JULIAN RHODES' DREAM ORGANS
PROPOSALS WHICH REMAINED ON PAPER

In 1879 Henry Willis, T.C. Lewis and Thomas Hill submitted proposals for the rebuilding of the organ at Westminster Abbey. The extant instrument had last been rebuilt by William Hill in 1848, to the following synoptic stoplist:

GREAT: 16.8.8.8.6.4.4.3.2.V.III.16.8.4
SWELL: 16.8.8.4.2.III.16.8.8.4
CHOIR:  8.8.8.4.4.8
PEDAL: 32(?16).16

Each of the 1879 proposals was in effect for a new organ, using some pipes and parts from the former instrument. In the event, the Hill proposal won the day, and the rebuilt organ was opened in 1884.

Here is the Willis stoplist:

GREAT     
    16       Open Diapason
    16       Double Stopped Diapason    wood
             ("Quintatön of positive character, each note speaking its 
               fundamental note of 16ft. and its harmonic twelfth".)
     8       Open Diapason
     8       Open Diapason
     8       Open Diapason
     8       Open Diapason              wood
     4       Principal
     4       Principal
     4       Flûte Harmonique
     3       Twelfth
     2       Fifteenth
     2       Piccolo
     V       Mixture
    16       Trombone
     8       Ophicleide
     8       Trumpet (harmonic)
     8       Clarion (harmonic)
 
SWELL
    16       Lieblich Bourdon           metal & wood
     8       Open Diapason
     8       Open Flute                 wood
     8       Lieblich Gedackt           metal & wood
     8       Salicional     )   "two soft but very reedy Gambas;
     8       Vox Angelica   )    instant articulation"
     4       Principal
     4       Flute (harmonic)
     4       Lieblich Flöte             metal & wood
     2       Fifteenth
     2       Piccolo (harmonic)
     V       Mixture
    16       Contra Hautboy
     8       Cornopean
     8       Hautboy
     4       Clarion
 
CHOIR
    16       Contra 'Gamba      (all gambas to have "instant articulation")
     8       Open Diapason
     8       Claribel Flute            wood, closed bass
     8       Lieblich Gedackt          metal & wood
     8       Viola-da-Gamba
     8       Echo 'Gamba
     4       Principal
     4       Flûte Harmonique
     4       Lieblich Flute            metal & wood
     4       Octave 'Gamba
     2       Fifteenth
     2       Piccolo Harmonique
     8       Trumpet
     8       Corno di Bassetto
 
SOLO (partly enclosed)
     8       Flûte Harmonique
     4       Flûte Harmonique
     2       Piccolo
     8       Oboe Orchestral
     8       Clarinet
     8       Vox Humana
     8       Tuba
 
PEDALE
    32       Double Open Diapason     wood
    16       Open Diapason            wood
    16       Violone
    16       Bourdon                  wood
     8       Principal                wood
     8       Violoncello
     8       Flute Bass               wood
     4       Super Octave
    III      Mixture
    32       Contra Posaune           wood
    16       Ophicleide
     8       Clarion
 
Couplers:  Swell 8ve to Great, Swell to Great, Swell sub8ve to Great,
           Choir to Great, Solo to Great, Solo to Pedals, Swell to Pedals,
           Great to Pedals, Choir to Pedals.
Tremulant.
Pedals to Swell to Great, Solo to Great, Great to Pedals.
Compass: 61/32.
Six thumb pistons to each manual.
Four composition pedals to Pedal, with an "auxilliary movement" to affect
     Great stops also.
"All new metal pipes to be made of tin, alloyed with ten per cent. of 
soft lead for working purposes.  Those in front to be burnished and 
elaborately mouthed".

On Great the fourth 8ft. Open Diapason was to be of wood and thus a substitute for an open flute. The same arrangement applied at one time in the Willis organ at St. Paul's Cathedral.

Note the way in which Willis deliberately limits his range of tonal colours - using only three kinds of manual flute, for example - but builds them up in families throughout. This gives the stoplist a classical strength and unity.

Here is the Lewis stoplist:

GREAT     
    16       Open Diapason
    16       Bourdon
     8       Open Diapason Large
     8       Open Diapason Small
     8       Viola
     8       Stopped Diapason
     8       Hohl Flute or Wald Flute or Clarabella
     4       Octave
     4       Flute Harmonique
    2 2/3    Octave Quint
     2       Super Octave
    III      Mixture 15
    IV       Mixture 19
    16       Trumpet
     8       Trumpet
     4       Clarion
 
SWELL
    16       Bourdon
     8       Open Diapason
     8       Stopped Diapason
     8       Salicional
     8       Viole de Gamba
     8       Voix Celestes
     4       Octave
    2 2/3    Octave Quint
     2       Super Octave
    IV       Mixture 19
    16       Bassoon
     8       Trumpet
     8       Horn
     8       Oboe
     4       Clarion
 
CHOIR
    16       Lieblich Gedackt
     8       Open Diapason
     8       Violon Diapason                sic
     8       Vox Angelica
     8       Lieblich Gedackt
     8       Flauto Traverso
     4       Octave
     4       Lieblich Flute
    2 2/3    Twelfth
     2       Fifteenth
     -       Mixture
     8       Clarionet
 
SOLO
     8       Gamba
     8       Flute Harmonique
     4       Flute Harmonique
     8       Orchestral Oboe*
     8       Clarinet*
     8       Cor Anglais*
     8       Vox Humana*
     8       Tuba
             (* = enclosed)
 
PEDAL
    32       Open Diapason
    16       Open Diapason
    16       Open Diapason
    16       Dulciana Violon               sic
   10 2/3    Quint
     8       Octave
     8       Violoncello soft
     -       Full Mixture 12
    32       Contra Posaune
    16       Posaune
     8       Trumpet

This stoplist is unusual in its provision of three complete manual diapason choruses to twelfth, fifteenth and mixture. The claims of these are evidently more important than such tonal frills as a 4ft. Swell flute or a 2ft. Choir piccolo. Note also the complete absence of stopped wood pipes in the Pedal division.

SOURCES:
For the Willis stoplist: 'The Organ Proposed by Father Willis for Westminster Abbey', an article by A. Thompson-Allen in 'The Organ' quarterly, April 1944.
For the Lewis stoplist, and a general consideration of the proposals: 'An Organ for the Liturgy', an article by David Knight in 'Organists' Review', February 1999. This article also gives an incomplete version of the Willis stoplist.