Bedient installs Opus 82 in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin

Bedient Pipe Organ Company, Roca, Nebraska
Residence of Elaine Mann,
Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin
In August, Gene Bedient installed and voiced Bedient Opus 82 at the home of Elaine Mann, Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. Ms. Mann is organist at Grace Lutheran Church, Eau Claire, Wisconsin. She has written following the installation: “I just want you to know how happy I am with the organ. It is a dream come true.”
The intent was to design and build a small, encased organ with sensitive but not fragile suspended action, an ideal instrument for practicing. It features keyboards with natural playing surfaces of blackwood and accidentals of hard maple. The 30-note concave-radiating pedalboard has oak and maple playing surfaces. Wind is supplied from a small wedge bellows that is located in the top of the organ case.

MANUAL I
8′ Rohrflute (58 pipes)

MANUAL II
8′ Gedackt 8 (46 pipes; 1–12 common with Rohrflute)

PEDAL
Manual II/Pedal

 

R. T. Swanson, Inc.,
Grand Ledge, Michigan
Salem Lutheran Church,
Owosso, Michigan
Salem Lutheran Church was established in 1862, and its current edifice was built in 1893. The church’s first pipe organ was built by the Reuter Organ Company of Lawrence, Kansas in 1922 as Opus 70. This two-manual, 11-rank instrument was installed in a chamber located to the left of the chancel and above the sacristy. In 1964, William Kaltrider of Owosso, Michigan, relocated the organ to the rear gallery and added a new console and seven new ranks.
Deteriorating leather and other problems caused the church to request a proposal from our company. We agreed to build an essentially new organ of 21 ranks, reusing three ranks of the 1922 pipework and all seven ranks of the 1964 pipework. All of the old pipework was reconditioned and revoiced in order to blend with the new. While the 1964 console was recycled, it was refitted with new manual keyboards with rosewood naturals and maple sharps and new drawknobs. A new solid-state combination action and relay system were provided, which feature full MIDI capability. Action is electro-mechanical.
The new casework was designed to be in architectural harmony with the 1893 structure and is cantilevered into the room in order to provide better projection for the Great division. The new Swell enclosure helps focus and project the Swell division’s tone. Wind pressures are 3″ for the Great and 4½″ for the Swell.
—Richard Swanson

GREAT
16′ Rohrflöte (ext 8′)
8′ Principal
8′ Rohrflöte
8′ Gemshorn
4′ Octave
4′ Hohlflöte
22⁄3′ Twelfth
2′ Fifteenth
11⁄3′ Mixture III
8′ Trompete
Chimes
MIDI on Great
Great to Great 16, UO, 4
Swell to Great 16, 8, 4

SWELL
8′ Holzgedeckt
8′ Viole de Gambe
8′ Voix Celeste TC
4′ Principal
4′ Spitzflöte
22⁄3′ Nazard TC
2′ Octave (ext 4′ Principal)
2′ Spitzflöte (ext 4′ Spitzflöte)
11⁄3′ Larigot (ext 22⁄3′)
13⁄5′ Tierce TC
Tremulant
8′ Hautbois
MIDI on Swell
Swell to Swell 16, UO, 4

PEDAL
32′ Resultant
16′ Subbass
16′ Rohrbass (Gt)
8′ Octave
8′ Bassflöte (ext 16′ Subbass)
8′ Gemshorn (Gt)
4′ Superoctave (ext 8′ Octave)
4′ Flöte (ext 16′ Subbass)
2′ Twentysecond (ext 8′ Octave)
16′ Posaune (ext Gt 8′ Trompete)
8′ Trompete (Gt)
4′ Hautbois (Sw)
MIDI on Pedal
Great to Pedal 8, 4
Swell to Pedal 8, 4

Bedient Pipe Organ Company, Roca, Nebraska

John Griffen Residence, Seattle, Washington

Flexibility is not the first trait that comes to mind when contemplating centuries of organbuilding tradition. But, to John Griffen, that attribute was critical in choosing Bedient Pipe Organ Company to build his residence organ. Based on our Phoenix model (one of nine instruments in our Legacy Line), Opus 77 represents Bedient’s ability to listen to customers and respond.

Opus 77 is a two-manual and pedal organ with 12 stops, electric stop and combination action, and mechanical key action. The case and external wooden pipes are made of mahogany, with the internal wooden pipes made of poplar. The metal pipes are an alloy of 2% tin and 98% lead with the façade pipes featuring 23-karat gold-leaf gilding around the mouths.

The keyboard naturals are topped with bone, and the accidentals with ebony. Pedal naturals are made of white oak, and the accidentals are capped with moridillo. Stopknobs are made of cocobola. The pipe shade design, influenced by drawings by the French Baroque painter Jacques Stella, features an acanthus leaf and shell motif; the shades are made of linden or basswood. Manual and pedal windchests are slider chests. Some offset chests are tubular pneumatic, and others are electro-pneumatic, played by relay switches from the manual windchests.

Because the instrument is located in the Griffen residence, Bedient’s craftspeople first had to shrink the original Bedient Legacy Line Phoenix organ’s already compact size to fit into a room only 12’ x 22’ feet with a height of 9’8?. Our designer, Alan Baehr, accomplished this by subtracting nearly a foot from both case height and depth dimensions. The specification of this instrument was modified to meet Mr. Griffen’s needs and wishes for playing organ literature. In this case, the Great includes a Rohrflute 8’ in addition to the Principal 8’. Vibrant stops such as the Mixture and Cromorne were omitted from the specification due to the modest space occupied by the organ. The Quinte and Terz stops were put on the second manual instead of the first manual, where they usually reside on the Phoenix model.

Other modifications include Mr. Griffen’s request for a bass octave for the Principal 8’, normally a tenor c stop on the Phoenix. Those extra wooden pipes of the Principal and the bass of the Rohrflute are located to the back and side of the organ case. The organ also includes a Zimbelstern.

Delivery, installation, and voicing were in June 2005. John Griffen is currently playing a series of dedication recitals for friends.

—Gene Bedient


GREAT

8’ Principal

8’ Rohrflute

4’ Octave

2’ Octave

SWELL

8’ Gedackt

8’ Salicional (tc)

4’ Spitzflute

22?3’ Quinte

2’ Doublette

13?5’ Terz

PEDAL

16’ Subbass

8’ Flute

Couplers, etc.

Great/Pedal

Swell/Pedal

Swell/Great

Zimbelstern

Tremulant



Marceau & Associates Pipe Organ Builders, Inc., Portland, Oregon, has built a Choir Organ with remote console for St. Mark Lutheran Church, Anchorage, Alaska. Marceau’s Opus XXV, which was completed in 2005, comprises one manual of 56 notes. This organ was installed in the rear gallery of the church to allow for the choir to assemble and present repertoire from the rear of the church. The portable console allows for it to be located either in the gallery or in the front next to the existing Kenneth Jones pipe organ. This instrument has also been used in the church’s ongoing concert series. The organist is Caroline Valentine. The façade comprises pipes from the 8’ Gedeckt (1–7) and 4’ Harmonic Flute (1–7).

