Specifically organ

[mangerton]

Choir vacancies at Carlisle advertised in the Church Times have claimed to be in Scotland in the past!

Carlisle probably was in Scotland at some times in the past - perhaps 500 years ago. Carlisle was in, or very near to, the "Debateable Lands".

[Mr Stoat]

Carlisle probably was in Scotland at some times in the past - perhaps 500 years ago. Carlisle was in, or very near to, the "Debateable Lands".

From 1135 - 1154 I think.....

[ardcarp]

There is a glorious (and unusually small) Cavaille Coll...recently restored... in l'eglise de Bon Sauveur, Begard, Brittany.

http://www.plenumorganum.org/les-orgues/begard2/

[subcontrabass]

There is a glorious (and unusually small) Cavaille Coll...recently restored... in l'eglise de Bon Sauveur, Begard, Brittany.

http://www.plenumorganum.org/les-orgues/begard2/

The organ at Farnborough Abbey is even smaller: http://www.cavaille-coll.co.uk/specification.htm

[Cornet IV]

Did not David Humphreys suggest the piece might have been by Johann Peter Kellner?

I don't know David Humphreys but Kellner is an intriguing idea, although the intrigue is fairly short lived - the nature of JP's output really isn't sufficiently consistent with this suggestion. Considering the amount of material published between, say, 1670 and 1730, (or, at least, the number of composers active at the time), it seems odd that there are so few writers who might be considered for authorship of 565. In any event, despite previously hinting that Bruhns might be a contender, the big name who had the ability (if not, perhaps, the required attention span) was Buxtehude. But again, one has to rule out another possibility leaving the ball once more to bounce back into JSB's court.

However, it's all good fun and might be the basis of an interesting parlour game.

In reply to Wolsey: I'm afraid that I am unacquainted with Professor Peter Williams too. Evidently I need to get out more. Some of the "grounds" upon which I consider the work to be by Bach are given in my earlier posting. I'm reminded of Cliff Michelmore's umpteen way Family Favourites - "the message is in the song." Other grounds might include a lifetime of Bach scholarship and almost 70 years of playing his keyboard works. I feel such might allow me the possession of an opinion or two.

[french frank]

And as this is 'Specifically organ', it may be the place to mention that Gillian Weir gives her final public performance in Westminster Cathedral in December.

[ardcarp]

Dromage.

[mangerton]

And as this is 'Specifically organ', it may be the place to mention that Gillian Weir gives her final public performance in Westminster Cathedral in December.

Yes. I feel it unlikely that I'll be able to attend, so I went to her recital in Bristol in June. This was, as one would expect, excellent.

[Cornet IV]

The organ at Farnborough Abbey is even smaller: http://www.cavaille-coll.co.uk/specification.htm

Thank you subcontrabass - until you mentioned it, I had quite forgotten this instrument.

I have never played it but I do have a couple of CDs on which Neil Wright performs the 60-odd pieces Cesar Franck wrote fairly late in life for the harmonium. For any number of reasons, employing the C-C for this must be better than that intended by Monsieur Franck. Strange (well, I think it's strange) that Rossini also called for an (!) harmonium in his little mass.

Anyway, you have stirred me to dust them off for a replay.

Sadly, I too shall miss the Gillian Weir performance. Odd that I should write this on the day that her New Zealand compatriot, Colin Horsley's obit appears in the Telegraph.

[french frank]

Sadly, I too shall miss the Gillian Weir performance. Odd that I should write this on the day that her New Zealand compatriot, Colin Horsley's obit appears in the Telegraph.

I believe it will be on December 5th, and the BBC is due to record it (I am told). Fortunately she is almost a generation younger than Colin Horsley, so I hope we shall still be hearing from her for a while.

She plans to concentrate on giving Masterclasses (and adjudication).

[vinteuil]

, employing the C-C for this must be better than that intended by Monsieur Franck. Strange (well, I think it's strange) that Rossini also called for an (!) harmonium in his little mass.

