Short story: BACK TO BACH - ON THE MOUNTAIN!

by Tony Magee
August 2018

The late Professor Walter Stibbs (1919 - 2010), one of the world’s most distinguished and lauded astronomers, was in the habit of accompanying his celestial viewings during the 1940s from Mount Stromlo, with the organ music of Johann Sebastian Bach. These magnificent musical offerings were played via a wind-up gramophone using 78 rpm shellac records.

Albert Schweitzer

But these were not just any records. The performances were by the great theologian, organist, writer, humanitarian, philosopher and physician, Albert Schweitzer, also the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952.

Professor Stibbs made some of the world’s most significant discoveries in our solar system and beyond, over a lifetime spent both here in Canberra at Stromlo (from 1939 to 1951) and at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, where he became the Napier professor of astronomy and director of the university observatory, a position from which he retired in 1989. Returning to Australia, he secured an Emeritus Professorship at the ANU, also receiving a new facility on Mount Stromlo.

The 2003 Canberra bushfires destroyed Stibbs's study at Mount Stromlo containing all his historic and irreplaceable books and papers. Luckily, the Schweitzer Bach recordings were stored safely at the Stibbs home in suburban Canberra, although four houses were lost in their suburb, two in the same street.

Margaret and Prof. Walter Stibbs

In 2017, his widow Margaret Stibbs donated the prized Schweitzer Bach recordings to the music library at Duratone Hi-Fi in Canberra, where they are in the care of owners Charles and Fay Cull.

I was in London in September 2017 and visited All Hallows-by-the-Tower, an ancient Anglican church on Byward Street founded in 675, overlooking The Tower of London. I noticed a plaque at the entrance which stated “Albert Schweitzer recorded Bach organ works here in 1936”. Now, it was only two months previously that I had been to visit Margaret Stibbs and collected her husband’s recordings and I immediately wondered if they were the ones done here at All Hallows! A quick email back to the shop and the next day I had a reply from a staff member that the recordings said “Columbia Gramophone Co. Ltd. London. Recorded at All Hallows, Barking by the Tower.”

Six of Bach’s organ works in all are preserved on the Schweitzer All Hallows recordings: Prelude and Fugue in C major; Fantasia and Fugue in G minor (the Great); Prelude and Fugue in G major; Prelude and Fugue in F minor; Little Fugue in G minor and finally and perhaps most famously, Toccata and Fugue in D minor.

Here I was standing in the oldest Christian Church in London, dating from 675AD, in front of an historic pipe organ, on which Albert Schweitzer had recorded the organ works of Bach, a composer who dedicated much of his life celebrating the glory of God through his sacred musical compositions and from which recordings Professor Stibbs had found inspiration, solace and comfort as he explored the celestial heavens from atop our Mount Stromlo in the 1940s. It all seemed such a marvellous and wondrous set of circumstances that had collided together. I was absorbing what I could and wanting to know more on all fronts. In fact, that day was the most special for me during my entire stay in England.

All Hallows by the Tower, Barking, London UK

After my return to Australia, Fay and I attended a performance at Wesley Music Centre by soprano Louise Page OAM, pianist Philippa Candy and clarinetist Rachel Best-Allen. One of the pieces on the program was by Canberra composer Michael Dooley. After the concert I was chatting with Michael and I mentioned my All Hallows / Bach / Schweitzer/ Stibbs experience in London and he said “Oh yes, I knew Professor Stibbs. He and my father lived and worked up on Stromlo together in the 1940s.” Michael’s father was the astronomer Jim Dooley. Along with fellow astronomers Ben Gascoigne, Richard Woolley and Ernst Frohlich, they were dubbed ‘The Bachelors on the Mountain’. They were also noted athletes and keen bicycle riders. Stibbs, Woolley and Dooley organised The Great Bicycle Race of 1941, from the foot of Stromlo to the top and back again, partaken by all these gentlemen of science and music.

I had previously found myself on the other side of the world, making these connections by pure chance only to have even more information and another local thread intertwined into an already overwhelming set of circumstances. It all seems destined somehow to be brought together as a celebration of life, the cosmos, the elements and music.

Perhaps someday, a grand concert will take place up on Stromlo, showcasing the music of Bach and where guests can remember the work of Stibbs, Dooley and their colleagues and reflect on the humanitarian, religious, philosophical and peace activist teachings and musical artistry of Albert Schweitzer.

www.artmusictheatre.blogspot.com

Addendum, February 5, 2024:

Centre label from one of the Schweitzer All Hallows 78 records. Since the retirement of Fay and Charles Cull (from Duratone), the records have passed on to me.

This is the audio setup I provided on the day for an event at Stromlo as part of the 2019 Canberra International Music Festival, directed by Roland Peelman. The theme that year was "Bach on the Mountain" and upon telling Roland of the Stibbs / Stromlo / All Hallows / Bach / Schweitzer records and story, he insisted we combine the experience for guests that morning. I played the 78s using my HMV gramophone pictured, and then as a contrast played through an old valve radio/amp (on right of table) using my Technics SP-10 / Syntec S-220 turntable (on table), which had the 78 speed and finally through my KEF 104ab speakers, via a Sansui AU-317 amp (also on table).