MANUAL (56 notes)

8’ Gedeckt (1–12 zinc, 13–56 50% tin)

8’ Salicional (1–12 zinc & Haskell style, 13–56 50% tin)

4’ Harmonic Flute (1–12 zinc, 13–56 50% tin)

by Marcia Van Oyen

Fifty-two registrants from 21 states gathered in sun-soaked Lincoln, Nebraska for the 21st annual University of Nebraska-Lincoln Organ Conference held September 17-19, 1998. The title of the conference was "Perspectives on Recent and Future American Organbuilding," with five organbuilders invited to give lectures: Gene Bedient, John Brombaugh, Steven Dieck of C.B. Fisk, Manuel Rosales, and George Taylor. Gene Bedient immediately answered a question which had been on my mind by saying that all organbuilding is historically informed to some degree, suggesting that a better term would be "historically inspired." In the case of the five builders represented at the UNL conference, being historically inspired indicates producing instruments which emulate specific features of European organbuilding of past centuries. The list of historic attributes these builders employ includes mechanical action, low wind pressure, wedge bellows, stop nomenclature, flat pedal boards, mechanisms such as ventils, shove couplers, split keys and short octaves, 56 or 58 note keyboards, elements of case design, and of course, scaling and voicing appropriate to replicating historic sounds. These builders have comprehensive knowledge about historical styles developed through extensive study of instruments built by Schnitger, Silbermann, Clicquot, and Cavaillé Coll, among others, and working under the tutelage of builders such as von Beckerath, Flentrop, Noack and Fisk.

Each builder was given a two-hour time slot to reflect on his work and to address the following questions:

How have your organs been influenced by historic organs? By today's practices?

What is the future of historically informed organbuilding?

Can you envision your firm being influenced by the American Classic style of organbuilding?

How have your perspectives on organbuilding and your instruments changed over the years?

What organbuilding problems or questions currently interest you?

What new directions might your firm take in the future?

What do you consider to be your most important contributions to American organbuilding?

 In the mahogany-paneled conference room of the Wick Alumni Center, armed with slides and specifications, each builder spoke about his background, how he got established in organbuilding, and shared information about his most important projects.

Builders' Lectures

Gene Bedient took the audience on a tour of his opus list, narrating his slide presentation with descriptions of the historic influences and techniques used in building each instrument. Bedient's early work is concentrated on the 18th-century French and North German styles, perhaps culminating in the organ built for St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, an approximation of the French classic style, complete with marche pied pedal board. Opus 22, a two-manual organ for the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Charleston, South Carolina completed in 1987, brought a transition to the 19th-century French style. Organs for St. Rita Catholic Church, Dallas, Texas (1992), and Idlewild Presbyterian Church, Memphis, Tennessee (1989), were also built along French 19th-century lines, including ventils, orage, and octaves graves couplers. Opus 52 and Opus 53, completed in 1996 and 1997 respectively, incorporated American Classic ideas, combining North German elements in the Great and Pedal with French ideas in the Swell, in one case retaining a contrebasse in the pedal on 5≤ of wind and providing a concave-radiating pedal board. At that time, work was in progress on a Spanish-style instrument for the Cathedral of St. Vincent de Paul in Omaha.

Bedient concluded his lecture by outlining his contributions to the field of organbuilding: educating American organists about French instruments by building historically-inspired instruments, interesting children in the pipe organ, promoting the viability of small instruments, educating people about the cost of a pipe organ, and efficiency and production control. He summarized his view of the American Classic organ as including standard 61-note keyboards, a concave-radiating pedal board, combination action, and equal temperament, with a main goal of the style being accessibility.

John Brombaugh took a conversational approach in his lecture, relating his early fascination with Hammond organs and love for the sound of old organs which developed from listening to recordings made by E. Power Biggs. He has been strongly influenced by North German organs, having spent time working in Hamburg, and receiving training from Noack, Fisk, and von Beckerath. Brombaugh is particularly fascinated with old Dutch instruments, most notably those in Gronigen, which he toured with Harald Vogel.

Reminding the audience that the organ is primarily a musical instrument, one of the oldest types of instruments in existence, Brombaugh asserted that ancient organs were very musical, and music was written for them because of their sounds, rather than the present practice of building organs to accommodate repertoire. He sees great value in studying organs older than those of the North German and French Classic styles. He also added that he believes all major cultural centers need mean-tone organs in order to hear early music in the temperament for which it was written. Brombaugh sees historic instruments as the basis and foundation for his work, and uses them as a guide to help him develop his own style. He believes organs built today according to historical styles will not be exact copies, but will bear the mark of the individual builder, in his case a strong North German accent. This belief influenced his choice of the Italian style for the organ he built for Duke University chapel since he felt he could build an Italian-style instrument most authentically, providing a good contrast to the Flentrop and Skinner organs already in the chapel. 

Brombaugh entertained questions from the audience, one of which spurred a discussion about acoustics in American churches and whether or not they provide a hospitable environment for European/historic organ sounds. He responded by saying American organbuilding has developed and evolved despite acoustical limitations, and organbuilders having developed ways of dealing with those conditions, adding that one has to be realistic about what he's building. He suggested the best way to approach bad acoustics is to keep in mind the functions the organ needs to fulfill, especially in relation to congregational singing.

Anticipation was in the air as Steve Dieck approached the podium, tacitly acknowledging the Fisk company's lofty stature in the organ-building world and expectation that the lecture would be first-rate. We were not disappointed. Dieck laid the groundwork for his remarks by suggesting that Fisk's work has always been influenced by historic instruments.  He construes such instruments as tools to help us become informed about a particular style. He believes the American approach is to take elements from the past and combine them into something new, aspiring to create instruments that can "do it all." Citing the work of G. Donald Harrison, Holtkamp, and Schlicker, Dieck proposed that his firm and others are continuing the American Classic style, a remark which elicited a noticeable shuffling among the other builders present. Dieck said that working with clients guides eclecticism through discussions about their needs and wants, adding that organbuilders are always learning. Following his studies at DePauw University, Dieck apprenticed with Charles Fisk. He had originally investigated studying in Germany with von Beckerath, but von Beckerath advised him to work with Fisk.

Pointing out the noteworthy features of each project, Dieck focussed his remarks on the innovations and eclectic qualities of the following Fisk instruments, in addition to citing historic influences: Wellesley College, Mount Holyoke College, the University of Michigan, Memorial Church at Stanford University, Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University, House of Hope Presbyterian Church, Meyerson Symphony Center, and Rice University. Interspersed among his slides of facades and keyboards were many photos of the internal details of the instruments. A highlight of the slide presentation was pictures taken during the assembly of the Meyerson organ, including the 32' pipes being hoisted into place. As we viewed those slides, Dieck mentioned that one of the Fisk company's most important contributions has been success in the concert hall market.

