DAVID BRIDGEMAN-SUTTON ARCHIVE
David Bridgeman-Sutton's regular column called "Musings & Amusings" appeared on our organ websites from 2002 until 2013. His articles covered an astonishing array of subjects - mainly but not entirely - centered on the pipe organ, dealt with great humour, playfulness, and wide-ranging knowledge. Since we consider these to be an invaluable anecdotal contribution to the world of the pipe organ, we are gradually recreating these pages, bit by bit, to ensure they are not lost. The first article to be restored is about the blind concert organist Alfred Hollins.
About David Bridgeman-Sutton
David Bridgeman-Sutton (b.1934) is a British organ enthusiast and independent writer with an unusually broad knowledge of organs, organ-builders, organists, architecture, engineering and musical history. From 2002 to 2013, his regular column, "Musings & Amusings", delighted readers worldwide.
His subjects ranged from Barker levers, organ cases and playing aids to forgotten organists, architecture, travel, railway connections, memorials, flying, woollen mills and assorted historical oddities. His writing reveals the curiosity of a researcher, the eye of a social historian and the timing of a raconteur. He made specialist knowledge enjoyable without ever making it trivial.
David and his wife, Althea, were special friends of Martin and Jenny Setchell. This archive preserves David’s remarkable collection of articles so that his knowledge, humour and wonderfully individual way of looking at the world can continue to be discovered and enjoyed.
Explore the witty, wide-ranging writings of David Bridgeman-Sutton, originally published by Pipeline Press under the title Musings & Amusings. His articles range freely across organs, music, architecture, history and the wonderfully unexpected.
ARTICLE INDEX
Browse David’s Musings & Amusings by year
2002
- Alfred Hollins — A Blind Musician Looks Back
- Serendipity with Snetzler — Part I
- Serendipity with Snetzler — Part II
- Organ Voices
- Organ Blowers — Part I
- Organ Blowers — Part II
- Organ Blowers — Part III
- Organ Cases — Part I
- Organ Cases — Part II
- Organ Cases — Part III
2003
- Organ Cases — Part IV
- Architects and Organ-builders
- Plain Vanilla or Chocolate?
- Canterbury Cousins
- Blenheim Palace and Elsewhere
- Ornament — Applied and Misapplied
- Hats Off to Arms!
- Invisible Organs
- Organ Anthology — Part I
- Organ Anthology — Part II
- Ghosts
2004
- Tonal Sonority Through Abriltolos
- Telegram from America
- Booth’s Puffs
- The Barker Lever
- …But Bettering Barker!
- Hymns—Listen Up!
- A Tale of Two Organs
- A Tale of Two Organs—Continued
- Guitarists Do It Better
- Music for the Feast of Christmas
- Angelicals
2005
- Making It Up—The Art of Parisian Organists
- Records and Reminiscences—Great Recordings by Parisian Organists
- The Case Is Altered
- Fashion Notes
- Two Town Halls
- Edward Heath—A Special Tribute
- The Organ That Time Forgot—The Organ of the Trocadéro in Paris
- Tin Whistles
- Secrets of the Opera
- Singing in the Train
- Buttoning Up
2006
- Automobile Blues
- Pipes and Packing Cases
- Harry Remembers—From Music Hall to Cinema
- Harry Remembers, Part II—More About the Good Years
- Bismarck and the Pipe Organ
- Harry Remembers, Part III—What Colour Would You Like Your Organ, Sir?
- Playing Aids, Part I—Help or Hindrance?
- Malcolm Arnold—A Personal Tribute
- Playing Aids, Part II—Dirty Work at the Crossroads
- Connections—Intriguing Coincidences
- Christmas Recipes—with Althea
2007
- The Birthday Present—A Teenage Boy’s Unusual Request
- Harry Remembers, Part IV—Was This the Beginning of the End?
- Playing Aids, Part III—Thinking Outside the Box
- Wonder of Gascony—A Novel Use for an Organ
- Gilding the Lily—But Why?
- A Most Eloquent Music
- Seeing Double, Part I—Liverpool Cathedral
- Seeing Double, Part II—Walford Davies at Windsor
- Humble Relations, Part I—The American Branch
- Humble Relations, Part II—The French Branch
- Tops, Noils, Shoddy and Mungo
- Tops, Noils and Handel’s Messiah
2008
- Summer Puddings—With Althea
- Neandertal Hymn Writer—From Hymn Tunes to Climate Change
- Byway, Part I—Brindley and Foster Organs Revisited
- Byway, Part II—The Demise of Brindley and Foster
- Flying High—When Air Travel Was Fun
- Dorothea, Queen of Denmark—and an Organ with a Difference
- Rhubarb, Rhubarb, Rhubarb—More Useful Recipes
- Smogger—The World of Tramps
- Time’s Ever-Rolling Stream—The Changing Facades of Organs
- Fastest Fleece in the West—A Bradford Connection
2009
- Giving Them Names—Stops of Incomplete Compass
- Dudley Savage—A Tribute
- Three Organ Cases—Which Appeals?
- Henery’s Finest Hour—A Character from the Past
- Sneezes from the Organ Loft—What Is It About Organ Consoles?
- Two Twentieth-Century Organists: Philip Marshall—Part I
- Philip Marshall—Part II: A Penchant for Palindromes
- Two Twentieth-Century Organists: Mme Duruflé
- More Sneezes from the Organ Loft
- Country Church Curiosity—A Gem in Yorkshire
2010
- The Italian Face of Salzburg—A Visit to St Rupert’s
- Ladies at the Console—Women Cinema Organists Remembered
- Gothic Cases—The Organs of Sion, Wissell and Kiedrich
- Gothick Cases—Gothic Style in Lincoln, York, Poitiers and Stroud
- Orders and Decorations Will Be Worn
- Organs in Fiction—Some Holiday Reading and Viewing
- Christmas Recipes—Treats That Appealed to Musicians Through the Centuries