MAJOR AUSTRALIAN ORGAN DESTROYED BY FIRE


St Kilda Town Hall

Fincham & Hobday, 1892
3 manuals, 37 speaking stops, tubular-pneumatic action
rebuilt 1961 George Fincham & Sons
3 manuals, 49 speaking stops, electro-pneumatic action
Destroyed by fire 7 April 1991







On 11 May 1987 during the Melbourne International Festival of Organ & Harpsichord a concert was given in St Kilda Town Hall featuring two organists. Michael Dudman played the first half concluding with Prelude & Toccata by Theodore Dubois. The second half was given by theatre organist David Johnston.


Click here to download the Prelude as an mp3 file (6.9MB)

Click here to download the Toccata as an mp3 file (9.1MB)


from OHTA News, Volume 15, No 2., April 1991

Members of OHTA will be saddened to learn that the 1892 Fincham & Hobday grand organ in St Kilda Town Hall was totally destroyed in a tragic fire which consumed the concert hall early in the morning of Sunday 7 April. This instrument was the sole surviving 19th century concert organ in Victoria, the sole surviving Fincham concert organ, and the only permanent concert organ to be installed by a suburban municipality throughout Australia during the 19th century.

While the organ had been rebuilt in 1961 by George Fincham & Sons, most of the original pipework, of outstanding tonal quality, survived intact. The rebuilding saw the introduction of a new mobile all-electric console and electro-pneumatic action, and the original cases were removed at this time in favour of pipeless screens, although fragments of the 1892 cases still survive at the Fincham factory in Richmond.

Fincham's tonal design of 1892 was masterly. The Great Organ was complete from 16ft open double to a five-rank quint mixture and fiery Posaune. The Swell Organ was unusually comprehensive, with a complete flue chorus to three-rank Sesquialtera and four magrificent reeds. The enclosed Choir Organ included strings, harmonic flutes and three imitative reeds. The Pedal Organ included two open 16ft flues but the reed was only prepared for.

The original divided cases were painted in shades of green and gold and the facade pipes were elaborately diapered, the whole presenting a stunning sight. The OHTA chairman can well remember seeing the unaltered instrument at the age of eight and being highly impressed!

The loss of this instrument is particularly sad as it was such a fine example of 19th century organbuilding at its best, with vigorous, warm and brilliant flue choruses, flutes of great liquidity and astounding open shallot chorus reeds which could well be compared with those of Cavaille-coll. While the instrument had suffered from serious visual degradation, and seriously in need of cleaning, there had always been the hope of the 1892 cases being reinstated.

The sole surviving examples of Fincham's major work are now as follows:

Wilson Hall, University of Melbourne (1890, ex The Australian Church, considerably altered)

St Joseph's Church, Warrnambool (1892, largely intact)

St Mary's, Star-of-the-Sea, West Melbourne (1898-1900, intact)



from "The St Kilda Advertiser" Saturday 27 August 1892 (reprinted in "OHTA News" Volume 15, No 3., July 1991.)

THE ORGAN

After all this expenditure of time, trouble and money, it is pleasant to be able to record that the success achieved is commensurate with the efforts which have been made, and that St Klda now possesses not only the fifth largest instrument in the colony, but one of the finest in the world. Messrs. Fincham and Hobday, the builders, have spared no pains to make this a lasting monument of their skill, and having incorporated in the present instrument the principles which are the results of the experience of ages, together with the latest improvements, having at their command the best appliances and using the best materials, have come as near perfection as the requirements of the case will admit. To begin with, the exterior casings, which project from the two niches on either side of the stage, are of chaste and elegant appearance, designed by the makers and the decorations carried out by Mr. Matthews. The ground colours are neutral drabs and browns, enlivened with gold and more vivid colors, and the former, it may be mentioned, will be the key tones in the future decoration of the hall itself, in that sweet bye and bye when the exterior of the hall is dressed up, and the tower takes a further rise heavenwards. The important part, however, is the interior works; and here we have almost every variety of note that is possible within the limits of the space available with the acoustic capacities of the hall; from the thundering roar of the double-bass to the flute-like treble of the finest reeds, whose tiny notes die away in the distance, like the echo of the song of the lark, every note clear and full, and each in its own place falls into accord with the grand harmony that answers to the artist's touch. Among the stops which deserve particular mention are the diapasons, the claribel great, harmonic flutes (great and choir), and the rohr-flute and hohl-flute swell; the vox celeste is a very attractive stop of fascinating quality, the undulating or wavy tone being produced by the combination of two gambas tuned a little sharper; the reeds throughout are of beautiful quality and very prompt of speech, noticeable being the solos, vox humana, clarionet, and orchestral oboe. The pedal organ is very effective and when the reed stop (trombone) is placed in position in the instrument there will be nothing wanting to enable the player to interpret any possible score in the range of organ music. The keyboard is constructed with three manuals and independent pedal organ, as follows:

Swell organ compass, CC to A, 58 notes
Great organ compass, CC to A, 58 notes
Choir and solo organ CC compass to A, 58 notes
Pedal organ compass CCC to F, 30 notes.

While the complete list of stops is-

GREAT ORGAN.

