The Sydney Town Hall Grand Organ is a large pipe organ built by English firm William Hill & Son in 1890. It is located in the Centennial Hall of Sydney Town Hall in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.[1]
When it was installed in 1890, the Sydney Town Hall Grand Organ was the largest in the world and remained the largest concert organ built in the 19th century. It was described by Westminster Abbey's organist, Dr Bridge, as the 'finest organ ever built by an English organ builder'.[2] It remains the world's largest organ without any electric action components and is of international significance. It contains one of only two full-length 64′ organ stops in the world (the Contra-Trombone in the pedal). The other 64′ stop is the Diaphone-Dulzian in the Right Stage chamber (Pedal Right division) of the Boardwalk Hall Auditorium Organ at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States.
When the City Council decided to commission the organ they called on a small group of experts to formulate a process for achieving a transparent and defensible decision on supplier and installer. In this they received generous support and advice from the Melbourne City Council, who had been through a similar process.[3] As a result, they assembled a committee to compile a set of specifications for a Great Organ, which for power and versatility would be the world's largest and finest, call for tenders for both manufacture and erection, and select the successful tenders. The committee consisted of
Submissions were received from twelve companies, which were assessed on their perceived capacity to fill the contract, personal experience of the companies' products, technical considerations in the submissions, and finally price. The choice boiled down to two: Gray and Davison and William Hill and Son. The ultimate selection of Hill and Son may have been a foregone conclusion despite its higher price, as they had supplied and installed instruments for the Town Halls of Adelaide, and Melbourne, also St Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney. Several modifications suggested by the company were approved, and a new requirement added: that the organist's console should be situated at ground level, despite the additional expense and complexity.[10]
Sharp dissented from the majority decision on the grounds that (1) the organ was too large for the Centennial Hall, and (2) that it would be difficult and expensive to find an organist capable of matching its complexity.[11] He was never confident of the committee throughout its deliberations.[12]
Negotiations with Hall and Son, were conducted by Alexander Rea, who, as leader of a group of organists, drew up the specifications. Auguste Wiegand, Sydney's first Town Organist, would later blame them for certain shortcomings in its design, but was contradicted by Hill, who praised the "Corporation of Sydney, ... they left all details in our hands."[13] Rea supervised erection of the instrument and tested the mechanism before the famous organist W. T. Best 'opened' the organ in August 1890.[14] When Best returned to England, Rea gave a number of recitals at the Town Hall, and supervised access to the huge instrument until the appointment of Wiegand as City Organist.
In 1973, Sydney Council began a major restoration program to address the mechanical problems it had begun to experience. Managing the program was R H Pogson Pty Ltd, whose employees worked for almost 10 years to restore the organ to its original form.[1]
Sydney Town Hall today also holds free organ recitals which are held throughout the year.
The grand organ can be played from 5 manuals and features 127 stops. The specification is as follows:[15]
| GREAT | SWELL (enclosed) | CHOIR (enclosed) | SOLO (enclosed) | ECHO | PEDAL | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contra Bourdon | 32 | Double Open Diapason | 16 | Contra Dulciana | 16 | Bourdon | 16 | Lieblich Gedackt | 8 | Double Open Signature | 32 | |
| Double Open Diapason | 16 | Bourdon | 16 | Open Diapason | 8 | Open Diapason | 8 | Viol d'Amour | 8 | Double Open Wood | 32 | |
| Bourdon | 16 | Open Diapason | 8 | Hohl Flöte | 8 | Violin Diapason | 8 | Unda Maris II | 8 | Contra Bourdon | 32 | |
| Open Diapason I | 8 | Hohl Flöte | 8 | Lieblich Gedackt | 8 | Doppel Flöte | 8 | Viol d'Amour | 4 | Open Diapason Metal | 16 | |
| Open Diapason II | 8 | Viola da Gamba | 8 | Flauto Traverso | 8 | Flauto Traverso | 8 | Flageolet | 2 | Open Diapason Wood | 16 | |
| Open Diapason III | 8 | Salicional | 8 | Gamba | 8 | Stopped Diapason | 8 | Glockenspiel | 4 Rks | Bourdon | 16 | |
| Open Diapason IV | 8 | Dulciana | 8 | Dulciana | 8 | Viola | 8 | Echo Dul. Cornet | 4 Rks | Violone | 16 | |
| Harmonic Flute | 8 | Vox Angelica | 8 | Octave | 4 | Octave | 4 | Basset Horn | 8 | Gamba | 16 | |
| Viola | 8 | Octave | 4 | Violino | 4 | Harmonic Flute | 4 | Dulciana | 16 | |||
| Spitz Flöte | 8 | Rohr Flöte | 4 | Celestina | 4 | Flauto Traverso | 4 | Quint | 12 | |||
| Gamba | 8 | Harmonic Flute | 4 | Lieblich Flöte | 4 | Harmonic Piccolo | 2 | Octave | 8 | |||
| Hohl Flöte | 8 | Gemshorn | 4 | Twelfth | 3 | Contra Fagotto | 16 | Prestant | 8 | |||
| Rohr Flöte | 8 | Twelfth | 3 | Fifteenth | 2 | Harmonic Trumpet | 8 | Bass Flute | 8 | |||
| Quint | 6 | Fifteenth | 2 | Dulcet | 2 | Corno di Bassetto | 8 | Violoncello | 8 | |||
| Principal | 4 | Piccolo | 1 | Dulciana Mixture | 3 Rks | Orchestral Oboe | 8 | Twelfth | 6 | |||
| Octave | 4 | Mixture | 4 Rks | Bassoon | 16 | Cor Anglais | 8 | Fifteenth | 4 | |||
| Gemshorn | 4 | Furniture | 5 Rks | Oboe | 8 | Octave Oboe | 4 | Mixture | 4 Rks | |||
| Harmonic Flute | 4 | Trombone | 16 | Clarinet | 8 | Contra Tuba | 16 | Mixture | 3 Rks | |||
| Twelfth | 3 | Bassoon | 16 | Vox Humana | 8 | Tuba | 8 | Mixture | 2 Rks | |||
| Fifteenth | 2 | Trumpet | 8 | Octave Oboe | 4 | Tuba Clarion | 4 | Contra Trombone Wood | 64 | |||
| Mixture | 3 Rks | Cornopean | 8 | Carillon Bells | 2 | Contra Posaune Metal | 32 | |||||
| Cymbel | 4 Rks | Horn | 8 | Posaune | 16 | |||||||
| Sharp Mixture | 4 Rks | Oboe | 8 | Trombone | 16 | |||||||
| Furniture | 5 Rks | Clarion | 4 | Bassoon | 16 | |||||||
| Contra Posaune | 16 | Trumpet | 8 | |||||||||
| Posaune | 8 | Clarion | 4 | |||||||||
| Trumpet | 8 | |||||||||||
| Clarion | 4 |