A few people commented that the service I played last week on May 20, Ascension Day at St. Andrew’s Priory, actually occurred one week past the official date of Ascension Day in the rest of the world, which was May 13, 2021.

To be honest, I hadn’t even given it a second thought. I’m presuming the school changed the date of Ascension Day to fit their academic schedule.

Last week, when I had an organ lesson with my Kauai student, Hank Curtis, on May 18th, he mentioned that he might possibly use the zimbelstern for Pentecost. And you know what I said to him? “Pentecost? Isn’t that already passed?”

And yet, Pentecost was May 23rd, so as of May 18th, no, Pentecost had not yet happened. Yet in my mind, it had already passed … I was already planning all of my June service music.

You see, the reason for this time warp is that for the last 9 months I have recorded service music for Nuuanu Congregational Church on a three week advanced schedule. That means I recorded music for three weeks in the future… which means that the last recording I did was Friday, May 7th which will take care of all the music needed through the end of the month, May 30th. It means that for me, Pentecost happened weeks ago!

On the Facebook Organists Association today, radio host Michael Barone reminded us that this is the 50th anniversary of the death of Marcel Dupré, French organist and composer, and my former teacher, whom I studied with during the summer of 1968, just after I had graduated from high school. Barone wrote, “His was a monumental talent and international renown…we honor the memory of Marcel Dupré this week, with historic and memorable performances.” On the Pipedreams website, you can hear vintage recordings of Dupré here:

https://www.pipedreams.org/episode/2016/1618

The Wikipedia article on Dupré says: Dupré became famous for performing more than 2,000 organ recitals throughout Australia, the United States, Canada and Europe, which included a recital series of 10 concerts of the complete works of Bach in 1920 (Paris Conservatoire) and 1921 (Palais du Trocadéro), both performed entirely from memory. The sponsorship of an American transcontinental tour by the John Wanamaker Department Store interests rocketed his name into international prominence.

In many ways Dupré may be viewed as a Paganini of the organ. Being a virtuoso of the highest order, he contributed extensively to the development of technique (both in his organ music and in his pedagogical works) although, like Paganini, his music is largely unknown to musicians other than those who play the instrument for which the music was written. A fair and objective critique of his output should take into account the fact that, occasionally, the emphasis on virtuosity and technique can be detrimental to the musical content and substance.

I remember reading in a past issue of The American Organist, that with Dupré’s 2,000 concert engagements he reaped a huge fortune and that was how he was able to afford to purchase his elegant home with its grand organ studio and a Cavaillé-Coll organ, on which I had my lessons.

On June 27, 2011 I wrote: I learned that Dupré played 94 recitals on his first American tour (1922-23) and his fee was $350 per recital (equal to $5,380 in 2011 according to the CPI Inflation Calculator). You multiply that times 94 concerts and he earned $505,720. The next year he played 111 recitals and he took $597,180). The third year he “only” played 42 recitals but raised his fee to $400 per recital (equal to $5,285 in 2011 dollars) and the gross was $16,800, equivalent to $221,999 in today’s dollars. In three tours, he grossed a huge sum of money, which did not take into account his European recitals or annual tours of England. I also cannot imagine playing that many concerts in such a short time!

Happy memories … both from 1968 and from 2010.