LETTERS TO THE EDITOR(3)

TRACKER ACTION
Dear Sir...

I write to take issue, albeit somewhat belatedly, with Geoffrey D.Morgan's remarks (vol. 6, no.1) concerning the tracker action of the Marcussen organ at St. Mary's Parish Church, Nottingham. Everyone who knows this organ knows that it is a truly remarkable instrument, and that it has more than proved its worth in both recital and accompanimental roles. The touch is not at all heavy, and does nothing to deter either myself or others from devoting a sizeable proportion of our playing time to nineteenth and twentieth century music by Messiaen, Franck, Reubke, Elgar, Peeters, and many others.

Dr. Monkhouse's subsequent reply did much to redress the balance. But if further evidence were required, a glance through the wealth of glowing compliments in our Visitors Book would reveal much - including one entry which just about sums it all up: "I could have continued playing all day and night", signed by one Geoffrey D. Morgan. Perhaps he has his wires crossed.

Yours sincerely David S. Butterworth (Director of Music, St. Mary's, Nottingham)

SNETZLER ORGAN IN DUBLIN
Sir,
We know from Deutsche that Handel conducted his first performance of the Messiah at the Music Room in Fishamble Street, Dublin, and we also know that he used a small organ.
A Snetzler organ, dated 1742, and formerly in the collection of Sir Thornley Stokes of Dublin, is about to be restored. I wonder whether any evidence exists that would point to the possibility of Handel having used this instrument for his first performance of the Messiah. There cannot have been many Snetzler organs in Dublin in 1742. Any suggestions or information would be very much welcomed by the under- signed at St. Peter's Organ Works, London E2.
Yours faithfully, Noel Mander

Dear Editor,
PIPE BELLYING
W. & T. Lewis (as quoted by H.W. de B. Peters) were right; open pipes, both metal and wood, are slightly bellied in the making. My grandfather went further; some of the Norman & Beard Pedal Open Wood pipes are tapered from a point up the body so that the top of the pipe was half a note smaller than the mouth.
In the case of metal pipes the bellying is achieved by taking a small shaving off the metal at the ends of the joint before soldering up. This is purely to avoid the hard tone which is generated if the pipes were to go the other way. Another example arises in the tuner's dictum that it is better to cut a cone-tuned pipe slightly short and cone it in, than to leave it long and cone it out. I believe this to be the cause of the slight change in tone which results from the use of tuning slides, since the shape of the air-column at the top of the pipe will approximate to that of a coned-out pipe top.

Finally, to set Stephen Bicknell's mind at rest, HN & B never claimed that Father Smith made tapered pipes. The only old pipes in the Chair case at Eton are the Smith wooden pipes which were given to the College. There never was any claim that the Spitz Flute was other than new pipes put in to make up a small chorus. I should kno; it was one of the first stops I ever voiced.

Yours sincerely,
John Norman

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