Organ Music
The question of what is legitimate organ music is open to much discussion. My object to-day is to bring before you a side of organ music which has not yet been thoroughly developed, namely, original compositions for the organ more suitable for the concert room than for the church. I do not agree with those who hold that the German school is the only ideal school of organ music. English builders were the first to give attention to improvement in mechanism and the invention of the swell. The French followed suit, but they have been far slower in adopting improvements. With this development of mechanism and the introduction of fancy stops, it is only natural that English and French organ music should have a style of its own.
Surely, then, because the style of our organ music and that of the French has grown out of the development of the instrument, it is hardly reasonable to say that these schools are not legitimate and just as true to the genius of the organ. I have never heard it said that, because Chopin and the modern pianoforte composers availed themselves of the improvements in their instruments, those masters who preceded them were the only composers of ideal pianoforte music. The prejudice against arrangements for the organ is happily dying out. In fact, they are an absolute necessity for the concert room; but I want to sec more actual concert music written for the organ. Why should not dance rhythms be employed? We often hear it said of certain passages played on the organ, "Those are pianoforte passages," or "those are orchestral passages," and people are scandalized to find modern mechanism and fancy stops taken advantage of. What does this signify, if the passages can be played on the organ and sound well?
(From an address delivered at Glasgow.)