Jean Langlais was a famous French organist and composer, and his USA Management booked him for over 100 concerts and master classes for a North American 1955 tour. He crossed the Atlantic on the Queen Mary and used the best available railroad accommodations for nearly on travel on land. There apparently was one three-hour bus trip and several short trips by hosts’ private cars. He kept a diary (in French of course) and excerpts were translated in a recent issue of THE AMERICAN ORGANIST, the magazine of the American Guild of Organists, www.agohq.org, and the Royal College of Canadian Organists, www.rcco.org . Two matters may of interest to you: (1) One journey was in a lower berth. He recounted extreme difficulty in getting undressed and then getting dressed in a prone position. It was possible only because he used his portable silent keyboard, which he traveled with for practicing, to prop up the pillow. Apparently the porter never told him to push the curtain into the aisle and stand on the aisle floor adjacent to the bed, and he did not figure this out for himself! (2) He had an on-time trip in a “double-decker luxury train”, obviously the California Zephyrm from Denver to Provo. In the excerpt he did not report on the magnificant scenery but complained about the continuous canned music.
About his musical comments, I will recount only one excerpt. He wrote that the Mormon Tabernacle Organ in Salt Lake City was the most beutiful he ever played or heard. And he was thoroughly familiar with all notable European organs.
Question: Is this kind of thing of sufficient interest or is it off-topic?
I just have to reorganize my thoughts a little, he said, pulling out all the stops. This would be a Great thread–just Swell if a whole Choir of people participated. I’d better cease pedaling this stuff, or a lot of people may wish I’d di-a-paisoning.
Be interesting to know whether this organist had ever had to go anywhere overnight in Europe, or could make all of his trips by coach.
I don’t have any musical background, so your post has a few too many sour notes for me.
As far as the organist not liking the canned music, I’m reminded on a Far side cartoon. A conductor ends up in hell. The devil opens a door to a room full of musicians and says: “Maestro- here is your accordian”
I find it interesting! Now, I will have to read that article in the AGO magazine. I was the sub for the sub at church yesterday and when the BN went by three times, blowing their whistles at the same time I was playing a few pipes whose pitch reflected the humid conditions; well, it’s a good thing I sing loud. [:D]
There have been posts in the past about pipe organists liking trains. Sounds like Mr. Langlais wasn’t as thrilled riding them as he could have been. There was even for awhile much activity in a group called pipe-trains.
My husband and I can hear the BN from our house. He will look up the chords used for various whistles and I will try to duplicate them on the keyboard. Humidity, time and bent whistles affect the tones on trains just like they do a pipe organ at church. So, many times, I can’t match the tones. Or I can match them sounding only a third, two notes of a chord, instead of the 7-9 tones I believe a train whistle is supposed to sound.
And organist on trains brings thoughts of caliopes on trains. Weren’t caliopes part of circus trains? I don’t have much interest in them as an instrument so much as wondering how they were transported; inside a box car? specially made flat car? And if they were on a specially made flat car, could they be played from the train? I bet now that I am off topic I could do a search and find some info on this site about them. I know a few years back there was an issue of TRAINS that showcased the circus train. But I don’t remember a reference to caliopes in the article. Then again, maybe like the way I read the AGO magazine, I only looked at the pictures and missed it. []
Steam Caliopies (Spelling?) were fired on wagons and played aboard them. At least the ones I knew or seen in action as a child.
They were used wherever music was needed, probably fed by one of the older CASE Tractors with a little water, oil and coal. Sometimes there is alot of hissing and dripping going on between songs as the system built up again.
I have not heard an Organ in a while, many services in my area gets into the drum bands, multimedia stuff that probably does very little towards teaching people the power of a properly driven Organ with most if not all stops out.
I am not a musician, I butcher tunes on a little keyboard from time to time.
…I have seen a post or two on here in the past that there does seem to be a connection of rail fans and pipe organ music…I for sure, am one…!
I always perk up to take a keen look at posts from Tina since she happens to be a pipe organ person…
Love the music from the Morman Tabernacle Organ…Have a record, {yes it’s a record}, of that organ but I put away my turntable some years ago and I should have taken that music and installed it on a CD…I miss not being able to hear it. That organ {to my ears}, really seems to be different. As I write this I am making promises to myself that I must do something to get that music back to where I can play it.
I, too, have records of organ music and a non-functioning turntable. The ones of the Mormon Tabernacle organ probably were recorded not too long after this organist visited it (I remember hearing their weekly program on the radio before my family even owned a phonograph).
My tastes in music tend toward performances of organ with orchestra, which I try hard not to miss, be they out in the open at Grant Park or in Orchestra Hall (which got a brand-new organ a few years back during its renovation). And, to bring this back home, we generally go to these concerts by train, with a bit of a hike across the Loop.
As a youth in the 70’s and 80’s I played the organ on one of those electric things that became popular in the 70’s. One time my teacher let me play on a real church organ. Had trouble to keep up the volume of wind needed and play the footkeyboard at the same time. It was fun but, sadly, I did not study to much and lost interest. Later I became more interested in trains.
I still like church organs and had an opportunity to listen to one while staying at my parents last weekend (sunday service from one of the churches was broadcast by the local radio station).
The tour was in 1956, not 1955. Sorry about my memory slip.
The issue of the American Organist is February 2007.
Langlais came to North America several additional times, the last in 1981. I believe I heard his concert with his wife who is living and still performing, in St. Thomas Church 5th Avenue, NYC, on his last USA tour. His wife still teachers organ and composition at the Paris Regional University.
There are some excellent CD recordings of the Mormon Tabernacle organ available. I also think it is an extremely fine instrument. Fortunately, I can enjoy the Marcusson organ at the Brigham Young University Jerusalem Center concert hall (also used for Mormon worship) not far from where I study. The most recent concert was by their staff music teacher, Michael Moody, this past Wednesday evening.
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