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ST. JOHN'S IN THE SQUARE
by
Peter Hickman
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The Renatus Harris Organ
A printed book version of this history, with Technical Appendices (as
mentioned below) outlining the many restorations carried out at on this
most interesting instrument, between its installation in 1762 and 2002,
is available. The volume contains details of the organ specification in
1850, 1869 and 1974, together with the changes intended to be made
during the present (2002) restoration. This publication may be obtained
from St John’s in the Square, or from the Secretary, at a cost of £2.50
including postage. Payment with order please. All money raised will be
for the Organ fund.
Thanks to Peter Williams and David Wickens for permission to quote
extensively from their work.
The Battle of the Organs
The Church book of St John’s is a large leather-bound volume, opened in
1760 by the churchwardens when the "New Church" was dedicated as a
Chapel-of-ease to St Peter’s. On one of the flyleaves is written an
account of how this church came to be possessed of its famous Renatus
Harris instrument. This reads:
Extract from a letter and Philomusus to
the Editor of The Universal Magazine for Dec
1778, page 376.
Upon the decease of Mr. Dallans and the elder
Harris, Mr. Renatus Harris and Father Smith
became great rivals in their employment, and
several trials of skill there were between them
on several occasions. But the famous contest
between these two artists was at the Temple
Church, where a new organ was going to be
erected towards the latter end of Charles the
Seconds time.
Both made friends for that employment, but as
the Society could not agree about who should be
the man, the Master of the Temple and Benches
proposed that both should set up an organ on
each side of the Church. Which, in about half a
year or three quarters of a year was done
accordingly.
Dr. Blow and Mr. Purcell, who was then in his
prime, showed and played Father Smith’s organ on
appointed days to a numerous audience, and till
the other was heard everybody believed that
Father Smith’s would certainly carry it.
Mr. Harris brought Mr. Sully, Organist to Queen
Catherine, a very eminent Master to touch his
organ, which brought Mr. Harris’ organ into that
vogue. They thus continued vying with one
another near a twelvemonth. Then Mr. Harris
challenged Father Smith to make additional stops
against a set time. These were the Vox Humana,
the Cremona or the Violin stop, the Double
Courtel or Cap Flute with some others I may have
forgot. These stops, as being newly invented,
gave great delight and satisfaction to a
numerous audience and they were so well imitated
on both sides that it was hard to judge.
The advantage to either at last was left to my
Lord Chief Justice Jeffries, who was of that
housed and he put an end to the controversy by
pitching upon Father Smith’s organ.
So Mr Harris’ organ was taken away without loss
of reputation and Mr. Smith’s remains to this
day. Now began the setting up of organs in the
chiefest parrishes of the city of London where
for the most part, Mr. Harris had an advantage
of Father Smith, making I believe, two to his
one among them. Some are reckoned very eminent.
Viz. The organ at St. Brides, Saint Lawrence
near Guildhall, Saint Margaret.
Notwithstanding this success of Harris, Smith
was considered as an able and ingenious workman,
and in consequence of this character he was
employed to build an organ for the Cathedral at
St. Pauls. These organs made by him; though in
respect of workmanship they are far short of
those of Harris and even of Dallans are justly
admired for the fineness of their tone and have
never yet been equalled.
Harris organ was afterwards purchased for the
Cathedral of Christ Church Dublin and set up
there. About twenty years ago Mr. Byfield was
sent for from England to repair it, which he
objected to, and prevailed on the Chapter to
have a new one made by himself, he allowing for
the old one in part exchange. When he had got it
he would have treated with the parishioners of
Lynne in Norfolk for the sale of it. But they,
disdaining the offer of a second hand
instrument, refused to purchase it and employed
Snetzenburgh to build them a new on, for which
they paid him 700L.
Byfield dying, his widow sold Harris’ organ to
the Parish of Wolverhampton for 500L and there
it remains at this day. One of the two eminent
Masters now living who were requested by the
Churchwardens of Wolverhampton to give their
opinions of this instrument declared it to be
the best modern organ he ever touched.
William Ryton, Thos. Farmer, Chapel Wardens
1823 |
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It is curious that there is no written record of this important
transaction in the Church Book, although it contains a great many far
smaller matters in some detail.
