The birth and the restoration of the 1961 Beckerath of the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Montréal

Quimby Pipe Organs, Inc., Warrensburg, Missouri; Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas

Introduction

Austin Organs, Inc., Opus 2352 (1961), housed in All Faiths Chapel on the Kansas State University campus, was one of the earliest American Classic performance organs to appear at an academic institution in the region and certainly the first that was larger than thirty ranks. This organ, designed by James B. Jamison, tonal architect at Austin Organs, Inc., from 1933 to his death in 1957, reflects the builder’s tonal ideals of the 1950s, which differed in some ways from those of the American Classic movement. Jamison’s contributions to the profession have been largely overlooked. His dedication to his ideals and Kansas State University’s organ project have left a lasting impression that was a labor of love. The story that unfolds contains details about Jamison’s life that appear in print for the first time and lend credence to the thought that Opus 2352 may very well be his last will and testament to the organ world.

History of All Faiths Chapel

In early 1947 plans were announced to build All Faiths Chapel with an accompanying chime tower as a memorial to the 5,000 Kansas State University students and alumni who had served in World War II. The new chapel design was to feature two wings, the smaller of which would contain about 68 seats and be used as a meditation chapel. Funds for the construction of this space were provided by the Danforth Foundation of St. Louis, Missouri. Groundbreaking services for the meditation chapel were held in October 1947, and the chapel was dedicated two years later on October 9, 1949, and named Danforth Chapel.

The initial seating arrangements for All Faiths Chapel were for 545 people, 465 of which would be seated on the main floor and 80 in a balcony. Fundraising efforts for All Faiths Chapel progressed at a slow rate: $118,813 was raised by December 1949, and by late 1952 $157,000 was available for the chapel. It was decided that a more contemporary architectural design would replace the original design, which, according to chairman Arthur Peine, had “priced itself out of the market.” The All Faiths Chapel addition was designed by Charles W. Shaver, a church architect and trustee of the Kansas State University Foundation, and Theodore Chadwick, professor of architecture at Kansas State University.

Early history of the All Faiths Chapel organ

A pipe organ for the new chapel was included in the early plans and must have surely been a dream for the new assistant professor of music Robert Hays who was hired as the organ faculty member at Kansas State University in 1946. Hays was insistent from the beginning that Austin should build the new organ in All Faiths Chapel. Furthermore, he insisted that James Jamison design the organ and that Richard Piper, newly appointed tonal director at Austin, voice the organ. The first known letter between Kansas State University and James Jamison is dated September 19, 1952, from music department chair Luther Leavengood extending an invitation for Jamison to view the plans for All Faiths Chapel and to submit a design.¹ Leavengood also revealed that the proposed expenditure for the organ was $28,000–30,000.²

After about seven months of correspondence between Kansas State University and Jamison, Dean Roy Seaton wrote to Jamison to tell him that only $31,000 was available for the organ, $7,000 less than he had proposed to the university during the previous seven-month interim.³ While the $7,000 in and of itself wasn’t an insurmountable sum, construction bids had not yet been awarded for All Faiths Chapel, and therefore Dean Seaton warned that “an excessive cost plus the $7,000 might force a revision of our plans—a lesser organ, cheaper seats, etc., or postponement until more money could be raised. We do want you to understand, however, that you are our chosen builder. . . . We should also like to send to you the completed plans for scrutiny before they are let out for bids.”⁴

Jamison first visited Kansas State University about a year later in late 1953 or early 1954, and in a letter dated January 28, 1954, he presented Hays with the first stoplist proposal for the All Faiths Chapel organ, which was influenced by Austin’s recent, successful installation at Zion Reformed Church in Lodi, California.⁵ This stoplist was modeled after Jamison’s “Minimum All-Purpose American Organ,” defined by Jamison as “the smallest organ that will adequately play any classic organ literature properly, accompany a dignified church service, congregational singing, mixed or boy choirs, [and] facilitate transcription and improvisation.”⁶ Jamison also made the following comments about the stoplist:

Do not worry about the apparent light Pedal. It is not, really, at all. The 16′ Spitzprincipal is a Violone in its low octave and is a true independent pedal register except in full organ . .  . The Clarinet on the Pedal is a surprise—most useful. The 16′ Dolce plus 16′ Gedeckt approximate a Bourdon—and are far more musical—because the Dolce yields definition.

I have long championed the augmented Pedal Diapason which we scale very expertly . . . It ‘tells’ in fine fashion and is 97½% as effective as three straight ranks. You will just have to believe me—for it is so. It saves more than enough for the two-rank Pedal mixture!

I ask that you and the school authorities give this proposition careful and deliberate thought. Perhaps it may prove possible to raise the $38,086 it costs, delivered and installed.⁷

Robert Baker, well-known American church musician (then of First Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn) and organ recitalist, wrote to Hays, “I’m delighted about the news of your getting a new organ—and you will be delighted with what Jamison and Austin do—the Lodi instrument is all he says, and more! One of the best I’ve ever touched. I’ve written a glowing letter to your Mr. Peine and meant every word. Jamison is the smartest man in the field, and I’m trying to get him to write a book.”⁸ Thank heavens Baker did this since Jamison was able to crystallize his final ideas on organ design in the book Organ Design and Appraisal, which was published shortly after his death.

Groundbreaking for All Faiths Chapel occurred a few months later in the spring of 1954. Jamison visited the Kansas State University campus a second time in November 1955 and prefaced his visit with these words, “I am delighted to learn that the chapel project is on the move and the organ will follow . . . this time I hope we can cinch it. In a way, the delay has not hurt the quality the college will get for we have not stood still but have emphatically improved our work.”⁹

However, just a few months later (March 22, 1956), Jamison wrote a letter to Basil Austin with shocking news:

I have some bad news. X-ray pictures show I have the dread disease and shall be operated on in about three weeks. The doc says I have an 80% or better chance—as things have been caught fairly early . . . he told me just an hour ago. I suspected it and was mentally as prepared as one can be. I intend to go through with it as courageously as I can and hope he is right in saying I may again be as well as ever. However, I have had my full share and have no complaint. I am glad I have lived to see the firm do so well and on the way to supremacy—as it most certainly is.¹⁰

Five days later, Jamison wrote Basil Austin again commenting about some of Austin’s most recent work in California:

The first violence of the shock is wearing off a bit and I feel OK and want to work—and keep from thinking about my trouble. . . . I had word this week from Gray Company that my book is now being put in print—which means—I hope—that it may be out this year. All these [organ] design principles will be clearly stated in it. Let me assure you they will each bear thought. Good stops are not enough—they have to be properly arranged. Then you can bring off effects unheard of in clumsier schemes.  Well—it is 6:45 AM. I had breakfast half an hour ago—and already have written a lot. I have so much to say.¹¹

A little less than three weeks later, All Faiths Chapel was dedicated on April 15, 1956. Still, no significant progress had been made in raising the extra money needed for the organ. Jamison wrote to Basil Austin in January 1957, “I asked Robert Hays to phone Piper while [he is] at Topeka and see if he could run over (50 miles) to Manhattan and size up the [chapel], etc. The college deal burns hot and cold and right now seems to be warm.”¹² About three weeks later, Jamison received the news that he would not survive the cancer that had overtaken his body. He wrote Basil Austin, “. . . my check at the hospital yesterday was unfavorable and they have discontinued medicine and told me to [sit] still and fold my hands. I have lost a great deal of weight and am terribly weak.”¹³ He also mentioned the All Faiths Chapel organ project:

I have a recent letter from the Kansas State University Foundation asking for a complete scheme and price and terms . . . am writing it out this afternoon. At least this prospect is not dead. I never seem to hit the hot ones with real money. Do see to it that Piper goes there when the contract is signed and gets a complete and accurate idea of what to do in scaling, etc. as well as a physical disposition of chests. It’s a great opportunity and ought not to be muffed. They have $19,000 in cash now.¹⁴

Unfortunately, Jamison would not live to see the All Faiths Chapel organ completed, and the scheme that he wrote out that afternoon supposedly did not survive. I feel, however, that a statement from Robert Hays in a letter to James McCain indicates otherwise: “Mr. Jamison devotes a large portion of his book to a discussion of what he calls a minimum, all-purpose American organ. He gives three specifications for this organ, one of which is the identical organ he designed for our chapel.”¹⁵ The May 1, 1960, issue of The Diapason also sports this almost identical stoplist when the official announcement of Austin’s building of the All Faiths Chapel organ was announced to the public.¹⁶

A month after his letter to Basil Austin, Jamison received a letter from Kenneth Heywood, director of endowment and development at Kansas State University, indicating that a new organ for All Faiths Chapel could not be procured until necessary funds were raised.¹⁷ A little less than three months later, on May 29, 1957, James Jamison passed away. He was seventy-four years old.

Project resurgence

Nothing is known about what happened regarding the All Faiths Chapel organ project for the next eighteen months or so until the next wave of correspondence reveals that Kansas State University President James McCain had become aware of the fact that European mechanical-action organs were cheaper than American electro-pneumatic-action organs. In a letter to McCain, Hays reiterated his respect for Austin and Jamison’s vision:

I have always had the greatest respect for Jamison’s knowledge and ability, as I have had the greatest faith in his integrity. . . . Installing an organ in our chapel was a thing Jamison very much wanted to accomplish . . . I think, with respect to future generations of students and teachers as well as the entire community, that the benefits of Jamison’s plans in our behalf should not be abandoned without serious consideration.¹⁸

However, it appears that the discussion was not moving quickly enough for McCain, who wrote the following to Luther Leavengood and Kenneth Heywood four months later:

I continue to come across references to the purchase of German organs for chapels similar to ours . . . Unless I am furnished evidence to the contrary, I shall assume that with the money now available we could purchase an organ for our chapel which would be as satisfactory as the $45,000 or $50,000 chapel organ that we originally planned to install in the chapel.¹⁹

Six days later, Luther Leavengood began writing universities and churches that had mechanical organs built by Kuhn, Beckerath, and Flentrop. In a letter to an organist that played at a church with a mechanical-action organ, Hays mused, “There are many reasons that I am convinced a foreign organ is not for us and I am prepared to argue for my viewpoint, but the comparison in cost is the point on which I have no information and for which we ask your help.”²⁰

Shortly thereafter, Austin President Frederic Austin delivered bad news to Kenneth Heywood that manufacturing costs had risen 25% since 1957, making it even more difficult for Hays to convince university officials who were not organists that Austin should be selected as the builder of the All Faiths Chapel organ. Hays summarized the results of his study of mechanical-action organs versus American electro-pneumatic-action organs shortly thereafter, with the argument that Jamison and the All Faiths Chapel architects had worked together to design an organ that would be appropriate for the chapel itself and that “no organ can be purchased and then ‘moved in’ as one might buy a piano.”²¹ However, President McCain remained undeterred, “I am by no means yet convinced that with the money now available we cannot purchase a foreign make organ with as good results as we would get from one American organ to which we appear to be rather arbitrarily committed. If this is the case, it would certainly be tragic to defer action on securing an organ for perhaps 15, 20, or even more years.”²²

It truly appeared that the dream Hays and Jamison had formed over five years previously would be doomed to failure. However, the vision for an organ in All Faiths Chapel was kept alive by Marion Pelton, one of Hays’s colleagues in the keyboard area who was herself an organist. Pelton had taught at Kansas State University since 1928 and had an interest in early music fueled by a two-year residency at Columbia Teacher’s College in New York City (1955–1957) where she was exposed to much early music. In May 1959 she began sponsoring Pro Musica Antiqua concerts that featured early music. Pelton relates:

. . . the very first one of these programs, they didn’t have the organ [in All Faiths Chapel] . . . I wanted an organ so badly. . . .
The paper gave me a lot of publicity and I had pictures of the early organs that I had visited over in Europe on these huge white cardboard things. We also had a tea. The idea then was I was trying to raise money for an organ for the chapel. Well, I think I raised about $400 . . . It was just terribly disappointing.”²³

However, Mrs. Gabe Sellers, a resident of Manhattan, had a brother, Ernest Nicolay, a Kansas State University graduate who was vice-president and director of the Frito Company in Detroit, Michigan. The very next day, Sellers and her brother Ernest went to visit their mother in Michigan, and Ernest remarked, “Do you know of someplace to give some money to Kansas State University? I have to pay so much tax on so much money and I would be very glad to make them a big gift.”²⁴ His sister, Mrs. Sellers, remarked that she had just been at a concert the day before where they were trying to raise money for an organ.²⁵ Nicolay’s gift was substantial enough that Kenneth Heywood wrote Frederic Austin indicating, “A very substantial contribution has been promised by one of our alumni which, when received, will bring the figure to the point where we can feel justified in obligating ourselves.”²⁶ Hays also wrote to McCain:

Since [Jamison] was willing to include this design [for the All Faiths Chapel organ] in this book as an example of his mature thought, it is my opinion that every effort should be made to place in our chapel the organ he designed for it and which Austin will build to his specifications.

