Original Catalogue Specifications:
-
Welte
Number 262
- Date: 1898
- Unit chassis inside free standing wrap-around case.
- Single manual rewind roll mechanism with windmotor forward drive.
- Uses Welte 75-key rolls, CF type.
- Height: 10' 10" less gallery, 13' 5" with gallery
Width: 7' 2"
Depth: 4' 0"
Shipping Weight: Approximately 4,000 lb.
- Price circa 1907: $ 2,800.00.
52 Note Musical Scale -- 253
pipes:
-
34
Clarionette pipes from c' - a''', voiced at a 16' pitch. The lowest 7
pipes are open metal flue pipes, with the remaining 27 having wooden
boots with tunable free reeds and tin resonators, which are visible in
the front swell box.
- 45 Zinn pipes from FF - E, stopped 16' wood bass pipes; from c' -
a''', open tin pipes visible as the front rank.
- 27 Trompette pipes from g' - a''', wood boots with tunable free
reeds, brass resonators forming the center sunburst arrangement. The top
9 treble pipes are open wood flues.
- 18 Posaune pipes from FF - B, wood boots with tunable free reeds,
brass resonators, the five brass pipes visible on the left and right
sides of the center sunburst arrangement, with 8 more brass pipes
located toward the rear of the case.
- 18 Gedeckt pipes from FF - B, stopped wood pipes.
- 52 Octave pipes from FF - a''', 4' pitch; open wood pipes.
- 52 Wald Flöte pipes from FF - a''' (This rank plays continuously),
open wood with cylindrical mouths located toward the rear of the case.
- Triangle
- Snare drum (single beater with reiterating clockwork action)
- Bass drum, with cymbal (loud and soft stroke)
- Kettle drum (tympani effect using two beaters)
Notes:
- The notation shown above is in German, whereby the English "a#" =
German "b," and the English "b" = German "h."
- There are 52 playing notes, beginning with F, skipping F# and then
chromatically up to a'''.
- The instrument contains seven pipe ranks, six of which are
automatically controlled from the music roll.
- Another automatic register controls the crescendo function (swell
shades).
- The music roll frame is of the Welte manual rewind type: the music
roll shuts off at the end of playing and the operator must then shift
the roll frame into rewind mode, insert a crank and rewind the roll
manually.
Chronological History:
Circa 1897
Manufactured by M. Welte and Söhne, Freiburg, Germany.
Circa 1898
Oakley Court, Windsor, England
The
Victorian Gothic styled Oakley Court, which is situated on the bank of the
Thames River, is located on the main A308 Maidenhead to Windsor road, about
2 miles from Maidenhead. Its distance from London's Heathrow Airport is
approximately 15 miles. Oakley Court was built in 1859 for Sir Richard Hall
Say. He had married a young French woman and it is said by some people that
to make her feel less homesick the manor house was constructed in a classic
French Chateau style. In 1880 it was sold to Lord Otto Fitzgerald, then to
John Lewis Phipps. In 1908 it became the property of Sir William Avery, and
in 1919, along with fifty acres of woodland, it was sold to Mr. Ernest
Olivier for the sum of twenty-seven thousand pounds. It is believed that the
Court was used as the English Headquarters for the French resistance during
World War II.
After the death of Ernest Olivier in 1965, the property stood empty, and
become more or less a dilapidated shell. Nonetheless, its "spooky" looking
architecture made it an attractive and convenient location for the making of
numerous "horror" movies produced by the Bray Studios located nearby. Film
crews had to tread carefully, however, avoiding old and rotting timbers, as
well as dodging buckets catching the rainwater leaking in through the
plentiful holes in the roof. But these apparent hazards only helped to make
the building, along with its gardens and woodland grounds, more than an
ideal setting for horror movies, over 200 of which were made in and around
the Court between 1965 and 1979, such "horror" activities ending when the
building was converted into a the Oakley Court Hotel. These films included
the St. Trinians series, Murder by Death with Peter Sellers and the now
infamous Rocky Horror Picture Show. Hammer Horror productions made numerous
Dracula movies at the Court, too, lighting the interior with many candles.
