New Organs

Quimby Pipe Organs, 

Warrensburg, Missouri

Two organs in North Carolina

In 2017, Quimby Pipe Organs (QPO) completed the installation of two small-to-medium sized instruments in North Carolina. Both projects incorporated pipework or mechanics from the churches’ preceding instruments, as the work would not have been feasible in either case given all-new construction. However, both projects resulted in organs that function mechanically as if they are all new, and both have entirely new tonal identities that align with modern QPO practice. Accordingly, both have been given QPO opus numbers, and each is, in its own way, an exploration of what should constitute a modern-day American multum in parvo organ, where comparatively few ranks of pipes yield surprising results: instruments that are flexible, musical, and artistically satisfying. Each organ plays with the authority of a much larger instrument than its size would suggest.

 

Opus 73

All Saints Episcopal Church

Southern Shores, North Carolina

We were invited to visit All Saints Episcopal Church by Organist and Director of Music Steve Blackstock because we had previously worked with him to relocate an 1878 Marshall Brothers organ, which was electrified and rebuilt by Ernest M. Skinner in 1912 and is now situated in a new case on QPO electro-pneumatic slider windchests at Holy Redeemer-by-the-Sea in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

Blackstock asked us to assess All Saints’ 1948 M. P. Möller organ, Opus 7721. Originally five unified ranks, the organ had grown to nine, enclosed in a freestanding case in the rear corner of the room. There were some pleasant sounds in the instrument—particularly the stopped wood flute—but the disposition of these voices at various pitches over two manuals and pedal was not entirely successful; there was a lack of flexible, contrasting ensembles.

Several options were investigated, including either the relocation of a mid-nineteenth-century Hook tracker or a mid-twentieth-century Austin. But the ideas that resonated most with Steve were those which Michael Quimby and I developed for the expansion and radical rebuilding of the existing Möller.  

The approach was straightforward: the existing enclosed mechanical chassis would become the Swell, and a new unenclosed Great division would be added on a new Quimby-Blackinton electro-pneumatic slider chest. The best of the existing pipework would be retained, and after careful restoration, rescaling, and revoicing, would find a place in the new tonal concept, though not always at the same pitches or divisions as before. One independent Pedal rank was added—a Pedal Octave that plays at 8′ and 4′.

Although the existing Möller unit windchests were retained in the new Swell, having been releathered recently, efforts were made to provide more of a “straight” ensemble in the Swell, with unification judiciously used for added color and flexibility, rather than to create ensemble.

Not one new pipe was constructed for the project. Rather, ranks were carefully selected from our extensive inventory of nineteenth- and twentieth-century American pipework for integration into the ensemble. The end result is not a patchwork of individual voices, as one might expect, but rather, a cohesive, flexible ensemble. This is not only due to the quality of the vintage pipework, but also to the unique facility of Michael Quimby to identify which ranks will work to achieve the intended result, and also to the ability of Head Voicer Eric Johnson and staff voicers Samantha Koch and Christopher Soer to carry out the work. Also essential is our fully functional pipe shop, where cleaning, restoration, modification, and repair can happen as required alongside construction of new pipes.

Several church members participated in passing pipes into the organ. One couple, key donors to the project, also assisted, and knowing that there were no new pipes in the organ, inquired as to the provenance of the pipes. In response, I told her that the pipe she had in her hand came from an organ formerly at a church in St. Louis, Missouri. She was stunned. She had attended there as a young lady, and it was, in fact, where she had met her husband, who was also helping to pass pipes. We quickly figured out that we were installing pipes that had played at the time that she would have heard the organ—a happy coincidence that added dramatically to the significance of the instrument for these two.

New casework was designed by QPO and constructed by members of the church to expand and complement the existing enclosure. The new casework is intentionally somewhat transparent, and the pipes of the Great division are visible at different times during the day when overhead light passes down from skylights overhead. The façade pipes are vintage zinc basses, here painted with pearlescent white bodies and rose gold mouths, which complement the open, light-filled character of the church. The existing console was rebuilt and placed on a moveable platform dolly.  

The existing 8′ Trumpet was extensively revoiced and extended to play at 16′ and 4′. It is at once brilliant and foundational and forms a grand underpinning for the full ensemble. A pair of early-twentieth-century strings yield characteristic, lush string tone in the Swell, and the unison rank extends down to 16′. The 16′ Contra Viola is surprisingly versatile: in addition to making an effective double to the new Great Diapason chorus, it is soft enough to serve as a whisper bass (with the Swell box closed) under the 8′ Dulciana, yet harmonically intense enough to combine with the 16′ Gedeckt and synthesize a 16′ Diapason.

The organ was completed in September 2017 and was dedicated on Sunday, October 1. On Sunday, October 15, Dorothy Papadakos accompanied the 1920 silent film, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

 

Opus 74

Central United Methodist Church

Concord, North Carolina

Susan Renz Theodos, director of music at Central United Methodist Church in Concord, North Carolina, contacted us regarding a project for a possible new organ because of her previous experience playing our Opus 34, of three manuals and thirty-three ranks at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, Litchfield, Connecticut (1992). Developed in tandem with then organist Thomas Brown, Opus 34 is a QPO multum in parvo instrument dating from before our work had shifted into the mature Quimby tonal style.  

In working together with Susan after her visit to a more recent project at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Roanoke, Virginia (Opus 66, 2010), we developed a proposal for an equally effective three-manual organ, slightly expanded, which would have the same versatility and nuance as Opus 34, but expressed according to a more Romantic approach: with heroically scaled chorus work and characteristic, harmonically developed individual voices that lock together into seamless, coherent ensembles.

The resulting instrument makes use of select existing pipework from the church’s former 1973 Casavant (Opus 3179), new pipework constructed by Quimby, and select vintage ranks from QPO inventory. New electro-pneumatic slider windchests were constructed for all straight manual ranks and electro-pneumatic unit ranks for all pedal and extended ranks. The winding system and interior structure of the organ are all new. In order to help make the project more cost-effective, we refurbished and rebuilt a three-manual console, constructed by another builder in 2000, for an organ that is now redundant. With new mahogany interior, console lid, and bench top, the refinished console is a splendid match for the church’s neo-Classical interior.

The use of existing Casavant pipework in combination with our own inventory was attractive to the church, not only because it was fiscally responsible, but because they understood it to be environmentally responsible when compared with new construction, and therefore, good stewardship in several senses. The transformation to the carefully selected principals, flutes, strings, and mutations is stunning; none of the reused ranks bears any resemblance to what existed before. The previous instrument was weak in the unison range, and top-heavy with piercing upperwork. Individual foundation voices were bland and blended poorly, with little support for choral accompaniment or even congregational song. The transformed ranks, having been recomposed, rescaled, and radically revoiced, now form colorful, expressive Diapason ensembles at a wide range of dynamic levels.  

Our approach to rescaling and revoicing old ranks of pipes that came from the church’s previous organ is conceptually similar to the practice of Aristide Cavaillé-Coll in nineteenth-century France. His organs at Notre Dame de Paris and Saint-Sulpice incorporate significant percentages of eighteenth-century Clicquot pipework, but those old ranks of pipes were successfully transformed to contribute to a new tonal aesthetic by Cavaillé-Coll.  

New and vintage reeds were provided, custom voiced in-house; these range from the throaty Cromorne in the Solo-Choir, to the lyrical Oboe and fiery Trumpet in the Swell, to the brilliant Harmonic Trumpet in the Solo-Choir, and finally, the dominating, spectacular Tuba in the Great. The Harmonic Trumpet, available at 16′, 8′, and 4′ on manuals and pedal, can serve in the Great as chorus reeds with the box closed, as a soft or loud 16′ reed in the Pedal, and with the box open as an exciting climax to full organ at all three pitches. The Tuba is intended strictly for solo use and is voiced on 12 inches wind pressure so that individual notes can be heard over full organ.

Also of note are the variety of 8′ and 4′ flutes, several of which are vintage, and which contrast and combine with each other effectively. The Swell strings are revoiced Casavant pipework and contrast a more broadly voiced Viola Pomposa and Celeste in the Solo-Choir.  Together with the Swell Spitzflute and Celeste, a wide range of undulants is provided, which can be combined in surprising ways.

The organ was completed in November 2017 and was dedicated by Bradley Hunter Welch on Sunday morning, April 15, 2018, with a recital following the same afternoon.

—T. Daniel Hancock, A.I.A., President

Quimby Pipe Organs, Inc.

