Rowland Wateridge

Several factors in their demise, I think: the RFH organ itself ageing, RD’s retirement and changed tastes? Interestingly in a group setting some years later, RD told us that if starting afresh things would now have been very different, not least the shape of the hall and its acoustics, and the organ would be tracker! He mentioned, with slight contempt in the tone of his voice, that some younger organists had refused to play the RFH organ as it wasn’t tracker! In earlier days it was looked on as a very great honour, probably the apogee for a young player, to perform there.

In very much the way which Colin Pykett describes, an answer to this turned up today quite fortuitously on, of all places, the YouTube thread about the failed première of Ligeti’s ‘Volumina’ at the RFH in 1971. A BBC article is linked there with a close up photograph of the left stop-jamb which does, indeed, reveal a label directly under the pedal reed stops “Manual Basses”. From memory (to be checked) there is no reference to this on the NPOR specification other than the relevant stops being individually shown as derived. Having said this, I’m not sure that this is the same thing as Niccolo has described on the Mutin/ Cavaillé-Coll organ being discussed here.

I could be wrong, but I took S_L to be referring to the demise of the 5.55 recitals rather than demise of the organ under the strain of Volumina! Thank you for that fascinating link to the BBC article. The history of the event and how the fault was rectified are dealt with more fully in the book, so I limited myself to the bare bones here. But also fascinating is the close up of the RFH left stop-jamb and the label, directly under the pedal reeds “Manual Basses” which confirms my recollection that Downes’ design carried down manual basses onto the pedal - this was discussed only just the other day on Niccolo Morandi’s thread about the Mutin/ Cavaillé-Coll “Unusual 77-Note Residence Organ”.

In the fascinating book “Wednesdays at 5.55, Organ Recitals at the Royal Festival Hall” (W Harry Hoyle, Clontarf Press, 2018) it is related that the first performance there of Volumina by Xavier Darasse on 4th March 1971 did not proceed beyond the first chord - this had fused the organ’s ‘electrics’! The Times reported this as possibly “an Act of God”! Elsewhere in that book I recall reading that Ralph Downes had categorically forbidden a visiting artist playing a work involving clenched fists! Downes kept a tight rein on all performers, however distinguished, and they had to conform strictly to his house rules; repertoire had to be ‘approved’ and not duplicated or repeated in the same season; no smoking at the console - and a notice on the console to that effect! But it is said he was exceptionally kind and helpful to young, nervous players, and many of our leading organists had their ‘breakthrough’ debut at the RFH. The RFH audience sizes could be extraordinary in the early years. Even Lionel Rogg was nervous at his first recital to see an audience of 1,300. A year later it was 1,600. Helmut Walcha achieved similar figures.

I’m pretty certain you have solved the mystery. ‘Folk Tune’ is dedicated to the memory of Delius so people’s instincts were sound about that link. I have only heard one other recorded performance by Anthony Wilson on YouTube. Agreed that Lindsay O’Neill’s is particularly fine. In fact, both performances are fine, albeit on different instruments.

BBC Proms Organ Recital by Peter Holder Saturday 4th September Royal Albert Hall at 11.45 am. Programme: Meyerbeer, transcr. W. T. Best: Le prophète – Coronation March J S Bach: Fantasia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 537 Widor: Symphony No. 5 – Allegro vivace (1st movt) Saint-Saens: Fantaisie No. 1 in E flat major Liszt: Fantasy and Fugue on ‘Ad nos, ad salutarem undam’ Proms aficionados will doubtless know about this already, but the RAH only announced it on organrecitals.com yesterday. Further details there.

Unfortunately no link has come through. Can you please check this at your end.

Weren’t sustainers a feature of HW III’s organs? - which is not to say other builders did not provide them. I can only speculate that the manual stop labels indicate that the higher pitch is the ‘unison’ throughout the manual compass, and the lower pitch indicates what is transferred to the pedal by means of the tirasses - but this is just a theory. How would people use the Grand-Orgue unison off, I wonder? We need Nigel Allcoat or one of our other French specialists to explain what is happening in this particular organ.