The
Welte Style 5 Concert Orchestrion was located near the front entryway in the
grand stair hall, where it could greet guests and be heard throughout the
house. Reportedly in one of the Dracula movies the Welte orchestrion can be
seen, and in one scene it suffered the disgrace on of having a chair thrown
at it, breaking the center glass section. Indeed, examination of the
casework by Durward Center in 1985 reveled that new glass and case repairs
had been made to this area of the orchestrion.
In 1979 a transformation began, converting the Oakley Court manor house,
along with 35 surrounding acres, into a 115-room prestige hotel. The
conversion included adding two new wings to house the majority of the
Hotel's bedrooms, although six restored bedroom suites are available in the
main building itself. As much of the original furniture and plaster was
restored to it's former splendor as was reasonably practical. Then, on
November, 7, 1981, after two years of restoration and new building
construction totaling some five-million Pounds, the Oakley Court Hotel
finally opened it doors for business.
Enjoying a wide expanse of river frontage, visitors to the hotel are
provided a sweeping view of the river Thames. Large gardens surrounding the
former estate are mainly expansive lawns dotted with weeping willow trees.
The hotel includes 2 bars, an award-winning restaurant, billiards room,
conservatory, library, and drawing room, as well as a leisure centre/pool,
9-hole golf course and 2 tennis courts, croquet lawn and private moorings
for waterborne customers, combining a grand and traditional style with the
best of modern amenities.
Circa 1978
Norman Evans Collection, London, England
The Welte was removed from Oakley Court, circa 1978, by the late Norman
Evans, a once prominent London, England, collector. Mr. Evans, now deceased,
performed a partial restoration on the Welte, which was in fair but dirty
condition when he received from Oakley Court. The original pouches and
valves, as well as the leather on the pressure reservoir, were left intact.
The pipework was cleaned and polished, along with other general cleaning,
and the orchestrion put in playing order. Some case repairs and minimal
refinishing were done.
The assembled orchestrion required a ceiling of over 13 feet in height,
so, to accommodate it, Mr. Evans cut a hole in his 10 foot ceiling, thereby
allowing the case to extend upwards into his bedroom. Happily, as was the
similar case in the Oakley Court installation, and much to Mr. Evans'
pleasure, the Welte orchestrion could be heard throughout the house.
The Welte orchestrion was sold in 1985 to Durward Center (of Baltimore,
Maryland), a well known restorer and collector of Welte instruments. It was
dismantled and carefully packed into a shipping container on site,
transported to the airport, and then flown to Baltimore, Maryland.
Circa 1985
Durward Center Collection, Baltimore, Maryland
Once
the Welte orchestrion was safely delivered to Durward Center's facility, it
was erected and carefully studied, before any further kind of restoration
work was attempted. Then, a complete tear-down and thorough rebuilding of
the impressive Welte was undertaken, making certain that it would be in
perfect playing condition when the rehabilitation was finished. To this end,
all the valve actions were given special attention, they being carefully
cleaned, re-leathered and adjusted for maximum sensitivity and
responsiveness, and the pipework was painstakingly cleaned inside and out,
then tuned to perfection, so as to render beautiful musical tones when
actuated by the perfectly adjusted mechanical mechanisms.
Cosmetically, the missing and very ornate nickel-plated, cast iron front
plate for the music roll frame was accurately reproduced. Then, since the
original gallery, a broken pediment with large center finial, which required
more ceiling height than the 12 feet available, was put into storage and the
more common spool rail with finials was built and installed to accommodate
the available ceiling height.
The original selection of music rolls, as well as the original music roll
cabinet, are still with the Welte orchestrion, providing a rich selection of
music popular at the turn of the 20th Century.
