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THE ORGAN AT CHESTERFIELD PARISH CHURCH
THE
1756 ORGAN
On
a new west gallery a large organ was erected ‘by the voluntary contributions
of some Noblemen and Gentlemen’. Ford’s History of Chesterfield states that it
was ‘a fine-toned organ built by Snetzler of London, a German, for the sum
of £500, opened 21st October 1756 by Thos. Layland, Organist’. The carved
case had a painted and gilded pipe display with three manuals and twenty-one
stops, but no pedals.
During the following two centuries this
instrument was re-sited, reconstructed and enlarged eight times by four
different organ builders, finally coming to rest in 1922 on a north transept
loft with a choir vestry below.
The bicentenary rebuild by Henry Willis III, completed in 1958,
effectively rejuvenated the remaining ten Snetzler ranks. Three years later a
disastrous fire destroyed all but a few of the original pipes, which were later
incorporated on the choir manual of the 1963 organ.
THE 1963 ORGAN
The celebrated 1905 Lewis instrument
from the City Hall, Glasgow, was purchased to replace the lost organ. It was
housed in a spacious loft with a new case by Bolton of Cheltenham, displaying
silvered pipes from the double diapason rank. A convenient detached console of
three manuals controlled the four manual divisions with fifty-six stops and 3520
pipes.
The opening recital was given by Francis Jackson of York Minster. The
Lewis pipework, with a high percentage of tin, produces magnificent Schulz-like
choruses with a wealth of lovely soft voices.
The last twenty-five years have seen a favourable reassessment of English
organ ideals, with the alien neoclassical principles introduced to the 1963
choir/positif divisions discounted. In this light, Philip Wood’s (Huddersfield)
return to the original Lewis specification produced an exceptionally complete
organ with tremendous resources.
In 1988 the console was completely redesigned with ‘solid state’
switching and the fourth (solo) manual restored. The pedal organ was augmented
to include two stops of 32ft pitch. A full specification with 1963 and 1988
comparisons is available.
The detached console at Chesterfield Parish Church.
| The organ in the Crooked Spire, Chesterfield. | |||||||||
| WOOD 1988 | |||||||||
| Philip Wood | |||||||||
| Huddersfield | |||||||||
| I. Great | Pedal | ||||||||
| 1 | Double Open Diapason | 16' |
47 |
1 | Sub Bourdon | 32' | |||
| 2 | Open Diapason No. 1 | 8' |
48 |
2 | Great Bass (Wood) | 16' | |||
| 3 | Open Diapason No. 2 | 8' |
49 |
3 | Open Diapason (Metal) | 16' | |||
| 4 | Stopped Diapason | 8' |
50 |
4 | Violone | 16' | |||
| 5 | Principal | 8' |
51 |
5 | Bourdon | 16' | |||
| 6 | Gemshorn | 4' |
52 |
6 | Lieblich Bourdon | 16' | |||
| 7 | Stopped Flute | 4' |
53 |
7 | Octave (Wood) | 8' | |||
| 8 | Twelfth | 2 2/3 |
54 |
8 | Octave (Metal) | 8' | |||
| 9 | Fifteenth | 2' |
55 |
9 | Violoncello | 8' | |||
| 10 | Mixture 19.22.26.29 |
56 |
10 | Bass Flute | 8' | ||||
| 11 | Cornet 1.8.12.15.17 |
57 |
11 | Super Octave | 4' | ||||
| 12 | Posaune | 8' |
58 |
12 | Flute | 4' | |||
| 13 | Clarion | 4' |
59 |
13 | Mixture 19.22.26.29 | ||||
|
60 |
14 | Contra Trombone | 32' | ||||||
| II. Choir |
61 |
15 | Trombone | 16' | |||||
|
62 |
16 | Trumpet | 8' | ||||||
| 14 | 1 | Lieblich Bourdon | 16' | ||||||
| 15 | 2 | Stopped Diapason | 8' | Couplers | |||||
| 16 | 3 | Open Diapason | 8' | ||||||
| 17 | 4 | Octave | 4' | 63 | 1 | Swell to Great | |||
| 18 | 5 | Flute | 4' | 64 | 2 | Choir to Great | |||
| 19 | 6 | Fifteenth | 2' | 65 | 3 | Solo to Great | |||
| 20 | 7 | Mixture 22.26.29 | 66 | 4 | Solo to Choir | ||||
| 21 | 8 | Trompette | 8' | 67 | 5 | Swell to Choir | |||
| 68 | 6 | Choir Tremulant | |||||||
| III. Swell (enclosed) | 69 | 7 | Swell Octave | ||||||
| 70 | 8 | Swell Unison Off | |||||||
| 22 | 1 | Bourdon | 16' | 71 | 9 | Swell Tremulant | |||
| 23 | 2 | Open Diapason | 8' | 72 | 10 | Solo Octave | |||
| 24 | 3 | Rohrflote | 8' | 73 | 11 | Solo Tremulant | |||
| 25 | 4 | Viole de Gambe | 8' | 74 | 12 | Solo to Pedal | |||
| 26 | 5 | Voix Celeste | 8' | 75 | 13 | Swell to Pedal | |||
| 27 | 6 | Geigen Principal | 4' | 76 | 14 | Great to Pedal | |||
| 28 | 7 | Flute | 4' | 77 | 15 | Choir to Pedal | |||
| 29 | 8 | Fifteenth | 2' | 78 | 16 | Great & Pedal combinations coupled | |||
| 30 | 9 | Mixture 12.15.19.22 | 79 | 17 | Generals on Swell toe Pistons | ||||
| 31 | 10 | Sesquialtera 12.17 | |||||||
| 32 | 11 | Contra fagotto | 16' | Accessories | |||||
| 33 | 12 | Horn | 8' | ||||||
| 34 | 13 | Oboe | 8' | Manual cancels, 12 reversible | |||||
| 35 | 14 | Clarion | 4' | pistons, 8 general pistons. | |||||
| 8 adjustables to Great & Swell, 6 to Choir | |||||||||
| IV. Solo (partially enclosed) | & Solo - by setter piston (8 level memory). | ||||||||
| Balanced expression pedals to Swell & Solo. | |||||||||
| 36 | 1 | Harmonic Flute | 8' | Detached solid state electric console. | |||||
| 37 | 2 | Dolce | 8' | 4 manuals. Sloid state note-switching | |||||
| 38 | 3 | Unda Maris (undulating) | 8' | system. Elecrto-pneumatic action. | |||||
| 39 | 4 | Flauto traverso | 4' | ||||||
| 40 | 5 | Piccolo | 2' | ||||||
| 41 | 6 | Orchestral Oboe | 8' | Put together by R. McVeigh | |||||
| 42 | 7 | Vox Humana | 8' | ||||||
| 43 | 8 | Clarinet | 8' | ||||||
| 44 | 9 | Contra Tromba | 16' | ||||||
| 45 | 10 | Tromba | 8' | ||||||
| 46 | 11 | Tromba Clarion | 4' | ||||||
Close-up of the stops and the pedal board.
A glorious display of organ pipes next to the sanctuary.