When: Sunday 18 May 2025 at 2pm

Where: the Auckland Unitarian Church, 1A Ponsonby Road, Grey Lynn, Auckland.

What: Wellington’s Dianne Halliday will play an organ recital including compositions by Jewish composers:
 Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) – Sonata Six from Opus 65. This is the principal work in the recital.
 Felix’s sister, Fanny Mendelssohn (1805-1847) – Postlude in G Major.
 Ernest Bloch (1880-1957) – one of the Four Wedding Marches.

Entry is by cash only: $30, Concession $20, Children free.

The concert is arranged by the Auckland Organ Association Inc.

The Recitalist:

Dianne Halliday holds the degrees of BM and MM from the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester, NY and Doctor of Music Arts (DMA) from the New Zealand School of Music.

She arrived in New Zealand in 1983 and held in Wellington two major church music positions as Director of Music: from 1984 to 1996 at the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Sacred Heart and 1996 to 2018 at St Peter’s Church, Willis Street. In 2023 the Royal School of Church Music conferred upon her the distinction of Associateship (ARSCM).

Dianne has recorded and published two CDs of Jewish organ music:

  • At the time appointed: Organ Music for the Jewish Liturgical Year
  • Sabbath Meditation

A note about Fanny Mendelssohn and her composition:

Fanny was a composer in her own right and a very competent pianist. She had many compositions to her name but being a woman and with high social status she could not pursue a professional career as a musician. Indeed some of her works were published as though composed by her younger brother Felix. Felix later arranged for othersof his sister’s composition to be published under her own name by his publisher.

The composition by Fanny Mendelssohn to be played in this recital has a fascinating history. In 1828 Fanny married the German artist Wilhelm Hensel. Organ music was required before and after the wedding ceremony. The arrangement was that Fanny would compose the music before the ceremony
which she duly did – Prelude in F-Major. The music after the ceremony was to be composed by brother Felix—he failed to produce! So the story goes that Fanny sat down the night before the wedding and composed the Postlude in G-Major. These two works are the only two purely organ compositions by Fanny Mendelssohn of which we are aware.

And here is a piece of information for you in case you ever appear on The Chase: On 16 August 1969 the Belgian astronomer the late EW Elst discovered a minor planet subsequently named Fannyhensel.

The Organ:

The organ used for the performance was built by New Zealand organ builder George Croft in 1904. It is one of the few Croft organs in the country left unmodified over the last century. It is a two manual plus pedal instrument.

-Martin Halliday