Rowland Wateridge

How very perceptive! The chapter on Auxerre contains the following: “The musical instrument called the serpent is now all but obsolete in the French cathedrals. It was invented by a canon of Auxerre, one Edmé Guillaume, in 1590. The ‘Serpent de l’Église’ is, however, still a functionary in Gallican churches, and I remember when at Amiens a few years ago buying the Semaine Réligieuse, a little ‘monthly’ corresponding to our parish magazine, in which was recorded the death of the ‘serpentist’ of the cathedral at an advanced age.” So it was Amiens, after all!

Thank you for those two links. A website devoted to the Serpent - fascinating. Francis Bumpus, mentioned in my earlier post, wrote a splendid book “Summer Holidays among the Glories of Northern France” describing the major cathedrals, abbeys and greater churches at the end of the 19th century and the earliest years of the 20th century. As well as the architecture (and wonderful early contemporary photographs) there is wealth of detail about music, liturgy and ceremonial - we are told that there are 35 choristers at Chartres where he describes the elaborate ceremonial with both organs being used in the Offices, and one of the lesser Offices accompanied by a trombone. Somewhere (I cannot just lay hands on it at the moment) there is a reference to one of the cathedrals’ “former Serpentist”, but this is not Amiens.

Another, I hope permissible, digression. You have to be of a certain age, possibly antiquarian, to be familiar with the architectural writings of Francis Bumpus. As well as the cathedrals his interests also very much extended to church music, liturgy and organs. Somewhere he relates a visit to Canterbury Cathedral around the time of the arrival of the Father Willis there, and a verger referring to it as “the new hargin in the trifolium”! I’m intrigued to learn of these other surviving serpents.

One of the churches where I used to play has, displayed in a glass case at the west end, a ‘serpent’ - a splendid-looking instrument and the sole survivor of the church band. The organ is, indeed, now at the eastern end of the south aisle. As in many other churches re-ordered in the 19th century, the gallery has gone. Apart from a mediaeval west tower, the village church where I live is wholly Oxford Movement with the organ in a chamber in the chancel, and, alongside, set into the floor centrally, a large brass to John Keble who is, however, buried outside in the churchyard. Even the font canopy was the gift of Dr Pusey! We seem to have strayed a long way from tuning at the RAH!

I mentioned on another thread the wonderful 1970s radio series “Organ Gallery” hosted by John Lade, and the visit to York Minster (Wolsey kindly tracked down the broadcast details). Francis Jackson said then that he preferred playing on the Quire console and specifically mentioned its composition pedals. So Bairstow’s preference was shared by his distinguished successor.

I also have the Nicholas Thistlethwaite book, and have to agree with Colin Pykett. The author doesn’t really conceal that he prefers Hill’s organs. This is, obviously, a good source for anyone specifically researching or interested in Hill. But there is useful information, which I have never seen elsewhere, about the Willis pipe scales and details of reeds and mixture compositions at Winchester from the 1850s.

At Northampton, (now spelled Schulze) the spellings of stop names have changed, and in one case pitch also. The Pedal has been enlarged by borrowing three ranks from the Hauptwerk, but that apart, it is essentially as it was at the Great Exhibition. The specification for the Holdich at Wiveton is essentially unchanged. At the Great Exhibition the Clarabella is given as ‘Coelestina’. NPOR comments on that. It was specifically noted “The compass of the keys are on the German scale”, clearly evidencing the German influence before 1851. I wasn’t previously aware of these other survivors - thank you for adding to my knowledge! The organ I know best, Winchester Cathedral, has inevitably undergone changes in its 165 years but the important parts (about 40 stops) are original Henry Willis. It hasn’t always received kind comments on some threads here but, notwithstanding the changes, it is the earliest Father Willis in a line which extends at roughly 25 year intervals through Salisbury and St Paul’s to Lincoln with changes and discernible progression on the way. It is its early date which distinguishes it from those later successors. The other important result of the Great Exhibition was the 100 stops Father Willis organ for St George’s Hall Liverpool, 1855, happily still with us but in need of some restoration and much money spent on it. I heard it ‘live’ yesterday and agree with Cecil Clutton’s judgement “This really is a stupendous organ”!

