Noel Goemanne, a noted Catholic Church musician and composer of many pieces of music and Masses performed by choirs and organists throughout the world, died Jan. 12 in Dallas from complications of colon cancer. He was 83.
A native of Belgium, Goemanne had lived in Dallas since 1972. He had directed the choir at Christ the King Church until this past summer.
Goemanne wrote lots of good stuff, both in Latin and English.
Requiescat in pace, Noel.
I sang with Noel's choir for 3 years before moving across Dallas to sing with St. Thomas and the now deceased Paul Riedo--also a wonderful man. I studied piano and organ for several years with Noel also and enjoyed a terrific choir trip to Montreal with the Dallas Catholic Choir and several members from Christ the King. It was only tonight that I learned of his death--looking up his music online from my home in Sweden! What a loss. He was a great musician and great humanitarian in a quiet but impassioned way.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in choir at a Roman Catholic church, we used to sing Noel Goemanne's "Mass for Peace" in Latin. Later, a nun fit the English words to the Latin music. What a striking composition for unison voices and organ! Later, we sang his setting of "God So Loved the World," another of my all-time favorites. Noel Goemanne gifted us with some outstanding music. May he rest in peace, and (as we say in the Eastern-rite church) may his memory be eternal.
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