Durham Cathedral
The Father Willis Organ of 1876/7
| In 2002 we celebrated a notable anniversary of the completion of Henry ("Father") Willis's instrument - the basis of the present organ - surely a good enough reason to recall some detail of events 125 years ago. Of course, there is some way to go before this organ can rival the longevity of the instrument it replaced, for the Father Smith organ on the screen was completed in 1686, and disposed of from its final ignominy on the floor (on the north side where Bishop Lightfoot's tomb is today) in 1873, when the quire of the cathedral was closed off for two years for Sir George Gilbert Scott's building refurbishment. |
| Planning In the course of the work Scott advised the Chapter on the "best position" for a new organ, "in the second bay…within the arches to North and South" behind the choir stalls. A former Precentor [until 1862], Revd.Dr.J.B.Dykes, and the Cathedral Organist, Dr.Philip Armes were then consulted as to the choice of an organ builder. Willis visited "to take measurements" early in June 1874, and his Specification and Plan were approved by Chapter a mere five weeks later. Willis later claimed in a letter that the terms of his Contract (£1000 at 12 months - paid in August 1875, the same when the organ was erected and completed at Durham - paid in January 1877 before the organ was fully finished, and the balance 12 months after - actually paid in summer 1877) were "oppressive", having been agreed to by himself "out of reverence…in order to enable the Dean & Chapter to purchase this fine organ" ! The contemporary Willis records are lost, but the total cost of the Durham organ is given in another source as £3150, and we know that the Chapter sold stock to the value of £3000 to meet the costs of Cathedral improvements including the organ. It is interesting, by way of comparison, to learn that the Organist's annual salary at the time was £300, and Dean Lake's at least £3000 (the amount designated in the Cathedrals Act 1840). |
Father
Willis| The Opening The organ was available for use in part from the Quire re-opening ceremony on St.Luke's Day 1876, though final completion was not achieved until early 1877. Much of the lengthy report in the Durham Advertiser newspaper of 20th October 1876 appears to have been based on what would now be called a press release: "....lastly and by no means least, a magnificent organ....The organ, which is entirely new and has been built by Mr.H.Willis of London is placed under the second arches on both sides of the choir, the two halves being connected by a tunnel under the floor. The two cases are of richly carved oak [by Mr.J.Roddis of Birmingham], each forming a cove arching over the canopies of the stalls and carried below on oak piers and arches. Above and around those projecting coves are very richly and beautifully carved cornices, the design being composed of intersecting foliage, with birds and grotesque animals in the different openings of the twining branches. On these cornices stand the front pipes of the organ, magnificent tubes of metal of great size, all richly decorated [by Messrs Clayton & Bell of London] in black and red on a gold ground, while the larger pipes have angels on them, represented as playing different instruments. These pipes are held in position by a band of ornamental ironwork. The cases - at present plain - will afterwards be decorated in keeping with the pipes. The organ is a magnificent instrument…The fact that only a small proportion of the organ has been placed accounted for the comparatively feeble volume of sound which it sent forth; and the description of the organ which has been given must be accepted as what it will be and not what it is at present." |
| T.H.Collinson, an apprentice to the organist, recollected the opening of the Willis organ in later life (when he was organist at St.Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh) in an article: "Great was the joy and excitement in Cathedral circles when the new Willis organ of 1876 was on its way. As usual it was late - only six months! - and on the grand reopening day of the Cathedral…Father Willis had supplied nine stops on the Great organ and a Great to Pedal coupler with no Pedal pipes. He screwed on the nine knobs ten minutes before the first choral service. These stops, without reeds or Mixtures, were so magnificent, and Dr.Armes's use of them so masterly - that a series of some six festival services with a union of Cathedral choirs singing elaborate music, was in the highest degree efficient." |
| Nevertheless Armes seems to have aired some doubts about
the organ in its unfinished state, and Willis had to
reassure him: "Do not be anxious there is nothing to
fear. It will all come out beautifully. I hope
you have not been alarming the good people of Durham by
anticipating failure. That is a word we never hear or
understand. I have been using all the means in my power to
quite finish your organ before the end of the year…I have
completely built the organ but have not been able to get
it all in action. The great bulk however is there
and its foundation of tone you have heard… The men
return…tomorrow night. I wish to do the whole work
myself but I cannot get done to finish till Monday 5th
Jan. [but you have] my assurance that by the end of the
2nd week in Jan. all shall be absolutely complete and
perfect." When exactly it was fully finished we are left to speculate, but already by April, the Organist was complaining about inadequate winding, the hydraulic blowers receiving insufficient water to function properly. |
| The Organ Of 55 speaking stops on five divisions - the new organ was thoroughly up-to-date, a first class creation of a singularly successful Victorian organ-builder. It is uncertain whether the stopnames below, from Hopkins & Rimbault (3rd Edition: 1877), are the exact original nomenclature. The wind pressures given are those of the contemporary Salisbury Cathedral organ. |
