Magazine, Communications Turned to the Organ, Pursuing His Musical Education Independently

CollegeThe Spring 2007 St. John’s College • Annapolis • Santa Fe J.S. Bach Music and Culture On Bach The College (usps 018-750) tudying Bach’s St. Matthew Passion is one of the great moments in four is published quarterly by years of St. John’s. Indeed, if the college ever required a theme song, the St. John’s College, Annapolis, MD, Passion would do quite well. What makes it a great work worthy of the and Santa Fe, NM Program? To Eric Stoltzfus, music librarian in Annapolis,“it’s the Known office of publication: combination of a very powerful story, and a sense that there’s a brilliant Communications Office mind interpreting that story and adding things to it.” Peter Kalkavage, St. John’s College Swho led the Annapolis Community Chorus in its performance of the Box 2800 opening and closing choruses of the work, says the Passion is an immensely satisfying Annapolis, MD 21404-2800 culmination of two years of the study of music, a work that holds special meaning for many alumni years after they leave the college. Periodicals postage paid Johann Sebastian Bach was born in 1685, a year that saw the birth of two other great at Annapolis, MD musicians: Georg Friedrich Handel and Domenic Scarlatti. By the time he was 10, both of Bach’s parents were dead, and Bach came under the wing of his eldest brother, Johann postmaster: Send address changes to The College Christoph, who helped guide his musical education. Bach sang in a boys’ choir, and later Magazine, Communications turned to the organ, pursuing his musical education independently. At age 18, he was Office, St. John’s College, appointed organist of the New Church in Arnstadt, where he kept getting into trouble. Box 2800, Annapolis, MD (In 1705, he brawled with a student and called him a “nanny-goat bassoonist”; the 21404-2800. following year was reprimanded for staying away too long from his post after he traveled to another city to hear a great organist.) Rosemary Harty, editor In 1707, Bach became organist in Mühlhausen, where he married his cousin, Maria Patricia Dempsey, Barbara Bach, with whom he had seven children. Other posts followed: court organist and managing editor chamber musician, later concert master at Weimar; musical director at Köthen for Prince Gail Griffith, Leopold of Anhalt; music director and cantor of the church of St. Thomas, Leipzig. He was Santa Fe editor the third choice for the post at St. Thomas, which he took up in 1723, and he so disliked Emily DeBusk, one of his duties—teaching Latin to the schoolboys—that he paid someone else to do it. assistant editor In a span of about five years in Leipzig, Bach gave the first performance of the Jennifer Behrens, art director St. John Passion and produced the Magnificat and the St. Matthew Passion. After Maria Barbara’s death, Bach married Anna MagdalenaWülken, a gifted musician, who bore him Annapolis 13 children. 410-626-2539 Bach died in 1750, but four of his sons continued his legacy: Carl Philipp Emanuel, Johann Christian, Wilhelm Friedemann, and Johann Christoph Friedrich. C.P.E. Bach Santa Fe co-wrote his father’s obituary, which praised his moral character, piety, and devotion to his 505-984-6104 art: “If ever a composer showed polyphony in its greatest strength, it was certainly our late lamented Bach. If ever a musician employed the most hidden secrets of harmony with the Contributors most skilled artistry, it was certainly our Bach.” Elizabeth Burlington (A08) This issue of the magazine considers music’s place in the Program. Not only is it Caroline Caldwell (SF08) important in the classroom, but music in all its forms also enlivens the communities on Nelson Hernandez (A99) both campuses, with groups such as Primum Mobile singing sacred music in the Pendulum Andrea Lamb Pit in Annapolis, and tutors such as Cary Stickney in Santa Fe sharing their talents and Oliver Lemke (SF08) love for music with all of us. Peter Pesic —RH Jennifer Sprague Jennifer Wright (A08) Elliott Zuckerman (HA95) Magazine design by Claude Skelton Design Spring 2007 CollegeThe Volume 33, Issue 2 The Magazine for Alumni of St. John’s College Annapolis • Santa Fe {Contents} page 10 departments “With a Clear and 2 from the bell towers • Annapolis treasurer Bronté Jones Single Purpose” • A year in Iraq What the $125 million campaign for • Green energy for Annapolis St. John’s College means to the • Annapolis student establishes leadership Santa Fe campus. retreat • Johnnies from foreign lands • Restoring Key’s will page 16 • An Annapolis-born novelist had ties to St. John’s “Sing, Goddess” page 10 As part of the quadrivium, music belongs in the Program, but where and how? 34 bibliofile “How-to” books for people who think page 22 they know how to read. Pop Johnnies 39 alumni Can YouTube and American Idol coexist