Paul Manz

Chicago conductor-organist Thomas Wikman writes more about the late composer-organist Paul Manz:

My buddy Dean Christian, who takes care of over 150 organs of greater Chicago, says that no matter what the denomination, he wondered how any of them could get along without Paul’s music. He said it was ubiquitous, from high-paid professional choirs to churches in the boonies.

Paul certainly started a much-imitated tradition in the hymn festivals department.

He was a savior of church music in a bleak world. He started in the rich, but stodgy world of the 50s, and triumphed in the “downswing” of the 60s & 70s. He got people singing. He understood that without that, there was no hope.

His impact is incalculable. There were some predecessors in bringing the Franco-Flemish sound into Lutheran Music, but he was the man who disseminated it far and wide. That, coupled with a deep Lutheran streak of strong harmony and polyphony, created a whole tradition and sound of exhilaration and majesty that had sort of taken a dive in the Lutheran liturgy.

I believe that he studied with Walcha, but Flor Peeters was the big influence. He called Paul “my spiritual son.” No doubt Paul’s “Catholic” inclinations came from his time in Mechelen.

There’s a good obit of Manz in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune.