+ Paul Manz + A Retrospective
I remember the first time I heard of Paul Manz. My organ mentor was passing the torch, so to speak, and she passed along her sheet music to me. Included in that collection were my introductions to Burkhardt, Behnke, and of course Paul Manz. Of all the books, the several Concordia Manz editions were the most ragged with detached covers from frequent use. She said, something like “get to know these, you will love them.” And so the rest is history. Like many organists, Manz has become a staple of my core repertoire.
This morning with wide eyes I read the e-mail from MorningStar Music that Paul Manz had entered into eternal glory on October 28, 2009 (MorningStar has more detailed information and Manz resources). While I had never met Manz or ever heard him in person, he had, through his music on the organ rack and CDs, become a sort of close friend (and at times an irritating one at that!). It was a friendship that I had to “grow into”. There are still plenty of pieces awaiting further practice.
His organ works, primarily on hymn tunes, shows the careful interaction between text and tune. Many of Manz’s works were composed to introduce hymns and reflect on the text — a very practical purpose. Frank Senn, in an essay in the Manz biography, notes that “when Manz played a solo on a stanza, giving the congregation a rest especially on hymns with many stanzas, what he performed was practically an improvised poem” (158). He was a leader of the people’s song.
Senn ends his essay with these words:
The responsibilities of the cantor as the leader of the people’s song has been seldom greater than it is today. Paul Manz has shown the generations following him how to do this job. May their tribe increase. (164)
In closing, I will let Manz speak for himself:
Thank you for the grace of singing with me across the years in good times and in bad, when our words have stuck in our throats and when our eyes have overflowed with joy. It has ever been a Song of Grace: ‘Love to the loveless shown that we might lovely be.’ I have just been the organist. Thank you for letting me play. (Noted in obituary by Scott Hyslop)
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