MADISON AVENUE
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
921 Madison Avenue
(at East 73rd Street)
New York, NY 10021
Tel: 212- 288-8920
Fax: 212-249-1466
(at East 73rd Street)
New York, NY 10021
Tel: 212- 288-8920
Fax: 212-249-1466
by Fred R. Anderson
John Weaver has announced that he will retire as Director of Music and Organist
at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church on May 30, 2005. The announcement
was first made at the annual choir dinner at the Manse on September 9. John,
having recently returned from vacation in Vermont, introduced the subject
by saying that he and Marianne had decided that after next spring they planned
to be permanent residents of Vermont.
John
began his professional career as an organist at the age of fourteen and
studied at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland, until graduation
from high school, and then at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia where
he received his Bachelor of Music Degree in 1959. He moved to New York City
to become organist-director at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, augmenting
his salary with recitals and teaching. Three years later he was drafted
into the Army for two years. It did not take long for the Army to discover
his talent, and after basic training John was stationed at West Point, to
serve out his tour of duty as the organist-director of the Post Chapel,
using his leave time to continue to tour on recital. Upon discharge John
returned to Holy Trinity, where he quickly gained national recognition for
his choir’s weekly afternoon performances of Bach’s cantatas,
sung in a setting similar to that for which Bach wrote them at the Thomaskirche
in Leipzig – the chorales sung by the congregation, preceded by Bach’s
chorale preludes, and the cantata for the particular day of the liturgical
year. In 1964, a gifted young flutist from the Manhattan School of Music
joined the choir, and the following year John and Marianne were married.
Marianne graduated in 1965, while John enrolled at Union Theological Seminary
and earned a Master of Sacred Music degree (summa cum laude) in 1968, majoring
in composition. Throughout all of this, John continued his concert career,
gaining ever-increasing reputation for his artistry.
In 1970, John was invited to become Director of Music and Organist at MAPC
and has served here since that time, assisted by Marianne, who has served
as volunteer Children’s Choir Director as well as resident flutist
and percussionist. Shortly after beginning at MAPC, John was invited to
succeed his teacher at Curtis, Alexander McCurdy, as head of the organ department
at the Curtis Institute, using his Mondays to travel by train to Philadelphia
to teach, a routine he continued until his retirement from that post in
2003. Upon his retirement, Curtis awarded John an honorary doctoral degree
– something the school rarely does for one of its own graduates –
in recognition of his years of excellence as both performer and teacher.
In 1987, John was invited to be the head of the organ department at the
Juilliard School of Music here in Manhattan, where he served with extraordinary
distinction until his retirement in June 2004. In 1995, Westminster College
in New Wilmington, PA, awarded John his first honorary doctorate, while
he and I were the featured organist and preacher at the Presbyterian Association
of Musicians’ annual summer church music conference on that campus.
In 2000, when lists of important personages of the last century were being
compiled, one leading journal, The American Organist, published the American
Guild of Organists’ list of the 101 most notable organists of the
20th century, listing John among the ranks of his predecessor at MAPC, Seth
Bingham, as well as notables such as Robert Baker, E. Power Biggs, David
Craighead, Clarence Dickinson, Marie-Madeleine and Maurice Duruflé,
Virgil Fox, Sigfrid Karg-Elert, Jean Langlais, Olivier Messiaen, T. Tertius
Noble, Karl Richter, Camille Saint-Saëns, Albert Schweitzer and Louis
Vierne, to name but a few – truly a remarkable list of famous performer-composers.
Among John’s many contributions to the life and ministry of MAPC are
his choral compositions, service music and hymn tunes. Several years ago,
when the pastors wanted to preach Good Friday on the Mark passion narrative,
John composed the St. Mark Passion, setting the entire text to music. If
you have attended Good Friday services, you know that the choir sings the
text in preparation for it being preached. In the succeeding years, John
continued, composing the St. Luke and St. John Passions, and this summer,
while on composition leave, he completed the fourth and final setting, the
St. Matthew Passion, which will have its premiere performance on Good Friday
next spring. In addition, we have become accustomed to hearing the biblical
texts for the day sung using one of John’s many choral settings and
enjoying his organ works, often based on well-known hymn tunes, either as
preludes or postludes for Sunday worship. A look at the Index of Composers,
Arrangers and Sources in the back of The Presbyterian Hymnal will reveal
the impact of John’s musical gifts, not only on MAPC, but also on
the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), as well as the larger church. One of the
things John is looking forward to in retirement is increased opportunity
to compose and market his organ and choral works.
I have asked John to be a part of a small committee appointed to search
for a new Organist and Director of Music. Though chances are good that John
has taught this person at some point in his or her own developing career,
the search will intentionally be larger than simply John’s former
students. This last year of John’s ministry among us will offer an
exceptional opportunity to express our appreciation for these years of extraordinary
music making. The Personnel Committee of Session has begun to explore other
ways to recognize John and Marianne and express our gratitude to them for
their faithful ministry among us.
Jennifer
Weetman to Preach at MAPC on September 26
Jennifer Weetman, M.Div., Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Columbus, OH, winner
of the 2004 David H. C. Read Preacher/Scholar Award, will preach at both
worship services on Sunday, September 26.
Further information about Ms. Weetman and the Award can be found by following
this link.
