David Drinkell

I think the title depends on the place. Lay canons are a fairly new idea in English Cathedrals. Elsewhere, the idea is still fairly new, but may not involve the creation of an entirely new breed, since canons may not have to be (according to statute) in holy orders.

Albert Alain's house organ had such a device and some of Jehan's music requires it. St. George's Hall, Liverpool has something similar and so does Holy Rude, Stirling. David Briggs is keen on the idea, and had one added at Truro (not sure about Gloucester - glad to see they've got themselves a big solo reed at last). It's a very useful thing, and more so if (as at King's) the dividing note can be selected.

I remember a very effective performance of Gigout's Grand Choeur Dialogue at Lancing College, with the Frobenius in the east in dialogue with the Walker in the west. At Worcester, wasn't there always an intention to have a separate nave organ in addition to the new Tickell quire organ?

Bishop & Son restored it in 1980/81, the only alteration being the addition of the bottom 5 32' pipes from Chirst Church, Oxford. After 35 years, it's quite likely that the action (if I remember rightly, it's a mixture of tubular, Barker and tracker) would need further overhaul.

Yes, that looks very promising. As usual, it relies on the Swell to Great coupler for flexibility. There's nothing inherently wrong with this, after all it's a feature of Cavaille-Coll organs and Sam Clutton used to wax eloquent about a small 18th century organ which had a similar spread, giving a one manual organ spread over two keyboards. Going off on a slight tangent - the Dulciana borrows its bass from the gedact, which gives a very noticeable change of tone in the bottom octave. This is so very common, particularly with Swell basses, but Bernard Edmonds pointed out a clever solution used by that much under-rated firm, Taylor of Leicester. Instead of running the string into the gedact, they stopped the Open Diapason at tenor C and borrowed the bass from the gedact and the string together. Bernard said that if he hadn't known, he would never have noticed. HN&B did something similar (in what Henry Willis 4 is said to have referred to jokingly as "John Norman's bassless organs") to save space and cost.

When you look at them, a lot of organs from the turn of the last century have a lower manual which is basically a Choir Organ plus a big diapason "to lead the singing". The registration would be additive, as on a French organ, with the Swell to Great on most of the time and the swell-box used to cover up the addition of stops. In other words, the spec would be the stops the local cathedral organist used most often on his four-manual Willis/Hill/Walker/Harrison to accompany his choir, plus the diapason to keep the hymns going.

The oddity in the organ Andrew mentions at Clifford, Yorkshire, arises, I think, from it having been a residence organ. Originally, the secondary manual was designated "Solo" and had just one stop, called "Solo Open Diapason", which would have worked quite well in the style of registration then in use. Today, with the added 8' flute, it would be very suitable for the responsorial type of Roman liturgy, provided that the cantor isn't a Mr. Caruso type who bellows into a mike and snuffs out any disposition the rest of the congregation might have had to join in. Gwas Bach's example in Gloucestershire is not quite as unusual as might be thought. The Revd. F.H. Sutton, a member of the ecclesiological Sutton family which included Sir John (of Jesus College) and Augustus (of West Tofts), was quite keen on the idea of a Choir Organ instead of a Great, relying on a big Swell for the major effects. It makes sense if you've got a chancel choir to accompany. The Wordsworth & Maskell at Brant Broughton, Lincolnshire, where Suttons (including F.H.) were incumbents for many years is another example. The Choir Organ was apparently preferred to a Great because F.H. liked plainsong. W&M were popular with ecclesiologically-minded clergy (as was Miller of Cambridge) and the organ has a fine Bodley case.

When the organ here at Fredericton Cathedral was built, they wanted an "Echo Organ" at the west end, which would be in effect a nave organ to help the singing along. Since this is not a particularly large building and the organ does not lose much impact down the nave, this was probably a daft idea. It was then compounded when they lost their nerve and decided that putting the Echo Organ so near the west door would be risky in terms of tuning, so they placed it away up on high on the west wall of the south transept, above the console (the main organ occupies the north transept). Thus, it does hardly anything that the main organ doesn't do, and the distance between the two sections is not great enough for antiphonal effects to be particularly striking. Worst of all, having an Echo instead of a Solo Organ means that there is NO TUBA! (The only Tuba in Freddy is in the parish church and it's electronic). Ah well! Nothing is perfect in this world.....

