BIOS Reporter

In the first editorial of a new year, it is appropriate to review the events and the achievements of the old year, to try to see what conclusions can be drawn, and to attempt to look ahead. Only its most ungenerous critics could argue that 1993 was other than a modestly successful year for the Society: three meetings took place,… read more

The May 1993 issue of Organists’ Review provides further evidence of an increasing interest in foundation stops, and an increasing rejection of the type of upperwork considered desirable in the 1960s and 1970s. Mr. Geoffrey Coffin, in an article on the recent work at York Minster, seems to have been at pains to stress the difference between the upperwork (or… read more

The words of Harold Atterbow, the kerb-crawling cinema organist brilliantly portrayed by Roy Hudd in Dennis Potter’s television play Lipstick on your collar (London, Faber and Faber Limited, 1993, p.196). By this stage in the play, Atterbow’s infatuation with the appalling but undeniably nubile Sylvia has got him into serious trouble, so much so, in fact, that he faces prosecution… read more

In times such as these, one might expect rebuilding schemes to be increasingly modest in their scope, confining themselves more and more to essential matters – the repair of worn-out mechanisms, for example – and rejecting more and more the electrification of good, mechanical action instruments, the replacement of useful foundation stops with exotic (and not always very pleasant) upperwork,… read more

The organ lives! With these words, Stephen Bicknell concluded what we hope can be described as the most recent of his contributions to this journal. That the organ does indeed live is evident from the organ builders’ advertisements that appeared in JBIOS 15. One of them relates to “two famous pneumatic organs” recently restored by a well-known firm, and it… read more

The console itself told a story. Stop-names such as “Block Flute” and “Larigot” were not characteristic of the work of the distinguished builder whose name appeared below the music desk; and for anyone ignorant of that builder’s work, there was a clue in the somewhat maladroit way in which the stop-heads had been re-engraved. (Why are organ builders sometimes so… read more

Volume 16, no. 1 has generated considerable controversy. Whether the Archdeacon of Rochester actually exists or is simply a devil’s advocate created by a mischievous contributor is something we hope to discover on 17 October, at St. Anne’s Church, Underwood Road, London El [see later. Ed.]. His remarks nonetheless raise very important issues, issues which cannot be avoided by the… read more

It is easy to be pessimistic about the future of the organ as a living musical instrument. With the world-wide decline in church attendance and the influence of religion on the daily lives of the majority, there are fewer and fewer composers for whom the organ is a central part of their work. The recent death of Olivier Messiaen has… read more

There is indeed an argument to be pursued about what instrument or instruments are right for church worship – and this was as much true yesterday as it is today. All of us understand that there are things to be said against the pipe organ, as well as things to be said for it. All of us connected with church… read more

Historical Organ Notes is published and edited by the organ builder Martin Renshaw. It is a simply but neatly produced A5 typescript magazine covering subjects broadly similar to those that concern BIOS. I know it is read with interest by many of our members… read more