The Blüthner Grand Piano (1884) Part II

The Blüthner Grand Piano (1884) Part II

Hagler and Inge Rice came to the United States and settled in New Orleans, Louisiana. I don’t know the exact dates, but it was sometime in the late 1940’s or early 1950’s. In the early 1950’s a daughter was born to this couple. She was born, appropriately, in the month of December, within a week after Ludwig van Beethoven’s birthday which is December 16. Very early on it was recognized that Heide had precocious musical gifts, and her father began to give her piano lessons. The Blüthner piano that had been purchased in Berlin was her first piano. Later, a second piano, a Steinway grand was purchased.

Not too many years later, when Hagler had moved his family to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, they lived next door to my future wife on Reed Street, a street adjacent to the University of Alabama. When my wife and I married in 1970, we decided to live in the apartment that she was already renting. The Rice family was already acquainted with my wife as neighbors would have been in those days. I was welcomed into the “family” after our marriage and the wonderful relationship continued. Hagler, as a previous entry explained, was the best man at our wedding for all the reasons stated in that previous post. At the time of our marriage, Hagler’s wife and daughter were living in Philadelphia as Heide pursued musical training at the Curtis Institute of Music. Their daughter was too young to live by herself in Philadelphia since Curtis Institute is not a residential college. The students have to rent their own apartments as they attend the Institute. Thus, Hagler who was 72 years old at the time lived alone in his inherited home on Reed Street. My wife and I had ample opportunity to visit Hagler as we spent time in the evenings with him in his home enjoying a shared musical interest as well as the company of an extraordinary man who was almost three times our age.

During one of those evenings, Hagler shared a story regarding the Blüthner and the time that Wilhelm Kempff came and played the instrument in their home in New Orleans. It has been well over 35 years since he related the story so my memory is not clear on the age of their daughter Heide at the time of the event. I recollect that Heide was 12 years old. She may have been older but I am now able to verify her exact age. (This past weekend we were able to reconnect with Heide after over 30 years of trying to track her down after her mother died. She was sent the link to this blog by Curtis Institute Alumni Association when the Association had done a Google Search and had come up with a link that referenced her. This is an amazing story of being reconnected to a long lost friend, but that is not the subject of this entry. I can now verify my accuracy in memory, if need arises, via a telephone call.) Mr. Rice related that the famous concert pianist who was also a Beethoven authority came to New Orleans to audition Heide for a special teaching program that he provided in the summer time for gifted pianists. In 1957 Kempff began to give an annual Beethoven interpretation course in his villa in Positano, Italy. He wanted Heide to consider coming to Italy sometime in the future to study at the symposium. The audition was arranged and Kempff came to the Rice home on the appointed day. Heide had prepared the Beethoven 4^th piano concerto as her audition piece. She began playing the Steinway, and not too long into the audition, Wilhelm Kempff being so impressed with Heide’s playing and interpretation, moved to the Blüthner which was beside the Steinway and began to play from memory the orchestral reduction accompaniment to the concerto. It must have been a moment of intense “magic” as youthful prodigy and elder master musician merged into one glorious ensemble of music making. Heide was selected to attend Kempff’s summer session which took place when she was 19 years old.

The story of the procurement of the Blüthner from post-war Germany, the knowledge that the daughter of our best man had practiced on the Blüthner in her formative years of piano study, and the fact that Wilhelm Kempff had actually played the very instrument that Hagler was now going to sell were too many reasons for allowing the piano to be passed on to a stranger’s hands. I called Hagler the morning after having dinner with him and his wife. I told him my feelings regarding the piano and asked him how much he was asking for the piano. Without the slightest hesitation, he declared a price that was only a fraction of a token as to its real value. I thought he was kidding, but he was not. I protested that he was giving the piano away. He said that was the whole point of it. He would “give” the piano away only to a family member. He knew that we would care for the piano and eventually have the piano restored to its potential. Indeed, he had done most of the maintenance work on the piano over the years; it did need restoration to some degree. It was a vintage piano and it needed an overhaul. We paid his asking “price,” and the piano was moved to our Forest Lake home and placed in the second studio we maintained. After Hagler and Inge moved back to New Orleans in the summer of 1972, my wife and I moved to Michigan in 1973. Within a year and a half of our move to Michigan, the process of restoration began. (To be continued with the next entry.)

