Festival Prelude on "Old Hundred"

Now that July is here, and the 4th of July only days away, I thought I'd do some REALLY obscure "old" Amercian organ music to prepare for the "fireworks" on Thursday... ;-)

Most of this music is new to me as well, so, we're "learning" it together!

Hiram Clarence Eddy (23 June 1851 - 10 January 1937) was born in Greenfield, Massachusetts. He studied under Dudley Buck in Hartford, Connecticut, counterpoint under Carl August Haupt, and piano under Carl Albert Loeschhorn in Berlin. In 1874-76 he was organist of the First Congregational Church, Chicago; afterward organist and choirmaster of the First Presbyterian Church for 17 years and from 1875 to 1908 was director of the Hershey School of Musical Art. In 1877-79 he gave a series of 100 organ recitals, with entirely different programs, a memorable achievement in Amencan musical annals. He played at several expositions in America and abroad, and gave recitals in the principal American and European cities. He composed numerous works for the organ. Clarence Eddy died in Chicago, Illinois.

The "Festival Prelude on 'Old Hundred'" was published in 1909 by Edward Schuberth and Co. Dedicated to "the Reverend Nacy McGee Waters, DD, Tompkins Avenue Congregational Church, Brooklyn, New York". It is an improvisatory style with some "unusual" harmonizations of the well-known tune - "Praise God from who all blessings flow",

Here's a link to the church and EM Skinner organ that the piece was written for, and where Eddy served as Organist: http://www.nycago.org/Organs/Bkln/html/TompkinsAveCong.html

It appears as though the organ till exists, but is unplayable... :-(

I got this work, and most of the others that I'll be posting this week from a 2-volume collection called: "American Organ Music at a Glance" (Vol. 1), that was compiled by Joanne S. Hart, and published by The Sacred Music Press in 1975 for the bicenetennial. Volume 2 has more "modern" composers featured.