ORGANS IN & AROUND CHESTERFIELD
ST. MARY & ALL SAINTS, CHESTERFIELD
PART ONE: 1756-1843
"Its ponderous Steeple, pillared in the sky,
Rises with twist in pyramidal form,
And threatens danger to the timid eye
That climbs in wonder. When the rolling storm
Scowls dark and dreadful o'er its apex high,
And spends its fury in the torrents borne
Down the dark welkin, then she sees it lower
And stand unshaken by the tempest's power."
THE CHURCH
The 'crooked spire' of Chesterfield Parish Church is visible for miles across the windswept hills and moorlands which surround the town. It is one of the few church steeples covered with lead, and it is possible that sunlight striking on the lead may have heated unseasoned timber used in its structure, causing the bending and twisting. Poor workmanship and poor judgement of materials seem likely, following the dearth of skilled craftsmen in the wake of the Black Death. It is through itss structural defect that the church has achieved national fame.
A church was recorded on this site in the 11th century; the main body of the present
structure dates from the 13th and 14th centuries. It is the largest church building
in Derbyshire, a cruciform structure 170ft. long and more than 110ft. across the
transepts. The spire is 228ft. high.
JOHN SNETZLER, 1756
There is no record of an organ in the church before 1756. There were organ builders in Wirksworth (Derbyshire) and Sheffield (Yorkshire) in Tudor times, and the local importance of the church at Chesterfield would make it a likely venue for an instrument before Snetzler's organ of 1756. None has so far come to light.
The 'History of Chesterfield' by Thomas Ford (1839) states that:
The organ was opened by Thomas Leyland, who became the first organist.In the year 1755 a fine organ was contracted for of £500 value to be made by Mr. Schnetzler of London, Organ maker; and the said organ and a new gallery at the West end of the Parish Church of Chesterfield (appropriated by a Faculty from the Court of Lichfield towards the support and maintenance of an Organist well qualified to perform the Service of the Church) were erected in the said Church by the voluntary contributions of some Noblemen and Gentlemen who had estates in the said parish, together with the inhabitants of the said town of Chesterfield and the hamlets belonging thereto, and the P. organ was opened on 21st October, 1756.
For years a brass plaque on the console stated that the organ was built in 1741. This date seems to have come from a list of Snetzler's organs published in 'The Organ' (1855, 3rd edition 1877) by Hopkins & Rimbault, possibly based on information given by Francis Jones (who rebuilt the organ in 1842 and 1851). There is no evidence for the earlier date, although Barnes & Renshaw ('The Life and Work of John Snetzler', Aldershot, 1994) suggest that Snetzler may have carried out repairs to a previous organ after storm damage in 1740. This is not substantiated by the published accounts of church expenditure, nor are there records of payment for an organist, though singers were present and received fees. Be that as it may, by 1891 the console displayed Snetzler's own signature, taken from inside the Choir soundboard:
The itinerant organ-builder Alexander Buckingham visited the church in 1823. In his notebook we find the following account:
The Parish Church, Chesterfield - An organ with three sets of keys the
Great Organ from GG long octaves to E in alt. The Choir Organ the same.
The Swell Organ from G below middle C to E in alt consist of the following stops:
GREAT ORGAN
Op. Diapason 57
St. Diapason 57
Principal 57
Nason 57
Twelfth 57
Fifteenth 57
Sexquialtera 4R 228
Cornet m/C 5R 145
Trumpet 57
Clarion 57
829
CHOIR ORGAN
Dulciana 57
St. Diapason 57
Principal 57
Flute 57
Fifteenth 57
Bafsoon 57
342
SWELL ORGAN
Op. Diapason 34
Dulciana 34
St. Diapason 34
Cornet m/C 4R 116
Trumpet 34
Hautboy 34
286
Choir 342
Great 829
Total 1457
Mrs. Dutton, organist. The Dulciana in the Choir all through of metal. The
Cornet in the Swell is from m/C to the top. All the St. Diapasons and Flutes
trebles is metal. In a Wainscott case 23ft. high, 13ft. 1in. wide, 7ft. deep,
built by John Snetzler, London, in 1756.