Manuel Rosales began his organbuilding career by working at the Schlicker company, later establishing his own company at the prompting of Charles Fisk. He prefers not to focus on just one style, and has yet to build an organ than can "play it all." He believes it's important to build different types of organs, keeping in mind the needs of the client, especially when the client is a church. Although his earlier projects had been more eclectic, Rosales' Opus 14 for Mission San José in Fremont, California was inspired by the organs of Mexico and Spain, tuned in quarter-comma mean tone, which makes early music come alive. The organ for First Presbyterian Church, Oakland is the largest instrument Rosales has built and was inspired by Fisk's House of Hope organ, with an emphasis on early French and French romantic sounds. Here again, the topic of acoustics surfaced. Given a sanctuary with a dry acoustic, as in the case of First Presbyterian Oakland, Rosales said that to give the impression of a better acoustical environment, he gave the organ more strength to surround the listener with sound. Rosales also shared his thoughts about the organ at Rice University, a collaboration with Fisk, noting that it was his dream organ to build since it is very gratifying to build an instrument for a client whose wishes closely match his own ideas.

Of particular interest were Rosales' plans for an organ for the new Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, a performing arts center for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. Rosales has proposed an instrument which he describes as French/German/eclectic/ traditional/modern, designed to functional well with an orchestra, respect the music of the past, and stir up controversial ideas for the future. The Llamarada division will feature a battery of southern Californian/Spanish reeds, including a horizontal "Trompeta de Los Angeles." Following the architect's concept for the structure, which is based on curves and a scrupulous avoidance of straight lines, Rosales has explored the possibility of building curved wood pipes which will still be tonally functional.

George Taylor, a native of Virginia, has had a life-long friendship with John Boody, and in his early organ-building days worked with John Brombaugh as well. He spent three and a half years working under von Beckerath in Hamburg, an experience he says taught him the discipline he needed to be a successful organbuilder. Taylor has always been interested in all types of music and has a special fondness for hymn singing.  He was initially interested in more eclectic instruments and studied many American Classic stoplists, but soon became disillusioned with the style. The organs tended to "look great on paper," but he generally found the sounds disappointing and began to search for something musically more rewarding.

His early organbuilding days were characterized by experimentation. Recalling his exploration of the use of short keyboards and bone keys, Taylor recounted a memorable episode in which he ventured to the slaughterhouse to acquire the needed bone. Early projects reflected his experimental bent, and he cited organs built for a church in Vincennes, Indiana, for which he developed what he affectionately calls a "Hoosier flute," and a church in Charlottesville, Virginia which has shutters on the back of the Brustwerk.

Taylor spoke about his landmark instruments for St. Thomas Church in New York City and Holy Cross Chapel in Worcester, Massachusetts, both of whose cases were modeled on those of early Dutch instruments. He was much more animated, however, when he began to talk about a recent project--the restoration of a two-manual Tannenberg organ located at the Museum of Southern Decorative Arts in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Taylor treated the audience to a slide-show, giving us a glimpse into the painstaking work required to decipher the disparate components of the fragile treasure and bring its beautiful sounds to life again.

When the topic of acoustics surfaced once more, Taylor strongly recommended that builders always urge churches to improve their acoustics, even if they are already fairly good.  He believes acoustics are 80 percent of the success of any organ. He feels the biggest challenge for contemporary organbuilding in the United States is the wide variety of settings builders must work in. European builders in the past had much more consistency of venue.

Lunchtime Tours

On Friday, the conference schedule included an extended break in the middle of the day for lunch and visits to organs in Lincoln churches, provided one wasn't bothered by extensive walking in the sun and 90-degree heat. For a community of its size, the list of significant instruments in Lincoln is impressive. Participants could choose from the following array: 1969 4-manual Aeolian-Skinner at First Presbyterian, 1998 4-manual Schoenstein (then under construction) at First-Plymouth Congregational, 1991 3-manual Van Daalen at First Lutheran, an 1875 2-manual Kilgen at First Christian Science, 1984 3-manual Rieger, a 1976 3-manual Casavant at Westminster Presbyterian, and four 2-manual Bedient instruments, among others.

Christie Recital

On Friday evening conference participants were joined by a local audience for a recital played by James David Christie on the Hoesch Memorial Organ at Cornerstone Chapel. The instrument is Gene Bedient's Opus 8, a 20-stop, 2-manual tracker organ of 17th-century design. Not surprisingly, Christie's program featured 16th, 17th, and 18th-century music, including works by Buxtehude, Sweelinck, Scheidemann, Scheidt, Johann Bernard Bach, and Christie's own transcription of a Vivaldi concerto. His playing was rhythmically vibrant: spirited and buoyant in the quick tempos, sensitively nuanced on the slow pieces. The most striking element of his playing was the ornamentation. All too often, ornamentation is appended to early literature and the effect is like that of a stylish but ill-fitting suit which merely draws attention to itself. Christie's ornaments were a natural outgrowth of the music, fully integrated into the texture and rhythm. Located in the gallery of the intimate chapel, the Bedient organ has a commanding presence in the room, but is not piercing or overpowering. The sound has warmth and depth as well as an elegant clarity, enhanced by the organ's elevated position and the high ceiling and peaked roof of the chapel, whose acoustics hinted at ambience.

Panel Discussion

Each year, the conference closes with a panel discussion, allowing participants to interact with the lecturers and performers and formulate conclusions about conference topics. George Ritchie opened this year's discussion by suggesting that 20th-century organbuilding has swung back and forth between the eclecticism of the American Classic style and the purity of historic styles. He asked each of the builders to identify where along that continuum they are most comfortable; they offered a spectrum of responses.

Dieck said that historic builders continually developed their styles, and he feels that American builders should do likewise, continuing to grow as they interact with clients. Rosales said an organ such as the one at House of Hope goes too far, trying to do too many things. Instruments can be built to do one thing really well and other things reasonably well, though every organ should be suitable for playing Bach. Bedient believes the eclectic organ is a product of the need for organs to do many things since the role of the organ is different now than at any other time in history. He strives to build instruments which will be as useful as possible, serving the needs of his clients, although he admitted that hearing literature on the "right" instruments is preferable. Taylor wants to build instruments designed to accompany hymn singing and have a thrilling sound. He questioned whether certain historical sounds are right for American churches, adding that organs for our time need to be built the way we think they should sound. In small instruments, he noted that consistency is very important, but in larger instruments, eclectic questions surface. Small historical instruments have far more flexibility than one might imagine, however, he was quick to add. As he had stated in his lecture, Brombaugh believes that above all the organ must be a musical instrument and expressed dismay at recent developments which have gotten away from that. He sees the need for many different types of instruments, each of which can handle a specific literature.

