Buzard Completes Opus 38

John-Paul Buzard Pipe Organ Builders, Champaign, Illinois, Opus 38
St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church, San Antonio, Texas

St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church, San Antonio, is a vibrant Christian community of 5,000 families, located about twenty minutes north of the San Antonio International Airport in a new residential neighborhood on Thousand Oaks Drive. They have a well-deserved reputation for superior community outreach, building several Habitat for Humanity houses per year and operating a traveling meal program for the needy. Former organist and director of music and liturgy Lena Gokelman contacted me nearly twelve years ago to share ideas for a new pipe organ for the large church building then being planned. She and their consultant, Fr. James Brobst, traveled to Illinois to hear and play our instrument at Holy Family Catholic Church in Rockford, and were immediately convinced of the need to have the Buzard Sound at St. Mark’s.

St. Mark’s had no pipe organ in its original temporary sanctuary, and the majority of parishioners had never heard one. It was a daunting endeavor to educate the parish about the difference that a pipe organ could make in their liturgical and musical lives, and then convince them that they needed one! A long-standing parishioner was convinced, and through his anonymous generosity, made it happen.
This new organ is our 38th, and was designed to visually complement the sculpture of the Christus Rex, incised into and built out from the brick wall at the front of the assembly. The building seats about 1,000 people and is surprisingly lively in its acoustical environment. The organ itself is raised 18 feet above the floor and sounds nicely down the building’s axis. Sonically it fills the entire room whether playing soft or loud. The woodwork in the façade is solid white oak, stained and finished to relate to the church’s other woodworking. Pipes in the façade are made of polished tin and flamed copper.

Two sets of horizontal trumpets emphasize the aural excitement that a pipe organ can bring to a liturgical occasion. A high-pressure Tuba made of polished tin is in the organ’s façade; a polished copper set of Pontifical Trumpets on lower pressure is mounted over the entry doors. Lest one think that resources were squandered on an unnecessary luxury of two chamades, they were included only after the organ’s chamber space had been completely filled with the stops necessary for a full and proper classically conceived and romantically executed specification.

The choral singers are located in a “bump-out” area to the right of the building’s axis. Because the choir is effectively in another room, and cannot hear the organ clearly, we built a four-stop Choral Organ to accompany their singing, housed in a small free-standing case that stands behind them. These four stops are of sufficient tonal variety and volume gradations to support the choral singing in perfect balance. Stops from the main portion of the organ may also be used to supplement the Choral Organ’s sound.

The instrument contains 35 independent stops and 43 ranks of pipes across three manuals and the pedal keyboard. As in all Buzard organs, there is a wealth of tonal variety, even if the instrument is modest in size. At the hand of our tonal director Brian Davis, no two diapasons sound exactly alike; the flutes are liquid in tone and often take their cues from their orchestral counterparts; strings impart a warmth and keenness to the palette. The chorus reeds are spectacular, each stop having its own depth and degree of éclat; the plaintive German Romantic Oboe is a tremendously effective solo player, but also colors the Swell flues subtly. All metal pipes are made of rich, high tin-content metal of generous thickness. On-site tonal finishing took a month to accomplish.

The organ’s engineering was accomplished by our executive vice-president and chief engineer, Charles Eames. This instrument has the distinction of affording him one of his greatest challenges: designing a pipe organ with a 14-inch steel beam running through its center! Although chamber space was provided for a “future organ” when the church was built, neither architects nor contractors thought anything wrong about running a steel beam through its middle! Although the organ occupies a “chamber,” the instrument is still housed in a free-standing case. This allows the sound to effortlessly project into the church, and for us to minimize any variables while installing on-site. This also afforded us the opportunity to build a ventilation system that brings conditioned air from the church up to the top of the organ, spilling down naturally, thereby keeping the instrument in tune.

The parish is “between organists.” So, in order for the parishioners to hear what an organ could do for worship, I played for the three Sundays that I was in San Antonio voicing the organ. The first Sunday, people heard only those few stops that were finished. But by the second and third Sundays, I played the hymns, prelude, and postlude using the versatility of the entire instrument. The organ has been extremely well received by the parishioners, clergy, and the wider community. Organist David Heller will be dedicating it in a Solemn Pontifical Mass followed by a concert on Saturday, November 21.

My deepest thanks go to St. Mark’s for commissioning us to build this organ, especially to Pastor Kevin Ryan, administrator “Dot” Hamlin, our contact person Lena Gokelman, music director Dolores Martinez and her assistant Courtney Guernsey, facility manager George Wetherill, and Irene Marin, who makes the best tortillas I’ve ever tasted!

A pipe organ is far more than the sum of its parts, or the sum of the labor-hours of the tremendously dedicated individuals with whom I am blessed to work. They all deserve special recognition:

David Brown, foreman, service department and installation
Brian K. Davis, tonal director
Stephen Downes, metalworking, tonal assistant, installation
Charles Eames, executive vice-president and chief engineer
John Jordan, service technician
C. Robert Leach, cabinetmaker façade, general woodworking, installation
Stuart Martin, cabinetmaker façade and console cabinetry
Shane Rhoades, cabinetmaker, winding system, installation
Jay Salmon, office manager
Lyoshia Svinarski, cabinetmaker and wood finishing
Stuart Weber, service technician
John Wiegand, service technician and installation
Ray Wiggs, console, electrical and windchest specialist, installation
Keith Williams, director, service department
—John-Paul Buzard

St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church, San Antonio, Texas
Buzard Opus 38, completed August 1, 2009: 35 stops, 43 ranks