A treasured book of mine is “Musical Instruments in the 1851 Exhibition” (i.e., the Great Exhibition) which lists in great detail the organs exhibited. There are 18 pages of specifications and contemporary narrative extracted from the Official Catalogue of the Great Exhibition. The jurors included Sir Henry Bishop, Sir George Smart and Hector Berlioz, and they awarded ‘the Council Medal’ (sometimes quoted as ‘First Prize’) jointly to Gray and Davison, William Hill & Co and Henry Willis. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert attended and on one occasion had a private performance on the Willis organ which included a transcription of a song composed by Prince Albert. In the specification of the Schultze organ, the spelling is ‘Lieblich Gedact’ and it appears twice on the upper manual: ‘Lieblich Gedact Stopped 16 feet’ and ‘Lieblich Gedact and Flauto traverso Open Wood 8 feet’. There is a note “The upper clavier is not enclosed, and does not therefore form what we should call a swell. The Bordun (bourdon) and Gedact are stopped wood pipes, corresponding with our “stopped diapason”. The Lieblich Gedact is the same, but on a smaller scale, and differently voiced.” Indirectly, Schultze’s organ was responsible for the invention of the concave and radiating pedal board! When the young Henry Willis and S S Wesley looked at it, Willis observed that the pedals were straight, but additionally concave. Wesley responded that it was a pity they “didn’t spread as well”, The concave and radiating pedal board was born and first appeared at Winchester Cathedral in 1854. For good or ill, Wesley was the first cathedral organist to have one there, as well as thumb-pistons and the first Father Willis full swell, but that’s another story. Significantly, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert donated to the acquisition of the Exhibition organ by the Cathedral. Other English exhibitors included William Hill, Gray and Davison, already mentioned, and J W Walker. Until recently three organs from the Exhibition survived: the Gray and Davison at St Anne’s Limehouse, London, the Winchester Willis, and the J W Walker which I last saw, sadly disused, in a Methodist Church in Southampton. It has left there and I do not know its present whereabouts. This can only be the tip of the iceberg. I don’t know whether the book is readily available, but it might turn up on searches. I’m certain you would find it fascinating and invaluable. ”Musical Instruments in the 1851 Exhibition: A transcription of musical interest from the Official Illustrated Catalogue of the Great Exhibition of the Art and History of all Nations, with additional material from contemporary sources.” Edited by Peter and Ann MacTaggart, published Welwyn Herts 1986: ISBN 0 9507782 6 5.

At St George’s Hall Liverpool yesterday Ian Tracey concluded his lunchtime recital with two pieces by Noel Rawsthorne in tribute to his predecessor and in honour of his memory: Prelude on the Londonderry Air and Festal Fanfare on “Nun Danket alle Gott” (not absolutely certain that this is the correct official title). The Liverpool audience were respectfully silent after the first, and there was tumultuous applause at the end.

OK, briefly back to York. I was interested to see the “Pedal divide”, and among other innovations separate transfers for the different reed choruses - more versatile than the fairly standard “Great Reeds on Pedal” or “Solo Reeds on Choir”, etc. People asked about “Octaves alone” (to which Robert Sharpe replied). I believe Exeter Cathedral had such a ‘coupler’ some years ago - I haven’t checked the latest specification. On my last visit to Exeter I thought the organ sounded ‘different’ from as I fondly remembered it. Now I am guilty of diverting from York to Exeter! Both are very fine organs. I don’t think anyone has commented on the York ‘Pedal divide’. Can we expect that as a standard feature in future major rebuilds, I wonder.

