JULIAN RHODES' DREAM ORGANS

FIENDISH CUNNING:
AN 1867 FATHER WILLIS ORGAN AT KILKHAMPTON

A few weeks ago I was in the small town of Kilkhampton, Cornwall (UK) for a concert at St. James' Church. During a break in my afternoon rehearsal I was taken to the Methodist Chapel, my appetite having been whetted by the mention of a Father Willis organ.

I was told that the instrument had been the residence organ of W.H. Monk (1823-89), the composer of such well-known hymn-tunes as Eventide, All Things Bright and Beautiful, Merton, and Evelyns. The organ stands at the front of the chapel behing the choir pews, its 8ft. spotted metal front imposing in this little building. To my delight the console indeed suggested the work of Father Willis, and the copperplate script on the drawstop shields suggested a date in the 1860s (I later found that the NPOR identifies the organ as an 1867 Willis). The manual keys had obviously been resurfaced, but everything else, including the low bench and the trigger swell pedal, appeared to have survived unaltered. As I sat down and began to explore, this is what I found:

CHOIR:  Lieblich Gedact 8, Principal 4
GREAT:  Open Diapason 8, Flûte Harmonique 4
SWELL:  Salcional 8, Hautboy 8
PEDALE:  Bourdon 16

Tremulant (inoperative)
Couplers: 3 to Pedal; Swell to Great, Choir to Great, Octave coupler to Great
Trigger pedal to Swell          Horse-shoe pedal for Great to Pedal reversible
Four composition pedals to all the manual stops
Compass: 56/30

As I played it quickly became clear that not only is this organ a little gem, but also a fiendishly cunning one. What we have, in effect, is the tonal complement of a normal one- (or perhaps two-) manual organ of the period, distributed over three manuals, with an immesurable gain in versatility.

To play on the Open Diapason alone (the bass pipes of which form the front display) mercilessly reveals any flaws of articulation and continuity of line. This 1860s mechanical action is quite as responsive as most late 20th-century examples. Add the octave coupler and a flood of tone is released. Now try the Choir 4ft. Principal alone. It is gentler and looser in tone than its big brother on Great. Put in the octave coupler and couple through the 4ft. Principal to the 8ft. Open, and a more transparent, livlier chorus is the result.

Uncouple the manuals once more. Full Great balances full Choir nicely, and the different pitch-centre of each - 8ft. and 4ft. respectively - ensures that the divisions are well contrasted. This is perhaps the most useful result of not grouping all the stops on one manual, or indeed not arranging them in the conventional manner on two manuals, which would certainly have set the Open Diapason and Principal against the flutes, a far less useful plan.

Another recipe for balanced, contrasted choruses is to couple Swell to Great, add the Octave coupler, and play 8ft. Salcional and 4ft. Flûte Harmonique (sounding 8.4.4.2) against full Choir. Substitute the Hautboy (still with octave coupler) for the Salcional, and the choruses become yet more widely contrasted in colour.

The Salcional alone will accompany the Lieblich Gedact, or the Flûte Harmonique, or the Principal. The Flûte Harmonique will accompany and dialogue with the Principal. The Gedact or the Flûte Harmonique, or both together, will accompany or dialogue with the Hautboy. Full Swell will accompany the Open Diapason. The two flutes will play in dialogue. These were just the immediate possibilities which occured as I played this seemingly innocuous 7-stop organ.

Dividing the stops between three manuals greatly increases the initial cost of building an organ, but it became evident that it had been worth every penny.

There are four mechanical composition pedals. The presumably original settings are very clever and suggestive. Each pedal draws Swell to Great, Choir to Great and Great to Pedal, plus a selection of speaking stops. Thus one plays the following melanges from the Great manual:

1. Salcional 8, Principal 4.
2. Salcional 8.
3. Salcional 8, Hautboy 8, Flûte Harmonique 4, Principal 4.
4. All manual stops with 8ve coupler.

What we have in effect is general combinations at four dynamic levels: MP, P, MF and F. Note that these settings make it very easy to add or subtract further stops from each - adding the Gedact or Flûte Harmonique to No. 1; likewise to No.2; adding the Open Diapason or Octave coupler to No.3; subtracting the Octave coupler, or Open Diapason, or Principal, or Hautboy, from No.4. These settings are exactly the kind which are most useful to the player in the course of a movement. How easy it is to move gently between one set combination to the next by hand registration, and how infinitely more useful it is to have four general combinations than one or two to each manual.

Hand-registration giving contrasting choruses and dialogues; composition pedals giving ensemble combinations. This instrument seemed to contain a wealth of colour - and the means for its control - out of all proportion to its size.

My fleeting hour's meeting with this remarkable Victorian organ has stimulated me greatly. For a small instrument, it seems to me to be all that could be desired. As a working concert organist, I find three-manuality almost essential in a general-purpose practise organ. Here is a big instrument in miniature, and as such it reacts well to the romantic repertoire. There is none of the unsatisfactory effect which is so often results when playing 19th and 20th century music on small organs biased towards a tonal centre higher than 8ft. At Kilkhampton there is no intrusive upperwork to hurt your ears at close quarters, but there is a solid foundation of 8ft and 16ft registers. There is a proper complement of open metal pipes; you do not, as is so often the case in modern small organs, suffer death by flutes.

I wonder if Father Willis made any more organs like this one? I wonder where I can pick one up for my music room?

Julian Rhodes
August 1998