Jump to content
Mander Organ Builders Forum

father-willis

Members
  • Posts

    98
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Gloucestershire

Recent Profile Visitors

2,874 profile views

father-willis's Achievements

Member

Member (2/3)

0

Reputation

  1. Welcome to the Forum! I hope you find it a positive experience.
  2. Happy New Year to all members, old and, hopefully, new!! New Year: New Thoughts. Organ (building) news announced and "BANG!" we all pile in/on and criticise, negatively and positively, some putting thoughts into print. It would be interesting to read about members' own thoughts and reasoning. How about we highlight instruments that we would Restore - to its original state/a particular time in its history/leave alone, merely cleaning etc. and those that we consider worthy of Replacement - those instruments we consider beyond redemption. Lists are OK but it makes much more interesting reading if we include our reasoning behind our opinions. And, of course, let's keep it nice and respect everyone else's views. I'll make a couple of suggestions: Restore: St Michael's Mount, Cornwall. https://npor.org.uk/survey/D05198 Investigate space for Gt Trumpet; provide new tracker action. Holy Trinity, Ashton-Under-Lyne. https://npor.org.uk/survey/N10959 Clean and restore as is. Two stops prepared for completed with appropriate period pipework or new made to appropriate specifications. Replace: Well,I was going to add this https://npor.org.uk/survey/N05657 but I see that it has already gone! The console was horrid, the action noisy and the Cornopean could be heard in nearby Tewkesbury. It is some time since I played it but I do not remember much, if anything, that was pleasant about it. It was not a joy.
  3. And here it is - no longer a game! http://www.nicholsonorgans.co.uk/pf/gloucestercathedral/?fbclid=IwAR2578rzok0zx1CFUEG4l79z09SPspChmhuqQMHywybzb-UEh47LCJvCdzo http://www.nicholsonorgans.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/GC-website-spec.pdf I am pretty pleased that I was so near the mark on this one. Feeling proud!😆
  4. Thank you Rowland, your first paragraph may help (my ed of the Dictionary is in the UK!).
  5. Can anyone help with information concerning George William PRICE ? He was an organ builder who emigrated and set up business in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape, South Africa c1880. He is listed as an organ builder, piano tuner and dealer and general music supplier. What we do know is that he was born c1846 in England and died 30th January 1924 in Cape Town. He had married Anne (Tapp) presumably before leaving England. She was born c1844 in England and died in Cape Town 21st December 1925. Price appears to have been quite prolific in re/building instruments throughout his carrier all over South Africa. It would be very good to know where he trained. There are recorded two people (married) of the same name in Plymouth but both with birth years given as 1844 and 1842 respectively. That seems like too much of a coincidence . George is listed here as a wood worker. Did he travel to SA as an agent or to oversea the construction of a particular instrument? we don't know. Anyone have any insights?
  6. Well I'm going to have a go. This is but one solution which attempts to right all wrongs of previous instruments in one(!!) The old cases will contain what will be called the "Harris Great" and will use all of the remaining case pipes. Although the case is to remain where it is there will be no "Grand Chorus" or "Nave Great" etc within it destroying its integrity. The "Restoration Chaire" case to remain with a light tracker action to allow for sensitive playing. On the south side of the Quire, behind the canopied stalls will sit the ""Willis Cathedral Great". Uncased with bare zinc bases (again for authenticity) this is voiced to be able to fulfill the needs of choir accompaniment (essential) and can, with ease, be used in recital filling the cathedral with sound - if the stops are carefully and tastefully selected. It being considered that the backwards protrusion of a beige painted swell box (colour selected to blend with the surrounding stone) into the south transept would be ungainly, the "Anglican Accompanimental (Specialist Psalm) Swell" will be placed as close as convenient to the player in the south quire triforium. The artful voicing of this division, though not large, will allow for the registering of many schools of music if stop combinations are chosen with care. It can also play and accompany choral music of other denominations. It has been suggested that this division be renamed the "Ecumenical Swell". In the north quire triforium will be placed the "Ethereal Solo & I Set The Pace Chorus" together with the bulk of the pedal. The Harris Great and Restoration Chaire to be played from a console en fenetre to the main case with chaire behind. Great on direct electric action to energise the speach by explosive attack to each pipe (and the whole division) overcoming any defects/alterations of/to these pipes, and in the large acoustic sound nice and "baroque". Harris Great, CCC ie 16' - F in alt. Wind pressure 2 1/2" wg- Diapasons, East Diapason, West Diapason, Stopt Diapason, Principall, Principall, Twelfth, Fifteenth, Tierce, Furniture, Cimball, Trumpet, Clarion. Restoration Chaire, CC ie 8' - F in alt. (2 1/2") - Stopt Diapason, Principall, Nason, Fifteenth, Two and Twenty, Cremona Willis Cathedral Great (Flues & 16' reed: 4", 8' & 4' reeds 7") - Double Open Diapason 16, Cathedral Filling Diapason 8, Open Diapason 8, Open Diapason 8, Claribel 8, Cathedral Principal 4, Principal, Flute Harmonique 4, Twelfth 2 2/3, Piccolo 2, Fifteenth 2, Fourniture III, Mixture III, Trombone 16, Tromba 4, Clarion4. Anglican Accompanimental (Specialist Psalm) Swell Stops marked with * enclosed within a secondary inner swell box - Lieblich Bourdon 16, **Contra Salicional 16, Open Diapason, Geigen Diapason, Lieblich Gedackt 8, *Hohl Flute 