Just as we would get top quality design from Jamison, we would also get top quality construction and long-lasting dependability from the Austin Company. We have had expert opinion on this point, and the longevity and mechanical dependability of the present Austin in the University Auditorium bears out that opinion.²⁷

Finally, in November of 1959, the All Faiths Chapel organ contract between Austin Organs and Kansas State University was finalized. Hays wrote Frederic Austin, “Years ago, when I was impatient and despairing of the outcome of our negotiations with your company, JBJ said to me, ‘These things take a long time; I’ve been through it hundreds of times; do not be impatient and don’t worry, it will come out all right.’ How I wish that he could be here to know that it has ‘come out all right!’”²⁸ Due to what was a slightly reduced budget, the final stoplist had to be altered slightly, much to Hays’s chagrin. Thankfully, the revisions to the stoplist were minor (the Great II Rauschquint was divided into separate 22⁄3′ and 2′ Principal stops), the 8′ Geigen was deleted from the Positiv, and the Pedal Trompette 4′ Pedal Extension (labeled Clarion) and the Swell Trompette borrow were deleted and replaced with a 4′ Krummhorn borrow from the Positiv).

Installation and dedication

The All Faiths Chapel organ was installed by Austin staff member Zoltan Zsitvay, who arrived in Manhattan on August 16, 1961.³⁰ David Broome arrived on August 21 to begin the tonal finishing.³¹ The first public use of the organ was only five days after Broome’s arrival on August 26 for the wedding of Sara Umberger, granddaughter of Harry Umberger, long-time dean of the Kansas State University School of Architecture. David Broome relates:

We talked with her briefly after the wedding rehearsal the day before. She told us she had set the wedding date late in August, hoping that the organ would be finished by then. She seemed so disappointed that the organ wasn’t ready; so we decided to voice the rest of the flue pipes so it could be used. Broome and his associate worked late that night and began early the next morning with their ‘wedding gift from the Austin Organ Company.’ By 3:00 they’d finished it and could show the organist for the wedding, Mrs. Beth Rodgers, what parts of the instrument she could use.³³

Robert Hays played the first formal recital on the instrument Sunday, October 8, 1961. Organist Robert Baker, director of the School of Sacred Music at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, a close friend of Jamison’s and classmate of Robert Hays, played the dedicatory recital Sunday, November 19, 1961. The Manhattan Mercury reported, “an overflow crowd of approximately 1,000 people heard Robert Baker, noted organ recitalist, demonstrate K-State’s new $50,000 pipe organ.” Baker declared that the organ was, “beautifully designed; beautifully placed; beautifully executed.” Baker further commented, “I have played a great many organs, but seldom can I remember an organ of its size as beautifully designed, as beautifully placed, and as beautifully executed.”³⁴ He summed the instrument up as “satisfactory and thrilling.”³⁵ Despite the pageantry and celebration associated with the completion of the All Faiths Chapel organ, Austin personnel at the time must certainly have felt a pang in their hearts for Jamison and his vision for this organ. Perhaps Richard Piper summarizes it best, “For obvious reasons the builder regards the tonal work somewhat as a memorial to Mr. Jamison whom they hold in such high esteem. They sincerely believe the instrument successfully fulfills his great expectations and that were he here today, he would give his unqualified approval to the tonal interpretation.”³⁶

Austin Opus 2352 today

When I arrived at Kansas State University twelve years ago, the switching system of Austin Opus 2352 had recently undergone conversion to Solid State Logic but sounded tonally fatigued. Quimby Pipe Organs of Warrensburg, Missouri, became curators for the organ in the fall of 2010. I was encouraged that Eric Johnson, head voicer for Quimby, felt as I did, that some wonderful results would occur under the right hands and ears if this organ was restored.

After nearly fifty years of regular and sometimes heavy use, the organ was on the verge of needing significant maintenance: note and stop action releathering, pipe cleaning, stenciling, and tonal regulation, new tuning slides (particularly for exposed pipework), wind reservoir repair, and reed cleaning. Funding for the entire project was a significant hurdle to overcome. To help initiate some momentum with the university administration regarding the organ and to provide external validation about the value of this organ to the community, region, and nation, I applied for a Historic Organ Citation from the Organ Historical Society, an award that was granted November 4, 2011, at a fiftieth-anniversary concert featuring the premiere of Daniel E. Gawthrop’s Symphony No. 2: “The Austin.” The plan worked. University administration awarded funds to cover the releathering and reed cleaning aspects of the project that were completed by Quimby in 2014. The remaining aspects of the project were completed by Quimby in 2022, thanks to the support of the Kansas State University Foundation that helped elicit the support of donors who funded the remainder of this project.

Jamison’s thoughts about the disposition and voicing of Austin organs were truly cosmopolitan, perhaps more so than his contemporaries. Even though the All Faiths Chapel organ is only forty ranks, no tonal effect is duplicated. Looking at the Great division, Jamison received inspiration from English organs for the principal chorus. The 8′ Diapason is the largest scale of all members of the chorus, a departure from what others were doing at the time. The 8′ Spitzflöte is a beautiful stop alone or creates a subtle addition to the 8′ Bourdon, perfect for mezzo-piano passages. The 4′ Quintadena, enthusiastically endorsed by Jamison, has now fallen out of favor in some circles but is nevertheless another contrasting color. This division is, in the true sense of American Classicism, reedless.

The basis for the Swell division chorus is an 8′ Hohlflöte, a lovely stop of wood and an unusual inclusion for the time, yet offers a beautiful contrast to the other flute stops. The Nasard and Tierce ranks only go to tenor C, reinforcing Jamison’s idea that they “are justified by their lesser cost and by the fact that rarely are such mutations used below Tenor C.”³⁷ The Swell 8′ Trompette is “of medium scale and blown to optimum timbre . . . darker than that of the [Positiv] Bombarde.”³⁸ The Clarinet is, in Jamison’s words, “not too suave. At 16′ serving as the Trumpet chorus double, it must be very rich harmonically to be right.”³⁹ The 16′ Bass Clarinet is also available as a borrow in the Pedal and serves as a wonderful Pedal reed for Baroque literature.

The enclosed Positiv division follows, in Jamison’s words, “the sensible trend to convert the customary Choir section into a Choir-Positiv.”⁴⁰ The 8′ Bombarde, the major manual reed, is in this division and was a design element far ahead of its time. Jamison notes the following about this stop’s characteristics:

What color shall it be, and what power? Is it possible to have it right in both qualities if we extend it upward from a balanced Pedal reed? Yes, it is, and the great money saving will not be unwelcome. The requirement is that it be of the same general timbre as the rest of the full organ up to that point. What we seek in employing it as a super chorus reed, as well as the rarely provided solo antiphonal voice, is a final splash of brilliance and power that will extend forte to fortissimo without changing the general color except by brightening it.

This double dictates less power than a genuine English Tuba would have. The ratio sought is one that will add something like 25% to what has gone before; that last final surge of crescendo that marks the true climax. . . .

If this extension of the pedal register has this fortunate manual effect, how does the voice fit into the Pedal field and function? The answer is—in the best possible way. For the correct register is the French Bombarde, playable at 16′, 8′, and 4′ on Pedal and at 8′ on Choir. Thus it is in, but not of, that section. There is nothing so dramatically and forcefully effective as this type of tone for forte-fortissimo Pedal.

In an organ such as we plan, which will prove to need 33 to 35 registers, it should always be enclosed, making it much more useful and applicable to various demands. The Bombarde is so superior to the more fundamental Trombone that there can be no hesitation in choosing between them. Added to the Pedal fluework, it imparts a drama and a decisive edge that a weightier reed cannot equal, again demonstrating the ‘rich bass’ principle. Played solo against full manual flues it realizes an effect the English organ cannot manage—a magnificence of intensity rather than substance.⁴¹

Jamison’s aforementioned effects of this stop are completely realized on the All Faiths Chapel organ. Its enclosure truly lends an amazing degree of flexibility that greatly enhances its use in an organ of moderate size such as this, in addition to its ability to be unison, sub- and super-coupled to the Great and unison and super-coupled to the Pedal.

The Pedal division’s flexibility belies its size. Jamison discusses the design of the 16′-8′-4′ Diapason chorus:

The 56 pipe unit set . . . can all be regulated to approximate fairly closely the octave-by-octave power balances of three normal independent sets. The general character is crisp, rather than full, consistent with the bright-bass full-tip (pedal-manual) timbre progression. The power is similar to that of the Great [8′ Open Diapason], which is the really important item, but the quality is firmer. When both Great and Pedal flue choruses are drawn, we have on the Great an impressive aggregation of various unisons and fifths, moving here and there; and below, on the Pedal, is our unit stop at 16′-8′-4′ plus Mixture (another group of unisons and off-unisons) moving contrariwise to or in conjunction with the manual work; we are supposed to be able to tell, in this grand, forte mêlée, if the Pedal is unified, independent, or half and half—or if the 4′ is a scale larger and louder than the 8′—though which 8′ and which 4′ is not certain—or if the extended Pedal 8′ is two scales smaller than the Pedal 16′!⁴²

Jamison also utilized this same idea for the 16′-8′-4′ Pedal stopped flute rank, and its effects are equally effective. The 16′-8′ Spitzflöte unit borrowed from the Great fills in the mezzo-forte gap in the Pedal beautifully. The bottom octave of the 16′ Spitzflöte is a string that provides the additional harmonic foundation to the bass line that is missing in the 16′ Lieblich Gedeckt. When one factors in the division’s other stops (two-rank Pedal mixture and reeds), it has more than enough to stand on its own!

In summary, my twelve-year working relationship with this organ encompassing both teaching and performance has reinforced my beliefs that Jamison’s “Minimum All-Purpose American Organ” is exactly what it claims to be. Quimby Pipe Organs and its staff are convinced of this organ’s design and role in the organ world and have done all they can to retain its integrity and quality. Their work has been top-notch. When the organ was new, Richard Piper mused, “It is truly said that time is the only yardstick by which beauty can be measured. Austin believes this organ will endure.”43 It has endured nobly for over sixty years and given the care and further use it will receive, I have full confidence that its music and legacy will endure for many years yet to come.

—David C. Pickering, DMA, AAGO

Professor of Music, Kansas State University

Notes

1. Letter from Luther Leavengood to James Jamison, September 19, 1952.

2. Ibid.

3. Letter from Roy Seaton to James Jamison, May 8, 1953.

4. Ibid.

5. Letter from James Jamison to Robert Hays, January 28, 1954.

6. James B. Jamison, Organ Design and Appraisal (New York: H.W. Gray, 1959), 93.

7. Letter from James Jamison to Robert Hays, January 28, 1954.

8. Letter from Robert Baker to Robert Hays, July 19, 1953

9. Letter from James Jamison to Robert Hays, July 29, 1955.

10. Letter from James Jamison to Basil Austin, March 22, 1956.

11. Ibid., March 27, 1956.

12. Letter from James Jamison to Basil Austin, January 18, 1957.

13. Ibid., February 9, 1957.

14. Ibid.

15. Letter from Robert Hays to James McCain, October 13, 1959.

16. “College in Kansas Orders New Austin,” The Diapason, May 1, 1960, p. 7.

17. Letter from Kenneth Heywood to James Jamison, March 9, 1957.

18. Letter from Robert Hays to James McCain, January 14, 1959.

19. Letter from James McCain to Luther Leavengood and Kenneth Heywood, April 2, 1959.

20. Letter from Robert Hays to Betty Louise Lumby, April 15, 1959.

21. Letter from Robert Hays to James McCain, May 26, 1959.

22. Letter from James McCain to Robert Hays, May 29, 1959.

23. Byron Jensen, College Music on the Konza Prairie: A History of Kansas State’s Department of Music from 1863 to 1990 (Ed.D. diss., Kansas State University, 1990), 409.

24. Ibid., 409–410.

25. Ibid, 410.

26. Letter from Kenneth Heywood to Frederic Austin, June 5, 1959.

27. Letter from Robert Hays to James McCain, October 13, 1959.

28. Letter from Robert Hays to Frederic Austin, November 30, 1959.

29. Zsitvay was a distinguished member of the Hungarian National Track and Field Team, winning the University World Championships in the Pole Vault in Paris in 1946.

30. Letter from Donald Austin to Robert Hays, August 3, 1961.

31. Ibid.

32. “Memorial Organ,” K-Stater, October 1961, 7.

33. Ibid.

34. “Expert Praises K-State Organ,” Manhattan Mercury, November 20, 1961.

