Engel Organ Matinee: 2nd

To be performed on the Engel organ, made by Needham & Son, New York.

“Mr. Engel gave the second of his interesting organ matinées yesterday, at the Union League Theatre, before a very large and fashionable audience. The Engel organ has now become an institution, not only on account of its inherent merits, but also, perhaps, particularly, by the artistic playing of the inventer. The following programme, with a few explanations, will give an idea of the range and power of the instrument and of the ability of the performer [list of numerous brief excerpts performed]. 

Mr. Engel produced a tone from the organ which one would think an impossibility on an instrument without pipes. The percussion effects are extraordinary, and seldom has such a full, round, equal tone been heard on a reed instrument. In the first part of the matinée Mr. Engel made some interesting remarks on the origin of organs. ‘Organon’ was the name the Greeks gave to every keyed instrument, just as the Jews called every stringed instrument a ‘kinnor.’ This seems to lead to the supposition that the guitar is really the first in this line. The first mention in the Bible of an instrument is the kivra, and called in Arabic kitra. This was introduced in Spain by the Moors under the name of kitara. Hence the modern name, guitar. The gypsies brought out one of these instruments into Hungary, and it was called ‘zither,’ where it is a favorite at the present time.”