For Sale

Opus 33

Due to ill-health, the owner of this instrument is reluctantly offering it for sale. Details of specification etc can be found in the Opus List. For any further details, including the guide price, please contact neil@lammermuirpipeorgans.co.uk

Lammermuir “Flatpack”

2 lower case and pedalboard kits are currently for sale. More kits will be available in the new year.

Renton Organ Case

Towards the end of 2005 we acquired the splendid mahogany case, together with gilded dummy facade pipes, bellows and assorted internal materials of a rare John Renton chamber organ. It was planned to restore this instrument to its original condition and specification, but alas, some vital parts have been lost or destroyed.

The original specification was:

Dimensions: 3350mm high x 1870mm wide x 725mm deep

The organ was known to arrive in Fortrose Parish Church in 1911 but was probably built before 1864. It was removed in 1986 by the late Hugh Ross on behalf of the Scottish Historic Organ Trust with the intention of restoring it.

We now intend to design and build a new instrument within this case in an appropriate style, and would be happy to discuss our proposals with any interested party.

The Chamber Organ built by Hugh Russell 1792

 This rare and historic English chamber organ which is offered for sale bears the original London maker's label " Hugh Russell 1792".  It has been fully and sensitively restored and is in perfect playing order.  The case is of polished mahogany panelling with a dentilated cornice.  The upper half of the front has a panel opening to give access to the interior.  This panel consists of gold painted facade pipes on a blue silk background contained within an elegant oval aperture.

Two smaller side panels are made with sets of three dummy gold painted pipes.  The height of the instrument is 245 centimetres, width is 112 centimetres and the depth is 55 centimetres.   The retractable keyboard has ivory naturals and ebony sharps and the stops are symmetrically aligned, three on each side, with charming original engraved knobs.  The keyboard slides inwards and a flap can be raised and locked to protect it, and present a plain front surface.

The instrument is fitted with two detachable extending candle holders on each side of the keyboard, as well as a detachable music desk.  The original bellows pedal is to the front as is an adjacent foot pedal used to engage the fifteenth stop.

 The recent provenance of the organ dates to the early 1960s.  At this time it was bought, in a dismantled state, at a house contents auction in Yorkshire by the grandson of the Victorian novelist Charles Dickens, Mr. Christopher Dickens.  He restored the instrument, which fortunately was remarkably complete.  It remained in his house at Spofforth in North Yorkshire until it was sold to the present owners in 1984.  Christopher Dickens - member of the federation of British Organ Builders - retired recently after a long career in organ building and restoration.  He has remarked upon the straightforwardness of the restoration of the organ.  Very few parts of the mechanism were replaced, the bellows were releathered, an external electric blower was connected  to the instrument (the manual mechanism still exists and could easily be reinstalled) and tuning slides were added to the original metal pipes.  In all respects it is essentially the instrument which Hugh Russell built in 1792.

This builder, of whom several larger instruments are known (see: The National Pipe Organ Register at www.bios.org.uk) was born c1731 in London.  His period of influence was between 1781 and the year of his death in 1825.  He was also a performer, holding the position of organist at St.Mary Aldermary, Bow Lane.  The organ of that church was built by Russell in 1781.  Stephen Bicknell, writing in The History of the English Organ (University of Cambridge Press, 1996) succinctly places the chamber organ in its context:

"By the end of the eighteenth century the chamber organ was firmly established as the instrument of choice for a well-to-do household, challenging both the harpsichord and the emerging fortepiano.  The relative stability of tuning compared to a stringed keyboard instrument must have been an advantage, but it should also be noted that a small organ is a good vehicle not just for keyboard music, but also for transcriptions of instrumental works, and could readily be used for the accompaniment of family prayers.  These qualities of reliability, versatility and dignity must account for its popularity.

...there are instruments surviving by...Hugh Russell...Many of these are housed in exquisite cabinet-maker's cases, reflecting in their endless variety and sophistication the changing fashions and inventions of English domestic taste."

Perhaps one of the most satisfying aspects of this instrument is the knowledge that it undoubtedly figured in the musical life of the Russell family.  Hugh Russell's son, William (1777 - 1813) was a successful recitalist and teacher as well as an organist of the Foundling Hospital and director of the Saddler's Wells orchestra.  He was also a prolific composer of oratorios, anthems, songs and organ voluntaries.  These organ works, Twelve Voluntaries (1804) and Twelve Voluntaries (1812) were well received by his contemporaries and are available in facsimile edition edited by Gillian Ward Russell.  She considers the voluntaries to be of considerable significance.

"The variety of form, style, mood and colour in the Voluntaries of Russell are not only of historical importance but they can still bring pleasure to performer and listener alike whether they are heard in a service, a recital, or in private."

It is highly likely that William would have played his voluntaries on this, his father's handiwork.  It is with particular enjoyment that the unique combination of the father's instrument and the son's music can still be heard, on this authentic and original 18th century organ after more than 200 years.

Offers - Please contact Neil Richerby at Lammermuir Pipe Organs.
 
 

Specification

• Principal Bass / Principal Treble (metal)
• Diapason Bass / Diapason Treble (wood)
• Fifteenth (metal)
• Open Diapason [half stop from mid C] (wood)
• Single sliding 4 octave 54 note keyboard B[G]-e
• Foot pedal to Fifteenth
• Tuning: 18th century English temperament after "Thomas Young"
• The organ is in sound playing condition.  It has been regularly serviced and tuned by Lammermuir Pipe Organs.