In Music from the Hilltop, Benjamin A. Kolodziej studies three significant academic musical figures to weave a narrative that not only details the role musical studies played in the development of Southern Methodist University but also relates a history of church music and pipe organs in Dallas, Texas. Bertha Stevens Cassidy (1876-1959), the first organ professor and the only woman on the faculty of the new university, established herself as a leader and veritable dean of the church music community, managing a career of significant performances and teaching. Her student and protEgE, Dora Poteet Barclay (1903-1961), broadened the pedagogical horizons for her students. Many of her own students achieved great professional heights as performers and church musicians. Robert Theodore Anderson (1934-2009) was intellectually able to bridge the gap between the theologians of the Methodist seminary and the performers at the Meadows School of the Arts. He consulted with the Dallas Symphony to prepare for the installation of an organ in the new Meyerson Symphony Center-an organ that would influence concert hall instruments in subsequent decades.
Benjamin A. Kolodziej holds graduate degrees in theology and sacred music from SMU, where he is currently the organist at Perkins Chapel. He is the author of Joyful Singing: A Story of Lutheran Sacred Music in Texas.
"Music from the Hilltop is a fascinating history of the organ and organists at Southern Methodist University. Most impressive is the vast amount of historical detail: the abundant citations reflect the author's indefatigable efforts in researching his material thoroughly. Kolodziej provides a richly detailed history of his subject-throughout the narrative appear many spellbinding stories."-Dean W. Billmeyer, university organist, University of Minnesota, and editor of An Introduction to the Organ Music of Max Reger "Kolodziej is to be commended for producing such a thorough documentation of one of the most important organ and church music programs in the United States. The history of the organ department at Southern Methodist University is vividly recounted through the author's painstaking research. This book will stand proudly next to the biographies of other major figures in the world of organ performance and church music. And, to top it off, it's a good read!"-David Heller, university organist, Trinity University "This lively history of organ building, playing, and teaching at SMU pays homage to an academic program with a considerable legacy. Offering a rich microcosm of American organ culture during a pivotal century, Kolodziej chronicles this storied program's musical activities, its symbiotic relationships to higher education and religion, and its succession of Texas-sized personalities."-Matthew Dirst, professor of music, University of Houston "Music from the Hilltop details how a Texas frontier finishing school became an internationally renowned institution through the work of dedicated and talented individuals at the Meadows School of the Arts. Kolodziej's research illuminates the many legends long passed among the SMU music students."-Brent Johnson, producer, Organ Media Foundation
