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Current Announcements:
Lynnwood Farnam Essay Contest: Deadline Extended to June 10, 2002!
"Thousands Now Are Turning": The LFS Temperance Project

Past Announcements:
Marie-Claire Alain Inducted as LFS Honorary Patron
The "Toccata Heard 'Round the World" Project
Remembrance Day Service



Lynnwood Farnam Essay Contest

Deadline Extended to June 10, 2002!


LFS Chairperson Patrick Wedd (L) accepts a generous donation from an anonymous donor to be used for prizes in the Lynnwood Farnam Essay Contest

Photo: Peter Butler

May 21, 2002

Thanks to a generous donation from an anonymous benefactor, the Lynnwood Farnam Society is pleased to announce its first Lynnwood Farnam Essay Contest. Entries are welcome from citizens of all countries, of all ages. However, relatives (first cousin or closer) and spouses of members of the Lynnwood Farnam Society Executive Council or of the judging panel are ineligible. The first prize is $250 in Canadian funds, an item of your choice from the Lynnwood Farnam Society Online Store, and publication in the LFS Quarterly Journal The Filibuster and electronically on this web site. The second prize is $100 in Canadian funds and publication electronically on this web site.

The essay topic is open, as long as it is directly related to Lynnwood Farnam, his life, his music, his influences or his legacy. Examples of possible topics are:

  • New research into Farnam's biography
  • An examination of Farnam's influence on American organ music of the 20th century
  • An examination of how Farnam's Canadian upbringing and British education shaped his musical style
  • A counterfactual essay examining, for instance, what Farnam's role would have been in the "Early Music Revival" had he lived to see it
  • An analytical essay on his Toccata on "O Filii et Filiae"
The list is by no means extensive. An example of a topic which is not acceptable is an analytical essay on a piece which was dedicated to Farnam, unless the essay deals primarily with aspects of the music which specifically reveal Farnam's influence.

The essays must be between 2,500 and 5,000 words and must be scholarly and properly formatted and footnoted. Some tips on where to start researching Farnam are available in the Selected Bibliography section of this web site. Plagiarism is not permitted and will result in immediate disqualification of the essay.

A maximum of five essays will be chosen by Contest Coordinator Peter Buter and submitted anonymously to the final panel. This panel will consist of five respected judges, including McGill Musicology Professor Julie Cumming, McGill Organ Professor John Grew, Organist and Doctoral Student Jonathan Oldengarm, and Canadian Composer C. Scott Tresham. It will deliberate and make its decisions known to the Contest Coordinator who will notify any and all winners within 48 hours. The panel is permitted to call a tie only for second prize, not for first prize. Please note that the panel is not required to award any prizes if it does not feel that a sufficient standard has been met.

Essays should be submitted electronically to lynnwoodfs@yahoo.ca. Any standard word-processing format may be used (for example, Microsoft Word or WordPerfect). The deadline for submission is Monday, June 10, 2002 at midnight. All entries will be acknowledged electronically within 24 hours of receipt. If you have not received an acknowledgement 48 hours after submitting your essay, please submit it again.

Happy researching, happy writing, and good luck!

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"Thousands Now Are Turning":

The LFS Temperance Project

May 21, 2002

2002 marks the centenary of the year in which 17-year-old Lynnwood Farnam copied the song "Unfurl the Temperance Banner" (see below) into one of his ubiquitous notebooks. To celebrate this occasion, the LFS is instituting a "Temperance Project," whose aim is to have this song sung, in four-part harmony, on every continent on earth in 2002.

North America, Europe and Australia will be relatively easy to accomplish. However, if anyone reading this plans to visit South America, Africa, Asia or Antarctica, please let the LFS Executive Council know at lynnwoodfs@yahoo.ca

As is well known, Farnam was a very temperate man. He never smoked or drank, and on the rare occasions when he thought harsh language was called for, the most he would utter was "Good Lord Strathcona!"

It is our hope that this project will familiarize people around the world with this aspect of Farnam's character. And ere long, its rays combining...


Unfurl the Temperance Banner

Tune - Stand Up for Jesus (Morning Light) - available in most hymnals, or see The Filibuster I, no. I (Dec. 2001): 4.

Unfurl the Temperance banner
And fling it to the breeze,
And let the glad hosanna
Sweep over land and seas;
To God be all the glory
For what we now behold;
O, let the cheering story
In ev'ry ear be told!

The drunkard shall not perish
In misery and pain,
But wife and children cherish
And grace his home again;
And sobered men, repenting,
Will bow at Jesus' feet,
Their thankful hearts relenting
Before the mercy seat.

