July 2 J, 1876] 



NATURE 



273 



A MODERN ORGAN 



T T has been hitherto chiefly on the Continent of Europe 

 ■*- that connoisseurs in the majestic tones of the king of 

 instruments have had to seek for a grand organ. Though 

 London, the mistress of the world for weahh and magni- 

 tude, has churches and chapels innumerable, and organs 

 by hundreds, scarcely one is of sufficient importance (xc 

 merit to attract the attention of a stranger. Church 

 organs are, as a rule, small, and built without individuality 

 or character of tone, and generally so placed in the 

 building as to effectually mar in acoustical effect any 

 special merit they might otherwise possess. Of the two 

 or three instruments that have any pretensions to magni- 

 tude to which the public has access — at the Albert Hall 

 and the Alexandra and Crystal Palaces, no very lasting 

 impression remains upon the audience beyond that 01 

 noise and a distressingly harsh volume of sound, utterly 

 devoid of musical depth and grandeur of tone, and quite 

 different from the pleasing reminiscence? that dwell upon 

 the memory from hearing some of their more musical 

 Continental rivals at Haarlem, Freiburg, or Lucerne. To 

 successfully construct a large organ is a work of exceed- 

 ing difficulty, for not only does size greatly complicate 

 the mechanical action, but the proper distribution and 

 apportionment of the wind to each stop, and the har- 

 monious blending of the whole together in the full organ, 

 demands great kno^wledge and skill upon the part of the 

 builder. It is for these reasons that very few large organs 

 rise beyond mediocrity, or are noted for the beauty of 

 their tone or the perfection of their mechanism. The 

 great advance in the general taste for organ music within 

 the last few years has necessitated an improvement in the 

 mechanical construction of the oigan, so as to enable the 

 performer rapidly to command the entire resources of the 

 instrument at will, and give him absolute control over the 

 various sound-combinations and tone-colouring of the 

 different stops, according as they are brought on or off by 

 means of the apphances placed at his disposal. 



We give a brief description of the very remark- 

 able organ recently erected at Primrose Hill Road, 

 Regent's Park, remarkable alike for its size, being larger 

 than the great Haarlem organ, its beauty, richness, 

 and grandeur of tone, and the completeness of its 

 mechanism. At present this superb instrument is 

 almost entirely unknown to the musical section of the 

 public. The annexed illustration shows that this organ 

 is one of the first magnitude. It possesses what is 

 known as a 32-feet metal speaking front, with a cor- 

 responding weight of tone throughout the pedal organ, 

 and several organs which together constitute the instru- 

 ment, and give it its place in the scale of magnitude 

 as compared with the more celebrated of the con- 

 tinental instruments. The instiument in question has 

 several novelties not to be found in other organs. It 

 possesses seven distinct organs : pedal, great, choir, sweh, 

 solo, echo, and carillon organs, each extending the full 

 compass of 5 octaves (61 notes) with the exception of 

 pedal organ, 30 notes. These various organs are under 

 the control of the performer by means of four manual 

 key- boards, which together comprise sixty-seven speaking- 

 registers, and these are combined together with various 

 acoustical effects by means of thirty-one mechani- 

 cal movements, making a grand total of ninety-eight 

 sound-controlling registers, worked by hand and foot. 

 The entire mechanical action necessary to control these 

 registers and accessory movements is carried out by 

 a novel application of atmospheric vacuum pressure. 

 Two distinct systems of main air trunks extend through- 

 out the interior of the organ in connection with the wind 

 ar/angements situated in the basement of the building. 

 One of these systems of trunks is for the purpose of con- 

 veying the wind at different pressures to the sound boards 

 of the various organs in connection with the musical 



speech of the several groups of pipes. Thus the wind 

 supplied to the solo organ, swell reeds, and Urge pedal 

 reeds, is the heaviest pressure employed in the instrument 

 for producing the musical mtonation of the pipes, namely, 

 6 inches. The wind pressure to the sound-boards of the 

 great organ and swell flue work is 4 inches, that of the 

 choir organ 2 inches, and the pressure of wmd is again 

 reduced in connection with the sound-boards of the echo 

 organ to half an inch, the lightest wind upon which any 

 organ has ever yet been attempted to be voiced. This 

 question of wind pressure as afifectmg the voicing and 

 musical intonation of the pipes of an organ is one of great 

 irnporlance, and upon the skilful adjustment to the size, 

 diameter, and materials of which the pipes are constructed, 

 depends the sweetness and quality of the musical tones 

 produced. In the organ under notice the very light 

 pressure of wind adopted affords an example for careful 

 study and examination First, for the mellow sweetness 

 and beauty of tone produced ; secondly, for the prompts 

 ness of speech obtained, as rapid as the articulation of a 

 pianoforte string ; and thirdly, for the immense volume 

 of sound and power that can be produced from these light 

 pressures, the combined effect of the full organ rivalling 

 almost the artillery of heaven as thunder crash after crash 

 bursts upon the ear. Much of the harsh unmusical tone 

 of modern organs arises from this desire to obtain power 

 at the expense of music by the employment of an ov^er-. 

 pressure of wind. That age is not requisite to mellow an 

 organ is demonstrated by listening to the diapasons and 

 foundation stops of the Primrose Hill organ, which have 

 all that ripe and fascinating sweetness of tone characr 

 teristic of Silbermann's finest instruments. These ligfit 

 pressures of wind constitute a remarkable feature ia 

 the construction of so large an organ. The second 

 series of air trunks which permeate the interior 

 of the instrument are in connection with two. large 

 vacuum exhaust be'lows which, being continually actuated 

 by the steam-engine used for blowing, maintain a constant 

 vacuum pressure throughout the entire system of trunks, 

 so that at any part of the organ an available mechanical 

 power (that of the pressure of the atmosphere 15 lbs. to 

 the square inch of surface) is at hand to be employed for 

 the multitude of purposes required in a lar^^e instru- 

 ment. To be obliged to have recourse to the old 

 system of wooden rods, trackers, levers, and squares iu 

 endless complications, would have so weighted and im- 

 peded the action of the organ as greatly to destroy its 

 musical capabilities. In most of the large organs con- 

 structed both at home and abroad, many parts of the 

 mechanism are far from being so perfect as to leave no 

 room for anything further to be desired, and the execu- 

 tant upon the instrument rarely is able to portray as 

 rapidly his musical creations mechanically at his finger- 

 ends as those creations in tone.-coloar flash through his 

 mind. By the introduction of atmospheric vacuum pres- 

 sure as the " motor " power, there is no complication of 

 mechanical parts ; an almost endless system of tubes 

 being carried from the key-board registers to the sound- 

 board sliders of the several organs. These tubes are in 

 connection with powerful exhaust bellows and vacuum 

 power-bellows attached to the sliders, so that any re- 

 quired stop is brought on or off instantaneously, how- 

 ever distant from the key-board. These tubes may be 

 bent and twisted round corners in any direction, and the 

 parts of the organ most difficuU of access easily reached. 

 No mechanical force is thtrefore necessary to be exerted at 

 the keyboards, the mere touch of a key, register, pedal, 

 or finger-button, at once brings its special tube and ex- 

 haust arrangement into operation. The wonderful com- 

 pleteness ot this system of vacuum-tube action is beauti- 

 fully illustrated by means of the echo organ — a complete 

 instrument of 16 feet tone, situated some 100 feet from 

 the key-boards of the great organ — and supported on 

 corbels against an opposite wall ax an elevation of some 30 