8, Salicional 8, Vox Angelica 8, Geigen Principal 4, *Gemshorn 4, Lieblich Flute 4, Flageolet 2, Sesquialtera III, *Contra Oboe 16, Double Trumpet 16, Cornopean 8, *Horn 8, Hautboy 8, *Vox Humana 8, Clarion 4. Ethereal Solo (enclosed, facing south) & I Set The Pace Chorus (unenclosed, facing west) - Quintaton 16, Contra Dulciana 16, Flute Harmonique 8, Doppelzauber Flute Triangulaire 8, Bearded Gamba 8, Shaven Celeste 8 (2rks, keen), Flute 4, Praetorius Rankett 16, Orchestral Clarinet 8, Saxophone 8, Unenclosed - Diapason Phonon 8, Large Prinicpal 4, Nazard, Harmonic Piccolo 2, Tierce 1 3/5, Larigot 1 1/3, Pace Chorus XXVI rks, Bombarde 16, Trompette Harmonique 8, Ecclesial Tuba Magnificenta Superba 8 Pedal (North Trforium) - Sequoiadendron Giganteum 32 - (Wood, One hollowed out Giant Redwood), Open Wood I (Oak) 16, Open Wood II (Chipboard) 16, Violone 16(metal, keenly voiced to allow transmission of tone southwards to be a bass to south divisions), Echo Harmonic Stopped Doppel Pentabourdon (five sided) 16, Violoncello 8, Bass Flute 8, Fifteenth 4, Harmonic Twig 2, Contra Saxophone 32 (enclosed), Lieblich Bombard 32, Trombone 16, Console detached and set in a convenient place among the choir stalls. All divisions except the Restoraion Chaire controlled from this console. This is not, perhaps, the ideal or perfect solution to Gloucester's organic woes but I believe it to solves many of the criticisms that have bedevilled this place for some time. Please comment 😁
  7. Does anyone here happen to know who publishes, "Variations on a theme of Guillaume de Machaut", op 65 Christopher Steel?
  8. How interesting this has become. Now to hunt for Martin Lee-Brown, unless anyone here knows him.
  9. I have just come across mention of an Organ Sonata by Frederic Austin which is dedicated to Percy Whitlock. Does anyone know of this work?
  10. Well that's a shame. An amusement this was meant to be not necessarily instructive and certainly not prophecy. So, no, we will not know what Gloucester is until it is: I think it was clear that I understood that. Of course, if you do not wish to read any more about that particular job - don't! and, indeed, what we find amusing individually is just that. I will postpone anything further myself and see if others may respond/take part. If not I will close/remove the thread. It does seem rather a pity especially following on so soon from Martin's plea to get involved, and here's part of what he said from the thread. "Are we dying on our feet" Please feel that anyone can raise any topic about organs or organ music regardless of how basic it sounds or how inexperienced you feel. Nobody here is going to knock you back or reply in critical or disbelieving tones so if you come across an interesting organ, or you wonder why some pistons are square and others are round, or you want to identify or get hold of a copy of a piece of music you have heard, ask away. And we're not even fierce if you go off-topic - but it's great to start new threads even if they spring from current or old ones. And, ok, you feel a bit of a duffer if no-one replies to a thread - as happens to me quite frequently, but no need to be discouraged.
  11. I thought I would start a new thread so that the other Gloucester Rebuild conversation doesn't get totally clogged up. Firstly THIS IS MEANT TO BE A GAME! "We" are known to be armchair experts devising schemes that to us are perfect and loving to disparage others' proposed and newly completed builds before ever experiencing them personally. Having got that out of the way who would like to join me in drawing up schemes for the new Gloucester organ?! It can, and should, range from the bizarre and comical to the serious, and hopefully we will all sit back in our armchairs with smoking hats on (not to soil the antimacassars) take aim and fire! I'll come up with a suggestion when I get back later ; )
  12. Not a Forster and Andrews example but I do know of one example of fan trumpets. Unfortunately it no longer exists in its original home. In 1867 the new Pubic Buildings were completed and opened in Penzance, Cornwall. In the main hall, known as St John's Hall, there was a newly built organ by Messers Bryceson & Co to the design of W T Best who gave the opening recital. There is quite a thorough report on the organ in the local press comparing it to some other notable organs in the country in terms of size and completeness. It was, at the time, the largest organ in Cornwall - predating Truro Cathedral by some twenty years - and was Cornwall's only civic organ. The instrument was cleaned and restored by Norman & Beard in 1904 when the trumpets were removed from the top of the case and set vertically inside. By the time of the 1939-45 war it was in a poor state and little used. I seem to remember being told that it had been dismantled and stored in the cellars of the hall. Mr Hugh Branwell, organist of Chapel Street Wesleyan Methodist Chapel in Pz, and a man of private means, bought the instrument and in 1952 it was combined with the Walker organ in the said chapel by the Sweetland organ builders of Bath into a very large three manual organ becoming, in a similar way as before, the largest organ in Cornwall. I am not sure that all of the fan trumpets were speaking pipes but some certainly were and they can be seen inside their present home with some of the decoration still on them in the following photos.
  13. This has now been resolved and I have managed to obtain a copy.
  14. Thanks Martin.I did see that it is available as a "new" reprint and not cheap. I will post a little wider.
  15. I don't suppose anyone out there in the great wide organ world might have a copy of C H Lloyd's, Organ Sonata and be willing to supply me with a, replacement, copy? It has three movements, in D minor and is dedicated to Henry Willis, Organ Builder. I played it a few years ago at one of the lunchtime concerts in Oxford Town Hall but my copy seems to have flown the nest!
×
×
  • Create New...