Kenneth Shenton writes:
DOMINIC GWYNN was one of this country’s foremost organ builders and restorers. He had a particular interest in the revival of the classical English organ, and the list of instruments built and restored by him over more than four decades illustrates a remarkable creative journey. In an increasingly industrialised and commercial world, Gwynn stood out as a proud, talented, and dedicated artisan, who helped to breathe new life into an ancient, but often moribund, tradition.
Born in north London, on 18 August 1953, Dominic Leigh Deryck Gwynn was the only son of the photographer Kenneth Gwynn and his wife, Elizabeth (née Molenaar). Educated at Christ’s Hospital, Horsham, he read history at St John’s College, Oxford. A keen musician, he went on a school visit, organised by Nick Plumley, to the Netherlands. It took in the organ-building workshops of Flentrop and Van Vulpen. This made him determined to follow in their footsteps and become an organ builder, particularly one who specialised in the study and reproduction of historic instruments, be they 1862 orchestrions, continuo instruments, or larger models. In 1976, he began learning all aspects of this ancient craft by joining the Northampton workshops of Hendrik ten Bruggencate.
Four years later, he set up business with Martin Goetze, initially in Northampton, before moving to Welbeck, in Nottinghamshire. The firm, Goetze & Gwynn, offered a complete range of skills, making every component except the blower themselves. In more than 40 years, until Goetze’s death in 2015, they completed almost 150 projects. Edward Bennett joined the team, alongside a steady stream of apprentices, many from overseas. It was initially a struggle for the fledgling company to survive; a pivotal moment was the launch of what was then called the Heritage Lottery Fund, which would finance many of their more ambitious projects.
The business was opened in April 1980; by Christmas that year, they had completed their first instrument, a continuo organ for Trevor Jones and the Consort of Music. In 1986, they built and installed a ten-stop organ for St Andrew’s, Vancouver, based on instruments in St Leonard’s, Shoreditch, and Christ Church, Spitalfields, both voiced by the 18th-century builder Richard Bridge. Bridge also proved to be the inspiration for a new instrument for the English and American Episcopal Church in The Hague.
The firm’s first completed church organ in this country was the 14-stop instrument in St John the Baptist, Marldon, in Devon. Tuned to Young’s temperament, it was also built in the style of Bridge.
Totally at ease restoring everything from clockwork barrel organs to Waddesdon Manor’s 1800 clock organ, Gwynn quickly became the expert of choice for organisations such as the National Trust and the Royal Collection, in addition to museums far and wide. The company went on to work on the overhaul of the Wurlitzer, in theTower Ballroom, Blackpool. More mainstream assignments for Gwynn included the refurbishment of the organ in St Lawrence’s, Whitchurch, Little Stanmore. Its patron, James Brydges, the Duke of Chandos, was immortalised in the 12 Chandos anthems composed by his Master of Music, Handel. A further Handelian link is the chamber organ that Gwynn built in 1998 for the Handel House Trust. It now resides at Handel’s old home in Mayfair, alongside a small John Snetzler chamber organ restored by the company in 2016.
Lying at the very heart of Gwynn’s restorative output remain three instruments housed at the heart of the capital: one in St James’s, Bermondsey, completed in 2002; the Renatus Harris instrument in St Botolph’s, Aldgate, completed four years later; and that in St Helen’s, Bishopgate, which is claimed to be the oldest playable church organ in Britain. Its restoration, completed in 1996, retains not only ten ranks of the 1742 pipes, together with its beautiful mahogany casework, but also the original Great and Choir organ soundboards. It dates from the 18th century, was moved and enlarged in the 19th century, and electrified in the middle of the last century, and remains a microcosm of British organ-building throughout the ages.
Further venues to benefit from his input and expertise include Bray Parish Church, St Mary and Nicholas, Leatherhead, and St Margaret of Antioch at Crick in Northamptonshire. At St Patrick’s, Soho Square, Gwynn restored the Great soundboard, the casework, and most of the pipes. The wind system was reordered, along with the console and the swell soundboards. Later assignments ranged from the Williams Wynn organ, formerly at Wynnstay Hall and now in the National Museum of Wales, an ingeniously cased instrument for St Nikolaus’s, Ehringhausen, and the refurbishment of the 1960s Grant, Degens & Bradbeer instrument in the chapel of New College, Oxford.
Erudite and persuasive, Gwynn also proved to be a fine writer, making definitive contributions to a range of specialist periodicals and journals. He also published an invaluable handbook, Historic Organ Conservation: A practical introduction to process and planning. Sadly, an eagerly awaited volume on the English organ in early-modern society remains unpublished. In March, he received the Medal of the Royal College of Organists.
In 1976, Gwynn married Antonia Cordy, whom he met at St John’s, Oxford. She survives him, with their daughters, Pip and Lucy, grandchildren, Daisy, Joe, and Elizabeth, and his sister, Kathryn.
Dominic Gwynn died on 24 May, aged 70.