When the floor was opened for questions from the audience, a participant commented that bringing the best of the past forward is good, but the use of short keyboards and flat pedal boards is a tragedy. Several others chimed in, expressing frustration with flat pedal boards, short-compass keyboards, and non-adjustable benches, viewing them as impediments. The builders were asked why they build short compass keyboards and flat pedal boards. Steve Dieck responded by saying that whatever we build, we're imitating European models, creating instruments like those for which the music was created. He noted that the concave pedal board is actually English. He prefers a flat pedal board because it's more sensitive with tracker action, adding that he sees a new American standard of building flat pedal boards developing. John Brombaugh gave the example of a project for which he provided two pedal boards--one flat, one concave--reporting that the flat pedal board is the one which is used regularly. His rationale for short compass keyboards is putting your energy where the notes are played most since the uppermost notes of the keyboard are used only one percent of the time. All of the builders acknowledged the need for the organist to be comfortable, however.

Another participant raised the subject of digital sounds and the use of MIDI. In response, Rosales queried, "Why have samples when you can have the real thing? Electronic sounds, even for 32' stops, are ghastly." Brombaugh agreed, adding his assertion that if an instrument incorporates electronic sounds then it's not truly a pipe organ. His colleagues nodded their assent.

Wanting to delve further into the American Classic issue, I asked the builders if they agreed with a statement Steve Dieck had made in his lecture proposing that their work is continuing the American Classic style. Bedient answered by saying the American Classic style has come to represent thin, uninteresting sounds, a departure from its early, much more colorful manifestations. Dieck reaffirmed the point he had made in his lecture, but also suggested that perhaps historic influences are handled differently now than they have been in the past. Taylor said it depends what you mean by the American Classic style: Does it refer to a console style? What are the style's characteristics in the minds of organists? Rosales thinks G. Donald Harrison was a great innovator and believes that had he lived longer, Harrison might have been building tracker organs. Tracker action is not tied to a particular sound in Rosales' mind.

One particularly astute participant commented that perhaps organbuilding at the end of the 20th century will ultimately define the American Classic style, rather than what has come before. I was left with the impression that there is much more to be explored on the subject, and made work of speaking with each of the builders one-on-one, in order to illuminate the intertwined paths of the so-called "historically inspired" and "American Classic" styles of organbuilding further. My findings will be presented in a future article.

The conference was excellent throughout. The subject matter was thoughtfully conceived and clearly outlined in the brochure promoting the event, and in fact, is what initially piqued my interest in attending. In just 48 hours, I received a fascinating glimpse into the world of organbuilding and a valuable opportunity to get a personal impression of the builders who are fundamentally shaping the pipe organ scene in this country. The program was ambitious, but the events were sensibly scheduled, allowing adequate time for breaks, meals, a stroll around town, and a peak into the UNL bookstore filled with Cornhusker regalia. The registration fee was an inexpensive $40 ($20 for students) and lodging prices were reasonable. I hadn't previously visited Nebraska and confess to having had stereotypes in my mind, but I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived. The vast flatness of the plains, congestion-free airport, and unpretentious affability of the citizens were refreshing. George Ritchie and his colleagues are providing a great service by offering this high quality educational opportunity each year.

Cover Feature

A. David Moore, North Pomfret, Vermont, Opus 27

The home of George Becker and Christo Bresnahan,

San Francisco, California

From the builder

Opus 27 is a compact two-manual organ designed to give the player the
greatest number of stop combinations and colors from a small stoplist. The
lower keyboard controls the Great, the upper the Positive. The manual compass
is 56 notes, and the straight pedalboard has 30 notes. Couplers include
Positive to Great, Positive to Pedal, Great to Pedal. The tremulant affects the
entire organ.

The Great has an 8' Clarabella, a 4' Principal in the display, Twelfth,
Fifteenth and Seventeenth. The Clarabella is scaled after examples found on
early Hook organs. The bass octave is stopped. Pipes from tenor C are of open
wood and of English style construction with the windway carved into the cap.
They are similar to early New England-style Stopped Diapason pipes without the
stopper. The blocks have a little step down after the front edge next to the
windway, which helps a great deal with the speech of the pipes. Provision of an
8' open stop on the Great allows for a rich plenum with a strong fundamental.
The Clarabella, drawn alone, serves as a distinctive foil to the 8' Stopped
Diapason. The Clarabella must not be confused with the Melodia, also an open 8'
stop. (The Melodia typically has an inverted mouth, a cap that protrudes over
the front of the pipe, more nicks, and a block, the top of which is curved
forward in various degrees depending on the builder.) Twenty-one Principal
pipes are in the display above the keyboards. The treble pipes are in the case,
followed, front to back, by Fifteenth, Twelfth and Seventeenth. Initially
conceived as a double draw Sesquialtera, it was thought better to separate the
two ranks to allow greater freedom of registration.

The Positive has an 8' Stopped Diapason of wood, a 4' Flute and an 8'
Trumpet. The Stopped Diapason is quite literally an open wood diapason which is
stopped, in the manner of early Hook and English examples. The speech has a
hint of quint and a subtle chiff. The Flute is of open wood pipes. The bass of
the Trumpet has wooden resonators, wooden blocks and shallots.
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> The blocks and shallots are turned (on
a South Bend lathe) from a single piece of wood. The inside bore of the shallot
is tapered. The tongue is held in place with a hardwood cleat and two small
wood screws. The opening in the shallot is tapered and milled into the wooden
face. The dimensions of shallot opening, bore, taper and resonator inside
diameters are close to eighteenth-century North European practice. The use of
wood for the shallot avoids the need for lead-faced shallots or leathered
shallot faces. The wood face, in terms of hardness, is somewhere between lead
or brass and a leathered surface. The brass tongues are fairly wide, thick, and
tapered. The lowest octave has wooden resonators which impart a strong
fundamental and circumvent concerns about collapse. Metal resonators are used
from 4' C with wood shallot-blocks; at middle C the resonators are metal, the
blocks lead and the shallots brass, much like an old North European Trumpet.
The Trumpet has a brightness of speech as well as a distinct and prominent
fundamental throughout. The Trumpet can be played either from the upper manual
or from the pedal, or on both manuals and pedal simultaneously. It is useful
for a cantus firmus, or for an independent pedal line when used with the 8' and
4' Positive stops against the lower manual plenum, and is satisfying as a solo
register.

The Pedal contains the 16' Subbass of butternut wood; the lowest six pipes
flank the manuals. The butternut, like most of the wood in the organ, was
felled on the North Pomfret Moore property. The logs were sawed into boards of
various thicknesses on a WoodMizer thin-kerf band sawmill. Much of the wood is
quarter sawn.

Metal in the Principal is lead with 28% tin. Smaller amounts of antimony,
bismuth and copper are added to the metal alloy. The melting pot holds 700 lbs
of metal. To this is added 1.25 lbs of antimony, .25 lbs of bismuth and 2.5 lbs
of copper. Copper seems to give the alloy a nice ringing sound. Antimony is
added to prevent metal collapse. Pipe metal was poured, hammered and fashioned
into pipes all in the Moore workshop. (A Dom Bédos-type hammering
machine, made by Dave Moore, graces the workshop and is used "once in a
while.") A new hammering machine that can automatically hammer a full
sheet of metal as it is taken from the casting table is now used. This machine
has 17 metal hammers that are raised and dropped onto the metal all at once,
covering the whole width of the sheet. The sheet is then advanced a fraction of
an inch and the hammers move over slightly. Metal hammered with this machine
prevents the "bacon effect" (caused by sheets of metal being hammered
on the edges more than in the middle, thus the sheet starts to get wavy like a
piece of cooked bacon). Hammering pipe metal is an old practice that hardens
the metal, optimizes pipe resonance and imparts a richness of timbre not
otherwise obtainable.

