davidh

Is the choice of "ash grey" yet another bit of crematorium humour?

See http://ellykooiman.com/orgel/ for some exceptionally good photos of a number of Dutch organs. The entries generally start with pictures of the building, then the case, and console pictures (when provided) near the end. For those worrying about whether jambs at 45 degrees are right for convenient access to the stop knobs, consider yourself lucky that you don't find stop knobs three feet out to the right and left of the manuals, nor overhead, and none of them actually behind you.

It seems to be an interesting idea, but might have all of the failings of any extension organ. If pipes are to be played at other than normal pitch to create tierces, nones, etc, the connection of a key to another pitch cannot provide the differences in scaling and voicing which are necessary, and, more important, they will produce notes from the equal tempered scale rather than the acoustically correct harmonics.

I was looking at the Canon per Augmentationem in Contrario Motu, in the Associated Board edition by Richard Jones, published in 2002, and noticed an oddity. In bars 23-24 all the grace notes have two flags, while in the analogous passage in bars 75-76 they have only single flags. Other editions are different. Tovey and Hans Gal show single flags for both passages. The Bach-Gesellschaft edition shows the first gracenote of bar 23 with a single flag, the next two with double flags, and the later passage with single flags. The Bach-Gesellschaft edition has copied the 1750 Leipzig engraving exactly. So, was Bach inconsistent, or did the engraver make a mistake? It would seem sensible to play the analogous passages identically. What, anyway, would one expect to hear that would be different between a single-flag gracenot and one with two flags? Richard Jones differs from other editions by showing the first grace-note in bar 23 with two flags, which makes those bars consistent, but different from the later ones.

Picking up a point from another thread: Absolute pitch is a blessing and a curse to those who possess it (or are possessed by it). It's as well to remember that pitch standards have varied historically and from place to place. The standard A=440 only dates from the middle of the last century. There are good reasons for building concert organs and even church organs to the standard pitch if they are to be played with other instruments, and if singers are to be comfortable with accompaniments. There are also very good reasons for leaving historic organs at the pitch for which they were designed and built. Too many have suffered from the hacksaw and the soldering iron, with unfortunate tonal consequences, and loss of information about historic temperaments. Pagham relates how one of Richard Bridge's organs, one of the few surviving instruments once played by Handel, had all of the tops of the pipes snipped and fitted with tuning slides. If the organ at Maassluis is sharp, with respect to A=440, then that is how it should remain. Please do not adjust the organ; you are having a problem with your ears.

Ordered May 17th, despatched from Allegro this morning, the 18th.

Allegro have it on their list for £5.75 plus postage (which doesn't necessarily mean that they have it on the shelves). I have just ordered a copy, and will wait to see if it turns up. The web page with the mp3 version seems to be an advertisement from an electronic organ firm, with a clickable link to order a performance, with other pieces, on a demo CD. I have filled in their order form, and there is no mention of price, so perhaps it is a free demo disk.

Presumably the one listed at http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi...ec_index=D07972

I have just posted him an original copy.

The Topic Title and Topic Description pose the whole question!

If you play Stephen Montague's "Behold a Pale Horse" as Charles once did (with or without the extra trombone parts) then no one will be able to interrupt you, and you will be so busy with the chord clusters and glissandi that no one will dare to try to attract your attention. The piece is marked "Savagely", begins at ff and ends fff, with rather persistent use of the tritone in between. Charles used to bring multiple copies of the music from his shop and hand them round before the performance, "So that you can all check that I am playing the right notes."

Like other DVDs from Kampen, this is excellent, in spite of one of the posted comments, "what is this organ tone called it has that evil sound? I think its when you pull all the stops". A Google search finds http://www.abweegenaar.nl/discography/order.html where there are two DVDs of improvisations, at 24.90 and 22.90 Euros, plus postage. With the aid of Babelfish I learn that one sends an order, and the supplier then replies by email stating the total cost, and giving details of their bank account. The goods are despatched after the money has been paid in. The problem that I have found with other similar Dutch websites is that they have no credit card facilitities, bank transfers are very expensive, and the cheapest way of paying is to post Euro notes, OK if the amount is just under a multiple of 5 Euros, not so good if it is just over a multiple of 5.

