Janette Fishell, organist - St. Peter's Episcopal Church

Janette Fishell holds degrees in organ performance from Indiana University and Northwestern University; her teachers
include Wilma Jensen, Wolfgang Rübsam, Richard Enright, Anita Werling, Robert Byrd, and Clyde Holloway, with further
coaching on Baroque and German Romantic repertoire with Ludger Lohmann. Named Young Organist of the Year by Keyboard
Arts, Inc., while still an undergraduate, Dr. Fishell is a recitalist and teacher of international standing. She has performed in
many of the world’s greatest concert venues including Suntory Hall, Tokyo; King’s College, Cambridge; Berlin’s Schauspielhaus;
the Liszt Academy, Budapest; and the Prague Spring Festival; and she has been a featured recitalist and lecturer at five
national conventions and five regional conventions of the American Guild of Organists. Her solo recitals for the 2006 national
convention of the AGO in Chicago were critically acclaimed as “flawless” and a convention highlight. The author of numerous
articles and a book on service playing published by Abingdon Press, she is widely recognized as a leading authority on the organ
music of Czech composer Petr Eben.
Her numerous compact disc recordings include performances of the music of Marcel Dupré, Petr Eben, and J.S. Bach
as well as duet literature performed with her husband, British organist Colin Andrews. Pas de Dieu: Music Sublime and Spirited, a
recording of French Romantic repertoire and the world premiere of Frank Ferko’s Livre d’Orgue, was released by Loft Recordings
in July 2006 and was the premiere recording on C. B. Fisk opus 126. She has been featured in live radio broadcasts worldwide,
including live recital broadcasts for the BBC from St. Marylebone Church, London; NHK, Tokyo; and Czech Radio. A frequent
adjudicator, she has been tutor and artist three times at the Oundle International School for Young Organists and was a judge
for the recorded round of the 2000 National Competition for Young Artists sponsored by the American Guild of Organists. She
served as chair of the NYACOP committee from 2004 to 2006.
Dr. Fishell is Professor of Organ and Chair of the Organ Department at the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University,
where she teaches applied organ and courses in the sacred music curriculum. From 1989 to 2008 she headed the Organ
Performance and Sacred Music degree programs at East Carolina University and was Director of Music/Principal Organist
at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Greenville, N.C., where she oversaw a full schedule of choral services and led the choir on two
successful English Cathedral Choral Residencies and the recording of a critically acclaimed compact disc.
Her students have distinguished themselves in academia and on the performance stage including first-place honors
in the AGO Competition for Young Organists, the MTNA National Collegiate Organ Competition, and at the Oundle
International Summer School for Young Organists. Her former students successfully serve in churches and on university faculties
throughout the U.S. and Asia.
Dr. Fishell’s commitment to the creation and sustenance of excellence and creativity in organ performance and sacred
music has led to a variety of projects. She founded the East Carolina Religious Arts Festival and was pivotal in the design and
fundraising for the C. B. Fisk opus 126 pipe organ that functions as both the organ for St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Greenville, N.C.,
and the major teaching and performance instrument for East Carolina University School of Music. She has received numerous
commissions for choral compositions and hymn tunes, some of which are featured on Love Bade Me Welcome: Music from St. Paul’s,
and is a regular contributor to professional journals, a participant on panels, and an active lecturer and adjudicator.
Most recent and upcoming engagements include venues across the U.S. and multiple concert tours of Asia and Europe
including recitals at the Beijing National Center of the Performing Arts, Shanghai Oriental Arts Center, Sydney Town Hall, Lilia
Hall, and Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris. In the U.S., she performs under the management of Karen McFarlane Artists, Inc.
F
A reception immediately follows the concert upstairs in the Martha Bowles Parish Hall, where you may enjoy some light
refreshment and have a moment to greet Dr. Fishell and representatives from the C. B. Fisk company. To reach the Parish
Hall, exit the church through the Chapel. Once in the Parish House lobby, an usher will direct you to the a leading to the
Parish Hall.
