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Virgil Fox

1/23/2015

8 Comments

 
Only one man in our lifetime ever created mass audiences for pipe organ music, and he was gay.

Virgil Fox did miraculous things, controversial but fabulous things with the pipe organ and with his life.  He was a virtuoso, a genius, and as queer as a three-legged goose.

Pipe organs are the most complex musical instruments so far ever invented.  They were perfected in the 18th century in Germany and then in France.  Johann Sebastian Bach was the undisputed master, the greatest composer for the pipe organ who ever lived; and the music world is divided between those who think Virgil Fox was the greatest performer of Bach’s work and those think Fox was the most egregious desecrator of Bach’s masterpieces.  

First some facts.

Virgil Fox was born in 1912 in Illinois, not far from where I was born.  He was a church organist when he was ten, and played his first solo concert to an audience of 2500 at the age of 14.  He began to record for RCA and Columbia in the 1930s, and after serving in the Army Air Force in World War II he was hired as organist at Riverside Church in New York City in 1946 where his lover and partner was choir director.  Fox developed the Riverside Church pipe organ into one of the largest instruments in the world.  In the 1950s people lined up two hours early to be assured a place to sit inside the church for services and concerts.  Fox’s improvisations on hymns were phenomenal.  His recordings of organ music made both him and Riverside Church world famous.  But the music so overwhelmed other aspects of the church services that he was asked to resign in 1965.  His very public conflict with the choir director and their break-up may or may not have had anything to do with his leaving the church for a concert career.  All of this was when being out, gay and a church musician were supposed to be incompatible.  As a concert performer Fox played to large audiences.  His flamboyant style, his glittering shoes and colorful jackets, and his embellishments of classical works of music earned him critical scorn and large audiences.  He was routinely compared to Liberace, with whom he was a good friend.  At the time, Fox, Liberace and Leonard Bernstein were the best known gay musicians in the world … before Elton John and Prince.  But like his gay successors Fox played for younger audiences and brought classical music to them in a time it was thought to be impossible.  He toured the USA from coast to coast with a massive Rodgers electronic organ he called “Black Beauty”.  Some of his concerts featured light shows and smoke – when all the color of Woodstock music was provided by shirts and skin, a decade or more before rock concerts dared such extravagance as Fox’s concerts.  His success enabled him to buy a 26 room mansion into which he moved with a new young lover, further scandalizing conservators of social values, as patrons of classical music tend to think of themselves.  Fox continued his concert career and his celebrity status even after contracting pancreatic cancer.  He died in 1980 and is buried in Illinois, not far from where I was born.

Before reading further, I suggest you watch this YouTube clip of Fox at his controversial best “dancing” and encouraging his audience to dance to Bach’s “Gigue Fugue”.  The picture quality is not good, but you can see how Fox thought relating to his audience was more important than the music itself.  That was outrageous to many, but there was far worse, and it had nothing to do with his personal life, his lifestyle or his gender orientation.  The fact that it did not, indeed, is remarkable.  If you enjoyed the dance, click here to listen to Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in D major.  All his critics admired his ability to instantly play more than 250 pieces of music from memory.