It is never easy to perform on an unfamiliar instrument. Hazards abound, as a recitalist discovered in the middle of a tricky pedal passage when he realised that the pedal-board was two notes short, and another when a Bombarde stop knob turned out to be a dummy added to the stop-jamb by an organist with delusions of grandeur. Registration is perhaps the biggest problem. With the exception perhaps of French Baroque organs, stop labels tell you very little about what sounds to expect. Even 8’ open diapasons are quite unpredictable, and a stop which sounds well at middle C may be dominating or apologetic in the bass range, and sweet or shrill in the treble. The Remote Registrator is designed as an efficient and economical aid to organists. To use the RR you need a computer, preferably a laptop, with an internet connnection, and a microphone. The first step is to provide a profile of your usual instrument. The RR can download specifications from the NPOR, but you may also be asked to provide some additional information. The second step is to set up the microphone in a suitable position, and to play an arpeggio on each of the stops. This must be done three times for enclosed divisions, with the box closed, half-open and fully open. A cheap microphone will be sufficient to measure the relative loudness of each of the stops throughout its compass, but a better microphone will also allow the analysis of tone quality. Additionally you may note the position of the stop knobs on the jambs, and RR will assist you by fitting the specification to one of its own standard templates, leaving you only to note any exceptions. You are encouraged to upload the specification to the online RR database, but this is not obligatory. Next you note the stop combinations that you use on your own instrument, perhaps under such general headings as “plenum”, but better in a catalogue of your repertoire where you store the registrations that you use for each piece that you play. You are then ready to benefit from RRs resources. If you are invited to play at another venue, check to see if it has an RR profile, and if anyone has noted the registrations that they have used for the pieces that you are to play. At the minimum you can download the NPOR specification, but the more information that has been stored the more helpful the guidance from RR will be. You might even ask someone at the venue to use a microphone so that the sounds of that instrument can be added to its profile. RR will then provide you with suggested registrations, commenting on likely problems. Of course you will probably wish to improve on these basic suggestions, and when you have made your final decisions you may store your registrations for the guidance of others. RR uses artificial intelligence techniques which enable it to “learn” from feedback and to improve its suggestions. The software will be made available at a very reasonable price to encourage its wide-spread use; the more people who file profiles the more useful it will become. Paolo Fril, head of marketing.

Narcissus was composed by Ethelbert Nevin.

Go to work on an egg, come home on a bier.

