Motivo

Frederic Archer (16 June 1838 – 22 October 1901) was a British-American composer, conductor and organist, born at Oxford, England. He studied music in London and Leipzig, and held musical positions in England and Scotland until 1880, when he became organist of Plymouth Church in Brooklyn, New York. Archer was later appointed conductor of the Boston, Massachusetts Oratorio Society, director of Carnegie Music Hall in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and in 1899 organist of the Church of the Ascension in Pittsburgh. In 1896 he established the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. He founded, in 1885, The Keynote, which for a time he edited, and also published several books and numerous organ compositions.

Archer died of cancer at his home in the East End of Pittsburgh on 22 October 1901. He, his wife, and daughter rest in apparently unmarked graves at Pittsburgh's Homewood Cemetery.

I've been thinking of playing some of Archer's works for awhile. It was the search for some of them that actually brought me to this vast collection in "The Organist's Quarterly Journal".

Many of them are bravura showpieces, but "Motivo" is just a miniature sketch that sounds like it will be the introduction for a larger work, but alas, this is all there is.

Still, it is expressive and makes fine use of the organ.

Maybe I'll look at some other works by Archer in coming days.

This work is found in Volume 2 of "The Organist's Quarterly Journal". The score itself is too large to attach, but THIS is the correct IMSLP link, where you can find 9 of the 10 volumes.

https://imslp.org/wiki/The_Organist's_Quarterly_Journal_(Various)

A portrait photo of Frederic Archer is attached below, as well as a photo hum by the organ of the Carnegie Music Hall in Pittsburgh. Also attached are several photos of the Church of the Ascension in Pittsburgh.