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The American conductor, music educator and concert organist, Melvin Dickinson, was born and reared in Trenton, the son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Richard Dickinson Sr. of Trenton. His mother's family was from Hopkinsville His brother, Richard Dickinson Jr., lived in Elkton. He was the grandson of the late Mr. and Mrs. Melvin Kimerling, Christian County. His mother's sisters were the late Ruth McKinnon and Dot Cayce, both who lived in Hopkinsville.
Melvin Dickinson was 9 years old when he was introduced to music performance. That's when he started taking piano lessons. Of his early teachers, he remembers appreciatively Maureen Huffaker, who taught music at Trenton School. He later studied piano with Louise Gray at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee. When he was in the eighth grade, the Trenton Baptist Church acquired an electric organ, thought to have been the first organ in a Trenton church. They needed an organist, and he volunteered. After about a week of long hours of practice, he could use both feet. He later studied organ with Nancy Hutton at Austin Peay and went on to attend the University of Kentucky, where he earned his Bachelor and Masters degrees in organ. As a new college graduate, he spent two years in Frankfurt am Main, Germany from 1958 to 1960, studying the works of J.S. Bach on a Fulbright Scholarship. In Germany he met his future wife Margaret Leupold, herself on a similar program of study. They were honored to study with the Bach organ master Helmut Walcha, and became his assistants as the blind professor concertized throughout Europe. The Bach bond became so strong that these two best friends were married in 1961. The returned to Kentucky determined to share his passion for J.S. Bach's music with as many people as possible, forming and formed the first ever Bach Cantata Series at the Church of the Ascension in Frankfort, Kentucky. After moving to Louisville, they founded in 1964 the Louisville Bach Society (LBS), out of their home.
Professor Melvin Dickinson was head of the organ and church music department at the University of Louisville for 42 years, retiring as Professor Emeritus in 2001. During that time, he taught and nurtured many, many students who now hold responsible church music positions throughout the country, even extending to Singapore, Ireland, and Germany. He was a careful and meticulous teacher who never let a student get away with anything, all the while maintaining a cheerful and caring attitude and a wonderful sense of humor with a very sharp wit. After a six-year tenure at the Church of the Ascension in Frankfort, he assumed the same position at St. Francis in the Fields, Louisville, from 1966-1979. His last choral move was to Calvary Episcopal Church, Louisville, from 1979-2012.
The Louisville Bach Society was headquartered in the Dickinson home, but it had become a community arts institution, and celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2004. The Louisville Bach Society performed choral masterpieces from all musical periods, but specialized in a repertoire of J.S. Bach's masses, passions, oratorios and cantatas. Melvin Dickinson conducts the chorus - which was made up of people from all walks of life - and served as chief administrator, arranging a yearly schedule of concerts of works by J.S. Bach and other composers in Louisville, plus touring dates around Kentucky and the region. He sought out works seldom heard in the community and places an emphasis on education: At least two Louisville Bach Society concerts each year were for schoolchildren, to introduce younger generations to classical music. Melvin Dickinson conducted with the Louisville Bach Society more than 500 artists over hundreds of concerts for the community choral and orchestral ensemble. The organization closed in 2011, following the Dickinsons‘ retirements. Both Dickinsons were made Musicians Emeriti at Calvary in 2012. They continued to keep their minds active by presenting a monthly Bach Lecture-Recital series at the Bach Haus, the latest and final one being January 11, 2014.
In 2001, Melvin Dickinson was honored with the Kentucky Governor’s Awards in the Arts Artist Award, which honors lifetime achievement. He received many more awards in teaching, organ playing, and conducting during his decades-long devotion to excellent music, never compromising his standards or philosophies as it became convenient and fashionable for others to do so. His influence was far reaching and prolific, and his Bach legacy will long be remembered and revered. He died of a heart attack on January 24, 2014 in his in his beloved Bach Haus in Louisville. He was 77. A memorial service was held at Calvary Episcopal Church, where Dickinson served as musician emeritus along with his wife. He is survived by his wife, Margaret, with whom he made music for 52 years, two daughters, Maria (Joseph) and Michelle (John), five granddaughters: Erin, Shelby, Lindsey, Ann Margaret, and Nicole, and their rescue dog, Anna Magdalena. |