The metal pipework is voiced with fairly wide windways and regulation at the
toe hole for most stops. The toe holes are closed down until the volume of the
pipe is just right. In essence, an Open Diapason register would have pretty
much open toes in the mid range and then the treble pipes would be regulated a
bit at the top register. Toe regulation is important in stops above 4' pitch.
Thus with a 2' stop the windways are kept just right in the top octaves and the
volume is controlled at the toe. This keeps the top ranges of the stop from
being too loud and overpowering. This style of voicing, with moderate nicking,
is just about what the early New England organ builders practiced. One can
often find this type of voicing in various European styles. The pipes are cone
tuned.

The action is suspended, and is provided with easily accessible adjustment
nuts. Trackers are of wood with rolled threaded brass ends and wood or leather
nuts for adjustments. Some tracker ends have wires into the wooden trackers
that go through unbushed metal rollerboard arms. The pedal action has some felt
bushings and washers but the manual keyboards do not.

Winding for the organ is controlled by a small curtain valve. A small
single-fold reservoir is located at the bottom inside the case and feeds air to
three windchests through solid wood trunks in the manner of old instruments.
Pressure is 211/16 inches. Winding is flexible in that a sustained note in one
part of the keyboard is influenced by a moving passage in another part of the
register. The blower is a quiet operating Laukhuff. The tremulant is of the
tremblant doux type described by Dom Bédos and found on early French and
New England organs. A leather-covered door is poised at an angle in a horizontal
section of the main wind trunk. When the tremulant is engaged, the door
oscillates back and forth, creating fluctuation in the wind pressure and a
tremulant effect that varies depending on what is being played.

--A. David Moore

From the owner

I first met Dave Moore in 1970 when he was renting an apartment in the
Pigeon Cove house of Charlie and Ann Fisk. David apprenticed in the then small
Fisk shop before establishing his own workshop in North Pomfret, Vermont, where
he has been designing and building historically informed mechanical action
organs for over three decades. This unique builder has traveled extensively and
studied some of the finest old (and some new) organs of Germany, France, the
Netherlands, Denmark, Italy and England. He has a working knowledge of the
treatises of Clicquot and Dom Bédos. Living and working in New England,
he has acquired a knowledge, both intimate and scholarly, of the 18th- and
19th-century New England builders. His association with the likes of John Fesperman,
Barbara Owen, Fenner Douglass, Mark Brombaugh and Kevin Birch (to name but a
few) has contributed to his understanding of the organ and its music. (Indeed,
David himself is a quite respectable organist.)

Opus 27 was built almost entirely from trees harvested by David Moore on his
Vermont farm, from lead and tin melted, poured and hammered, and from cow
bones, fashioned into keys and stop labels, all in his workshop. When I visited
the shop in 2000 to see the progress of the instrument, boards for the Subbass
still had bark on them! Wood in the organ includes butternut, black cherry,
maple, ash, walnut, pine and oak. Basswood is used for the tableboards of the
windchests. Sliders are made of poplar. Pipe shades were designed by Tom Bowen
and carved by Dave Laro.

Working out the stoplist was an exciting process involving frequent e-mails,
conversations and a number of changes. The goal was to create an instrument of
character (Moore character) with a light, responsive suspended action, stops of
distinctive color, resilient winding, and a case which bespeaks its New England
roots.

Dave Moore and Thad Stamps drove the organ from North Pomfret to San
Francisco in 72 hours! Christo and I helped them unload pipetrays, blower and
organ parts into the modestly sized music room of our San Francisco Victorian.
Over the next three weeks the organ was erected and Dave completed tonal
finishing. The organ has an unmistakable character reflecting David's vision,
his New England craftsmanship and his musical genius. Opus 27 was celebrated
with a dedication recital played in January 2003 by Charles Krigbaum. At that
time Dave Moore gave a brief demonstration of the organ to an appreciative
audience.

Dave Moore prefers to avoid the term eclectic for his organs:

. . . the organs I've made have
a certain sound to them. Pretty full, quite a lot of fundamental, good solid
bass to most things, upperwork designed along the lines of early American
organs . . . I prefer not to have them labeled in any one way. If you say,
"This is an organ constructed after French principles," some people
think that all you can play on it is French music. I prefer to keep the stop
nomenclature in English, so that if someone comes along and says, "Aha!
This is very much like the old Dutch organs, it's perfect for that," they
play that music on it and they're very happy . . . You're much better off if
you can accept an instrument for what it is and play what you can on it.1

Although I have found the organ especially appropriate for playing Bach,
Sweelinck and their contemporaries (having myself played many old organs of
Holland and North and Central Germany), opus 27 does admirably well with the
likes of Franck, Hindemith, Pinkham and Hampton. David Moore and his co-workers
Tom Bowen and Thaddeus Stamps have created a cohesive, harmonious and
imminently musical organ in a little shop in rural Vermont. The sheer joy of
playing this splendid and modestly elegant instrument is, for me, as good as it
gets.

--George Becker, M.D.

Notes

1. Quoted from the essay "A. David Moore, Organ Builder: An Account of
His Work (1971-1994)" by Kevin Birch, music director of St. John's R.C.
Church, Bangor, Maine.

A. David Moore Opus 27 can be heard at the following website
. Dr. Becker, an orthopaedic surgeon, is assistant organist
at the Old First Presbyterian Church in San Francisco. Contact: George
Becker, M.D., 1375 Sutter St., Suite 304, San Francisco, CA 94109;
415/563-7383 . Cover photo: Sean Vallely

GREAT

8' Clarabella

4' Principal

22/3' Twelfth

2' Fifteenth

13/5' Seventeenth

Tremulant
(affects entire organ)

POSITIVE

8' Stopped
Diapason

4' Flute

8' Trumpet

PEDAL

16' Subbass

8' Trumpet

Couplers

Gt/Ped

Pos/Ped

Pos/Gt

30-note, straight pedalboard

Kellner temperament

A = 440

Fabry, Inc., Fox Lake, Illinois, has
completed the renovation of the organ at Zion Lutheran Church, Marengo,
Illinois, originally built in 1960 by Haase Pipe Organs of Chicago as three
manuals and 40 ranks. In 1986 the congregation demolished their old church and
built a new one on the same site. The organ was dismantled, stored, and then
installed in the new building. Over time, the organ deteriorated to the point
where some major work was necessary.

