The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-06-09
PIPE ORGANS LIBERATION
w. III. DONLEY TALKS OF AND Illus
TRATEs THE "NEw MOVEMENT,
An Evening with the indianapolis Or
ganist selected to Play at the Pam
American Exposition.

-H
One night last week a few friends of
W. II. Donley, the indianapolis organis,.
who has been honored by being one of the
few selected to play the great instrument
in the temple of music at the Pan-Amer-
lean Exposition, saw a light in the Me-
mortal Presbyterian Church, at Eleventh
and Ash streets, where Mr.. Donley plays
regularly, and, entering. they found the
organist crouched on the floor under the
keyboard, working at the tangled scheme
OF levers
after the storm, you know" he said.
rising, his hands grimy with dust and one
of them clutching long screw driver. He
meant that the night before he had given
a recital and was now coaxing the instru-
ment back to its normal sweet humor. Mr..
Donley planned and supervised the building
Of the Memorial Church organ, and he
tends it as if it were live thing, always
watching for hitch in its complicated
structure betrayed by a shadow on a tone.
He went on: II don't need a barometer or
the Weather Bureaus bulletins to tell me
when it is going to rain-the organ tells me.
Especially the clarinets and flutes are quick
indicators, for the clarinets are of metal
and the flutes are of wood. and when
dampness creeps in the two get disagreed BILE
and go away off from each other. Then
the stops stick and the levers demand
double pressure before they will do their
work. This kind of weather an organist
never can tell when his instrument will
balk."
MR.. DONLEY'S LIBRARY.
Mr.. Donley led the way to the library.
Here" he said. running his finger down
the backs of the volumes, ARE books that
have been collected and arranged after
years of hard work. Some of them cannot
be replaced This library takes 5000 insur-
ance. Sometimes it has taken me year
to run down certain composition that
L had determined to have. The modern
work in Italy, France, Germany, England
and Norway and Sweden is very hard TO
get hold Of and it costs great deal of
money to have it. One must sift through
piles of worthless matter to find the gems
of modern organ composition"
Through his recitals here and in other
cities Mr.. Donley is known to musicians as
a student Of modern effort. AS one of his
visitors the other night remarked, the pipe
organ is firmly welded with the church il
the minds of the public. Usually it is called
the church organ" but, Mr.. Donley
then explained, the new movement" the
realistic movement, of which great deal
is now heard in regard to literature and the
drama, has grasped the pipe organ, too, in
it's progress, to the end, as Mr.. Donley said,
that the old. stiff forms of organ music are
giving way to modern pliancy and color
tone pictures, l call them, said Mr.. Don
ley. The result is that the beauty of re-
ligious work is heightened. The new move
ment makes the organ bend down to hu-
manity.
1.-The last of the old countries to join in
the new movement" said Mr.. Donley, was
England. Until four or five years ago, the
English organists would have nothing TO do
with French players in the latter's tend
ency to put new and modern life into organ
music. But at last the French compositions
found their way into the hearts of the pub
lie, and the Englishmen had to give in.
Now a great deal of the best music for
the organ is written in England"
BOSTON STILL UNREGENERATED.
Have Boston and New York been re-
generated YETI" asked one of the visitors.
New York yes" replied the organist:
'but the Boston players, for the most part,
hold TO the old stiffness. Boston unbends
slowly in almost every affair, you know
To illustrate that the pipe organ is cap
able of other forms of expression than the
sweeping, dignified. slow-curving chorales,
anthems and hymns. Mr.. Donley took his
seat at the organ and put on the rack
number of Maurice Moszkowskis suite
From Foreign Parts" This piece was the
Russian music, dancing and crisp, and un-
der Mr.. Donley's quick and sure fingers
and feet the bright, colorful tones snapped
with the suggestion of the violin strings.
THAT shows il" said the organist, but
the organ is slow tonight because of the
wet weather, and the effect is not at all rs
good as II would be if the air were dry.
Now. 10 go further, | will play for you
little rural march from France"
Mr.. Donley handles his organ as if It
were a symphony orchestra. When he built
the instrument. he paid especial attention
TO the lighter. higher pipes, to the piccolo,
the flute and 10 the violin effects. When he
cannot get from the publishing houses Of
Berlin Paris or London organ arrange
ments Of the symphonic masterpieces. he is
not daunted. but takes the full orchestra
score, puts il on his music rack and PLAYS
the whole thing. as IL he were Theodore
Thomas and his Chicago Orchestra COM
bined in one man.
OF course. the effect is not truly Of strings