What do the organs of Methuen Memorial Hall, Mass (Walcker 1857), St Bavo, Haarlem (Muller 1735-38) and Dresden Hofkirche (Silbermann 1754) have in common?
The answer, of course, is a great deal - both with each other and with every other pipe organ ever made! What these two share with a limited number of other instruments are front pipes made of 90% pure Cornish tin.
The American authority, George Ashdown Audsley, in 1905 wrote that of all materials for pipes “English tin is unquestionably the best; and this fact has been recognised by all the great organ builders of the world. This metal closely resembles silver in whiteness and lustre and takes a polish almost equal to it, tarnishing very slightly under ordinary atmospheric conditions..... It also recommends itself by its lightness, durability, and ductility ....[it] .... resists the action of any acid ...in the woodwork [and] can be used much thinner than any of the alloys in which lead predominates. These advantages go a long way to counterbalance its cost”.
Another authority, Dom Bédos, had said much the same thing 150 years earlier.
The fine effect produced by front pipes of tin is shown at Haarlem (picture 1). Cornish mining was at a peak when it was built: by the time Audsley wrote, it was in decline.
1. St Bavo, Haarlem
The industry is known to have existed by about 1,000 BC - nearly three millennia before the Methuen organ was made. Many cargoes of the widely-traded mineral must have been lost off the dangerous coasts of Cornwall (rocks, reefs, tidal currents, gales, wreckers): some, perhaps, await salvage.
An ingot, dating from pre-Roman times and now in Truro museum, was found in Falmouth harbour. It weighs about 160 lbs (72kg): two would have made a load for a packhorse.
It all nearly came to an end somewhere about 1700, before the Haarlem organ was built. The Cornish lodes or veins enter the earth at steep angles. Workings first descended into the water table, with seasonal flooding, then below sea level with constant inundation. Pumping by hand and horse power could only do so much.
Thomas Newcomen entered the scene with his steam engine (picture 2). These machines changed the face of mining completely through their ability to raise hundreds - later thousands - of gallons a minute from the deepest workings. They became larger - sometimes with cylinders over 6 feet (2 metres) in diameter - and more efficient, offering some relief to mine owners who, from the beginning, found the cost of sea-borne coal a great drain on profits.
Fig 2: Newcomen Engine 1717.
(Click to see larger image)
Thus it was that 150 years later, in 1905, Audsley could still recommend builders to seek out Cornish tin marked with the “lamb and flag” stamp (picture 3). By then, high quality material was increasingly and more cheaply available from mines in South America and the English industry was in decline, struggling on until the 1980s.
Its mainly ruined buildings in their spectacular scenery are now part of a tourist industry that offers much of interest - http://www.cornwall-calling.co.uk/
The old mining families, however, set great store by suggestions that growing world demand may revive their industry and open up the long closed-mines.
If the mines don’t re-open, any new organ pipes from this metal must come from cargoes of long-wrecked ships. Both alternatives seem rather damp.
Photo Credits:
1. Mark Quarmby ( http://mq.sydneyorgan.com)
