Alexander Schreiner
Encyclopedia
Alexander Schreiner was one of the most noted organists of the Salt Lake Tabernacle
Salt Lake Tabernacle organ
The Salt Lake Tabernacle organ is a pipe organ located in the Salt Lake Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, Utah. Along with the nearby Conference Center organ, it is typically used to accompany the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and is also featured in daily noon recitals...

. He also wrote the music to several LDS hymns
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints hymns
This article is about LDS church hymns in general, for the book, see Hymns of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Latter-day Saint hymns come from many sources, and there have been numerous hymn books printed by the Church since its organization in 1830...

, several of which are in the current edition of the hymn book
Hymns of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (1985 book)
Hymns of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the official hymn book of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ....

 of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).

Early life

Alexander Ferdinand Schreiner was born on July 31, 1901 in Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...

, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. His parents were Johann Christian Schreiner and Margarethe Schwemmer. Johann and Margarethe joined the LDS church in 1903, and the local congregation held meetings in the family's home. Schreiner performed in public first at age five, and after he was baptized
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...

 at age eight was almost immediately appointed as a Sunday School
Sunday School (LDS Church)
Sunday School is an official auxiliary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . All members of the church and any interested nonmembers, age 12 and older, are encouraged to participate in Sunday School.-Purpose:...

 organist. In 1912 Schreiner moved with his family to Salt Lake City. Among his early instructors on the organ was John J. McClellan
John J. McClellan
John Jasper McClellan, Jr. served as the chief organist of the organ in the Salt Lake Tabernacle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1900 to 1925....

.

Schreiner first performed on an organ professionally during the fall of 1917 at the American Theater of Salt Lake City. In 1920, just after graduating from high school, he took a job as a theater organist at the Rialto Theatre
Rialto Theatre
The Rialto Theatre is a performance theater and concert venue located in downtown Tucson, Arizona in the United States of America. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.- History :...

 in Butte, Montana
Butte, Montana
Butte is a city in Montana and the county seat of Silver Bow County, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. As of the 2010 census, Butte's population was 34,200...

. Schreiner first performed in the Salt Lake Tabernacle
Salt Lake Tabernacle
The Salt Lake Tabernacle, also known as the Mormon Tabernacle, is located on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah along with the Salt Lake Assembly Hall and Salt Lake Temple.-History:...

 at age 20. That same year he left on a mission
Missionary (LDS Church)
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of the most active modern practitioners of missionary work, with over 52,000 full-time missionaries worldwide, as of the end of 2010...

 to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. He served as a missionary under Joseph W. McMurrin
Joseph W. McMurrin
Joseph William McMurrin was a general authority and a member of the First Council of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He served as president of the California Mission of the LDS Church from 1919 until at least 1930.Joseph W...

. In early 1924, he was presiding over the Los Angeles Conference
District (LDS Church)
A district of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a geographical administrative unit composed of a number of congregations called branches. A district is a subdivision of a mission of the church and in many ways is analogous to a stake of the church. The leader of a district is the...

 which had 35 missionaries.

In 1924, just after returning from his mission, Schreiner was appointed an assistant organist of the Salt Lake Mormon Tabernacle. Six months later Schreiner took a leave of absence from this appointment to go to Paris to further his musical studies with Henri Libert, Charles Marie Widor and Louis Vierne
Louis Vierne
Louis Victor Jules Vierne was a French organist and composer.-Life:Louis Vierne was born in Poitiers, Vienne, nearly blind due to congenital cataracts, but at an early age was discovered to have an unusual gift for music. Louis Victor Jules Vierne (8 October 1870 – 2 June 1937) was a French...

. In Paris, Schreiner would associate with other Utahns at the home of James L. Barker
James L. Barker
James Louis Barker was an American historian and a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints .-Early life:...

.

Schreiner married Margaret Lyman the daughter of Richard R. Lyman
Richard R. Lyman
Richard Roswell Lyman was an apostle in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1918 to 1943. He was excommunicated in 1943 for unlawful cohabitation, a result of a polygamous relationship. In 1954 Lyman was rebaptized. His full priesthood blessings were restored posthumously in 1970...

 and Amy Brown Lyman in 1927. They had gone to high school together, but did not really start dating until they were both studying in Paris.

