The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 12, No. 73, November, 1863: A Magazine of Literature, Art, and PoliticsVarious
History
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 12, No. 73, November, 1863: A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics
Various
American periodicals
Dr. Upham had already made an examination of the best organs and
organ-factories in New England, New York, and elsewhere in this country,
and received several specifications and plans from builders. He
proceeded at once, therefore, to Europe, examined the great English
instruments, made the acquaintance of Mr. Hopkins, the well-known
organist and recognized authority on all matters pertaining to the
instrument, and took lessons of him in order to know better the handling
of the keys and the resources of the instrument. In his company, Dr.
Upham examined some of the best instruments in London. He made many
excursions among the old churches of Sir Christopher Wren's building,
where are to be found the fine organs of "Father Smith," John Snetzler,
and other famous builders of the past. He visited the workshops of Hill,
Gray and Davidson, Willis, Robson, and others. He made a visit to Oxford
to examine the beautiful organ in Trinity College. He found his way into
the organ-lofts of St. Paul's, of Westminster Abbey, and the Temple
Church, during the playing at morning and evening service. He inspected
Thompson's _enharmonic_ organ, and obtained models of various portions
of organ-structure.
From London Dr. Upham went to Holland, where he visited the famous
instruments at Haarlem, Amsterdam, and Rotterdam, and the organ-factory
at Utrecht, the largest and best in Holland. Thence to Cologne, where,
as well as at Utrecht, he obtained plans and schemes of instruments; to
Hamburg, where are fine old organs, some of them built two or three
centuries ago; to Lubeck, Dresden, Breslau, Leipsic, Halle, Merseburg.
Here he found a splendid organ, built by Ladergast, whose instruments
excel especially in their tone-effects. A letter from Liszt, the
renowned pianist, recommended this builder particularly to Dr. Upham's
choice. At Frankfort and at Stuttgart he found two magnificent
instruments, built by Walcker of Ludwigsburg, to which place he repaired
in order to examine his factories carefully, for the second time. Thence
the musical tourist proceeded to Ulm, where is the sumptuous organ, the
work of the same builder, ranking, we believe, first in point of
dimensions of all in the world. Onward still, to Munich, Bamberg,
Augsburg, Nuremberg, along the Lake of Constance to Weingarten, where is
that great organ claiming to have sixty-six stops and six thousand six
hundred and sixty-six pipes; to Freyburg, in Switzerland, where is
another great organ, noted for the rare beauty of its _vox-humana_ stop,
the mechanism of which had been specially studied by Mr. Walcker, who
explained it to Dr. Upham.
Returning to Ludwigsburg, Dr. Upham received another specification from
Mr. Walcker. He then passed some time at Frankfort examining the
specifications already received and the additional ones which came to
him while there.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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