Alexandra Palace Organ
London N22 4AY
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Report from IAN BELL to the AP Authorities dated 3rd December 1998
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Alexandra Palace
The Present Condition of the Organ
1. Circumstances and scope of this Report
This report has been written following an initial exploratory approach from Messrs Henry Willis & Sons, followed up by confirmation of interest in an assessment from David Moores at the Alexandra Palace.
My understanding is that the requirement is for an independent assessment of what exists on the organ gallery at present, and the report is restricted to that. I have not ventured far into such areas as the rationale of, or approach to, the work; nor their recent historical implications, except in so far as they impinge on the present condition and likely future reliability of the organ.
I inspected the organ on 18th November 1998, in the company of David Wyld of Messrs Willis. This followed an earlier brief inspection some three years ago, in the company of Henry Willis 4.
2. Background
The broad details of the organ's history are well documented. The first organ in the Palace was based around an exhibition instrument built by Willis in 1861 that had temporarily inhabited the Agricultural Hall in Islington. Its stoplist was in some ways eccentric and decidedly dated by the time of its installation in the Alexandra Palace in 1873.
It was no sooner finished than it burnt down, giving Willis the rare opportunity to put to good use his recent experience of how an organ would respond to the hall's acoustics, when building the replacement instrument. This was achieved remarkably quickly, and the design on paper retained much of the vintage character of the organ it replaced. However, the pipework and mechanism was now in the modern Willis style of the 1870s, following the experience gained at The Royal Albert Hall, St Paul's Cathedral, and elsewhere.
As at St Paul's Cathedral, the organ's immediate and lasting high reputation by comparison
with others from the same stable derived principally from its favourable position
in a particularly flattering acoustic. There is no evidence that there was anything
unusual about its design or construction to separate it from comparable Willises
of the time, which were settling into the successful and repetitive style of pipe-
Comparisons were inevitably drawn with the much larger organ of the Royal Albert
Hall. finished by Willis three years earlier and found to be decidedly lacking in
impact. However, though Willis will certainly have learnt lessons from his work at
the Albert Hall. judging from the pipe-
When we listen to the undoubtedly grand and moving recordings of the Alexandra Palace organ dating from the 30s, it is the building we are listening to as much as the instrument itself, and it is easy to see why the combination of the organ, the surroundings, and the substantial crowds that climbed the hill to hear many of the organ concerts, left such a powerful impression on those who experienced them at the time.
The history of the instrument following its original completion was similar to that of many other large organs in public halls, in which periods of gradual decline and mechanical neglect were interspersed with major efforts to find the funds to bring things back to good order. The organ survived without significant change, enduring some considerable neglect, for 55 years — a testament to its mechanical quality.
1929 saw the completion of a reconstruction by the Willis firm, which involved a
new console, conversion of the mechanism to electro-
Damage to the building from enemy action in 1944 left the organ vulnerable to water damage, and parts of it were dismantled and stored in adjacent spaces in the Palace, most of the smaller pipes ultimately ending up in rooms behind the stage. The case, larger wooden and metal pipes, framework and bellows were left in position. In the 1970s Henry Willis 4 acquired ownership of the remains, and removed the stored pipes to his workshops for safekeeping. The case, largest pipes and other parts remaining in the building were lost in the fire of 1980.
During the reconstruction of the Palace there was some pressure from musicians and organ specialists interested in reinstating the organ. Henry Willis 4 began work in the late 1980s, initially at his own expense, and since that time an instrument has gradually been assembled incorporating many of the surviving pans of the original organ, augmented by a certain proportion of new material and redundant parts from elsewhere.
3. Present Condition
At the time of writing, in number of stops the organ is about 40% of the size of that which preceded it. In some respects this is misleading, in that many of the stops which are yet to be added are much larger and more costly than those which have so far been installed, and the addition of casework and display pipes in particular will be a very expensive investment.
However, it is true to say that viewed simply as an organbuilding project, there is no practical impediment to the completion of the work, to the stoplist displayed on the console, other than the making available of the necessary funds.
In the interests of remaining detached from what has gone before, I have neither sought nor been offered access to any correspondence or records relating to what has taken place over the past ten years, nor what it has cost, nor what was originally planned or what the programme for further work might be. Therefore the comments which follow are recorded simply on the evidence of my inspection visit. and may be inaccurate in some historical details, for which I take responsibility, but which I do not believe are material to the principal purpose of this report.
General:
The organ now stands on a gallery constructed for it, against a plain vertical wall rather than in an apsidal chamber. The electric blowing plant and humidification equipment are in a small room to the North of the gallery, drawing air from outside the building.
The instrument is disposed without casework, the central section being temporarily arranged in a fashion which loosely echoes the appearance or the original case. Certain pedal stops flanking the front and sides of the organ are temporarily positioned to help mask the workings within, but without casework the appearance over all is unavoidably unattractive and makeshift and can hardly be said to be an adornment except, perhaps, to the most avid and inquisitive organ enthusiast.
The console is positioned at gallery level below the front of the organ, somewhat
further South than was possible with the pre-
Console:
The console retains the general structure, outer casework, and many visible components
of that installed in 1929. The provision of technical controls and the stoplist displayed
on the stopknobs are those of 1929, except in so far that the original electro-
The keyboards are of good quality, and show few signs of wear. The original ivory
stop-
The pedal keyboard would appear to be that of 1929, or a similar contemporary one, restored, and typically has slightly shorter sharps than the later standard.
The stopknobs are now attached to, and moved by, an economical design of modern solenoid. Several of these appeared rather sticky when moved, particularly those for stops not yet installed. I deduce that this is indicative of lack of use, though without stripping the console down it is impossible to be certain whether or not some corrosion may have taken place as a result of the humidification of the surrounding air. The piston system nevertheless appeared to be moving the stopknobs satisfactorily.
Taken over all the console inevitably, and quite properly, retains a faintly worn and somewhat vintage style and atmosphere, which nevertheless still displays the good quality of its original manufacture. The only exception to this is the very basic and unsophisticated modern paneling provided to the rear section and back of the outer casework, an area originally recessed into the organ case itself. This may not be a high priority now, but would certainly require review at the time when the design of the organ casework itself had been established.
Switchgear:
The low-
On questioning this apparently pointless inconsistency with Mr Wyld he indicated
his belief that Mr Willis was wanting to retain part of the original equipment for
future interest's sake. It cannot be said that at the moment there is any indication
of difficulties with these switches, but phosphor-
The low-
