The Mighty Pipe Organ

This evening I went to an organ recital with two friends. Ah, the mighty organ! The first piece was the famous "Toccata and Fugue in d minor" by J. S. Bach.



I have loved listening to the organ since I was in high school. My boy friend was an organist and he took me to all kinds of wonderful organ concerts at the university. The organ at the university was an immense Baroque organ whose pipes were all exposed. It was often so loud that it rumbled your seat, rumbled your chest! This was in the days before rock and roll and really loud music, so it was very exciting and thrilling! We heard many world famous organists of the day, including E. Power Biggs, Virgil Fox, and Marcel Dupré. One of the highlights of those concerts happened when a sealed envelope was given to the artist. Inside was a theme. The artist was supposed to look at the theme briefly, then perform an improvisation on that theme. It was always amazing to see what happened!

One summer, while I was in high school, I took organ lessons at the urging of my mother, who thought I could probably earn money in the future by playing the organ in churches. It was fun learning to play the bass notes of the chords with my feet! I practiced simple hymns. I had to learn the particular legato touch which is required for playing the organ. It's quite different from playing the piano keyboard.



The organ we heard this evening had 4 keyboards, plus the pedals. It's amazing to watch an organist play with their hands and feet flying around the notes.

Another wonderful thing about organs, beyond their loudness, is the incredible variety of sounds they can produce. Each "stop" has pipes which are shaped differently, made of different materials and produce sounds with or without reeds.

One of the first records I ever bought contained the Grosse Sonata from the 94th Psalm by Reubke. Here is the grand fugue.