JULIAN RHODES' DREAM ORGANS
In addition to his duties at the Cathedral, Cocker was also organist at the Regal Cinema,
Altrincham, which had a 3-manual Compton organ. He was an unusually versatile and resourceful
player, then, and one with definite and often unusual ideas about organ specifications.
Norman Cocker wrote:
In fact, the rebuild was far less dramatic than Cocker's ideals might suggest.
The main innovation was that the 'Father Smith' organ was given electric action and made
playable from the Great manual of the main organ, together with the Screen division and, of
course, the chancel Great. Transfer switches threw these three divisions onto other manuals
as desired, and Cocker was immensely proud of the versatility made possible by their
imaginative use, conjouring up quasi- English, French, German and 'miniature' organ
dispositions from the transfer switches and the six manual departments.
Cocker was also pleased with the remodelling of the Choir division. He
stressed the role of very soft stops in a cathedral organ:
The late Sir Walford Davies at the Temple Church and later at Windsor used to
make striking use of finely shredded salicional and dulciana tones of extreme
delicacy with their subtle property of distilling that elusive state known
as "atmosphere". The echo dulciana on the choir of the late Temple Church organ
was just whispered sound; and there is another entrancing tonal elf (with
céleste) of microscopic size in the choir organ of Clapham Parish Church
(Hunter); while with the Compton salicionals extended from 16ft. up to mixture you
can weave spiders' webs in sound.
This scheme is very similar to that of the Choir division at King's College, Cambridge,
built by Harrison & Harrison in 1934; Manchester seems to pre-date
it very slightly. The Cambridge stoplist was prepared in consultation with the organist
at King's, Bernhard Ord; it would be interesting to discover which was
drawn up first, and who was responsible for these unusual schemes.
Cocker wrote:
The scheme was to be carried out jointly between Compton and Harrison. There were to be three
organs: an electronic in the Lady Chapel, and pipe-organs in the chancel and nave, both of
which were to be heavily extended throughout. There were to be 33 totally enclosed and
extended ranks in the chancel organ. The nave organ was to be housed in the arch of the
west tower, and would consist of the following divisions: Great, Bombarde, Grand Choeur,
Positif, Swell, Choir, Solo, Pedal. There were to be 44 extended ranks; only the Grand Choeur
division was to be straight, and to contain a 26 rank chorus up to 1/4ft., "including most of
the 'odd' partials above the neuvieme... eg. onzieme, trezieme, quatorzieme etc." There were
to be three consoles, including a 'master' console with nearly 400 stops and a chancel console
with nearly 200.
These interesting and ambitious plans came to nothing. In 1948 Harrisons published a leaflet
setting out the scheme for the "restoration and remodelling" of the organ, to plans drawn up
by Cocker. The old instrument had had 79 stops; the new one was to contain 100.
Some of the features of the former organ persisted in the new scheme.
The Screen Great, with a stoplist close to the previous one, was re-instated
to accompany congregations in the nave. The Choir organ had its powerful flues too - the
Diapason Stentor and Doppelflöte - for massed unison effects in the chancel. The large
Pedal organ was remarkable for its date; there was upperwork aplenty, as well as an unusually
colourful range of derived basses. There are not very many British organs even today
with two Pedal mixtures. The scheme was full of those quiet colours which Cocker considered
necessary for choral accompaniment. The complement of four celestes and two percussions is
extremely rare in Britain.
Cocker had written, of the previous instrument:
The Choir division is shorn of upperwork, which has largely migrated to
Swell and Solo. The latter is a fresh development of the old style of
Harrison Solo organ. Also noteworthy is the derivation of the Solo brass
registers to all manuals and Pedal. As well as being attractive voices in their own right,
perhaps Cocker found them useful in playing orchestral scores.
Note the provision of an extra octave of treble pipes to most of the organ,
for use with the octave couplers. This American feature is extremely rare in
British organs, particularly so in cathedral instruments. Octave couplers
on Great are rarer still; the traditional wisdom is that a well-balanced chorus
will be upset by their use, and that they are open to abuse by unmusical
players. Both statements are true, but it is refreshing to see that
Cocker was not primarily concerned with making his organ fool-proof.
He evidently considered that their selective use increased the colouristic
resources of the instrument, and that it was the player's responsibility to
use them wisely.
