ECU Libraries Catalog

The great organ at Methuen : from its celebrated arrival in nineteenth-century Boston to the present / Barbara Owen.

Series OHS monographs in American organ history ; no. 7
OHS monographs in American organ history ; no. 7. ^A1333454
Contents Part one: Boston. Boston gets a music hall -- The genesis of an organ -- The grand opening -- First impressions -- The first year -- Into the Gilded Age -- Change and decay -- Twilight and darkness -- Part two: Methuen. The Searles era -- The Skinner interval -- The Harrison transformation -- The organ institute years -- Beginning a second century -- Into the twenty-first century -- Coda -- Appendixes. The Great Organ in 1863 ; The Organ in 1909 ; The Organ in 1946 ; The Organ in 1947 ; The Organ in 2009 ; An analysis of the music played on the Great Organ ; The W. King Covell photos ; Images.
Abstract In the middle of the nineteenth-century, American organbuilding reached a milestone when, in 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, a large concert organ--really the first of its kind in the country--was opened in Boston's relatively-new Music Hall. Visually and musically it was regarded as a sensation, as it put a stamp of approval on paid-admission secular organ recitals, and quickly opened the door to a spate of American-built concert hall organs. The composition of large-scale secular organ works soon followed, written by American composers recently returned from study in European conservatories. This is the story of that catalytic instrument, known then and now as the Great Organ: its checkered history, and, perhaps most intriguingly, the varied and colorful cast of characters who conceived and financed it, built and rebuilt it, played it, made recordings on it, wrote about it, maintained it, rescued it from time to time, and continue to ensure that its voice continues to be heard. The Great Organ is now housed in its present purpose-built concert hall, north of Boston in the town of Methuen, Massachusetts. How it got there and how it remained there is only a part of its story.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN9780913499405
ISBN0913499404

Available Items

Library Location Call Number Status Item Actions
Music Music Stacks ML594.M48 O94 2011 ✔ Available Place Hold