Jump to content
Mander Organ Builders Forum

List of beautiful English Organs


OrganistOnTheHill

Recommended Posts

A common feature of Miller organs was that pains were taken to minimize their intrusion into the chancel, in accordance with the principles laid down by the Ecclesiologists.  As can be seen in some of the examples above, this often meant that the lower part of the case was coved in below the impost, but occasionally the organ was placed over the chancel arch.  An example is at Thurning, Northamptonshire. Nice looking, but inconvenient to play because the console is on the east side in a loft on the other side of the arch (with a nice gothic stairway reminiscent of Pugin's tribune at West Tofts). Their organ at Coton, Cambridgeshire was originally in this position also, but has since been rebuilt and brought down to floor level.

http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=D01107

XMLFunctions.cgi?Fn=GetPicture&Rec_index=D01107&Number=1

 

XMLFunctions.cgi?Fn=GetPicture&Rec_index=D01107&Number=2

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 306
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Gloucestershire, Standish has an instrument on a west gallery designed by Dykes Bower in memory of Revd Andrew Freeman, that great photographer of organs.  There are not many small two manual organs with a 32ft flue on the pedals!

http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=N05780 

image.png.56ed47a95d85083938531749b98cba44.png

[A larger picture is on the NPOR link; I seem to be out of my allotted upload quota.]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I love these threads, not least for the opportunity to go off at tangents. For example St Michaels Tenbury has always been a four manual instrument despite multiple rebuilds over the years. But the current 32 foot Bourdon was previously a 32 ft Open Diapason. But the original specification by Benjamen FLight in 1856 sported a 32 foot Pyramidon!

Returning to beautiful cases with painted pipes, how about this:

EtonCollege2.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dr Drinkell has given us so many gems on this thread that we must forgive the sadly ineligible 2004 Harrison and the 1990s Lammermuir (both of which are great, but modern and therefore simply expected to have decent cases!).

Diversions to any Anglophone countries are of course allowed.

One more from me that's tantalisingly close to being beautiful is Milton Abbey in Dorset, which would be a stunner if some kind person gave money to finish off the tower cornices and complete the panelling around the sides and back. I think it counts as off the beaten track, as it's in a small village in the countryside:

786545133_789d1d99a5_b.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, SomeChap said:

Milton Abbey in Dorset, which would be a stunner

The acoustic is one of the most remarkable I have experienced. It is how I'd imagine an organ would sound if placed in the dome of St Paul's !

I wish I'd had the chance to hear (well sung) unaccompanied choral music here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not a doctor of anything, although I guess something of a general practitioner in church music.

Here's a nice little case: Inworth, Essex.  The odd thing about it is that the stops draw at an angle of 90% to the keys, as can be seen from the picture.  Unfortunately, the original (Bates) scheme seems to have be messed about, with soothing syrup substituted for upperwork.  Peter de Vile has done a clean and overhaul since I visited, so at least it looks better and works properly.  The picture, from NPOR, is by Michael Watcham, who has amassed a superb and valuable collection of organ photos over a period of many years.

http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=H00598

XMLFunctions.cgi?Fn=GetPicture&Rec_index=H00598&Number=1

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A little Holdich at Leaden Roding (pronounced "Roothing"), Essex.  I knew this one well when it was in Fingringhoe Church.  It's of interest for its intricate carvings (like Wiveton, earlier on this thread), for the fact that it was reputed to have been Holdich's own residence organ (possibly what he referred to as his "celestial organ"), and for the presence of his patent Diaocton couplers, with extra pipes to complete the compass.  Diaoctons are not uncommon on Holdich organs (other builders occasionally used the term but rarely provided the extra pipes), but usually just one per instrument, whereas this has three of them.  The top octave of the Pedal Organ borrows pipes from the manuals.  Peter Bumstead installed it at Roding in 1998.

