A Re-Examination of Tempos Assigned to the Earl of Bute's Machine Organ

Author(s): Beverly Jerold

Source: Early Music, Vol. 30, No. 4 (Nov., 2002), pp. 584-591
Published by: Oxford University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3519214
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e* MECHANICAL

INSTRUMENTS

BeverlyJerold

A re-examinationof tempos assigned

to the Earlof Bute'smachineorgan
closest thing we have to original recordings

Eachbarrel,18"in diameterand 4' 6"in length,had a

maximum capacityof 12minutes of music. As Malperiod, so they are especially interesting for what loch observes,the organ and its barrels'have comthey convey about the performanceof that time. A pletely disappeared',but a Catalogueof the musicon
barrel organ is so called because of the cylindrical the various barrelspublished in 1812 by Alexander
barrel on which the music is encoded by means of Cumming (1735-1814) survives,4 and contains timpins insertedaroundits circumference.As the barrel ings of each composition to the second-'270 indiis rotatedthese pins engagewith a system of pivoted viduallytimed pieces or sections (255of which have
metal keys which, in effect, 'play'the organ.1
been identified)'.5TableI illustrateshow Cumming's
In a book of 1775giving instructions for pinning catalogueorganizes each numbered barrelinto lists
such a barrelorgan, Joseph Engramelleincludes an of pieces and their timings.
There are discrepanciesbetween Cumming'stext
engravinghe made of a builder'sshop (illus.1).2 The
worker on the left is pinning the barrel of a small and his catalogue, for the latter includes only 56 of
serinette (canary organ) with the help of a dial the original 60 barrels,plus eight improved barrels
divided into equal pie-like sections. The worker on
the right is doing the same on a much largerbarrel. Table 1 Contents of barrels nos.49 and 5o, as listed in
Various tools are on the floor and hanging on the Cumming'scatalogue
wall. In the right foreground is a harpsichordproNo. 49.
vided with the same mechanism. A mechanical
- JudasMacchabceus
HANDEL.
flautistis seatedon a box whose open side revealsthe
min.
sec.
Pious
for
his
tunes.
At
the
rear
is
a
barrel
......................
o
3
Orgies
apparatus
top
Brave
2
................
Arm,
Arm,
of
substantial
and
the
clock
the
34
ye
size,
organ
by
Disdainfulof Danger ...............
2
window has a carillon.
o
Sound an Alarm,and Chorus ........
4
17
In an article published in this journal in 1983
11
William Malloch investigated such a barrel organ
51
and drew conclusions about tempo.3However,these
No. 5o.
conclusions appearto be seriously flawed, and it is
- JudasMacchabaeus
HANDEL.
those shortcomingsthat will be addressedhere. His
min.
sec.
article concerns some 60 barrels said to have been
2
O Liberty..........................
25
'Tis Liberty.........................
1
pinned with music for a machineorgan installedin a
55
ComeEverSmilingLiberty...........
new residencefor the 3rd Earlof Bute around 1767.
2 30
2
Plans for the organ, however, are thought to have
23
SinguntoGod......................
in
a
for
the
case
is
dated
1762;
1763.
begun
design
11
43
THEof 18th-centurymusic are barrel organs of the

BeverlyJerold is the author of Jean-Henry D'Anglebert and the seventeenth-centuryclavecin

school (Bloomington,1986),and is a performeron keyboardinstruments
EARLY

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585

The workshopof a makerof mechanicalinstruments,as depictedin the frontispieceof JosephEngramelle,

La tonotechnie,ou l'art de noter les cylindres(Paris, 1775)(by permission of the British Library;1608/5525)

584

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Because Malloch does not list any other citation

