 | Reed Organs in EnglandA comprehensive study of reed organsin England, Scotland and Wales. |
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| Reed Organs in EnglandA comprehensive study of reed organsin England, Scotland and Wales. |
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Next: RETAILERS AND WARE HOUSES Previous: ORGANETTES AND SELF PLAYING |
In Chapters 24 and 7 we alluded to several instruments which had pipes, or at least sound resonators that looked like pipes. The present chapter lists some English pipe organs which had free reed ranks, often referred to by central European organ builders as ``Physharmonika'', reflecting the early history of the harmonium. Some of the earliest applications had been in 1780 by Kirsnick, an organ builder in Copenhagen. His assistant, Rackwitz, showed the well known European organist and organ architect George Joseph Vogler (b.1749-d.1814, known as The Abbé) how to make them in Stockholm. Vogler demonstrated the free reeds at every opportunity and was very influential. In 1784, he built a portable organ called The Orchestrion and toured Europe with it. It reputedly had 900 pipes in a single swell box with free instead of striking reeds. This was one of his so called ``simplifications'', but it was not universally acclaimed! More information on Vogler is given by Sumner [190].
So famous was he, that a poem entitled Abt Vogler was written by Robert Browning. Five verses from it were re-produced in ROS Bulletin vol.XIII no.2 (Summer 1994).
Some of his more successful instruments were in the Reformed Church, Copenhagen; Our Saviour's Church, Copenhagen; St. Peter's Pfarrkirhe, Munich, 5MP/33. Some notes on his work: In Copenhagen he managed to re-design at least two organs: the Botzen organ in St. Saviour's Church and the Carstens organ in the Reformed Church where the young composer Weyse was the organist.
A study of the organ in the Reformed Church (finished 1799) is particularly revealing. Vogler removed the mixtures. An 8' Gedackt in the Hauptwerk was shifted on the wind chest so that it formed a Quint 10-2/3' in the treble. In a similar way, a Terz 6-2/5', Quint 5-1/3' and Terz 3-1/5' were conjured up from other stops to obtain both 32' and 16' pitches for the Hauptwerk. Furthermore the Quintaton 16' was changed to a Bourdon 16' and a new Clarinet 4' was installed instead of the Mixtur. The Brustwerk was enclosed in a swell box and it received a Vox Angelica with free reeds, a 16' Treble Gamba, etc.
Nevertheless, free reed pipes became not unusual in the more innovative German and French instruments. My favourite is the organ of Riga Dom (the Latvian capital's old cathedral) built by Eberhard Friedrich Walcker and Co. of Wirtemberg from 1881-4. This organ was much publicised at the time and was said to be the largest, most modern and best in the world with 4 manuals each of 4-1/2 octaves from CC-f'', pedals, 127 speaking stops and 6,768 pipes. It was restored in 1962 and 1983 and I still believe it is one of the most remarkable instruments in the world. The Dom is no longer a church, as is the fate of many in eastern Europe, but now a museum with regular organ and orchestral concerts, Latvia and other nearby countries have strong musical traditions. I have been very privileged to visit the Dom only once and heard the organ in concert, but have known of it for a long time. Its free reed stops include: Euphon 8' on Manual I, Aeolodicon 16' on Manual II, Physharmonika 8' on Manual IV. There is also a Harmonika 8' on Manual III. Several recordings of this magnificent instrument exist. Walcker seems to have been a particular advocate of free reed stops, particularly with wooden resonators and very large boots. Information is now available on a Latvian music Web site: http://www.music.lv/organ/organs/Riga_Dom.html and includes a photo of the Physharmonika.
Another surviving E.F. Walcker organ is in the church at Hoffenheim near Heidelberg in Germany. This is a 2MP 27-stop instrument built in 1845 and has a Physharmonika 8' on the Hinterwerk (Manual II) which has an expession pedal. There was another in St. Maria in Schramberg in the Black Forest with Manual III being a Physharmonika 8'. Unfortunately this was removed during a re-build in 1899. The one built c.1830 for the Paulskirche in Frankfurt had a free reed Vox Humana 8' on Manual II and a Hautbois 8' and Physharmonika 8' on Manual III. There was also a free reed Fagott 16' on the 2nd Pedal division. Unfortunately this instrument together with the church were completely destroyed by bombing in 1944. The one in Zagreb Cathedral was built in 1852 as a 3MP specification (now 4MP) which had free reeds Fagott 16' (with wooden resonators) on Manual I, and Bombardon 32' on the Pedal. This suffered serious damage in an earthquake in 1880 - it is not known how much of the original instrument survived. The large organ in the Stephansdom, Vienna (1886) had a free reed Oboe 8' with its own separate wind chest and expression pedal, but this is also lost to us.
A note from BIOS Reporter: [54]: The stops Terpomele and Euphone in Beauvais Cathedral are free reeds, speaking in wooden small cones of which the top is hemispherical with a little hole in it. They are ``expressif'' by means of a special pedal forcing the wind pressure as in the French harmonium. The Conoclyte is also a free reed stop, of tin pipes in gemshorn shape but on fixed wind. All are 8' of full compass. (From a note by Dr.J. Bedart, ``bran tub''.) The organ at St. Pierre's Cathedral, Beauvais, France had been constructed in 1827 by Cosyn but destroyed during the 2nd World War. A new organ by Gonzalez was constructed in 1979.
There is a pipe organ in Soppe-le-Bas, St. Vincent, Alsace dating from 1839. It was re-construced by Valentin Rinkenbach in 1842, and this instrument has been preserved until now (restored in 2006). It is an extremely ancient and rare instrument. It has two manuals and a pedal board with a single octave. The lower manual (54 notes) is a Physharmonica with free reeds throughout. Rinkenbach was a pioneer in organ building, but little known at the time. He installed the Physharmonica in several instruments. In this example, it is controlled by two pedals to the right of the console. See http://decouverte.orgue.free.fr/orgues/soppebas.htm. Whilst a handful were built, only one other example by Rinkebach survives, that at St. Pierre et St. Paul, Heimersdorf (1863). Here the Physharmonica 8' plays along with other stops from the Recit (Swell) manual. The organ was completed after his death by his sons.
It is interesting that some new pipe organs are now being built again in Europe with Physharmonika stops. We note below that such stops are still made by Giesecke und Sohn of Göttingen, Germany.
Stevens Irwin [118] in 1962 says Free Reed: a reed that enters the confines of the shallot when it swings in its vibrating motion. Such a bright toned stop is hard to keep in adjustment. Famous are the Krummhorn, many woodwind stops, the Trompette, and brilliant short resonatored forms.
The following illustration shows the arrangement of free reeds as in a harmonium with no individual resonators used by Schiedmayer for the Physharmonika as mentioned above.
This is a Transverse Section of the complete appliance in its most improved form. A is the chamber into which the compressed pipe wind is conducted by a suitable wind trunk or conveyance. This chamber is connected through the opening D, with the bellows B, which, together with the chamber A, forms the compressed air resevoir. The bellows B is acted on by the spiral spring C, which properly regulates the wind pressure at all times on the many tongues. E is a small escape valve, held against its port by a light spring. A Longitudinal Section of a free tongue or vibrator with its brass frame is shown at F; and its tuning clip and wire are shown at G. The wire passes air tight through the side of the chamber A, to enable the tuning to be done from the outside. H is the reed groove special to the vibrator F, furnihed with the pallet hole I. J is the pallet, covering the hole I, and commanded by the key action of the Organ through the agency of the rocking lever K and the pull wire L. The pallet is held against its seat by the spring M, which is strong enough to resist the downwad pressure of the wind on the surface of the pallet. N is the sound chamber, general to all the reed grooves: this is properly made much deeper than is shown. It is furnished at its end, or ends, with a pivoted or sliding applicance for crescendo and diminuendo effects. The free reeds of the Physharmonika are similar in all respects to those used for the ordinary free reed stops; the only difference lies in the manner in which they are mounted.
According to Lenter, there is another working Physharmonika in an organ in the church at [???].
