Carl Weinrich (Organ)

Born: July 2, 1904 - Paterson, New Jersey, USA
Died: May 13, 1991 - Princeton, New Jersey, USA

The eminent American organist and teacher, Carl Weinrich, graduated from New York University and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia (1927-1930). He also studied organ privately with Farnam and Marcel Dupré, and piano with Abram Chasins.

In 1930 Carl Weinrich became the successor of Farnam as organist at the Holy Communion Church in New York. He taught organ at the Westminster College in Princerton, New Jersey from 1934 to 1940, Wellesley College from 1936 to 1946, and at Columbia University from 1942 to 1952. He was also the director of music at the University Chapel at Princeton from 1943 to 1973. He also taught organ at Vassar College.

Carl Weinrich toured extensively as a recitalist. Hae was known for his recitals and recordings of Bach, and he was a leader in a revival of Baroque organ music in the USA in the 1930's. He was also interested in contemporary music. He performed new organ works and edited Arnold Schoenberg's Variations on a Recitative (Op. 40).

In his last years Carl Weinrich had Parkinson's disease and had broken his hip. He died at the Medical Center at Princeton, New Jersey, 86 years old. He is survived by his wife, the former Annette Stewart Broderick; two daughters, Elise Friedley of Sylmar, Calif., and Cynthia, of New York City; two stepdaughters, Diane Hamilton of Ashland, Ore., and Linda Miller of Hopewell, N.J., and a brother, Albert, of Chapel Hill, N.C.

Source: Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of 20^th Century Classical Musicians (1997); NY Time Obituary (May 1991)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (November 2007)

Recordings of Bach Cantatas & Other Vocal Works

Conductor

As

Works

Serge Koussevitzky

Organ

BWV 244 [sung in English]

Links to other Sites

Carl Weinrich, 86, Bach Organist, Dies (New York Times)