The 1895 Columbian Organ
Hill Auditorium Stage; photo by Paul Jaronski, UM Photo Services
In a feature article in the online edition of Michigan Today, James Tobin contributed an article titled “The Great Pipe Organ.” Tobin chronicles the history of the organ in the University of Michigan’s Hill Auditorium. In his observations about the importance of such large instruments in 19th-century American communities, Tobin notes the culturally organological viewpoint. Summarizing the importance of the organ to a community, he writes:
Americans of the late 19th and early 20th centuries listened to great pipe organs with a mixture of technological awe, local pride, and aesthetic rapture. Cities competed to buy the biggest and best.
Read more, and see the illustrations, at http://michigantoday.umich.edu/2010/05/story.php?id=7735
See also James Kibbie’s site with specs of the Hill organ.
organophilia
jesseajohnston
[...] are interested in performances more than musical instrument studies. (Duh?!) This is likely due to my May post on the pipe organ in Hill Auditorium, “The 1895 Columbian Organ,” which was really just [...]
Hill Auditorium History and Links « Cultural Organology
12 December 2010 at 4:47 pm