 

Quimby Pipe Organs, Opus 73

GREAT (unenclosed)

16′ Contra Viola (Swell)

8′ Open Diapason, 49 pipes, 1–12 common with Pedal 8′ Octave

8′ Hohl Flute, 55 pipes, 1–6 common with Swell 8′ Gedeckt

8′ Gedeckt (Swell)

8′ Viola (Swell)

8′ Dulciana, 61 pipes

4′ Octave, 61 pipes

4′ Spitzflute (Swell), 1–12 Swell 8' Gedeckt; 13–61 2′ Flageolet

2′ Fifteenth, 61 pipes

11⁄3′ Mixture III, 183 pipes

16′ Contra Trumpet (Swell)

8′ Trumpet (Swell)

8′ Oboe (Swell)

Zimbelstern

SWELL (enclosed)

16′ Gedeckt, 97 pipes

8′ Gedeckt (ext)

8′ Viola, 85 pipes

8′ Voix Celeste, TC, 49 pipes

4′ Principal, 73 pipes

4′ Stopped Flute (ext)

4′ Viola (ext)

22⁄3′ Nazard, 49 pipes, 1–12 common with Swell 8′ Gedeckt

2′ Octave (ext)

2′ Flageolet, 61 pipes

13⁄5′ Tierce, TC, 37 pipes, top octave repeats

16′ Contra Oboe, TC, 61 pipes

8′ Trumpet, 85 pipes

8′ Oboe (ext)

4′ Clarion (ext)

Tremulant

PEDAL

32′ Resultant (fr 16′ Bourdon)

16′ Bourdon (Swell) 

16′ Contra Viola (ext Swell 8′ Viola) 

8′ Octave, 44 pipes, 1–17 in façade

8′ Gedeckt (Swell) 

8′ Viola (Swell)

4′ Super Octave (ext)

16′ Trombone (Swell)

8′ Trumpet (Swell) 

8′ Oboe (Swell)

4′ Clarion (Swell) 

4′ Oboe Clarion (Swell)

 

Two manuals, 18 ranks, 1,111 pipes

Builder’s website: 

https://quimbypipeorgans.com

Church website: http://allsaintsobx.org

 

Quimby Pipe Organs, Opus 74

Schoenstein & Co., 

Benicia, California

Grace Episcopal Church,
Hartford, Connecticut

 

A Symphonic Church Organ??

What does “symphonic organ” mean? The definition of this often-misunderstood term is best prefaced by what it is not. The symphonic organ does not attempt to imitate precisely the instruments of the symphony orchestra. It is not designed specifically to render orchestral transcriptions. It is not a refined theatre organ! The term “symphonic” does not relate to specific sounds, but rather to an overall versatility in musical performance. Most will agree that the modern symphony orchestra is the ideal instrumental medium for interpreting musical images both emotional and intellectual. Shouldn’t an organ have these qualities?

In 1993 we completed our first symphonic-style organ for Wynne Chapel of Highland Park Presbyterian Church in Dallas, Texas. At 30 stops, 35 ranks, it was certainly a miniature in comparison to Yale University’s Woolsey Hall organ of 142 stops, 197 ranks, which is considered by most to be the premier American symphonic organ. Located in a small chapel and almost entirely enclosed, the Dallas organ was able to give the effect of a very large comprehensive instrument without excessive loudness. We thought we had gone as far as we could in miniaturizing the symphonic concept.

As part of his research on the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Co., Jonathan Ambrosino visited First Presbyterian Church in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Their chapel needed a companion to the Aeolian-Skinner in the church. Jonathan, having heard our Wynne Chapel organ, suggested that they might like something along the same lines although there was room for only 15 ranks. Holt and Marcia Andrews, associate music directors, contacted us and initiated an absolutely fascinating challenge, which we fulfilled in 1996.

The vital question we addressed for the Spartanburg project was, “what is the musical job to be done?” Why does a church, let alone a small chapel, need a symphonic-style instrument? After receiving hundreds of letters from organ committees over the years suggesting all the things they wanted their new organ to do, it became obvious to me that in most situations a symphonic-style instrument is exactly what they need. Above all, a church organ must wear well, and that means having a variety of tone under effective expression. This is especially vital in accompaniment, which is the church organ’s biggest single job.

Thinking like an Orchestrator

To start the design process, I tried thinking of each stop in an organ as a player in an orchestra. How do orchestrators reduce instrumentation and still produce a symphonic effect? The model for this, of course, is Hollywood and the great studio orchestras for pictures, radio, and recordings. Throughout the “Golden Age” of Hollywood music from the early ’30s to the early ’60s, orchestras limited by budget and studio size were able to produce effects in a wide variety of repertoire, sounding like an ensemble twice the size. How did they do it? A typical set-up would be: one flute (doubling piccolo), one oboe (doubling English horn), four players (doubling a combination of saxophones, clarinets, bass clarinet, flute, oboe, and bassoon); one horn; three trumpets, two trombones, tuba; piano, harp, percussion (one traps and one mallets/tympani); eight violins, three violas, two ’cellos, and two double basses. 

What does this show us? First, the huge string section and full woodwinds of the symphony orchestra can equal the brass and produce a mighty ensemble ff. In the reduced instrumentation, the brass section has to take the stage and be the power center. Second, there is at least one of every symphonic tone color including the three that always make a small orchestra sound big—horn, harp, and tympani. Using different tone colors than one would find in a traditional chamber orchestra of the same size gives the illusion of a much larger ensemble. The use of doubling, which we might compare to unification in an organ, adds even more variety with only slight additional expense. Third, to produce solid bass, the tuba is generally written with the double basses rather than with the brasses.

Here is how we adapted these ideas to the organ.

 

Tonal Qualities

1. Diapasons. The most important element of organ tone is the diapason. Even in a small organ it is best to have two contrasting characters of diapason tone and at least one well-developed chorus. However, in small rooms or dry acoustics, powerful upperwork can be very unattractive.

2. Trumpets. The ultimate power of the full ensemble is the organ’s “brass”—8′ and 16′ tone representing the trumpet and trombone of the orchestra. In smaller acoustics, power is best achieved with unison tone of great warmth and intensity. The proper character is usually achieved through high wind pressure.

3. Flutes. Of prime importance is vividly differentiated tone color including mutations and one powerful, open solo flute.

4. Strings and hybrids. What seems a luxury is really practical—two celeste stops: a pair of genuine orchestra strings, and a pair of soft ethereal voices. Most small organs rely on one compromise celeste pair to do these two very different jobs. Such stops usually tend toward flute or diapason tone. Although they may be attractive, they do not elevate an instrument into the symphonic class. Keen strings are absolutely necessary, but so are the less assertive, dolce tones. Both should be represented, and the string pair should be full compass to low C.

5. Color reeds. Normally a small organ would have just one color reed, such as an oboe. To enter the symphonic class, a contrasting tone such as clarinet is more important than a second mixture, for example. Color reed tone is useful in both solo and accompanimental roles. 

6. Powerful Pedal bass. The symphonic organ has representatives of each tone color in the Pedal department. A Bourdon is not enough; there must also be open flue tone and reed tone to provide clarity, point, and drama. If possible, 32′ tone should be included.

7. Effective expression. A symphonic organ must be able to produce a crescendo from ppp to fff. It should also be able to produce full organ effects at less than full organ volume. Part of this has to do with the proper terracing of voices, but solid expression boxes with responsive shades are vital, too.

8. Contrasting expression. There must be at least two divisions under expression for an organ to start claiming symphonic status. In a small instrument, as many voices as possible should be under expression. In the symphonic concept, unexpressive voices are a luxury normally reserved for large instruments. In some cases layout demands that certain voices be unexpressive, for example where the Swell must be behind the Great, but this should be an exception.

A full exposition of these ideas was presented in an article with several sample stop lists titled “Organ Design and the Kraft Music Hall” in the October 2002 issue of The Diapason. Since then, in addition to Antiphonal divisions at First-Plymouth Congregational Church, Lincoln, Nebraska, and Park Cities Presbyterian Church, Dallas, Texas, we have completed similar instruments for Georgetown University and our organ at Christ and St. Stephen’s Church in New York City, which was given a thorough narrated demonstration on YouTube (search “Schoenstein Tonal Demonstration”).

 

Grace Episcopal Church, Hartford, Connecticut

Our latest instrument along these lines is blessed with the most ideal environment an organbuilder could wish. The room is small seating only 112 but has a very pleasant, appropriately resonant acoustic producing clarity along with warmth of tone. The organ is situated on the main floor at the west end projecting straight down the nave. There are no transepts. The choir is in stalls at the rear of the nave. The liturgy is Anglo-Catholic with an excellent music program headed by Kyle Swann, who is also Lecturer in Opera at Yale University School of Music.

The organ is entirely enclosed with the exception of the open wood Double Diapason, a wonderful luxury in an instrument of this size. The Great chorus is 8′ Diapason, 4′ Principal, and 2′ Mixture. Although it is most desirable to have an independent 2′ Fifteenth, choices must be made, and we elected instead to have a Celeste to the Corno Dolce, which is a tapered hybrid stop of flute quality with a tinge of string edge. It is unified at 16′ and 4′ pitches. The Harmonic Flute uses the Corno Dolce as a common bass, the break point of which is very hard to determine by ear. The Clarinet offers a strong contrast to the Swell Oboe Horn.

The doubling principle is carried into the Swell where we have a Salicional, which is a small-scale diapason unified at 8′/4′/2′ pitch, a wood Stopped Diapason, a highly contrasting narrow-scaled metal Chimney Flute, and a Tierce. The capped Oboe Horn is a very versatile color reed. Two orchestral-style strings and a 16′/8′ Tuba Minor, which is in the trumpet family but of darker tonal character, are under double expression within the Swell. In hymn playing, for example, it is possible to introduce the 8′ Tuba Minor without notice while playing only the 8′ Diapason and 4′ Principal on the Great. A dramatic Full Swell effect can be achieved with ease. The same is true with the strings that change to a mild, almost Aeoline character with both boxes closed and then bloom smoothly as they are brought into full power.

