French physiotherapist Coralie Cousin, who specialises in work with musicians, shares some of her observations on posture and gesture at the organ.

The nineteenth century in Britain was a time of public lectures and learned societies. The College of Organists was well ahead of its time, and offered improving lectures to an increasingly organised constituency of musicians from its foundation. Andrew McCrea provides an introduction and checklist of the lectures given from the early years of the […]

The Church Music Society (CMS) was founded in 1906 ‘to facilitate the selection and performance of the music which is most suitable for different occasions of Divine worship, and for different kinds of choir’. Richard Lyne reviews the history of the Society’s publications from the early twenty-first century, and notes how the publishing policy and […]

This article is a continuation of the Peter Horton’s article on Hopkins in RCO Journal 2009, on the composer, organist and organ historian Edward John Hopkins (1818–1901), who was a third-generation musician.  His close relations included three cathedral organists—his brother John (Rochester Cathedral) and cousins Edward (Armagh) and John Larkin (Rochester Cathedral and Trinity College, […]

Rather early in his life Robert Schumann developed the tendency to focus his compositional work on a specific genre for a certain period of time. Sometimes, for instance, he would compose almost nothing else but Lieder for a whole year. In 1845 it was the turn of the organ, an instrument that he might have […]

In comparison with Austria or Germany, England hardly competes in the musical dynasty stakes. But the focus of this two-part article by Peter Horton (part II appeared in 2010), is the composer, organist and organ historian Edward John Hopkins (1818–1901),who was a third-generation musician.  His close relations included three cathedral organists—his brother John (Rochester Cathedral) […]

There has been a tendency in recent years to view Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s organ playing and composition for the organ as an almost exclusive product of his musical education in the ‘Bach tradition’. Why this is the case is a topic for another study, but in this essay Johannes Geffert considers some aspects of performance in […]

This essay on the centenary of Murrill’s birth gives a brief outline of Murrill’s career and achievements and, given the context of the journal of a college of organists, concentrates on his church and organ music. Written by Relf Clark, it first appeared in the RCO Journal of 2009. RCO Journal 2009_Clark    

The Theewes claviorgan is a Tudor keyboard instrument, and its magnificent case can be seen in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London  The word ‘claviorgan’ is an anglicised form of the Latin ‘claviorganum’—the term for a harpsichord and organ combined in a single instrument. The revival of interest generated by the reconstructions of the […]