Organ Resources
Whether you are an organ student, church organist, lover of organ music, or all of the above, you’re in the right place. Below you will find a guide to selected resources both within our library and beyond. Although we cannot list everything, we hope this will give you a good starting point for your own research. This is a work in progress; if you discover some helpful resources that you would like to see listed here, please email us with your suggestions.
navigate this page
- internet resources
- selected library holdings - current periodicals
- selected library holdings - books, scores, and audiovisuals by topic
internet resources
Reviewed by Melissa Potter, Master of Music student.
- American Guild of Organists
- Find information on The American Organist Magazine plus competitions and conventions, education and certification, professional development, salary guides, recommended links, and more. Access the Web site of the Louisville chapter under “Links.”
- Church Music
- “This site deals with the Church Music in the Reformed Churches* and the role of the organ.” Offers helpful information on pre-service music, the liturgical year, etc. Links to sites for organ shoes, sheet music, more.
- Church Organist
- Service music collections, planning forms, ceremonial processionals, and a huge list of helpful organ-related links.
- Organ Classifieds
- Buy, sell, search for organists, look for jobs, find concerts - it’s all here, for free!
- Organ Focus
- Concerts, articles, lists of links, recommended music, etc.
- Pipe Organs
- Information about pipe organs relevant to today’s churches; good directory.
selected library holdings - current periodicals
The American Organist. New York, American Guild of Organists. Am35org
Choir & Organ. London: Orpheus Publications, 1993. C452oiao
Church Music Quarterly. Croydon, Eng: Royal School of Church Music. C475hmurq
Diapason. Des Plaines, IL, etc., Scranton Gillette Communications, inc., etc. D542
ISO Journal (International Society of Organbuilders). Li?ge, Belgium: ISO Publications,1998. In8nasoj
L’Organo. Brescia [Italy]: Gruppo musicale “Girolamo Frescobaldi”, 1960-. Or3gor
The Organ. London: Musical Opinion. Or3ga
The Organ Yearbook. Laaber: Laaber-Verlag. Or3gaaye
Pedalpoint. Nashville, Tenn.: Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, c1981-. P34alp (available at Music/AV Library Desk)
The Tracker. [Richmond, Va., etc.], Organ Historical Society. T673ke
selected library holdings - books, scores, and audiovisuals by topic
american organs
Edwards, Lynn, ed. The Historical Organ in America. Easthampton: Westfield, 1992. 786.5.H629o
Gellerman, Robert F. The American Reed Organ: Its History, How it Works, How to Rebuild It. Vestal, NY: Vestal, 1973. 786.94.G282a
Ochse, Orpha. The History of the Organ in the United States. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1975. 786.6273.Oc3h
Ogasapian, John K. Church Organs: A Guide to Selection and Purchase. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1983. 786.6.Og1c
Pape, Uwe. Organs in America. Berlin: Pape Verlag, 1982. 786.6273.Or3i, vols.
Pape, Uwe. The Tracker Organ Revival in America. U. Pape, 1978? 786.63.P197t
bibliographies
Edson, Jean Slater. Organ Preludes. Metuchen, NY: Scarecrow, 1970. 016.7868.Ed770 2 vols. w/supplement
Liebenow, Walther M. Rank on Rank. Minneapolis: Martin, 1973. 016.7865.L621b
Sollenberger, Elizabeth. Organ Compositions of the Twentieth Century. Chapel Hill: Hinshaw Music, 1980. 016.7868.So460
Spelman, Leslie P. Organ Plus: A Catalogue of Ensemble Music for Organ and Instruments. 4th ed. Edited by Jayson Rod Engquist. New York: American Gild of Organists, 1992. 016.7866.Sp32o1977
history & construction
Andersen, Poul-Gerhard. Organ Building and Design. Translated by Joanee Curnutt. London: Allen & Unwin, 1969. 786.63.An22oEc
Donahue, Thomas. The Modern Classical Organ. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 1991. 786.5.D714m
Douglass, Fenner. The Language of the Classical French Organ: A Musical Tradition before 1800. Rev. and expanded ed. New Haven: Yale UP, 1995. 786.8.D747L1995
Hill, Arthur George. The Organ-cases and Organs of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Hilversum, Frits Knuf, 1966. 786.6.H55o
Leet, Leslie. An Introduction to the Organ. Cranford, NJ: Allen, 1940. 786.63.L518r
Noehren, Robert. An Organist’s Reader: Essays. Warren, MI: Harmonie Park, 1999. 786.5.N681o
Sorge, Georg Andreas. The Secretly Kept Art of the Scaling of Organ Pipes. Translated by Carl O. Bleyle. Buren: Frits Knuf, 1978. 786.63.So68gEb
The Organ. Princeton, NJ: Films for the Humanities, 1997. VT 5429 (VHS)
Thistlethwaite, Nicholas and Geoffrey Webber, eds. The Cambridge Companion to the Organ. Cambridge: CambridgeUP, 1998. 786.62.C144c
Thistlethwaite, Nicholas. The Making of the Victorian Organ. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1999. 786.6242.T349m
