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Russell Collection Edinburgh University Restoration of ca1760 Thomas Parker Organ

The organ can safely be attributed to Thomas Parker, both on stylistic grounds, and because of the tuning system, which is related to the organ made by Parker for the Foundling Hospital in 1768. The history of the organ cannot be traced further back than the late 19th century, so this connection is the only clue we have for the date. It may have belonged to the Verney family, since the earliest records refer to their possession of the organ. The is a John Collier painting of Morforwyn Fanshawe, daughter of Sir George Lloyd Verney, standing in front of the organ in about 1900, presumably at her father’s house at Clochfaen near Llangurig in Dyfed.

The stylistic connection is with Thomas Parker’s work at Great Packington in Warwickshire, which is signed in pencil on the back of the Great key slip “this Organ was made by Thsº Parker London”, and with Richard Bridge’s late work (1758) at St Leonard Shoreditch on the NE edge of the City of London.

The tuning system is that described in 1762 by Dr Robert Smith, President of Trinity College Cambridge, though the authorship was disputed by John ‘Longitude’ Harrison. It was applied to the organ at the Foundling Hospital at the instigation of Harrison’s son William. It is essentially meantone with pure thirds, with four extra pipes for c#, eb, g# and bb.

The organ has four stops:

Stopped Diapason, all wood
Open Diapason (from cº), all metal
Principal, GG to D wood, the rest metal
Fifteenth, all metal

There was a shifting movement, reducing the registration to the two Diapasons (if drawn). The bar frame of the wind chest was made in two halves, with a vertical slider between the two halves of the chest. The slider isolated the front half of the chest from the back, on which the Diapason pipes stand.

The compass is GG AA C D to e³, though with 16 pipes in each octave. There are extra pipes for c#, eb, g# and bb. It was assumed from the start that the system would replicate that recorded for the Foundling Hospital, with levers controlling a second set of sliders giving either sharp keys (outwards), flat keys (inwards) or meantone keys (middle):

C# C# Db Ab G# G#
D# Eb Eb Bb Bb A#

It may be that the Edinburgh organ was a prototype for this system, but it proved impossible to arrange the sliders in more than two positions, and it seemed logical to have a choice of sharp keys or flat keys, with g# and bb controlled from the bass side, and c# and eb from the treble side.

Papers presented at a conference based on the organ and its tuning system can be found on the website http://www.ed.ac.uk/information-services/library-museum-gallery/museums-and-galleries/musical-instrument-museums

Ian Pleeth, restoration of ca1810 attributed to John Avery Chamber Organ

This organ belonged to Sheila Lawrence, was sold to Ian Pleeth, for whom we restored it, and now belongs to Michael Latcham. Its provenance was unknown and there were no marks inside the organ to indicate a history. It is a curious organ in one respect, its key compass, which suggests its possible commission by a musician. The pipes, their marks, the layout, the keyboard and stops and the simple casework suggest the workshop of John Avery, whose bureau organs are very similar. The keys tilt up into the organ in the same way. The blowing is by foot only, and the wind pressure is provided by springs attached to the bottom of the wind chest, with wheels running on the top leaf of the single-fold horizontal reservoir.

Edward Bennett restored the organ. His main work was stripping and restoring the wind chest, which had runnings and ciphers. The casework needed some restoration work, to warped panels and to the surface polish.

The key compass is C D to c4. The stops are Stopped Diapason and Principal, divided bass/treble at bº/c¹.

Barrel Organs ca1810 Restoration of Two Domestic Barrel Organs

On the left of the picture is the barrel organ belonging to Tony Clayton, evidently a domestic instrument for a clerical gentleman, with sacred songs and tunes. This organ was made by John Longman in about 1805 (according to a label on the barrel).

St. Diapason
Open Diapason
Principal
Fifteenth

It has 21 keys. It had originally 3 barrels (with 10 tunes each), later expanded to 4, but only one survives.

On the right of the picture is the organ belonging to the late Irene, Dowager Lady Astor of Hever, a domestic instrument with popular tunes of the day. It was made by George Astor, her husband’s ancestor, in about 1810.

