Newcastle City Hall

Entrance to Newcastle City Hall

The Newcastle City Hall is a concert hall with 2,135 seats in the northern English city of Newcastle upon Tyne . It is listed as a Grade II building .

history

Newcastle City Hall was built, along with the adjoining municipal bath, City Pool, as part of an urban development plan and opened in 1927. The organ built by Harrison & Harrison was added a year later. For the next 40 years, the larger British orchestras and internationally known soloists such as Yehudi Menuhin and Kathleen Ferrier made guest appearances here . From the 1960s, pop and rock music found its way into City Hall: The Beatles , The Rolling Stones , Little Richard , Jerry Lee Lewis and the Animals from Newcastle gave concerts here. On March 26, 1971, Emerson, Lake and Palmer recorded their album Pictures at an Exhibition at City Hall, with Keith Emerson playing the introductory boardwalk on the hall's organ. Much of Motörhead's No Sleep 'til Hammersmith album was also recorded here. In addition to the musicians, comedians such as Billy Connolly , Jimmy Carr and Frankie Boyle have recently appeared .

In November 2012, Newcastle City Council's Nick Forbes announced that he saw no long-term future for City Hall because of the £ 100m budget cut. A petition to save City Hall with 11,000 signatories and a rethink in the city council regarding budget cuts saved City Hall from closing in February 2013. The adjoining bathroom was closed in August 2013 as part of the budget cut.

organ

The Newcastle City Hall organ was built in 1928/29 by the Harrison & Harrison workshop . The prospectus was designed in collaboration with the City Hall architect. Today it is in poor condition due to lack of maintenance. The current director of City Hall, Peter Brennan, considers it the "Rolls Royce of organs" and representatives of the initiative for the restoration of the organ believe that after the restoration it could be one of the greatest organs in the world.

I Choir C – c ⁴
Contra Dulciana	16 ′
Open diapason	8th'
Claribel Flute	8th'
Echo Salicional	8th'
Vox Angelica	8th'
Suabe Flute	4 ′
Salicet	4 ′
Harmonic piccolo	2 ′
Dulciana Mixture III
Clarinet	8th'
Tremulant

II Great C – c ⁴
Double violins	16 ′
Double stopped diapason	16 ′
Open Diapason I	8th'
Open Diapason II	8th'
Open Diapason III	8th'
Stopped diapason	8th'
Hollow flute	8th'
Octave	4 ′
Forest flood	4 ′
Octave Quint	2 ² / ₃ '
Great Octave	2 ′
Mixture V
Harmonics IV	2 ² / ₃ '
Contra Tromba	16 ′
Tromba	8th'
Octave Tromba	4 ′

III Swell C-c ⁴
Quintaton	16 ′
Open diapason	8th'
Covered pipe	8th'
Echo gamba	8th'
Voix Celestes	8th'
Violin Principal	4 ′
Pipe flute	4 ′
Fifteenth	2 ′
Mixture V	4 ′
Double trumpet	16 ′
Trumpet	8th'
oboe	8th'
Vox Humana	8th'
Clarion	4 ′
Tremulant

IV Solo / Orch. C-c ⁴
Contra viola	16 ′
Harmonic flute	8th'
Viole d'Orchestre	8th'
Violes Celestes II	8th'
Concert flute	4 ′
Cor Anglais	16 ′
Orchestral oboe	8th'
Tremulant
Double orchestral trumpet	16 ′
French horn	8th'
Orchestral Trumpet	8th'
Orchestral Clarion	4 ′
tuba

Pedal C – g ¹
Double Open Wood	32 ′
Open Wood I.	16 ′
Open Wood II (from Great)	16 ′
Open Diapason (from Great)	16 ′
Sub Bass (from Great)	16 ′
Violins (from Great)	16 ′
Violone (from solo)	16 ′
Octave Wood	8th'
Flood	8th'
Mixture V	4 ′
Double ophicleide	32 ′
Ophicleide	16 ′
Orchestral Trumpet (from Solo)	16 ′
trombone	8th'

Pairing :
- Normal coupling: I / II, III / I, III / II, IV / I, IV / II, IV / III, I / P, II / P, III / P, IV / P
- Super octave coupling: I / I, III / III, IV / IV
- Sub-octave coupling: III / III, IV / IV