Williams, Peter F. A New History of the Organ from the Greeks to the Present Day. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1980. 786.62.W674n
Williams, Peter F. The European Organ, 1450-1850. London: B.T. Batsford, 1966. 786.624.W474e, 1982 (1966)
Williams, Peter F. The King of Instruments: How Churches Came to Have Organs. London: SPCK, 1993. 786.5.W674k
Williams, Peter F. The Organ in Western Culture, 750-1250. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1993. 7786.6.W674o
methods & techniques
Bender, Jan. Organ Improvisation for Beginners: A Book of Self-Instruction for Church Musicians: op. 59.St. Louis: Concordia, 1975. MT 191.I5B432
Geer, E. Harold. Organ Registration in Theory and Practice. Glen Rock, NJ: J. Fischer, 1957. 786.7.G271o
Gleason, Harold. Method of Organ Playing. Edited by Catharine Crozier Gleason. 8th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1996. 786.7.G473m1996
Johnson, David N. Instruction Book for Beginning Organists. n.p. Augsburg, 1964. 786.73.J631i
Johnson, David N. Organ Teacher’s Guide. Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1971. 786.7.J631o
Krapf, Gerhard. Liturgical Organ Playing. Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1964. 786.7.K863-l
Krapf, Gerhard. Organ Improvisation: A Practical Approach to Chorale Elaborations for the Service. Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1967. 781.65.K863o
Krapf, Gerhard. The Organ Handbook. Translated by Gerhard Krapf. Saint Louis: Concordia, 1969. 786.6.K699bEk
Lovelace, Austin C. The Organist and Hymn Playing. Rev. ed. Carol Stream: Agape, 1981. 786.7.L942o (1981)
Overduin, Jan. Making Music: Improvisation for Organists. New York: Oxford UP, 1998. MT 191.15.Ov2
Peeters, Flor. Ars Organi. Bruxelles: Schott, (1953-54). MT 182.P347a 3 vols.
Phillips, Gordon. Articulation in Organ-Playing. New York: Edition Peters, 1961. MT 180.P543.a
Ragatz, Oswald G. Organ Technique: A Basic Course of Study. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1979. 786.7.R1260
Ritchie, George. Organ Technique: Modern and Early. New York: Oxford UP, 2000. 786.7.R51o 2000
Soderlund, Sandra. Organ Technique: An Historical Approach. Chapel Hill, NC: Hinshaw Music, 1980. 786.7.So160
Woolard, Margot Ann Greenlimb, ed. Daniel Gottlob Turk on the Role of the Organist in Worship (1787). Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2000. 786.5.7847d
organ builders
Douglass, Fenner. Cavaill?-Coll and the Musicians: A Documented Account of His First Thirty Years in Organ Building. Raleigh: Sunbury, 1980. 786.6.C253d, 2 vols.
Ferguson, John Allen. Walter Holtkamp, American Organ Builder. Kent, OH: Kent State UP, 1979. 786.63.H744F
Douglass, Fenner, Owen Jander and Barbara Owen, eds. Charles Brenton Fisk: Organ Builder. Easthampton, MA: Westfield Center for Early Keyboard Studies, 1986. 786.63.F54c, 2 vols.
Reinburg, Peggy Kelley. Arp Schnitger, Organ Builder: Catalyst for the Centuries. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1982. 786.63.Sch59a
repertoire
Arnold, Corliss Richard. Organ Literature: A Comprehensive Survey. 3rd ed. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow, 1995. 016.7868.Ar 64o 1995 (2 vols.)
Cox, Geoffrey. Organ Music in Restoration England. New York: Garland, 1989. 786.80942.C839o 2 vols.
Hardwick, Peter. British Organ Music of the Twentieth Century. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2003. 786.80904.H222b
Hettinger, Sharon L. American Organ Music of the Twentieth Century. Warren, MI: Harmonie Park, 1997. 016.7865.H475a
Kirby, F. E. A Short History of Keyboard Music. New York: Free Press, 1966. 786.09.K631s
Kratzenstein, Marilou. Survey of Organ Literature and Editions. Ames: Iowa State UP, 1980. 786.8.K867s
Ochse, Orpha. Organists and Organ Playing in Nineteenth-Century France and Belgium. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1994. 786.50944.Oc3o
Phillips, Gordon. Anthology of Organ Music from the XVIth to the XXth Century. New York: Edition Peters, 1957-1965. M7.P543.An81 6 vols. (and) M7.P54.A5
Routh, Francis. Early English Organ Music from the Middle Ages to 1837. London: Barrie and Jenkins, 1973. 786.80942.R765e
Shannon, John R. Organ Literature of the Seventeenth Century. Raleigh: Sunbury, 1978. 786.8.Sh19o
Smith, Rollin. Toward an Authentic Interpretation of the Organ Works of C?sar Franck. New York: Pendragon, 1983. 786.5.F847s
Steed, Graham. The Organ Works of Marcel Dupr?. Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon, 1999. 786.8.D928s
Williams, Peter F. The Organ Music of J.S. Bach. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1980-1984. 786.5.B122js, 3 vols.
theatre organs
Junchen, David L. Encyclopedia of the American Theatre Organ. Pasadena, CA: Showcase, 1985. 786.6.J952e vols.
Landon, John W. Behold the Mighty Wurlitzer. Westport, CN: Greenwood, 1983. 786.6.L236b