constructed more than 20 years later (accordingto
his text, there were only six of these), making a total for his materialon Smith, it is not known where he
obtained statementsthat arepresentedas factual;for
of 64 barrelscatalogued.
in
coninstance:
was
not
involved
Although Cumming
its
he
was
this
or
barrels,6
responsi- Context, for example,revealsSmith'sfirst rule: that there
structing
organ
ble for a second, mechanicallyimproved, organ for should be no cuts in through-composedpieces.Often only
another residence of the earl. Completed in 1787,it the A section of a da capoor dal segnoaria is used (to the
was capable of playing the same barrelsas the first; pause over the word 'Fine'),but these sectionsneversuffer
internalcuts.The inclusionof repeatsin othertypesof piece,
the earl then had 57 of the originalbarrelsmoved to
particularlyinstrumentaldances,is not consistent,but there
this residence. Cumming also added another six are no cuts withinsectionsbearingrepeatsigns.9
(possibly eight) barrelsof improved design, which,
Because no barrelsexist to show what music was
however, contained popular tunes of the period inand Handel often revisedhis work,
stead of the concertmusic found on the originalbar- actuallypresent,
how do we know which versionwas used on the barrels.Thus the latterarethe focus of our discussion.
rel?Or that Smith did not simply choose those porAccording to Cumming's little book, prepared tions that would best fit the time
requirements?John
and published when he was 81, he was using notes
book documents how frequent and farTobin's
that were half a century old. In Malloch's words,
rangingHandel'srevisionscould be for variouspersleuthing was necessary to identify some of the formances.'o How can it be deduced that no cuts
pieces:
were made? When Cumming's catalogue contains
It requiresa good deal of work and even luck to identify
only the informationseen in table 1, Malloch'sstatesome of the instrumental pieces from Cumming's titles, and
in some cases only the evidenceof context can providethe ments appearspeculative,unless he has a source he
identification.On barrel22 no.3, for example,the confusing did not cite. Without a disclaimerthat this informaword 'Sentiment'turns out to be 'Lentement',which pro- tion is purely a surmise, it seems inaccurate to
vides the key to findingthe right 'Sara.2nd. set Lessons'...
include a 'Bar count' in a chart of 'Contents of
Barrel3 nos.12-13come, not fromCorelli's'12th Concerto'of
selected barrels."'He furtherstates:'Smith'ssecond
op.6, but his lith. Theotherlisting of Corelli's'12th Concerto',the wholeof barrel5 ... is an errorfor his 8th,the rule was evidentlythat there should be no transpositions.' Here it is clear that Smith's rule is Malloch's
'Christmas'Concerto.
deduction. He presentsone furtherrule from Smith
Malloch also encountered discrepancieswith the
also has the flavourof a supposition:
that
figures:'Similarproblems arisein determiningtempos and tempo relationships.On the same barrel I Smith'sthird rule was that while each compositionshould
attributethe timing of 20"for no.3 to the faded state haveits own appropriatetempo,thereshouldneverthelessbe
rhythmiccontinuityfrom piece to piece. ... rarelydo pieces
of Cumming'snotes: the time must be 1'20".'7
in exactlythe sametempo followone another,but successive
According to Malloch, John Christopher Smith pieces are often closely related in tempo-by moving at
the younger (1712-95), a composer of opera and almostdoubleor halfspeed,or by halvinga commonpulse.
oratorio, selected and arranged the music to be
What is the basis for these statements?Beyond a
pinned on the barrels. But Arthur W. J. G. Ord- simple listing of contents, Cumming'sbook contains
Hume credits the elder Smith (d 1763):'The con- no information whateverabout the barrelsor their
struction of the organ was superintendedby Hanpreparation. Without the precise number of bars
del's amanuensis, John Christopher Smith. John used for each
piece, there is no way of positing
Snetzler,the organ builder,was called in to collabotempo relationships.Here is another passagewhere
rate ... John Langshaw, organist and mechanic, Malloch'sstatements
appearunsupportedby fact:
pinned the barrelswith music arrangedby Smith.'8
is clearthat continuityof tempo was an importantfactor
Except for quoting a passage from F.-J. Ftis about It
in Smith'sorderingof the pieces,and one can observehow
Langshaw,Ord-Hume does not name his sources, this criterionhelpedto clarifythe decisionsconcerningthe
but Snetzler is corroboratedby Cumming. Smith, four movementsfrom organ concertosby Handelthat contain ad lib. sections... Smithsimplylets the bar count stand
however,is not mentioned in Cumming'sbook.
586

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and elides the ad lib. beginningsand endings,which Table2 Fullerand Malloch'smetronomefiguresfor

