Scan 335
The American history and encyclopedia of music, 1908
6 lines. Read by computer on 11 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1stringed instruments be produced with success upon the organ. An imitation is of course there, but it must be looked upon as resembling a stringed tone, not a substitute for it. The tremolo of the bow can be quite satisfactorily imitated on the piano, but becomes quite ineffective when attempted on the organ. The organ must not be made an imitative instrument, it must maintain the dignity of its own character and must be treated as an individual instrument.
3The concert-room organ differs from the church organ in being made with more orchestral stops; its solo stops are made to imitate flute, clarinet and other favorite solo instruments. And because of this construction many concert players choose for their recitals such compositions as were originally intended for an orchestra, claiming that the organ can produce these symphonies, overtures and dance music just as effectively as the instrument for which they were intended. But this is a mistake, for we know that the organ production, while clear and pure in tone and correct, lacks shading and expression such as only instruments under the immediate control of the player can give. Fugues, sonatas and oratorio music belong to the stately organ.
5An organ can, however, be used to very good advantage, in connection with an orchestra, by being treated as a separate instrument and having music especially designed for it, or by being used as an accompaniment to swell the volume of tone or to fill in the weaker parts. The overture to "St. Paul" may be cited as an illustration: here the organ plays the opening choral and is then silent, the orchestra taking up the theme, and later it bursts in as the full orchestra reaches a fortissimo with wonderful effect. While the modern organ offers the greatest opportunity for ennobling artistic effects its use is often perverted to express a sentimental struggling for effect. The modern organ with its increase of facility in the mechanism makes it possible to produce really ravishing effects without a great amount of skill. And this is to be deplored, since it has given rise to much dilettanteism in organ playing. A player draws out
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