Recordings by today’s recitalist, by the St. Peter’s choirs, and by other recitalists on pipe organs built by the C. B. Fisk company
will be available for sale at the reception. Also for sale are handsome new notecards featuring the Van Ness Hamrick Organ,
C. B. Fisk Opus 136 and the newly renovated nave of St. Peter’s Church.
Many thanks to all those who helped make the dedication weekend festivities possible, especially the Rector, Wardens,
Vestry and staff of St. Peter’s, members of the dedication planning committee, and those who volunteered to usher.
Janette Fishell, organist
Plays the dedicatory recitals of C. B. Fisk Opus 136
St. Peter’s Episcopal Church
Charlotte, North Carolina
Saturday, November 20, 2010 - 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, November 21, 2010 - 3:00 p.m.
F
Program
Toccata in E Major, BWV 566 Johann Sebastian Bach
(1685–1750)
Partite diverse sopra il Corale “O Gott, du frommer Gott,” BWV 767 Bach
Choral No. 1 in E Major César Franck
(1822–1890)
F
Intermission
Dances Ancient
Pavane-Gaillarde publ. Pierre Attaingnant, 1531
Saltarello del Re (from Intaboluatura nova di varie sorte de balli) publ. Venice, 1551
My lady Carye’s dompe anon. British, sixteenth century
Dances Modern
From Five Dances for Organ Calvin Hampton
(1938–1984)
I. The Primitives
II. At the Ballet
V. Everyone Dance
Prélude, adagio, et choral varié sur le theme “Veni Creator,” Op. 4 Maurice Duruflé
(1902–1986)
Janette Fishell concertizes under the auspices of Karen McFarlane Artists, Inc.

Program Notes
The first public recital of a new pipe organ is a very special event in which the potential and power of
a magnificent new artwork is experienced for the first time in all of its glory. While it is impossible for a
performer to fully display the nuances of every available color in one sitting, I have endeavored to present
a varied program that shows a great deal of tonal and musical variety—from the silvery lightening strikes
of Bach’s counterpoint and beautiful solo colors that sing out his beloved Lutheran chorales, to the liquid
blanket of sound required of Franck, the “antique” sounds of Renaissance dances, the quirky and theatrical
thrill of Hampton’s dances and the French fireworks of Duruflé. So, in addition to showing Opus 136 in its
fullest glory and pleasing my good friend Ben Outen, I wanted to be sure that this spoke to the organ’s “mission”
as I interpret it: to glorify and serve God and to delight humanity. One can hardly imagine an instrument
better qualified to fulfill this high mission than the C. B. Fisk Opus 136 of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church.
It is an honor to be at the helm of its maiden voyage.
The pieces:
While no certain date can be assigned to the Toccata in E’s composition, it seems clear that it was written
near the time of Bach’s famous trip, 500 miles to meet and learn from Dietrich Buxtehude in Lübeck.
Bach very famously ran afoul of the Arnstadt authorities who reproved him for his prolonged absence in the
winter of 1705–06 (missing Christmas!); it is clear from the daring energy of BWV 566 that the church knew
its brilliant young organist had perhaps learned too well from his mentor Buxtehude, for Bach would soon
leave the Neuekirche for greener pastures.
Bach’s set of keyboard variations on the chorale “O Gott, du frommer Gott” was composed early in his
career when the influence of traditions and techniques related to the South German organ school held the
greatest power for him. His brother and first teacher, Johann Christoph Bach, who had become the younger
Bach’s guardian upon the death of Sebastian’s parents, had studied with the great Johann Pachelbel,
and one can see that Sebastian easily mastered his composition lessons on figural decoration. Its changing
moods and textures, each reflective of textual meaning, make it a good display piece for a multitude of colors
on the Fisk Opus 136. Johann Heermann’s 1630 chorale text corresponds to the variations and is printed
in English translation by Francis Brown.
1. Oh God, you righteous God, you source of good gifts, without whom nothing exists that does exist, from whom we have
everything: give me a healthy body and grant that in such a body there may remain an inviolate soul and a pure conscience.
2. Grant that I may do diligently what it is my duty to do, as your command guides my position. Grant that I may do it
promptly, at the time when I should, and when I do it, then grant that it may turn out well!
3. Help me, so that I may always say what I can stand by, let no useless word come from my mouth, and when in my office
I should and must speak, then give my words force and weight without causing vexation.
4. If there is danger, then let me not despair, give me heroic courage, help me to bear my cross! Grant that I may overcome
my enemies with gentleness. And if I need counsel, may I find good counsel.
5. Let me with every one live in peace and friendship, as far as is Christian. If you want to give me anything to do with
wealth, property and money, then give this also, that nothing may be mixed up with any goods that are unjust.
6. If in this world I have to live my life longer, through many a bitter step press on to old age, then give me patience. From
sin and shame protect me, so that I may bear with honor my grey hair.
7. At my end let me depart relying on Christ’s death, take my soul to you to your joys in heaven, bestow a little space on
my body, a grave by my parents, so that it may have peace by their side.
8. On that day when you will awaken the dead, then stretch out your hand to my grave, let me hear your voice, and
awaken my body and lead it beautiful and transformed to the multitude of your chosen people!
9. God the Father! The prize here and in heaven above, God the Son, Lord Jesus Christ! I will praise you always. God Holy
Ghost! Your fame will resound more and more: O Lord, three-personed God! To you be praise, glory and honor.
“Before I die I am going to write some organ chorales, just as Bach did, but on quite a different plan.”
César Franck was as good as his word, and in 1890, the year of his death, he penned the Trois Chorals, a musical
last will and testament. The Choral in E begins with a broad, sweeping melody, ascending and descending
in a duet between the main manual (Grande Orgue) and subsidiary manual (Récit), which quickly leads
to the entrance of the true chorale, a theme of which the composer said, “You’ll see. The ‘chorale’ is not the
one that people suppose. The true ‘chorale’ comes in the course of the work.” Called by some a large-scale
symphonic variation, the Choral in E has many “Franckian” hallmarks: variation through melodic extension,
a penchant for music of melancholic beauty, the superimposition of themes, and finally, the chorale
in triumph, singing in canon between the soprano and bass on glorious full organ.
The organ has led an adventurous life throughout the last millennium. In addition to accompanying the
Divine Service, it, in an early incarnation, also accompanied rather more secular forms of entertainment
including gladiatorial games and royal banquets. We begin with a Pavane-Gaillarde from the only surviving
source of French Renaissance keyboard music. The Pavane is a stately procession in duple time, followed by
its faster and more muscular triple time brother, the Gaillarde. “The King’s Saltarello” comes from the first
printed source of keyboard dances in Italy. “Lady Carye’s dompe” is a traditional English dance tune, most
probably played on lute and harpsichord or other keyboard instruments during its heyday. Its appeal is immediate
and visceral: whether played slowly (as it probably was intended) or quickly (as the ostinato figure
in the bass and quirky melody beg us to do), it communicates a kind of “raw” energy that makes one want
to dance. So who was Lady Carye? Some say she was Anne Boleyn’s sister Mary, the wife of Sir William Cary,
and a scandalously close friend of King Henry VIII.
The sights and sounds of New York City seem to have inspired the next pieces by innovative American organist/composer
Calvin Hampton, whose music continues to delight long after his untimely death. It’s as if
he takes us to electrifying performances of “Rite of Spring” and “Swan Lake” at Lincoln Center, then we end
up at a circus in Madison Square Garden. Throughout, it is apparent that the composer understood how to
successfully unleash the organ’s ability to project both musical line and rhythmic incisiveness.
Though few in number, Duruflé’s works have earned a special place in the body of twentieth-century
organ repertoire. His musical style was highly influenced by the late Romantic tradition of Tournemire,
Vierne and Gigout, as well as the experimentalism of the Impressionists and, as can be seen clearly in
the work heard tonight, the modality and rhythmic flexibility of chant. His Prélude, adagio, et choral varié
was dedicated to his former teacher, Vierne, and won first prize in a competition sponsored by Les Amis de
l’Orgue in 1930. The Pentecost chant is merely suggested in the shape of various melodic motifs throughout
the arabesque-like prelude, is more clearly suggested in the expressive adagio, but is stated clearly and
triumphantly in the concluding variations. Throughout, the composer’s harmonic inventiveness and contrapuntal
expertise are much in evidence, as is his thorough understanding of the expressive capabilities
of the pipe organ.
Notes © Janette Fishell