Fund. Temple. Organ. Church

Transcription

1 Introduction Introduction For 400 years, the has been dutifully and lovingly maintained and cared for by the two Honourable Societies of the Middle and Inner, under the terms of the Royal Grant by Letters Patent in It is an historic and beautiful building and its music has been fundamental to the spiritual inspiration and joy of those who have been fortunate to know it. The serves those members of the Inner and Middle in whose hands it is nurtured, and is a building which is open to all and its services are accessible to all-comers. It encourages visitors from all reaches of society and all faiths through talks, concerts, spiritual debates and exhibitions. The is a mammoth instrument containing around 3,500 wooden and metal pipes ranging from 32-ft in length to just a few inches, which sit on complex wooden soundboards and actions. Over time, wood warps, leather perishes and electrical wiring dangerously deteriorates, metal buckles, dirt falls into pipes, and thousands of small and intricate parts often not accessible on a regular visit have to be checked and repaired or renewed.

2 On May 10th 1941, the was devastated in an air raid. The Rothwell organ was tragically destroyed. It was not until the re-dedication of the restored church, some thirteen years later on 23 March 1954, that an organ was once again heard in the. The present organ was built by Harrison & Harrison of Durham, who are famous for their work on instruments in King s College Chapel, Cambridge, Westminster Abbey and the Royal Festival Hall. It was commissioned for the private residence of Lord Glentanar at Glen Tanar Castle in Scotland and the inaugural recital there was given by the great French organist Marcel Dupré in Following the destruction within the, the organ from Glen Tanar was offered as a most generous gift. The sum which is needed for this significant and crucial work is 750,000. We hope that through the generosity of those who have attended and loved the and its music, future generations will also benefit from and enjoy this remarkable instrument. Under the leadership of Sir Anthony May, President of the Queens Bench Division, and Michael Blair QC, respectively the Treasurers of Inner and Middle in 2008, a working group has been established. Other members are Guy Beringer QC (Hon Bencher Inner ) and Andrew Spink QC (Middle ), supported by the Sub and Under Treasurers of the Inns. For fifty-five years, the organ has given excellent service. The commitment of the Inns to regular maintenance and tuning visits has enabled Harrison & Harrison to keep the instrument in fine working order. However, as with all pipe organs, the s instrument needs a major and expensive overhaul. This must be done every forty to fifty years when the whole instrument must be dismantled, transferred to the organ builder s workshop, thoroughly cleaned, repaired and then reinstalled in the church. Every pipe will then be expertly voiced and regulated. This is a task of gigantic proportions, and will take place over a period of eighteen months between 2011 and A temporary instrument will be installed in the interim. The Glen Tanar Harrison organ should sound again in the for Easter Those who would consider helping as generously as they feel able with this daunting task, please contact Penny Jonas on penny@pennyjonas.com or , who would be delighted to explore possibilities with you. Introduction Photographs have been provided from different sources relating to the and its work. Known photographers: Simon Tottman, Nina Large, Neil Fox. If we have inadvertently failed to name individual photographers, our gratitude is no less for the use of such beautiful images in the. The Master s House, London EC4Y 7BB organappeal@templechurch.com

3 The s of the The s of the The has had many fine organs to accompany and enhance its music and worship. The present organ was installed in the church by its builder, Harrison & Harrison Ltd, in 1954 and can be heard at services, in recital most Wednesdays during term and on recordings. The case, behind which is the four manual organ complete with three 32-ft stops, is modelled on drawings of the s Father Smith organ of Background and history, 1307 to 1941 The earliest mention of an organ in the appears in an inventory made by the Sheriffs of London in 1307 which mentions that there were In the Great two pairs of organs and in the quire a book for the organs and two cushions for the chanters chairs. However, the first significant instrument would not be installed until In February 1683, the Treasurers of the two Societies of the commissioned an organ from each of the two leading organ builders of the time, Bernhard Smith (c ) and Renatus Harris (c ). The organs were to be installed in the halls of the Middle and Inner, to enable them to be played and judged. The successful instrument would be the one that possessed the Greatest number of excellencies. Smith was annoyed to discover that Harris had also been invited to compete for the contract as he had been under the impression that he had already secured the job. After sending a memorandum to this effect to the two Treasurers, Smith won permission to erect his instrument in the church. This advantage was short-lived as Harris sought and obtained approval from the treasurers to place his rival organ at the opposite side of the church. It is thought that both organs were completed by May 1684; the battle of the organs had begun.

