Authors: Richard Torrence and Marshall Yeager
ISBN 097129707X

The following review was contributed by: Paul Lappen: CLICK TO VIEW Paul Lappen's Reviews 

Based on a memoir by Ted Alan Worth, this is a look at
easily the most famous organist since Johann Sebastian
Bach.

Worth first met Fox when he played an organ concert at
a church in California. Worth was totally blown away
by the things Fox did that day; he didn't just play
the organ (from memory, which was unheard of in the
organ world), he mastered the organ. Is there a word
beyond "virtuoso"? That is how good Fox was on the
organ. After years of practice, Worth became one of
the Fox "group" and became an organist on his own.

During the 1950s and 1960s, Fox was the organist at
the Riverside Church in New York City. His gay lover,
Richard Weagly, was the Choir Director. The unpleasant
end to their relationship was played out in front of
everyone. Fox spent a lot of time on tour, playing in
churches and concert halls all over America. After
each concert, Fox loved spending hours greeting
everyone who stood in line to chat or get an
autograph. He was a natural showman who wanted people
to know who he was, and demanded to be able to be seen
by the audience.

It was also the era of pipe organs (before
electronics) where each pipe had to be tuned
individually. Fox was extremely picky about the sound
of whatever organ he was playing, frequently driving
organ tuners nuts. In the late 1960s, Fox was asked to
resign from the Riverside Church; he had gotten "too
big" for the Church.

This book chronicles many ups and downs in Fox's life,
both personal and professional. To replace Richard,
his lover, Fox brought home a much younger man named
David. He was not well liked by the people around Fox,
including his manager, and David did little to endear
himself to the group. In the late 1970s, Fox entered
the hospital for a prostate operation. He was told
that the whole tumor was removed, and everything was
fine. Fox did nothing about it for a year, only to be
told that just half the tumor was removed, and the
cancer had spread. He died in October 1980.

This is an excellent, but specialized, book. Anyone
who is interested in organ music, or the life of
Virgil Fox, should read this book. For everyone else,
Fox was a person who enjoyed life to the fullest, and
it shows here. It is very much recommended.