Sorry you may have been put off by others’ (over?)-reactions. What you wrote made perfectly good sense, at least to me. I would have been interested to hear more about this unusual organ, and in particular the relationship of the extended manual compass to the pedals. Fellow Mander-board members: Niccolo Morandi may not read this. He appears to have removed his name from all previous threads as well as this one. In fact he may have left altogether as his profile is also deleted. Maybe we should be a little more welcoming to someone writing from overseas, but showing interest in English organ matters as well as other topics.

Was the bottom octave ‘borrowed’ on the pedals? I recall Ralph Downes advocating that certain manual stops should be extended down to the pedal organ. Wasn’t this done at the RFH?

I didn’t see the programme. Can you be a bit more specific, which one, in case it is repeated? I think you probably refer to Henry Willis 4, but I have to say that I have equally never seen a photograph of his father Henry Willis III or, indeed, Bruce Buchanan himself wearing other than a bow tie - a distinctive feature of all of them. There should be a title for this! Willis bow tie tradition, perhaps?

Martin, The 10,000 house-church planting proposal wasn’t very well announced, and planning for it seemed non-existent. There has been some back-tracking in the face of considerable and understandable indignation by parish clergy. That the C of E has major problems isn’t in doubt, but this particular issue is very far from settled.

I don’t know how many times I have said this before, but the recitals and recitalists with varied programmes are there. Very often small audiences are due to lack of publicity - hopeless mistakes made like flyers omitting the date and time or even the venue, or the event being announced the day before it is to happen - all true stories from a reliable source! S_L would enjoy Thomas Trotter’s offerings at Birmingham Town Hall for the type of mixed programmes which he advocates - see the current series advertised on http://www.organrecitals.com. At today’s date that site offers 140 recitals around the country and lists 313 organists playing these and later ones. What possible excuse for these grumbles from organists! I think John Robinson raises a separate point about lack of interest or active indifference to our instrument by non-organists, and that is less easy to answer. There has to be some way of changing things. Some local organists’ associations are making gallant efforts at grass-roots level to involve both the young and not so young. Courses like Oundle and the RCO and conservatoires are more aimed at future performers. Somehow audiences need to be attracted. Some years ago I persuaded two work colleagues to come with me to a lunchtime recital (not sure whether they were called concerts) in Winchester Cathedral, something which would never have occurred to them to do before. Afterwards one of them said “I had no idea an organ could sound like that”, and they both became regular members of the audience. Something which organists must tackle is their recital (should it be concert?) programmes being published in advance. Of course, it could be a two-edged sword: one consisting solely of Messiaen or Leighton (I have experienced both!) is highly likely to deter some, probably many, prospective audience members. Those composers have to be worked into wider programmes: ‘educating’ an audience may sound pompous, but that is what it is. Thomas Trotter is a past-master at doing this. Others include Ian Tracey, Gordon Stewart and Darius Battiwalla, to name just three.

We are rather straying from Liverpool, but I am also guilty in the following. Before the Mander rebuild, I believe the Chichester organ had only 34 stops, surely the smallest of any English cathedral, and the cathedral is quite a substantial building. But the rebuilding (and enlargement) was very long overdue. Wasn’t it last worked on by Hele around 1905, and virtually unplayable towards the end? However, John Birch did make an impressive 45 recording on it in the 1960s Ryemuse series, which introduced short but well-played programmes recorded all around the country on organs and by organists, some no longer with us. Of the recorded organs which have been lost, Bath Abbey and Worcester Cathedral come to mind.

