Les Quatre Vents
Earlier this year we were pleased to be able to supply a 105 key Gebr. Decap Antwerp organ dating from the mid-1960’s to Mr. and Mrs. Don Brown, who have a small private collection of mechanical organs at their home here in England. This organ combines the distinctive sounds of a Hammond L122 tone wheel electronic organ together with those of a custom-made synthesizer for solo baritone, saxophone and trumpet tones, two high-quality Italian-made Crucianelli accordions, xylophone, full drum kit and real pipe registers of jazz flute and vibratone. The instrument was completely overhauled and was fitted with a new blower and keyframe motor. The repertoire was also expanded with a number of new books. We carried out the entire delivery and installation operation direct from Belgium to Mr. and Mrs. Brown’s home.
105 key Gebr. Decap organ ‘Les quatre Vents’ (The four winds) installed in the music room at the Brown residence. Left: Andrew Pilmer; centre: owner Don Brown; right: Tom Emery; electrician. Photo ©Maureen Brown.
‘De Harmonium’ 72 key Koenigsberg street organ
The overhaul of this fine organ is another of our current projects that is well in hand, and should be completed in the first half of 2004.
Originally this 72 key organ, built in the early 1920’s by Koenigsberg of Antwerp, Belgium, was intended to play in a small café. The organ derives its name from the so-called harmonium register which was originally located in the centre of the organ, and which was intended to imitate the sound of an accordion. Similar reed boxes were used on dance organs built by Louis Hooghuys in Grammont, Belgium, and on fair organs built by Jimmy Verbeeck in London. The device was removed many years ago, but the nickname has stayed with the organ ever since.
The organ came into the possession of the organ builder de Vreese, also in Antwerp, and was destined to begin a new life as a street organ when it was sold in 1925 and sent to Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The organ was subsequently owned by various rental agencies there including those of Minning, and after 1937, Timmermans.
During the war, it became the property of Dolf van der Acker, and it appeared on the streets in 1945, rented by Dirk Radder. It played on the streets for the last time in 1948, and was destined to be sold as firewood.
Fortunately, Gijs Perlee, the famous street organ specialist of Amsterdam, saved this and a number of other organs (one of which was later to become the famous Three Wigs) from destruction. The Harmonium Koenigsberg was to languish for 32 years in Perlee’s Westerstraat workshop before it was unearthed, overhauled and sold (with much persuasion) to England in 1980.
The new owner was Brian Blockley, who had the missing top part of the façade re-carved and the whole front re-decorated. A new repertoire of music was needed, as virtually all of the original music had been lost.
However, the instrument had survived in exactly the same state as it
had ceased playing in 1948, and as such remains one of the most original
Koenigsberg organs now in existence.
The organ began a new life attending outdoor shows in the north of
England.
When the York Museum of Mechanical Music was opened in 1990, the organ
became one of the exhibits, and the organ’s sonorous bass and
bright violin pipes (both features for which Koenigsberg organs are
generally highly regarded) found many admirers.
When the museum closed in 1996 the instrument was stored for a number of years, but we are pleased to be able to confirm that the organ is to return to the Netherlands, where it will form part of a private collection.
To this end, the façade has been completely re-decorated, closely following old photographs, and a number of minor changes made to the organ whilst in England have been removed. The organ case has already been repaired and re-finished, and the whole organ has been re-leathered where necessary.
We hope that the organ will be playable again within a few months, when we will update this page with photographs of the completed work.
World’s largest Welte Philharmonic Organ
Science and technology fascinated Sir David Lionel Salomons (1851–1925) of Broomhill, near Tunbridge Wells, England.
The fortune he inherited allowed him to indulge in these interests, as well as taking an active part in public life. For example, he owned the second ‘horseless carriage’ (a French Peugeot) in England and organised the first exhibition of such vehicles at Tunbridge Wells in 1895, which led to his founding of the Self-propelled Traffic Association, a predecessor of the Royal Automobile Club (RAC).
He later designed and built a large extension to his home which included workshops and a unique building which he termed his Science Theatre. Using the superb engineering and woodworking facilities now available to him, he constructed the largest electromagnet in the world and equipped his home with electric light and other pioneering electrical devices such as an electric butter churn, electric iron and electric sewing machine, all of which he designed himself.
It will come as no surprise, therefore, that Sir David Lionel was also attracted to mechanical musical instruments and in particular the orchestrions built by Michael Welte & Söhne in Freiburg, Germany. With their recently patented paper roll pneumatic action and electric drive these instruments were at the cutting-edge of technology at the time. He lost no time in ordering a Welte style 4 Concert Orchestrion which was installed on the gallery of the Science Theatre. Later, he purchased the largest model available, a magnificent style 10 Concert Orchestrion which was impressively erected on a plinth at the rear of the stage in the theatre. He used the theatre to give presentations on the use and benefits of electricity, the building being equipped with facilities for screening lantern slides and the very latest moving pictures with sound, using the Gaumont Chronograph.
