Anyone know this organ?

[Paul Isom]

I found this recording on YouTube, thanks to Classic FM.  I’ve ordered the music, but a, really interested in the organ.  I looks as if it’s a transplant of an English organ.  Are there any budding Sherlock Holmes out there ready to solve the mystery?

 

[pwhodges]

From a local guide (in English):

"The church has the organ installed by the company „Driver&Co”, built in 1925 in Burnley (United Kingdom)"

Another guide says:

"Tourists will be interested to see the ancient organ and the choirs, made of dark wood."

Paul

[Clavecin]

That brings back memories. I was brought up in Burnley and took up my first organist's appointment in the mid 60s at the age of 12, the organ, a Driver & Co. 2 manual 8/9/2 if I remember correctly, now long gone. A typical late Victorian work horse, I remember a couple of other Drivers in the Burnley area but most organs I came across were Laycock & Bannister and a few Conachers. There were very many nonconformist churches back then, some of them very large, but the rot was setting in with many closing by the mid 60s. 

There was a 3m Driver in Haggate Baptist Church which I'm sure went abroad, I think it was Driver's largest instrument but would have dated from the turn of the century, not the 1920s. I never heard or played it but remember seeing the motorised feeders which provided the wind in the room beneath the organ. Could be the one!

There was a West Yorkshire firm called Driver & Haigh who were active in the period between the wars, I think the Burnley firm would have been wound up then

[Steve Goodwin]

I don't know that one but I've recently come across a nice Hill rehomed in a Berlin suburb.
I came across it as it has been sampled for Hauptwerk and very nice it is too. Lots about it here...

https://www.contrebombarde.com/concerthall/home/view_cat/cat/8/sort/166/order/last_modified/limit/10

Briefer details (mostly in German) and specification here - https://organindex.de/index.php?title=Berlin/Gesundbrunnen,_St._Afra

Steve

 

[sbarber49]

There seems to be a lot of later work on this organ - I think Sonus Paradisi are being a bit cheeky to describe it as a Hill.

https://www.bhamorgan.org.uk/organs/088.htm

https://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=N04943

https://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=N04942

https://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=G01463

 

[Rowland Wateridge]

There has been some muddle in NPOR N04943.  It gives the date 1896, builder Kirkland and 30 speaking stops “Built for St.Paul's and erected by Kirkland in George Street: Since enlarged.”

N04942 also has the same date and builder, now with 40 speaking stops, described as the “1869 Hill organ enlarged: See N04943 for earlier specification”.

It’s still not entirely clear - at least to me - when the organ was moved and when it was enlarged.  Trinity George Street is given as the location in both cases.  The reasonable assumption could be that N04943 gives the 30 stops specification for the Hill as it was in St Paul’s Church when removed to George Street in 1869.   In any event the date on N04943 should be 1869.*

*   In the light of the further information supplied by Steve Goodwin below, it would now appear that this date should be 1874 in St Paul’s Church, later removed to George Street in 1896.

 

[Steve Goodwin]

Like many organs, it has had a lot of work done over nearly 200 years but most of the Hill stuff is still there. There is a very good analysis in Iain Stinson's history of it referenced in the article. It's a pdf and is here

Regardless, I'm very much enjoying playing it!!

S

[Rowland Wateridge]

That article provides a different chronology.  At face value the Hill organ was installed at St Paul’s in 1874 and moved to George Street in 1896 where Kirkland enlarged it.  If that’s correct, NPOR N04943 requires amending.

[Choir Man]

Returning to Jurmala, I managed to find this info with the help of Google Translate: 

In 2001, it was found in the Haggate Baptist Church in England, which is scheduled to be demolished. The organ of this church perfectly met both the sonic and visual requirements of Dubulti Church. They were built by DRIVER & Co in Burnley, Lancashire, in 1925. The organ has a mechanical structure, three manuals, 30 registers. Thanks to the support of donors covered the costs of dismantling and transporting the organ, including installation work, during which many details were taken into account, taking into account the age of the organ, had to be restored or even replaced with new ones equivalent to the original. Organ installation and restoration works prof. Organ masters Roberts Hansons, Arnolds Dimants and Aivars Vīksna perform under the direction of Tālivalža Dekšnis. For the first time, all the organ records that have been in England for this instrument will be celebrated at the centenary. In the future, it is planned to add some new organ voices to the organ.

The names referenced above all appear to be organists and I've been unable to find any reference to the builder that transplanted the instrument.

NPOR has no reference to Haggate Baptist church, which stood in the Briercliffe area of Burnley and was demolished in 2001 because of structural issues. The present day Haggate Baptist Church was formerly the church's school building. 

[Steve Goodwin]

It's great to see these organs getting a new lease of love and life.