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Review
' … this Companion implements in every respect the claims its publishers make for it as 'an essential guide to all aspects of the organ and its music'. Perhaps unusually for so valuable a book of reference, much of it also makes engrossing reading.' Church Times
' … never less than readable, and sometimes positively compelling … an extremely valuable book that should be on every musician's bookshelf.' The Musical Times
'… editors of this Companion have done an excellent job in producing a sharply-focused, coherent set of essays within 330 pages … this is a book that can usefully, indeed should, be read by anyone interested in the organ and its music. Students will need their own copies for constant reference, while the more experienced will be stilumated, informed and challenged.' Music and Letters
' … never less than readable, and sometimes positively compelling … an extremely valuable book that should be on every musician's bookshelf.' The Musical Times
'… editors of this Companion have done an excellent job in producing a sharply-focused, coherent set of essays within 330 pages … this is a book that can usefully, indeed should, be read by anyone interested in the organ and its music. Students will need their own copies for constant reference, while the more experienced will be stilumated, informed and challenged.' Music and Letters
Product Description
This Companion is an essential guide to all aspects of the organ and its music. It examines in turn the instrument, the player and the repertoire. The early chapters tell of the instrument's history and construction, identify the scientific basis of its sounds and the development of its pitch and tuning, examine the history of the organ case, and consider the current trends and conflicts within the world of organ building. Central chapters investigate the practical art of learning and playing the organ, introduce the complex area of performance practice, and outline the relationship between organ playing and the liturgy of the church. The final section explores the vast repertoire of organ music, focusing on a selection of the most important traditions.
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First Sentence
Although modern etymologists would question Burney's appropriation of a Greek word with general meaning (organon seems to have meant a tool with which to do a job of work) for so specific a purpose, it would be hard to deny that the pipe organ in its most developed form is structurally the largest, and (for sheer variety of effect) musically the most comprehensive of all instruments. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Although modern etymologists would question Burney's appropriation of a Greek word with general meaning (organon seems to have meant a tool with which to do a job of work) for so specific a purpose, it would be hard to deny that the pipe organ in its most developed form is structurally the largest, and (for sheer variety of effect) musically the most comprehensive of all instruments. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
There have been many books written about the organ, but this book in particular is a standard, and every organist or enthusiast should own a copy.
The Cambridge companion to the organ has information on every aspect of the King of instruments - from posture at the console to French organ building techniques.
Everything you ever wanted to know about the organ is contained in this book!
Highly recommended!
The Cambridge companion to the organ has information on every aspect of the King of instruments - from posture at the console to French organ building techniques.
Everything you ever wanted to know about the organ is contained in this book!
Highly recommended!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Better than I'd expected
20 Jan 2005
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The comments from "a reader" (anonymous and pseudonymous reviews should be discouraged as a matter of Amazon.com policy; in non-life-or-death matters like critiques of musicology texts, surely the courage to sign your name is a prerequisite?) indicated a rip-off. In fact this publication turns out to be useful far beyond the confines of Dutch and Central European baroque topics. There can be no argument with complaints about unevenness. One section (the chapter on Austrian / South German baroque composers) is written with genuine panache; another (on Franck, his precursors, and his successors in the Gallo-Belgian romantic repertoire) is almost equally worthwhile; the advice on optimal practice methods for organists is uniformly well-judged; alas, all too many of the other sections read like - and probably were - extracts from humdrum doctoral dissertations.
The treatment of Spanish and Portuguese 16th- and 17th-century organ writing is, at least to the non-specialist writing this review, largely incomprehensible (and where not incomprehensible, is dubious: can it really be true that the "royal trumpet" stops which characterized Iberian organs, and which so well suit 17th-century Iberian "battle music", are an 18th-century invention?). A more obviously encyclopedic approach, such as Julie Anne Sadie employed when she edited Cambridge's COMPANION TO BAROQUE MUSIC, would have been superior to what we have here.
Still, here is one church organist who feels very grateful to this tome's staff-notation passages for having introduced him to valuable pieces by Teutons (the mid-17th-century's J. K. Kerll), Americans (the late-19th-century Dudley Buck), and Englishmen (somebody named Henry Smart, who apparently died in 1879), hitherto mere vaguely-contemplated names, or else, in Smart's case, not even that. Better to treat this COMPANION as a goad to the performer who seeks fresh and agreeable sheet music, rather than as a reference resource.
The treatment of Spanish and Portuguese 16th- and 17th-century organ writing is, at least to the non-specialist writing this review, largely incomprehensible (and where not incomprehensible, is dubious: can it really be true that the "royal trumpet" stops which characterized Iberian organs, and which so well suit 17th-century Iberian "battle music", are an 18th-century invention?). A more obviously encyclopedic approach, such as Julie Anne Sadie employed when she edited Cambridge's COMPANION TO BAROQUE MUSIC, would have been superior to what we have here.
Still, here is one church organist who feels very grateful to this tome's staff-notation passages for having introduced him to valuable pieces by Teutons (the mid-17th-century's J. K. Kerll), Americans (the late-19th-century Dudley Buck), and Englishmen (somebody named Henry Smart, who apparently died in 1879), hitherto mere vaguely-contemplated names, or else, in Smart's case, not even that. Better to treat this COMPANION as a goad to the performer who seeks fresh and agreeable sheet music, rather than as a reference resource.
25 of 30 people found the following review helpful
Only a companion to baroque organs and uneven.
4 Aug 1999
Format:Paperback
Those who are used to the Oxford series of "Companions" will be surprised to find this Cambridge Companion is not an encyclopedic reference book. It is a collection of articles on a broad range of topics--construction, esthetics, performance technique and the repertoire--with a very uneven level. Some articles address the basics (sit up straight while you are playing) while others assume that you know everything already (off hand references to organs you should know about.) Almost all the organs discussed in any depth are the German-Dutch baroque instruments and their modern replicas, with just a few words on large romantic instruments. In sum, it may be an interesting "read" for the connoisseur, but it isn't very useful as a reference for the interested amateur.
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