The following curiosity is taken from 'Musical Opinion', April 1890. One presumes that the author was being completely serious.

Will you permit me to place on permanent record, in your valuable pages, some particulars of an organ which may be interesting to many lovers of that noble instrument. On the night of December 21st last, a disastrous fire took place at the organ factory of Messrs. Clark & Son, Bath. In that factory was an organ belonging to me which, when completed, would have ranked among the most noteworthy of our national instruments. It was originally built by Snetzler, in 1775, and was even then a fair sized instrument, containing a great organ of twelve stops, a choir of five and - possibly - an echo organ. I say "possibly," as in a swell which was added about 1825 there was a rank of cornet pipes which were undoubtedly Snetzler's work. This organ, being for sale, I purchased it from St. Margaret's Chapel, Bath. I believe that Dr. Hopkins mentions its existence, and determined that neither time, trouble nor expense should be spared to preserve inviolate the "wealth of sweetness" of which I became possessed. Certainly the tone was exquisite: the stopped diapasons (metal, with chimneys) were unsurpassed. The flute (choir) was also of the same pattern, and the power and richness of these stopped pipes were most remarkable. There was very little woodwork beyond the great organ.

The scheme for reconstructing this organ was, at first, for between seventy and eighty stops. Snetzler's soundboards, which were of solid oak and as good as the day they were made, were new-palleted and extended to meet modern requirements; all the rest of the old action was discarded. The scheme of the organ - in drawing up the specification of which I was assisted by my friend, Dr. Turpin - was for four manuals and a half. The half manual was only inserted to retain, as a curiosity, the original black keys of Snetzler's make, and acted on a set of bells with pianoforte action, a 33 in. drum, cymbals and triangle. The stops were very similar to those of the Halifax Church organ [Snetzler 1766].

But I lament the loss of this instrument the more as I had embodied in its construction some ideas which I particularly desired to bring to a practical test. Scarcely any half-dozen sets of pipes were by the same maker.

I believe that the reason why most of our great organs fail to give the real satisfaction and enjoyment that they ought to from their size is because of the uniformity of scale and voicing of the stops. I am sure that no musical critic can listen to the great organ at the Albert Hall [the Willis organ of 1872] without being struck with the want of satisfaction it gives. The sound of half the pipes is lost: being so many of them of the same scale they speak into one another, the vibrations coalesce, and the sound is lost. Many organs lose their power in the same way, for it is the common custom to make the principal of the same scale as the open, and the fifteenth of the same scale as the principal; hence, when the same notes occur, as they often do, the speech of one of them is imperceptible. In my organ, I had no two sets of flue pipes made to exactly the same scale. Again, I desired to carry out Mr. Lewis's views (and my own) that the upper notes of the diapasons are, as a rule, of a scale disproportionately small. My large open was CC 9in. in diameter; tenor C was 4 1/2in.; middle C 2 1/2in. Of course, some would laugh at such a scale, but the practical effect was grand and massive in the extreme.

With regard to the other stops, I had a grand trombone made of brass, with bell mouths like a cornet. These were supplied by a German builder of orchestrions at a guinea per pipe. The same maker supplied a set of piccolos on the same principle as those used by Messrs. Imhof & Mukle. The 16ft. trombone was by the late Mr. Courcelle; the clarinet and bassoon by M. Cavaillé-Coll. Mr. White, of Bristol, made the rest of the reeds with unequalled skill, as also the large open; while Mr. Clarke, sen., of Bath, so well-known for his skill in voicing, carried out that important duty. The large wind reservoir was about 15ft. by 12ft., and there were five separate ones for supplying the pneumatic action and different pressures.

A few months would have completed the work. I regret to say that the instrument was only insured for a very small sum, and that I am now unable to carry out the ideas I proposed.

In conclusion, I have to say that I have two of John Snetzler's autographs in bold letters which were taken from the interior of the soundboard of this unfortunate instrument, which I shall be pleased to present to any institution or society that may desire to possess them.

J.J.S. Bird