St. Mary's Church.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7751, 1 March 1905, Page 2

St. Mary's Church.

DEDICATION 01' THE NEW 01M1AN. I, The congregation at the special ,' service on Tuesday evening held for ' the dedication of the magnilicent or- ' gan which is now such a conspicuous ' feature in St. Mary's Church was by ' no means us large us anticipated. | Possibly the 'gentle shower vvhit-h ; fell in the early part of the cvc-ivng 1 had, as is sometimes the case with ; regard to attendance at church, a deterring effect. This, however, was their losi., and not only did the ah- ; sen-tees miss taking part in a beautiful service, but they were deprived of the privilege of listening to one of the most striking sermons preached by Bishop Xeligan. The service was fully choral), the organ not be>ing used until after the dedication prayers. Besides the Bishop oi Ihe Diocese, the clergy present were : j Archdeucon Cole, the lievs. |.\ (j. Evans, A. llradbury, and Fowler, the latter acting us llishop's Chnp- | lain. On entering the church, the , Uishop look up a position adjacent to the organ Console, which is detached from the 'instrument itself, and faces th'e choir. Here the dedication prayers were offered up, and! the blessing given, after which the liishop proceeded to his usual placein the church, and Mr Fletcher, the organist, took his placei in front of the keyboards. The first hymn, "All People that on Earth do Dweilfi," was sung with great heartiness, the grand tones of the full organ filling the church with an enormous volume of sound. Special psalms (148 and 150) were sung; after which the speclull lessons were read by Archdeacon Cole. The canticlesi were sung to Winchester in F, the Nunc Dimittis being very sweetly sung. The anthem chosen was Wesley's " lfce«;cd 'be the God and Father," ultvr which , the liishop preached a powerful sermon, taking for his text the words, ~"Let not things be done through, •.strife and envying or vain glory," ■ his chief point being the need for esteeming others higher than we es- ' teem ourselves. ltefcrring to the ! new orgiin, the Bishop praised the • | choir for raising so much money to-* ; wards *hc cost of the instrument and 'fervently hoped that the remainder - of the sum needed would speedily bo ' forthcoming. At the conclusion of ' the service Mr Fletcher played the ' | "Hallelujah Chorus" and one or two other pieces of sacred music, which : enabled those present to have some ' conception of the grand ns well as ■ delicate tone effects which could be j. evoked from the pipes of as-fine an , organ as uny church could wish for. THE OIIGAN. j There are three manuals, comprisI iug C.C. to G., the podals ranging 3'from C.C.C. to V., and the stops j 'numbering altogether thirty-five. Tho (•Great organ has nine stops :—Bour- - don (16 feet), large ami small Open s' Diapason, Trumpet, and Claribella 1 (each 8 feet), Principal and Wuld I.Flute (4 feet), Twelfth and Fifteenth. -jThe swell orgun has eleven stops, s namely, Double Diapason (16 feet), and stopped Diapasons, Viol d's Orchestre, Voix Celeste, Horn and ■f'Oboo (all 8 feet), Principal (-1 feet), 1 Flautiua (2 feet), Mixture (2 ranks), ii and Tremulant. On the choir r ( organ are five stops :—Dulciana, Suli cioual, JUeb. Gedaclit, Clarionet (all '- 8 feet), and Harmonic Flute (4 feet), r a slide being left for the Vox Hu- - maiia, which is to be added here- >- after.. On the pedal organ are : - Open Diapason and Bourdon (16 V feet), and Bass Flute (8 feet). There 'are five couplers*, exclusive of the sub '' | and super octaves on the swell or- > •'organ lias recen-ed sjieeinl attention, '-tho result being highly successful. i Tho builder, Mr George Croft, ol 3 [Auckland, who, with Mi- Fletcher -prepared the specifications, has turnl . ;ed out an up-to-date instrument in - every way, the finish being rcniart- )' for its excellence. Mr Fletcher e,is also to be warmly congratulated - on th« success of his efforts to secure -for St. Mary's Churchsuch a magni- - ficentinstrumeift. During the next ; ,few months recitals will be given bv i eminent organists, the dates beimr i advertised in due course