35. Ibid.

36. Richard Piper, “Stoplists,” The American Organist (May 1962), 23.

37. Jamison, 134

38. Ibid., 115.

39. Ibid.

40. Ibid., 151.

41. Ibid., 105–106.

42. Ibid., 121.

43. Richard Piper, “Stoplists,” The American Organist (May 1962), 23.

 

Quimby website: quimbypipeorgans.com

University website: www.k-state.edu/mtd/music

Photo credit: Tom Theis

 

GREAT

16′ Contraspitzflöte (ext 8′) 12 pipes

8′ Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Bourdon 61 pipes

8′ Spitzflöte 61 pipes

4′ Octave 61 pipes

4′ Quintadena 61 pipes

2-2⁄3′ Octave Quint 61 pipes

2′ Super Octave 61 pipes

1-1⁄3′ Fourniture IV 244 pipes

SWELL

8′ Hohlflöte 68 pipes

8′ Viola 68 pipes

8′ Voix Celeste (TC) 56 pipes

4′ Prestant 68 pipes

4′ Rohrflöte 68 pipes

2-2⁄3′ Nasard  (TC) 49 pipes

2′ Flageolet 61 pipes

1-3⁄5′ Tierce (TC) 49 pipes

2′ Mixture III 183 pipes

16′ Bass Clarinet (ext 8′) 12 pipes

8′ Trompette 68 pipes

8′ Clarinet 68 pipes

4′ Hautbois 68 pipes

Tremulant

POSITIV

8′ Nason Flute 68 pipes

8′ Dolce 68 pipes

8′ Dolce Celeste (TC) 56 pipes

4′ Nachthorn 68 pipes

2′ Oktave 61 pipes

1-1⁄3′ Larigot 61 pipes

1′ Zimbel III 183 pipes

8′ Krummhorn 68 pipes

Tremulant

8′ Bombarde (Pedal)

PEDAL

16′ Diapason 56 pipes

16′ Spitzflöte (Gt)

16′ Lieblich Gedeckt 56 pipes

8′ Octave (ext 16′)

8′ Spitzflöte (Gt)

8′ Lieblich Flöte (ext 16′)

4′ Fifteenth (ext 16′)

4′ Flöte (ext 16′)

2-2⁄3′ Mixture II 64 pipes

16′ Bombarde 80 pipes

16′ Bass Clarinet (Sw)

8′ Trompette (ext 16′)

4′ Krummhorn (Pos)

Normal assortment of couplers

32 voices, 40 ranks, 2,458 pipes

Sally Gordon-Mark

Born in New York City, Sally Gordon-Mark has French and American citizenships, lives in Europe, and is an independent writer, researcher, and translator. She is also a musician—her professional life began in Hollywood as the soprano of a teenage girl group, The Murmaids, whose hit record, Popsicles & Icicles, is still played on air and sold on CDs. Eventually she worked for Warner Bros. Records, Francis Coppola, and finally Lucasfilm Ltd., in charge of public relations and promotions, before a life-changing move to Paris in 1987. There Sally played harpsichord for the first time, thanks to American concert artist Jory Vinikour, her friend and first teacher. He recommended she study with Huguette Dreyfus, which she had the good fortune to do during the last three years before Huguette retired from the superieur regional conservatory of Rueil-Malmaison, remaining a devoted friend until Huguette passed away.

During Sally’s residence in France, she organized a dozen Baroque concerts for the historical city of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, worked as a researcher for books published by several authors and Yale University, and being trilingual, served as a translator of early music CD booklets for musicians and Warner Classic Records. She also taught piano privately and at the British School of Paris on a regular basis. In September 2020 she settled in Perugia, Italy. In May 2023 Sally will be the guest editor of the British Harpsichord Society’s e-magazine Sounding Board, devoted entirely to the memory of Huguette Dreyfus. For more information: www.sallygordonmark.com.

Read Part 1 here.

You had to be crazy to want a career. It was impossible to see what the possibilities were.

—Huguette Dreyfus¹

In 1950 Huguette Dreyfus was finding it difficult without a harpsichord of her own, a situation making it expensive to practice—a crucial problem in her case, since, like others in her generation, her training had been on the piano. She had just discovered the harpsichord in her first year (1949–1950) of Norbert Dufourcq’s music history class at the Paris Conservatory, then located on rue de Madrid. That year, he focused on the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, and Pleyel loaned him a harpsichord for his classroom. He also created an unofficial harpsichord class at the conservatory, taught by his former student, Jacqueline Masson. To practice, Huguette rented a rehearsal room upstairs in the Salle Pleyel concert hall, at 8:00 a.m. several days a week.²

During Ruggero Gerlin’s summer classes at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, which she attended from 1953 through 1959, Huguette was always among the few students who were invited to perform a short program in the end-of-term concerts in September. Finding time to rehearse on the class harpsichord, a contemporary one with pedals by an obscure Italian maker named Cella, was difficult because it was shared by all of Ruggero Gerlin’s students, so Huguette resorted to practicing discreetly during the Italian siesta from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.³

Huguette conferred with her mother Marguerite and her brother Pierre, knowing that it would be too expensive for the now fatherless family⁴ to purchase a new harpsichord. Her brother asked a friend who frequented auction houses to let him know if a double-manual harpsichord ever came up for sale. Nothing happened for a long time. Then in late 1957, Pierre found what was purported to be an original eighteenth-century Nicolas Blanchet double-manual harpsichord in a shop specializing in eighteenth-century French antiques—probably Maurice Bensimon’s at 5 rue Royale in Paris. Little was known about the instrument, except that it had once been in the collection of Raymond Russell. It was sold at a Sotheby’s auction in June 1956 to Pelham Galleries in London, and according to the gallery owner’s son, Alan Rubin, Bensimon was a client of Pelham’s.⁵

On January 16, 1958, Huguette flew to London to accompany violinist Madeleine Massart in a concert the next day at the French Institute. She may have met with Raymond Russell, because his address is noted in her agenda. Before flying home on January 25, she went to see the instrument collections at Fenton House and the Victoria & Albert Museum, for which Russell had recently written the catalogs. It is not known when her harpsichord was delivered or from where, but her agenda reveals that in March she was frequently in touch with Marcel Asseman, the harpsichord technician for Pleyel, Erard, and the Salle Gaveau. He worked on the instrument, but it is not known what he did.⁶ In an interview, Huguette admitted that when she first touched its keys, after having played Pleyel and Neupert harpsichords, she wondered how she would ever be able to play “the beast.” It had plectra made of plumes, making for a different attack. Huguette adapted to it: “This historical instrument was a good teacher for me. It completely changed my touch.”⁷

Huguette entered the international music competition in Geneva, Switzerland, in March 1958, and soon after gave her first radio interview on a French program, La Discothèque classique, which aired on July 29. She went to Siena as usual for her summer classes with Ruggero Gerlin at the Accademia Chigiana, and from there went directly to Geneva. 

The 14th Concours d’exécution musicale opened on September 20, 1958. Huguette arrived there alone and exhausted, and she could not speak at all as she had laryngitis. Seven harpsichord contestants had signed up—four women, three men. The first round was on stage with no audience. The players were separated by a curtain from the jury, composed of Isabelle Nef, Ralph Kirkpatrick, Thurston Dart, Ruggero Gerlin, Aimée Van de Wiele, Eta Harich-Schneider, and Eduard Müller. (With the exception of Dart and Müller, with whom Gustav Leonhardt had studied for a year, all had been students of Wanda Landowska.) The players were instructed to remain still and silent. Jill Severs, also a contestant, remembers that one of the men wore velvet slippers for playing the pedals. Huguette played a Bach prelude and fugue on a Neupert. Its sonority disturbed her, and she realized during the fugue that a coupler had been left only halfway in position. But, by listening to the music and playing with total concentration, Huguette maintained her composure.

The second round took place on October 1 at 2:00 p.m. in the conservatory auditorium. Huguette, the only remaining contestant, played before a paying audience a program of obligatory pieces by Bach, Scarlatti, and Rameau, finishing with three Mikrokosmos pieces by Bartók. The last round, a public recital, took place on October 3 in Victoria Hall:

Miss Dreyfus (France), harpsichordist, opened the round with the Concerto in G Major of Haydn, which seemed Lilliputian in the nave of Victoria Hall. Meticulous performance, faultless register, sometimes too weak given the surroundings, and a little prosaic over all.⁸

There was no winner in the harpsichord competition that year, but Huguette did receive a silver medal. Nonetheless, she was invited to perform in a concert of laureates in her hometown of Mulhouse on October 10, 1958. She received 10,000 francs for her performance of the Haydn Concerto in G. The fact that she did not win first prize did not diminish the attention that her distinction in the competition brought her. In her biography, the silver medal eventually metamorphosed into a gold one or a first prize, possibly at the insistence of her record labels because of the crucial importance given to credentials in France. 

Huguette continued traveling to Siena for summer lessons with Gerlin through 1959. On September 13, 1955, she and Jill Severs, who, like Huguette, had been coming since 1953, performed a four-hand piece written by Ferenc Sulvok, a Hungarian composition student at the Academy that summer. Another classmate was Kenneth Gilbert; the three became lifelong friends. Normally, the courses were limited to four summers, but on July 16, 1957, Gerlin wrote to Huguette, “Two words quickly to let you know that I obtained authorization from the Academy to bring back my former students to continue taking my courses for an unlimited number of times!”⁹ He invited her and Sylvie Spycket to attend and said he was happy to have acquired a Neupert harpsichord for Bach’s music, which delighted the students, too, because the Cella had been a difficult instrument to play expressively due to its hard touch.¹⁰

At the time, the important harpsichordists in France were Pauline Aubert, Marcelle Charbonnier, Marcelle Delacour, Marguérite Roesgen-Champion, Aimée Van de Wiele, and Robert Veyron-Lacroix, who played Pleyel or other contemporary harpsichords. Copies of historical harpsichords were not being made then in France. In October 1959, Huguette started meeting regularly with Michel Bernstein, founder of Valois Records and later Astrée, which specialized in early music played on period instruments. It was her former professor of musical aesthetics, Alexis Roland-Manuel, who had told Bernstein about Huguette. She invited Bernstein to her apartment so she could play her own harpsichord for him. Bernstein was dazzled; he had never heard a period harpsichord before. He asked her to sign a contract with Valois, one of the first record labels—along with Erato, Harmonia Mundi (France), and Archiv—founded after the first vinyl LP record had been invented in 1948.¹¹

There were reservations on Huguette’s part as to whether she was ready to record, but Gerlin encouraged her to go ahead and would help her by giving her extra lessons in Paris. On February 3, 1960, Huguette gave her first solo performance on the radio in the ensemble Norbert Dufourcq created, Histoire et Musique, composed of interested musicians and former students. With an immense and inspiring enthusiasm, Dufourcq presented the program: 

We and our young artists are hunting for early music manuscripts, hidden among thousands of documents, to get them published. What a joy it is for us! . . . I have tried to impart to my students the noble objective of reconstituting and reviving this music from texts that we have to transcribe.¹²

This is exactly what Huguette did; she played six pieces by D’Agincourt, which had not been published since 1733. 

Between April 26 and 28, 1960, Huguette recorded her first LPs for Valois in Copenhagen on a Bengaard harpsichord with pedals, which was felt by Michel Bernstein and Huguette to have the closest sound to a period one. François Couperin’s Pièces de clavecin, Livre II, sixième et onzième ordres (Valois, MB 798) was released in 1962 and received the prestigious Grand Prix du Disque de l’Académie Charles Cros, the first of many prizes her albums would receive.

Nouvelles Suites de Pièces de Clavecin by Jean-Philippe Rameau (Valois, MB 920) followed that year. The LP received a favorable review in one of France’s leading newspapers:

On an excellent modern harpsichord of Danish fabrication, Huguette Dreyfus plays the Nouvelles Suites de pièces written for the harpsichord by J.-P. Rameau. Huguette Dreyfus is one of the rare contemporary virtuosos who know how to draw out of the harpsichord all its resources of sound and plunge the listener into the true atmosphere of compositions from the past.¹³

Huguette made her first appearance on national French television, resplendent in an eighteenth-century dress and wig, on March 30, 1961. In the program, Voyage au pays de la musique, she played La Poule by Rameau.¹⁴ Soon afterwards, Huguette played her first solo recital on April 7, 1961, in Lyon’s Salle Witkowski and received an enthusiastic review in a local newspaper:

Miss Huguette Dreyfus gave to her audience (more numerous than had been hoped for) a beautiful harpsichord recital (of music by Chambonnières, François Couperin, J. S. Bach, and Scarlatti). . . . Miss Dreyfus revealed herself as the most exquisite and energetic of harpsichordists. Faultless technique, quivering sensitivity, elegant style, and continual accuracy.¹⁵

In 1962 she met a harpsichord maker from Grasse, Claude Mercier-Ythier, who had just opened a shop and studio in Paris specializing entirely in the sale and rental of harpsichords, À la corde pincée, the first of its kind in France since the French Revolution. It was a pivotal meeting for both, as their amicable professional association would last over forty-five years. At the time, he represented the harpsichord manufacturer Neupert, a competitor of Pleyel that gradually stopped making harpsichords by the early 1960s. Claude restored a 1754 Henri Hemsch that would become Huguette’s favorite performing instrument for concerts, summer workshops, and recordings. When Huguette toured in Europe, he often traveled with her, bringing an instrument, as Huguette never traveled with her own. Claude enjoyed telling the story of having saved Huguette on tour, when the man next to her grabbed her skirt under the dinner table and would not let go when she got up to leave.¹⁶

Huguette’s career was blossoming that year; she was concertizing in France and abroad, and her first records were successful. During her long and rich career, Huguette would tour the United States, Canada, South America, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Japan, and most of Europe. She would perform in concerts and on recordings with other illustrious artists and conductors, including friends and former students: András Adorján, Marie-Claire Alain, Olivier Baumont, Nadia Boulanger, Pierre Boulez, René Clemencic, Alfred Deller, Ruggero Gerlin, Marie-Claire Jamet, Christian Lardé (with whom she recorded twelve albums), Lily Laskine, Yannick Le Gaillard, Maxence Larrieu, Gaston Maugras, Eduard Melkus (ten albums), Yehudi Menuhin, Pierre Pierlot, Rafael Puyana, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Luciano Sgrizzi, Henryk Szeryng, Luigi Fernando Tagliavini, and Blandine Verlet.

The ensembles she performed in regularly included the Quatuor Instrumental de Lutèce with flautist Jacques Royer, oboist Emile Mayousse, and cellist Jean Deferrieux; Norbert Dufourcq’s ensemble, Musique et Histoire; the Paul Kuentz Orchestra; and the other principal Parisian orchestras: L’Orchestre Lamoureux, Le Collegium Musicum de Paris, directed by Roland Douatte, the bassoonist Fernand Oubradous’ chamber orchestra, and an ensemble that gave private concerts, Fiori musicali, created and conducted by Robert Dalsace.

