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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; and if their cases were better, they could hold their own against their foreign rivals. There are some good modern cases, but they are the exception and not the rule.
I now give my notes, which from time to time I have made, of our English instruments.
FATHER SMITH’S ORGAN IN ST. PAUL’S.—This instrument, when it stood where it was originally intended to be, on the Choir Screen, both looked and sounded well. The case, which was a very exceptional one for Father Smith, who hardly ever varied from his four-tower arrangement, had fine carving by Grinling Gibbons, and, with the Choir Organ in front, harmonised well with the handsome oak Stalls. Some years ago it was pulled down and put over the Stalls on the north side of the Choir, where, to my taste, it did not look or sound well, and the Choir case was placed in front of the large transept organ, where it looked small and out of place. The old case is now divided, and placed on each side of the Choir, the old Choir case put in its proper position, before one half of the Great case, and a new Choir case of similar design made to complete the other. The contents are by Willis, and it is a good specimen of a modern cathedral organ.
ALL HALLOWS, LOMBARD STREET.—A pretty case of peculiar design, which used to stand in the gallery at the west end of the Church, but is now placed on the floor in the south-east corner. The case consists of two towers, one on each side of the instrument, with a circular opening between them, filled with pipe-work, above which stands a small tower, with a flat of pipes on each side. There is a quaintness about it which I like.
CHRIST CHURCH, NEWGATE STREET.—Has a large fine organ standing at the west end of the Church; its four towers, surmounted by mitres and crowns, give it a Church and State look. Although the case is large, there is nothing very striking about it; but the quality of its contents is good.
ST. CLEMENT’S, EASTCHEAP.—The organ stands on the south side of the Church; it formerly stood at the west end, and is very similar to that at All Hallows, but of a more elaborate design, consisting of two large towers, between which is an oval of pipes, upon which stands a small tower, with an oval of pipes on each side, above which stand two small flats of pipes. Modern taste has heavily painted the pipes; in fact, I never saw so much solid paint put on metal pipes; and in my opinion when they were plain gilt they looked much better.
ST. LAWRENCE, JEWRY.—The organ, which stands at the west end of the Church, has as fine and as correctly designed a case as can well be. The carving is excellent, and the old French rules for designing an organ case have been carried out with the best effect. Since I sketched it, a new inside has been put into it, and the case enlarged in very good taste. It is now, perhaps, to be critical, a little too square in form, but it ranks among the best in London.
ST. MAGNUS THE MARTYR, LONDON BRIDGE.—This organ, remarkable as the first which had a swell, is rather peculiar in design. The dark wood carving is good, and there is a quiet look of solid workmanship about the case which is much to be commended.
ST. OLAVE’S, SOUTHWARK.—The organ, with four towers, and famous for having a thirty-two feet stop on the Great Organ, after the manner of large German instruments, stands at the west end, in a good plain case, but one that would hardly be worth adopting as a model for another instrument.
ST. SEPULCHRE’S has a handsome large organ, with a Choir case in front. The wood-work is fine, the mouths of the pipes nicely shaped, and the effect of the angular tower in the centre good. The case, I should think, must have looked better before the two wings of large pipes were added.
The new organ, erected in 1876, stands in a stone loft, with marble pillars, under the north arch of the centre tower. It has an abundance of carved Gothic wood-work, and the pipes are plain gilt. The mouths of the large pipes are shaped in the French style, but appear to me a little exaggerated. On the Choir Screen stands the Echo Organ, which puts me in mind of that in Notre-Dame de Bruges, on a very small scale. The thirty-two feet pedal pipes (wood) stand on the ground at the end of the north transept. They were incomplete when I saw them in November, 1876, and I should very much doubt if they will prove effective. Water-power and a gas-engine have been tried for blowing, and did not succeed, and a steam-engine was being erected.
A fine organ of Father Smith’s usual pattern formerly stood, with its Choir Organ in front, on the Choir Screen. Some years ago it was removed and placed on the north side of the Choir; and, in 1876, has given place to a new divided organ, by Willis, half standing on each side of the Choir. The arrangements of the old organ loft were very comfortable; I mention this, as but too often the loft is so cramped and inconvenient that the player can never be quite at ease.
One of our largest cathedral organs stands on the magnificent Choir Screen. It is a huge, square mass of painted pipes and Gothic carving. The most picturesque part of the instrument is the tuba, the pipes of which are arranged horizontally, pointing down the nave. This stop is the best of its kind I know.
This is but a meagre account of English organs, as it only includes those which I have had the means of studying: I ought to have written about the Temple organ, that in Westminster Abbey, the huge instrument in the Albert Hall, and the one in the Crystal Palace. That in the Temple has been described, much better than I can do it, by Edmund Macrory, in his “Few Notes on the Temple Organ.” I hope that some day the Abbey authorities will see how poor, not in tone, but in appearance, their present organ is. They have ample space to erect a magnificent case. The Albert Hall organ is an attempt at a new style of case, which I think is a failure; and the Handel organ has a very ordinary (except for its size) façade, with four towers, and the usual painted pipes.