28, 31, 33-36: Those ‘Celesta’ moments (the questionable English directive in the score there) can be handled in several ways, I feel. If you have chimes, go for it. If so, I recommend playing only one note at a time, rather than octaves. Also, standard chimes may go out of range in measure 34, in which case you could raise those four notes an octave. Other than chimes, use anything that has some contrast but doesn’t take over the texture – those notes are only rhythmic filler and don’t need to be stentorian. Depending on the organ, I will play only the lower note of the octaves, with a 4’ stop in the mix to produce the upper octave. Bonus: doing that will also make measure 31 easier. Finally, I have found that playing the ‘Celesta’ notes on a manual below that of the right hand will make traveling back and forth a little easier, especially for measure 33, where I do some extravagant ‘thumbing’ to keep everything legato.

Measures 17-18: I am not sold on the sudden appearance of the upper Pedal octave there. Depending on the organ, it’s just too much. On organs weak in the bass, chances are that the Pedal has been strengthened to balance, in which case that upper octave suddenly takes over, however momentarily. Musically, I can’t find a good reason for that, and so I often omit those upper octave notes.

Measures 20-22: I omit the alto C# at the end of 20 and the beginning of 21, plus the ensuing alto Bs in 21. Ditto the alto E in 22. All for the legato of the upper voice.

Measures 20 and 22: I will crescendo a bit (not too much) in those measures. Dupré’s crescendo in 23 seems a little late to my ear, and it’s also harder to achieve there because the Pedal notes have suddenly gotten busier.

Measure 24: I move Dupré’s decrescendo into that measure, again because the Pedal notes are about to get busy in 25.

Measures 30-31: Again, with so many voices breaking across that barline, it can sound like a major event. I tie both left-hand notes while breaking the right-hand and Pedal notes. Notice that the upper G# of the left hand can then tie to the lower note of the right across the bar.

Measures 31, 35, 36: I rarely play the high octaves of the left hand. They are often too screechy.

Throughout the Litany, don’t break where Dupré doesn’t write a rest or a breath mark. And hold all notes full value, even those that lead into a rest.

Measure 49: The right hand can be kept more legato if you can configure the manuals to be adjacent to each other.

Measure 52: Note that the right hand is given a breath mark and the left is given a staccato, both of those suggesting a sixteenth rest, in Dupré’s practice. The Pedal is given nothing, which indicates legato into 53. Multitask with those voices!

Measures 57-60: I reverse the hands there, playing Dupré’s left-hand part with the right and vice-versa. Clever, no? Also, our Positif Cromornes are usually wayyyyyy too loud there (not to mention too buzzy), and so I mitigate that by starting the Litany on a slightly larger registration from the beginning, to balance.

Measures 71-73: For a smooth crescendo, I punch a new piston every two beats, beginning on the quarter rest in 71, all the way through the downbeat of 73.

Measure 73: Dupré is calling for another optimistic registration that only Wanamaker will have. I bring on all the 16- and 8-foot stops I can find, plus a few 4-foots, omitting brighter Prestants. There will be opportunity to add more later.

Measure 76: As in measure 52, decide how you want to handle the various parts at the end of that measure. The closing D-sharps in the soprano and first tenor are melodic and should not be broken. The Pedal is asked to repeat low G#. That leaves the Bs and G# in alto and tenors, which I do break – that seems just enough to acknowledge the phrase break without creating a chasm.

Measure 77: The final eighth rest in the right hand is misaligned in the engraving and should occur with the high C#, with the other two rests.

Measures 77-80: Notice the Pedal voices should release at separate times. The right-foot notes hold to the downbeat, while the left-foot notes release prior.

Measures 85-92: Get out your Gleason book and review pedal substitution and two-plane pedaling methods! I substitute only on the final Pedal notes of 89 and 91. The rest can be done in a two-plane, one-foot-over-the-other situation. This is one of those spots best played from memory.

Measures 85-86: Unless you have a console assistant, you may safely ignore Dupré’s cresc. poco a poco. The hands and feet are too busy there.

Measures 96-97: Don’t break all notes at the end of 96. Always legato with Dupré, unless otherwise instructed. However, I do break the alto Cb, because it is about to become a melodic B in measure 97.