There have been written, over a period of several hundred years, a large number of books dealing with various aspects of the pipe organ, its history, mechanisms and playing techniques. Out of those written after the beginning of the 19th Century on the subject of organ building a surprisingly small number of them even mention the existence of the free reed. The architect and prolific writer G.A. Audsley (b.1838-d.21/6/1925) devotes a small amount of space in his comprehensive studies to the subject. He seems to have been one of the rare persons to have had any favour with free reeds and even went so far as to employ a rank of pipes in his own chamber organ in 1885. These were made by Hilbourne L. Roosevelt who was one of the only makers of free reed stops for American instruments. Audsley was born in Elgin, Nebraska, USA but he and his brother Willian James, with whom he ran their business, lived in London for a few years before moving back to America. They designed many important public buildings in the north of England and elsewhere. He had an organ built during 1865-72 for his residence at that time in Liverpool (see below).
George Ashdown Audsley produced the definitive treatise on the modern pipe organ up to the early 20th century [5,6]. He was also a prolific contributor to the periodical The Organ. He described a number of free reed stops used in pipe organs as follows (see [5] pp 611-9). Some additions are taken from http://www.organstops.org, an interesting Web site compiled by Edward L. Stauff starting in 2001 and http://www.cdmnet.org/Julian the site of Julian Rhodes, now resurrected by Brian Styles.
This was the rebuilt instrument by the Methuen Organ Co. opened in 1909. The original was the first and rather influential, concert organ in America and built by E.F. Walcker and Co. in 1863. It had to be removed from the hall after only about 20 years and after being in storage for another 20 years was installed in the Serlo Organ Hall, Methuen, Massachusetts. A complete description of the organ and its history up to 1931 is given by Covell [39].
The musical effect of the Physharmonika in combination with soft toned labial (flue) stops is said to be singularly pleasing, and is greatly enhanced by the powers of expression provided by the former.
A general arrangement of the parts constituting these stops is given in Figure CCCLVII of the 2nd volume of Audsley's treatise [5]. He notes also that the boots of the pipes, which enclose the reeds and connect to the air coming from the windchest upon which the pipes are planted, need to be larger than in a corresponding beating reed pipe. He also notes that free reeds are more tolerant to changes of wind pressure without going out of tune, but cannot produce such a large volume of sound. Whilst brass is normally used, close grained hardwood could be used for the stops of deeper pitch. For these larger reeds, both the reed and the block in which it vibrates could be cut from a single piece.
A very nice introduction to the theory and practice of manufacturing both reed and flue pipes for organs is given by the firm of Carl Giesecke und Sohn of Göttingen, Germany. Their Web site http://www.giesecke.de explains the construction and voicing of reed pipes in great detail and even includes a section on the free reed pipes. As a firm interested in the highest quality and historical accuracy of restorations, they have done a great deal of research on original pipes. This is what the Gieseckes have to say about free reed stops: free reed pipes were invented toward the end of the 18th century, became very popular during the first half of the 19th century and continued to be made until the first years of the 20th century. These pipes, in which the tongue oscillates freely in the shallot opening, are now once again built in new instruments after a long period of absence. Special tubular shallots and a special frame are necessary for this construction. Some special construction details of historical free reeds can be seen in Pictures 15 to 17. They show a free reed Clarinet as built in the middle of the 19th century, commonly found in organs in north eastern Germany. The materials used by Lütkemüller for the resonators vary from oak to tin. The sound is soft, full, and very characteristic. Picture 18 illustrates a free reed Trombone 32'.
Note that the reed in this bottom C 32' stop is around 8 inches long, and still weighted!
Very similar in construction, one of the Marcussen organ company's tonal specialities is the Solo stop Euphonia 8'.
Here are some used by the Dobson Organ Company in the USA. This is a 16' Aeoline stop based on a 19th Century German design of Friedrich Ladegast. The pipes were in fact made by Giesecke and voiced by Wolfgang Born.
The names and descriptions of some fantasy free reed stops was given by Julian Rhodes on his Dream Organs Web site http://www.cdmnet.org/Julian.
According to Audsley, it is likely that all the free reed stops included in English organs were actually imported from French or German manufacturers. However several English builders were also producing harmoniums and reed organs at the time, so this may not be completely correct. Some like Willis and Sawyer were known to be reed voicing experts and had experience of free reeds. The National Pipe Organ Register http://npor.emma.cam.ac.uk/ lists for instance 15 organs with Euphone stops, but not all are noted as free reed, so these records are not conclusive. The ones which are so noted (plus a few others I found) are listed below.
Abbott and Smith were ogan uilders from Leeds operating between 1890 and 1975.
Goldsmith's College (1892)
Goldsmith's College is part of the University of London, situated in Lewisham. It once housed the Royal Naval School, then the Goldsmith's Institute. The Goldsmith's Company had an organ built by Abbott and Smith to the specification of Churchill Shibley who opened it on 31/5/1892.
This organ was extra-ordinary. It had no usual casework, but plain panelling which could easily be removed. The pipework was layed out to give the maximum space between ranks. The action was different on each manual. The whole instrument was however built to the highest standards of the time.
H. Terry in 1941 explained the history and specification of this instrument [195]. His article notes the existance of a free reed Cor Anglais 8' in the Choir section.
By 1930 the action was worn out and the organ was re-built by Rushworth and Dreaper Ltd. to a design by Frederick Harris. By this time there was a fashion for high pressure beating reeds and the Cor Anglais was not retained.
Aeolian built pipe organs as well as reed organs and all types could be played from paper music rolls, see 29.
I have very little information about Aeolian organs with free reed pipes in the UK. One example was however noted at Buckfast Abbey through an amazing series of events. See the section on Walker below.
Paul Morris, Exeter (1919) 3MP
This instrument was in the residence of Paul Morris in Exeter and was surveyed in 2011, see https://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=C01166. It had been shipped from USA.
It has a free reed Clarinet 8' on the Great and another (or the same) on the Swell. It is a player organ using 116 note music music rolls.
Kingsthorpe (1920s) 3MP
Free reeds were produced by the Aeolian Company in their house organs. They provided an instrument for R. Barratt of Barratt's Shoes at Kingsthorpe, Northampton in the 1920s. It had around 60 stops plus a roll player and percussion. It was eventually transferred to Christ Church, Wellingborough Road, Northampton in 1961.
Note from MM: I used to tune it at one time and seem to remember that there was a free reed Clarinet stop on in. This had a single free reed mounted at the bottom of a cylindrical resonator of about the same scale you would expect to find on a normal Clarinet. The actual reed tongue was never touched, the tuning being done by altering the length of the resonator, which had a sliding top of about 1/3 the resonator length. The tone could be classed as ``delicate''.
Ruskin Road Methodist Church, Carshalton (1926)
Has a Clarinet 8' on the Choir, see NPOR K00638.
Charles Anneessens (b.1835-d.1903) was a Belgian builder of organs and harmoniums. Anneessens is known to have used free reeds in his instruments.
St. Comgall, Bangor, Co. Down (c.1886)
NPOR N06939. A moderate 3MP instrument of 1886 with a 8' free reed Clarinette in the Choir department.
Strathclyde and Kirkintilloch
The 2MP of 1896 in St. Luke's Calton, Strathclyde had an 8' Clarinette on the Swell. That from the same year in the nearby church of St. Davide's Memorial Park, Kirkintilloch had an 8' Basson et Hautbois on the Swell.
St. Mary's RC Church, East Parade, Bradford (1884)
NPOR N04823 suggests that this 5MP organ was probably built in 1884 as an exhibition instrument and then bought for the church. This organ had its action and blowing equipment upgraded over the years but appeared to retain its original specification until 1974 when it was replaced. It had an 8' Clarionette a Pavillon and also an 8' Basson-Hautbois. We don't know definately if they were free reeds.
St. Peter's Clerkenwell
Several other organs such as this one had Clarinette 8' or Oboe and Bassoon 8' stops.
Some of Audsley's work has already been mentioned above. His earlier experiences of organ design and building are recorded in his letters to The English Mechanic and World of Science. See http://www.cdmnet.org/Julian/schemes/audsley/auds2.htm.
