One very popular form of musical entertainment on both sides of the Atlantic during this period was the organ recital. From the late Victorian era right on into the late 1920's, the secular use of the organ was popularized through the introduction of large pipe organs of Romantic or orchestral timber, which were installed in numerous town halls and civic auditoriums throughout the United States and the British Empire. Huge instruments such as those in Sydney's town hall, the Royal Albert Hall and the organ in Grand Court of Wanamaker's department store in Philadelphia are surviving examples of such instruments, though most such organs were of more modest size.
Typically, unlike most of the recitals heard today, programs of this period were based less on literature written specifically for the organ, but rather on transcriptions of popular orchestral, instrumental and operatic works. The compositions of Elgar, Dvorak, Debussy, Wagner, Liszt, Brahms, von Weber, Lehar, Offenbach and others were all popular subject matter.
To put this form of entertainment into historical perspective, this was an age prior to high fidelity sound reproduction, prior to broadcast radio and where the phonograph was still considered an expensive luxury. Also, for the most part only the largest cities had or could support a symphony orchestra or an opera.
While the smaller cities couldn't afford to support such facilities, many cities and larger towns did have the budget for a large civic hall or auditorium, many of which housed a large pipe organ. The more affluent towns even funded a permanent or part-time "municipal organist" to play for various functions and to provide weekly entertainment.
Recitals such as these, in addition to being very entertaining to the general public, also served a larger purpose. In the absence of recorded music or live symphonic performance, it was often only through the playing of transcriptions on a large pipe organ that many people living outside of large cities first heard and came to know pieces such as Sibelius' "Finlandia", Elgar's "Enigma Variations" or Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries".
Scott Andrews
