FATHER WILLIS ORGAN IN NORTH AMERICA

[Rowland Wateridge]

I came across this by sheer chance recently (searching for another St Joseph’s church).  As far as I know, this hasn’t been mentioned previously on the Board.  It seems that a largely original* Father Willis organ with 32 speaking stops has existed in America, specifically St Joseph’s Church, Seattle since 1987.  The link below (clearly written for non-organists) gives full details:

http://www.stjosephparish.org/337/our-organ.html

Father Willis would doubtless be amused to hear himself described as ‘an Episcopal priest’, or to be credited with the organ in Westminster Cathedral!  Nor am I aware that he built the organ in ‘St Patrick’s Cathedral’ (which possibly should be a reference to St Patrick’s (RC) Church) in Drogheda.

* I also have doubts about the Choir ‘Nazard’ 1892 (?), and suspect that is a later addition or substitution.

There is very limited information in the National Archives about the organ’s original home, Christ Church Harringey (1889-1981), said to be demolished in 1981, but no record of the organ there in researches so far.  Any further details will be gratefully received.

But wonderful to discover a Willis organ in North America, and one by the great man himself.

 

[innate]

Is it this instrument?

https://npor.org.uk/survey/N16890

[Rowland Wateridge]

Congratulations!  Yes, not sure how I managed to miss that.  I searched NPOR for both ‘Harringey’ and ‘Harringay‘ (some confusion about the different spellings) and, of course, neither yielded this organ.  NPOR details the minor alterations, and interesting to see that Mander’s were the last to work on the organ before its move to America.

[innate]

19 minutes ago, Rowland Wateridge said:

Congratulations!  Yes, not sure how I managed to miss that.  I searched NPOR for both ‘Harringey’ and ‘Harringay‘ (some confusion about the different spellings) and, of course, neither yielded this organ.  NPOR details the minor alterations, and interesting to see that Mander’s were the last to work on the organ before its move to America.

Haringey didn’t exist as a London Borough until the 1960s or 1970s. I searched for West Green, which is now in Haringey but was probably in Tottenham before.

[sbarber49]

8 hours ago, Rowland Wateridge said:

 Nor am I aware that he built the organ in ‘St Patrick’s Cathedral’ (which possibly should be a reference to St Patrick’s (RC) Church) in Drogheda).

Possibly St Patrick's Cathedral in Dundalk or even St Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin though that organ was finished after the great man's death.

I note that the organ is tuned to Valotti temperament.

[Rowland Wateridge]

I think you have correctly hit on St Patrick’s RC Pro-Cathedral, Dundalk.   Moreover its Wikipedia entry gives a direct link to the organ now in St Joseph’s, Seattle.   NPOR indicates that this was originally built in 1885 for Mr J L Balfour. Wikipedia tells us that the Dundalk Willis was ‘opened’ on 1st July 1900 by Mr J L Balfour, the organist and curator of the Royal Albert Hall organ.  Father Willis died in February of the following year.

It occurs to me that the Valotti temperament may be due to the US installers or the builders currently maintaining the organ - or it may simply be their description of ‘Willis tuning’ which David Wyld says the company still uses.

 

[Steve Goodwin]

There is another example of an 'escaped' organ, this time a Hill, which moved from Burton on Trent to Berlin in 2015.

NPOR record is at https://npor.org.uk/survey/G01463

I only know it because it exists as an excellent Hauptwerk sample set which I have and greatly enjoy playing.
There are quite a lot of details about it's history here - https://www.sonusparadisi.cz/en/organs/england/william-hill-english-organ-model.html

Steve

[Hebridean]

It looks like its new owners are very proud of it, as it forms the header picture to their Flickr page https://www.flickr.com/photos/138074444@N08/albums/ 

[Rowland Wateridge]

There are several other examples of ‘escaped’ UK organs on the Continent, notably another Willis at Leiden, but the significance of the Seattle Willis is that, as far as I know, it is the only Willis on the Continent of North America, and a Father Willis to boot, with an important pedigree which seems to have escaped notice until now.  

[Hebridean]

At first glance, this database from the Organ Historical Society suggests that there are three 'Father' Willis organs in the US (there are four entries but I think two refer to the same organ).  

https://pipeorgandatabase.org/organs?builderID=6783

Aside from the organ in St Joseph's, Seattle, the database suggests there is another in Oahu - however, digging into the entry a bit more indicates that the instrument was purchased from Henry Willis & Sons in the ?1950s and is actually by an 'unknown builder'.  It also suggests that the Oahu organ is 'playable' but not 'usable', which is possibly a comment that could be applied to a number of other instruments ...

