User:Mawaby/Bethel Knoche

Bethel Knoche new article content ... American pedagogist, radio broadcast pioneer, organist, composer, arranger, and originator of the Auditorium Organ, the longest weekly radio program featuring pipe organ music. Bethel D. Knoche designed and was the first organist of The Auditorium Organ in Independence, Missouri. Knoche worked at the world headquarters of the Community of Christ (formerly, Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) in Independence, Missouri. Organ design. Built to her specifications in consultation with Harold Gleason, Catharine Crozier, and G. Donald Harrison.

Under her leadership over a period of nearly thirty years, a new tradition of liturgical music in the midwest reached thousands of people internationally, initially as organist for the church's radio broadcast of daily morning devotions from the Stone Church and subsequently during her years presiding at the Auditorium Organ as a participant in worship at world conferences, recitalist, workshop leader and teacher, and as originator of the weekly broadcast recital, "The Auditorium Organ."

Early Years Bethel Davis Knoche b. 1919 Arcadia, Kansas, d. 2003 Kansas City, MO

A native of Arcadia, Kansas, she moved with her family to Independence, MO., when she was eight. Following graduation from William Chrisman High School, Bethel attended Graceland College for a year and then returned to Independence, whereupon she began her service with the world church. In addition to her radio work, her responsibilities included playing for many church services, accompanying various choirs at the Stone Church, as well as providing the organ accompaniment for the church's annual broadcast performance of Handel's Messiah. During that time she began studying organ with Powell Weaver, well-known Kansas City organist and composer, and completed a bachelor of music degree in 1946 from Central Missouri State Teachers College, Warrensburg, Missouri.

Milestones/timeline for music education, organ, liturgical music, society (war), RLDS auditorium,

Timeline 1890		Powell Weaver born. 1892		Harold Gleason born. 1910		Herman Berlinski born. 1914		Catharine Crozier born.

1919		Bethel Knoche born. 1920		Westminster Choir College founded by Dr. John Finley Williamson 1924		Radio station first church-owned in U.S. to be licensed. 1926		Groundbreaking for Auditorium 1936		Warren Martin graduates Westminster 1937		Bethel graduates high school 1938		Bethel attends Graceland University for 1 year 1939		Begins work in church, accompanist, Messiah Choir, church organist 1940		KMBC work Organ study with Powell Weaver 1946		Graduates University of Central Missouri with BA music 1946		Married 1946		Eastman School of Music 1947		Birth of Anne 1950		Birth of Joe 1950		Frank Hunter graduates Westminster 1952		Graduates Eastman School of Music with Masters 1953		Catharine heads Eastman organ department 1955		Harold Gleason retires from Eastman 1958		Principal Organist, The Auditorium Organ

King of Instruments #502 King of Instruments #503 Favorite Hymns 1 Favorite Hymns 2

Compositions Hymn Tunes Revelation CD - Revelation Elementary Music Education 1940-49	Faculty of University of Central Missouri 1959		University of Kansas City creates Conservatory of Music and Dance 1963		University of Kansas City merges with University of Missouri System Faculty of University of Missouri-Kansas City

1948	Independence Messiah Choir, first performance in Auditorium Frank Hunter founds the Auditorium Chorale. Contract signed with Aeolian Skinner for $115,000. 1958	Auditorium Conference Chamber completed. 1959	Auditorium Organ installation completed. 1959	Catharine Crozier pre-dedication recital on November 6. Robert Baker. 1960	George Markey pre-dedication recital on January 8. 1960	George Faxon pre-dedication recital on February 28. 1960	Dedication recital by Bethel Knoche on April 7. 1960	Warren Martin’s Song of the Restoration performed on April 7. 1961	Warren Martin’s Song of the Restoration recorded in January with Auditorium Chorale. Day of Revelation The Auditorium Organ radio program founded. Sinfonia #4 Sinfonia #5 Worship Institutes with Dr. Williamson

1968-1984	Raytown School District

2010	Independence Messiah Choir, final performance in Auditorium 2011	Independence Messiah Choir, first performance in Kauffman Center

KLDS 1941-1961 - KMBC - Full Service KMBC's roots start in April 1921 as 9AXJ, an amateur station with limited capabilities. This date would make present-day KMBZ the oldest station in the city. In 1922, the station was licensed as WPE under the ownership of the Reorganized Church of Latter Day Saints. The station changed calls to KFIX in 1923, and later, KLDS. The station broadcasted out of the church's headquarters in Independence.

