This collection consists of the personal and professional papers of Dr. Robert Sutherland Lord, a prominent organist based at the University of Pittsburgh. As one of the few students of Jean Langlais, Dr. Lord became a prominent scholar on nineteenth and twentieth century French organ music and the foremost authority on French organist and composer, Charles Tournemire. Dr. Lord served as the chapel organist at the Heinz Memorial Chapel in addition to his teaching responsibilities in the Music Department and was responsible for both the 1971 and the 1995 renovations of the chapel organ. Over Dr. Lord's 37 year tenure with the University of Pittsburgh he gave approximately 160 organ concerts, his most popular classes attracted over 800 students per year, and he played for over 4,000 weddings.
Language
English
.
Author
Dominique Luster and Jim Cassaro.
Publisher
ULS Archives & Special Collections
Address
University of Pittsburgh Library System Archives & Special Collections Website: library.pitt.edu/archives-special-collections Contact Us: www.library.pitt.edu/ask-archivist URL: http://library.pitt.edu/archives-special-collections
Access Restrictions
No restrictions.
Acquisition Information
Gift from the Lord family on December 15, 2014.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged into nine series as follows:
Series I. Biographical Material
Series II. Correspondence
Series III. Writings and Notes
Series IV. Research Files
Series V. Departmental and Administrative Files
Series VI. Professional Associations
Series VII. Printed Materials
Series VIII. Photographic Materials
Series IX. Audio Material
The collection is arranged into nine series as follows:
Series I. Biographical Material
Series II. Correspondence
Series III. Writings and Notes
Series IV. Research Files
Series V. Departmental and Administrative Files
Series VI. Professional Associations
Series VII. Printed Materials
Series VIII. Photographic Materials
Series IX. Audio Material
Biography
Dr. Robert Sutherland Lord (1930-2014) was a prominent organist based at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Lord was born and raised in Marblehead, Massachusetts, and began studying organ at the age of five. By age 12, he was regularly playing at the Clifton Lutheran Church in Marblehead. Dr. Lord received his bachelor's degree in Music from Dartmouth College in 1952 and his Master's and Ph.D. in History of Music from Yale University in 1960. Dr. Lord's organ education was shaped by prominent musical figures from an early age, beginning with Maurice Longhurst in 1948. For his dissertation study, Dr. Lord moved to Paris, France, to study organ improvisation with Jean Langlais, who was one of the few students of Charles Tournemire; Touremire in turn was a student of César Franck. Dr. Lord was exceptionally proud of this musical lineage and under their instruction he performed at the Basilica of Sainte-Clotilde in Paris, the Cathedrals of Notre-Dame in Paris and in Chartres, and at King's College in Cambridge. Later in his professional career, Dr. Lord took a sabbatical in order to learn Bach and Reger in Hamburg, Germany with Heinz Wunderlich.
After graduating from Yale, Dr. Lord taught at Davidson College in North Carolina before being hired by the University of Pittsburgh for the Heinz Memorial Chapel Organist position in 1962. Dr. Lord received tenure in 1963 and began teaching a full course load in addition to his performance responsibilities. Over the following three decades, Dr. Lord took up a number of administrative roles within the Music Department including Director of Graduate Studies from 1975 to 1978 and Chairperson from 1984 to 1987. In addition to performing approximately 160 organ concerts, Dr. Lord published extensively on Tournemire. His first major publication was Liturgy and Gregorian Chant in L'Orgue Mystique of Charles Tournemire, which was published in 1984. In 1989, he was commissioned by the director of the music library at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France to undertake the analysis and eventual publication of a musical manuscript of Tournemire's that originally extended over 1,300 pages. This book, Catalogue of Charles Tournemire's 'Brouillon' [Rough Sketches] for L'Orgue Mystique, BNF., Mus., Ms. 19929, was finally published in 2014, one month before his death.
One of Dr. Lord's most recognized achievements was spear-heading both the 1971 and the 1995 organ renovations in Heinz Memorial Chapel and the 1965 organ renovation in the Henry Clay Frick Fine Arts Building.
Alongside his professional academic career, Dr. Lord was actively involved in the music community, particularly the American Musicological Society, the Organ Historical Society, and the American Guild of Organists. In a more personal capacity, Dr. Lord served as the organist and choirmaster at Christ Episcopal Church in the North Hills for 22 years and served as the first Chairman of the Board of the Northland Public Library.
Dr. Lord retired from teaching in 1999 and gave a final concert in Heinz Chapel that was attended by almost 600 students, faculty, and staff. By his request, Dr. Lord remained the Head Organist for Heinz Chapel long after his formal separation from the University. Dr. Lord died on July 24, 2014, at the age of 84.
