The Town Hall Organ
The pipe organ has gone through many changes as a class of instrument right from the time it was invented. More than any other instrument, the organ was found in the places where people came together. The organ has always been a member of such unions. The union of the body of the Church, the union of souls in the sacrament of marriage, the union of people inside town halls for a common cause or the union in music halls for making and listening to music together. Today we take a look at one of these Town Hall organs.
Before any of you think that these are outdated and have no place in the modern town hall, I shall inform you that this particular organ was recently restored and is waiting to be reinstalled. Even more than the heritage of this being one of the few Edwardian era organs in near original state, the current caretakers recognize the importance of preserving this instrument and using it regularly. I remind you once again that this is a town hall. Even a place not exclusively dedicated to music was deemed incomplete without a pipe organ. This is the significance of such an instrument.
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| The 1904 Norman & Beard organ of the Town Hall of Wellington, New Zealand |
This behavior is mirrored all the way to the largest organ in the world, one that is housed at the Boardwalk Hall at Atlantic City, New Jersey. That particular instrument requires a post just for itself, but I am sure this shows how important the pipe organ once was to public and social life. Even to this day, many of the formal/official programs at Anderson Hall of Madras Christian College feature the dignitaries walking to the dias to the music of the organ being played live.
It is fascinating to learn that Dr. Narasingarajan Naidu, one of the esteemed alumni of the Madras Christian College and a scholarly historian, remembers the processional organ music at Anderson Hall from his time as a student. It impacted him that this music accompanied the top brass of MCC and the VIPs that the college hosted at that time, as it does now. The entire talk was extremely interesting, and you may find the link to the livestream below. If you go to the timestamp of 01:09:04 you will find me asking this question that provided this enlightening answer. The organ was an essential part of public and social life, and in places steeped in tradition they must be preserved for posterity.
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