A new-waked zeal is burning
In this and ev'ry land,
And thousands now are turning
To join our temperance band;
The light of truth is shining
In many a darkened soul;
Ere long, its rays combining
Will blaze from pole to pole.

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Marie-Claire Alain Inducted as LFS Honorary Patron

November 21, 2001

On Saturday, November 17, 2001 at the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul in Montreal, legendary French organist Marie-Claire Alain was officially inducted as the Honorary Patron of the Lynnwood Farnam Society. Alain was in Montreal to receive an Honorary Doctorate from McGill University and to give a recital at Redpath Hall and a series of Masterclasses.

After her Masterclass devoted to the music of her brother Jehan Alain, LFS Honorary President John Grew presented her with an official LFS Mouse Pad and the Honorary Patron LFS T-shirt. That evening she attended the final meeting of the LFS Patron Search Subcommittee, held in Westmount, Quebec. Complete pictures from these events are available in the Pictures: Society Activities section of this web site.

On behalf of the membership of the Lynnwood Farnam Society, the Executive Council would like to sincerely thank Mme. Alain for the great honour she has bestowed on us by accepting this appointment, and for a wonderful week of activities in Montreal.

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The "Toccata Heard 'Round the World" Project

November 9, 2001

Lynnwood Farnam was born on January 13, 1885, and by a lucky coincidence January 13, 2002, which would have been his 117th birthday, falls on a Sunday. To celebrate this occasion, the Lynnwood Farnam Society is encouraging all organists and church musicians to play Farnam's Toccata on "O Filii et Filiae" (which can be purchased here) as a postlude after that day's Eucharist. There are already numerous churches, on three continents, which will participate in this event.

The Toccata is not a difficult work, and any church organist should be able to learn it. Furthermore, adaptations of the work to fit specific circumstances are welcome (antiphonal arrangements, transposition to a lower key for smaller-compass organs, etc.). The Montreal Organ Consort is even considering commissioning a free arrangement of the piece for 4 chamber organs. Those without access to a Church music program can program the Toccata on a recital played on that day, as it can be freely arranged for almost any instrument or combination.

Church musicians who are unable to program the Toccata for that Sunday may participate in other ways. They may program pieces dedicated to Farnam (for instance, Louis Vierne's 6ème Symphonie, Leo Sowerby's Symphony or Marcel Dupré's "Souvenir" from Op. 27), they may play Bach's Prelude and Fugue in E-flat major BWV 552 (the first theme of the fugue is carved on Farnam's bust), or they may program Alfred Whitehead's motet "Jesus, the very thought of Thee" or Healy Willan's motet "O King to Whom all things do live." Those motets were sung at a service at Christ Church Cathedral, Montreal, on November 23, 1931, the first anniversary of Farnam's death. The complete music list for that service is available in the Bronze Bust of Lynnwood Farnam section of this web site.

Everyone participating in this event is encouraged to notify the Lynnwood Farnam Society at lynnwoodfs@yahoo.ca in order that we may compile and publish a list of participating churches and concert venues.

More details about this project will be posted as they become available. But for now, whether you are a LFS member or not, mark January 13, 2002 in your calendars and tell all your friends and colleagues about this exciting project!

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Remembrance Day Service

Lest We Forget

November 9, 2001

On November 11, 2001 at 4:00 p.m., Christ Church Cathedral in Montreal (Sainte-Catherine Street, between University and Union) will be holding a solemn evensong service for Remembrance Day. The choir of Trebles and Men of the Cathedral will present music by Willan, Gibbons, Caustun and Anerio.

Of particular interest to the Society is that the choral music will include Willan's "O King to Whom" and the organ music will include Brahms' "O how Blessed," Bach's "Lord God now Open" and Bach's Fugue in E-flat major BWV 552.ii. These pieces were all performed at the memorial service held for Farnam at Christ Church Cathedral on Monday, November 23, 1931, the first anniversary of his death, and the Willan was composed specifically for the service and dedicated to Farnam. That was also the service at which the bronze bust of Farnam was dedicated. The complete music list for that service is available in the Bronze Bust of Lynnwood Farnam section of this web site.

For those unable to attend the Remembrace Day service it will be broadcast on Radio Ville Marie (91.3 FM Montreal, 100.3 FM Sherbrooke) live at 4:00 p.m. EST and then repeated the next morning at 5:00 a.m. EST. At these times it will be available worldwide on the Internet through Radio Ville Marie, and also through Christ Church Cathedral. The Willan motet will also be performed at the Cathedral's morning Eucharist that day at 10:00 a.m.. Farnam was the Director of Music at the Cathedral between 1908 and 1913, and volunteered to serve in the Canadian army during the First World War.

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