Talk:Organ repertoire
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I removed the redirect to Talk:List of organ pieces in anticipation of further work on this article… is anyone offended? I have updated the Baroque section and the section on romantic France… am anticipating further work on Baroque from Noah Horn (whose username I have unfortunately forgotten). I'll work on romantic Germany next. Cor anglais 16 02:20, 2 January 2006 (UTC)
Just added an introduction to the article… seems a bit inelegant to me, however; I would be thrilled if someone with a greater writing ability than myself would clean it up a bit. Re.: my previous post, Noah Horn's username is Sesquialtera_II.Cor anglais 16 22:30, 2 January 2006 (UTC)
There are are number of highly questionable assertions on this page. First, one cannot talk of Catholic and Protestant Churches in an era that includes the Middle Ages, when there was no such separation. Perhaps one should refer to the Church in Europe. Similarly, it is quite untrue to say that music is not used in the Eastern Orthodox Church. There is a long, varied and valued Orthodox musical tradition, but it is chiefly choral, and it might be true to say that ORGAN music forms no part of it. While there might have been small-scale regional organ building traditions throughout Euope surviving fromm medieval times, the main germinal center for the organ from the renaissance to the baroque was the Netherlands and Germany, whence developments spread radially. In France and Spain this influence was quite rapidly enriched by important local developments, the effects of which are seen in the repertoire. Italy and England were relatively isolated from this germinal influence, retaining generally smaller, simpler instruments. It is quite untrue to say that there is essentially no organ music from England in the period 1650-1800. This is contradicted for example by the later mention of Stanley and Boyce, inappropriately placed in the Classical period. While these were mid-18th-century composers, their organ music continues the baroque tradition of Handel. Purcell's organ works, though not numerous, should not be ignored.
I also think that the enormous influence of the Lutheran church has to mentioned. Luther was a musician and was fully conscious of the important role of music in propagating and popularizing theological concepts. This struck the keynote in the Lutheran liturgy. It is the organ music of the Lutheran church that formed the chief stimulus to the repertoire, even in Catholic or Calvinist regions of Europe, which were obliged to compete, relectantly or keenly, with a potent aesthetic weapon. So the French organ repertoire of the 17th century can be seen as a populist, counter-reformation answer to Lutheran developments. Calvinists had to have organ music too, even if this was mostly kept out of the services and presented in the form of separate concerts for the merchant sponsors of the church.
The organ literature of the 19th century, and the introduction of pedals in those countries like Italy, Spain and England, where they had only been present in rudimentary form, if at all, owes practically everything to the growing interest in the organ works of Bach. This broke the previous traditions in those countries and marks the beginning of an international repertoire.
I think we have got to get our act together on this page. Important scholarly works have been written on this subject. Let's at least eliminate factual errors and provide coverage of all parts of the repertoire that are still of interest today.83.93.206.210 14:22, 4 February 2006 (UTC)