The call letters KMBC were used as early as 1928, as the station shared time with KLDS in 1110 kHz. The station also moved to a hotel at 12th and Wyandotte in downtown Kansas City in 1928. KMBC stood for Midland Broadcast Company. KMBC moved to 950 kHz in 1929, operating as a CBS affiliate and sharing time with WHB for a few years. KMBC didn't move to 980 kHz until 1941. KMBC became an ABC affiliate in 1955 under the ownership of the Cook Paint Varnish Co. Metromedia bought the station in 1961.

KMBZ is the oldest surviving station in Kansas City,[citation needed] first going on the air on April 5, 1922, with the callsign WPE, and the second oldest radio station in the state of Missouri (behind only St. Louis' WEW). In its history it has been owned by two rival branches of the Latter Day Saint movement although it has no church affiliation now. The Reorganized Church of Latter-Day Saints (RLDS - based in Independence, Missouri) bought the station in 1923 and renamed the station KFIX and later KLDS. In 1928, Midland Broadcasting bought the station and renamed it KMBC. Cook Paint and Varnish Company bought the Midland holdings in 1954. The AM radio and television station operated out of the Lyric Theatre. In 1961, Cook sold the radio and television stations to Metromedia, who signed on KMBC-FM (later KMBR and KLTH, now KZPT) the next year. In 1967, Metromedia sold both radio stations to Bonneville International but kept the television station. Bonneville is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons based in Salt Lake City). They changed to KMBZ (with "Z" rhyming with "C"). In the 1970s and early 1980s, the station's nickname was "Z-98".

Arthur B. Church Biographical note Born in Lamoni, Iowa on August 5, 1896, Arthur Burdette Church received his A.A. (1920) from Graceland College (Lamoni, Iowa), attended Iowa State College (University), and the Dodge Radio and telegraph Institute in Valpariso, Indiana. In 1914, he established his first experimental radio station in Lamoni, Iowa, 9WU. During World War I, Mr. Church taught radio first at Ft. Levenworth, Kansas, and later at Camp Meade, Maryland.

After the war, Mr. Church returned to Lamoni and operated 9ZH until 1920 when Dr. Fredrick M. Smith asked Mr. Church to come to Independence, Missouri to establish a radio station for the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (AXJ). He also established the Central Radio Company in Kansas City in 1920 and began to establish the radio station WPE, after two years, this became station KFIX, and two years later, in 1924, became KLDS. In 1928, because of Federal Radio Commission requirements, this station became KMBC and was purchased by Midland Broadcasting Company, founded by Mr. Church in 1927.

Mr. Church was also a television and FM radio pioneer, beginning with experimental station W9XAL TV in 1933, which later became KXBY and finally KMBC-TV, he also operated an UHF station, KA2XAQ. In 1941 he had established an experimental station W9XER, an FM station that was to become KMBC FM in 1944. He sold KMBC in 1954 and retired in June of that year. On June 2, 1918, Arthur married Cicely Ida Case in Lamoni, Iowa, They had three children, Margaret Fay Cicely Church Battison, Virginia Alice Church Morris Peters, and Arthur “Arky” Burdette Church Jr. Church passed away September 22, 1978.

Married Dec. 1, 1946 in Independence, MO. Age 26 The tradition of the Messiah in Independence.

The ethos. The founding of a formal liturgical music both in the RLDS church and the Midwest. A movement that blossomed in the 1950s. Training. Composing. Accompaning. Teaching. Collaborating. All toward a deep and rich tradition for the best and highest aspiration in liturgical music. Choral, congregational singing, performance. High choral standards. The Guilmant School.

Festivals for choral music, adult and children across the nation. Talbott Festivals, 9 in 1955, goal of 20 in 1956. These were Westminster alumni organized festivals. Heat Map Princeton, NJ - Westminster Rochester, NY - Eastman

Graduated abt 1937 from William Chrisman High School, Independence, Missouri.

Studied at Graceland University in 1938, University of Central Missouri Bachelors in 1946, Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester in 1952.

Pupil of Powell Weaver(1890-1951), Harold Gleason (1892-1980),

Professional Career Herman Berlinski (1910-2001)

1958-1967 Principal Organist, The Auditorium Organ at the Community of Christ (formerly RLDS)

Faculty at the University of Central Missouri, 1940-1949. 1965 faculty of University of Missouri at Kansas City

The role of music in the church tradition at the time. The role of radio ministry. Following installation of the A.O., the tradition of broadcasting expanded to a weekly radio program and Bethel originated the program, “The Auditorium Organ”.

