Rowland Wateridge

Sorry, an elderly moment, brought on by shock! Now corrected, thank you.

I’m pretty shocked by these comments! In particular, I expected S_L to have a higher opinion of the violin sonata, but maybe I have misread him, and it certainly can’t be called trite! In fact it’s one work which has been described as erotic! Franck’s output was varied, but the Three Chorals stand in a class entirely of their own. Felix Aprahamian considered them to be the summit of the Romantic organ repertoire - and he didn’t limit that opinion to just the French school. I have heard my own favourite, the Troisième in A minor murdered in insensitive performances, in one case by a distinguished UK specialist in the French school. The A minor is full of deep meaning, strongly spiritual, and you don’t get remotely near that meaning by merely playing the written notes! I remember being at the St Albans Organ Festival in a Franck masterclass by the Canadian organist Bernard Lagacé in which he said this work, literally Franck’s final testament, must be approached - and played - with reverence. I don’t know the Harvey Grace critique. Probably the best assessment of Franck’s organ music currently available is “Toward an authentic interpretation of the Organ Works of César Franck” by the American organist and musicologist Rollin Smith, and for specific works, by the same author, “Playing the Organ Works of César Franck”. I have to admit that most of my reading of in-depth discussion of this subject has been in the ‘American Organist’. Changing the subject slightly, I don’t think Wesley consciously wrote anything with lesser players in mind, nor do I readily see Franck having done so. On Colin’s other point, I’m pretty certain that Franck had usual C-C registration aids, ventils etc., at Ste Clotilde. Wesley certainly did, Willis thumb pistons and composition pedals at Winchester, although, of course both managed without today’s multi-memory gadgetry.

This year marks the two-hundredth anniversary of the birth of César Franck. His music is appearing in recital programmes, and today at Carlisle Cathedral Edward Taylor is playing in tribute Franck’s Third Choral in A minor - fittingly the very final piece which, it is said, Franck corrected on his deathbed and never heard played: literally, musically, his final testament.

We corresponded on an earlier thread about the ‘Willis on Wheels’ and my recollections of Harry Gabb and Richard Popplewell playing during the ‘interregnum’ of the Grand Organ (surely the correct and appropriate name, in that case) while Willis were working on it. 1961 sounds right, but I thought it was out of action for much longer than six months, as I clearly remember the Maurice Greene Rogationtide anthem “Thou visitest the earth” more than once during that period; maybe it was a favourite which was repeated ‘out of season’. My hazy recollection is that the work stretched into a second year, but you are better placed to remember the details. My visits certainly included winter months when I recall buying hot chestnuts in the street on the way home (via London Bridge station) after the 6.30 pm Evensong! I have often wondered whether the case added by Mander - admittedly a vast visual improvement - altered the tonal effect of the ‘Willis on Wheels’ (or its decibel output!). It was remarkably effective in its original form. I have never heard it ‘live’ since to be able to make the comparison.

How appropriate that its current location is Stainer Street, London Bridge. Its much older namesake in St Paul’s, otherwise the ‘Willis on Wheels’, has inspired generations of a small organ’s capabilities. But the London Bridge one seems to have emigrated to St Pancras (handsoff) and now Euston (Martin) - unless these instruments are future additions?

This is, indeed, sad news. I first remember him as Assistant at Chichester under John Birch. He was astonishingly unassuming and said he could hardly believe being appointed to Salisbury in a line of succession which included Sir Walter Alcock, David Willcocks and Douglas Guest! In 1990 as President of the IAO he paid Winchester the compliment and honour of basing the IAO Congress there (incidentally in a week of blisteringly hot weather almost the equal of what we are currently experiencing) but very properly the entire Congress members were shipped over to Salisbury for a late evening recital by Peter Hurford. As well as being a gifted choir director, as Martin points out, a pioneer in introducing the first girls’ choir, he was devoted, I would say passionately, to Salisbury’s Father Willis organ, which he generously allowed others to play. He was unduly diffident about his own playing; I remember particularly a marathon performance of the complete works of Kenneth Leighton, played in memoriam. He had a sense of humour and I recall him enjoying a joke. He had a happy family life; at his retirement celebration the Lay Vicars sang an in-house composed canticle which included the line “He had one son, but now has twelve daughters”! He was understandably proud of his Cathedral, his choir and organ. He lived in a house which arguably has one of the best views from its front door in England. Latterly, he didn’t enjoy good health. May he rest in peace.

You seem not to have read all of the posts here! I did some independent research of my own (courtesy of Google) which tallied with Paul Hodges’, and came to the same conclusion as Paul. The suggestion that All Souls College, per se, is a war memorial doesn’t reflect fact. Charterhouse Chapel is, unquestionably, a war memorial. Earlier on this thread I supplied details of the chapel’s consecration service. As a unified building, rather than freestanding memorial, it is widely accepted as being the largest.

