bombarde32

I'll check next time I'm there, when my lad goes back to the cathedral choir after the Easter break.

Not sure about your maths, but here's mine .......... Christ Church Oxford (from the Builders themselves) Positif 8 Montre (61) 8 Bourdon (61) 4 Prestant (61) 4 Flute a Fuseau (61) 2 Cor de Chamois (61) 1-1/3 Larigot (61) II Sesquialtera (12.17) (122) IV Cymbale (22.26.29.33) (244) 8 Cromorne (61) - Tremulant - Swell to Positive 13 ranks of 61 pipes = 793 pipes Grande Orgue 16 Bourdon (61) 8 Montre (61) 8 Flute a Cheminee (61) 4 Prestant (61) 4 Flute Conique (61) 2 Doublette (61) V Cornet (Mid C) (185) VI Fourniture (19.22.26.29.33.36) (366) IV Cymbale (26.29.33.36) (244) 8 Trompette (61) 4 Clairon (61) - Swell to Grande Orgue - Positive to Grande Orgue - Bombarde to Grande Orgue 18 ranks of 61 pipes = 1098 pipes + cornet (185 pipes) = 1283 pipes Swell 8 Salicional (61) 8 Céleste (FF) (56) 8 Flute Bouchée (61) 4 Octave (61) 4 Flute (61) 2-2/3 Nasard (61) 2 Quarte de Nasard (61) 1-3/5 Tierce (61) IV Plein Jeu (15.19.22.26) (244) 16 Cor Anglais (61) 8 Vox Humaine (61) - Tremulant 13 ranks of 61 pipes = 793 pipes = Celeste(56 pipes) = 849 pipes Bombarde 16 Bombarde (61) 8 Trompette (61) 4 Clairon (61) 3 ranks of 61 pipes = 183 pipes Pedal 16 Montre (32) 16 Soubasse (32) 8 Flute de Pédale (32) 8 Bourdon (32) 4 Basse de Chorale (32) V Fourniture (22.26.29.33.36) (160) 16 Basson (32) 8 Trompette (32) 4 Clairon (32) - Positive to Pedal - Grande Orgue to Pedal - Swell to Pedal 13 ranks of 32 pipes = 416 pipes This gives us a grand total of 3524 pipes, which is what I said earlier, not to be too pendantic or anything............ BTW almost all of the case pipes do speak anyway.

I agree, Patrick - It fooled me when I played for a liturgy there a couple of years ago!

I was just thinking how bad this winter has been for organs. I regularly play organs which have been in desperate need of attention and I have to say that this winter, with the added heating and consequent lowered humidity has finally and terminally sorted out a few of them. Many many electronics have now appeared in our local churches in the South of England where the heating system has finally killed off the old pipe organs. Upon investigation, the same old comments are heard. " The organ is so unreliable, we can't get anyone to play it!" "We now have a fantastic new digital organ we have people flocking to play it! The choir has gone from strength to strength." "Our organist told us that unless we replaced the organ, he was going to leave." "We need the space for a coffee/kids/vestry area, the new digital organ takes up so much less room" and in one church, recently "We know the organ is by George P England, but there are so many holes punched in the underneath of the swell soundboard, it is unusable and we don't have the £140,000 to fix it when our Diocesan share is £72,000 per year and we struggle to even meet that." The electronic builders are making a fortune, in spite of the recession! We are coming to the days when we will not be able to hear a pipe organ in England outside of a Cathedral.

ChCh Oxford being one of the largest totally NEW organs 'recently' also at 3524 pipes!

Christ Church Cathedral, OXFORD Dupré - Le Chemin de la Croix: Ben Sheen and Michael Heighway (org) Tuesday 30 March from 19:30 to 21:00 Video relay on multiple screens. Not to be missed!

Thanks for that Quentin! A fantastic rendition.

Oh dear, O Dear! A custom built Dutch electronic - UGH!

I did a mass for a priestly ordination in one of the bascilicas in Rome a couple of years back. The candidate requested that I play Scotson-Clarke's Marche aux Flambeaux! Such fun!