.

Very happy to disagree with you here.

Good performances of the Franck pieces for harmonium on the instruments for which he intended them, and likewise the Rossini, are a real joy.

I commend -

Joris Verdin - César Franck - Intégrale de l'œuvre d' harmonium on ricercar (various instruments by Debain, Mustel, Alexandre)

and for the Rossini Petite Messe Solennelle, either the Piquemal on accord (Emmanuel Mandrin on harmonium), - or - even better - the King's Consort on hyperion, which gives you Mark Williams on an 1868 Debain and also Gary Cooper on an 1862 Bösendorfer and Matthew Halls on a copy of an 1826 Conrad Graf.

Quite lovely ...

[subcontrabass]

. Strange (well, I think it's strange) that Rossini also called for an (!) harmonium in his little mass.

Not so strange when you consider the domestic scale of the original performance: Rossini specified only 12 singers - 4 for the solos, 8 for the chorus, and all 12 for the tuttis.

[Cornet IV]

[QUOTE=
. . . . and also Gary Cooper on an 1862 Bösendorfer . . . .

Quite lovely ... [/QUOTE]

Well, perhaps I've been a little hasty, firing from the hip, so to speak.

Mention of a harmonium immediately puts me in mind of "Bringing in the Sheaves" or "Rock of Ages" sung in a rude chapel somewhere in the Mid-West and to the accompaniment of an asthmatic instrument, probably made in Canada. Outside is the hired gunman, dodging the blowing tumbleweeds and checking his holster in anticipation of the showdown about to begin. Now, I do remember Gary Cooper with a ca.1885 Colt 45 but I missed the one where he was slinging an 1862 Boesendorfer. I imagine the under-damper action was a variation of the under-lever Remiington so often toted by Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne . . . .

It must have been 40 years ago that I found myself in Rotherhythe in search of interesting historical instruments. I don't remember the dedication of the church (which was not the one containing the Byfield) but it was close by and possessed a rather weary Bishop - organ that is, not Mervyn Stockwood! In the gallery of the church was what I initially took to be a largish square piano but turned out to be a harmonium masquerading as a handsome piece of neo-Georgian furniture. It proved to be full-bodied and remarkably well-voiced - it may have been an American organ - and was surprisingly musical.

I mention this by way of consuming a little humble pie - I have met a couple of other noteworthy harmoniums but quite frankly,the average example of the genre is pretty horrid. Perhaps I should watch fewer Westerns.

[ardcarp]

Can anyone explain the technical difference between the 'American organs' (wrongly called 'harmoniums') found widely in chapels at one time in the UK (I owned one once as a kid) and the altogether grander specimens found in French churches? In the latter there is still sometimes, in addition to the Grande Orgue at the west end, a harmonium near the 'choir' to be used for more intimate liturgical purposes...the latter now tending to be superseded by electronics.

[Cornet IV]

Can anyone explain the technical difference between the 'American organs' (wrongly called 'harmoniums') found widely in chapels at one time in the UK (I owned one once as a kid) and the altogether grander specimens found in French churches? In the latter there is still sometimes, in addition to the Grande Orgue at the west end, a harmonium near the 'choir' to be used for more intimate liturgical purposes...the latter now tending to be superseded by electronics.

Can I suggest that the "American organs" widely found in UK chapels were not wrongly named - nearly all of these were, in fact, harmoniums (plural harmoniae?). American organs are not so often found.

The essential difference between these types of instrument is that the harmonium operates on negative pressure, that is the air is "sucked" across the reeds whilst the American variant uses the pedals to pump the wind chests positively (as is the case with pipe organs). The notional advantage of the latter type is that providing that the player has taken his/her Weetabix, it is able to make a louder noise.

I'm afraid I can't help with the French churches but in my experience, unless they have been replaced by electronic equivalents, portative organs invariably have been between two and four rank (occasionally more) pipe instruments. I have not met a reed organ in this capacity.