There was no sheet music on the stand. His hands and feet played Bach, Shuman and Mozart, among others, from memory.

Paul Jacobs’ organ repertoire was the reason Marianne Webb made a point in her will he would be the one to play her memorial recital. Webb died Dec. 7 after a 20- year battle with breast cancer. She was a music professor and distinguished university organist at SIU for more than 40 years.

Jacobs, a Grammy Award-winner and chair of the Julliard School organ department, said a few years ago Webb asked if he would play a concert after her death as a gift to the southern Illinois community and those who supported her during her career.

Webb’s twin sister, Peggy Westlund, and her husband John said the recital was one of the meticulous plans Marianne made in preparation of her passing.

“She was adamant about the artist,” John Westlund said Friday at Shryock Auditorium before introducing Jacobs. “As Marianne would have said, please enjoy one of the finest in the world today. My friend, Paul Jacobs.”

He started with Bach’s “Prelude and Fugue in D major” and ended the first half of the recital with “Pomp and Circumstance” to pay tribute to Webb’s dedication to education.

“I wanted to offer a program that is joyful and colorful and has a zest for life and lifts people’s spirits as Marianne did,” Jacobs said.

Jacobs met Webb when she invited him to play at SIU for the Distinguished Organ Recital Series she established.

The series was one of the many contributions she made to the university. She also established and organized the SIUC Organ Festivals from 1966 to 1980.

One of her greatest contributions to the school was the 58-rank Reuter pipe organ she designed in 1969. The organ took two years to build on the second level of Shryock Auditorium, and is where she spent many hours throughout her career.

In 2001 the organ was named after her.

Before Friday, Jacobs had already played the instrument twice.

“It is a beautiful instrument,” he said. “It feels like an old friend.”

Webb was a highly regarded organist and studied in Paris as a Fulbright Scholar before joining the SIU faculty. As she taught she continued to tour the country as a concert artist.

But to many, Webb was a teacher.

Frank Grzych, director of the school of music, is in his first year at SIU and did not work with Webb, but said she left a legacy.

“In the short time I have been here, I know that Marianne has quite a legacy including her students’ success,” he said.

Faculty who knew her said her students were incredibly important to her. She was known to go out of her way to help struggling students, even as far as purchasing textbooks they couldn’t afford.

Jacobs said Webb was an influence on his teaching.

“Marianne was not only an exquisite organist, but also an extraordinary human being, a generous human being who gave so much of herself to anyone and everyone she met,” he said.

Even after her death, Webb continues to give back to her students and the university. Funds were left in her will for a researcher to compile a special collection of her music at Morris Library. Faculty who knew her said her office at the university was piled wall-to-wall with filing cabinets of sheet music.

Those who knew her said Webb understood what music could teach future generations. Jacobs challenged the full audience at Shryock Friday to do just that.

“What I loved about this lady is that she understood there was more to life than just the usual things we seem to read about in the newspaper or watch on the news. She saw a depth to music, a spirituality,” he said.

Jacobs said Webb brought joy to people she met.

“So what I would ask of each and every one of you this evening is that when you find something beautiful in life, don’t just keep it to yourself, share it with other people.”

Sarah Schneider can be reached at [email protected] or 536-3311 ext. 255.