Come join us for a retreat at Episcopal Camp and Conference Center in Ivoryton,
Connecticut with the Inter-Church Youth Group. This group includes Brick
Presbyterian Church, Church of the Heavenly Rest, Madison Avenue Presbyterian
Church, St. Bartholomew’s Church and St. James’ Church. This
retreat is open to all youth, grades 6-12, and it will earn you at least
6 community service hours. What a great way to get to know other youth in
our church, as well as those from other groups!
We hope you will be able to make it – it will be great fun. Letters
and sign-up sheets went out in the mail. If you did not receive one or if
you have any questions, please contact Sarah Lien Finnerty or Margaret Williamson.
Scholarships are available. Hope to see you there!
At 10 am on Sunday, October 17, the Nubian Gents, a ministry
which utilizes stepping, dancing, singing and acting as their main vehicles
of expression to spread the Good News, will perform at MAPC. Through New
Life of New York City, which is supported by MAPC, the Nubian Gents, and
their counterpart Feminine Fire, will perform for us during the Adult Education
and Sunday School Hour.
This step team ministry has performed throughout the United States and in
Europe and South Africa. Recently, they performed for 500 Pennsylvania high
school students and their families, at a half-time show at Hofstra University,
at Oberlin College, and at Riker’s Island, bringing their message
of hope and redemption. We hope you will be with us to enjoy this moving
performance!
Please follow this link for complete Christian Education courses at MAPC for Autumn 2004.
Perhaps nowhere is there a greater opportunity for us to reflect our love
of God than in living in peace with our neighbors – locally, nationally
and globally. The importance of peace is inextricably woven into the fabric
of Jesus’ teachings to us all. This coming World Communion Sunday,
October 3, we have an opportunity to make manifest our love through the
Peacemaking Offering, one of the four offerings customarily received annually
at MAPC.
The Presbyterian Peacemaking Program was created in 1980 to promote peace
at all levels. Global peace is promoted through programs sponsored by the
General Assembly, such as the 2004 Peace and Justice Conference and the
Young Adult Peacemaking Travel Study Seminar in Guatemala. Intra-national
peace is promoted, at the Synod and Presbytery level, by programs like the
water storage and purification systems created in Brazil and Romania. And,
at the local level, one of the wonderful things about the Peacemaking Offering
is that twenty-five percent of the offering received will go directly to
a local project designated by MAPC. (Session will be choosing a project
in the coming weeks.) So, you have the ability to be a peacemaker for your
neighborhood and for the world!
Please open your heart for this offering. There will be special offering
envelopes at the Narthex on Sunday. Our hearts tell us that peace is needed.
The evening news tells us that peace is a challenge. Our children’s
faces tell us that there is no finer investment.
Sunday, October 3, 2004 at 4 pm
|
We invite you to come learn about Hildegard of Bingen,
a 12th century abbess, intellectual, and mystic, at our October Seniors
Unlimited gathering. Hildegard was truly a renaissance woman–200 to
300 years ahead of what we think of as the Renaissance! She was a prolific
writer of poems, hymns, sermons and Biblical commentaries. Her correspondents
included monks, popes, emperors, kings, and queens. She made a detailed
study of herbs and their effects on the body, advancing the study of medicine.
We’ll listen to some of her music, look at a few of the illuminations
of her visions, and take a brief look at her life and the age in which she
lived.
All are welcome to join us in the parish hall on October 4, from 3 to 4:30
pm, as The Rev. Beverly Bartlett, Associate Pastor, shares with us some
of what she has learned about this enlightened woman of the “dark
ages.” Refreshments will be served. RSVP to Margaret Williamson at
212-288-8920 x271, e-mail: mew@mapc.com.
At our October Families with Young Children gathering we’ll have a Halloween Party! Children are invited to wear their costumes, and we’ll have special activities and treats. Families with children ages 5 and under are encouraged to join in this time of fellowship and play. A light breakfast of bagels and fruit will be served. RSVP to Margaret Williamson at 212-288-8920 x271 or e-mail her at mew@mapc.com.
One in five New Yorkers utilizes an emergency food program
and, in the last year, the Yorkville Common Pantry provided over 15,000
low-income New Yorkers with over 1,000,000 meals.
Food donations, including those from our religious sponsoring organizations,
The Food Bank and City Harvest, account for 79% of the food that the Yorkville
Common Panty distributes annually, and we sincerely hope that your entire
Congregation will participate in this year’s Holiday and monthly Food
Drives.
Jeffrey Ambers, Executive Director, YCP
Parish RegisterNew Members Kunbi Oni Weddings Guy Jerome Pierre Nordenson
and Catherine Louise Seavitt |
Ana Polite and Roberson Mathieu (pronounced “Matthew”) were married at the office of the City Clerk in Kew Gardens, New York, July 1, 2004. On Saturday, September 18, Ana and Robertson gathered in MAPC’s sanctuary, with their families, friends and members of the church staff, for a Christian service recognizing their marriage and sanctifying their wedding vows. Though Ana will continue to be as polite as ever, henceforth, she will be known as Ana Mathieu. She will continue to serve as Dr. Anderson and Mr. Frey’s secretary. Congratulations to Ana and Roberson!
The Friends of the Booker T. Washington
Learning Center, The Fifth Annual Benefit Jazz Concert
|
Also, see: