28 Facts About Frederick Swann

Frederick Lewis Swann was an American church and concert organist, choral conductor, composer, and president of the American Guild of Organists.

Frederick Swann graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in music and later studied at the School of Sacred Music of Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York.

One of the best-known organists of the early 21st century, Frederick Swann was the former Director of Music and Organist at New York City's Riverside Church and Organist Emeritus of the Crystal Cathedral and the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles.

Frederick Swann lived in Palm Desert, California, where he was Artist-in-residence at St Margaret's Episcopal Church from 2001 until his death in 2022.

Frederick Swann was formerly University Organist and Organ Professor at the University of Redlands prior to his retirement in 2018.

Frederick Swann was born in Lewisburg, West Virginia, in 1931, shortly before his family moved to Virginia.

Frederick Swann began taking piano lessons as a from the organist at Market Street Methodist Church in Winchester, Virginia.

Frederick Swann told an interviewer in later years that he was "mesmerized when I saw the organ console for the first time" and soon began taking organ lessons.

The Frederick Swann family moved to Staunton, Virginia, in 1943 and the youthful organist continued organ study with Dr Carl Broman, professor of music at Mary Baldwin College and organist at Trinity Episcopal Church.

Frederick Swann studied with John Christensen, the organist at the First Methodist Church in Evanston, where Swann served as assistant organist during his four years in college.

Frederick Swann studied with Charles M Courboin, organist at the time at St Patrick's Cathedral.

Frederick Swann was associated with the music ministry of the famed Riverside Church in New York City from 1952 through 1982, first as a substitute organist for Virgil Fox and then appointed Organist in 1957, when Fox's appearances at Riverside became infrequent until his departure in 1965 to pursue a full-time career as a concert performer.

Frederick Swann directed the 75-voice paid choir from the organ bench for Sunday services and oratorios, such as Ralph Vaughan Williams's Hodie and Stabat Mater by Polish composer Karol Szymanowski.

Frederick Swann's performances were characterized by music critic Daniel Cariaga as "splendid, probing, brilliant and entertaining".

Frederick Swann told the Los Angeles Times years later that he was initially criticized in some professional organist quarters for leaving the prestigious, Gothic cathedral-like Riverside Church in New York for the Crystal Cathedral, saying he was "practically blackballed", but that he felt quite comfortable with his decision and found the Christian theology at both churches differing only in emphasis.

Frederick Swann then began serving as organist of the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles in September 1998, playing the largest church organ in the world.

Frederick Swann delighted in playing the gargantuan organ there, saying, "The congregation just loved that organ and would remain motionless and utterly quiet during preludes and postludes".

Frederick Swann is known for dedicating new organs in churches, concert halls, and auditoriums during his career, such as Orchestra Hall in Chicago, Illinois, with the Chicago Symphony in 1981 and at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, California, with the San Francisco Symphony in 1984.

At age 85 in 2016, Frederick Swann announced his retirement as a concert organist with a series of programs beginning in August of that year at the Kotzschmar Organ in Portland, Maine.

Frederick Swann's performance was praised by music critic Allan Kozinn of the Portland Press Herald as possessing a "commanding sense of pace and color".

Frederick Swann died at his home in Palm Desert, California, on November 13,2022, at the age of 91.

Frederick Swann continued to serve as Artist-in-residence at St Margaret's Episcopal Church in Palm Desert, California, until his death.

Frederick Swann served on the adjunct faculties of New York City's Guilmant Organ School, the Union Theological Seminary School of Sacred Music, and Teacher's College of Columbia University.

Frederick Swann joined the American Guild of Organists in 1946.

At the AGO's July 2010, national convention in Washington, DC, Swann was presented with the Edward A Hansen Leadership Award by the organization's vice president, John Walker.

In receiving the award, conferred biennially for outstanding leadership, Frederick Swann said to the thousands of delegates in the audience:.

Frederick Swann's published compositions include more than three dozen anthems for choir, such as Let the Whole Creation Cry, as well as numerous organ works based on hymn tunes, such as Hymns of Praise and Power.

Frederick Swann's widely performed Trumpet Tune in D Major was composed in 1991.