Henry Willis

Henry Father Willis (born April 27, 1821 in London , † February 11, 1901 , ibid) was an organ builder from England . Its organs were fundamentally different from the German organs. His son Henry Willis II and grandson Henry Willis III later continued the business. Sigfrid Karg-Elert dedicated his Passacaglia to Henry Willis on BACH , Louis Vierne the famous Carillon du Westminster .

Life

Willis was born into a family of artisans. His father Henry Willis was on the one hand a builder and on the other hand a member of the choir of the "Cecilian Society", in which he also acted as a " kettle drummer ". As a result, his son soon became interested in music and started playing the organ at a young age. He soon made friends with the organist George Cooper , an assistant to the composer Thomas Attwood in St. Paul's Cathedral . When they played the organ together, they tried to outdo each other. At the age of 14, Willis began an apprenticeship with John Gray and designed a special manual and pedal coupler . During his time with John Gray's company, he also tuned a number of organs, such as those in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. There he met the composer George Job Elvey , who took care of him. As a teenager, Willis became organist at Christ Church in Hoxton , where he had applied for a job. So he met Clement Scott , who would later become a theater critic for the Daily Telegraph . After his training Willis moved to Cheltenham in Gloucestershire , where he worked for the organ builder William Evans. During this time he made friends with Samuel Sebastian Wesley . In 1847 Willis was commissioned to rebuild the organ at Gloucester Cathedral. For the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park , London in 1851 , one of his organs was exhibited in the West End Gallery. In 1848 and 1849 Willis traveled to France and met the organ builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll there . He developed his ideas further, which influenced the construction of his organ for the Royal Albert Hall , made in 1871 . Willis built a total of around 2000 organs, twenty of them for well-known churches and cathedrals.

Willis made several inventions that he patented.

List of works (selection)

Fonts

• with Cecil Clutton, Bernard Smith, Noel Percy Mander : The organ in St. Paul's cathedral. London 1977, OCLC 24458832 .

year	opus	place	church	image	Manuals	register	Remarks
1851		Winchester	Winchester Cathedral		IV / P	78	Comprehensively restored and rebuilt in 1938 by the organ builder Harrison & Harrison
1851		Bristol
1862		Oxford	Wadham College , Chapel
1867		Kilkhampton
1872		London	St Paul's Cathedral		IV / P		Completely revised and expanded by Mander Organs (London) from 1972; now 105 registers
1875		Oxford	St. Peter's College
1877		Durham	Durham Cathedral			55	expanded and revised several times, most recently by Harrison & Harrison, today 98 registers on 7 works
1877		Salisbury	Salisbury Cathedral		IV / P	65	→ organ
1879		Glasgow
1880		Eastbourne
1880		Cambridge
1885		Liverpool	St. George's Townhall
1885		Cardiff	Park Hall
1886		Canterbury	Canterbury Cathedral				last reorganized in 1980 by the organ builder N. Mander and installed in a new organ case; now 60 registers, three manuals and pedal
1887		Truro (Cornwall)
1888		Brighton	St. Peter's
1891		Exeter	Exeter Cathedral				Extensively rebuilt in 1931 by Harrison & Harrison; now 59 stops on four manuals and pedal
1892		Hereford
1893		Davos-Platz ( Graubünden )
1895		West Hampstead
1898		Lincoln	Lincoln Cathedral		IV / P	58	Reorganized in 1960 by the organ builders Harrison & Harrison; now 64 registers
1899		St Bees	St. Bees Priory

literature

• William Leslie Sumner: Father Henry Willis, Organ Builder, and his Successors. Musical Opinion, London 1957, OCLC 465546 .

• Centenary of the Death of Henry Willis . In: OHTA News . tape 25 , no. 3 , 2001, p. 7-12 .
• Salomon Kümmerle: Willis, Henry . In: Encyclopedia of Protestant Church Music . tape 4 . Gütersloh 1895, p. 413 .
• Kenneth Shenton: A Great Victorian - Henry Willis (1821-1901) . In: Organists' Review . tape 87 , 2001, ISSN  0048-2161 , p. 234-237 .
• Christopher Kent and Alfred Reichling: Willis, family . In: Music in the past and present . 2nd Edition. Person part, band 17 . Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel / Stuttgart 2007, Sp. 987 sq.
• Sigfrid Karg-Elert: Passcaglia via BACH. Hinrichsen Edition.

Web links

Wikisource: Willis, Henry  - Sources and full texts (English)

• Henry Willis & Sons Ltd. on willis-organs.com (English)
• Henry Willis in: Encyclopædia Britannica . (English)
• Historic Father Henry Willis organ finally brings music back to Brisbane City Hall following years of silence on abc.net.au (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Passacaglia and Fugue on BACH, op.150 on hyperion-records.co.uk, accessed on August 26, 2014. (English)
2. ↑ Londres Royal Albert Hall ( Memento of the original from August 27, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. from www3.orgues-et-vitraux.chk, accessed on August 26, 2014. (French)  
3. ^ History of the Company - Father Henry Willis, organ builder at willis-organs.com, accessed August 26, 2014.
4. ^ Henry Willis 1821-1901. from stmichaelstorrington.org.uk, accessed August 26, 2014.
5. ↑ Father Henry Willis ( Memento of the original from August 27, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. from finemusic.co.uk, accessed August 26, 2014.