Horace Finch (23 July 1906 – 28 September 1980) was an English

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

and

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

Early life and education

Horace Finch was born in

Clock Face A clock face is the part of an analog clock (or watch) that displays time through the use of a flat dial with reference marks, and revolving pointers turning on concentric shafts at the center, called hands. In its most basic, globally recogni ...

, St. Helens,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, England. He began

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

and

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

studies in 1910 at the age of four. By 1915, he was organist at Clock Face Methodist Church, St. Helens. In 1919, he left St. Helens for Blackpool for health reasons. During 1920, he began

studies with Robert Gregory. Throughout the 1920s he took several positions playing in cinemas up and down the

Fylde Coast The Fylde () is a coastal plain in western Lancashire, England. It is roughly a square-shaped peninsula, bounded by Morecambe Bay to the north, the Ribble estuary to the south, the Irish Sea to the west, and the foot of the Bowland hills to ...

and, on 1 April 1926, took up his position as solo and orchestral pianist in the

Blackpool Tower Blackpool Tower is a tourist attraction in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, which was opened to the public on 14 May 1894. When it opened, Blackpool Tower was the List of tallest buildings in the British Empire and the Commonwealth, tallest man m ...

Orchestra. On Whit Sunday 1927 he became 'the first' English pianist to perform Gershwin's "

Rhapsody in Blue ''Rhapsody in Blue'' is a 1924 musical composition written by George Gershwin for solo piano and jazz band, which combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects. Commissioned by bandleader Paul Whiteman, the work premiered i ...

" from memory. He also made his debut on record with 'Bertini' and the Tower Band. In addition to playing the piano, he also played

xylophone The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Like the glockenspiel (which uses metal bars), the xylophone essentially consists of a set of tuned wooden keys arranged in the ...

and

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

and also made a few recordings with Bertini on the '' label using the small Decca Wurlitzer in London.

Wurlitzer organs

In 1929, a

Wurlitzer The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments ...

organ was installed in the Tower Ballroom in

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

and after three organists,

Reginald Dixon Reginald Herbert Dixon, MBE, ARCM (16 October 1904 – 9 May 1985) was an English theatre organist who was primarily known for his position as organist at the Tower Ballroom, Blackpool, a position he held from March 1930 ...

was appointed. Dixon later designed his own Wurlitzer and the original Tower organ was removed and enlarged as a 'twin' to the new organ to be installed in the Empress Ballroom, Blackpool within the Winter Gardens complex. Horace Finch was chosen as the new organist for the Empress Ballroom, the new organ being opened on 3 April 1935. Radio broadcasts soon followed as well as solo organ recordings, with the first broadcast on 20 December 1935 at 6.45pm on the BBC Regional Programme. In 1939, the New Opera House

(also in the Wintergardens) opened on 14 July with a Wurlitzer organ installed to the design of Mr. Finch. It was the 'last' new Wurlitzer organ to be installed in the UK. This organ contained a rare Tibia Plena rank of pipes, the only other in the UK being installed at the Gaumont Theatre, Holloway, which was destroyed in World War II (oddly, the remains of the Holloway organ provided spares for the Tower Wurlitzer after the fire of 1956). The Opera House organ has recently been restored and returned to the spotlight by Cannock Chase Organ Club led by Wolverhampton City Organist, Steve Tovey. Soon after, War came and Finch joined the

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

1946 onward

After the war, he took up his duties again at the Winter Gardens playing both organs installed there as well as deputising for Reginald Dixon at the Tower with fellow organist, Watson Holmes. On 14 December 1956 a fire almost destroyed the

Ballroom and during this time, Dixon took up residency at the Empress whilst Finch was demoted to the Winter Gardens Pavilion on the

Hammond Organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

. By 1958, he was back on his Wurlitzer. On 19 October 1962 he made what was to be his last broadcast from the organ of the Opera House as on 16 November, he sustained an injury to his left hand which prevented him from playing publicly again. He died, aged 74, in St Anne's on Sea. He composed a few pieces of light music which were never published, but were broadcast by the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

including "The Blackpool Express" and "Get Goin'". Finch was overshadowed by Dixon and never became as famous as the latter. Finch did, however, notch up a great deal of air time on the radio during his tenure as resident organist at the Winter Gardens. His position was taken by Ernest Broadbent who, in 1970, would take over at the Tower.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Finch, Horace 1906 births 1980 deaths People from St Helens, Merseyside English keyboardists English classical pianists Male classical pianists Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Theatre organists 20th-century classical pianists 20th-century classical musicians 20th-century English musicians Royal Air Force airmen 20th-century organists 20th-century British male musicians

Early life and education

Wurlitzer organs

1946 onward

See also

References