Reform In Organ Building A Lecture Reprinted From The Musical Standard

Author : Thomas Casson
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781332185900
Total Pages : 22 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (859 download)

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Download or read book Reform in Organ Building written by Thomas Casson and published by . This book was released on 2015-08-04 with total page 22 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Reform in Organ Building: A Lecture Delivered to the Birmingham and Midland Musical Guild, 4th February, 1888, S. S. Stratton, Esq., Presiding "Unfortunately, when organ-builders shortened the keyboard compass in the important region of the 'bass' they have constantly neglected to supply the indispensable equivalent of an adequate pedal organ. Even in the largest instruments, where an attempt is made in this direction, it will be at once remarked that the pedal-bass is only suitable for the stops comprising the great or most powerful clavier; the varieties of delicate tone in the bass (to combine with the more frequently used 'choir' and 'swell' claviers) being almost invariably absent. A never-ending obstacle, also, in the act of playing, is a want of ready means to control the use, or vice versa, of the different pedal couplers when absolutely necessary. As a case in point I may name an organ piece highly popular some years ago, viz., the Concerto in F major, with flute solo, by Rinck. I know of no instrument where it is possible to perform this work with a suitable pedal-bass in the sudden entries of the "Tutti" on the loud clavier, opposed to the soft bass tone required instantly after in accompanying the solo passages, involving in addition the co-operation of the pedal couplers." This is a sufficiently strong condemnation of the instrument generally from the musician's point of view, and shows that as an executant the writer, in all his wide experience, knows of no instrument in which the basses are sufficiently appropriate and controllable to perform Rinck's flute concerto! I may remark en passant that in some recent correspondence, our friend Mr. Heywood mentioned this particular piece of music in relation to the impossibility of sufficiently controlling the manual tone. Mr. Turpin's opinion is more sweeping. He condemns the modern organ as clumsy and unreasonable in its general design, and as not having a word to be said in its favour, but to be merely what the builders give to organists to make the most of. Let me quote one more authority, that of one whose name must ever be held in respect in this town, and whom I am proud to remember as one of the earliest supporters of my system. I omit his complaints about his own special hindrances, for I have no wish to condemn any organ or to blame any builder in particular, or to hurt the feelings of anyone. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.