Drum
SP Diapason
Principal
Fifteenth
Triangle

It has 15 keys. It has 3 barrels with 10 tunes on each.

The two organs were restored in 1996 by Roland Koch

Hatchlands Surrey Cobbe Collection Restoration of 1759 Snetzler Chamber Organ

The organ was made by John Snetzler in 1759, and rebuilt by John Banfield of Birmingham in 1906. It was restored by Edward Bennett, Martin Goetze, Stuart Dobbs and Roland Koch in 1995-6. The pitch was restored, a new mixture imitating Snetzler’s mixture at St Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe made to replace the 1906 Keraulophon, new stop knobs, restored wind chest, etc.

The organ was moved to Alec Cobbe’s Collection of musical instruments http://www.cobbecollection.co.uk/musical-instruments/ in the National Trust house at Hatchlands near Guildford in Surrey in 1989 https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/hatchlands-park. It came from Wellesbourne Methodist Church 1916, and before that Barford Hill House, and originally Sherbourne Hall, Warwickshire.

The shifting movement leaves the Diapasons, Dulciana and Flute.
Key compass GG AA – f³, divided at bº/c¹ (treble stop c¹ – f³)
The pitch is now as originally a¹=425Hz.
The tuning is now Werkmeister III “so that all the keys can be played”
Bellows 1906, wind pressure 55mm

Christopher Hogwood restoration of ca1780 German bureau organ

The origins of this organ are unknown, though it may have been made in Hamburg and spent all its life there till 1938. It is so far as we know unique, though such organs may once have been common. Derek Adlam told us that the keyboards are typical of late 18th century Hamburg keyboard instruments (red scribe lines on the naturals, long naturals and sharps and paper fronts). The variable quality of the different parts of the organ suggest that it may have been rebuilt from existing parts. The case has a superficial resemblance to English furniture, which Derek Adlam tells us was a feature of furniture from the Hamburg-Schleswig-Denmark region at the end of the 18th century.

When Christopher Hogwood bought it from the sale of the Sieverts’ estate in Ithaca, NY, in 1994, some documentation came with it. The organ had been “entirely restored” by E. F. Walcker & Cie., Ludwigsburg in 1929, and was sold to Oskar Sieverts in 1936. The organ was again repaired by Rudolf von Beckerath in 1936, which he did himself, because of the “age and value of the instrument”. It was visited and admired by H.H. Jahnn and Helmut Walcha. In 1938 it travelled to the U.S.A. with the Sieverts, and from 1938 to 1962 it was on loan to Yale University’s School of Music. There it took part in Paul Hindemith’s early music concerts. In 1962 it moved to Mrs. Sieverts’ house and was restored by Richard Strauss (not the composer!). In 1995 it was restored by Marcus Stahl at Martin Goetze and Dominic Gwynn. Marcus made a beautiful copy of the organ which can be seen on his website at http://www.marcus-stahl-orgelbauer.com/instrumente/bureau-orgel-barockes-kammerinstrument/

The organ has two stops, Gedackt 8f. and Flöte 4f. both stopped wood, made of quartered oak. The keyboard is pulled out of the case to play. The keys are of oak, with overlay for the naturals in ivory with four red scribe lines, and with sharps of stained hardwood, possibly boxwood. The key fronts were missing and have been replaced with embossed paper. The key compass is C to d³. There is a single-fold wedge bellows, with two metal bars screwed to it, which produce a wind pressure of 50mm. The case is made of oak with 6mm mahogany veneer, now rather light in colour. There is a Harley Monograph by Marcus Stahl: https://www.dropbox.com/s/jwb929qerkvuh3q/18%20north%20German%20bureau%20organ%202014.pdf?dl=0

You can hear the organ being played below :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QN8CGTU1eb4&feature=youtu.be

Windsor Castle restoration of ca1740 Charles Clay clockwork barrel organ

The clock, or ‘machine organ’, was made by Charles Clay, during the 1730s. He died on February 25th 1740, and on August 27th 1743, his widow advertised a performance on this clock, called “The TEMPLE and ORACLE of APOLLO”. It took its name from a silver mounted rock crystal casket made in Augsburg in 1664, which originally had a statue of Apollo on top. Clay made a speciality of assembling spectacular pieces, with clocks, clockwork-driven barrel and organ, and music composed and set by Handel, Geminiani, etc. The organ part may have been made by a workman associated with the Jordan workshop. It may have been bought by Frederick Prince of Wales and Augusta, Princess of Wales, who possessed two other ‘machine organs’.

