Goetze and Gwynn explained

Goetze and Gwynn is an organ builder in England which has a specialism in restoring pre-Victorian British organs.^[1]

Company

Dominic Gwynn started organ building with Hendrik ten Bruggencate in Northampton in 1976, before going intopartnership with Martin Goetze in 1980. Initially located in Northampton, the company relocated in 1985 to the Welbeck Estate near Worksop in north Nottinghamshire. A third partner, Edward Bennett, joined in 1985.

Martin Goetze died on 23 August 2015. The company continued to restore and produce organs, but according to its website its focus shifted somewhat from the original directors' emphasis on re-creating the musical culture of the past.^[2] Dominic Gwynn passed away on 24th May 2024, aged 67.^[3]

Reconstructions

The company has produced organs in Tudor style based on the remains of two Tudor organ soundboards discovered in Suffolk.^[4] Two of these instruments are managed by the Royal College of Organists.^[5]

Restorations

Among the organs they have restored are:

• Great Budworth
  • The organ of St Mary and All Saints' Church, Great Budworth
• London
  • The organ of St Helen's Bishopsgate, which was damaged by a terrorist bomb attack in 1992
  • Handel's instrument at St Lawrence Whitchurch (1994)
• Wrexham
  • The Bevington organ at Erddig Hall (2016)^[6]

External links

• Website

Notes and References

1. The Organ: An Encyclopedia. Douglas Earl Bush, Richard Kassel – 2006
2. Web site: Background . 28 October 2022 . Goetze & Gwynn.
3. Web site: Dominic Gwynn . 2024-06-03 . Goetze & Gwynn . en-GB.
4. Web site: The story of the Suffolk fragments . Gwynn . 2018-04-09.
5. Web site: Early English Organ Project . www.rco.org.uk . 2018-04-09.
6. Web site: Erddig House near Wrexham .