The recital tradition. Artist hospitality, collegialism. Pre-dedication was a series of recitals that included Catharine Crozier, Robert Baker, George Markey. The dedication recital was performed by Bethel Knoche.

Bethel worked to establish a musical ethos in the church and community. Ethos is a Greek word meaning "character" that is used to describe the guiding beliefs or ideals that characterize a community, nation, or ideology. The Greeks also used this word to refer to the power of music to influence its hearer's emotions, behaviors, and even morals.

Musical tradition. The first concerts were performed by George Markey, Robert Baker, and…. The dedication was by Bethel Knoche. The first recordings were by Catharine Crozier. Bethel recorded Favorite Hymns vol. I and II.

Collaboration with Herman Berlinski, Sinfonia no. 5, May 6, 1967

Compositions Hymn Tunes Revelation

Recordings Favorite Hymns 1 Favorite Hymns 2 CD - Revelation

Legacy Kansas City radio, Arthur Church, KMBC Method of organ playing Daily recital series Recital series, international artists came to the Midwest United States, many for the first time, and a culture and tradition/ethic of hospitality was established. At the time, the music programs sponsored by the Auditorium contributed to the development of the performing arts in the Kansas City region. Children, choral, keyboard, orchestra, mass congregational singing, etc…

Students Rodney Giles Evelyn Mesley Mary Ellen Sutton Blake West John Davies Matthew Ashby Joseph Wilkerson

KMBC Radio

She then entered a master's degree program at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where she was a student of Harold Gleason for the next six years.

Many area organists began to recognize that there was something quite special about Bethel's playing, and thus her career as a teacher began. In addition to her serving on the faculties of Graceland and at Warrensburg, she joined the faculty of the newly-formed, but short-lived, Independence branch of the Kansas City Conservatory of Music. She also served a number of years as an adjunct instructor of organ at the University of Missouri-Kansas City's Conservatory of Music, where she taught degree-seeking students at the bachelor's, master's and doctoral levels. Following her tenure at the Auditorium, Bethel continued to influence the lives of hundreds of children by teaching elementary music in the Raytown, Missouri public school system until her retirement.

A.O. Design She envisioned an organ commensurate to the design of the auditorium by Frederick Madison Smith –a vast domed room of cubic feet (dimensions).

A period of exploration and study of organ design. She traveled extensively across the U.S., visiting pipe organ installations gathering ideas for a new and innovative design for The Auditorium. She directed the design of the organ in collaboration with associates, Harold Gleason and Catharine Crozier. The organ was built to her specifications of this team.

The trompette en chamade of St. John the Divinesealed the deal for a similar stop and display for the auditorium.

Upon selection of the Aeolian Skinner company, the circle expanded to include G. Donald Harrison. In the 1940s Bethel was in a position to share the dreams and aspirations of the church leadership of having a fine pipe organ in the world headquarters building, which at the time was a large incomplete domed shell. It was her association with Harold Gleason and his famous wife, organ virtuoso Catharine Crozier, that culminated in the design and installation of the Aeolian-Skinner organ in the Auditorium, completed in 1959, which at the time was the largest free-standing organ in the United States. Dr. Gleason served as organ consultant for the church, Ms. Crozier played the inaugural recital in November 1959, and Bethel was at the organ for its dedication in April 1960.

The arrival of the organ, which was considered by many (including Aeolian-Skinner's president, Joseph Whiteford) to be Aeolian-Skinner's masterpiece. Bethel invited many distinguished guest musicians from all over the United States and abroad to perform in Independence, a tradition which continues to the present day. Not only has the Auditorium Organ been a superb instrument for performing great organ literature, it was designed to possess in abundance the necessary qualities for encouraging a vast congregation to sing. The organ also provided a new outlet for the church's longstanding commitment to radio ministry and eventually became one of the most frequently heard organs on the air. "The Auditorium Organ," a program heard for more than thirty years, originated as a 30-minute recital featuring Bethel Knoche and broadcast weekly over an international network. The organ also set a new standard of excellence against which all future organs in the Midwest would be measured, and Bethel provided invaluable assistance to countless congregations in their selection and purchase of new organs.

