Background

Edward Biggs was born on March 29, 1906, in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, England, the son of Clarence Power-Biggs, an auctioneer, and Alice Maud Tredgett. His father died when Biggs was three.

Education

At age seven, Biggs entered Hurstpierpoint College in Sussex, a public school, where he excelled at mathematics and science, studied piano, and enjoyed tinkering with mechanical things. After graduating at age sixteen, he went to London to apprentice with an engineering firm. At age eighteen, Biggs began organ studies with J. Stuart Archer, a well-known recitalist. At Archer's suggestion, in 1926 he applied for and won the Thomas Threfall organ scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. There he studied with George D. Cunningham, then at the height of his career as a concert organist. Cunningham became his role model and seems to have exerted considerable influence over his choice of career. He graduated in 1929, winning highest honors in organ, harmony and counterpoint, and piano.

Career

Perhaps inspired by Cunningham's concert tour of the United States in the spring of 1929, Biggs embarked on a six-month tour of the United States in September 1929, serving as organist, pianist, and accompanist for the Cambrian Concert Company. A year later he took up permanent residence in the United States as organist at the Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Newport, Rhode Island, and began his concert career in earnest. Seeking a better base of operations for a concert career, Biggs looked for a church opening in New York City to no avail, but in February 1932 he accepted a job as organist at Christ Church in Cambridge, Massachussets, and soon thereafter played several organ recitals in the Boston-Cambridge area.

In March 1932 Biggs played a recital at the Wanamaker Auditorium in New York City. According to the Diapason's critic, his later performance at the August convention of the National Association of Organists in Rochester, New York, "aroused the audience to sustained applause and bravos. " And in September he began teaching organ at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, a post he held until 1951. In May 1935, Biggs was appointed organist and music director of Harvard Congregational Church in Brookline, Massachussets, and continued in that capacity until December 30, 1956, although he spent increasing amounts of time concertizing. Following his appointment, he made the first of many recital tours of the United States and Canada, to critical acclaim, and in 1937 he became a naturalized American citizen.

Biggs's refusal to perform on electronic organs substantially influenced organ building in the United States. After learning of an experimental organ built by G. Donald Harrison, he suggested that it be housed in the Busch-Reisinger Museum of Germanic Culture at Harvard University. In 1937 he gave the opening recitals on the Harrison organ at Harvard, and he was closely associated with this organ for many years. His concerts at the Busch-Reisinger Museum received wide acclaim. In a series of twelve recitals (1937 - 1938), Biggs performed the complete organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach. But his repertoire was not confined to established classics; indeed, he encouraged many contemporary composers to write organ works. For example, Biggs asked American composer Leo Sowerby to write a concerto for organ and orchestra, which he premiered in 1938 with the Boston Symphony, conducted by Serge Koussevitzky. At the Busch-Reisinger Museum he was often assisted by members of the Stradivarius Quartet, Arthur Fiedler's Sinfonietta, and the Boston Symphony. He made his first recording there, a five-record album called A Bach Organ Recital (1938).

A performance as organ soloist at the Library of Congress in Washington, D. C. , in 1940 led to Biggs's initial contact with arts patron Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge. In 1942 she sponsored a series of ten, half-hour organ recitals by Biggs to be broadcast over CBS radio from the Busch-Reisinger Museum. The response to the concerts was overwhelming, and the series of Sunday morning recitals continued as a regular weekly feature on the CBS radio network until 1958. Constantly seeking new music for his weekly radio program, Biggs invited contemporary composers to write organ works and broadcast world premieres of pieces by Piston, Harris, Hanson, Porter, Templeton, Britten, Sowerby, and Pinkham. He also edited much of the traditional organ repertoire for publication. As a result of radio exposure, Biggs's fame spread beyond sophisticated music circles to the general public.

In the years 1945 and 1946 Biggs played the entire organ works of Bach for the first time on radio, a feat he repeated in 1949-1950 in honor of the bicentenary of Bach's death. In 1948 he played the first radio performance of Charles Ives's Variations on America. In 1950, he performed Antonio Soler's Concerto in G for Two Organs by recording one part prior to broadcast and playing along with it for the "live" performance. From 1939 to 1947, Biggs made twenty-six recordings for Victor Red Seal Records; after 1947 he recorded exclusively for Columbia Records, eventually making 118 recordings for that label. In 1950 he began a series of recordings of performances on the historical organs of Europe. This project continued for the last twenty-five years of his life. In the last years of his life arthritis forced Biggs to curtail his concertizing, but he continued to record and to edit organ works for publication. His last public appearance was in June 1976 as soloist with the Boston Pops Orchestra under conductor Arthur Fiedler. He died in Boston and was buried at Mt. Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge.

Achievements

• Edward Biggs was a concert organist and an influential figure in American music during the middle decades of the 20th century. His name became a household word during the 1940s and 1950s, with his Sunday morning radio broadcast that brought organ music of all periods to listeners throughout the United States. He also recorded extensively for the Columbia Masterworks Records and RCA Victor labels for more than three decades. For his contribution to the recording industry, he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Works

More photos

• book

  • E. Power Biggs Plays Handel - The 16 Concertos And More

    (Drawn from the worldwide holdings of Sony Classical Music...)

  • E. Power Biggs & Rheinberger: Two Concertos for Organ and Orchestra & A Mini Discourse by E. Power Biggs

    ( JOSEF RHEINBERGER (1839-1901) E.P. BIGGS RHEINBERGER:...)

  • Joplin Super Hits
  • A Christmas Festival
  • Great Preludes & Fugues 1
  • Bach: Great Organ Favorites

Membership

Edward Biggs was a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Personality

Quotes from others about the person

• "The effect of listening to that organ played with such knowledge and ability was electrifying. " - Alexander Williams

Connections

In 1932 Biggs met French pianist Colette Lionne, a graduate of the New England Conservatory, whom he married in June 1933. They had no children. In 1944, Biggs's first marriage ended in divorce. On March 10, 1945, he married Margaret ("Peggy") Allen, who, though not a musician herself, remained closely involved with his work throughout his life. They had no children and resided in Cambridge, Massachussets.

Father:

Clarence Power-Biggs

Mother:

Alice Maud (Tredgett) Biggs

Spouse:

Margaret (Allen) Biggs

Spouse:

Colette (Lionne) Biggs

References

• E. Power Biggs, Concert Organist