GREAT – Manual II
Unenclosed, 4″ wind pressure
16′ Lieblich Gedeckt
8′ Open Diapason (polished tin
in façade)
8′ Viola da Gamba
8′ Harmonic Flute
8′ Bourdon
4′ Principal
4′ Spire Flute
22⁄3′ Twelfth
2′ Fifteenth
2′ Mixture V (breaks at octaves)
Tremulant
8′ Tromba (ext Ped 16′ Tbn)
4′ Clarion (ext 8′)
8′ Major Tuba (polished tin, horizontal)
8′ Pontifical Trumpets (polished copper,
horizontal)
Great to Great 16′, UO, 4′
Swell to Great 16′, 8′, 4′
Choral to Great 16′, 8′, 4′

SWELL – Manual III
Enclosed, 4″ wind pressure
8′ English Open Diapason
8′ Stopped Diapason
8′ Salicional
8′ Voix Celeste (tc)
4′ Principal
4′ Harmonic Flute
22⁄3′ Nazard
2′ Recorder
13⁄5′ Tierce
22⁄3′ Full Mixture V
16′ Bassoon (full length)
8′ Trompette
8′ Oboe
Tremulant
Cymbalstern
8′ Major Tuba (Gt)
8′ Pontifical Trumpets (Gt)
Swell to Swell 16′, UO, 4′

CHORAL – Manual I
Encased, 3½″ wind pressure
8′ Principal (polished tin in façade)
8′ Gemshorn
4′ Octave
4′ Flute
Tremulant
8′ Major Tuba (Gt)
8′ Pontifical Trumpets (Gt)
Choral to Choral 16′, UO, 4′
Swell to Choral 16′, 8′, 4′

PEDAL – Unenclosed
32′ Subbass (1–12 digital, ext)
32′ Lieblich Gedeckt (1–12 digital, ext)
16′ Open Diapason (flamed copper and
polished tin in façade)
16′ Bourdon
16′ Lieblich Gedeckt (Gt)
16′ Metal Gedeckt (flamed copper in
façade of Choral Organ case)
8′ Principal (polished tin in façade)
8′ Spire Flute
8′ Bourdon (ext 16′)
8′ Gedeckt Flute (Gt)
4′ Choral Bass (ext 8′)
4’ Open Flute (ext 16′)
16′ Trombone (wood)
16′ Bassoon (Sw)
8′ Trumpet (ext 16′)
4′ Clarion (ext 16′)
8′ Major Tuba (Gt)
8′ Pontifical Trumpets (Gt)
Great to Pedal 8′, 4′
Swell to Pedal 8′, 4′
Choral to Pedal 8′, 4′

John-Paul Buzard Pipe Organ Builders, Champaign, Illinois
Second Presbyterian Church,
Bloomington, Illinois, Opus 37
This instrument of 43 stops and 56 ranks is the 37th new organ built by Buzard Pipe Organ Builders of Champaign, Illinois. The Buzard firm had originally been selected as the church’s builder of choice in 1991, when plans were first developed to build a new sanctuary. In more recent years, when the original Victorian-era building was found to be structurally unsound, the desire to design and construct a new church building acquired a new sense of urgency. The decision to include a pipe organ in a very modern building in the context of a very modern ministry was not made lightly, nor easily. The wisdom of the church leadership held that worship styles both timeless and modern needed to be embraced wholeheartedly. The organbuilder and architect enjoyed an unusually collaborative and collegial relationship in the design of the entire building as well as the new instrument. The new sanctuary was completed in 2005, and the new organ arrived in June 2008, giving the construction dust plenty of time to settle. Although the room’s acoustics are more absorptive than we would have preferred, sound is heard evenly and in balance throughout the room.
The organ’s dramatic visual design is intended to be a stylized rendering in organ pipes of a Celtic cross. The background fields of Great and Pedal Diapason and Principal pipes are made of polished tin. The pipework elements of the cross itself are polished copper Pedal Principals and the horizontally mounted Festival Trumpets. The giant blocks of white oak that hold the Festival Trumpet pipes are clad in polished copper to emphasize the cross’s horizontal arms. The circle that binds the four arms of the cross together is a 16-foot diameter ring of Baltic birch, leafed in 24-karat red gold.
The instrument is housed in a solid white oak case standing three stories tall, 24 feet wide, 12 feet deep, flanked by walls that act as projection screens. The pipe shades are of basswood. Some of the small panels are enameled in indigo, which accent is also found in the stained glass windows. It is located on the axis of the church, above and behind the choral singers, to provide optimal projection of sound to the congregation and choir, and to be a living and integral participant in the worship service and the church’s interior design. A closed-circuit remotely operated television camera is mounted between and just behind two pedal façade pipes so that worshipers can see themselves projected on the screens(!).
The traditional portion of the church’s music program includes everything from children’s choirs through a large adult choir, small instrumental ensembles through full symphony orchestra performances. And of course the organ must support congregational singing and excel in its solo role. Therefore, this instrument had to exhibit an unusually wide dynamic range to accommodate musical needs of every size and type, but also the classic disposition that allows an organ to play the literature. The organ possesses a singularly noble and majestic tone quality. Each division is based upon sub-octave pitches, and the voicing is full and warm. The Great and Pedal feature First and Second Diapasons, and all the divisions include a wealth of warmly voiced 8′ stops to provide a rich variety of accompanimental colors at several volume levels. The design includes full couplers at 16′, 8′, Unison Off, and 4′ pitches for increased flexibility. Although the instrument sounds very big when everything is coupled, or when the high pressure Tubas or Festival Trumpets are used (excelling in its occasional role with a full symphony orchestra), the organ itself is not inherently loud—it can be as delicate as a child’s voice. Its sound fills the worship space gracefully, without having to yell to make its point.
Buzard organs have become known as exceptional accompanying organs, which is the primary use to which pipe organs are put in modern worship services. But, by virtue of an historically and nationalistically informed point of view, Buzard organs also musically render the entire solo repertory from early contrapuntal styles through the most modern symphonic transcriptions. Our principals have something to tell you. Their choruses are clear, but meaty. Flutes are singing and liquid, strings are warm and harmonically interesting. Chorus reeds add varying degrees of “clang” to their divisions: for example, the Swell 16′, 8′, and 4′ reed battery is of authentic French construction, the typically bright and bold sound tailored to this division’s classic musical character, whereas the Trompete on the Great is darker. Trombas appear on most of our Great organs as extensions of the Pedal Trombones (a Willis trick), which offers the organist two degrees of reed color and volume, depending upon the musical context. Our solo and pedal reeds take more of an orchestral approach: smooth, round, warm, and always interesting, whether soft or loud.
Our metal pipes are all made of high-tin-content pipe metal, planed and polished. The reeds use either this rich pipe metal or wood for their resonators. In this organ, the 32′ Contra Trombone resonators are white pine and full length down to low FFFF#. The wood flue pipes are made from poplar or mahogany with cherry mouths.
All Buzard organs employ slider and pallet windchests to eliminate long-term maintenance, and provide superior tonal blend and tuning stability. All Buzard organs employ wooden winding systems to reduce turbulence and noise, and schwimmer regulators at each slider chest to provide a steady wind supply.
The instrument was dedicated in public recitals by organist emerita Doris Hill, concert organist Ken Cowan, and Mr. Cowan’s student and the builder’s son, Stephen Buzard. A new CD featuring Stephen Buzard playing this organ will be released later this year on the Delos label.
—John-Paul Buzard

