father-willis

RCO hoods in particular are not cheap. It's because of the materials they have chosen to use: Red Tudor Rose Silk Damask and the lining of 'Pearl', a shot silk of three colours woven together. I think that Ede & Ravenscroft are the only ceople who do/can make them. I have, in the past, enquired at other makers whether or not they could supply any of the RCO hoods and the answer has come back, 'no'. The two materials mentiones are themselves very expensive so very few robe/hood makers stock them. Some have a little of the damask but not the silk. The silk is used for music degrees at Wales but I'm not sure if anywhere else so stocking it isn't really sesnsible. I find it interesting whenever there is some broadcast service from cathedral, abbey, church etc that most of the directors/organists seem to choose to wear, if entitled, the FRCO hood rather than a degree hood, which they have!

Quite right. I knew it was somewhere up there!! F-W

Part of the Preston Public Hall organ found its way to Matthew Copley (didn't they?) and certainly the 32' flues are now in his new(ish) organ in the RC cathedral in Glasgow. Whatever happened to the Hulme 'Renn'? Surely historic and important? So what else is out there at the moment that is at risk? The IBOB has a good list of redundancies but they seem to be from the CoE and non-conformist places. What abouts the RCs? Or how would one find out what is available from RC churches? F-W

I was standing for election to the PCC last year and told shortly before the meeting that I could not be an 'employee' and elected to the PCC. There was a place on the Deanery Synod so I stood for and was elected to that and therefore by right have a place on the PCC. It was either that or not be employed and receive a good old fashioned honorarium. F-W

A Double Open...out of fashion?! Surely not!! F-W

Our fees are: Wedding - £150 Funeral - £80 Doubled if recorded Choir receive £20. We had a wedding yesterday, which was videoed. Partly in jest one of my choirmen asked 'Do our fees get doubled?!'. Now that has never occured to me. What do others do? F-W

May I join in the thanks for this wonderful forum and Easter greetings to all? Here in Cheltenham (All Saints') we are having a fairly busy week: Palm Sunday morning: Ingrediente Domino - Malcolm (just before we set off on the outdoor procession) Hosanna to the Son of David - Weelkes (at the west end of the church to greet The Cross Setting - A New English Folk Mas (from NEH) Motet - God so loved the world - Stainer Evening: We constructed a Passiontide meditation instead of our usual evensong using the Schutz The Seven Last Words from The Cross as the 'meat' in a sandwich. The 'bread' being Praise to Thee Lord Jesus and some of the Schutz Geistliche Konzerte, Die Seele Christi (ATB), Das Blut (SSB), Eile mich (S), Ehore mich (SS). We put in some passiontide hymns for the punters each proceeded by a chorale prelude; Alas my God - Ach Gott und Herr BWV 714, Ah Holy Jesus - Herzliebster Jesu BWV 1093, O sacred head - Herzlich tut mich verlangen BuxWV Maundy Thursday: Ubi caritas - Durufle (during the washing) Setting - Darke in F Motet - Ave verum - Byrd Ps 88 to plainchant for the stripping of the altars Good Friday: Ps 22, vv 1-22 to plainchant Gesualdo - O vos omnes Reproaches - Sanders Agnus Dei from the Phrygian Mode setting - Wood Easter Day morning: Mass in D, K194 - Mozart Heac Dies - Byrd Evening: Responses - Rose Pss 114 (Bairstow), 118 (ch. Whitlock) Coll. Reg. - Wood Christ the Lord is risen again (no time to rehearse anything else!) - Rutter O salutaris - plainchant Tantum ergo - Henschell Low Sunday the choir are free!! It's good to know what others are doing. The information can be an inspiration. F-W (Cameron)

It seems to me that making contacts is the best way of locating second-hand ranks of pipes for sale or rescuing if unwanted. This can be a bit hit-and-miss though. Do members of the board have any insights/knowledge how to find ranks? I do know that there is a firm in Warwickshire that handles and sells a good deal but I'm really looking for things that will either cost very little or nothing! Money isn't plentiful at the moment. Of course this could be the best opportunity to make some contacts and gather info. So here goes... I am really on the look-out for a good, quite big and fruity, Vox Humana, a good stopped wood 8' rank and, ideally/eventually, some 32s! We have some excellent stopped 32s down to bottom F but then that note is used for everythig lower. What would be wonderful is to do what Tewkesbury (Grove) did and obtain the 5 lowest notes from somewhere. Unfortunately I can't find any; perhaps they are not being thrown out as once they were? Any help gratefully received. F-W