On May 24, 1962, she and Christian Lardé played with Yehudi Menuhin in an ensemble directed by Nadia Boulanger,¹⁷ in a performance for the Singer-Polignac Foundation.¹⁸ It may be that Irene Kedroff, whose vocal class Huguette had accompanied for several years at the Ecole Normale de Musique, had recommended Huguette; she had been the soprano in a quartet directed by Nadia Boulanger for many years before World War II. On another occasion, in an undated letter to Huguette from her office in the Fontainebleau castle, Miss Boulanger invited her to perform in a tribute to architect Louis Le Vau by the Institut de France: “It would give me a particular pleasure to organize this concert with the gracious participation of a small group of eminent artists.”¹⁹

Huguette’s collaboration with orchestra conductor Paul Kuentz (in his 90s, he is still conducting his orchestra in Paris) gave another boost to her career—over a period of ten years, she was a featured soloist in his orchestra, going on her first tour in 1962. They performed throughout France and Belgium. The Festival Franco-Allemand de la Jeunesse took them to Cap d’Ail on the Côte d’Azur for three days in December. While Paul Kuentz’s orchestra was rehearsing, Jean Cocteau was decorating the outdoor amphitheater. In a friendly gesture, Cocteau designed the cover of their program and posed for a photograph with the orchestra.²⁰

In 1952, a Dominican priest named Henri Jarrié²¹ was appointed chaplain to the artists’ colony in Nice, where he knew Pablo Picasso, Jean Cocteau, Henri Matisse, and others. His love of music would have significant consequences for Huguette’s career in the 1960s. Being an amateur musician and composer, he supported the Fédération internationale des Jeunesses musicales by helping to organize concerts, such as those by the Kuentz Orchestra, and conference-concerts. In 1961, Father Jarrié became vicar of the Dominicans living in Saint-Maximin-La-Baume. The thirteenth-century Basilica of Saint Mary Magdalene in Saint-Maximin is home to a magnificent and historic organ with 2,692 pipes, constructed in the late eighteenth century by Jean Esprit Isnard, a Dominican brother, and his nephew, Joseph. Father Jarrié and Dr. Pierre Rochas undertook raising the funds necessary for its restoration. Philippe Bardon, one of the students in Huguette’s final class at the Conservatory of Rueil-Malmaison, now holds the title of organist at the basilica in Saint-Maximin.

The convent²² had been put up for sale by the Dominicans, and during the period in which it remained unsold, Father Jarrié opened its buildings to a summer academy and concerts. Dr. Rochas and others created the l’Académie d’été de l’orgue classique français, and Father Jarrié, with the collaboration of Bernard Coutaz, the founder of the record label Harmonia Mundi (France), created a series of concerts in the cloisters, which evolved into the annual festival, Les Soirées de musique française, the first opportunity for the modern French public to hear Baroque music.²³ Huguette regularly performed there, as did Eduard Melkus, Christian Lardé, Marie-Claire Jamet, and other eminent artists. In the audiences were intellectuals and artists who flocked to the convent every year, and this certainly helped her and others become known in the 1960s. Alfred Deller, signed to Harmonia Mundi, and Huguette performed a program of English Baroque music one year. In 1971, Father Jarrié left the priesthood to become a music teacher, giving Huguette a harpsichord piece that he had composed for her, Trois plaisanteries.²⁴

In 1963, Huguette and the Kuentz orchestra toured Canada and the eastern United States, performing mostly for universities. In the orchestra the year before, she had met flautist Christian Lardé, and they formed a trio with Jean Lamy on viola da gamba. They performed in concerts and recorded for Valois, with frequent appearances on radio and television. Their LP, Pièces de clavecin en concerts by Rameau (Valois, MB 798), released in 1963, received the Grand Prix de l’Académie du Disque Français and the Grand Prix des Discophiles in 1964. By then, Huguette had already recorded fifteen albums released on the labels Valois, Erato, and Harmonia Mundi, the latter two acting as distributors for Valois.²⁵

In 1965 Huguette met Eduard Melkus²⁶ during her first summer of teaching at the Summer Organ Academy of Classical French Music²⁷ in Saint-Maximin-La-Baume, which also offered workshops in harpsichord, flute, and chamber music. During the 1950s, the Viennese violinist had been one of a group of Austrian musicians and composers who, under the influence of Josef Mertin, professor at the Vienna Musikhochschule, created the Originalklangbewegung or “original sound movement.” This group also included René Clemencic, founder of the ensemble Musica Antiqua in 1958. The movement would influence Gustav Leonhardt, then a professor at the Vienna Music Academy, and Nikolaus and Alice Harnoncourt, all of whom Melkus, also a professor at the Academy, introduced to Mertin. 

Eduard had come to Saint-Maximin with his friend Lionel Rogg; the two were recording an LP together, Sonates galantes, for Harmonia Mundi, which had a recording studio in the convent. Huguette passed by during a rehearsal, they introduced each other, and she and Eduard ended up improvising. Out of this spontaneous combustion came a professional partnership that spanned over forty years and a close friendship that would last for the rest of Huguette’s life. They would regularly perform together in France, Austria, and abroad. She would often be a guest soloist with his chamber orchestra, the Capella Academica Wien, performing in Vienna’s prestigious Albertina Museum concert hall. Among the thirteen albums they recorded together were the “Mystery Sonatas” by Biber and award-winning LPs of Haydn trios that were recorded in Vienna, Huguette playing a historic fortepiano from Paul Badura-Skoda’s collection.²⁸

In 1967, the head of Valois Records, Michel Bernstein, launched a promotional campaign for his agents, announcing:

Since the artist’s career is becoming more and more international, and (her) records have received excellent reviews everywhere and are retransmitted on national radio, we are organizing a month of a Promotion Huguette Dreyfus, which will last from May 1st until the 31st 1967. Everyone knows Huguette Dreyfus counts among the four or five greatest harpsichordists in the world, alongside Kirkpatrick, Puyana, Malcolm and Ružicková. And on a purely national level, there’s no artist her equal.²⁹

That year, Huguette’s career was soaring, but the happiness that its success brought her was shattered by the sudden premature death of her beloved brother Pierre on May 2. He was only forty-six, and they had been very close. A surgeon, he had a sudden heart attack during an operation. Six months later, her mother passed away at the age of sixty-five. Huguette carried on with her busy schedule, but it took a long time for her to recover from her grief. She would spend the rest of her life in the apartment on Quai d’Orsay by Pont Alma that her father had purchased for the family in 1949.³⁰ At some point, she made the difficult decision not to marry, convinced that marriage was incompatible with a career, perhaps impossible if she were to have children.

The 1970s would be the apogee of the harpsichord renaissance in France. “Standing room only” was commonplace. People would wait two hours in line and still be content if they could stand in the back when all the seats were taken.³¹ The City of Paris hosted the annual Festival Estival de Paris and the semi-annual Concours international pour clavecin. In 1974, the Forum international du clavecin, sponsored by the Festival Estival, took place in Paris, featuring harpsichord makers and artists; among the soloists were Huguette, her former student Blandine Verlet, and Rafaël Puyana.³² Huguette sat on the jury of the concours many times, along with other distinguished harpsichordists like Kenneth Gilbert, Zuzana Ružicková, Scott Ross, and Rafaël Puyana.

In 1971 she left Valois Records to sign with Archiv, Eduard Melkus’s record label, which had released their recording of the Biber sonatas. He encouraged her to do so. One of her motives was her belief that she would have the chance to record Bach’s keyboard pieces in their entirety.³³ But it was her friend Zuzana Ružicková who had been given that opportunity by Erato.³⁴ Michel Bernstein would always remain bitter about what he considered her betrayal.³⁵ Huguette maintained that she had not abandoned him, that it was a reasonable decision in light of the evolution of her career. Valois, a small company, did not have its own distribution network and could not afford her the same benefits as Archiv, the early music division of its parent company, Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft, Deutsche Grammophon being its classical division.

In May 1973, Huguette performed in the Fifth International Harpsichord Festival in Rome. It was a prestigious event; its concerts in the Basilica of Saint Cecilia were given by some of the twentieth century’s greatest harpsichordists: Huguette, William Christie, Gustav Leonhardt, Colin Tilney, and Kenneth Gilbert. The following year, Henryk Szeryng personally telephoned Huguette to invite her to go on tour with him in Italy in May. Because Szeryng was an international celebrity, Huguette was billed as his accompanist, and his agent accordingly booked her into an inferior hotel. Szeryng was outraged and covered the expense himself for her to have a room in his own hotel.³⁶

Huguette’s student and eventual close friend, Yannick Guillou, was on holiday in Venice then, and they all enjoyed meals and museum visits together. The last day, Guillou went to the hotel to say goodbye while Huguette and Szeryng were preparing to leave for Rome. Someone at the reception desk told Guillou that Szeryng wanted to see him: “I went up and found this master whom I’d venerated since my youth (. . .) dressed only in his shoes, black socks, underpants, and a towel around his neck.”

Szeryng dictated a press release to him, announcing that the City of Venice had made him a Commanditore, telling him to deliver it the next morning. Time was passing, and an irritated Huguette knocked impatiently on the door to remind Szeryng that they had a train to catch. When Guillou, peeking around the door, said she could not enter the room because Szeryng was in his underwear, she replied, “I saw worse horrors during the war,” pushed the door wide open, and strode in.³⁷ They would perform together on many other occasions and record an album of Handel and Corelli. Szeryng told Melkus that he considered her the best harpsichordist in France.³⁸

Huguette and Szeryng were invited to play in the seventy-fifth anniversary concert season at Wigmore Hall in London along with Arthur Rubinstein, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Julian Bream, and other illustrious performers. In June 1977, they performed a program of Bach sonatas; she played Bach’s Partita Number 2 for her solo. Lionel Salter in a review for The Gramophone, wrote: “Her phrasing is musical, her touch varied, and her registration, while subtly varied, is an object lesson to harpsichordists with fidgety feet or who are afraid to let the music speak for itself!”³⁹

Huguette was considered France’s pre-eminent harpsichordist. In 1978 Alfred Deller wrote to Huguette, asking if she would be interested in their performing together in a duo, to which she responded enthusiastically. Over the years, they had concertized and recorded together, and he had joined her in Saint-Maximin to give masterclasses. Deller proposed a ten-day tour in the 1979–1980 season.⁴⁰ Unfortunately this project never came to fruition; he passed away on July 16, 1979.

The Japanese flautist Miwako Shirao Rey made Huguette’s acquaintance while studying with Christian Lardé at the academy in Saint-Maximin. In the summer of 1978, Huguette called on her for assistance when the director of the group Tokyo Solisten came to Paris to discuss Huguette’s agreement to perform in concert with them in Japan the following year. Miwako acted as translator and helped to make the arrangements.⁴¹ The invitation had originated with Mariko Oguino Oikawa, soloist in the ensemble, a friend of Miwako’s and Huguette’s first Japanese student. She had come to her for private lessons between 1971 and 1974, while studying at the Paris Conservatory with Robert Veyron-Lacroix. Mariko accompanied Huguette to Japan in 1979 to assist her.⁴² The concert with Huguette and the Tokyo Solisten took place on April 23, and Huguette gave a solo recital the next day. On April 29 Huguette and the Tokyo Solisten recorded three concerti of Johann Christian Bach for Columbia Records; the CD was released by Denon. 

Huguette returned to Japan in 1981 to give a concert on April 10. A reviewer remarked: “Elegant and audacious, and full of liveliness at each moment, her music satisfied us with the charming sound of the harpsichord.”⁴³

In 1982 Huguette signed a contract with the Tokyo-based Denon label for whom she would record over thirty LPs and CDs.⁴⁴ She stayed for a month in 1983, spending time with the Oikawa couple and their child Reine, who later studied intermittently with Huguette and is now a harpsichordist in Japan.⁴⁵

Sometimes in her travels and concerts, the inevitable mishaps that plague every traveling artist occurred. Once on a makeshift stage when she stood up to take a bow, she found that one of her spiked heels had caught in the planks. Smiling, she slipped her foot out, took her bow, and walked off stage, with one foot on tiptoe. Another time, during a performance of a Bach concerto for four harpsichords, the page turner of the player next to her turned the page too soon, causing the player to lose her place and stop. With presence of mind and a practiced gift for improvisation, Huguette played her colleague’s part while maintaining her own until the woman could resume playing. When Huguette traveled to meet Eduard Melkus, his favorite gift from her was cheese, a gift that Zuzana Ružicková and her husband, composer Victor Kalabis, also appreciated. So Huguette never left home without a selection of fine French cheese. Once, however, her suitcase got lost by the airlines, and she had to wait a couple days in fear that her one evening gown would turn up, reeking of rancid cheese. Fortunately when the suitcase arrived, she found that the cheese had been successfully shrink-wrapped, so her gown was safe.⁴⁶

Huguette continued to give concerts until, for reasons of health, she stopped in January 2009, after seventy years of performing in public, something she had loved to do since childhood. The day of a concert, if she was out of town, she would visit a museum. Otherwise, she would devote her attention to the upcoming concert and rehearse in the morning.

