THE ORGAN WORLD after BREXIT

For decades, many organists and organ enthusiasts have enjoyed learning about and playing new British and Continental organs commissioned and installed in the UK. Many of these are in Oxbridge chapels but also in churches elsewhere. Students get first hand experience of what it is like to play music by Dutch, English, French, German, Spanish and Italian composers using sounds that are authentic to the country of origin. The trend towards such installations is not so recent: it sprang from countries who had been in conflict to rebuild beautiful instruments properly and authentically after World War 2, from organists’ love of the music of JS Bach, and of the desire to understand how to play all music from past centuries in a stylistic and informed manner. When I was a student, the towns where Bach worked, including Leipzig, were behind the Iron Curtain, the former East Germany, and I accepted that going there was not easy or even possible. In 2013, many years after several others made that pilgrimage after the Berlin Wall came down, my husband and I finally went there too and enjoyed playing the two organs in the Thomaskirche. Just being in the church where Bach worked for many years was exciting and humbling. A closer connection to Bach was felt.

On another trip to Hanover I was rather pleased to discover an English Victorian organ being installed in a city church alongside a beautiful Spanish organ. I soon learned that quite a few unwanted Victorian organs were being shipped across the North Sea to begin new lives abroad. The traffic in church organs is wonderfully reciprocal.

A recent conversation with a keen amateur organist exemplified the views of many,  that differences between the position of manuals on continental organs, where the Great manual is the bottom rather than the middle manual, are not always fully appreciated; neither is the
nomenclature, ie, I, II, III, instead of Great, Swell, Choir (or Positive). The straight versus radiating pedal board is a source of frustration amongst those used to one rather than the other. Another source of bother is when the stops on historic continental consoles are widely spread horizontally on both sides, such as the organ in Trinity College, Cambridge, where the furthest stops are impossible to reach by the player and there are no pistons. Consoles familiar to most of us, he said, are designed to curve inwards, to make all stops visible, and accessible by hand. Very true. Twentieth century technological advances enable the player to control the whole organ, and that includes electrically blown bellows as well as divisional and general pistons and the stepper. Some some feel that copying historic designs is a step backwards, whilst others like it very much. On a personal note, some cathedral organ consoles seem to be designed with tall people in mind rather than shorter ones such as me!

There is right on all sides of this endless discussion. It all depends on what we are used to. Organists, like all musicians, require another pair of ears to check balance and blend from a distance. A good registrant, necessary for historically informed organs, is more than a page turner and stop puller, s/he can go and hear from the back of the church, and be a comforting companion when things don’t always go well. It is also a source of good training for a student, so everyone benefits. Some players prefer to manage everything themselves and with a modern console that is possible. Having easier access to continental organs and organs from across the Atlantic, and indeed the world, has broadened our view of the organ and its repertoire. So has contact with organists from further afield.

UK recital venues are very good hosts to players from both home and abroad. Guests from abroad help us to understand better how known repertoire might sound, introduce us to new works and foster good international relations amongst the musical community. Our conservatoires are full of talented foreign students and many UK organists have done both undergraduate and postgraduate training abroad. International organists settle here. One stated that people here are interested in the organ, whereas in his home country, they are much less interested on the whole. I was suprised to hear that last statement. His country’s loss is definitely our gain. Just before the First World War, a German critic, Oscar Schmitz, described England as ‘ The Land without Music’. The conductor Hans von Bulow also made a similar remark. Nowadays we ARE the Land of Music, the musical life of the UK having been transformed throughout the twentieth century. The Musicians’ Union pointed out before the Referendum, that having to apply for visas for every trip abroad will have a negative, dampening effect on ease of travel, and on the amount of work that good British musicans can do abroad and vice versa. However, Monty Python gave us an amusing song, ‘Always Look on the Bright Side of Life’. What has been learned will be retained, and we can continue to apply optimism and good humour to understanding our art. When travel prices go up and borders become harder to cross we can still access the internet for information, listen to recordings on YouTube and to radio stations that broadcast organ music. Skype/Face Time organ lessons are offered by some teachers. Perhaps things are not as bad as they might seem. If interest in the organ remains as strong as it is now, there should be plenty of work for builders, technicians, players, composers. Keep calm and carry on…..

Marilyn Harper