David Drinkell

SS Peter & Paul, Oulton, Norfolk, has an organ built by Archie Chaffey of Cawston in which the shutters are controlled by a slide above the upper manual. He was an amateur enthusiast - the keys and draw-stops were second-hand but he made everything else himself, including the pipes, which have wood basses and trebles made of paper or cardboard with wooden mouths. In case you're wondering, it's a decent little job and sounds rather nice.

It's been done. Someone in the nineteenth century (I think it was Willis) invented a system whereby the player blew into a mouthpiece, which triggered a pneumatic device which worked the shutters. As may be gathered - it didn't catch on.... Manchester Cathedral organ at one time had a device whereby sitting on the stool turned on the hydraulic blower. Kendrick Pyne was quite proud of it until a] a visitor said it reminded him of the automatic flush in a railway station lavatory and b] the choristers discovered that by raising the seat and turning the lever over they could reverse the action, so that the blower went off when the player sat down and the wind ran out during the opening voluntary.

Although I don't mind ratchet swell pedals (particularly if they have one or two notches to engage at different stages of opening), I was completely floored by those on the sublime Willis at St. Bees Priory (two of them - Swell and Solo). They look like ratchet pedals but are, apparently a special Willis type which I hadn't encountered elsewhere. I couldn't work out, during a short visit, how on earth they worked. St. Paul's did indeed have Infinite Gradation swell pedals - I believe they were the first examples installed - and Henry III recorded that there were no indicators at the express wish of the organist, who didn't want his console messed up with dials. At Southwark, due to the odd position of the console, one of the most arresting effects the player heard from the Swell was the crash of the shutters if one forgot about the nature of the Swell pedals. The late and much lamented St. Jude's, Thornton Heath organ had no less than four Infinite Gradation pedals (Great, Swell, Choir, Chancel), as well as a General Crescendo, despite only having three manuals. The Rotunda was an idea which Willis borrowed (along with console design, Pitman chests, Sylvestrinas et al) from Aeolian Skinner. Like Skinner's Stop, Open and Reed, it was only published for a few years and had ceased to exist long before the organ at St. Mary's, Southampton was put in in 1956. It makes interesting reading, not only because of HWIII's magisterial style but also because of the even more snooty writing of the editor, D. Batigan Verne. HWIII at least knew what he was talking about, whereas Verne was much less knowledgeable and, on at least one occasion, got the firm involved in a law-suit when he ridiculed a new device introduced by a provincial firm (they took offence at his reference to "the hele (sic) of the foot").

It looks as thought you have, basically, a straight Hill Swell with added Trumpet unit (perhaps taking space formerly occupied by a 16. bourdon) and Great to Fifteenth with a few embellishments from units. Use of the term "Muted Viola" suggests a date earlier than 1948 for the original Comptonification. If the original Clarinet and Hautboy were real ranks, and not derivations from flue stops (as they sometimes were in early Comptons), you would have to take something out in order to replace them. Unless you already have empty slides, it would probably be prohibitively expensive to add extra ranks, especially in the Swell, where you would not only have to add new soundboards but probably also enlarge the swell-box. Your best bet, IMHO, is to try for a straight Mixture on the Great, even if it means a new soundboard for itself. Mixtures are often (not always) the weakest parts in extension schemes, although Philip Prosser produced a good one at Comber Parish Church, Co. Down, using a straight twelfth and a unit gemshorn. You probably need an OK from the diocese. If you can afford it, engage an accredited professional adviser. Paul Hale has experience with the use of extension in small organs.

Thanks to those who came up with suggestions. Today's lunch-time concert at St. John's Cathedral In Memoriam John Scott had the following programme: Two English Voluntaries Voluntary in A - John Stanley Voluntary in D - William Boyce Three Elegaic Pieces Adagio - Frank Bridge Folk Tune - Whitlock Elegy - Thalben-Ball Passacaglia & Fugue in C minor BWV 582 - J.S. Bach All except the Bach were chosen following suggestions made here.

It's a bit short notice, but I think I will make my lunch-time concert tomorrow (Wednesday) a tribute to John. Do any pieces come to mind that were particularly associated with him? (I don't play the Reubke sonata!). My wife says that Facebook mentions several performances last Sunday of the Thalben-Ball Elegy, including one by John's ex-brother-in-law, Andrew Lumsden at Winchester.

The Daily Telegraph carries an obituary (available free online) and there is a particularly well-written one on the St. Paul's Cathedral website.

The soft stuff was indeed beautiful and varied. One problem with the louder effects was that the quire cases were situated quite low down, making diffusement difficult. The new organ should be a great improvement in this respect and, while the old cases could hardly be said to have been Gilbert Scott at his best, the new ones are a fine ornament to the building. I played the old organ at various times between 1976 and 1996, but I never manage to catch it when any of the 32 stops (or, indeed, any of the transept section) was working.