I believe a lot in the relationship between music and other forms of beauty and of art. If it is possible, before a concert, I stop concentrating on the technical execution for a moment and look outside the music for other sources of beauty—an art exhibit, architecture, a landscape, contemplation that is good for the soul and for musical interpretation. It is like giving water to a flower for it to bloom easily.⁴⁷

When she stepped onstage, she could immediately feel if the audience was receptive to her or not, or just indifferent. “The artist has to make contact without forgetting the music.”⁴⁸ When she did make contact, she rejoiced in the “success of love” even if she was dissatisfied with her performance.⁴⁹ As she told harpsichordist Richard Siegel, “If you touch someone in the audience, that’s what counts.”⁵⁰ Love, on many different levels, was what she wanted to communicate when she played. It was as if she were on fire, as if she could hardly contain the music’s energy inside her. You knew she was not thinking of individual notes when she played; she had already studied the music thoroughly, mastering its complexities, its style. It was as if she were the conduit for electric, irrepressible currents of music, flowing from a distant inexhaustible source. Whether Huguette played a Scarlatti sonata rapidly and energetically or pieces by François Couperin—La Ménetou in a measured and tender way, and Les Lis naissans very delicately—her performance was always expressive.

Expression is essential no matter what the period of music—expression that touches the soul. Expression in early music approaches speech, the expression
of language.⁵¹

She could play expressively because she was entirely present in whatever she did, giving her total attention. This stemmed from the love and respect she had for life, its creatures, and creative expression . . . a mentality that would also make her an extraordinary teacher.

To be continued.

Notes

1. Huguette Dreyfus, radio interview, Musiciens pour demain, France Musique, July 1979. 

2. Agendas, Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), Site Richelieu, VM FONDS 145 DRE-3 (5).

3. Huguette Dreyfus, interview by Denis Herlin, December 8, 2008.

4. Huguette’s father, Fernand Dreyfus, was struck and killed by a car in front of their apartment building on October 10, 1951. (Interview with Françoise Dreyfus, July 25, 2016.)

5. Alan Rubin, email to author, March 14, 2021.

6. Jean-Claude Battault, interview with author, Cité de la Musique, Paris, March 9, 2022. 

7. Huguette Dreyfus, radio interview, France Musique, July 29, 1996. 

8. Journal de Genève, No. 232, October 4–5, 1958.

9. Ruggero Gerlin, BnF, VM FONDS 145 DRE-1 (16).

10. Jill Severs, interviews with author, August 8, August 24, and September 6, 2022.

11. Michel Bernstein, Qobuz e-magazine, Les souvenirs de Michel Bernstein (VII), “Être toujours à la pointe,” https://www.qobuz.com/be-fr/info/magazine-actualites%2Fchers-disparus%2Fles-souvenirs-de-michel-bernstein32073.

12. Norbert Dufourcq, Concerts de Paris, radio program, March 31, 1960, Inathèque de France (INA), BnF, site Mitterand, Paris.

13. Colette Arnould, La Libération, Friday, May 12, 1961. 

14. Inathèque de France (INA), ID Notice CPF86642589, BnF, site Mitterand, Paris.

15. Le Dauphiné Libére, April 12, 1961.

16. Claude Mercier-Ythier, interview with author, August 5, 2016.

17. BnF VM FONDS 145 DRE-1 (19). Nadia Boulanger was one of the founding members in 1921 of the American Conservatory of Fontainebleau and its director from 1948 until her death in 1979.

18. Concert program in author’s collection. The Princess of Polignac was born Winnaretta Singer. Her father, Isaac Merritt Singer, the sewing machine manufacturer, bequeathed her a fortune, and she became the predominant patron of the most important creative people in Paris, primarily musicians, before her death in 1943. The foundation still sponsors concerts, symposiums, and other cultural events.

19. BnF VM FONDS 145 DRE-1 (19).

20. Paul Kuentz, interview by author, Paris, France, 2017. 

21. Arcade Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, October 2007. https://www.yumpu.com/fr/document/read/5783360/henri-jarrie-arcade-paca. 

22. The convent is now a hotel. The term “convent” applied originally to the structure that housed priests in orders—not monks who lived in monasteries—and nuns. It is only in recent history that the meaning changed, applying only to nuns.

23. The festival in Aix en Provence had been created in 1948, but there was no emphasis on early music.

24. Conserved in the departmental archives of the Var region, No. 64 J 1-171-64 J 25.

25. “Huguette Dreyfus, Complete Discography,” compiled by Sally Gordon-Mark, https://www.dolmetsch.com/huguettedreyfusdiscography.htm.

26. In his nineties at the time of publication of this article, Eduard is still conducting his orchestra in concert.

27. The Academy summer workshops still exist, but only organ classes are given. 

28. Eduard Melkus, conversations with author from 2016 to 2022. 

29. BnF, site Richelieu, VM FONDS 145 DRE-3 (12). 

30. Françoise Dreyfus, op. cit.

31. Mario Raskin, interview with author, October 17, 2022.

32. Information from programs in the author’s collection.

33. Eduard Melkus, op. cit.

34. Ružicková was the only harpsichordist to have recorded Bach’s work in its entirety. A box-set of all the discs was released by Warner Classics in 2016.

35. Michel Bernstein, Qobuz, op. cit. 

36. Eduard Melkus, op. cit. 

37. Yannick Guillou, letter to author, March 2, 2017.

38. Eduard Melkus, op. cit.

39. Lionel Salter, The Gramophone, BnF, VM 145 FONDS DRE-5 (3).

40. Alfred Deller, letter to Huguette Dreyfus, BnF VM FONDS DRE-1 (3).

41. Miwako Shirai Rey, email to author, October 21, 2022.

42. Miwako Shirai Rey, phone interview by author, August 16, 2022. 

43. Shigeru Oikawa, interviews by author and written account, dated September
25, 2017.

44. “Huguette Dreyfus, Complete Discography,” op. cit.

45. Aozawa Tadao, Ongaku-no-Tomo. April 1981.

46. Anecdotes related by Huguette Dreyfus to the author.

47. Huguette Dreyfus, interview, Corriere dell’Umbria, February 18, 1999. Translated from Italian to English by the author.

48. Huguette Dreyfus, interview, France Musique, July 29, 1996.

49. Huguette Dreyfus, interview, 1979, op. cit. 

50. Richard Siegel, phone interview, summer 2021. 

51. From author’s notes of conversations with Huguette Dreyfus.

John Bishop

Why sell an organ?

Boston has long been a center for pipe organ building starting before 1810 with William Goodrich and Thomas Appleton and continuing with E. & G. G. Hook (later E. & G. G. Hook & Hastings, and later still Hook & Hastings), George Stevens, George Hutchings, Ernest Skinner, Aeolian-Skinner, Andover, Fisk, Noack, and many others. I have calculated that in over two hundred years, Boston organ builders collectively produced around 9,000 instruments. Compare that to the single firm of M. P. Möller, Inc., which built roughly 13,500 organs in around 120 years. Many of those were simple stock models like the ubiquitous Artiste, which in some years were pushed out the door at the rate of more than one a day.

Starting in the early 1960s, several new companies were formed to help usher in the “tracker revival,” most notably Fisk and Noack. Among those lesser known today was Robert Roche, whose workshop was in Taunton, Massachusetts. Bob was of Portuguese heritage, well informed, and a very fast talker—it was hard to get a word in edgewise. Along with his activities building, rebuilding, and restoring organs, he ran a small-scale organ supply company, providing parts, tools, and supplies for pipe organ builders. In the late 1980s when I was starting the Bishop Organ Company, I drove to Taunton to pick up a load of something or other, and during the expected yak-fest, Bob gave me his best advice for a nascent independent organbuilder, “Never build an organ for a wealthy church. You’ll create your magnum opus, and they’ll swap it out in twenty years.” I remember thinking if I ever had a chance to build an instrument for a wealthy church, I would go ahead and take my chances, and as far as I know, Bob never had that opportunity.

Church of the Redeemer (Episcopal) in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, my mother’s home parish, is nestled in an affluent neighborhood a couple miles west of Boston. The original organ by Kimball, Smallman, & Frazee was installed in 1915 when the building was completed. Möller Opus 9475 was installed there in 1961, followed by Noack Opus 111 in 1989. Schoenstein Opus 172 replaced the Noack in 2018, the third organ I have known personally in the same church, and the third organ there in less than thirty years. My first organ teacher, Alastair Cassels-Brown, was organist at Redeemer in the 1980s, and I maintained the Möller for him. My college pal Gregg Romatowski was organist there when the Noack was acquired. Sadly, Gregg died of AIDS shortly thereafter.

My dear friend Michael Murray, who shared organist duties at my wedding to Wendy with his husband Stuart Forster, had a productive tenure at Redeemer during which the Schoenstein organ was commissioned, twelve years after Schoenstein Opus 149 was installed at Christ Church, Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Stuart was organist. The Organ Clearing House removed the Noack and returned it to the Noack shop in Georgetown, Massachusetts, where it was renovated and enhanced for Saint Paul’s Chapel on lower Broadway in New York City, part of the fabled congregation of Trinity Church, Wall Street. We installed the organ at Saint Paul’s, and later helped install the Schoenstein at Redeemer.

Our wedding was at Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Newcastle, Maine, home of Hutchings Opus 182 (1888) and the first church building designed by the brilliant ecclesiastical architect Henry Vaughan. Vaughan wanted the ceiling painted with frescoes, but funds were not available, so he did it himself, lying on his back on scaffolding. (Henry Vaughan also designed Church of the Redeemer in Chestnut Hill.) Stephen White, a former student of my father who taught homiletics at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was rector of Saint Andrew’s at the time of our wedding. He and dad celebrated the wedding together. Stephen was the former rector at Church of the Redeemer in Chestnut Hill.

Did you get all of that? It is hard to imagine that I could have so many connections with one church except to add that I accompanied a local choral society in a performance of Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem in D Minor on the Noack organ at Redeemer a few days after September 11, 2001.

Of course, there have been hundreds of other churches in my life. Even as adults, my kids still joke that when driving, I navigate by steeples. 

What were they thinking?

From my seat in the Organ Clearing House, the concept of changing organs is always on my mind. Several times a week, I hear from a church wishing to buy or sell an instrument, and I am usually corresponding about ten organs at any given time. It has been especially intense in the last few weeks as we placed an instrument built by Mander Organ Builders in 1991 for Christ Episcopal Church, Pittsford, New York, on the market. It has two manuals and twenty-five stops and an especially beautiful case with brilliant proportions, rich carvings, and polished tin façade pipes with gilded mouths. The organ glows in the dark.

When I published the organ’s availability on our website and posted a link on Facebook, several serious potential purchasers responded quickly, as did the all-knowing community of organ watchers who lurk there. “What church would sell an organ like that?” “A praise band must be next.” 

The Mander organ replaced a Wicks built in 1947 that had been “improved” several times by technicians whose intent exceeded their abilities. The new organ, standing prominently on the church’s long axis, brought brilliance and clarity of tone to the room for the first time. The Mander was fifteen years old when the rector encouraged the enhancement of the music program. The music director’s position was expanded to full-time with a mandate to expand the choir program, bringing a new level of excellence and depth to the music of worship. The growing choir, which had been seated in the rear of the church with the Mander, returned to seats in the chancel. Organist David Baskeyfield brought in a Hauptwerk instrument to accompany the choir and lead music from the chancel, and an organ committee is working on plans for the acquisition of a new pipe organ to be placed around and behind the chancel, especially designed for sophisticated choral accompaniment.

All this reflects the church’s thoughtful and constructive commitment to excellence in music, not irresponsibility for the Mander organ. As I write this, I am corresponding with several potential purchasers where the organ would be placed in superior acoustics and appreciated for its many strengths. It is a thrill to watch a church’s music program grow quickly enough to outgrow a brilliant thirty-year-old organ. I commend the church for bringing two fine organs into existence, and I am grateful for the lively chat online about this superb instrument.

Better get it out of there. . . .

In 2002, I was asked to sell an organ built by Hellmuth Wolff in 1976 with two manuals and seventeen stops. Hellmuth was upset that the church was rejecting his organ and asked me to convince them to keep it, but the church’s new organist was eager to have a large four-manual digital instrument and had no interest in retaining the Wolff organ. When I learned that the organist’s domestic partner was the senior warden of the church, I was pretty sure we were not going to stop it, and when that organist suggested that some of the pipes from the Wolff might be retained to enhance the digital instrument, I told Hellmuth that we had better get that organ out of there before something bad happened to it.

The organ was purchased by Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church in Durham, North Carolina, which already owned a one-manual organ by John Brombaugh. In 2003 we moved the Brombaugh to the front of the church and installed the Wolff organ in the balcony. The church brought Hellmuth to Durham for the dedication of the organ, a happy moment for him after so much frustration and disappointment.

Hellmuth Wolff was born in 1937 in Switzerland, apprenticed with Metzler, and then worked for Rieger and Fisk. He moved to Canada in 1963 to work as a designer in the new mechanical-action department at Casavant alongside Karl Wilhelm. In 1964, he and Karl installed a forty-six-rank Casavant, Opus 2791, at Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Wellesley, Massachusetts. The Organ Clearing House subsequently sold that organ to Saint Theresa Catholic Church in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It was relocated by Messrs. Czeluzniak et Dugal in 2005. Juget-Sinclair Opus 4 with two manuals and forty-five ranks was installed at Saint Andrew’s in 2006. Organ Clearing House president Amory Atkins and his wife Virginia Childs were married at Saint Andrew’s in 1991. Hellmuth and Karl both established successful independent firms in Québec. Hellmuth passed away in 2013.

Miles and piles . . .

