Dear All
This thread might be split into two, for both atheists and believers in the two segregated sections, and see where differences in philosophy might lead to.
With all interested in organs, I'm sure that an organ somewhere might feature in the £25M plan . . . and, you never know, God can be particularly beneficent to those who can be relied on to do good things with "his" resources.
The inspiration for this thread came yesterday whilst passing by the house of some friends we had lost contact with, knowing that the husband had had a heart problem a few years ago and hearing nothing more. Whilst passing I decided to drop in . . . and with horror saw that the house had been virtually rebuilt, and with major earthworks and york stone flag terracing and entrance . . . and thought that something dreadful had happened as that's the sort of thing that only happens when new people move in. . .
Luckily they were fine and still there . . . but had had their house rebuilt. Coming inside to coffee I was greeted by a kitchen straight off the drawing board with all modern fashionable attributes all off a TV cooking programme, centre section with marble top, designer fruit squeezers and coffee makers, high temperature water for making tea or coffee on tap, Bose speakers and integrated sound system throughout the house, home cinema with 10ft screen etc etc etc, a grand piano in the corner of the living room that no-one knows how to play . . .
And I thought "would my wife and I do that?" if my lifepath and a few million or tens of million pounds became accidentally entangled?
What would you do?
You never know, "be careful what you want, as sure enough you'll get it" . . . so answering this thread might be the start of enabling you to achieve what you would really like to achieve in life . . . and believing that, I'm starting the thread in the believer's corner . . . !
If anyone wants to kick the ball rolling in the parallel atheist's corner that would be great. . .
Best wishes
David P
I have no taste for luxury, and would change nothing to my way of life, save for some books
and CDs more. But I think I would start an organ-building workshop with two aims:
1)- To re-visit the Casparini and the thuringian baroque styles.
2)- To re-visit the Post-romantic organ style, in a multicultural way (what else expect from a belgian,
cramped between Germany, France, England and the Netherlands ?) with pneumatic action (and any
electronic device limited to an external PC, so that the very fragile electronics would not remain in the church
when not in use, while the many updates could be done easier).
There is something that could be done in both those ways. The Casparini organ of Görlitz remains a myth that
deserves some kind of reconstitution; the baroque organs of the J-S Bach's epoch and area are still partly there,
while the Neo-baroque period preffered simplified versions of the northern organs, so that there is no proper
Bach-organ outside Thüringen and (part of) Sachsen plus the Brandenburg (by a builder from Sachsen, J.Wagner, who
I suspect might have been trained partly in Thüringen as well); the works of Arthur Harrison, Lewis, H-J, Willis III,
Stahlhuth, Oscar Walcker, Koulen, Kerkhoff (a belgian builder), The later Goll firm (after Friedrich's thus), Gebrüdern Link,
E-M Skinner, among others, lend to think the Orgelbewegung stopped an immensely creative period that still had
to present a vast synthesis of styles.
The way to Vegas please ?
Best wishes,
Pierre
Ah, one of those "what would I do if?" questions!
I would pay off my mortgage (approx 40k) , rebuild my garage and give the rest away, maybe start a business with some of it (not decided about that one?)
I already have a pipe organ in my house and access to several pipe organs at local churches that at play at, so no additional expenditure on organs required. Maybe, slightly selfishly, I would have the organ moved from a local redundant church to my current Sunday morning gig (faculty allowing!)
I am tired that the world seems to be focused around money. If you have enough to live day to day, then surely that is enough everything else is just vulgar
Marc
Pierre-- I suppose you couldn't find room in a (big?) corner of your workshop for the storage of complete or incomplete organs, parts, and especially, individual ranks of pipework from instruments otherwise unusable, categorized as to "voice", speaking wind pressure, sound pressure level at rated speaking wind pressure, etc... so as to make these available "at cost" to organ builders either in the "other side of the shop" or anyone else on planet earth ??? And for organ building firms storing similar inventory a central database including the same information about their available material?
I suppose first one would need to develop a standard of measurement of existing pipework characteristics and then develop a standard database format this could be entered into so the information could be shared... and thus allow for the more complete reuse of existing pipework in the creation of new instruments or more appropriate rehousing of complete instruments, in a manner which would remove 99% of the "guesswork" ??? (I am thinking about a standard not unlike Thiele-Small Parameters used to describe the performance of loudspeakers :o ;)
Quote...... the Orgelbewegung stopped an immensely creative period that still had
to present a vast synthesis of styles.
And I am of the opinion this "division" of organ-building "camps" combined with the electronic reproduction of music may have had a great deal to do with why the organ as a musical instrument is in the state that it is in today.
Reversing this trend likely will require expenditures far in excess of the figure currently being discussed,
so if your "organ shop" has been paid for out of "your 25M" Then I could spend mine as follows:
The formation of a foundation which would fund organ restoration and rehousing efforts with the intent on wherever possible to preserve and protect instruments in situ, and as a last resort provide for emergency removal and storage of whole instruments in the event no other option for saving the instrument is possible.
Half of the funds would be devoted to the operation of the foundation with the balance managed much in the manner of a perpetual endowment... Upon inception this should permit an immediate disbursement of a significant amount required to fully fund the restoration of the Midmer-Losh opus 5550, installed in Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA... The purchase and restoration of the
Tre' se Nom de Jesus Cathedral in Montreal, Canada, which should ensure that Canada's largest pipe organ will have a home... This building could likely be converted into something like the Casavant-Freres Organ Museum... a place where redundant Casavant pipe instruments could be relocated and housed... and enjoyed by public audiences...
with the facility likely maintained by the Royal Canadian College of Organists... or another competent organization if the RCCO declines...
One would similarly supply Oklahoma University with sufficient funds to complete their installation of Moller opus 5819... The remainder to be disbursed on a case-by-case basis ;D as funds availability would allow...
As such the figure mentioned in the subject title would merely serve as "seed money" to get an organization up-and-running in a fairly short amount of time, and a big part of the foundation's activity would be seeking funding from other foundations and private funding sources world-wide, to continue the work of the foundation indefinitely, or until such a foundation is no longer required to ensure the King of Instruments, remains the King of Instruments...
We naturally would be organized a tax-exempt, non-profit corporation, so if you feel like contributing to this topic feel free to support this hypothetical foundation ;) :) :D ;D 8) 8) 8) 8)
Eric
KB7DQH
:-)
I thought that this would start some interesting lines of thought and I hope that for that reason others might join in and continue to do so with enthusiasm.
In the particularly stockbroker belt of South East England, and this may not be unique save perhaps in density, we are significatly exposed to a culture focussing on little more than the signs of material success which people seem to love to gather around them to say to others "we've arrived". Often accompaniing such mentality is a world in which there is nothing else, nor no-one else, and contrasts sharply with the wider natural world with which we are having increasingly to come to terms and is described whether through evolutionary or intelligent design described by "the force that brings order out of disorder" and about which people without contact with christianity or other faith appear to have little idea.
