The book examines the perception of the organist as the most influential musical figure in
Victorian society through the writings of Thomas Hardy and Robert Browning. This will be the
first book in the burgeoning area of research into the relationship of music and literature
that examines the societal perceptions of a figure central to civic life in Victorian England.
This book is deliberately interdisciplinary and will be of special interest to literature
scholars and students of Victorian studies culture society religion gender studies and
music. However the nature of the text does not require specialist knowledge of music.