There are pictures of the clock at Kensington Palace in the early 19th century, in the Green Drawing Room at Windsor Castle ca1830, and in the Grand Corridor at Windsor ca1900. The casket is now surmounted by St George and the Dragon, and contains General Gordon’s Bible. The organ was restored in 1904. Inside the bellows is a pencilled note; “Re-leathered by A. Milhouse Oct 25 1904”. In 1994-5 it was restored by Stuart Dobbs (organ) and Peter Ashworth (clock and barrel mechanism).

There are three ranks of pipes, Stopped Diapason, Open Diapason and Flute, all made of made of pine, with oak blocks, caps and stoppers. There are twenty pipes from c¹ to c³ (c d e f f# g a bb b c c# d e f f# g a bb b c). The pitch marks are in ink on the pipes above the bevel.

The barrel mechanism and its clockwork are beautifully made. Anthony Hick identified eight out of the ten tunes, including airs from Handel’s operas Serse, Arianna, Ottone, and Ariadne. The arrangements are simplified, and the pitch of the organ a major third high.

There is an article about the organ written by Hugh Roberts in Country Life (November 23rd 1995), and an entry in the online catalogue for the Royal Collection https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/30037/clock-organ-and-mahogany-case-c-1740 The organ clock starred in the exhibition ‘The First Georgians’ at the Queen’s Gallery in 2014. There is a report on the organ part in the organ report page of our website https://www.dropbox.com/s/dp5hniqpudtf8rx/42%20Windsor%20Castle%20Clay%20clock%20report%202014.pdf?dl=0

Kew Palace Richmond Restoration of ca1740 Chamber Organ

The provenance of the organ dates back to the 1920s. The physical evidence suggests the organ came from the Richard Bridge/Thomas Parker workshop, and was made about 1740, using some wooden pipes from about 50 years earlier.

The organ was bought by Historic Royal Palaces http://www.hrp.org.uk/kew-palace/#gs.ueeYB5M for the newly restored Kew Palace in 2006 from St Paul’s United Reformed Church, Liss, Hampshire. The organ had been sold to a benefactor of the church in 1938, and moved to the newly built church in 1957. In 1922 the organ was bought by Seymour Powell, organist of Petersfield Parish Church, who bought it at a sale at ‘Fyning House’ Rogate, nr Petersfield. There is more evidence against its having lived all its life at Fyning House than for, though the organ was very dirty when Powell bought it at the sale of contents. On 30 October 1800, Richard Ridge of Fyning House instructs his executors to “sell and dispose of my organ and fire arms and such other part of my furniture as they in their discretion shall see proper”.

The pipes of the Stopt Diapason and the Sesquialtera are wood and date from the second half of the 17th century, re-used in ca1740. On the reverse of the stop label for the Open Diapason bass is engraved ‘Voixhumaine’, and on the reverse of the Flute ‘Cremony’. The chest must have been made for a reed, divided bass and treble, for the holes associated with them in both upperboard and rackboard are still there, covered with the toeboards and plates for the change of mind.

The organ is perhaps the earliest surviving Georgian chamber organ (another candidate would be the anonymous organ at Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire), and some parts show signs of the evolution towards the standard later 18th century Georgian chamber organ. The shifting movement was designed with its sliders above the stop action sliders (with a board between). The main puzzle was that the slider movement for the mixture is 9mm, whereas it is 17mm for Open, Principal, and 15th. There were pivot points for two pedals, but one of them seemed to be in an impossible position. There is now a pedal for the Sesquialtra-Cornet, and another for the rest, reducing to Flute and Stop Diapason. The keys slide outwards, though they do not slide back completely into the case and have a lockable cover. The music desk, which must be one of the earliest surviving on an English organ, consists of a shelf which slides out of a slot in the panel above the keys.