In the days of Benjamin Henry Latrobe, the Moravians considered that their future ministers should have the widest possible and best education, which is why the Latrobe brothers were sent away from Fulneck in Yorkshire to Niesky in Saxony to the Moravian school . . . at the age of seven. Whilst that is rather extreme in the context of modern opinion, a depth of education including history of art and architecture going back to the renaissance in my view does bring a deeper understanding of the wholeness and unity of mankind in contrast merely to the divisions of mankind that one observes in the course of general history.
Music also brings such ideas together, as expressed for instance in Daniel Baremboim's Israeli-Palestinian orchestra. It's beginning to be common ground too that musical instruction improves the intellect in other areas of academic life.
So what might be on my shopping list might be
- finding ways to raise understandings beyond mere material advancement
- fund at least one scholarship at a school known for cultural depth,
- fund the rebuild of an inspirational organ I have in mind at a school and purchase and install an instrument of a different character http://www.pipeorgans.eu/en/pipeorgans/%282%29Oberlinger-52-III-P (http://www.pipeorgans.eu/en/pipeorgans/%282%29Oberlinger-52-III-P) in addition so that all organ tastes are satisfied and the original instrument can remain preserved
- I know an organ builder whose ambition is to build a really large romantic instrument - finding a venue I'd love to fund his ambition. He'd also like to build a large classical instrument and I'm aware of at least one acoustic which would be a fine setting for a copy of St Maximin
- fund a second organ at Cranleigh School in equal temperament so that the Mander there can remain in Unequal Temperament
- start a programme of wider music teaching at state schools,
- take a portable but inspirational organ into schools or other public places where people might be inspired,
- do something to heighten the profile of the harpsichord at schools and music schools,
- and of course I have other associated projects in mind associated with what I started 30 years ago http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wv46YsUQAcM (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wv46YsUQAcM) where historic parkland of cultural importance is endangered by a farmer, possibly purchase another local building to start a music school with particular emphasis on live performance, written music being merely a guide to permitted improvisation, "orchestral" playing of the piano concentrating on dynamics and phrasing with tutor in mind, and effect of temperament and tuning, possibly providing facilities for musical instrument construction, and provide a better access to allow increased use for concerts and educational opportunities,
- possibly fund an artist and a musician in residence . . .
- utilise a proportion of funds as investment in order to ensure sustainability of such projects into the future and
- utilise a proportion of funds arising from such investment to sponsor up and coming younger people of vision.
One has also a conflict between funding art with a specifically enlightening spirit in mind for the relief of the mental poverty of those suffering affluenza and the relief of material poverty leading to starvation and physical distress. Perhaps finding a means of addressing both issues together is important, but one must also look at how something can catalyse something else.
Politically one has two choices. On Facebook I find it frustrating to see people reading and quoting The Guardian because it gives free net access rather than the arguably more neutral content of The Times and as a result one sees infliltration of leftist propaganda. Leftist socialism is lovely in theory but the USSR demonstrated that it doesn't work well, and if it does at all, only with great pain. The problems are that (1) when people have the thinking done for them, they can exist within the framework merely by obeying rules, effectively operating only as robots (2) collective provision and kindness bestowed by the wide umbrella of the State or beneficence of a dictatorship can only be administered by force . . . as we see graphically with beatings in Tahrir Square . . . Nazi Germany, the world of Chairman Mao, Saddam Hussein, Gadaffi, Burmha . . .
Free will can only provide for others by way of the monetary freedoms of capitalism but with the significant proviso (absent in capitalism ruled and fuelled by materialism) that the concepts of Christianity, (not the religion) but the commandment to Love thy God and thy neighbour as oneself, are encompassed within the common consciousness.
If we don't educate broadly with such concepts in mind, then we can expect only Orwellian divisions, wars, robotic behaviours, supressions represions and totalitarian politics.
I'm aligned with Pierre in encouraging organ building both for the intellectual enhancement that organ playing provides supremely, as well as giving a high profile and gaining respect for the sort of places where organs are that have a key role in society in reaching to heaven beyond the realms of merely earthly materialism and noise.
These ideas are no doubt a rather motley group and rather clumsily, even inadequately, expressed for which I apologise . . .
I chose the amount under discussion deliberately to be more than that necessary merely to do just one or one or two things but significantly less than that necessary to put anything widely to rights.
I wonder if materialist capitalism merely goes the wrong way because people work perhaps for the sake of obtaining money per se rather than with any specific intention or vision of what to do with it. It becomes an end in itself rather than a tool to achieve something else.
For that reason perhaps this thread might be usefully inspirational . . . ?
Best wishesDavid P
Hi!
I do hope that others, or even existing contributors, will expand on this thread. If people don't throw forward ideas nor help to refine the ideas of others then little in this world can progress . . .
There must be lottery winners "out there" who haven't the faintest clue what to do with their winnings who we might be able to inspire to do something and, even better, something interesting!
Why should "investment advice" merely be the domain of Mammon?
Isn't it time that the church started sowing seeds in financially abundant areas of the population?
Best wishes
David P
Hi
I'd build a new church building for my church - with full concert facilities and a good pipe organ - probably a rescued redundant instrument of which there are a number in the area.
Every Blessing
Tony
Quote from: revtonynewnham on January 09, 2012, 06:46:15 PM
I'd build a new church building for my church - with full concert facilities and a good pipe organ - probably a rescued redundant instrument of which there are a number in the area.
Dear Tony
That's really great! And hope the prayers for this work . . .
But what would you do with the extra £23M ?
I was a little wicked in setting the amount of this dream amount in setting it to be really enough to make quite a difference possibly in multiple directions. If we can stretch our imaginations, in this thread I'm seeking to stretch the imagination of mega-lottery winners and the semi-superich, the old fashioned level of millionaires rather than billionaires, who might be reading such a thread and wondering what they might do with their lives.
Can organs be part of it? Can organs really make a difference? Possibly all of us might think that they can. How? And with what resources necessary?
Best wishes
David P
Hi
I doubt there'd be that much left, as I would want to include long-term funding for maintenance, etc. Then I know several Christian mission organisations that need financial help. A small amount would provide my retirement housing, etc (again complete with an organ or two!).
Every Blessing
Tony
Dear Tony
Great! Perhaps I'd want also to buy an ailing prep school, ensure that Greek and Latin were encompassed, and offer bursaries and possibly set up instrument teaching annexes for local state schools with the contemplation of starting orchestras.
Perhaps the point of this thread is that organs in places on the continent have State assistance but not in England, leaving organists with big aspirations (is anyone's organ ever big enough :-) ???) and often with musical ideas wider then their instruments, but little funding.
