Dominic’s childhood was spent in Ealing until he went as a pupil to Christ’s Hospital School, near Horsham. Dominic’s interest in the organ was encouraged by Nicholas Plumley who taught History at the school. A school trip to Holland to see historic organs was a turning point, sparking Dominic’s interest and inspiring his lifelong devotion to the instrument.
At Oxford (St John’s College) he read Modern History and acquired skills that would later be of service when researching and writing about the history of organs and organ-building. He had already identified his career path, and on completing his degree he took up an apprenticeship with Hendrik (‘Rik’) ten Bruggencate, a Dutch organ-builder who had trained with Pels and then worked for Grant, Degens and Bradbeer before setting up on his own in Northampton. Martin Goetze had also worked with GDB for a time, and in 1980, he and Dominic went into partnership with their own firm, later joined in 1985 by another GDB employee, Edward Bennett.
It was clear from the start that the new firm (‘Martin Goetze and Dominic Gwynn’) would concentrate on building and restoring organs in historical styles.
Dominic’s boundless intellectual curiosity expressed itself in a determination to document and record historic organs. His published articles and conference papers represent an invaluable source of information for organ-builders, organists and students. Many appeared as the Harley Monographs, accessible online, and now almost sixty in number.
Over the years Dominic contributed to many publications on a whole variety of subjects, although the organs and builders of the early-modern period remained his particular passion. He was a member of the British Institute of Organ Studies (BIOS) almost from its foundation in 1976, and the subjects of his many articles in the BIOS Journal include: organ pitch; key actions, wind systems and reeds pre-1800; the transmission of organ-building knowledge in early-modern England; the origins of the English style of organ-building; organs at the courts of the Tudor and Stuart monarchs; the ‘grand coalition’ of Bridge, Byfield and Jordan, 1733-1760; Thomas Dallam’s antecedents; the restorations of individual organs including St Botolph, Aldgate, St James, Bermondsey and Thaxted. He was also an occasional contributor to the Organ Yearbook and to IBO’s Organ Building, under its various titles. Dominic’s Historic Organ Conservation was issued by Church House Publishing in 2001. It was intended to address some of the issues he encountered as a long-serving member of the Organs Conservation Committee of the Church Building Council responsible for making encouraging grants for organ restorations from the Pilgrim Trust’s allocation to the CBC.
For many years, Dominic had been working on a book in which he would draw together his research and conclusions concerning the organ in early-modern society and culture (1500-1770). This was nearing completion at the time of his death, and it is earnestly to be hoped that it will be possible to publish it in due course.
Dominic’s existing achievements were recognised by the richly-deserved award, in March 2024, of the Medal of the Royal College of Organists for ‘his distinguished achievement in organ-building and scholarship, and … his work on organ heritage in the UK’.
Others will remember him first and foremost as a generous friend and good companion, who will be much missed. Yet others will remember him as a tireless mentor, eager to communicate his knowledge and enthusiasm to younger organ-builders and researchers.
He died on 24 May 2024 at the age of 70, and we extend our sympathies to his wife, Antonia, their daughters Pip and Lucy, and to other members of the family.