The Claviorgan | Resource Compilation

This compilation of material begins with an article by Terence Charlston examining the Theewes claviorgan in detail, and how an instrument of this type might inform our view of the solo repertoire of the time and change our understanding of keyboard instruments in ensemble performance.

It also includes an inventory of surviving claviorgans and a series of short recordings of the Goetze & Gwynn reconstruction of the Theewes’s organ part combined with a Flemish-style harpsichord by David Evans.

The influence of the American Classic Organ on Ralph Downes and on the organ of the Royal Festival Hall

Ralph Downes was strongly influenced by his experience at the London Oratory and time spent in Holland and France, when it came to designing the revolutionary Royal Festival Hall organ. Jonathan Ambrosino suggests that the seven years Downes spent in the United States could also have influenced his ideas – in particular his friendship with G Donald Harrison of Aeolian-Skinner.

Rediscovering the sound of the sixteenth-century organ – the Early English Organ Project

A dairy door in a 17th-century house in Wetheringsett, Suffolk, and a piece of decaying timber found behind old pews and lumber in the churchyard shed at Wingfield, Suffolk, have transformed our knowledge and understanding of the pre-Reformation English organ.

This article and free download includes detailed descriptions and specifications of the Wetheringsett and Wingfield Organs, along with a look at the culture of the English church before the Reformation, including the use of the organ and its music within the liturgy.