John Norbury

“ Old organs of any pretensions are rarely without it, and for church organs, which stand in a gallery, or in any other raised position, it should always make its appearance. For a concert-room organ, or an organ standing on the ground, it is not required. In some German instruments, the Choir case is so small, that one suspects that it is a sham, or at most merely a console to hold the keys. In France, reversed key-boards are coming into fashion; and to hide them, a screen of pipes is a pardonable deception. ”

“ Paul’s, on a dark winter’s afternoon, looking at Grinling Gibbons’ noble case, hearing some grand out-going voluntary, and trying to see the angels put their trumpets to their mouths, when the reeds were drawn, which I could never catch them doing. Now the organ is perhaps the only instrument which gives equal gratification to three separate classes of individuals, who are often very different in other respects, the Musician, the Mechanician, and the Architect. ”

“ Black keys for naturals, and white (ivory) for the sharps look well: they are sometimes to be seen in old instruments, and should be retained; the contrast between them and more modern key-boards, which have a strong harmonium or American organ look, is in their favour. Every player has his own views as to whether the old perpendicular rows of stop-handles, or the French horizontal rows, are the best, and no one form of pedals, plain, concave, radiating, or both concave and radiating, gives universal satisfaction. ”

“ The Musician likes it for its tone and power, giving sounds which no other instrument can give, and imitating the tones of almost every other instrument. The Mechanician likes it as a complicated machine ”

“ The outer flats have nine good-sized pipes, with feet of average length. These two last compartments stand at an angle with the other three compartments. All the pipe-work is bright tin; the wood-work brown oak, with a quantity of fantastic carving. There is a peculiar look about this front, it is a Screen, not a case to the organ. The Great Organ has a good tone, the old tone, without the bray of the reeds, which one so often gets in modern instruments. The imitation of thunder is fair, the full power of the organ good, the trumpets telling well, without being overpowering. ”

“ The organ-loft being used as a singing-gallery is to be avoided, except when it is a spacious gallery, and even then the organist should have plenty of elbow room, and be screened off more or less from the singers. A reversed key-board rather complicates the mechanism, and therefore should be avoided, as the supposed advantage of the player being able to see what is being done in the church is problematical, for with his music before him, it is next to impossible for him to do so. ”

“ Some few cases in the later period of Gothic are in existence at Perpignan, Strasburg, Gonesse, New Radnor, and in some few places in Germany, but with the exception of the one at Strasburg, I have not been so fortunate as to get a sight of any. With the advent of the Renaissance Style, organs began to increase in size, so that larger and more architectural cases were requisite, and we do not even now excel in design and workmanship many of the old Flemish, Dutch, and French organs. Carved oak is now an expensive luxury, and pipes of tin, with their silver-like lustre, are things of the past. ”

“ The statues, coats-of-arms, &c., on the top of the instrument, are painted bright white, their bases grey marble, and the remainder of the case is painted with a light tint of dull pinkish drab. The mouths of the pipes and the carving at their tops and feet, are all brightly gilt. The support of the Choir Organ is bronze, with a large and two small gilded angels on it. Under the gallery is a white marble allegory, which I will not attempt to explain, and the entire top of the case, except the outer towers, is crowned with a mass of carving, with the arms of the town supported by lions. ”

“ Walnut and rosewood may do for chamber instruments, but would have rather a harmonium look about them. If I were building a drawing-room organ, I should certainly use oak, with plenty of carving and no varnish; wax polish would perhaps be advisable to tone down the new look, but with very fine sharp work the wood should be left as it comes fresh from the carver’s hands. In a cheap instrument plain deal with good varnish looks better than painted wood, with or without stencilled patterns, and where the large wood pipes are shown, they are best plain. ”

“ The shades (claires voies) of an organ should be well carved, and in some designs the introduction of winged angel heads is very suitable: in general they should be left plain; gilding clashes with bright tin, and offers no contrast with gilt pipes. In the north of Europe the tops of the pipes are concealed by the shades, but in Italy they are free, and it is an open question which mode is the best. Either of these arrangements is better than the tops of the pipes shewing above the case with fanciful crowns on them. The northern mode saves a little in height, which sometimes is an advantage. ”

“ In the north aisle of the Choir is an Accompaniment Organ, in a common case, with no pipes; air-holes are cut in the wood-work, some of which show through the backs of the Stalls, from which it is played. The tone of the Great Organ flue stops is coarse, but that of the reeds good, and on the whole the instrument is very suitable for the large Cathedral in which it stands. The quality of the Accompaniment Organ is very fair. ”

