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Designing, installing, and maintaining the colonial apparatus: the work of the organ-building firm, G.W. Price & Son
Thesis (MMus)--Stellenbosch University, 2025.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
2025
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| _version_ | 1867614115726360576 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Hughes, Jonathan Edward |
| author2 | Muller, Stephanus |
| author_browse | Hughes, Jonathan Edward Muller, Stephanus |
| author_facet | Muller, Stephanus Hughes, Jonathan Edward |
| author_sort | Hughes, Jonathan Edward |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | Stellenbosch University |
| description | Thesis (MMus)--Stellenbosch University, 2025. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/134633 |
| institution | Stellenbosch University (South Africa) |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:46:55.034Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| publisherStr | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| spelling | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/134633 Designing, installing, and maintaining the colonial apparatus: the work of the organ-building firm, G.W. Price & Son Hughes, Jonathan Edward Muller, Stephanus Dippenaar, Erik Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Music. Price, George William, 1846-1924 Organ (Musical instrument) -- Construction -- South Africa -- History Organ builders -- South Africa -- History Church music -- South Africa Historic buildings -- South Africa UCTD Thesis (MMus)--Stellenbosch University, 2025. Hughes, J. E. 2025. Designing, Installing, and Maintaining the Colonial Apparatus: The Work of the Organ-Building Firm, G.W. Price & Son. Unpublished masters thesis. Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University [online]. Available: https://scholar.sun.ac.za/items/ec8e1a93-de9e-437a-97eb-97fcd71bb1a0 ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis explores the history and work of the organ-building firm, G.W. Price & Son, assessing its role in designing, installing, and maintaining pipe organs throughout what would become South Africa. The firm was originally centred around George William Price (c.1846-1924), who moved to erstwhile Grahamstown (now Makhanda) around 1883 and operated as an organ builder, piano tuner, and harmonium technician in Grahamstown and surrounds. In 1899, Price and his family moved to Cape Town, creating the firm G.W. Price & Son (c. 1907) through a partnership with his son, William Alfred Price (1886-1973). Following the death of G.W. Price in 1924, the firm continued operating until around 1953. An important aspect of the firm’s work involved the importation of European pipe organs and the installation of these organs in colonial churches. Beyond supplying new instruments, G.W. Price & Son were also engaged in rebuilding and modernising existing pipe organs; notable examples include the organ of Commemoration Methodist Church, Grahamstown (1894), and the ‘Jan Hoets’ organ of the Groote Kerk, Cape Town (1898). As both a religiously charged musical instrument and a complex and expansive machine, the pipe organ served as an important symbol of European culture within South African settler societies. Engaging with this privileged status held by the organ, this thesis discusses the work of G.W. Price & Son during the period 1883 to 1924 within a broader context of colonial consolidation, emphasising both how it relied on colonial infrastructure and how it contributed to the social infrastructure of imperialism and colonialism. This is assessed through accounts of the technical modernity achieved by the firm through its work, enabling a sense of progress amongst settler communities. Considering this unique position afforded to the organ by its social and cultural importance, this thesis also examines embodied encounters with the colonial organ, addressing interactions with, and facilitated by, the pipe organ in colonial societies. By discussing the instruments erected by G.W. Price & Son through visual, sonic, and haptic interactions, this work highlights the ways in which these instruments contributed to colonial society on the level of the individual and of the community, situating them within broader narratives of settler agency and sovereignty. AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Geen opsomming beskikbaar. Masters 2025-12-19T10:14:42Z 2025-12-19T10:14:42Z 2025-12 Thesis https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/134633 en Stellenbosch University viii, 152 pages : illustrations application/pdf Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| spellingShingle | Price, George William, 1846-1924 Organ (Musical instrument) -- Construction -- South Africa -- History Organ builders -- South Africa -- History Church music -- South Africa Historic buildings -- South Africa UCTD Hughes, Jonathan Edward Designing, installing, and maintaining the colonial apparatus: the work of the organ-building firm, G.W. Price & Son |
| title | Designing, installing, and maintaining the colonial apparatus: the work of the organ-building firm, G.W. Price & Son |
| title_full | Designing, installing, and maintaining the colonial apparatus: the work of the organ-building firm, G.W. Price & Son |
| title_fullStr | Designing, installing, and maintaining the colonial apparatus: the work of the organ-building firm, G.W. Price & Son |
| title_full_unstemmed | Designing, installing, and maintaining the colonial apparatus: the work of the organ-building firm, G.W. Price & Son |
| title_short | Designing, installing, and maintaining the colonial apparatus: the work of the organ-building firm, G.W. Price & Son |
| title_sort | designing installing and maintaining the colonial apparatus the work of the organ building firm g w price son |
| topic | Price, George William, 1846-1924 Organ (Musical instrument) -- Construction -- South Africa -- History Organ builders -- South Africa -- History Church music -- South Africa Historic buildings -- South Africa UCTD |
| url | https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/134633 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT hughesjonathanedward designinginstallingandmaintainingthecolonialapparatustheworkoftheorganbuildingfirmgwpriceson |