ABSTRACT
It is sometimes assumed that after the great days of Snetzler and Green the chamber organ went into immediate decline, both in quantity and quality. In fact, after 1800 several decades were to pass before the instrument finally vanished into the virtual (though not complete) obscurity in which it languished until the 1970s. In this connection the following letter from John Camidge (later organist of York Minster) to William Hill is of some interest:
13 August 1835 [postmark]
My dear Sir: It is so long since I have heard from you, that I begin to fear that you have forgotten both me and my organ that is to be. It is a pity for yourself that it has been so long delayed, as I am sure it would have been such a recommendation, as to have procured you some orders for chamber organs, which after all I dare say pay best, as they are generally required for those who have plenty of money, and care not for £20 or £30 to satisfy their wishes. The cathedral organ is, to be sure, your guarantee as a church builder; but people run away so with the notion that a chamber organ requires so much delicacy of ear and workmanship, that in fact they almost fancy that he who is celebrated for the one cannot be for the other. Two or three instances of this notion have lately passed under my own observation, which, though I have combated as much as possible, I have not been able to prevent, and Mr. Allen of Soho Square is one of the fortunate men. 1
