Issue 40 winter 23 web - Flipbook - Page 78
Radley College
distinguished pipe organ
Radley College is the latest in a long list of Independent
schools whose chapels are adorned by distinguished
pipe organs. Most of these large school chapels are
Victorian (with two spectacular exceptions at Eton and
Winchester). The organs within them often date from
the building of the chapel and were almost always
subsequently enlarged and modernised as school numbers
grew. A considerable number were rebuilt or replaced in
the 1920s and 1930s; all were designed primarily to
accompany hearty school singing. Many such organs are
placed in west gallery positions, ideally located to look and
sound imposing.
At Radley, a large instrument stood in a grand case by Sir
Thomas Jackson, from the building of the chapel in 1893
until 1938. In that year an organ chamber was built off
the north side of the building (removing a window in
order so to do), the west gallery by then being needed in
its entirety for seating. The 1893 organ was completely
rebuilt in this rather confined space, where it lasted until
1979, at which point an almost entirely new organ was
made, partially in front of the chamber, its style being
more neo-Baroque. This was a brave effort, but never
entirely reliable nor remotely loud enough to match the
powerful singing of the Radley boys.
These Edwardian-style instruments began to fall out of
favour in the 1960s as a new generation of organ teachers
sought instruments designed to do justice to the works of
J.S. Bach and other significant Baroque composers. Many
instruments were modernised; some were replaced
entirely. A 1984 organ in Oundle School Chapel, by the
Dutch firm Frobenius, proved an inspiration for other
schools.
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Now this, too, has been replaced, the process beginning
with a report I made for the College in 2017, in which
year tenders were sought. The most exciting aspect of the
new instrument has been the opportunity for it once more
to be placed centrally in the large west gallery, which was
further extended one bay east to compensate for seats lost.
Above,The new Nicholson organ in the west gallery of
Radley College Chapel
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Conservation & Heritage Journal
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