This 'gap' is well filled however by the table of benefactors on the
wall of the Northwest staircase where the following is inscribed:
"The organ was purchased by a subscription of Five Hundred pounds,
towards which Mr. William Archer contributed Two Hundred Pounds. Anno
Domini 1762. The salary for the Organist, Thirty pounds per annum raised
on the pews by the Act (of Parliament) aforesaid."
Photo by Derek Thom.
Appointment of Organists
The first Organist to be appointed, at this fee of £30, was a Mr Bond.
Bond Street is believed to have been named after him. We do not have a
list of the organists who have faithfully followed down the years.
The appointment of the organist is the responsibility of the Vicar,
with the agreement of the Parochial Church Council. The Church book
contains only one full record of such an appointment; this was in 1863,
at the same fee!
On the 9th of January, 1863, the competition
for the Office of Organist to St John’s took
place, as resolved upon at a meeting held on the
22nd December, last 1862.
The umpire, Mr. B. Whitham of London, placed Mr
Roland Rogers at the head of the list of
competitors and he was accordingly appointed by
the Vicar to the office, commencing on Sunday
the 11th January, 1863.
The Stipend shall be £30 a year. The duties of
the organist shall be to conduct the musical
part of Divine service, Morning and Evening
Every Sunday. Once on Ash Wednesday. Twice on
Good Friday. Twice on Christmas Day and at one
evening service every week on a weekday, and he
will have to devote sufficient time and at
suitable hours to instruct the Choristers in the
reading of music.
Three months notice at any time from the vicar
to the Organist, or from the Organist to the
Vicar shall terminate the agreement.
Dated and signed this last day of January 1864.
Henry Hampton. Vicar.
Roland Rogers. Organist
Geo. F. Thatcher. Choir Master.
The organ was of course blown by hand; the old
handle is still in place. We have tantalising
snippets recorded, such as: -
"1764 June 29th Adams for one years salary
ringing the Sacramental Bell, 9 shillings."
"1764 April 20 The Organ Blower for half a year.
Due Lady Day last 9 shillings." |
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Looking for Evidence
There is a large bundle of records of work done on the Organ down the
years, almost since its installation. This record is safely held in the
County Records Office at Stafford, where it may be consulted. It is not
the purpose of this article to provide a fully comprehensive treatise.
However there have been two substantial recent surveys by persons with
expert knowledge and these are the main source of current information.
The first is an article in "The Organist" for July 1961 by Peter F
Williams.
Williams discusses the early history of the instrument. He mentions
that Harris probably split the organ after removing it from the Temple
Church, incorporating a large part in the organ which he was building at
St Andrew’s, Holborn. Sadly both this organ, and the Schmidt organ in
the Temple Church, were completely destroyed in the London blitz of
1941.
Examining the story step by step, Williams writes:
1. The battle ended around the
beginning of 1688. What happened to Renatus
Harris’s organ is not exactly known, but it is
possible that he did split it up, as the later
historians say, rather than removed it complete
to another church. However, it is also not
unlikely that proud churchwardens and others
boasted of having an organ by Renatus Harris who
had done so well in the Temple battle, and even
perhaps of possessing a remnant of that organ;
and it is not inconceivable that Harris himself
took advantage of his reputation and gave out
that he had incorporated bits of his famous
organ in others he built later; he seems to have
been the sort of man who might have consciously
set up such a legend. But it may also be an
entirely post Harris story; and there is some
confusion, for Ellis in his study of Pitch
reports, though he does not commit himself to
supporting, a claim that St. John’s Church,
Clerkenwell contained Harris Temple organ; and
Hughson, in his description of London (1807)
states several times that the discarded organ
went (only) to St Andrew, Holborn. 2.
It seems generally accepted that Harris built an
organ for Christ Church, Dublin, and Mr. Freeman
and Dr. Sumner give details of the date (1697)
and cost (£800). Certainly Renatus Harris is
known to have had work in Dublin, and it is
noteworthy that the case of the Wolverhampton
organ is very similar (indeed identical, if one
can trust photographs) to that in St. Mary’s
Dublin, which Leffler says was a Harris organ.