Copyright
The University of Pittsburgh holds the property rights to the material in this collection, but the copyright may still be held by the original creator/author. Researchers are therefore advised to follow the regulations set forth in the U.S. Copyright Code when publishing, quoting, or reproducing material from this collection without the consent of the creator/author or that go beyond what is allowed by fair use.
Previous Citation
Robert Sutherland Lord Papers, 1890-2013, UA.90.F101, University Archives, Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh
Preferred Citation
Robert Sutherland Lord Papers, 1890-2013, UA.90.F101, University Archives, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Dominique Luster and Kyle Conway in 2015.
Scope and Content Notes
This collection documents the professional career of Dr. Robert Sutherland Lord as an organist both within the University of Pittsburgh and in the greater music community. The collection begins with general biographical information about his personal life and offers insight into his family. The bulk of the collection contains personal, professional, and University related correspondence and materials from Dr. Lord's work as the University Organist at Heinz Chapel, his research files, and his collection of performance records. These records span a wide variety of document types and formats including books, sheet music, correspondence, teaching files, programs, and audio recordings.
Significant materials include photos, rare books, and sheet music composed by either Tournemire or Langlais; correspondence with the Frick and Heinz families; letters and blueprints concerning the Heinz Memorial Chapel and the Frick Fine Arts Building organ renovations; unpublished book and article manuscripts; and a number of audio recordings that feature both his concerts in Heinz Chapel and his weekly program series on WQED-FM called "Lord on Bach." Other materials found in this collection consist of Dr. Lord's performance records in various churches which are primarily in the form of weekly church bulletins. However, the most involved body of materials in this collection are Dr. Lord's research files on Tournemire.
Subjects
Corporate Names
University of Pittsburgh. Music Department
Heinz Memorial Chapel (University of Pittsburgh)
Personal Names
Lord, Robert Sutherland, Dr.
Longhurst, Maurice
Tournemire, Charles
Langlais, Jean
Genres
Organ music
Other Subjects
organs (aerophones)
Music -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
Container List
Scope and Content Notes
This series provides a general reference to Dr. Lord's affairs both personally and professionally. The correspondence tracks his involvement with various organizations and churches. Significant personal correspondence can be found between Dr. Lord and Helen Clay Frick, the Heinz family, Jean Langlais, and Charles Tournemire's widow. Significant professional correspondence illustrates Dr. Lord's work within the Music Department at the University of Pittsburgh, with various Deans and Chancellors, and concerning the renovations of Heinz Chapel.
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box 1, folder 11
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box 1, folder 12
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box 2, folder 29
Scope and Content Notes
This series primarily consists of articles that were published or reviewed by Dr. Lord, research proposals, and various research notes and notebooks including his research on the specifications of other organs in preparation for the renovation of the Heinz Chapel organ. The majority of the articles found in this series reflect his research interests in Sainte Clotilde, Charles Tournemire, Jean Langlais, liturgy and Gregorian chant, and other popular topics within the organ music community. Significant items within this series include a manuscript version of a 1991 article "Jean Langlais, the Teacher" and "Liturgy and Gregorian Chant in L'Orgue Mystique."
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box 2, folder 30
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box 2, folder 47
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box 3, folder 29
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box 3, item 1
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box 3, item 2
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box 3, item 3
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box 3, item 4
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box 14, oversize 2
Scope and Content Notes
This series contains files of material compiled by Dr. Lord while conducting research on various composers and organs.
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box 4, folder 1
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box 4, folder 16
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box 4, folder 17
Scope and Content Notes
Letters concerning the history and installation of a Skinner organ at the Grove Park Inn, Ashville, NC.
Offprint of Fauquet's article "Alexis de Castillon, sa vie, son oeuvre," Bulletin de la Société archéologique d'Eure-et-Loir (1978): inscribed to Lord on the cover
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box 7, folder 21
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box 7, folder 22
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box 7, folder 32-33
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box 7, folder 47
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box 7, folder 48
Scope and Content Notes
Expanded version of paper given at the 1979 AMS meeting in New York.
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box 7, folder 49
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box 8, folder 22
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box 8, folder 23-24
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box 8, folder 33-34
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box 8, folder 48
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box 8, folder 49
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box 8, folder 50-53
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box 9, folder 1-3
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box 9, folder 4
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box 9, folder 5
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box 9, folder 6
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oversize 15
Scope and Content Notes
This box contains oversized photocopies of sheet music found in Dr. Lord's original Tournemire Research file.