But if lottery winners and otherwise the have-yachts have inspiration, for the reasons outlined in my post above which probably broke political taboos, I question seriously whether we need to devolve responsibilities to big government to administer. Smaller focussed projects instigated by people with the means to do so can express themselves with great individuality, greater benefits and sow seeds of inspiration beyond singular imaginations.
If people can find a habit to think big and wide, when opportunities come their way, they will be equipped to respond rather than merely buying their new kitchen, their yacht, Rolls Royce and electronic gates imprisoning their minds in their villas in the south of France.
Has anyone more ideas? Can we cause lottery winners to find interest here? Can organs capture the imagination and inspire?
Best wishes,
David P
In light of recently discovering the following article
http://larouchepac.com/node/20259 (http://larouchepac.com/node/20259)
I thought it prudent to revisit this discussion...
Obviously a "state-assisted" solution in light of current events is out of the question. However "non-state free-enterprise" certainly has its appeal... Discussions can eventually lead to inevitability
if properly (or maybe a better word could be "promptly" ??? ).... propagated.
I think back to my social-studies classes in High School, in the early 1980's, my teacher having served in Europe whilst enlisted in the United States Air Force, taking a German wife, and revisiting the continent often, and taking hundreds of slide photographs which would be featured in his lectures...
One must remember at the time the Solidarity movement was just getting going in Poland at the time, the Soviet Union very much alive, and discussions along the lines of "what would happen if..."
I never imagined within my lifetime that one of the scenarios suggested in the classroom discussion, would, in fact play out just as described :o 8) with Poland's economic conversion followed by the reunification of Germany and the eventual collapse of the Soviet system... and following that the formation of the European Union...
What I have proposed is a form of "Marshall Plan"... With the idea that with additional resources the program could necessarily expand into areas subsequently brought to the fore...
To some extent this process exists in the "new world" with the preservation of and gradual rebuilding of the Classical Music Infrastructure seen in recent years, especially within my local geographic area,
with the construction of the Watjen Concert Organ (C. B. Fisk opus 114) and preservation of the First United Methodist Church building, (by a land developer :o 8) ;) ;) ) and the organ housed within...
For those unfamiliar, the cost of the previously mentioned instrument installed within the Seattle Symphony's recently constructed concert facility was paid entirely by one Craig Watjen, who was at one time one of the principals at Microsoft... (Yup... Some of that "Windows" money paid for a pipe organ :o ;D
It remains to be seen how much of the "one percent" will adopt the Carnegie/Bates philosophy of spending a third of one's life getting as much education as one can, spending the next third making as much money as one can, and the last third giving it all away for the benefit of Society as a whole...
I know, one shouldn't "start vast projects with half-vast ideas" so the purpose here would be to see if one could start... vast projects with Vast ideas ;)
Eric
KB7DQH
Quote from: revtonynewnham on January 09, 2012, 06:46:15 PM
Hi
I'd build a new church building for my church - with full concert facilities and a good pipe organ - probably a rescued redundant instrument of which there are a number in the area.
Every Blessing
Tony
How about the Cavaillé-Coll from the Parr Hall, Warrington? It is currently for sale; offers between 1.6 and 2 million sterling - to include re-location (but without Kirsty and Phil) and restoration.
And, for that price, I would want a mini-bar as well....
As far as the 'If I had £25 million' goes, I think that I would wish to start a fund (perhaps something along the lines of that which Andrew Carnegie instigated) and provide grants for the restoration and rebuilding of organs in churches and concert halls throughout England.
Those wishing to benefit from this money would need to prepare a subtantial submission - much along the lines of that required by the Heritage Lottery Fund - and prove:
a) that the instrument was worthy of retention
b) that the work proposed was in sympathy with the style of the organ
c) the instrument in its restored state would be used for the benefit of as many who wished to use it as possible - within
the limitations of demands on the building and reasonable strictures by the incumbent musicians.
Unlike the Heritage Lottery Fund commission, I would not insist on a mechanical action and an attached console, as a matter of course. Each instrument and its surroundings would be considered on an individual basis.
Oh, and I would also pay off my mortgage (140k currently....) - and that of a couple of my friends. After that, I would buy another house, rent my current property out.
And I would contribute a fair sum to the restoration and rebuilding of my 'own' church organ.
If there were any change after that, a modest (but not claustrophoblc) apartment on Prinsengracht , Amsterdam - or possibly on the Ile de la Cité, Paris, might be rather nice.
QuoteIn the days of Benjamin Henry Latrobe, the Moravians considered that their future ministers should have the widest possible and best education, which is why the Latrobe brothers were sent away from Fulneck in Yorkshire to Niesky in Saxony to the Moravian school . . .
Funny you mention the Moravians... The Moravians were the first institution in what would later become the United States of America to have organs built and installed in their churches... And some of these instruments survive to this day...
Eric
KB7DQH
I really must make the efrort to go and have a look at Fulneck. I understand that there's a nice Snetzler organ somewhere in the village - and it's the home of a famous English organist.
Every Blessing
Tony
It's said that in Labrador there's a Moravian Church with an organ dating from the time of Bach. Labrador is part of this Diocese in Anglican terms, but the Moravians were early missionaries in that vast and (still) remote area and remain a strong presence today.
Dear Tony
Firstly welcome back . . . your absense has been as if you have been to the other side of the moon and back and I'm sure all would wish to echo a congratulation on your safe splashdown . . .
More generally, one of my sons has criticised my aspirations saying that I should be more intending involvement in the relief of physical sufferings . . .
My response to my son's rebuke is that the organ is a focus and an inspiration which is capable of enthusing and is capable of leading more people towards the centres of
(http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s720x720/320523_1972032301549_1043150953_n.jpg)
and from which then flows greater generosity of spirit and material wealth flowing outwards from people's good fortune.
Beleivers and true Atheists are probably alike: believers probably do things because God would like them to do it whilst Atheists can be motivated to do things because there's no-one else to do them. The latter can be better than believers as some believers think they can sit back and expect God to do it for them! :-) But there are many who are neither believers nor atheists who have not been introduced to the teachings of civilisation who are no more motivated nor comprehending than copulating amoebae in the sea . . .
In looking at what one might do with a good fortune crossing one's path, where self-indulgence enters the equation there is an uncomfortable relationship between it and the following of a passion leading to example and excellence and wider benefit . . . or the sort of self comforting self indulgence which makes it "more difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven than to enter the eye of the needle".
Coming down a hill from a village on a mountain behind Genoa a friend pointed out to me a man looking like a tramp. He had been a very "rich" man. He had had cash to the value of millions stuffed in his mattress. One day about ten years ago theives had stolen all his cash. He could not cope with this and it sent him mad. He lived like a tramp for some years and has now adjusted more, but does nothing but walk to Genoa every day and back and climb the hill again. He was not a rich man: he had done nothing with his money and was neither then nor now in the Kingdom of Heaven.
