The Galpin Society was formed in October 1946 to further research into the branch of musicology known as

organology Organology (from Ancient Greek () 'instrument' and (), 'the study of') is the science of musical instruments and their classifications. It embraces study of instruments' history, instruments used in different cultures, technical aspects of how i ...

, i.e. the history, construction, development and use of musical instruments. Based in the United Kingdom, it is named after the eminent British organologist and musical instrument collector, Canon

Francis William Galpin Francis William Galpin (December 25, 1858 December 30, 1945) was an English cleric and antiquarian musicologist. He was known as a collector of old musical instruments. Life Born in Dorchester, Dorset, Galpin was educated at Sherborne and Trinit ...

(1858–1945), who had a lifelong interest in studying, collecting, playing, making and writing about musical instruments. The society's founder members, from the generation who followed in the footsteps of Canon Galpin, were keen to form a society to promote the historical study of all kinds of musical instruments. They included

Anthony Baines Anthony Cuthbert Baines (1912–1997) was an English organologist who produced a wide variety of works on the history of musical instruments, and was a founding member of the Galpin Society. He attended Westminster School and then read for a deg ...

Robert Donington Robert Donington (4 May 1907 – 20 January 1990) was a British musicologist and instrumentalist influential in the early music movement and in Wagner studies. He was educated at St Paul's School, London, and studied at the University of Oxfor ...

, Hugh Gough, Eric Halfpenny,

Edgar Hunt Edgar Hubert Hunt (28 June 1909 – 16 March 2006) was a British musician and musicologist. He was a key figure in the early music revival in Britain in general, and in the revival of the recorder in particular. He was a founding member of the ...

, Eric Marshall Johnson, Lyndesay Langwill, Reginald Morley-Pegge, Geoffrey Rendall and Maurice Vincent.

Philip Bate Philip Argall Turner Bate (1909–1999) was a musicologist, broadcaster and collector of musical instruments. Early life and education Bate was born in Glasgow on 26 March 1909. His father, Percy Herbert Bate, was secretary to the Glasgow Mu ...

was the inaugural chairman of the society and Professor

Jack Westrup Sir Jack Westrup (26 July 190421 April 1975) was an English musicologist, writer, teacher and occasional conductor and composer. Biography Jack Allan Westrup was the second of the three sons of George Westrup, insurance clerk, of Dulwich, and his ...

Heather Professor of Music The Heather Professor of Music is the title of an endowed chair at the University of Oxford. The post and the funding for it come from a bequest by William Heather (c. 1563 – 1627). Following the example of his friend William Camden who had left p ...

at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, served as its first president. These names represented a contemporary roll-call of academic figures, professional and amateur performers and private collectors, enthusiastically following the pioneering activities of Canon Galpin and bringing the relatively unknown term organology, coined in 1941 by Nicholas Bessaraboff, to the attention of a wider public. The society's exhibition of 330 British-made instruments at the Arts Council's premises in St James's Square for the 1951 Festival of Britain was a triumph of efficient organisation. It brought together a "collection unsurpassed in its representative completeness" (Gerald Hayes, GSJ VI 1953) which attracted over 6000 visitors. The ''Galpin Society Journal'' quickly established itself as the forum for academics, makers, players and collectors to publish their research and it remains the leading academic journal in the field of organology in the UK. A complete list of journals is provided on the website and all journals up to five years prior to the current year can be accessed via the JSTOR website by anyone with access to an institution that subscribes to it, or on a pay-per-view basis. Individual Galpin Society members are entitled to a 50% discount on JPASS (a 1-year access plan). Today the Galpin Society has an international membership that includes many educational institutions as well as individuals from all walks of life. It arranges occasional conferences and visits, often in conjunction with other societies or academic institutions with similar interests. The society publishes a newsletter on the website three times a year, which includes reviews of museum exhibitions, events, recent publications of books on musical instruments, requests for information and other articles contributed by members.

External links

The Galpin SocietyThe American Musical Instrument Society
Music organizations Organology {{music-org-stub