The Blüthner Grand Piano (1884) Part I

The Blüthner Grand Piano (1884), Part I

The story of the Walnut Wardrobe was only one side of the tale about our friend Clarence Hagler Rice and his wife and daughter (see previous Aug. 25 blog entry). When Hagler and Inge Rice were moving back to New Orleans, they were not going to have room in their new home for both grand pianos. They would be selling the Blüthner which was 6’ 1” in length. Hagler made the announcement one night when they were having dinner with us. I was totally shocked that he would be selling this wonderful instrument that had an interesting tale of its own as did the Walnut Wardrobe. I responded to Hagler in disbelief that he could ever part with this instrument. He said that there was just no room in the New Orleans home. The piano had served its purpose over the years and it was time to sell it. He asked if we would be interested in the instrument. We were interested since we needed a second piano (a good one) for our second studio in our home, but I knew there was no way we could afford such an instrument at that time. The conversation ended and we continued with our meal and time of sharing.

After the Rices left our house that night, I began to ponder the sale of the Blüthner. It had an interesting story of how it got to the United States as well as a rich history in the many hours of practice that a young child prodigy had spent playing the instrument. In addition, there was the story of the visit by the famous Beethoven authority and concert pianist by the name of Wilhelm Kempff.

Even more importantly for us, the piano belonged to Hagler Rice who was the best man in our wedding. He symbolized so much to us of our own Southern heritage and roots as well as his friendship toward us and his kindness of “looking after us” as we spent many evenings in his home talking about life, music, and days past. His family was so dear to us. How could we allow the Blüthner be sold? The new owners would not cherish its history and the symbolism it held of our friendship and love of the Rice family.

I decided that night to call Hagler the next morning to ask how much he would be asking for the piano. I knew I would not be able to afford another instrument since we were still paying on the loan that we had taken out to buy our Kawai grand which we purchased right after our marriage two years earlier.

It was a restless night as my mind went back to the time Hagler told us how he had purchased the piano.

Mr. Rice was stationed in Germany as part of the occupation forces in divided Germany. He was a commander in the Navy and was probably stationed in Bremerhaven if my memory serves me well. He was frequently in Berlin which was also parceled out among the Allied Forces and the Soviet Union. Berlin, of course, was surrounded by East Germany which was the portion that the Soviets had gleaned for itself right after the war had ended. In June of 1948, the Soviets blockaded access to West Berlin with the intention of gaining complete control of Berlin. The Allied Forces devised an airlift of supplies to the people of West Berlin. This lasted until September of 1949 even though the blockade was lifted in May of 1949. (See this link regarding the Berlin Blockade.)

It was during this blockade, when Hagler Rice and two others each purchased a Blüthner grand piano (follow this link for more info on Blüthner pianos). The purchase was made in West Berlin and the question was how to transport the pianos into the West Germany where they could be safely shipped to the United States. Because of the blockade and the intensity of the airlift of supplies, there was no air transportation available. A plan was devised to get permission from the Soviets to have a disabled army truck towed across the autobahn. The three grand pianos would be stowed away on the disabled truck. There was a great risk that the Soviets would inspect the truck, and the pianos would be confiscated. Permission was granted to have the truck towed across the Soviet zone. There was no inspection, and the pianos eventually arrived safely in the perspective cities of each owner. A new life had begun for the remarkable and beautiful piano (to be continued with next blog entry).

