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sbarber49

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Hi

Rachel is due to play a recital for the Coventry & Warwickshire Organists' Association tomorrow, prior to our AGM at Coventry Cathedral.

Just discovered this is open to the publicc - see the Cathedral website http://www.coventrycathedral.org.uk/wpsite/blog/2020/02/04/a-special-opportunity-for-young-and-old-alike-to-hear-the-cathedral-organ/

Every Blessing

Tony

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Just looking at the Sheffield organ, I see that it is a Phoenix rebuild of a Copemann Hart, but I'm not sure what has become of the Mander pipe organ, whether it is still there or gone. 

I noticed on the stop-list of the present instrument that the nomenclature of the stops seems to be a curious mix of French, German and English.  For example I see that there are names in different languages for the several flutes in the organ.  These include on the Great a Hohl Flute 8’ and in French (presumably) a Flûte Harmonique 8’. In the Swell there is a Rohr Flute at 8' and also a Flûte Traversière at 8’, whilst in the choir we have a Chimney Flute at 8’ and also a Bourdon at 8’. In the Solo there is a Harmonic Flute and a Concert Flute.  And in the Pedal there’s a right old mixture of Franglais including a Montre and also a Soubasse both at 16’ whilst the 32’ rumble is a Sub Bass;  this together with Flute 16,  Bass Flute 8'. Flute 4' and Open Flute 2' - the mind boggleth!!!  There are also German stop names as well.  So this appears to be some kind of multi-lingual beast.   Why all the different languages???  It looks as if the builders, or the consultant, or both, couldn't make their mind up what it was supposed to be.  Without getting into a pipe versus electronic debate (which is verboten on this site), can it be said that this instrument (and I guess many others) is suffering from a severe identity crisis?

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1 hour ago, D Quentin Bellamy said:

I noticed on the stop-list of the present instrument that the nomenclature of the stops seems to be a curious mix of French, German and English. 

The last organ I regularly presided at boasted a Gedackt Flute and a Spindle Flöte, as well as the ubiquitous Lieblich Bourdon (not to mention a 'Prinzipal' that was actually a Dulciana!)

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4 hours ago, D Quentin Bellamy said:

Just looking at the Sheffield organ, I see that it is a Phoenix rebuild of a Copemann Hart, but I'm not sure what has become of the Mander pipe organ, whether it is still there or gone. 

The pipe organ is long gone - to where, I know not! We sang an evensong in the cathedral a few years ago with some pretty meaty stuff (Bairstow Blessed City and Stanford in C if I remember correctly)...like a lot of toasters, when played quietly, it sounded ok - but anything big, it just didn't sound right! It would be lovely if they could get a real pipe organ in the Cathedral again - it seems criminal that a place like Sheffield with the potential for superb music has to put up with a second-rate substitute instrument. Having said all that, the console is quite nicely constructed!

 

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Hi

NPOR confirms that, apart from the front pipes of the former Nave division, the organ was removed before 2013.  The remaining pipe display sadly hides a speaker array for the electronic.  (Don't get me started on that issue!)
 

Every Blessing

Tony

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14 hours ago, D Quentin Bellamy said:

Just looking at the Sheffield organ, I see that it is a Phoenix rebuild of a Copemann Hart, but I'm not sure what has become of the Mander pipe organ, whether it is still there or gone. 

I noticed on the stop-list of the present instrument that the nomenclature of the stops seems to be a curious mix of French, German and English.  For example I see that there are names in different languages for the several flutes in the organ.  These include on the Great a Hohl Flute 8’ and in French (presumably) a Flûte Harmonique 8’. In the Swell there is a Rohr Flute at 8' and also a Flûte Traversière at 8’, whilst in the choir we have a Chimney Flute at 8’ and also a Bourdon at 8’. In the Solo there is a Harmonic Flute and a Concert Flute.  And in the Pedal there’s a right old mixture of Franglais including a Montre and also a Soubasse both at 16’ whilst the 32’ rumble is a Sub Bass;  this together with Flute 16,  Bass Flute 8'. Flute 4' and Open Flute 2' - the mind boggleth!!!  There are also German stop names as well.  So this appears to be some kind of multi-lingual beast.   Why all the different languages???  It looks as if the builders, or the consultant, or both, couldn't make their mind up what it was supposed to be.  Without getting into a pipe versus electronic debate (which is verboten on this site), can it be said that this instrument (and I guess many others) is suffering from a severe identity crisis?

The Mander organ eventually disappeared several years ago, I believe acquired by Henry Willis's after several rumoured and failed attempts to sell it to another venue. High on the list was a church in Newquay, Cornwall, but nothing ever came of it. 

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I remember the old Mander organ at Sheffield. Graham Matthews showed it to me in about 1972/73, I would think. I also remember a recital by Jean Langlais at which I acted as registrant for him. The rehearsal was fascinating because he felt his way around the stops knobs playing and listening as he went. It was all a slightly nerve-wracking experience! There was a Tuba that, if I remember rightly, was en chamade and, sitting at the console, it nearly parted your hair!!

I never got to play it but I did play the organ in the RC Cathedral in Sheffield - in 1975 - for the wedding of my brother in law.

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10 hours ago, S_L said:

I remember the old Mander organ at Sheffield. Graham Matthews showed it to me in about 1972/73, I would think. I also remember a recital by Jean Langlais at which I acted as registrant for him. The rehearsal was fascinating because he felt his way around the stops knobs playing and listening as he went. It was all a slightly nerve-wracking experience! There was a Tuba that, if I remember rightly, was en chamade and, sitting at the console, it nearly parted your hair!!

I never got to play it but I did play the organ in the RC Cathedral in Sheffield - in 1975 - for the wedding of my brother in law.

The T C Lewis organ at St Marie's RC Cathedral, Sheffield was in a dreadful state in the 1990's, essentially the mechanical action. It was then maintained by a firm of local bodgers, the unreliable aluminium connections to rollers affixed by Araldite. It has since been rebuilt in conjunction with Andrew Carter and Nicholson's. Not an organ I find particularly inspiring.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

It appears James Thomas is no longer at St Edmundsbury Cathedral, and Richard Cook is the Acting Director of Music. He may have retired but I've not seen this mentioned anywhere.

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That is correct: JT is no longer there.

This was confirmed to me by a former colleague who was JT’s ADoM.

But the reason is not known (to either of us).

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