Periodicals

Abstract

The discussion of key organ periodicals that follows is broken down by region. Some current or recently published journals have placed indexes of articles on the World Wide Web. Europe: Germany - One of the first journals in Europe that focused on organ culture was the German magazine 'Urania' (est. 1843). It was founded by Gotthilf Wilhelm Körner, and Alexander Wilhelm Gottschalg served as editor from 1865 until his death in 1908. Gottschalg decided to give more attention to "all organ playing and the new fashions in the field of organ building." To prevent one-sidedness, 'Urania' also contained articles about music theory, church music. and piano playing (according to an 1893 announcement). At the beginning of volume 66 (1909), when Max Beckmann was appointed editor, the subtitle was changed: "Gesang- und Clavier-Musik" became "Vokal- und Instrumentalmusik." 'Urania' was published once a month until it ceased publication in 1911. Whereas 'Urania' paid attention to more aspects of musical life than just organ matters, the 'Zeitschrift für Orgel, Clavier-, und Flügelbau' (1844-55) focused more on organ-related topics. The first journal exclusively devoted to the organ was 'Die Orgelbauzeitung' (1879; ed. Moritz Reiter). The title was changed to 'Die Orgel- und Pianobau-Zeitung' (vol. 3, 1881). The aim of the 'Zeitschrift für lnstrumentenbau' (1880), according to editor Paul de Wit, was to cover a wide variety of aspects of instrument building.