Buzard Opus 37
Second Presbyterian Church,
Bloomington, Illinois
43 straight speaking stops, 56 ranks,
3 stops prepared for future addition

GREAT (4-inch wind)
16′ Double Open Diapason (tin in façade)
8′ First Open Diapason (tin in façade)
8′ Second Open Diapason (1–8 from 16′)
8′ Viola da Gamba
8′ Claribel Flute (Melodia)
8′ Principal
4′ Spire Flute
22⁄3′ Twelfth
2′ Fifteenth
13⁄5′ Seventeenth (prepared)
2′ Fourniture V
2⁄3′ Sharp Mixture III
8′ Trompete
Cornet V (prepared)
Tremulant
8′ Trombas (Ped Trombone)
4′ Tromba Clarion (ext Trombas)
8′ Major Tuba (Ch)
8′ Tuba Solo melody coupler
8′ Festival Trumpets (horizontal
polished copper)

SWELL (4-inch wind)
8′ Open Diapason
8′ Stopped Diapason
8′ Salicional
8′ Voix Celeste
4′ Principal
4′ Harmonic Flute
2′ Octavin (harmonic)
22⁄3′ Full Mixture V
16′ Bassoon (full length)
8′ Trompette
8′ Oboe
4′ Clarion
Tremulant
Chimes (21 notes)
8′ Major Tuba (Ch)
8′ Festival Trumpets (Gt)

CHOIR (4-inch wind)
16′ Lieblich Gedeckt
8′ English Diapason
8′ Flûte à Bibéron
8′ Flûte Cœlestis II (Ludwigtone)
4′ Principal
4′ Suabe Flute (open wood)
22⁄3′ Nazard
2′ Recorder
13⁄5′ Tierce
11⁄3′ Mixture IV
16′ English Horn
8′ Clarinet
Tremulant
Cymbalstern
8′ Major Tuba (25 inches wind)
8′ Festival Trumpets (Gt)

PEDAL (various pressures)
32′ Double Open Diapason (digital)
32′ Subbass (digital)
32′ Lieblich Gedeckt (digital) (Ch)
16′ First Open Diapason (wood & metal)
16′ Second Open Diapason (Gt)
16′ Bourdon
16′ Lieblich Gedeckt (Ch)
8′ Principal (tin in façade)
8′ Open Bass (ext 16′ First Open)
8′ Bourdon (ext 16′ Bourdon)
8′ Violoncello (tapered)
4′ Choral Bass (ext 8′ Open Bass)
4′ Open Flute (ext 16′ Bourdon)
22⁄3′ Mixture IV (prepared)
32′ Contra Trombone (wood)
16′ Trombone (ext 32′, wood)
16′ Bassoon (Sw)
8′ Trumpet (ext Trombone)
4′ Clarion (ext Trombone)
8′ Major Tuba (Ch)
8′ Festival Trumpets (Gt)

John-Paul Buzard Pipe Organ Builders, Champaign, Illinois

Opus 31: St. Bede Catholic Church, Williamsburg, Virginia

This new instrument was just installed this spring, the tonal finishing completed during April and June. This is the 31st new pipe organ built by John-Paul Buzard Pipe Organ Builders of Champaign, Illinois, and
the first of two new Buzard organs to be installed in Williamsburg churches. Williamsburg Presbyterian Church will receive Opus 32 next spring for their new Georgian style building at the entrance to Colonial Williamsburg.