A major element of playing flexibility comes from a third manual that borrows stops from both the Great and the Swell. These are both Solo stops and ensemble stops for maximum contrasting possibilities with either Great or Swell. In addition, a few stops from the Great appear on the Swell and vice versa.

The Pedal has four 16′ stops representing each tonal family: diapason, flute, string-hybrid, and reed, a luxury not usually found on organs this size, but important in the symphonic concept.

The instrument was completed on June 26, 2017, and will be heard in a dedicatory recital by Thomas Murray on October 29, 2017. The priest-in-charge is the Rev. Rowena J. Kemp, and the director of operations in charge of preparing the installation site was parishioner Tom Phillips. This was a project we enjoyed thoroughly, especially due to the strong cooperation, encouragement, and enthusiasm of the entire parish.

— Jack M. Bethards

President and Tonal Director

Schoenstein & Co.

 

Schoenstein website: 

www.schoenstein.com

Grace Episcopal Church website: 

http://gracehartford.org

 

Stephen Schnurr

Stephen Schnurr is editor and publisher of The Diapason and director of music for St. Paul Catholic Church, Valparaiso, Indiana. His most recent book, Organs of Oberlin, was published in 2013 by Chauncey Park Press (www.organsofoberlin.com). He has authored several other books and journal articles, principally on pipe organ history in the Great Lakes region.

This article is a continuation of a feature in the August 2015, June 2016, and July 2017 issues of The Diapason. This essay was delivered as a lecture for the Midwinter Pipe Organ Conclave on January 19, 2015, in La Grange, Illinois. The research for this project provides a history of a number of pipe organs in the village, but not all. For instance, organs in residences and theaters are not surveyed.

 

The Convent of the Sisters of St. Joseph in La Grange Park, Illinois, is the home of the Sisters of St. Joseph, established on this site on October 9, 1899, by Mother Stanislaus Leary. Mother Leary had been superior of her order in Kansas and came to Chicago to seek medical help as her health was failing. She was accompanied by others of the order. The pastor of nearby St. Francis Xavier Church, La Grange, invited the sisters to settle in the relatively new suburb.

The sisters opened a school for girls in September 1900. Some of the students were boarders. Soon, the sisters would open another school for boys. Nazareth Academy, now co-educational, is still located on the La Grange Park motherhouse campus.

On July 14, 1900, the cornerstone of a motherhouse and chapel was laid. The chapel contained an organ built in 1929 by M. P. Möller of Hagerstown, Maryland, Opus 5555, a two-manual, eight-rank instrument. The contract was dated March 20 of that year, with a projected completion date of June 1. Cost was $3,200.00, with one-third due upon completion, one-third in two equal payments at four and eight months thereafter, without interest. The electro-pneumatic action organ had a detached console of walnut, with “Gold Bronze” façade pipes and grille. Stop control was by tablets above the upper manual. Wind pressure was 5 inches. Pitch was specified at A=440 Hz. The Chicago agent for Möller, and the installer of the organ, was Ford & Reynolds.

 

1929 M. P. MЪller Opus 5555

GREAT (Manual I)

8′ Open Diapason (scale 44, wood 

    basses, 73 pipes) 

8′ Dulciana (scale 56, metal, 73 pipes)

8′ Melodia (wood, 73 pipes) 

4′ Flute (ext, 8′ Melodia)

Chimes (prepared)

SWELL (Manual II, enclosed)

16′ Bourdon (wood and metal, 97 pipes)

8′ Stopped Diapason (ext, 16′

    Bourdon)

8′ Salicional (scale 60, metal, 73 pipes)

8′ Dolce (fr Great, 8′ Dulciana) 

8′ Voix Celeste (TC, scale 62, metal, 61 

    pipes)

4′ Flute d’Amour (ext, 16′ Bourdon)

22⁄3′ Nazard (ext, 16′ Bourdon)

2′ Flautino (ext, 16′ Bourdon)

8′ Oboe Horn (metal, 73 pipes)

1 blank tablet

PEDAL

16′ Sub Bass (“big scale”, stopped wood, 

    32 pipes)

16′ Lieblich Gedeckt (fr Swell, 16′

    Bourdon)

 

Couplers

Great to Pedal

Swell to Pedal

Great to Great 16

Great Unison Off

Great to Great 4

Swell to Great 16

Swell to Great 8

Swell to Great 4

Swell to Swell 16

Swell Unison Off

Swell to Swell 4

 

Mechanicals

Tremulant

Crescendo Indicator by light

 

Adjustable combinations

3 Great and Pedal

3 Swell and Pedal

 

Pedal movements

Great to Pedal Reversible

Balanced Swell Pedal

Grand Crescendo Pedal

 

The present chapel of strikingly modern design was built in 1967 and 1968 to the designs of John Voosen of Chicago. The motherhouse and chapel were dedicated on Sunday, September 29, 1968. Sister Mary Victoria Rokos, SSJ (later known as Sister Emily), convent organist, was charged with developing plans for a new organ. She sought the advice of persons at Northwestern University of Evanston. The Möller organ was sold and removed.

The result was a recommendation of the Noack Organ Company of Georgetown, Massachusetts, to build a new two-manual, 20-stop, 31-rank organ of mechanical key and stop action in a free-standing case in an elevated balcony at the rear of the nave. A landmark design for the neo-classical organ revival movement in the Chicago metropolitan area, the organ was to cost what was then a large sum of money, $40,000.

The convent purchased a smaller Noack organ as a temporary instrument until the larger organ was completed, at which time the smaller organ was removed to the Academy on the campus. This organ has since been relocated elsewhere. Opus 42 was inaugurated in recital by James Leland on July 14, 1968. The one-manual, mechanical-action organ was provided with a pull-down pedal. 

 

1968 Noack Organ Company
Opus 42

MANUAL

8′ Gedackt (4 stopped wood basses, 

    remainder metal, 56 pipes)

4′ Stopped Flute (12 open trebles, 

    metal, 56 pipes)

2′ Principal (metal, 56 pipes)

 

In the summer of 1969, Noack installed its Opus 44, blessed on August 15. The Positive is in Brustwerk position, with Great above and Pedal to the sides. A dedication recital was presented by Benn Gibson on November 9.

 

1969 Noack Organ Company
Opus 44

GREAT (Manual I)

8′ Principal (in façade, 56 pipes)

8′ Chimney Flute (56 pipes)

4′ Octave (56 pipes)

4′ Spielflöte (56 pipes)

2′ Nachthorn (56 pipes)

V–VI Mixture (11⁄3′, 312 pipes)

8′ Trumpet (56 pipes)

POSITIVE (Manual II)

8′ Gedackt (56 pipes)

4′ Koppelflöte (56 pipes)

2′ Principal (in façade, 56 pipes)

11⁄3′ Quinte (56 pipes)

II Sesquialtera (122 pipes)

III Cymbal (1⁄2′, 168 pipes)

8′ Krummhorn (56 pipes)

PEDAL

16′ Subbass (32 pipes)

8′ Principal (in façade, 32 pipes)

8′ Gedackt (32 pipes)

4′ Choral Bass (32 pipes)

IV Mixture (22⁄3′, 128 pipes)

16′ Bassoon (32 pipes)

 

Couplers (toe lever, hitch-down)

Great to Pedal

Positive to Pedal

Positive to Great

Accessory

Tremulant (toe lever, hitch-down)

 

Opus 44 was the first permanent installation of a modern tracker organ in a Catholic institution in the Archdiocese of Chicago. In its early years, it was a frequently used recital instrument. Performers have included Marie-Claire Alain, Christa Rakich, David Hurd, and Gustav Leonhardt.

Michael McNeil

Michael McNeil has designed, constructed, and researched pipe organs since 1973. He was also a research engineer in the disk drive industry with 27 patents. He has authored four hardbound books, among them The Sound of Pipe Organs, several e-publications, and many journal articles.

Preface

Good documentation of organs with enough pipe measurements to permit an analysis of both scaling and voicing is extremely rare. Pipe diameters, mouth widths, and mouth heights (cutups) may be sometimes found, but toe diameters and especially flueway depths are rare. Rarer still are wind system data, allowing a full analysis of wind flow and wind dynamics, parameters that have an enormous impact on the sound of an organ. The reader will find all of this in the following essay on William A. Johnson’s Opus 161.

Good documentation is important for several reasons. We can make useful comparisons with other organs to learn how a specific sound is achieved. And perhaps most importantly, we can document the organ for posterity; while organs are consumed in wars and fires, they are most often replaced or modified with the changing tastes of time. They never survive restorations without changes. Comprehensive documentation may also serve to deter future interventions that intend to “modernize” an organ. Lastly, future restorations of important organs will be more historically accurate if they are based on good documentation.