Sensing the need to have many people prepared to play the new organ on a regular basis, Bethel assembled and trained a small, but very dedicated, corps of volunteer organists to share the playing responsibilities at the many events that would be taking place in the Auditorium. In addition to the many services that occur in conjunction with the church's biennial world conference, a daily listening period was instituted, for which the organ staff would provide invaluable assistance, enabling countless visitors to the building to experience the beauty and power of the splendid new organ. The daily recitals have continued to the present day (daily during the summer and weekly throughout the rest of the year), made possible by a volunteer staff that now comprises thirty-five gifted musicians.

Sinfonia #4 Facsimile copies of Sinfonia #4 are held by the Library of Congress and the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City includes: “To Bethel Knoche” “N.Y. Dec. 1962” “Nov. 1, 1965” at the final measure.

The Berlinskis arrived in New York from Paris in 1941 and moved to D.C. in 1963.

Sinfonia #4 is written for trumpets I, II, III; horns I, II, III, IV; trombones I, II, III; tuba; harps I, II; piano; celesta; timpani; percussion; organ; violins I, II; viola; violoncello and double bass.

(cover page) Sinfonia #4 The Tetragrammaton for Organ and Orchestra Washington, DC August 1964

(inserted page) Structural elements Numerical value of the tetragrammaton H-5 V-6 H-5 Y-10 Total value: 26

The numeric value of the Hebrew language is Gematria, Hebrew numerology. http://www.inner.org/gematria/gematria.htm

Sinfonia #4 is in three parts: I.	Kether (the Crown) 67 pages Part I has 26 ordos. Ordo                                                                                                              In this usage, ordo is a musical phrase constructed of one or more statements of a rhythmic mode pattern and ending in a rest. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhythmic_mode            http://www.music.vt.edu/musicdictionary/textr/Rhythmicmodes.html

Some ordos include hand-written instructions that a particular instrument or group is featured and should dominate the sound. There are several other interpretative instructions written throughout the manuscript.

An organ cadenza is placed between ordo 18 and 19 on pages 42-51. II. Tifereth (beauty) 27 pages There is no organ part in much of Part II and the strings dominate. III. Gevuroth (might) 83 pages Closing includes an organ cadenza, largely for the pedal. “Cadenza: no specific count, play pedal passage as fast as possible but always with clarity.” Background “In 1953, while continuing his organ studies with Yasser, Berlinski undertook post-graduate studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTSA) where he engaged in a musicological analysis of the origins and practices of ancient Jewish music. He also studied composition with Hugo Weisgall[28], an experienced composer who was descended from a long line of cantors and was interested in both sacred and secular Jewish music. Working with Weisgall and in the climate of the seminary provided an ideal stimulus for Berlinski to further explore and express his Jewish background, which in turn became more recognizable in his music.” Wikipedia entry accessed on June 19, 2011.

Tetragrammaton The three Hebrew letters used to represent the name of God. A Greek term meaning a word with 4 letters. Tetra=4; gramma=letters. It refers to the name of the God of Isreal (YHWH), Yahweh. The four Hebrew letters of the tetragrammaton appears in the photo below on the front of the Old Cathedral in downtown St. Louis, Missouri (indicating usage in Christianity).

Sefirot A sefirah (pl. sefirot) is a channel of Divine energy or life-force. This most fundamental concept of Kabbalah is that in the process of creation an intermediate stage was emanated from God's infinite light to create what we experience as finite reality. These channels are called the Ten Sefirot, Ten Divine Emanations, Ten Divine Radiances, Ten Divine Eluminices, or Ten Divine Powers which are the basic terms and concepts of the inner wisdom of the Torah which is called Kabbalah. The chart (think Tree of Life) below shows the traditional form of the Kabbalah which includes three axes: right, middle, and left. Berlinski selected three emotive attributes for Sinfonia #4: I. Keter,  II. Tiferet, and III. Gevurah.

Keter (crown) Keter connects the individual with a macro-perspective or the ability to see the whole of one's reality from the perspective of our Creator. The word Keter means summit or pinnacle, a tall peak from which one can see everything around you. Anything that centers the attention at the crown of the head is life's way of telling us that we must climb above our normal like and look at our place in the entire scheme of things. http://www.inner.org/sefirot/sefketer.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keter

Tiferet (beauty) Tiferet is associated in the soul with the power to reconcile the conflicting inclinations of chesed (loving-kindness) and gevurah so as to allow for focused compassion, thus accounting for its designation in Kabbalah as midat harachamim ("the attribute of mercy"). The beauty of tiferet manifests itself through the elegant blend of emotive gesture implicit within its expression. http://www.inner.org/sefirot/seftifer.htm                                             http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiphereth_(Kabbalah)