Chesterfield, November 13th, 1823, A.B.
Other putative stoplists of the Snetzler organ have appeared in print. In 'The Organ'
quarterly, 1931, Herbert Snow wrote that:
and listed six of the Great stops and five of the Choir stops, the latter including a Dolce rather than a Dulciana.The only specific details that can be traced relate to the great and choir specifications, - the swell specification is missing...
In 'The Organ' quarterly, April 1960 and January 1964, W.L. Sumner gave a 'full' stoplist which differed from Buckingham's account as follows: Great had two Open Diapasons but no Clarion; Great 4ft. 'Flute', not 'Nason'; Choir had a Dolce rather than a Dulciana; Swell was lacking both Dulciana and Hautboy, but had a Principal.
Neither Snow nor Sumner gave sources for their stoplists. They both appear to be of a later date than Buckingham's account; if they are accurate, they must reflect changes made between 1823 and the comprehensive rebuild of 1851.
The name 'Nason' was introduced into British organs by Father Smith, who included a 4ft. Nason in the Echo department of his organ for St. Paul's Cathedral, 1695-7. The example at Chesterfield appears to be unique in Snetzler's work.
DULCIANAS AND DOLCES
Snetzler has been credited with introducing both the cylindrical Dulciana and the inverted-conical Dolce into England, although the name 'Dolce' appears in no authentic stoplists. At King's Lynn (1754-5) there were Dulcianas on both Swell and Choir; the pipes have a 10% outward taper, "and the mouths are eared and fendered in a way that Snetzler was to use for his later cylindrical dulcianas" (Barnes & Renshaw, op. cit). There is, however, some doubt whether these pipes are the ones provided by Snetzler; they may be later replacements. No positively authentic inverted-conical stops by Snetzler survive today.
Buckingham's Chesterfield stoplist contained two Dulcianas; a record of the work by Francis Jones in 1851 showed a lone Dulciana on Choir. By the time of the Brindley & Foster rebuild in 1891 it was called Dolce.
Herbert Snow wrote in 1931:
'Mr. Smith' was the Smith of Abbott & Smith, who rebuilt the Chesterfield organ in 1891 and 1922.The little choir organ contains a metal dolce inserted by Snetzler; it is unique, and at one time attracted the attention of the late Dr. E.J. Hopkins. Mr. Smith showed me a post card, written by the genial old gentleman in 1891, having reference to the peculiar shape of these dolce pipes. The tone is delicate and silvery...
In their rebuild of 1957-8 the Willis firm found a cylindrical rank, not a conical one.
What are we to make of all this? If Snetzler's original Choir stop at Chesterfield was inverted-conical, it was replaced at some time between 1891 and 1957. If it was cylindrical - as it is today - then what are we to make of Hopkins' postcard? We may note in passing that Abbott & Smith, who rebuilt the organ in 1891, were themselves fond of inverted-conical Dolces, and often included them in organs from the 1870s onwards. Did Hopkins see an Abbot & Smith rank, not one by Snetzler? And if so, at what time since 1891 was a cylindrical rank substituted for it?
INTERLUDE: A POEM
On July 1st 1822 Samuel Bromley, from the nearby village of Brimington, penned his impressions of a visit to Chesterfield Church. His poem was printed locally and is preserved in Chesterfield Library. The mood is heavily rhetorical, and the content is almost a pastiche of Gray's 'Elegy':
Bromley castigates the ne'er-do-wells "who wander here and trample on the relics of the dead" in the churchyard; at length, he decides to go within:Here lies a maid who once was young and fair,
Health on her cheek, and sweetness in her eye;
Her bosom, strange to desolating care
She dreamed not of her dissolution nigh.
At length came sickness, then she had her share
Of pain and agony, and the sad sigh
Sprang from her tender heart both long and deep,
Then gently died upon her quivering lip.
I think the last two lines are rather fine, though needless to say the church has never had a literal "dome".And enter trembling in the sacred dome,
That long has been the seat of heavenly lore, -
Where many a marble monument and tomb,
Gives a short history of men, no more,
And sacred Silence holds her aweful rein,
Save when the organ breathes a solemn strain.
