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Decorated Pipes


Mark Taylor

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Up another road from Gloucester there's this one.

 

(It is isn't it?)

Ah yes, the place we're now allowed to mention again! The transept case in Worcester is very much still there unless Christopher or Adrian advise otherwise...

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Up another road from Gloucester there's this one.

 

(It is isn't it?)

Sorry , I think the prettiest thing about that case is the chamber organ in front of it. To my eyes, it's a lumpen overbearing thing, and it's a shame it had to stay. It's also a shame that the organ it clothed was lost. Ah well never mind.

 

AJS

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Well, this introduces the point, doesn't it, that there are any number of Victorian cases that are absolutely hideous, despite the decoration of the pipes.

 

Durham Cathedral is a good example: when I looked through the calendar celebrating the centenary of the H&H 1905 rebuild, I was astonished at the beautiful workmanship that went into those cases. But the result is still far from pleasing. You only have to look at pictures of the old Smith cases (fortunately not completely lost) in their original position, to see the beauty of what was lost in the Victorian restoration.

 

If you look at the simlar arrangements of front pipes at Salisbury and St Mary Redcliffe (both undecorated), you can see that the Durham cases are not much better, for all the wonderful decoration. (Love the sound of the Durham organ, by the way - James Lancelot's recording of Messiaen's La Nativité and L'Ascension is a complete joy.)

 

A really beautiful Victorian case - with painted pipes - is at Hanbury Parish Church in Worcestershire. NPOR says it's a Nicholson organ, but the case could have been designed by somebody like Bodley - it's very reminiscent of some of his other work.

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