The organ at St. Bede Catholic Church is the result of eight
years of planning and dreaming, hoping and praying. St. Bede’s
communicant strength is about 3,000 families, formerly located in a small
landlocked building close to Colonial Williamsburg. The former site simply could not accommodate the parish’s phenomenal growth, nor could the entire parish worship together. When planning the new building, St. Bede’s pastor, the Rev. Monsignor William Carr, insisted that the new
church include a pipe organ, and that the organbuilder be commissioned to work with the architect from the beginning. The new building, designed by architect Tom Kerns, seats 1,500 and is expandable to seat 2,000.

The then music director, and later consultant for the project, Steve Blackstock, formed a musical instruments committee to select the
organbuilder, as well as other musical instruments for purchase. The musical instruments committee directly communicated with the parish’s building committee (called the core committee) as the new building was planned, to make sure that the organ’s requirements were supported throughout the process.

Even though this church is not located in the Colonial District, there was great concern on the part of the core committee that the building relate to the area’s Georgian architecture--no small feat for a big round room--and that, since the organ case would be the significant visual element in the church, it must reflect appropriate features of Georgian design. A great emphasis was placed on the importance of art and
music as direct participants in liturgical expression, and the organ had to
appeal to all the senses in this surprisingly intimate--although rather
large--space. 

As the building’s design process unfolded, and the cost estimates exceeded projections, significant “value engineering” of the building was undertaken to allow the church to be built. The organ project was shelved and its estimated cost applied toward the building. It became apparent that an organ, whenever it would be installed, would need a small antiphonal division at the opposite end of the church to assist in congregational singing, due to a change in building materials.
Certain stops in the organ were prepared for future addition, to lower the
initial price. The music personnel changed, and the parish concentrated upon building the church. 

Once the building was up, Monsignor Carr’s passion for building the new pipe organ was rekindled. His love of fine art and artistic liturgical expression is infectious. It was through his inner fire that he established the notion in the minds of the parishioners that the church was simply not finished until the pipe organ was installed. Although at the time the church did not have an organist, our contract was signed the week following
the new building’s dedication. 

As the organ’s installation date approached, the parish hired organist Neil Kraft of Ohio to be their new director of music. He has already established himself in the Tidewater area as a musician of high
caliber, and the perfect person to develop an inclusive parochial music
program, with the organ as the principal musical instrument. A concert series to celebrate the dedication of this new instrument is being organized. The opening recital was played by Erik Wm. Suter on Sunday, September 30, and John Scott will play in June of 2006. The church is working on sponsorship of a concert featuring the Virginia Symphony, but this is currently in the planning stage. The new pastor, the Rev. John Abe, is committed to making St. Bede known for beautiful music, both in liturgical and concert contexts, for Williamsburg and the greater Tidewater area.

The organ case stands three stories tall and is made of 11/2-inch thick solid white oak and white oak veneers. Walnut is used for the pipe shades and accenting trim details. This is truly heroic cabinet making! The façades incorporate pipes of the Great 16’ Double Open
Diapason (the low 20 notes of which are shared in the pedal), the Great First and Second 8’ Open Diapasons, and the Pedal 8’ Principal. The
16’ Pedal First Open Diapason of wood stands behind the organ case and is stained and finished in a dark walnut color. Resonators of the low octaves of the Pedal 32’ and 16’ Trombones are made of beautiful, clear pine, continuing upscale in thick 52% tin pipe metal as this stop becomes the manual Tromba, voiced on 7” wind. The big Tuba stands vertically in the Choir box just behind the shutters, and is certainly the Tromba’s big brother, being voiced on nearly 30” pressure!

The Procession Organ’s case is also of white oak, to match the Main Organ case. Its pipe shades are carved basswood. Celtic crosses
have been cut into the tower tops and are enameled in rich, dark purple (the manufacturer’s color name “Monsignor” led to the whimsical
decision to incorporate it into the case in honor of Monsignor Carr), and
outlined in gold leaf. When played with the Main Organ, the Processional
Organ’s two Principal stops have the effect of “pulling” the sound out of the Main Organ’s case and surrounding the listeners with an
incredibly inescapable, voluptuous tone.

The console of 11/2-inch thick white oak is attached to an easily moved platform. And it’s a good thing, because the organ is heard in its best balance starting about 15 feet away from the case. We utilize
AGO radiating, concave pedalboards for their superior ergonomics. In a modern, eclectic pipe organ, the pedalboard’s shape should not limit an
organist’s ability to play in styles other than that which a flat pedalboard
dictates.

Those who have followed our work know that our instruments
are liturgical organs that play literature remarkably well. Our style is in
direct response to the need for an organ to function liturgically and
musically, but not at the expense of a particular historical, national, or
idiosyncratic musical style. Only a classic concept of organbuilding can truly accomplish this, and I think only an organist-trained organbuilder has the ability to empathize with modern American musical requirements, reconcile these to classic organbuilding practices, and know how to achieve the intended results. 

Slider windchests keep the tonal design physically honest,
and offer speech, voicing, and tuning advantages (as well as virtually no
long-term maintenance). Our proprietary Slider Pedal Chest allows us to play a single rank of pedal pipes at several pitches--without giving up slider chest speech, tuning stability, and repetition characteristics. Because they’re pedal stops, and usually only one note is played at a time, we can scale these individual ranks to be appropriate for two or three tonal contexts and save the client some money. 

