Organ
cases, in respect to their surroundings, may be classified all the
way from Perfect Fits to Regrettable Happenings. All have been either
designed for or adapted to their site.
That
is, all but one. The exception is in the Memorial Hall, Methuen,
Massachusetts USA. This hall was designed and built solely to house
an existing instrument that had become homeless. The full history
of the organ, together with its present specification, may be found
at www.mmmh.org
Its
original specification appears in the 1877 edition of Hopkins &
Rimbault (see www.bardon-enterprises.co.uk
). This includes fascinating asides on the work of the period. Walcker
of Ludwigsburg (Germany) used pure English tin for the principal
stops, as did many other Continental builders both before and after.
Wind for the 89 speaking stops was provided by hydraulic engines
and screw tuning was used for some of the reeds. (Anyone who has
encountered reeds where tuning wires have become worn will appreciate
the value of this ~ albeit expensive ~ alternative.)
Fig. 1
Picture
1 shows the organ in its original home at Boston Music Hall.
It is a splendid piece of Victorian furniture, 60 feet high and
47 feet wide.
The human figures
supporting the entablature (caryatids when female, telamon when
male) were favourite forms of household and public decoration at
the time, but seem to have been regarded as too pagan - or improper
- for church purposes.
Further figures
appear above the elegantly curved top rails, and plaques of Bach
and Mozart and a full bust of the former (picture 3) may
also be seen. (Close ups appear on the Methuen website.)
Picture
2 is of the organ after removal
to Methuen. The crown finials above the outer towers have been removed,
perhaps in deference to republican feeling!
The
provision of a detached console makes it easier for audiences to
watch players at work ~ the sole purpose of this building. Otherwise,
little has changed externally.
Twice
in its life, once after its removal from Boston and again after
World War II, the survival of this organ was in doubt. The first
time a wealthy amateur saved it, the second, a group of public-spirited
citizens.
Fig 2.
Over
the years, the specification has been slightly modified. The loss
of some of the less usual romantic voices that were much admired
when the organ was first installed in 1863, as well as of the small
pedal section enclosed in the main swell box will be regretted by
some, but all organ lovers will be delighted that painstaking restoration
and maintenance preserves one of the world's great instruments.
Pics
1 & 2 CW Laycock archive -
with permission
Pic
3: With permission of the Board of Trustees, Methuen Memorial
Music Hall Inc, Methuen, Mass., USA.
Fig 3.
Footnote.
In
the Great Hall of Winchester College, England, stands a small eighteenth-century
instrument. Perhaps, with its doubtful reputation it is lucky to
have survived. Ian Skidmore told the story in a recent obituary
of a former master at the school.
{A pupil).....
‘hid in the rafters with a fire-extinguisher which he squirted
on the porter below as he was lecturing a group of tourists. The
porter disappeared under a cone of foam from which his hand eventually
emerged. Wiping his mouth, he told his startled audience “
That will be the organ. It’s always doing that”’.
