EDITORIAL

There are grounds for believing that we are making good progress in the preservation and restoration of historic organs in Britain. There is much literature giving guidance on not only what ought to be done but also that which ought not to be done. The 1999 Liverpool Conference explored the topic exhaustively, while the overhaul and re-launching of the Historic Organs Certificate Scheme and the move towards the listing of organs promise much. Some of our more distinguished organ-builders practise restoration techniques assiduously with fine results; the IBO has endeavoured much in recent years to encourage organ-builders to maintain high-quality, responsible standards.
   It is astonishing to see how easily this can be circumvented. Take the example of the 1750 chamber organ by Johann Snetzler at Picton Castle, near Haverfordwest. It was restored in the early 1960s by Noel Mander with great care and skill, although it received a modern reservoir, electric blower, and tuning slides were fitted to the metal pipes. However, it remained substantially a Snetzler organ, and until recently has graced its elegant, original home without incident.
   An inspection of the rear of the organ shows it to be composed of the Stopt Diapason bass, a wooden stop. It seems the caps must have started leaking in recent years for they have been repaired. Of course, the sensible procedure would entail careful regluing of the caps using glue of the original composition. The actual repair carried out consisted of drilling two bore holes in each pipe through the cap and then fitting screws; steel no. 6 countersunk screws were used, the sort that can be purchased at any builders' merchant for a few pounds a hundred, the screws being fitted in an undulating line across the rank. The organ-builder concerned (if that is the correct term here) left no record of this work in the organ. The damage caused is not structurally or tonally serious, but would steel screws be used to repair a piece of eighteenth-century furniture?
   Identifying, certificating, and, it is to be hoped, listing historic organs is a necessary process in conserving our heritage; whether it can be made effective is another question. A comparison with attitudes towards listed buildings may give cause for concern; even Brunel's undoubted masterpiece at Paddington Station, a grade one listed building, may sprout a twenty-storey skyscraper if present plans are approved.
   While it remains possible to attack organs of undoubted historical and musical interest, as is the case with this Snetzler organ, we need to do more. Perhaps the instruments need 'Thou Shalt Not on the wall', in the form of a notice to would-be repairers. There seems to be a distinct need to educate the owners of these instruments on maintenance and repair as well as to inform and regulate in some way the relationship between owner, adviser and organ-builder. Until real protection can be afforded to important instruments, there is little to prevent any would-be repairer doing damage, equipped only with a packet of cheap screws and much ignorance.

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