The mid-nineteenth-century scaling and voicing of William A. Johnson is very similar to the late-eighteenth-century work of the English organbuilder Samuel Green, as evidenced by the data from Johnson’s Opus 16 and Opus 161. Stephen Bicknell provides us with detailed descriptions of Green’s work.¹ Johnson’s scaling is utterly unlike the work of E. & G. G. Hook, whose 1843 Opus 50 for the Methodist Church of Westfield, Massachusetts, set Johnson on a career in organbuilding when he helped the Hooks with its installation.² In this essay we will explore Johnson’s Opus 161 in detail and contrast it with the Opus 322 of the Hooks, both of which were constructed within a year of each other.³ While the Hooks used a Germanic constant scale in their pipe construction, Johnson significantly reduced the scale of his upperwork stops, much in the manner of Samuel Green and classical French builders.

The question arises as to whether Johnson came to his design theory by way of a process of convergent evolution (i.e., independently), or whether he was exposed to the organ Samuel Green shipped to the Battle Square Church in Boston in 1792, and which “was played virtually unaltered for a century,” according to Barbara Owen.⁴ The author suggested to Owen that the Green organ may have had a strong influence on Johnson, but she thought it unlikely that Johnson would have made the long trip from Westfield, far to the west of Boston. 

Travel would indeed have been much more difficult in 1843 when Johnson was exposed to the Hook organ at Westfield. But of some significance was the extension of the Western Railroad from Boston to Westfield in 1843. This new railroad may have been the means by which the Hook organ was shipped to Westfield. Elsworth (see endnote 2) clearly makes the case that Johnson was intoxicated by organbuilding with his exposure to the Hook organ. It is easy to imagine that he would have made a pilgrimage to Boston, at the time a mecca of American organbuilding, perhaps invited by the Hooks to accompany them after finishing their installation in Westfield.⁵

The author was engaged in 1976 by Mrs. Gene Davis, the organist of the Piru Community United Methodist Church, to evaluate the organ at that church. The identity of the organ was in question as no nameplate was in evidence on the console, the organ was barely playable, and its sound was greatly muted by the crude placement of panels in front of the Great division to make it expressive by forcing its sound through the shades of the Swell division above it. An inspection showed that nearly all of the pipework was intact, and a contract was signed to restore the organ to playable condition. The organ was cleaned, the pipes repaired, the few missing pipes replaced, and much of the action repaired by Michael McNeil and David Sedlak.

The church office files produced an undated, typed document that stated: 

 

The pipe organ in the Methodist Church of Piru was built by William Johnson, of Westfield, Mass., in the early 1860s, making it probably the oldest operating pipe organ in California. It was a second-hand organ when transported by sailing ship 17,000 miles around Cape Horn before 1900, and installed in a Roman Catholic Church in San Francisco. After the earthquake and fire of 1906, the organ was moved to another church and probably at this time parts damaged in the quake were replaced. After many more years of service it was retired and put into storage until, in 1935, Mr. Hugh Warring was persuaded to purchase it for the Piru church. It was purchased for the storage cost of $280.

Evidence of a different and more likely provenance was discovered during the removal of pipework and the cleaning of the organ. Three labels were found glued to the bottom of the reservoir (perhaps as patches for leaks). Two labels read: “Geo. Putnam ‘Janitor’ Stockton California July 1 ’99.” A third label read: “From the Periodical Department, Presbyterian Board of Publication, and Sabbath = Schoolwork, Witherspoon Bldg, 1319 Walnut St., Phila. PA.” At a much later time Reverend Thomas Carroll, SJ, noticed that the clues of Stockton, California, and the Presbyterian church correlated to an entry in the opus list of Johnson organs, compiled in Elsworth’s 1984 book, The Johnson Organs. Opus 161 was shipped in 1864 to the “Presbyterian Church, Stockton, Cal. The church is Eastside Presbyterian.” The organ was listed as having two manuals and 22 stops.⁶ At this time such features as couplers and tremulants were counted as “stops,” and this roughly fit the description of the Piru organ. The façade of the Piru organ is also consistent with the architecture of organs built by Johnson in the 1864 time frame. Elsworth’s illustrations include a console layout of Opus 200 (1866) virtually identical to the Piru organ layout; Opus 134 (1862) exhibits the impost, stiles, and Gothic ornamentation of the Piru organ; Opus 183 (1865) has similar pipe flats and also the console layout of the Piru organ.⁷ Many other details verified the Johnson pedigree, among them the inscription “H. T. Levi” on the reed pipes. Barbara Owen pointed out that Levi was Johnson’s reed voicer during the time of manufacture of Opus 161.⁸ The pieces of evidence fell together when Jim Lewis discovered a newspaper photo of Opus 161 in the Eastside Presbyterian Church of Stockton that matched the façade of the Piru organ. The most likely scenario is that Johnson shipped Opus 161 directly to that church. The Gothic architecture of the Johnson façade also reflects the architecture of the Eastside Presbyterian Church façade. A handwritten note on the Piru church document stated: “Pipe organ and art glass memorial windows dedication June 2, 1935 per Fillmore Herald May 31, 1935, a gift of Hugh Warring.”

It is possible that the organ went from the Presbyterian church into storage, and was later moved to its present location in the 1934–1935 time frame. Even so, we can say with nearly absolute certainty that this organ is William A. Johnson’s Opus 161.

 

Tonal design overview

It is obvious from even a casual glance at Elsworth’s study of Johnson organs that the Johnson tonal style was based on a classical principal chorus that included mixtures in all but the more modest instruments. But the voicing style is gentle and refined, and bears great similarity to the late-eighteenth-century English work of Samuel Green, whose meantone organ at Armitage in Staffordshire is an excellent surviving example.⁹ Tuned in meantone, Johnson Opus 161 would easily pass muster as the work of Green. The tonal contrast between Green and Hook is stark, and the Hook data serve as an excellent counterpoint to the data from the Johnson organ. Green was the organbuilder favored by the organizers of the Handel Commemoration Festival of 1784, who went so far as to have one of Green’s organs temporarily installed in Westminster Abbey for that occasion. King George III paid Samuel Green to build an organ for Saint George’s Chapel at Windsor.

Stephen Bicknell’s The History of the English Organ relates important details of Samuel Green’s work that we find in Johnson’s Opus 161. “. . . Green’s voicing broke new ground . . . . Delicacy was achieved partly by reducing the size of the pipe foot and by increasing the amount of nicking. The loss of grandeur in the chorus was made up for by increasing the scales of the extreme basses.”¹⁰ And “Where Snetzler provided a chorus of startling boldness and with all the open metal ranks of equal power, Green introduced refinement and delicacy and modified the power of the off-unison ranks to secure a new kind of blend.”¹¹ The Hooks, like Snetzler, used a constant scale where all of the pipes in the principal chorus at a given pitch had about the same scale and power.

The most basic data set for describing power balances and voicing must include, at a minimum, pipe diameters, widths of mouths, heights of mouths (“cutup”), diameters of foot toe holes, and depths of mouth flueways. The data in this essay are presented in normalized scales for inside pipe diameters, mouth widths, and mouth heights. Tables showing how raw data are converted into normalized scales may be found in the article on the E. & G. G. Hook Opus 322 published in The Diapason, July 2017. The full set of Johnson data and the Excel spreadsheet used to analyze them may be obtained at no charge by emailing the author.¹² Also available is the book The Sound of Pipe Organs, which describes in detail the theory and derivation of the models used in this essay.¹³

 

Pitch, wind pressure, and general notes

The current pitch of the Johnson and Hook organs is dissimilar and should be taken into consideration when observing the scaling charts. The Hook organ is now pitched at A=435.3 Hz at 74 degrees Fahrenheit, while the Johnson organ is now pitched at 440 Hz. The original pitch of the Hook organ was 450 Hz; new low C pipes were added when the pitch was changed to 435 Hz, and the original pipework was moved up a halftone, widening its scales by a halftone. The original pitch of the Johnson organ was approximately 450 Hz; the pipes were lengthened to achieve a lower pitch.¹⁴ The Hook and Johnson organs are both tuned in equal temperament. The wind pressure, water column, of the Hook is 76 mm (3 inches); the Johnson organ was measured at 76 mm static and 70 mm under full flow on the Great division. The pressure was reduced during the restoration to 63 mm static. This allowed the pitch of the pipes to drop, making the adjustment to 440 Hz with fewer changes to the pipe lengths; most of the pipes that were originally cut to length had been crudely pinched at the top to lower their pitch. With the reduction in pressure the ears of the 4′ Flute à Cheminée, with its soldered tops, achieved a more normal position. 

The Piru room acoustic was reasonably efficient, and while the Johnson voicing is very restrained, it was adequate to fill this room on the reduced pressure. The Piru church seats 109, has plastered walls, wood and carpet flooring, and a peaked ceiling about 30 feet high; the reverberation, empty, as heard with normal ears, is well under one second (this is not the measurement used by architects that erroneously reports much longer reverberation). Elsworth relates that “the wind pressure which Johnson used during this period was generally between 21⁄2 and 23⁄4 inches [63.5 and 70 mm], and, in rare examples, nearly 3 inches [76 mm].”¹⁵ The photograph of the original Eastside Presbyterian Church for which the Johnson was designed implies a larger acoustical space than that of the Piru church.

