The Organ As a Mirror of Its Time: North European Reflections, 1610-2000

by Kerala J. Snyder (Editor)

Overview

Because it has always represented a rich collaboration of the music, art, architecture, handicraft and science of its day, the organ, more than any other instrument, continues to reflect the spirit of the age in which it was built. The Organ as a Mirror of its Time, the first book to consider this instrument's historical and cultural significance, reflects the efforts of twenty leading scholars of the organ. The book chronicles the history of six organs in Scandinavia and Northern Germany, at least one specimen for every century from 1600 to the present. By considering their original contexts and their histories since they were built, as well as the extraordinary coincidences that link them together, the book offers a unique perspective on the cultural history of northern Europe. A CD with appropriate repertoire played on each of the six instruments accompanies the book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195349368
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	07/18/2002
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Kerala J. Snyder is Professor Emerita of Musicology at the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester, and a Senior Researcher at the Goteborg Organ Art Center in Goteborg, Sweden

Table of Contents

	Contributors	xi
	Illustrations	xiii
	CD Contents	xvii
	Praeludium
1	Organs as Historical and Aesthetic Mirrors	1
Part I	Court and City
2	Exordium: Organs by Compenius (1610) and Schnitger (1693)	23
3	Ducal Courts and Hanseatic Cities: Political and Historical Perspectives	31
4	The Genesis and Radiance of a Court Organ	48
5	Hamburg Organists in Lutheran Worship	60
6	The Organ in Seventeenth-Century Cosmology	78
	Interludium Primum
7	An Ideal Organ and Its Experts Across the Seventeenth Century	93
Part II	A Large European Organ in a Small Factory Town
8	Exordium: The Cahman Organ at Leufsta Bruk (1728)	113
9	An Architectural Tour of Leufsta Bruk	116
10	The Cahman Tradition and Its German Roots	126
11	From Cathedral to Rural Parish: Organs and Organists in Eighteenth-Century Sweden	137
12	Bach Comes Late to Leufsta Bruk: An Oral History	157
	Interludium Secundum
13	The Musical Cultures of Eighteenth-Century Germany	169
Part III	A French Organ in Copenhagen
14	Exordium: The Cavaille-Coll Organ in the Jesus Church, Copenhagen (1890)	187
15	From Beer to Bricks to Organ Pipes: Carl Jacobsen and the Jesus Church	191
16	Technology and the Organ in the Nineteenth Century	213
17	Aristide Cavaille-Coll: Master of Masters	230
18	Walcker and Cavaille-Coll: A Franco-German Competition	242
	Interludium Tertium
19	On the Organ Problem [As Seen in 1930]	261
Part IV	Revival and Renewal
20	Exordium: The Marcussen Organ in Oscar's Church, Stockholm (1949)	267
21	The Organs in Oscar's Church: Sources of Inspiration--and Some Controversy	273
22	The Taciturn Charisma of Alf Linder	287
23	From Darmstadt to Stockholm: Tracing the Swedish Contribution to the Development of a New Organ Style	303
24	The Organ as Scrying Glass: Images from the Organ Reform Movement	322
	Postludium
25	A New Organ for a New Millennium	339
	Bibliography	347
	Discography	361
	Index	363

Editorial Reviews

"The authors tell the fascinating stories that surround each instrument. Reading these essays is a little like opening a box of buried treasure; each object reveals a different, often unexpected aspect of the world in which the object lived. . . . This is a fascinating volume. Readers will be grateful to Kerala Snyder and her colleagues of GOArt for creating an organ book that so broadens our concept of what it is to tell the story of an organ. . . . Kerala Snyder has done an excellent job at providing cohesion, clarity, and pleasurable reading. There is something here for everyone, and everyone should buy this book."—Westfield

From the Publisher