4 The s of the Both builders engaged the finest organists to show off their respective instruments and were put to great expense as the competition intensified and each instrument became more elaborate. It is even suggested that the rivalry went beyond this. The Honourable Roger North reports: the partizans for each candidate, in the fury of their zeal, proceeded to the most mischievous and unwarrantable acts of hostilities; and that, in the night preceding the last trial of the reed stops, the friends of Harris cut the bellows of Smith s organ in such a manner that when the time came for playing upon it no wind could be convaeyed into the windchest. The contest was brought to a close in Charles Burney reported: the decision was left to Lord Chief Justice Jeffreys, afterwards King James the Second s pliant Chancellor, who was of that Society (The Inner ) and he terminated the controversy in favour of Father Smith; so that Harris s organ was taken away without loss of reputation, having so long pleased and puzzled better judges than Jeffreys The deed of sale bears the date June 20, 1688 and the price, for not the largest of instruments, was the considerable sum of 1,000. Pipes from this 1688 organ are on display in the church s vestry. After the death of Smith, Christopher Schrider, Smith s son-in-law, was invited to assess the condition of the instrument. Apart from requiring new stop nomenclature thought to be due to the original pasted labels on the jambs falling off, the only significant change appeared on the choir organ where The Crumhorn, cal d Cremona Stop of mettle replaced the Violl and Violin. The compass is given as sixty and not sixty-one notes. Further work by Schrider was carried out in 1729 when the echo became a Swelling organ. This would have been the instrument that was played by John Stanley the blind organist who served the Society of the Inner from 1734 until his death in His brilliant playing attracted the attention of many fine musicians, including Handel who regularly visited the church to hear him. Following the church s restoration in 1843, the organ screen was removed and the instrument was relocated to a specially constructed chamber on the north side of the chancel where it evolved through various rebuilds until its destruction when the was bombed in In 1843 Dr E J Hopkins became organist of the and over his tenure of fifty-five years the instrument developed and grew significantly. Most notably, Hopkins encountered the work of the famous organ builder Edmund Schulze ( ), whose influence on English organ building is to be found in the work of builders such as T C Lewis and Brindley & Foster. Between 1857 and 1862, twelve or thirteen stops were added to the organ by Schulze. Hopkins was co-author of The, its History and Construction, and the 1862 specification is included. The organ bellows were blown by the newly invented Joy s patent hydraulic engines which had been commended to Hopkins, and new and more extensive sound-boards were incorporated enabling a more orderly arrangement of the pipes. In 1898, shortly after the appointment of Dr Henry Walford Davies as organist, a minor renovation was undertaken by Frederick Rothwell ( ). Rothwell would preside over a major rebuild in 1910 when a substantial amount of new pipework and a new and remarkable console, complete with Rothwell s patented stop-key control system, were installed. On May 10th 1941, the church was appallingly damaged by a fire bomb in an air raid. The Rothwell organ, which still contained pipework from the 1684 Father Smith organ, was completely destroyed. The Master s House, London EC4Y 7BB organappeal@templechurch.com

5 The Present The Present The present organ was first heard in the in 1954 and was built by Harrison & Harrison of Durham. However, its history stretches back before its arrival in the. It was actually commissioned by Lord Glentanar at Glen Tanar Castle in Scotland, for his private use. The inaugural recital was given there by the great French organist Marcel Dupré in The organ s original setting was the ballroom at Glen Tanar, which was 60ft long and 30ft wide. There was an orchestra pit and stage at one end, at the back of which was an enormous chamber in which the organ was housed. The pipes of the large 32-ft Open Wood though lay horizontally beneath the stage. The Ballroom s ceiling was ornate with thousands of antlers, and a thick carpet on the floor absorbed much of the organ s power. This is reflected in a letter from his Lordship to the organ builder: I have been thinking a lot about the specification of my recently. As you know, the one thing I want to be sure about is, above all things, a grand and majestic ensemble, and when you are considering the scale of the pipes, if you are ever in doubt as to whether it should be a little smaller or a little larger in scale, please choose the latter, for the Ballroom is not really very resonant. I know I can thoroughly rely on your long experience of suiting the organ exactly to the building... During the 1930s, George Thalben-Ball (organist of the ) travelled to Glen Tanar to give organ recitals and he was immediately drawn to the instrument s wonderful blend of sounds. After the end of World War II, GTB had a chance encounter with Lord Glentanar in Cambridge. He enquired of His Lordship, How s your beautiful organ? who responded that he was thinking of giving it away because it was deteriorating through lack of use.

