Search Results for: organ

The Fokker organ

In 1950 a pipe organ built to the specifications of Adriaan Fokker (1887–1972) with octaves divided into 31 steps was inaugurated at Teylers Museum in Haarlem. The instrument originally enjoyed considerable fame, and a lively circle of composers and performers developed around it. … Continue reading

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Filed under 20th- and 21st-century music, Instruments, Theory

How to destroy an organ

  Part of the U.S. Army technical manual published on 13 November 1963 dealt with the installation, operation, and maintenance of the Hammond organ, which was then the instrument of choice in chapels on army bases. One of the chapters … Continue reading

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Filed under Curiosities, Humor, Instruments

A pipe organ for a vaudevillian

Charles Herbert Barritt (1869–1929, more generally known as Clifton Barritt) spent much of his life as a vaudevillian and music hall entertainer and his last years as a London publican. Born in Manchester, Barritt was already treading the boards in his … Continue reading

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Filed under Curiosities, Dramatic arts, Humor, Iconography, Instruments

Pope Saint Gregory I, organist?

In a letter from Pope Saint Gregory I to Leander, Bishop of Seville, the former waxes metaphorically, liberally using the image of a choirmaster conducting from the organ while accompanying the choir. The detail of the description suggests first-hand experience. … Continue reading

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Filed under Middle Ages

The vocal tract organ

  The vocal tract organ is a new musical instrument that consists of three-dimensional (3D)-printed vocal tracts (throat and mouth) for individual vowels sitting on loudspeakers to enable static vowel sounds to be produced. The acoustic excitation from the loudspeakers … Continue reading

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Sämtliche Orgelwerke/Complete Organ Works

In 2013 Breitkopf & Härtel launched the Bach series Sämtliche Orgelwerke/Complete Organ Works with Präludien und fugen I/Preludes and fugues I, edited by David Schulenberg. In this new edition Schulenberg presents a new evaluation of the extant sources, based as faithfully as possible on the manuscripts … Continue reading

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Filed under Baroque era, New editions, New series

German-Jewish organ music

German-Jewish organ music: An anthology of works from the 1820s to the 1960s, edited by Tina Frühauf (Madison: A-R Editions, 2013), traces the main phases of the history and stylistic development of organ music in the Reform Jewish communities in … Continue reading

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Filed under 20th- and 21st-century music, New editions, Romantic era

Ned Rorem’s organ music

  Although Ned Rorem had composed little organ music until he was in his 50s, his output for the instrument since that time has been considerable, making him the most prolific living U.S. composer for the organ. Rorem says that … Continue reading

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The Sultan’s pipe organ

In 1599 the English organ builder Thomas Dallam personally accompanied to Istanbul an instrument he had built for the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed III at the behest of Queen Elizabeth. The gift was intended to smooth relations in the hope of … Continue reading

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Filed under Curiosities, Instruments, Renaissance

The first pipe organ recording

Capable of producing sounds beyond the range of human hearing, the pipe organ presents the ultimate challenge for sound recording. The first known attempt was the Columbia Records recordings of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir from late August and early September … Continue reading

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Filed under Instruments, Science