BAB History
By Marc Elbasani
A little while ago I established contact with the survivors of the Brugnolotti family. They were very pleased to know that people still care about their music and all. The more I spoke with them, the more displeased I was with the lack of information relating to their family.
Just after that, Mr. Matthew Caulfield wrote in the Digest that I had the makings of a B.A.B. historian (thanks Matt), and my various organ contacts on the East Coast are telling me to go ahead and make a little documentary about the family. I now feel that this is an excellent idea, and so I have taken it upon myself to gather up as much of the B.A.B. history as possible as a tribute to that tiny little company that did their best to bring such beautiful music to the ears of the masses.
I intend to contact Mr. Fred Dahlinger (is he a subscriber?) and start from there. I'm sure he knows a great deal about the personal history, and that's all well and good, but I also want to find out about their technical history. From what I understand, they had a unique type of pipes in their organs. So if anyone out there has information relating to the lives of Borna, Antoniazzi, or Brugnolotti, please e-mail it to me. If any of you out there want to chat, I always return my messages promptly. If any of you out there has information about the conversion methods and other technical data, I would be most interested in it.
Although I will have first-hand information from the grandson of Brugnolotti, he may not have all of the stories that are out there, and you know how a lot of stuff can slip your mind after a while. And then there are the other two organ men and the composer J. Lawrence Cook.
Personal information about J. Lawrence Cook would also be an incredible help. I want to find out about his history and character. So I've got a lot of ground to cover. No amount of information is too big or small for me.
Warmest regards,
Marc Elbasani.
In addition: Why is it that so many collectors seem to look down upon B.A.B? Their music is pretty good right? Maybe it's just me.
[ I think there were several different arranging 'epochs', Marc. You
[ will have fun listening to recordings of the B.A.B. rolls and identi-
[ fying who arranged which roll. Some were great, others weren't.
[ Some B.A.B. organ conversions were good, some weren't. And if not
[ played on a compatible organ a good arrangement can still sound bad.
[
[ Mr. Dahlinger is not a subscriber; perhaps you can tell him of the
[ fun we're having here! Good luck with your project. -- Robbie |
(Message sent Wed 19 Mar 1997, 23:00:48 GMT, from time zone GMT-0800.) |
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