Measure 102: This requires a general piston to reconfigure the organ. You have to separate the Swell from the Great, but we want the Great to remain strong somehow. So this is where I bring in the missing Prestants I omitted in measure 73. This will keep the Great strong, even while it says goodbye to the Swell. I also do not couple the Swell to the Pedal for this entire passage coming up. I can’t come up with a good reason for the Pedal to have all those reeds droning in those strong octaves, while the more important upper parts of the Swell are struggling to be heard (usually on weak American reeds). Although I don’t couple the reeds to the Pedal, I will enhance the Pedal in some way, to keep it from sounding too distant, whether I add to it another coupler or some quiet Pedal reeds.

Measure 103: Dupré calls for full Swell there, but I have found that better clarity is achieved from leaving the 2’, mixture, and 4’ reeds off. A more noticeable contrast between the flues of the Great/Positif and the Swell reeds is clearer without so many additional flue pipes of the Swell mixture playing as well. Plus, that will leave more opportunity for a smoother buildup later on, especially on smaller instruments.

Measures 103-119: I leave out lots of second-alto notes in the Swell, in service to the legato of the melody. You may take or leave these suggestions, but remember that no one has ever caught them from one of my performances! Again, in the name of clarity and contrast, sometimes it’s better to leave something out. (That’s a nice way of saying that Dupré went a little overboard with the notes there.) Here are the second-alto notes I leave out: measure 104, beat 2: alto E and G# / measure 105: alto F# / measure 106: alto E and A / measure 107: both As in the alto / measure 109: alto B / measure 110: alto B and final C# / measure 113: alto B / measure 114: alto B / measure 117: alto E / measure 118 and 119: alto F#s. Also in this entire passage, pay attention to breath marks or lack thereof – always legato unless otherwise instructed.

Measure 108: the Pedal has a breath mark, which I apply to the right foot but not the left. To break them both seems excessive.

Measure 116: the eighth rest in the Pedal is for the right foot, not the left.

Measures 120-121: This is one of those terrifying moments requiring a change of manual and a change of registration, with nearly no available limbs or digits to pull it off. In 120, I make sure the right foot plays E with the heel, which I then slide forward on the note to get my toe over a general piston. Then I am able to punch the piston with the right toe for the downbeat of 121, omitting the tenor F# entirely. That solves that particular problem. The fingering for the downbeat of 121 is another matter: Try playing the final eighth note of measure 120 in the right hand with fingering 421 [stacked], substituting to 532 [stacked]. That frees up 4 and 1 to stretch down to the Great for measure 121. If your fingers are long enough AND if your right toe is accurate with its piston timing, all this can be achieved perfectly legato. As always, that’s worth the work in the practice room.

Measure 124: I punch another general for a little more buildup, depending on the organ.

Measures 125-126: As in measures 52 and 76: decide what you want to apply the staccatos to. Again, it is just too eventful to break everything, especially since some of the notes are sixteenths and will sound too clipped if broken. I break the upper two notes of the right and tie the B. I break the left-hand G# and carry the C# legato into 126. I apply the staccato to the right foot but tie the left.

Measure 127 into barline of 128: Right hand should break the high B but not the A just under it. I also break both notes of the left hand into that barline.

Measures 130-136: I omit the right-foot note to use the foot for punching more pistons, a new piston every other barline. Then I add the right-foot E back in, in 136 or 138 depending on the organ, which makes for a nice continuation of the crescendo. Also for this section, don’t speed up or suddenly take off. This page needs to be grand, not hurried. And be clean about the chordal trading between the hands I release each chord at the same time as the appearance of the next one, rarely releasing earlier unless the acoustic asks for it.

Measures 139-140: I don’t break the left hand into 140. No need.

Measure 140: I return to a tempo again there. The half notes are long and exciting enough, especially if I punch another piston for each, for a final buildup.

on Richard Forrest Woods – Part 4

This is one of many installments of a biography of mentor and friend Dick Woods. See here for the entire series.

