Having been first alerted by Janette Fishell two years ago at the University of North Texas organ symposium about Indiana University’s up-coming dedicatory symposium, I was thrilled to see a notice about it in last April’s TAO. Except for one brief 2-3 day visit in the late 1970’s, I had not returned to Indiana University since I received my MM in 1968 and this event, commemorating the installation of a new 68-rank Fisk organ and the debut of the first volume of a new edition of the complete organ works of Bach, seemed like the perfect opportunity to witness how IU had changed and grown over the decades.

There was also the significant pull of some cherished relationships. Quentin Falukner (the performance practice editor of this new edition from Wayne Leupold) was a presenter and was joined in attendance by Mary Murrell as well as Phil Frowery - all close friends from Westminster Choir College days. Moreover, George Ritchie, an IU classmate and former UN-L colleague, was giving a master class on playing Bach and receiving a Distinguished Alumnus award. Two other classmates from my IU days, Herndon Spillman (from Louisiana State University) and John Simpson were also on hand.

This first new volume comprises the Clavierubung, III. This collection was chosen largely because autograph copies of the work (some in Bach’s own hand with changes in red!) already exist. Quentin was joined in his editorial duties by George Stauffer (with whom I’d studied Bach organ works while on a fellowship at Columbia University in ’81-’82) and Christoph Wolff from Harvard University. George Ritchie had already worked extensively with Wolff in previous years and co-authored with George Stauffer his remarkable book on organ technique and performance practice. So, it was one big happy family of scholar-performer-editors (Leupold was himself a Poister student at Syracuse.).

Our first sessions were comprised of Wayne Leupold giving us the detailed and sometimes tortuous time-line for the genesis of this new edition. The germ of the idea came from George Ritchie who felt the Neue Bach Ausgabe edition was riddled with problems. Leupold assembled his editorial team and began years of interviews, polls, first drafts, test printings, and marketing strategies to bring this first volume to its birth.

Packed with facsimiles of autographs, performance practice information, and (hooray!) edited to facilitate easy page-turns, the purchase price of $58 might strike some as “dear,” but Bach’s own self-published first edition in thalers cost the equivalent of $213 today! Take it from me. This is a “must have” handsome and erudite edition for serious organists.

We also heard an extensive chronology of the birth of the new Fisk at IU from Christopher Young complemented by an excellent video presentation (which actually worked!). Many will remember Chris as one of our guest artist-teachers at our POE-A. Two of those POE-Aers are now studying at IU: Samuel Gaskin (with Chris) and Kevin Neel (with Janette). Another POE-A alumna teacher (and one-time IU faculty member), Wilma Jensen, was also on hand. You may have read the cover article on IU’s new Fisk in last July’s TAO. In a nutshell, Indiana had purchased a new organ which had been installed in its splendid new recital facility, Auer Hall. However, that instrument was fraught with design, mechanical, and tonal problems. Simply put, what had been ordered was not what had been delivered. And then the organ builder went bankrupt. (Pssssst! Though unnamed in the article, it was Rosales.). So the process had to begin all over again with some salvaging taking place. The front balcony in which the organ is placed was reconfigured and there was also an acoustical make-over. Budget cuts? What budget cuts? IU is hardly UN-L in this respect. What they reap in terms of private donations and support is staggering (for music, not football). I would add that IU has at least ten or more named scholarships for organ students.

Dr. Ritchie made cogent, wide-ranging yet focused comments on three students’ playing during his master class. These Bach works consisted of the first movement of the 6th Trio Sonata, one of the more florid Allein Gott settings and the Prelude in E-Flat major. This was our first chance to really hear this glorious new instrument.

That evening, we all enjoyed dinner at the Devault Alumni Center at which Dr. Ritchie received his Distinguished Alumnus Award along with Dr. David Schrader from Chicago. A third was awarded posthumously to Dr. Michael Farris whose parents were present to receive it. We returned to Auer Hall where David Shrader (when did this man ever have a chance to practice?) played a staggering recital. Shrader began with a French classic suite, the rarely-heard Commotio by Carl Nielsen, the Opus 135b Fantasia and Fugue by Max Reger, the Mozart K. 594 (slow-fast-slow), and the Dupré Variations on a Noel – all from memory!

Friday was largely given over to lectures on the new Leupold Bach edition by its editors, peppered with several lively question-and-answer sessions. We had another banquet that evening in the IU Union’s Tudor Room at which organ curator Tom Wood was honored upon his impending retirement. That evening was given over to a collaborative performance of the complete Clavierubung III by the IU organ faculty (including Jeffrey Smith, formerly of Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, and the new Canon for Music at Christ Church Cathedral in Indianapolis and Colin Andrews, adjunct professor in the department) and all their students using the new Leupold edition. That this feat was pulled off so early in the academic year (being IU, this was already the 150th+ recital of the year and it was only September 17!) was quite amazing and speaks volumes about the prodigious advance preparation done by all parties concerned.

I headed to Columbus, OH on Saturday and therefore missed the tribute recital for newly-retired Marilyn Keiser by several of her former students and admirers. There were also opportunities for attendees to spend assigned time at the new instrument, have lessons with the organ faculty, or take a campus walking tour. There can come a point at which one can become “organed-out” and I had reached it. Hence, my departure to see my new grand-nephew in Columbus and the rest of my family in the Cleveland area. But what a magnificent two days in Bloomington! Try to see and hear this magnificent Fisk if you’re ever passing through the area.