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of the choir , with its heavy movement ninety feet in length , the only way of connecting the pipes with the keys—the happy idea ol a Avorthy dean , IIOAV deceased , ivho thought to throw' open the view from east to west , but ivho forgot that , first of all , the screen against which stood his own decanal stall , and seen above that the beautiful stone screen inserted b y Prior Goldstone , about 1500 , betAveen the IAA ' western pillars of Bell Harry Toiver to
strengthen them , ivould intercept nearly as much as the organ , the vieiv just . throAvn open . Again : — "AVhat , " he says , "can have a more distressing effect than the cumbrous organ at York , with its details taken from the stalls , and its iron-looking pipes ?" This , like many others , is a matter of taste , and one in which we differ from Sir John Sutton . There can he no doubt that , as regards sound the screen is the best place : all the best musical
judges are HOAV of this opinion , and it is by many allowed that an organ may be easily so arranged , placed in such a case , as to he even in this place , abused as it has been , a positive architectural ornament . AA e have no objection to diapered pipes , though that , again , is a matter of taste ; but as regards the York organ , the very points AA'hich offend Sir John Sutton would strongly commend it tons . Placed on one side , as at AAlnchester ; in the roof ,
as at Canterbury and Ely ; on the ground , as at Durham—the effect can never be equal to the place assigned IIOAV to the organ by almost invariable custom and old association ; and it is to be hoped that no more eccentric experiments will from this time be tried on that noble instrument , the cathedral organ . Let us IIOAV turn our attention to Mr . Baron's work , on what he calls " Scudamore Organs . " This gentleman is rector of the parish of Upton Scudamore , from whence arises the name " Scudamore Organs . " Mr . Baron attended the architectural
congress at Oxford in the summer of 1 S 5 S , on which occasion he exhibited and explained the instrument so called , and AA'hich the public had been led to think was constructed on some UCAV principle . But , in the mean time , Sir Henry E . L . Dryden , Bart ., of Canons Ashby , Northamptonshire , had been examining the instrument , and declared that there was no neiv principle at all , it being nothing more or less than an ordinary organ of the
simplest possible kind , without a case , and with all the large pipes at one end and the small ones at the other , graduated after the fashion of Pandean pipes , and that there was no IIOAV invention , no neiv principle whatever in the matter . It reall y scarcely appears to us of sufficient importance to write a book about , and Mr . Baron , moreover , though evidently an earnest man , is , we cannot but think , mistaken in some of his theories . For instance ,
in his preface , he says" From first to last , however , the religious considerations of the above fourfold question , ought evidently to be regarded as of tho highest importance . How far ivill the organ help the soul to lift itself heavenwards and draiv nigh to Cod ! HOAV far will it really help both choir and congregation to sing with heart and voice Itis praises ? In a council gathered to provide an organ for such objects , tho mere secular musicianhowever accomplishedwill be worse than useless . A musicianto
, , , be of real value , must be a religious man , acquainted with church music and the structure of the organ , and also a member of the Church of England . If the advice of such a musician cannot readily be procured , the loss will not be great , because the organ builder , if of real merit , must know more than enough of tho theory and practice of music , to be trusted for the musical excellence of such a plain and straightforward instrument as I trust to show in tho folloAving pages a village organ ought to be . "
" If the organ builder be of merit "—but Mr . Baron lias been running down the organ builders of acknoAvledged merit . A member of the Church of England—hi ghly desirable on general princi ples we confess , as belonging to that Church ourselves ; but Ave do not see the necessary connection between Church of England princi ples and a know-ledge of organ building . " Acquainted with the structure of the organ" —we should think so , though we
cannot see that religions feeling , though necessary to man , is necessary for building an organ . An infidel is quite as capable as a reli gious man of knowing that an open and stopped diapason , dulciana , tivclfth , fifteenth , and flute are sufficient for a small building , and not for a larger one . AVho ever heard such a question raised before ? On the princip le laid down by Mr . Baron , the builders of for Roman Catholic laces of worshi
organs p p must be Roman Catholics ; for Dissenting communities , Dissenters , & c . NOAV , it happens , as we are informed ou good authority , that there is not a Roman Catholic organ builder in London , and yet the Roman Catholics get just as good organs as AA'e do .
