The Vanished Barrel Organ of Coddenham Church D. Allen
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THE VANISHEDBARRELORGANOF CODDENHAM CHURCH byDAVID ALLEN IN A RECENT article in these Proceedings(Allen 1995, 296-301), attention was drawn to the very small number of organs in English parish churches, especially in rural areas, in the period between the religious upheavals of the 17th century and the early years of the 19th. In very many churches the place of the organ was taken, during the 18th century, by a small orchestra or band which, together with a choir, usually occupied the west gallery, led the metrical psalms and . hymns, and performed occasional anthems. Through the efforts of these amateur musicians the church in many parishes thus became the centre of a genuine musical life. The advantages of liveliness and lay participation which the orchestras and choirs brought to church worship were, however, counter-balanced and —in the opinion of many of the educated and those in authority in the Church —outweighed by their well-documented indiscipline and lack of decorum. Nor was their musicianship usually of a very high standard. In 1790 Beilby Porteus, Bishop of London from 1787 until his death in 1809, complained, in a charge to the clergy of his diocese, of the monopolizing of the psalmody in rural parishes by a select band of singers who have been taught by some itinerant master to sing in the worst manner a most wretched set of psalm tunes in three or four parts, so complex, so difficult, so totally devoid of true harmony, that it is impossible for any of the congregation to take part with them; who, therefore, sit absorbed in silent admiration, or total inattention, without considering themselves in any degree concerned in what is going forward (Scholes 1955, 37-38). As early as the 1730s, at least one patron of a rural Suffolk living, Dudley North, accustomed from his periods of residence in London to the higher quality of music to be heard in the capital's more fashionable churches, had sought to raise the standard of musical performance —and presumably decorum —in his home parish of Little Glemham by providing an organ and organist at his own expense (Allen 1995, 296-301). It is not surprising that, by the late 18th century, even though the Oxford Movement and the influence of the Tractarians were still some decades in the future, many of the clergy had become conscious of the need for improvement in the musical content of church services. Most of the clergy were Oxford or Cambridge graduates, accustomed to the service of the college chapel; not unnatura4, their thoughts turned towards the acquisition of an organ. But in many rural parishes especially, no competent organist was available (even though, since very few English organs yet possessed pedals, their use was one less technique that had to be mastered). The answer, in many parishes, was the purchase of a barrel organ, a small organ typically of five or six stops or ranks of pipes, with up to six interchangeable barrels, each set with about ten metrical psalm- and hymn-tunes. Each barrel is set with projecting metal pins or staples, whose varying lengths correspond to the lengths of the notes to be sounded. As the barrel is rotated the pins raise levers which admit wind to the pipes. The levers are positioned opposite their respective pipes, and are therefore well spaced, leaving room for several tunes to be set on a barrel; the tune is selected by shifting the barrel sideways in its carrier and holding it in alignment by means of a catch. The origins of the barrel organ seem to go back almost as far as those of the organ itself; a primitive form of the instrument seems to have been described by Ctesibius of Alexandria c. 250 B.C. William of Malmesbury, writing c. 1148, mentions a mechanical organ built by Pope Silvester II (d. 1003) when a young man at Rheims. This organ was apparently still in existence 442 THE VANISHED BARREL ORGAN OF CODDENHAM CHURCH in 1125, more than a century after Silvester's death, and it is clear from William's account that the barrel principle was known in Europe and recognized by the Church as early as the 10th century. In England, Queen Elizabeth I ordered Thomas Dallam to build an organ playable by a barrel as a gift for the Sultan of Turkey. Dallam delivered it in person to the Porte and set it up there; he left England in February 1598/9 and was absent for about fifteen months (Boston 1959, 99-100). The principle, although thus well known, seems for the most part to have been little used until the 18th century The first English church to be provided with a barrel organ was probably that of King Charles the Martyr in Peak Forest, Derbyshire, whose instrument (stillin use in 1870) is