Restoration of the organ at St James, Bermondsey, South East London.
Built in 1829 by James Bishop, this was one of the largest organs in the country, in one of the largest new churches, and for a long time had the most complete Pedal organ, as well as other innovations either unique or most unusual. It had lain partly dismantled for the last 50 years, but amazingly, most of the original parts survived, at least in part or altered, strewn around the unused spaces at the west end of the galleries of the church. Bishops had made some alterations in 1877, including turning a GG organ into a C organ. In 1975, Bishop restored the Great organ, and in 2002 Goetze and Gwynn restored the organ as close as possible to 1829 condition. The advisor was Ian Bell. The organ is a wonderful survival, and will illuminate a period of music when church music was becoming more elaborate, classical forms were being expanded for greater expressive content, and the music of J.S.Bach was being explored for the first time in Great Britain.
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Great
and Choir: GG – f3 The tuning was fixed from Swell pipes which appeared to have original lengths. It is a modified form of the (approximately 1/5 comma meantone) system described by Bishop in a notebook he started in 1807. The lower of the Swell Open Diapasons is a smaller scale than the upper. The Bassoon is from GG – d° the Cremona from d# - f3. However, the pipes change shape (and sound) between b° and c1. Despite the name, the Swell Cornet has no Tierce rank. The Great and Choir Stopt Diapasons, and the Choir Flute, are open wood pipes from c1 up. The Swell Stopt Diapason is stopped (with pierced stoppers) to the top. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
