Above: the North case and console at St Etheldreda’s. The gallery is only the width of those two railings.
Our practice sessions on the organ at St Etheldreda’s Chapel come with multiple Heath & Safety warnings. NOT SUITABLE FOR TALL OR LARGE PLAYERS says our information pack firmly, and by the time you’ve negotiated a tiny and perilous spiral staircase, and squeezed yourself behind the compact console on the narrow gallery which runs along the top of the choir screen, you understand why. Your back is to the North Case, containing the Great and (slightly disconcertingly) the Swell – facing you on the south wall is the case containing the Pedal division. Swiss makers Spath Orgelbau designed and installed this organ in 2009, replacing pipes and mechanism which had become less than reliable and impossible to maintain. However the casework has been kept, designed by J F Bentley (architect of Westminster Cathedral) during the restoration of the church in the late 19th century.
The 19th century restoration was a result of the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829, making it no longer illegal for Catholics to have churches and say Mass in England. The story of St Etheldreda’s Chapel is long and complicated, but it began its life as the town chapel of the Bishops of Ely from about 1250. It’s the oldest Catholic church in England, and one of the only two remaining buildings in London from the reign of Edward 1. Bringing along some of the earliest organ repertoire, I played Weelkes and Tomkins there this afternoon – and realised the chapel had been standing for a full 300 years before these men and their music came along.
The diminutive organ cases suggest a modest chapel instrument, but the organ has been voiced with a big warm sound and fills the building. I’m not the first person to find some of the 4′ and higher stops a bit screamy at the top – or perhaps it’s just they respond particularly well to the chapel acoustic. But I spent a happy hour there today, watched over by the eight lifesize statues of English Reformation martyrs around the walls.
St Etheldreda’s Chapel is in Ely Place, London EC1. Its website is here.
