The Father Willis organ at Hereford Cathedral

To mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Henry “Father” Willis (27 April 1821), Peter Dyke presents this video exploring the intricacies of the Hereford Willis organ.
Father Willis built major cathedral organs across the country,
some of the most famous being at Hereford, St Paul’s,
Salisbury and Truro. When Father Willis built the organ in Hereford,
he was already over 70 years old and had built
a huge reputation for his engineering and
musical skills, as well as his keen business sense.
To find out more about the history of the organ, please visit: www.herefordcathedral.org/the-father-willis-organ

[@vaniberi8189]

Wow, this must be the best sounding British built instrument! Thank you for a very informative and well made video!

[@JohnChallenger]

Fantastic video Peter - thank you so much! It makes me very nostalgic for the Hereford Willis complete with glorious acoustic. It's surely one of Willis's most refined, subtle and beautiful instruments. Happy Birthday Father Willis!

[@chrisholley2954]

The reverb in that room is TERRIFICALLY MAGNIFICENT, even with only one stop on

[@bhigdaddymark]

That was simply BEAUTIFUL and so well done! Father Willis was thankfully responsible for the convenience of pistons and I believe the concave pedal board amongst other inventions by him. Superb!

[@ChangesOneTim]

No wonder organists like Jonathan Scott love playing Hereford; his brother's excellent recording of La Gazza Ladra overture really brings out the richness of this instrument in the cathedral's beautiful space - even to a hearing aid user like me! I'm planning to attend JS's lunchtime recital this month (August 2024).

[@paxmann]

Very nice explanation and demonstration of the beautiful organ! Thank you Peter! P.S. And it‘s always amazing, which narrow steps and staircases one has to take to come to such a large organ :-))

[@originaltommy]

What a glorious beast!!!!

[@elrond12eleven]

The whole video is dedicated to the quality of sound, but the sound of the video is hardly heard.

[@RobCharles1981]

Thank You Peter, I enjoyed that very much! :-)

[@terryr.sublimeorganmusic]

Really enjoyed this. I enjoyed my visit to Hereford so much I use your beautiful pipes as my profile picture. I hope to return next year. I'll never see the console because I would never make it up that ladder!! 🤣 Thanks for the history lesson and tour! 🎹🎶

[@leedshunk]

What a fabulous video, I do wish you'd demonstrated the 32' reeds in the glass boots tho , they have to be unique 😎👍

[@donaldstanfield8862]

They are awesome!

[@epincion]

Thanks very much for this. I only only heard this organ through the YT channel of the Scott Bros. Glad its so well cared for.

[@Durufle68]

This instrument is magnificent! I love the warmth and power. Those strings are heavenly.

[@califdad4]

Looks like your sitting in a closet. Beautiful organ though

[@mattnbin]

The music at around 11min is 180 degrees out of phase mono. This is an audio no no. That means if both channels combine, they cancel each other out!!

[@daminspritzer]

What a marvelous video! Thank you!

[@wyenotwalk9393]

Annie; Wonderful.

[@apanda1662]

Guys I really enjoy what you do but the sound is way off, I can hardly here the organist vocal and when he play the organ it blows my doors off, can I suggest you get a separate mic pac that feeds into the camera so it balances the sound level. Otherwise it’s great

[@ZL54JK8]

Well, the "guys" at Hereford Cathedral must be basking in the delight of knowing that the creatively named Andy Panda really enjoys what they do. At the same time they must be greatly concerned at the inconvenience caused to your doors. No, you can't suggest that they get some fancy bit of equipment just to keep you happy. I don't suppose it's even crossed your mind to send them a donation to help buy it.

[@e.conboy4286]

@@ZL54JK8 : Absolutely!

[@martinstringer6923]

A bit of interest xx

[@neiljosephbennett9119]

@9:00 - " ... he'd developed an awful lot of things ..." - doesn't sound very promising. I can't understand why people use that word out of the context of its definition!

[@chrisburn7178]

It's just a British turn of phrase.

[@curtchase3730]

Very well done explanation of basic pipe organ concepts. The sound is very full and rich too. BUT, the recording has an issue. The opening and closing passages were mixed out of phase! If I run my balance control to either full left or full right speaker, the sound becomes rich and full. Centered, it's weak and a big hole in the middle! The mix during the middle of the video is ok though. I could actually hear the lower registries of the peddle notes, something few recordings reproduce.

[@ZL54JK8]

What planet are you from? This is a KZbin video, free to watch, aimed at giving the viewer some idea of the organ at Hereford Cathedral, and you spend all of five lines nitpicking over a "recording issue"! Your remedy is plain. Go and buy yourself one of the professional recordings of the instrument and then take it home and listen to it on your presumably ultra high-tech equipment and tweak away to your heart's delight. Alternatively, take advantage of the information at 12.58 and send the Cathedral a substantial donation with advice on the necessary equipment they must purchase in order to maximise your listening experience. Still, you found the lower "registries of the peddle" notes, to be "ok", so let us be grateful for small mercies.

[@curtchase3730]

@@ZL54JK8 Whew! Wow, nearly had to call the fire dept to put out the flames! Sorry U had a bad day.

[@ZL54JK8]

@@curtchase3730 No, I'm just fine, but I'm curious as to whether it occurs to you to donate to Hereford Cathedral before thinking you have the right to raise "an issue" with the people who are kind enough to give up their time in producing these videos. You do well to reflect on the comment from Mark Ferguson directly below and in direct contrast to your own petty grumbling: "That was simply BEAUTIFUL and so well done!".

[@craigandersen540]

​@@ZL54JK8very well said!!!!!

[@paulcoverdale8312]

All I can say is his organ is very old😂😂😂😂😂😂😂