I think "hybrid" in this context refers to the nature of the old pipe organ at Worcester, which had been rebuilt, altered and revoiced so many times during its life.

This is truly sad. John was a stunningly gifted musician and a truly nice man. From his wonderful psalm accompaniments to the scope of his vision which he carried through in the music of the establishments in which he served, he was an example to us all. Our thoughts will be with his family, and may he rest in peace and rise in glory.

The console on Ebay is ex-Doncaster - the compass gives it away for a start (58/30: Tewkesbury was 61/32).

I wonder if Walkers' got the idea for the shape of their stop-keys from Rothwell when the two firms collaborated at St. George's Chapel, Windsor I'm not a fan of this particular type, although I know several people who prefer it (my own preference for tabs is the Willis type, both for their shape and the positive feel to their operation), but in some ways I think they should have kept the Walker console at Doncaster. In its way, it was an important piece of history, like the Schulze pipework. Not that it's any of my business! Perhaps some benefactor would buy the console and donate it back to Doncaster as an exhibit. incidentally, when Hill, Norman & Beard rebuilt and enlarged the organ at Lion Walk United Reformed Church, Colchester, there was a particular wish to retain Walker stop-keys on the new three-manual console. HN&B acquired the last examples in stock to make up the numbers.

The Delius is one of the Two Aquarelles, arranged by Gregory Murray (Delius would probably have been furious at the idea!). It sounds very well, but demands thumbing and is thus tricky to play.

Here's a YouTube video of a Praetorius arrangement of "Allein Gott in der Hoh' sei ehr" played on the Compenius organ at Frederiksborg Castle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=888MhQ0Pdok Does anyone know if the sheet music is available for download anywhere?

It seems sensible, though, to have a chancel division that is primarily useful for accompanying the choir in more than baroque verse anthems!

Dr. Stephen Tympany has been appointed Organist & Master of the Choristers at Armagh Cathedral (CofI), in succession to Theo Saunders. Stephen has been covering for some time while Theo was on sick leave. He has been a leading light in church music in Northern Ireland for many years and was for a long time in charge of the music at Banbridge Parish Church. This sounds to me to be a very good appointment.

There is a thread "Lt. Col. George Dixon and Cecil Clutton" on this forum which makes interesting reading. I met Clutton a few times. He was, certainly, somewhat eccentric and tended to say what he thought without much consideration for tact. As a player (he only took up playing the organ relatively late in life), he was a competent hand at Baroque music, especially French, at a time when a lot of players of FRCO standard had no idea regarding its registration, interpretation or authentic sound world. I heard him play Guilain's second suite on his house organ at Blackheath. It was a stylish and convincing performance, although interspersed with the odd "Damn!" when he hit a wrong note. (The organ was like its owner - it took no prisoners but could do a lot more than its specification might suggest. It was, above all, fun, although not everyone would have liked it). Whatever may be the pros and cons of the multum-in-parvo ideas promoted in their different ways by both Dixon and Clutton, it's worth remembering that, especially in his latter years, Clutton became convinced that traditional English methods of voicing could and should form the basis of instruments which could give convincing renderings of a very large part of the repertoire. In this he was, I feel, more sensible than those - and there are still some about - who would base their schemes on narrower, continental ideas.

Many people will know Fela Sowande's "Joshua fit de battle ob Jericho". I have a feeling he also composed a "Deep River" for organ. There are sections about various rivers in Ernest Austin's "The Pilgrim's Progress", which you can find on IMSLP. "Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam" and "An Wasserflüssen Babylon" by lots of composers, especially Bach. "Elizabethan Serenade" (aka "Where the gentle Avon flows") - Ronald Binge (there's an organ arrangement by W.S. Lloyd Webber). "Scenes on the Wye" by F.H. Wood. Two Aquarelles (To be sung of a summer night on the river) - Delius, arr. Murray Chelsea Fayre - Reginald Goss Custard (in the "Purple Album", if you can lay your hands on one, as well as separately). Psalm Prelude, Set 2, No.1 - Howells ("Out of the deep") Prelude on "Babylon's Streams" - J.V. Peters "Shenandoah" - Tambling (from "Songs from the Islands" published by Mayhew, although I can't figure what Shenandoah has to do with it). Fuga Vulgaris (from "Toot Suite") P.D.Q Bach (fugue on the Volga Boatmen - a duet: it can be played by one player, but you need a friend to do the "Toot") You mention Vierne's "Sur le Rhin" (thanks - it looks good and I didn't know about it!), but I see the next piece in the set is "Carillon de Westminster"!