Snetzler's organ features again in the poem:
And, in the last two verses:The Heaven of heavens cannot Thee contain,
Where all the hierarches of Seraphim
Thy praises celebrate; much less this fane
Builded with human hands; yet here the hymn
Of gratitude is sung to thee with strain
Of warbling organ; and though Cherubim
May praise Thee nobler in the realms of light,
Thou deign'st to list us when we sing aright.
Adieu, ye gothic arches, hugely raised
By skilful architects in days of yore;
Adieu, ye monumental marbles glazed,
Where neat inscriptions speak of men, no more;
Ye antique figures, upon which I've gazed,
And ruminating, viewed you o'er and o'er,
I leave you: for polyphonism clear
Swells through the dome, and vibrates in my ear.It is the organ: presently will come
The different families who here repair
To worship God, who seeks no other home
Than the heart fervent in the act of prayer:
And I a stranger must no longer roam
From pier to pier respiring sacred air;
But contemplation and the Muse resign,
To worship Him, whose worship is divine.
FRANCIS JONES, 1842 & 1851
In a historical account of the organ (1897), the church organist Norman Biggin wrote that the Snetzler instrument had:
...no Coupler stops or Pedal Board, but these were added by Mr. Francis Jones of Sheffield, together with an octave and a half of Pedal Pipes (now incorporated in the Pedal Open Diapason) when the organ was removed into the North Transept from the West end of the Nave in the year 1842. In 1851, and after the appointment of Mr. Trimnell as Organist, the Instrument was entirely remodelled, on the German Scale, the compass of the Manuals ranging from CC in Bass to F in Alt., and the Pedal Organ from CCC to D (two octaves and two notes) and was removed to the East Gallery in the Nave. The Organ then comprised the following stops:-The Stops in italics are the additions or substitutions by Mr. Jones.
Great Organ: Open Diapason, Open Diapason, Stopt Diapason, Claribel, Principal, Twelfth, Fifteenth, Sesquialtra (4 ranks), Trumpet, Clarion.
Choir Organ: Stopt Diapason, Dulciana, Flute (4 feet), Principal, Fifteenth, Cremona.
Swell Organ: Tenoroon (16 feet tone), Open Diapason, Stopt Diapason, Principal, Twelfth, Fifteenth, Sesquialtra (3 ranks), Oboe, Cornopean, Clarion.
Pedal Organ: Grand Pedal Pipes Open Diapason (wood) 16 feet.
There were also the following continuation Stops on Swell Board (played by Pedal) down from Fiddle G to CC, Bourdon (wood) CCC, Open Diapason (metal) 8 feet, Stopt Diapason CC, Principal 4 feet CC, Sesquialtra (5 ranks).
Couplers:- Great to Pedals, Choir to Pedals, Swell to Pedals, Swell to Great, Choir Sub-Octave to Great (called Double to Great).
THE 1851 PEDAL DIVISION
The Pedal division is the most puzzling feature of this instrument, but the combination of open 'pedal pipes' and partial-compass chorus ranks on the Swell soundboard is not untypical of the confusing and ambiguous nature of the English pedal organ of the time.
Sperling (c.1855) noted that Jones' work included:
The Snetzler Swell had fiddle G as its bottom note; Sperling says that 7 notes had been added, making it a tenor C division. Biggin's notes tacitly infer that Swell was, like Great and Choir, extended down to 8ft. C. Who was correct?Swell virtually renewed, and extended to tenor C. Five couplers, and 'Grand Pedal Pipes' 16ft.
In 'The Making of the Victorian Organ' (Cambridge, 1990) Nicholas Thistlethwaite comments on the 1839 organ by J.W. Walker for Exeter Hall, London; it had a similarly idiosyncratic pedal chorus which was evidently conceived as a manual bass, its compass terminating at the lowest note of the manuals. The continuation stops on the pedal at Chesterfield, it seems, were intended to fulfil a similar need.
