2014 Summer Recital Series

The American Guild of Organists

Charlotte Chapter
presents
Timothy Belk, Organist
J uly 6, 2014 | 7:00 p.m.
olian-Skinner Pipe Organ | Opus 1196
Schlicker Pipe Organ | Opus 8274
Covenant Presbyterian Church
1000 E. Morehead Street | Charlotte, North Carolina
American Guild of Organists History
The American Guild of Organists (AGO) is the national professional association serving the
organ and choral music fields. The Guild serves members in more than 300 chapters
throughout the United States and abroad.
Founded in 1896 as both an educational and service organization, the Guild seeks to set and
maintain high musical standards and to promote understanding and appreciation of all
aspects of organ and choral music.
Under the leadership of the National Council, a network of volunteer committees and
officials at the regional, district, and local levels directs the activities of the Guild. The AGO
National Headquarters is in New York, New York where a full time staff supports and
coordinates publication, administration, and development activities of the organization. For
purposes of administration and representation, the Guild is divided into nine geographical
regions, and each chapter is assigned to one of them.
The American Guild of Organists and the Associated Pipe Organ Builders of America
(APOBA) share a mutually beneficial association, a collaboration that has existed since
1975. For several decades this relationship has been strengthened by financial contributions
from APOBA and its members in support of the AGO and its Pipe Organ Encounters (POE)
program. The AGO has responded with generous provisions for bringing news from APOBA
and its members to the organ public.
American Guild of Organists Purposes
# To advance the cause of organ and choral music, to increase their contributions to
aesthetic and religious experiences, and to promote their understanding, appreciation,
and enjoyment.
# To improve the proficiency of organists and choral conductors.
# To evaluate, by examination, attainments in organ playing, choral techniques,
conducting, and the theory and general knowledge of music, and to grant certificates to
those who pass such examinations at specified levels of attainment.
# To provide members with opportunities to meet for discussion of professional topics, and
to pursue such other activities as contribute to the fulfillment of the purposes of the
Guild.
# Guild sponsored activities include a series of examinations for professional certification
as well as programs and an extensive list of publications, CDs, DVDs, and learning
resources for all levels of interest. The Guild sponsors competitions in organ
performance and improvisation and in organ and choral composition. National and
regional conventions held in alternate years, present the finest performers. THE
AMERICAN ORGANIST magazine, published monthly by the AGO, is the most widely
read journal devoted to organ and choral music in the world.
for the glory of God in loving memory of
my beloved father, parent, and friend
James Loyd Belk, Jr.
1934 - 2013
Timothy Belk, Organist
The Program
Symphony VI in G Minor, Op. 42 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Charles-Marie WIDOR, 1844-1937
Allegro
Charles-Marie Widor was a literal heir to the French organ tradition, born as he was into a family of
organ builders. His family was on close terms with the pioneering organ builder Aristide
Cavaill-Coll, who arranged for Widor to begin his formal studies in Brussels with J acques-Nicolas
Lemmens and Franois-J oseph Ftis in 1863. He moved to Paris in 1869, and in 1870 was appointed
to a provisional one-year term as the organist at the church of Saint-Sulpice, home to one of
Cavaill-Colls finest instruments. Widor remained there for 64 years. He also became professor of
organ at the Paris Conservatoire, succeeding Csar Franck. His students included Louis Vierne,
Charles Tournemire, Darius Milhaud, Marcel Dupr, Arthur Honegger, Edgard Varse, and Albert
Schweitzer.
The orchestral voicing of Cavaill-Coll instruments encouraged writing of symphonic scope and
texture, although Widor consistently urged his students not to consider the organ a substitute for the
orchestra. The modern organ is essentially symphonic; for this new instrument we must have a new
language and a different ideal from that of scholastic polyphony, Widor said. He composed ten
symphonies for the instrument, referring to the suite-like first four of Op. 13, however, as
collections. He created the template for the new form with the four symphonies of Op. 42. The
power of the Cavaill-Coll designs inspired the blazing chords of the main theme of the Sixth
Symphonys opening Allegro, while the toccata-like swirlings that alternate with it emphasize color
and fluency. J ohn Henken
Variations on All Creatures of Our God and King . . . . . . . . . . . Denis BDARD, b. 1950
Maestoso
Allegro
Andante
Vivace
Written in 2005, a sphere of variations follow a grand introduction. The chorale is warmly stated on
the foundation stops, before the melody is heralded on a solo trumpet. A quiet meditation
accompanies the fragmented melody in the pedal before giving way to a brilliant dance.
