Scan 33
Groves Dictionary Of Music And Musicians,vol.2, 1906
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1DALLAM (DALHAM, DALLUM, DALLANS), the name of a family of English organ-builders in the 17th century. The eldest was employed in 1605-06 to build an organ for King's College, Cambridge, for which purpose he closed his workshop in London and removed his whole establishment to Cambridge. He and his men were lodged in the town, but boarded in the College Hall. Rimbault (History of the Organ) gives a very curious account of every item paid for building this organ. It was destroyed in the time of the Long Parliament, but the case, with some alterations, remains to this day. This Dallam's Christian name does not appear in the college books, but he is most probably identical with (1) THOMAS DALLAM, who built an organ for Worcester Cathedral in 1613 (see GREAT ORGAN). He came to London from Dallam in Lancashire, and was apprenticed to a member of the Blacksmiths' Company, of which he afterwards became a liveryman. The organs which he built for King's College, Cambridge, and for Worcester Cathedral were taken down at the time of the Civil War; parts of the former are said to be contained in the existing instrument. He was in all probability the same Dallam who in 1615, 1632 and 1637 was employed to repair the organ of Magdalen College, Oxford. In 1599-1600 he made a journey to Constantinople with a mechanical clock-organ for the Grand Turk. His diary was printed by the Hakluyt Society in 1893. For a facsimile from the same see Mus. T., 1905, pp. 649, 737. The three following were probably his sons:
3(2) ROBERT (b. 1602; d. 1665), who is buried in the cloisters of New College, Oxford, for which college he built the organ; but his principal work was that of York Minster, since destroyed by fire. He also built a similar organ for St. Paul's Cathedral. He was, like his father, a member of the Blacksmiths' Company. Between 1624 and 1627 he built the organ of Durham Cathedral, which remained till 1687, when Father Smith, after putting in four new stops, sold the choir organ for £100 to St. Michael's-le-Belfry, York. It remained there until 1885, when it was sold for £4 to an organ-builder of York. It is said that Dallam received £1000 for the original organ, but there is no foundation for the statement. In 1634 he built an organ for Jesus College, Cambridge, in the agreement for which he is called 'Robert Dallam of Westminster.' He added pedals in 1635: the organ, after being taken down at the time of the Civil War, was replaced at the Restoration. In 1635 he built an organ for Canterbury Cathedral. The Calendar of State Papers for the same year contains a bill of Robert Dallam's, dated Nov. 12, for work done to Laud's organ at Lambeth. An organ which he built for St. Mary Woolnoth's was so much injured in the fire of London that it was replaced by a new instrument built by Father Smith, who, however, used some of Dallam's stops.
5BIBL.—D.N.B.; HOPKINS and RIMBAULT, The Organ, 3rd ed.
7(3) RALPH (d. 1673) built the organ for St. George's Chapel, Windsor, at the Restoration, as well as those at Rugby, Hackney and Lynn Regis. The Windsor organ is still preserved at St. Peter's-in-the-East, St. Albans. He died while making the organ at Greenwich Church, begun by him in Feb. 1672. His will, dated Aug. 2, 1673, proved Sept. 19, 1673, gives evidence of his death between those dates, and shows that he had two brothers, GEORGE and Thomas, and two sisters, May and Katherine (the wife of Thomas Harrison of London, organ-maker). James White, his partner, finished the Greenwich organ in 1673. (4) GEORGE lived in Purple Lane in 1672, and in 1686 added a 'chaire organ' to Harris's instrument in Hereford Cathedral.
9v. de r.; addns. w. b. s.
11DALLERY. The eldest of these organ-builders was (1) CHARLES (b. Amiens, c. 1710), and originally a cooper. The organ of the abbey of Auchin, transported later to St. Pierre, Douai, was his work. His nephew and pupil, (2) PIERRE (b. Buire-le-Sec, near Montreuil-sur-Mer, June 6, 1735), after working with his uncle, was, until c. 1780, in partnership with François Henri CLICQUOT. To the union of these two clever men are due the organs of St. Nicholas des Champs, Sainte Chapelle and St. Merry in Paris, and many others now destroyed or mutilated by ignorant workmen.
13(3) PIERRE-FRANÇOIS, son of Pierre (b. Paris, 1764; d. there, 1833), worked with Clicquot and his father from 1801-07, when the latter retired from business, and Pierre-François remained alone. He never had an opportunity of undertaking large work, but was entirely occupied in repairing instruments. He was clever in certain points, but had not studied his art p ofoundly, and being a needy man, often used inferior materials. He left nothing but his name to his son, (4) LOUIS PAUL (b. Paris, Feb. 24, 1797), who worked with him until 1826 and then alone. He repaired various organs (St. Ouen, Rouen; St. Germain L'Auxerrois, St. Nicholas des Champs, Paris).
15(5) THOMAS CHARLES AUGUSTE, son of Charles (1) (b. Amiens, Sept. 4, 1754; d. Jouy-en-Josas, Seine-et-Oise, June 1, 1835), showed a great aptitude for mechanics, and perfected the harp, the organ and the harpsichord. His best title to fame rests on his practical application of the screw to steam navigation.
17BIBL.—CONSTANT PIERRE, Les Facteurs d'instruments de musique, les luthiers et la facture instrumentale (1893).
19v. de P.; addns. M. L. P.
21DALLIER, HENRI (b. Rheims, Mar. 20, 1849), organist and composer.
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