with the form of the good? PROFILES 38 Christian Acemah (SF05) travels, researches, and writes for African page 26 development. Visual Thinkers 41 Coming of age in tumultuous times, page 16 the class of 1966 has a distinct character. Three artists working in different media 42 Manhattan dealmaker Munir Hussein (A90) share their distinctive works and discovers cultural understanding in philosophies. Maine. page 36 48 obituaries Happy Birthday, 50 alumni association news Croquet 52 st. john’s forever Over 25 years, the St. John’s croquet tradition has evolved into a mini-Homecoming. page 26 on the cover Johann Sebastian Bach Illustration by David Johnson 2 {From the Bell Towers} “He walked to work until he took his inspiration, along Beyond the Bottom Line was 45 to save money. He had a with his photo, on her plan–it was about fiscal academic and professional Annapolis Treasurer Bronté Jones management and about the journey. differences that could make. As treasurer of the A brass-framed photo on the man in the photo–her I went to college and majored Annapolis campus, Jones’ Bronté Jones’ desk tells the grandfather, Asbury Jones. in finance simply because I position includes fiscal story of how she has become, “Last fall I drove over to my understood the difference that responsibility for the college’s at 37, one of the youngest grandparents’ home on the having strong financial operations and she is a college treasurers in the Eastern Shore for my grandfa- acumen could make in one’s member of the management country, and one of the few ther’s 85th birthday. My life.” Growing up on the committee that oversees African-American women grandfather is my absolute Eastern Shore in a tight-knit all aspects of the college’s in this male-dominated favorite person in the whole family filled with educators administration and strategic profession. Jones, who joined world. He’s a blue-collar (her mother is a retired planning. Jones brings more to St. John’s last summer as worker and when he retired, teacher and three of her her new position at St. John’s treasurer, says she credits he made $16,000 dollars, but mother’s siblings are also than her solid credentials, her parents for what she has he put seven of his kids educators), Jones saw her which include a summer at accomplished, but especially through college,” says Jones. grandfather daily and later the Harvard Institute for Educational Leadership, and a master’s in business administration from American University, in addition to her doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin. She brings a passionate sense of purpose and the exuberance and desire to help people that mark a leader. Besides her grandfather, her role models for leadership are trailblazers such as Thurgood Marshall, Nelson Mandela, and the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. “I’m drawn to the people who feel like their lives are a mission and there is something they’re supposed to accomplish with it.” Jones cites Johnetta Cole, president of Bennett College, as the kind of female leader she admires. “Her book Conversations: Straight Talk with America’s Sister President inspired me— she’s a role model for me. I like people who made a difference and understood their lives’ work to be about enhancing the lives of others,” says Jones, who aspires to be a college president one day. Jones discovered her passion for higher education 10 years ago while she was t n i o p r e i p y Bronté Jones discovered her r a calling in higher education. g { The College• St. John’s College • Spring 2007 } {From the Bell Towers} 3 working at the state auditor’s knowledge, she remains about St. John’s, unlike office in Austin, Texas. accessible, even humble. anywhere else in America, is “Originally I thought I’d be a “The true sign of intelligence, that we’re actually having financial planner, then I “The true sign of per my grandfather, is that you discussions about reducing the wanted to be a finance can explain anything to size of the student enrollment professor and teach, but when intelligence, per anybody. Finance isn’t rocket to preserve the rich educa- I found myself auditing federal my grandfather, science. I want to explain tional experience of the financial aid programs on terms like amortize, life seminars; this runs contrary to college campuses I discovered is that you can annuity, and alternate invest- most institutions,” she says. the world of higher education ment, and what’s in our One of Jones’ challenges, she administration. When I went explain anything endowment. I want everyone says, is to figure out “how to onto college campuses I came to really understand the goals thrive with 450 instead of 500 alive; I loved getting to know to anybody.” of the institution, how we students and still provide the the students.

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