This Sunday, February 6th, I’m going to duck out of the choir warm-up and will be talking about Albert Schweitzer, his background as an organist, and how even we at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu have been influenced by his musical ideas. The Adult Forum will meet in the Board Room and will begin at 9:25 am. I believe it is the ONLY time in 33 years that I have been asked to speak in Sunday School! Actually the invitation was extended to both Carl and myself, but he thought he’d better take care of the choir!

Dr. Albert Schweitzer was a humanitarian, theologian, missionary, medical doctor AND an organist! A biographer, Charles A. Joy, who wrote Music in the Life of Albert Schweitzer, said “Those of us who know Schweitzer for his humanitarian, philosophical, and theological works tend to think of his musical work as something separate and less important. But to Schweitzer organ playing was a huge part of his life, and perhaps the most rewarding part. He not only played music, but studied it intensely.”

I will be discussing Albert Schweitzer’s study of Bach, his ideas on symbolism and numerology in Bach’s works and his influence in the Organ Reform movement as a result of his study of historic instruments. You could even say that Albert Schweitzer was indirectly responsible for the Beckerath organ at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu!