Missioner Fall 2019

“Here at the House we have been blessed with
a long tradition of fine music and musicians. This
has been accompanied by a variety of instruments
over time, and our current blessing is a new Allen
Digital organ with capabilities that many of you will
have heard during its inaugural recital given during
Alumni and Commencement celebrations last May.”
ON
THE ALLEN RL-66A DIGITAL ORGAN WAS
MADE POSSIBLE THROUGH THE GENEROSITY
OF NASHOTAH HOUSE ALUMNUS, FR. GUS
FRANKLIN & THE WILLIAM E. GODBEY
ENDOWMENT FOR ARTS MINISTRY AT ST.
PAUL’S CATHEDRAL, SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS.
Organ scholar, Joseph Lindsay
the rhetoric of
the sung word.
The organ can
highlight the
“skipping of
a calf” or the
weeping “by
the waters of
Babylon,” the
majesty of a
Gloria Patri,or the exalting of the “humble and meek.”
Here at Nashotah, we are blessed to have a rota
of organists this fall to assist in elevating our praise
through music: Stephanie Seefeldt, organist at Zion
Episcopal Church in Oconomowoc, plays our daily
Sung Eucharists in the mornings; Dr. Simone Gheller,
of St. Jerome’s in Oconomowoc, plays for Sung Matins
and Wednesday Evensongs; and our own Middler
seminarian, Joseph Lindsay, is currently serving as
Organ Scholar and plays Monday and Tuesday evenings
and Thursdays for Solemn Mass.
As the child of two church organists and friend and
colleague to countless others, I have been recruited to
sit at the organ bench as a page-turner and occasional
stop-puller. The curating of this new organ now falls
to me, and my hope is to see its final voicing through
to a permanent state for its best use in our beloved
St. Mary’s Chapel. When we sing the psalms, we sing
them antiphonally, from the Gospel (Cantoris) side to
the Epistle (Decani) side. I hope to position speakers
invisibly on either side of the quire to accompany
both sides in either plainsong or Anglican Chant. The
instrument has the capacity to do great things as
a recital instrument; however, its role is in liturgical
worship, and we will curate it as a liturgical instrument.
We also intend to introduce the instrument to the larger
Lake Country community as a recital instrument, with
planning underway now for two significant recitals in
the spring. During our Alumni events, Dr. Gheller will
be playing repertoire appropriate for voluntaries and
recitals. Earlier in the spring, to coincide with a music
elective I’ll be teaching on the Sacred Vocal Works of
J.S. Bach, we’ll welcome a special guest recitalist to
play the beloved Schübler Chorales and Fantasia in G
Major, known as the Piece d’Orgue.
Humbly, I take my role as Director of Chapel Music,
something in the shadow of the great Cantor of St.
Thomas, Leipzig, Johann Sebastian Bach, who was
not only responsible for the music of the Thomaskirche,
but for the entire city of Leipzig. I do not take lightly
the mantle for the music in our worship and in our
classrooms. The first praise of God was made with
the voice, in song. The students and faculty here are
committed to contributing to that praise, and I mean
to encourage them, regardless of their background or
ability, to sing with one full voice giving back through
that breath. We are a community of musicians here,
not a small gathering of specialists. Our students will
take their experience here into future endeavors as
stewards of the liturgical and musical tradition passed
down before us.
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