Sonata III in A Major, Op. 65 . . . . . . . . . Felix MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY, 1809-1847
Con moto maestoso
Andante tranquillo
Although not published until the mid 1840s, the majestic and glorious opening measures of Sonata
in A Major, were originally composed several years earlier, back in 1829. Mendelssohn had promised
that year to write a wedding march for his sister Fannys impending marriage ceremony. Delayed in
England by an accident, he was not able to complete the composition in time and so Fanny, who was
herself a gifted composer, composed her own wedding march (Prelude fr Orgel).
When Mendelssohn turned to writing several pieces for the organ in the 1840s, he remembered this
composition and reworked it, dropping the original middle section (which he told Fanny in a letter
that he detested) and adding instead a fugue which features the German chorale tune Aus tiefer Noth
schrei ich zu dir (Out of the depths I cry to you). After the initial entries of the fugue subject, the
chorale melody occurs in the pedal, each phrase separated by increasingly elaborate keyboard music.
Tension builds toward the conclusion of the fugal section, with an ascending line in the pedal
preparing for the return of the majestic music of the opening measures, music which one writer has
described as having the radiance of sun shining through stained glass windows.
Dr. Wanda R. Griffiths
Cortge et Litanie, Op. 19, No. 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Marcel DUPR, 1886-1971
Throughout his 28-year stint as professor of organ at the Paris Conservatory, Dupr had a profound
influence on subsequent generations of French organists. His students included such luminaries as
Olivier Messiaen, J ean Langlais, J ehan Alain, Marie-Claire Alain, J eanne Demessieux, Pierre
Cochereau, Marie-Madeleine Durufl, and J ean Guillou.
Dupr first composed Cortge et Litanie as one of five pieces of incidental music for small orchestra,
publishing it in 1922 as one of four works for piano . He later transcribed it for organ, and then for
organ and orchestra. Susan J ane Matthews
Come Sweet Death, Come Blessed Rest, BWV 478 . . . . J ohann Sebastian BACH, 1685-1750
arr. Virgil FOX, 1912-1980
Come, sweet death, come, blessed rest!
Come lead me to peace for I am weary of the world, oh come!
I wait for you, come soon and lead me, close my eyes.
Come, blessed rest!
Virgil Foxs arrangement of Bachs Come, Sweet Death is arguably the piece most closely associated
with the Wanamaker Grand Court Organ. Fox was asked to perform for the 1939 National
Convention of the American Guild of Organists in Philadelphia, and was encouraged to play a Bach
chorale on his program. Fox knew that the massive resources of the Wanamaker organ could not be
fully exploited with a simple Bach chorale. He also knew that Leopold Stokowski, an organist
himself, had transcribed the chorale into an arrangement for full symphony orchestra, with richer
sonorities, additions of inner string voices and soaring flute melodies. Fox was inspired to transcribe
Stokowskis arrangement for performance at the convention, bringing the work full circle, back to
an organ solo.
Fox worked on the arrangement for eight consecutive Tuesday nights, commuting from Baltimore
to Philadelphia, in preparation for the concert before 13,000 of his peers. That performance
established Foxs reputation as one of the worlds greatest organists, and Come, Sweet Death became
one of his signature tunes. His arrangement was published by H. W. Gray in 1941.
Peter Richard Conte
Mditation, No. 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Louis VIERNE, 1870-1937
The Trois Improvisations by Vierne at Notre-Dame Cathedral were realized by Maurice Durufl from
the 1930 gramophone recordings.
Choral in A Minor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Csar FRANCK, 1822-1890
Over the last twelve years of his life, Csar Franck composed a lot and was even more active as a
teacher. It was this constant work which enabled him to refine his style, to perfect his technique, and
to cast the new molds from which the Trois Chorals were to emerge.
He must have carried them inside his head for a long time, for they were actually written with
incredible speed. Much weakened by the cab accident which was to cause his death shortly
afterwards, Franck realized these great frescoes in a matter of weeks. He was looked after by friends
in the country through that summer of 1890, and it was at their grand piano that the Chorals were
written.
