E power biggs biography definition

E. Power Biggs

British-born American concert organist and recording artist

E. Power Biggs
From Biggs's CD, Bach: The Four Great Toccatas and Fugues.
Born	()March 29, Westcliff-on-Sea, England, UK
Died	March 10, () (aged&#;70) Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Organist, harpsichordist
Spouses	Colette Josephine Lionne, pianist (–) (divorced) Margaret Allen ("Peggy") (–) (his death)

Edward George Power Biggs (March 29, – March 10, ) was a British-born American concert organist and recording artist.

Biography

Biggs was born in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, England; a year later, the family moved to the Isle of Wight. Biggs was trained in London at the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied with G. D. Cunningham. Biggs immigrated to the United States in In , he was appointed to a post at Christ Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he resided for the rest of his life. His position as a organist however did not last long; believing that his concert work conflicted with his job, the rector dismissed him from the position. As one of the boy chorister(Charles Fisk) noted: “I went to choir practice, Mr. Bigs [sic] wasn’t there".^[1]

Biggs did much to bring the classical pipe organ back to prominence, and was in the forefront of the midth-century resurgence of interest in the organ music of pre-Romantic composers. On his first concert tour of Europe, in , Biggs performed and recorded works of Johann Sebastian Bach, Sweelinck, Dieterich Buxtehude, and Pachelbel on historic organs associated with those composers. Thereafter, he believed that such music should ideally be performed on instruments representative of that period and that organ music of that epoch should be played by using (as closely as possible) the styles and registrations of that era. Thus, he gave significant impetus to the American revival of organ building in the style of European Baroque instruments, seen especially in the increasing popularity of tracker organs—analogous to Europe's Orgelbewegung.^[2]

Among other instruments, Biggs championed G. Donald Harrison's Baroque-style unenclosed, unencased instrument with 24 stops and electric action (produced by Aeolian-Skinner in and installed in Harvard's Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts) and the three-manual Flentrop tracker organ subsequently installed there in Many of his CBS radio broadcasts and Columbia recordings were made in the museum. Another remarkable instrument used by Biggs was a pedal harpsichord by John Challis; Biggs made recordings of the music of J. S. Bach, Vivaldi, and even went as far afield as Scott Joplin and Tchaikovsky on this instrument.

Biggs' critics of the time included rival concert organist Virgil Fox, who was known for a more flamboyant and colorful style of performance. Fox decried Biggs' insistence on historical accuracy, claiming that it was "relegating the organ to a museum piece".^[3] Artistic rivalries aside, many observers agree that Biggs "should be given great credit for his innovative ideas as far as the musical material he recorded, and for making the organs he recorded even more famous."^[3] Despite different approaches, both artists enjoyed hugely successful careers and Biggs rose to the top of his profession. In addition to concerts and recording, Biggs taught at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at various times in his career and edited a large body of organ music.^[4]

Biggs was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in ^[5] For his contribution to the recording industry, Biggs has a star on California's Hollywood Walk of Fame at Hollywood Boulevard. He was one of the artists honored to celebrate the New York Philharmonic's th birthday celebrations in December ^[6]

Selected discography

Biggs recorded extensively for the Columbia Masterworks Records and RCA Victor labels for more than three decades. Between and , he also hosted a weekly radio program of organ music (carried throughout the United States on the CBS Radio Network) that introduced audiences to the pipe organ and its literature. He was represented by Mercury Music in the s.^[7]

