It was, perhaps, too much to expect that those who had so far profited from Hope-Jones' contracts and work should remain favorably disposed when he became a rival and a competitor.
For nearly twenty years he has met concerted opposition that would have crushed any ordinary man—attacks in turn against his electrical knowledge, musical taste, voicing ability, financial standing, and personal character. His greatest admirers remain those who, like the author, have known him for thirty years; his greatest supporters are the men of the town in which he lives; his warmest friends, the associates who have followed him to this country after long service under him in England.
Long before Hope-Jones reached his present eminence, and dealing with but one of his inventions, Wedgwood, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a learned student of organ matters, classed him with Cavaillé-Coll and Willis, as one whose name "will be handed down to posterity"—the author of most valuable improvements.[3]
Early in his organ-building career, Hope-Jones had the good fortune to meet J. Martin White, of Balruddery, Dundee, Scotland. Mr. White, a man of large influence and wealth, not only time and again saved him from financial shipwreck and kept him in the organ-building business, but rendered a far more important service in directing Hope-Jones' efforts toward the production of orchestral effects from the organ.
Mr. White, in spite of his duties as a member of the British Parliament, and in spite of the calls of his business in Scotland and in this country, has managed to devote much time and thought to the art of organ playing and organ improvement.
Thynne, who did pioneer work in the production of string tone from organ pipes, owes not a little to Martin White; while Hope-Jones asserts that he derived all his inspiration in this field from listening to the large and fine organ in Mr. White's home.
Mr. White argued that the Swell Organ should be full of violin tone and be, as the strings in the orchestra, the foundation of accompaniment as well as complete in themselves. He lent to Hope-Jones some of his "string" pipes to copy in Worcester Cathedral, whence practically all the development of string tone in organs has come. Mr. White further urged that the whole organ should be in swell boxes.
It is extraordinary that an outsider like Mr. White, a man busy in so many other lines of endeavor, should exert such marked influence on the art of organ building, but it remains a fact that but for his artistic discernment and for the encouragement so freely given, the organ would not to-day be supplanting the orchestra in theatres and hotels, nor be what it is in the churches and halls.
Mr. White has for nearly thirty years helped, enthused and encouraged, not only artistic organ-builders like Casson, Thynne, Hope-Jones and Compton, but also the more progressive of the prominent organists.
All honor to Martin White!