The organ has a Harley report on its history and tonal and mechanical layout, listed as no21 under Liss/Kew Palace URC

Ludovicus De Backer of Middleburg ca1750 Restoration of House Organ for Steve Barrell

The soundboard and inside pipework were bought in Amsterdam by Steve Barrell, keyboard player and scholar. He was told that they came from an organ made by Ludovicus de Backer of Middelburg in Zeeland, the Netherlands, in the mid eighteenth century, and thought that the organ resembled the one depicted in a well-known watercolour painting, illustrated in Jan Gierveld’s Het Nederlandse Huisorgel in de 17de en 18de eeuw (Utrecht 1977).

The pipes, as seems to have been usual practice with de Backer, are second hand, and look 17th century in style. The sound is exquisitely sweet. The oak case, keyboard, bellows and action are new, designed by Martin Goetze, based on examples of de Backer’s work in Vlijmen, Oirschot and Gapinge (NL) and in the Vleeshuis museum in Antwerp.

The organ was reconstructed in 1991 and completed in 2006 by Martin Goetze and Dominic Gwynn, for Steve Barrell of Durham North Carolina. The stoplist, given by the surviving pipes and the chest, is as follows:

The pitch is a¹=432Hz @ 18ºC (the Dutch kamertoon). The tuning is ¼ comma meantone, with pure major thirds.

The key compass is 54 notes (C to f³). The pedal keys (pulldowns) provide C to cº. The keys have bone naturals and ebony sharps. The stop knobs are ebony, next to paper labels.

The wind system consists of a horizontal single fold reservoir with single fold feeder, activated by a large foot pedal, with the option of an electric blower. There is a typical ‘tell-tale’ in the form of a stop knob on a rod, resting on the top leaf of the reservoir and projecting though the shelf next to the keys.

The organ is 12ft high, 6ft 4ins wide and 3ft 4ins deep, which relates to the dimensions given by Rademacher in his journal. The case is made of oak, with the new Quint 2⅔ft pipes in the front. The oak vases on the side towers are turned oak, and the intention is to find a figure similar to the original for the middle tower. The carvings are based on pipe shades on contemporary Dutch chamber organs, in a generally rococo style.

The main use for these organs was, according to Gierveld, the practice and performance of psalms and spiritual songs at home, with instrumental accompaniments, and organ pieces based on the psalm melodies. Psalm-singing at home was increasingly popular through the eighteenth century, both in church and at home, and there was a gradual increase in the number of published books of new translations and new settings. But amateur music was also becoming increasingly popular. At the lowest level this would have consisted of psalm-singing and accompaniment, but some families owned a number of instruments, and a library of music. Inventories of domestic music libraries show the popularity of music published in Amsterdam, most of it by Dutch and German composers, not much by Englishmen, though Handel and Stanley do appear in the lists occasionally.

Julian Berkeley, restoration of his early 19th Century Scottish Chamber Organ

This organ is the property of Julian Berkeley, and was formerly for many years the property of Lord Grantley at Markenfield Hall. It is not known how it came to be there.

The organ was probably made by James Bruce and William Townsend in collaboration, according to Alan Buchan (Early nineteenth-century Scottish chamber organs: pipe markings and other identifiers in BIOS Journal vol21 pp136-159 1997). If Buchan is right, it would date from around 1840. It has hardly been altered. It was restored by Edward Bennett in 1993; flooding the soundboard and re-leathering the pallets, and undertaking many repairs, to the larger metal pipes, to the keys, making some new stickers, re-leathering the feeder bellows, and repairing the case ornaments.

The stops are laid out as follows:

There is a shifting movement. There is a foot pedal for the player and a handle for an assistant to fill the bellows. There is a swell front, partly glazed as was often the case with these Scottish chamber organs.

