1 December 1999

BAROQUE ECHOES: HENRY WILLIS III AND THE ORGAN OF THE COLSTON HALL, BRISTOL

Henry Willis III had finally driven himself into isolation, and had developed a habit of walking out of recitals on new organs, a public statement of his opposition to everything classical.
Stephen Bicknell: 'The History of the English Organ' (Cambridge, 1996)

If Willis III had indeed come to this by the 1960s, he was that most unfortunate of artists: one who lives long enough to see his creative ideals superseded by a younger generation; one who is perceived by the young reformers as an anachronism whose precepts must be swept aside in the name of progress. The same was true to an even greater degree of Ernest Skinner, whose glory days ended by the early 1930s, but who lived on for another thirty years, fulminating against those who rebuilt his organs.

Like his friend Skinner, Willis III had been a great reformer in his day. He gained control of the family firm in about 1915, and set about stamping his own creative seal on the Willis aesthetic. The organ world of his father, Henry Willis II, seemed not to have moved forward since the beginning of the century. There was some serious catching up to do, particularly in competition with such firms as Harrison and Norman & Beard. By the mid-1930s Willis had reached the high point of his career. His own innovations and the ideas he borrowed from Skinner were incorporated in a bold, individual style - the forthright choruses and high-pressure reeds, the 'baroque' mutations, the new voices (Sylvestrina, Orchestral Flute, pedal Contra Bass, Trompette Militaire, Waldhorn, Dulzian etc) and the distinctive Willis console were instantly recognisable. Harrisons had the cathedral circuit pretty well in their pocket, so Willis excelled in the secular arena, with large organs at Brisbane City Hall (1926), St. George's Hall, Liverpool (1931), Sheffield City Hall (1932), Birmingham Town Hall (1933) and, to return to the title of this account, the Colston Hall at Bristol (1936).

Here was an organ in the grand style. Father Willis had built a four-manual instrument in 1870, which was destroyed by fire in 1898. A replacement organ by Father Willis was opened in 1900 (the last substantial instrument of his career) and extensively rebuilt by Norman & Beard in 1905. With 106 stops it was one of the largest in the country, and was perhaps most famous for the 'Vox Mysticus' on the Echo organ, said to emulate of the voice of Clara Butt.

Willis III rebuilt the organ in 1936. He kept most of the old pipework while adding new voices and increasing the number of stops to 125, plus 11 percussions and traps. There was a new four-manual Willis console. This was now the third largest organ in Britain, behind those at Liverpool Cathedral (Willis) and the Royal Albert Hall (Harrison).

The Great was complete from 32ft. Contra Bourdon to six ranks of mixtures and four reeds. The 23-stop swell had nine reeds while the Choir, divided into enclosed and unenclosed sections, included a dulciana chorus from 16ft. to mixture. Solo was a comprehensive orchestral department of 19 stops, while the 31-stop Pedal had three full-length 32ft. stops, eight ranks of mixtures and eleven reeds. The wealth of woodwind stops was especially noteworthy, including Bass Clarinet, Corno di Bassetto, Orchestral Clarinet, Chalumeau, Dulzian, Hautboy, Bassoon, Orchestral Oboe, Cor Anglais, Musette, Vox Humana and Vox Mystica.

What of the Echo organ? In the Norman & Beard organ it was, synoptically, thus:

16.8.8.8.8.8.8.4.4.2.16.8.8.8.8.8.8

In this department Willis made his most radical departure. He had been the first British organ builder to introduce such baroqueries as Nazards, Tierces and 1ft. Piccolos in the 1920s. At the Colston Hall he went a stage further, and the result was thus:

ECHO 'TRADITIONAL' ORGAN
    16       Quintade
     8       Zauberflöte
     8       Unda Maris
     8       Sylvestrina
    5 1/3    Quint
     4       Koppel Flöte
    2 2/3    Nazard
     2       Silver Piccolo
    1 3/5    Terz
    1 1/3    Larigot
    1 1/7    Septième
     1       Octavin
    III      Cymbale  31.33.36
    16       Musette
     8       Post Horn
     8       Vox Mystica
             Tremolo
             Octave
             Suboctave
             Unison off

Nothing like it had been seen or heard in Britain before. The higher mutations were open conical flutes; the Koppel Flute had its traditional conical cap. The Cymbale especially was twenty or thirty years ahead of its time. Here was Willis being unashamedly avant-garde, and one wonders what the general run of 1930s British organists must have made of it. No doubt they would happily have sacrificed some of the upperwork for a Sylvestrina Celeste.

Noel Bonavia-Hunt enthusiastically praised the instrument, and particularly the Echo, in an article in 'The Organ' quarterly in 1937. After that, it seems to have suffered the same fate as many concert-hall organs: little used as a solo instrument, difficult of access, mostly played in combination with orchestras and choirs. (Really, a powerful two-manual organ would be just right for most concert halls.) It was destroyed less than ten years later, together with the hall, by bombs in World War 2.

When a new Colston Hall was built in 1950, a Harrison organ was installed. The glory days of Willis's career were over; despite some notable organs during the 1950s and 60s, his recipe of traditionally scaled chorus-work and high-pressure reeds combined with a selection of 'baroque' colours fell into increasing disfavour. The Colston Hall Echo division was only a memory of what might have been.