innate

It must be easier to tune a “pure” ratio than any equal-tempered interval unless you are using electronic tuning aides in which case any interval will be as easy to tune as any other, all other things being equal!

Are you not remotely interested in how music would have or might have sounded to our favourite composers before Equal Temperament was adopted? It’s a massive subject and sometimes just trying to get to grips with the basics can feel overwhelming but remember that SS Wesley and some of the great British organ builders of the 19th Century fought against what they saw as something that would reduce the effectiveness of the traditional pipe organ sound.

it would be good to see a page or so of one of your Mass settings. I’d be up for making an organ accompaniment of a few bars for your delectation! Stanford always, as you indicate, wrote independent organ parts for his choral works. Even though I can tell you want something that both supports the choir and doesn’t distract from the text it might be that an organ part that isn’t just a simplification of the choral parts might be not only more interesting to play but better from a musical point of view.

I’m sure everything has changed since I took it in 1981. I played the big Bach Vater Unser from ClavierÜbung III, one of the hardest things I’ve ever learned, a Howells Psalm Prelude and the Leighton Paean which I’d learned at least 4 years earlier. I passed the practical first time but failed the paperwork, despite having just got a 2nd Class degree in Music from Oxford. Go figure!

Brilliantly explained, Colin. Thank you.

That’s very interesting, David. I’d be interested in hearing more about pipe organs tuned in unequal temperaments whoever has built them. Particularly if anyone has experience of a pipe organ so tuned in a major Anglican parish church.

I remember the Mold instrument being on the cover of Organists’ Review and there being a quite detailed write-up inside. It made a huge impression on the teenage me. I still haven’t seen it in the flesh.

I concur with S_L in his speculation.

Klais and Rieger?

Hurford’s LP recording on the “Dutch Organ” at Eton was an absolute revelation for me.

Also good to know that Divine Service is considered a Performance.

Thank you for that inside info, sjf. As I originally said, I am in two minds about this. I wonder, where funds and space allow, if, for establishments where the full range of repertoire is expected, the solution sometimes found in the USA where a modern, eclectic instrument is complemented by a historically informed instrument much more suitable for Baroque music eg St Thomas, Fifth Avenue, should be followed. Neither instrument has to be enormous. It would seem to be a retrograde step to consider the hugely significant artistic vision of Susi Jeans, James Dalton, David Lumsden, David Butterworth, Richard Marlowe, Peter WIlliams and many others as somehow deficient, particularly in such centres of musical study and learning as our ancient universities.

I’m wondering how mechanical slider-action stops being pulled out or pushed in could make more noise than the same stops operated by solenoids. Contortions of the organist seated at consoles behind a Rückpositiv or traditionally-placed English choir organ are normally unseen by choir, congregation and clergy. I accompanied the Britten Missa Brevis on the small 2 manual Father Willis at Christ Church with no human registrands and very rare use of the composition pedals. There’s a section of The Festival Te Deum which would benefit from the kind of registration aids that had yet to be invented when Britten composed it.

Some 20th century organs have registration aids; many do not, including some of the best, most musical instruments.

I’m in two minds about that. As a liturgical church musician I understand the desire for all “mod cons” in terms of registration aids, but to see such a fine “pure” instrument turned into something it was never intended by its designers and makers to be makes me feel regret. How long before they extend the manual compass? And add a tuba?

Because it’s preferable for everything to stay exactly as it was in 1549/1662/1928/1953*. *delete as appropriate

That’s amazing, Paul. Do you still have it? In the end it should perhaps go back to Christ Church for an honoured place in the Library.

Good luck, Jonathan! I’m split between suggesting “pure” organ music, originally written to move and inspire using the organ’s unique voices, and arrangements that, dare I say, might engage the children more immediately. Tunes they recognise, such as TV and film tunes, might be a good way to start and finish. I’m a little behind what children are listening to and watching, these days, but Harry Potter and the Incredibles might go down well, or (scary thought) Frozen.

I’ve seen the instruments in Lyme Regis and Beaminster but heard neither. There have been rumours that both instruments are quite, um, brash but I’ve also heard that said about the beautiful instrument in St Michael and All Angels, Bedford Park.

I played Dieu Parmi Nous at the end of Midnight Mass in the Tower of London c. 1984. A Yeoman Warder switched off the power to the organ half-way through!

I imagine they would be prohibitively expensive but would bars made of silver or, indeed, gold, produce good tone?

Informative and thoughtful comments, Damian. I would be against changing a name just for change’s sake but I would support a name-change for Colston Hall. It is a fine building and I played there in a tremendous concert that marked the end of an extended education project by the English Chamber Orchestra in schools in the more deprived areas of Bristol featuring hundreds of local school children. Sadly we didn’t use the organ on that occasion either!

Yes, good advice from Colin re copyright texts. I’d be tempted to look in old service books eg the Liber Usualis and the Book of Common Prayer. A translation of the old English Use (probably Sarum) would be good too, but find one that’s out of copyright.

For decades BBC Radio 3 used to credit the organist in an orchestra, which was nice but not always justified by the significance of their contribution. I think some of the organists were, on occasion, slightly embarrassed. I have no idea why it ever started but it might well have had to do with just one musician’s contract and a precedent was set. Nowadays I’d be amazed if anyone were able to negotiate billing for an orchestral date. Remember when there used to be announcements at the end of TV programmes? Peter Sallis is currently appearing in Run For Your Wife at the Aldwych Theatre in London.

Just a few thoughts. Bach would not have knowingly broken a law on copyright infringement so had there been such a law in his day he would either have not used the music of other composers in his own compositions and arrangements or he’d have obtained the relevant permissions in advance. North America: I don’t think Canada and the USA have the same copyright laws. The USA situation is, I think, 95 years from publication. Under the older law it was possible for composers to outlive the copyright on their music eg Irving Berlin and Alexander’s Ragtime Band. Any work published in the USA before, I think, 1923 is now public domain. This is very different from the EU and, I think, Canada. Also remember that in jurisdictions with x years after the death of the composer it’s generally the case that in collaborative works, eg operas, songs, musicals, copyright subsists until x years after the death of the last collaborator to die. This affects eg some Puccini operas. The moral is to work with young and healthy lyricists and librettists if you are an old composer if you want your family to benefit most from your work as a composer.