Lauck Pipe Organ Company, Otsego, Michigan: Trinity Christian College, Palos Heights, Illinoois;
Paul Fritts and Co., Tacoma, Washington: Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York;Fabry Pipe Organs, Inc., of Fox Lake, Illinois, Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church, Homewood, Illinois.
A Neglected Chapter in the History of Organbuilding in America
Conservatively estimated, approximately 600 instruments were built expressly for the funeral industry, accounting for less than two percent of the total output of American builders and even far less in voiced ranks produced.1 Yet a closer look at this product (which the author considers a special instrument), its market and its builders reveals a fascinating epoch which surely belongs in the rich and colorful history of organbuilding in America.
St. Paul’s Church in Brookline, Massachusetts, March 8–12, 2004
Anton Heiller died at the early age of 55, but his musical output lives on in countless recordings. The inherent power and beauty of his unique compositional style is evident in the growing appreciation of his music, and the fact that so many new audiences are drawn to it.
This article will chronicle the activities of six selected outstanding figures of the broader musical society whose connections with the organ are perhaps not so widely known. While their status in the world of the organ does not match those of the "giants", they worked industriously and successfully within the context of their other major activities as "alternative" organists.
