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David Hindle Restoration of 1754 John Snetzler Bureau Organ

This organ was bought by David Hindle in 2006 from the Caldecott Community at Mersham-le-Hatch. It was given to them by the collector Captain Lane, in whose house Andrew Freeman had photographed it in 1944. It had been extended with a pedal board and a free reed by C.R.Oliver of Plymouth in 1975. It looks as if he was a harmonium or reed organ maker; it was neat work. In about 1800 it had been turned into a chamber organ, rather crudely, with quite a good keyboard, but a slapdash pipe front. It is not known for whom the organ was originally made. The original name label which Snetzler habitually pasted at the back of the pallet box of the soundboard had been chopped out and placed in a frame on the front above the keys. It gives the date 1754, the same date as a bureau organ now in the Horniman museum, formerly in the Dolmetsch Collection.

In 2006, the following parts of the original 1754 organ survived: the wind chest with altered upperboards, the bellows, the Stop Diapason 8ft (and one pipe from the Flute 4ft), the sides, floor and back of the case. From the mitering of the longest pipes it was obvious that the original organ stood taller than the usual Snetzler bureau organ, so the reconstructed organ has been given the form of the 1742 Snetzler in the Belle Skinner collection at Yale University. The existing veneered kneeboard was re-used, though it probably dates from ca1800, a date suggested by the colour of the wood and the fine stringing giving three gothic arches. The rest of the case was veneered in the same fashion, to cover the considerable later damage to the surfaces. The original is likely to have been made of single mahogany panels, with doors at the front. The doors use the ca1800 dummy front pipes, re-fashioned, and set in the kind of opening used in Swiss chamber organs of the period.

The stoplist was obviously:

Stop Diapason 8ft (stopped wood, 1754 except for bº which is new)
Flute 4ft (stopped wood, new except for f#² which is 1754)
Fifteenth 2ft (C D-eº stopped wood, eº-e³ open metal; new)

pitch: a¹=422Hz @ 18ºC (for which all the surviving wooden pipes were long enough)
tuning: Werkmeister III
wind pressure 43mm

Harry Bicket restoration of William Allen Chamber organ

The organ was made by William Allen of 11 Sutton Street Soho London (b.1750, d.1833). His surviving organs and those of his son Charles (1811-1871) are mostly chamber and barrel organs, but they also made and rebuilt church organs. William built new organs at Peterborough (1809) and Lincoln (1826) Cathedrals. According to John Camidge, organist of York Minster, Allen had such a reputation for making chamber organs, that he was credited with an equal but undeserved reputation for making church organs. According to Samuel Wesley he had a reputation for his reed voicing, though he also incurred Wesley’s anger for not paying him a fee for recommending him to the Dean and Chapter at Lincoln Cathedral.

This organ looks as if it was made in the 1800s. The style of the case is earlier (late 18th century pattern book gothic), but Allen seems to have set up his own business only in 1794, and his earliest dated organ is the 1797 chamber organ now in Framlingham church in Suffolk. According to a pencil inscription on the thumper rail: “This Organ belonged to Mr W Kelly Organist of the [Chelsea?] Hospital Chapel and Fulham Church [… 1827?] and Putney Church Feb 7 1821”. He may have been the first owner. From 2002 it was the house organ in Fritz Spiegl’s home at 4 Windermere Terrace Liverpool.

Dominic Gwynn and Guillaume Zellner restored the organ for Harry Bicket in 2014-5, in the workshop of Martin Goetze and Dominic Gwynn, Welbeck Nottinghamshire. New horizontal bellows were made in the style of the original, to replace the one removed 50 years ago. The voicing was not much altered. The mouths of the stopped metal Stop Diapason treble had been pulled out, and the mouths of the stopped wooden Stop Diapason bass had been raised. The mouths were re-formed, but the wooden pipes sound much as they would have done originally and were left unaltered. The original 18th century style Cremona had been turned into an early 20th century Clarinet, using the existing pipes, and was left unaltered. The tuning is now by tuning slide, and the metal pipes (open and stopped) have been cut down to give modern pitch.

It was moved to the church of South Knapdale Achahoish in Argyllshire Scotland on January 29th 2015.

key compass: C-f³
pitch: now a¹=440Hz (originally somewhat lower)
temperament is Young’s (described in 1800)
wind pressure: 2⅝ inches (67mm)
case dimensions: 2400mm tall, 1315mm wide and 630mm deep

Liverpool Hope University, restoration of ca1780 Dutch Chamber Organ

The organ was repaired and prepared for its future use as a teaching and concert instrument by Dominic Gwynn in 2013-4. The purchase of a historic Dutch chamber organs for the use of the music department of a British university is most unusual; Eton College is the only other institution in the UK with an organ in this style.