The unprecedented offense that Fox committed was to depart from the norm with the music.  For a century the musical world had been trained to respect the importance of maintaining the authenticity of the music.  Great effort was made to recreate the sound of Baroque music, like Bach’s, as closely as possible to the way the original audiences had heard it.  Fox broke all the rules.  He rehearsed his concerts at double speed, and played pieces faster than any other organist dared, or was able.  Critics sniped that Fox also was unable to play as fast as he did.  “His left hand lacked accuracy” critics thought.  “He’s showing off at the expense of the music.”  There was an obvious element of showmanship in Fox’s playing, both in church and out.  Performers were expected to wear black ties and tails.  When Fox did, the lapels were velvet and he came with a cape lined in scarlet.  For the most part he preferred psychedelic colors and collars and cuffs of lace, which “distracted from the music”.  Classical music concerts are traditionally solemn affairs where the audience is to be extremely quiet and even applause is scripted.  Listeners are to appreciate the music and how well it is performed as opposed to how fabulous the performer is.  In order to reach his young audiences Fox did not apologize for classical music or pander to them, but he played for them.  Never did he popularize for the sake of being popular himself.  But he adapted and contextualized.  He was hopelessly sentimental when he played romantic pieces by Mendelssohn or the French composers of the 19th century.  A Bach organist is not supposed to do that.  And most of all a performer is not supposed to tell audiences what they are to like about a piece of music, which Fox loved to do.  “Listen to how I spell out B A C H with my feet,” he’d instruct them, drawing attention to the rhinestones wrapped around the heels on his slippers.  Critics hated that. 

The name Virgil Fox has not survived in popular culture into the 21st century.  He died 35 years ago this coming October 25.  But his concerts and albums have been digitally re-mastered and are still selling well.  He is the only performer (as opposed to composer) whose works are still often featured in concerts in his memory.  No person coming into prominence as an organist fails to kneel to the legacy of Virgil Fox. 

What’s more he is a gay hero, a model for being out and honest, and a model for taking ones talent and going as far as possible with it.

There’s no reason I chose to write about Virgil Fox right now except that a new organist has appeared on Facebook several times recently.  Cameron Carpenter ("Neo Organ Boy") reminds me of Virgil Fox in terms of talent, eccentricity and self-assuredness, and he is on Wikipedia’s listing of “Bi-sexual people A-F” a few names below Caligula, so he’s one of us.  That’s why.  I encourage you to watch this 6-minute video about the sensation that Carpenter has generated from his genius maneuvering of the pipe organ.

8 Comments
David Snyder, Lumierist
6/3/2019 01:35:16 am

I have never read such a diatribe of crap as this unknown know-it-all bank of misinformation has spewed out about Virgil Fox,who if still alive would likely be collecting money from him in court for slander. Having worked for Dr. Fox for 18 years I KNOW everything he writes is garbage in his obviously bent tirade bent on branding Virgil as gay, which he was not I assure you. The biography of Virgil just released at his request for the first time tells the truth about his unknown real lifewhich did not include the likes of the author of the crap story of the greatest organist since J.S.Bach. Note, all the simpering attackers waited until he was dead and couldn't defend himself. That includes his former Manager and the bald liar that marketed himself as a student, whom in fact Virgil detested.

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David Snyder, Lumierist.Author of The Secret Life of Virgil Fox"
1/21/2020 01:41:24 am

I'd like to see you replace that ridiculous picture of Virgil wearing the silly "Bib "he was asked to wear as he performed for TV,The Belle Epoc. The Producers thought that suitable type of period dress would accent or enhance that theme. How about a photo of him on stage in one of the thousands of places he performed?

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Kenneth Dobson
1/21/2020 10:01:20 am

David Snyder: the picture you would like replaced is part of an article that is 5 years old. It would be like me requesting my home town newspaper to replace a picture they published 5 years ago. Archives don't work that way. But the idea of composing a new blog-essay for posting sometime soon might work. Remembering that my essays are very eclectic and diverse, I'd be interested in developing a posting about your work as Fox's archivist and especially your effort to amend what others have said about him. Your previous comment last June was angry and unfair, but if you would like to calmly describe how you see Fox as one very close to him, I would like to hear from you. Again, correspond directly, please: kdobsoninsiam@gmail.com.