The compass of the Johnson organ is 56 notes in the manuals, C to g′′′, and 27 notes in the pedal, C to d′.

 

Stoplist

The Johnson console was found in poor condition, missing the builder’s nameplate and many of its stop knob faces. Correct stop names were derived from the markings on the pipes and the missing faces were replaced. The original stoplist is reconstructed as follows (Johnson did not use pitch designations):

GREAT

8′ Open Diapason

8′ Keraulophon

8′ Clarabella

4′ Principal

4′ Flute à Cheminée (TC)

22⁄3′ Twelfth

2′ Fifteenth

8′ Trumpet

SWELL

16′ Bourdon (TC)

8′ Open Diapason

8′ Stopped Diapason

8′ Viol d’Amour (TF)

4′ Principal

8′ Hautboy (TF)

Tremolo

PEDAL

16′ Double Open Diapason

 

Couplers

Great to Pedal

Swell to Pedal

Swell to Great

 

Blower signal

The above list adds up to 20 controls. The Johnson company opus list describes Opus 161 as having 22 “stops.” This may have reflected the original intention to supply the organ with stops having split basses, which are commonly found in Johnson specifications. The sliders for the Keraulophon and the Trumpet were found with separate bass sections from C to B, professionally screwed together with the sections from tenor C to d′′′. The two additional bass stops would account for a total of 22 “stops.” There are no extra holes in the stop jambs to indicate the deleted split bass stop actions. The extant stopjambs are apparently a later modification from the time of the installation at Piru or before. Elsworth noted that all Johnson organs of this period were constructed with square stop shanks.¹⁶ The current shanks are round where they pass through the stopjambs and are square where they connect to the stop action.

Several stop knobs were switched during the 1935 installation at Piru; e. g., the Viole d’Amour in the pre-restoration photo of the right jamb belongs in the position noted on the left jamb with the black plastic label “Bell Gamba,” which indeed is how this stop was constructed. The Swell Stopped Diapason was operated by a knob labeled “Principal” [sic]. The illustrations of the left stopjamb and right stopjamb diagrams provide the correct nomenclature as restored in the correct positions, with the incorrect 1935 nomenclature in parentheses ( ) and the correct pitches in brackets [ ].

 

The wind system

The wind system can be modeled from two viewpoints: the restriction of flow from the wind trunks, pallets, channels, and pipe toes; and the dynamics of the wind. Wind dynamics are fully explained in The Sound of Pipe Organs and are a very important aspect of an organ’s ability to sustain a fast tempo with stability or conversely to enhance the grand cadences of historic literature. The data set on the Johnson allows us to model all of these characteristics. Figure 1 shows the Johnson wind flow model.

In Figure 1 we see a table of the pipe toe diameters and their calculated areas; values in red font are calculations or interpolations from the data (e.g., wood pipe toes are difficult to measure when they have wooden wedges to restrict flow). These areas are measured for a single note in each octave of the compass.

A model for the total required wind flow of the full plenum of the organ assumes a maximum of ten pallets (a ten-fingered chord), as described in the table, and the flow is multiplied by the number of the pallets played for each octave in the compass. The sum of the toe areas of all ten manual pallets in the tutti is 5,057 mm². The total area of the manual wind trunks is 38,872 mm², and we see that the wind trunks afford 7.7 times more wind than the tutti requires, so much in fact that the trunks do not at all function as an effective resistance in the system.

Interestingly, the Isnard organ at St. Maximin, France, used the main wind trunk as a strong resistor to dampen Helmholtz resonances in the wind system, and that organ has ratios of wind trunk area to a plenum toe area of only 1.07 for the coupled principal chorus of the Grand-Orgue and Positif, but with no reeds, flutes, or mutations. Helmholtz resonances are the source of what is normally called wind shake, and we would expect some mild wind shake with the Johnson’s large wind ducts and low damping resistance. The author’s notes from 1976 state: “Very little sustained shake . . . a considerable fluctuation in pitch when playing moderately fast legato scales, which stabilizes very rapidly . . . this imparts a shimmer . . . .”

In Figure 1 we also see dimensions of the key channels, pallet openings, and the pallet pull length (estimated from the ratios in the action). These allow us to calculate the relative wind flow of the channels and pallets. We find that there are robust margins in wind flow from the channels to the pipe toes (244% at low C to 737% at high C on the Great). This accounts for the small drop in static pressure at 76 mm to a full flow pressure of 70 mm with all stops drawn. Pallet openings are less robust and flow about 100% of the channel area for the first three octaves and 190% in the high treble.

The underlying dynamics of a wind system are the result of the mass of its bellows plate and the volume of air in the system. These factors produce a natural resonance that can enhance the grand cadences of literature with a long surge in the wind, or it can produce a nervous shake if it is too fast. A grand surge in the wind is characterized by a resonant frequency of less than 2 Hz (cycles per second), and it is most often produced by a weighted bellows. A nervous shake results from a sprung bellows. We correct the latter condition with small concussion bellows in modern organs, but the Johnson organ does not have such devices; instead, it features only a large, weighted, double-rise bellows. 

We can model the dynamic response of an organ by using its wind pressure, the area of the bellows plates, and the combined internal volume of its bellows, wind trunks, and pallet boxes. The model in Figure 2 shows the dynamic response of the current Johnson wind system at a relaxed 1.61 Hz. This low resonant frequency drops further to 1.47 Hz when the pressure is raised to its original value of 76 mm. The author’s notes from 1976 state: “Light ‘give’ on full organ; relatively fast buildup to full flow.” That “light give” is the result of the low resonant frequency of the system. The resonant frequency of the Hook organ was modeled at 1.23 Hz, a value lower than the Johnson, and the Hook chorus does indeed exhibit a slower and grander surge on full organ. Figure 3 shows the modeled resonant frequency at the original pressure of 76 mm for the Johnson organ. The equation for modeling the resonant frequency of a wind system along with a worked example on the 1774 Isnard organ at St. Maximin may be found in The Sound of Pipe Organs, pages 99–113.

 

The wind system in pictures

See the accompanying pictures: Notebook sketch 1, Great windchest, Toeboard, Notebook sketch 2, Notebook sketch 3, Notebook sketch 4, Great pallet box, Pallet springs, Notebook sketch 5.

 

The layout in pictures

“Green’s organs stand on an independent building frame with the case erected around it, rather than being supported by the structure of the case itself.”¹⁷ Bicknell’s description of a Samuel Green organ applies equally well to this Johnson organ. The casework is built entirely of black walnut, a wood mentioned by Elsworth in reference to Johnson cases. The organ is situated within the front wall of the church. The original black walnut side panels (typical of early Johnson organs) were found crudely cut up and nailed behind the façade in an effort to make the whole organ expressive through the Swell shades. This had the effect of making the Great division sound like a diminutive Echo division. The typical layout of a Johnson organ is well described by Elsworth: “The framework was arranged to carry the chests of the Great organ and the supporting framework for the Swell, which was usually above the Great organ and slightly to the rear.”¹⁸ Such layouts, shown in Figure 4, are common in nineteenth-century American organbuilding. The walkway behind the Great allowed access to the pipes and pallets placed at the rear of that chest, and the rollerboard to the Swell division was normally placed just behind this walkway, allowing access to the Swell pallets that were placed at the front of the Swell windchest. Opus 161 was installed in an opening in the Piru church that was far too shallow to allow the depth of a rearward placement of the Swell division. 

As a result, there is evidence that the Swell windchest may have been reversed, placing its pallets to the back of the windchest, and the chest brought forward over the Great division. Note the lack of clearance between the 4′ Principal pipe and the bottom of the Swell chest in Figure 5. The internal framework shows signs of crude saw cuts; the order of the notes on the Swell chest is the same as the Great, but it is reversed; the Swell rollerboard appears to have been likewise reversed and now faces toward the walkway where the action and rollers are exposed to damage. 

To say that the Piru layout was cramped would be an understatement; no one weighing over 150 pounds would gain access to the pipes for tuning or to the action for adjustment without damaging the pipework or the key action. The author weighed less (at the time) and was barely able to navigate inside the organ. The current layout is shown in Figure 6. 

It is also possible that the current layout reflects the original layout by Johnson, but that the Swell was simply lowered to fit the height of the Piru church and brought forward to fit the limited depth available, reducing the depth of the walkway.

Notes and credits

All photos, drawings, tables, and illustrations are courtesy of the author’s collection if not otherwise noted. Most of the color photos were unfortunately taken by the author with an inferior camera in low resolution. David Sedlak used a high quality camera, lenses, and film to produce the high-resolution color photos of the church and its architectural details; these are all attributed to Sedlak.

1. Stephen Bicknell, The History of the English Organ, Cambridge University Press, 1996, Cambridge, pp. 185–187, 190–191, 207.

2. John Van Varick Elsworth, The Johnson Organs, The Boston Organ Club, 1984, Harrisville, p. 18.

3. A detailed study of the E. & G. G. Hook Opus 322 may be found in The Diapason, July, August, and September issues, 2017.

