Glorious Music: A Gift the Brings Glad Tidings

By Claire Dyreng Richards

It was a cold December day in the mid-1950s. Although I was alone in my thoughts as I listened to the beautiful Christmas music that filled the air, I was surrounded by throngs of New Yorkers on bustling Fifth Avenue. I wondered to myself, "What would Christmas be like without the beautiful music of Christmas? Can you imagine approaching the holiday season without `Dreaming of a White Christmas,' or raising your voice in `Joy to the World, the Lord is Come,' or lovingly remembering that long ago `Silent Night, Holy Night'?" Without music, Christmas would be lonely indeed.”

My thoughts returned to my beloved home in Manti, Utah. Music was such an important part of our lives. Especially at Christmastime. My daydreaming stopped, and I looked around me. It was hard to believe. Newlywed, happy in love, I was so excited to spend this first Christmas with my husband in our own home in New York City, one of the great cities of the world.

I looked up again at the magnificent big pipe organ as I listened to the carols. It was bigger than any I had ever seen.

It was the width of a New York City block and several stories high. With its towering gold pipes and crimson trim, it covered the entire front of one of the world's best-known specialty stores, Saks Fifth Avenue. It was the most spectacular Christmas display I had ever seen or could have imagined. Of course, I knew it was not a real pipe organ, but it looked so real! The sound of a great pipe organ from within it, playing the Christmas carols, was equally impressive.

Across Fifth Avenue, the beauty and elegance of Rockefeller Plaza at Christmastime was something to behold! Through the skyscrapers stood a giant fir tree, at least 100 feet tall, overlooking the ice-skating rink. Beneath it, the ice skaters, in pairs, glided gracefully over the ice. The window of B. Altman sparkled with Santa's workshop.

Equally spectacular were the decorations in Lord & Taylor, Bergdorf Goodman and other stores along Fifth Avenue.

But it was the music coming from the immense facade of organ pipes that captured my attention. "It must be Virgil Fox, the great organist at Riverside Church playing," I thought to myself. "Wouldn't Bill love this?"

Bill, my husband, was the organist at New York University, where he taught music history and theory. He also played for Sunday morning church services in Carnegie Hall as well as evening services in our own Manhattan LDS Ward.

Bill was acquainted with many of the fine organists and the organs they played in cathedrals in Manhattan. "But this is one organ he has not seen or heard," I reasoned. Immediately plans for a special surprise began to form in my mind: I wanted to show him this fabulous display.

Christmas Eve arrived. Bill came home carrying a little tree. It didn't matter that it had no branches on one side. It was half price. It fit perfectly in front of the tall, thin radiator in our apartment. We decorated the tree with lights and ornaments Bill had from his bachelor days.

I prepared a nice supper. "Now we will go see that big organ," I thought to myself. "It will be a wonderful surprise." I was trying not to show my excitement, when rather casually Bill said, "I have a little surprise for you, darling, a somewhat unusual Christmas gift. I can't wrap it and put it under the tree. You can't hold it in your hands. It is something you must experience. Get your coat and come with me." With those few words of explanation, he took me to his car, helped me in, and off we went, down through Central Park to Fifth Avenue.

As we approached 57th Street, Bill continued on Fifth Avenue, going a little slower now. A few more blocks and he said, "Roll your window down. Do you hear something familiar? Does it sound like the Manhattan Ward organ?" Now we were in front of Rockefeller Plaza, looking across the street at the big, make-believe pipe organ covering the front of Saks.

Suddenly a wonderful thought occurred to me. A lump rose in my throat. Tears welled up in my eyes as I realized that Bill's surprise was my surprise. Bill was the organist playing the Christmas carols coming from the big pipe organ! He had learned about the big organ months ago when a friend from Saks asked him to make a recording of Christmas carols on the organ in the Manhattan Ward to be used with the elaborate new Christmas display at Saks. It was their gift to the people of New York City, and it was Bill's gift to me. It was the Christmas I remember best.