“ In some flat towers, four pipes are inserted instead of five; but an uneven number, I think, is more satisfactory to the eye. It does not look well for all the pipes in a compartment to be of the same height, and it is still worse when all the flats are alike: for this reason the organ in Exeter Hall is ugly, and good as the case is in Rouen Cathedral, it would be much improved if some gradation in the pipe lengths were introduced into its four similar compartments.
In the flats, two tiers of pipes are common in English and Dutch organs, and in Holland more often appear in large cases. ”

“ Projecting mouths are a great finish to large pipes. French builders are often very good at this work; but it may be overdone, as in the new organ in Chester Cathedral, where the mouths are certainly exaggerated. Old French builders sometimes inserted a few pipes with various fancy mouldings about them, brightened with paint. The organ of Gonesse has some, and two are preserved as curiosities in the Museum at Beauvais. Pipes with their surface hammered into facets are rare. At Hertogenbosch, the centre pipes of the towers are so treated, and are also plain gilt ”

“ Towers boldly projecting, either half circular or pointed, are an improvement to the design of a case. Flat towers, which in general are flush with the flats, or only project slightly, although used in some few cases, do not give that play of light and shade which is so effective in a design. Where shutters, curtains, or blinds, are used, projecting towers are in the way; but in Holland are to be seen small cases with shutters, which follow all the ins-and-outs of cases much broken in plan. ”

“ Statues on the summits of the towers I like to see, although of course they are a useless expense; and there is a wide choice as to what they should be. Angels with trumpets or harps are excellent. King David with his harp, St. Cecilia with her organ, are very usual. Winged angels with lutes are not uncommon on Flemish organs: the patron saint of the church is correct. ”

“ THE ENGLISH CHURCH has a small organ in the west gallery, consisting of one manual with ten stops and no pedal, the tone bad. The oak case in the Renaissance style, with19 three towers, the smallest in the centre. Although the pipes of the outer towers are arranged in a semi-circle, the top is square, the gilded work at the top of the pipes making a sort of capital, which looks very well. ”

“ Although English cases cannot in general, in size and carving, compete with their compeers on the continent, many of them are very good, and might be studied by modern architects and builders. The contents of our old instruments are less than those of the same date in France, Germany, and Holland, and the Pedal Organ was for many years neglected. Our modern organs now can vie with any ”

“ The organ gallery has open wood work about it. Three bellows stand in a loft on a level with the organ pipes. The blower stands on a floor level with the organ gallery, and works the bellows by means of ropes coming through the floor, as if he were ringing bells. The organ has but one manual, C C to f3 fifty-four notes, and a pedal from C C C to D, fifteen notes. Its naturals are black and its sharps white. Its contents are:
The Nave Organ in this Church is a very good specimen of a hanging organ. ”

“ To the organ builder, it is a more useful work than that of Mr. Hopkins, as the French book is for the practical man, while the English work is for the general reader. I am not an architect, but in my leisure hours architecture and drawing have been2 my amusements. ”

“ In England, Holland, and Normandy, a clock is occasionally part of the organ case, sometimes on the Great, and sometimes on the Choir case, and it is a useful accessory. Sometimes when there is no Choir Organ, it is inserted in the front of the gallery. In Whitehall Chapel a clock hangs from the ceiling under the organ-loft, a puzzle how any one can get at it to wind it up. In some few organs carved wood-work is introduced between the feet of the pipes, so as to fill up the triangular space. The pipes in the towers of St. ”

“ Another French usage, to support the large outer towers on giants, is good, especially for their large cases; and “the culs-de-lampe,”6 or consoles of the towers, are improved by sculptured heads, paniers of flowers, or intricate open-work. I do not object to what I have heard called a “covey” of plump cherubim. With respect to the mouldings, a little departure from strict rules does not hurt, and it is best not to err on the side of shallowness: bold projections and deep curves look well, and circular towers should project rather more than half their diameter ”

“ Room in the Loft.—Loft should not be used as a Singing Gallery.—Reversed Key-boards.—Black Keys for Naturals, &c.—Rows of Stops, perpendicular, horizontal.—Varied Forms of Pedals.—Music Desk.—Lights.—Looking Glass.—Clock.—Carving between the Pipes.—Fox-tail Stop.—Electric and Pneumatic Actions.
It is a pity that many small things about an organ are not a little more cared for. The cramped room in the loft is uncomfortable for the player ”

“ In the List of Illustrations, the page numbers 22-24 were unreadable and the page numbers 25-27 were printed incorrectly as 28-29. Transcriber has corrected both of these errors. In versions of this eBook that support hyperlinks, the page references lead to the corresponding illustrations; the visible numbers are just ranges. ”