Virgil Fox 弗吉尔·福克斯

Virgil Fox (May 3, 1912 in Princeton, Illinois – October 25, 1980 in Palm Beach, Florida) was an American organist, known especially for his flamboyant "Heavy Organ" concerts of the music of Bach. These events appealed to audiences in the 1970s who were more familiar with rock 'n' roll music and were staged complete with light shows. His many recordings made on the RCA Victor and Capitol labels, mostly in the 1950s and 1960s, have been remastered and re-released on compact disc in recent years. They continue to be widely available in mainstream music stores. Virgil Fox was born in Princeton, Illinois to Miles and Birdie Fox, showing musical talent at an early age. He began playing the organ for church services at the age of ten, and four years later made his concert debut before an audience of 2500 at Withrow High School, Cincinnati. The program included one of the mainstays of 19th-century organ music: Mendelssohn's Sonata No. 1 in F minor. From 1926 to 1930, he studied in Chicago under German-born organist-composer Wilhelm Middelschulte. His other principal teachers were Hugh Price, Louis Robert, and (once he had moved to France) Marcel Dupré. He was an alumnus of the Peabody Institute of Music in Baltimore, where he became the first student to complete the course for the Artist's Diploma within a year.He was also a student of Louis Vierne. Beginning in 1936, Fox was organist at Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church in Baltimore while teaching at Peabody.During August and September, 1938, he played inGreat Britain and Germany; Fox was the first non-German organist given permission to perform publicly in the Thomaskirche in Leipzig — a special occasion, sinceBach served as cantor of the Thomaskirche until his death in 1750 and was reburied in that church in 1950. During World War II, Fox enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces and took a leave of absence from Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church in Baltimore and the Peabody. He was promoted to staff sergeant and played various recitals and services at the request of Eleanor Roosevelt. He served on her Home Hospitality Committee and entertained troops returning that were in Walter Reid Hospital, by playing a piano he pushed around and joining in with two others,,they sang funny and rather raunchy songs to the bed ridden. After having played more than 600 concerts while on duty,plus his onbligations to H.H.C, he was discharged from the Army Air Forces in 1946.