Gevurah (might)                                                                                                           Gevurah is associated in the soul with the power to restrain one's innate urge to bestow goodness upon others, when the recipient of that good is judged to be unworthy and liable to misuse it. As the force which measures and assesses the worthiness of Creation, gevurah is also referred to in Kabbalah as midat hadin ("the attribute of judgment"). It is the restraining might of gevurah which allows one to overcome his enemies, be they from without or from within (his evil inclination). http://www.inner.org/sefirot/sefgevur.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gevurah

Sinfonia #5 “As the first composer to forge a Jewish idiom for the pipe organ, and the only composer to produce a major body of Hebraic concert works for the instrument, Herman Berlinski is a composer of exceptional creativity.” Ann William Frohbeiter, May 2001

(from the cover page of Sinfonia No. 5) To Bethel Knoche Sinfonia No. 5 For organ On Poetry by Nelly Sachs Herman Berlinski, 1968 HB Facsimile Edition All rights reserved including the right of public performance for profit. Copyright 1972 by Herman Berlinski, 4000 Tunlaw Road, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20007

Description Sinfonia No. 5 is in five movements. Each movement is based on an excerpt from the poetry of Nelly Sachs.

O The Chimneys was the first publication in English of the poetry of Nelly Sachs. It was published in 1967, after Sachs received the Noble Prize for Literature, 1966.

Sinfonia No. 5 was composed between 1964 and 1968. Bethel Knoche premiered Sinfonia No. 5 in May, 1967, on Aeolian Skinner Opus 1309, in Independence, Missouri.

Nelly Sachs died in 1970 and is buried in Stockholm, Sweden.

From the jacket sleeve of O The Chimneys: Nelly Sachs was the co-winner, with S.Y. Agnon, of the 1966 Nobel Prize for Literature. This book, containing nearly half of her verse, is her first to be published in the English language. It’s title comes from the opening line of the first poem:

O the chimneys On the ingeniously devised habitations of death When Israel’s body drifted as smoke Through the air…

The book includes in its entirety one of her most important poem sequences, Glowing Enigmas, I, II, and III, written in the 1960s; poems from six other collections: In the Habitations of Death, Eclipse of the Stars, And No One Knows How to Go On, Flight and Metamorphosis, Journey into a Dustless Realm, and Death Still Celebrates Life; and the complete text of Eli, a mystery play of the sufferings of Israel…

Nelly Sachs was born in Berlin in 1891, and her early work, rooted in the German romantic tradition, underwent a transformation as the Nazis rose to power. When she fled to Sweden in 1940, as she has attested, language was all she had left. She was able to come to terms with so momentous a theme as the murder of her people only because she had resource to her Jewish tradition. It is this achievement that will guarantee Nelly Sachs a place among the major poets of our time.

As Hans Magnus Enzensberger, the German poet and critic, states in his introduction to O the Chimneys: “In her Stockholm refuge, Nelly Sachs experienced the genocide of the Final Solution more closely than we who lived near the death camps, and her book remains the only poetic testimony that can hold its own beside the dumfounding horror of the documentary reports.”

Below, the title of the poem (German and English), followed by the title of the collection of poems, and the excerpted portion of the poetry for each of the five movements of Sinfonia No. 5.

Auf dass die Verfolgten nicht Verfolger werden That the persecuted may not become persecutors From: In the Habitations of Death p55 I.	Footsteps – Age-old game of hangman and victim, persecutor and persecuted, hunter and hunted. Einer Someone From: Flight and Metamorphosis p153 II. Here amen must be said, this crowning of words which moves into hiding and peace. You great eyelid closing on all unrest, your heavenly wreath of lashes, you most gentle of all births.

Wan endlich When at last From: Glowing Engimas II p287 III. The blood’s circulation weeps toward its spiritual sea there where the blue flame of agony bursts through night. Nur Sterben Only death From: Glowing Enigmas I p249 IV. Only death draws out of them the truth of misery, these recurring rhymes cut out of night’s blackness, these reed exercises at the end of the organ of sounds.

Auf dass die Verfolgten nicht Verfolger werden That the persecuted may not become persecutors From: In the Habitations of Death p55 V.	Footsteps - Which turn time ravenous emblazing the hour with wolves extinguishing the flight in the fugitive’s blood.

Elementary Music Education Later Life and Death Death Knoche died on April 27, 2003, at her home in Independence following a long illness. Age 83.