4. Barbara Owen, The Organ in New England, The Sunbury Press, 1979, Raleigh, pp. 18–19.

5. see: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_and_Albany_Railroad.

6. The Johnson Organs, p. 100.

7. Ibid, pp. 23, 50, 57, respectively.

8. The Organ in New England, p. 275.

9. 5 Organ Concertos, 1984, Archiv D 150066, Simon Preston, Trevor Pinnock, The English Concert.

10. The History of the English Organ, p. 185.

11. Ibid, p. 207.

12. McNeil, Michael. Johnson_161_170807, an Excel file containing all of the raw data and the models used to analyze the Johnson Opus 161, 2017, available by emailing the author at [email protected].

13. McNeil, Michael. The Sound of Pipe Organs, CC&A, Mead, 2012, 191 pp., Amazon.com.

14. The Organ in New England, p. 75.

15. The Johnson Organs, p. 25.

16. Ibid, p. 23.

17. The History of the English Organ, p. 187.

18. The Johnson Organs, p. 23.

 

To be continued.

Kegg Pipe Organ Builders, Hartville, Ohio

Christ the King Chapel, 

St. John Vianney Theological Seminary, Denver, Colorado

Every new pipe organ project, large or small, has a unique sense of importance. Rarely are we afforded the opportunity to build an instrument that will inspire generations of clergy to high ideals. Our new organ at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary is a true honor for an organbuilder.

Each of our pipe organs is custom designed for the space it occupies and the musical task it must perform. During the design process, the organ evolves. Sometimes the stop list has additions made as funds become available, or unknown building impediments are discovered that require us to adjust. This new organ of course went through this process, but through it all, the goal we shared with associate professor of sacred music, Dr. Mark Lawlor, did not. The goal was to build an instrument suited primarily to the multiple daily Masses of the seminarians.

The failing electronic organ from 20 years ago had “replaced” the original 1931 Kilgen pipe organ. Heavily damaged first by modifications to the stop list with foreign pipes installed by lesser hands, then with loud speakers among and largely on the pipes, the original pipe organ was assumed destroyed. When Kegg sales representative Dwayne Short first crawled into the crowded, dark, and dirty space, he made his way into the furthest reaches where few had ventured in years, to discover that many of the Kilgen Swell stops had survived in reasonable condition. These, along with one Pedal stop and an orphan Great Clarinet, gave us some original pipes to consider retaining in the new organ.

Christ the King Chapel is a handsome room built in 1931. Beautiful to look at with masonry walls and terrazzo floors, it is a child of its time, apparent when one looks up. The coffered ceiling panels are beautifully painted acoustic tile, rendering only about one second of reverberation when the room is empty. The organ is at the rear of the room, in a shallow chamber over the main door. The robust all-male congregation is mostly at the front of the nave and in the crossing. All these elements dictate a rich, strong, and dark organ to meet the voices at their pitch and location. There is an Antiphonal division that is prepared in the console. Until it is installed, the main organ will have to fill the room from the rear with the singers up front.

Dr. Lawlor specifically requested that all manual divisions be enclosed to afford him and future musicians maximum musical flexibility. Most organists prefer a three-manual organ to two, which we frequently offer in organs of this size. The new organ is 19 stops and 25 ranks dispersed over three manuals and pedal. The only unenclosed stops are the Pedal 16′ Principal, from which the façade pipes are drawn, and the horizontal Pontifical Trumpet, in polished brass with flared bells. This last stop was also a specific request. Because the room is not excessively large, these pipes are placed as high as possible. The large scale, tapered shallots and 7-inch wind pressure give these pipes a round, Tuba-like quality that is commanding and attractive.

The Great/Choir and Swell are enclosed in separate expression boxes. The stop list is not unusual, but the execution of the Principal choruses is. Both choruses have Mixtures based at 2′. This allows them to couple to the Pedal without a noticeable pitch gap in the bottom octave sometimes heard with 11⁄3′ Mixtures. The breaks of these two Mixtures are different. The Swell Mixture breaks before the Great, bringing in the 22⁄3′ pitch early. This gives the Swell Mixture a rich texture, particularly helpful in choral work. Emphasis in finishing is on unison and octave pitches when present. The first break in the Great Mixture is at C#26 and from C#14 is one pitch higher than the Swell, making it relatively normal. For the Great Mixture, the upper pitches are given more prominence during finishing. The two choruses complement and contrast well in this intimate space, without excessive brightness.

Many of the flutes and strings were retained from the original Kilgen organ. With some attention in the voicing room, these work well within the Kegg tonal family. Having heard other examples of our work, there was a keen desire by Dr. Lawlor for a new Kegg Harmonic Flute. To make this happen within the budget and space available, we used an existing wood Kilgen 8′ Concert Flute for notes 1–32. At note 33, this stop changes to new Kegg harmonic pipes. The stop increases in volume dramatically as it ascends the scale. Available at 8′ and 4′ on both the Great and Choir manuals, the 8′ stop is nicely textured and mezzo-forte. The treble of the 4′ morphs into a soaring forte voice, made even more alluring by the tremulant.

With the exception of the Clarinet, all reeds are new Kegg stops and typical of our work. The Trumpet has a bright treble and a darker, larger bass extending into the Pedal at 16′. The Oboe is capped and modeled after a Skinner Flügelhorn. The lovely Kilgen Clarinet fits nicely into the Kegg design.

The Pedal has the foundation needed for the organ. The 16′ Principal unit of 56 pipes provides stops at 16′, 8′, and 4′. This is the only flue stop that is not under expression. It grows in volume as you ascend the scale and does so more than its manual counterparts. Because of this, it is easy to have the Pedal be independent and prominent when needed for polyphonic music. This stop joins the Great Principal and Octave, all playing at 8′ pitch, to make the 8′ Solo Diapason III, a Kegg exclusive. With three 8′ diapasons at one time, it is similar in effect to a First Open for both solo and chorus work where a firm 8′ line is required.

The console provides all the features expected in a first-class instrument today including unlimited combination memory, multiple Next/Previous pistons, bone and rosewood keys and, of course, the Kegg signature pencil drawer and cup holder. 

The original 1931 organ was covered by a gray painted wood and cloth grill. The new organ façade design was inspired by the building age and funds, but mostly by the significant stone door that dominates the rear wall. This is not a formal case, but it is more than a simple fence row. The stone door is massive and will always be visually dominating, so it is natural to acknowledge it and build from it. The center façade section pipe toes sit atop the lintel with the tops dipping down to mirror the brick arch above, making space for the Pontifical Trumpet to seemingly float. The center section sits 5 inches behind the side bass sections, giving more depth to the visual effect. Viewing the façade from any angle other than head-on, it becomes sculptural.  

This was an exceptionally exciting and enjoyable project for us. The enthusiasm, interest, and complete cooperation from the seminarians and staff were a daily spiritual boost for the entire Kegg team. This organ was installed in nine days, ready to be voiced, due largely to the excellent working conditions. Many thanks to James Cardinal Stafford, Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila, Dr. Mark Lawlor, and all our new friends at St. John Vianney.

—Charles Kegg

President and Artistic Director

 

The Kegg team:

Philip Brown

Michael Carden

Cameron Couch

Joyce Harper

Charles Kegg  

Philip Laakso 

Bruce Schutrum

Ben Schreckengost

Dwayne Short

 

GREAT (manual II, enclosed)

8′ Solo Diapason III (fr Gt 8′, 4′, Ped 8′)

8′ Principal (61 pipes)

8′ Concert Flute (1–32 existing, 33–73 

    new pipes)

8′ Dulciana (61 existing pipes)

8′ Unda Maris (TC, 49 pipes)

4′ Octave (73 pipes)

4′ Harmonic Flute (ext 8′)

2′ Fifteenth (ext 4′ Octave)

IV Mixture (2′, 244 pipes)

8′ Clarinet (61 existing pipes)

Tremulant

8′ Trumpet (Sw)

8′ Pontifical Trumpet (TC, 39 pipes, 

    C13–D51, polished brass, flared 

    bells, high pressure)

Chimes (console preparation)

Great 16

Great Unison Off

Great 4

8 stops, 11 ranks, 661 pipes

SWELL (manual III, enclosed)

16′ Gedeckt (73 existing pipes)

8′ Diapason (73 existing pipes)

8′ Gedeckt (ext 8′)

8′ Salicional (61 existing pipes)

8′ Voix Céleste (TC, 49 existing pipes)

4′ Principal (ext 8′)

4′ Harmonic Flute (73 existing pipes)

22⁄3′ Nazard (TC, 49 existing pipes)

2′ Flute (ext 4′)

13⁄5′ Tierce (TC, console preparation)

11⁄3′ Larigot (fr 22⁄3′)

IV Mixture (244 pipes)

16′ Trumpet (85 pipes)

8′ Trumpet (ext 16′)

8′ Oboe (61 pipes)

4′ Clarion (ext 16′)