Ham House, Richmond (1865-72)
According to Stauff and also Julian Rhodes, the 3MP organ of Ham House, Richmond, Surrey had a 16' Contra Saxophone free reed stop. NPOR N13436 lists it at St. Christopher's Dallas Road, Cheam, London. A Pedal Saxophone 16' is listed. The organ was originally built for Audsley for his home in Liverpool to where he had moved from Elgin in 1856. It was then moved to his residence Devon Nook in Chiswick in 1884 when Audsley went to live in London and it was sold to Ham House on his permanent move back to the USA in 1892. Julian Rhodes suggested it was at Ivy Villa, Kew around 1865. NPOR N13438 then notes it at the residence of Mr. J. Mes of Sandy Lane, Cheam, London. It was moved from Ham House in 1946 by Kingsgate Davidson and sold to Mr. Mes in 1950. At that time it had received a detached console which only had 2 manuals, the pipework was re-arranged into 4 departments one of which was floating and connected to the manuals via couplers following Audsley's original tonal design later published in The Organ after its inception in 1921, for example [8].
Louisiana Purchase Exposition Grand Concert Organ (1904)
Not in England, but possibly of interest to some: Audsley was responsible for the original scheme of what was in 1904 to become the largest organ in the world, exhibited at the Louisiana Purchase in St. Louis, USA. He won an Exposition Ribbon and Silver Medal for it. It was built by the Los Angeles Art Organ Co. and is described in some detail in the fascinating little book by Faust [68] A Treatise on the Construction Repairing and Tuning of the Organ published in 1905.
Of its 110 speaking stops with 8907 pipes, this 5MP instrument had three free reed stops, Corno Inglese 8' and Musette 4' in the Second Division (Choir) and Euphonium 16' in the Pedal. It is possible, but not confirmed other than a remark by Faust [68], that the other Choir stops, Contra Saxophone 16' and Saxophone 8' were also free reeds. There was a second console with a patent double roll self playing mechanism. See http://www.cdmnet.org/Julian/schemes/audsley/auds4.htm.
The organ was moved after the Exposition in twelve rail freight cars to St. Louis and then Philadelphia where it was further enlarged and installed in the 150 feet high Grand Court of the John Wanamaker building, itself the largest retail store in the world at that time. Photographs of the 6 manual console of this gigantic instrument are shown in the book by Irwin [118] and in The Organ [175], the latter showing Marcel Dupré playing. The Euphonium and Musette appear to have been kept and probably still exist today. There is also a wonderful description of this organ by Charles Radzinsky [155] 7.
James Jepson Binns (b.1856-d.1929) was a well-known organ builder of Bramley, Leeds. He was the inventor and patentee of special tubular pneumatic and electro-pneumatic actions. He is also said to have voiced every pipe of the organs he produced himself and was a very fine craftsman.
[Neither organ below has been confirmed to have free reeds.]
Albert Hall, Nottingham (1909)
One of his most famous instruments is in the Albert Hall, Nottingham and is still said to be one of the finest concert organs in the world. We note that this organ has an 8' Euphonium stop in the Pedal department, but we do not know if it has free reeds (probably not). The full specification and a photograph are given by Laurence Elvin [60]. It has four manuals and 57 speaking stops, see http://www.binns.info
Castlegate Congregational Centre, Nottingham (1903)
Elvin also describes a number of other fine concert and church organs built by Binns around the Nottingham area. One is the former Castlegate Congregational Church organ, now the Congregational Centre. Photos of the facade and console of this 4 manual instrument are shown, taken by Elvin in 1992. The organ had originally been built for the private residence of G.T. Franklin of Derby in 1903 and has a walnut case and 45 speaking stops. It was purchased by the church in 1909 and has been conserved in its original form. It has a 16' Serpent stop in the Pedal (NPOR says 8', also listed as such by Sumner [193]). This organ replaced a previous 3 manual one of 1865 by Forster and Andrews which was then given to the United Reformed Church in Hyston Green off Gregory Boulevard, Nottingham. It was still there in 2000, but looking for a new home, see http://www.orgwebs.net/notts/.
Sumner notes that the Serpent is an extension of the Contra Bassoon 16'. It is almost certainly not a free reed. The brings into doubt the other comments on Binns above. See also http://www.cdmnet.org/Julian/schemes/trz/franklin.htm.
Founded in London by J.C. Bishop and known previously as Bishop and Starr. The history of Bishop and Son is traced by Laurence Elvin in his book Bishop and Son, Organ Builders [61].
Unitarian Chapel, High Pavement, Nottingham (1876)
The organ was installed by J.C. Bishop and Son from a specification by Henry Farmer. It included a free reed Euphone 8' in the Choir division. This organ was re-constructed by Cousans and Co. of Croft Street, Lincoln in 1896-7. The history of Cousans is told by Elvin [59]. It was finally rebuilt by Gray and Davidson (I don't know when) and this is as I saw it in 1975 when there was no longer a Euphone stop.
Other nearby organs by Bishop included St. Mary's, Nottingham in 1871 (actually Bishop and Starr, replacing the 1776 Snetzler, and replaced in turn in 1916 by J.W. Walker) and Southwell Minster in 1890. The St. Mary's organ was not particularly successful and was said to have been built ``on the cheap''. It had an intriguing Choir stop, Cremona and Bassoon 8'. It was replaced by an instrument by Walcker in 1917.
It is noted by ``Leodiensis'' (Musical Opinion 18 (1895) p645), that Francis Booth of Wakefield installed a Physharmonika in his 3MP instrument built for St. Chads, Far Headingly, Yorks. in 1869. This instrument is described by Dawson [40] but the Physharmonika is not mentioned.
Nyaskasura High School, Uganda
The article by J.L. Dixon [44] which described the Rushworth and Dreaper reed organ in St. Mark's, Entebbe, goes on to describe an organ built by one Commander E.W.E. Caldwell, a C.M.S. missionary who founded the Nyaskasura High School, Uganda, in the foothills of the Mountains of the Moon. He constructed an organ for the school with the practical participation of his students. The organ was broken up for parts after the Commander died.
In its full form it had 2 manuals and pedals, with a reed organ on the upper manual (possibly with pipe ranks as well). Many students are said to have learned on this organ and became quite good players.
Pedal: Swell:
Bourdon 16' (locally made) reed organ (unspecified)
+ some pipes?
Great:
Open Diapason 8' (pipes 1-12 of wood)
Gemshorn 4' (paper pipes)
Dulciana 8' (ditto)
Gedackt 8' (ditto)
originally hand blown, later using a petrol engine powered blower.
St. John the Baptist Church in High Street, Glastonbury is noted by Julian Rhodes as having a free reed Pedal stop, the Reim 16'. There was also a Swell Contra Reim 16'. This 4 manual instrument was built in 1914 and re-built in 1927. It was surveyed for the NPOR in 1957, entry N06861. The Reim stops presumably disappeared in the 1972 re-build.
Julian Rhodes notes a couple of Compton organs as having free reed stops, the Bournemouth Pavilion organ Baryphone 32' which however the NPOR notes as being a synthetic stop, and the Downside Abbey Solo Kalophone 8'.
Partnership from 1919 between A.Conacher and Philip Henry Sheffield. The latter became independent in 1925.
Ravenscroft Richards' House Organ
Conacher and Co. of Birmingham built a 2 manual chamber organ for Mr. H. Ravenscroft Richards of Harborne, Birmingham. Although some details are missing, there is an interesting article about it by Herbert Snow in The Organ [182]. In the next edition F. Webb noted some peculiarities. This is what Snow said about it: The most peculiar little stop I have ever come across is the String Bass 16' in the Pedal organ. Not over strong in tone, it is very small in bulk. Upon examining the bottom C pipe, I found it measured just 4 1/2'' in length, the width and depth 1-3/4''. The tone was 'cello like and very imitative. Other stops, except two other pedal stops belonging to the same family as the string bass, are of the usual pedal organ class and do not call for special reference. The 32' double bass I was not able to hear, as on the occasion of my visit it was not in the organ, having been taken out for experimental purposes. It was therefore assumed by Webb that these may well have been qualifying tubes for free reeds. No further information was provided and the survey of 1925, N07282 is taken from the earlier article.
Harborne was the location of Holt's workshop, so we wonder if there was any connection?
Peter Conacher the younger was active as an organ builder in Huddersfield between 1879-1917.