So far, if I haven't missed a thread, we haven't discussed organs in fiction. As a start I'll mention "The Silver Skates", a story of old Holland written by Mary Mapes Dodge who had never been there. It is to her that the world owes the (untrue) story of the boy who prevented flooding by sticking his finger into a hole in a dyke. The book also relates a visit to the Muller organ in Haarlem. ------------------------ The captain laughed. "I shall take you to hear better music than that," he said. "We are just in time to hear the organ of Saint Bavon. The church is open today." "What, the great Haarlem organ?" asked Ben. "That will be a treat indeed. I have often read of it, with its tremendous pipes, and its vox humana {An organ stop which produces an effect resembling the human voice} that sounds like a giant singing." "The same," answered Lambert van Mounen. Peter was right. The church was open, though not for religious services. Someone was playing upon the organ. As the boys entered, a swell of sound rushed forth to meet them. It seemed to bear them, one by one, into the shadows of the building. Louder and louder it grew until it became like the din and roar of some mighty tempest, or like the ocean surging upon the shore. In the midst of the tumult a tinkling bell was heard; another answered, then another, and the storm paused as if to listen. The bells grew bolder; they rang out loud and clear. Other deep-toned bells joined in; they were tolling in solemn concert--ding, dong! ding, dong! The storm broke forth with redoubled fury, gathering its distant thunder. The boys looked at each other but did not speak. It was growing serious. What was that? WHO screamed? WHAT screamed--that terrible, musical scream? Was it man or demon? Or was it some monster shut up behind that carved brass frame, behind those great silver columns--some despairing monster begging, screaming for freedom! it was the vox humana! At last an answer came--soft, tender, loving, like a mother's song. The storm grew silent; hidden birds sprang forth filling the air with glad, ecstatic music, rising higher and higher until the last faint note was lost in the distance. The vox humana was stilled, but in the glorious hymn of thanksgiving that now arose, one could almost hear the throbbing of a human heart. What did it mean? That man's imploring cry should in time be met with a deep content? That gratitude would give us freedom? To Peter and Ben it seemed that the angels were singing. Their eyes grew dim, and their souls dizzy with a strange joy. --------------------------- I'll also quote J Meade Falker's book, "The Nebuly Coat." First published in 1903 it told the story of an architect restoring an old church and of the mysterious ancestry of a rich family. "Mr Sharnall made the most of his defective organ. ... leaky bellows and rattling trackers". Eventually "there was only the intolerably monotonous booming of a single pedal note, with an occasional muffled thud when the water-engine turned spasmodically to replenish the empty bellows." Another organist has bitten the dust! The book is unusual because it includes four pages of music, supposedly played by the chimes of the church clock. ---------------- I'm sure that other list members can think of others - for a start a reference on another thread to The Bostonians.

Francois Couperin (Le Grand) had a musical father and two musical uncles, including Louis Couperin. Unfortunately there is some doubt about whether some of the works attributed to Louis were in fact the work of one (or both) of his brothers. I find his harpsichord works full of colour and excitement, a number of them similar to Francois Couperin's b minor Passacaille. Only two of his organ works were known until in 1957 Guy Oldham discovered a manuscript containing 70 organ pieces. Guy Oldham decided to transcribe and research this music himself, with many musicians eagerly awaiting the day in 2003 when they were all published. Davitt Moroney recorded all of them on the Jean-Boizard organ of 1714 in the Abbey of Saint-Michel-en-Thierache. Davitt Moroney wrote in the programme notes that 68 "were totally unknown, and left no doubt about Couperin's stature. ... Now that the pieces are at last available it is clear that Louis Couperin is an even more important composer than we imagined..." I must admit to having been very disappointed when I first heard them, and couldn't believe that the organ and harpsichord works were by the same composer. More recently I bought Skip Sempe's recording of some of the harpsichord works, and he wrote that "the harpsichord works which have become known as the works of Louis Couperin are so much more convincing in terms of their remarkable strength of fantasy of musical content the the creative finess of a unique keyboard style - elements which form the trademark of "Louis" Couperin - that I find it hard to imagine that the organ pieces in question (whatever their qualities) are the work of the same composer" Do any other contributors know these works, and perhaps play them, and can they comment on (1) Do the harpsichord and organ works seem like the work of one composer and (2) Would you want to hear and play many of them?

In 1910 Fritz Kreisler published his arrangement of Tartini's (1692-1770) supposed Variations on a Theme of Corelli, and 25 years later admitted that it was a pastiche which he himself had composed. I like this piece, which perhaps doesn't say much for my musical taste, and many years ago I tried to find the Corelli work from which the theme was taken, without success. Earlier this year my wife bought a CD, Bolivian Baroque, performed by Florilegium, Baroque music from the missions of Chiquitos and Moxos Indians. The first piece was a setting by Zipoli (1688-1726) of Beatus Vir with a small choir, two violins and continuo. To my surprise the Corelli (1653-1713) theme appeared on the strings, first in fragments and then complete, in counterpoint and alternation with the voices. Zipoli had been in Rome at the same time as Corelli, before training as a priest and going to Bolivia, where, probably, this was written. At that time there was no copyright, and copying was seen as a compliment to the original composer (presumably if the original composer's name was acknowledged) so Zipoli was committing no crime, but I wonder if he thought that 300 years later someone would notice his "borrowing". On searching further I found the theme in Corelli's Violin Sonata op 5 no 10, and just to show that this was no coincidence, I found that Zipoli had published a keyboard arrangement of Op 5 no 7. This is just a skeleton, a single bass line (no figuring) and a treble line stripped of all ornamentation. Clearly it requires imaginative reconstruction and the insertion of some suitable ornaments. Perhaps Mozart's was the first strictly illegal download, but many other composers were in the habit of borrowing from each other, with or without acknowledgment. I bet that when Zipoli went to Bolivia he though it unlikely that news of his borrowing would ever get back to Corelli. (And, as the Mozart, Kreisler, Tartini, Corelli and Zipoli pieces have nothing to do with the organ, I guess that Peter Clark and I are way off topic).