Tremulant

Swell 16

Swell Unison Off

Swell 4

9 stops, 12 ranks, 768 pipes

CHOIR (manual I, enclosed with Great)

8′ Concert Flute (Gt)

8′ Dulciana (Gt)

8′ Unda Maris (TC, Gt)

4′ Principal (Gt 4′)

4′ Flute (fr Gt 8′)

2′ Octave (fr Gt 4′ Octave)

8′ Oboe (Sw)

8′ Clarinet (Gt)

Tremulant

8′ Pontifical Trumpet (Gt)

Choir 16

Choir Unison Off

Choir 4

PEDAL

32′ Resultant (derived)

16′ Principal (56 pipes)

16′ Subbass (44 existing pipes)

16′ Gedeckt (Sw)

8′ Octave (ext 16′)

8′ Subbass (ext 16′)

8′ Gedeckt (Sw)

4′ Choral Bass (ext 16′)

32′ Harmonics (derived)

16′ Trumpet (Sw)

8′ Trumpet (Sw)

4′ Clarinet (Gt)

2 stops, 2 ranks, 100 pipes

 

INTER-DIVISIONAL COUPLERS

Great to Pedal 8

Great to Pedal 4

Swell to Pedal 8

Swell to Pedal 4

Choir to Pedal 8

Choir to Pedal 4

Swell to Great 16

Swell to Great 8

Swell to Great 4

Choir to Great 16

Choir to Great 8

Choir to Great 4

Swell to Choir 16

Swell to Choir 8

Swell to Choir 4

Great/Choir Transfer

 

ADJUSTABLE COMBINATIONS

14 General pistons (1–14 thumb, 1–10 toe)

6 Great pistons (thumb)

6 Swell pistons (thumb)

6 Choir pistons (thumb)

4 Pedal pistons (toe)

General Cancel (thumb)

Set (thumb)

Range (thumb)

Undo (thumb)

Clear (thumb)

Next (General piston sequencer, 4 thumb, 1 toe)

Previous (2 thumb)

30 memories per User, unlimited Users

 

REVERSIBLES

Great to Pedal (thumb and toe)

Swell to Pedal (thumb)

Choir to Pedal (thumb)

Full Organ (thumb and toe)

32′ Harmonics (toe)

 

ACCESSORIES

Balanced Swell expression pedal

Balanced Great/Choir expression pedal

Balanced Crescendo pedal (2 memory adjustable, with numeric indicator)

Full Organ indicator

Transposer

Concave and radiating pedal clavier

Adjustable bench

 

TONAL RESOURCES

19 Stops, 25 Ranks, 1,529 Pipes

 

Organbuilder website: www.keggorgan.com

 

Seminary website: http://sjvdenver.edu

Glück Pipe Organs,

New York, New York

Saint Patrick Catholic Church,

Huntington, New York

 

Roosevelt Organ No. 408

In 2003, I purchased Frank Roosevelt’s three-manual, thirty-six rank Organ No. 408 before the wrecking ball struck Brooklyn’s Schermerhorn Street Evangelical Lutheran Church. The Roosevelt organ, contracted for in 1888, begun in 1889, and completed the following year, enjoyed renown while Franz Liszt’s student, Hugo Troetschel, presented 250 bi-weekly recitals during his 52-year tenure as organist. As the Roosevelt organ was being dismantled, a project was initiated for it to be reconstituted in its historic configuration for Princeton University under the aegis of the late David Messineo, university organist. Dr. Messineo’s vision was to install it within the 1916 Aeolian organ case in Proctor Hall, which had been designed by Ralph Adams Cram as the elegant graduate dining hall of the campus. The Aeolian was supplanted by a Gress-Miles organ in 1968, but we felt that bringing the Roosevelt there, with a replica of its original console and limited combination system, would give students an accurate idea of what an untouched Roosevelt sounded like, and more importantly, how it would have to be played without modern solid-state equipment. Upon Dr. Messineo’s death in June 2004, the project abruptly was ended, so I reserved the material within our company’s selection of heritage pipework until such time as a suitable home could be found for it. 

A decade after saving the Roosevelt from the landfill, it became obvious that it would take a very special type of church, synagogue, homeowner, or school to take the leap of faith to historically reconstruct a heritage cultural property that they could not hear or see. I was left with little choice but to market the Roosevelt as the core of a new instrument, but did not wish to disperse it rank-by-rank, the fate of so many antique instruments. With the understanding that its genes had to carry on in a different way, I knew it was unlikely that all of it could be used, and some contemporary tonal elements might be included to make it viable for modern musical ministry. The goal was to keep its spirit alive.

 

The opportunity presents itself

Saint Patrick Catholic Church is a vast, lofty, reverberant building constructed in 1962 and equipped with M. P. Möller’s Opus 9751 from the start. That gallery organ was the unfortunate product of the joint influence of the firm’s “special tonal consultant,” Ernest White, and their tonal director, John Hose. Too small for the room and voiced barely to energize the pipes, it was from its inception frustratingly inadequate for liturgical use. Sparse allocation of the organ’s twenty-one ranks among three manuals and pedal forced the elimination of essential voices in what likely should have been a well-appointed two-manual instrument. Subsequent alterations to the stoplist accomplished nothing, and the organ was still suffering mechanically after technical work was executed. Upon careful examination, I determined that insurmountable scaling irregularities precluded it from forming an effective core for a new instrument, and that the parish would accrue no benefit from retaining any of its mechanical infrastructure.

I entered into a situation for which ideas already had been presented, so as an architect, organist, and organbuilder, I had to make my case with clarity as the last man “at bat,” and had to risk proposing something so different that it would either be rejected or embraced. I proposed that the Roosevelt organ be incorporated into two new organs at either end of the building, controlled by twin mobile consoles that emphasized the elegant richness of natural materials so that the organs would not be seen as utilities. A single aggressive organ blasting from one end of the very long room would be less effective than two more elegantly voiced instruments dividing the task. With no substantive literature written for an “antiphonal” division, I chose a modified continental model. The labor is divided between the two organs, but the use of assisted rather than mechanical action would make them playable separately, together, or simultaneously by musicians at either end of the building.

Countless volunteer consultants offered their strong opinions about tonal design, builders, and the merits of pipeless sounds, with a nebulous consensus that the Möller organ should be rebuilt, supplemented by an “antiphonal” division, real or artificial. The prevailing notion that circuits and speaker cabinets could fill the artistic gaps with a shrug of the shoulders was proclaimed the path of least resistance. Swimming with vigor against that tide, I proposed two complete all-pipe organs of contrasting character, albeit constitutive elements of a grander whole.

There is always room for a pipe organ, even if there is not the willingness. Each house of prayer holds only so many people and will accommodate the appropriate number of pipes to accompany their voices. Despite the absence of sanctuary chambers and the cries of “no room for pipes,” I proposed the centuries-old practice of suspending the chancel cases from the sheer walls of the building, and designed the large gallery case to embrace the rose window. The organs’ cases complement the architecture without distracting from liturgical proceedings, and the chancel cases are located high enough to remain in tune with the gallery organ.

I am grateful to have worked with and for composer, conductor, organist, and tenor Matthew Koraus, FAGO, director of music, whose enormous talent, vision, commitment, and patience helped bring two new organs to the parish.

 

The new instruments

Roosevelt’s standard wind pressure of 31⁄2 inches determined the wind pressure used for the Saint Patrick instruments. The Roosevelt pipes, once cleaned and winded, would dictate to me the tonal direction of the organ’s new stops. Roosevelt’s work after the first few years deliberately followed a template from which the firm rarely deviated, so even the presumption of “what would the company produce today?” was treading on thin ice. The historical material was a point of departure in a new venture.

Visually, my mission was to design three organ cases that acknowledged the modernity of the church building but would bear my stamp as an architectural classicist. Following half a century of blank white walls, the size and depth of the cases, particularly those that flank the sanctuary, presented “the shock of the new” to some parishioners. With choirs, orchestras, and congregation surrounded and coordinated by sound, the new arrangement has been fully embraced. With a sumptuous mobile console at each end of the building, the liturgical and musical flexibility, and the ability for two musicians to play simultaneously, have fostered a new understanding of the organist’s duties in the parish.

The Gallery Great is anchored by a 16′ Violone, which was rebuilt from the Möller Pedal 16′ Principal. This gives the reader a good idea of just how under-scaled the Möller instrument was. The Roman-mouthed Roosevelt Great 16′ Double Open Diapason—gilded, stenciled, and sand painted—had to be abandoned with the magnificent case in Brooklyn, and sadly went down with the building. Soaring harmonic flutes stand alongside Roosevelt’s signature double-mouthed flute, as well as his wonderful 8′ Trumpet with tin-rich resonators and schiffschen shallots. 

The Great Chorus Mixture is composed slightly lower than most and voiced with some restraint. The original Roosevelt tierce mixture could not be retained as a second mixture for budgetary reasons, and with only one mixture in the division, I opted for a new quint mixture for clarity. The Roosevelt Great tierce mixture has found a new home; it is being included in our firm’s reconstruction of Roosevelt Organ No. 4 of 1873, his earliest surviving effort, at The College of Mount Saint Vincent, overlooking the Hudson River. The Great Mixture had been stolen from that organ in 1969, and the Brooklyn stop will sing again among its siblings. 