H.G. Harris' House Organ (1898)
This was a 5 manual instrument built in 1898 for Castle House, the residence of Henry George Harris, owner of the factory of Messrs. C.&T. Harris Ltd. Both factory and house were in the village of Calne, Wiltshire. It was described by Caple [26] and details reproduced by Julian Rhodes http://www.cdmnet.org/Julian/schemes/trz/calne.htm. The specification included a Cor Anglais 8' in the Solo department. Caple notes: Another notable stop (also on the Solo, unfortunately) is the Cor Anglais; this is a free reed, not the beating variety, and was imported from France, being made and voiced by G. Massure.
St. Mary the Virgin, Calne (1909)
Calne was lucky to have a second 5MP Conacher in its parish church. This of course was a gift from H.G. Harris to the village, and was said to have been rather expensive. The specification had been devised by its organist, W.R. Pullein and included a Double Bassoon 16' in the Solo and Cor Anglais 8' in the Echo division. In this case Caple notes: Here we have another enclosed section on a pressure of 10in... The double bassoon is slightly nasal, but very regular: it is a free reed, apparently German. ... The cor anglais is a free reed imported from Cavaillé-Coll, and closely imitative of the orchestral instrument. The Echo is on a pressure of 3-1/4in.
Conachers rebuilt the instrument in 1963, but disconnected the Echo reducing it to four manuals.
I have chosen to include what little we know of J.S. Dane and Sons in this chapter. They were little known British pipe organ builders in Swansea, South Wales. The rest of the family story is explained in Chapter 18.2.
J.S. Dane and Sons were a registered business at Union Street, Swansea operating c.1868-75.
Royal Navy Dockyard, Swansea
J.S. Dane and Sons were appointed organ builders to the government, by the Admiralty (1868)
Llanelly Presbyterian Church (1873)
J.S. Dane and sons claimed to have some 200 references from the nobility and gentry of South Wales at this time. Their instrument for the Llanelly Presbyterian Church was fairly typical for the period. It was replaced by an instrument by Hill in 1893.
An advertisement appeared in The Cambrian newspaper in May 1873. Having just completed the erection of a powerful new organ for the Presbyterian Church, Llanelly, we have pleasure for the guidance of intending purchasers in giving the following as its contents (price £240).
Swell: Great:
Open Diapason (56 notes) Open Diapason (56 notes)
Stop Diapason Bass (12 notes) Stop Diapason (12 notes)
Stop Diapason Treble (44 notes) Clarabell (44 notes)
Double Stop Diapason (44 notes) Dulciana (44 notes)
Principal (56 notes) Principal (56 notes)
Fifteenth (56 notes) Twelfth (56 notes)
Cornopean (44 notes) Fifteenth (56 notes)
Oboe (44 notes) Sesquialtra III (56 notes)
Trumpet (44 notes)
Couplers: Pedal:
Great to Swell [sic] Bourdon (30 notes)
Pedals to Swell [sic]
Pedals to Great [sic]
2-1/2 octave radiating pedals
three composition pedals
Gothic style pipe case
They were alson building a 14 stop organ for £150 and a 24 stop organ for £250.
[check dates on DBOB]
The firm of Gray and Davidson of Pentonville Road, London, was founded in 1838 by John Gray (to whom Henry Willis and Henry Wedlake had both been apprenticed) and Frederick Davidson. Gray was the grandson of Robert Gray who had started as an organ builder in 1774 followed by his son William (d.1820). We note that Gray and Davidson rebuilt the High Pavement Chapel organ in Nottingham. [See under Bishop above.] Charles Davidson died in 8th July, 1906.
Leeds Town Hall (c.1858)
Leeds Town Hall was erected in 1853-8 at a cost of £140,000 and could host 8,000 people. An organ was built by Gray and Davidson of London as an influential concert hall instrument for playing orchestral transcriptions to large Victorian municipal audiences. This followed an open competition. The plans for the organ were developed by Henry Smart of London and William Spark of Leeds. Prince Albert was an organ enthusiast so the instrument was first played in public, although still incomplete, in his presence at the opening of the Hall in September 1858. We note that this was actually several years before the similar Walcker instrument of the Boston Music Hall, USA.
The Leeds organ had several free reed ranks from the start, as did Walcker's, which had no less than 6 including a Physharmonika 8' [53]. It was very large with many automated means of controlling the combinations and sound. It was first rebuilt by Abbott and Smith of Leeds in 1898, but finally became totally unplayable in 1967 after years of neglect in the war years of the early and mid 1900s.
Three of the free reed ranks mentioned in the description of this organ by Kenneth Johnstone [121] include the Euphone 16' stop on the Choir, a Cor Anglais and Bassoon 8' (one stop, not two) on the Orchestral Solo and a Contra Bombarde 32' on the Pedal. The latter is said to have had half length resonating pipes (i.e. up to 16' long), but was nevertheless very ineffective compared with the more usual striking reed pipes. The Cor Anglais was also described by Audsley [5].
These stops were all still present in the re-build of 1898, but the Solo stop was simply called Cor Anglais. The reason for the re-build was to bring the organ to standard pitch (French Diapason Normal) as it was principally a concert organ. Further alterations were carried out by Abbott and Smith c.1908. The Solo Cor Anglais was replaced by a Bassoon 16', said to be still a free reed stop [183].
Photographs of the console and main case along with a description of the instrument as it was in 1926 are given in The Organ by Herbert Snow [183].
In the specification of 1926 the Choir Euphone seems to have disappeared, but the others are still there. The 32' pedal free reed was removed in the rebuild by Wood, Wordsworth and Co. in 1972. The other free reeds are also no longer present in the specification from this time. This is today the largest 3 manual pipe organ in Europe.
[need information about H and H - check DBOB]
It is not certain that Harrison and Harrison actually made any instruments with free reeds, but there is mention of a striking free reed by Julian Rhodes in his description of the 3M organ at St. Nicholas, Whitehaven. This was indeed an unusal specification drawn up by George Dixon and built in 1904. The Great and Choir divisions shared the lowest manual, Swell on the second manual and Solo and Tuba sharing the third manual. The Cor Anglais 8' is in the Swell division. More information is given by Elvin [62] [but I have not read this] and Whitworth [216] [check this].
Hele and Co. of Plymouth built a number of organs which included free reed stops. They were taken over by J.W. Walker and Sons along with a number of other provincial organ builders c.1958.
Guildhall, Plymouth (1905)
Listed as N10580 and originally by by Henry Willis of 1878, the organ was enlarged by Hele and Co. in 1905 and again in 1924. It had a free reed Euphone 16' in the Choir when surveyed in 1905 which was no longer there when surveyed again in 1940. The building was bombed during the 2nd World War and presumably the organ destroyed around this time.
William Hill and Son of London were pipe organ builders of great repute. The pioneering organ of the Birmingham Town Hall was built between 1833 and 1837 and was the first to have a high pressure solo reed stop, the Grand Ophicleide - not a free reed of course. Hills were known internationally, for instance they built the Grand Organ for the Sydney Town Hall (Centennial Hall), Australia, which was the largest organ in the world in 1889 with 126 stops including what is still the largest reed stop, a full length 64' Pedal Contra Trombone (one of only two full length 64' stops anywhere). There is also a 32' Pedal Open Diapason! The title passed to the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Organ.
I couldn't resist including a photo of this monumental instrument from Web site http://theatreorgans.com/sydney. Note painted case and the daunting 32' pipes above console. Also check out the Organ Historical Trust of Australia: https://ohta.org.au.
William Hill and Son, of London actually built three ``Grand Pipe Organs'' for Australian town halls. Another was in Adelaide, a 3MP installed in 1877, and is actually the oldest concert organ in Australia. It was moved to the Tanunda Soldiers Memorial Hall in the Barossa Valley in 1998. Hills also built pipe organs for many cathedrals, churches and concert halls in England.
William Hill was the son in law of Thomas Elliot who had begun building organs in 1803 following on from Snetzler and Ohrmann in the 18th Century. Hill joined Elliot as his partner in 1825 and after his death in 1832 continued working alone. He was briefly joined by Frederick Davidson who however left after a year to join John Gray (see above). William Hill died in 1871 and the firm was continued by his son Thomas. Hill and Son joined with Norman and Beard Ltd. to become Hill, Norman and Beard in 1916 (see below).
The story of Hill's involvement with the Vocalion is told in Chapter 7. They had built a small number of these high quality reed organs, and must surely have experimented with free reed pipes. The first one noted is however before this time.