These days, a large Sunday congregation in the nave is the usual thing in a lot of the big cathedrals - a situation which was not the case when most cathedral organs were installed. The long naves of English churches mean that any organ is going to become remote as one moves further west, even in moderate-sized buildings. Paul Hale's article in the current Organists' Review on Bishop's Stortford Parish Church explains the problem - and the solution adopted there - succinctly. A west end organ is not often the best solution, as the opposite problem would occur, in that people at the east end of the nave would tend to be left behind, and not all nave congregations fill the westernmost seats (even if they're Anglicans and therefore prone to sitting at the back). A modest nave division can often work wonders. I remember sitting near the back of the nave at Canterbury one Sunday morning and finding the the nave division not only supported the hymns rather well, but also seemed to draw the sound of the main organ (which at Canterbury is effectively in another building) westward. A similar effect occurs with the Nave Organ at Winchester, which is next door to the main organ but has the effect of bringing the whole instrument into closer contact with those in the nave. Probably, one of the reasons for the removal of the 1863 Hill from York in 1904 (when the Walker rebuild of the screen organ was completed) was that it may have been fine for accompanying congregational hymns, but little use to the choir, even if those singers were sitting west of the screen. As forumites will know, the Hill went to St. Thomas and St. John, Radcliffe, Manchester, where it still is.

Jeremy Cull's transcription of the Land of the Mountain and the Mud is a fine piece of work and fun to play - although not easy in places!

Really? I didn't know that. It would be a good idea. St. Pat's is a glorious instrument, but it is in a high chamber and very much more effective in the Quire than the Nave. Trevor Crowe is a fine musician and organ-builder - I expect the result will be excellent.

Mostly in the Quire (which I found surprisingly unhelpful for singing), but we sang one of the Sunday morning services in the nave stalls. I didn't find the organ inadequate (and was - almost literally - blown away by the big Tuba, which I hadn't heard from west of the screen before), but in a building the size of York Minster, even the congregation at the front of the nave are quite a distance from the organ. I, too, have to remind myself that if I am to win the Lottery, I should meet them half-way and buy a ticket....

The 1904 rebuild, when T. Tertius Noble was organist, probably resulted in something like we hear at Bristol Cathedral today - fitting the building like a glove but not especially assertive in the nave. When Bairstow took over, he apparently said something along the lines of, 'This organ is a woman. I'm going to change it into a man!'. Hence, the big Tuba, thorough-going revoicing and substitution. To continue the Bristol simile, Harrisons' turned the Cathedral into Redcliffe. When Walkers' rebuilt the organ in 1960 for Francis Jackson, there were some who thought that it had been quietened down too much. I didn't know what it was like before 1960, but I remember being vastly impressed with it when Francis let me play it c.1970, and again when I took Belfast Cathedral Choir there in 1990. Subsequent work has, in effect, addressed some aspects of the 1960 rebuild which weren't entirely happy (such as the reaction of the Great reeds to a drop in pressure) and have generally aimed to improve what was there in the style which was established.

Portsmouth already has a substantial west-facing Great and there is a "West Great" at Llandaff within the main case but speaking westward. York had a largish 3-manual Hill in the nave for a while in the 19th century, and there was a small nave division in the main case for a few years before the most recent rebuild. At that rebuild, a solo reed speaking East was added, the famous Tuba Mirabilis firing down the nave. Ripon had a big electronic nave organ for some years and now has a nave console for the screen organ. I suppose that, in other places, much depends on how freely the existing organ speaks in various directions, how much the nave is used (and how much of it), and preference of Dean, Chapter and musicians.

Thanks for the information regarding Cowing at Barnet Baptist. I can't remember if it was Bernard Edmonds, Gordon Paget or Laurence Elvin who reckoned that Wimbotsham was his only solo job. I will drop a note to NPOR accordingly. Stephen Ridgely-Whitehouse's cats were indeed called Felix and Sylvester, both of whom are commemorated on stop-konbs at Eaton Square. Renatus Harris specified "Cart" - as you say, an anglicisation of 'Quarte" - which would be appropriate in view of his French training.

