Princeton’s Virgil Fox, world renown organist

Virgil Fox was born in Princeton May 3, 1912. He was a child prodigy. At the age of 10, he was playing the organ for his church services. At 14, he played his first organ recital before a cheering crowd of 2,500 people in Cincinnati. At 17, he was the unanimous winner of the Biennial Contest of the National Federation of Music Clubs in Boston, the first organist ever chosen.

Fox had a long and distinguished career that took him to the forefront of the music world. He was the first student to receive the Artists Diploma in one year from the United States’ oldest music conservatory, the Peabody in Baltimore. At 26, he became head of the organ department there, and later received its Distinguished Alumni Award. For 19 years, he was organist of The Riverside Church in New Your City. He represented the United States at the First International Conference of Church Musicians in Switzerland. He received an honorary doctorate of Music from Bucknell University.

The Princeton native inaugurated many famous organs, including the organs in Avery Fisher (Philharmonic) Hall, Lincoln Center, New Your City; Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. (where he was founding artist); and the five manual organ in Carnegie Hall, New York City, for which he was a consultant.

He served on the Fulbright Scholarship Committee and was chairman, with Andres Segovia, of the Albert Schweitzer Centenary Music Award.

In 1942, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Force and performed 600 recitals in three years to raise money for the armed serviced during World War II. Following his discharge, in 1946, Fox performed 44 major works from memory in a series of three concerts given under the auspices of the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation, before sold-out audiences in the Library of Congress.

The maestro made frequent television appearances and recorded for several record companies, many of which are currently on CDs.

The most daring concert Fox ever played was at the Mecca of rock music, New York’s Fillmore East, where in 1970, he gave an all-Bach program combined with a light show on the Rodgers touring organ. He expanded upon a practice he had begun years earlier of speaking to the audience from the stage, discussing the music and bringing a new dimension to his concerts.

For nine years, “Heavy Organ” toured across the country to various cities, colleges and festivals. Fox is credited with bringing the music of Bach to young people with an innovative and exciting style, although he often drew adverse criticism from some of his music critics who found his approach too flamboyant. He and Liberace shared the stage on occasion.

Fox’s final performance took place Sept. 26, 1980, at the opening concert of the Dallas Symphony’s season. His life, which ended Oct. 25, 1980, following a four-year fight with cancer was one of courage, innovation and dedication. Funeral services were held at his home in Palm Beach, Fla. and the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, Calif., and a memorial service was held at Riverside Church in New York City. He came home to his roots in Bureau County to be laid to rest in the Pioneer Cemetery in Dover.