The Organ in the United States since 1975

Nearly fifty years have passed since Orpha Ochse’s landmark book The History of the Organ in the United States (1975), wherein she examines four centuries of organ building practices and ethos in the Americas. I examine the intervening years of American organ culture, devoting particular attention to the twenty-first century. Notably, new and existing American organs respond to domestic demands and a burgeoning international export market. Pluralistic and historic impetuses chiefly drive these installations. Healthy appreciation and desire for historic instruments manifests in the preservation, relocation, and dispersion of existing classical and theatre organs. Technological advancements in audio sampling and computer processing continue to foster sizable markets for electronic/digital/virtual instruments. Selected case studies of instruments supply examples of larger movements. This summation and analysis encompasses a broad scope of musical instruments, providing a representative review the organ’s various forms in the United States.