It may have originated in the workshop of Hendrik Hermanus Hess, of Gouda, the most prolific builder of domestic organs in the Netherlands in his day. It was originally made in the manner of Hess’s bureau organs, with perhaps a 2vt front and carved panel above the keys. These organs share characteristics: wind chest placed low, with a single fold horizontal bellows underneath and splayed stickers between the pallets and the keys, ranks divided bass and treble with a stopped oak Holpijp 8vt. The organ may have been made in around 1780. According to A.J.Gierveld’s Het Nederlandse Huisorgel in de 17de en 18de eeuw (Utrecht 1977) the key compass of these small organs expanded to C – f³ between about 1770 and 1790.

In 1970 the firm of Verschueren restored the organ for the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Utrecht, with a new case. It had lost its original casework and was probably not in good condition, since there have been extensive repairs on the wooden pipes, and some of the treble ranks have new pipes. In 2011, the organ was sold to Firma Feenstra of Grootegast in Groningen (in the north east Netherlands), and he sold it on to Ed Wijnands, retired minister, of Dalmsholte in Overijssel. In 2013 the organ was sold to the Music Department of Liverpool Hope University, by the agency of Dr Tassilo Erhardt. The tremulant had stopped working and leaked wind, so it was removed. The conveyancing to the 1970 front pipes prevented tuning of the upperwork, also removed so the front pipes are now non-speaking. The oak case has been stained darker and Dr Erhardt has bought three carved and porcelanized lime carvings, of King David, St Cecilia and a musical angel.

In ca1780 there would have been a tremulant on the wind trunk.

key compass is C – f³
pitch is A436.6Hz at 16.5°C
tuning is the Werkmeister III temperament
wind pressure 55mm

John Cooper of Norwich restoration of ca1840 table organ

Nick Hagen restored this organ in 2014, with Joseph Marsden repairing the metal pipes and Martin Goetze voicing and tuning. The organ dates from the 1830s/1840s, judging by the case and the style of the pipes and mechanism. The organ builder is not known. The provenance of the organ goes back to the 1880s, when it was in John Cooper’s father’s childhood home in Berkshire. The organ building is of good standard, but using secondhand material. The builder may have been London-based, but there was an increasing amount of expertise in the provinces.

It is contained in a writing table which seems to have been adapted to its present purpose. One possibility is that this organ was provided for an organist who composed and wrote his own music, so that he/she could lay the manuscript paper on the table but have the keys and blowing pedal available underneath.

The key compass is F G – c³ (43 notes). There are two stops, a wooden Stop Diapason and a Principal, though an octave higher (i.e. 4ft and 2ft). The pitch is A432Hz @ 18°C, a pitch common in the 1825-50 period). The pipework is voiced in the standard English way, with a low wind pressure of 37-45mm. The wind is supplied by foot.

Hanbury Hall, Worcs restoration of ca1770 Samuel Green chamber organ

The organ was restored by Edward Bennett and Nick Hagen in 2014 for the National Trust, https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/hanbury-hall-and-gardens. The nameboard has the inscription “Samuel Green London”. David Wickens in The Instruments of Samuel Green (Macmillan Press 1987) thinks the organ was made after 1777 from the evidence of the pipe maker’s marks on the metal pipes, and probably after ca1785 from the use of a dulciana-scaled chorus. It is an organ made from a harpsichord, retaining only its case and keys, so that it became a harpsichord-shaped organ, like the organ made by Robert and William Gray for the 9th Earl of Exeter at Burghley House in 1790. There are signs that the action may hay been partly carried out by a German piano maker.

Noel Mander bought it at “the sale of Canon Wallis’ effects, Lichfield Cathedral” in 1958, and also noted that it was “once the property of Earl of Effingham Tusmore House BICESTER Oxon”. The 2nd Earl only moved to Tusmore in 1857. In 1958 Manders added an electric blower at the tail of the case (without removing the feeder), and a new stop action. Otherwise the organ is in original condition. The ingenious 1958 stop action had its own problems and was replaced in 2014.

Stop Diapason bass and treble
Dulciana (c¹ – f³)
Principal bass and treble (stopped wood pipes AA – c#º)
Fifteenth

The key compass is apparently FF long octaves to f³, re-using the harpsichord keys with their shaped tails, but only AA – f³ is in use. The bass/treble division is c¹/c#¹. The shifting movement had never been provided with sliders

Pitch A435Hz (1958, originally lower)
Tuning Equal Temperament (1958, when tuning slides were fitted)
Wind pressure 59mm

New Wardour Castle Restoration of John England 1776 Chamber Organ

The organ was made in 1776; ‘Feb 1775’ is written on the GG key. It was made by John England, who was nephew to George England (d.1775). John may have been his successor. He died in 1791 “much afflicted with the gout”.

