Vox Humana Posted March 12, 2007 Share Posted March 12, 2007 Following up another thread I stumbled across this and the console photos here. Now I freely admit that the A'bunadh has been more than usually delicious tonight, but I don't think that's the only reason I am having difficulty understanding this. It is fairly obviously an extension job, but what does "Choir in Great" and "Choir in Swell" mean and how do these terms relate to the bottom manual? It could be that the organ is totally enclosed in two chambers (rather as I remember St Bride's, Fleet Street), in which case that probably explains everything, but the photo of the display pipes suggests othwerwise. On the other hand the display pipes might just be for show (there doesn't seem to be much behind them). Does anyone actually know this instrument? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Dutfield Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 It is fairly obviously an extension job, but what does "Choir in Great" and "Choir in Swell" mean and how do these terms relate to the bottom manual? It could be that the organ is totally enclosed in two chambers (rather as I remember St Bride's, Fleet Street), in which case that probably explains everything, but the photo of the display pipes suggests othwerwise. On the other hand the display pipes might just be for show (there doesn't seem to be much behind them). What this means - as you suspect - is that the pipework from which the Choir stops are derived is split between the two boxes. Generally the medium to larger Comptons were built in two swell boxes/chambers, loosely designated (according to their content) as 'Great' and 'Swell'. The casework and display pipes probably date from the original 1888 instrument. Comptons would merely have inserted their two heavy swell boxes behind the frontage. Sometimes they installed one or more 16' or 32' extensions unenclosed, but more often than not everything fitted in the boxes. At a quick glance the spec is a little reminiscent to the 'concert' half of the Bournemouth Pavilion job, but there the chamber designation is 'A' and 'B', and since all the 'concert' ranks are in 'A' and the 'theatre' ranks in 'B', it is only the Pedal division which is drawn from both. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vox Humana Posted March 13, 2007 Author Share Posted March 13, 2007 Thanks for that, Stephen. 'Tis as I suspected then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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