Lunchtime Pipe Organ Series: Music for the Holidays!

Join us every first Wednesday for a unique program of organ music performed on our Historic Estey pipe organ. Each month we showcase a different talented organist visiting from around the Northeast!

Our Program for December 1st is "Music for the Holidays!" Performed by Dr. Alexander Meszler

Fanfare - Sharon Elery Rogers (b. 1929)

Three German Chorale Settings:

-Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BuxWV 211 Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707)

-Es ist ein Ros entsprungen Johannes Brahms (1883-1897)

-In Dulci Jubilo, BWV 729  Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

-Adoration  Florence Price (1887-1953)

-Two carol arrangements Keith Chapman (1945-1989)

Infant Holy, Infant Lowly

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

-Two pieces based on Jewish Tunes: Alexander Meszler (b. 1991)

Al Hanissim (based on melody by Dov Frimer)

Sivivon (Sov Sov Sov)

-Gesù Bambino Pietro Yon (1886–1943)

-Two Arrangements of English Carols Olive Nelson Russell (1915–1989)

Wassail! Wassail!

Greensleeves

-O Holy Night Adolphe Adam (1803–1856)

Arranged by Arthur Boyse

-Let It Snow Sammy Cahn (lyrics) and Jules Styne (music)

Arranged by Fishel Pustilnik, transcribed for organ by Meszler

About Dr Alexander Meszler:

Alexander Meszler is an organist committed to interdisciplinary performance and research. In 2018, he received a Fulbright grant allowing him to move to Versailles, France where he studied with Jean-Baptiste Robin and completed research on secularism and the organ. He curates programs that combine eclectic genres spanning more than five centuries. He is committed to promoting the organ, continuing its traditions, while also bringing it to new audiences. He has performed and presented around the U.S. and Europe at conferences such as the American Guild of Organists, the Historical Keyboard Society of North America, the Westfield Center for Historical Keyboard Studies. He is dedicated to the promotion and performance of music by living composers and serves as a member of the American Guild of Organists’ Committee on New Music. Meszler is also a general editor for a forthcoming free online encyclopedia of the organ containing more than 4,000 articles about the organ.

About the Estey Opus 300

In 1906 an Estey Pipe Organ was donated to the First Baptist Church by the grandchildren of Estey Organ Company founder and First Baptist Church supporter and congregant Jacob Estey and his wife Desdemona.  Over the years, the organ was rebuilt twice to extend the tonal range of the instrument and keep it up to date, although its original electro-pneumatic parts still work today as they did in 1906. The organ’s last rebuild took place in 1958 by Elroy E. Hewitt, an organ builder from Brattleboro who worked for the Estey Organ Company. He replaced the old console, and put in the one in use today. Today the organ boasts 29 ranks of pipes, three manuals, and four divisions, making possible a full orchestral sound. Having served the congregation of the First Baptist Church for over one hundred years, and now being cared for under the management of Epsilon Spires, the organ has a new life as a concert instrument.