After the huge success of their Mignon reproducing piano, the Welte firm concentrated on developing a reproducing pipe organ, which could re-enact the live performance of famous organists. The resulting instrument was known as the Welte Philharmonic Organ, and Sir David Lionel, forever searching out the very latest technological advances, ordered a huge one through Welte’s London agents, Messrs Steinway & Sons, in the summer of 1913. This was to be the largest such instrument built by the Freiburg firm, and was delivered in 1914, just before the outbreak of World War I. It still stands today in its original location in the Science Theatre at Broomhill. Steinway took the older style 10 orchestrion in part exchange against the new organ. However, Sir David Lionel was most anxious not to loose his library of favourite music rolls for the style 10 (most of the music was not available on the Philharmonic roll format), so the new instrument was uniquely designed to play both roll types. This requires two separate roll frames and numerous complicated change-over devices, as the two roll types and many of the control systems are quite unlike each other.
Another special feature of the instrument is a separate echo organ containing 349 pipes, located in a room on the gallery at the opposite end of the theatre to the main organ, a distance of some 100 feet. This is electrically connected to the main organ, but other than this, the entire organ action is pneumatic (both pressure and vacuum). The organ is also furnished with a console with three manuals and pedals for manual playing, located en fenêtre in the centre of the huge oak case. In total, the organ contains about 2,000 pipes and stands some 28 feet long by 17 feet high by 14 feet deep.
The Welte firm was extremely proud of this particular installation and quoted a letter written to them by Sir David Lionel dated 3rd August 1924 in its lavish catalogue for the Philharmonic Organ:
Your large organ, installed here, has been the admiration of all who have heard it, and it has given pleasure to hundreds of persons. Since the instrument has a manual in addition to the automatic system, a great advantage is gained. The Echo Organ adds greatly to the effects which can be produced. Speaking for myself as an engineer and mechanic I can say with truth, the Organ is a wonderful piece of machinery, every detail showing how much thought and ingenuity has been given to its production.
Sir David Lionel died in 1925, and his widow generously gave the whole estate to Kent County Council for the benefit of the people of Kent. Today, Salomons, as it is now known, is part of Canterbury Christ Church University College.
The significance of the Welte organ at Salomons has long been recognised, even though it has not been played since about 1940. An application of assistance for part of the cost of restoration was made to the National Lottery Heritage Fund, and it is a tribute to those involved that a significant grant was eventually made. The restoration, which must follow strict guidelines as far as originality is concerned, was awarded to the well-known London firm of Mander Organs, who have an enviable reputation in both the new organ building and restoration fields. At present the firm is involved in major works at the Grand Organ (1871) at the Royal Albert Hall in London, which will be the largest in Britain. We are proud that Mander Organs have entrusted the automatic player action work to us, and we are working along with the team at Bethnal Green to return the Welte organ to playing condition, something that we all eagerly await. As well as being able to hear the performances of many significant early 20th century organists by means of the Philharmonic rolls, we are also looking forward to hearing the lighter repertoire embodied in the style 10 orchestrion rolls, which also use the percussion facilities of the organ. There is no other instrument in existence world-wide today to our knowledge which can play the Welte style 10 music rolls!
The dismantling of the instrument occupied much time so that its unique operating system could be properly understood; since then work has been ongoing on the internal components. The refurbishment of the blowing and suction plants is almost complete, and the three main wind chests and their respective under actions are currently being worked on in the workshops of Mander Organs. Meanwhile, here at York, were are working on the primary pneumatic action relays, echo organ pneumatic to electric relays and actions for the tuned percussions.
Update December 2004
Work on the organ has continued throughout the summer. The main soundboards have been completely overhauled at Bethnal Green, returned to Salomons House, put back into the organ case and tested. The blowing plant is now fully operational and new trunking has been made to connect the pressure and vacuum sides of the blower to their respective regulators (the original having been scrapped years ago). The two pressure reservoirs and vacuum equaliser have since been connected up to enable initial testing to take place; the console has also been completely restored and re-installed in the organ case. Almost all of the organ's many internal components have now received attention and are safely stored at Salomons House awaiting their turn in the re-assembly sequence. The echo organ has witnessed much activity in the past months and is now in the last phase of completion. We are resuming work on site in January 2005 when one of the first tasks will be to complete the work on the echo organ, and begin the installation of the tuned and non-tuned percussions in the main organ.
You may be interested in the following links:
http://www.salomonscentre.org.uk
