Where is New Zealand's Musical Museum?

New Zealand Listener, Volume 16, Issue 400, 21 February 1947, Page 7

Where is New Zealand's Musical Museum?

(Written for "The Listener" by 4

ZILLAH

CASTLE

NE of my hobbies is to haunt museums or likely places where might be found strange and unusual musical instruments of all countries, of all shapes and sizes, and of varying antiquity. When in the Old World, this proved a most fascinating study and the opportunities were many, as the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum (to mention only two institutions) housed many treasures ranging from prehistoric times to the present day. However, until the last few weeks, the time and opportunity had never coincided for me to make similar pilgrimages in my own New Zealand. Naturally, in this new country the instruments are scattered far and wide, and it is far more difficult to locate any of great antiquity. Nevertheless there are some instruments of intetest both as curios and as having historical musical value. They are to be found in the most unexpected nooks and corners, and many interest ng stories about them have been told to me by their owners. New Zealand’s First Organ ...,Wendering into the Wanganui * ee with my brother recently, I / espi ed in a dark corner an early organ. if it has a keyboard," I reSadie => "No!" answered a voice from above, and down the stairs the curator

of the museum came to give us what information she could. As the former curator died only six months ago, and the only other person who had played the instrument was an organist who had since left the city, there was no one else who knew how to play it. But my brother, Ronald Castle, having a knowledge of the harpsichord action, succeeded, after half-an-hour’s experimenting with racks, pedals, and knobs, in getting it to give voce to renderings of the Doxology, "Adeste Fidelis," the National Anthem, and various old hymn tunes. It was mechanically operated by rotating a long cylinder on which were pricked metal studs corresponding with the notes of the music, There were five cylinders, each bearing ten tunes. It was the practice in the early 19th Century to break the hymn tune in fragments by the playing of a long trill or shake at the end of every line or few bars, and on these mechanical organs the shake could not be dispensed with even if the line and the words ended with a conjunction or preposition. Th's caused us some amusement. The date of the instrument must be about 1800, for it was used for a long period in a parish church in England (unfortunately they replaced the orchestras in the churches) and was presented to an early New Zea- _ land missionary, Archdeacon Williams, by his uncle, the Rev. E. G. Marsh. It (continued on next page)

MUSICAL — ANTIQUES (continued trom previous page) was brought to this country and first used, at Paihia Mission Station in 1823. In due course it was presented to the Wanganui Museum in 1898, where it remained silent until Good Friday, 1939, when .t was played for the first time in 40 years. A recital was given on it at the Museum by the organist G. Lindsay, with Mrs. Russell Scouler as soloist in the hymns. (This proved of great interest and was repeated annualiy until the departure of Mr. Lindsay ‘from Wanganui). Musical Weighing Machine Another quaint machine I found there was an old muscal weighing machine imported from America last century by the late S. H. Drew. It is operated by a powerful spring with a little winding handle and will "go" about a dozen times before it runs down. It plays "After the Ball," a scrap of Il Trovatore, "High School" Cadets," "La Paloma," and other less well-known ditties. Some three dozen different "fortunes" are del vered with the tunes at 1d.each, some in Maori, and delightfully old-fashioned, such as: "Your partner will be too fond of the bottle and the glass!" "Wait patiently and fortune will come to you." The Curator tells a delightful story of a little girl who put in her 1d and about an hour afterwards was noticed still standing pat ently by the mechine. "Are you waiting for your mother, dear?" "I am waiting for my fortune," was the resigned reply. The Forgotten Musical Box Downstairs in the basement, among the whale exhibits, skeletons, and disused specimens, .s a fine example of an

early musical-box. Presented to the Museum in 1898, it was thick with dust, and borer had started its work. How my fingers itched to. polish up its exquisite case of inlaid mahogany!, About three feet square, it ‘s in perfect playing order end it sweetly reproduced long-forgotten and little-known airs and old favourites. I heard "Home, Sweet Home," "Champagne Charlie," and airs from Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet, and Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots. It had an extensive reper-tcire-dozens of tunes-some I had never heard before. I suggested it should be placed on exhibition and, 1 ke the weighing-machine (which ° incidentally has enriched the Museum by almost £1,000 in pennies), carry a charge of ld a tune. Trumpet with a Two-mile Range Another curio here was a Maori war trumpet. It is sad to be probably the finest example in existence, is five feet long, and the sounds are said to carry two miles. When the Maoris first heard guns they were mistaken by them for these war trumpets. It produces the notes C, G, B, D, G, and the only person who has been able to produce any sound from it since it has been in the Museum is a champion cornettist of New South Wales; so, ev dently it requires some special lip technique. Two other similar, although much smaller, ‘trumpets were near by. One had a very harsh sound; the other, of wood, produced a sweet, soothing tone, and was used for calling pigeons. And of course there were the wooden nose flutes, somewhat like the ocarina; an English coachmen’s horn, an 18th Century watchman’s rattle, and an old wooden ciarionet used in a parish church at Monkton Combe, near Bath, England. An anc ent and primitive Chinese fiddle with two strings and curved bow, and a Chinese lute were also in good preservation. Square Pianos Moving on to New Plymouth from Wanganui we visited the owner of two interesting and well-preserved examples of the square p ano, The earlier of these two pianos had a much sweeter and more plezsing tone, and this is the one ine owner loves to spend hours in playing. My brother and I played them both, and compared the simple gravity-opera-‘ted actions with the more elaborate

— modern piano action. The earlier of these instruments was made by J. C. Doring, of Hamburg, and was owned by an aged woman Lving in Egmont Road, Hillsborough, in 1880. It had had two owners before it came into the present owner’s possession in 1943. Both instruments are made from solid, beau-tifully-grained rosewood, although the German one is of far superior workmanship. The other is of English make, by Collard and Collard, and bears an inscription, "A patent grand square pianoforte." It is believed to have belonged to a Dunedin family about 1870, having probably been brought from Britain with the early settlers. Recently, recordings were made of these instruments by the New Zealand Broadcasting Service’s Mob le Recording Unit, with the owner as soloist. Another similar square piano with a fine case and six legs is stored in a dingy corner of the New Plymouth Museum, covered with dust and borer holes. On enquiry, we found to our horror thet ‘the keyboard had been removed by its previous owner and sold for a few shill ngs! The interior action seemed in fair order, and I think that ‘only a reasonable amount of time and attention would have put yet another early instrument in perfect order for future generations, : Midget Organs Also at this Museum, I came’ across an early missionary organ with a keybeard of only three octaves. It was of the portable variety, having no legs. To be played .t would have to be placed on a table, the wind pressure being supplied by a small hand lever at the side. It was carried to church services on horseback. Another exhibit of interest was a tiny organ with two pedals and a keyboard of three octaves, standing less than three feet from the ‘floor.. This was the first organ used in St. Mary’s Church, New Plymouth, and was the property for many. years of T. Harrison, a poneer of Omata. Compare this midget with the large instrument now used in St. Mary’s, with its three keyboards and pneumatic action, its 34 stops, its 16-foot Bourdon and 4-foot Wald Flute. It is to be hoped that an increasing interest will be taken ‘in these old treasures of the past, and that some day they w.ll be gathered together in a separate musical section of the National Art Gallery and Museum at Wellington.