The Organ Versus the Orchestra

It is a gross error to suggest, as is so often done, that the organ is an imitation of the orchestra. This is not so; neither ought they ever to be compared. The organ stands on an entirely different plane; but it certainly has many points of resemblance which seem to give countenance to the error. Still, it never can be possible to compare an instrument of such complicated mechanism with the orchestra. When we consider that the expression obtainable on an organ must necessarily depend on mechanical means, and that all its complications are under the control of an individual who, however he may strive to make his own personality dominate, is yet perpetually restricted by limitations, we can see how utterly impossible it is to compare the organ with the orchestra.—E. H. Lemare, in “Musical Opinion”