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We need zealots badly enough. Fanatics are only a pain in the neck! No one needs to be more open to ideas than the revolutionary and the reformer. (George Ward)
These quotes from my bin were originally noted with regard to the troubles which extreme 'organ reform' proponents caused. Advice on reform was certainly needed. But some advisers, cathedral organists among them, and certain organ builders, vied to bully churches into doings, ultimately counter-productive, more concerned with doctrinaire correctness than with fitness for the job. They did not always succeed!) But now I have dusted them off concerning the conservation, preservation, or what-have-you lobby, and not only in the organ scene. For example, a certain listed dwelling was having restoration work carried out. One feature was not only inconvenient, but dangerous, and moreover was not original, though quite old. After nearly a year argy-bargying, permission to deal with it was refused. But it was to be lived in, not gawped at by tourists! The constant dangerous inconvenience is a continual disincentive to co-operation with what is seen as insensitive officialdom. This confusion between conservation and preservation seems to me to exist in the organ world, too. My eyebrows have shot up several times on reading statements. I'm all for conservation in suitable cases. But must conservation of an organ necessitate the preservation of its faults? I am aware of dangers, and some things which have been done caused my eyebrows to disappear completely. However, a sense of proportion needs to be kept, with especial regard to the use other than the gawping. For example, a little girl said, 'Granny, how old must I be before I can remember Queen Victoria?'. How old must the imitating frustration of a short-compass Swell be before it progresses from unworthy economy to preservation-worthy relic? The final quote shall be from Gillian Weir, in her splendid article 'Marshmallow and Lemon Juice' in the current Organ Builder: 'Matters relating to both performance and design seem to be discussed in the language of moral argument rather than musical debate. Rationality then flies out of the window and music, the Muse we should be sustaining,js crushed between the words.' Now Olla-podrida. Exports of Redundant British organs to countries abroad where they receive proper appreciation are not uncommon nowadays. But one is somewhat surprised to hear that a museum at Junec in Australia has a massive and elaborate organ case which was made in 1911 for the Christian Science church in Curzon Street, London. The organ in Cambridge URC (about to be restored to original) was a Willis; when it was rebuilt by Norman & Beard a published account said that the Trumpet 'can now be played 'on the Choir keys for Solo effects in place of the old hydraulic'. Water Music ? This reminds me to acknowledge comments on the English Departnent with some depressing contributions. Cheer up! The latest fad in the teaching of reading starts with a book with nothing but pictures! Pedantic or 'posh' language are not required; but language exists to communicate, and should do that in unmistakable terms. Failure to do so is evidenced by the proliferation of 'Y'know' and 'I mean', or even 'D'yer-know-what-I-mean'. The speaker may know (in spite of appearances) but we shall be fortunate if we find out. Someone enquires, Who is '0 Sapientia'? He is not a Saint, but an anthem. A familiar phrase is 'In Quires and Places where they sing, here followeth the Anthem'. Not, you will notice, an anthem. The Anthem, or Antiphon, was a defimite liturgical text for the day or season. Having ordemd their use, the BCP omitted to include them! There is only the Easter Anthem - a somewhat different usage. O Sapienta' marked the start of the Advent Antiphons, most of which are known to us best in the versified form 'O come, O come, Emmanuel'. Strict adherence to the rubric might have robbed us of many fine compositions; it might also have given us blessed relief from a flood of Holy Drivel. Organ builders enquired about include Waugh of Monmouth; S. Wort of Carhden Square, Bamsbury; S. Fowler of 127 Pentonville Road; G. Gane of Fitmy Street 'Late with Gray & Davison'; Valentine of Market Harborough; James Longhurst of Lambeth; and E.0. Yorston of Vauxhall, London. Of Waugh I know only a plate of Trellech, and one reported at Hewelsfield. Teaching at Monmouth School before the war, I did not