The Story of Charles Burney and the Snetzler Organ.

In 1751 the merchants of Lynn felt the need of a well-known musician in their midst. One of the borough's MP's, Sir John Turner, knew Charles Burney in London, and persuaded him to seek better health in Lynn. At the age of 25 Burney already had a good reputation in London as a teacher and composer, and was well received in both artistic and social circles. A salary of £100 was to be paid in Lynn by subscription to support him as organist of St. Margaret's; and he would teach music to children of good families. Burney was to be organist until 1760, when he moved back to London and pursued his life of travel and music commentary which was to make him the foremost music historian of his time.

He had arrived alone in September 1751, and was initially unhappy in the town, as he found himself desperately missing both London and his wife Esther. But is seems that he soon settled in: just before Christmas he wrote to Esther telling her to get ready to leave London; promising her good wine at Lynn, good music, if only his own, and quiet evenings reading their favourite authors. This quick change may have come about because he could not resist a friendship. It was said that he never went into a house on business without leaving it as a friend.

Whilst in Lynn, the Burneys' celebrated daughter Fanny was born in 1752. In addition to her famous novel 'Evalina' (1778), she also wrote a benign and affectionate memoir of her distinguished father.

In 1754 Burney persuaded the Corporation to replace the 'execrable' second-hand Cambridge organ in the church. The young Swiss organ-builder Johannes Snetzler - "whose organs are remarkable for the purity of their tone and the extreme brilliancy of the chorus stops" - was commissioned to build a wholly new three-manual instrument, placed on a newly constructed west-gallery. It was his first major instrument; and Burney himself wrote - "Snetzler, by the instrument he made for Lynn Regis, gave such a specimen of his abilities, that he was soon called to almost every quarter of the kingdom".

The organ was wholly rebuilt and moved, along with its imposing case, to the north transept by Wordsworth of Leeds in 1895.

Over the years, wear and tear, and the regular flooding of the church took its toll on the organ; and in 2001, to celebrate the church's 900th anniversary, it was cleaned and renovated, and some omissions from Wordsworth's specification were made good by the local Norfolk firm of Holmes and Swift at a cost of over £100,000.

To see the specification of the Organ click here.