The human condition is a battle between our animal selves and our desire to escape the jungle man within us, to reach a civilisation, and this is the course of evolution that makes us human beings. This is the story of the first chapter of Genesis, that of the strange force that creates order out of disorder and it is in handling this that we become human and conscious beyond the animal.
To those who have not thought about God nor believe in the "religion" of evolution so as to be an "evolutionary atheist", the extent of the elimination of the animal within must be all the more difficult. Not to strive for better civilisation is against either religion, and thus is inhuman.
It's for these reasons why, despite the criticism of all of us who would want to include organs within our shopping lists and put them on the menus for others to enjoy, I believe the promotion of the organ has important consequences for humanity.
To those who tell me that religion has caused more disharmony than concord, I'd answer that it is only the lens of men that focusses on differences and that, Christ teaching that there are only two commandments, all texts of religion should be put under the magnifying glass, even the microscope, and viewed through the lens of the second commandment in particular.
It's for the reasons above that of many of the suggestions so far, I find Pierre's all the more intriguing for his total devotion to organs and particular types of organ . . . and perhaps we might hear more from his expertise possibly in other parts of the forum to enlighten us as to the particular enthusiasms he recommends worthy of pursuit . . .
Best wishes
David P
PS Fulneck and its heritage is certainly worthy of exploration!
:o :o :o I forgot that one of our forum members would be engaged in an enterprise mutually beneficial-- but is currently awaiting the "go-ahead"-- or for lack of better language, "the money" :o :o :o
I am, but of course, referring to the "Documentary" ;)
For the purposes of continuing the work of my hypothetical foundation so poorly described above, such endeavours would of course be necessary to bring those with resources available into a frame of mind which would allow them to contribute freely and willingly to the work at hand... My current signature line is but a clue :o ;) :) ;D 8) 8) 8)
Eric
KB7DQH
Dear Eric
The last sentence of your signature line is particularly interesting.
What one might do with a personal access to £25M might possibly not be entirely different were one to be in a position administering £25M of public funds, as many people are. When our administrators can get into the mindset of private benefactors and when private individuals with the wealth of public administrations can get into the mindset of what can be achieved rather than what can be spent on Rolls Royces, Lamborhginis and Maseratis, electronic gates and marble kitchens then many political problems will be disappeared . . .
It all starts simply from what we can imagine and to what we might aspire.
Any philanthropist reading this thread might see that organists are a good place to start as none dedicate Sunday mornings playing the organ in church for personal gain; they must have a wider view in order to be there . . . and philanthropy chooses servants of vision who will carry on and continue to do with resources what they have done.
Best wishes
David P
Call me cynical if you will but there are various reasons why now something like 80% of organists in this country will not take a 'permanent' appointment in a church. Pay is one significant reason. It's why a lot of organists leave the church - they feel that their skills and labour (which don't come without their own costs) are not adequately rewarded. All too often we see organists' pay (along with organ maintenance) being the first thing to go when the parish treasurer decides the church has to tighten its collective financial belt.
Oh, and if I had 25 million, I'm afraid to say that a Lamborghini would be on my shopping list - but not one of the very latest ones.
Remember, it was people buying Rolls-Royces who effectively bankrolled Marcel Dupré's touring in the 1920s and 1930s...
Quote from: AnOrganCornucopia on January 23, 2012, 02:50:53 PMPay is one significant reason. It's why a lot of organists . . .
Oh, and if I had 25 million, I'm afraid to say that a Lamborghini would be on my shopping list - but not one of the very latest ones.
Aah! Well perhaps in the light of the above philanthropists are going to be looking at entrusting their resources to church organists rather than merely showcase ones . . .
And as for the lamborghini . . . as yet not being an organist . . . you prove the wisdom of much of the above rather well.
In conversation with the pianist Adolfo Barabino the other day, he was saying that the difference between a certain wonderful pianist he knew and a really great pianist is that whilst a wonderful musician might play to display, a great musician will play to convey love.
Perhaps too this sentiment can apply to non-church organists . . .
Best wishes
David P
Remember, if no-one bought exotic cars, we'd end up in a situation where there was no market for them and where a huge amount of our heritage would be at risk - just as with organs. Then we'd have nothing on our roads but bland Far Eastern hatchbacks... no thanks. Whenever I see an old 1960s Ferrari, for example, it really brightens up my day.
Are you saying that becoming an organist would cure me of being a petrolhead? I can think of quite a number of petrolhead organists... I seem to recall that Pierre Cochereau had a Citroen SM and a Maserati Bora...
Hacked out of the article linked to earlier...
QuoteTo the poets, the discoverers, the philosophers and the statesmen, their minds, their words, their dreams and their ideas all live in the future and are made of eternally future substance. They remind us that there is a pervasive principle of mind, and that it is a dominant cause in the entire universe, and we are only now in the beginning of our 21st century, beginning to realize this principle. These men live in such spaceless-timeless-matterless worlds, and it is their encapsulating of such undiscovered countries which broadens the imagination of all mankind and drives the evolution of the entire species. It can be seen in the penetrating gaze of Rembrandt's eyeless Homer and it can be heard in the silences within the music of our greatest composers. These men are our ambassadors from the Noösphere, this invisible nation of mankind which exists outside the brain and outside of time. As life does not come from non-life, creativity does not come from non-creativity, thus the only true way to study this domain is to recreate the discovery of such future states in your own mind. Only through a culture committed to beauty and truth we can find an Elysium already waiting for us in the future.
Is this difficult to understand?
Eric
KB7DQH
Yes. Extremely. ;D
Dear AOC
At present you are more of a petrolhead than an organist. The point of this thread is that we are limited both by resources but also our imaginations, so I have set the challenge for us to imagine that we are only limited by our imaginations.
There is no reason why society needs big government to which we devolve responsibilities to spend monies well sufficient to do good things and that private individuals who are empowered to do so by their resources can achieve things too. My thesis is that organs, in bringing people into places where
(http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s720x720/320523_1972032301549_1043150953_n.jpg)
is a central theme, is a catalyst for this sort of thing to start to happen, in contrast to what we see currently as the norm.
When we delegate our public functions to other people to carry out, we would certainly object were we to see the Head of Department of a local authority with a £25M budget for his department purchasing a Lamborghini for the use of the Head of Department. We have objected to public representatives to Parliament claiming expenses for such things too.
If we object to such useless and irrelevant ostentatious expenditure in the public sector, it is perhaps for private individuals to set the standards in the private domain.