I’m afraid I have rather lost the plot here. This started as a discussion about whether Charterhouse College chapel is the largest war memorial in the UK. There’s strong evidence that it is. It isn’t at all clear how All Souls College, with or without an organ in its chapel, figures in this.

Yes, that point was made above and it is confirmed by, among others, Historic England. I suppose it’s unique as a completely enclosed building, a consecrated church, in fact, as distinct from structures like the Cenotaph or the larger freestanding memorials. There are lists, sadly incomplete, on Wikipedia of war memorials which are Grade 1 or Grade 2* listed, but they don’t include the Charterhouse Chapel. Your reference to All Souls College, Oxford is puzzling. There’s no apparent connection!

Further details of the work, and fine photographs, in this article by Ashley Grote. https://www.cathedral.org.uk/about/blog/detail/our-blog/2022/06/22/preserving-norwich-cathedral's-organ-for-the-future The pipes are to be re-gilded; otherwise the organ’s outward appearance will remain unchanged.

Tortuous meaning twisting: four or is it five right-angle turns? The Winchester ‘loft’ isn’t at all spacious. Among older people it’s still known by its former somewhat archaic name ‘the ladies’ gallery’, referring to its function before H&H installed the detached console to replace the Father Willis on the opposite, north, side of the quire, and supplanting the ladies. Incidentally they weren’t immediately allowed to sit in the back row of the choir stalls below, and at one time they would be politely ousted by the virgers. Of course that would not be countenanced today, but when I mentioned this on a previous thread, someone responded that the same all-male in the back row tradition also formerly applied at Durham.

A temporary, but welcome, return playing for Evensong on 5th September 2021 when the choir ‘Index Cantorum’ (directed by Mark Williams) sang the services in Winchester Cathedral. Richard McVeigh here accompanies the anthem, Herbert Howells’ “A Hymn for St Cecilia” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRk-LLtcs5U After the service the voluntary was Duruflé’s ‘Fugue sur le thème du Carillon des Heures de la Cathédrale de Soissons’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lY7HwCR1AM&list=RD0lY7HwCR1AM These might be preceded by the ‘ads’ which one can skip. Many years since I climbed those tortuous stairs!

I think Simon Preston was the first organist to become famous nationally while still (only) organ scholar of King’s College, Cambridge, such was the impact of his accompaniment of the Nine Lessons and Carols services several years running. Unlike some others here I never met him. I recall a BBC television programme from New College, Oxford (would such a thing happen now?) when he played and spoke enthusiastically about the new Grant Degens and Bradbeer organ. I heard him once ‘live’ and I can date it accurately to 1962 - on my 21st birthday! - when he gave a recital at Westminster Abbey. There were probably other times, but that remains firmly in my memory. May he rest in peace.

A little puzzled that Dave Harries was told recently that there is no pipe organ there. The linked Google maps video clearly shows one against what I take to be the west wall of the north transept. But that was recorded in 2018. Does this mean that this pipe organ has now gone? I have known several people connected with Highfield Church, Southampton, and it was a surprise to learn that its pipe organ was now redundant. Let’s hope it finds a new home at Abergavenny. Former organists of Highfield included a long-serving Treasurer of the IAO.

Indeed, and an ingenious arrangement as the central piece of wood does not appear to be fixed. This arrangement is applied to the largest pipes. It looks to me as though the twin clips could be opened, rather like safety pins, if any pipe(s) had to be removed.

I also edit fairly regularly on Wikipedia (as recently as yesterday), mostly on church, organ or other music-related topics including performers and instruments, sometimes architecture which can overlap other subjects, as an example, the works of Georgian and Victorian architect Edward Blore responsible for things as disparate as a palace in the Crimea, the choir stalls of Westminster Abbey and organ cases in two English cathedrals - among many other things. But it’s essential to cite sources by providing notes or references. I find that when this is done, the edit is accepted instantly. Nevertheless, it is fair comment that some Wikipedia content is inaccurate (or incomplete), otherwise there would not be the need to edit.

That article provides a different chronology. At face value the Hill organ was installed at St Paul’s in 1874 and moved to George Street in 1896 where Kirkland enlarged it. If that’s correct, NPOR N04943 requires amending.

There has been some muddle in NPOR N04943. It gives the date 1896, builder Kirkland and 30 speaking stops “Built for St.Paul's and erected by Kirkland in George Street: Since enlarged.” N04942 also has the same date and builder, now with 40 speaking stops, described as the “1869 Hill organ enlarged: See N04943 for earlier specification”. It’s still not entirely clear - at least to me - when the organ was moved and when it was enlarged. Trinity George Street is given as the location in both cases. The reasonable assumption could be that N04943 gives the 30 stops specification for the Hill as it was in St Paul’s Church when removed to George Street in 1869. In any event the date on N04943 should be 1869.* * In the light of the further information supplied by Steve Goodwin below, it would now appear that this date should be 1874 in St Paul’s Church, later removed to George Street in 1896.

