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    • - The Battle of the Organs
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    • - The Twentieth Century
    • - From the Flames
    • - The Chamber Organ
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Organ organist

The Twentieth Century

Shortly after the appointment of Dr Henry Walford Davies in 1898 as organist, a minor renovation was undertaken by Frederick Rothwell (1853-1944). Rothwell was a friend of Walford Davies and was responsible for rebuilding many organs to which HWD was connected. At this time, the action was regulated and some of the stops were revoiced: the major tonal change came in the substitution of the Choir Viol for an Echo Dulciana. An adjustable Swell pedal (an invention of Rothwell) was also added.

The Rothwell rebuild in 1910 was extensive. In addition to a substantial amount of new pipework, the console was rebuilt with his patented stop-key control system. Stop-keys placed above each manual replaced the stop-knobs and the pedal stop-tabs were triplicated above each keyboard also, enabling easy access from any manual. Walford Davies was clearly impressed with this innovation which, in his own words, enabled the player ‘to glide from stop-key to stop-key while still playing, without the slightest break in the musical thought and without the slightest turn of the head or any irrelevant muscular effort’.

The following is reproduced from The Organ:

There are critics who think the reeds are too smooth and that some at least of them should have been given more fire; but there is scarcely another organ which can compare with it in its almost infinite variety of soft stop combinations. Moreover, its full power pervades every part of the building without being overwhelming, while its refinement of tone is beyond question. Perhaps the truest thing to say of the Temple instrument is that it has an individuality eminently in keeping with the individuality of the Temple services, as well as with its own long history.

This organ was destroyed in May 1941. In 1954, an organ by Harrison & Harrison ltd. was installed in the church. Details of this organ can be found in the next chapter 'from the flames'.

The 1910 Specfication:

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