THE  ST ANDREW'S HALL ORGAN                                              JOHN POWER

On an autumn night in 1962, Glasgow lost a very fine and famous concert venue, after a serious fire which left only a smouldering shell. Also destroyed was a magnificent,  four-manual and pedal pipe organ by T.C. Lewis, built in 1877, and rebuilt by Lewis & Co. in 1905. The original organ achieved substantial coverage in an article published in The Glasgow Herald, 20th November 1877.

Quote -

OPENING OF THE NEW HALLS ORGAN

Last evening the New Halls organ was opened by Mr W.T. Best of Liverpool, before an audience which almost entirely filled the large hall. This important event has for some time past been looked forward to with great interest, and we are glad to be able to say that the occasion proved a triumph for everyone concerned. It is impossible in the time and space at present at our command to enter into details regarding one of the largest and most complicated instruments in Europe. During the season we expect to have several opportunities of pointing out its many excellencies, and to compare it with the most renowned organs extant. For the moment, then, we must content ourselves by saying that the quality of tone brought out last night by Mr Best has been described by some of the best qualified judges in the kingdom as unsurpassed in grandeur. In this opinion we concur, but be that as it may, its ultimate position as an instrument cannot be hurriedly estimated. The giant king is destined to last for the use of generations yet unborn, and they, divorced from all the temporary influences, will be best able to fix its rank amongst the most important organs of the world. There cannot be a shadow of doubt, however, that, as we have already indicated, the instrument is an honour alike to its builders, and to its country. We take the following particulars from the official programme :-

"Early in the progress of their work,  the directors of the Glasgow Public Halls Company determined that the great hall would, as a music room, be incomplete without an organ on such a scale of completeness as would fully equip it, not only for the accompaniment of oratorios, but for every  variety of those solo performances which of late years have become so popular and instructive in Liverpool, Manchester, Bristol, Leeds, and some other places. With this view, Mr Henry Smart, of London, and Mr W.T. Best, of Liverpool, were commissioned to prepare the specification of an organ fitted for the purposes contemplated. Tenders were subsequently invited from M. Cavaille-Coll, of Paris, Messrs Forster &  Andrews, of Hull, and Messrs T.C. Lewis & Co., of  London, for the construction of an organ on the designs so prepared. The tender of the last-named firm was ultimately accepted, and the result is the grand instrument which now crowns the summit of the orchestra at the southern end of the great hall.........The organ has four manual claviers - acting respectively upon the solo, swell, choir and great organs *  - and one pedal clavier. The compass of the four manual claviers is five octaves, or 61 notes, from CC to C : the pedal clavier extending from CCC to G, being a compass of two octaves and a half, or 32 notes.

(* Surely an error - should the great not precede the choir clavier? Not so - W.T. Best preferred this clavier disposition for a Concert Hall organ. J.P.)

To page 2