“He comes to us as One unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lakeside, He came to those men who knew him not. He speaks to us the same word: ‘Follow thou me!’ and sets us to the tasks which He has to fulfill for our time. He commands. And to those who obey Him, whether they be wise or simple, He will reveal Himself in the toils, the conflicts, the sufferings which they shall pass through in His fellowship, and, as an ineffable mystery, they shall learn in their own experience Who He is.”

from Albert Schweitzer, The Quest of the Historical Jesus

Princeton Seminary alumnus Dr. Joel Mattison (Class of 1954), like Schweitzer a physician, along with his wife, Jean, worked with Schweitzer in the early 1960s in Lambaréné. Mattison took many photographs of the great doctor working in the clinic, talking with villagers, reading in solitude, and communing with the animals he so valued. The photographs, which the Mattisons generously donated to Princeton Seminary’s Special Collections, are on display at Princeton Seminary’s Erdman Center. The exhibit, titled “Visiting Hours at Lambaréné: Photographic Reminiscences of Albert Schweitzer, 1961–1963,” commemorates the sixtieth anniversary of Schweitzer’s only visit to the United States in 1949, when he was named by Time magazine as the “man of the century.” Due in part to the influence of Schweitzer, Mattison came to be very interested in the pipe organ. As part of the Miller Chapel renovation committee (1995–1999), Mattison helped to direct the planning and design of the Joe R. Engle Organ.

There will be a reception following the concert in the Erdman Center.

featuring

Eric Plutz on the organRobert Lanchester reading the words of Albert Schweitzer

Jessica Lee Konker and Christopher Konker, supporting readers

and the music of Bach

Overture: Toccata in D Minor BWV 595as performed by Leopold Stokowski

and his symphony orchestra, recorded in 1947

Fugue in D Minor BWV 565Savior of the Nations, Come BWV 659Blessed Jesus, We Are Here BWV 731

By the Waters of Babylon BWV 653Kyrie, God Holy Ghost BWV 671

Trio Sonata #3 in D Minor (Andante) BWV 527Fugue in E flat Major (St. Anne) BWV 552

Celebrating the Sixtieth anniversary of

Dr. Schweitzer’s visit to America

Albert Schweitzer, physician, theologian, and musician, worked in a mission hospital at Lambaréné (in what is now modern Gabon) in Africa from 1913 until the end of his life in 1965. He was known for his faith and for his commitment to the concept of “reverence for life,” valuing the people, animals, and landscape where he served. Schweitzer was also a concert organist who began playing in his village church at the age of nine and at twenty-eight was appointed organist to the Bach Society of Paris. The hospital where Schweitzer worked in Lambaréné was founded by the Reverend Robert Hamill Nassau, a Princeton Seminary graduate in the Class of 1859, who was a medical missionary to Gabon from 1861 to 1906.

Princeton Seminary is pleased to celebrate Albert Schweitzer’s life and his love of music in this year’s Joe R. Engle Concert. “Words of Albert Schweitzer and the Music of Bach” originally premiered in October 1995 at the Scarritt-Bennett Center in Nashville, Tennessee. The musical dramatization was produced by Tennessee Players, Inc., written by Thurston Moore, directed by Georgianna Moore, and starred Hugh O’Brian.

The production at Princeton Seminary features organist Eric Plutz, Princeton University organist, playing the music of Bach, and Robert Lanchester from the Princeton Theological Seminary Speech Department as the voice of Schweitzer.

The concert showcases the Seminary’s Joe R. Engle Organ, a two-manual pipe organ built by Paul Fritts and Company and installed in 2000. It is named for Seminary benefactor Joe R. Engle, and both the instrument and the concert honor his generosity.