American organist and composer Eugene Thayer (1838-1889) inaugurated in 1874 a quarterly newspaper designed specifically and exclusively for organists – the first such publication in America and thus the forerunner to such periodicals as The Diapason, The American Organist and The Tracker. Each issue contains commentary, reports and stoplists of specific organs in the U. S. and abroad, historical accounts of organ culture, articles by Thayer and others, and 62 compositions for the organ by Thayer (28 pieces), Liszt, Rossini, Chadwick, Merkel, Guilmant, Lemmens, Hesse, Battmann, and many others. In 1877, Thayer published all of the issues as a set containing 242 pages, and a facsimile of that is what the Organ Historical Society has published as a hardbound book. It contains a very informative biographical and musicologically annotated introduction by OHS member Allison Alcorn-Oppedahl, as well as a list of Thayer’s musical compositions, publications, and places of employment and education.

Literary Contents: Bach’s Organ Music; Better than Gold (poetry); Boston Cathedral Organ; Church Music; Church Music and Choirs; Church Organists, Clergymen and Church Organs; Czerny’s Letters; First Organs in America; Gallery of Great Composers; Handel and the Oratorio; Life’s Lessons (poetry); Lowell Mason Musical Blunders; Musical Biography; Musical Education; Music Hall Organ, Boston; Music and Musicians; N. E. Indifference to Religion; Old South Organ, Boston; Organ Blower (poetry); Organ Builders; Organ Building Organ; The (poetry) Organ in History; Organists and Organ Playing; Organ Recital Programmes; Organ Recitals; Organ Situations; Organ Studio Parents and Guardians; People’s Music; Plymouth Organ, Brooklyn Registration; Marking Requisites of the Organ; Royal Albert Hall Organ; London Service Preludes; Systematic Training; Ulm Cathedral Organ

Musical Contents: Andre: Prelude in G; Battmann: Four Responses; Battmann: Two Responses in G; Battmann: Prelude in F; Battmann: Prelude in B-flat; Chadwick: Four Canons; Collin: Festival March; Gerrish: Romanza in E; Gladstone: Prelude in F; Guilmant: Prelude in E-flat; Guilmant: Marche de Procession; Hesse: Prelude in E-flat Lefebure-Wely: Festival Offertoire Lefebure-Wely: Andante in F Lefebure-Wely: Prelude in E-flat Lefebure-Wely: Introduction and Priere Lemmens: Prelude in D; Liszt: Ora Pro Nobis; Liszt: Hymnus; Liszt: Ave Maria; Mendelssohn: Postlude in A Merkel: Trio in F Merkel: Four Trios for the Organ, Nos. 2 Merkel: Four Trios for the Organ, Nos. 3 Pattison: Prelude in B-flat Rossini: Concert Recreations (No. 1) Schneider: Prelude in F Silas: Melody in C Smart: Evening Prayer Smart: Prelude in E-flat Smart: Minuetto in A Smart: Minuetto in F Spark: In Memoriam Thayer: Prelude in A-flat Thayer: Prelude in E-flat Thayer: Offertoire, L’esperance Thayer: A Sabbath Reverie Thayer: Prelude in C Thayer: Prelude in G Thayer: Prelude in D Thayer: Prelude in C Thayer: Prelude in A-flat Thayer: Prelude in C Thayer: Prelude in C Thayer: In Memoriam (Funeral March for John Henry Willcox 1828-1875) Thayer: Prelude in A; Thayer: Prelude in G; Thayer: Prelude in F; Thayer: Prelude in A-flat; Thayer: Romanza in G; Thayer: Prelude in F; Thayer: Festival Postlude in G; Thayer: Prelude in G; Thayer: Postlude in G; Thayer: Ave Sanctissima in F; Thayer: Two Responses; Thayer: Second Meditation; Thayer: Three Responses; Turpin: Prelude in B-flat; Vasseur: Postlude in F; Vasseur: Offertoire in B-flat; Volckmar: Festival Postlude (for two performers)

OHS Press, reproduced in 2004