Book excerpt: One of Victorian America's most beloved and respected composers, Dudley Buck played a crucial role in the coming of age of American music following the Civil War. This volume of his most popular organ works is the first scholarly edition of these pieces. A conductor, organist, and teacher, Buck was the first American to write professional, accessible, and popular organ music, as well as a wealth of choral music, including anthems, cantatas, and partsongs. (See also MU 14 for a selection of these works.) N. Lee Orr's careful, authoritative edition presents Buck's two organ sonatas and four concert variations, introduced by an informative essay on Buck's life and the development of American organs and organ music.