All Saints' Northampton (c.1867)
This large organ was the first in England to have a second Swell division in which was placed a free reed Euphone 8'. The organ was originally built by Blyth in 1803 and enlarged by Hill in 1844 - a certain Mr. Henry Wedlake was also involved, see Chapters 4.6 and 7.
Peterborough Cathedral (1894)
An impressive new instrument was built for the Cathedral in Peterborough by Hill and Son and was financed as a gift from a Mr. John Harrison Foster. Its scheme was designed by the organists Dr. Haydn Keeton and Dr. Arthur Hill with some influence from Hope-Jones. Among the 68 stops of this 4MP organ (4,453 pipes) was a Cor Anglais in the Choir department. The article by Roberts in The Organ of 1930 did not note that this was a free reed rank, but subsequent details recorded by Coleman [35] explain its true nature adding: this department contained some unusual features, including a Cor Anglais. This was a free reed which proved quite ineffective either as a solo stop or as a chorus reed. It has now been removed, and in its place is a new Trompette 8'.
Middlesborough Town Hall (1898)
I am not sure about this one. The article by John Grayson in The Organ Oct'1938 similarly notes the specification of the organ as it stood at that date. This is intriguing, for he says that the specification is as original, except that the Swell Cor Anglais has been replaced by a Vox Humana. Whether the original stop was a free reed is not confirmed.
Sydney Town Hall (1889)
A picture of the actual organ which was built is shown above. The original specification which was proposed in 1885 is given by Bernard Edmonds [53]. It is reproduced by Julian Rhodes http://www.cdmnet.org/Julian/schemes/props/sydney1.htm. This is somewhat different to the final organ, and it includes the unusual free reed Trombone stops of 32' and 16' with wooden resonators in the Pedal department. This was the design of Alexander Rea of Enmore near Sydney who superintended the erection of the final instrument and was its organist. A picture of such a reed pipe was shown above. An alternative proposal by Hilbourne Roosevelt follows the same specification but with Contra Bombarde and Bombarde on the pedal and other free reed Euphone stops in several manual departments http://www.cdmnet.org/Julian/schemes/props/sydney2.htm. I don't know if any of these stops were eventually included, although there is a pedal Trombone 16' [214,34].
Robert Hope-Jones was a very original and innovative organ designer and builder who had profound influences on the technology which was to become adopted above all for the cinema and theatre organs of the 1920s. Despite his radical ideas, often debated, many people trained with Hope-Jones at his factory in Birkenhead, including one W.C. ``Billy'' Jones who was to become a celebrated reed voicer (of striking reeds that is). W.C. Jones learned his profession from Franklin Lloyd, and in fact finished the work on the Worcester Cathedral organ when Lloyd was ill, so may in fact have voiced the Cor Anglais too. Hope-Jones left to work in America in 1903 8 where his ideas were more acceptable and directly responsible for the Wurlitzer theatre and cinema organs. The rest of the story is told in an article for The Organ by Webb [206] which also contains a copy of a signed photograph of the man himself. More information is provided by Sayer [170].
St. John's Birkenhead (1887)
Confirmation that Hope-Jones did indeed use free reeds comes from this NPOR entry N04323. This is an early organ in Hope-Jones' home town, rebuilt by him and the choir members together with Franklin Lloyd from an earlier instrument by Jackson. Hope-Jones was trained as an electrical engineer and re-built this instrument before becoming a professional organ builder. It had a free reed Cor Anglais 8' in the Choir. This is confirmed by the specification from The Musical Standard of 10/2/1894 as re-produced in Pope's article [152]. Even at this time there is evidence of Hope-Jones' originality in organ design with many couplers, double touch on Pedal and Great, some extended ranks and even a Tibia Plena. It is not recorded when it was eventually replaced or why, although Pope notes that Hope-Jones may have continued with trials and modifications until 1894. There is also some doubt as to the specification as the article by R. Whitworth of 1926 [212] does not mention the Cor Anglais.
The Pope article in The Organ contains a charming photograph of RHJ playing the instrument on a 2MP console which had been carried outside the church door. He also gives much more information about this interesting instrument and its history.
Worcester Cathedral (1894-6)
This one had an 8' Cor Anglais - for a while I had no idea if it was a free reed, as there is no mention in NPOR that I could find. However it is clearly described in an article in The Organ of Oct'1925 [81].
Andrew Freeman noted that the new organ of 1896 by Robert Hope-Jones began an era of English organ building. This is not the place to explain why, but Hope-Jones' work is well described (and debated) elsewhere. It was actually a rebuild, formed from two previous organs occupying the cathedral, one by Hill and Sons on the quire screen and another by them in the south transept, the latter a 4MP with 51 stops donated by the Earl of Dudley in 1874. Hope-Jones' expertise in electric action was probably the reason why he was invited to do this job [170].
He took the opportunity to discard a lot of the original pipework and replace it with some of his own design. The new Cathedral organ had the Cor Anglais rank in the Swell department and it was said to have tin resonators. There was a contrasting Cor Anglais in the Choir. Some of the organ was also repositioned in brick swell enclosures. Diaphones were introduced to the Pedal department for the first time in this instrument. The full specification is given by Brian Hick along with more of the story [110].
The instrument was re-built by Harrison and Harrison and re-opened on 16/4/1925. The specification of Hope-Jones was enhanced by adding back the chorus work as in the earlier Hill instruments, in particular the mixtures which are an important part of standard pipe organ tonal design but not required in reed organs. It is pleasing that the architect, Sir Ivor Atkins kept nearly all of Hope-Jones' pipework except for some of the more doubtful inventions (the Diaphones) which were probably subject to excessive wear and tear. Importantly for us, the Cor Anglais was kept in the Swell. Much of the organ survived this way until 1972 when the Diaphones were finally replaced by Trumpets. [check dates here.]
It is perhaps fortunate that, having had four organs built in a short space of time, the Cathedral was forced to patch and repair the Hope-Jones instrument. Further alterations were made by Wood, Wordsworth and Co. in 1978. Worcester Cathedral is a very presigious venue hosting the annual Three Choirs Festival. However by 1995, as narrated by Brian Hick, the main organ was unplayable and an electronic substitute was used, quite an interesting British instrument in itself, but outwith the scope of this chapter.
The following history of the remains of Hope-Jones' first major work is still not known to me.
St. Mary's Collegiate Church, Warwick (1897)
Robert Hope-Jones was asked to propose a new organ with electro-pneumatic action for the church in 1897 [153]. The specification showed a free reed Cor Anglais 8' with tin resonators in the Swell department and beating ones in the Pedal and Solo. These were however noted as not having been inserted until later and several contemporary versions of the specification exist. The Swell Cor Anglais does not appear following the rebuild by Comptons in 1928.
McEwan Hall, University of Edinburgh (1897)
Another is listed in NPR entry N11934. [??? lost some text here] of the University's benefactor, William McEwan. The organ was an after thought and the commission to Robert Hope-Jones specified that no architectural features should be disturbed. The original instrument was described by Reginald Whitworth in 1934 [213]. He also gives us an idea of what the reeds might have sounded like.
It had a free reed Cor Anglais 8' in the Choir alongside the other typical Hope-Jones inventions such as Tibias and Diaphones, the latter still in place in 2001 [73]. There was also a Choir Corno di Basetto 8'. Whitworth notes of the two reeds the Cor Anglais is the quieter. This stop is a decidedly good imitation of its orchestral prototype. These two capital stops would be much more useful if enclosed. There was by contrast a beating read Cor Anglais 8' on the Solo of which he says it is a loud, rather course orchestral oboe. This stop is said to have been spoiled in order to make it contrast with the Cor Anglais on the Choir.
At the end of the article he comments: Whatever its defects, the organ is magnificent. Needless to say the more unusual stops did not survive the 1953 Willis rebuild. This rebuild is fully described by Herrick Bunney [21]. It is noted that the Hope-Jones pipework was very well made and still in excellent condition.
Unknown, but mentioned in BIOS Reporter Jan'1993. It says that a Mr. W.A. Kerman of Bridgwater invented the Tubaphone free reed stop with quasi-French horn resonators.
Goathurst, near Bridgewater
He installed one in the Goathurst organ. There were no organs by Kerman in the NPOR at the time of writing.
