Letter from Ernest M. Skinner to William King Covell

Mr. Wm. King Covell,
c/o Brown, Shipley & Co.,
123 Pall Mall, London, S.W.1,
England

Dear Mr. Covell:

Thanks for your good letter. I read your first installment of the description of the Methuen organ in The Organ, and enjoyed it very much, and shall be glad to have the balance of it. Thank you for the five copies you are sending. I hope you will have enough printed because I imagine they will be in great demand. The organ is growing in public interest. Mr.
Alexander McCurdy of the Second Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia gave a recital on November 5th on the Methuen organ. It was one of the most delightful recitals I ever attended. The house was full and the program perfectly and marvelously played. In point of fact there were two encores at the conclusion of the program. You will read about it in the Diapason. Mr. Stone is still at Methuen.

We are doing nothing to the organ at this moment, nor have we done anything except add the strings which you know of. I am going to add some orchestral color alternately and enrich the string section, if these times don’t knock the money out of the old pocket altogether.

Someone told me that you and Mr. Gammons were complaining that I was likely to do damage to this masterpiece. Now if I actually do damage to it, all well and good. I took on this load to save this old masterpiece, and I point out to you the unlikelihood of my doing any damage. I hope my 45 years’ experience as an organbuilder, which has brought much more money to other people’s pockets than it ever did to mine, will enable me to treat the instrument with respect. If I do make any substitutions, you may be sure that I will keep any pipes that may be removed where they may be replaced if my attempts do not meet with the approval of people who are competent to judge, to say nothing of my own opinion. Mr. Tietjen at the Convention, on St. Thomas organ, played a chorale of Bach’s called “O Lord Have Mercy Upon Me.” The accompaniment was played on the Kleine Erzähler and the melody or chorale voice on the English Horn, with a Dulciana on the Pedal, I believe. Without using either Tremolos or expression boxes, he achieved one of the most beautiful performances that I have ever heard, which opinion was also shared by every person present. I am sure that Bach would concur in this opinion, though not one of the stops used was in existence in Bach’s time. There are no stops in existence in French, English or German organs that could have approached the results of these exclusively American developments — more particularly my own.

When you are back home again Mr. Tietjen will be glad to play this for you as he has for me since the Convention. I agree with you that Father Willis’s work is superior to present examples. I got all my ideas of reeds of the Trumpet family from Father Willis. If you will try the organ in Colston Hall, I think at Bristol (but you can verify this), I think you will agree with me that Father Willis himself once in a while ran rather wild on reeds. This organ, however, has some of the most magnificent 32′ fronts I ever saw, although they are not of English tin.

Very sincerely yours,
Ernest M. Skinner

EMS:MGM