Works for Organ: Essential Classics ()
Bach: Organ Favorites recorded on the Flentrop Organ in the Busch-Reisinger Museum of Harvard University, MS ()
The Golden Age of the Organ, Columbia Masterworks ML () (A tribute to German organ builder Arp Schnitger), organs in Germany and the Netherlands ()
Heroic Music for Organ, Brass and Percussion, Columbia Masterworks M2S
Bach Organ Favorites, Vol. 2, Columbia Masterworks MS ()
Mozart: The Music for Solo Organ—Played on the "Mozart" organ at Haarlem, Columbia Masterworks MS ()
Bach Organ Favorites, Vol. 3, Columbia Masterworks MS ()
E. Power Biggs' Greatest Hits, Columbia Masterworks MS ()
Bach Organ Favorites, Vol. 4, Columbia Masterworks MS ()
Plays Bach in the Thomaskirche, Columbia Masterworks M ()
Bach Organ Favorites, Vol. 5, Columbia Masterworks M ()
Bach Organ Favorites, Vol. 6, Columbia Masterworks M ()
Bach: Four Great Toccatas & Fugues (Cathedral of Freiburg), Columbia Masterworks M ()
Bach Eight Little Preludes and Concerto in D after Vivaldi, Columbia Masterworks M ()
Stars and Stripes Forever: Two Centuries of Heroic Music in America, Columbia Masterworks ()
Variations on Popular Songs, Columbia Masterworks AMS
A Festival of French Organ Music, Columbia Masterworks MS
Buxtehude at Lüneburg, Columbia Masterworks MS
The Organ in America, Columbia Masterworks MS
Historic Organs of England, Columbia Masterworks M
Historic Organs of France, Columbia Masterworks MS
Historic Organs of Italy, Columbia Masterworks MS
Historic Organs of Spain, Columbia Masterworks MS
Historic Organs of Switzerland, Columbia Masterworks MS
The Four Antiphonal Organs of the Cathedral of Freiburg, Columbia Masterworks M (music of Handel, Purcell, Mozart, Buxtehude, et al.)

Bach on the Pedal Harpsichord, Columbia Masterworks MS
Bach: The Six Trio Sonatas (Pedal Harpsichord), Columbia Masterworks M2S
Holiday for Harpsichord, Columbia Masterworks ML
A Mozart Organ Tour, Columbia Masterworks K3L
Bach: The Little Organ Book, Columbia Masterworks KSL
The Art of the Organ, Columbia Masterworks KSL , recorded on twenty different European organs.^[8]
Heroic Music for Organ, Brass, and Percussion, Columbia Masterworks MS
Mozart: Festival Sonatas for Organ and Orchestra, Columbia Masterworks MS
Haydn: The Three Organ Concertos, Columbia Masterworks MS
The Magnificent Mr. Handel, Columbia Masterworks M
The Organ in Sight and Sound, Columbia Masterworks KS (A technical discussion of the organ and its history)
The Organ Concertos of Handel, Nos. 1–6, Columbia Masterworks K2S (with Sir Adrian Boult)
The Organ Concertos of Handel, Nos. 7–12, Columbia Masterworks K2S (with Sir Adrian Boult)
The Organ Concertos of Handel, Nos. 13–16, Columbia Masterworks K2S (with Sir Adrian Boult)
The Organ, Columbia Masterworks DL
Bach at Zwolle, Columbia Masterworks KS
Hindemith: Three Sonatas For Organ, Columbia Masterworks MS
Famous Organs of Holland and North Germany, Columbia Masterworks M
Music of Jubilee, Columbia Masterworks ML (Bach Sinfonias, with Zoltan Rozsnyai)
Soler: Six Concerti for Two Organs, Columbia Masterworks ML (with Daniel Pinkham)
Plays Scott Joplin on the Pedal Harpsichord, Columbia Masterworks M
Heroic Music for Organ, Brass & Percussion, Columbia Masterworks MS (with the New England Brass Ensemble)
Music for Organ and Brass: Canzonas of Gabrieli and Frescobaldi, Columbia Masterworks MS
Music for Organ, Brass and Percussion: Music of Gigout, Dupré, Campra, Widor, Strauss, Purcell, Clarke, and Karg-Elert, Columbia Masterworks M (with the Columbia Brass and Percussion Ensemble, Maurice Peress, conductor)
Mendelssohn in St. Paul's Cathedral, Columbia Masterworks MS

The Glory of Gabrieli Columbia Masterworks MS
What Child Is This? Traditional Christmas Music, Columbia Masterworks MS
Bach: Toccata in D Minor, Bach's Toccata in D Minor recorded on 14 of Europe's finest organs, Columbia Masterworks ML
Rheinberger: Two Concertos For Organ and Orchestra, Columbia Masterworks M

Awards and recognition

Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance:

References