come across him; I hear he was a music shop. Wort built organs at Tilbrook, Upton Warren, Isfield, Milton Regis (Kent), and Twyford. An earlier Valentine, Henry, built an organ for 'Ashborne' in Derbyshire, opened 16 September 1710. James Longhurst moved to Canterbury in 1821; his youngest son became organist at the Cathedral from 1873 to 1898 - William Henry, Mus.D,FRCO. James Longhurst tendered for St. George Southwark, in 1807, but did not get the job; he turns up at the Royal Assembly Rooms, Margate, date not stated (4) but it was at Canterbury Cathedral that we hear most of him. 1825-27 he put in new keys, and rebuilt the Swell, extending it to tenor c, later adding two octaves of pedals, and one octave of pedal pipes. He had also removed the organ from the screen to the south triforium, removing the cases (the Choir case was used at St. Andrew, Canterbury, but has long disappeared). The console was behind the decani choir stalls, and there was a 90 ft tracker long-movement(5) Of E.O. Yorston I should like to know more. He was evidently an enterprising builder(6), and well spoken of, but of his works I have found very few. I do know that he had a brother, who worked for Hunter. He confided to Freeman, who knew Hunter well and had designed some cases for him, that the firm had renovated the Framlingham organ, and he had been the workman on the job. Manual and Pedal keyboards came from the R.C. Church at Clapham, made by Bishop, which Hunter was then rebuilding and enlarging. There were no pipes for the manual CC sharp keys. Yorston was so struck with the high quality of the old metal pipes that he borrowed some, to take home to show Mr. Hunter(7). In a scrapbook compiled by Forster & Andrews(8) is this advertisement: 'R. Jackson & Son, 28 Springfield, Liverpool, and 13 & 14 Crown St., Bolton', claiming 'upwards of l00 (organs) scattered over every part of the Empire' and listing 15 'during the present year (1850)' (see D.C. Wickens's article in this issue). We also learn that Mr. Holt, organbuilder, of Woodhouse Lane, Leeds, was an organist holding the post at Mill Hill Chapel. Mr. W.A. Kerman, of Bridgwater, had invented the 'Tubaphone', a free-reed stop with quasi-French-horn resonators, and had installed one at Goathurst, near Bridgwater. An entry records that in 1855, Forster & Andrews added to the organ in Norwich Cathedral 'Tuba in a Swell', pneumatics to the Great, etc. This seems to have eluded the notice of writers, and needs some investigation as to what actually occurred - or did not. Some goings-on in the trade are referred to in correspondence in the Musical Gazette(9). Willis had severely criticised the Leeds Town Hall Organ Committee for adopting a scheme 'iferior' to his own, and had made certain allegations and criticisms against Gray & Davison, of poor material and infringement of his patents. A letter from ' An organist and a professional man' comments on Willis's strictures: Now it may not be generally known that Mr. W. received his knowledge of organ building from that firm during the few years he served of his apprenticeship with them. Willis had said 'The crescendo and diminuendo pedals were at the beginning of this year secured to me by Her Majesty's letters patent(10). The writer continues: The crescendo and diminuendo pedals were introduced and carried out by Mr.Hill in his magnificent instrument at the Panopticon in Leicester Square - an instrument that Mr. Willis would do well to examine..but we learn for the first time that Mr. Willis has had the temerity to patent them - not a bad idea, forsooth! Nevertheless, Willis sued Gray & Davison, and the Musical World reports that they showed that they had used the device complained about before, and it 'had been in Messrs. Gray and Davison's manufactory during the time the plaintiff had been in their employ'. Willis lost. Another examination answer to end with: 'The Priest and the Levite passed by on the other side because the man had been robbed almady'. The best of all is unfortunately unprintable. Notes 1. The Organ, Vol. X,p. 47 2. .C.Cox Churchwardens Accounts, p.204 3. Musical News, 25/6/l904 4. Reporter, Vol. ll,No.2,p.11 5. The Organist and Choirmaster, 8/1901, p 92 Done Catechism, p.60 English Mechanic, Vol. 29, p.460 The Organ, VoLiii,p.l2 Reporter, Vol.2,No. 4,p. 14 7. AFNO2l02 8. The papers of Laurence Firth 9. 12/9/1857 10. No. 376, 9/2/l857 11. 24/6/l863 12. Musical Opinion, 4/l899, p. 460
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