Perhaps the work of a Dublin workshop, they
conform to the usual Renatus Harris style.
In the Musical Antiquary, Vol V, WHG Flood
pointed out, since confirmed, that George Harris
built a small organ for Christ Church; and in
1667 Pease of Cambridge, built a chaire organ,
presumably as a choir organ to Harris’ great.
The work of these two builders must have been
very unsatisfactory, for in 1694 a contract was
made with Bernard Schmidt, interestingly enough,
for a new organ. In the event Renatus Harris
took over the contract and the high price (£800)
would suggest that was an entirely new
instrument, although it would be strange if it
did not include parts of the George Harris/Pease
organ.
3. There is no evidence in the Christ
Church Chapter Acts that Byfield took the Harris
organ in part exchange; but it was a common
practice then and can be accepted that this is
what Byfield did.
But which Byfield? John Byfield Snr. Died in
1757; and although the Chapter on June 22nd 1750
agreed to have a new organ by Byfield, there is
no other mention in the books until1765; and Mr
John Holmes tells me that in 1752 Byfield was
asked to repair the old organ. These dates are
difficult to fit together, and there appears not
to be a ready answer.
4. The part of the story that alleges
that Byfields widow sold it to the New Church in
Wolverhampton is very plausible, for not only
did builders widows often carry on for a time at
this period, but also carriage problems were
severe, and it would be most convenient to sell
an organ in the nearest church in the case of an
emergency caused by death. It is certainly the
best explanation of a Harris organ being in
Wolverhampton.
It is not strange that Byfield Jnr. did not
retain the organ according to the previous plan:
his father is reputed to have offered it to
Burney’s church in Kings Lynn and on refusal, if
this is true, no doubt a new church nearby (i.e.
near to the Dublin-London road) would be a
likely customer. So the most probable course of
events is as follows:
a. Byfield was asked to build a new organ
(1750)
b. Byfield was asked to repair the old
one, either while the new one was in the making,
or because it had not yet been begun (1752)
c. The new organ eventually came into
service around 1756-9
d. Thereupon or a bit later the old organ
was shipped back to England
e. About 1761, on its way back it was
sold to the nearly finished church in
Wolverhampton.
f. In mid 1762 it began service in this
church, presumably after some repairs.
The time factor is the difficulty to be solved,
and the above suggested course of events perhaps
does this. But it will then be seen that the
death of Byfield Snr had nothing to do with the
selling of it to St. John’s, except in so far as
it caused a delay in the fulfilment of the
Dublin contract. A cursory check has not
supported the claim that Byfield’s death is
registered in Wolverhampton, but if it is true
it complicates the matter exceedingly for there
are then the five years to explain away between
the death and the 1762 setting up of it in St.
John’s Chapel; and one may wonder what happened
to it (presumably all packed up on a cart)
during this time.
5. There are no records that the organ
was bought for £500 except that on the board
quoted above, and this does not say the seller
was Byfield; it is strange that so large a sum
of money should be spent without a
Chapel-warden’s record.
Nor is there mention of it in the books of the
Collegiate Church of St. Peter’s, for which St.
John’s was a Chapel-of-ease. Perhaps the
subscription was organised entirely
independently of the official church committee,
which would be busy with more ‘necessary’ things
for a new church. £500 is a surprising sum, if
the original price best part of a century ago
had been over half as much again. Perhaps
Byfield used a part of his new organ in Christ
Church; or perhaps it was in a bad state when it
was set up in Wolverhampton, although it
evidently was put into use there. |
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The "Messiah" Legend
One of the popular tales of Wolverhampton is that the organ of St
John’s was the one upon which G. F. Handel played during the first
performance of his great oratorio "The Messiah". Whilst it is true that
the first performance of "The Messiah" by G. F. Handel took place in
Dublin in 1742, there is no contemporary evidence that this organ was
used in connection with this performance. The story has been repeated so
often down the years that it has found its way into print many times.
However the good folk of St George’s Church at Douglas, Isle of Man also
have printed antiquarian ‘proof’ that their organ, which is by Harris
and Byfield, was also the honoured instrument!
