Archdiocesan news

Hearing the majestic sounds where their ancestor once played

Docent Dee, left, led a tour of the Cathedral Basilica for descendants of William Theodore Diebels, the first music director and organist from 1915-1939, on Wednesday, May 17, 2023, at Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis in St. Louis, Missouri.

Descendants of William Diebels, first music director of the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, visit the cathedral, share glimpses of history

Most tours at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis inspire gazes of awe and wonder as visitors marvel at the breathtaking mosaic designs from floor to domed ceilings.

Descendants of William Diebels listened to cathedral organist Ben Blasingame play the current organ May 17 at the cathedral basilica.
Photo Credits: Trenton Almgren-Davis | trentonalmgren-davis@archstl.org

But on a recent tour at the cathedral basilica, a visiting group was eager to see something else: the cathedral basilica’s centerpiece Kilgen organ and its majestic sound.

That’s because most of the visitors in the tour group were descendants (and their spouses) of William Theodore Diebels, the cathedral’s first music director, who served from 1915 to 1939. The family reunion included 10 relatives from California, Florida, Louisiana, Kentucky and Maryland, seven of whom are Diebels’ grandchildren.

Diebels was a native of Holland and immigrated to the United States at the turn of the 20th century. The first Mass was celebrated at the cathedral in 1914, with Diebels arriving the following year. While it’s unclear how he got the job at the cathedral, he was considered by all accounts an accomplished organist, composer and conductor.

At the cathedral, Diebels was the principal organist, organized and directed the men’s and boy’s choirs and composed music for special services. He also was a professor of music at Washington University in St. Louis and was considered a local authority on Church music. He died in 1940 at the age of 64, after becoming ill with pneumonia.

Cousins Patricia Miyahara and Janice Lee hugged as they listened to cathedral organist Ben Blasingame play the current organ, featuring 118 ranks and 7,621 pipes, May 17 at Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis.
Photo Credits: Trenton Almgren-Davis | trentonalmgren-davis@archstl.org

Diebels was the first of five music directors at the cathedral basilica over its 108-year history. In June 2022, Andrew Kreigh was named the newest music director. His task has been to rebuild the Archdiocesan Choir, Cathedral Schola Cantorum and Cathedral Choir, all of which declined in membership during the pandemic.

Kreigh and cathedral organist Ben Blasingame met with the tour group to show them the Kilgen organ console behind the altar and play a sampling of music. While it wasn’t the same console that Diebels would have used (that one no longer exists), several of the original ranks — rows of pipes that make the same sound at different pitches — from 1915 are still in use.

Diebels’ granddaughter Stephanie McAllister teared up as she listened to the grand sounds of the organ rising into the air. Blasingame played a sampling of the hymn, “All Creatures of Our God and King,” and a small part of the fifth organ symphony of Charles-Marie Widor.

“I was just so touched, hearing the music,” she said.

Louise Nyquist, left, pointed at a photograph of her grandfather William Diebels in the Mosaic Museum May 17 at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis.
Photo Credits: Trenton Almgren-Davis | trentonalmgren-davis@archstl.org

Adam Hartmann, a great-grandson of Diebels, visited with the cathedral basilica’s then-music director John Romeri in 2007 and donated some of the original music that Diebels composed in the late 1800s to early 1900s. During the family’s visit in May, the family also donated a file of old photos, letters and poems that Diebels wrote.

What’s known about Diebels is that he was raised in a small village in Holland, primarily a Protestant country at the time. Family research uncovered that he attended a Catholic seminary in Leuven, Belgium, but left with just one year of formation remaining.

A copy of an archival photograph given by family shows William Diebels playing the organ.
Photo Credits: Trenton Almgren-Davis | trentonalmgren-davis@archstl.org

“He had a fascination with Latin,” said grandson Peter Hartmann. “He would write letters to his friends in the seminary in Latin, because he loved the language so much.”

While it’s unknown why Diebels came to St. Louis, the family knows that he taught piano lessons, along with his teaching duties at Washington University.

“He was in a perfect position — someone who had several years of seminary training and had this deep knowledge of Church music and Latin,” Hartmann said. “He was an ideal person to take the role” at the cathedral in St. Louis. “Whether they found him, or he found them, we don’t know.”

Diebels composed in 1933 “Illyria,” an operetta based on Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night,” with a libretto written by his son-in-law, Maurice Hartmann (Peter’s father), who was a Shakespeare scholar. It never made it to production due to the Great Depression; decades later, it was uncovered and produced, with a premiere at the Kentucky Opera House in 2015.