From time to time I wonder about stop names: when I am at the organ, investigating another which I not seen before, asked by someone who isn't quite sure what one is or just idly pondering the question while walking the dog. Now I'm actually thinking about it while reading the forum messages so here goes! The titles sum it up really: When is an organ stop not the actual stop? When is a stop misnamed? How accurate are stop names and do we, quite often, have to make assumptions about a stop we use based on experience and knowledge? OK, so we all go rushing to the dictionary of organ stops when we come across something unusual or exotic. (And I should add that this is something really focussed on English organs and their derivatives). Baryphon, Diapsason Phonon, Dolce, Flute a Pavillon, Orlos, Pyramidion and the like make us reach for the shelves. Open Diapason, Mixture (III / 2 / 15 19 22 / etc), Rohr Flute, Sesquialtera II, Trumpet etc etc seem to pose no problem and are taken as read with, often, no hint of excitement or interest. But, are they always what they seem? We explain to people, that are interested, what stops are and what the names mean. 'This is what a Principal pipe looks like. The number refers to the length or pitch of the pipe at bottom C.' So far so good. But what about naming the stop? Unlike pitch (to some extent) do we name stops from what is at the bass end of the compass or by what the majority of the pipes are over that same compass? Oboe 8, Open Diapsaon 8, Principal 4, unless short compass are usually no problem. We know what the pipes look like and they are, in principle, the same throughout. Some examples and puzzles: Stopped Diapason - OK but does it have chimneys? Is it a Rohr / Chimney Flute? Does it matter? Claribel / Clarabella - Open wood, but is it? stopped for the bottom octave? Some builders are truly honest here and write 'Stop'd Diapason & Claribel'. Dulciana - Is the bass stopped wood? Gamba or Viola? Horn or Trumpet or Cornopean? These can change their names, especially after a clean-up or some attention by a builder. Does it matter? Double Open Diapason - where the bass octave is stopped wood? Mixtures are perhaps more problematic. Sesquialtera II - We assume it is 12 / 17. Is it that at the bass or is it really a tertian bass, 17 / 19? Sesquialtera III - 12 / 15 / 17 or 17 / 19 / 22 or the Hill style with teirce in the bass giving way to becoming a quint mixture for most of the compass? Almost the same can be said for Cornet with or without the number of ranks designated or Echo Cornet. There are probably many other examples. It seems to me that as organists we do really have to have a little more knowledge about the instrument, its construction, history, organ builders and their style than perhaps even we had realised. Any thoughts and obsevations very welcome. FW

Just thought I would clear up any mis-understandings or mis-attributions concerning the consultant for this job. It IS DJBriggs and I have that on totally reliable authority. F-W

Hmmmm...isn't Truro 247? (Another pedant!) F-W

It is a mgnificent building. Not only a church but corridor with "offices" almost built-in confessionals, though that is not at all as they are seen by the Catholic Apostolic body, and a complex of rooms off that corridor on the south side. In church planning the Catholic Apostolic Church combined the best elemnts of "establishment" good taste in the church and non-conformist provision of many rooms. Interesting to note that this Particular Church is the only one built by Pearson outside the C of E. The C A Church's Central Church is known as Christ the King, Gordon Square said by Betjeman to be London's third cathedral-though this is not by Pearson. I am a great fan of Pearson's work. Edward Benson (first bishop of Truro, without whom that cathedral would not have been built, and later archbishop of Canturbury) said that Pearson could make a new building look old - or words to that effect. And in the ninteenth century there was, probably, no higher praise! I think his buildings have a look of the nineteenth century about them but it is his genius of combining elements of the past moulding them and making them "his". Though cleary a gothicist it is his use of proportion that really makes the buildings work-using "classical" theory, golden section etc! However, this is getting away for organs! In the catholic Apostolic Church in Maida Vale there IS an organ! http://npor.emma.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch...ec_index=N17421 I was able to play it in the early 1990's I think. It needs sympathetic restoration. It stands in a chamber, typically provided by Pearson, at triforium level on the north side of the chancel. I think that the casework was added alittle after the main instrument. It rather felt like a time-capsule. Nothing seems to have changed, pottery stop-heads included. If anyone has played the "Grove" organ in Tewkesbury Abbey then it's a bit like that. Not an easy building to gain access but the congregation do (did) still meet on Sunday mornings (10.30 I think) for the Litany. Yes, the Litany. They are a facinating body of Christians, sometimes wrongly called "Irvingites". I won't go on any more here now! Best wishes to all for the impending few stressful days!! F-W.