*******************

Wichita

After leaving grad school at Tulane after only one year, it was on to St. James Church, Wichita, estimated arrival 1955 and estimated departure 1961. Dick founded a boychoir at that church. Judging from the choral sound he cultivated from then on, it would appear that English boychoir had become his choral ideal early on. I have the vaguest recollection of him mentioning singing as a boy chorister in Pittsburgh. If I’m not making that up, then it makes sense that his musical tendencies would have had their first bloom at that early age. (It would also suggest that he was a cradle Episcopalian or at least had discovered Episcopal ways early in life.) At any rate, he gave the Wichita youngsters things they had never experienced – fine liturgical music, a wondrous blend with fellow voices, a sense of propriety in church, and a sense of belonging. Such were the hallmarks of his work for the rest of his life.

But being gay in the mid-twentieth century was often met with hostility, to say the least. And with extremely rare exception, being gay in a position of church leadership was best kept secret. Dick was abruptly dismissed from St. James for whatever reason, but anyone with their finger on the pulse of church attitudes in those days would probably be correct in assuming why. I’ll let a former chorister and a couple clergy from those days complete this post:

“Mr. Woods lived on the second floor if [sic] an old house the church had bought at the edge of its parking [lot], just next to the rectory. It was crummy quarters, but I think he was comfortable there, and very close to his office, the church and the wonderful organ he loved so much. I believe he had a hand [in] making that organ functional once more after some long neglect. I loved to sit alone in the darkened nave, feeling the music pulse through me, as he rehearsed.

“The church. It was both a shelter and a betrayer for me. It did gift me with some temporary self-esteem, and left me with a lifetime appreciation of some inspiring classic religious music, as well as helping me find a place of comfort and excitement for music in general. I thank Richard and the church for that. I forgive the church their ignorance for the evil they visited upon so many of us.”

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“Against what I have learned was some considerable opposition, Richard succeeded in organizing a boys choir at St. James … In the relatively short time he was our choirmaster, he did some very remarkable things with the choirs, as well as with many of us as individuals, myself included … I am very much aware that Richard Woods was one of those essential persons [who helped shape my life], and I would like to know more about him and his life.

“Mr. Woods, as we called him [… was …] strong and intelligent, but [he was a] very private man. I don't know how he related to adults, but he quickly connected with us, and he was an excellent and patient teacher. He paid close attention to our concerns and listened carefully to what we had to say…

“… I missed him deeply when he so suddenly disappeared. Mr. Woods was the only adult in my life that I felt cared about me, and I am pretty certain at this point that he knew that I was being abused and neglected in my own family. While there were a few qualifications necessary to being appointed head choirboy, there were others who probably deserved the position more than I. In retrospect, I am certain that he tilted the table in my favor because he knew that my self-esteem badly needed something just like that. Was that an adult who was paying attention, or what? I was totally stunned at his departure, and the instant disbanding of the boys choir. It had become the high point of my young existence, and truthfully, the only place where I felt competent, safe, respected and wanted. While I know there were others of us who felt similarly, nothing was ever said to us, and I don't think that there was any understanding anywhere within the church community that this was a traumatic event - at least for the kids. The church was no longer my safe place, and I dropped out of church entirely a couple of years later. Incidentally, that dysfunctional congregation split right down the middle shortly thereafter, and a new church was set up out in the eastern suburbs, where the controlling wealth resided. St. James had always been the anchor church, but I believe it struggled mightily for many years thereafter.

“It was only several years later that I managed to obtain any explanation for what precipitated Mr. Woods’s dismissal and, because I got it third party, I still do not know if I got the whole story, or the whole truth. However, it came to my attention when there had been a kerfuffle at the church involving Richard's primary accuser, who had apparently been involved in yet another dysfunctional event, was confronted and reportedly admitted that she had not been truthful about Richard. She disappeared from the congregation, and nothing further was said, to the best of my knowledge. Connecting the dots and examining the whole thing with my more mature understanding of politics and group process, it seems to me that Richard was defamed and that his accuser manipulated his opponents among the Vestry to oust him, with the pretense of squelching a scandal.

“… He showed up for us and for me. He gave freely to us way beyond what was required of him professionally, and left us far better than he found us. He came into my life when I was twelve years old and gave me attention that I got nowhere else. He instilled confidence and taught us cooperation and teamwork. Today, 60 years on, I remember the love and caring he unselfishly gave us, and am eternally grateful. And, he taught me to sing, a gift which has given me comfort for a lifetime.

