MEETINGS REPORTS1. BIOS DAY CONFERENCE - THE 18.46 FROM PADDINGTON27 APRIL 2002 ALL SAINTS', HASLINGFIELD PAUL JOSLIN The massive gothic tower of All Saints', Haslingfield dominates the countryside around Cambridge; the church itself provided the venue for a stimulating and informative day of organ history.  The Great and Swell have been largely restored to the original specification and are controlled by the Bishop console; the new castellated case fits well, and incorporates ten of the original display pipes hitherto concealed in the organ. During the restoration of the Swell soundboard an inscription on the parchment at the back of the pallets was discovered. This records 'The first soundboard made without the aid of a foreman by C.J. Coleman 1845'. Underneath are the signatures of several 'witnesses' including 'James Bishop. Boss' and 'E. Willis' (a brother of Henry Willis). Alongside the word 'Boss' someone who clearly did not fear for his livelihood has written 'alias dummy'. Gillian Ward Russell gave a talk entitled Early nineteenth-century organ repertoire - reflecting the awareness of J.S. Bach. In a comprehensive lecture, she declared that early nineteenth-century musicians and composers were strongly influenced by the music of Handel, Haydn and Mozart; the availability and knowledge of the music of J.S. Bach were limited. English organ voluntaries of the period invariably followed the pattern of a slow introduction followed by a fugue, a type illustrated in an example by William Russell. It was largely left to Samuel Wesley, who studied early editions of the '48' and was 'besotted' with the music of J.S. Bach (he named his son 'Sebastian' in 1810), to write a set of fortepiano preludes in 1797 in the style of Bach. It was surprising to learn that Wesley's organ music had sparing pedal parts. There was a brief discussion of S.S. Wesley's music. Although taught by his father, and a great player of Bach fugues, he rarely imitated Bach, disdained equal temperament, and used bold, individual harmonies influenced by Louis Spohr. Dr Ward Russell concluded with a performance of the first movement of Bach's Trio Sonata in E flat, BWV525, played as a duet with the assistance of Hilary Norris, who, after lunch, gave a lecture entitled Rococo to Romanticism - English organ repertoire 1800-1850. She covered many aspects of the organ literature of the period, including interpretation (the invention of the metronome in 1815, registration, use of the swell-pedal, phrasing, articulation, ornaments, cadenzas) and vocal and instrumental influences (Vincent Novello, Italian opera, virtuoso singing, oratorio, cantatas, glees and catches, English song). English audiences continued to be influenced by the works of Handel, particularly The Messiah. Fugues were often played at recitals but they were normally preceded by an improvised prelude. Hilary drew attention to important composers and their music, including the late 1744-48 concertos by Stanley and the c.1815 concertos by Matthew Camidge. After numerous examples, she completed her excellent lecture with the Voluntary in C by Samuel Webbe (the younger, c.1770-1843) which demonstrated bizarre figuration and a written cadenza. Peter Bumstead concluded the day with a lecture, The musical world of J.C. Bishop, in which he discussed the re-evaluation of Bishop's work 1783-1854 in the light of the work at Haslingfield and Bermondsey. He briefly chronicled the landmarks in the firm's history and the varying names adopted by the business. Organs were built with either the old GG or the new C compass throughout the 1840s and 1850s. As part of a discussion on the Hereford Cathedral organ in 1832, Peter sang the baritone solo from The Wilderness, accompanied by Peter Butcher; Wesley, who was the organist in 1832 , wrote the anthem for the opening of the organ. History has not been kind to J.C. Bishop.  From enjoying a position of prominence, he has fallen into relative obscurity and few of his instruments remain. Not given to experiment, and producing organs that were lightly-blown and sweet-sounding, he nevertheless invented the Clarabella and composition pedals; his influence on later nineteenth-century builders was considerable. A pleasing feature of the day was the illustration of the lectures by copious musical examples, making this an informative and instructive day. Thanks are due to José Hopkins and her team of helpers for arranging this successful conference. 2. HOCS ASSESSORS TRAINING DAY The new criteria adopted by Council for the Historic Organs Certificate Scheme led to this training meeting at the Midland Organ Works, Melton Mowbray, courtesy of Christopher Gray, BIOS Conservation Officer. A dozen invited assessors attended to be instructed in and discuss the application of the criteria in the field; the primary purpose was to ensure a consistency in the approach and method adopted by assessors and in their reports to the HOCS committee. |