Unique organ revived at Fyvie Castle

This historic pipe organ, which has not been played for years, dates from 1905 and was one of the first of its kind in the UK. It features an electrical ‘self-playing’ mechanism that could play anything from opera tunes to the dance hits of the 1900s. Damage to the pipes had silenced the organ in recent decades, but thanks to specialist repair and restoration work carried out for our charity, the organ is playing loud and clear again.

To celebrate, the team at Fyvie Castle organised a recital on International Organ Day (Saturday 20 April), by renowned organist Roger Williams – the former organist and Musical Director for the Cathedral Church of St Machar in Aberdeen, and also the Honorary Music Advisor to the National Trust for Scotland. Roger and others played a varied programme of music to showcase the beautiful sound quality of the Fyvie organ, including pieces by Handel and Albinoni, a selection of Scottish dances, and the world premiere of a piece called ‘If only these pipes could talk’ by local composer Ronan Malster.

With the original ceiling-high iron and tin pipes working once more, the next step in the delicate conservation project is to repair the organ’s direct current electrical automatic-playing mechanism. Self-playing mechanisms were hugely popular for pianos (or ‘pianolas’) from the 1900s to the 1930s. The modernity of the mechanism, added by Herbert Marshall of Regent Street, London, contrasts with the more traditional style of the pipe organ. Built by Norman Brothers in 1905 with a panelled oak case and carvings of lyres, it makes a spectacular addition to Fyvie’s grand tapestry- and art-lined drawing room.

Vikki continued: ‘Records show these organs were sold to monied clients as far afield as Russia, North America and India, with industrialists and maharajahs among those buying them. Suppliers even offered suggestions on different types of organs suitable for different types of music to potential purchasers – for example, the Trust has a letter from Imhof & Mukle, suppliers of “self-acting musical instrument makers”, to the then-owner of Fyvie Castle, Alexander Forbes-Leith, with suggestions on different organs – some suitable for dance or operatic music.

‘The Herbert Marshall self-playing organ at Fyvie was one of the first of its type in Britain, and its installation at Fyvie Castle illustrates the cosmopolitan tastes of the Forbes-Leith family. Having moved to Scotland from the USA and purchased this baronial castle for £175,000 – the equivalent of over £20 million today – their horizons and tastes certainly reached much further afield than rural Aberdeenshire of the 1900s.’