Organ History and Specification
History
The organ was first installed at St Peter’s in 1861, it is believed by the organ builders Wood-Wordsworth of Leeds. It was restored in 1886 by John Laycock of Crosshills.
A plaque on the organ commemorates the appreciation of the congregation for the ‘devoted services’ of the organist Mr. Thomas Hustwick who was ‘suddenly called to his rest’ (whilst playing the organ) on Easter Day in 1910.
The organ was hand-pumped until the early 1930s, when an electric blower was installed by Laycock and Bannister. At this time, a Gamba stop was added by parishioners and friends in memory of the Rector, the Rev. Joseph William Hall.
A favourite organist at that period was George Mitton, who was said to make the organ sound like no-one else did (in the best possible sense, of course!). But it was also said, “it sounds as if he is chopping wood in the background”: a consequence of the mechanical action of the instrument.
The organ was cleaned and restored again in the 1950s, at which time electric action was fitted. The work was undertaken by Laycock and Bannister (whose staff at that time included the late Mr. David Smith, who has supplied many of these historical details), for a cost of around £800. The first recital after that restoration was given by Dr Melville Cook of Leeds Parish Church; it is said that the playing was so wonderful that the church resolved there was no need to spend further on the instrument!
The organ was for many years in the care of John Barnes of Corkhills Organ Builders.
In 2002 the organ was restored in memory of the Revd Michael Casterton, funded by Friends of St Peter’s Addingham (FOSPA) and parishioners. It was dedicated at Michaelmas 2002. The restoration was carried out by John T Jackson and Son Ltd, and the organ specification was extended by the use of Bradford Enhanced Synthesis Technology.
The first organ recital on the restored organ was given in February 2003 by Dr Simon Lindley, Master of the Music at Leeds Parish Church and Leeds City Organist.
The organ was used as a field test instrument for an Arts and Humanities Research Board project examining the musical perception of hybrid pipe-digital instruments. Following the retirement of John Jackson, the organ is once again in the care of John and Peter Barnes of Oakworth
Specification
| Great organ | Swell organ | Pedal organ | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Double Open Diapason | 16′ | Bourdon | 16′ (tenor C) | Open Wood | 16′ |
| Open Diapason | 8′ | Open Diapason | 8′ | Bourdon | 16′ |
| Gamba | 8′ | Gedackt | 8′ | Echo Bourdon | 16′ |
| Dulciana | 8′ | Salicional | 8′ | Open Diapason | 8′ |
| Clarabella | 8′ | Celeste | 8′ (tenor C) | Bass Flute | 8′ |
| Rohr Flute | 8′ | Principal | 4′ | Fifteenth | 4′ |
| Principal | 4′ | Flute | 4′ | Mixture | IV |
| Lieblich Flute | 4′ | Nazard | 2’2/3′ | Trombone | 16 |
| Twelfth | 2’2/3 | Fifteenth | 2′ | Schalmei | 4′ |
| Fifteenth | 2′ | Piccolo | 2′ | Swell to Pedal, Great to Pedal | |
| Tierce | 1’3/5 | Larigot | 1’1/3 | ||
| Mixture | IV | Mixture | IV | ||
| Trumpet | 8′ | Contra Fagotto | 16′ | ||
| Clarinet | 8′ | Trumpet | 8′ | ||
| Oboe | Oboe | 8′ | |||
| Swell to Great | Clarion | 4′ | |||
| Tremulant | |||||
| Harpsichord | 8′ | ||||
| Harpsichord | 4 |
Bradford Enhanced Synthesis Technology in the organ at St Peter’s Addingham
The organ at St Peter’s church in Addingham is a hybrid. Some of its sounds come from pipes, others are created by digital technology. The technology used is Bradford Enhanced Synthesis Technology (BEST).
Instead of using looping recorded samples to make sounds, BEST creates sound from sinewaves. These simple components, each of a different pitch, are added together in varying proportions to form the individual sounds of each stop and note. Changing the number of sinewaves (called partials) and their relative levels alters the sound’s tonal character (eg gentle flutes or growling reeds). This is a very flexible method of sound creation and it allows each digital sound to be crafted or ‘voiced’ by the organ builder. In this way, the sound of the digital stops can be adjusted in detail to blend as required with the pipe sounds and to suit the acoustic of the building. How each digital organ voice ‘speaks’ as it starts is a very important part of the voicing process too, as are stability and tuning. The tonal adjustments to BEST are made with a graphical interface called Envelope Studio (ES).
The picture shows an ES screen with the partials of a sound waveform for one note (shown in the lower pane). The amplitude of each partial in the note can be very easily changed, as can both the frequency and amplitude starting envelopes of individual partials (upper panes, one partial shown), using the drawing tool.
The loudspeakers used for the digital sounds are mounted inside the organ case. They were developed especially for use with BEST in organ installations.
St Peter’s organ action is computer-controlled, so there is a scanner computer constantly checking which notes are pressed and which stops selected. If a pipe stop is pulled, the appropriate information is sent to the mechanisms for that rank to activate the right pipes to sound the notes for the pressed keys. If a digital stop is selected, instructions are sent to the circuitry to create the sound for the required stop and keys, to be output through the loudspeakers.
Additional features, such as transposition and performance recording and playback, work for both pipe and digital stops in the hybrid organ.
The organ was used as a field test instrument for an Arts and Humanities Research Board project examining the musical perception of hybrid pipe-digital instruments.
BEST was designed and developed at the University of Bradford by Dr Peter Comerford and his team (Peter also played the organ at St Peter’s for over 30 years). It has a modular structure which can be used to create organs of varying sizes, either hybrid or stand-alone digital (as well as a variety of other instrumental sounds). It has been used in thousands of organ installations across the world.