I have today been to inspect an 18 stop, two-manual Bevington of c.1835 in one of our parish churches. It needs a clean, a little regulation of some of the pipework and a light overhaul. It still plays well and sounds superb. It was built to last and I am very happy that the parish is maintaining the instrument.
By the way - the estimated cost of this work, on a weekly basis since the instrument was last completely overhauled - works out at about £6 a week. (This does not include annual tuning costs. These are separate.)
Any opinions expressed are my own, not those of the Archdiocese of Birmingham Liturgy Commission, Church Music Committee. Website
Well it sound as though it's seen as some sort of virtue. And it's certainly not the case for us – have just booked three trumpets, horn and trombone for Christmas Eve and two trumpets and trombone for Christmas Day. Don't think we'd survive with just organ.
Nick Baty wrote:...Don't think we'd survive with just organ.
One man who easily could have but didn't was JS Bach, demonstrating, I suggest, that one can esteem the organ without having to denigrate other instruments.
One man who easily could have but didn't was JS Bach, demonstrating, I suggest, that one can esteem the organ without having to denigrate other instruments.
Nick Baty wrote:Well it sound as though it's seen as some sort of virtue. And it's certainly not the case for us – have just booked three trumpets, horn and trombone for Christmas Eve and two trumpets and trombone for Christmas Day. Don't think we'd survive with just organ.
I forgot to add to the present organ to my list of instruments (a few pages back). While the cathedral is being re-ordered we have been at St Matthew's (high Anglican) in Sheffield where they have a fairly recently built Goetze & Gwnne copy of an eleven stop baroque Dutch organ ... straight pedals and slightly different manual key dimensions and very 'in your face' speech!. I'm now getting to love it and to respect it with appropriate organ music. I think the anglicans find it more difficult with their repertoire. They recently re-tuned to equal temperament!
HallamPhil wrote:..........we have been at St Matthew's (high Anglican) in Sheffield where they have a fairly recently built Goetze & Gwnne copy of an eleven stop baroque Dutch organ ...
HallamPhil wrote:I forgot to add to the present organ to my list of instruments (a few pages back). While the cathedral is being re-ordered we have been at St Matthew's (high Anglican) in Sheffield where they have a fairly recently built Goetze & Gwnne copy of an eleven stop baroque Dutch organ ... straight pedals and slightly different manual key dimensions and very 'in your face' speech!. I'm now getting to love it and to respect it with appropriate organ music. I think the anglicans find it more difficult with their repertoire. They recently re-tuned to equal temperament!
Gosh, sometimes people can think themselves into a blind alley. Ideally a church organ should be able to do more than play roughly 75 years of repertoire. Trying to imagine some of our more chromatic Victorian hymns on unequal temperament - and wincing.
alan29 wrote:Ideally a church organ should be able to do more than play roughly 75 years of repertoire.
So raising the question, what is the function of a pipe organ - or digital, come to that - in a church? What's it for? (Think of the many Methodist chapels, now or becoming redundant, and their organs being offered for re-housing. Those instruments were mainly designed to accompany hymns and not to play a wide range of repertoire.)
In one of our churches - a converted cinema, I think.
I Think the primary function must be to accompany the assembly. Its excellent when there is a fine instrument and someone able to make it take flight ..... but that isn't what's generally needed in a liturgical setting. That's when you need an instrument and a musician who can encourage the people to sing, rather than get in the way.