The first part of the organ was not installed until 1952. In the intervening
four years the stoplist had been modified. Some of its
most unusual and characteristic features had disappeared: the Screen Great and
its percussions, the two big unison Choir flues, and two of the four celestes.
The upperwork had been considerably altered. The flat sevenths were deleted
from Great and Solo; the manual mixtures, apart from the new terz-Cymbel on Solo,
now comprised unisons and quints only, and were recomposed to begin higher.
The independent mutations were shuffled around between the divisions,
and the Choir lost its unison bias and gained gentle upperwork. The Solo
flutes changed colour. The whole scheme, in fact, was subtly
transformed from a rather dark-hued 1940s organ into a lighter, cleaner 1950s one.
Here is the stoplist of the organ as it was installed. Norman Cocker died shortly
after the Choir and Solo sections were brought into use; the rest of the instrument was
not finished until 1957.
Part two contains an article by Cocker about the design of small
church organs.
- Books -
- Articles & Leaflets -
Norman Cocker is today remembered mainly for his 'Tuba Tune'. He was assistant organist at
Manchester Cathedral from 1923, and organist from 1943 until his death ten years later.
Those who experienced his playing at first hand were unusually complimentary. Michael Davis,
writing in 'The Organ', July 1956, remembered sitting in the cathedral organ-loft with Cocker
in 1933, shortly before the 5-manual organ was rebuilt:
Bernard Edmonds wrote, in 'The Organ', April 1956, that Cocker was "a far greater organist
than many outside Manchester ever realised". He recalls how he:
To my youthful eyes the console looked enormous, but I shall never forget his
complete mastery of it. So far as I recall, pistons were not much used, and
stop changing was carried out either by hand, or an elbow would give a tap
to one stop or another, and on more than one occasion I saw him, both hands
(and elbows) being fully occupied, bang in a stop with his head!
For more on the temporary organ, see below.
had the great good fortune to be invited by the late Norman Cocker of Manchester Cathedral
to sit by his side at the console during Evensong. It was a wonderful display of musicianship
and virtuosity to the beholder; to anyone listening without seeing, it would have been a more
than usually competent accompaniment to a cathedral service. But then they would not have
known that only a temporary two-manual organ was in use, and they could not have appreciated
the artistry which got several assorted gallons from a pint pot. They would at one point
have heard, as I did, a melody on the clarinet with accompaniment on a quiet flute-strings
combination. They would not, however, have realised that the clarinet and its accompaniment
were both in fact on the same manual! As I sat there, I heard the clarinet phrases
float away, and come gently to earth on a cushion of quiet chords. What I actually saw
was a very clever piece of deception! But quite apart from such bits of legerdemain - carried
out at top speed with almost entiely hand-registration - I saw the resources of an organ
used to the utmost in a way I have not seen approached before or since.
. . .
...the temporary organ contained a 1ft. twenty-second (drawing separately)
on the swell - and one psalm verse was accompanied on that stop alone
with octave coupler! There was no doubt about it... My eyes popped
out like stop-knobs. What did it sound like? If you knew Norman Cocker
you know the answer to that. It sounded just right!
In 'The Organ', October 1942, Cocker contributed an article about the 1932-4
rebuild of the Manchester Cathedral organ. The instrument had been built by Hill in 1874
and rebuilt in 1910. In 1918 Harrison & Harrison reconstructed
and entirely revoiced the instrument, leaving it with 69 speaking stops on
five manuals. The pipework was disposed in the two western-most bays of the
choir except for the seven stop 'Screen Organ', a loud section
designed to leading congregational singing in the nave. There was also
a small chamber organ, known as the 'Father Smith' organ, which stood
little-used in a side aisle. The photograph (left) was taken from the quire
looking west, and shows the screen division.
He discussed the diverse roles a cathedral organ must play, and
its even more diverse musical repertoire.
A cathedral organist needs command almost as much variety of playing as an actor.
Cocker's ideals were made clear:
And to crown everything, the cathedral staff together with a handful of more or
less regular worshippers hear - and at times listen to - their cathedral organ
almost daily; and it is easy to imagine how wearisome and devitalising this
frequent dose of organ tone can become if administered by a player who uses
his instrument in precisely the same fashion each time he plays; who varies
the quantity rather than the quality of tone; who has no sense of
differentiation of style, no freshness of approach, no imagination,
no colour, and alas! few or no stop combinations beyond those provided ready-made
for him by pistons and pedals. And with an ill-equipped instrument into the
bargain such a player can do untold harm.