The Swell harbors the largest concentration of original tone with nine Roosevelt ranks. The warm 8′ Diapason, often absent from the American Swell, supplants the ubiquitous addiction to the 16′ Bourdon. The new Plein Jeu lends clarity to the Pedal when coupled, with no break from its 15-19-22 composition until G#33. With space and budget for only one Cornet combination, it was placed in the Swell, where it is under expression, can be folded into the reeds, and can enter into dialogue with either the Corno di Bassetto or Clarinet. The Swell reeds are rich and warm for anthem work, a balance made possible by the more brilliant manual reeds elsewhere in the organ.

The Choir division is cast with a nod toward traditional structure, without taking it too far into the neo-Classical realm.  The new muted undulant is completely uncharacteristic of Roosevelt’s work; both brothers preferred a second Choir 8′ string of contrasting character, and the Unda Maris appeared in a mere one percent of their 538-instrument output. Tenor C of the Dulciana is marked #400 408 ECHO Choir DULCET G. MACK JULY 1889; this rank was originally built as the 4′ Dulcet for Roosevelt’s 1892 four-manual, 109-rank magnum opus No. 400 for the Chicago Auditorium Theatre, the pipes for which were in production at the same time. The division’s flute choir and subtle Carillon are joined by a notably bold 8′ Corno di Bassetto. Two commanding Trumpets, one enclosed and one not, play from the Choir manual but are not necessarily of the Choir. The new Herald Trumpet, voiced on six inches wind pressure, is in the expression enclosure, and the 8′ Tromba is the former Swell 8′ Cornopean. At six-inch scale with harmonic spotted metal resonators, it was incorporated into the Saint Patrick Pedal as an 8′ and 4′ unit, with the top 17 pipes retained for its use as a powerful manual Trumpet for processions and fanfares and to cap the full organ without standing apart.

The Gallery Pedal is a stack of independent flue ranks, with Roosevelt’s seismic 16′ Open Wood Bass sitting beneath purely tuned 102⁄3′, 62⁄5′, and 44⁄7′ pitches in the bass to reinforce the 32′ line. The magnificently brassy, rolling 16′ Trombone, with its wooden shallots and blocks and sleeved zinc resonators, is so powerful that it triggered burglar alarms and summoned police during the tonal finishing phase of the project. 

The partially unified organ flanking the sanctuary supports and encourages congregational singing by helping to maintain coordination, tempo, and pitch. The front organ is of a lighter and gentler character than the main organ because of its use in more intimate services and its proximity to the parishioners and clergy, yet it is still large enough to use for the performance of a sizable segment of the concert literature.

The sparkling Great and Positiv inhabit the Gospel case and the mellower Swell, with its Skinner-style Flügel Horn, is in the Epistle case. Roosevelt’s splendid Clarinet takes up residence in the Positiv, and the three 16′ Pedal stops (string, flute, and warm reed) keep the bottom from dropping out. The instrument enjoys its own personality, with the resources to enhance liturgy and to acquit a respectable body of the literature. The two cases are widely spaced. There is directional distinction and balances must be heard in the room, yet the acoustic brings them together in the nave.

The combined organs easily lead large choral forces, support full congregational singing, and contain gentle, accompanimental voices at both ends of the building to provide subtle, evocative, and meditative effects for life cycle events and introspective portions of the Mass. Over the centuries, organbuilders and composers have established particular conventions regarding which stops and combinations of stops must “live” in particular divisions, and if these rules are set aside, many works cannot be played as intended. I have tried to honor those requirements in the design of this dual instrument.

Pipe organ building is an interdisciplinary craft, and every instrument, traditionally the vision of the tonal director, is a group effort. In addition to our significant suppliers (OSI, A. R. Schopp’s Sons, and Peterson Electro-Musical Products), these instruments were made possible by the capable staff of Glück Pipe Organs: Albert Jensen-Moulton, general manager; and technicians Joseph di Salle, Dominic Inferrera, Dan Perina, the late Peter Jensen-Moulton, and Robert Rast.

—Sebastian Matthäus Glück

 

Builder’s website:

www.gluckpipeorgans.com

 

Church websites:

stpatrickchurchhunt.org

stpatrickhuntingtonmusic.weebly.com

 

GALLERY GREAT – Manual II

16′ Violone 61 m

8′ Open Diapason 61 m

8′ Violoncello (ext 16′) 12 m

8′ Concert Flute [a]

8′ Doppelflöte 61 w R

4′ Principal 61 m

4′ Flauto Traverso (harm.) 61 w&m

2′ Fifteenth 61 m

IV Chorus Mixture 244 m

8′ Trumpet 61 m R

Zimbelstern

8′ Herald Trumpet (Choir)

GALLERY SWELL – Manual III

8′ Diapason 61 m R

8′ Cor de Nuit 61 w R

8′ Salicional 61 m R

8′ Voix Céleste 61 m R

4′ Principal 61 m R

4′ Flûte Harmonique 61 m R

22⁄3′ Nazard 61 m

2′ Octavin (tapered, harm.) 61 m R

13⁄5′ Tierce 61 m

III–IV Plein Jeu 212 m

16′ Bassoon (ext 8′ Hautboy) 12 m

8′ Trumpet 61 m

8′ Hautboy 61 m R

8′ Vox Humana 61 m R

Tremulant

GALLERY CHOIR – Manual I

8′ Violoncello (Great)

8′ Dulciana 61 m R

8′ Unda Maris (TC) 49 m

8′ Gedeckt 61 w R

4′ Gemshorn (cylindrical) 61 m R

4′ Flûte d’Amour 61 w R

2′ Blockflöte 61 m

II Carillon 122 m

8′ Corno di Bassetto 61 m

Tremulant

16′ Herald Trumpet (TC, fr 8′)

8′ Herald Trumpet 61 m

8′ Tromba [b] 17 m R

GALLERY PEDAL

32′ Double Diapason [c] 12 w

16′ Open Wood Bass 32 w R

16′ Violone (Great)

16′ Subbass 32 w R

16′ Lieblich Gedeckt 12 w R

    (ext Choir 8′ Gedeckt)

8′ Principal 32 m

8′ Violoncello (Great)

8′ Bass Flute (ext 16′) 12 w R

8′ Gedeckt (Choir)

4′ Fifteenth 32 m R

4′ Gedeckt (Choir)

2′ Bauernflöte 32 m

32′ Harmonics [d] 38 m

16′ Trombone (maple shallots)

32 m R

16′ Bassoon (Swell)

8′ Trumpet 32 m R

8′ Bassoon (Swell)

4′ Clarion (ext 8′) 12 m R

CHANCEL GREAT– Manual II

8′ Open Diapason 61 m

8′ Spitzflöte 61 m

4′ Principal 61 m

2′ Fifteenth (ext 8′ Open) 24 m

IV Mixture 244 m

CHANCEL POSITIV – Manual I

8′ Rohrgedeckt 61 w&m

4′ Offenflöte (ext Gt 8′ Spitz) 12 m

2′ Nachthorn (ext 8′ Rohr) 24 m

11⁄3′ Quintflöte 49 m

    (top octave repeats)

1′ Zimbelpfeife (8′ Rohr)

8′ Clarinet 61 m R

Tremulant

CHANCEL SWELL – Manual III

8′ Viola 61 m

8′ Viola Céleste (TC) 49 m

8′ Holzgedeckt 61 w

4′ Fugara (ext 8′ Viola) 12 m

4′ Koppelflöte 52 m

      (C1–G#9 Gedeckt)

2′ Piccolo (ext 8′ Holzged) 24 m

8′ Flügel Horn 61 m

Tremulant

CHANCEL PEDAL

16′ Contrabasso (ext Sw Viola) 12 m

16′ Sub Bass (ext Pos Rohr) 12 w

8′ Principal 32 m

8′ Spitzflöte (Great)

8′ Viola (Sw)

8′ Rohrbordun (Positiv)

4′ Choral Bass (ext 8′ Princ) 12 m

4′ Offenflöte (Positiv)

16′ Waldhorn (ext Flügel Hn) 12 m

8′ Flügel Horn (Swell)

4′ Clarinet (Positiv)

 

 

 

 

[a] C1–B12 common with Doppelflöte, C13–C61 from Flauto Traverso

[b] Unenclosed; extension of Pedal 8′ Tromba

[c] Independent 102⁄3′ stoppered pipes play with 16′ Open Wood for C1–B12; breaks to 32′ Open Wood at C13

[d] 102⁄3′ wood + 62⁄5′ metal + 44⁄7′ metal (with internal chimneys); composition changes as it ascends the scale, with mutations dropping out

m = metal

w = wood

R = Roosevelt

 

Chancel Organ: Opus 16 (16 ranks, 1,058 pipes)

Gallery Organ: Opus 17 (46 ranks, 2,564 pipes)

Dedicated September 14, 2014

Gallery: Blackinton slider chests; chancel: electric valve chests with reeds in electropneumatic pouch chests.