For a period of over fifty years, one of America’s most influential transitional figures in pipe organ tonal design preached the gospel of organ reform to whomever would listen. His novel ideas were received with alacrity throughout most of the organ design and organ playing community of mid-twentieth century America.

 

Assembled here for the first time are selected correspondence, essays, and lectures of Lawrence I. Phelps—all in chronological order, in which the reader observes first-hand the development of a tonal philosophy that would dominate conventional design and tonal techniques of pipe organs for decades into the future.