Kenneth Dobson
6/30/2019 01:35:56 pm

Response to David Snyder 6/30/2019
I just discovered your comment of June 2 (or was it February 6) to my blog about Virgil Fox originally posted in January 2015. I would like to respond in brief.
I intended to inform my largely gay readers in 2015 about one of the outstanding personalities they may not have known about.
I understood from all the information I could gather online at the time that the controversy about Virgil Fox’s gay identity was diminished now that stigma has been reduced.
I am certain you are in a far better position to know about these things firsthand over nearly 2 decades, whereas I relied solely on information on the Internet in January 2015.
I assure you Virgil Fox is one of my heroes even as I take you at your word he was not gay.
I hope you do not include me in your list of “simpering attackers” despite my “misinformation … spewed out about Virgil Fox” because I am deeply indebted to Virgil Fox and E. Power Biggs for elevating my appreciation 60 years ago for pipe organ music by Bach which impacted my entire life and career.
If you wish to reply to my response I invite you to do so directly to kdobsoninsiam@gmail.com or here with a copy to the e-mail so I will be sure to see it quickly.

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Joe Snizek
4/22/2020 11:47:52 pm

I never got to see Virgil, the recordings of him are amazing. He played the organ like it was a Lamborghini, where everyone I've heard doing his compositions sound like their driving an AMC Pacer 0-60 in a mile.
(I had one). Cameron Carpenter is really good. I just discovered there is an organist from the UK named Wayne Marshall. He played the newly installed Rieger pipe organ in Paris. When I heard a video of him playing Widor Toccata, It was the speed that Virgil played it. Check it out you might enjoy it.
Not sure if everyone knows, the Hazel Wright organ which was in the Crystal Cathedral was designed to Virgil's specifications. He played on the Ruffatti that was combined with the Skinner pipe organ that was in Lincoln Center in NY. I got to hear it several years ago. But it had been neglected and fell into disrepair as birds were making nests in some of the pipes, and parts of the organ stopped working. There was a rebuild done by Ruffatti that was just completed. The organ was suppose to be rededicated May 2020, not sure what is going to happen due to the pandemic. I hope you are alright in the midst of all this chaos.

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kenneth dobson
4/23/2020 08:35:13 am

Thank you Joe Snizek for these notes. It is my impression that pipe organ music may be making a come-back, but the impact of the rapid demise of churches using pipe-organs is yet to be determined. Also ominous is the closing down of courses of study for pipe organ students, even in some major schools of music.

Reply
Bill G
6/12/2020 09:41:31 pm

Hey Joe, watch out what you say about an AMC Pacer; we currently have one (red '75) and people now love it! OK, though on the slow part, I suppose! Re Virgil, I attended 3 of his concerts but never really saw him play. First time was 1963 or thereabouts in Albany NY where he played at a Catholic Church where the organ loft was way up in back. Only the back of his head and shoulders could be seen. Next was at the Saratoga Perf Arts Center with the Philly Orch ca mid 70's. Of course it was the SS 3rd Symphony, but the organ was way back from the front of the stage and virtually nothing of Virgil's playing could be seen. Would they let him do a solo piece or 2 later for Virgil fans? Ummmm, no! Third time was '78 or maybe '79 in San Diego. The concert was poorly promoted and there were hardly any people in the audience. The performance was cancelled! Three strikes on me and I'm out. Then, Virgil has to up and die on us the next year, and that was it. Today, I agree Wayne Marshall is right up there. Also there is Kalevi Kiviniemi, and probably my favorite Vincent Dubois. CC of course is CC, and sometimes goes a bit over the top, because he can. Do you ever watch the live on line every Thurs organ concerts by Gert van Hoef? He's quite good and always plays some off the wall interesting stuff.

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JANNAR W DAVIS PhD MDiv
10/12/2020 09:56:10 am

Hello from one Reverend (Retired Presbyterian Church USA) Doctor ( Retired Counseling Psychologist) to another- I saw and heard Virgil Fox play at an Atlanta Presbyterian church venue one Sunday evening c. 1962. No light show,no theatrics,but heart pounding, head pounding music from a virtuoso, complements of Columbia Seminary senior Jim Kershaw, Youth Director to my home church, Newnan Presbyterian, when I was a high school senior.

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