Kirtland and Jardine of Manchester were very much influenced by French organs in the 1850s, e.g. those by Cavaillé-Coll. They built several organs with the free reed Cor Anglais and Euphone stops, see [172].
The history of the Jardine family is traced by Laurence Elvin in his book Bishop and Son, Organ Builders [61]. Kirtland and Jardine became Jardine & Co. in 1889. Jardine Organs of Old Trafford, Manchester were still trading in 1994 [60].
Free Trade Hall, Manchester (1857)
This organ, built in 1857, which sadly no longer exists, had a free reed Euphone 16' on the Swell and Posaune 16' on the Pedal. The survey of 1877 is in the NPOR database, record N10787.
A separate story: latterly the Free Trade hall made extensive use of the large Wurlitzer organ previously in the Paramount Cinema Manchester. I was a member of the Cinema Organ Society in the mid 1970s when The Queen was saved and moved to its new home. The affair between The Queen and the Populace came to an end when the Manchester Hallé Orchestra moved to its new home, the newly built Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, in late 2001. The Wurlitzer has however once again been saved and re-furbished by the Cinema Organ Society and can now be found and heard in the City Hall, Stockport.
The 1852 organ for Holy Trinity, Hulme (NPOR N10807) also has a Pedal 16' Posaune but is not confirmed to be a free reed stop.
St. Peter's, Manchester (1856)
A 4 manual instrument opened in May 1856 had been built to the specification of Benjamin Joule, its patron who was from 1853 honorary organist and choir master. B.St.J.B. Joule was the brother of famous physicist James Prescott Joule (b.1818-d.89) who discovered the principles of conservation and mechanical equivalence of heat. If cost £2750 at the time. This was later enlarged to 5 manuals and had a free reed Cor Anglais 8' with tin pipes in the Swell department, Euphone and Bassoon 16' with spotted metal pipes in the Choir and Posaune 16' with metal and wood pipes in the Pedal. The church was demolished in 1906 and the organ moved to St. Bride's, Old Trafford. The survey of this date is NPOR N10808.
The original specification by Kirtland and Jardine was published in The Musical World [244] 14/4/1860 p242-3. This lists three manuals, but does include the stops noted above.
Swell: Great:
Bourdon 16' Double Open Diapason 16'
Open Diapason 8' Flute Harmonique 8'
Hohl Flute 8' Open Diapason 8'
Stopped Diapason 8' Viola d'Amour 8'
Principal 4' Gamba 8'
Gedact Flute 4' Stopped Diapason 8'
Twelfth 2 1/3' Quint 5 2/3'
Fifteenth 2' Principal 4'
Clear Mixture V Flute Harmonique 4'
Trombone 16' Clear Flute 4'
Cornopean 8' Twelfth 2 1/3'
Hautboy 8' Fifteenth 2'
Cor Anglais 8' (*) Full Mixture V
Clarion 4' Sharp Mixture IV
Double Trumpet 16'
Choir: Trompette Harmonique 8'
Bourdon 16' Clarion 4'
Spitz Flute 8'
Dulciana 8' Pedal:
Viol di Gamba 8' Sub Bass 32'
Voix Celestes 8' Montre 16'
Gedact 8' Violon 16'
Gemshorn 4' Stopped Diapason 16'
Flauto Traverso 4' Grosse Quint 10 2/3'
Rohr Flute 4' Principal 8'
Fifteenth 2' Violoncello 8'
Mixture IV Twelfth 5 1/3'
Contra Fagotto Fifteenth 4'
and Bassoon 16' (*) Posaune 16' (*)
Clarionet 8' Trumpet 8'
This contained some 3,578 pipes and at the time was claimed to be a better instrument than the new one being built for Manchester Cathedral by Nicholsons of Worcester. Indeed contemporary correspondents claimed it to be the finest in the district and the Free Trade Hall instrument the second.
The survey N10541 explains the new 4MP scheme by George Benson of Manchester. It was surveyed again in 1950, N02091 and the Cor Anglais was again noted to be a free reed. The organ was re-built in 1962 as a reduced 3MP by John Cowin and Co. of Liverpool and the survey is N02092. Here the Posaune 16' is definately noted as having 12 free reeds with wooden tubes for the lowest notes.
The article by Michael Sayer of 1964 [171] confirms the specification with Cor Anglais, Euphone and Bassoon and Posaune clearly identified as it was in 1872. He also gives the 1962 reduced specification of Cowin's rebuild. Joule himself published in 1893 a Description of the Grand Organ in St. Peter's Church explaining some of its more unusual features. He notes the Euphone and Cor Anglais are about the earliest exaples of free reeds in an English organ. This was certainly a historical instrument.
My own notes of 1974 show that it still had the Cor Anglais and also the Posaune. Sayer [172] in 1976 says only one pedal reed has been retained - the 16' Posaune, a free reed with wooden tubes giving a rather woolly sound which emphasises the bass line rather than clarifies it. The Posaune appears to date from the earlier organ by Kirtland and Jardine for St. Peter's Church Manchester, which when completed in 1872 was the fourth largest organ in England.
It is not known what happened to this church and organ later, but the church appears to have been re-built. It is noted that the organ was later re-built as a 40 stop 2MP. [Cowin?]
St. Peter and St. Paul's Cathedral, Sheffield
According to Sayer [172], Kirtland and Jardine included a free reed pedal stop in this organ, see NPOR entry SK3587.
Thomas Christopher Lewis of Ferndale Road, Brixton was an organ builder and bell founder who built a number of large organs. This important firm was taken over by Willis after the first World War along with the famous Rotunda Organ Works at Ferndale Road.
Public Halls, Glasgow (1903-4)
T.C. Lewis built a new 4MP instrument for the Public Halls in Glasgow, now called the City Hall. This organ had a free reed Cor Anglais 8' stop and is described by Audsley [5]. It is also listed as a 16' from TC on the Solo, see Julian Rhodes http://www.cdmnet.org/Julian/cf/cfpc4.htm. It is listed as NPOR D05241, but the specification is not given. See also http://personal.strath.ac.uk/kerr.jamieson/organs/CityHall2.html. It was moved to St. Mary and All Saints' Parish Church, Chesterfield in 1963 and rebuilt by Willis as a 3 manual including older pipes by Snetzler. The original Snetzler organ from which these pipes were obtained was built in 1741. It is described, along with the subsequent rebuilds up until that by Abbott and Smith in 1922 by H. Snow [184] and in 1964 by W.L. Sumner [192]. Its subsequent history is also described by Julian Rhodes with some contemporary photographs. The specification after the Willis rebuild is also shown in NPOR N15007 but no longer contains the Cor Anglais.
Joseph Milham of 35 Lansdown Place, Lewes, Sussex, was an amateur organ builder and tobacconist! He is reputed to have made a small number of instruments for local churches.
Saltaire Museum - ROS DB entry 419
This is also registered in the NPOR DB entry E00230 and is said to have been built in 1895. It is a 61 key CC-c''' instrument with treadles and hand pump but no knee swells. Stops from left to right are: Tremolo, Bass Diapason, Flute 4', Vox Humana, Bassoon, Cor Anglais, Swell, Clarinette, ??, Voix Celeste, ??, Treble Diapason, Open Diapason. Two of the stop names are missing, it is unplayable and has no case at present.
This organ has both reeds and pipes. Reeds are underneath the keyboard operated with pitmans - 2x 61 note ranks at 8' pitch 32 for the Voix Celeste at 8' and 13 for the Sub Bass at 16'. Pipes are a 61 note Stopped Diapason, a 61 note 4' rank (non original) and a 32 note treble 8' Open Diapason.
According to Phil Fluke, Milham's daughter said that Joseph built the instrument for himself. The pipes have been valued and are thought to be from an 18th century organ although Milham may have repaired them. The instrument was kept at the Milham family house while Joseph was alive.
It is now in the East Midlands Cinema Organ Association collection as are some other instruments formerly at Saltaire. They have around 100 instruments.
