St. Mark's Florence

The present organ and the plans for a replacement organ.

The present 2 manual organ was built in the 70's by Bevilacqua using electropneumatic cone valve chests and some second hand material. The leather is now failing and many leather puffers have already been replaced. The electric switching in the console is also unreliable as it dates from the 1950's. None of the ranks of pipes have a beautiful tone, although the Great Principal chorus (8,4,2) is able to lead hymn singing by virtue of its somewhat forced upper harmonics. The two reed ranks are quite the most hideous sound I have ever heard; the Musette sounds like a bag-pipe and the Clarino sounds like a frog stuck in a drain pipe.

The organ has suffered from several building projects around it, one involving the builders being asked to move the blower to the front of the organ. The resulting plumbing they carried out made tuning access even harder. The noisy blower was placed in a wooden box that sits between the organist and the organ  and can easily be heard by the congregation. During the move the builders disposed of the stones that had been used to create the pressure on the blower reservoir. The organist decided to place a full 25 l plastic bottle of water on the reservoir. This worked fine until 2017 when the bottle somehow split and water leaked out. The result was that the organ was slowly running out of wind and eventually did not play at all. The reservoir was damaged by the water, but somehow the motor below survived!

The following images show the condition of the inside of the organ.

The Church would be happy to replace it with a more reliable mechanical action instrument, possibly second hand, suitable for the Anglican liturgy.

The pipes in the Swell have suffered from misplaced feet and many years of incorrect tuning.

A thick layer of dust  and debris waiting for a spark from the high current transformer!

Copious amounts of plastic tubing, the orange sewer pipes being added by the builders!:

The 800 leather puffer membranes are failing at an ever increasing rate and are being replaced when they fail:

The console electric switching dates to the mid 1950's. I have very carefully cleaned the oxide of the many contacts and for the moment it is all working. However, the copper wires are insulated with cotton and sparks are generated during normal operation, so if smoke is seen rising from the console an extinguisher would be handy.

Fascinating, but neither safe nor reliable

A new Organ for St Marks

A beautiful organ by Sweetland of Bath (1880) was offered to the church, and after 'only' 7 years of legal battles and umpteen planning applications it is finally being used in Florence. The Inauguration by organists James Gray and Émile Chandellier was held on 16th March 2025.

The Organ in St Mark's Florence

A considerable amount of restoration was required as 13 years of disuse in an unheated building full of moths, mice and bats had taken its toll.