Wimbotsham in Norfolk had something similar, dating from 1906: Manual: Lieblich Bourdon tc 16, Open Diapason Treble 8, Open Diapason Bass, Gamba 8, Salicional 8, Flauto Traverso 4 Octave coupler Pedal: Bourdon 16 Manual to Pedal As far as is known, this was the only organ built by William Bertram Cowing of Barnet when working on his own, although he was at one time in partnership with Robert Spurden Rutt. In 1988, Holmes and Swift replaced the Gamba with a Principal, which made sense. Before that, with the octave coupler, one could at least get a semblance of a chorus, but otherwise it was much the same as the organ quoted by Gwas Bach, with a 4' flute as the only upperwork and no 8' flute to go with it. I remember a chance remark by the late, great Richard Galloway of Holy Rude, Stirling, one well-lubricated evening at the Scottish Organists' Summer School: "My dad was fond of 16' tone on the manuals". People were in those days, to a much greater extent than we have been in the last 40 years or so. Marmaduke Conway, in "Playing the Church Organ" advocated a manual 16' before a Fifteenth, and Gordon Slater liked 16' Dulcianas, to the extent of specifying one as a second Great double in a not-so-big two-manual organ. Dick's remark made me think - in the way that passing comments often do - and since then I have made a lot more use of doubles than I did before, when it seemed appropriate. I find open doubles, like Contra Geigen, Double Dulciana, Double Open, to be the best, even with a stopped bass. I've never got to liking most manual Bourdons or Quintatons. It does seem strange that builders would specify a 4' flute with no 8'. There are some (mostly enclosed) opens that carry the 4' flute nicely, but it's not "normal" registration, and neither is drawing a 4' flute over a gamba or salicional, although it might sound nice as an occasional effect. But it was quite common, especially among builders in the North of England to provide Open, Gamba and perhaps even Celeste at 8' but only a Flute at 4', even when there was a Mixture and maybe a Piccolo as well. Flauto Magico was fairly commonly used by Brindley and Foster - in fact, the presence of one is virtually a giveaway as to the builder. I don't know if they were zauberflotes. I don't recall Henry Willis III using the name unless he was rebuilding a Brindley.

Henry Willis 4 had a pet stop he called "Spindle Float" and spelled without the umlaut. "Salcional" is quite common. Didn't our hosts use it at St. Andrew's, Holborn, rather than the rather unpleasant (and possibly alchemic) looking "Keraulophon". Regarding the oxhide, when J.J. Binns died, they found a rhinoceros hide in his stor, but that seems a little over the top....es. No one knew what he had it for. Binns organs were famously well-built. Ballywalter Presbyterian in Co. Down has a "Bra Flute", Lord knows why. It's even more strange in that the instrument was largely assembled by the local Minister.

Definitely "Reim" in all the versions of the stop-list I've seen, but Cartwright or the original transcriber could have got it wrong. There are some odd spellings on stop-knobs. The organ I played at St. John's, Newfoundland until I moved to New Brunswick a few weeks ago had a "Lieblick" on the Swell, duplicated on the Pedal with the same spelling, and the Irish Organ Company habitually spelled the same word "Leiblich". Wells-Kennedy, an otherwise irreproachable firm, provided a "Pasaune" at least once. Drinkstone Parish Church, Suffolk, assembled by Gildersleeve of Bury St. Edmunds and brought here from Thurston when the Father Willis arrived there, has a "Stopt Base", a "Liblick Gedact" and a "Fiftienth", and the Swell Principal 4 is labelled "8" (as is the similar stop at Somerton). Various builders use "Gedeckt", "Gedackt", "Gedacht" and "Gedact", although rarely in the same instrument.... You'd think the engraver would have spotted and corrected it, but they seem to have been like the printers who do the menus for Chinese restaurants.

