Henry Willis & Sons
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Henry Willis & Sons is a firm of pipe organ builders in the UK, examples of whose work can also be found in other countries.
The charismatic founder of the company, the eponymous Henry Willis, was nicknamed "Father Willis" because of his contribution to the art and science of organ building, and to distinguish him from his younger relatives working in the firm.
He was a friend of Samuel Sebastian Wesley.
Willis's are regarded as the leading organ builders of the Victorian era, itself a time when both civic and religious commitment led to the erection of a large number of impressive buildings and other public works. During the Industrial Revolution any town worth its salt would want an imposing Town Hall, preferably with a Willis organ, and a substantial (and similarly equipped) church. Industrialists competed to endow the most lavish halls and instruments.
The result was a convergence of both a very fine and technically proficient organ builder, and a substantial number of commissions for really exceptional instruments. This heritage has, fortunately, lived on, thanks in part to the quality of craftsmanship and in part to sensitive restorations and maintenance such as that recently completed on the Albert Hall instrument by Mander & Sons of London. It is a tradition that an organ, when rebuilt, retains the original maker's name, even if the pipework has been substantially augmented or replaced.
[edit] Notable Willis organs
The most famous "Father" Willis organs are probably those in the Albert Hall, St. Paul's Cathedral and Salisbury Cathedral, but there are many more including the cathedrals in Aberdeen, Calcutta, Canterbury, Durham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hereford, Lincoln, Oxford and Truro, and the town church of Inverness, the Old High Church. Windsor Castle had a Willis until it was destroyed by fire in November 1992, as do Blenheim Palace and several town halls (e.g. Reading), the Sheldonian Theatre and the Royal Academy of Music.
Although Willis are mostly remembered for organs on the grand scale they also built smaller instruments.
