Talk:List of organ composers

Organization issues

Broadly speaking, composers can be organized by:

alphabetical (last name)
era
culture (country)
birth year

I have chosen the current format (culture > era > alphabetical) because it would help me most easily find a given composer, but there may be better methods of organization, such as era > birth year, or era > culture > birth year, etc. Also, I am uncertain whether to include birthdate and deathdate, like French baroque organists, it might be nice, or it might be cluttered. Just a couple of considerations... -Sesquialtera II 03:31, 31 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I think what is here now (country > era > alphabetical) works best, because alphabetical listings are easier to search, and the development of organ music in a particular country during a given era can be covered in articles like French baroque organists - speaking of which, are you going to merge it with this article (or into organ repertoire)? Because if you aren't, I was thinking about expanding it with info from the French Wikipedia article about the French organ school. Jashiin 21:54, 2 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I wanted this page to be a list of the "significant" or "notable" organ composers, ones who every organist should recognize. It is not intended to be comprehensive. So, I'm not planning on merging this article with French baroque organists, although I would like to see all the information in the latter present in a Organ repertoire: French classical article (or however WP's naming conventions would make that look). -Sesquialtera II 15:54, 6 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

There can of course be endless discussions about which organ composers are "significant" or "notable". However, I would recommend excluding Heinrich Schütz, who, while being very sgnificant as a composer, is not known for any solo organ works. At the same time I would include Jakob Praetorius (under Germany, Baroque), who is. Other inclusions that I think might be justifiable are: (Netherlands, Renaissance) Pieter Cornet, (Netherlands, Baroque) Abraham van den Kerkhoven, (England, Renaissance) Orlando Gibbons, (England, Baroque) Henry Purcell, (Spain, Baroque) move Juan Cabanilles from Renaissance to Baroque and add Sebastián Aguilera de Heredia, Francisco Correa de Araujo, and Pablo Bruna (under Baroque). If Tomás de Santa María is to be included, whose short didactic pieces are hardly ever heard, then these additional Spanish organ composers are certainly more notable. Any accents in the Spanish names are modern, not contemporary, as is the spelling (i.e. Tomás, not Thomas; Araujo, not Arauxo). One can also argue about the classifications Renaissance, Baroque, Classical and Romantic. These are fuzzy classifications and changes of style took place at slightly different times in different regions, just as certain composers might be rather conservative. Also perceptions of what constitutes these styles may change. For example, I would classify Titelouze and Orlando Gibbons as Renaissance (because of their graver, motet-like style), whereas their Spanish contemporary Aguilera is definitely Baroque with his more florid and rhythmically varied writing. However, Gibbons and other Jacobean composers are increasingly regarded as baroque rather than renaissance composers; so are Sweelinck and Cornet, by the way. Uttenthal, Salamanca83.93.206.234 18:42, 15 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

NPOV issues concerning the definition used on this page

A discussion on Talk:List of major opera composers concerning NPOV issues is currently underway and the definition used in this article has been cited because it is not sourced and is not clear as to exactly the criteria should be for inclusion. Since this discussion is escalating, I'm rewriting this definition using less selective criteria. I've also added John Henderson's excellant book of Organ composers as the main reference and plan on adding Gilles Cantegrel's Organ repertoire book. Between the two of these references, all of the names currently on this list can be sourced and should therefore be considered suitable candidates for this list. Musikfabrik 15:35, 16 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not sure whether just checking they're in one of two books is enough: Are you including every composer from those books? If not, how are you selecting which ones to include from them? It's also worrying that two composers on this list are major editors of it. Adam Cuerden ^talk 18:04, 17 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]