One thing is clear - the first performance of "The Messiah" was in
Neal’s Music Hall, Fishamble Street in Dublin on 13th
April 1742. The rehearsals had been in the same place on 8th April. (The
first English performance was in Covent Garden, 23rd
March, 1743.)
The Organ Since 1762
Williams reviews the history of the organ subsequent to its
installation in St. John’s up to 1881, but omits the extensive overhaul
by Nicholson and Lord, in 1910, which was the year of the Church’s 150th
Anniversary. There was also an effort made to raise funds for repairs in
1929 and again in 1938, both of which were deferred due to the very hard
times of the 1930’s, followed by the War. In 1953 the organ was
eventually restored by Willis, following urgent repairs to the great
arch of the Apse. (All this work is summarised in Appendix A at the end
of the book).
The Interior of the Organ
The second expert who inspected the interior of the organ case was
David C. Wickens in 1995. Williams had not been inside the case and some
of his assumptions were tested by Wickens' inspection. In addition
notebooks by Sperling have been recently rediscovered in the library of
The Royal College of Organists. This manuscript gives a list of stops
existing in 1850, following the restoration of 1844 by Bishop. (This
information is recorded in Appendix B of the book). The restoration by
Tubb was carried out in 1869 (and a contemporary list of stops from that
date form Appendix C of the book. Appendix D of the book gives the stops
in 1974 following the restoration of Walkers.)
It is the present intention to carry out a restoration under the
Guidance of Mr. Roger Fisher, Advisor to the Lichfield Diocese. (A
summary of this proposal forms Appendix E of the book).
In Search of Harris Pipework
Wickens full report is available with the organ records at Stafford and
it is his intention to further examine the instrument during the current
restoration, which will be carried out by Trevor Tipple of Worcester. A
summary of his investigation was printed in the Journal of the British
Institute of Organ Studies, at the end of 1997. He reported as follows:
An examination of the pipework took place in
1995, taking into consideration the pipe
markings, the style and construction of the
pipes, and how they fitted into the received
history. The Harris pipework is immediately
recognisable: it is blackened with age, has
French pressed mouths, and its original markings
are easily identifiable as belonging to the
Harris school. It was clear from the outset that
there is not as much Harris pipework in the
instrument as was previously thought. Close
examination shows that much of the Harris
pipework consists of miscellaneous pipes
reworked to form ranks for which they were not
originally made. There are three stops that are
reasonably complete Harris stops: Great Stopped
Diapason, Choir Stopped Diapason, and Choir
Flute. There is miscellaneous pipework in the
Great Twelfth, Great Fifteenth, Swell Fifteenth,
and Swell Mixture, and there are 35 speaking
front pipes of which 15 are at present in use.
The Great and Choir Stopped Diapasons are rare
examples by Harris of such stops in wood rather
than metal. The Great Stopped Diapason is of
oak- bodies as well as caps, blocks and stoppers
– and has all the aspects of a 17C stop. Very
faint markings (probably pencil) are Harris in
style. The basses of the Choir Stopped Diapason
(and Flute) are different, with pine bodies,
relatively longer caps and longer upper lips. It
might suggest work of a late date, but there are
similar markings to those on the Great Stopped
Diapason, the feet are similarly rasped to semi
roundness, and the pipe bodies have similarly
rasped to semi roundness, and the pipe bodies
have characteristic chamfering at the tops - an
unusual and idiosyncratic feature. The scaling
of each stop is different.
It is possible – even probable that the two
stops were made at quite different times, and
might support the tradition that part of this
organ came from the failed "Battle of the
Organs" instrument from the Temple Church.
The Choir Flute is of metal from 2ft (actually
C#). It has movable tuning canisters (as had the
Thomas Dallam pipes at Guimiliau), though some
of these have been soldered up in relatively
recent years. It also has long tuning ears. The
pipe markings show rescaling in Harris’ time –
either at the outset or when the stop was
reused. This might, therefore have been a Temple
stop, made in 1682, reused and rescaled by
Harris for Christ Church, Dublin, in 1697 –
though it is better not to jump to conclusions.