Nativity Catholic Church in Timonium, Maryland, was home to a twelve-rank Schlicker organ built in 1986. We sold the organ to All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Kapa’a, Hawaii, in 2015. The reason the organ was offered for sale was obvious the instant I entered the building, as predicted by one of the errant Mander commentators. There was an elaborate rock-and-roll setup adjacent to the organ console, with miles and piles of wire coiled and snaking about, woven between microphone stands, mixers, drums, and stools. We found handfuls of guitar picks and used nine-volt batteries instead of the usual pencils under the pedalboard. We sent the organ to Rosales Organ Builders in Los Angeles. They renovated and expanded the organ and installed it at All Saints’ in 2020. Adam Pajan played the dedicatory recitals. Shane Morris Wise is the organist at All Saints’.

If the shoe fits . . .

Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church in Glendale, California, was home to a forty-four-rank Schlicker organ with three manuals built in 1963. In 2008, the organ was ready for renovation, and the people of Saint Mark’s chose to offer it for sale so they could acquire a more “Anglican” instrument. First Lutheran Church of Montclair, New Jersey, purchased the organ in 2010. It was renovated and relocated by the Organ Clearing House, and installation was completed in 2015. Pastor Will Moser of First Lutheran Church, now retired, is also an organist. He had grown up in the thrall of Schlicker organs, considering them to be the quintessential Lutheran instrument.

Saint Mark’s Church in Glendale acquired Skinner Organ Company Opus 774, built in 1930 with three manuals and thirty ranks. It was restored and installed by Foley-Baker, Inc., in 2009. With two expressive divisions, three pairs of celestes, and three colorful orchestral reeds, that organ is ideally suited for the Anglican liturgy and the accompaniment of Anglican choral music and chants. Two radically different organs were exchanged to provide their congregations with instruments especially well suited for their individual musical traditions.

§

I have written about organs being sold because styles and opinions change, or because an active church outgrows an instrument, but of course the most common reason for the sale of pipe organs is the closing or merging of churches. When a congregation dwindles and its resources are stretched too thin for feasible operation and starts planning for the sale of their building, they should also begin planning for the future of their organ. Conversely, real estate developers often contact me about selling an organ in a building they have purchased when there is a month or less before they start demolition.

When selling a pipe organ, a year is like a lightning strike. When a church is considering acquiring an organ, there is typically a long committee process. A group travels to audition an available organ and organbuilders inspect it and provide proposals for renovation and relocation, which are presented to the congregation. Organ committees, music committees, finance committees, and parish councils or vestries discuss the proposals. Sometimes fundraising does not start until that entire process is complete. The organ that was offered for sale a month before demolition has long been reduced to rubble.

A church that is considering closing should start working on the sale of an organ as soon as feasible. It may be a bitter pill to swallow, but it is better than watching an organ go down. When there is time to work with, an organ can command a higher price—its cash value plummets as time runs out. This also applies to the church that has commissioned a new instrument and faces a deadline for the removal of an organ. The worst case in that situation is for a church to have to pay to scrap an organ that has run out time. If your church has decided to replace its organ, get the old one on the market right away, even before the new contract is signed.

Another option to remember when selling a church building is the possibility of retaining ownership of an organ in a sales agreement. If the building sells before the organ, the buyer might agree to allow for the removal of the organ six months, a year, or more after the building changes hands. We once removed a large organ from a church building that had been sold over a year earlier. The original congregation still owned the organ, and the new one was contractually obligated to allow for its removal, but they were not pleased with the impending disruption, and there were some contentious issues to work out. When we offered the use of our scaffolding for the installation of planned new lighting, all the squabbling ended.

The cash value of a vintage pipe organ is determined largely by circumstances and by the market. Any church considering the acquisition of a vintage instrument will be facing significant expense for renovating and relocating the instrument. When a seller insists that the asking price should be comparable to new, I simply remind them that the cost of a new organ includes transportation and installation and assumes that the organ is in mint condition. You have to subtract the cost of relocation, installation, and any necessary renovation to determine a reasonable asking price.

There is a finite amount of money spent on pipe organ projects in the United States every year, and I have adopted the attitude that I need to do all I can to be sure that those precious resources are spent on wonderful instruments. If a church owns a simple organ in poor condition and wants to keep using it, I am ready to encourage them to spend money on repairs, but if there is no hope of a project resulting in a credibly useful organ, I do not see the point. There is such a thing as an organ without any artistic merit. I try to encourage churches looking to purchase an organ to consider those of highest quality first. I am not comfortable advocating a mediocre organ when excellent instruments are available at similar cost. That guides my decisions regarding accepting new listings. There are always many times more organs available than we will ever be able to place, so let us concentrate on the best.

It is immensely satisfying to place a fine organ in a new home once its time has run out somewhere else. New organs are typically planned carefully for the spaces they will inhabit, but it is remarkable how often an instrument adapts beautifully to a new home with minimal changes. We’ll never be able to save them all, but it’s fun to try.

Neal Campbell

Neal Campbell is the organist of Trinity Episcopal Church in Vero Beach, Florida. He previously held full-time positions in Connecticut, Virginia (including ten years on the adjunct faculty of the University of Richmond), and New Jersey. He holds graduate and undergraduate degrees from the Manhattan School of Music, including the Doctor of Musical Arts degree, for which he wrote his dissertation on the life and work of New York organist-composer Harold Friedell. He has studied, played, and recorded on many of the organs discussed in this article.

Editor's Note: Part 2 is found in the March 2022 issue.

Introduction

During their seventy-plus-year history it was customary for organs built by the Skinner Organ Company and the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company to contain an ivory nameplate bearing the firm’s name on the console, usually on the keyslip, although there was a brief period in the early 1960s when the company name was stenciled in gold letters in a way similar to that on pianos. Astute aficionados can sometimes even determine the era in which the organ was built by carefully examining the subtle differences in type styles that were used over the years.

After World War II some jobs featured an additional ivory nameplate bearing the signature of G. Donald Harrison, Aeolian-Skinner’s president and tonal director, which also gave the opus number and date. There is no definitive information to suggest why some organs received this signature plate, what criteria were used in selecting them, or what purpose it served. Much conjecture and oral tradition among enthusiasts has been promulgated to the point where there is a resultant mystique surrounding these “signature organs.”

The only thing approaching documentation on the subject that I have found is in the form of three letters, the first two written approximately twenty years before the latter. Barbara Owen writes in her history of the organ in the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, Utah, Aeolian-Skinner’s Opus 1075:¹

Shortly before the organ was completed, [Alexander] Schreiner wrote to Harrison, “I have long thought it would be a matter of pride to us, to have your name appear on the console name plate. Perhaps also the year, 1948. If that is possible, we should be very pleased.”² Harrison complied by providing a signature plate on the right of the nameboard [keyslip], complementing the company plate on the left. Thus originated a practice that later became customary with Aeolian-Skinner. But it is perhaps nowhere more appropriate than on the Tabernacle instrument, which Harrison himself in later years felt to have been his finest work.

Harrison replied to Schreiner:

I note what you have to say about the nameplate, and I will provide one, but I fear it will not be ready to go [be shipped] with the console. I would like to have my name in the form of my signature if I can get this engraved in Boston.³

Then in 1968 Philip Steinhaus, executive vice-president of Aeolian-Skinner, wrote to William Self, organist and master of the choristers of St. Thomas Church, New York City:

The officers of the Company would be greatly pleased if you would be good enough to help us continue to honor the work of the late G. Donald Harrison by removing his personal nametag [sic] from the console at St. Thomas Church. As you know, Mr. Harrison only agreed to using these tags [signed nameplates] on the jobs with whose finishing he was deeply and personally involved. We are in no way commenting on the present tonal characteristics of the St. Thomas organ, except in all honesty to say that its character is not recognizable as the work of Mr. Harrison, or the Aeolian-Skinner Company for that matter.⁴

From these letters we learn that: a) it was Schreiner who first brought up the idea in the form of a request; b) Harrison replied with the idea of using a facsimile of his signature for that purpose; and c) twenty years later Steinhaus summarizes that these signature plates were put on organs that were finished by GDH and with which he was personally involved. However, upon examining and analyzing existing signature organs and the documented commentary about them, certain patterns do emerge and logical conclusions can be drawn, some of which are tonal and technical, and some purely personal.

It would be a fairly straightforward enterprise to simply list the known signature organs from Opus 1075 in 1948 onward until Harrison’s death in 1956, and I have done just that later in this article. Beyond that, however, I want to set the scene and cite some examples that show the trajectory of Harrison’s tonal ideas leading up to Opus 1075, together with information about the Harrison signature organs.

Historical context

A bit of history sets the stage for the emergence of G. Donald Harrison in the Skinner organization and helps explain why Harrison’s personal involvement came to be sought after and highly prized. The complete story is best told in the letters of the principal players as contained in Charles Callahan’s first book.⁵ But the main thing to take away, as it relates to the topic of the signature organs, is that customers and the leading organists of the era began to prefer instruments that contained the classic elements Harrison gradually came to espouse, and increasingly customers specifically said so. Many of these younger organists had themselves traveled to and studied in Europe and knew some of these historic organs for themselves. They were drawn to Harrison’s concepts of classic design for the simple reason that much of the organ repertoire, especially contrapuntal music, sounded better on these instruments, as opposed to the older style of symphonic and Romantic organs. The era of the large symphonic organs, characterized by a preponderance of eight-foot tone, high wind pressures, and contrasting imitative stops, gradually morphed into organs that were eclectic and modern, which were inspired by historical precedence designed first and foremost to play repertoire written for the organ.

G. Donald Harrison came to America to work for Skinner in 1927, largely through the friendly exchanges between Ernest Skinner and Henry Willis III. Harrison worked for Willis, and it was Willis who sent GDH to Skinner, with the initial idea of his being an emissary to incorporate Willis tonal principles into the Skinner organ. It is hard to discern a precise point at which GDH’s influence began to be felt.

Among the earliest Skinner organs GDH worked on was Opus 656 for Princeton University Chapel, Princeton, New Jersey. Marcel Dupré played it while on tour in America, and he praised the organ. After the fact, Skinner wrote to Harrison:

Dear Don:

I felt some embarrassment when Marcel [Dupré] handed me that testimonial so personal to myself regarding the Princeton organ, and I can imagine you may not have been without some feeling of being left out of it, so I want to say right here that I hold your contribution to the quality of that great instrument to be such that my opinion of you as an artist, publicly and privately expressed, is more than justified.

Cordially, and with great admiration,

Ernest M. Skinner⁶

Other early organs showing Harrison’s influence include Opus 851 for Trinity College Chapel in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1931, where Clarence Watters, the college organist, was a leading disciple of Marcel Dupré in America. By the time of Opus 909 at All Saints Episcopal Church in Worcester, Massachusetts, and Opus 910 for Grace Episcopal Cathedral in San Francisco, California, each from 1933, Harrison’s influence was clearly present, even though each of these organs, in their initial scheme, showed no radical departure from the prevailing Skinner stoplist. It was during this time that Ernest Skinner left the company to set up a competing shop in Methuen, Massachusetts. Also, the firm acquired the organ division of the Aeolian Company to become the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company in 1932.⁷

By 1935 it is clear that GDH was forging a tonal path different from Skinner, and different from Willis, for that matter! Henry Willis in England writes to Emerson Richards:

Now quite privately to you, Don is not doing what he went to Skinners for, and that was to give Skinner Organs a Willis ensemble. Don is striking out on what might be termed an individual line, obviously influenced by you in the strongest possible way [original emphasis]. You will know that Don’s Continental European experience is limited to a few French organs—he has not to my knowledge been in any other European country and most certainly has not heard the various types of German organs Baroque or otherwise. On the other hand he can visualize them perfectly well, especially after hearing Steinmeyer’s Altoona job. [The Catholic Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Altoona, Pennsylvania.]

Now you know that I appreciate your personal standpoint and ideals, even if I can’t go all the way with you sometimes. I consider that you, far more than any other man, have rescued American organ building from the romantic morass it was in when I first visited America in 1924. I consider that my own influence has not been inconsiderable for I did get Skinner interested in a decent ensemble and “sold” him mixtures, although he could not learn how to use them properly. Also if it had not been for me, Don would not have gone to Skinners, for the purpose and object I named above.⁸

As Harrison’s star continued to rise, so Ernest Skinner’s waned. In Skinner’s exit scenario from the company, there was a period of five years when Skinner continued to draw a salary, but his personal involvement in the company was limited solely to activities where the customer had specifically requested his services. He was not allowed to call on customers, solicit new business, or incur any expense to the company, and was to come to the factory only if requested for business purposes.

Attributes and examples of the emerging American Classic style

Aeolian-Skinner produced some very interesting organs during this period, and they varied enough in style and specification so as to appear to be completely different products. It is relatively easy to ascertain which organs reflected GDH’s emerging classic principles and which did not. For example, consider Opus 985 from 1938 for St. Paul’s Chapel, Columbia University, New York City, and Opus 964 from 1937 at Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims in Brooklyn, New York: with a very slight nod to progressive design, such as two mixtures in the Great, Plymouth could be mistaken for a typical four-manual Skinner scheme by comparison. Whereas the Columbia University organ featured two unenclosed divisions in addition to the Great—Positiv and Brustwerk—and a fully developed independent Pedal organ, and was heralded as a new voice for a new day, installed on the campus of a major university in the country’s largest city. It was a significant achievement that attracted considerable notice. E. Power Biggs played and recorded extensively on the organ.