The third Choral is a Toccata in two sections framing a central Adagio. Three different themes are
clearly exposed and developed, before two are superimposed. The first theme is in a Toccata style
and recalls a little of J . S. Bachs Prelude in A Minor. The second theme is the chorale itself. Its
two expositions alternate with three developments of the Toccata. In the very famous Adagio, a third
theme is exposed on the Trompette and Hautbois and sings very freely over a soft accompaniment.
Both the second and third themes are combined to build a slow and effective crescendo. The Toccata
appears in the relative key, the second theme is recalled in fragments. In the final Tutti, both the first
and second themes are superimposed in a brilliant and majestic conclusion. Marie-Claire Alain
...a splendid example of kindness, courage, and generosity.
Susan Landale
Paris, France
Timothy J. Belk (b. 1964) holds B.M. and M.M. degrees in organ performance from the
North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem. As a North Carolina Emerging Artist
Grant recipient, he studied at the Conservatory of Music in Geneva, Switzerland earning the
distinguished Prix de Perfectionnement. His principal organ teachers include J ohn S.
Mueller and Lionel Rogg. His concert tours have taken him across the European continent,
England, Bermuda and the eastern United States. As an accompanist, he has recorded choral
works of Benjamin Britten, Zoltn Kodly and Carlyle Sharpe with the Cantata Singers of
Charlotte and was featured at a Manhattan Music Festival in New York City where he
performed Durufl Requiem with the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra and Festival Choir at
the Cathedral of Saint J ohn the Divine.
Mr. Belk has served the mission of First Presbyterian Church in Gastonia, North Carolina
since 2003. An integral part of a diversified ministry, Timothy is Director of Music
Ministries and Organist. During his tenure, he coordinated Legacy of Love, the largest
capital fund drive in the churchs history, yielding more than $6M for the preservation of the
architectural treasure designed by the late Harold E. Wagoner. In addition to oversight of
the complete restoration of the 44,000 sq.ft. facility, his most recent ministry endeavors
include the funding and rebuilding of both the Chapel (Schlicker) and Sanctuary (Casavant)
Organs. Beyond the scope of this ministry, he has consulted more than 140 organ projects,
acoustical enhancements and has led church music workshops throughout the southeast
sponsored by chapters of the American Guild of Organists, the Fellowship of United
Methodist in Music and Worship Arts and numerous organ builders. He celebrated his
twelfth season with the Annual South Carolina United Methodist Youth Choir Festival in
April 2014 and recently served on conference faculties of both the Presbyterian Association
of Musicians and the Association of Lutheran Musicians.
A graduate of the National Institute of Church Finance and Administration at Emory
Universitys Candler School of Theology, Mr. Belk is a certified church administrator. An
active member of the American Guild of Organists, he is honored to coordinate the
Southeast Regional Convention 2015 and presently serves the Charlotte Chapter as Sub-
Dean.
The Worship and Music Ministry of Covenant Presbyterian
invites you to welcome Mr. Belk at an informal gathering
immediately following in the Parlor.
Chancel Organ
olian-Skinner | Opus 1196 | 1949
SWELL
Lieblich Gedeckt 16
Geigen 8
Stopped Diapason 8
Viole de gambe 8
Flauto Dolce 8
Flute Celeste 8
Prestant 4
Cor de nuit 4
Octavin 2
Scharff IV
Fagotto 16
Trompette 8
Hautbois 8
Vox Humana 8
Clairon 4
Tremulant
GREAT
Quintaton 16
Principal 8
Bourdon 8
Spitzflote 8
Flute harmonique 8
Principal 4
Rohrflote 4
Quinte 2 2/3
Octave 2
Fourniture IV
Hooded Bombarde 8
CHOIR
Contre Gamba 16
Rorhflote 8
Viola 8
Dulciana 8
Unda Maris 8
Prestant 4
Koppelflote 4
Blockflote 2
Sesquialtera II
Scharff IV
English Horn 16
Krummhorn 8
Rohr Schalmei 4
Tremulant
POSITIV
Nachthorn 8
Nason Flute 8
Principal 4
Spillflote 4
Nasat 2 2/3
Principal 2
Tierce 1 3/5
Larigot 1 1/3
Octave 1