a quitenatural
produces
tempoflow.12
the Hollandorgan,comparedwith Malloch'sfiguresfor
the Buteorgan
Unless a citation has been omitted in these
instances, it appears that suppositions have been
Holland/ Holland/
Bute/
Unit
Fuller
Malloch Malloch
presented as fact, which seriously undermines the
validity of conclusions for extremely rapid tempos
('The quaverpulse slides from 63 to a smashing468 Larghetto
J
c.63
c.94
75
[sic] with scarcelya break')and tempo relationships Allegro
131
J
c.76
c.131
('There appear to be the very healthy vestiges of a Alla siciliana
c.84
135
c.148
)
flexible tactusuniting much of the contents of all 54 Jig
c.84
137
c.14o
.
If
Malloch
assumed
use
the
of
more
bars
barrels').13
for a particularpiece than were actuallyon the bar- Because the tempo of the Allegro from Vivaldi's
rel, it would produce the fast tempos he often Concertoop.9 no.12seems too fast, he acknowledges
deduces. On the other hand, the reverse would that he may have identified the piece incorrectly.'6
account for the few instanceswhere a tempo seems Moreover, can we assume the timings to be comslow. The plausible tempos may represent cases pletely accurate when they were produced from
where his assumptions more or less coincide with notes 50 yearsold by a man of very greatage for that
the number of bars actuallypinned.
period? How acute was his vision? As noted above,
Let us consider Handel's Organ Concerto, op.4 Malloch indicates at least one obvious error in the
no.5, for which timings exist on barrel no.ig. This timings. And the discrepancyin the numbersof barsame concerto was also pinned onto a barrel for a rels between Cumming's text and his catalogue,
late 18th-centuryorgan now in the Colt ClavierCol- observedabove, should give us pause.
lection, Bethersden, Kent, possibly built by Henry
Holland. The difference is that here a barrel exists
and has been reportedupon by David Fuller.14
In this
Dolmetsch Recorder
the
barrel
is
cranked
organ
by hand, making tempo
SummerSchool
variable. However, as Fuller explains, the range of
comfortable tempo is relatively narrow:the organ
20 - 26 July 2003
suffers from wind starvation when cranked too
Dolmetsch Recordersin
slowly and poor speechwhen crankedtoo fast. Table
2 shows the metronome figures derived by Fuller
Wood and Plastic
and Mallochfor the Hollandorgan (for which a genuine barrelis present), as compared with Malloch's
Sheet Music for Recorders
deduced figures for the Bute organ (for which no
Learn the Recorder Online
barrelexists).15
Fuller'sfigures are the more plausible.While the
LearnMusic Theory Online
alla siciliana might seem slow, it should be noted
characteristic
of
a
late
it
is
that,
18th-centuryfashion,
URL: www.dolmnetsch.com
highly ornamented on this barrel, thus requiring a
e-mail: brian@dolmetsch.com
slow tempo. In all probability,the barrelfor the Bute
Dolmetsch Online
organ contained cuts to achievereasonabletempos.
Heartsease,
from
the
absence
of
there
are
other
Gravswood Road
barrels,
Apart
Haslemere, Surrey, GU27 2BS
difficulties involved with interpreting Cumming's
tel: 01428-643235
fax: 08700-560190
catalogue. Malloch himself cites the problems in
identifyingsome of the pieces. Is it not possible that
his identificationsmight occasionallybe inaccurate?
EARLY

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587

Ex.1 Handel,L'Allegro,il Penseroso,ed il Moderato,'Thesedelights',bars 17-19

lIrf,,%

I I

RIX
these

=V-F

AtI

de- lights if

thou canst

give,

these de - lights

Cumming's catalogue lists some 36 barrels

devoted to Handel's music. The reason Malloch
stresses Smith's involvement in the project (which
has not yet been confirmedby a primarysource) is
apparentlyrelatedto his close working relationship
with Handel:'Handelhad been dead only threeyears
when the work on them began, and everybody
involved in the project, certainly Smith and his
patron, carried with them the memory of his live
interpretations.'While it is tantalizing to contemplate finding documentary evidence with a close
connection to Handel, the fact neverthelessremains
that no conclusions can be drawn without the existence of the barrels. The extreme tempos deduced
for some pieces are a clear indication of the inadequacyof this method. Take,for example,the pace of
the semiquaversin the aria 'These delights if thou
canst give' from Handel's L'Allegro, ii Penseroso, ed il
Moderato (ex.1),measuredas J = 155.17

Comparing his deduced tempos with tempos

offered by William Crotch (c.18o8-15) for some of

the same pieces, Mallochconcludes:

Crotch'stempos are all conservative;for Corelli'sConcerto
op.6 no.7 ... they are close to Smith's, though generally
slower;but his temposfor 'Howexcellentis thy name' [Saul]
... and 'He gave them hailstones'[Israelin Egypt] ... are
appallinglyslow comparedto Smith's.Theyarecharacteristic
for a man who was evidently looking for 'the sublime'
at everyturn, and they indicatethat the growingsolemnization of Handel'sentire output ... was alreadywell under
way by the beginning of the 19th century. This is why
the Butebarrelsareso important.... It wouldbe happywere
future performancesto reflect the spirit that animated

