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The London Oratory |
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The London Oratory Church, Brompton Road, London SW7 SPECIFICATION OF THE ORGAN Built by J.W. Walker and Sons Ltd 1952-4
Replacing an earlier organ by Bishop & Starr destroyed by fire in 1950, the present organ was designed by Ralph Downes who set the pipe-scales and supervised the voicing which was carried out by Dennis Thurlow and Walter Goodey Its specification is quoted in full in The Cambridge Companion to the Organ (1998) as the model of modern English organ design, and the late Stephen Bicknell described it in Choir & Organ, 1997 as: ‘…an instrument of peerless tonal quality, perhaps the best of all the organs designed by the late Ralph Downes’. It was restored by the original builders in 2004-5, in consultation with Patrick Russill and with tonal regulation by Michael Broom preserving the original voicing. All the original pipework, chests and actions were restored, except for the provision of a new chest for the pedal upperwork.
GREAT CHOIR (unenclosed) Principal (front) 8 Principal (front) 4
SWELL PEDAL Baarpyp (conical) 8 Principal (front) 16
Unison couplers. Great Sub Octave
Wind pressures: Great: 23/4”, Choir: 25/8”, Swell: 23/4”, Pedal: 31/2”.
Manual compass: C-a’”, 58 notes. Pedal compass: C-g’, 32 notes. Mechanical swell pedal. Electro-pneumatic action Solid state couplers and pistons with 8 levels of divisional memory and 96 levels of general memory with stepper. 5 general pistons and 5 pistons for each manual
In addition, a moveable chamber organ, built in 1979 by Peter Collins and restored by him in 1998, is kept in the sanctuary. Specification: Gedackt 8, Rohrflute 4, Principal 2
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Little Oratory, Brompton Road, London SW7
Flentrop Orgelbouw, Zaandam, Holland, 1975 Consultant: Ralph Downes
Restored and entirely revoiced by Flentrop Orgelbouw in 2005 Tonal Direction: Frits Elshout Voicers: manuals - Jan Spijker, pedal - Frans Vermeulen Consultants: John McGreal & Patrick Russill
HOOFDWERK (C-g3) Praestant 8 (from G, c-f sharp from Roerfluit 8) Roerfluit 8 Octaaf 4 Fluit 4 Praestant 2 Mixtuur III-IV Kromhoorn 8 Tremulant
BOVENWERK (enclosed) (C-g3) Gedekt 8 Roerfluit 4 Fluit (conical) 2 Nasard (conical) 1 1/3 Sequialter II Tremulant
PEDAAL (C-f1) Subbas 16 Bourdon 8 Octaaf 4 Fagot 16
H/P B/P B/H
Suspended mechanical action Wind pressure: 62 mm. Pitch: a’: 438 at 18ºC Temperament: Vallotti (cited by Tartini in 1754)
In 2005, the pitch was slightly lowered (from a’=443 to a’=438’), the Rohrflutes provided with wider chimneys, the reeds given new tongues and longer resonators, the manual 2-foot stops swapped to give a complete principal chorus on the Hoofdwerk, the bass octave of the Subbas mitred and raised for better egress of sound, a new flat pedalboard provided, and the whole organ entirely revoiced and placed in an Italian 18th century unequal temperament.
The original 19th century organ case was restored and gilded (including the dummy-pipes) by Hare & Humphries and the speaking front pipes burnished and gilded by the organ builders. |