The Recent Revolution in Organ Building: Being an Account of Modern Developments
John Stuart Mill · en
The furor it created was cut short by a fire, which destroyed the organ
and damaged the tower of the church. With curious promptitude
attention was directed to the danger of allowing amateurs to make crude
efforts at organ-building in valuable and historic churches, and to the
great risk of electric actions. Incendiarism being more than
suspected, the authorities of the church ordered from Hope-Jones a
similar organ to take the place of the one destroyed.
About the same time a gimlet was forced through the electric cable of a
Hope-Jones organ at Hendon Parish Church, London, England. Shortly
afterwards the cable connecting the console with the Hope-Jones organ
at Ormskirk Parish Church, Lancashire, England, was cut through. At
Burton-on-Trent Parish Church, sample pipes from each of his special
stops were stolen.
At the Auditorium, Ocean Grove, N. J., an effort to cripple the new
Hope-Jones organ shortly before one of the opening recitals in 1908 was
made. And in the same year, on the Sunday previous to Edwin Lemare's
recital on the Hope-Jones organ in the First Universalist Church,
Rochester, N. Y., serious damage was done to some of the pipes in
almost each stop in the organ.
* * * * * * * *
Robert Hope-Jones died at Rochester, N. Y., on September 13, 1914, aged
55 years, and was interred at Elm Lawn Cemetery, No. Tonawanda, near
Niagara Falls, N. Y.
Since his association with the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company in April,
1910, they have built under his personal supervision the organs in the
Baptist Temple, Philadelphia; the rooms of the Ethical Culture Society,
New York; and amongst others the unit orchestras in the Vitagraph
Theatre, New York; the Crescent Theatre, Brooklyn; the Paris Theatre,
Denver, Colo.; the Imperial Theatre, Montreal; and the Pitt Theatre,
Pittsburgh, Pa., which last Hope-Jones considered his chef d'oeuvre.
[1] Dr. W. C. Carl, of New York, who is well acquainted with these
instruments, considers the one in Notre Dame to be better than St.
Sulpice and more representative of Cavaille-Coll's work, even if a
little smaller. We therefore give that specification, page 157.
[2] Exhaust tubular pneumatic had been practically applied in France as
early as 1849 and pressure tubular pneumatic in 1867. See page 23.
[3] "Dictionary of Organ Stops," p. 44 and elsewhere.
NOTE.--This book has been translated into French, and published with
annotations by Dr. G. Bedart, Professor Agrege a la Universite de
Lille, France, under the title of "Revolution Recente dans la Facture
d'Orgue." Lille: Librairie Generale Tallandier, 5, Rue Faidherbe.
Prix net 4 Fr.
CHAPTER XIV.
HOW WE STAND TO-DAY.
Looking backward over the field we have traversed we find that the
modern organ is an entirely different instrument from that of the
Nineteenth Century.