Sad news indeed, the passing of Dudley Savage. "One" regret I have is that I never met him; which is rather a shame as I grew up in Gulval near Penzance and Dudley was something of a local hero. His sister, who died some years ago, taught me to play the piano for a while; they were quite a musical family. I learned to play the organ in the village church where he had. It's not a large building by any means (anyone who knows the churches of west Cornwall will understand) seating perhaps 200 people at a push but the organ is larger than most in the area and certainly is a quality instrument, thanks to the local wealthy family. (NOPR number N11185 as he knew it and R00160 as rebuilt-he played the reopening recital in 1969. Sadly I was not there for this having only been born that year! A few years back I did give a recital there and there were plans afoot to have another evening when Dudley would come and we would both take part. Unfortunately this came to nothing. Graffiti...? Well, when he was still in Gulval as a boy he scatched his initials "D S" just below the choir manual on the right hand side of the brass lock. Having been told this and spending many many hours at the same console I thought "I can do that" and I did: "C L" on the left hand side of the lock!! May he rest in peace.

Might I repeat my request for scores (incase members missed my previous post or were perhaps on holiday)? Having started the David Clegg thread Cynic made available some copied scores one of which I was particularly keen on getting (Church service.....thunderstorm). He kindly made an offer to send copies out to people who wanted them. I missed reading about that until the day after(!) by which time all had gone. PLEASE would any of you kind people who did receive a Clegg score be willing to copy it and send me one? PM me is fine. In hopeful thanks, F-W

Honourable members. I confess that it was - probably - me who brought up the subject of one D. Clegg and his notable compositions (especially looking for the "church service interrupted...). The noble "Cynic" has copied these and they have been pounced upon by all Clegg enthusiasts. Unfortunately I have only read this board this morning (unable to yesterday) and discover that my very wants have all been taken - gone!!! Now our own dear Cynic will have a certain difficulty making new copies (as explained to me in a PM) so I wonder if any of you kind readers who have received (or who are about to receive) said music would consider copying those pieces to me! Thanks in advance, F-W

Are you still searching for some David Clegg? I have some free time and could dig it out for you.... Surely I am! I think it might have been me not Malcolm who requested Clegg. And "if" you were looking out something of his it was the "Church service interrupted by a thunderstorm" in particular I would like-which I think you mentioned owning. Having said that, anything else worthwhile (relatively speaking) would always be welcome!! F-W

Anyone in the Cheltenham area tomorrow might like to know that Ian Ball is performing a recital of music at All Saints' Church at 7.30pm. Music includes pieces by Franck, Elgar, Lind, Messiaen... The organ is an 1887 Hill subsequently enlarged by the Hill firm and Nicholsons now IV/53. The church is a glorious confection of the High Victorian, rather like walking into a jewelry box! so lots to entertain your eye as the music washes around you. F-W

Thanks! It's truly wonderful to have such an installation on record. Do you know the scale of the wooden prd reeds and what pressure they will be on? F-W

Ever been asked to give a recital and just not found inspiration in the "normal" recital stuff? I'm sure it must happen to others. There are times when I just want to play something which I can be fairly certain that no one in the potential audience has heard (unless there was a member of this forum present!). Having now a fairly large organ CD collection, when I go looking among the racks for something new it's really the unusual repertoire that interests (apart from a stunning player in some equally stunning setting) but the usual bland selection and - if I may put it thus "parish" - recorded recital just receives a wide yawn and the CD goes back in its place on the shelf. The topic concerning Mulet and out of print items started me thinking and I wonder if anyone out there in "console land" has a piece by David Clegg (1867-1923) called "A Church Service interrupted by a thunderstorm"? It's a real hoot but could be a very entertaining recital piece! It was recorded by Kevin Bowyer at Blackburn Cathedral in 2004 on a disc called "The Storm" (Regent), a collection ofstorm illustrative pieces (Lemmens, Neukomm, Lefebure-Wely etc). If you want some entertaining listening I recommend this! If anyone has this Clegg piece would you consider letting me have a copy? Thanks in advance - for a copy and some intersting comments, Father-Willis.