Although we were one of the first American organbuilders to
reintroduce the Tuba into modern practice, in 1991 at the Chapel of St. John the Divine in Champaign, our tonal innovations are often of a subtler (and quieter) nature.  For example, in this organ we have specially developed Dolcan-shaped pipes for the metal top octaves of open wood ranks; they sound like wood pipes, but stay in tune. We have perfected Walter Holtkamp’s Ludwigtone as our Flute Cœlestis, its plaintive and gentle celesting tone evocative of something heavenly, which
explains the pun in the nomenclature. We have refined the 18th-century French Flûte à Bibéron (“Baby-Bottle Flute”) to be a colorful chimney flute tone suitable for solos, the foundation of a flute chorus, or secondary foundation for a principal chorus.

The sound of the organ is warm and rich, filling the space
nicely with a generous foundation. Each chorus has its own distinctive color, so there is no redundancy within each family of sound. The organist is able to lead congregational singing with a wide variety of color, at many different volume levels. And, recitalists won’t be disappointed in the tonal
resources and the informed manner of their disposition and execution. 

Everyone seems to have found “favorite” stops in this instrument. Of course the Pontifical Trumpets titillate the eye and ear, and most visitors want to hear them right off the bat. However, my 16-year-old son Stephen, already an organist of greater accomplishment than his father, fell in love with the Choir 8’ English Open Diapason while preparing a recital for the Tidewater POE held last June. “It has something to tell you,” he says. What higher compliment can an organbuilder receive? After all, shouldn’t pipe organs have a strong emotional appeal, so that when played they grab you and don’t let go? yes"> 

Henry Willis once said that truly great organs are only created when 90% of the project’s effort is expended upon the last 2% of perfection. After the organ is built, installed, and voiced, it’s that last step of careful, time-consuming, painstaking tonal finishing that imparts a living soul into the instrument. That you feel “connected” while listening or playing is no happy accident, but the result of careful listening and exacting craftsmanship on the part of the voicer working on the pipes. It is only when one is working at this level that organbuilding is truly an art.
And, it is only when clients have the sensitivity and sensibility to know the
difference that truly world-class pipe organs are commissioned.
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It has been a tremendous honor to build this instrument, and
to work with Father Abe, Monsignor Carr, Steve Blackstock, Neil Kraft, and the wonderful people at St. Bede’s Church. We look forward to many years of wonderful music-making and musically inspired liturgies at St. Bede’s.

Deepest thanks to the staff of Buzard Pipe Organ Builders who have made this instrument so much more than the sum of its parts:

Charles Eames, executive vice-president, chief engineer,
general manager

Brian K. Davis, associate tonal director, head voicer, director, tonal department

Phillip S. Campbell, business manager

Keith Williams, director, service department

Shayne Tippett, shop manager

Stuart Martin, cabinet maker

C. Robert Leech, cabinet maker

Bob Ference, cabinet maker and service technician

Lyoshia Svinarski, wind system construction

Kenneth McCabe, wind system construction

Ray Wiggs, console, electrical systems, wind chest
construction

Evan Rench, pipe maker, voicer, racking, tonal associate

Stephen P. Downes, pipe preparation, racking, tonal
associate

Todd Wilson, service technician, installation

Stuart Weber, service technician

Jay K. Salmon, office manager

JoAnne Rench, receptionist

--John-Paul Buzard

43 straight speaking stops, 54 ranks, across three manuals
& pedal

GREAT ORGAN (4” wind)

16’ Double Open Diapason (tin in façade)

8’ First Open Diapason (tin in façade)

8’ Second Open Diapason (1–8 from 16’)

8’ Viola da Gamba (tin)

8’ Claribel Flute (open wood)

4’ Principal

4’ Spire Flute

22/3’ Twelfth

2’ Fifteenth

13/5’ Seventeenth

2’ Fourniture V

V Cornet (tenor C, preparation)

8’ Trumpet (preparation)

8’ Tromba (Ped)

4’ Clarion (from Tromba)

8’ Major Tuba (in case)

8’ Tuba Solo (melody coupler function)

8’ Pontifical Trumpets (polished copper, horizontal,
over entry door)

SWELL (4” wind)

8’ Violin Diapason

8’ Stopped Diapason (wood)

8’ Salicional

8’ Voix Celeste

4’ Principal

4’ Harmonic Flute

2’ Octavin

22/3’ Full Mixture V

16’ Bassoon (full length)

8’ Trompette

8’ Oboe

4’ Clarion

Tremulant

8’ Major Tuba (Ch)

8’ Pontifical Trumpets

CHOIR ORGAN (4” wind)

16’ Lieblich Gedeckt

8’ English Diapason

8’ Flûte à Bibéron

8’ Flute Cœlestis (doubled open wood)

4’ Principal

4’ Suabe Flute (open wood)

22/3’ Nazard

2’ Recorder

13/5’ Tierce

11/3’ Mixture IV

16’ English Horn (preparation)

8’ Clarinet

Tremulant

Cymbalstern

8’ Major Tuba (30” wind)

8’ Pontifical Trumpets (51/2” wind)

PROCESSIONAL ORGAN

(4” wind, housed in a case over the entry doors)

8’ Open Diapason (tin in façade)

4’ Principal

PEDAL (various pressures)

32’ Double Open Diapason (1–12 digital)

32’ Subbass (1–12 digital)

32’ Lieblich Gedeckt (1–12 digital)

16’ First Open Diapason (open wood)

16’ Second Open Diapason (Gt, tin-façade)

16’ Bourdon

16’ Lieblich Gedeckt (Ch)

8’ Principal (tin-façade)

8’ Bass Flute (ext 1st Open)

8’ Bourdon (ext 16’)

8’ Gedeckt Flute (Ch)

8’ Spire Flute (preparation)

4’ Choral Bass (ext 8’)

4’ Open Flute (ext yes">  8’ Bourdon)

32’ Contra Trombone (from 16’, wood)

16’ Trombone (wood)

16’ Bassoon (Sw)

8’ Trumpet (from 16’)

4’ Clarion (from 8’)

8’ Major Tuba (Gt)

8’ Pontifical Trumpets

The organ has a full set of inter- and intra-manual couplers. These have been omitted from this specification for brevity and ease of reading.