Norman and Beard were organ builders established in Norwich and London. William Norman (b.1830-d.1877) was a cabinet maker who did work for J.W. Walker in Marylebone. He built his first independent organ in 1852 and then joined Walkers full time. His son, William, also became apprenticed to them, but was sacked for idleness! The family moved to Diss in Norfolk where William's brother Herbert John also became an apprentice at the age of twelve. G. Wales Beard joined the family as an apprentice in 1875 and everyone moved to Norwich in the early 1880s becoming Norman Bros. and Beard in 1889.
The London factory was established in part of Chappell's piano works at 19 Ferdinand Street, Chalk Farm, NW and was for some time managed by T.C. Lewis and Herbert Davis (formerly with Henry Willis).
See Willis entry below for the 1905 N.&.B organ at Colston Hall, Bristol
The German builder Schulze of Paulinzelle worked in Britain for a short period.
Doncaster Parish Church (1857) 5MP
J.F. Schulze was comissioned in 1857 to build the famous Doncaster Parish Church (Doncaster Minster) organ, soon after the new church was built in 1853. It was originally to be a 3MP instrument. He however died a short time later and his son Edmund took over the firm. Subsequent discussions lead to an agreement to build an exceptional 5 manual instrument which was finally completed in September 1862, the last stages of tuning being done by Edmund himself.
An 8' Terpodian originally featured in the Swell department of the organ, but this had gone in the Walker specification of 1958. FitzGerald [71] however notes that this was a small scaled open metal flue pipe with a slightly reedy intonation. Clearly a stop of this name was still in the organ in 1999, I do not know if it is original or not - this is a unique organ and a lot of changes have taken place over the years.
It is believed to also have had a 32' free reed (possibly the Contra Posaune, but it could be more recent).
Exchange Rooms, Northampton (1851) 3MP
This organ for the Exchange Rooms (Town Hall), Northampton noted in NPOR D07745 had a Pedal Posaune 16'. In the later specification N03441 this is noted as being a free reed stop. It was originally a 2MP with Choir and Great, but was enlarged to 3MP with the addition of a Swell department by Cavaillé-Coll.
Some of Walcker's work has already been mentioned above. More than 100 Walcker organs were imported to Britain in the early late 19th and early 20th centuries. I do not know how many had free reeds, certainly a few must have done!
Central Hall, Birmingham (1898)
At the time of building, this was the largest organ by Walckers in the UK. Its specification was developed by Rev. Dr. F.L. Wiseman and Mr. C.W. Perkins. The former was the founder of the Birmingham Methodist Mission and the latter organist at the Town Hall. The organ was in fact moved to the Mission premises in 1903 and underwent an expansion. It was left to be maintained by W.J. Bird and Son of Birmingham who, as we noted in Chapter 10, finally took over Holt's workshop in Harborne. Birds added an electric blower in 1907 and did a complete overhaul in 1928. Birds had amalgamated with Nicholsons of Worcester by the 1950s.
The original specification, which survived until a rebuild by Nicholsons in 1953, included a free reed Cor Anglais 8' in the Choir department [63] which was not retained.
In 1828 Joseph William Walker established his business in Soho, London, moving later to 27 Francis Street, Tottenham Court Road. They took over Hele and Co. Following his death, the firm was continued by his youngest and only surviving son, John James Walker.
Buckfast Abbey (1938)
There had been organs at the Benedictine church of St. Mary, Buckfast in Devonshire for many years (see for instance the article by Reginald Whitworth, The Organ, Jan'1933). The Abbey had been destroyed during the Dissolution, but a new building was inaugurated in 1884. The new organ was built by Hele and Co. of Plymouth in 1922; it had only 2 manuals, but was gradually extended due to the kindness of many benefactors.
After the time of the first article it had grown considerably. Walkers were commissioned in 1938 to provide a new console and action for the organ, which had grown somewhat eratically and could no longer be repaired. Additions had even included the incorporation, mainly into a Solo division, of an Aeolian residence pipe organ of 23 stops in 1934. Which, from where? Ralph Downes shows the new console [48] and also notes in the specification that there was a free reed Corno di Basetto 8' in the Solo. This was not seen in the earlier specification. Downes notes that the quality of the pipe work was notably good, the free reed Corno di Basetto, an Aeolian speciality, is agreeably full toned and prompt in speach. It had retained most of the best of the earlier Hele and Aeolian instruments including pipes and action.
The full specification of this (proposed) instrument was given by Julian Rhodes http://www.cdmnet.org/Julian/schemes/props/buck.htm.
The specification of the actual 1938 instrument at the time of the 1961 survey if give on NPOR. The Corno di Basetto is found in the Choir and still there in 2011. https://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=A00543.
I was contacted in August 2019 by Angela Dodd-Crompton: I have the answer for you, i.e. Great Ambrook House, near Ipplepen, South Devon. I have been researching the Italian Garden at Great Ambrook for nearly fourteen years and I have taken an interest in the Music Room extension to the house because it was designed and built by the same architect (T.H. Lyon) and at the same time (1909-12) as the garden. One of the first legends I heard about the mansion at Great Ambrook from the eldest of the villagers was that there had been an organ (un-named but which could play itself) that had gone to the Abbey. I have recently paid extra attention to this aspect of the property as I am writing a book on the garden and the lives of its various owners and creators.
The full story as explained by Angela is as follows:
The Great Ambrook organ was the right make and sufficiently large. In 1952, Downes describes the new Solo organ at Buckfast as predominantly from an Aeolian residence organ and many of the pipes removed recently were confirmed as Aeolian by the current organist. The owner of Great Ambrook House who commissioned the vast multi-storey Music Room, Arthur S. Graham, is a confirmed customer of the Aeolian Co. in New York (as was his youngest brother before him). According to Rollin Smith's The Aeolian Pipe Organ and Its Music (1998, p343), Arthur's instrument, ordered in Aug'1911 and delivered in Jan'1912, was no.1198. It consisted of two manuals, 24 ranks of pipes and stop knobs with Italian nomenclature. You mention 23 stops and The Devon and Exeter Gazette of 5/1/1934 states that the new portion of the Buckfast organ was an orchestral section of 16 stops and four pedal stops including one of 32' tone, so the Gt. Ambrook organ would have been the right size.
The timing was right and the provider's surname matches. According to the Abbey's Archivist, the Abbey Chronicle of 1933 states that: the power of the Organ has been doubled and the instrument now boasts of 42 speaking stops and 2,372 pipes. This increase of power has been rendered possible by very favourable arrangement with a generous Catholic neighbour, Mrs. Milner, who had found herself unexpectedly the owner of an organ through the purchase of a house. The same D&EG newspaper article mentioned in the previous bullet said that the organ was re-opened (I assume that means first played after the additions) on Christmas Day 1933. Great Ambrook House, only 8.5 km away, had been purchased earlier that same year by Mrs Enid Milner, a wealthy widow and devout Catholic convert.
The Mrs. Milner who owned Great Ambrook at the time of the transfer can be connected to Buckfast Abbey. Enid Milner's daughter married at the Abbey in 1939 and had the extraordinary privilege on that occasion of receiving a message from the Vatican with a blessing from His Holiness the Pope. This clearly indicates a special level of support for the Abbey by her mother, part of which was presumably the provision of the organ parts. The wedding reception was held in the Music Room at Great Ambrook.
The Buckfast Abbey organ was replaced in 2017 by a magnificent pair of organs manufactured by Fratelli Rugatti, of Padua, so the Aeolian elements are there no more.
Henry Thomas Wedlake of 41 Maitland Park Road, Kentish Town, London, was a pipe and reed organ builder, as described in Chapter 23. He was also involved in the development of the Vocalion, see Chapter 7.
Queen' Anne's Mansions, St. James Park, London (1863)
The large 4MP organ for the Admiralty Offices at Queen Anne's Mansions, St. James Park, London, was built for the banker Henry Alers Hankey by Wedlake in 1863 and enlarged in 1875 after being destroyed by fire. Its rich specification, partly designed by Augustus Tamplin includes stops like Euphone, Musette and a Pedal 16' Contra Bass Clarinet which are quite likely to have been free reeds, but not confirmed. It is registered as NPOR DB entry N17974 and described in Musical Opinion [230]. It is also referred to in the BIOS Reporter vol.XVI no.1 (Jan'1992). This was an early orchestral organ and included provision for a concert grand piano which was never attached. It had many unusual features such as melody couplers, Swell to Pedal Octave and Super Octave and double touch using pneumatic action.