Extention, electric action, and an amalgam of organ-building schools
in a single instrument: Cocker's position is about as unfashionable as
it is possible to be in the Britain of 1999. But he was above all a
practical musician, to whom theoretical considerations and
aesthetic posturings were as nothing when compared with the business of making
music.
A cathedral organ should therefore be akin to a chameleon, - capable
of accommodating itself to any situation; a combination of Silbermann
and Willis, Cavaillé-Coll and Harrison, Schulze and
Wurlitzer, with a generous sprinkle of Compton for good leavening. It
needs the old gentle light-winded flues and chorus reeds, the vivid French
colourings and blendings, the English beauty, sturdiness, and fineness of
finish, the Schulze boldness of flue treatment, the Hope-Jones master strokes
with his orchestral flexibility and all too rare battery of tonal percussions;
and, finally, a discrete use of extention, that pipes may not stand idle in
their holes and that precious space not be wasted; together with the last word
in electrical control, simply, efficiently and inexpensively carried out.
The old Choir organ, with its disposition of 16.8.8.8.8.4.4.2.III.8,
was remodelled as follows:
In any cathedral organ the provision of a very wide variety of soft and
even pianissimo pipework is important: for the daily services, sung by
a choir of something like two dozen voices, require comparatively little
organ power, but - to counteract satiety apart from purely musical reasons -
plenty of choice in the matter of tone colour. At Manchester, nothing below
piano was possible on the old unenclosed choir organ, whose least
obtrusive stop was the dulcet 4ft. played an octave lower. Fair
pianissimos were possible only on the swell salicional, or even less
interestingly on one of the swells lieblichs.
16 Contra Salicional (t.c.)
8 Geigen
8 Dulciana
8 Vox Angelica (t.c.) old 4ft.
8 Stopped Diapason
4 Salicet new
4 Suabe Flöte
2 2/3 Nazard new
2 Dulcet
1 3/5 Tierce new
1 1/3 Larigot new
1 Twenty-second new
and a borrowed 8ft. Tuba from Solo.
The cathedral sustained bomb-damage
in December 1940, and the organ was partially destroyed. A temporary two-manual instrument
to Cocker's stoplist was assembled by Harrison & Harrison and made playable from the main
console in 1943:
Strictly speaking a nazard connotes flute tone; but this stop was a dulciana,
and was therefore misnamed. That was my fault. The tierce was the only flute
in the upper work. Thus the choir organ became almost an echo organ. The
gentle and only slightly pungent geigen was no more than piano with
the shutters open, and the dulciana family and 16ft. salicional could be
shut down to a ppp like will o' the wisps.
GREAT
16 Double Salicional former Pedal
8 Large Open Diapason
8 Small Open Diapason
8 Clarabella
4 Octave
4 Salicet former Choir
4 Claribel Flute former Choir Suabe Flöte
2 Super Octave
III Mixture pipes from various sources
Octave
Unison Off
Sub Octave
Swell to Great
Great & Pedal combinations coupled
SWELL
8 Open Diapason
8 Lieblich Gedeckt
8 Salicional
8 Voix Célestes sharp
8 Echo Dulciana former Choir
8 Vox Angelica flat; former Choir
4 Principal
4 Suabe Flute former Great
2 Fifteenth
1 Twentysecond former Choir
III Mixture pipes from various sources
Tremulant
16 Double Trumpet
8 Trumpet
8 Clarinet former Solo
4 Clarion
Octave
Unison Off
Sub Octave
Swell & Pedal combinations coupled
PEDAL
16 Open Wood
16 Salicional Great
16 Sub Bass
8 Octave Wood ext.
8 Bass Flute ext.
Great to Pedal
Swell to Pedal
Accessories as per original console, including 10 pistons to Great & 8 to Swell.
Wind pressures: flues 3 3/4in., reeds & action 7in.
"Very few of the original Swell pipes remain, and the whole department is a hotchpotch
of material both from the pre-war instrument and also from Messrs. Harrisons' factory."