Sorry, I think we agree! I did use the word ‘if’ this all comes to fruition. On my last visit to Symphony Hall Birmingham for an evening recital there were only about 300 in the audience, looking decidedly lost in that vast auditorium, but true to form, as discussed above, the mobile console on stage was used. My visits to Hull CH and Huddersfield TH have only been for lunchtime recitals, so I have no experience of the full-house occasions. As a southerner, I am very appreciative of the lunch-time recitals at all of these venues - to which I must add Leeds Town Hall and St George’s Hall, Liverpool. Northerners are spoiled for choice!

Well, I assume that you now accept that this might indicate an intended pipe organ? Initially I was just as sceptical as you and innate. (I thought the ‘pipe display’ was just a fanciful decoration.) I’m thinking hard about concert halls where audience members are close (or close enough to be a possible nuisance or distraction) to the organist. Obviously choir members don’t count. But no matter. If this project comes to fruition it will be a great enhancement to the London musical and arts scene. Far too early, of course, to speculate about a possible builder and stop lists!

Apologies for this clumsy effort (first attempt at inserting a photograph). This thread started in Gothenburg, moved to the Barbican and then to Bristol! Now back to the Barbican. This is a blow-up of the ‘artist’s impression’ of the (possibly) “architectural indication of a free standing instrument with mechanical action console below”. The object centre-picture is what might be the organ bench. One can just detect behind it a pair of doors which equally might be an en-fenêtre console. If any of this surmise has any substance, the organist has to reach the console via a tortuous route with audience members at unusually close quarters. Of course that wouldn’t arise if a mobile console was used ‘downstairs’!

Are we talking about the Barbican here? Try as I might, I can’t find the smallest hint of an organ in the graphics *, and there is certainly no mention of one in any of the narrative. Both S_L and innate above doubt that the possibility of an organ had even been considered! Nor can I find the elusive grille. (Surely, in any event, in this day and age no one would conceal a concert pipe organ behind a grille? Ralph Downes fought off that idea at the RFH as long ago as the 1950s.) In one of the stills there are several objects towards the front of the stage, but clearly none is an organ console. The need, or otherwise, for both a mechanical action console and an electric-action mobile one at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall and Christchurch Priory has been discussed on earlier threads and, like the Bridgewater Hall, the reality is that the mobile console is invariably used in recitals (and for services as well at Christchurch!). I don’t have personal experience, but I have heard that the mechanical action console at Birmingham is sometimes used with large-scale orchestral and choral works, but, significantly, not in the solo organ repertoire! As S_L points out, the hall is only a ‘vision’ at this stage. If it comes to pass it will be a very exciting and welcome addition to London’s arts and concerts venues, but at present there doesn’t seem to be any evidence that an organ is contemplated. * Postscript: phillipmgwright’s post above made me look again closely at what he calls “an architectural indication of a free standing instrument with mechanical action console below”, and I have to concede that his interpretation is feasible. What I had previously dismissed as being the console, being far too small (compared with the adjacent seating), might turn out to be the organ bench, albeit a very unusual one. Also, the very close proximity of audience members on the same level would, surely, be unusual (and probably undesirable for the organist). But one must accept that all this is putting ‘an artist’s impression’ under the microscope.

Indeed they were exciting times, and we must not forget the Royal Festival Hall organ which polarised opinions then, and still does. I have fond memories of the Wednesday recitals at 5.55 pm. There’s no doubt that they, and the organ, were ground-breaking. Among the players I particularly recall were your hero Francis Jackson (twice), Noel Rawsthorne, George Thalben-Ball, Helmut Walcha (also twice) and, of course, Ralph Downes, in their different ways all of them memorable performers. The RFH organ wasn’t all broken glass, bubble and squeak (to be clear, I don’t think you are suggesting that, MM). It sounds different now, better I think, since the Hall’s refurbishment and restoration by H&H with the improved acoustic, and has acquired a ‘bloom’ which it previously lacked. But it was always a fine instrument and those recitals had an added feeling about them - a sense of being present at a special occasion. For me, hearing and watching the blind Helmut Walcha play Bach’s Toccata in F at the RFH remains an unforgettable experience - almost 60 years later!

