Page 45 - BBC Music (January 2020)

The English organ
colours, an expanding dynamic range and
flexibility, and a refining of tonal blend for a
greater range of registrational options. The man
who first developed such ideas with a zeal and
an engineering confidence was Robert Hope-
Jones. Hope-Jones emigrated to the US in 1903
to seek his fortune where, despite the tragedy
of his suicide in 1914, his ideas formed the basis
of Wurlitzer’s cinema organs. This same ethos
informed early 20th-century English organ
culture, where organs by Harrison & Harrison,
Hill, Norman & Beard, John Compton and others
often took refinement and blend to a new level –
and occasionally at the expense of character.
This is the soundworld associated with Howells,
Whitlock, Harris and others (even though many
prominent organists of that generation presided
over organs of a more Victorian pedigree).
Meanwhile, while English organists and
their audiences basked in smooth sounds and
orchestral effects, the winds of change were
blowing in Germany. The early music revival
was taking root in the 1920s: the so-called
‘Praetorius’ organ built by Walcker in 1921 at
the University of Freiburg signalled a new way
ahead, despite its electro-pneumatic key actions.
England, however, seemed uninterested or
unaware of these tonal trends. The 1937 Eule
organ commissioned by Lady Susi Jeans for her
private Surrey residence (with the mechanical
action made by Hill, Norman & Beard) was to
remain an isolated instance of a new, classically
Tudor clues: the 16th-century Wetheringsett soundboard
inspired organ. Jeans tutored and mentored
a significant number of the next generation,
though, which encouraged the gradual move
post-WWII towards instruments built for an
earlier repertoire. It was not until 1954 with the
then controversial Royal Festival Hall organ
and its smaller cousin in Brompton Oratory, and
later still in 1965 with an imported mechanical-
Side support:the manual set-up
at St James’s, Bermondsey; action Danish (Frobenius) organ at The Queen’s
(below) organist Daniel Moult College, Oxford, that the culture started to
change significantly. The ‘authentic’ realisation
of JS Bach and earlier repertoire, already firmly
established in mainland Europe, became the
cornerstone of this new English world.
Today we’re still living with some of the fruits
of this movement, both in terms of organs and
musical thought, but the pendulum has swung
again. Current new English organs are often
eclectic in nature – they are often in places where
choral accompaniment of the likes of Stanford
and Howells is a big part of the diet – although
fine copies have been made of earlier (usually
English) styles from the Tudor to the Victorian.
So what of the future? Both the strength and
weakness of the English organ has been its strong
link with liturgical choral accompaniment,
despite the popularity of the town hall solo
tradition and a secular presence over the
The English centuries. In places where that choral tradition
‘‘ has collapsed, too many English institutions
organ was have installed a substitute fake organ, or none at
all. Perhaps it is no coincidence that Russia, Japan
reaching the and South Korea attract large audiences for organ
public in concerts, as they do not associate the instrument
with churches, liturgies and choirs. The English
ways not seen organ will doubtless continue to live alongside
our choirs, but we also need to learn to appreciate
since Handel’s the solo repertoire and associated instruments
organ concertos for their own sakes, and to encourage the musical
enjoyment of this fine corpus of music. If we can
mesmerised succeed in this, the English organ should be set to
flourish for a very long time.
London Fugue State Films’s three-part documentary
‘The English Organ’, presented by Daniel Moult,
’’ is out now. See fuguestatefilms.co.uk for details
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 47