We have a metal gedeckt 8 (orig. lieblich gedackt 8) and wooden suabe flute 4 on the solo; both have been there since 1887. F-W

Yes, so very nearly correct Cynic! I tremble at the thought of ammending the posting of such an august personage, but in the spirit of accuracy... Canon Gardiner (MA + BMus Oxon[?]) was the inspiration behind the commissioning of the 1887 Hill at All Ss. Adolphe Von Holst was indeed the first organist but in 1895 was succeeded by a Mr Grainge and it was he and the vicar who visited the unmentionable cathedral, were enthralled by a wooded Stopped diapason and returned home with about an octaves worth! They then sent a man with a cart to collect the rest and in addition they retrieved the trombone 16, the former swell open diap, dulciana 8 and a trumpet (to be placed in the transept gt). To survive, well, the dulciana was replaced by a gamba and the trumpet had gone-somewhere-by1941. The stpd diap was, presumably, part of the extended gedeckt installed by Nicholsons in 1954 but later this whole rank was displaced by a new extended dulciana rank(!). So we actually now have only the former sw open diap in the chancel case and the trombone (as far as I have been able to find out, so far). Which brings me neatly back to my original question (is this a record for getting off topic?!): Are Hill (1887) ped reeds usually leatherd on the shallot or is that something done later? I don't know; does anyone? and what about other builder's ped reeds? F-W One interesting point; the church was consecrated in 1869 and Hill's 1887 organ was the third!! Is that a record?

"Travis and Emery" (?spelling)-near Foyles on Charing Cross Rd (as mentioned by Cynic) - "worth the detour". Just down from Foyles on the opposite side you will find Cecil Court, a small street of shops selling antiques and other collectables. Also there is said shop stacked with books about music and scores for all instuments, mainly seconhand but some new books aswell. Always a stopping point for me! F-W

I had a long conversation with our organ tuner last night which, in essence, was to devise a plan whereby a thorough restoration of our fine Hill could be accomplished in managable ie affordable chunks. Having explored the organ on several occasions I realised that I had never really taken a good look at the pedal Trombone 16; so this afternoon I did just that! As background, the main organ was built by Hill in 1887 with additions in 1899, 1901, 1912, 1955 or thereabouts. The trbne arrived in about 1899 with about three other stops from an organ recently rebuilt which had stood in a transept of a certain cathedral, north of Cheltenham and somewhere south of Birmingham where even now, I believe, there is great organ building going on! ( I won't mention that cathedral city's name but I am sure many will be able to work out or guess to where I refer!). Now, it is well made, wooden and of ample proportions. The bottom octave, I think (sorry- I was so engrossed in what I was doing that I forgot to count!) has wooden boots. I think it is on higher pressure-possibly 5" but would have to check to be sure. What intrigued me was that the shallot openings were open to the bottom and parallel. Also they were covered in fine sheepskin leather, though it is looking aged. I only looked at three pipes from the top, middle and just one with a wooden boot and all were constructed on the same principle. Do my learn-ed colleagues here know if this is typical of Hill pedal reeds or is it from a subsequent rebuild/revoicing? It would be instructive to know about other builder's characteristics if anyone has the knowledge and is willing to share. F-W.

I would hoope that opinions expressed here are honest and truthful and that those who post them should be willing to stand by them - or don't post! It may be an obvious thing to say but this is a public forum, rather like "letters to the editor" which anyone may well take up: why fear it? F-W.

This is a plea! Re-listening recently to E. Humperdinck's "Hansel and Gretel" I've been taken by the beauty of the Overture/Prelude. Now there is a transcription of this by Lemare but I can't seem to get hold of one anywhere (libraries included). There is also, I believe a transcription of the "Angels Scene" but I'm not sure by whom. My plea is this: does anyone have either/both said pieces? and if so could I have a copy please?!! Ever in hope, F-W