Of course pianos are not portable either, but they are often part of an orchestra with other musicians. So, no pipe organ is getting stuffed in a black carrying case, plopped in a cab or an airplane, and have the musician come through the stage door carrying one. The pipe organ is a very large instrument.
Of course not all organs are pipe organs. Jane Jarvis and Eddie Layton played many a rousing ditty at Yankee Stadium and Madison Square Garden sitting at a console. Their organs weren't portable either, and of course, they were the only ones playing any music at those venues. It's a lonely job.
All this became apparent as I read the obit for Simon Preston. Many people who become famous for their field of endeavor do so because their parents were steeped in it as well. This is true for Mr. Preston, whose parents were worshipers at the local church in Bournemouth, England; his uncle played the organ there; there was a harmonium in his home, and he learned to played the piano when he was old enough to read the psalter (the Book of Psalms); he later dappled with a harpsichord. If Bruce Springsteen was Born to Run, Simon Preston was born to play the organ.
Mr. Preston made the rounds at the top level of organ music in England: Cambridge King's College, Christ Church Oxford and Westminster Abbey, even directing the music played at Westminster Abbey for the wedding of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson in 1986.
Being the pre-eminent organ player in the world, Mr. Preston of course traveled, and played often in NYC at St. Bartholomew's Church, where the largest pipe organ in New York can be found. If Carnegie Hall had a pipe organ, he would have played there as well.
And as is my habit, I look on iTunes for the music of someone who has just passed away that I might be interested in. I downloaded two of Mr. Preston's recordings to add to my iPod that holds many recordings of deceased musical artists of all stripes.
The last word quote from Mr. Preston that closes the obituary neatly sums up the life of a pipe organist who has to travel to his instrument, rather than someone who brings it with them. (I understand Vladimir Horowitz when he came out of retirement in the '60s and played Carnegie Hall, had his own piano brought in.)
"Actually trying to work the very best of a rather recalcitrant instrument is still fun. It's lonely though. You're on your own. You're a solo performer. There's nothing much around. You can be stuck in some cold cheerless church, or overheated cheerless church, and it can be grim from that point of view.
"But no, I think it's fun."
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