In a nation whose public debt exceeds £1T, cutbacks will mean that private individuals will have a greater opportunity and focus to be able to play their part, and organists rather than petrolheads may have the right ideas in mind.
Keep them flowing!
Best wishes
David P
Firstly, as for me not being an organist, I'm working on it! Currently attempting to find a time when the piano isn't in use for teaching, practice or composition to get to it - I love the piano and the organ and it frustrates me immensely that I've never got to grips with either.
Of course we would object to a person in public office using public funds for such frivolities - but when one sees an entrepreneur who has made untold millions, if not billions of pounds through worthwhile business ventures which they have built up, employing many people and helping the economy significantly (for instance, Richard Branson), who are we to say 'you can't do that, that's immoral'? It's one thing seeing a (name deleted) (about whom the less I say, the better, as I don't wish to be sued from here to kingdom come...) spending 100 million on another yacht, or paying an illiterate thug who can't keep his trousers on (I've met a few, most of them live round here) £200,000 a month for kicking a ball around, which I condemn, but I think that when someone is keeping many thousands of ordinary people off the dole, they're entitled to a little frivolity. Technically, no-one ever NEEDED to build such a large house as Hammerwood (let alone much larger places like Blenheim Palace, Castle Howard, Lyme Park, or such wonderful Victorian buildings as Cardiff Castle and Mount Stuart), and, by 1982, its raison d'etre had ceased to exist. Thankfully, some people take a more enlightened, liberal view of such things and consider it worth spending large sums on such critical parts of our culture and heritage.
The alternative to taking a liberal view on justified reward is that we end up where we were under Cromwell - I doubt somehow that many here (even the good Reverend Newnham) would wish to return to such a puritannical era!
Hi
Actually, Cromwell was pretty fond of "the good things in life" - including organs (IIRC he obtained at least two from churches when they were removed). As to the Puritan ideas about religion, the least said the better - I just wish that people would read the Bible carefully before coming up with such ideas. Agreed, the pre-Cromwellian church was hardly a good advert for Christianity either - but "baby" and "Bathwater" spring to mind with reference to the destruction wrought by Cromwell and his cronies.
Sadly, sometimes I see the same sort of attitudes to Christian denominations still lingering on in our times - usually from people who should know better.
Every Blessing
Tony
Quote from: AnOrganCornucopia on January 25, 2012, 05:39:09 PM
Firstly, as for me not being an organist, I'm working on it! . . .
Of course we would object to a person in public office using public funds for such frivolities - but when one sees an entrepreneur who has made untold millions, if not billions of pounds through worthwhile business ventures which they have built up, employing many people and helping the economy significantly . . .
. . . Technically, no-one ever NEEDED to build such a large house as Hammerwood (let alone much larger places like Blenheim Palace, Castle Howard, Lyme Park, or such wonderful Victorian buildings as Cardiff Castle and Mount Stuart), and, by 1982, its raison d'etre had ceased to exist.
Dear AOC
Perhaps when you actually become (rather than intend, the intention however being Good News) an organist and come to terms with the symbolisms of harmonic accordances and of the practice of harmonic additions, wisdoms beyond those above may bear fruit.
As for billionaire behaviour "employing many people and helping the economy significantly" in the case of Microsoft, monopoly commissions have ruled and many software companies testified to having been put out of business by their competition. When you have been a guest at a reception in Delhi surrounded by men accompanied by bejewelled women with reception room long walls with heated food stands offering 101 different delicious dishes to eat, and Rolls Royces and beggars outside, and smelt the open drains that passed for sewers outside Bombay and know that each of those dishes and the Rolls Royces and the jewels were funded by just a few extra Paise on a packet of fags bought by the poor and the beggars to bring them to an earlier grave, one's beneficient view of billionaires can be hardly universal.
This thread is not about the social responsibilities of billionaires.
In this thread I deliberately set the amount for imagination not in billions, so billionaire behaviour is irrelevant to this thread, but in a level of millions able to achieve quite a lot of good and possibly in more than a single direction and to put it at the disposal of personal responsibility.
The case of Hammerwood is interesting in the context you raise: funded possibly originally by Irish brewing and Scandinavian trading, it was built as a product of its time championing the Agricultural Revolution, without which the population would not have had enough food to eat, celebrating certain timeless esotericisms which we are finally privileged to be decoding and which, were you to be able to understand them demonstrate the value of meaningful Art,
per se as a worthy recipient of beneficence. The Craft of its artisans was revered by the architect and it lay a timeless inspiration of the imagination. The project was progressed by a family who virtually invented banking.
By 1982 the building had most certainly not lost its
raison d'etre although the function of its provision of barracks to 200 soldiers had, the hiding in the woods of petrol dumps, tanks and planes, as had its conversion into sordid flats, as had also its function as a forgotten playground of a disbanded pop-group.
Ironically the pop group hit the nail on its head in the title of the film they filmed here "The Song Remains the Same". The power of its Art survived and outshone mere transitory earthly functions. The Power of its architecture, its Doric evoking the most fundamental, the most primitive at the source of the soul of humankind, caused people not only including my family but for generations before, and their descendants to return and return, even from 150 years before, and wonder.
Investment in its restoration has provided not only a catalyst for the arts, opportunities for young musicians as well as a place of inspiration given by the very best and even on the cutting edge, but the rediscovery and deciphering of the Latrobe encodings is enabling a reevaluation of our past, ancient origins, myths, their reception in the 18th century and influences upon then and now, and with that perspective to look at how the present moulds into the future.
In the course of its restoration, it has brought many people together, trained many young people for whom it has put their lives on the level and its symbolism of achievement in its building, putting square block of stone upon square block of stone to build an edifice of eminence has been symbolically inspiring to all those involved whose lives have been affected by it.
Your introduction of Hammerwood Park into this thread merely as a matter of being "large" and whether such is a matter of need is a straightjacket of thought out of which many organists above have demonstrated they are able to break. It is not SIZE that matters, but meaning. Intention.
Before building a house of worth, there has to be that concept in mind:
"And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building."
It is a spiritual temple made of blocks well founded, and organs often lead to such places of the mind. *
By
meaning and
intention, John Sperling and Benjamin Henry Latrobe had been able to communicate through the centuries beyond the mortality of their existence, to catalyse and to make a difference.
Eric's signature makes the point:
QuoteWe must realize there's a crisis on our plate. We've got to launch the solution, and use that for a Renaissance which if broad enough and strong enough can create a turn in the situation of mankind as a whole. You don't need to do everything; you have to do something which will start everything.
People with significant but comparatively modest resources are able to do just that, and influence others to make good use of their talents and to help others in turn to do likewise.
I hope that other organists might continue to keep the ball of ideas rolling . . .