The situation at St Peter’s is quite extraordinary, but as has been pointed out previously, congregational singing is almost non-existent there and it simply isn’t realistic to compare it even with its main English counterpart, Westminster Cathedral. I recall that after one televised mass, Pope Francis processed out to the Fugue in G minor (from BWV 542) performed by a group of brass players! As to the ‘opulence’ of the new digital organ, the point needs to be made, yet again, that it is a gift, so that, rather than need, dictated what it is. We now know that the donor, Peter Clark, was a citizen of Liverpool (and not the member of this discussion board of that name).

Honestly! All this surmise when the answers are in Martin’s original post. It was donated by the late Peter Clark (does that require some clarification, Martin?) and it replaces an existing “much older” Makin. As Tony Newnham says, the concept seems to be a substitute for the west-end section of the ‘grand’ organ which was never completed.

Firstly, I must make clear that I have no personal knowledge or connection with St Michael’s. If they have gone down a different route with their replacement organ I hope they obtained permission to vary the faculty before departing from what was specifically authorised by the Deputy Chancellor. I suppose an organ “which is movable” might merely refer to the console. Non-organists are notorious for describing organs inaccurately. This can only be resolved by someone with local knowledge.

Something very similar was done to the church where I ‘grew up’ and was confirmed, the contents entirely stripped, stalls, high altar and reredos, pulpit all gone, even the Lady Chapel altar and sacristy (a stone structure) demolished. But in that case the organ was the sole survivor, a substantial and very fine 1922 Nicholson in a large chamber with two ornately carved cases - perhaps too big a job to remove. Sadly, I’m told it’s now in a poor state, although I haven’t been back. This all happened last century after I had left the parish. Another interested former parishioner and I investigated, and could find no record of a faculty. Most of the discarded furnishings found their way to Japan, of all places, I was told. This all appeared to be the work of a new vicar out of sympathy with the tradition of the parish. Having now seen Adnosad’s comment, posted while I was typing mine, we have as yet no idea how the new ‘combination organ’ sounds. The Chancellor approved the scheme in the expectation of “a new first class organ” being installed. Also, in fairness, the reordering of St Michael’s was to permit other community use, something which will become more and more common for some churches to remain viable.

The church has undergone a major re-ordering. You can find details and photographs from the Heritage section on the church website. Essentially most of the interior fittings (including the organ worked on by H&H and others) were totally cleared and have been replaced by modern functional ones. A faculty was obtained, and whilst I haven’t waded through all 23 pages of the Acting Chancellor’s Judgment, paragraph 89 says this: 89. The current organ has reached the end of its useful life and therefore replacement is necessary. A new first class organ would significantly contribute to the church’s worship as well as its potential as a venue for cultural performances and that this outweighs substantially any perceived harm that would be caused by the loss of the organ in its present location. Therefore, I allow the proposal for a combination organ with speakers as set out in the proposal by Modular Pipe Organs Limited and dated 31.08.2014. I direct that the D.A.C. should be consulted concerning the siting of the organ pipes and the materials used for attaching them to the wall and their colour. All efforts should be made for them to be unobtrusive where possible. The proposal gives no indication as to where other speakers may be sited and the D.A.C. should be consulted about these as well. For the avoidance of doubt, the small commemorative brass plaques for previous choristers, organists and ringers should be retained and displayed on the wall of the new vestry. MARK B. RUFFELL B.D. (A.K.C.) ACTING DEPUTY CHANCELLOR Bristol Consistory Court 12 September 2016 My own solitary reaction to this, a wry smile that “all efforts should be made for them [organ pipes] to be unobtrusive where possible”! I daresay there are details elsewhere, possibly from Modular Pipe Organs, about the subsequent installation and specification of the organ as in the picture which you mention.

