Welcome to the organ page! On this page you will find details, pictures, specifications and audio clips (if your computer has RealPlayer installed) of organs which I have been associated with.
PETERHOUSE CHAPEL WINDOWS SUITE
On June 30th, on the occasion of the 2007 Peterhouse Society Annual Gathering, six former Petrean organ scholars gave the premiere of Barry Ferguson's "Peterhouse Chapel Windows Suite". Ferguson, former organist of Rochester Cathedral, was inspired by the Chapel's stained glass and wrote a ten-movement work. I was honoured to perform the second movement - "The Sacrifice of Isaac".
Pictured above (left to right): Andrew McIntyre (m1974), David Lee (m1953), Mark Rowland (m1999), Barry Ferguson (m1960), Mark Hammond (m1983), Tim Hone (m1976).
Choir and Organ has had to close. Many thanks to those who listened and sent me kind wishes.
Click on the radio icon above to go to my directory of other organ and choral radio programmes which broadcast over the internet.
Click on the church icon above to go to my wedding music page which includes audio clips of suitable nuptual music
What music is being performed in British Cathedrals and Churches this weekend. click here to find out (courtesy of The Times. Follow links to Sunday Worship)
At the console of St Paul's Cathedral (Nov 1999)
(Click to enlarge)
This instrument is a 1962 3-manual Harrison & Harrison incorporating pipework from earlier organs - Hill (1861), Abbott & Smith (1908) and probably an Open Diapason from a 1670 Father Smith.
St Margaret's School Chapel - External view
(Click to enlarge)
The organ was originally built in 1900 subsequent to the construction of the chapel. The builders were F H Browne & Sons of Deal, Kent. The instrument has been subsequently re-built twice, in 1968 by Peter Collins and in 1981 by Martin Renshaw. It is currently in need of some attention and it is hoped to re-build to coincide with the school's 250 years' anniversary which is being celebrated in 1999.
The action was originally tubular pneumatic which was replaced in the 1981 re-build by electric action connected to the original pneumatic action.
St Margaret's School Chapel - Organ Case
(Click to enlarge)
Great Organ
Stopped Diapason (8')
Principal (4')
Fifteenth (2')
Nineteenth (1.1/3') Swell to Great Swell Octave to Great Swell Sub-Octave to Great
Swell Organ
Chimney Flute (8')
Dulciana (8')
Open Flute (4')
Oboe (8') Swell Octave Swell Sub-Octave Unison Off
Pedal Organ
Bourdon (16')
Bass Flute (8') Great to Pedal Swell to Pedal
St Margaret's School Chapel - Organ Console
(Click to enlarge)
The case and much of the pipework date from Snetzlers 1765 organ.
The instrument was last rebuilt in 1963 by Noel Mander
Unit chests electrically operated tracker action to manual soundboards.
Electro-pneumatic action to stops and accessories.
(* wholly or partly by Snetzler)
Great Organ
Open Diapason 8*
Stopped Diapason 8
Principal 4*
Nason Flute 4
Twelfth 2.2/3*
Fifteenth 2*
Mixture II
Trumpet 8
Swell Organ
Salicional 8
Stopped Diapason 8*
Principal 4*
Fifteenth 2
Mixture III
Oboe 8
S/G
S/C
S/P
G/P
C/P
Great/Pedal Combined
Great/Swell/Choir: 5 Thumb Pistons
Pedal/Swell: 5 Toe Pistons
G/P,S/G,C/P: Reversible Thumb Pistons
G/P,S/G,C/P: Reversible Toe Pistons
Compass
Manuals: C-g3
Pedals: C-f1
The account book for the building of the new Peterhouse chapel (1628-32) records that £140 was spent on an organ. It is not known who built it or precisely when it was installed, but it may be assumed that this organ played its part in the choral services which flourished in the chapel during the years preceding the Civil War and to which the surviving Peterhouse part-books bear witness. Evidently the instrument was dismantled soon after the War began and was stored in the college library. The Fellows eventually despaired of a return to the old pattern of worship and sold the organ to Mr Gregory Hardwick, a citizen of London. "Mr Peas" took the organ, together with "the remaining pipes of Our Hall Organ" to London and set it up there. When the prayer book was restored in 1660 the college attempted to recover the organ from Hardwick, and when he proved uncooperative, considered taking him to law. It is a measure of the colleges success that in 1666 the chapel was still without an organ. Shortly after this an instrument was purchased, and the accounts for 1666-7 record the first payments to an organist and a bellows blower. No details have emerged concerning this organ but annual payments for maintenance suggest that it may have survived until displaced by Snetzlers organ.
John Snetzler built his new organ for Peterhouse in 1765: the case still bears the date and the name of the donor - Horatio Mann. It was a 2 manual instrument with nine stops on the Great (including a Mounted Cornet) and a second manual consisting of a combined Choir and Swell, each with 4 stops. Avery added a few unison (8) Pedal Pipes in 1804 which sufficed until 1852, when William Hill replaced Averys work with a German Pedal board of 27 notes and complete rank of 16 open wood pipes.
Hills returned in 1894 to carry out a conservative rebuild retaining the "old black keys" and most of Snetzlers pipes. The Swell was rebuilt on modern lines with a keyboard to itself, the compasses were reduced to C, and 2 further Pedal stops were added.