Best wishes
David P
* Postscript: Wesley's notes:
QuoteMade ready - Hewed, and squared, and fitted exactly accordingto the direction of the architect. Neither hammer, &c. - So it was ordered, partly for the ease and conveniency of carriage: partly, for the magnificence of the work, and commendation of the workmen's skill and diligence: and partly, for mystical signification. And as this temple was a manifest type both of Christ's church upon earth, and of the heavenly Jerusalem: so this circumstance signified as to the former, that it is the duty of the builders and members of the church, as far as in them lies, to take care that all things be transacted there with perfect peace and quietness; and that no noise of contention, or division, or violence, be heard in that sacred building: and for the latter, that no spiritual stone, no person, shall bear a part in that heavenly temple, unless he be first hewed, and squared, and made meet for it in this life.
In the interest of "full disclosure" I will point out that I paraphrased that signature line-- from the wise words of... an economist! Moreover I could hardly be considered an "organist"... Although I did have an opportunity as a young child to "mess about" with the church's pipe organ prior to Choir practice, as my father was the director of said choir... but that's about it... Well, the occasional turn on my Grandma's toaster :o :o :o
Eric
KB7DQH
The idea as to how to spend £25m certainly seems to see many people want to spend some of their 'winnings' on increasing the popularity of organs and organ music. My question is this, what can we do without the backing of such riches? What should we do to promote our music? And what will happen if we simply do nothing?
Regards,
Matt.
Quote from: matt h on January 26, 2012, 01:48:20 PM
The idea as to how to spend £25m certainly seems to see many people want to spend some of their 'winnings' on increasing the popularity of organs and organ music. My question is this, what can we do without the backing of such riches? What should we do to promote our music? And what will happen if we simply do nothing?
Dear Matt
Yes! Of course! Very good points . . . and perhaps very much worthwhile to start another thread . . .
But here above there are seeds, seeds of aspiration and intention, and when seeds are planted sometimes the size of the tree that grows is even beyond our imaginations!
So can I encourage you to be brave and join in the thoughts of how one might use usefully £25M - and then indeed thoughts of what one can do for free might even result as well . . . ?
Best wishes
David P
David.
I can think of many uses for £25 million, but for the sake of argument lets say I decided to spend 10% on my hobby. That's £2.5 million. In the town where I live there is a disused chapel, currently for sale. I don't know the asking price, but lets say around £150,000. I know of a lovely old Binns organ sitting in the chapel where I used to play in North Yorkshire which is sitting redundant (NPOR GO1206, which incidentally is not a Laycock and Bannister) and which I would love to re-home. Perhaps a state of the art toaster, just for fun. I would guess that one could spend an awful lot kitting out an organ practice studio. To be able to buy the music, perhaps have a kind of library of music and CD's. Most importantly, a significant investment portfolio to keep the facility open for anyone with an interest in organ music to be able to use it.
I'm sure I'll think of more.....
Regards,
Matt
Quote from: matt h on January 26, 2012, 04:07:53 PM
............. I know of a lovely old Binns organ sitting in the chapel where I used to play in North Yorkshire which is sitting redundant (NPOR GO1206, which incidentally is not a Laycock and Bannister) and which I would love to re-home.............
Matt
Dear Matt,
The NPOR for this one doesn't list any useful details. Do you know if it's on any of the redundant lists? If not, could you give us any of the basics, e.g. number of manuals? Approx. physical dimensions? Anything at all?
A PM would be fine if you prefer.
Thanks,
J.
Hi
The Methodist Church's organs advisor would be the person to contact initially.
Every Blessing
Tony
Thanks Tony. Yes, I have all his e-mails and I don't remember seeing it, but he is a very obliging gentleman and I'm sure he will help if he can.
Matt, thanks for you PM. I have sent a reply.
Regards,
J.
No probs, VERY happy to help.
Regards,
Matt.
Hi!
In view of recent vacillations reported in the press about taxation, this thread really might be worth pursuing and championing. If our culture was to see how personal wealth could be used to greater public benefit resulting not from coercion but from enthusiasm to achieve greater good, then taxation and the need for it would be significantly unnecessary. Do we really have to abrogate our responsibilities of christian spending to big government to do it for us?
It's great to see more members joining the forum: can we keep ideas here flowing? Proposals here to curate a large sum of money are allowed to include an organ . . . !
Best wishes
Forum Admin
Quote from: organforumadmin on March 08, 2012, 11:35:18 AMDo we really have to abrogate our responsibilities of christian spending to big government to do it for us?
Yes. Definitely. Sorry, David, I know that there are very wealthy individuals who do the right thing and spend their money fruitfully (for instance, making sure to do their Christian duties, while rescuing large, historic mansions from the brink of oblivion...) but you only need to talk to a city banker (and I've known a few) to realise what a cavalier attitude they take. If we removed or heavily reduced taxation, there would be no money to run our schools, libraries, public parks, civic concert halls
(!), National Health Service (and let's not argue about that, saying the NHS shouldn't exist as some do ought to remove your right to a British passport). You only need to look at the way that Barclays were employing hundreds of people purely to exploit tax loopholes. These are organisations with no conscience. Frankly, in my utopian view of Britain, the first things to go would be parliamentary "democracy" and the banks (beyond that which is necessary to sustain high street banking and lending to businesses). It's a measure of how genteel Britain and indeed the world has become that Fred Goodwin, Bob Diamond et al haven't been strung up and shot (which, in all honesty, I believe they deserve thoroughly). Look at the situation in 1790s France, or indeed Italy in 1945.
Now, look at the way in which we bailed out the banks in 2009, then cast your mind back to 2005, when the same Labour government refused to help MG Rover, which needed a bridging loan amounting to about 4% of the cost of the bank bailout to enable them to bring to market what promised to be a class-leading new family hatchback which, then at an advanced pre-production stage, was going (along with a number of spinoffs using the same technology) to bring the business back into profit. MGR was employing directly several thousand people, plus probably the same again in the supply industry and various contracters. The damage caused by MGR's collapse (which was down to mismanagement by the Government, first in allowing BMW to asset-strip the business, then in failing to sustain its existence) was immense: real harm was done to many ordinary people, who went from earning and paying taxes to being on the dole. Economic growth suffered and we lost out on exports. Could we say the same about the investment arms of the various banks we bailed out? I think not. They put nothing back into society and, if relieved of an outright legal responsibility to pay their taxes, would gleefully take full advantage of the opportunity to pay sweet f. a. in tax.
I'm being unusually scribic to-day; possibly because I've nothing better to do. However, this is a question I have often pondered, in preparation for the day that I win the lottery.
I wouldn't buy big cars and a noble pile, (apologies for that to Mr P), but I would indulge myself in a Caterham 7 and possibly kill myself shortly after.
If I survived the Caterham 7 experience, I think I would buy a redundant mill or factory, and turn it into a multiple craft workshop, where vital skills could be kept alive, where young people could take pride in learning the skills, and where things of beauty and quality could be made for posterity.
