E. and G.G. Hook & Hastings

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E. and G.G. Hook was a pipe organ designing and manufacuring company, located in Boston, Massachusetts, which operated from 1827 to 1935. It was started, and originally run, by brothers Elias and George Greenleaf Hook.

[edit] History

When the Hook brothers were getting ready to retire, in 1871, Frank Hastings joined the firm, at which point the name was changed to E. and G.G. Hook & Hastings. When the Hook brothers retired (in 1881), the name was shortened to Hook and Hastings. In its day, Hook was the premier organ building company in the United States.

The Hook brothers were sons of a cabinet maker in Salem, Massachusetts. They apprenticed with the organbuilder William Goodrich.

The Hook firm built over 2,000 pipe organs, many of which are still extant today. Some remain in unaltered, original condition, such as the organ of Goddard Chapel at Tufts University in Medford, MA; others have been tonally and/or physically altered due to changing trends in the organ world during the 20th century.

The largest extant organ built by the firm is their opus 801 built in 1875 for the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston, Massachusetts. This instrument comprises 101 ranks over 3 manuals and pedal. Among the more notable features of this instrument are likely a result of having to fill such a large space; namely the use of imported reeds from Zimmerman of Paris, bold mixtures, cornets and a Tuba Mirabilis made in the Hook factory. This instrumant exists in a mechanically altered state having been electrified, however; it largely remains tonally original.