The Early English Organ Builders and their work/Dedication
To
EDWIN GEORGE MONK,
Mus.Doc. Oxon.
Organist and Choirmaster of
York Minster.
My dear Monk,
In placing your name at the head of this page, I not only wish to express my opinion of your talents as a Church musician, but also to record my high esteem for you as a man.
Our friendship dates far back (some quarter of a century), and during that time I have watched not only the growth of your talents and intellectual powers, but also your rise in the profession; first as organist of the comparatively humble College of S. Columba, Ireland; second, as organist, precentor and fellow of St. Peter's College, Radley; and finally to your present station as organist and choirmaster of the Cathedral of York—a post beyond which your fondest ambition can scarce advance.
You richly deserve all the honours you have attained, and the present state of the York choir will bear ample witness to the excellence of your training. You have set a pattern, and one which I devoutly wish were followed in other cathedrals. The glorious services of our Church would then be rendered as they ought to be, and organists escape the censure that is daily heaped upon them.
In the pleasant walks of Radley, in the old-fashioned recesses of Bodley's rich library, and in the beautiful aisles of York Cathedral, I have held converse with you. Your mind was ever open to the beauties of nature, the charms of ancient book-lore, or the glories of ancient architecture.
It is to you that I owe my knowledge of the old Fabric Rolls of the Cathedral in which you so worthily preside—so largely used in the following Lecture, I thought it, then, not inappropriate to dedicate these pages to one whom I felt certain would deem the information they convey not worthless, or beneath the notice of the musician.
Regent's Park.