At his lunch-time recital in Hull City Hall today, Peter King spoke movingly about Peter Hurford. He then played the Sonata in C minor by Giovanni Battista Pescetti, and dedicated his performance to the memory of Peter Hurford.

Well, it’s not much to go on, but Sullivan and Davan Wetton performed together in a substantial Purcell Commemoration Service in Westminster Abbey in 1895. The ‘programme’ is held in the British Library. It is said to include drawings for a proposed Purcell Memorial organ case and, without further research, I suspect that this came to fruition in the wonderful double cases designed by J L Pearson which we now see in the Abbey. For a time (when H&H rebuilt the Abbey organ for the 1937 Coronation) the cases were removed and remained so until after the 1953 Coronation. Originally plain, when reinstated they received their present splendid decoration to the designs of the architect Stephen Dykes-Bower (a relative of Sir John Dykes-Bower of St Paul’s Cathedral). I expect you know of Charles Callahan’s book “Aeolian-Skinner Remembered - a History in Letters” containing the lengthy correspondence between G Donald Harrison and Henry Willis III (also Senator Emerson Richards and others)? This throws considerable light on the development of ‘the American Classic Organ’ which was largely GDH’s creation. GDH had worked for Willis before emigrating to the US, and the relationship was always a very close one with cross-Atlantic interchanges of ideas in both directions for something like 50 years. The organ world is, in many ways, a small one. I met Charles Callahan three years ago when he travelled all the way from the US for the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of Edwin Lemare’s birth held at Lemare’s birthplace, Ventnor on the Isle of Wight. I have read somewhere that E Power Biggs, who figured prominently in the US organ scene and in Charles Callahan’s book, was a later Isle of Wight native as well, but this is contradicted by ‘Wikipedia’ (which gives Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex as his birthplace) - further research on this will be necessary. Musically EPB and Lemare were at opposite ends of the spectrum. My only experience of playing an organ in the US was a small Hook and Hastings (1860s or 70s, perhaps - a lovely instrument, tonally quite English, but with a ‘Melodia’ stop and terraced stop jambs) in a small Anglican Church in a very rural part of Pennsylvania - the nearest town, Elmira NY, being 30 miles away. This was, incidentally, where Robert Hope-Jones first set up in business in the US after leaving England. St Peter’s Cornhill: I suspect that my last visit there was even longer ago than yours. I do recall that it was claimed to include some ‘Father Smith’ pipework, but no knowledge of the earlier console which you mention. There are other members here with much more experience of the US organ scene. Postscript: I should have read further on ‘Wikipedia’. This states that E Power Biggs was born in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex in 1906, but he and his family moved to the Isle of Wight one year later. My distant memory (possibly from reading ‘The American Organist’) was that both Lemare and EPB were natives of Ventnor IOW. The same source said in that context that EPB did not like his name to be associated with Lemare’s! Lemare had left for the US by 1902, and EPB followed 30 years later. Correction: Oh dear, another serious ‘senior moment’. It wasn’t Charles Callahan who travelled the three-thousand plus miles for the Lemare celebrations at Ventnor. It was Frederick Hohman, and I only realised my mistake and made the connection from seeing him mentioned in one of MM’s posts on an old thread.

There will always have to be some measure of compromise in our largest cathedrals. In terms of size (not sure whether cubic volume or footprint area) John Harvey said the three largest are York, Lincoln and Winchester - he called them “these giants”. (I will leave out St Paul’s which in so many ways is a special case.) Like York, Lincoln's organ is on the pulpitum screen speaking (inevitably with different effect) both into the Quire and the Nave. With their different parentage these are two simply wonderful instruments, and services in the Quire at both are always beautiful and inspiring. I think naves are musically a problem nearly everywhere. The issue is being addressed at York and we must all wish it well for the best outcome. Winchester has the hardest job of any, with the least favourable position in the longest building. But that is really another subject. S S Wesley wanted the Father Willis to be placed on the stone pulpitum which then existed, but was unsuccessful. (He didn’t have a very happy relationship with the Dean and Chapter, although he did succeed in acquiring the FW organ.) Chester is another example with an awkward position, which it seems to overcome better. Another ‘Methuselah’ memory. Somewhere around 1951/ 52, I attended Evensong at York Minster. It was sung to plainchant by the Songmen, entirely unaccompanied. We had already left the Quire when there was, to my boyish ears, what sounded like an explosion from the organ above, with Sackbut 32’ very much in evidence. I have always assumed that Dr Jackson was playing. Another of those memories which last for a lifetime! On the same occasion, my sister and I literally walked the plank with a single iron handrail alongside the roof of the South Transept - and a potential drop of possibly 100 feet. There was no concept of ‘health and safety’ in those days!