6 So it was on 5 February 1950 that Cuthbert Harrison at Harrison & Harrison received a letter from Thalben-Ball informing him that the Glen Tanar organ would be moved to the on condition that Harrison s would be responsible for the installation. The organ, in addition, should not be altered without his permission. GTB wrote This offer has filled me with delight. I have already asked that the new organ chamber should be at least double the size of the old one. The new chamber 33ft wide, 18ft deep and 40ft high proved to be a far more advantageous home for the instrument, even with the restrictions of the lancet openings in the north wall. On 6 July 1953, the instrument arrived by rail from Scotland and installation began in the church. GTB wrote, I should like this organ to be a real answer to all organ critics - a magnificent chamber organ, the full power of which may be used fearlessly without annoying noise but with a Tuba of sufficient power to satisfy and cap the full tone of Swell and Great. which many of the organs of this period have lost; the fashions of organ-builders and organists have changed over the decades and many large romantic instruments have often been susceptible to changes which are far from their original tonal design. We are fortunate that the organ has not been forced to wear ill-fitting clothes. Despite some sympathetic tonal changes, it is still a romantic Rolls Royce at heart. Over the last 55 years, the instrument has played an important role in the life of the church: at Royal occasions, at memorials, weddings, as the perfect accompanying instrument for the church s choir, and as a concert instrument. From the majestic tutti to the whispering célestes, the organ is recognisable as representing the Sound. In the s acoustic, the organ did sound very different and a few ranks of pipes had to be revoiced more quietly. However, GTB believed that the organ still maintained its wonderful blend, allowing almost any combination of stops to be used successfully. The organ case based on the s Father Smith case of The Present 1684 was installed in Minor changes have occurred to the Choir upperwork, and the shutters were removed from the Pedal reeds and Tuba to give the sound more freedom. In 1976, Harrison s modernised some actions and the organ was cleaned, although much of the instrument was still in good repair and did not require attention, and in 1989 the Great reeds were removed from the Solo swell-box at the top of the organ, re-voiced on lower pressure, and placed at the front of the left-hand chamber to give them greater immediacy; at the same time, the Great and Swell Mixtures were altered. Most recently, in 2000 the console was fully renovated and a modern piston system installed. The magnificent Harrison organ maintains an integrity The Master s House, London EC4Y 7BB organappeal@templechurch.com

7 the future For fifty-five years, the organ has given excellent service due to the Inns commitment to regular maintenance and tuning by Harrison & Harrison. The s organ is now in need of a major and expensive overhaul. The whole instrument will be dismantled and everything (except for the largest parts which will be renovated on-site) will be transferred to the organ builder s workshop in Durham, thoroughly cleaned and repaired. After being re-installed in the, each pipe will be expertly regulated and voiced. The whole process is a task of immense proportions, taking eighteen months to complete. A temporary instrument will be installed in the interim. The Glen Tanar Harrison organ should sound again in the for Easter The Future

8 For most visitors to the church, the organ is merely a collection of the twenty or so pipes that are visible from the chancel. In reality, it is a mammoth instrument containing around 3,500 wooden and metal pipes ranging from 32-ft in length to just a few inches, which sit on complex wooden soundboards and actions. Over time, wood warps, leather perishes and electrical wiring dangerously deteriorates, metal buckles, dirt falls into pipes, and thousands of small and intricate parts often not accessible on a regular visit have to be checked and repaired or renewed. In July 2011, scaffolding will appear in front of the organ chamber and the month-long process of dismantling the organ will take place. Almost all of the organ including its complicated innards will be taken to Harrison s workshop in Durham where, for the next year, a specialist team of organ builders will begin the refurbishment. In Long Vacation 2012, scaffolding will reappear and the re-installation of the organ will take place over three months. The specialised process of voicing and regulating every single pipe will start in January 2013, and it is hoped that the organ will again be heard on Easter Day. During the restoration, the opportunity will be taken to undertake some tonal work. In some places some of the pipe-work will revert back to its original 1924 sound, and four new ranks of pipes will be added to the Great. These stops all voiced in the 1924 Harrison style will offer a new dimension to the organ s voice both as a solo instrument and in accompanying the choir. The sum which is needed for this major, and crucial work is 750,000. We hope that through the generosity of those who have attended and loved the and its music, as well as those who may come to recognise the value and history of this beautiful, future generations will benefit from and enjoy this remarkable instrument. The Future The Master s House, London EC4Y 7BB organappeal@templechurch.com