In February 2002, Fabry was engaged to repair, refurbish, and enlarge the
organ. Phase one, completed in October 2002, included a new three-manual
console with movable platform built by Fabry. The new console was fitted with a
Peterson MSP-1000 combination action, multiplex coupler relay and chamber
relay, and is prepared for MIDI. Phase two, completed in February 2003,
included the addition of six ranks of pipework, several additional windchests,
four new wind supply reservoirs, four electric tremolos, a Zimbelstern, and
complete revoicing and re-regulation of the entire instrument. Some of the
existing pipework was repaired and re-racked, and one rank was relocated. David
G. Fabry built all the chestwork, three-manual console, and movable platform.
Joseph Poland handled the installation.

GREAT

16' Quintadena

8' Principal

8' Bourdon

4' Octave

4' Gemshorn

2' Fifteenth

V Mixture

8' English
Trumpet (new)

Chimes

Tremolo

Gt/Gt
16-UO-4, Sw/Gt 16-8-4, Pos/Gt 16-8-4, MIDI/Gt

POSITIV

8' Quintadena

8' Wood
Flute (new)

8' Wood
Flute Celeste (new)

4' Rohrflote

2' Principal

11/3' Larigot

1' Sifflote

III Scharf

8' Trumpet
(Gt)

8' Cromorne

Zimbelstern
(new)

Tremolo

Pos/Pos
16-UO-4, Sw/Pos 16-8-4, MIDI/Pos

SWELL

8' Rohrgedeckt

8' Gamba

8' Gamba
Celeste (TC)

4' Principal

4' Spitzflote

22/3' Nazard

2' Koppelflote

13/5' Tierce
(new)

IV Mixture

16' Chalumeau
(new)

8' Trompete

4' Schalmei

Tremolo

Sw/Sw
16-UO-4, Pos/Sw, Gt/Sw,

MIDI/Sw

PEDAL

32' Acoustic
Bass (resultant)

16' Principal
(new)

16' Subbass

16' Quintadena
(Gt)

8' Principal

8' Nachthorn

4' Choral
Bass

II Rausch
Pfeife

32' Bombarde
(resultant)

16' Chalumeau
(Sw)

16' Posaune

4' Schalmei
(Sw)

Gt/Ped
8-4, Sw/Ped 8-4,

Pos/Ped
8-4, MIDI/Ped

Bedient Pipe Organ Company

Roca, Nebraska

First Presbyterian Church

Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin

The challenge to Bedient was to maintain the integral parts of an 1889
Steere and Turner, update and expand the organ, while at the same time make the
organ user-friendly and accessible. Opus 72 at First Presbyterian Church,
Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin (II/30) accomplished just that. In 2003, much of the
organ was dismantled and moved to our Lincoln, Nebraska shop where it was
reassembled, and old and new were interlaced.

New additions to the organ are 11 ranks of pipes (including a new speaking
façade drawn from the Principal 8' and Pedal Principal 8'), a new,
enlarged Swell windchest, electro-pneumatic stop action, solid-state
combination action, electro-pneumatic Pedal key action, wind system components,
both keyboards, the pedalboard and an adjustable height organ bench. Retained
and modified were the Great windchest and Pedal Bourdon wind-chest, some of the
façade casework (necessitating the stripping of old paint and careful
matching of cherry wood finish on both old and new parts), and structural parts
of the organ. The entire organ was revoiced to accommodate the newly renovated
sanctuary and blend the old and new pipes to be as one. The new stops are
indicated in italics.

--Gene Bedient

GREAT

16' Bourdon

8' Principal

8' Dulciana

8' Melodia

4' Octave

4' Flute
d'Amore

2' Fifteenth

Mixture
III-V

8' Clarinet

8' Trompete

SWELL

8' Open
Diapason

8' Salicional

8' Voix
céleste (tc)

8' Stopped
Diapason (new pipes 13-58)

4' Spitzflute

22/3' Nazard

2' Doublette

13/5' Tierce

Mixture
II (1980s addition)

8' Oboe

8' Trumpet
(1980s addition)

PEDAL

16' Bourdon

8' Principal

8' Bourdon
(ext)

4' Octave
(ext)

16' Fagott

Couplers

Great/Pedal

Swell/Pedal

Swell/Great

Tremulant

Lauck Pipe Organ Company,
Otsego, Michigan
Opus 61, 2009
Karl Schrock Residence,
Kalamazoo, Michigan
Through the years, we have had the pleasure to build a substantial number of small residence organs for many college professors and church organists. There has always come a great sense of satisfaction in creating these smaller wonders because we know we are building these exclusively for one person. We also know that the money for these instruments is usually born from hard work and frugal saving. The joy is in giving the customer their long-anticipated dream and creating the most value for their money.
Our latest residence organ was for Dr. Karl Schrock, who is head of the organ program at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. This five-rank mechanical action organ has white oak casework, ebony naturals with coco bolo sharps, and ebony drawknobs.
—James Lauck

MANUAL I
8′ Rohrflute 61 pipes
4′ Principal (in façade) 61 pipes

MANUAL II
8′ Gedeckt (oak) 49 pipes
common bass
2′ Blockflute 61 pipes

PEDAL
16′ Pommer 32 pipes

Man I–Man II
Man I–Ped
Man II–Ped

269/694-4500
[email protected]

J. Zamberlan & Co.,
Wintersville, Ohio
Christ, Prince of Peace Parish, Ford City, Pennsylvania
Christ, Prince of Peace Parish was formed on July 23, 2002, from the merger of three parishes in Ford City; the building formerly known as St. Mary’s Church is now the sole worship site. A 1930s organ occupied split cases in the rear gallery; this instrument had been rebuilt in 1965, and by 2002 was experiencing severe mechanical problems, in addition to suffering from a lack of ensemble and variety of stops.
Initial design concepts retained the choir in the gallery, but in the end the parish decided a nave location was preferable for the singers. In addition to the console, a 3-rank unenclosed “choir” division, available independently on either manual, is located in the shallow right transept. Wind for this division comes from a small blower and reservoir located in the church basement but fed from an intake housed in the base of the choir casework, which also encloses the support steel for the chest as well as shelves for choir music.
Several ranks from the old organ were incorporated into the new stoplist, as well as two stops from a 1965 Möller at one of the closed churches. The existing quartersawn white oak gallery casework was retained, as were the façade pipes, which were refinished for the church by a local auto body shop. The new console, as well as the choir casework, is of red oak, finished to harmonize with the pews; this casework also incorporates panels from former modesty screens in the choir area. The console interior is of Honduras mahogany, oiled and waxed. Keyboards have bone naturals and ebony accidentals, with drawknobs, pistons, etc. of bocote; legal ivory is used for labels and stopknob faces.
The solid-state control system includes 128 levels of memory for 8 generals and 4 divisionals, as well as several reversibles. At the suggestion of a visiting recitalist, the parish agreed in 2008 to add Great and Swell Unison Off toestud reversibles to enhance the organ’s versatility; this permits drawing the normal stops plus Choir stops on either manual, then using the Unison Off and pedal coupler to achieve separate voices on that manual and the pedal.
The main chests of the organ are slider with electric pulldowns, with bass notes utilizing double pallets where necessary. All pallets were carefully sized, and pallet travel was kept at 4mm, in order to keep the action responsive. Several stops are either duplexed between divisions or unified; these sit on chests with individual note actions (electro-mechanical except for the largest bass pipes), which incorporate expansion chambers between the valve and toe to minimize undesirable speech characteristics sometimes found in this chest design. The organ comprises 37 stops, 27 registers, 36 ranks, and 1993 pipes, and is our largest instrument to date. Donald Fellows, director of music at St. Paul Cathedral in Pittsburgh, dedicated the organ on March 18, 2007. The parish director of music is Andrew Motyka.
—Joseph G. Zamberlan

