Are we organists the marginal beings of the World of Music?
Those odd creatures who work on Sundays, in freezing churches, face to face with an instrument which may be magnificent, but which, more often than not, is out of tune, recalcitrant, disagreeable and even treacherous?
Is it because, somewhere along the line, we feel we haven’t got the choice, because this splendid and capricious partner is under our skin, that we accept all the trials which it inflicts, but which open the doors to joys we never imagined? The organ is history, beauty, awe and mystery; it has the power to awaken in us the deepest and most intense of feelings. But it is also a part of Music, just as Music is a part of ART. And ART is also architecture, literature, theatre, poetry, painting and sculpture…. Everything is connected, one inspiration draws from the other.
We are not looking at a chest of drawers where one drawer will be labelled “music”, another, smaller one, “classical music” and a last, tiny one, « organ music ». We are part and parcel of the boundless World of Art, and that ‘s fantastic!
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