Twentieth-Century Organ Music

This volume explores twentieth-century organ music through in-depth studies of the principal centers of composition, the most significant composers and their works, and the evolving role of the instrument and its music. The twentieth-century was a time of unprecedented change for organ music, not only in its composition and performance but also in the standards of instrument design and building. Organ music was anything but immune to the complex musical, intellectual, and socio-political climate of the time. Twentieth-Century Organ Music examines the organ's repertory from the entire period, contextualizing it against the background of important social and cultural trends. In a collection of twelve essays, experienced scholars survey the dominant geographic centers of organ music (France, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, the United States, and German-speaking countries) and investigate the composers who made important contributions to the repertory (Reger in Germany, Messiaen in France, Ligeti in Eastern and Central Europe, Howells in Great Britain). Twentieth-Century Organ Music provides a fresh vantage point from which to view one of the twentieth century's most diverse and engaging musical spheres.

Christopher S. Anderson is Associate Professor of Sacred Music at the Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, USA.

1. The Organ in the Twentieth Century 2. The German Lands 3. Max Reger 4. The Idea of "Bewegung" in the Organ Reform Movement of the 1920s 5. France and French-speaking Switzerland 6. Olivier Messiaen 7. The Low Countries 8. Scandinavia 9. The United States 10. György Ligeti 11. Herbert Howells 1 2. Twentieth-Century Organ Music in the Christian Liturgy