The Lone Elm

Death and Life

Everytime someone near to me dies, I consider life and how I am
living.  My aunt passed away last weekend, and tomorrow I am going to
be with family for her funeral. I have one more direct blood relative in the
generation before me, which is cause for reflection.  Thanks to Old Poetry for
providing the opportunity to browse through a number of Walt Whitman poems!

Walt Whitman
On The Beach At Night, Alone

ON the beach at night alone,
As the old mother sways her to and fro, singing her husky song,
As I watch the bright stars shining—I think a thought of the clef of
         the universes, and of the future.

A VAST SIMILITUDE interlocks all,
All spheres, grown, ungrown, small, large, suns, moons, planets,
         comets, asteroids,
All the substances of the same, and all that is spiritual upon the
         same,
All distances of place, however wide,
All distances of time—all inanimate forms,
All Souls—all living bodies, though they be ever so different, or in
         different worlds,
All gaseous, watery, vegetable, mineral processes—the fishes, the
         brutes,
                                           
All men and women—me also;
All nations, colors, barbarisms, civilizations, languages;
All identities that have existed, or may exist, on this globe, or any
         globe;
All lives and deaths—all of the past, present, future;
This vast similitude spans them, and always has spann'd, and shall
         forever span them, and compactly hold them, and enclose them.

Paris - The Organ at St. Sulpice (Part 1)

At about 9am on Sunday morning, The Sapling and I headed out to l'Eglise (church) St. Sulpice.  We worked our way through the Marais to a bridge crossing the Seine to Isle St. Louis, then down to Isle de la Cite, past Notre Dame, and then across to the Left Bank and the Latin Quarter.  Then we wended our way to Boulevard Saint Germain, a throughway created by Baron Hausmann, and finally over to St. Sulpice.  It was another beautiful morning, and the city was just waking up.

The Grand Orgue, l'Eglise St. Sulpice: Paris, France

We were intent on getting to St. Sulpice by 10:15am, because the organist begins the prelude for the first Sunday service then.  And St. Sulpice is home to one of the finest pipe organs in Paris. (For specific information regarding this organ and more pictures, see Les orgues de Paris.) Even more exciting is the fact that after the postlude for the first service, visitors can go up to the organ loft and see the console and organ up close.  And then, one can hang out and watch the organist play for the second service!  I had found the specifics on this in an article by Steve Fox on Rick Steve's travel website.

The Console of the Grand Orgue, l'Eglise St. Sulpice: Paris, France

The organ is set in a loft in the back of the church.  The console faces towards the nave just behind the pipes below the clock (see the picture above).  We sat ourselves down, along with a number of others who were clearly there for the music, not for the service!  The organist, who we later found out was Daniel Roth, Organist Titulaire (the head organist), played a stunning improvisation for the prelude that showed off the capabilities of this massive five rank keyboard.  We then sat through the service, some of which was supported by a smaller second organ in the front of the church.  At the conclusion of the service, Roth played a spectacular postlude.  We wandered around the back of the church trying to figure out where the door to the stairs going to the loft was.  Slowly, a group of people gathered on the left side (facing back). And, sure enough, after the postlude was finished, we were invited up. 

We climbed up a stone spiral staircase.  Then we walked past the original hand bellows.  On the right, Roth's program for the day was posted.  We then came around and were able to meet Roth and admire the organ.  He was remarkably gregarious and happy to talk to everyone.  (More on Mr. Roth and the organ in a subsequent posting.)  We hung out through the second service and had a wonderful time watching him play.  The photo below was taken on the right side of the organ loft facing the nave as we were leaving.

l'Eglise St. Sulpice from the Organ Loft: Paris, France

1909 Model O Steinway Piano

Steinway 1909 Model O, Restored March 2007

My mother passed away in July 2006.  Her Steinway grand piano was a prized possession.  Her parents bought the piano for her in the 1940's when she was in college. They lived in Queens, New York and it is hard to imagine how they fit the piano, two adults and three kids into the one floor of the house that they lived in.  Her brother and sister recall that they took out a loan to buy the piano.  My mother was an accomplished pianist and organist, and obtained a Master's degree in Sacred Music from Union Theological Seminary. 

When my mother moved to Oregon, it took a while for the piano to follow.  However, in the late 1950's there was an exchange of the Steinway grand for the spinet my mother had acquired.  The story is that the same truck driver took the Steinway out to Oregon and brought the spinet back to New York City to my grandmother's house.  Eventually, my parents decided to move to Prescott, Arizona, and of course, the Steinway came along, moving through several changes of housing.  Sadly, as my mother's health deteriorated, she played it less and less, but it stood in a position of honor in her living room.  In the last few months of her life, others came and played it for her (and for themselves, as it is a fine instrument).

My mother fussed about what was going to happen to the piano, and talked about donating it to a local organization.  However, The Sapling and I knew we wanted to bring it back to our home in New Hampshire.  It turns out that while my mother thought it was a 1925 Steinway, the piano is actually a 1909 Model O.  All Steinways have serial numbers, and from the serial number it is possible to determine the date of manufacture and the specific type of piano.  I wrote to Steinway to see what they knew about it, and they told me that the piano had been sent to a retailer in Syracuse, New York, and then sold to an individual, which didn't have a city attached to the address.  They had no other information.

Steinway 1909 Model O Keyboard with Serial Number before restoration

So, we moved it back to New Hampshire, and took it to Peter Mohr at New England Classic Piano Restorations in Manchester NH.  We were happy that we did not need to replace the soundboard, and that Peter was able to repair it.  The restoration work took about 5 months, including a complete refinishing.  Interestingly, the piano may look better than it did when it emerged from the factory almost 100 years ago.  Peter showed us how the harp (the metal part of the insides that the strings are attached to) was not very well finished.  Apparently, Steinway was rushing out the Model O's and didn't apply quite as high a degree of finish to some parts.  This also explains the difficulty we had in finding the serial number, which is normally inked in a pretty prominent location.  The restored harp and new strings are shown below.

Steinway 1909 Model 0 Restored Harp, Soundboard and Stringing