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The well-attended 1997 AGM was sandwiched between two sessions of the successful day-meeting at St. Helen's Church, Bishopsgate, London. Dr. Thistlethwaite, the Chairman, welcomed members to the meeting and delivered his annual report which outlined the activities of the previous year. In thanking Council for their support, he offered a particular word of thanks to David Wickens, who has relinquished the post of Archivist, whilst retaining what he modestly describes as "clerical duties" (indexing, cataloguing and the like). His name is now inseparable from the British Organ Archive, and everyone is immensely grateful for his contribution. Since the last annual meeting the Redundant Organs Re-housing Company Ltd. has been set up under the management of Roy Williamson, Derrick Carrington and Richard Godfrey, and has assumed some of the functions of the former BIOS Redundancies Officer (maintaining a register, corresponding with those seeking secondhand instruments) and has also acquired storage space. He wished them well, and hoped that BIOS would maintain a close and cordial working relationship. On a personal note, he said how much interest and pleasure he had found as Chairman and it was a source of great satisfaction that Peter Williams had agreed to be nominated to succeed him.
The reports of the Officers were tabled and the meeting speedily moved to adopt, without amendment, the draft Constitution circulated in the last edition of the Reporter. It was noted that the contract was now in place between the Society and Positif Press for future production of the Journal. These discussions had delayed production of the 1997 volume, but it was hoped that it would appear soon after Christmas. All involved with publications were thanked for their patience and effort.
Under the new constitutional arrangements, the following Officers were appointed (there being no other nominations) - Chairman, Professor Peter Williams; Casework Officer, Christopher Gray; Meetings Officer, Nigel Browne; Publications Officer, Dr. Relf Clark. The post of Information Services Officer remains vacant and will be filled by Council. Three vacancies were available for Ordinary Members of Council and this coincided with the number of nominations, so Derrick Carrington, Paul Joslin and David Knight were appointed.
At the end of the meeting, the Secretary asked if he could be allowed to say a few words. Dr. Nicholas Thistlethwaite had been our Chairman since 1993, having taken on the task in difficult circumstances and Dr. Berrow felt that he was speaking for the membership as a whole in expressing his thanks to him for all he had done for the Society. But first he wanted to thank Tessa and Peter Thistlethwaite for their generosity in allowing us to have so much of the time of, respectively, their husband and father. Dr. Thistlethwaite had been a most conscientious officer, who paid great attention to the detailed work of the Society and always gave his unswerving support. His patience, erudition and encouragement would always be appreciated. The meeting demonstrated its appreciation and joined in wishing Dr. Thistlethwaite and his family best wishes for their future health, happiness and success. In reply, Dr. Thistlethwaite expressed his thanks and hoped that he would continue to contribute to the work of the Society.
As Dr. Thistlethwaite had inaugurated the Historic Organs Certificate Scheme, it was fitting that he was then presented with a framed certificate in that style, which recorded that he had "been listed in the Institute's register of Historic Chairmen as being a person of importance to the national heritage and one deserving careful preservation for the benefit of future generations." The document recorded the names of all 1996/7 Officers, members of Council, along with the administrators of the Historic Organs Certificate Scheme and the National Pipe Organs Register and concluded that it was to be "held in trust for the British Institute of Organ Studies while ever this person is maintained in a manner consistent with his historical significance." THE NEW CHAIRMANBIOS has always been fortunate with the quality and stature of its Chairmen. We are therefore honoured that Professor Peter Williams, having only just returned to this country, has agreed to take on this demanding task. He was a founder-member of the Society and it is to our great advantage that he is distinguished in the wider international musical scene, as well as for his work on the historic organ. He spoke briefly at the Annual General Meeting and reflected on his return to the organ as the instrument of his first interest. After St. John's College, Cambridge, Peter moved to Edinburgh University and became the holder of the first British chair in Performance Practice, along with the directorship of the Russell Collection of Harpsichords. In 1985 he went to the U.S.A. and, until last year, was Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor at Duke University, North Carolina. He has now taken what he describes as semi-retirement to return to this country, and is now living with his family in Gloucestershire and has been appointed Bird Professor of Music in the University of Wales at Cardiff. He retains an active connection with Duke University where he was University Organist and responsible for, among other things, the commission of the recently inaugurated Brombaugh organ, which complements a four-manual Flentrop and a four-manual Aeolian in the Chapel. Other organ-advising projects have included the Richerby organ in Haddington Abbey and the Ahrend in the Reid Hall, Edinburgh University.
His Cambridge dissertation (1962) was on English organs and their music betweeen Purcell and Mendelssohn, but since then his playing has reflected a growing interest in the harpsichord and his teachers were Thurston Dart and Gustav Leonhardt. His work on that instrument's music has resulted in some major editions (complete Handel harpsichord works for Wiener Urtext and The Art of Fugue and Musical Offering for Eulenberg pocket-scores). He holds the Cambridge LittD for published work and recent honours include a Fellowship at Cornell University (NY), Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Organists, Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Scottish Academy of Art, an Honorary Professorship in the University of Edinburgh and the 1996 Curt Sachs Award of the American Musical Instrument Society.
Professor Williams's books have focused on the organ, its music and history. The European Organ 1450-1850 (1966) was the first complete survey, in English, of its topic. ("European", in this context, excluded Britain because of the then recent coverage in the Clutton-Niland book.) His Figured bass accompaniment (1970) concerned continuo playing in general. Publications in 1980 concerned three major articles in The new Grove ("Organ", "Organ Stops" and "Basso continuo") and A new history of the organ from the Greeks to the present day, the first attempt to give an interpretation of the whole history of the organ, from one (very personal!) viewpoint. The organ music of J. S. Bach (in three volumes) followed between 1980-84 and is now undergoing major revision and expansion. However, a book he regards with particular fondness, is the seminal Organ in Western culture 750-1250 (1993), which sets out to show why we have the organ at all - a complex issue, requiring the widest interdisciplinary approach. Early in 1998, Oxford University Press will publish The chromatic fourth during four centuries of music (which only occasionally concerns organ music!). Meanwhile, the journal he founded, The organ yearbook (now published in Germany) has reached its twenty-seventh volume and fills a unique international niche.
Peter has always taken a great interest in the work of BIOS if, by necessity, from afar and is delighted to follow Michael Gillingham, Dr. Donald Wright, the late Dr. Peter le Huray and Dr. Thistlethwaite in supporting the Society, its members and its work. We offer him a warm welcome. |