The first time I heard the word “Compline” was when I was a music student at the University of Southern California and learned about the Daily Offices in Music History 101. That was more than fifty years ago! The Lutheran Church of Honolulu started its own Compline Service modeled after the one in Seattle on… Read More 65 years of Compline
If you asked the average man or woman in the street, what are the odds that they would know what a pipe organ is? Not likely, I would guess, and I can’t count the number of people who walked into the Lutheran Church of Honolulu and exclaimed to me, “That’s a really big PIANO!” (Uh,… Read More Pipe organs in the news!
Oh Carl! I don’t know how many times I said these two words over my lifetime—way more than several hundred, maybe even thousands of times. I said “Oh, Carl!” mostly in moments of exasperation, or resignation, but sometimes even in times of joy and elation. Or even to get his attention— “Oh, Carl, can you… Read More Oh, Carl!
April 27, 2014 was the day our business partner and friend of 38 years, composer and church musician Peter R. Hallock passed from this life to the next. I invite you to reread the posts I wrote six years ago to mourn his passing: In paradisum, Peter Hallock: Announcement of his death on April 27,… Read More Six years ago today
Composer Peter Hallock’s earthly life came to an end, and it was fitting that I participated in a quarterly meeting of the Peter R. Hallock Institute today by videoconference. Facebook reminded me of this anniversary by posting this photo to my news feed. The photo of Peter Hallock and Carl Crosier was actually taken nine… Read More Five years ago today
Last night I attended the 44th Advent Procession at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu, and afterwards, a few people mentioned to me that they had been thinking of Carl Crosier. Actually, I was thinking of both Carl (who died in 2014), as well as the late Peter Hallock (1924-2014) and their influence upon the… Read More Advent Procession, The “O” Antiphons
I have had to keep a secret since June 17, 2018, when my good friend, Dana Marsh, revealed to me in a Messenger post that he was selected as the new Artistic Director of the Washington Bach Consort! The official announcement was made on August 1, so now it is public knowledge and I can… Read More The secret is out!
On Facebook, Steve Iverson of Seattle has been posting historic photos of composer and church musician, Peter Hallock (the Crosiers’ former business partner) in honor of the fourth anniversary of Peter’s death, April 28, 2014. I can’t believe it has been four years already! Some of these pictures are new to me, even though you can… Read More Four years already
If ever the Lutheran Church of Honolulu were to name a poet laureate, hands down it would be Pastor Fritz Fritschel. He was for many years the Assisting Pastor and was known for his use of frog puppets—all with names starting with F—during the children’s sermon. I won’t ever hear the names Felix, Fergus, Franklin,… Read More Our beloved poet laureate
When one steps inside St. Mark’s Cathedral Seattle and attends a worship service, one is immediately struck by the fact that … “this is a sacred and holy space; something mystical and magical happens here.” It is the huge space, the magnificent Flentrop Organ, it is the rolling acoustics that make music so extraordinary in this… Read More Mysticism and the sense of the sacred