Russian Lullaby.mov

RUSSIAN LULLABY -- one of Irving Berliin's loveliest melodies.

C.A.J. Parmentier, Doctor of Music and a flawless artist at the organ console, played these selections in 1933 during his Sunday morning radio programs for Columbia Broadcasting System.

First recorded on aluminum records by a friend and theater organ enthusiast, they were later presented to Dr. Parmentier as an invaluable addition to a collection of theater organ music of the Thirties. They could be played only by the use of wooden or cactus phonograph needles.

Urged by theater organ aficionados, Dr. Parmentier agreed to select, edit and release the best of these recordings in a new Long Playing album, improved with today's electronic recording techniques.

Here, permeated with the nostalgia of the Thirtie€s, are familiar and forgotten melodies destined to take you on a heartplucking journey into the pleasant past of movie theater organ music.

C.A.J. Parmentier in this year of 1972 celebrates his Golden Jubilee as an organist of note in the United States, dating from his Broadway debut in 1922 at the Capitol Theater, the foremost movie theater of the early Twenties.

Small wonder he is a musician of such stature. He was born in Belgium into a musically endowed family. His father served for over fifty years as Church Organist. His eldest brother, Aimé, was an organist and clarinetist of distinction. C.A.J. had as his principal teacher one of Belgium's most famous organists, a Laureate of the Royal Flemish Conservatory of Music in Antwerp, and Professor at the Lemmens lnstitute of Religious Music in Malines. This talented taskmaster of a teacher was Parmentier's own elder brother, Firmin. Another brother, Jules, and two sisters, Helene and Judith, also exhibited marked musical gifts. lt was in the heart of such a family that his abiding love of music and his strivihg for musical excetlence were nurtured. Parmentier's own son, Victor, continued this musical tradition in his work as Director of Music in High Schools in the New York Metropolitan area.

C.A.J. Parmentier received his Doctorate in Music at the Université Philotechnique in Brussels, and concertized in Belgium, Holland and England.

ln 1916 Parmentier came to the United States and found himself in demand as theater organist for the silent films at the Loew, Fox, and B.S. Moss theater circuits. After his Broadway stint at the famous Capitol Theater, he moved to the new and glittering Roxy theater, the world's largest and most beautiful movie palace at the time of its glamorous opening on March 11, 1927 .

During the twinkling Twenties Dr. Parmentier played in company with such musical greats as Dr. Melchiore Mauro-Cottone, Paul Whiteman, Eugene Ormandy (later famous as conductor of Minneapolis and Philadelphia Symphony 0rchestras) and Dr. Frank Black, who later became Musical Director of the National Broadcasting Company.

Concert organ recitals at the Welte-Mignon studios, at Town Hall, Carnegie Hall, Wanamaker Auditorium, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City, and at the Greenbrier Hotel in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, also occupied Dr. Parmentier. In 1932 he began a series of organ recitals carried by Columbia Broadcasting System.

December 28, 1932 saw the opening of Radio City Music Hall, largest theater in the world, with C.A.J. Parmentier and Dick Leibert presiding at the twin consoles. Parmentier was organist at the Music Hall and at the Center Theater, also part of the Radio City Complex, for ten years and was staff Organist for the National Broadcasting Company.

During his long and varied career C.A.J. Parmentier has played for presidents and kings, heads of state and churches, foreign dignitaries and world leaders. He has played for and represenled major organ manufacturers, and has found time to teach, to arrange, and to compose. Some of Parmentier's published compositions include "Adoration", "Sunset in Damascus", "Pastorale", "Desert Caravan", and "Supplication".

Dr. Parmentier continues as Organist at the world-famous Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, and also appears frequently at important functions at the Americana Hotel, N.Y. Hilton and Plaza Hotels.
To Anthony Baglivi, and to Rollin Smith . . many thanks for their invaluable assistance.
Biography and Program Notes by Mary and Alvin Stone.

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Music

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• C.A.J. Parmentier
• Theater Organist