(Stoplist from Harrisons' specification leaflet for the new organ proposal, 1948)
In 1944 Cecil Clutton called the temporary organ "masterly"; he wrote:
While the temporary organ did duty, Cocker was hatching plans for a new cathedral instrument which
would fully realise his tonal ideals. I have not yet located the complete stoplist, but
Laurence Elvin, in his book 'Pipes and Actions', quoted from a letter he had received from
Cocker in 1943 which gave an outline plan.
This is one of the most enthralling organs I have met, and really demands an article
to itself. Suffice it for the moment to say that the fifteen-stop swell has a 1ft. which
may almost be said to enhance the range of the department by twenty per cent.
PEDAL
32 Double Open Wood
16 Open Wood ext. 32ft.
16 Open Metal
16 Bourdon Screen Great 16ft.
16 Salicional Chancel Great 16ft.
8 Octave Wood ext. 32ft.
8 Octave Metal ext. 16ft.
8 Principal
8 Bass Flute Screen Great 16ft.
8 Salicet Chancel Great 16ft.
5 1/3 Octave Quint
4 Super Octave ext. Principal 8ft.
4 Fifteenth
4 Flute Screen Great 16ft.
III Mixture 17.19.22
IV Scharf 19.22.26.29 from 8ve Quint, 15th & Mixture
32 Double Ophicleide
16 Ophicleide ext.
8 Clarion ext.
Enclosed section:
16 Viole Solo
16 Dulciana Swell
8 Dulciana Principal Swell
16 Posaune Choir
16 Hautboy Swell
8 Octave Hautboy Swell
8 French Horn Solo
8 Orchestra Tuba Solo
4 Orchestral Clarion Solo
CHOIR (enclosed)
8 Cantabile Diapason
8 Viola da Gamba
8 Echo Dulciana
8 Stopped Flute wood
8 Unda Maris tc
4 Flauto Amabile
8 Clarinet
Tremulant
8 Diapason Stentor
8 Doppelflöte wood
16 Contra Posaune
8 Posaune
4 Octave Posaune
8 Tuba Magna Solo
Octave
Unison Off
Sub Octave
Chancel Great on Choir
Screen Great on Choir
CHANCEL GREAT
16 Double Salicional wood & metal
8 Diapason 1
8 Diapason 2
8 Clarabella wood
4 Principal
4 Salicet
4 Waldflöte wood
2 2/3 Twelfth
2 Fifteenth
1 3/5 Tierce
III Mixture 19.21.22
16 Contra Posaune Choir
8 Posaune Choir
4 Octave Posaune Choir
8 French Horn Solo
8 Orchestral Tuba Solo
8 Tuba Magna Solo
Octave
Unison Off
Sub Octave
SCREEN GREAT
16 Bourdon wood
8 Major Diapason
8 Geigen Diapason
8 Claribel Flute wood
4 Octave
4 Flûte Harmonique
II Rauschquint 12.15
Harp Celesta 8' tc
Harp Celesta 4' ext.
SWELL
16 Contra Dulciana
8 Diapason
8 Echo Salicional
8 Vox Angelica AA sharp
8 Dulciana ext.
8 Dulciana Célestes tc
8 Lieblich Gedeckt wood & metal
4 Principal
4 Suabe Flute
2 Fifteenth
1 Twenty Second
V Mixture 17.19.22.26.29
16 Contra Hautboy
8 Hautboy
Tremulant
16 Double Trumpet
8 Trumpet
4 Clarion
8 French Horn Solo
Octave
Unison Off
Sub Octave
SOLO
16 Contra Viole
8 Viole d'Orchestre
8 Viole Céleste CC
4 Viole Octaviante
8 Harmonic Flute
4 Concert Flute
2 2/3 Nazard
2 Piccolo
1 3/5 Tierce
1 1/7 Septième
8 Orchestral Oboe
8 Vox Humana
Tremulant
8 French Horn
8 Orchestral Tuba
8 Tuba Magna unenclosed
Octave
Unison Off
Sub Octave
10 unison couplers; Great & Pedal combs. coupled, Swell & Pedal combs. coupled.
All octave couplers to play through the 10 unison couplers.
All ranks except Screen Great, Solo reeds and Choir Clarinet to have an extra
octave of treble pipes for use with the octave couplers.