The Walnut Wardrobe

In the fall of 1971, my wife and I moved from a large apartment on Reed Street which was part of a three-apartment division of a once lovely Dutch colonial home. Hagler Rice and his family (from Aug. 24 entry) lived next door. The Reed Street apartment was rapidly becoming a “student” neighborhood since the University of Alabama campus was just a few blocks away. It had become a very noisy neighborhood with incessant traffic flow to and from the university. Plus, partying students kept us awake especially on weekends of home football games. These were the days of Bear Bryant and the National Championship Teams.

We moved to a Cape Cod style home that was situated on the short dirt road that ran down beside Forest Lake. This was an old established neighborhood and our particular street was the original Forest Lake Drive. Our house number was #5 Forest Lake Drive. There was also a paved section of Forest Lake Drive that ran along the eastern shore of Forest Lake. The lake was man made and the neighborhood, at one time, was about three miles from downtown Tuscaloosa. Over the years the city built eastward and this little enclave by the time we moved in was totally encircled by the encroaching subdivisions. Nonetheless, there was still more than an ambience of solitude and seclusion to the neighborhood.

One evening when we were having dinner at our home with the Rices, Hagler mentioned that he and Inge were planning to move back to New Orleans within the next year. Their daughter Heide was about to launch her piano concert career and New Orleans would be a more ideal place for her to be. He said that they would have to sell some of their furniture since they would be moving to a smaller home. One of the items was an antique walnut wardrobe. Another item was their five foot nine Blüthner grand piano. He wanted to know if we would be interested in the two items. The wardrobe and its origin will be described below in Hagler’s own words. The unique feature of this floor to ceiling and very wide wardrobe was that is was built without any nails. It could be disassembled in minutes and moved relatively easily. (The grand piano will have to be another entry, perhaps, tomorrow.) Hagler sold us the wardrobe. We have used it for years now as a music cabinet. Without touching the construction inside the wardrobe, we were able to put a metal shelving unit within the wardrobe so that we could store our piano music collection. To this day it houses most of our music collection. Now, for the story of the construction and early use of The Walnut Wardrobe as transcribed from a typed copy that Hagler gave to us shortly after we acquired possession of this remarkable piece of furniture.

The Walnut Wardrobe

This Walnut Wardrobe was built by a traveling English Jointer (Cabinet Maker) at my grandfather’s saw mill on Binions Creek during 1902. Exact date unknown.

The walnut tree from which the lumber was taken grew in Grandpa’s front yard for its lifetime. A severe wind storm blew it down during the fall and winter of 1901. It lay on the ground during the summer of 1902. This was the spot where all the young people would sit and sing songs during the long summer twilight evenings. Such songs I remember were “She Was Born in Old Kentucky,” “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon” and many others which were wee-known and loved at the time but have been forgotten by the public today, for the most part. Whenever I hear one of the songs above and many others, whose names I don’t remember presently, I get a most satisfying feeling, something of nostalgia and something of sadness for a period long gone into the past. It was a great period for us.

The English cabinet maker was a traveling man and I do not remember much about him. The walnut log was a hug one, about 4 feet in diameter. The walnut lumber was sawed and then sent to Northport where it was kiln dried. After returning to the mill on Binions Creek, the Englishman drew sketches of the wardrobe for approval; then, he started construction of the piece which required over three months [to construct]. The lumber was hand-planed and sanded smooth. The wardrobe was a copy of others the man had built in England and its lines were typically English as were some of the hardware which the cabinet maker insisted on obtaining from sources he had in England.

The wardrobe originally had a hand-rubbed “gun Stock Finish” (hot raw linseed oil rubbed on for at least 10 coats. This gave a satiny finish and was the delight of my grandfather, who was an avid gun crank.) The finish has been polished up into a shiny coating but is essentially the original finish, which is in the pores of the wood.

The bottom unit, doors and cornice are really English in feeling and design and the wood was selected by the maker from a good pile which he had available at the saw mill [which] was most suitable for the use it was to be put.