The theories that Harrison worked toward in these early years of the Great Depression may have been inspired by historic principles to some extent. He was gradually developing a new eclectic type of organ comprising existing mechanical components that were excellent, together with tonal properties that blended Romantic and Classical concepts, put together into a new, entirely American product on which early, Romantic, and contemporary music could be played with artistic conviction.

Technical attributes of these new organs included low to moderate wind pressures, gentle but clear articulation, chorus structure with an emphasis on the four-foot line, carefully worked out customized mixture compositions that were attentively finished as the ascending scale approached the breaks, and customized scaling and halving ratios in different parts of the compass—generally narrower scales in the bass and gradually broader in the treble to effect a subtle gradual singing quality in the treble register, and a focused line in the bass. Where it was practical, unenclosed divisions were placed in an open location within lines of sight to the audience.

Consoles in general were of the same style and design as Skinner had developed them, with a few customized touches to suit the customer as needed, such as smaller drawknob heads, dropped sills to effect a lower profile, occasional narrow swell shoes, varying degrees of console gadget assists, and, later, tracker-touch keyboards. Harrison was in favor of simplifying console controls, and he and Schreiner tended to agree on that as their discussions for the Tabernacle organ progressed. One need only compare the consoles for the Tabernacle with The Riverside Church, New York City, each of which contained five manuals and were in the factory at about the same time. Upon seeing pictures that GDH had sent to him, Henry Willis expressed his displeasure:

The new console at Riverside for Virgil Fox is, in my opinion, the ugliest, and unhandiest, large drawstop console to which my attention has been drawn.

I say nothing of the stop grouping in threes or two as fancy—it seems to be liked in the U.S.A.—nor of the apparent lack of added vertical space between departments. Nor the row of tablets over the fifth manual . . . . But as for the arrangement of the toe pistons—help!

The swell pedals look ridiculous to me—the wide space in between reminding me of the old console at Wanamaker’s, Philadelphia.

Of course, this is Virgil Fox’s design—not yours—and I suppose you took the line that he could have what he wanted.

But I think that no organist should be allowed to impose his own pet idiosyncrasies on an instrument over which he, temporarily, presides.⁹

Harrison replied a couple weeks later:

Your criticism of the Riverside console is well taken but you might modify some of your views if you actually examined it. When you are dealing entirely with detached consoles, if you use the English two rows per department arrangement you would have to build a skyscraper. I see no point to it . . . . The number of couplers is essential when you are dealing with Chancel and West End organs plus a 15-stop Echo all in one instrument. I have no use for the double organ idea.

Regarding the width of the Swell pedals with gaps. We have built one more extreme job than Riverside in this regard, Grace Church New York [Opus 707]. With narrow shoes plus clearance you can get five in where four would normally go with equal safety in clearance.

The Riverside console is normal in most respects, the added controls can be ignored by a visiting or future organist. You should hear the results that Virgil Fox can produce with this set up.¹⁰

Beginning in the early 1930s these new classic attributes increasingly appeared in prominent organs where Harrison was able to advance his theories. Keeping in mind that there were about 100 persons employed by the company, it is clear that GDH was continually aware of the need to secure contracts to provide for his workers. He may not have been able to be so creative on each job, but all organs that passed through the factory in one way or another began to manifest these tonal properties in varying ways and degrees. But there are some jobs that obviously stand out as icons of this new style, which came to be known via Emerson Richards as the “American Classic Organ.”

One thing is certain that as soon as the war is over and materials become available, there is going to be a big demand for either rebuilds or entirely new organs, and I am hoping that we will be able to push the Classic Organ. As you may have noted in the articles on the St. Mary’s job [Op. 819-A, St. Mary the Virgin, New York, 1942], I am endeavoring to give this the name of American Classic, although it is going to be awfully hard to dislodge the word Baroque. I did tag the name Romantic on the old ones, and that has stuck, even in England, but an expressive word for the new organ which is only quasi-Baroque in principle with some French, English and American practice, makes a new word imperative but difficult to find.¹¹

In addition to the aforementioned organs for Columbia University and St. Mary the Virgin in New York, a sampling of these organs includes Opus 940 for Church of the Advent in Boston, Massachusetts; Opus 945 for Calvary Church, New York City; Opus 948 at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Opus 951, the famous Busch-Reisinger Museum for Germanic Culture at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, which company records simply refer to as “Germanic” or “Experimental.” This organ was entirely unenclosed and was on loan to the museum yet remained the property of the company.
E. Power Biggs made extensive use of it for demonstrations, recitals, and his famous regular Sunday morning radio broadcasts, and it did a lot to promulgate Harrison’s new classic concept.

As the decade progressed others included Opus 981 at Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey, for Carl Weinrich, his so-called “Praetorius” organ—a near twin to the Busch-Reisinger, which happily still exists in excellent condition, having been recently restored by Stephen Emery, a WCC alumnus; Opus 1007 for Christ Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which GDH used for musical examples in 1942 in an LP album titled Studies in Tone wherein he narrates some of his developing ideas on tonal design, complete with appropriate musical examples; another organ for Westminster Choir College, and a large five-manual organ for the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Opus 1022. Also, a significant summary of Harrison’s thinking during the development of the American Classic organ may be found in the article “Organ” in the 1944 edition of Harvard Dictionary of Music, an essay authored by Harrison. The article even contains a suggested stoplist for a three-manual organ that is easily recognizable as similar to some of these very organs.

However, among this pantheon the organs built in the 1930s and early 1940s leading up to his design for the Salt Lake Tabernacle, the organ in St. John’s Chapel of the Groton School, Groton, Massachusetts, Opus 936, stands out as a significant point of departure in the development of the American Classic Organ. Harrison often mentioned this organ in his correspondence in the ensuing years, particularly as he contemplated the design of the Tabernacle organ and in his reflections on it once it was finished. Writing to Alexander Schreiner, shortly after signing the contract for Opus 1075, he says:

With the location of the organ, and the magnificent acoustics of the Tabernacle I feel there is a real chance to build the most beautiful organ in the world to date, at least that is what I am going to try to do. I say this not in a boastful spirit, but rather in one of humility. I don’t suppose you have ever heard the organ built for Groton School in 1936. The next time you come East I think we will make a little pilgrimage to hear this organ. I have always felt it is perhaps the most successful organ we have built to date, and indeed it is praised alike by those who are for and aggressively against that type of a tonal scheme. This morning I was thinking about it, and it suddenly struck me that unconsciously I developed the scheme for Salt Lake as a kind of a big brother to the Groton organ. In other words, it seems to carry that tonal structure to its logical conclusion.¹²

Writing to Ralph Downes, the consultant for the new organ in Royal Festival Hall in London, in which Downes was contemplating elements of classical design, Harrison describes his experience:

In 1936 I visited Germany complete with drawing equipment. I soon gave up taking measurements and decided it was better to absorb the musical result and then reproduce them in a modern way and in a manner that would be acceptable to modern ears and in our buildings. Providing you obtain clarity in polyphonic music, what more can you ask, providing you add and blend in romantic and modern material.¹³

And, later, GDH writes to Willis, his old boss in England who had begun to question some of his ideals and goals:

I am not attempting in any way to imitate the Silbermann organ or any Baroque organ for that matter, but am merely reintroducing some of the features of the older organ which have been lost in the modern organs, and using, to some extent, the principles utilized by the older builders in the general chorus; the sole object, of course, being to make the instrument a more nearly ideal one for the playing of the best literature written for this particular medium.¹⁴

And Richards, who could always be counted on for his unvarnished opinion, says:

I agree that the Harrison work is merely based on the theories of the older organ work. Remember that Don has no first-hand acquaintance with German work whatsoever, unless we can consider the Steinmeyer at Altoona as such, and Henry [Willis] says that his knowledge of French organs is really not extensive, so that, in reality, he has been working on his own with only a hint from the older work. This is all for the best, since it results in creation, not imitation. [Emphasis mine]

In making the point that Groton is an American achievement I am not trying to overstate the facts as I see them. America has profoundly changed Harrison’s mental and artistic makeup. To some extent even Don realizes this. He knows that he now chooses to deliberately do things that he would not have dreamed of doing when he left England ten years ago. He has caught the mobility and restless drive that seems to be characteristic of America. Can’t you see this in the Groton organ? Its all-around flexibility, its readiness to take any part in the scheme of things from Scheidt to Ravel, its break with tradition, its vivacity, and its sense of driving power. Of course, it is saved from the less commendable American traits by Don’s sense of artistic restraint. It is not a Daily Mirror, but a New York Times.¹⁵

Plans emerge for a new organ for the Salt Lake Tabernacle

Beginning in the 1930s customers began to request that Harrison design and finish their organs. Even though Skinner was long out of the picture by the time GDH and Alexander Schreiner began discussions in 1945, the contract drawn up by the Tabernacle authorities still reiterated their desire that Harrison design the organ:

It is specifically agreed that a substantial and material part of the consideration for this agreement is the skill, knowledge, experience, and reputation of G. Donald Harrison in the design, construction, finishing, installation, and tuning of pipe organs; that the builder, therefore, enters into this agreement with the distinct and definite understanding that the Purchaser shall receive, without additional cost to it, the personal supervision and service of the said G. Donald Harrison in the performance of this contract and in particular in the designing, finishing, installing and tuning of said organ.¹⁶

Alexander Schreiner, chief organist of the Tabernacle, was born in Germany and had studied in France, and was one of the serious organists to emerge on the scene in the post-World War II era. He was an organist’s organist and was one of the most visible in America at the time, owing to his concert tours and weekly broadcasts of the Tabernacle choir and organ. He was the driving force in plans to rebuild the old Austin organ, even though he shared playing duties with Frank Asper, his elder colleague, who was himself a respected and popular organist in his own right. It does appear that Schreiner was the point person in all negotiations pertaining to details of the new organ and in the campaign for it, a campaign that began almost accidentally: Schreiner wrote Harrison asking his opinion about some minor improvements and additions. The idea of a completely new organ did not appear to be on either of their horizons at the outset.

Given the speculative nature of Schreiner’s request and the great distance involved, Harrison asked for a fee to visit and submit a report, not something he typically did for serious prospects. When the authorities granted his request, he had no choice but to make the trip, so he went and gave his candid opinion, which was that unless they decided to build a completely new organ, the company was not interested in undertaking makeshift alterations to the organ, which he felt was mediocre to begin with and which had already seen its share of rebuilds and additions to that point.

Schreiner’s desire for a new organ ultimately prevailed, apparently with little overt opposition. Once the contract was signed, he was effusive in his praise of Harrison as the chosen one to design the organ. In several instances he wrote for attribution that he felt that unless one person (that is, Harrison) was given the freedom to design the organ he would rather soldier on with the old organ, even with its faults. After the job was announced and as work progressed, inquiries for testimonial solicitations and advice began to arrive at Schreiner’s desk. Typical of his response is this reply to my predecessor at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Richmond, Virginia, where Aeolian-Skinner ultimately installed its Opus 1110 in 1951:

The reason the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company was chosen for the new work in the Salt Lake Tabernacle was merely because this company does by all odds the finest work. That we have not been disappointed in the results achieved is clearly shown in the letter which I wrote to the company recently, signed by myself and fellow organists, and published in the recent Diapason.

I wish you well in your efforts to have your contract awarded to this company. In our case we did not even consider any competing bids. Also we did not ask for any reduction in the prices which were quoted. I would always prefer an Aeolian-Skinner organ to any other, even of twice the size.¹⁷

In the early stages of designing the Tabernacle organ there flows a great deal of correspondence between Harrison and Schreiner, and every detail was considered carefully. It was agreed that Schreiner would be the spokesperson in corresponding with GDH, although there is considerable documented input from Frank Asper, often on seemingly inconsequential matters such as “Will the strings be soft enough?,” what to do about harp and chimes, and whether to retain the old Vox Humana or build a new one. In the end they did both!

Through the correspondence it is clear that Schreiner had an above-average understanding of the principles of organbuilding, just as did Harrison of organ playing. Their discourse is thorough and often detail laden, but always courteous and respectful—and helpful in coordinating the many logistical details of the complex job, one of the most vexing of which was that part of the organ was to remain operational at all times for the weekly choir rehearsals and Sunday broadcasts. Phone calls appear to have been rare, and written correspondence was the main medium of communication.

During World War II organ companies were severely limited in their ability to undertake new construction, and basically no new organs came from the Aeolian-Skinner factory during this time. In addition to rebuild and service work, Harrison spent the war years developing new sounds inspired by classic antecedents, and stops such as the Rohr Schalmei, Cromorne, and Buccine were born. Some of these began to be incorporated into schemes for new organs once production resumed after the war, including for the Tabernacle. Harrison proposes one such:

One other thing that has worried me a little bit is the absence of any reed on the Positiv, and I remember being considerably intrigued by the 16′ Rankett as made by Steinmeyer during my visit to Germany. I have never made one to date, and as it is good in an organ of this size to have some novelties, I have taken the liberty of adding a 16′ Rankett to the Positiv.¹⁸

Once the contract was signed, Harrison began to share the news with his friends and colleagues, in each case describing the unique circumstances of Aeolian-Skinner’s selection being without competition and commenting on the remarkable acoustical properties of the Tabernacle. His report to Henry Willis is the most complete account:

In my last letter to you I hinted that I was on the track of a very interesting and important deal. It has now been signed, and is for a completely new organ for the Salt Lake City Tabernacle. The present organ is a typical Austin which has been gingered up from time to time, the last work being carried out in 1940 when Jamison put in some Chorus Mixtures, which by the way are exceedingly poor.

