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The Function of the Organ in Accompanying Choral and Orchestral Works

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

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Extract

The main object of this paper is to consider the treatment of the organ in accompanying chorus and orchestra in combination. A word may be said first, however, as to the organ and the orchestra in instrumental compositions. Handel, as we know, wrote concertos for organ and orchestra, of some importance in their day, in which the organ was treated—as the pianoforte is treated in a modern concerto—as a solo instrument alternating with the orchestra, or partially accompanied by it. This combination, however, does not seem to have been often attempted since.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Musical Association, 1905

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References

It is very possible that the conductor, with the strings playing close to him, was not aware of the preponderance of the organ, as I found that a friend who was playing among the violins was not aware of it, though he accepted my statement. Would it not be well for the conductor in such a case to leave the bâton to some one else at rehearsal for one or two choruses, and hear how the organ blended from the body of the hall ?Google Scholar

I should like to say that in these suggestions I am not merely following the lead of Mendelssohn's suggestions in “Israel,” as this portion of my paper, though it comes last, was in fact written first, and before I had studied Mendelssohn's organ part to “Israel.”Google Scholar

It was given at the Handel Festival performance, since this paper was written.Google Scholar