All the Stops
Subtitle: The Glorious Pipe Organ and Its American Masters
Publisher: PublicAffairs; Public Affairs
Published: April 1, 2003
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 323
ISBN-13: 9781586481735
Subjects: American history; History of specific subjects; Musical instruments & instrumental ensembles; Organ (Musical instrument); Musical Instruments; Music/Songbooks; Music; USA; Organ builders; Musical Instruments - Piano; Musical Instruments - General; History; Organs (Musical instrument); United States
First sentence: Ernest M. Skinner, one of the greatest names in early-twentieth century American organbuilding, got his first organ factory job with the Boston builder George Horatio Ryder, who on October 25, 1895, gave the dedicatory recital on the organ I played as a youth in the Unitarian Church in Westborough, Massachusetts.
Description: "In All the Stops, New York Times journalist and editor Craig Whitney journeys through the history of the American pipe organ and brings to life some of the colorful characters who devoted their lives to its music.".

"From the mid-19th to the early 20th century, organ music was wildly popular in America. Organbuilders could hardly fill the huge demand for both concert hall and home organs. Master builders such as Ernest M. Skinner developed elaborate organs with ingenious systems of pipes, stops, swells, pedals, valves, and keyboards, capable of replicating the sound and dynamic range of entire orchestras.".

"With the evolution of the organ came celebrity organists. Artists such as the classical E. Power Biggs and the flamboyant Virgil Fox developed cult followings and bitter rivalries. Biggs - at first with builders such as G. Donald Harrison and later with others such as Charles B. Fisk - started a movement to restore to American organs some of the tonal clarity and precision that instruments of the baroque period had. Fox and his followers rejected that approach.

Instead, Fox started playing electronic organs in rock concert halls to try to interest younger audiences in classical music."--BOOK JACKET.