The Wardrobe was popular during this period as most houses, especially country houses, had little or no closet space, so all the fine dresses and my grandfather’s Sunday suits were stored in the wardrobe. Also, each door had its [own] key which dept it locked securely.

I remember my grandfather’s suits were in the left hand space and Grandmother used the right side, which had numerous shelves, to keep her dresses. My grandfather had two other wardrobes but they were smaller and did not have the graceful lines of the solid walnut wardrobe. It is a relic of a period of graceful and comfortable living which was typically Southern.

June 1972 Clarence Hagler Rice

The Best Man

The Best Man

Clarence Hagler Rice was the best man in our wedding. He was 72 years old and lived in a quaint one-story home on Reed Street in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Hagler was my fiancée’s neighbor. Mr. Rice had been a commander in the U.S. Navy during WWII. During the occupation of West Berlin after the war, Hagler met and married Inge who was a widowed, German lady whom he described at first meeting as having eyes that sparkled like champagne. Inge, however, had suffered much loss during the war in the death of her husband and children. I only questioned Inge once about her experiences during the war. A sadness came over her with her hidden grief visible just for a moment when she answered that the war years were years of great sorrow. She had to keep them in her past in order to survive. I never questioned her again.

Hagler was several years older than Inge, and this was a second marriage for him. From this union was born Heide when Mr. Rice was in his 50's. It was recognized very early that Heide had prodigious musical gifts and by the age of two was playing simple songs she had learned from her father. By the time Heide was 12 years old she was an accomplished pianist in the line of other child prodigies. Her parents traveled with her by train from New Orleans once a month to have her study with the renowned Roy McAlister at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. We remember seeing her on campus during those monthly sojourns as all of the university music students marveled at her talent.

Four short years later at age 16, Heide graduated from high school and was enrolled at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Since the Institute was not a resident institution, students had to procure their own living quarters. Because of Heide's age, her parents decided to have Mrs. Rice go with her and live with her during those years at the Institute.

The Institute years is when I met Hagler for the first time as I visited my fiancée. Mr. Rice had moved his family to Tuscaloosa and took up residence in an inherited home on Reed Street right next door to what would eventually become our first apartment as newlyweds.

Hagler was almost 70 at the time. He was a quiet spoken, Southern gentleman who was well educated, knew how to work with his hands and was obviously from the generation of my grandparents. He and his wife had first settled in New Orleans after his time in the U.S. Navy. As Heide showed great promise as a budding piano prodigy, they acquired a second grand piano to go with the grand they had purchased in Germany after the war. Young Heide was playing piano concerti at an early age and her first teacher (her father) as well as subsequent teachers came to the house for lessons and would play the second piano part (the orchestral reduction) as Heide performed the piano solo part. (We would acquire not too many years later the German piano, a Blüthner that had been built in what was then East Germany. That is a story in itself which may be told in a subsequent entry).

When it came time for our marriage, Hagler was living alone since his wife and daughter were off at school in Philadelphia. We were planning a very small wedding but would have a large, festive reception six months after the wedding so that many of our friends and family could attend. Plus, it would be the occasion of my Master of Music organ recital, and this would guarantee a hefty attendance. Good planning!

Clarence Hagler Rice would be our Best Man. On the evening of the wedding, I arrived at my fiancée’s apartment in my 1969 VW Bug. Mr. Rice came over from next door, and the three of us piled in the Bug and drove across the Black Warrior River over the drawbridge that connected Tuscaloosa with Northport. The ceremony was at 7 p.m. We arrived five minutes late due to the drawbridge being up to allow a barge to continue down the river. We were married and then proceeded to our wedding supper. To Hagler's surprise, we invited him to come with us to the Waysider Inn, and the three of us enjoyed a wonderful supper of fried chicken and all the trimmings. It was a happy day. Clarence Hagler Rice was the connection to our heritage from the past, our joy in the present, and our hope for the future. Hagler died three years later in 1973 at the age of 75. His wife Inge died in the early 1980's and his daughter Heide left a concert career to study medicine. We lost contact with the family after Inge's death. Our two wonderful mementos from the Rice family still remind us of a wonderful family who influenced us in such positive ways during those early years. Their memory lives on in the 1884 Blüthner grand piano that graces our living room and the floor to ceiling walnut wardrobe that holds most of our music collection. Next time, the story of the Walnut Wardrobe as told by Clarence Hagler Rice in his own words.