This feature was also to be true of the rebuilt organ. The Salicionals at 16ft. and 4ft.
increase the possibilities of unassertive 'free organ-tone', to use Audsley's
phrase.
...the normal great was built upon a diapason foundation of a power somewhat
akin to that of the small open of an average three-manual great - a mere
mezzoforte, as befitted its daily use with no more than twenty-eight
singers.
PEDAL
32 Double Open Wood
16 Open Wood ext. 32ft.
16 Open Metal
16 Bourdon
16 Salicional Chancel Great
8 Octave Wood ext. 32ft.
8 Octave Metal ext. 16ft.
8 Principal
8 Bass Flute ext. 16ft.
8 Salicet Chancel Great
5 1/3 Octave Quint
4 Super Octave ext. Principal 8ft.
4 Fifteenth
4 Flute ext. 16ft.
III Mixture 17.19.22
IV Scharf 19.22.26.29 from 8ve Quint, 15th & Mixture
32 Double Ophicleide
16 Ophicleide ext.
8 Clarion ext.
Enclosed section:
16 Viole Solo
16 Dulciana Swell
8 Dulciana Principal Swell
16 Posaune Choir
16 Hautboy Swell
8 Octave Hautboy Swell
8 French Horn Solo
8 Orchestra Tuba Solo
4 Orchestral Clarion Solo
CHOIR
8 Cantabile Diapason
8 Stopped Flute
4 Gemshorn
4 Flauto Amabile
2 2/3 Twelfth
2 Fifteenth
1 3/5 Tierce
1 Twenty-second
8 Clarinet
Tremulant
16 Contra Posaune
8 Posaune
4 Octave Posaune
8 Tuba Magna Solo
Octave
Unison Off
Sub Octave
GREAT
16 Double Salicional
8 Diapason 1
8 Diapason 2
8 Clarabella
4 Principal
4 Salicet
4 Wald Flöte
2 2/3 Twelfth
2 Fifteenth
1 1/3 Nineteenth
III Mixture 22.26.29
16 Contra Posaune Choir
8 Posaune Choir
4 Octave Posaune Choir
8 French Horn Solo
8 Orchestral Tuba Solo
8 Tuba Magna Solo
Octave
Unison Off
Sub Octave
SWELL
16 Contra Dulciana
8 Diapason
8 Echo Salicional
8 Dulciana
8 Voix Célestes (tc)
8 Lieblich Gedeckt
4 Principal
4 Suabe Flute
2 Fifteenth
1 1/3 Larigot
II Sesquialtera 12.17 (tc)
V Mixture 19.22.26.29.33
16 Contra Hautboy
8 Hautboy
Tremulant
16 Double Trumpet
8 Trumpet
4 Clarion
8 French Horn Solo
Octave
Unison Off
Sub Octave
SOLO
16 Contra Viole
8 Viole d'Orchestre
8 Viole Céleste (tc)
4 Viole Octaviante
8 Spitzflöte
4 Flute Harmonique
2 2/3 Nazard
2 Blockflute
1 Flageolet
III Cymbel 26.29.31
8 Orchestral Oboe
8 Vox Humana
Tremulant
8 French Horn
8 Orchestral Tuba
8 Tuba Magna
Octave
Unison Off
Sub Octave
10 unison couplers; Great & Pedal combs. coupled, ditto Swell & Pedal combs.
All octave couplers to play through the 10 unison couplers.
All ranks except the Solo reeds and Choir Clarinet to have an extra
octave of treble pipes for use with the octave couplers.
MAIN SOURCES
ELVIN, Laurence: The Harrison Story (Lincoln, 1977)
ELVIN, Laurence: Pipes and Actions (Lincoln, 1995)
COCKER, Norman: The Organs of Manchester Cathedral 1934-1940 (in
'The Organ' quarterly, London, October 1942)
DAVIS, Michael T.: The Late Norman Cocker (letter in 'The Organ'
quarterly, London, July 1956)
EDMONDS, Bernard B.: For the Elephant's Children (in 'The Organ'
quarterly, London, April 1956)
WILSON, A.W.: The Organs of Manchester Cathedral (in 'The Organ'
quarterly, London, July 1932)
Harrison & Harrison: King's College Chapel, Cambridge (specification
leaflet, Durham 1933)
Harrison & Harrison: Manchester Cathedral (specification leaflet,
Durham 1948)