GREAT (58 notes)
8′ Diapason
8′ Rohrflute (existing Tellers,
C1–b48 wood)
4′ Octave
4′ Open Flute (existing Tellers,
formerly in Swell, C1–c49 wood)
2′ Fifteenth
4′ Cornet IV (c13–c49)
11⁄3′ Mixture IV
8′ Trompette
8′ Cromorne
8′ Choir Gemshorn
8′ Choir Bourdon
4′ Choir Italian Principal
4′ Choir Bourdon (ext)
2′ Choir Bourdon (ext)
Swell to Great 16′
Swell to Great
Tremulant
Cymbelstern
MIDI

SWELL (58 notes)
16′ Quintaten (C1–f18 wood)
8′ Violin Diapason (existing Tellers,
C1–B12 from Gedackt)
8′ Gedackt (existing Möller, wood)
8′ Viole de Gambe (existing Tellers,
formerly in Great)
8′ Voix Céleste (existing Möller,
from G8)
4′ Principal
4′ Flute (existing Tellers, formerly in Great, C1–a46 wood)
22⁄3′ Nazard
2′ Spitzflute
13⁄5′ Tierce
2′ Plein Jeu III
2⁄3′ Cymbale II
16′ Basson
8′ Hautbois (ext)
8′ Choir Gemshorn
8′ Choir Bourdon
4′ Choir Italian Principal
4′ Choir Bourdon (ext)
2′ Choir Bourdon (ext)
Tremulant
MIDI

PEDAL (32 notes, AGO)
32′ Bourdon (C1–B12 independent 10 2⁄3′
wood with Subbass,
from c13 Subbass)
16′ Principal (prep)
16′ Subbass (wood)
16′ Quintaten (Swell)
8′ Octave (prep)
8′ Gedackt (ext)
4′ Choral Bass (prep)
16′ Trombone (wooden resonators)
16′ Basson (Swell)
8′ Trompette (Great)
8′ Cromorne (Great)
4′ Clairon (Great)
Great to Pedal
Swell to Pedal
MIDI

740/765-9028
[email protected]

 

Paul Fritts & Co., Tacoma,
Washington
St. Philip Presbyterian Church, Houston, Texas

From the organist
Nearly a decade ago, St. Philip Presbyterian Church began planning a major renovation of its facilities. In addition to a new educational building, plans were made to gut the sanctuary and make it a more vibrant and flexible space. By 2004 a new organ was on the horizon as well, thanks to an old electric-action instrument whose shortcomings had become obvious, an enthusiastic committee, and an expert consultant. In 2005 we bid good-bye to the old sanctuary and organ and signed a letter of intent with Paul Fritts for his Opus 29, a three-manual and pedal mechanical-action instrument of 48 stops, which was delivered and installed in the renovated sanctuary in early 2010.
And we couldn’t be happier! The new organ and sanctuary are a perfect match, with the instrument speaking directly into the room from its lofty position in a new gallery. Significant changes had to be made to the former choir loft to support the new organ, with the new gallery extending forward into the sanctuary to accommodate both choir and organ. Fortunately, we were blessed with a building whose basic shape—tall, long, and slender—presented a potentially ideal acoustical environment for organ and choral music. The transformation has been stark: a room that formerly had abundant absorptive and soft surfaces now has several seconds of reverberation. It’s also become a much more appealing visual space: the modernist light-filled sanctuary now boasts handsome millwork, beautiful stained glass, a tile mosaic front wall, and in the rear gallery, a stunning new organ.
Our selection of Paul Fritts & Co. as builders reflects St. Philip’s longstanding commitment to excellence in its music program and the amazing foresight and generosity of its members. Now just a little over a year old, the Fritts organ has generated a great deal of local and even international enthusiasm, and we’re delighted to be sharing it with a wide community of music lovers. I’m especially pleased that organ students from the University of Houston are able to use Fritts Opus 29 for weekly practice and degree recitals, since a splendid instrument like this has so much to teach us.
—Matthew Dirst
Organist
St. Philip Presbyterian Church

From the organ consultant
Long before I became the consultant for a new organ at St. Philip Presbyterian Church in 2004, Matthew Dirst set the groundwork for the project. For many years he had developed a solid relationship of trust, goodwill, and mutual respect between himself and the musicians, clergy, and congregants of St. Philip. It is certainly safe to say that without that special relationship, this project would never have happened. Soon before I came on board, an organ committee had been formed and fundraising had begun. I quickly learned that music was very important to the people of St. Philip. The committee made clear that they wanted an instrument that could lead in worship, accompany the choir, and make possible the performance of great organ music—especially music played by their world-famous organist! But something else came through from our initial meetings. The committee wanted an instrument of high quality that would stand the test of time, and of real beauty that would lead people to a fuller spiritual life.
The committee considered several builders. Committee members took their responsibilities seriously, and some of them made trips well outside the state of Texas to hear recent installations. As soon as they heard the Fritts organ at the University of Notre Dame, they knew what builder they wanted for St. Philip. The size of organ was never the driving force, and in fact the church initially contracted for a smaller (and less expensive) two-manual instrument. I know Matthew Dirst would have been content with it. But additional funds became available, and the size and scope of the instrument increased accordingly.
Besides the desire for a quality instrument that could lead in worship and be featured in concerts, the people of St. Philip Church wanted an instrument that could be used for educational purposes. The organ majors of the University of Houston now practice on this instrument almost every day, take weekly lessons at the church, and present degree recitals on it every semester. Last year, the church began an internship program, which lends support to one lucky UH graduate student in organ. In its role as music educator, the instrument will be featured in numerous conferences and workshops in the years to come, including a national conference sponsored by the Westfield Center for Early Keyboard Studies to be held April 12–15, 2012, and the AGO national convention, scheduled for the summer of 2016. We are most grateful!
My congratulations go first to Matthew Dirst, Associate Professor of Musicology at the University of Houston and organist of St. Philip Church, for his many years of strong leadership and impeccable musicianship. He really deserves such an instrument! I also want to thank the St. Philip Organ Committee—especially its remarkable chairperson, Elizabeth Duerr—for years of hard work and unwavering commitment to excellence. And, finally, thanks go to Paul Fritts and his entire team for the construction and installation of an instrument of real quality—one that I know will inspire the congregants of St. Philip and the citizens of Houston for many years to come.
—Robert Bates
Professor of Organ
University of Houston
Organ Consultant
St. Philip Presbyterian Church