Happy Musing.

Blogger RED

International Space Station

During the summer months my wife and I began tracking the International Space Station sightings in our area. We went online to find out when the sightings would be visible in our area in Michigan. There was double excitement when the U.S. Space Shuttle was launched during June and then in August. We have viewed the ISS as well as the Space Shuttle during these warm summer months. Of particular interest is when the Space Shuttle is visible with the ISS before it docks with the ISS and after the Space Shuttle undocks and flies in tandem with the ISS. Our son who lives in Seattle has declared a "friendly competition" to see how many times we each have viewed these sightings. Of course, Michigan and Seattle have similar cloudy evenings so the competition gets a little more intense. Many times we will be talking with our son via cell phones as we view the sightings. He, however, refrains (thankfully) from calling us during his sightings due to the time zone differences and especially since we would have already retired for the evening by the time he would be viewing the flyover. Click on the following link to checkout when the ISS will be visible in your neighborhood http://spaceflight1.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/ Then click on "Go to Country" which is at the default setting of "United States." Find your state. Then your city. Keep in mind that the ISS is not always visible in your area during certain parts of the month due to the earth's rotation. Check back often. You will be given information as to the direction of approach and the degree of approach as well as the maximum height of the sighting and then its exit degree and direction. The ISS and Space Shuttle fly at approx. 300 miles per minute or 17,000 + miles an hour. Thus, the fly over will be visible just for a few short minutes. It is distinguishable from other objects in the sky (airplanes and the like) since it flies so fast and has no winking lights. Our most spectacular sighting was in June when the Space Shuttle had just undocked from the ISS and was flying right behind the ISS. Also, on Monday, we were standing on the shore of Lake Michigan at Frankfort, Michigan (Point Betsie Lighthouse) and saw the ISS being followed by the Space Shuttle (one minute behind or 300 miles behind).

Because of our excitement, we now have neighborhood gatherings to view the sightings. It is a great time for a "mini block party."

Here are a couple more links for other interesting data. The first one is the NASA website for the Space Shuttle and the second is the "real time" orbits for the ISS. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/tracking/index.html

Happy Viewing.

Make a great day!

Blogger RED

Music House Museum, Acme, Michigan--8 miles north of Traverse City

The first picture is a Dance Hall Mechanical Organ. Original paint.


On our two-day holiday to Northern Lower Michigan, we visited the Music House Museum near Traverse City. As stated in the entry for August 20 of this Blog: the Music House Museum has an amazing collection of mechanically driven instruments from the turn of the 19th century. Everything from Nickelodeons and Player Pianos to Reproducing Pianos and Dance Hall Mechanical Organs.

Here are a some pictures of other instruments.


This picture is a theater organ that was used during the silent movie days for accompaniment during the movie as well as sound effects for the movie.















Here is the console for the theater organ.




















A pipe organ from St. Andrew's Church, Saginaw, Michigan. The organ was built by the Estey Organ Company in 1917.
















The console to the pipe organ.

















Other instruments at the museum.
This one is a mechanical band organ for a carousel.
















A monkey organ for an organ grinder.


Player Piano


















More instruments and artifacts from days gone by will be posted on subsequent entries.

If you would like to spend a fascinating couple of hours listening to a well informed guide explain the culture of the mechanical instruments at the turn of the 19th century and into the 20th century, check out the Music House Museum website... http://www.musichouse.org/

Until next time....Happy Musing.

RED

Stay Tuned

The Blogger and his wife are away on a two day holiday to Frankfort and Traverse City, Michigan. We're visiting long time friends. We return home tomorrow, August 21.