The compass is GG to g³ without GG#. The stops are divided at bº/c¹. The keyboard slides into the case. It has ivory naturals and ebony sharps.

The case is a light-coloured mahogany, with furniture-Gothic ornament. The case measures 3530mm tall, 1736mm wide and 730mm deep. It is drawn here by Meredith Ramsbotham.

Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire Restoration of 1740s Chamber Organ

The organ was made by an anonymous builder in the 1740s. It was sold secondhand to Nathaniel, Lord Curzon in 1765 by John Snetzler, for whose new organ there was no space in the scaled down design for the house. Robert Adam designed a new case to fit around the old case, a somewhat simplified version of the design originally supplied. The organ was not altered.
In 1824 Alexander Buckingham visited and made a new horizontal bellows using the leaves of the original bellows. he also raised the pitch slightly, but kept the tuning system.

The organ was restored by Dominic Gwynn in 1993 and is at Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/kedleston-hall

Sexqualtra

Cornet

Shifting movement removes Open Diapason and Sexqualtra/ Cornet

Key compass: C D to e³ (bass/treble c¹/c#¹) Swell c¹ to e³ (29 notes)

Pitch: A433Hz (1824), originally A425 (16ºC)
Tuning: 1/4 comma meantone (1824 and originally)
Horizontal bellows 1824, made out of the original leaves.
Wind pressure 3″ (76mm) in 1824 and originally

St George’s Nottingham Restoration of ca1700 Chamber Organ

The history of the organ is unknown further back than ca 1924. There was evidently some work undertaken in the early 1840s, when a new roof was sealed with newspaper. The alteration to the keys is 18th century. Further alterations dated from 1924.

This is a late 17th century English consort organ. A number survive in good condition. This is likely to be a late one, perhaps as late as 1700, partly because it has a two-rank treble mixture. It is anonymous, and likely to remain so, but the inked note marks in German/Dutch style on the inside of the bar-frame shows that the maker is likely to have been an immigrant, and perhaps with a connection to Bernard Smith’s workshop.

Stopped Diapason Fifteenth
Principal Cornet treble II

The pitch is a¹=452 at 20ºC. The keys and pipes show that the pitch was lowered by two semitones, presumably in the 18th century. The pipes have since been moved about and cut down, but also fitted with tuning flaps. An original pitch between one and two semitones sharp seems likely. The tuning is now one fifth comma meantone. Although there is no way of knowing from the organ what the original tuning was, this tuning did fit the available pipes, with one or two at the extreme edge of their tuning possibility.

The compass was originally C AA D to c³. In the 18th century the pitch was lowered two semitones by moving the keys for C and AA to make c#³ and d³. The move is still apparent in the patching needed. The compass is now D to d³. The treble stop used to start at c#¹, now d#¹.

Bob Pennells restoration of 1788 Gray barrel organ

This organ was made by an otherwise unknown organ builder called William Davy. On the base of the top case is inscribed: Davy/ April 1788/ Crown Court Covent Garden William Davy appears in the Sun Fire Insurance Records, collected by Lance Whitehead and Jenny Nex, published in the Galpin Society Journal and available online at http://www.galpinsociety.org/galpinextras/GS_Whitehead&Nex_A_to_D.pdf Davy occupied this address from about 1774 to 1794. He seems to have been a small time builder, perhaps apprenticed to the Gray brothers and set up on his own, perhaps mostly working for them. The pipework in this organ is similar to their work and one barrel has their advertising label on it.

The stop list is Stop Diapason, Principal, Flute, Twelfth and Fifteenth. The compass is 21 notes cº fº gº aº a#º bº c¹ d¹ e¹ f¹ f#¹ g¹ a¹ a#¹ b¹ c² d² e² f² g² a². One barrel is pinned in a spiral, playing Grand Chorus in the Messiah The other has ten tunes: Is this a Dream, How pleasant is thy, 100 Psalm, 104 ditto, Harrington’s Retirement, Easter Hymn, The Lord My Pasture, Coronation March, How Sweet in the Woodlands, Voluntary by Stanley. These are mostly common and well-known tunes. Two tunes by Henry Harington might suggest a Bath connection.