Peter Dyke apparently received some comments from people about the Hereford Father Willis demonstration video saying that they would have liked to have heard more of the organ! He has responded with these three videos of recordings, two of them live, introduced here in his own words: “The first one we did was at Christmas, as we weren't sure whether the annual Christmas Sparkle recital would be possible in front of a live audience. In the end, we were able to hold the concert but there were probably a good number of people who were glad to watch online rather than come in person. https://youtu.be/mYD9xjTHtt0 “At Easter, it wasn't possible to have an audience in the building for a concert - a situation we had anticipated - so it was good we had pre-recorded this recital to substitute for the usual Easter Monday recital. In both cases I think the spoken introductions were appreciated and may have brought Hereford's Willis organ to a wider group of people than would normally have been able to hear it. https://youtu.be/WKvoQpb4RZ4 “As a Holy Week offering, I was glad to perform the rather fine new work by Philip Moore, Via Crucis, in a liturgical context. I think this is a tremendously good new work! https://youtu.be/d_0vA5KOxxs “I hope you enjoy these!”

There are currently illustrations on Google of the Abbey disk E 7642 - A /B and sleeve. Unfortunately the picture quality is poor, but they show the recordings as in stereo. ‘Stereo’ looks like an added sticker on the sleeve. However my admittedly vague recollection is that my copy was mono. At that time 45s were widely available in either format and, e.g., I possess (or did) the Ryemuse 45 of Alwyn Surplice at Winchester Cathedral in both formats. Like you, I haven’t located a copy of the Christ Church 45 for sale. I suppose there’s a remote chance one might turn up one day. I have since tracked down a clearer copy of the sleeve showing the publication date 1968, produced by David Lumsden and sleeve notes by Paul Morgan and John Mingay. Paul Morgan’s CV relates that he held the Christopher Tatton Organ Scholarship at Christ Church, studying under Dr Sydney Watson. A description of the organ includes the following “It is a particularly good example of the English romantic organ, with four manuals, 48 speaking stops and 16 couplers”. My recollection of the Wesley Larghetto is confirmed, the other works being Herbert Murrill’s ‘Carrillon’ and JSB’s Fugue in E flat (‘St Anne’) - but I suspect you already know this!

FATHER WILLIS BICENTENARY - 1821-2021 - PETER DYKE AT HEREFORD CATHEDRAL To mark the 200th Anniversary of the birth of Father Henry Willis on 27th April 1821, Peter Dyke presents this demonstration tour of Hereford Cathedral's 1893 Father Willis organ. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0y64U0Jir8&t=7s

Solo flues and orchestral reeds all 4 inches according to NPOR. Do I detect a certain lèse-majesté in some of these comments about the Salisbury masterpiece? In an entirely different context, I recently received a robust “Keep your hands off our Dean!” from Salisbury after tentatively suggesting that he might be a good person to be the next Bishop of Winchester! I’m sure they are equally protective of their Father Willis - possibly more so!

Fully accepted, and I recall reading in Charles Callahan’s book of the correspondence between HW III and G Donald Harrison of Aeolian-Skinner that Willis ordered some ranks of pipes from them and specified that they were not to bear any Aeolian-Skinner identification. As I recall, they were to be flue pipes to Willis’ scales. However, I’m sceptical that Wurlitzer ranks found their way into Salisbury Cathedral in 1934 under the watchful eye of Sir Walter Alcock. Also bear in mind that this was a very major rebuild for which Willis must have carefully planned. I believe Father Willis considered Salisbury to be his finest cathedral organ. I doubt that his grandson HW III would have taken such liberties in such an important instrument. I’m willing to be proved wrong, but will be astonished if I am.

The short answer is ‘no’, but I would have thought it unlikely that Sir Walter Alcock would have permitted it if he had known. The HW III trompette militaire at St Paul’s Cathedral has often been incorrectly attributed to Wurlitzer - some of these things can just be careless talk. I think it is understandable that the trompette militaire as a very special stop with spun-brass resonators was ‘bought in’ (from the USA, as it happens), but surely it would have well been within the firm’s capability to make the Salisbury strings in house. As a slight aside, Stephen Bicknell claimed that HW III’s Cor de Bassett (his personal gift to Joseph Bonnet) in the organ of St Eustache, Paris is the best stop in that organ!