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BERNARD EDMONDS Who said this? 1. The church (officers) did not undertake this project for the purpose of winning a faint smile of approval from the cognoscenti. They made a conscientious attempt to find the right artistic solution to the particular set of circumstances while taking care to preserve what had been left in their charge. 2. (Who?) took a sympathetic but pragmatic approach to conservation long before a much stricter doctrine, requiring less thought, became fashionable. 3. Fanaticism is the fruit of suppressed doubt. It was a little thought-provoking to realise that this is the beginning of the twenty-fifth year of Notes & Queries - as well as being the first in the twenty-first century and third millennium. The contrast with the early issues is noticeable. The type of question usual then could more readily be answered now elsewhere in BIOS. Correspondence received has been varied and interesting. Some included complaints about BIOS; for example, that it had been 'taken over' by sundry interest groups; early music enthusiasts, historians, action cranks, and so on. The matters brought up have normally sorted themselves out. But I am rather concerned about the present set - 'taken over by the conservationists'. It is excellent that conservation is being taken seriously nowadays, a pleasant contrast with previous attitudes which was long overdue. But there are occasions when the tail seems to be wagging the dog. Some of my correspondents complain of BIOS members being involved; but the statements of members are not to be taken as the voice of BIOS, any more than is what I say here. Nevertheless I am told that we are becoming talked of as a society of high-brow fundamentalists with little understanding of the real world, though one writer wants to make clear that all members are not like that! This will not do the aims of BIOS much good. Having spent over thirty years at the sharp end, advising down in the parishes, I am well aware of the difficulties - I am not concerned here with concert halls or academia, still less museums. Each situation must be dealt with as an individual problem, and 'one size fits all' style of advice is of course useless, though sometimes dealt out. Secondly, 'the customer is always right' rarely applies. Sometimes he is very wrong. But his needs, as distinct from his wants, must be paramount. Doctrinaire 'correctness' should not prevail, as it has sometimes done. I had trouble once with an organ-builder, now deceased, of very decided and individual views, who stated that he had never heard of an organ being designed for those who were going to use it! (No names). And common sense seems sometimes in short supply. * * * The photograph is by Andrew Freeman and shows the Morse organ after its final restoration and repositioning in St Chrysostom's, Hockley in the 1930s. Compare it with the picture in the July 2000 Reporter
Did the material which he left to me contain any of his compositions, I am asked. Actually he did not leave material to me. He made no arrangements at all and as a vicarage was a 'tied cottage' everything had to be removed fairly speedily. Those post-war year were difficult times, and in the end the material went into storage, where it remained for over 20 years. Then at the urgent request of the family I spent a fortnight's holiday sorting it and managed to rescue the non-family items. See BIOSRep 3,3,11 for a full account. As regards compositions, we sang a chant of his at the dedication of the Memorial Organ Case at Standish, and I presume that any such material would have remained there. I came across only the hymn-tune named Limpsfield, which I gathered from the family had appeared in the later editions of the Public School Hymn Book set to J.S. Arkwright's Valiant Hearts; the family was not best pleased, strongly feeling that its merits would have won it wider appreciation in an orthodox Christian context. It is certainly a considerable improvement on the original. A letter from a priest friend concerns a mid-nineteenth-century organ by an excellent builder, rebuilt at the turn of the century, and remade in the 'seventies more in consonance with the original outlook, which now is to be removed to its original west-gallery position with necessary attention to the action (tracker). He has been refused a grant unless the organ is returned to the original, and writes indignantly that they have no intention of going back to a tenor c Swell. And why the XYZ should they! Why scrap a perfectly good full-compass soundboard for a new short-compass one? Or are they supposed just to remove the bass pipes - that seems quite ridiculous. It might be different it this were a real old-stager two-manual plus baby-frills department; but by the time of this organ, if not before, a short Swell was not so much a period feature as an unworthy economy. There are occasions, very rare, when an added bottom octave should be removed because it is a botched job and interfering with the proper functioning of the rest of the organ, but this is not one. The quotes at the head of this column say it all; together with some previous ones, especially Dame Gillian Weir (Reporter, April 2000). * * * Portsmouth, Virginia, Feb. 5, 1917. On a small organ which I am now building I have a balanced swell. To put on the entire swell necessitates holding the toe down or striking it so as to force it one-fourth of an inch. If the swell opens fully it will remain open until the same amount of power is put on the heel of the shoe; then the swell returns to the desired point. In other words, all that is necessary to get the crescendo is to pat the toe of the shoe and to get the diminuendo pat the heel, as it were, and this requires so light a touch that one finger will do the job as well as a tool. C.C. GRANT. 'The Diapason' April 1917 I seem to have come across this invention somewhere else! * * * Resolved unanimously that it is proper to have an organ erected in the Church. Tuesday October 24 'Mr Henry Porter attended and made a proposal for erecting an organ which he was desired to reduce into writing and send to the Churchwardens.' Specification as shown in the Agreement: In the Great Organ Open Diapason of Metal, Stopt Diapason of Wood, Principal, Twelfth, Terce (sic), Sexquialtera Three Ranks, Trumpet, Cornet Four Ranks, all to be of Metal. In the Choir Organ Stop Diapason, Principal, Wood Flute and Fifteenth the Four last Stops to be separate Work. ln the Eccho and Swell Open Diapason, Principal and Trumpet, all of Metal. And the Organ to be built without Communication of the Stops. When built was approved of by Joseph Kelway (for the Rector and wardens) and J. Robinson (for Mr. Porter) 14 September 1751. St John's, Smith Square. Vestry Minutes, October 14 1749. There was a Great Fifteenth omitted from the above. There are confused accounts at the building of this organ; these minutes would corroborate Freeman's date of 1750. Unfortunately, there is no statement as to the builder. Snetzler would seem to be the most likely person. Some time ago I mentioned the Rothwell brothers' experiments with very low wind pressures and the surprising results with large wooden pipes. Elliston, final edition 559, reports that Hope-Jones wrote in Musical News, date unstated, On measuring the wind pressure immediately below the flue of the 32ft. note on the wood pedal open diapason in Hill's Worcester Cathedral organ I find it amounts to by 7/8ths of an inch, while in similarly measuring the wind-pressure of Wills' wood 32 at St. Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh, I find the pressure to be 1¼ inches.' Answers to Who said this? 1. Marten Strachan in Organists' Review. 2. Ian Bell's Obituary of Michael Gillingham. 3. Christopher Bryant.  |
Some enquiries about Andrew Freeman, which I cannot answer; for I was only in touch with him during the last four years of his life up to his early death in 1947. This was mainly by correspondence (voluminous and now somewhere in the Archive), apart from two enjoyable stays at Standish, and three encounters in London. In one of these last he took me to see the vast quantity of organ drawings by John Norbury in the library at the RCO, of which institution Norbury was once Treasurer. The functionary who attended to our wants had known and worked with him, and waxed loquacious. 'He was quite crazy, sir; would you believe it, he spent most of his spare time travelling about making pictures of organ cases!' Freeman's twinkle was barely visible as he gravely replied, 'What a quaint thing to do'. Some of his pictures were published in his book The Box of Whistles, and a case of his design is (or was?) to be seen in the chancel of St James's, Congleton. (Illustrated in Organ Club Handbook .No.5, 1951).