The afternoon session of the 2023 annual Presidents’ Day conference of the NYC Chapter of the American Guild of Organists was held at The Riverside Church, and was devoted to memorial tributes and remembrances of Frederick Swann, followed by a recital by Ken Cowan.
Asked to speak about Fred as a teacher, David Higgs solicited remarks from his fellow Swann students at Manhattan School of Music. I was flattered that David used several of my contributions. My complete response to his request follows:
One weekday morning before classes began, I had the occasion to check in with Fred in his office about some detail of scheduling or logistics. What I saw made an indelible impression on me: Fred was seated at his desk, staring motionless at nothing in particular, his overcoat still on, and his suitcase on the floor. He said he’d just gotten in from the airport.
Now this was about 8:30 a.m. and I quickly did the calculations and figured he must have been up long before dawn, after an evening recital, to have gotten from wherever in the country he was, in time to have arrived at his office in time for the days’ events at the school and church. No doubt it was a common occurrence in his world, but I’d not seen it before, nor did I ever see it again. But it stayed with me as snapshot in time of just how every hard Fred Swann worked to juggle the demanding attributes of a traveling concert organist, an artist teacher at a major conservatory, and the chief musician of one of the most highly visible religious institutions in the country. This he did seemingly with ease, but I never forgot the image of this great man working so very hard for his profession, and therefore for us.
Lessons with Fred were rigorous, and elicited the desire to do one’s best, but they were never terrifying or intimidating—or pedantic. “Why do you suppose such and such a composer did that,” I asked. “So we’d have something to do this morning,” he retorted! Rarely analytical or overtly technical in a theoretical sense, Fred would however go to great lengths to share his bag of tricks—how to take a brief double pedal passage in the Langlais La Nativité with the left thumb, on a different manual with the 16’ coupler drawn, to free up the right foot to close a swell box. Or discuss how to set up the Bach large tripartite O Lamm Gottes on the Nave organ in such a way that the repeats were on similar, but contrasting sounds taking advantage of chancel and gallery division, thus not only avoiding boredom, but clearly showing the inherent structure of the chorale which inspired the piece. When studying the works of Franck one could feel the gravitas of his life-long association with them, and his own study of them with Courboin. But he would still show tricks of how to play Cantabile in the “correct” versus “slushy” version, saying he did it both ways depending on the occasion and the organ at hand. He even showed where he sometimes used chimes in the slow movement of the Grand pièce symphonique, reminding us that more souls have no doubt been saved by a few notes on the chimes that all the mixtures ever made!
Fred was also a compelling and engaging classroom teacher, something not many in the organ world know. Classes in organ literature came alive from his life-long association with the canon of the repertoire, but also his quest for new and interesting lesser-known pieces. His masters’ thesis at Union Theological Seminary School of Sacred Music dealt with new repertoire for the organ recitalist. Classes in the history and design of the pipe (and digital!) organ were filtered through his own career as a consultant and recitalist. In organ class he admonished us to keep our heads low, eyes fixed on the ground, when taking a bow, so we didn’t look like newly-hatched chickens craning our necks! His suggestions in church music classes were backed up with his own experiences with the best of the best—Hugh Porter, Thomas Matthews, and the clergy he’d known, particularly William Sloane Coffin, who occasionally came to organ class.
At the time I think we knew we were participants in and beneficiaries of a golden era; that became clearer and clearer to me in my own career. We were lucky!
Neal Campbell--Words and Pictures. 
Wonderful remembrances and it was wonderful to watch and listen to online I wish they would upload it so that we can hear the wonderful remembrances whenever the mood
strikes
I too wish that afternoon were archived!
Dear Neal,
What a joy to read your Facebook post about Fred Swann whom I’ve had the pleasure of knowing since the late 70’s having met him through my former partner and very talented organist in his own right, John Hooker. My friendship with Fred blossomed upon his “so-called” retirement when he and his partner Charlie moved to Palm Desert and Fred became our “artist in residence” at St Margaret’s Episcopal Church where I was singing in the choir and living in Palm Springs. We were so blessed to have him there and to be able to hear him play so often, since Fred never really retired. Not only playing occasional Sunday services at St Margaret’s church with additional concerts on our local concert series, but couldn’t say NO to Redlands University when asked to oversee the revamping of their two organs in addition to joining the faculty to rebuild their organ department. Redlands University was an hour’s drive from Palm Desert but Fred would make the commute three days a week and Redlands became known for its FREE faculty music concerts and grad students recitals.
I was also privileged to be living in Palm Springs when Fred was asked to play the inaugural recital of the organ in Disney Hall in Los Angeles. Truly a concert to remember!
But mostly I remember getting to know Fred’s incredible wit and wicked sense of humor.
Thank you for your post and pictures and a beautiful reminder of a world-class musician and a dear friend to anyone lucky enough to have known him.
Respectfully,
David Carter
Palm Springs,CA
Many thanks for this, David. He touched so many of us at every stage of his life and career.
You’re very welcome, and make sure to say hello if you were ever in Palm Springs.
Davidcarter.