[Rowland Wateridge]

Thank you for your further researches.  The two links from John-Paul Buzard relate to a Willis single manual and two ranks ‘Scudamore’ organ.  The organ in Hawaii is also small, 9 ranks on two manuals and pedal with, as you say, the very curious comment “condition is playable, but not in usable condition” - I’m not sure quite what that means!  In any event, if it is by an ‘unknown builder’ it does not qualify for inclusion.   

However, back to the subject of this thread, St Joseph’s, Seattle, your Kenneth Coulter link is very valuable with photographs of the FW in its ‘new’ home, the case and pipe decorations especially interesting, and new console:

https://pipeorgandatabase.org/organ/974

[sbarber49]

What is "pedal movements" listed among the couplers on the church website?

[Hebridean]

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[Bruce Buchanan]

Something to fill the gaps; the Willis organ now in St Joseph's Catholic Church, Seattle WA was built by Henry Willis & Sons to the order of James Lucas Balfour, stockbroker, of 13 Elmwood Road, Broad Green, Croydon and erected in a new concert hall seating 450, built in the garden of his house. The organ and the hall were for the use of his son, Henry Lucas Balfour (1859-1946) who, then aged 26, had completed 12 years of study at the National Training School for Music (later the Royal College of Music) under, amongst others, Sullivan, Steggall, Prout and Macfaren, and had just returned from two years of study in Leipzig. In late 1884, Henry Balfour advertised himself in the local Press as a concert organist available for recitals and as a teacher seeking pupils.

Balfour was organist of St Saviour's Croydon from 1879 until 1902 (during which time he took time off for Leipzig) after which he was appointed to Holy Trinity Sloane Street. He was organist to the Royal Choral Society and in that capacity, he played frequently at the Royal Albert Hall. I cannot yet find a definitive record of an appointment as organist of the RAH. He was organist to the RAH Masonic Lodge.

In 1891, Willis’s removed the organ from Elmwood Road to West Green, Christ Church.

The fitting of the Choir Nazard in the place of the Lieblich Flute 4ft occurred whilst at West Green, presumably undertaken by N P Mander Ltd.

The Valotti tuning is, I understand, a local (Seattle) indulgence.

I have a conventional picture of Balfour but its size is evidently beyond the capacity of this post or me.

[Rowland Wateridge]

Possibly not definitive, but my 1921 edition of the ‘Dictionary of Organs and Organists’ states, under Royal Albert Hall, London “Organist : H. L. Balfour MUS.B., F.R.C.O.”

[Hebridean]

This is the RAH's own online archive entry https://catalogue.royalalberthall.com/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Persons&id=DS%2FUK%2F1614  Interesting connection to St Patrick's, Dundalk

[Bruce Buchanan]

 

37 minutes ago, Rowland Wateridge said:

Possibly not definitive, but my 1921 edition of the ‘Dictionary of Organs and Organists’ states, under Royal Albert Hall, London “Organist : H. L. Balfour MUS.B., F.R.C.O.”

Yes, it does. The 1912 edition entry for the RAH has: Organist and Assistant Conductor to the Albert Hall Royal Choral Society: Henry Lucas...etc etc, which can be read two ways.

The RAH archive simply has: Henry Lucas Balfour was the organist of the Royal Choral Society at the Albert Hall for 30 years, and also organist at Holy Trinity Church for 40 years.

Possibly, if you are/were the organist of the Albert Hall Royal Choral Society you are/were ex officio the organist of the RAH.

For niceties such as this was the Internet created.
.

[Rowland Wateridge]

Interestingly, whoever wrote up the inaugural recital at St Patrick’s, Dundalk for Wikipedia said this “The organ was "opened" on 1 July 1900 at 1.00pm. Mr H.L. Balfour, organist at the Royal Albert Hall, gave a recital of classical music.”

Reverting to the ‘pedal movements’ (incidentally I have no recollection of the somewhat acerbic comment which Hebridean attributes to me! - and equally I don’t ‘know’ this organ), the linked Kenneth Coulter website contains photographs (scroll down to the one of the pedal board), showing what we would call ‘composition pedals’ and a balanced swell pedal.   Like Hebridean, I assume ‘pedal movements’ refers to the composition pedals, and the photograph shows a reversible ‘horse-shoe’ pedal at each end.  There is a comment that the swell pedal is unusually placed.  That is doubtless due to its replacing the previous FW trigger swell pedal in its original position.  Without knowing, that was possibly the work of N P Mander.

[Hebridean]

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