The blowing handle is not essential , inasmuch as an easier aud more seeml y arrangement is to furnish the bellows with a treadle , to be worked in small organs by the player himself . " Jiasier—Aye are quite sure that it is net so , More seemly—yes ,
if to mar the whole effect of the music is more seemly . In small organs—they must be very small . AVe AA'cre present at one of Mr . Huron's exhibitions of Scudamore organs , and the opinion of every one then seemed to be that , out of four organs exhibited , the largest , coiisistin ;; - of four stops , ivas the only one fit for practical use , and that , if larger , it would be better than it then was .
Altogether , organ building , though it may be Mr . Baron's hobby , is clearly not his forte . AA e need not go all through his book ; it contains a number of fallacies with which Ave need not weary our readers . Let us say a feiv—necessarily a feiv words—oil the really valuable work of Messrs . Hopkins and Rimbault , gentlemen who evidently know something more of the subject they have undertaken to illustrate than the tivo amateurs ,
who , however good may be their intentions ( and we doubt not , their excellence as regards their own consciences ) , will , ive sincerely hope , be unable to cany them out , and so reduce organ building from the perfection at which it has IIOAV arrived to the imperfection exemplified in Scudamore organs . A brief notice can by no means do justice to the elaborate work of Messrs . Hopkins and Rimbaultand we have not space to give
, to it , that large amount of attention to minute detail which it so Ai'ell deserves . AVe can but give a short sketch of its contents . The first part is occupied by Dr . Rimbault's history of the progress of the art-of-organ building , from the earliest ages to the present time ; the secondpart by Mr . Hopkins's lucid explanation ofthe instrument itself , together ivith an excellent and useful list of the principal organs _ jn' England and other parts of Europe ,
with their contents ; and a chapter on tuning and temperament , which deserves especial praise , and which contains a number of clever examples ofthe musical effect of improper tuning . Among many passages of interest , we offer to our readers the following curious description of an organ at AAlnchester , of tho eleventh century , translated by Mr . AVackerbarth from a Latin poem by the Monk AVulstan : —
" Such organs as you have built ' are seen nowhere , fabricated on a double ground . Tivice six belloiA's above are ranged in a row , and fourteen lie beloiv . These , by alternate blasts , supply an immense quantity of wind , and are worked by seventy strong men , labouring with their arms , covered ivith perspiration , each inciting his companions to drive the wind up with all his strength , that the full-bosomed box may speak with its four hundred pipes , * wliich the hand of the organist governs . Some Ai-hen closed , he opens , others when open ho closes , as
the individual nature of the varied sound requires . Two brethren ( religious ) of concordant spirit , sit at the instrument , and each manages his OAVU alphabet . There are , moreover , hiddon holes in the forty tongues , and each has ten pipes in their duo order . Some aro conducted hither , others thither , each preserving the proper point ( or situation ) for its OAVU note . They strike the seven differences of joyous sounds , adding the music of the lyric semi-tone . Like thunder the iron tones hatter the earso that it may receive no sound but that alone . To such an
, amount docs it reverberate , echoing in every direction , that every ono stops with his hands his gaping ears , being in noivisc able to draw near and bear the sound ivhich so many combinations produce . Tho music is heard throughout the town , and the Hying fame thereof has gone out over the whole country . "
Mason , in his "Essays on English Church Music , " g ives the following metrical translation of eight lines of AVulstan ' s poem . I le was not aware ofthe original , hut quoted from Dom Bcdos , who in his turn took the passage from Du Gauge ' s ( llossary . " Twelve pair of belloAvs , rang ' cl in stated row Are join'd above , and fourteen more below : These the full force of seventy men require
, AVho ceaseless toil , and plenteously perspire ; Each aiding each , till all the wind be prest Jn the close confines of th' incumbent chest , On ivhich four hundred pipes in order rise To belloiv forth that blast that chest supplies . "
Dr . Rimbault's treatise contains much more that is curious and interesting , but which perhaps ivould not equally interest all our readers ; while the subsequent work of Mr . Hopkins goes into the most minute details of the internal construction ofthe organ in a laborious and painstaking , but yet lucid manner , which is calculated to render his book of great real value to any clergyman or other individual in any way concerned in tbe erection of an organ ,
especially if of any size - , but yet by no means so as to make the same impression upon us as on one of his reviewers ; who tells us that " any one who has spent half an hour over the book , must be convinced that a small organ is an absurdity , and that architects ,
* This is spoken of as a large organ . AVhat ivould its builders have thought ofthe organ at St . George ' s Hall , Liverpool , wliich contains one hundred unci eight stops and eight thousand pipes {
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Literature.