The organ is still there, rebuilt and enlarged, and playable according to NPOR E00638. The church is now St Yeghiche. The latest work on the organ was by David Wells, 2002 so it ought to be in fine fettle.

I fully understand the strength of feeling by MM and others, but I’m not sure where this is all leading, or whether any of us (apart, possibly, from any Wolverhampton tax payers) have any standing. As mentioned earlier, I can remember broadcast recitals by Arnold Richardson from here - possibly all of 60 years ago! Are people taking on board that it was never intended to re-install the organ in the Civic Hall? Mr Tovey was looking for another location. Sadly, the Wolverhampton organ has gone, but there is another Compton at present alive and well in the BBC Maida Vale studios. What is its future when the BBC moves out? That thread was diverted into a discussion of electronics! I don’t have any BBC connections. Does anyone here know anything?

I didn’t suggest anything which would make the case for scrapping the organ! When I find some time, I must revisit the Local Government Act, but I think the first paragraph of Colin Pykett’s post above is probably spot-on. While none of us likes the result, I doubt that any action will be taken against the Council. I may be wrong. We must wait and see.

I can’t offer any connection to Davan Wetton (who had an amazingly distinguished career) but my invaluable 1921 ‘Dictionary of Organs and Organists’ tells us this about the organ at that date in St Peter’s, Cranley Gardens: “Built 1893 by Willis; rebuilt 1908 by Walker. 4 manuals, 54 speaking stops, 17 couplers, pneumatic action, hydraulically blown. Organist: E. Read, ARAM, FRCO. LRAM”. Do those details bring back any memories of the organ? Note “rebuilt by Walker” only 15 years after Father Willis. I haven’t checked to see what NPOR might say. Wetton was Mus D (Durham) and FRCO. He had Assistant Organist appointments at Westminster Abbey and Wells Cathedral, was Organist and Director of Music (an early use of that term?) at the Foundling Hospital; Professor RCM and GSM; Examiner to Associated Board RAM and RCM; Director of the Royal Philharmonic Society; Faculty member, Music and Board of Studies, London University - the list goes on and on.

I had considered making a post that for there to be any effective complaint of maladministration by the Council there would have had to have been some potentially contractually-binding arrangement - effectively an offer by a prospective buyer of the organ for a realistic (i.e., significant) sum of money - which the Council perversely refused to accept. Several high thresholds to be met here. Nor is that the only possible criterion. I mentioned in an earlier post that the District Auditor (who is totally independent of the local authority) keeps a close watch on all local authority fiscal matters. The answer to your final question is ‘nowhere’. Tower blocks and council houses are demolished (not always on grounds of safety) and not automatically replaced in the sense of your question. The result might be a small area of public open space of landscaped grass, trees and shrubs. One might argue that these are a ‘replacement’ of the building, but they will not be an income-producing asset as the replaced building was.

Gracious. No criticism or offence was intended by my mentioning campanology. This thread asked us all to try harder, and it has brought up any number of different topics.

I am delighted to have met one of your sons at Coventry! A charming gentleman. Coventry is one of the very finest Cathedral organs and always worth (for me) the long journey to hear it. This thread has turned into a pot-pourri of subjects, but it was Cornet IV who introduced campanology. From the background he now gives us - Sumsion at Gloucester and St Peter’s Cornhill - he should know an English organ when he plays one!