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Book Review: The Organ in Reading Town Hall, edited by Philip Bowcock and Peter Marr
I acquired this small book during the Reading Open Doors weekend in 2018, when I visited the Town Hall for a short talk about the organ, and even got to try it out briefly for myself.
I feared the book, which is a collection of articles mostly from 1982, with some updates after restoration work in the run-up to the millennium, might be rather dry and technical for a general audience, and put off reading it. In fact it is quite readable, with only a couple of sections that are perhaps rather specialist (for me, at least), and is informative in a number of areas. There are articles on the building work for the various phases of Reading Town Hall in the second half of the nineteenth century; a short biographical essay on "Father" Henry Willis, whose other organ works include the largest organ at the Great Exhibition in 1851, the organ at the Royal Albert Hall, the former organ at Alexandra Palace, and the former organ at the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford; articles on the organ itself, the case, the hall acoustic, and the restoration work.
The organ is of historical importance now, because over the years it has had very little alteration, and the restoration work reverted a pitch change so it is now quite authentic with regard to its original self. The hall and organ are very well proportioned acoustically, and apparently the hall dimensions are quite similar to the Queen's Hall, original venue for the Proms. The building of the organ did not quite complete on time, and the first performances in 1864 were a bit rough and ready (the organ was moved to its present site in 1882, following another round of building work). The appendixes include a discography, though most items are no longer available.
I acquired this small book during the Reading Open Doors weekend in 2018, when I visited the Town Hall for a short talk about the organ, and even got to try it out briefly for myself.
I feared the book, which is a collection of articles mostly from 1982, with some updates after restoration work in the run-up to the millennium, might be rather dry and technical for a general audience, and put off reading it. In fact it is quite readable, with only a couple of sections that are perhaps rather specialist (for me, at least), and is informative in a number of areas. There are articles on the building work for the various phases of Reading Town Hall in the second half of the nineteenth century; a short biographical essay on "Father" Henry Willis, whose other organ works include the largest organ at the Great Exhibition in 1851, the organ at the Royal Albert Hall, the former organ at Alexandra Palace, and the former organ at the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford; articles on the organ itself, the case, the hall acoustic, and the restoration work.
The organ is of historical importance now, because over the years it has had very little alteration, and the restoration work reverted a pitch change so it is now quite authentic with regard to its original self. The hall and organ are very well proportioned acoustically, and apparently the hall dimensions are quite similar to the Queen's Hall, original venue for the Proms. The building of the organ did not quite complete on time, and the first performances in 1864 were a bit rough and ready (the organ was moved to its present site in 1882, following another round of building work). The appendixes include a discography, though most items are no longer available.