Buzard Pipe Organ Builders, LLC, Champaign, Illinois, Opus 33, 2006

St. Francis in the Fields Episcopal Church, Zionsville, Indiana

Zionsville, Indiana is a quaint community about 30 minutes north of Indianapolis. It has retained its rural character, but added modern coffee shops, restaurants, and shopping along the historic Main Street. Farms dot the outlying area, inhabited primarily by today’s generations of their founding families. Horses are kept for sport. Until only last year, Main Street featured an equine and tack shop, where one could purchase saddles, bits, and bridles, and be measured for a custom-made pair of English riding boots.

St. Francis in the Fields Episcopal Church sits on a lane in the newer part of town. The church was originally built in 1968. An early 20th-century Sanborn tracker-action organ was renovated and installed by Goulding & Wood in 1988, and the church was expanded to its present and complete form in 1997. Indianapolis architect Tim Fleck, of Woolens, Molzen, and Partners, designed and finished the space.

These days it is a luxury for a small rural church to have a pipe organ of any description, and St. Francis used their old tracker organ to its greatest and fullest extent. However, as the parish and its music program grew, the old instrument was found wanting. In 1992, their rector, The Rev. Sandra Michels, invited me to visit, having heard of the success of our then new organ at the Episcopal Campus Chapel at the University of Illinois. We met, and I offered several recommendations for instruments of differing size.

The church wrestled with a “catch-22.” The building is not so big as to require a large organ to fill it with sound for vigorous hymn-singing. However, the ambitious choral program of traditional Anglican offerings really cried out for tonal variety—which only a somewhat larger instrument could offer. And, of course, since no one at the church really knew what pipe organs cost, the price came as a real shock. The organ project was shelved, and, as the parish continued to grow, the then new organist/choirmaster Lee Barlow took up the cause afresh for a new instrument.

Lee was acquainted with the many tonal and mechanical benefits of slider chests, and the discipline that they bring to good organ design. But he also wanted to take advantage of the flexibility that unit work can bring to a well-designed pipe organ, as long as it did not in any way compromise the instrument’s integrity.

Having some stops appear on unit chests also became advantageous as we learned that the organ’s initial purchase price had to be limited to a fixed dollar amount, based upon a donation received from a very generous parishioner. Although the donation was certainly significant, the amount was less than a tonally complete organ would cost. We had to design an organ that could at least initially be built for the amount of the single donation—and be efficiently expandable to the proper size as succeeding contributions were received. Partially because unit stops are more expensive than stops planted on slider chests, they make good candidates for preparations, and easier reductions to an organ’s initial purchase price.

Initially, more stops were prepared for the future than the printed specification shows. Although it was against my nature to do so, I had a positive feeling that the church would reinstate the important stops in time for them to be included as the organ was constructed in the shop, and indeed they did!
The limited balcony space was also an issue. Therefore we opted to place the Great in a case projecting over the balcony rail, and place the Swell and Pedal divisions in a case centered on the balcony floor, at the rear wall, behind the choral singers. We kept the Swell and Pedal case simple, echoing the classical architectural design of the chancel and its furnishings. The slightly more fanciful Great case relates to the building’s round window frames in its use of rounded towers with rounded pipe shades. Roman mouths in the façade pipes tie both cases together nicely. The cases are made of 11⁄2" thick solid white oak, with walnut and basswood accents. The front case’s pipe shades are carved—albeit by machine—in a 19th-century pattern. The console is also made of 11⁄2" thick white oak, with polished walnut interior accents, keyboards, slips, nameboard, and drawknob wings.

The action is primarily electrically operated slider and pallet windchests. The unit stops have expansion chambers built into every note’s toe and valve holes, to replicate the speech and repetition characteristics of the slider chest magnets. Our treatment of the actions and chests encourages beautiful speech, and reconciles the slight difference in repetition characteristics between the slider stops and the unit stops.

In small organs, every note of every stop is crucial to the entire organ’s tonal structure. And, dividing the organ with the Great over the rail poses some listening challenges for the organist. We like for the Swell to balance the Great. Absent a Swell 8¢ Diapason, the Swell Salicional and Stopped Diapason blend together to create a composite foundation tone, and balance the Great Diapason. Once the foundations are set, their choruses are built up from these references. Since the Swell is further away from the listeners in the nave, the Swell Salicional sounds very bold indeed at the console. But, for accompanying, it is at a perfect point for softer contexts when the expression box is partially or fully closed.

The Open Diapasons in our organs are very personal musical statements, and I pray that organists and organ purchasers will give me artistic license to grow and evolve as time passes. Those of you who have followed my work during the last 15 years will note that our earlier Diapasons were larger in scale than those we’re building now. Especially in smaller organs, a slightly smaller scale, blown on a moderate pressure, can be cut-up and voiced to produce a beautifully warm, solemn sound, and still have plenty of “urgency” to the tone. Here we have Diapasons that are warm indeed, with a compelling palette of upper partials. The result is warmth without fatness, and an uncanny ability to blend with upper pitches to keep the entire chorus interesting, without becoming “spiky.”

