Historic cathedral organ in fine new voice

Press, 4 May 1978, Page 11

Historic cathedral organ in fine new voice

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The wheezes, groans and wooden clanking which for years characterised' the playing of the century-old organ in the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, Christchurch, are now no more.

An 11-month restoration project, preserving what pi p e-organ authorities agree is the finest unspoiled example of 19th century English organbuilding remaining in New Zealand, has been completed. The cost was $30,000.

A re-dedication ceremony has been arranged for this evening at a choral Mass, and a festival of music is also to be held. Restoration of the organ, ordered in 1878 from Henry Halmshaw, of Birmingham, has been carried out by the South Island Organ Company, of Timaru.

The man in charge of the immensely complicated and difficult task was Mr John Hargreaves, a or of the firm, and one of the country’s few skilled organ-builders.

He recalls that he first saw and played the original and distinctive cathedral organ, dilapidated and rickety, in 1967. He realised the quality of sound and touch, “crying aloud to be expressed again,” and dreamed of doing the work required.

Mr Hargreaves had already worked on the instrument’s identical twin in Palmerston North (the original First Church, Otago, organ) but, by the time he saw it, changed and added to almost beyond recognition. “By a curious twist of fate, I have been able to take a principal part, in the realisation of that dream and, 11 years later, the organ is not only restored, but enlarged and improved.” he said. Great pains have been taken to preserve al! the essential features of the historical model — even to restoration of the original hand-blowing mechanism which was used for the first 30 years of the organ’s life.

It took four men a week to dismantle and pack the instrument, weighing 10 tons, ready for transport to Timaru. Rebuilding the restored organ in the cathedral itself has taken the same number of men nearly two months. The entire project, which extended over 11 months, started with the restoration of thousands of trackers, stickers, levers, rollers and squares that connect the manual and pedal keys to the pipe soundboards, and to each other.

Many fine steel parts were replaced with phos-phor-bronze to prevent rust, and special cloth bushings were incorporated to reduce the action noise.

Keys and pedals were badly worn, and a great deal of work was involved renewing worn wood and ivory playing surfaces. “The releathering of the massive double-rise bel-

lows and hand-feeder hallows was an exacting job, rarely undertaken today, and requiring 20 skins of special leather,” Mr Hargreaves said. Soundboards and pedal windchests, the heart of the mechanical system, were restored. Timber shrinkage, causing splits and warping, was the main problem — a legacy from the organ’s early days in the pro-cathedral before the present cathedral was built. Restoration of the organ’s 1548 pipes was the special concern of the company’s voicer (Mr John Gray), the man responsible for regulating the tonal quality of the organ pipes.

After cleaning and often difficult repair, he carefully reset the speech and volume of each pipe on a voicing machine — a small mechanical action organ — to re-create the tonal quality and power that the original builders had striven for. New tuners were fitted, and 124 missing pipes, removed at a time when mixture pipes had become unfashionable, were replaced. Improvements and additions were made, including a new electric blowing plant and four new stops for the pedal organ. Mr Hargreaves said: "I am confident that the instrument can now survive the next 100 years, and will continue to inspire those who play and hear it as it has the men who have built and restored it. The cathedral also 7 has an even older organ — a small instrument 108 years old which last year was hoisted to the gallery and mounted on a wheeled platform above the sanctuary. It can be moved to any part of the gallery. This smaller pipe organ, which has been used as a replacement while the restoration project was under way on the Halmshaw organ, has been used in Anglican, Baptist and Presbyterian churches. For tonight’s re-dedica-tion Dr Vernon Griffiths has composed a special anthem to be sung at the Mass. The cathedral organist, (Mr D. B. Whelan) will play “Ascension Suite” by Messiaen. Tomorrow, a recital will be given by Anthony Jennings, the Auckland city organist, which will include works by Bruhns, Bach, Mendelssohn and Stanley. On the third night of the music festival, Saturday May 6, a centennial Mass will be celebrated. Among those taking part will be choirs from other city parishes, a full orchestra, and a brass ensemble. To mark the occasion, the cathedral choir will sing “Heiligmesse” (Haydn), sung at the original dedication of the organ in 1879, and a massed choir will sing the “Hallelujah Chorus” (Handel) sung on the same occasion.