said to have been installed in 1700 (Boston 1959, 100). Many hundreds of such organs were made between the later 18th century (when they first became really popular) and the middle of the 19th. The London firm of Flight and Robson advertised them as early as 1772, while Gray and Davison and Bryceson Brothers (the last-named firm being the maker of the celebrated barrel organ in Shelland church, still in regular use) were supplying them at least as late as 1851, when they exhibited examples at the Great Exhibition. Most barrel organs (sometimes known as 'hand' organs to distinguish them from the conventional or 'finger' organ) were capable only of mechanical performance, but there was a variant, known as the 'finger and barrel' organ, which possessed a keyboard for use when an organist was available, and a separate barrel action. When the latter was in use it operated on the keys, rather in the manner of the later 'Pianola' (Scholes 1955, 620-21; Sumner 1962, 230-31). In 1817 the RevdJohn Longe,' vicar of Coddenham near Ipswich, set about the acquisition of an organ for his parish church. Of the church orchestra which it superseded, the only documentary evidence so far found is an item offset against the churchwardens' disbursements for 1819-20: 'Sold the Bassoon for L2'.2 This organ, altered and re-positioned on several occasions, served until 1896, when the present instrument was built. For the last service at which it was heard, on Sunday 23 February that year, the then organist, Miss Susan Wiseman, compiled some notes on the history of the organ and choir.3From these it is apparent that Miss Wiseman had no knowledge of the organ ever having been anything other than a conventional instrument. The Revd John Longe's papers show, however, that, in the state in which it was first erected in the church, it had a barrel action; it was in fact a 'finger and barrel' organ, capable of being played by an organist in the normal way, or of being turned by a 'grinder' in the absence of a performer.5 Longe had consulted at least two firms of London organ builders before reaching his decision on the instrument. Flight and Robson, then of 101 St Martin's Lane, organ builders to the Prince Regent, were, as we have already seen, pioneers in the production of barrel organs. Their catalogue (L.P, n.d.) offered a variety of organs; the range included, among others, finger organs priced from 200 to 2,000 guineas; 'psalmodic barrel organs' costing between 45 and 200 guineas; finger and barrel organs with a single barrel, 200 guineas; the same with 'improved Venetian swell' from 250 to 3,000 guineas; and 'finger and barrel organs on superior mechanical principles, in prices, according to their various powers and compositions, up to 10,000 guineas' — an enormous sum for the early 19th century and clearly beyond the resources of all but the very richest parishes with generous benefactors. William Gray, an organ builder trading from 9 New Road, Fitzroy Square, was also consulted.6 In a letter of 14June 1817 (L.P), he offered to build a new, single-manual 'finger' organ of seven stops, in a painted oak Gothic case seventeen or eighteen feet high, with gilt front pipes and a general Venetian swell,for 230 guineas including packing and erecting in the church, carriage only excepted. As a cheaper alternative he offered a slightly smaller, second-hand 'finger and barrel' organ, by a builder named Godfrey, and said to be in 'excellent preservation', for 150 guineas complete, to be erected in the church on payment of travelling and subsistence expenses. A general swell could be added for five guineas. In a single-manual instrument such as this, the 443 DAVID ALLEN swellwould operate on the whole organ except the Open Diapason stop, whoselarger pipes wouldbe on displayin the front of the case.7The organ had fivestops—Stop[ped]Diapason, Open Diapason, Principal, Fifteenth and Trumpet, although at the purchaser's choice a Sesquialteraand Cornet could be substitutedfor the Trumpet at no extra cost, increasingthe number of pipes from 264 to 372.All the stopswere in the form of 'dividedregisters',allowing stopsof contrastingtone qualityto be drawn on the trebleand basshalvesof the keyboard,thus enablinga soloand accompanimentto be performed,co ensatingtol someextent for the lack of a secondmanual.In additionthe organ wasequippedwih a pedal 'to form a choir organ, by takingoffthe loud stops'.This, obviouslyan earlyform of compositionpedal,wouldpermit the playing of 'echo' effects, often required in English organ voluntaries of the period, which normallyneeded two manualsfor their performance.There were two barrels, each pinned for ten tunes.A new case,again in painted oak, measuring 14ftin heightby about 7ftwide and 3ft FIG.