Pipe dreams
08 July 24
At their initiation, brethren are exhorted in the Final Charge to study the liberal arts and sciences, one of which is music. It has the ability to bring us joy and comfort, to motivate us and to help us relax. It has the power to transport us back in time, to calm our worried minds or boost our moods. There really is ‘a song’ for every emotion.
Above UGL’s original organ at the Cathedral in Parramatta.
These benefits have been backed by science. Research findings have demonstrated that music supports our physical and mental health by regulating our emotions, improving our mood, enhancing productivity and concentration. It can even help us sleep better. Science has proven the link between music and our mood. Listening to a favourite piece of music or song can release endorphins or ‘happy hormones’ into the brain.
Music is universal. It brings people together from all walks of life. No matter where we are from, music is a language that all of us can understand. It brings people together at concerts, at places of worship and celebrations.
And of course, it plays a crucial role in our masonic ceremonies.
The History of the Organ at Grand Lodge
In the early 1920s, Grand Lodge engaged Bro Thomas Edwards (1889–1960) for the construction of a pipe organ for Lodge Room 1.
Bro Edwards was a professional organ builder and had been apprenticed around 1903 to Charles Richardson, a British-born organ builder who had operated his successful business in Sydney during 1882–1926. In 1911 Edwards joined the new firm of Griffin & Leggo and stayed there until its dissolution in 1917 when Edwards took over their premises at 127 Point Street, Pyrmont.
Around 1919, Edwards entered into partnership with John B Holroyd. It was during this partnership that the Grand Lodge organ was built.
The instrument was built as time and money became available. Following the end of The Great War and the disastrous effects of Spanish Flu, materials were only slowly coming to the market. The organ was finally completed in 1923.
The partnership of Holroyd and Edwards seems to have dissolved around 1924. Charles Richardson retired in 1925 and Tom Edwards took over the business.
The Holroyd & Edwards organ served the Grand Lodge well. Arthur Massey – Organist at Grand Lodge and St Andrews Cathedral – wrote that Edwards had built several instruments under his direction and said that he ‘... always carried out every detail of specifications I have supplied. The organ of Grand Lodge at Masonic Temple, Sydney will always be a monument to his excellent workmanship’.
The organ was rebuilt in 1969 by Hill, Norman & Beard (Aust) Pty Ltd of Melbourne, a branch office of an English company with a long and excellent history. The work involved electrifying the original tubular-pneumatic action as supplied by Holroyd & Edwards.
With the redevelopment of the Grand Lodge building in the early 1970s, the organ was put into storage, remaining there until it was installed in St Patrick’s Catholic Cathedral at Parramatta in 1980. The instrument served the Cathedral community well until an arson attack destroyed the building on 19 February, 1996.
I personally inspected this instrument some three weeks before the arson attack. I thought the instrument made a good sound and especially noted that the decorated silver plaque of dedication (by MW Bro William Thompson GM) was still attached to the organ’s casework (impost rail), just above the organist’s head!
When moving to the present Sydney Masonic Centre (SMC), it was decided that an electronic organ should be installed. At the time it was a common misconception that electronic was better, so no provision was made to install the recently rebuilt pipe organ.
The GDM, RW Bro Elvey, a well-known Sydney purveyor of sheet music, books and instruments, had a pre-loved two manual keyboards and pedal electronic organ in his city store. He made it available to Grand Lodge, and it provided music to Lodge Room 1 from the opening of the new building in 1979.
Alas this organ contained what was already old technology and proved costly to maintain over the years. Even as far back as its installation the sound of the instrument was less than acceptable. All Grand Organists since that time called for its total replacement.
And now at last, the instrument has been replaced by a modern technology Virtual Pipe Organ (VPO). The new instrument was heard publicly for the first time at the March 2024 Quarterly Communication, seemingly to critical acclaim.
A VPO uses modern computer technology to play recorded sounds of real pipe organs. The recording techniques used are very sophisticated, and the resulting sound is of the highest quality. In VPO terminology, the recorded sounds of any particular instrument is known as a ‘sample-set’.
Two touchscreens stylistically depict the console of the sample-set being played. The organ at SMC has sample sets of three real pipe organs; the 1893 Henry Willis organ in Hereford Cathedral (UK), the 1885 Aristide Cavaille-Co organ in the Abbey of St Etienne, Caen (France) and the 2000 Eisenbarth organ of St Batholomaus Church in Friesach, Austria.
The selection of the Hereford Cathedral Organ as the VPO’s default setting was very deliberate – a choice made jointly by the Grand Director of Music, Grand Organist and Past Grand Organist. The Hereford Cathedral Organ is well known to be the most recorded cathedral organ in Great Britain. Furthermore, one of the primary purposes of the VPO is to accompany the members of the United Grand Lodge of NSW and ACT Choir as they sing odes and anthems.
St Batholomaus Church organ
English Cathedral organs have been known to have evolved for centuries alongside the assemblies, choirs and congregations they have accompanied right up to the present day. Hence at the September Quarterly Communication this year, the VPO in Lodge Room One will be both ‘Dedicated’ with prayer and ‘Commissioned to Service’ by our Grand Master as it excels not only as a solo instrument of excellence, but also as it serves that primary role of musical accompaniment for the voices of those assembled.
Hereford Cathedral organ
The console of the Grand Lodge VPO contains three manuals (keyboards) and pedals and has been built to universally accepted console dimensions. It is also fitted with a number of modern playing aids. Any organist sitting at this console would immediately feel comfortable and ‘at home’ in playing this instrument.
Abbey of St Etienne organ
The console was bespoke built by Ian Sell of Virtual Pipe Organs Australia in Lisarow on the NSW Central Coast. The timber used is polished Tasmanian Oak.
The Grand Lodge now has an instrument that it can be proud to own, and one that will reliably provide glorious music for many years to come.
Grand Director of Music RW Bro Ian Cox with Grand Lodge's new organ
By RW Bro Chris Sillince