On 6 November, 1982, the then Melbourne Concert Hall had its official opening with a prestigious concert featuring the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and French organist Daniel Roth, who sat at the console of the new Casavant Frères grand organ, which towered above the musicians below.
At interval, the smartly dressed audience strolled out onto the external terrace to watch fireworks on the river, and Rupert Hamer, the Premier of Victoria, whose government supported the building of the hall, proudly watched over proceedings.
Sadly, it has not been possible to hear the sonorous sounds of a pipe organ in Hamer Hall, as it is now called, for 12 years.
The original pipe organ in Melbourne Concert Hall, now Hamer Hall. Photo supplied
The planning for the organ began in 1978 and revolved around the Arts Centre’s Musical Instruments Committee that comprised conductor John Hopkins as Chair, eminent keyboard player John O’Donnell, academic Dr Percy Jones and me, as Chair of the then thriving Melbourne International Festival of Organ and Harpsichord.
A fully mechanical action organ was commissioned and built in French style to...
Interesting article. Not being a musician I’d often wondered why this imposing and seemingly natural part of a grand concert hall could just disappear in such a manner. Sad that the original positioning was so misplaced but no excuse surely to not have been rectified ? The organ apart from being an important visual component of the hall, represents a link back to the traditions and composers from whence so much still popular orchestral music originated.
Whilst an organ may not be used for every concert or event held in the hall, it is still just as critical an instrument for an full scale orchestra’s “machinery” as are the timpani, the violins, et al.
Considering how much State finance is being thrown at some rather soulless projects of questionable long term benefit, the relatively small investment for long term benefit in installing a carefully researched grand organ into the Hall should not be too much to ask.
I was at the opening concert in November 1992, having been indoctrinated into the amazing world of organ music by the Organ and Harpsicord Festival which I had attended since 1972. I had heard the Hamer Hall organ was dismantled and in the basement of Hamer Hall, but don’t know if that is true. I attended the Saint-Saens Organ Symphony in Robert Blackwood Hall on Friday night last, I again lamented the loss of the Hamer Hall organ.
I once had the rare and special privilege of being allowed to accompany Ken Falconer, who had the contract to tune the organ, into the ‘guts’ of the organ. Apart from anything else, the view of the auditorium from inside the pipes of the organ was amazing. The excitement of such a special opportunity has never really left me, and contributes to my sadness every time I am reminded of that incredibly beautiful sounding and looking instrument being lost to Melbournians.