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March 8, 2009
Ah! Bach
The Pomona College Mabel Shaw Bridges Hall of Music, build in 1915, is a wonderful place to hear a concert. Those in the know call it Little Bridges. I was surprised to read that it seats 600 people. It seems much smaller and more intimate than that.
When William Peterson plays the Hill Memorial Organ, with its 49 voices, 66 ranks, 3,519 pipes, Little Bridges is all the more wonderful. This afternoon's organ concert was all Bach.
C. B. Fisk of Gloucester, Massachusetts, installed the current, custom-built, organ in 2002. It's the big thing in the middle of the picture with all those pipes. This afternoon, we sat in the back balcony very close to the place where someone took the picture that I copped from a Pomona College webpage. There's a good close-up of the organ with links to lots of details on the Fisk webpage. This organ is Fisk opus 117. There's also a good description of the organ and the Hall with additional pictures in an article by Professor Peterson if you'd like to see more.
When I hear Bach I can't help but think of this from the January 7, 1973 M*A*S*H episode Love Story.
Nurse Anderson: And of course I never travel anywhere without good old Johann Sebastian.Rader, after a confused pause: Ah! Bach!
Anderson: What does that mean, 'Ah, Bach'?Radar: Uh, just that. Ah, Bach!
Hawkeye: I think once you've said that you've said it all.
Posted by Duane Smith at March 8, 2009 8:13 PM | Read more on Odds and Ends |
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Comments
"I'm partial to the fugue"...
Posted by: James McGrath at March 9, 2009 5:19 AM
James,
Ah, another great line from the same episode. The last piece on the program was Fugue in E-Flat Major - wonderful.
Posted by: Duane at March 9, 2009 7:18 AM
"Ah Bach" might have been a sly reference to the Bluffers' Guide to Music, published in, um, 1971.
Posted by: Gav at March 9, 2009 10:42 AM
I assume you have heard Morimur - a beautifully recorded performance and intriguing analysis of the origin of the chaconne in D minor.
Posted by: Bob MacDonald at March 9, 2009 11:58 AM
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