Firmin Swinnen

{{Short description|Belgian organist (1885–1972)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}} {{Infobox musical artist | honorific_prefix = | name = Firmin Swinnen | honorific_suffix = | image = Firmin Swinnen (1885–1972).png | image_upright = | image_size = | landscape =  | alt = | caption = In the ''Musical Advance'', June 1923 | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name =  | alias = | birth_date = {{Birth year|1885}} | birth_place = Montaigu, Belgium | origin = | death_date = {{death date and age|1972|4|18|1885||}} | death_place = Wilmington, Delaware | genre = | occupation = | instrument = Theatre organs | years_active =  | label = | website =  | module = | module2 = | module3 = }}

'''Firmin Swinnen''' (1885–1972) was a Belgian theater organist and concert artist who was noted for his organ improvisations during silent films in New York City.

==Career== Born in Montaigu, Belgium, Swinnen became an organist at the Antwerp cathedral, until World War I caused him to flee to the UK.<ref name=Longwood>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-morning-news-noted-longwood-organist/152526964/ |title=Noted Longwood organist dies |newspaper=The Morning News |publication-place=Wilmington, Delaware |page=5 |date=1972-04-19 |access-date=2024-08-02 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> He played many recitals in Great Britain for war charities, and then he moved to the US, where he played the Austin organ in the Rialto Theater in New York City, and then to the Rivoli theater. At the Rivoli, Swinnen specialized in lengthy improvisations during silent films using theater organs - massive pipe organs with a variety of sound effects and percussion sounds.

He was organist/choirmaster at Christ Church Christiana Hundred in Greenville, Delaware from 1925 to 1956, a church which was supported by the duPont family. He played the organ pedal keyboard solo part in the concerto version Mr. Frank Stewart Adams wrote for the opening Allegro of Widor's Fifth Symphony. Commentators noted that "Few men can improvise musically interesting caprices, scherzos, toccatas, and gavottes by the hour".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theatreorgans.com/southerncross/Journal/NewYork.htm|title=New York and the Cinema|website=www.theatreorgans.com|accessdate=20 December 2018}}</ref>

From 1923 to 1956, he was a concert organist in residence at Longwood, the Du Pont estate, where he played for Pierre S. du Pont on a massive 1930 Aeolian organ which he also designed. With its 10,010 pipes which took fourteen railway freight cars to transport to the grounds, the Aeolian organ was one of the largest organs installed at a private estate. The instrument, which spoke into the conservatory ballroom, was used for charity concerts in the indoor tropical gardens.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yb3p5OlZgugC&dq=firmin+swinnen&pg=PA420|title=America's 60 Families|first=Ferdinand|last=Lundberg|date=1 March 2007|publisher=Read Books|isbn=9781406751468|accessdate=20 December 2018|via=Google Books}}</ref>

He died in Wilmington, Delaware on April 18, 1972, and was buried at Cathedral Cemetery.<ref name=Longwood/>

==Works== * ''Chinoiserie'', for organ, 1921 * ''Soir de Printemps'', for organ, 1921 * ''Soir d'Automne'', for organ, 1921 * ''Aria'', for organ, 1952 * ''Longwood Sketches'', for organ, 1927 * ''In the Shadow of the Old Tree'' * ''Rosebuds'' (capriccietto) * ''Dewdrops'' * ''Sunshine'' (toccata)

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swinnen, Firmin}} Category:1885 births Category:1972 deaths Category:Belgian organists Category:Belgian male classical organists Category:Organ improvisers Category:Theatre organists Category:20th-century Belgian organists Category:20th-century Belgian male musicians Category:20th-century Belgian classical musicians