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oversize 16
Scope and Content Notes
This box contains oversized photocopies of sheet music found in Dr. Lord's original Tournemire Research file.
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oversize 17
Scope and Content Notes
Custom box containing Dr. Lord's copy of Tournemire's L'Orgue Mystique and Sept Chorales (incomplete set)
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oversize 18
Scope and Content Notes
Custom box containing Dr. Lord's photocopies of Tournemire's L'Orgue Mystique (incomplete set)
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box 19, oversize 4
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box 19, oversize 5
Scope and Content Notes
Tournemire's copy? Numerous markings in blue and red pencil.
This series is comprised of three subseries: general departmental records; teaching files; and records concerning the Heinz Chapel Renovations. Files of interest found here are Dr. Lord's administrative files both as the University Organist and as the Music Department Chair. Other items of interest in this series are syllabi and exams from two of Dr. Lord's Music classes. The largest subseries is that concerning Heinz Chapel. This series is further organized chronologically to reflect the organ's life cycle. Records regarding Dr. Lord's initial 1963-1965 survey of the original Aeolian-Skinner Opus 922 can be found first, followed by records concerning the 1971 renovation into the Moller Opus 19642 instrument, then finally records concerning the 1995 renovation into the Reuter Opus 2176.
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box 9, folder 7
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box 9, folder 8
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box 9, folder 9
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box 9, folder 11
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box 9, folder 28
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box 9, folder 29
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box 9, folder 30-31
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box 9, folder 32-33
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box 9, folder 34
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box 9, folder 36
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box 9, folder 45-46
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box 9, folder 47
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box 10, folder 1
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box 10, folder 2
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box 10, folder 3
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box 10, folder 4
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box 10, folder 5-6
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box 10, folder 7-8
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box 10, folder 9
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box 10, folder 10
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box 10, folder 11
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box 10, folder 12
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box 10, folder 13
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box 10, folder 14
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box 10, folder 15
Scope and Content Notes
This series offers materials relating to Dr. Lord's professional activity as an organist outside of the University of Pittsburgh. These materials come from Dr. Lord's time with the American Guild of Organists, the various churches he worked for throughout his career, the International Charles Tournemire Association, and the Pittsburgh public broadcasting station, WQED.
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box 10, folder 16
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box 10, folder 17
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box 10, folder 18
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box 10, folder 19
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box 10, folder 20
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box 11, folder 1
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box 11, folder 9
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box 11, folder 10
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box 11, folder 11
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box 11, folder 12
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box 11, folder 13
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box 11, folder 14
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box 11, folder 15
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box 11, folder 18
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box 11, folder 19
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box 11, folder 20
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box 11, folder 21
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box 11, folder 22
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box 11, folder 23-24
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box 11, folder 25
Scope and Content Notes
The Printed Materials series is further organized into three subseries with one additional item not subdivided. The programs subseries contains programs from recitals, concerts, and any other performance Dr. Lord played in or attended throughout his career. The Newspaper clippings subseries contains excerpts from newspapers Dr. Lord selected from local and national new sources, as well as from certain professional newsletters and magazines. The final subseries features historic and decorative sheet music that were possible gifts to Dr. Lord.
The photographic materials section maintains both personal photographs of Dr. Lord and his family as well as an assortment of professional headshots. Photographs of interest include those of Dr. Lord in association with other organist such as Jean Langlais, and photographs of Dr. Lord's visits to various churches and organs around the world.
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box 13, folder 15
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box 13, folder 16
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box 13, folder 17
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box 13, folder 18
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box 13, folder 19-20
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box 13, folder 21
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box 13, folder 22
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box 13, folder 23
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box 13, folder 24
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box 13, folder 25
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box 13, folder 26
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box 13, folder 27
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box 13, folder 28-31
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box 13, folder 32
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box 13, folder 33
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box 13, folder 34
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box 13, folder 35
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box 13, folder 36
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box 13, folder 37
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box 13, folder 39
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box 13, folder 40
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box 13, folder 41
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box 13, folder 42
Scope and Content Notes
This series contains a variety of audio formats including cassettes, CDs, multiple sized reel to reel tapes, and one VHS. The first section of this series includes select cassettes of Dr. Lord's weekly half-hour program on WQED-FM called "Lord on Bach." This program played from January 4, 1978 and ran through until the Christmas season of that same year. On cassette in this series are also interviews with Dr. Lord. On reel-to-reel tape, this collection includes a variety of performance master recordings from Heinz Chapel, Paris, and England. Many of these materials are unlabeled. Some audio was copied from the family's collection and is only represented in digital format.