Morville Pipe Organ
THE ORGAN AT MORVILLE CHURCH
Morville is fortunate in having a 19th century organ by a famous maker in almost original condition. It was built c1855 by George Maydwell Holdich who was a highly esteemed and prolific organ builder of the Victorian period. The organ is of historic interest being registered by the British Institute of Organ Studies as “an instrument of importance to national heritage and deserving preservation for future generations”.
He was born in 1816, the son of the Reverend Thomas Holdich. the Rector of Maydwell, Northamptonshire. It was intended that George should enter the medical profession. but, before his studies were completed, he apprenticed himself to the organ building firm of Bishop. He set up in business on his own in about 1837 at 12 Greek Street, Soho, a
large house divided into three parts. By 1854 his business had expanded enough to warrant larger premises so he moved to 4 Judd Place, King's Cross, London. There he remained until the early 1860’s when he moved to Islington.
As an organ builder, Holdich stands out from his period. The tone of an organ is varied by the different use of varied ranks of pipes brought into action by the player through controls called stops. Holdwich's tonal designs are classical in conception seeking to produce a tonal entity rather than a miscellaneous collection of stops of various tone colours which was the usual tonal make-up of the Victorian organs. An interesting feature of his organs is the inclusion of the stop invented by him and found on very few instruments, called the Diacton. It is generally agreed that his best work was the original organ in Lichfield Cathedral and the small villagé organs such as we have in
Morville. Most of his organs have been either destroyed or altered out of all recognition. We are fortunate in having one of his organs in almost its original state. It still has its original ivory maker's name on its keyboard with his Judd Place address and from which it can be dated to 1854 - 1864.
The fact that on Sundays throughout the year the organ of Morville Church produces the same sounds as accompanied the worship of God for more than a hundred years is a tribute to Holdich and the craftsmen who built it.
Recording of the Church organ played by Hugh Walker.
A talk on the Morville Church organ by Mr Hugh Walker prior to an organ recital August 2024
The organ you are about to hear today is an interesting and historically significant instrument. It was originally built between 1854 and 1864 by the important Victorian organ builder George Maydwell Holdich. Holdich was born 1816 to the rector of Maydwell in Northamptonshire, who wished George to pursue a career in Medicine, but before he had completed his medical studies, he apprenticed himself to the famous organ building firm of Bishop. He then set up on his own in 1837, initially in a large house divided into three parts in Soho, London until 1854 when he moved to a larger workshop at 4 Judd Place, King’s Cross, London. He remained here for ten years until moving to Islington in 1864. This instrument still has it’s original builders plaque on the console giving us Holdich’s King’s Cross address, meaning the instrument can be dated to sometime between 1854 and 1864 when he was active at those premises.
Holdich was an important organ builder in his time. His organs are somewhat classical in design with coherent choruses rather than a collection of different coloured stops mostly of 8ft pitch as was more often the case during the Victorian era. An important feature of this organ is it’s Diacton which was invented by Holdich and is found on very few organs. If you draw this stop, any other stops drawn will play at both their unison pitch as normal, but an octave higher. All the stops other than the mixture and sesquialtera and maybe the piccolo have an extra octave of pipes at the top, so when the diacton is drawn you don’t run out of pipes at the top of the compass.
From Holdich’s output he is most famous for his groundbreaking organ at Litchfield Cathedral in 1860, and for the many small organs such as this instrument here at Morville that he built around the country. Morville church is very fortunate however, to have one of only a few Holdich organs to have survived in almost completely original condition.
This instrument is relatively small – one manual, a short compass pedal board and 10 stops. The whole thing other than the pedal Bourdon is enclosed in a swell box controlled by the hitchdown swell pedal to the right of the pedal board. As some of you will know the organ has just had to under go treatment for the woodworm which cost a considerable amount of money, which is one of the reasons for todays concert. A large amount of the organ had to be dismantled, all the pipework removed, and everything cleaned, repaired and treated for woodworm. I have some photographs of the organ in bits from when I popped in to see Darren from Hawkins working on the instrument up here by the organ if you’re interested to see a glimpse of the inner workings of this marvellous machine!
I hope you enjoy this concert as myself and Roger Judd try and show of the surprisingly vast capabilities of this organ in the best way we can as we make our way through today’s program.