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I've long thought that the organ contribution to the last variation of the Enigma is an aspect of the self-portrait. Ian

I once, as a teenager on an organ crawl, found myself seated at the console in Ampleforth Abbey. I played the first few notes of BWV564, then I heard the first few notes of BWV564, then I gave up! Ian

I agree entirely with Colin. But what really annoys me is the sound of a harpsichord jangling away in Bach's church music. It should surely always, always be the organ. (Lights blue touch paper and retires to a safe distance.) Ian

I too thought - somewhere in the depths of my memory - that it was only the outer sections that derived from the wedding march, but when I checked I found the Little quote above; it's not my field, but his introduction in the Novello edition certainly suggests that he knows what he's talking about. Either may, my question remains: what on earth was Mendelssohn thinking about when he combined a wedding march with a penitential chorale? Ian

I wonder if anyone has any theories about something that's puzzled me for years. Little, in the preface to his Novello editions says of the first movement: "The final version of a work written for performance at his sister Fanny's wedding in October 1829". Certainly the outer sections would make a decent Wedding March, but how do we explain the first fugue, which has in the pedals the tune which in Germany is sung to a metrical setting of Psalm 130 - "Aus tiefer Not schrei zu dir", or, in English, "Out of the depths I cry to thee"? Surely not Mendelsohn's idea of a joke, but what might the serious message be? Ian

That'll teach 'em for removing Vierne's console! Ian

Jonathan The Duet is by Samuel Wesley (son of Charles the hymn writer, brother of Charles the organist, and father of Samuel Sebastian). The BACH motif lurks here and there in the Fuga, which - unless someone knows better - is surely a first in English organ music. Ian

This reminds me of what used to be a famous (infamous?) story of Clitheroe Parish Church. In 1961 Nicholsons did a very extensive rebuild, with the organ in the North gallery and the console in the South gallery. The cable connecting the two went underneath the chancel floor. One Christmas, the organ pistons started operating of their own accord when the organ was being played. It turned out that the problem was that the cable to the (flashing) Christmas tree lights was interacting with the organ cable. The organ was subsequently destroyed in a fire. I still have - somewhere - the programme for the great Fernando Germani's opening recital. Ian

I've given up on the Proms website until they get their act together, but I see that they've timed Widor 5 at 6 minutes and the Franck Trois Pieces at 11 minutes, and goodness knows what the Bax arrangement of BWV 572 is supposed to be, but my bet is that the reference is to an orchestration of it. Ian

I once wandered into Sheffield Cathedral and found a pianist practising for a lunch-time concert at the same time as an organist was practising (on the digital instrument) into headphones. Ian

This, from 2015, explains on page 11: http://stnicholascathedral.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Cathedral-Notes-March-May.pdf Ian

Oops! Sorry. Ian

On my reckoning, four former Organ Scholars at King's,Cambridge are involved in the Proms this year: Andrew Davis and David Butt as conductors, Robert Quinney as organ soloist, and Adrian Partington as chorus master of the BBC Welsh. Have I missed any? And what conclusions, if any, might be drawn? Ian

Am I right in thinking that Daniel Cook made a Hauptwerk set there and, if so, will they be using it while the organ is out of commission? Ian

I see that I bought my copy in the seventies. It was published by OUP. Ian