The Pusey House, Oxford, organ referred to above could have been very interesting, but everyone I know who had experience of it, from Bernard Edmonds onward, said that the constituent ranks were too gormless to make any impression. A departure from the usual Rest Cartwright stuff, which tended to be run of the mill (although his organ in St. John's Glastonbury was "different" - anyone else heard of a reed called "Reim"?) http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=N06861 and others looked a bit Hope-Jonesey, like Terrington St. Clement in Norfolk (a small organ for a church the size of a cathedral) http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=N06695. Pusey House wasn't the only odd beast in the Oxford organ menagerie - Sir Hugh Allen's scheme at the Sheldonian Theatre was odd, too. He wanted a "diapason organ" but Henry Willis III managed to ameliorate his ideas a little (as did Henry Ley, who wanted a Tuba) http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=N11003 Anything designed by Jean Guillou looks pretty bizarre....

The oddity at St. Sepulchre - the full length Double Open Wood 32' - occurred because the pipes of the present organ came from its predecessor, which was much larger. The story, as I heard it from the late John Mee (who played there regularly) was that Sir Sidney Nicholson selected the best stops from the 3 manual, 46 stop instrument. The result is one of those small instruments that sounds like a much larger one, as in Nicholson's collaboration with Arthur Harrison for the Royal School of Church Music at Chislehurst, subsequently at Addington and Cleveland Lodge, and now at St. Alkmund, Shrewsbury. The St. Sepulchre organ was certainly a remarkable beast and probably deserves restoration in its present form rather than recasting in a more historical manner.

At St. Paul's, they advise against playing too softly because of the ambient noise when there are visitors in. The Head Verger at Canterbury told me that at the height of the season they might have 10,000 visitors in the course of a day. When they got too noisy, he said, they would burn some incense and that quietened them down. Somewhat similar procedure to smoking bees....

Progress on the restoration of the largest organ in the world, at the Boardwalk​ Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey, reached a new target with the re-inauguration yesterday of the sections in the Left Stage Chamber, which have not been functioning for several decades. The Pedal in this section is of 61 voices, including 50" wind Diaphone, 50'' Bombard and 20" Fagotto units from 32', mutations at 10 2/3' (three of them!), 6 2/5', 5 1/3', 4 4/7, 3 1/5', 2 2/7', and mixtures of VII and VI ranks. There is also a small "Unenclosed Choir" of Quintaton 16, Diapason 8, Holz Flute 8, Octave 4, Fifteenth 2, Quint Rausch 12.5, Scharf Mixture 19.22 on 3 1/2"; the main Swell Organ (40 voices on 15", including 20 ranks of mixture and major reeds on 30"); the "Swell-Choir" of 64 voices, largely extended, the flue-work consisting mostly of gemshorns and flutes, including mutations at 6 2/5', 5 1/3', 4 4/7, 3 5/9', 3 1/5', 2 10/11', 2 2/3', 2 2/7', 1 7/9', 1 3/5', 1 5/11', 1 1/3', 1 1/7', 8/9', 4/5', 8/11', 2/3' ,1/2', 1/3', 1/4', and a 32' Fagotto; and "String I" of twelve voices, including multi-rank celestes. www.facebook.com/BoardwalkOrgans/ The Facebook recording, although not of top quality, shows a much brighter and less ponderous aspect of the organ than that which has been available hitherto and bears out the contention of those who knew the organ before it fell into near-dereliction that its chorus-work was something stupendous. The reeds now available have more of a French voice than those which were already working. The Vierne Final (Symphony 1) sounds very convincing to me (not just because the tuning is way out in a few places). I feel that this latest work goes further to prove that this instrument is not merely a huge noise machine, or an inflated theatre organ, or a monument to bad taste, but a superb and unique achievement. I look forward to the next stage coming on stream.

Leeds Minster has just advertised for a Director of Music in succession to Simon Lindley.

There's Sir Nicholas Jackson, of course, who in an illustrious career was organist at St. David's Cathedral for a while, but his title is a baronetcy (created for his grandfather, the architect Thomas Graham Jackson, whose works include a bevy of organ cases, especially in Oxford - Brasenose, Sheldonian, et al).

I believe Reg Dixon was noted for his imaginative use of tierces.