University Organist Mark Steinbach sat tall before the Sayles Hall Hutchings-Votey Organ. From the audience’s vantage point, his back was still as his hands glided from one level of the organ to the next and his feet moved from one pedal to another. With every movement, Steinbach filled Sayles Hall with different notes from Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Praeludium et Fuga in h.”
On the afternoon of March 13, many gathered to hear Steinbach’s recital celebrating the upcoming spring equinox and Bach’s 337th birthday later in March. The audience sat on the floor of Sayles as the organ’s music echoed in the lofty chamber.
Some listeners closed their eyes as they absorbed the layered sound emerging from the organ. Other attendees oscillated between watching the balcony where Steinbach sat and the screen where a close-up video feed of his performance was projected.
At the concert, Steinbach compared playing the organ to one person controlling a small orchestra, with each hand and foot corresponding to a different instrument’s part.
“It’s really nice to come to a lecture recital where you get some background (information) on the pieces,” Joe Demarco, a Providence local and musician who has previously performed with Steinbach, told The Herald.
Steinbach frequently stood up and explained the meaning and context behind each piece he had played. For example, in explaining Bach’s “Das alte Jahr vergangen ist,” he translated the title of the song to “the old year has passed away" and connected it to the arrival of springtime on campus.
“Winter will soon be behind us,” he said.
When performing pieces not written by Bach, such as Florence Beatrice Price’s “In Quiet Mood,” Steinbach provided a brief biography of the composer. Price, he said, was the first Black American woman to have her music played by a major orchestra. He also told the audience that most of Price’s work had not been published during her lifetime — it was only after her death that a stash of her pieces was discovered at her summer home and subsequently released.
“He’s a real treasure,” Dan Pires, another audience member, said of Steinbach.
Apart from being the University Organist, Steinbach is the curator of instruments and distinguished senior lecturer in music. He has worked all over the world, including in Germany, Austria, France and China, according to the program for the performance.
Every year on Halloween, Steinbach performs a midnight concert for University students. In 2020’s virtual concert, he was carried into Sayles Hall in a coffin and emerged donning a full Dracula costume and makeup, The Herald previously reported.
“I think that other than the Halloween concerts, this is the first all-organ concert I’ve been to,” Marijke Perry ’22 said. “It was one of my favorites.”
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly translated "Das alte Jahr vergangen ist." The Herald regrets the error.
