Organist plays lunchtime concerts at Beck Chapel

The first impression the inside of Beck Chapel gives is humility.

Only 65 to 75 people can fit inside. It is sparsely decorated with simple woodwork and stained glass in primary colors, and it lacks the trappings of many denominational churches.

Compared with this simple background, the work of Johann Sebastian Bach playing on the chapel’s largest feature, a Van Dahlen pipe organ, seemed very complex
and proud.

Janette Fishell, chair of the organ department at the Jacobs School of Music, played her 10th concert of a series devoted to Bach on Thursday afternoon.

The concert series, “Seasons of Sebastian,” features Bach’s work every Thursday at the same time. There are 21 concerts in the series, and each concert has a different theme.
Thursday’s was “Something Old and Something New.”

The audience, which filled the entire chapel, was varied. Some were young, some older. Young couples came, holding hands and leaning on one another, and others came with tarnished wedding bands but no partner.

All but one stared toward the front of the church, far away in the music and the images it painted in their minds. The one different from the others rested his head in his hand, staring at the organist as her fingers flew across the well-worn keys.

The organist, too, was focused entirely on the music that flowed from print to her fingers to the organ pipes.

Fishell is a graduate of Jacobs’ prestigious organ program, and she received her doctorate in music from Northwestern University.

She has performed in the largest, grandest concert venues in the world — Suntory Hall in Tokyo, King’s College in Cambridge, Berlin’s Schauspielhaus and many others.

Yet she approaches the tiny concert in the tiny chapel with as much attention to detail and enthusiasm as ever.

Sophomore Katie Minion, an organ performance major, smiled, eyes distant, as the music swelled and quieted, lingered and ceased.

Minion said it was a unique experience to hear someone play the Beck Chapel organ.
It is off-limits to most in Jacobs and is played only by the chapel’s own organist at weddings and other small events.

Though the organ is the largest feature of the chapel, it is small compared to the prototype many have for organs, with huge pipes that can take up one or more walls and stretch to the ceiling.

This organ was nestled in a corner, behind the pews, with slender pipes stretching up at
different lengths.

Many bowed their heads as Fishell drew out the last long notes of each song, as if in prayer.

The concert went a few minutes longer than planned. Some trickled out, leaving the chapel between songs, but more chose to stay.

Freshman Scott Scheetz, also an organ performance major, had to sit in the back because the chapel was full when he arrived.

He leaned back against a wooden pew, staring out the stained glass windows at times, looking at the audience.

Fishell drew out the last note of “Prelude and Fugue in B-flat major,” and the
audience quietly applauded. Scheetz waited a moment, absorbing the note, before joining in the applause.

Fishell thanked the audience and invited them to the last 10 concerts before walking to the front door to greet the audience members as they left.

“She did a fantastic job, as always,” Minion said as she filed out with the crowd, waiting for her turn to speak to Fishell.

Scheetz smiled as he reflected on Fishell’s expertise and performance.

“It was quite wonderful,” Scheetz said. “Dr. Fishell just plays so beautifully, all the time. And Bach is wonderful.”