Edwin Lemare (1866-1934) was an English composer and organist who spent the latter part of his life in America. Among other positions, he was organist for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915, and City Organist of San Francisco for a few years following. Although he did not publish music for harmonium, he ordered this Mustel harmonium, which remains in his family. Built in Paris in 1901, Lemare purchased it new in 1902, through Metzler & Co. in London. Metzler was an important dealer in music and musical instruments, Mustel’s sole English representative. Lemare had the original French stop knobs replaced with English ones, and eventually had it shipped to America. The instrument has been restored by my friend Jim Tyler over the last two years. In a handsome rosewood cabinet, it has the full art-harmonium specification, with 5 bass stops, 8 treble stops, Prolongement, Métaphones, Double Expression (not fully functional), and heel levers for Grand Jeu and to cancel the Prolongement. Here is the opening section of Lemare’s Scherzo (the middle movement of his Sonata, Op. 95, from 1914, arranged for harmonium by Paul Hassenstein in 1923). Performed by Michael Hendron, recorded in Jim’s studio 27 July 2021.
