This magnificent instrument was originally built by Gray and Davison of London to William Spark and Henry Smart’s ambitious design of nearly 100 stops with many technical innovations. The organ was first played publicly when the building was opened in 1858 by Queen Victoria but the instrument was not completely finished until the following year.
The Leeds Town Hall organ is one of the finest and largest instruments of its kind in Europe. Measuring 12 metres high by 12 metres wide and weighing 40 tonnes, it has been a key part of the story of music making in the city, dominating the Victoria Hall musically and visually through countless performances, providing pleasure to hundreds of thousands of people since Leeds Town Hall opened in 1858. In recent times, every Monday between September and April, an audience of 200-400 regularly attend free organ recitals given by leading organists from this country and abroad, it is an integral part of Leeds International Concert Season and features each year in Leeds International Film Festival.
The Leeds Town Hall organ has undergone a series of rebuilds and alterations, the last being in 1972, since when it has been a highly successful recital and orchestral instrument but nearly 50 years of heavy use have taken its toll and Leeds Town Hall organ is in now under threat. Without urgent attention the city was at risk of losing a truly unique wonder of Victorian design and an important piece of Leeds heritage.
The organ renewal project, currently underway, will see the instrument undergo extensive and far reaching work, the familiar casework and some of the pipes will be retained and repaired but all of the organ’s mechanism, console and about a third of its 6500 pipes will be made new.
The closure of Leeds Town Hall in November 2021 for two years was necessary to provide the once in a lifetime opportunity of completely repairing and renewing this incredible instrument and secure its future for generations to come. The £1.8 million organ renewal project is bringing together the leaders in the field of organ renovation to oversee this exciting and incredibly complex work – something which has never been attempted on this scale before.
The Leeds Town Hall organ was originally built for the people of Leeds and once complete, the renewed instrument will be one of the finest concert organs in the UK – one that will last for the next 150 years for future generations to appreciate and enjoy.
All samples from this instrument were taken a matter of DAYS before the work with Nicholson's of Malvern commenced to strip down the organ as it was. We have gone to some length to carefully preserve this instrument digitally, as this is now the only way it can be enjoyed and played. The organ is still currently being overhauled and renewed. Leeds Town Hall remains closed whilst this work continues.
Leeds Town Hall, 2021
Pipe organs were designed to sound their best in the acoustic space for which they were built.
We have taken great care so that the samples and acoustic model for this organ reproduce the instrument as faithfully as possible.
This organ was sampled from a single point, at some elevation by a single stereo pair of high quality professional microphones. We recorded this slightly away from the organ chamber to allow correct pipe speech and to avoid any excessive mechanical noise. Unlike many other digital sample sets, where organs can often be overcorrected, we have endevoured to leave this organ exactly as recorded and kept any processing of the samples to an absolute minimum. This is to preserve the tonal character of this organ as accurately as possible.
Apart from the pedal division, this organ was entirely sampled using our new RoboSampler.
| Rank | Stop Name |
|---|---|
| 2' | Shawm |
| 4' | Clarion |
| 8' | Trumpet |
| 16' | Double Trumpet |
| IV | Sharp Mixture 4 Ranks |
| V | Cornet |
| 1 | Twenty Second |
| V-VII | Grand Chorus |
| 2' | Waldflute |
| 1 1/3' | Nineteenth |
| 2 2/3' | Twelfth |
| 2' | Fifteenth |
| 4' | Principal |
| 4' | Nason Flute |
| 5 1/3' | Quint |
| 4' | Octave |
| 8' | Flute-A Pavillion |
| 8' | Gedeckt |
| 8' | Open Diapason I |
| 8' | Open Diapason II |
| 16' | Double Diapason |
| 16' | Gedeckt Pommer |
| - | SWELL TO GREAT |
| - | POSITIVE TO GREAT |
| Rank | Stop Name |
|---|---|
| 8' | Oboe |
| 4' | Clarion |
| 8' | Basset Horn |
| 8' | Cornopean |
| 16' | Contra Fagotto |
| III | Cymbal |
| V-VI | Plein-Jeu |
| II | Sesquialtera |
| 1 1/3' | Octave Twelfth |
| 2' | Flageolet |
| 2' | Fifteenth |
| 2 2/3' | Flute Nazard |
| 4' | Open Flute |
| 4' | Principal |
| 8' | Celeste |
| 8' | Salicional |
| 8' | Rohr Flute |
| 8' | Geigen Principal |
| 16' | Lieblich Bordon |
| - | Super Octave |
| - | Sub Octave |
| - | Unison Off |
| - | Tremulant |
| Rank | Stop Name |
|---|---|
| 8' | Crumhorn |
| IV | Scharf |
| III | Mixture |
| 1' | Sifflote |
| 1 3/5' | Tierce |
| 1 1/3' | Larigot |
| 2' | Principal |
| 2' | Block Flute |
| 2 2/3' | Nazard |
| 4' | Koppel Flute |
| 4' | Spitz Flute |
| 8' | Stopped Diapason |
| 8' | Diapason |
| 8' | Unda Maris |
| 4' | Trompette |
| 8' | Ophecliede |
| 8' | Trompette |
| - | Swell to Positive |
| - | Tremulant |
| Rank | Stop Name |
|---|---|
| 4' | Schalmei |
| 8' | Clarion |
| 16' | Fagotto |
| 16' | Bombarde |
| 32' | Contra Bombarde |
| II | Sepertz |
| V | Mixture |
| 2' | Super Octave |
| 4' | Nachthorn |
| 5 1/3' | Twelfth |
| 4' | Fifteenth |
| 8' | Quintaton |
| 8' | Diapason |
| 8' | Principal |
| 8' | Bass Flute |
| 16' | Dulciana |
| 10 2/3' | Quint |
| 16' | Bourdon |
| 16' | Gedeckt Pommer |
| 16' | Open Metal |
| 16' | Open Wood |
| 32' | Open Diapason |
| 32' | Sub Bass |
| - | Positive to Pedal |
| - | Swell to Pedal |
| - | Great to Pedal |
| Tremulant |
This software is no longer automatically available free to organists under 21 in current formal organ tuition. We are still prepared to consider genuine applications for free or discounted software from young organists under tuition on a case by case basis. Evidence of tuition / age is mandatory to apply for these concessions.
We reserve the right to refuse concessionary discounts. Unfortunately we hav\e temporarily had to withdraw this automatic facility to young organists due to a number of people recently attempting to abuse this unique and generous scheme.
Please note - You must enter the software installation code in your account details before any activation keys can be generated. Please ensure it is correct before proceeding or making any purchases. Our licensing system can only generate licenses when it has a valid installation code registered against your account.
Registration codes will appear immediately following a successfully purchase in your account details section of this site