of the choir , with its heavy movement ninety feet in length , the only way of connecting the pipes with the keys—the happy idea ol a Avorthy dean , IIOAV deceased , ivho thought to throw' open the view from east to west , but ivho forgot that , first of all , the screen against which stood his own decanal stall , and seen above that the beautiful stone screen inserted b y Prior Goldstone , about 1500 , betAveen the IAA ' western pillars of Bell Harry Toiver to
strengthen them , ivould intercept nearly as much as the organ , the vieiv just . throAvn open . Again : — "AVhat , " he says , "can have a more distressing effect than the cumbrous organ at York , with its details taken from the stalls , and its iron-looking pipes ?" This , like many others , is a matter of taste , and one in which we differ from Sir John Sutton . There can he no doubt that , as regards sound the screen is the best place : all the best musical
judges are HOAV of this opinion , and it is by many allowed that an organ may be easily so arranged , placed in such a case , as to he even in this place , abused as it has been , a positive architectural ornament . AA e have no objection to diapered pipes , though that , again , is a matter of taste ; but as regards the York organ , the very points AA'hich offend Sir John Sutton would strongly commend it tons . Placed on one side , as at AAlnchester ; in the roof ,
as at Canterbury and Ely ; on the ground , as at Durham—the effect can never be equal to the place assigned IIOAV to the organ by almost invariable custom and old association ; and it is to be hoped that no more eccentric experiments will from this time be tried on that noble instrument , the cathedral organ . Let us IIOAV turn our attention to Mr . Baron's work , on what he calls " Scudamore Organs . " This gentleman is rector of the parish of Upton Scudamore , from whence arises the name " Scudamore Organs . " Mr . Baron attended the architectural
congress at Oxford in the summer of 1 S 5 S , on which occasion he exhibited and explained the instrument so called , and AA'hich the public had been led to think was constructed on some UCAV principle . But , in the mean time , Sir Henry E . L . Dryden , Bart ., of Canons Ashby , Northamptonshire , had been examining the instrument , and declared that there was no neiv principle at all , it being nothing more or less than an ordinary organ of the
simplest possible kind , without a case , and with all the large pipes at one end and the small ones at the other , graduated after the fashion of Pandean pipes , and that there was no IIOAV invention , no neiv principle whatever in the matter . It reall y scarcely appears to us of sufficient importance to write a book about , and Mr . Baron , moreover , though evidently an earnest man , is , we cannot but think , mistaken in some of his theories . For instance ,
in his preface , he says" From first to last , however , the religious considerations of the above fourfold question , ought evidently to be regarded as of tho highest importance . How far ivill the organ help the soul to lift itself heavenwards and draiv nigh to Cod ! HOAV far will it really help both choir and congregation to sing with heart and voice Itis praises ? In a council gathered to provide an organ for such objects , tho mere secular musicianhowever accomplishedwill be worse than useless . A musicianto
, , , be of real value , must be a religious man , acquainted with church music and the structure of the organ , and also a member of the Church of England . If the advice of such a musician cannot readily be procured , the loss will not be great , because the organ builder , if of real merit , must know more than enough of tho theory and practice of music , to be trusted for the musical excellence of such a plain and straightforward instrument as I trust to show in tho folloAving pages a village organ ought to be . "
" If the organ builder be of merit "—but Mr . Baron lias been running down the organ builders of acknoAvledged merit . A member of the Church of England—hi ghly desirable on general princi ples we confess , as belonging to that Church ourselves ; but Ave do not see the necessary connection between Church of England princi ples and a know-ledge of organ building . " Acquainted with the structure of the organ" —we should think so , though we
cannot see that religions feeling , though necessary to man , is necessary for building an organ . An infidel is quite as capable as a reli gious man of knowing that an open and stopped diapason , dulciana , tivclfth , fifteenth , and flute are sufficient for a small building , and not for a larger one . AVho ever heard such a question raised before ? On the princip le laid down by Mr . Baron , the builders of for Roman Catholic laces of worshi
organs p p must be Roman Catholics ; for Dissenting communities , Dissenters , & c . NOAV , it happens , as we are informed ou good authority , that there is not a Roman Catholic organ builder in London , and yet the Roman Catholics get just as good organs as AA'e do .