Just as Diapasons are the meat of the sound, the reeds, strings, and flutes are the spice in the cooking! The flutes are all different, and colorful. The Great uses our cheeky 8' Flûte à Bibéron, or “baby-bottle” flute; the Swell, a smoky wooden 8' Stopped Diapason. The 4' flutes’ construction is opposite that of the 8' stops, so that their sounds blend better, and provide contrast between divisions. The Swell strings are lush and beautiful, and lend themselves nicely to being super-coupled with the expression box closed at just the right moment in an anthem or improvisations. The Swell and Pedal Bassoon/Oboe is fundamental and mildly powerful in the bass, but becomes more hollow and plaintive as it enters the manual compass. As is typical of our Oboes, it is primarily meant to color the flues for accompanying, but is also a lovely, lyrical soft solo voice. The Swell Trumpet is slightly on the dark side, in deference to the nature of the small room, but remains interesting by virtue of the open, tapered shallot openings, and slightly thinner tongues, weighted at the ends. When installed, the Pedal Trombone, an independent Pedal reed, will be on slightly higher pressure so that it can have a measured profundity. The future Tuba (note I have not used the adjective “Major” in its nomenclature) will be on moderately high wind pressure; its top three octaves will be horizontally mounted at the top of the Swell case’s pediment.

Thanks to the rector, The Rev. Sandra Michels; organist/choirmaster Lee Barlow; and Dr. Marilyn Keiser, who assured the church that this organ would not be too big for the space! Thanks also to the dedicated people on my staff who continue to build some of the most inspired instruments in America!

—John-Paul Buzard



Charles Eames, executive vice-president, chief engineer, general manager

Brian K. Davis, associate tonal director, head voicer, director, tonal department

Phillip S. Campbell, business manager

Keith Williams, director, service department

Stephen P. Downes, pipe preparation, racking, tonal associate

C. Robert Leech, cabinet maker

Stuart Martin, cabinet maker

Jenaiah Michael, receptionist

Evan Rench, pipe maker, voicer, racking, tonal associate

Jay K. Salmon, office manager

Lyoshia Svinarski, cabinet maker

Shayne Tippett, winding systems

Ray Wiggs, console, electrical systems, wind chest construction

From the organist/choirmaster

The reality of a new instrument was launched by a financial gift from one of St. Francis’s founding members. The new organ needed to support the congregation for service music and hymnody; accompany the choral music, which spans 500 years’ worth of literature; play a majority of the organ literature; and accompany diverse instruments for our concert series.

After hearing and seeing many organs, talking at length with organbuilders, and reviewing various proposals, it was clear that John-Paul Buzard’s thoughtful proposal of a two-manual, 27-rank specification and double case layout would provide an instrument that would meet the requirements of our space and music program. Much gratitude goes to our organ consultant, Dr. Marilyn Keiser, who both affirmed the project’s vision and confirmed John Buzard’s proposal as its realization.

Working with John Buzard and company was pure pleasure. John’s enthusiasm knew no bounds when it came to discussing any aspect of the new organ. He was always open to questions and willing to answer in detail. We are very grateful to him and Chuck Eames for wrestling around the prepared stops; we look forward to installing the Pedal 16' Trombone, the solo 8' Tuba, and the Great and Pedal 16' & 8' Gedeckts.

John’s knowledge and skill are self-evident in both the visual and sonic beauties of the instrument. The organ design was impressive on paper, but in three dimensions it is absolutely magnificent. Visually, it has given a henceforth unknown height to the rear gallery. Musically, its softest sounds fill the room, yet at its fullest it flattens not the ear. It is a joy to play, and it beckons practice. Many and most gracious thanks to you, John-Paul Buzard, for bestowing upon us a masterpiece of your artistry.

—A. Lee Barlow

St. Francis in the Fields Episcopal Church, Zionsville, Indiana, Buzard Opus 33

20 stops, 27 ranks

GREAT (Manual I, 4" wind pressure)

16' Lieblich Gedeckt (stoppered wood, preparation)

8' Open Diapason (polished tin, façade)

8' Flûte à Bibéron

8' Gedeckt Flute (ext)

4' Principal

4' Spire Flute

22⁄3' Twelfth

2' Fifteenth

13⁄5' Seventeenth

11⁄3' Fourniture IV

8' Oboe (Sw)

Tremulant

8' Tuba (high pressure, horizontal, atop case, prepared)

Great to Great 16-UO-4

Swell to Great 16, 8, 4


SWELL (Manual II, expressive, 4" wind pressure)

8' Stopped Diapason (wood)

8' Salicional

8' Voix Celeste (tc)

4' Principal

4' Harmonic Flute

2' Recorder

2' Full Mixture IV

16' Bassoon

8' Trompette

8' Oboe

Tremulant

Cymbalstern (7 bells)

8' Tuba (Gt prep)

Swell to Swell 16-UO-4


PEDAL (various pressures, partially enclosed & expressive)

32' Subbass (1–12 digital ext, prep)

32' Lieblich Gedeckt (1–12 digital ext, prep)

16' Bourdon (stoppered wood)

16' Lieblich Gedeckt (Gt prep)

8' Principal (polished tin, façade)

8' Bass Flute (ext Bourdon)

8' Gedeckt Flute (Gt)

4' Choral Bass (ext Principal)

4' Open Flute (ext Bourdon)

16' Trombone (preparation)

16' Bassoon (Sw)

8' Trumpet (ext Trombone)

4' Shalmei (Sw Oboe)