This organ was restored by Dominic Gwynn and Tudor Roberts in 1988, including a new bellows, which was missing.

Bob Pennells restoration of 1832 Joseph Walker Chamber organ

This is the earliest surviving organ from the workshop of J.W.Walker, dating from 1832. It was not a brilliantly made organ, apart from the pipes and their voicing, which are excellent. The stop list is: Stopped Diapason, Dulciana cº – f³, and Principal. The compass is GG AA – f³. There is an octave of toe pedals.

The restoration work was carried out by Dominic Gwynn. There was a certain amount of rather amateurish repair work of the 1960s perhaps, and much of the 1988 work consisted of re-inforcing, repairing and replacing this work. The quality of the original 1832 materials was not good – the rackboard was made of an imported tropical timber which had almost disintegrated. The original lime keys had twisted and were either straightened with heat or planed on one side and packed on the other. The Schmidt seals were removed from under the sliders, screws along the splits screwed beneath the surface and the running grooves deepened to where they were originally. The voicing was returned to the original as far as possible.

An 1860s Walker dumb organist was repaired and tested on the local organ.

Calke Abbey Derbyshire Restoration of ca1750 Century Chamber Organ

This is a finger and barrel organ of about 1750, when a Mr Fox was paid by the Harpurs for delivering it to Calke Abbey. The barrel is now missing, but the space it occupied and the way it acted on the key action is clearly visible. The organ has spent all its life at Calke, and is in original condition. It has suffered in recent years, with the pipes all thrown hugger-mugger during a move to its present position at the foot of the main staircase.

Stopped Diapason
Principal
Fifteenth
Sesquialtra II

The pitch is a¹=421 at 16ºC. The compass is C D to d³.

In 1988 Martin Goetze carried out conservation work to the organ, to prepare it for display at the opening of this remarkable house by the National Trust,https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/calke-abbey but it was decided not to restore it to playing condition, so that the original elements, such as the very early tracker buttons, could be preserved.

Italian 17th Century Positive Organ Restoration for Sheila Lawrence

This organ was imported from Italy in the early 1930s by Alec Hodsdon, one of the pioneer early keyboard instrument makers. He claimed that it was made by one Giovanni Giovaninni, for a convent in Lucca. He sold it to Margaret Glyn, one of the early editors of 16th and 17th century English keyboard music. After her death it suffered various vicissitudes before being rescued by Sheila Lawrence in 1988. It is at present in the English Organ School, at Milborne Port in Dorset, run by Margaret Phillips www.margaretphillips.org.uk/ The style and condition of the original parts of the organ suggest the mid 17th century. During the middle years of the 19th century the organ acquired stop knobs and a drum stop, with additions to the sides of the case to hide them. After Margaret Glyn’s death, the organ lost the carvings on the top of the organ and around the tops of the pipes, some of the pipes in the upperwork, and somehow lost about 200mm in the case height. Martin Goetze has brought it back to playing condition over a few years, stabilising the case, making it wind tight, and restoring and regulating. The original paintwork and ornaments had been removed, leaving an unsightly finish. This has been covered with new paint which can itself be removed with water.

The compass is C/E – c³

Hassop, Derbyshire All Saints RC church, Restoration of ca1816 Lincoln Chamber Organ

The organ was made for Hassop Hall, the home of the Roman Catholic Eyre family, perhaps in 1816, and moved to the new church in around 1828. It was made by Henry Cephas Lincoln (“Organ Builder to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales”), and is a fine example by an excellent organbuilder. It had suffered a bit in recent years, partly at the hands of an incompetent organbuilder. Repairs were carried out by Martin Goetze, Edward Bennett and Dominic Gwynn in 1987.

A shifting movement removes Principal, Fifteenth and mixtures.
The key compass is GG AA to f³. The pitch is A425, with some of the pipes still cut to length, some tuned with slides. The tuning was left as equal temperament, to disturb the pipework as little as possible.
Wind pressure 58mm