The Warrington Cavaillé-Coll Organ is housed in

Parr Hall The Parr Hall is the only surviving professional concert hall venue in Warrington, Cheshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building. Location The Parr Hall and Pyramid Art ...

Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

( UK). It is one of the few surviving pipe organs in the UK that were built by the French organ builder

Aristide Cavaillé-Coll Aristide Cavaillé-Coll (; 4 February 1811 – 13 October 1899) was a French organ builder. He has the reputation of being the most distinguished organ builder of the 19th century. He pioneered innovations in the art and science of organ build ...

(1811–99).

History

Bracewell Hall

The

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurised air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a Musical keyboard, keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single tone and pitch, the pipes are provide ...

was built in 1870 for John Turner Hopwood, a lawyer and Liberal MP for

Clitheroe Clitheroe () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Ribble Valley, Borough of Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England; it is located north-west of Manchester. It is near the Forest of Bowland and is often used as a base for to ...

, and was installed in his house at Bracewell Hall,

Barnoldswick Barnoldswick (pronounced ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Borough of Pendle, Lancashire, England. It lies within the boundaries of the Historic counties of England, historic West Riding of Yorkshire, West Ri ...

, Lancashire (demolished 1950). According to reports in ''The Musical World'' the completion of the organ - which cost more than £3,000 - was commemorated with three days of organ recitals by Dr William Spark the civic organist of

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

''The large music room (in which the organ is placed) '' .. is' 63 feet long, 25 feet wide and 30 feet high. Nothing can be finer than the view of the organ as you approach it from the dining room, rising, as it does, to the very roof, and occupying the whole breadth of the western end. The pipes in the front towers of the noble looking case of Gothic style, are made of pure tin, having the appearance of burnished silver.''

Ketton Hall

In about 1883 the organ was then moved by Turner Hopwood to

Ketton Ketton is a village and civil parish in Rutland in the East Midlands of England. It is about east of Oakham and west of Stamford, Lincolnshire. The 2011 Census recorded a parish population of 1,926, making it the fourth largest settlement in ...

Hall, Rutland (demolished 1920s).

Warrington

The organ was bought by Warrington Corporation and installed in the Parr Hall in 1926, still with its original specification. Online resource accessed 28 April 2017. In 1969 the Warrington Corporation decided that a £9,000 restoration of the instrument was not a viable proposition. But following a publicity drive by local people who formed the ''Cavaillé-Coll Organ Retention Committee'' the Corporation agreed to retain the organ if the money could be raised. The Corporation generously added to the sum raised by the Committee to ensure that essential maintenance work went ahead. On completion of the work a celebratory concert took place, on 23 November 1972, featuring the organists Gilbert Kennedy and Nicolas Kynaston, with massed Warrington choirs. In late 2006 Warrington Borough Council decided that the modern needs of the venue and its continued viability meant that a new home would be sought for the organ.

Sheffield Cathedral The Cathedral Church of St Peter and St Paul, Sheffield, also known as Sheffield Cathedral, is the cathedral church for the Church of England diocese of Sheffield, England. Originally a parish church, it was elevated to cathedral status when ...

was a potential new home for the organ, but by September 2011 it was clear that the Cathedral authorities would be unable to raise the substantial sum needed to move and restore the organ. Subsequent discussions have taken place to consider the instrument's move from the Parr Hall to St. Mary's Church, Warrington. In 2015 the national-heritage significance of the instrument was recognized by the award of a Grade 1 Historic Organ certificate by the

British Institute of Organ Studies The British Institute of Organ Studies (BIOS) is a British organisation and registered charity which aims to promote study and appreciation of all aspects of the pipe organ. Further, it acts as a lobbying body to raise awareness of organ issue ...

, the UK's amenity society for the pipe organ. In 2017 the future of this wonderful civic instrument remains uncertain.

Recordings

Several CD recordings of the organ in the

have been made. * Roger Fisher (1984/2011). ''Roger Fisher plays the Cavaillé-Coll Organ in The Parr Hall, Warrington''. * Murray Stewart (1995) ''

Louis Vierne Louis Victor Jules Vierne (8 October 1870 – 2 June 1937) was a French organist and composer. He was the organist of Notre-Dame de Paris from 1900 until his death. As a composer, much of his output was Organ (music), organ music, including six ...

: ‘Symphony No 1’ & ‘24 pièces en style libre’ '' (extracts). * Roger Fisher (1996). ''Roger Fisher plays the Cavaillé-Coll Organ in the Parr Hall, Warrington'']. * Aldert Winkelman (2004). ''

César Franck César Auguste Jean Guillaume Hubert Franck (; 10 December 1822 – 8 November 1890) was a French Romantic music, Romantic composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher born in present-day Belgium. He was born in Liège (which at the time of h ...

‘L`organiste’'' (Volume 1).

References

External links

organ specification, listed on the ''National Pipe Organ Register'', online resource, accessed 27 June 2019.
''L'Association Aristide Cavaillé-Coll''
Online resource in French, accessed 15 July 2018
''Warrington Cavaillé-Coll Organ''
Facebook Group. Online resource, accessed 27 June 2019 {{DEFAULTSORT:Warrington Cavaillé-Coll Organ Warrington Individual pipe organs in the United Kingdom