International Invention Exhibition Galleries, 1885, with Royal Albert Hall at left (London Illustrated News)

The city halls of 19th-century England were sumptuous exercises in architectural grandeur. They accommodated thousands for political meetings, events of state and other outpourings of civic pride, and in them were found some of the finest concert organs in the world. Starting in Birmingham in 1834, urban centers one after another installed noble organs in splendid cases, and of them the four-manual "Father" Willis in St. George's Hall, Liverpool, was generally acknowledged to be the best in the country. Built in 1855 at a cost of over £9,000 (in those days, about $50,000) and featuring light action, adjustable pistons, a magnificent pedal division and (after 1867) commanding chorus reeds on 22" wind, the instrument was presided over from the beginning by William Thomas Best (1826-97).

W.T. Best was as well known as the instrument he played, for he was the preeminent master of concert organ playing. Giving three different programs weekly for 40 years, he popularized both organ and orchestral music for thousands of people in Liverpool who had no other means to satisfy the craving for quality musical entertainment. While the Liverpool Philharmonic played for the rich, W.T. Best played for everyone. It was said that listening to Best was better than any number of lessons, and a loyal following of organ students and budding musicians, scores in hand, seldom missed a performance. George Ashdown Audsley in The Art of Organ Building told of attending Best's concerts once, twice, even three times a week for 28 consecutive years.

Best's playing was marked by outstanding attention to detail, highly characteristic registration and flawless performance. In fast passages, the speed of his long fingers was electrifying. One observer noted that in Bach's Prelude and Fugue in G Minor, Best played 719 notes in about one minute-twelve per second-a sound like "a shower of sparks." His pedaling was considered almost miraculous, for his feet played complex passages of runs and trills with as much agility as his hands. His repertoire-said to contain 5,000 pieces was remarkable, and he was prepared to play any of Bach's organ works on two days' notice? And yet, his principal reputation was that of a transcription player; he was a prolific arranger for his instrument. The list of his compositions, transcriptions and collections eventually covered seven-and-one-half pages of fine type and spanned the whole field of instrumental, orchestral, oratorio and operatic selections.3

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Here Best's detractors found fault. Ignoring the fact that his recitals were the main source of musical enjoyment for a largely untutored audience, Best's critics deplored his use of light music and transcriptions. In an issue of Victorian Magazine, Sir Walter Parratt, Master of the Queen's Music, attacked Best's arrangements as "examples of misapplied skill," and commented: "The erection of large concert hall organs, and the necessity of pleasing the Saturday-night audience has had a disastrous influence over organ music, as in the majority of such programs two thirds at least are arrangements of orchestral and choral works." Best's retort, typically pithy, commenced: "I may here remark that on the only occasion I heard [Parratt] perform upon the organ he essayed a transcription of Mendelssohn's over

THE AMERICAN ORGANIST  p.58

Nelson Barden is restorer-in-residence at Boston University, specializing in electropneumatic pipe organs. His articles on symphonic organs and automatic musical instruments have appeared in England and Germany as well as this country. Mr. Barden's interest in Edwin H. Lemare dates from the Welte Philharmonic Organ concert at the 1976 National AGO Convention in Boston. Portions of this article previously appeared in the British journal The Organ. Copyright 2003 by Nelson Barden. All rights reserved.

Caption: International Invention Exhibition Galleries, 1885, with Royal Albert Hall at left (London Illustrated News)