Organ Time

Today we take a closer look at a postcard in my collection, postmarked 1945, with an intriguing handwritten message.  The postcard is a picture of Dr. Robert Leech Bedell, seated at the organ.  The description on the back of the postcard says that he belongs to A.S.C.A.P., the music publishing organization, and that he is an organist and composer.  It also lists "Recitals -- Church -- Instruction" as his interests.  He apparently used these cards as his stationery for short notes and business purposes, as there's an important message for the addressee, Mrs. Cora Conn Redic, on the other side. 

The message is: "Dear Mrs Redic, Have just corrected the 2nd proof on your "Grand Choeur" for the H. W. Gray Co.  Have asked them to send you a copy of the proof-sheet as a souvenir, to be framed with the title page showing your name at the top; where you can hang it in your home or in the room where the club meets.  Yours, Robert L Bedell."

Dr. Bedell was pretty easy to find out about -- he had published several organ works, one of which can be heard on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1tLekuSA6Y   (I suppose you could play it in the background while you read the rest of this post).  He was the organist and choirmaster of St. Anne's Episcopal Church and the Brooklyn, NY Institute of Arts and Sciences, and he was the organist of New York Radio Station WNYC, for whom he gave organ recitals from the Brooklyn Museum.  He wrote pieces for full orchestra, string orchestra, piano, varied instrumental combinations, and vocal numbers including anthems, sacred and secular solos. 

Mrs. Redic was a little more difficult to track down, but through the intertubes, and the clue on the postcard address of Winfield, Kansas, I found her -- she came to Winfield in 1917 to teach organ at the Winfield College of Music.  She taught there through the absorption of the school by Southwestern College and remained there for 20 years, continuing afterwards at St. Johns College where she taught through 1956.  Over the years her students numbered into the hundreds, and she made two trips to Paris to study at the Paris Conservatory with the famous organist Marcel Dupre.   

Mrs. Redic was also the "organ"-izer of the Southwestern Organ Club, documented in the 1944 Moundbuilder Yearbook (really, that was the name of their yearbook), and there's a picture of the club, as well as a picture of her in the faculty section:

(click for larger versions)

At this point, the trail of her organ work "Grand Choeur" is lost.  I can't find a record of it ever actually being published, or anything else by her, for that matter.  Maybe it only exists on that edited proof copy, corrected by Dr. Bedell...

Music

A few real photo postcards of bands.  That's because I just realized I have absolutely zero cards on the topic of Thanksgiving!  So, enjoy a favorite topic instead!

(And have a great Thanksgiving anyway!)

Accordion Time

As the back of this card from the 50's-60's says, "Introduce your child now to the delight and satisfaction of the accordion."

Or, just give 'em an iPad.  The more things change, the more they stay the same (or is the other way around??)

Harps on the Beach

Interlochen Arts Camp (formerly the National Music Camp) is an annual summer camp for approximately 2,500 students ages 8 to 18. It was founded in 1928 by the late Dr. Joseph E. Maddy as the National High School Orchestra Camp. Today, students participate in music, theatre, dance, visual arts, creative writing, or motion picture arts. Camp admission is competitive, and auditions are required in most cases.

Alumni include Josh Groban, Ed Helms, Norah Jones and Peter Yarrow.  Alumni also include the 5 young ladies above, attending "Beach Harp" class (or is that B-Sharp class?)

Wagner's Ring Cycle

Next week, on many PBS stations, the Great Performances series will be showing the new Metropolitan Opera production of Wagner's Ring Cycle.  It begins on Monday night with a documentary about the new production, including the set, which is a 45-ton machine consisting of 24 planks that seesaw back and forth and act as screens for projections which evoke the settings in the operas.  Some loved it; some hated it.  We saw the first three operas in the movie theater during the live HD broadcasts, and then saw the last, Gotterdammurung, at the Met Opera house in person.  The entire thing is an amazing musical work, of epic proportions.  We were glad to have seen it, but it is difficult to get your arms completely around.

If you're not busy for about 15 hours (for the operas, not including the documentary), check it out!  In the meantime, this week's post is a nice illustration of the final scene of the whole shebang, where Brunhilde (of "the opera's not over until the fat lady sings" fame) sets fire to the pyre which she will then ride into on horseback, killing herself after singing a 20-minute aria.  Enjoy!

An Exercise on the Piano

The caption is a little hard to read, but it says "An Exercise on the Piano."  Postmarked on the back in 1909, this was about as titillating as you could get at that time!

Two Men - Two Guitars

I know nothing about these two men, posing with their guitars, in front of an old horse-drawn wagon.  They look proud -- the man on the right is nearly smirking.  I wonder how they sound?

Mandolin Band

A "real photo" gem from my collection of musicians. This mandolin band is posed in the studio with their instruments, festooned with sashes tied to the end of the necks. There's no information on the back of the card, so we don't know anything about these mystery players. Regardless, they will now live on forever (or as long as the internet lasts)!

Imperial Girls' Band

Brass Bands in the early 1900's provided much of the local musical entertainment in towns across America. These community organizations were formed by the towns themselves, clubs and organizations, and even factories. There are lots of great Real Photo postcards of bands of that era, and it's easy to imagine them just having bought all their instruments and costumes directly from Harold Hill, right out of "The Music Man."

This postcard is different, in that it depicts an all-girls' band -- a rarity in that nearly all the musicians in all these bands were boys or men. These young ladies look very proud of themselves, and all the more so because of their uniqueness!

Mother's Day

Handwritten on the back of this postcard made at home: "My dear Mother, around 1909/10"

Happy Mother's Day!

Piano Sale

The back says:

DO YOU KNOW WHY
a piano is such a wonderful musical possession, acknowledged the world over to be the "basic musical instrument"?

It is because piano music enriches the lives of both player and listener -- and because the piano is an instrument that most people will play throughout their lifetimes.

Please call and let us make an appointment to talk this over with you. We know we can work out all the details.

And the following notation was handwritten in:

"Our exciting sales are still on and also we have a special on an Ebony used Acrosonic spinet."

The card is postmarked 1958, when all across the suburbs living rooms were filling up with pianos so the baby boomers could take lessons. The spinets, which are the shortest type of vertical pianos, like the one in the image, were the bottom of the barrel when it came to quality. They had poor tone, generally were cheaply constructed and were notoriously hard to service. Nevertheless, they were a part of many of our childhoods, in part due to the successful marketing campaigns of those times.

Corny as these postcard ads were (I'll post more later), there's some truth in my case. I still play the piano almost every day, often just for ten minutes, but it's rooted in a Danish Modern style Story & Clark spinet that found its way into the living room of my childhood home, in a subdivision built in the 'burbs in the early 60's!

The Monona Band

There are two Mononas in the United States, one in Wisconsin and one in Iowa. Your guess is as good as mine as to where these fine gentlemen are from. The exclamation point on the bass drum is nice touch!