Stay tuned for an article on the Music House Museum near Traverse City, Michigan. An amazing collection of mechanically driven instruments from the turn of the 19th century. Everything from Nickelodeons and Player Pianos to Reproducing Pianos and Dance Hall Mechanical Organs.

Orchids

Orchids_*

Flowers, delicate, precious

Decorate and give pleasure.

Luxurious lavenders,

Exquisite beauty placed

For Sensuous view.

Orkhis, from the Greek

Rooted in meaning.

Fragile, sensitive, priceless to man.

Hidden in modesty

Witnessed by two.

RED ©1983

*written while recovering from orchitis

Married Love, a Treasure-Trove

Married Love, a Treasure-Trove

A husband’s love assured

In wedded Life having blossomed

And now bearing fruit.

Day by day, love

Stores up treasured memories.

Children stretching,

Perfecting love,

Learn to imitate love.

Year by year, growth

Measures memories.

Friendships deepening,

Burdens shared.

Goodbyes more frequent,

Yet, distance designs

Memories from fidelity to friends.

The Ancient of Ages breathes

Spiritual youth

With fulfilled promises

And memories of days before,

Now, and forevermore.

RED ©1984

True Friends

True Friends

Love at first sight,

A rare occurrence.

An acquaintance, a well-wisher

Drinks superficially

Of another’s reality.

Wait some years

But keep in touch

Not in memories

But in sharings

Of daily reality.

What is revealed

Is a remaining few,

Perhaps, only two.

With true friends

The treasure is reality.

RED ©1983

Two In One

3D605008 LifeART Royalty Free Photograph

Two In One

Each leaves the past

To cleave to the Presence.

No pulling apart

And growth will be expected.

From two cells

Come one life.

A miracle indeed

Has happened.

How can this be

While two we still see?

Look beyond what you see

And come to know this Mystery.

RED ©1985

Good Friends

Good Friends

Tension is support not conflict.

Every permanent structure has it.

Stress is balanced not absorbed.

Simple machines proclaim its advantage.

Lovely bodies balanced in dance

Maintain tension for resolution.

Expressive stress pleasures the eyes

And cushions strained machines.

Old friends lean in love

Like arches to a keystone,

Tensing, as champions of vaulted permanence

Inclining spirits to seek new heights.

Thanksgiving comes in resolute phase

Soon to be greeted by its mirror image.

The pleasure for good friends

Is daily tension not number of years.

RED ©1985

Children

Children

Motion, energy, conflict, repose,

Imagination that breaks the set.

Eyes sparkling with anticipation,

Wisdom blossoming from honesty.

Muscles, intellect, spirit developing.

Creativity unschooled and unbridled.

Smiles that assure innocence.

Understanding revealing insight.

Infancy, youth, maturity, golden years.

Experience abandoned for frontiers.

Laughter etched in wrinkles.

Life in transition.

RED ©1983

J. Warren Hutton--Master Teacher & Musician

J. Warren Hutton died in July of 2002 after an illustrious career as organ professor at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The following two tributes were given shortly after his death. The first was an article that appeared in The Tuscaloosa News, and the second was a letter from a former student and was written to Warren Hutton's wife. In a person's lifetime there are always those significant people who stamp indelible marks of enormous influence on us all. Warren Hutton was one of those significant people in the lives untold numbers.

Tribute #1:

UA organ professor remembered as one of best in nation

By Greg Retsinas
City Editor
July 2, 2002

J. Warren Hutton, who became one of the top organists in the country and then spent the rest of his life teaching others to love the instrument, died Monday in Philadelphia. The Tuscaloosa resident was there for a national convention of organists that starts today.

Hutton, 72, was the only person to teach the organ at the University of Alabama, joining the faculty in 1954 and retiring in 1996. He barely missed a step in retirement, continuing to teach for the past six years.