It could be run in such a way that a "collective" approach would reduce costs to a bare minimum: no rent, but a reasonable and proportional contribution to day to day operating costs and maintenance. This would be such a vital and welcome approach to encouraging craft industries to start-up and develop, and if that included the building or restoration of pipe organs, I would be entirely happy with that. (I think I would also include the building of quality electronic organs, which has a long and distinguished history in the UK, as well as a certain marketing potential).
Having grown up in an industrial northern town, I know how important skills and passionate interests are, and my heart bleeds for the kids of to-day, who seem to semi-exist in a dull world, where the excitement of drugs, casual sex and mindless pop-music seem to tbe their only outlet. There is so much energy which is going to waste, and without opportunity, these youngsters will never realise their own potential or be able to make much of a contribution to the long-term well-being of society.
Enthusiasm and acquired skills are the building blocks of lives and societies, and we need more, not less.
Hi
With regard to AOC's comments re the NHS - this really must be protected. I can't understand those who would like to do away with it. It's all very well for those with a significant income to pay for health insurance. i suspect that if I lived somewhere like the USA, I'd be dead by now, as I can't envisage any private insurance company funding the treatment - over a number of years - for the significant health problems that I've had. (Including 4 major operations).
Every Blessing
Tony
Quote from: AnOrganCornucopia on March 08, 2012, 03:09:54 PMyou only need to talk to a city banker (and I've known a few) to realise what a cavalier attitude they take. If we removed or heavily reduced taxation, there would be no money to run our schools, libraries, public parks, civic concert halls(!), National Health Service (and let's not argue about that, saying the NHS shouldn't exist as some do ought to remove your right to a British passport).
This thread is not a soapbox upon which to spout about what is wrong, but to put oneself in the position of the responsibility of the possession of a tidy sum with which one can do quite a lot but not so much as to be able to do much more than . . . inspire.
By doing this, then others might contemplate doing likewise with their resources and those with even more resources can apply those to the bigger picture . . .
So can you do it? This is a mental exercise more widely appropriate to more than organists, but all organists usually have an organ to include in such ideas . . .
Best wishes
Forum Admin
Quote from: MusingMuso on March 08, 2012, 03:48:52 PM
I wouldn't buy big cars and a noble pile, (apologies for that to Mr P),
. . . .
If I survived the Caterham 7 experience, I think I would buy a redundant mill or factory, and turn it into a multiple craft workshop, where vital skills could be kept alive, where young people could take pride in learning the skills, and where things of beauty and quality could be made for posterity.
Enthusiasm and acquired skills are the building blocks of lives and societies, and we need more, not less.
Dear MM
Perhaps your vision and mine differ not far . . . For people who merely observe casually rather than know me, it's easy to mistake "the pile" for merely that, rather than something greatly more and in part fulfilling your vision for a redundant mill or factory. I often say that restoring the house is not about restoring stones but building people and there are many young people and older ones too who have learned skills here and do what they do now because they trained here . . . With better access arrangements, the house could do more in this way, but there are solid engineering skills to which you are probably pointing which are being lost and which desperately need sponsorship as you suggest.
A friend with enthusiasms in the vintage car area remarked to me the other day that skills necessary for maintaining vintage and veteran cars which relied upon traditional workshop practices which are now the domain of grey and white haired knowledge on the brink of disappearing. There is a particular need for apprenticeships in this area and the market is significant.
With health and safety having caused the closure of carpentry workshops in schools, and metal working workshops too, perhaps this is an area that needs reintroduction. Perhaps one might also set up a political party abolishing Health and Safety: if walking under a scaffold and a spanner should fall upon one's head, my grandmother would say how stupid it was to have been walking underneath. Campaigning for the reintroduction of the rules against champerty to eliminate the fear of unreasonable and unwarranted litigation and the associated cycle requiring and fed by insurance, would give an enormous boost to the self confidence of people and the economic health of the country.
Young people are given a false sense of the importance of the superficial attractiveness of the iPhone and associated transient rubbish as such things are merely a substitute for real life and, together with the activities you mention, are the only things left unprohibited by health and safety. The enthusiasm of young people for practical things can lead to expanding outlets of their inspirations: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Airline-Scams-Scandals-Edward-Pinnegar/dp/0752466259 (AOC - perhaps you might follow such an example and start to write a book about organs . . . ? )
The wealth of Britain in the past started off at the bottom rung with backyard businesses in garden sheds. World famous Gandolfi cameras were just such an industry, and for their lack of active promotion certainly in the UK one might be forgiven for thinking that Lowther loudspeakers started off that way. Certainly there was a derivative speaker manufacturer by the name of Worden using Lowther units
(http://www.organmatters.co.uk/oddlowther.jpg)
which would certainly have been made on such a small scale basis.
Certainly in India a major plank of the economic success is an ingenuity and practical ability that leads to a "can do" approach:
(http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/429803_2738999115240_1265258549_32058651_2073663325_n.jpg)
without fear or inhibition.
Operating at the Palace of Dhrangadhra have been for decades craft workshops where beaten silverwork furniture is turned out together with sculptors who can copy in marble precise replicas of the Parthenon Frieze merely from illustrations in a book.
As you say, it is these practical skills that are at the foundation both of a healthy economy and also a happy life. A very good suggestion. . .
Best wishes
David P
Quote from: David Pinnegar on March 08, 2012, 11:26:45 PM
.....................................
A friend with enthusiasms in the vintage car area remarked to me the other day that skills necessary for maintaining vintage and veteran cars which relied upon traditional workshop practices which are now the domain of grey and white haired knowledge on the brink of disappearing. There is a particular need for apprenticeships in this area and the market is significant.
..........
Don't forget also steam locomotive and traction engine preservation, or indeed the vintage diesel railway locomotives kept running by bands of enthusiastic volunteers. Both are excellent examples of keeping alive engineering skills which are rapidly being lost elsewhere.
When you see the enormous effort involved in these tasks now, it illustrates just how skilled the workforce was in the days when places like Swindon, Eastleigh, Doncaster and Crewe, to name but a few, could turn out, from start to finish, drawing board to paint shop, large sophisticated locomotives as a matter of routine.
Quote from: David Pinnegar on March 08, 2012, 11:26:45 PM
A friend with enthusiasms in the vintage car area remarked to me the other day that skills necessary for maintaining vintage and veteran cars which relied upon traditional workshop practices which are now the domain of grey and white haired knowledge on the brink of disappearing. There is a particular need for apprenticeships in this area and the market is significant.
Indeed. The Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs recently highlighted this as an important matter in a big survey they had undertaken. Nevertheless, I have written to scores of classic car businesses in this area, seeking such an apprenticeship, and only received one reply, which was nicely worded but still one of rejection.
