Notable Willis Organs
Famous "Father" Willis organs include those in St Paul's, Salisbury and Truro Cathedrals, but there are many more including the cathedrals in Aberdeen, Calcutta, Canterbury, Durham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hereford, Lincoln and Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, St Mary's Church, Southampton, Giggleswick School, Felsted School and the town church of Inverness, the Old High Church. St Michael and all Angels, Croydon boasts a "Father" Willis built and installed in 1882 with additions by Noel Mander in 1955.
Windsor Castle had a Willis until it was destroyed by a fire in November 1992, as have Blenheim Palace and the Royal Academy of Music and several historic civic buildings including Reading Town Hall, Birmingham Town Hall, Freemasons' Hall, London and the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford.
The tiny hamlet of St Michael's, near Tenbury Wells also has a full organ which was installed in the new church created to support the then new St Michael's College in the mid-19th century. The 4,600 pipes organ built in 1892 was originally installed in the Brisbane Exhibition Building but in 1927 was moved to the Brisbane City Hall in Brisbane. The organ in St Bees Priory Church (1899) was the last major instrument to be personally supervised by "Father" Henry Willis.
Father Willis's organ won a gold medal in the Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace. The organ was later installed in Winchester Cathedral by the family firm, after being reduced to the appropriate size for the cathedral. Other examples of fine Willis organs can be found in the firm's hometown, St George's Hall and the Anglican Cathedral in Liverpool, which both house Willis organs. The organ built by Willis & Sons in Liverpool Cathedral is also the largest organ in the UK.
The "Josiah Wedgwood" Willis organ has been installed in St Peter's Church on Hayling Island.
Although four generations of Henry Willises are mostly remembered for organs on the grand scale they also built smaller instruments. Seven examples exist in Australia, including the last imported, the 1881 organ (Great: 5 stops; Swell: 4 stops; Pedal: 1 stop; 3 couplers) in All Saints Church, Bodalla, New South Wales, commemorating the 'father of Australian dairying', Thomas Sutcliffe Mort.
Henry Willis III built and worked on many organs across Britain, the most notable examples of his work being in Westminster Cathedral and Sheffield City Hall, both built in 1932. These organs both contain stops invented by the builder: the Sylvestrina at 8 foot pitch on the Choir divisions.
Henry Willis IV built many Junior Development Plan Organs which he designed to be economical initially but with scope for expansion as funds became available. There is an example in St Anne's Church in East Wittering, West Sussex.
Read more about this topic: Henry Willis & Sons
Famous quotes containing the words notable and/or organs:
“Every notable advance in technique or organization has to be paid for, and in most cases the debit is more or less equivalent to the credit. Except of course when it’s more than equivalent, as it has been with universal education, for example, or wireless, or these damned aeroplanes. In which case, of course, your progress is a step backwards and downwards.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
“It seems that nature, having taken such wise care to fit the organs of our body for our happiness and convenience, gave us also pride, to spare us the pain of knowing our own imperfections.”
—François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)