"Warren was like a Nobel Prize winner in his field. No one can replace him, but we’ll have to find someone to succeed him somehow," said Bruce Murray, chair of the UA music department, reached Monday at a summer music camp in North Carolina .

A room in the Frank Moody Music Building is already named for Hutton as is a scholarship given annually to a promising organ student. Twenty years ago, Hutton was awarded the Outstanding Commitment to Teaching Award by the UA national alumni association.

During his tenure at UA, Hutton’s students won nearly every national organ competition, routinely sweeping contests in the Southeast. But he told friends and colleagues that his joy came not from watching students win, but from seeing them fall in love with a craft not always in the forefront of the music world.

"He was the finest organ teacher in the country. I wouldn’t be the player I am without him," said Jonathan Biggers, who studied with Hutton from 1978-84 and is now an acclaimed concert organist.

As a high school student, Biggers said he was considering three colleges when he visited Tuscaloosa and watched Hutton teach a master class on the organ. He was so taken by the professor that he canceled his plans to visit the two other schools and enrolled at Alabama.

"He knew how to draw the very best out of his students," said Biggers, who now teaches organ and serves as artist-in-residence at Binghamton University in New York .

An uncommon instrument, organs vary. The one at UA — "its magnum opus", Biggers said — is a 5,000-pipe Holtkamp organ that stands nearly three stories tall. Hutton designed the organ, one of many he has designed over the past decade as a design consultant.

Hutton once said he loved the organ for its "tonal beauty, flexibility and integrity."

In music circles, organs have made a revival in recent years, Murray said, to the point now where there is "tremendous demand for church organists" at major cities in the U.S. and Europe .

In what is perhaps a rare case of one man helping to influence an arts discipline, Hutton has designed many of the organs being built today, and his students are playing many of those organs.

J.F. Goossen, a composer and UA music colleague of Hutton’s for more than four decades, said the organist was a stern tutor and typically only taught the best and brightest students. They in turn were fiercely loyal.

"Those were the kind of students he attracted. He didn’t bother with anyone else. He was a very hard taskmaster, but his students ate it up," Goosen said.

Even with his teaching duties and consulting work, Hutton spent time playing the Holtkamp, inviting fellow organists traveling across the South to stop by and play as well. He appeared in several national recitals as well as a series on public broadcasting in the 1980s.

Hutton was the longtime organist and choir director at University Presbyterian Church of Tuscaloosa, a position he held until his death. He also continued to play UA’s Denny Chimes occasionally.

Hutton’s last public performance was in 1996 when he joined with 300 other organists at sites across the country in the so-called "World’s Largest Organ Recital" in celebration of the centennial of the American Guild of Organists.

The first notes of the simultaneous recital were the opening notes of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor, perhaps the most famous organ piece ever written.

The Little Rock, Ark., native received degrees from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and Syracuse University.

He is survived by his wife Nancy and twin daughters Denise Hutton Yanaura and Laura Hutton.

Staff Writer Steve Reeves contributed to this report.

Tribute #2:

July 2, 2002

Dear Nancy Hutton,

I was notified this morning by my sister-in-law that Warren had died yesterday in Philadelphia. Many will mourn his passing. As I’ve gone about my activities today with a very heavy heart, I’ve reflected on the influence that Warren had upon me when I was a student of his from 1964 to 1970. Certainly, my training as an organist continues to reflect his monumental influence. I came as a very needy, very inexperienced musician. He crafted over the next six years an individual who became a confident musician. He gave me much more than great teaching on how to play the organ. His teaching style with its demanding questioning, probing analysis, ever-widening musical interests, and his insatiable proclivity toward practical musical jokes and humor is branded upon me and my own teaching style. How many times did I write him to thank him for all that he gave me? Just recently, in an e-mail to him that was mainly written to inquire about his health, I took the opportunity to thank him for all that he had given me while I was his student. He wrote me back to say how glad he was to hear from me and how much he still enjoyed teaching.

