All the Stops: The Glorious Pipe Organ and Its American Masters

by Craig R. Whitney

For centuries, pipe organs stood at the summit of musical and technological achievement, admired as the most complex and intricate mechanisms the human race had yet devised. In All The Stops, New York Times journalist Craig Whitney journeys through the history of the American pipe organ and brings to life the curious characters who have devoted their lives to its music.

From the mid-19th to the mid-20th century, organ music was wildly popular in America. Organ builders in New York and New England could hardly fill the huge demand for both concert hall and home organs. Master organbuilders found ingenious ways of using electricity to make them sound like orchestras. Organ players developed cult followings and bitter rivalries. One movement arose to restore to American organs the clarity and precision that baroque organs had in centuries past, while another took electronic organs to the rock concert halls, where younger listeners could be found. But while organbuilders and organists were fighting with each other, popular audiences lost interest in the organ.

Today, organs are beginning to make a comeback in concert halls and churches across America. Craig Whitney brings the story to life and up to date in a humorous, engaging book about the instruments and vivid personalities that inspired his lifelong passion: the great art of the majestic pipe organ.

Hear the sounds of some of the pipe organs featured in ALL THE STOPS

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Jenny Setchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent - informative, not too technical and with many anecdotes and personal insights that made it all the more readable.

[Stephen Kiernan · Rating 4 out of 5]

At one time, the pipe organ in America meant that a single musician could fill a hall as richly as an entirely orchestra. There were geniuses of the instrument, and masters of its construction.

This book tells their story. It's not an insider view, though the author allows himself many of details and digressions. But it reveals larger social trends, as the interests of America's wealthy, and the entertainments of its not-wealthy, evolve in the 20th Century.

Today the organ is a fading instrument, a relic left to churches and other institutional uses. But at one time it held a position of prominence in American culture and craft. This book describes that heydey, and it is a rewarding read.

[Claudia · Rating 5 out of 5]

If one wants to know anything at all about the rise and fall of the pipe organ from the 1800s to the present, this book tells all. It also includes an incredible glossary full of tidbits such as the technical differences between swell and great. Other gems in this book are: where to go to play or hear incredible organs, and finally, what New York department store to visit to see one of the largest and most expensive organs ever built.

[Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, I enjoyed Whitney's book. He has an engaging writing style; does not fall into that dry, academic writing style that can be tedious. Most of the book details the schism between the Baroque, European style of organ building, and playing, versus the American full on orchestral style. This pits the mechanical-action (tracker action) type of organ building which musicians and composers like Buxtehude or Bach wrote and played for, against the large electrical (electropneumatic action) organs built in the 1920s and 30s suitable for later composers like Franck, or Vierne. Renowned organ recitalists such as E. Power Biggs is given a chapter, as does Liberace-type showman Virgil Fox. Each of those performers typify the dichotomy between the two prevalent organ styles. Biggs was a disciple of the neobaroque, while Fox followed the bigger! louder! style of organ production.

However. I was stunned that Whitney fails to even mention the organist, and organ builder Robert Noehren in this book. Arguably, as important a pedagogue, recitalist, and scholar as Biggs, and also an organ builder of more than 20 first rate organs, Noehren should have also had an entire chapter in this book. Noehren's career spanned more than 50 years, 35+ recordings, was the recipient of the French Grande Prix du Disque for a recording of Trio Sonatas of Bach, and collected more international honors than any other American organist. No mention whatsoever? Astonishing.

[Kevin Sedota · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great overview of the pipe organ in America. Most of the book covers major figures in the twentieth century but there are nods to older periods. If there is one thing lacking it would be in the area of technical changes over time. Although they are mentioned there was little detail.
As a classically trained musician I was particularly interested in the author’s treatment of the battle between modernists and traditionalists. In school the traditionalists seemed to hold sway. They spoke with an unswerving certainty that always troubled me. While I had no real exposure to the organ clearly the fight was happening right under my nose. It is interesting how it has evolved the the forty years since I was in school.
I highly recommend this book for anyone wanting a brief overview of this subject.
I do wish there were an updated edition. It’s been twenty years since this book was published. I would be interested in the author’s views on these last two decades.

[Jaclyn Knight · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you love the organ this book will inspire & intrigue you. If organ isn’t a passion of yours there won’t be much here you find worth reading except perhaps the chapter on organs in the early 20th century in malls, private homes, just about everywhere! As an organist who was raised in the 80s this book has really helped me understand the world of the organ that I was raised in including how I was trained as an organist. It also leaves you thoughtful & inspired about where we can & should take the organ for the next generation.

[Riki · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit academic and technical. But at times a thrilling account of the American pipe organ makers and virtuoustic musicians that brought this ancient instrument to new audiences in the turn of the century and beyond. I'm dying the hear some Bach played on a pipe organ right now!