The case was designed by Alfred Waterhouse, architect of the Natural History Museum. His ambition was to be a painter, but his parents told him that he should be employed doing something more useful. (He continued to paint during his holidays, and an exhibition of his works a few years ago showed that he was very talented). Forced to take up architecture, he designed not just the NH Museum, but Manchester Town Hall and many other town halls, the Royal Courts of Justice, and Strangeways Prison. Born in 1830 and brought up as a Quaker he would have had no exposure in his youth to music (then banned by Quakers) or the worship of the Anglican church.

I can't say that this specification is entirely to my taste, but how nice to see a brief description of what kind of organ / tradition it represents.

On snowy days and others when there is nothing better to do, list members are tempted to post a problem such as "Design an organ with m manuals, and n stops". I can imagine that on another discussion board the problem might be posed, "Select a world cup football (Soccer) team from the players in any English clubs that you choose". It is a well-defined problem, even if every single respondent has a different selection. A problem such as "Select a team for the Olympics" is not well defined if we are not told whether we need a football team or one for water polo. 1) The first problem that occurs to me is that a dozen organ builders given the same paper specification, at least at the level of detail offered in the solutions on this board, might produce a dozen good organs none of which sounded like any of the others. How many open diapason 8' stops have you heard, and how varied are they? 2) The second is that in most, but not all of these problems, the intended purpose of the instrument is not stated. Is it to play Stanley, Couperin, Bach, Franck or Messaien? Is it intended to play everything from the Robertsbridge Codex to the piece that I might compose next week? Is it a recital instrument, or an accompanying machine? If the conclusion is that the exercise makes sense taking into account (1), then should the conditions of (2) be imposed so that participants are playing the same game on the same pitch?

I'm not sure what the problem is (not having dealt with them). From their "catalogue" page it is possible to find many pieces by Takle, and the prices which look horrific in Kroner turn out to be quite reasonable when converted to pounds. The "export titles" page is in English, and begins, "For customers outside Scandinavia To order please send an e-mail to order@cantando.com. We accept the moste credit cards, we send all gods after you card has been charged. " It sounds friendly enough, in spite of the reference to "gods" (Scandinavian ones, I assume). Is there no one there who can read and reply to emails in English,?

Den Hertog is a useful site which has given me excellent service. I had problems with another site when I pressed what I thought was the "order" key and expected a credit card payment screen to pop up, and nothing happened. That was before I realised that many (?most) Dutch companies do not have credit card payment facilities. I tried again, and then gave up. The next day I had an email in good English asking if I really wanted two copies. As so often happens, the music arrived with an invoice and I posted Euro notes as payment.

According to Hansard published today, "Mr. Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op) said: "... Little did I know that there would be two significant events toady ..." I don't know which toady he was referring to.

See http://npor.rcm.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?...ec_index=G00536 This is a Morgan and Smith from 1932. In addition to the stops listed in the NPOR there are two tabs, which I think are labelled "Clarinet" and "Oboe" plus the word "synth" or "synthetic", obtained by adding tierce or nazard to the Lieblich Gedackt.