The blowing handle is not essential , inasmuch as an easier aud more seeml y arrangement is to furnish the bellows with a treadle , to be worked in small organs by the player himself . " Jiasier—Aye are quite sure that it is net so , More seemly—yes ,
if to mar the whole effect of the music is more seemly . In small organs—they must be very small . AVe AA'cre present at one of Mr . Huron's exhibitions of Scudamore organs , and the opinion of every one then seemed to be that , out of four organs exhibited , the largest , coiisistin ;; - of four stops , ivas the only one fit for practical use , and that , if larger , it would be better than it then was .
Altogether , organ building , though it may be Mr . Baron's hobby , is clearly not his forte . AA e need not go all through his book ; it contains a number of fallacies with which Ave need not weary our readers . Let us say a feiv—necessarily a feiv words—oil the really valuable work of Messrs . Hopkins and Rimbault , gentlemen who evidently know something more of the subject they have undertaken to illustrate than the tivo amateurs ,
who , however good may be their intentions ( and we doubt not , their excellence as regards their own consciences ) , will , ive sincerely hope , be unable to cany them out , and so reduce organ building from the perfection at which it has IIOAV arrived to the imperfection exemplified in Scudamore organs . A brief notice can by no means do justice to the elaborate work of Messrs . Hopkins and Rimbaultand we have not space to give
, to it , that large amount of attention to minute detail which it so Ai'ell deserves . AVe can but give a short sketch of its contents . The first part is occupied by Dr . Rimbault's history of the progress of the art-of-organ building , from the earliest ages to the present time ; the secondpart by Mr . Hopkins's lucid explanation ofthe instrument itself , together ivith an excellent and useful list of the principal organs _ jn' England and other parts of Europe ,
with their contents ; and a chapter on tuning and temperament , which deserves especial praise , and which contains a number of clever examples ofthe musical effect of improper tuning . Among many passages of interest , we offer to our readers the following curious description of an organ at AAlnchester , of tho eleventh century , translated by Mr . AVackerbarth from a Latin poem by the Monk AVulstan : —
" Such organs as you have built ' are seen nowhere , fabricated on a double ground . Tivice six belloiA's above are ranged in a row , and fourteen lie beloiv . These , by alternate blasts , supply an immense quantity of wind , and are worked by seventy strong men , labouring with their arms , covered ivith perspiration , each inciting his companions to drive the wind up with all his strength , that the full-bosomed box may speak with its four hundred pipes , * wliich the hand of the organist governs . Some Ai-hen closed , he opens , others when open ho closes , as
the individual nature of the varied sound requires . Two brethren ( religious ) of concordant spirit , sit at the instrument , and each manages his OAVU alphabet . There are , moreover , hiddon holes in the forty tongues , and each has ten pipes in their duo order . Some aro conducted hither , others thither , each preserving the proper point ( or situation ) for its OAVU note . They strike the seven differences of joyous sounds , adding the music of the lyric semi-tone . Like thunder the iron tones hatter the earso that it may receive no sound but that alone . To such an
, amount docs it reverberate , echoing in every direction , that every ono stops with his hands his gaping ears , being in noivisc able to draw near and bear the sound ivhich so many combinations produce . Tho music is heard throughout the town , and the Hying fame thereof has gone out over the whole country . "
Mason , in his "Essays on English Church Music , " g ives the following metrical translation of eight lines of AVulstan ' s poem . I le was not aware ofthe original , hut quoted from Dom Bcdos , who in his turn took the passage from Du Gauge ' s ( llossary . " Twelve pair of belloAvs , rang ' cl in stated row Are join'd above , and fourteen more below : These the full force of seventy men require
, AVho ceaseless toil , and plenteously perspire ; Each aiding each , till all the wind be prest Jn the close confines of th' incumbent chest , On ivhich four hundred pipes in order rise To belloiv forth that blast that chest supplies . "
Dr . Rimbault's treatise contains much more that is curious and interesting , but which perhaps ivould not equally interest all our readers ; while the subsequent work of Mr . Hopkins goes into the most minute details of the internal construction ofthe organ in a laborious and painstaking , but yet lucid manner , which is calculated to render his book of great real value to any clergyman or other individual in any way concerned in tbe erection of an organ ,
especially if of any size - , but yet by no means so as to make the same impression upon us as on one of his reviewers ; who tells us that " any one who has spent half an hour over the book , must be convinced that a small organ is an absurdity , and that architects ,
* This is spoken of as a large organ . AVhat ivould its builders have thought ofthe organ at St . George ' s Hall , Liverpool , wliich contains one hundred unci eight stops and eight thousand pipes {