The pipework used in the Great Twelfth and
Fifteenth has note marks only; its original use
can only be conjectured. It is clear, however,
that some of the pipes served as Quint ranks,
others as octaves and yet others as Tierce
ranks. They probably came therefore from the
Mixture work – i.e. the Great Sesquialtera (and
Cornet?) – and perhaps, the independent Tierce.
It is possible to identify the type of rank by
reference to the notes, which they are now
speaking. The added bottom octave of the Bishop
Tenor C Swell Fifteenth has now been made up of
similar miscellaneous pipes, as has the bulk of
the Swell Mixture. This was presumably done by
Nicholson and Lord. If Tubb had done it when he
altered the compass and he must have been
responsible for more than is assumed for him –
the replacement of the Great Sesquialtera.
The Harris principle pipes are of plain metal of
at least 25% tin (the typical English metal
composition) or perhaps planed spotted metal of
higher tin content. They have French upper lips.
The languids are counterfaced and modestly
nicked. The upper lips are often arched and have
a slight chamfer. The ¼ mouths are cut up in
excess of ¼. Some of the pipes have been
lengthened for their present use; the additional
lengths have been taken from other Harris pipes.
There is evidence of trauma: some pipes have
been splattered with unidentified material
sufficiently hard to evade being cleaned off.
There is some slight bruising consistent with
much travelling.
The front pipes proved difficult to measure but
evidently they follow the usual Harris school
arrangement of being scaled according to visual
symmetry. The two pipes either side of the
centre pipe, for example, are made to the same
scale, one now being used as C# of open Diapason
I, and the other of Open Diapason 2. The scaling
of the centre tower pipes is somewhat inflated –
the middle pipe, for instance, now 8ft C of open
Diapason 1, is approximately 71/4 ins in
diameter,….it is in fact, the same measurement
as Harris’s 10 2/3, G pipe in the case at
Bristol Cathedral. This raises the question
whether the centre tower was shortened when the
Organ was erected in Wolverhampton, the centre
pipe originally being 10 2/3 G. The evidence for
the centre tower having been taller is not
conclusive: there is a diagonal cut visible on
one of the main posts, not matched on the
opposite post: the centre pipe has been cut,
high up below the cutaway slots. The other four
pipes might have had portions cut off their
tops. There is room within the shaded canopy of
the centre tower for significantly longer pipes
but it is unlikely that it would have been
filled with pipe length. Similar cases to that
at Wolverhampton were made for St Mary, Lambeth
(1701) St Bride Fleet Street (1676) and St Mary,
Dublin. Photographs of St Mary, Dublin and of St
Bride, Fleet Street show the effect of a taller
centre tower in this type of case. |
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Sally Roper, daughter of Bilston
solicitor and local historian John S. Roper. From a
newspaper cutting. Courtesy of Ralph Hickman. The text
with the photograph is as follows:
Teenage church organist Sally Roper is pulling out all
the stops to get some men - but only for the choir.
Sally, aged 18, is one of the youngest choirmasters and
church organists in the country. And she is hoping to
boost the choir numbers at St. John's Wolverhampton. The
choir is down to ten members and she hopes to double it.
"We have a particular shortage of men , tenor and
basses," she said. Sally of Tipton Road, Woodsetton,
Coseley is in her second year studying music and English
at Birmingham University. |
Summary
From the contents of this history, the reader will appreciate the
difficulty of achieving an exact pedigree for an instrument which has
been in existence for over three centuries. We are indeed fortunate that
our predecessors have cared for and maintained this organ down the years
and that it is sited in a building of such exceptionally clear acoustic
properties. A treasure such as this organ is not to be locked away, like
a museum piece. It exists to be used for worship and secular music for
this generation and those to come. This we are determined will happen.
The restoration currently being carried out is by Trevor G. Tipple, Organ
Builder, of Worcester. The total scheme will cost over £70,000, and is
being done in three stages as money becomes available. Stage 1 is
centred on the Swell organ at a cost of £23,000. Some funds have been
promised to help raise the necessary monies for the next stages, but we
are still far short of the needed total.
Detail from Derek Thom's photo
(above) showing some of the carving.
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