Cymbel III
Regal 8
Tremulant
SOLO
Gamba 8
Gamba Celeste 8
Orchestral Flute 4
French Horn 8
Trompette harmonique 8
Clairon harmonique 4
Trompette en chamade 16
Trompette en chamade 8
Trompette en chamade 4
Tremulant
Chimes
ECHO
Diapason 8
Gedeckt 8
Viole dOrchestre 8
Viole Celeste 8
Octave 4
Peek Trumpet 8
Oboe 8
PEDAL
Contra Bourdon 32
Lieblich Quint (sw) 32
Contra Bass 16
Subbasse 16
Quintaton (gt) 16
Lieblich Gedeckt sw) 16
Contre Gamba (ch) 16
Principal 8
Gamba 8
Stopped Flute 8
Still Gedeckt (sw) 8
Choral Bass 4
Nachthorn 4
Blockflote 2
Mixture IV
Contre Fagotto (sw) 32
Bombarde 16
Fagotto (sw) 16
Trompette 8
Clairon 4
Regal (pos) 4
Zimbelstern
The Chancel Organ, olian-Skinner Opus 1196, was contracted in 1949 and built in the companys
Boston factory and stored there until completion of Covenants Sanctuary in 1953. The console
bears the signature plate of G. Donald Harrison, president and tonal director of the olian-Skinner
Company, a distinction reserved for the firms finest instruments. In 1975, concurrent with the
installation of the Gallery Schlicker Organ, a four-manual rocker tab console, capable of controlling
both the Chancel and Gallery Organs, replaced the original olian-Skinner console. The organ
underwent minor revisions and several additions before a complete restoration in 2003-2004 by Mid-
Atlantic Organ Company. The preservation included a new five-manual console built by Robert M.
Turner of southern California. The console rests on an hydraulic lift and can be moved to the
Chancel center. The console incorporates solid-state technology facilitating greater versatility in
controlling the combined eight manual and two pedal divisions.
Gallery Organ
Schlicker | Opus 8274 | 1975
HAUPTWERK
Quintadena 16
Principal 8
Rohrfloete 8
Octave 4
Flachfloete 2
Sesquialtera
Mixture IV-VI
Trompete 8
BRUSTWERK
Gedeckt 8
Principal 4
Rohrfloete 4
Principal 2
Quintfloete 1 1/3
Scharf IV
Krummhorn 8
Tremolo
PEDAL
Subbass 16
Principal 8
Pommer Gedeckt 8
Choral Bass 4
Blockfloete 2
Mixture IV
Fagott 16
Schalmei 4
Zimbelstern
Installed in 1975, the two-manual mechanical action Gallery Organ was a gift of Marion Nebel in
memory of her husband, Mr. William Nebel. Opus 8274 was the last organ built by Herman L.
Schlicker, founder of the Schlicker Organ Company of Buffalo, New York, before his untimely
death. The organ case is constructed of Honduran mahogany and features facade pipes of burnished
copper and polished tin. North German in design, the organ is especially suited to the music of
J ohann Sebastian Bach and his contemporaries. The Chancel console controls the Gallery Organ by
means of electric pull-downs. Dr. & Mrs. Bruce Berryhill contributed a dramatic horizontal
Trompette en Chamade in memory of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. William Scott Berryhill, in 1982.
The Ann & Robert Stigall Scholarship Fund
American Guild of Organists Charlotte Chapter
Ann & Robert Stigall retired September 15, 2001
after thirty-eight years of exemplary service to
Charlotte's Myers Park Presbyterian Church as
Director of Music and Associate Organist. The
Stigalls administered a comprehensive worship and
music ministry serving the national Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.) in various advisory and editorial
roles.
The AGO Charlotte Chapter established a
scholarship in 2002 to honor the work of Ann &
Robert and encourage organ study of students in
grades six through twelve. Freewill offerings
received at the Annual Summer Recital Series
make this endeavor possible. Our goal for the
2014-2015 fiscal year is $10,000.
We encourage you to join us in providing an
opportunity for young organists.
MEMORIALS AND HONORARIUMS
in memory of
Alice & Elwood Coggin
Emily C. Gulledge
Royston J. Merritt
J ean R. Merritt
Betty & Richard Peek
Doris Anne Bradley
Camille & Bill Pilcher
Fran P. & Manning Huske
in honor of
Jane Arant
Kristy & George Lampe
Christopher Jacobson
Maia & Britt Setzer
Laura Anne Roller
Anonymous
Joseph Setzer
Maia & Britt Setzer
Ann & Robert Stigall
Hazel & Murray F. Somerville
Stigall Scholars and Teachers
Kristy & George Lampe
Alden Wright
Karen & Henry Alexander