California career

After his studies in France, Schreiner returned to his position as organist in Salt Lake City from July 1926 to January 1927. He then went to southern California to earn enough money to pay off his debts and be in a position to marry Margaret Lyman. He served as organist at Grauman's Metropolitian Theatre. The following June he returned to Salt Lake City and he and Margaret married, after which they returned to southern California. During this time period Schreiner also worked as an organist at the Barker Brother's Department Store.

In August 1928 Schreiner once again returned to Salt Lake City, where he resumed his position as Tabernacle Organist and also served as the chief organist at the Capitol Theatre.

In 1929 Schreiner returned to southern California in an attempt to overcome his influenza. He was appointed chief organist of the First Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles. Schreiner returned to Salt Lake and the tabernacle in the summer of 1930 but in September 1930 he began a term as the organist of the University of California at Los Angeles. Through 1939 Schreiner retained this position at UCLA and would return to the Tabernacle for summers. He also was a member of the Music Committee of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at this point. Schreiner was also director of music for the Jewish Wilshire Boulevard Temple during this time. By 1930 Schreiner's reputation as an organist was great enough he was recruited on occasion to inaugurate new organs.

Despite his major commitments to music Schreiner did also serve in other ways. He was a member of the High Council of the Hollywood Stake. Some of his children followed him into music, one beginning to serve as a Sunday School organist at age seven.

In September 1936 Schreiner was made the stake music director of the Hollywood Stake.

Return to Salt Lake

In the summer of 1937 Schreiner took up the position of organist at the LDS Chapel in Washington DC which had been vacant since the death the previous March of his one time fellow Salt Lake Tabernacle Organist, Edward P. Kimball
Edward P. Kimball
Edward P. Kimball was an American organist of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and a Latter-day Saint hymn writer.In 1898 Kimball was appointed music teacher at the Beaver Branch of Brigham Young Academy...

.

In the summer of 1938 Schreiner met with President Heber J. Grant
Heber J. Grant
Heber Jeddy Grant was the seventh president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . He was ordained an apostle on October 16, 1882, on the same day as George Teasdale...

 and they decided he should return to Salt Lake City on a permanent basis as soon as possible. Schreiner had already signed another one year contract with UCLA, but that would be his last year with that institution.

From that time until 1977 Schreiner was closely involved with the Tabernacle Choir both at home and abroad. In the late 1940s Schreiner was involved in a major rebuild of the Tabernacle Organ.

Concert Tours

Beginning in 1943 Schreiner performed several concert tours. Initially his touring was managed by Bernard LaBerge. He eventually performed in at least 44 states in the United States.

Works

Besides his many hymns, Schreiner wrote a book entitled Organ Voluntaries.

Schreiner wrote the music to the following hymns in the 1985 English edition
Hymns of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (1985 book)
Hymns of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the official hymn book of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ....

of the Latter-day Saint hymnal:
  • Truth Eternal (#4)
  • Lead Me Into Life Eternal (#45)
  • Thy Spirit, Lord, Has Stirred Our Souls (#157)
  • While of These Emblems We Partake (Aeolian) (#174)
  • God Loved Us, So He Sent His Son (#187)
  • In Memory of the Crucified (#190)
  • Lord, Accept into thy Kingdom (#236)
  • Behold Thy Sons and Daughters Lord (#238)
  • Holy Temples on Mount Zion (#289)


Some of his writings refer specifically to his association with the Tabernacle organ such as the following:
  • Schreiner, Alexander. Alexander Schreiner Reminisces (Salt Lake City, 1984).
  • Schreiner, Alexander. "100 Years of Organs in the Mormon Tabernacle." The Diapason (November 1967)
  • Schreiner, Alexander. "The Tabernacle Organ in Salt Lake City." Organ Institute Quarterly, Vol. 7, No. 1 (1957)

Music collections

  • Bach at the Mormon Tabernacle
  • The Great Organ at the Mormon Tabernacle
  • Christmas with the Mormon Tablernacle Organ and Chimes (Sony Special Products)

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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