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Organ
The breakfront case comprises an upper and lower section; the upper part is surmounted by a foliate and dentil cornice with a frieze of alternating paterae and masks of Apollo within linking laurel wreaths centred on a portrait medallion of Handel, adorned with a ribbon-tied husk garland; the centre with a large circular foliate frame with beaded ornament hanged with carved fringed drapery, and containing twenty-one gilt metal front pipes divided by two fluted pilasters, flanked by plaster figures of the muses in high relief, Terpsichore on the left holding a lyre and Euterpe with a trumpet or pipe on the right, both with one arm raised to support husk garlands above, and standing on pedestals ornamented with fluting and with a ribbon-tied garland below a patera; on either side the case drops back to contain seven large gilt metal pipes between corinthian columns. The upper and lower sections of the case are divided by a prominent foliate and fluted cornice. The central part of the lower section is enclosed by two sliding doors, panelled with a large foliate rosette with a circular foliate moulding and a square frame of rinceaux arabesque ornament within egg and dart, the recessed sides with plain rectangular panels; deep plinth or skirting with guilloche-ornamented top mould.
The doors slide to reveal a mahogany-faced console with two manuals or keyboards flanked by the stops (except for the cheek pieces to the keys all this is of 1864), six iron pedals and a removeable wood pedalboard below.
The organ case is painted in shades of green, blue, maroon and white with gilding, and with some colour to the flesh, eyes and hair of the figures of the muses.
The case contains a great and a swell organ comprising about 1270 pipes, and is flanked and backed by a modern housing constructed in 1996 (at Wynnstay, the organ was recessed into a wall).
This organ was made for the music room of Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn’s house in St James’s Square. The case was designed by Robert Adam in 1773 and made by the carver Robert Ansell. It is the only one of a small group of monumental Adam organ cases to survive. It is crowned by a portrait of Sir Watkin’s favourite composer, Handel. The life-size plaster figures represent Terpsichore, the muse of dance and song, with a lyre, and Euterpe, the muse of lyric poetry and music, with a flute. The organ itself was made at a cost of £250 by John Snetzler, the principal builder of the day. It was altered in 1783, and rebuilt and enlarged in 1864, when it was moved to Wynnstay, the Williams-Wynn house near Wrexham. The colour-scheme, also of 1864, added blue to the original green, white and purple.
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