From the organbuilder
Many decisions contribute to the building of an organ, and these decisions become more significant when virtually every part is designed and built in the builder’s workshop. This distinction, achieved by our firm in 1984 when the pipe shop was established, enables creativity to flourish—we can build anything we want.
Organbuilders have been practicing their art for centuries, often with extravagant support. Today we can visit existing organs from most periods and national styles and still experience them firsthand. These visits become more challenging since we must also account for things outside the original builder’s intention. We are experiencing instruments through the veil of rebuilds and restorations over the centuries, some not so sensitive. We must also develop a good understanding of the acoustical environment these organs are speaking in, often a far cry from the typical modern American space. We can both experience how these organs sound and behave today, and also imagine how they once were.
Over the course of many study trips, I have noticed things common to instruments I consider magical. Interestingly, these outstanding instruments are not limited to any national style or time period. When comparing the experiences, I find a substantial convergence in areas of sound. The sounds of the pipes are complex and yet they have an unusual combination of qualities often difficult to achieve but deliberately sought after: their harmonic content is both refined and colorful, and it is balanced with a generous amount of fundamental. The speech is quick and elegant. These qualities are especially challenging, since customary ways of refining speech generally kill the unique harmonic content we hear in the old pipes. Interestingly, we find these sonic qualities in other fine instruments: violins, harpsichords, pianos, and many others. There seems to be a connection to the human voice—richness is present, combined with clarity—and all of this is accomplished, in the case of the organs, without excessive intensity, through the use of relatively low wind pressure. The organs somehow function on a human scale in spite of being grand both in appearance and sound. The pipes have open feet and flueways and relatively high cutups, but are mostly controlled in their sound production by the organ’s wind pressure, the main determinant of the organ’s overall intensity. These things contribute to what has been aptly called a relaxed intensity—the pipes sing robustly without shouting. Many other aspects fall into place when stops are working this way. The blend between them is enhanced and many more stop combinations work together. The organs carry a space remarkably well without having to be loud. They lead rather than direct a congregation. This rather strict approach surprisingly enables an organ to be more eclectic or universal in its capabilities. And, most importantly, they are supremely musical.
These thoughts were on our minds as we considered the design and construction of the new St. Philip Presbyterian Church organ. Many ideas garnered from the study trips expand the design, construction, and voicing, along with the collective experience of our seven craftsmen. The case appearance, in keeping with the spare nature of the church architecture, is an original design and incorporates ideas found in revered cases to make it more interesting. The treble flats curve inward and alternate direction in ancient Dutch fashion, and the proportions of the bass and tenor flats follow well-established trends. Straightforward moldings properly adorn the case and each vertical stile is framed with decorative insets. The carvings are contemporary creations inspired by Renaissance-era Italian organ pipe shades. All is painted a glossy white with gold leaf highlights. The result in the church is both a striking appearance and a comfortable feeling that it belongs.
Tonally the organ is more strict and at its core Germanic. Arp Schnitger’s work forms the basis of our recipe, and for good reason. The level of sophistication in the pipe-making and voicing is a true inspiration. Congregational support is of paramount importance and was at the forefront of our thinking when envisioning the St. Philip tonal design.
There is an abundance of reed stops, and these pipes follow the same principles as the flue pipes. They are made to produce a strong fundamental tone combined with color and refinement. The resonators are cut long to facilitate this, and a welcome consequence is tuning stability.
Eclecticism within this structure can flourish. For the St. Philip instrument we have included many stops and features that broaden the scope. A Swell is present with shades on three sides, along with the required string stops plus the Hautbois (a strict Cavaillé-Coll copy) stop. A string stop is also present on the Great, and there is a wide variety of flutes throughout the organ.
We have also added an electric stop action piggybacked to the mechanical stop action. We do this since there is a vastly different life span between the two systems. Any electric computer system will fail within a relatively short time compared to a well-made mechanical system that can function for centuries. We can avoid this dilemma if the electronic components are included in a non-intrusive way and are easy to replace when it becomes necessary. In the meantime, the organ will not be seriously disabled by failures of these electrical components, since the mechanical system will continue to work. As is usual with modern electrical preset systems, there are the usual features, including hundreds of memory levels and a sequencer.
The wind system is substantial, with four large bellows fitted with all the levers and check valves necessary to foot-pump the organ. When this novelty is utilized and the audience is informed, the performance takes on new meaning. There is a connection to the organ’s legacy—the organ is functioning on a human scale.
All of the four divisions speak directly through the façade—that is, no divisions speak through other divisions, contributing to an easy balance among them. The manual divisions are positioned center case, with Positive at the bottom, Great above, and Swell at the top. The Pedal is divided on each side.
The people of St. Philip Presbyterian are to be much admired for their unyielding support throughout the process leading up to the dedication of the organ in the spring of 2010. I am also humbled by my talented staff who work skillfully and with dedication. We strive to build lasting instruments—instruments that are both durable and very much cherished by those who play them and those who listen. Projects like this have the added benefit of the involvement of a wide group of people, a group too numerous to individually name here. I thank the St. Philip family for their support on many levels throughout the process, and I thank my wonderful crew for their continued excellence and support.
—Paul Fritts
Paul Fritts & Co. Organ Builders

St. Philip Presbyterian Church
Paul Fritts & Co. Organ Builders
Opus 29, 2009

GREAT
16′ Principal*
8′ Octave
8′ Rohrflöte
8′ Salicional
4′ Octave
4′ Spitzflöte
22⁄3′ Quint
2′ Octave
13⁄5′ Terz
IV–VI Mixture
V Cornet (mounted)
16′ Trompet
8′ Trompet
4′ Trompet
8′ Baarpfeife

SWELL
8′ Principal
8′ Bourdon
8′ Violdigamba
8′ Voix celeste
4′ Octave
4′ Koppelflöte
22⁄3′ Nasat
2′ Blockflöte
13⁄5′ Tierce
IV–V Mixture
16′ Fagott
8′ Trompet
8′ Hautbois

POSITIVE
8′ Principal
8′ Gedackt
8′ Quintadena
4′ Octave
4′ Rohrflöte
2′ Octave
11⁄3′ Larigot
II Sesquialtera
IV–V Scharff
8′ Dulcian

PEDAL
16′ Principal
16′ Subbaß
8′ Octave
8′ Bourdon*
4′ Octave
VI–VIII Mixture
32′ Posaune*
16′ Posaune
8′ Trompet
4′ Trompet

*Some pipes transmitted from other stops

Couplers
Swell to Great
Positive to Great
Swell to Positive
Great to Pedal
Swell to Pedal
Positive to Pedal

Compass: Manual, 58 notes; Pedal, 30 notes

Other:
Polished tin front pipes
Solid wood casework with carved pipe shades
Suspended, direct mechanical key action
Mechanical stop action with electric pre-set system
Tremulant
Multiple wedge bellows with foot pumping levers
Wind Stabilizer

70 ranks, 48 stops, 3,488 pipes

Photo credit: Paul Fritts