“In exchange, Richard was not treated well at St. James. I have heard that he was ridiculed by some of the Vestry for his ‘sissy boy choir.’ And, in retrospect, I highly suspect that he was unfairly and inappropriately dismissed. We were not allowed to see him, thank him, or even say goodbye. While I can't speak for the adults among us, I know that this was a traumatic parting for the kids he had trained, cared for and nurtured, and I suspect it must have been traumatic for Richard, as well. I sincerely hope that he went on to a life that returned to him the rewards he so richly deserved … I pray for him and wish him Godspeed in Eternity.”

**********************

Without these quotes, I’d have nothing about St. James. No one from the church responded to my queries. Short of visiting in person and pinning someone down to look up the history, I’m left to wonder if no one wants to talk about it or if they’re just really bad about returning messages. In either case, I don’t have time to beg. At any rate, tragic though the Wichita portion of Dick’s story is, it provides a clearer understanding of a certain prickliness he became known for and of his mistrust of church administrations in his later years.

It is from the quotes above that the idea came to produce a biography of some measure. These people and their heartfelt admiration of Dick inspired me to offer them more information, although I couldn't necessarily offer them a happier ending. Although Dick’s situation didn’t change a whole lot after Wichita, he still brought an untold measure of the profound to many scores of people along the way. Those people know who they are and why they admire him and cherish their memories with him. This series is for them now.

Next time: Paris

Things I will never know

While I am an expert in my field, there are some things I might never know:

I heard of a counterpart elsewhere, who was reported to have ‘blown the search committee away’ at his interview. I will never know what that’s like.

I will probably never know what it’s like to raise enough money to rebuild an organ that is in increasing need of rebuilding. Along those lines, I may never know what my lasting legacy looks like.

I will probably never know what it’s like to be invited to play in the you-have-arrived venues.

I will never know what it’s like to be invited onto a management roster. And I will probably never know why I wasn’t. And I will probably never have the nerve to ask.

Other than my dissertation research and what I have observed from others, I will probably never know what it’s like to study in Europe.

I will probably never know what it’s like to win a teaching award.

I will never know what it’s like to be a distinguished professor with an endowed salary.

While I have seen it happen to others, I will never know what it’s like to be directly recruited for a position.

I do know, gratefully, what it’s like to perform for a national convention. But apparently I will never know what it’s like to perform for a regional.

I do know what it’s like to win a piano playing competition, for I won every one of those I ever entered. But I will never know what it’s like to win an organ playing competition, for I have placed second in every one of those I ever entered, that is, if I made it past the application stage at all. But the audience prize I did win once, plus the teaching position I ‘won’ in 2005 have been plenty to celebrate, and I am grateful.

I will probably never know what it’s like to perform an organ concerto with orchestra.

Thank goodness I will never know what it’s like to get to the greener-looking grass on the other side of the fence and discover that it’s fake. My teacher Clyde Holloway always believed that we are always where we belong, and I am grateful that I have never landed where I didn’t belong. I chose wisely for college and graduate school. I have taught in a functional institution all this time, one devoid of backstabbing. I have had supportive deans. I have seen mutual support flourish among students and faculty. Our students have come first in all ways. My salary was not affected by the downturn of 2008 nor by Covid. I am in excellent health and have a loving wife. When I gather with counterparts, I hear horror stories of institutional or interpersonal dysfunction, stories that make my disappearing hair stand up, and I realize afresh just how good I have had it all this time.

And so, while I might wax nostalgic for what never was, there is no complaining about what currently is. I know that much.

on Richard Forrest Woods – Part 3

This is one of many installments of a biography of mentor and friend Dick Woods. See here for the entire series.

*******************

The early years

Richard Forrest Woods was born in Pittsburgh on July 26, 1929, to Forrest A. and Nell [Nelle?] Woods. He had two older siblings Betty L. and Billy G. Richard studied organ with Marshall Bidwell at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, now Carnegie Mellon University. He apparently began his ecclesiastical career at what he called “Trinity Chapel,” Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania. There were two “Trinity” establishments there in those days – Holy Trinity Catholic parish and Trinity Episcopal Church, and I haven’t uncovered evidence to answer definitively which one he served. My guess is he was playing for the Episcopal one, judging from the year (1949) of his acquisition of his 1928 Episcopal Prayer Book. He was twenty years old then and was surely earning extra money playing for church while enrolled at Carnegie, though perhaps he might have started there even earlier as a youth. At any rate, since he primarily served Episcopal parishes throughout his career, the Episcopal Trinity makes sense here. And since this Trinity appears as the first entry in his list of professional posts written in his Prayer Book, then Dick must have considered it his first ‘real’ job.