M. Welte and Sons of Freiburg, Germany made, among others, the Welte Philharmonic self playing pipe organ. Several were installed in London, e.g. at Steinway and Sons, Harrods and Maples. They were built for playing concert music from 150-note paper rolls. They had several free reed stops.
Salomons (1896) 3MP
Sir David Salomon's house in Speldhurst, Kent had a 3MP Welte organ dating from 1896 with roll player and a free reed Bassoon 16' stop. See NPOR N01857.
Oakley Court, Windsor (1897) 1M
This is a Welte Style 5 Orchestrion, a single manual 52-note roll playing instrument. The specification from NPOR V00577 shows a Clarionette 16', Posaune (8') and Trompette (8') all with free reeds. In 1985 it was sold to a collector in Baltimore.
The history of ``Father'' Henry Willis is very well known so does not need to be repeated here. He was arguably the most famous English pipe organ builder, and built some of the largest instruments. Indeed the Royal Albert Hall and St. Paul's Cathedral, London and St. George's Hall and the Cathedral Church of the Risen Christ, Liverpool are still the largest in the UK. Some were built or maintained by his descendents all called Henry Willis. Henry 4 died on 23/6/2018 being the end of the line of organ builders.
Whilst Henry I had experience of free reeds, see Chapter 23, it is surprising that he does not seem to have incorporated free reeds into his pipe organs (but see below). There is an interesting comment by Huskisson Stubington on the Echo Cor Anglais 8' of the 1920 Willis rebuild of the organ at Hereford Cathedral. He says The Cor Anglais is rather a problem for the writer: how can one describe it in mere words? It was made by Cavaillé-Coll, and is notable for the fact that it never seems to go out of tune and the quality is exquisite. [189] One wonders...
I have looked at many specifications of Willis organs, but this is the only one which seems to be confirmed as having free reed stops. Perhaps he used them in the Colston Hall because of the rather experimental nature of this large concert organ funded by private patronage.
Colston Hall, Bristol (1905)
Colston Hall, on the former site of a Carmelite Priory, was a school for boys established by Edward Colston until taken over for public use in 1867. It first had a small 2MP organ by an unknown maker [15].
The larger 4 manual Father Willis organ of 1870 (which had been opened by famous recitalist W.T. Best) was destroyed in a fire on 1st September, 1898 along with all contents of the building. According to Laurence Elvin and Reginald Whitworth [60,64,215] a new 4 manual organ was built again by Willis and completed in 1903 - payed for by Sir William Henry Wills (of tobacco fame). Wills lived at Burwalls, Leighwood, Bristol and had another Willis 3MP/27 organ built in 1896. This was moved to Malmesbury Abbey in 1938. The Colston Hall Willis, said to be the last built under the supervision of Father Henry Willis, appears to have been possibly finished in 1900, but rebuilt and enlarged in 1905 by Norman and Beard as advised by George Risely. The Willis ledger notes an organ costing £5,000 in 1901 and the Norman and Beard order book one for £3,500 in 1905. What actually happened? Noel Bonavia-Hunt explained that the Willis instrument was simply not big enough and this is confirmed by Laurence Elvin [15,64].
According to Wedgewood [208] the ``new'' organ at Colston Hall, Bristol, was built by Norman and Beard Ltd. in 1905. It had three free reed stops: a Harp Aeoline 16', Kerophone 8' and Saxophone 8' in the Echo department. These stops were said to have very broad tongues, but no pipes. They were all under the control of an expression device (Gale's patent). They were said to add considerably to the ``wood wind'' resources of the organ and could be rapidly tuned due to another patent device. The Saxophone is not listed in the NPOR specification N03896 but the Harp Aeoline is confirmed as being of 16' pitch. None of these stops are mentioned in the 1937 article [15] but the interesting full specification of the instrument and a contemporary photograph is given by Whitworth [215]. Whitworth does however note that these stops are by Willis, rather than being part of the Norman and Beard additions. He wrote in 1933 that ``The large Echo organ is situated in a chamber on the right of the platform ... and is controlled by electro-pneumatic action from either the Choir or Solo organ keyboards... The Harp Aeoline, Kerophone and Saxophone (free reeds) are disconnected''.
Having escaped bombing raids during the war years, Colston Hall was again destroyed by fire again in 1945 and rebuilt with a new organ by Harrison and Harrison as described by Elvin [64].
Captain Lane's organ, Wanstead, London
This organ was one of three in a private residence in London, see NPOR D00815. It is a rebuild of an 1754 organ by Snetzler. The 16' reed, pedalboard and two couplers were added. The pedal stop is called Free Reed 16' The full specification is:
Manual CC-e'' 52 notes Manual: Stopped Diapason Bass 8' Stopped Diapason Treble 8' Dulciana 8' Principal Bass 4' Principal Treble 4' Pedal: Free Reed 16' Couplers: Manual Octave Manual to Pedal Pedal CC-G 20 notes Foot-levers for blowing side and front
Dutch Vocalion/ Harris Pipe Organ
The following e-mail was received from Frans van der Grijn in May 2005. This morning I received through mail a huge envelope, marked "do not bend". After opening the envelope, I found 2 full size A4 photographs and a stop list of a hybrid organ, assembled from a Vocalion and a home-made windchest containing 6 full ranks of English organ pipes. He later sent me copies of the photographs which contain a note saying that the pipes are by Harris and Son of England. This apparently started life as an American-built Vocalion bought in Buffalo, Texas, to which a Dutch amateur builder added the Harris pipework and upper manual with home-built windchest following advice of a professional organ builder. The photographs appear to date from 1999 at the time of a rebuild or even when it was built (?). It appears to be a very well made and good looking instrument.
This is the stop list:
Zwelwerk: (pipes) Great: (all Vocalion reeds)
Holpijp 8' Bourdon 16' bass
Viool-prestant 4' Bourdon 16' treble
Fluit 2' Bourdon Forte
Quint 2 2/3' Stop Diapason 8'
Clarinet 8'(reed pipe) Open Diapason 8'
Viola 8' Violine 4'
Aeolian Harp 2' bass
Pedal: (Vocalion reeds Trompet 8' treble
+ German and French Reeds) Octaaf Koppel
Subbass 16' (Vocalion) Vox Humana
Koraalbas 8' (Vocalion) Calcant (for symmetry purposes,
Klaroen 4' 11 stops each side)
Trombone 8'
Basson 16'
Pistons for full organ and couplers:
Tutti
Pedal-I
Pedal-II
Hauptwerk-Zwelwerk
1 balanced swell pedal.
Whatever the value of this instrument, artistic or otherwise, or its origins (its full history is currently unknown), it shows that the concept of the Vocalion has been taken very seriously and can be merged with pipes to create an interesting and versatile organ. It is reported to have had an ``English romantic'' sound. The use of other reeds to make up the Pedal division to balance the rest of the instrument is very creative.
Hybrid organ at Orgelbau Lenter
This is pure indulgence as it is a French harmonium combined with a pipe organ of unknown origin and all restored by an enthusiastic German pipe organ builder who has done some exceptional restorations of large harmoniums - Orgelbau Lenter http://www.orgelbau-lenter.de.
Pictures are on their Web site, I simply give the specification. The harmonium (lower manual) is an unusual Francesco Bruni (Paris) instrument of 1857. This itself is very interesting with lever-style stop contols under the keyboard and individual pallets to each reed. It is rather useful that this early instrument has been preserved in this way. The pipes play from the upper manual and are split at e-f to match the harmonium. Stop action is pneumatic from draw knobs over the keyboard.
Manual I Sourdine 8', Basson 8', Clairon 4', Bordun 16', Cor Anglais 8', Expression, Flute 8', Clarinet 8', Fifre 4', Hautbois 8', Harpe Eolienne 16', Voix Celeste 16', Tremblant Manual II Bass: Kontrabass 16' (lowest octave free reeds on their own wind chest), Gedackt 8', Quitaton 8', Gamba 8' (lowest octave borrowed from Quintaton), Fugara 4' Treble: Kontrabass 16', Gedackt 8', Quitaton 8', Gamba 8', Fugara 4' On key cheeks: Forte Bass, Sub II-I Koppel II-I, Forte Diskant Grand Jeu (heal lever) General swell (knee lever)