Great: Open Diapason 8, Clarabel Flute 8, Flute 4 (labelled 8), Super Diaocton, Coupler Swell

Swell: Dulciana 8, Super Diaocton, Sub Diaocton (uses pedal pipes for lowest octave)

Pedal: Bourdon, Pedals Great

 

XMLFunctions.cgi?Fn=GetPicture&Rec_index=D05594&Number=1

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And a slightly-bigger-than-usual Father Willis Model Organ, at Foxearth, Essex, where a rich Victorian rector paid for a lavish restoration and redecoration of the church (including what is possibly the ugliest tower in the county), extending this to the organ pipes and case.  You can see that the word "case" is a bit of a misnomer, because there basically isn't one, just some decoration on the front pipes.  Father Willis was said to have begrudged money spent on case-work when it could be spent on pipes.  The organ is a fine one, but I could never work out what a Victorian organist would do with the Great Corno di Bassetto.  It sounds great in Susato, but I don't think that sort of music figured very largely in the repertoire at that time.

http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=D02729

XMLFunctions.cgi?Fn=GetPicture&Rec_index=D02729&Number=1

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looking up the thread,  it seems to me that our hosts are not represented as well as they should be, considering that they have for many years been world leaders, not only in the quality of their work but in their skill in handling historic restorations.  Here is St. Giles, Cripplegate, City of London.  I first heard and played this shortly after it was finished, on an Organ Club evening visit during a winter when there were lots of rolling power-cuts.  We were somewhat apprehensive at the prospect of being blacked out in the middle of the new Barbican development, but all was well.  I thought (and still think) that the organ is a particularly fine one in every way, with the added bonus of what the organist at the time, David Roblou, referred to as the "Mighty Wurlitzer bits": the Willis Great reeds.  Arguably a bit over the top for the rest of the organ, but good fun all the same.

http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=N17641

XMLFunctions.cgi?Fn=GetPicture&Rec_index=N17641&Number=1

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Adlington Hall, Cheshire - a landmark restoration by Noel Mander in 1959, the methods used being vastly less intrusive than was usual at the time.  This one is on my bucket list - I've never met it in the flesh but intend to do so when I get the chance.

http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=N04410

XMLFunctions.cgi?Fn=GetPicture&Rec_index=N04410&Number=4

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OK - quite outside the parameters for this thread, but an English organ all the same, and of quite mind-blowing quality.

St. Ignatius Loyola, New York - build quality, tracker action, tonal scheme and balance are all immaculate.  While I don't object to the principle of importing organs, considering that a wide range of styles is a good thing, I often wonder why there are still so many big instruments being brought into the UK when one of our leading builders can do something like this.

http://www.nycago.org/Organs/NYC/html/StIgnatiusLoyola.html

organ_large.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

St. Vedast, Foster Lane, City of London.  Another of Noel Mander's earlier restorations, when he rescued the wreck of this Harris & Byfield organ from St. Alban, Margravine Road, Fulham, and brought it back to the City where it graces Stephen Dykes Bower's sumptuous restoration of Wren's church.  There are some things about it which wouldn't be done now, but other builders would have altered much more and preserved much less. Overall it was a ground-breaking job and, as was so important in Noel Mander's philosophy, it all all hung together and worked as a musical instrument.  As a young teenager nearly 50 years ago, I wandered in, was allowed to play the organ, and was blown away by it.  I can hear it yet!

http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=N17660

XMLFunctions.cgi?Fn=GetPicture&Rec_index=N17660&Number=1

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mander installed the old Bishop organ from Old Marylebone Parish Church at Wenhaston, Suffolk, in 1950.  A pretty little case and a nice organ.  The church is worth visiting anyway, for the spectacular Doom painting, the finest such survival anywhere.

http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=H00700

 

Image result for wenhaston church

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 14/06/2018 at 08:32, Aeron Glyn Preston said:

I mentioned the organ at Meifod church a little while ago - it has rather a fine case.

http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=D02563

https://mander-organs-forum.invisionzone.com/topic/4234-christ-church-welshpool/

 

Another piece of Gothick in Wales - Chepstow Parish Church.  The striking arrangement of pipes in double compartments has similarities with the Davis case at Wydmondham Abbey, Norfolk.

http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=D05271

XMLFunctions.cgi?Fn=GetPicture&Rec_index=D05271&Number=3

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/06/2018 at 18:26, Martin Owen said:

Organist on the Hill I couldn't agree more with you about painted pipes, whether cased or uncased.