588

EARLY MUSIC

those responsiblefor creatingthe Earl of Bute's machine

organ.'8

Crotch's tempos, however, are more tenable than

those Malloch deduces. Isn't the sublime, in the
sense of touching the human spirit in some way,
what music is all about?At least this is impliedwhen
early writers-and their numbers are legion-criticize performerswho are simple technicians,unable
to communicate warmth and feeling. An over-fast
tempo is guaranteedto produce meachanicalexecution. Incorrectconclusions have been drawn about
performancebecausewe have not alwaysinterpreted
earlysourcesaccordingto the standardsprevailingat
the time of writing,but by those of today. For example, 'strict rhythm', which today is almost synonymous with mechanical playing, meant something
entirely different to them.19

Let us imagine ourselveschargedby a present-day

wealthypatron, for his personalenjoyment,with the
task of distributinga large quantity of 20th-century
concert music over a total of more than 50 barrels,

each of which can accommodateonly 12minutes of

music. We would probablycut a little here or there
to use the time as advantageouslyas possible. To
attainthis end, we might even adopt a tempo somewhat fasterthan a live orchestrawould usuallyplay.
Mallochdoes not believe this occurredwith the barrels under discussion:'It does not appearthat Smith
accelerated tempos in order to squeeze more music

onto a barrel.The fact that there remainsan unused

2' 56" on barrel no.23 is significant.'20

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Since this

Table3 Chartof temposforJudasMaccabaeus,

ActI, afterEpstein
Order Title
no.

Medium

Barrel/Pc. Metre

Piousorgies,piousairs [Recit.&]Air 49-1

11

Arm in arm

Air

49-2

We come

Chorus

35-1

Tempo
(metronome)

Largoe sostenuto

J 132

Allegro ma non troppo

J = 132

(segueto:)
11

Tempo
(in words)

Allegro

Temporatio

1:1

= 130

nosignificant
[12]
13

O liberty,thou

choicesttreasure

[Recit&] Air

50-1

Largo

71

[Recitative]

[14]

15

relationship

[Recitative]

'Tis liberty,dear

liberty,alone

Air

4:3
50-2

barrel is exceptional in this regard, it is likely that

Cumming or the original author of the manuscript
notes made an error.Eithera piece could be missing
or a timing could be incorrect. Even if we had the
original barrels,their tempos would still have to be
regardedas simply approximations.
In his 1995 book, Shaping time, David Epstein
bases part of his thesis for proportional tempo on
Malloch's article, using his calculations of Cumming's timings to achievetempos for Handel'sJudas
The portion of Epstein'schartin table
Maccabaeus.21
of some 17sections of the oratoriothat
includes
five
3
are included on various barrels,2 together with his
tempo-relationship ratios and Malloch's tempo
derivations.Of the entire group, most have extraordinarilyfast tempos, while no.13,on the other hand,
is very slow.
In its 12-minutemaximum duration,barrelno.49
contains four pieces, the first of which is the Largoe
sostenuto'Pious orgies,pious airs' (ex.2a;no.6 in the
chart). Its tempo is calculatedas J = 132,a pace that
would scarcely permit the singer to enunciate the
text, performthe dotted demisemiquaverscorrectly,
or convey the expressionfor 'Decent sorrow, decent
pray'rswill to the Lord ascend and move his pity'.
Immediatelyfollowing on this barrelis no.11(ex.2b,
whose correcttitle is 'Arm, arm,ye brave'),which is
assigned the same tempo as 'Pious orgies.' Even for
this Allegro air, J = 132 is an unnaturally rapid

Larghetto

J = 97

tempo. Thus both a Largofilled with notes of small

value and an Allegroare given the same tempo.
Now comparethe tempos of the firsttwo items on
barrel no.5o, the first of which (no.13, 'O liberty,
thou choicest treasure')is marked 'Largo',and the
second (no.15,"Tis liberty, dear liberty, alone') is a
slightly faster 'larghetto' (ex.3a, b). Yet Malloch
derives a tempo well over twice as fast for the latter:
J = 97, as opposed to 4)= 71for the Largo.23
JudasMaccabaeuswas performedalmost annually
from 1747to 1759,and Handel frequentlyrevisedfor
changing circumstances.Which version, if any, was
adopted for pinning on a barrel?The unlikely tempos assignedto these pieces confirm that something
is amiss. Support is therefore lacking for Epstein's
conclusion about tempo relationshipsin this work:
Since sequential tempos, scattered throughout the various

in integralratios,thelikeliestexplabarrels,arenonetheless

nation is that these were the tempos common in London

performancesof the time. As Handellivedin Londonduring
this periodand wasactivein performancesof his music,and
as Langshawwasa highlyrespectedmusicianon the London

in thesebarrels
wouldseem
scene,thetemposensereflected
to Handel's
to berelevant
owntemposandtheirconnections

via these proportions.24

Without solid evidence confirming the precise

number of barsincludedin the timing for each piece
preparedfor the Bute organ, there can be no scientific basis for conclusions relatingto either tempo or
ratios for tempo relationships.
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2002

589

Ex.2 Handel,JudasMaccabaeus:(a) 'Pious orgies,pious airs';(b) 'Arm,arm, ye brave'

(a)

Pi - ous

or - gies,

pi - ous airs,

de

cent

sor - row,

(b)

Oboe senza Viol.

senza
Viol.
Oboe

Arm,

590

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arm ye brave!

