Voluntary in A

English-born William Selby (1738-1798) was organist of King's Chapel in Boston from 1771 until his death. He was a friend of George Frederic Handel and introduced much of Handel's music to American audiences. In 1786 he organized and conducted the first music festival ever held in the United States.

The "A Major Voluntary" was printed about 1770 in London for C. & S. Thompson, in a collection entitled, "Ten Voluntaries for the Organ or Harpsichord composed by Dr. Greene, Skinner, Stubley, James, Reading, Selby, and Kukman."

The edition I used is by Daniel Pinkham and was published in 1972 by E. C. Schirmer Music Co. I used his registrations which are NOT the ones that Selby would have used!

Neither are the wonderful sounds of the Utrecht organ "historically correct" for music such as this.