His knowledge of organ design is legendary. His concept and execution of “touch” as the expressive means of organ playing was a gold mine for students and professionals alike. I remember shortly after we moved to Michigan (29 years ago this May) when I wanted to do post graduate work at a couple of different universities here in Michigan and had to take the entrance exams. My music history knowledge via instruction from Fred Hyde, my theory knowledge garnered from Fred Goossen, and my organ playing and organ design knowledge gained me entrance to post graduate work without any problem. This was all due to the efforts of Warren and the other devoted music faculty at UA.

Warren has certainly left a legacy that few could ever reproduce.

Please accept our deepest sympathy for the loss that you must feel. Many grieve with you and will continue to uphold you in prayer. Nancy, I fondly remember being a part of a chain of students who would sit with Denise or Laura when they had hospital stays during their early life. I still remember that their birthday is May 14, 1959. Please give them our condolences.

I regret not being able to be at the funeral. We are visiting Alabama late this month and had planned to stop by for a visit with Warren at that time.

With deepest sympathy,

A Former Student

The Mepkin Abbey Organ

Mepkin Abbey is located 30 miles northwest of Charleston, South Carolina. If you have never been to Mepkin Abbey (http://www.mepkinabbey.org/)you must visit especially in the springtime when the gardens are in full bloom. The organ at the Abbey is an expanded version of an instrument that was dedicated in 1994. On the CD cover jacket of a CD that was made in 2003, Father Francis Kline, the third abbot of Mepkin writes extensively about the concept and design of the new expanded organ. Father Francis died last summer on August 27, 2006 after a three year battle with cancer. He was a Julliard Music School graduate in organ performance. Do a Google Search to find out more about this outstanding musician. Father Francis states in the CD cover jacket: "The first design for the 1994 organ included only pipes. Thirteen ranks on two manuals would have given us a small, fine organ for a limited repertoire, and enough flutes to accompany the monastic chant. At this time the builders (Zimmer Organ Company of North Carolina http://www.zimmerorgans.com/) were experimenting with the Walker Technical Co. to supplement their pipe work with non-winded voices. I was unconvinced until I traveled to hear several installations where Walker had added non-winded voices to existing pipe organs. In one case, after hearing an organ which I had known from my days with Alexander McCurdy in Philadelphia, I could no longer deny my ears. With a given acoustic, the right placement of the on-winded voices in with the pipework, and an overall sensitivity to the combination, one could achieve satisfying results within a space and budget which usually limits the outcome."

Father Francis continues, "Our monastery is isolated out in the woods. My cloister, and the distance of the monastery from Charleston prevent me from getting into the city often to play other instruments. We wanted to make as much music as possible right here at the monastery. And the acoustics of the Church clearly should have more variety of sound than could be achieved with thirteen ranks. So we dared to hope."

Father Francis explains how the organ design was finalized and implemented and completed. "During the several years since the installation of the Zimmer Opus 39, I have been thinking of a new CD to honor their gift (the organ from the Zimmers)...the initial plan of the organ stands: to play music to the glory of God, often alone, mostly unheard and unsuspected; to offer up to the exceeding love of God a striving for excellence in gratitude...;to craft a monastic liturgy which is new, but in continuity with the dreams of the great composers for the Church, and especially in continuity with the monastic contemplation of the Word of God; to bring to every service the excitement of musical perfection and the demands of art, and, above all, to remain humble before the majesty of God and the needs and desires of the monastic community. With this CD, therefore, let our prayer arise before Him like incense Ps. 141."

The CD "......Like Incense" can be obtained from the monastery store (see website above) or from Amazon.com or other vendors. Check e-bay as well. The music on the CD includes works of Bach, Vierne, Messiaen, and Dupre. Francis Kline was a performer of high technical and musical skill and his recording is one that honors the composers of the music he performs as well as being a tribute to a virtuoso musician who influenced not only his own monastic brethren but many, many others throughout the nation.