Synopses & Reviews
"This book is the best single source of information about American organ building and the content is clearly presented. There are wonderful quotations from prime sources and many photographs and stop-lists." --American Music Teacher
From the Spanish mission days of the 17th century to the present, the organ mirrors to a remarkable degree its social, economic, and cultural setting. Immigration, wars, industrial growth, the availability of electricity, the popularity of orchestral music, and the invention of the phonograph and of the player piano all had a part in determining the course of American organ history.
Synopsis
The organ has unique characteristics that bind it more closely than any other instrument to its location, to social and economic changes, and to fluctuations in musical taste. In this volume, Orpha Ochse provides descriptions and specifications of instruments representative of the various periods of organ building. She shows how the design is affected by the intended use of the organ and by the music written for it.
Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Part One: Organs in a New Land, 1524-1760
I. The Spanish Missions
II. The British Colonies
Part Two: Organs in a Rural Society, 1760-1810
III. Some General Observations
IV. Pennsylvania
V. Builders in Other Locations and Imported Organs
Part Three: Organs in an Expanding Society, 1810-1860
VI. Some General Observations
VII. New England
VIII. New York
IX. Pennsylvania
X. Organs and Builders in Other States
Part Four: Organs in an Industrial Society, 1860-1900
XI. Some General Observations
XII. New England
XIII. New York
XIV. Organs and Builders in Other States
Part Five: Organs in the Twentieth Century
XV. The Orchestral Organ
XVI. The American Classic Organ
XVII. The Neo-Baroque Organ
Appendix
Bibliography
Notes
Index