© by Susan Burkhalter, February 6, 2010
I wrote the following newsletter in 1979 when I was a young woman to make fun of the bragging Christmas newsletters many of us have received that just make their recipients feel inferior. Before I begin, a little background on myself may explain why I wrote this newsletter: I grew up in an upper-middle-class neighborhood in Bethesda, Maryland and attended Walt Whitman High School, which is a competitive public high school where almost every student goes on to college, and “the Ivy League Colleges” have the most status. At Whitman one is always being ranked in relation to others.
You may have received some Christmas newsletters which list the achievements of all family members, for example, “My daughter and her fiancé each completed a Masters of Business at University of Pennsylvania” [one of the “Ivy League” colleges] implying that they will be successful and make big bucks. Or, similarly, “My daughter, X, now almost 13, (still going on 21) continues to look more gorgeous each day . . . it’s hard to take your eyes off her . . .”
At the top of my newsletter I pasted a photocopy of a photo of 5 distinguished-looking men holding awards; I believe they were sports coaches. It was supposed to be a photo of my family, which in reality consisted of only my husband and myself, since we had not yet had children. Here is my 1979 Christmas Newsletter. I have edited out some of it and changed some names.
“DEAR ALL OF YOU ON OUR ANNUAL CHRISTMAS CARD LIST: [this was to laugh at how some people send out hundreds of cards. I know my parents did, since my father was an attorney]
Guess it’s that time of year again – We apologize for sending this form letter to you, but I’m sure you understand how hard it is to write to each of our 500 friends personally. We hope that you’re all well, and that your ————— is as ——————as it was last year. Hope, too, that the business of ————–is bringing you plenty of —————–.
The past year found the [Our Name] family, as usual, actively involved in our education, hobbies, and work. Bernard, [not his name] the man of the house, was hard at work helping the electrical engineering industry keep its switch on and its wires live (excuse the puns) He created his 8,056th patented invention since he’s been in the business, which makes us quite proud of him. He really kept the Naugahyde Country Club’s golf course hole-y and still managed to keep his hand in downstairs in the woodworking shop, his favorite hobby. He turned out some quite adorable widgets that Grandmother is hard put to find room for, and all the neighbors want one. Then Randy, our oldest son, who’s a junior in high school, got his football letter this year – he’s a real chip off the old block and all boy. Mike, our 14-year-old, much to our chagrin decided he preferred wearing dresses, but luckily he shows an interest in clothes designing and has enjoyed rearranging the living room and thumbing through HOUSE BEAUTIFUL, so we try to encourage his inclinations there. [People were into gender-specific stereotypes then.] Sonia, our 10-year-old daughter, is horse-crazy as ever. She got a set of custom-made horse’s hooves and has taken to clomping around on all fours wearing them. . . we suppose it’s still better than being a pothead. We believe in self-actualization, after all, and carrots and sugar lumps are still relatively inexpensive (knock on wood to keep down this inflation we’re all bedeviled with). . . . Then Maybelline, our 7-year-old, has had such fun in Brownies this past year and enjoys taking apart and reassembling the family ’56 Dodge. Karen, the baby who’s 2, seems to be a real Einstein and is into EVERYTHING. We are hoping she will qualify for the Early Entrance Pre-Harvard Course at nursery school.
The family menagerie meows, barks, fins, and wiggles its respective hellos to all, Merry Christmas. Oh, as for Yours Truly, we are contemplating a return to our matriculation, but are having trouble deciding between a course in Women’s Studies or Business Administration. Even though I’m afraid my parquet floors would suffer (“That’s margarine!”)
P.s., still can’t decide where to hang that $2,500,799 painting of icebergs by that American artist. Any suggestions from the peanut gallery?
Affectionate endearments to All – Bernard and Mary and the gang”
(2) TWO PERFORMANCES OF SAME PIECE PLAYED BY E. POWER BIGGS
This was an experiment in which I listened to a vinyl 33 1/3 rpm record which was recorded around 1970 while simultaneously listening to a CD compiled in 1991 of performances given between 1961 and 1972. E. Power Biggs was the organist. I believe Mr. Biggs is one of the finest organists I have ever heard, although I never heard his live performance. His playing seems perfect and completely expresses what is called for in Bach’s organ music.