8' Tuba (Gt)

Great to Pedal 8, 4

Swell to Pedal 8, 4

John-Paul Buzard Pipe Organ Builders, Champaign, Illinois, Opus 35
St. Peter’s Episcopal Church,
Chicago, Illinois

A new divided Choir Organ in twin cases on either side of the entry door, combined with the existing McManis organ of 1982

The artistic concept
Buzard organ Opus 35 is a new choir accompanying organ, housed in two mirror-image cases, located at the rear of the church, framing a large stained glass window and the entry doors. The impetus for installing a portion of the church’s pipe organ at the narthex was the expansion of the parish’s music program, in which the choral singers were moved to the rear of the church from their former location in the chancel. Horizontally mounted solo trumpets have been planned for future installation immediately under the stained glass window.
The organ cases complement and respect the church’s architecture and interior design. The tonal specification was designed to provide a succinct service-playing and accompanimental organ in our mature Anglican style, and complement the existing McManis organ in the chancel, creating an instrument that is both an integral part of the room and an active participant in the liturgy.
The Choir Organ is divided into two sections, one inside each of the cases. Both may be played together, to form a single Choir Organ, playable from the bottom manual keyboard. However, each section of the Choir Organ can be independently coupled to either the Great or Pedal keyboards, and the unison of either shut off, so that one can use the Choir Organ to accompany itself, as though it were a small two-manual organ (much as in the divided Swells in other of our organs).
A lightly voiced 16' Pedal Gedeckt is located in the Choir Organ’s right case, to provide this division with independent pedal sounds, and an independent 8' Open Diapason and 4' Principal are located in the front and façade of the left case, and played from the Great manual keyboard.
This achieves several goals. The new organ in the back fills the entire church when leading hymns, leaving the front organ for antiphonal effects or to add color and brightness to the registrations; the pipes in the back of the church can be played from two keyboards for musical flexibility; the unenclosed Great Diapason chorus in the back of the church allowed us to voice the enclosed Choir Organ’s chorus at a softer volume for accompaniment, so it would not have to serve the differing functions of choral accompanying versus supporting congregational singing.
Both instruments are controlled from a new three-manual and pedal English drawknob wing-style console. The console’s visual design is consistent with the organ cases and complements the church’s architecture and interior design. It is located near the new Choir Organ at the back of the church.

Scope of renovations to the
McManis organ
All the pipes above 8' pitch were brought to the shop for repair, cleaning, and regulation of their voicing. All the zinc basses were replaced with tin/lead metal pipes. The original McManis voicing was respected and restored wherever possible.
The two ranks of reed stops were also replaced with new pipes of stout lead and tin pipe metal for darker, fuller, and more consistent tone. We added a full-length Pedal 16' Trombone and a full-compass Swell 16' Bassoon, which was not originally installed. The new reeds are racked in multiple-level European reed traces of steel and felted wood for permanence.
The stop names of the McManis organ have been slightly altered in some instances to more accurately reflect the new tonal context; however, the scaling and overall tonal design of the McManis work was revered and respected. Prior to the re-installation of the McManis pipework, the existing McManis windchests were cleaned to minimize the recurrence of ciphers in the organ.
—John-Paul Buzard

39 stops, 50 ranks, incorporating 1982 McManis organ
John-Paul Buzard Pipe Organ Builders Opus 35 & 35R

GREAT ORGAN 3¼' wind
16' Gemshorn
8' Open Diapason (new, in Choir Organ
case, 4' wp)
8' Principal
8' Chimney Flute (new basses)
8' Gemshorn (ext 16')
8' Unda Maris (old Dulciana tuned
celeste)
4' Principal (new, in Choir Organ case, 4' wp)
4' Octave
4' Spire Flute
22'3' Nazard
2' Doublette
13'5' Tierce
11'3' Mixture III–IV
8' Trumpet (Sw)
Chimes (25 notes)

SWELL ORGAN 3½' wind
16' Lieblich Gedeckt
8' Open Flute (new basses)
8' Spitz Gamba (new basses)
8' Gamba Celeste (tc)
4' Principal (new)
4' Koppel Flute
2' Principal
1' Mixture III (new)
16' Bassoon (new)
8' Trompette (new)
8' Oboe (new, ext 16')
4' Clarion (new, ext 8')
Tremulant

CHOIR ORGAN “A” 4' wind
(New Opus 35)
8' English Open Diapason
8' Salicional
8' Voix Celeste (tc)
4' Principal
2' Full Mixture IV
16' English Horn
8' Cornopean
Tremulant

CHOIR ORGAN “B” 4' wind
(New Opus 35)
8' Stopped Diapason (wood)
8' Flute Cœlestis II (“Ludwigtone”)
4' Harmonic Flute
2' Recorder
11'3' Larigot
8' Clarinet
Tremulant

PEDAL ORGAN 3½' wind
32' Subbass (1–12 digital)
32' Lieblich Gedeckt (1–12 digital)
16' Open Diapason (wood, Kimball)
16' Bourdon (wood, Kimball)
16' Lieblich Gedeckt (Sw)
16' Gemshorn (Gt)
16' Choir Gedeckt (new, in Choir Organ
case)
8' Principal
8' Bourdon (ext 16')
8' Gedeckt Flute (Sw)
8' Gemshorn (Gt)
4' Choral Bass (ext 8')
4' Gedeckt Flute (Sw)
22'3' Mixture IV
16' Trombone (new)
16' Bassoon (new)
8' Trompette (Sw)
4' Clarion (Sw)