I hate talking about myself, but for once, I feel the need to do so as a way of illustrating a point.
At school, I had enormous learning problems, possibly beacuse I was extremely bored most of the time, and concentration was virtually impossible as a consequence. Things just didn't move fast enough for me. Naturally, the teachers tied to bully me, (it was fairly brutal Grammmar School of the old kind), and when I fled at 15, it was with a crushing sense of relief.
I soon found employment in various things over the span of a few years, which included organ-building and engineering, as well as teaching myself how to mend cars and work on engines.
This is the background, and even though I did eventualy go back to study and complete a music degree, as well as teach myself to play the organ, I suppose that what emerged was someone with a fairly multi-faceted array of experience and abilities.
My brother, who is a retired university research officer/senior lecturer in engineering, told me something the other week which rocked me on my heels.
"Do you know," he said, "you probably know more about engineering than the graduates of to-day."
What a scary thought!!
It demonstrates, I think, the importance of "having a go" at things at the practical level, because you soon run up against the limitations, and then feel the need to improve upon one's knowledge at the theoretical level.
Diverging slightly, I vivdly recall sitting around a dinner table with three senior designers/aeronautical engineers who had worked on "Concorde" especially. Although the conversation flew a bit above my head a lot of the time, it was fun to listen and learn, but I did pose the question about how they got started as youngsters.
One replied, "Oh! Airfix models."
Another said, "Meccano!"
The third said, "We had a good engineering department at my grammar school."
The fact is David, we never know where things are going or to where they may lead when we start to take an interest in something, and the ability to just "play around" with things in almost a schoolboy way is, I feel sure, at the root of so many successful people.
As for health & safety, I recall being 15 and working in organ-building.
As I climbed 30ft up a ladder at Huddersfield Town Hall, a head popped out from the Great windchest, and spoke the immortal words, "Don't fall lad; I'm too old to catch you."
Writing books, you say?
Well, I've written one about very advanced driving, I'm revising a very serious but equally hilarious novel about a boy who died of a drugs overdose at the age of 16, and THEN I may get around to writing something about organs.
Best, MM
Quote
Certainly in India a major plank of the economic success is an ingenuity and practical ability that leads to a "can do" approach:
Quote
CHENNAI: Music lovers, including the 3,500-odd congregation of the Lutheran Adaikalanathar Church at Thana Street in Purasawalkam, will get to hear the sonorous music of the 132-year-old pipe organ after a six-year lull. The church authorities have embarked on a Rs 6-lakh project to restore the organ, which moved into a state of disrepair after 62 years of use.
"We didn't want its grand music silenced for ever. Hence, we decided to revive it," says Prabhu GJ Dorairaj, the choirmaster of the church.
The double-manual tracker organ has 26 stops and close to 500 pipes vaulting 18 feet into the air, and is 14 feet long and 10 feet wide and roughly occupies about 170 square feet. It took six people to bring down the air chest, located on top of the organ, to the ground for the repair work. "The air chests and the bellows were damaged after rain water seeped in through the roof last year. This has taken a heavy toll on the organ," says Prabhu.
The organ was manufactured by Messrs W E Richardson and Sons of Manchester, Preston, London, in 1880.
While no information is available about its journey from the UK to India, it is learnt through church sources that the instrument was purchased from the Egmore Wesley Church in 1944.
Additional pipes were imported from Sweden and the organ was fine-tuned and continued to be in use till 2006, after which it developed repairs. The church authorities then decided to purchase an electronic keyboard for the Sunday worships.
But Prabhu adds, "Electronic keyboards, no matter how pricey or sophisticated they are, cannot match the acoustics of the pipe organ. Whether you are seated in the first or the last pew, you can enjoy the harmonics of the pipe organ, which will never be jarring."
Echoing his view, Augustine Paul, director of the Madras Musical Association (MMA) choir, says that a well-tuned pipe organ could even be a replacement for an orchestra. "Music pieces composed specifically for the pipe organ can't be performed on a keyboard," he asserts.
But, repairing the pipe organ is not an easy task, particularly when there is no specialist known to be available locally. The few churches in the city that have pipe organs had got them overhauled by a foreigner, a few years ago. However, for the Lutheran Church, Samuel Devasudar, was a godsend.
Prabhu got introduced to Devasudar in 1982 through fellow musicians and his work on an obsolete reed organ had been very impressive. Exactly after 30 years, Devasudar, now the director of the Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) in Coimbatore, readily agreed to undertake the work. "The Rs 6-lakh estimate might increase by 10 per cent depending on the cost of materials required for the overhauling. We have somehow managed a portion of the funds through donations from the congregation as well as outsiders and visitors to the church," says Prabhu.
I think this is an appropriate example?
But if an organ is found in need of specialized servicing in a "faraway place" are there individuals with the necessary skills willing to travel that distance to do the work? It points out the need for something like "Organbuilders Without Borders" ;) ;D and a means to fund the expenses beyond what could be afforded by a church congregation in such a region...
Eric
KB7DQH
It's very easy to imagine how you could start splashing out here and there with a new organ, a restoration of a valuable but neglected organ (viz Manchester Town Hall's Cavaillé-Coll). But beyond Lottery winnings of a certain amount (I mean, if I won £10,000 I'd be less worried about this), you have to build in some maintenance contingencies too. After all, there are town halls up and down the country who had huge organs installed in the 19th century as gifts from wealthy benefactors such as we are imagining ourselves to be. And what of those organs now - where are those benefactors' descendants to ask money from to keep the organs going now when the town halls are faced with massive budget cuts in social spending (not to mention legal costs brought by the people whose services are being cut). In short, is it any wonder that the councils don't see the preservation of municipal organs as a priority in the current climate? And why if you are going to be generous enough to buy and donate a huge organ, you need to consider whether the recipient is going to be in a position to keep maintaining it, not just for the first twenty years but for the next century or two. If they aren't, you need to commit additional money to a trust fund that will keep it going well into the next century or two or risk gifting a timebomb and a millstone around your recipient's neck.
Hi!
I'm looking forward to seeing the result of MM's lottery win but hoping he does not succeed with his ambitions for a Caterham 7!
Perhaps are any of the course of actions outlined above changed in the thought not of doing something with one's own £25M but someone elses but for whom one is given absolute agency?
So perhaps what might one do when in charge of someone else's £25M?
I met today a young man with an ambition to buy a ship (avoids planning permission problems) and turn it into craft workshops and a training centre particularly for carpentry and pottery for released convicts and retraining for long-term unemployed with championing the British Design School in mind as an art movement and as such rebuilding the reputation of Britain in terms of Art, inventiveness and an engine of the economy.
Can we explore and find other such inspirational ideas?
Best wishes
David P