Immediately after college, Dick enlisted in the Navy Band on cornet and secondarily on keyboard instruments. [It is interesting that his father appears to have played trumpet in the John Philip Sousa band.] Presumably he learned the cornet from his father and/or from participation in school and/or college bands. His enlistment date is given as October 25, 1949, but his boot camp date appears to be October 1950. Surely one of those is incorrect, probably the Boot Camp date. By May 1953, he was rated MU2 [musician petty officer second class], and by April 1952, he was promoted to MU3. He was stationed:

Naval Training Center, Great Lakes [Ill.], October 1950–January 1951

Naval School of Music [Virginia Beach], January 1951–July 1951

Commander Cruisers Atlantic Fleet 156, August 1951–August 1952

Naval Base, New Orleans 152, August 1952–August 1954

After his discharge, he stayed in New Orleans and enrolled at Tulane University, presumably in organ but perhaps in conducting. While enrolled, he was the Organist/Choirmaster at Grace Episcopal, 3700 Canal Street mentioned in an earlier post. Historical note: by 2012, long-term dwindling attendance further aggravated by Hurricane Katrina sent the Grace congregation into disbandment. The campus closed on January 5 of that year and was later acquired as a satellite campus for Bethany Church headquartered in Baton Rouge.

Tulane didn’t do it for him – he left after a year.

Next time: Wichita

Please do/don’t touch!

At a former church post, I ‘presided’ over two Aeolian-Skinners. And I babied them and fed them and took care of them and named them. And I developed and maintained ways to share them with other organists as much as possible. I was determined to find the middle ground between locking them up and opening them wide. During my tenure there, I posted a notice on the music rack containing a list of my ‘house rules’ and a chart of available memory levels (I had 216 to spare). My house rules outlined exactly what I would consider good and bad regarding heavy technique, light switches, eraser crumbs, and what went into which trash/recycling can. Some people thought all that was much ado, while others appreciated the frank heads up. Since the organs were Aeolian-Skinners, I gave not one whit about what anyone thought one way or the other. All went well, and I ended up banning only one person during my seven-year tenure.

I have previously discussed the unnecessary fortressing that has gone on in our churches since 9/11. But our churches are fortresses today, and they (as fortresses) are here to stay. At that same church with the two Aeolian-Skinners, I would no longer be allowed in to play them now, if I were not on the schedule that day. Easy enough to get on the schedule, but as I have asked before, how much security threat does a guy in a suit and carrying music and organ shoes pose, and where on earth could he be heading once in the building? But there we are.

I have previously discussed the evils of console clutter. But the ‘don’t touch’ rule is as damaging as the clutter. It is a common joke among organists that the tighter the security, the more the organ in question just needs a good church fire. However, the church organ is most often the only one the church has, and so the incumbent as its curator must protect it to some extent. There is no universal solution to be had in this blog, but I will remind the dear Reader that open-console hospitality helped lead to my career choice and has remained my model, and I have always maintained such hospitality by paying it forward.

We are our instruments' curators and stewards. It doesn't matter how much we love or hate an organ; it’s probably the only one we have. Ensuring its wide appeal requires us to be something other than militaristic to visitors, and protecting it against damage requires us to be something other than nice to abusers.

That's the console. However, lock up the chambers tight; you don’t want vandalism in there. Check doors and locks regularly. Should something go horribly wrong in the chamber, the list of potential culprits should be kept as short as possible. The only people who need keys to the chambers are you and your building superintendent. On the other hand, be willing to escort visitors through your chamber, if it can be done safely. It is a fascinating place to visit, and such a visit may hook a potential organist or organ builder.

Be bold with protective measures, but be as hospitable as humanly possible. As our instruments’ curators and stewards, we are the rule setters, and therefore we must set rules. Hook new organists any way you can, which surely involves giving them access.