I use the Noel Rawsthorne version of Nimrod. The problem with the Harris arrangement, IMHO, is that it calls for an enclosed Tuba - mine is enclosed, but most of those on your side of the Atlantic aren't. In any case, I find the Rawsthorne more straightforward and less fussy. When I was at school, my teacher, Colin Nicholson, told me that he was once set as an exercise the task of making an organ arrangement of Nimrod. Being short of time, he more or less copied out the Harris version. He took this to Herbert Howells, who tore it up and said it was rubbish!

I actually did meet Henry Willis III towards the end of his life when he showed members of the Friends of the Colchester Museums (of which my late father was the secretary) around the works in the Old Kent Road. I have, however, no recollection of what he was like - I was very young then and had yet to get interested in organs! I first met Henry Willis 4 (and 5) when he took a party of students from Bristol University around the works at Petersfield c.1977. At that point, he had just changed the firm's policy so that nearly all work was carried out on site. I found this interesting, because I had recently been conducted round Walkers' works at Brandon and they had decided that as much as possible should be done in shop rather than on site! I met Henry 4 again when I was organist of St. Magnus Cathedral, where he had rebuilt his father's instrument. I find Henry III fascinating, not only because I admire his instruments and his use of up-to-the-minute American technology (by no means all of which he acknowledged), but because he wrote a fair deal in a style which makes for compelling reading. Apart from his contributions to the Willis house magazine, "The Rotunda", there are a number of articles in "The Organ", such as that on the then new Steinmeyer Organ in Nidaros Cathedral, Trondhjem - of particular interest in view of the recent restoration of that heroic instrument, complete with new Willis reeds to replace those lost in a fire some years ago. A further insight into Henry III's views and prose style is found in Charles Callahan's book "The American Classic Organ", which consists of letters exchanged between Willis and various American correspondents, principally G. Donald Harrison, but also E.M. Skinner, Emerson Richards and others. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in 20th century organ-building. Lastly, in my early years I learned a lot from the old boys in the Organ Club, many of whom had known Henry III well (I remember being amused to hear John Mee refer to Henry 4 as "Young Willis" some years after he had taken control of the firm on his father's death). To some extent, I wonder if he was a disappointed man. Although he travelled widely, knew many continental and American builders and instruments personally, and was a pioneer in introducing tonal and mechanical innovations to the UK, he sometimes lamented that he never got the chance to provide, for example, a really comprehensive scheme of upper-work in a large organ (perversely, though, he was sometimes content to omit a Great Mixture - as at Freemasons' Hall, London or St. Thomas, Wandsworth - relying on a big mixture in the Swell as well as on the Willis principal that the reeds formed a part of most pleno registrations). His London factory was destroyed during the Blitz and his first wife died around the same time (he later married G. Donald Harrison's ex-wife). The economy of the times meant that most of his work consisted of rebuilds and, of his large new instruments, Sheffield City Hall is handicapped by a dead acoustic. Towards the end of his life, he was overtaken by fashion. St. Mary's, Southampton (1956), must have been one of his last big organs. A great character, and a great organ-builder.

"Henry Willis" (following family tradition*) is right and NPOR is wrong. Leeds Town Hall had five manuals before the last rebuild. * "My father was a man of very definite opinions. He basically thought that anyone who didn't agree with everything he did was a bloody fool. The alarming thing was that he was usually right." (Henry Willis 4)

Kings scoring over bishops is nothing new. King James IV (I think) of Scotland, deciding that the bishop was getting somewhat uppity, took St. Magnus Cathedral away from him and gave it to the burghers of Kirkwall. To this day, the cathedral is owned not by the Church of Scotland, which maintains the worship, but to the people of Kirkwall and the cost of its maintenance is borne by the Orkney Islands Council. This historical oddity probably goes a long way to explain why St. Magnus Cathedral never became derelict, like the Border abbeys, was restored in a scholarly fashion and is maintained today (including the organ) to an immaculate standard.

SL is right. Added to that, most cathedrals now have girls as well as boys and in some cases this means that more choral services are sung. In any event, a second treble line means that an extra member of staff is at least desirable. Most cathedral musicians (like most church musicians) do far more than they are contractually required to do anyway. Modern demands, musical, practical and legal, increase the burden - joyful though that burden might be.

Now, that's an interesting one (or it will be when they get it all in). I'm not sure that partial enclosure on the Great is worth the hassle, although I'm not averse to total enclosure. The Casavant at Memorial University here has a similar set-up and it's more of a nuisance than a blessing. Of course, if they had electric action and pitman chests, they could get a nice Choir Organ out of that lot by duplexing....

Wow! Hope they didn't suffer from bits of Rushworth flying about....