I thought the music at today’s memorial service was something of a triumph. James O’Donnell took the hymns at quite a fast tempo, but succeeded, considering the Abbey’s acoustic and the huge numbers present, and his arrangements and Peter Holder’s accompaniments were very impressive. It seems that for once a fair number of the congregation were singing! The boy soloist in the Britten Te Deum was outstanding. Huw Edwards’ presentation for the BBC followed the current format of (to my mind) excessive introductions, but possibly that is necessary to explain what is happening to today’s largely secular society. But, in fairness, it was a model of how it should be done during the service itself with minimal ‘talking over’. A very worthy commemoration, I felt, with splendid music.

There’s no doubt about the identity of the cleric on the left of the group in the (reversed) photograph. As mgbamber states, it is Edward Patey, Dean of Liverpool. There are several photographs on Google of him with the Bee-Gees performing in Liverpool Cathedral, the Dean looking rather less serious, playing drums! It bears out MM’s belief that the Dean was one of the clerics there.

I remember many years ago, well last century, Lucian Nethsingha demonstrating the piston-setting switchboard alongside the console at Exeter. The switches were like tiny miniature stop knobs, quite possibly of ivory then, and there was a defined central ‘neutral’ between the on and off. This would have been H&H 1930s, and beautifully made (the slightly later console and switchboard at Winchester were also almost identical to Exeter’s). Lucian Nethsingha insisted on its retention and had no truck with solid-state systems which he insisted were not reliable! Somewhat off-subject, he was also strongly dismissive of the addition of mutations and mixtures by his immediate predecessor at Exeter. You leave a Father Willis masterpiece (or words to that effect) alone, he said. Before anyone comments, H&H had, of course, taken over the organ and had added the nave trompette militaire by then - the rest of the nave division was installed later under his successor. Unless I’m mistaken, did Lucian Nethsingha not have the trompette toned-down? It sounded very distant from the console even then, and had its own Yale-type key for the blower - and to isolate it! - in the stop jamb. Somehow, I suspect it remained switched-off, with the key removed, for visiting organists. (Martin Neary had a similar lock installed at Westminster Abbey to isolate the ‘full organ’ piston.)

Colin, I don’t see why people should be fed up, or that the thread has become over-long. In fact I see it has now received 2,000 views (in less than three weeks!), so there has been a clear interest. Everyone has the option of following a topic or skipping it if it is not of interest. That is clearly what happens all the time on this Board, as confirmed by the statistics which we are given for every individual thread. Wesley’s output was phenomenal. Paul Chappell has listed 15 pages of his compositions, including organ works which have never been published. If opus numbers were introduced they would run into hundreds! It’s just a sad fact that apart from the anthems and services, and a few of the hymn tunes (I believe there were as many as 200) he is seen as dated and, largely, doesn’t make the 21st century. If you can get hold of it, and have the time(!) I think you will find Paul Chappell’s book a revelation about both the man and the music. Having just returned to it, after reading Donald Hunt’s book, it is a vastly fuller and better appraisal of Wesley - then and now.

I tend to agree with your view of Donald Hunt as a writer, but in his defence he deals with all the criticisms which you make! In an appendix he lists Wesley’s compositions in numerous different genres, and by no means exclusively for the Church of England. The book has no index and contains some minor inaccuracies, but nevertheless it probably merits a more sympathetic comment! However, my own strong recommendation (mentioned previously) is Paul Chappell’s book “Dr S S Wesley 1810-1876 Portrait of a Victorian Musician”: Mayhew-McCrimmon 1977. This has a wider canvas, fine illustrations and much more detail about both the man (warts and all, including the unhappy Exeter episodes) and his music - which has to be seen in the context of the times in which it was written and the fact that Wesley was a church musician. It might not persuade you that he was a genius (!) but I think you will find it enjoyable - and informative!

I don’t see any basis for earlier contributors to this thread being offended! It’s a complex subject and I don’t think we have succeeded in answering Colin’s question in his original post. It remains a conundrum! But it caused me to buy Donald Hunt’s book ‘Samuel Sebastian Wesley’ which is full of fascinating new insights about the man and his music, and his influence on later musicians including Stanford, Parry and Elgar, to name just three. Rather than inflict on fellow readers a further lengthy post about the book, let me quote just its final sentence: “Samuel Sebastian Wesley was an extraordinary cathedral musician, and a genius.” As a postscript, I also recently bought Barry Rose’s autobiography, recommended by Martin Cooke, which chronicles ‘difficulties’ BR encountered with employer clerics at our ‘national’ cathedral, and I was struck by the similarity of Wesley’s experiences, and that whereas the names of the two musicians are both well-known, and lasting, those of their assailants are gone and largely forgotten!

I thought we were discussing ‘wolves’! I’m ducking-out now, but just another thought. Has anyone read Stephen Bicknell’s piece about quarter-notes? He mentions it in this article - his ‘imaginary’ conversation with John Stanley. In my innocence, I thought they provided a link between pitch and temperament … (sorry, Colin, my final word for now)!