Open Diapason GG – F# Stop Diapason with wood helpers, G – e³ open metal
Stop Diapason bass and treble GG – e³ stopped wood
Principal GG – e³ open metal
Flute GG – g² stopped wood, g#² – e³ open wood
Fifteenth GG – e³ open metal
Sexquialtra bass and Cornet treble 3 ranks; GG – bº, c¹ – e³
Trumpet bass and treble GG – F# 4ft, G – e³ 8ft

Sesquialtera/Cornet III GG 1 3/5’ 1 1/3’ 1’
gº 2’ 1 3/5’ 1 1/3’
c#¹ 2 2/3’ 2’ 1 3/5’

shifting movement reduces to Diapasons and Principal

pitch a¹ = 435.7Hz @ 19.6ºC
wind pressure 55mm
keyboard compass GG – e³

When first made a small Swell organ was prepared for, but never installed. The organ acquired its façade when installed at Wardour. There was also a second shifting movement pedal, whose pedal still exists, though the plinth only has a hole for one. The organ was tuned by Alexander Buckingham in 1835. The organ remained unrestored till 1967 when Bishop & Son from Ipswich (John Budgen) restored it, presumably for Cranborne Chase Girls’ School. Bishops removed the feeder bellows and replaced it with an electric blower, re-leathered the pallets and cut the pipes down and fitted tuning slides. The flat 18th century pitch may have been raised closer to modern A440 and the original irregular tuning system was changed to equal temperament. The fabric backing behind the feet of the dummy gilded front pipes is synthetic silk, presumably also 1967.

The organ was restored for Jasper Conran in March 2012, re-leathering the bellows, repairing and cleaning out decorators’ dust and rubbish. The tuning system chosen was an English 18th century organ tuning based on Renatus Harris’s instructions from the 1700s, used by G&G at St Botolph Aldgate ca1704. It is an irregular meantone tuning with good thirds and a spreading of the wolf fifth which makes all the keys playable round the circle of fifths.

Dutch Chamber Organ ca1770 Restoration for Christopher Hogwood

This is a rare example in the UK of a Dutch chamber organ. Its recorded history only goes back to 1956, though the internal markings are Dutch and the style of manufacture is the same as in other historic Dutch chamber organs. The tonal and mechanical parts may have been made by one of the most notable Dutch chamber organ builders. The ornamental pipe front is the only surviving Dutch chamber organ front which imitates a church organ. We don’t know why it came to England, but its musical significance has been enhanced by its acquisition by a pioneer of the Early Music movement, Thurstan Dart, and its use with instrumental ensembles in the 1950s and 1960s.

The case, soundboard, bellows and pipework were made in ca1760 in Holland, perhaps by Hendrik Hermanus Hess (1735-1794) in Gouda. In ca1800 a new pipe front was added to the case, perhaps in Dordrecht. The dummy metal front pipes are very similar in make to the inside pipes, which suggests a successor worksop, perhaps Pieter Johannes Geerkens (1757-1833) . In the mid 19 th century the organ was restored using letters from the Dordrecht tax office to seal the bar frame. In the early 20 th century the organ came to England. It was found by Thurston Dart in a cottage in Milton just north of Cambridge in 1956 and restored by N P Mander. In 1971 Thurston Dart left the organ to the Oxford University faculty of Music. It was kept in the Holywell Music Room till 1985. In 2004 it was moved from storage to New College Chapel and repaired. In 2009 the organ was sold to Christopher Hogwood and restored by Dominic Gwynn.

The stop list consists of

These names are those on the ivory stop labels supplied by Mander in 1956. The lowest pipe of the Prestant 8vt is marked ‘ prest 8 ‘, the Prestant 4vt is marked ‘ Fluijt 4v ‘, the Octav 2vt is marked ‘ octaav 2v ‘. The pipe metal has a high lead content and is thick and soft, unusual because it was evidently thicknessed between metal rollers and not by plane or scraper. The Holpijp and Fluit are stopped pipes made of oak, unusual in Dutch church organs but common in chamber organs. The speech and tone are characteristic, relatively fluty compared with classical English pipework. At some stage a tremulant had been removed, perhaps as late as 1956.

The key compass is C-d³ (51 notes) divided at bº/c¹. The pitch is now A440 but was originally about half a semitone lower. The tuning is now Werkmeister III, but may originally have been a modified meantone. The metal pipes are now tuned with slides so that the tuning system can be altered (retained at this restoration because the pipe metal is so soft). The wind chest was restored, for the first time since the middle of the 19 th century, a much needed repair.