The organ you quote was formerly in Llandaff Cathedral.  Have you seen the new, current on?  Stunningly good looking and sounds magnificent.

I had drinks and dinner at The Royal Academy of Music last night with someone I suspect was a colleague of yours at Harrow.  I think you won The Organ Club competition last December.  If so, well done.

Martin

Dear Mr Owen,

That would be the current star of our school not me. I am merely an enthusiast of organ playing. The boy who won the Organ Club competition is an exceptional player at the organ. 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

St Peter’s, Tiverton, is a glorious composition: http://www.stpeterstiverton.org.uk/organ/ and http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=N10590

Even more so, when moved from the Chancel screen in 1826 to the west gallery, I should imagine. There is indifferent lighting in this church and decent images are few and far between.

As can be read in the links, the carved cherubs are attributed to Grinling Gibbons; the 1696 incarnation by Christian and Bernard Schmidt (Smith).

The first (organ) performance of  'The Wedding March' was given here in 1847.

Some of the pipes appear to be original and, therefore, date from the late 1600s. Father Willis did a major rebuild in 1867; Noel Mander, another, a century later. It is, thus, a fascinating example of the syncretism of three different periods of organ design. The 19th century (wooden) Pedal and Great reeds are crowning splendours.

I considered myself fortunate to preside over this magnificent instrument for a short while in the early 90s - my last church position, as the demands of teaching became more and more onerous and weekends had to be reserved for marking, preparation and LIFE.

organ-2 smsmsm.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's one from my neck of the woods at Seal Chart;

http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=N14859

This organ is really lovely and is just like playing a small Cavaille Coll.  Don't be put off by the strange stop names (the correct ones are in the main spec, so ignore Horn Diapason etc!).  Even the stool is a complete copy of some of Cavaille Coll's more florid offerings.  The organ needs a big acoustic for it to really work, but even in the simply terrible acoustics at Seal Chart the quality really shines through.

I've been doing some detective work as it appears that there was a very similar organ by Bishops installed in the house next door to the church.  It was moved to a church in Buckinghamshire (or close by) by Peter Collins.  I can't find it, so there is a conundrum for all you organ detectives out there.

Seal chart.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 16/06/2018 at 05:21, John Furse said:

St Peter’s, Tiverton, is a glorious composition: http://www.stpeterstiverton.org.uk/organ/ and http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=N10590

Even more so, when moved from the Chancel screen in 1826 to the west gallery, I should imagine. There is indifferent lighting in this church and decent images are few and far between.

As can be read in the links, the carved cherubs are attributed to Grinling Gibbons; the 1696 incarnation by Christian and Bernard Schmidt (Smith).

The first (organ) performance of  'The Wedding March' was given here in 1847.

Some of the pipes appear to be original and, therefore, date from the late 1600s. Father Willis did a major rebuild in 1867; Noel Mander, another, a century later. It is, thus, a fascinating example of the syncretism of three different periods of organ design. The 19th century (wooden) Pedal and Great reeds are crowning splendours.

I considered myself fortunate to preside over this magnificent instrument for a short while in the early 90s - my last church position, as the demands of teaching became more and more onerous and weekends had to be reserved for marking, preparation and LIFE.

organ-2 smsmsm.jpg

It is said that Mendelssohn included the Wedding March when he played at the Argyll Rooms in London. If so, since the place burned down in 1830, this performance would have predated the one at Tiverton.  It is possible, of course, that the Wedding March may have been played by the orchestra and not on the organ, but the instrument is now in All Saints, Maldon, Essex, which is where I heard the Mendelssohn story.

I played this organ in 1971 - I remember the date, because I went there as tuner's boy to John Budgen of Bishop & Son and we proceeded to Burnham-on-Crouch to give the organ there a check-over before its opening recital by Gordon Phillips that evening.  The Maldon organ has since been re-sited by Bishops', with a new west-facing case, the ex-Argyll Rooms case facing into the chancel.  From the pictures, it looks much improved.

http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=V00189

XMLFunctions.cgi?Fn=GetPicture&Rec_index=V00189&Number=2

 

XMLFunctions.cgi?Fn=GetPicture&Rec_index=V00189&Number=1

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...