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arm,

arm ye brave!

2002

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Ex.3 Handel, Judas Maccabaeus: (a) '0 liberty, thou choicest treasure'; (b) "Tis liberty, dear liberty'
(a)

Oh

(b)

li-ber- ty,

thou choic - est trea- sure,

seat of vir - tue,

sourceof plea - sure!

life, with-

Andante larghetto
fOf-:J'

,,-4.'rTi

f
p
'Tis

li

0-' " "Z

ber-ty,

dear li- ber-ty a- lone,

i For a description of the mechanism,

see L. G. Langwill/A. W. J. G. OrdHume, 'Barrelorgan', New GroveII.
2 Marie Dominique Joseph
Engramelle, La tonotechnie,ou l'art de
noter les cylindres(Paris, 1775;
R/Geneva, 1971),frontispiece.
3 W. Malloch, 'The Earl of Bute's
machine organ: a touchstone of taste',
Early music, xi (1983),PP.172-83.
Malloch's work was inspired by an
account of this organ in A. W. J. G.
Ord-Hume, Barrelorgan (London,
1978), p.88ff.
4 A. Cumming, A sketchof the properties of the machine organ invented, constructedand made by Mr Cummingfor
the Earl of Bute and a catalogue of the
music of the various barrels,numbered
from one to sixty-four (London, 1812).
This work contains 41 pages of text
about the organ, followed by a page
listing the composers represented on
the barrels and a 32-page (unnumbered) catalogue of each barrel's
contents, in the format of table 1.
A synopsis of this work is included
in Ord-Hume, Barrelorgan.
5 Malloch, 'The Earl of Bute's machine
organ', p.172f.
6 According to Cumming, the earl
later enlisted his help for mechanical
difficulties with the organ. Cumming's
plan, however, could not be imple-

that gives

'

*'-

mented within the limitations of the

organ, and his ideas had to wait until
a second organ was built. Malloch
conveys the incorrect impression that
Cumming was involved with building
the first organ.
7 Malloch, 'The Earl of Bute's machine
organ', p.173.
8 Ord-Hume, Barrelorgan, p.88f.
9 Malloch, 'The Earl of Bute's machine
organ', p.173f.
10o J. Tobin, Handel's Messiah: a critical
account of the manuscriptsourcesand
printed editions (New York, 1969).
11 Malloch, 'The Earl of Bute's
machine organ', pp.179-82.
12 Malloch, 'The Earl of Bute's
machine organ', p.177.
13 Malloch, 'The Earl of Bute's
machine organ', p.174.
14 G. F. Handel, Two ornamented
organ concertos,ed. D. Fuller (Hackensack, NJ, 1980), pp.vi, xiv.
15 Malloch, 'The Earl of Bute's
machine organ', pp.177f.,181.In two
movements he has assumed for the
Bute organ a different number of
repeats than exist in the Holland
organ.
16 Malloch, 'The Earl of Bute's
machine organ', p.176.
17 Malloch, 'The Earl of Bute's
machine organ', pp.176, 183,n.31.
EARLY

'"

"

fresh

'

18 Malloch, 'The Earl of Bute's

machine organ', p.178. Crotch's tempo
for the Saul chorus is J = 73, not 65.
19 This topic is discussed in my Skill
level in musicperformance:the eighteenth century (forthcoming); its documentation will indicate that the
remaining early sources thought recommend extremely fast tempos have
been misinterpreted.
20 Malloch, 'The Earl of Bute's
machine organ', p.174.
21 D. Epstein, Shaping time (New
York, 1995), p.126ff.According to p.127,
his study 'draws upon a photocopy of
the Cumming catalogue, together with
Malloch's tempo derivations and his
catalogue annotations concerning
individual pieces (in my possession
courtesy of Malloch)'.

22 Omitted is 'Father of heaven', from

barrel no.47.
23 A further point concerns questionable metre designations, which would
affect timings. For example, no.5o,
'O lovely peace' is in 6/8, not common
time. What version of no.19, 'Disdainful of danger', has two sections in
common and 6/8 time, instead of
one section in 3/8? In Cumming's
catalogue there is only one timing
for this piece.
24 Epstein, Shaping time, p.129.

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591