1 Double open diapason metal
2 Open diapason
3 Loud gamba
4 Claribel
5 Principal
6 Harmonic flute
7 Twelfth
8 Fifteenth
9 Mixture
10 Posaune

SWELL ORGAN.

11 Double diapason
12 Open diapason
13 Hohl-Flute
14 Keraulophon
15 Octave
16 Rohr-Flute
17 Twelfth
18 Fifteenth
19 Mixture
20 Double trumpet
21 Cornopean
22 Oboe
23 Clarion

CHOIR AND SOLO ORGAN.

24 Lieb gedacht
25 Dulciana
26 Gamba
27 Vox celeste
28 Flute octaviante
29 Harmonic piccolo
30 Clarionet
31 Orchestral oboe
32 Vox humana

PEDAL ORGAN.

33 Open diapason metal
34 Open diapason wood
35 Bourdon wood
36 Viola metal
37 Prepared for Trombone metal

COUPLERS.

38 Swell to great organ.
39 Swell to pedal organ.
40 Great to pedal organ.
41 Choir to pedal organ.
42 Swell to choir organ.
43 Pedal octave.
44 Tremulant to Solo.


16 ft.
8 ft.
8 ft.
8 ft.
4 ft.
4 ft.
2 ft.
2 ft.
5 ranks.
8 ft.



16 ft.
8 ft.
8 ft.
8 ft.
4 ft.
4 ft.
2 ft.
2 ft.
3 ranks.
16 ft.
8 ft.
8 ft.
4 ft.



8 ft.
8 ft.
8 ft.
8 ft.
4 ft.
2 ft.
8 ft.
8 ft.
8 ft.



16 ft.
16 ft.
16 ft.
8 ft.
16 ft.












CC to A, 58 pipes
CC to A, 58 pipes
CC to A, 58 pipes
CC to A, 58 pipes
CC to A, 58 pipes
CC to A, 58 pipes
CC to A, 58 pipes
CC to A, 58 pipes
CC to A, 290 pipes
CC to A, 58 pipes



CC to A, 58 pipes
CC to A, 58 pipes
CC to A, 58 pipes
CC to A, 46 pipes
CC to A, 58 pipes
CC to A, 58 pipes
CC to A, 58 pipes
CC to A, 58 pipes
CC to A, 174 pipes
CC to A, 46 pipes
CC to A, 58 pipes
CC to A, 58 pipes
CC to A, 58 pipes



CC to A, 58 pipes
CC to A, 58 pipes
CC to A, 58 pipes
C to A, 46 pipes
CC to A, 58 pipes
CC to A, 58 notes
CC to A, 58 pipes
CC to A, 46 pipes
CC to A, 58 pipes



CCC to F, 30 pipes
CCC to F, 30 pipes
CCC to F, 30 pipes
CCC to F, 30 pipes
CCC to F, 30 pipes










ADDITIONAL COUPLERS.

Swell to great sub.
Swell to great super.
Great sub. Great super.
Crescendo movement to swell.
Crescendo movement to choir and solo.

COMBINATION ACTION BY PISTONS.

Four to great.
Four to swell.
Four to choir and solo.

The total number of stops is 48, and the total number of pipes 2,276, and it is worthy of mention that every item in the details, including the pipe metal, is made in the colony.

A special mention is deserved of the connection between the key-board and the pipes. The former is on the floor of the hall, up against the front of the stage, and the connections are made on the tubular-pneumatic principle. From the underside of each key runs a metal tube a little larger than a lead pencil, terminating at the corresponding pipe or pipes. By the simple, yet ingenious system of valves, that pressure on a key, by the impetus of the compressed air with which the tubes are filled, opens the pipe instantaneously, and as the finger is lifted, the pipe closes as quickly... Between three and four miles of the tubes (which are of composite metal specially made for the firm in the colony) are used for these connections of keys and stops with the pipes.

The wind is supplied by an enormous bellows in the basement, worked by a small but powerful hydraulic engine, which is started at will by the performer, and hand power is supplied should necessity require. The casing of the keyboard is finished and polished to the highest point of excellence. The work as a whole is deserving of all the praise that can be given, both artistic and technical execution and skill remain a lasting evidence of Mr. Mason's generosity and the skill and proficiency in their profession of Messrs. Fincham and Hobday.

Mr. George Fincham, J.P.

The name of Mr. George Fincham, the senior member of the firm which has carried out the construction of the new organ so satisfactorily, is now a household word in musical circles in the colonies. Mr. Fincham arrived in Melbourne in 1852, and started the profession of an organ builder in 1862, from which time up to the present he has had an unbroken line of successes, having secured nine first-prize medals for excellence in the art to which he is so zealous a devotee. Mr. Fincham has not allowed himself to entirely neglect public affairs, and last year he was created a justice of the peace, in recognition of public services rendered.

Mr. Arthur Hobday.

Mr. Hobday, who is also an enthusiast in his profession, joined Mr. Fincham in partnership in 1881, and was entrusted with the establishment of a branch of the business in Adelaide, where he distinguished himself by securing the first prize medal at the recent Adelaide Jubilee Exhibition. Mr. Hobday returned to the Melbourne factory about four years ago, and with the combination of skill and excellent business qualifications of the partners, it is not to be wondered at that Messrs. Fincham and Hobday are so popular individually, and that their reputation as organ builders stands so high.