Musician and churchman

Dr. Paul Manz, 1919-2009

I received word yesterday from our son, Aaron, that one of the churchs' most beloved and valued musicians had died at the age of 90.  Paul Manz was head of the Fine Arts dept at Concordia College, St. Paul when I was a student.  Near the end of his time at Concordia he was able to see the completion of a fine arts building with pipe organ that he had designed.  However, in the early 1960’s the music department was housed in an old pre-twentieth building dating back to the time when the campus served as a reform school.

We knew we had someone special in our midst, though most of us male students probably didn’t pay a lot of attention to his postludes following the chapel service.  We were too busy watching the coeds.  But there was that rumor, probably apocryphal, that he would sometimes do a postlude of variations on Three Blind Mice.

One of my most memorable classes was the one I took from him in my last quarter at St. Paul.  After two years we were allowed to take our one and only free elective.  A friend and I chose a class in basic music theory.  Dr. Manz really appreciated having the two of us in class.  We worked hard because it was certainly something different than the Greek, Latin and German we had been studying.  Of course, most of the students were those in education, teacher training students.  For them it was one of their required courses.  So they were less interested and less apt to have their work done.

While serving at Concordia for nearly twenty years he also served as organist at Mt. Olive Lutheran Church in Minneapolis for 37 years.

One of my most treasured CD’s is his “Paul Manz at Mount Olive.”  Another favorite is a recording of one the many hymn festivals he did with Martin Marty.  The one I have is recorded with the Valparaiso University Chorale.

Dr. Manz died on October 29 as his family sang his motet “E’n so, Lord Jesus, Quickly Come.”  His funeral is November 8^th.

A full length obituary covering his life and career is available at morningstarmusic.com  

Comments

[Hanover Lutheran]

Interesting -- his name is familiar to me.

Are you on facebook or twitter?

Trying to find other lutherans to connect with (LCMS).

http://facebook.com/hanoverlutheran

http://twitter.com/hanoverlutheran

I am just getting started and hope to provide more ...like you!

[Ron Jansen]

No, I'm not on facebook or twitter. I've debating whether to do it. but doing this blog is a b ig step for me. Are you located near Cape Giraudeau,(sp?)Mo. I preached there a couple of weekends a couple of years ago.