We have been and done this topic at least twice before in recent years. The trick is to assume (charge for) that a video is always present (even a mobile phone counts...) and give a discount if there is none at the ceremony. I have only had to refund once, and that was before mobile phones. The other thing is to charge what you think you are worth. The days of providing an organist for a wedding for 30 odd quid are, thankfully long gone. I would think that at least a hundred quid is fair, especially when you think how much the DJ is getting............

I agree.......And a "footballer" has a career that last for, what, 25 years at best, maybe a little longer if he manages to deflower some watery tart along the way.......

From the Wyvern web site: "We are grateful for the many messages of sympathy for our late Chairman Arthur Lord. A funeral service will be held at All Saints Church, Milford-on-Sea, Hants on Monday 15th February 2.00 pm. No flowers please but donations to the RNLI can be sent via Tappers Funeral Service, Milford-on-Sea."

The organ at Holy Trinity Gosport is reputed to be "Handel's Organ" according to NPOR N11539 (q.v)

One of the most mis-named stops is Gemshorn. Very few Gemshorns I have seen on stop knobs are actually of Gemshorn (tapered) construction. A real Gemshorn is Nothing like the stringy 4' Principal sound which usually emanates from stops with this label. A real Gemshorn is (IMHO) one of the most beautiful stops on an organ!

Now if they'd be doing the Widor Messe, THAT would have been fun!

Christ Church Cathedral, OXFORD Dupré - Le Chemin de la Croix: Ben Sheen and Michael Heighway (org) Tuesday 30 March from 19:30 to 21:00 Video relay on multiple screens. Not to be missed!

The hymn that really gets me for funerals is "O Jesus I have promised." Ineveitably when a question is raised as to which tune is preferred, one is usually presented with a stony silence. As far as I know there are a least four tunes to this hymn in common usage; Thornbury, Day of Rest, Wolvercote, and the horrid 20th C one. Even the age of the deceased is no clue as to which one is favoured in any one instance.......

Thanks for the photos - they are great!

This is happening sucessfully in all trades these days, none more so than in the car trade - You can by a Seat Ibiza, Volkewagen Polo, Skoda Fabia, Audi A3 etc - they are all essentially the same thing, but like pipes, its what the designers DO with them that makes the difference. An independant pipemaker is usually very skilled and has the ability to make exactly what is required. Such a change from the days of Compton, for instance, who made virtually everything that went into an organ themselves, even winding their own magnets etc. Even electronic builders (including very large ones) will go to a specialist console manufacturer to have custom built consoles made, the same one who builds the console for pipe organ builders, incidentally!

According to an article I read recently, the most popular stave used in Medieval music had four lines; though three, five or six were also in use. Two types of clef existed, the F clef and the C clef, indicating the location of the appropriate note on the stave. Specifically this meant that a stylised letter F or C was placed around the line of the stave used to denote where the F or C is located. The clefs could appear against any line, but when one remembers that the notation was used for male (monks’) voices we can see that the clefs will usually be placed higher on the stave so that more notes appear on the stave without the need to resort to ledger lines. Furthermore, we can assume that the exact line chosen would depend upon the tessitura of the music. The C clef was used more often than the F clef. I wonder if this is any help to you?

Even possibly carbon datable!

Whilst a good mechanical action organ is to be preferred at all costs, reading Tony's original post, it is also mentioned that the church wish to save space as well as costs. It is reasonable also to suggest that the church's worship pattern might change significantly over the years, maybe to the point that an organ (or organist) is no longer required. So many church organs are not being replaced at all in favour of band-led music (or worse, some digital hymnal) these days, I am led to wonder that by the time I shuffle off this mortal coil, the pipe (or any for that matter) organ may well be heard only in our Cathedrals and churches where a quality music is really honoured criterion.

And a very happy new year from me too!

There is another fine organ in Hildesheim; that of the St Andreas-Kirche. This is a IV/63 stop Von Beckerath of 1965 vintage. I remember playing this fine instument during my student days, and there is a very good Telarc recording of it from 1985, Telarc CD-80127. The clarity of the choruses make it absolutely beautiful for Bach. An instrument worth hearing!

The choir sang the Gardiner five or six times over Christmas. It's cracking good fun, isn't it! The distinction is even more confusing as the Cathedral School is usually abbreviated to CCCS !! We all get most confused, depending on which side of the road we are!