The CD was a Christmas present from a friend. I played the vinyl record on our stereo player and the CD in a boom box. I listened to Passacaglia & Fugue in C Minor, BWV 682. The timing was 8’ 07” (Prelude) and 5’21” (Fugue). The vinyl record was called “Bach in the Thomaskirche” and recorded in Leipzig, Germany. The performance on the CD was played on the Flentrop organ in the Busch-Reisinger Museum at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. I felt that the registrations Biggs used for each performance sounded quite similar and brought out the clarity needed for this music. The reeds also sounded similar on both instruments. I learned about the 2 organs Biggs played at Harvard from the website mentioned below. For the stoplist of the Flentrop organ, go to http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~organ/organs.php
Edward George Power Biggs (born Westcliff, Essex, 1906, died Boston, Mass. 1977) was an English concert organist who settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1937, becoming a U.S. citizen. Some of the information about Biggs is from “The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians,” Volume 2, which says, “He . . . [pursued] a career as a recitalist, broadcaster and recording artist . . . From 1942 to 1958 he broadcast weekly solo programmes over a nationwide radio network . . .” To paraphrase the afore-mentioned Harvard organ website, ”In 1937 he persuaded Charles Kuhn, a curator at the Busch-Reisinger Museum, to have the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company install a ‘classic-style’ electric action organ (a G. Donald Harrison) at the Museum. In 1954 Biggs toured Europe and became dissastified with the Aeolian Skinner, so he commissioned a Dutch builder, the Flentrop Company, to build a Baroque-style tracker action organ, which arrived in 1957.”
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The stoplist for the organ at St. Thomas follows and was described thusly on the album jacket: (notes by Hans-Joachim Schulze (1970) were translated from German by Bodo Reichenbach) “The new Baroque organ in the north gallery of St. Thomas, built by the firm of Alexander Schuke of Potsdam in 1966-67 and consecrated on May 21, 1967, represents the realization of a plan, suggested by Karl Straube in 1927, that was energetically pursued under his successor, Günther Ramin, but which became reality only in our time, with the cooperation of the present organist of St. Thomas, Hannes Kästner.”
Mechanical action
: I. Rückpositiv
Principal 4’
Rohrflöte 8’
Quintadena 8’
Holzflöte 4’
Sesquialtera 2 f.
Principal 2’
Quinte 1 1/3
Septime 1 1/7
Oktave 1’
Mixtur 4-5 f.
Krummhorn 8’
Tremulant
II. Hauptwerk
Principal 8’
Bordun 16’
Spillpfeife 8’
Oktave 4’
Spitzflöte 4’
Quinte 2 2/3
Oktave 2’
Mixtur 6-7 f
Scharff 4 f
Trompete 16’
Trompete 8’
III. Unterwerk
Gedackt 8’
Principal 4’
Blockflöte 4’
Rohrnassat 2 2/3
Oktave 2’
Waldflöte 2’
Terz 1 3/5
Sifflöte 1 1/3
Mixtur 6 f
Cymbel 3 f
Spillregal 16’
Trichterregal 8’
Tremulant
IV. Pedal
Principal 16’
Subbass 16’
Quinte 10 2/3
Oktave 8’
Spitzflöte 8’
Oktave 4’
Rohrpommer 4’
Bauernpfeife 2’
Rauschpfeife 3 f
Mixtur 6 f
Posaune 16’
Trompete 8’
Clairon 4’
Pneumatic action for the Pedal; 5 General couplers, 2 free combinations? (didn’treally understand this, was in German)
THE EXPERIMENT: To get both Passacaglias to begin at the same time, I started the vinyl record after, for the CD, I had pushed “Play, Track 3,” then “Pause”. I immediately pushed “Play” for the CD as the vinyl record started up. RESULTS OF THE EXPERIMENT: Since both performances were not the same tempo but very close in tempo, it was like hearing two different organists playing in separate rooms. The CD recording seemed to be at a slightly faster tempo than the vinyl record. It finished about 20-30 seconds sooner than the vinyl record. During the fugue, the pedal reed came on later in the vinyl record’s recording than on the CD. The CD recording of the fugue finished about 20 seconds sooner than the vinyl record did.
INFORMATION ON THE TWO RECORDINGS: Vinyl record: “E. Power Biggs Plays Bach in the Thomaskirche,” Columbia Stereo
M 30648
CD: “Bach Toccata & Fugue, Preludes & Fugues: E. Power Biggs”, # SBK 89955 www.legacyrecordings.com