But according to Sperling, the Chesterfield Swell terminated at tenor C; there would therefore have been no need for the continuation stops to extend upwards to tenor G. And if Biggin is correct, and the Swell went down to 8ft. C, the continuation stops seem to be an attempt to provide an independent pedal chorus rather than a manual bass. Several English organs contained similar examples of pedal chorus ranks which only extended part-way up the pedal-board.
WHERE WAS THE ORGAN REALLY SITUATED?
Biggin states that in 1842 the organ was moved "from the West end of the Nave" to the north transept, and in 1851 to a gallery at the east end of the nave. But he contradicts himself later in his account when he says that the first organist's salary:
...was provided by Pew Rents derived from the East Gallery, and in which Gallery the Organ was first erected.
The illustration (left) looking east, from Ford's 'History of Chesterfield', 1839,
shows that the east gallery,
surmounted by the organ, effectively sealed off the nave from the chancel. During 1842-3 the church was
extensively re-ordered; all the old galleries were removed, and new ones fitted on the north,
west and south sides. As can be seen from the illustration below, the east end of the nave
was opened up, and has remained thus to the present day. It is therefore impossible, as Biggin
initially states, that the organ could have been put on the east gallery in 1851 - the gallery
had been removed eight years earlier. This error has been repeated in all published accounts
of the Chesterfield organ.The statement that the organ was built on the west gallery stems from a mis-reading of Ford's 'History' (1839), as quoted above. In another edition the above passage read slightly differently; after presenting the same information about the date, builder, cost and opening of the organ, it went on to say:
Nowhere did Ford state that the organ stood on the west gallery, though a hasty reading of this passage might lead one to infer it. Ford was in fact saying that in 1756 an organ was built, and at the same date a new west gallery was erected. The extant galleries on the north, south and east sides evidently remained.At the same time was opened the new gallery at the west end, which was erected by similar contributions, for the support and maintenance of an organist qualified to perform the service of the church.
Biggin is thus correct in his second statement, that the organ was originally built on
the east gallery. This is further substantiated both by published summaries of church
records (in 'History of Chesterfield', volume 2 part 2, by Bestall & Fowkes, Chesterfield
1984) and by the following colourful passage from 'Old and New Chesterfield' (1882) by
'Tatler' (the local author William Pendleton):
When the church was re-ordered in 1842-3, the organ went to the north transept, as Biggin claimed. Furthermore, it is possible that, by transposing 'east' and 'west' in Biggin's first, erroneous statement, that the organ could have been moved to the west end of the nave in 1851, possibly owing to its unfavourable impact when heard in the nave from its north transept position (see below). How very confusing.A very sweeping change was made in many of its internal features in 1842-3, when the old galleries and pews were removed, and the flat plaster ceiling was superseded by an oak roof, edged with heraldic shields. It looks a different church altogether now, with its low-backed seats, and modern galleries, and fancy gas brackets, and pretty lectern. Before the renovation, it smacked of family pews, with high partitions and cosy corners, where worshippers could sleep peacefully through the service, conscious that they were free from prying eyes...Before the existence of the surpliced choir, and the stalls they occupy on the Sabbath, the beautiful east window was hidden by a huge choir gallery that stretched across the nave just above the spot where the pulpit stands. In the centre of this gallery the organ towered nearly to the ceiling; and beneath it, but separated from the other portion of the nave by a lattice, were the seats frequented long ago by the nuns and friars.
When the Rev. Thomas Hill was the vicar, and Cooper, the parish clerk, used to give out the hymns and shout "Amen", Mrs. Dutton played the organ, and the choir consisted of both sexes. The choristers did not wear surplices, or understand much of the mysteries of intoning; but they were very sweet singers, and aroused such mutual admiration with their solos and anthems that they sometimes sang themselves into courtship and marriage.
The church from the south-west: postcard, c.1910
Chesterfield, 1849: from an old engraving
The Snetzler case: engraving by T.H. Lilley, c.1920
The interior before the 1843 restoration: from Ford's 'History of Chesterfield' (1839)
The interior after the 1843 restoration: engraving c.1844
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