The wind is provided with an electric blower only and the original feeder and foot pedal removed in 1956, presumably because the organ was provided with castors. A new blower was placed inside the case at this restoration, which meant that the foot pedal was not replaced.

The case is 2330mm tall and the bottom case is 1370mm wide and 720mm deep.

Liza Caudle’s Georgian Chamber Organ Restoration

The organ was purchased in 1975 by Dr. Peter Caudle from the Royal School of Church Music at Addington Palace, Croydon in 1975(?). Its earlier owners are not known. For many years the organ had been unplayable.

The GG key is stamped ‘3 1777’, which is a plausible date for the organ. It was presumably made by a builder of the second rank for a middle class drawing room, though with an entrancing miniature church organ case. The physical evidence suggests the Georgian organbuilder used an earlier windchest and some of its wooden pipes (c.1680-1700) within a new case and with a new mechanism.

A brass plate reads: Coleman & Willis/Organ Builders/29 Minories London. This suggests a date before 1866 for Coleman & Willis’ work, which included (from the physical evidence): converting the former wedge bellows to a parallel rise bellows, reconstructing the internal framework, and supplying the ‘inside’ metal pipes. A further brass plate reads: “In thankfulness to God for the memory of/Peter Mawe Greany, late I.C.S./This organ was restored by his widow, Grace/1957/ KHUDA HAFIZ” (This is a common parting phrase in Iran and the Indian subcontinent, with the meaning ‘may God be your guardian’). It is not obvious what work was carried out at this restoration.

The stops are: Stop Diapason (ca1690), Open Diapason (ca1850 originally from gº, now from c¹), Principal (ca1690 GG-E wood, ca1690 front pipes F-G#, ca1850 rest inside), Twelfth Bass (ca1690 stopped wood) Twelfth Treble (ca1850 open metal c¹-c#², 2008 d²-e³ Keraulophon stopknob), Fifteenth (ca1690 GG- dº front pipes, ca1850 d#º to f¹, rest an assortment of old pipes)

Key compass: GG AA C D – e³ (C – e³ from ca1850). We made new pipes for Stop Diapason AA, Principal GG and Twelfth GG and lengthened Stop Diapason GG, Principal AA and Twelfth AA.

The pitch is about a¹=440Hz, derived from the front pipes after taping up the tuning slots to the original level. The tuning is now Kellner-Bach.

Evie Burlinson Restoration of ca1810 Astor Barrel Organ

This small barrel organ was made between 1798 and 1815 when George Astor was running a music shop from his ‘warehouse’ at 79 Cornhill in the City of London. These organs were made for the rapidly expanding middle class market, a sort of Georgian juke box, with popular tunes of the day. In this case there are marches and popular soldiers’ songs, appropriate to a time when Great Britain was fighting a war against revolutionary France. There are the usual Scottish folk songs, one or two English folk songs and a couple of waltzes. They are supplied on three barrels. The stops are: Stop Diapason, Principal, Twelfth, Fifteenth, drum and triangle. They have to be chosen by the player.

This organ has spent some of its life with the owner’s family in the USA, which is not inappropriate, for George’s younger brother John Jacob Astor, after learning English while working in his brother’s business in London, became the first multi-millionaire in the US. This is the third Astor barrel organ that we have restored, including one for English descendants of John Jacob’s family.

The organ was restored in 2007 by Stuart Dobbs, with Charles Marsden restoring the finish of the casework. The organ had suffered a bit from its travels to and fro across the Atlantic, but there was no fundamental damage from bugs or inappropriate environment.

Crambe, St Michael’s, North Yorkshire Restoration of the Organ

The organ pipes date from the late 17th century, made into a new organ in about 1840. The organ was found by Francis Jackson and introduced to the church at Crambe in 1962. It came from Keswick College, who bought it from Shalton St Mary church, Long Stratton, Norfolk in 1949.

There is a single keyboard with a compass of GG – e³, short compass 54 notes, the lowest key (GG) appearing to be BB.

There are five stop knobs in a straight line above the middle of the keyboard. From left to right they are:

The wind pressure is 51mm. The pitch is about a = 432Hz at 14°C. The temperament is one described sometime around 1700 as being used by Renatus Harris. It is around 1/5 comma meantone but has the D# sharp raised so that the key of b major is usable. The one deviation from the described tuning method has been to raise the G# as well, so that the key of Ab is also (just about) usable.

Work was completed on 12th May 2006, in time for a concert of sixteenth century English church music sung by the workshop choir with Derek Adlam playing the organ. In the following year Francis Jackson gave a concert on the organ. For the church the restoration project was guided by Fiona le Masurier.