JULIAN RHODES' DREAM ORGANS
PROPOSALS WHICH REMAINED ON PAPER

The Royal Festival Hall organ was famously controversial when it burst upon the public in 1954. Both in stoplist and sound it was unlike anything else attempted in Britain before, and proved to be a bracing harbinger of the classical reform movement.

In his book 'Baroque Tricks' the organ's designer, Ralph Downes (1904-1993) described the evolution of the scheme. Here is the third of his stoplist drafts, c.1948.

I FRONT POSITIVE
     8       Bourdon à Cheminée        12 wood on front
     4       Spitzflute                front
    2 2/3    Nazard                    metal, chimneys
     2       Octave
    1 3/5    Tierce
    1 1/3    Larigot
     1       Sifflöte
    IV       Petite Cymbale 33.36.40.43
     8       Cromorne
 
II BACK POSITIVE
     8       Holzprincipal             oak, metal from c1, 24 on front      
     4       Octave
     2       Waldflute
    II       Sesquialtera 12.17
    IV       Scharff 22.29.33.36
     8       Regal
             Back Positive on Solo (off manual I)
 
I CHOIR (enclosed)
    16       Dulciana
     8       Hohlflute                 wood
     8       Salicional
     8       Vox Angelica              A sharp
     4       Gemshorn                  old English
     4       Nason                     old English
     2       Flageolet                 large scale
    III      Clochette 19.21.22
    16       Bass Clarinet
     8       Orchestral Oboe
             Tremulant
 
II GREAT
    16       Principal Conique         front
     8       Diapason                  12 front
     8       Spitzflute                12 front
     8       Harmonic Flute            12 open wood
     8       Bourdon                   12 wood
     4       Octave
     4       Rohrflute
    2 2/3    Nazard                    conical
     2       Doublette
     2       Quarte
    1 3/5    Tierce
    IV       Fourniture  15.19.22.26.29
    IV       Cymbale  26.29.33.36
     8       Trumpet                   medium
     4       Clarion                   medium scale
 
III SWELL (behind Great)
    16       Quintatön                 12 wood
     8       Geigen
     8       Gedeckt
     8       Viole de Gambe
     8       Voix Célestes
     4       Octave Geigen
     4       Flauto Traverso
     2       Fifteenth
    III      Cornet de Récit           Bédos
    IV       Mixture 19.22.26.29
    III      Terz Zimbel 29.31.33
    16       Bombarde                  half-length bass
     8       Trumpet
     8       Hautbois
     8       Voix Humaine
     4       Clarion
             Tremulant
 
IV GRAND
   16        Principal                 front
   16        Bourdon                   24 wood
    8        Major Diapason            12 on front
    8        Gemshorn                  12 on front
   5 1/3     Quint
    4        Octave
   3 1/5     Tierce
   2 2/7     Septième
   IV        Rauschpfeife 12.15.19.22
 III-V       Grand Cornet              Bédos
             enclosed in Solo box:
   16        Bombarde
    8        Trumpet                   harmonic
    4        Clarion                   harmonic
             Grand on Great (off Solo)
 
IV SOLO (enclosed, behind Grand)
   16        Violon
    8        Flûte Majeure             wood
    8        Violoncello
    8        Violons Célestes
    4        Orchestral Flute          wood, harmonic
    4        Spitzgamba (Fugara)
    2        Zauberpiccolo             stopped harmonic metal
   II        Tertian 24.26
   16        Cor Anglais
    8        Corno di Bassetto
             Tremulant
    8        French Horn
    8        Tuba Major
    4        Tuba Clarion       
 
PEDAL
   32        Principal                 12 wood, beards
   16        Major Bass                open wood
   16        Principal                 front
   16        Sub Bass
   16        Violon                    Solo
   16        Dulciana                  Choir
   16        Quintatön                 Swell
  10 2/3     Quint                     open wood
    8        Octave                    front
    8        Flute                     wood, front
    8        Bourdon                   extension Sub Bass 16
    8        Viola                     Solo 16ft.
   6 2/5     Tierce
   5 1/3     Quint
   4 4/7     Septième
    4        Octave
   3 1/5     Tierce
   2 2/3     Nazard                    conical 
    2        Blockflute                conical
   VI        Mixture 19.22.26.29.33.36
   32        Bombarde
   16        Bombarde
   16        2nd Bombarde              Grand 16ft.
   16        Bass Clarinet             Choir
    8        Trumpet
    8        2nd Trumpet               Grand 8ft.
    8        Regal                     Back Positive
    4        Clarion
    2        Cornett
 
Wind pressures:  Positive 3in., Choir 3 1/2in.
                 Great 3 3/4in., Swell 4in.
                 Solo 5in., French Horn & Tubas 15in.
                 Grand 3 3/4in., reeds 5in.
                 Pedal 3 1/2in., Bombardes 32ft. & 16ft. 4in

In retrospect, Downes described this scheme as:

...more unwieldy and less integrated then either of its predecessors: in particular, the Positive section was losing significance... I myself felt uneasy, and it was for my good friend, G. Donald Harrison... to pull me out of this misconception of a classical concert organ... he said of the Grand division, "Forget it!" Following this I managed to produce a more simplified scheme, which actually became the final 'Tender Specification'.

Downes was correct that the Positive was becoming insignificant in the overall tonal structure; that was remedied in his new scheme in which there was a single Positive division of 13 stops, including a principal chorus to two five-rank mixtures.

Ironically, the Grand/Great concept has since been successfully incorporated in several instruments, including those at the Christian Science Mother Church, Boston (Aeolian-Skinner 1952) and the Myerson Symphony Center, Dallas (Fisk 1992).

In his simplification of the above scheme, Downes pruned a considerable amount of tonal colour, and achieved thereby an arguably more coherent result. Many commentators have regretted the eventual transformation of the Solo into a further diapason/flute/reed chorus division. The organ as built was notably lacking in some of the more vivid registers so evident in the above proposal.

(Information from 'Baroque Tricks' by Ralph Downes, Oxford 1983)