Last spring I was invited to go out there and look over the situation to see what could be done to further improve the organ, but being skeptical about the whole thing I demanded [an] $800.00 fee, which I thought would probably close the matter as far as we were concerned. To my great surprise they accepted the proposition, so I had to make the trip. I gave a written report which, to put it shortly, condemned the present instrument, and told the authorities that we would not touch the job unless a completely new organ was built, with the exception that we were willing to include three original wood stops which were placed in the Tabernacle when it was built. These pipes were made on the spot by Bridges, who was an English organ builder who had been out to Australia, and had become converted to the Mormon faith, and finally wound up in Utah. I think he was trained with the Hill outfit. These pipes are the lower 12 notes of the 32′ Wood Open, which by the way, has an inverted mouth, and the famous wood front pipes which look exactly like a 32′ Metal Open. They are built up in strips triangular in cross section all glued together, and they appear to be as good as the day they were installed. Even the foot is built up in this way, and the tone is surprisingly good. The other stop we are incorporating is a wooden Gedeckt, which is also excellent. What happened to the original metal pipes in the organ is a mystery. Nobody seems to be able to account for the fact that there are none of them in the present instrument. All of the metal stops that are there now are Kimball 1900 vintage and Austin 1915–1940 . . . .  With these magnificent acoustics and the super location of the organ in the open it gives a real chance that one rarely gets. I was given a free hand with the specification after being told of the requirements that the organ must meet, so that I was able to work out something which more or less carries the ideas on which I have been working to their logical conclusion.¹⁹

Giving Harrison this degree of independence was really an extraordinary gesture on Schreiner’s part, especially when compared to the very intense, hands-on requirements that clients and their consultants place on organbuilders today. I can think of several instances where the builder was so obligated to accommodate that the builder’s own identity is hardly discernible in the finished product. Here was Schreiner, one of the finest, best-known organists of the day who was not only comfortable with but insisted upon totally giving over to Harrison the design of this highly visible organ, and in the end acknowledging Harrison’s work by asking him to sign the organ.

In this case the results are as unique as the circumstances surrounding its inception, but it was by no means unique for clients to place this sort of complete trust in Harrison. Writing to Brock Downward for his dissertation about Harrison and the American Classic Organ, Alexander McCurdy said:

At the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia [Opus 1022 in 1941], when the rebuilding processes were going on (we had three of them during the tenure of Mr. Harrison with Aeolian-Skinner) I spent much time with him. I made it a point to discuss with Mr. Harrison the particular needs of the organ department at the Curtis Institute of Music, then went off to California and let him BUILD the organ—I did not devil him! During the year in the period when the instrument was built, I spent a little time checking a few details in the factory in Boston, but for the most part I let him alone. During some of the discussions he loved to talk about some of the organs we both liked such as the Father Willis organ in Salisbury Cathedral—he seemed sure that another one couldn’t be built quite as fine as that one but he certainly did indeed try in Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. He always made much of the fact that his ideal in building an organ was to have it so that MUSIC could be played on it, not just one period but the complete organ literature.²⁰

The completed Tabernacle organ

In Opus 1075 for the Salt Lake Tabernacle we have then an example of a very complete, large organ in a prominent and famous location that was completely Harrison’s design without a lot of outside interference. It certainly has stood the test of time. We know from several letters that he felt this was his greatest work, and it is worth taking the time to consider his own descriptions and reflections on his work once it was complete:

The enclosed photographs are of the console of the new Tabernacle organ at Salt Lake City. I have just returned after spending a couple of weeks on the job and I am returning after Christmas to see the finish. It is by far the finest organ in the United States. It has the advantage of a perfect location and ideal acoustics.

You will be interested to note that there are no coupler tablets. The fact that there are comparatively few couplers for so large an organ and that the intramanual couplers are with their own departments, it was decided to use drawknobs for all of them. The pedal couplers form the inner group on the left jamb and the intermanual occupy a similar position in the right jamb. There are 20 general pistons. The fifth manual plays the Antiphonal organ only.

The console case is of solid walnut and was designed and built in our shop. The motifs follow those found in the organ case. It is unnecessarily large [as] the couplers and combinations are remote. They wanted an imposing appearance, hence the size and fifth manual! Believe it or not, but a million visitors pass through the Tabernacle each year and must be suitably impressed. The organ contains Great, Swell, Choir, Positiv, Bombarde, Solo and Pedal divisions, plus a small Antiphonal. The Great, Positiv, Bombarde and Pedal are all unenclosed. There are about 190 independent ranks counting a four-rank mixture as four.²¹

Another to the workers back in the factory:

It has proved my theory that the complex sound composed of many elements, all mild but different, build up to a sound of indescribable grandeur . . . .

The strings are good but not so soul stirring as I had hoped for; a trick of the acoustics, I feel, because all are modified.

Please tell the voicers of the great success of their efforts. There is not one regret in the job.

I don’t believe anyone will say the job is too loud. It excites the nervous system without permanent injury.²²

A summary to Henry Willis:

A descriptive folder is being prepared and I will forward a copy shortly. It carries my tonal ideas which started in 1935 in the Groton School instrument, to their logical conclusions. I was given my own way in everything and had to contend solely with two sympathetic organists. The organ does really sound superb, and I have never heard anything quite like it. Of course, it is of its own particular type. Although the full organ is tremendous, it is very easy on the ears, and you can play it for long periods of time without fatigue. This is due, I think, to the fact that there are no very loud stops, the effect being obtained by the 188 ranks, all of which add one to another. The large-scale Mixtures give quite a powerful resultant effect, which in the resonant hall gives quite a lot of body to the tone, but it is a kind of transparent body, as you can well imagine. No, I wouldn’t say that the organ sounds anything like a Cavaillé-Coll. It is less reedy than a French ensemble as the balance between full flues and reeds is entirely different.²³

A similar summary to Ralph Downes in London, who was working on his own project for Royal Festival Hall, which was to reflect some classic elements in its design, stated:

Nice to hear from you, interested to hear of your project. I am in Salt Lake putting the finishing touches to the “giant,” see specification enclosed. It is somewhat larger than yours but along the same lines.

Musically speaking it is the most beautiful organ I have ever heard partly due to be sure to the superb location and acoustics. What you are proposing to do I have been experimenting with since 1936 at Groton School. That is a modern organ in which the old (classical) and new are so modified so as to blend into one whole so that any worthwhile organ music can be played properly. Salt Lake Tabernacle represents the fruit of all my labors rolled into one organ. I can assure you it does something to the nervous system!

Salt Lake has proved to me a theory I have had for a long time, namely that the finished ensemble is produced by many ranks none of which are loud in themselves. Final result by these means is terrific and yet does not hurt the sensitive ear.²⁴

And, finally, an account by Alexander Schreiner himself after having played the Tabernacle organ for almost a decade stated:

No one stop, though it be of dominating quality, is allowed to blot out the whole sections of weaker voices, so that when the last Tuba is added, the sound is still that of a large organ and not that of one stop accompanied by all the rest. Naturally, there are delicate flue and reed stops which cannot be heard in the full ensemble, but the foundation stops, mixtures, and reeds, which are the backbone of the organ, are so well balanced that each contributes to a “democratic” ensemble of sound.²⁵

With this in mind, I think the Tabernacle organ is a good benchmark to consider in understanding what Jack Bethards means when he says that the Tabernacle organ has a “signature sound,”²⁶ the sounds Donald Harrison had in mind for this, the closest thing to his ideal organ, and of the organs to which he similarly affixed his signature plate.

Organs containing G. Donald Harrison’s signature plates

Opus 1075: The Mormon Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1948.

Opus 1082: Christ Episcopal Church, Bronxville, New York, 1949.

Shortly after this organ was built it was featured prominently in the company’s new King of Instruments series of recordings, appearing on Volume II in selections played by Robert Owen, the organist of the church for over forty years and a well-known recitalist at the time. It was again featured in a full program on Volume III, again played by Robert Owen. Owen also made recordings on the organ for the RCA label. The instrument was later altered by Aeolian-Skinner and again by Gress-Miles. It was replaced entirely in 2009 by a new Casavant organ. At that time the history of the church’s organs was memorialized in a plaque placed near the console, which includes Robert Owen’s own signature facsimile.

Opus 1100: St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Newport, Rhode Island, 1950.

This is a three-manual design in a large, reverberant church, with obvious French inspirations in nomenclature and voicing that is very bold. The Great manual is placed on the bottom of three.

Opus 1103: Methuen Memorial Music Hall, Methuen, Massachusetts, 1947.

Much has been written about this unique organ, the design of which was entirely driven by the desire to keep the original slider chests that were built by James Treat to accommodate the organ when it was moved from the old Boston Music Hall and installed in this new hall in Methuen, designed by Henry Vaughan in 1899 specifically to house the organ. After almost a half century it was rebuilt by Aeolian-Skinner. It was nearing completion when work commenced on the Tabernacle organ, and GDH makes reference to it in his correspondence with Schreiner, almost to the point where it was used as a laboratory to experiment with possibilities for the Tabernacle.

Harrison makes this interesting comment about the Methuen organ:

Finally I would like to tell you that I greatly enjoyed doing this job as I was able to renew my acquaintanceship in a big way with slide [sic] chests. They have one advantage in regard to the initial speech for it is possible to voice with a higher position of the languid when a slide chest is used . . . . On the other hand, there are so many disadvantages with this type of chest that I have felt no temptation to return to the sliders. There is no doubt in my mind that the modern chest we use gives an attack and cutoff which enables much finer degrees of phrasing to be accurately performed . . . so that the result in the long run is more musical, which after all is the real test.²⁷

Opus 1134: Symphony Hall, Boston, Massachusetts, 1950.

Essentially a new organ but using some existing Hutchings pipework, it was built on a very tight budget. For example, the combination action was via a setter board in the back of the console. Albert Schweitzer signed the console frame of this organ when he visited the factory in 1949 on a trip organized by Édouard Nies-Berger.²⁸

The organ was used for examples to complement GDH’s narration in Volume I of King of Instruments and for pieces played by Thomas Dunn in Volume II, though he was identified only as the “staff organist,” and for a recital on Volume XII played by Pierre Cochereau. Virgil Fox also recorded a series of LPs on it for the Command label in the 1960s, and Berj Zamkochian played it in a memorable recording of the Saint-Saëns’ “Organ” Symphony with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Charles Munch.

Opus 1136: Chapel of Westminster Presbyterian Church, Buffalo, New York, 1951.

This is a two-manual organ with the Positiv division on the back wall. A photograph of it was used prominently in Aeolian-Skinner brochures, even following Harrison’s death. The organist of the church at the time was Hans Vigeland, and Harrison’s business correspondence corroborates his respect for him and his playing.

To be continued.

Notes

1. Barbara Owen, The Mormon Tabernacle Organ: An American Classic (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1990), 43.

2. Alexander Schreiner to G. Donald Harrison, August 29, 1948. Owen, 43.

3. G. Donald Harrison to Alexander Schreiner, September 1, 1948. Jack Bethards, “The Tabernacle Letters, Part 3,” The Diapason, 81, 8 (August 1990), 10.

4. Philip Steinhaus to William Self, March 21, 1968. Charles Callahan, Aeolian-Skinner Remembered: A History in Letters (Minneapolis: Randall Egan, 1996), 355.

5. Charles Callahan, The American Classic Organ: A History in Letters (Richmond, Virginia: The Organ Historical Society, 1990).

6. Ernest Skinner to GDH, November 23, 1929. Callahan, The American Classic Organ, 44.

7. In an email message to me dated April 14, 2012, Allen Kinzey tells the exact transaction:

On January 2, 1932, the Aeolian Company and the Skinner Organ Company formed a new, third company called the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company. Aeolian owned 40% of the stock in Aeolian-Skinner, and the Skinner Organ Company owned 60%.

Aeolian closed its operations in Garwood, New Jersey, and sent uncompleted contracts, the glue press, some material, and one employee (Frances Brown, who was a young lady then, and she worked for A-S to the end, or almost the end) to Aeolian-Skinner. The Skinner Organ Company deeded its property and turned over contracts, employees, materials, machinery, etc., to Aeolian-Skinner.

8. Henry Willis III to Emerson Richards, July 8, 1938. Callahan, The American Classic Organ, 132.

9. Henry Willis III to GDH, December 31, 1948. Callahan, The American Classic Organ, 269.

10. GDH to Henry Willis III, January 16, 1949. Callahan, The American Classic Organ, 278.

11. Emerson Richards to Wm. King Covell, November 29, 1943. Callahan, The American Classic Organ, 194.

12. GDH to Alexander Schreiner, December 10, 1945. Bethards, “The Tabernacle Letters, Part 1,” The Diapason, 81, 6 (June 1990), 16.

13. GDH to Ralph Downes, January 14, 1949. Callahan, The American Classic Organ, 277.

14. GDH to Henry Willis III, August 21, 1935. Callahan, The American Classic Organ, 144.

15. Emerson Richards to Wm. King Covell, November 26, 1935. Callahan, The American Classic Organ, 151.

16. Contract in church archives. Owen, p. 38.

17. Alexander Schreiner to Granville Munson, April 26, 1949. Callahan, The American Classic Organ, 299.

18. GDH to Schreiner, November 29, 1945. Bethards, “The Tabernacle Letters, Part I,” The Diapason, 81, 6 (June 1990), 16.

19. GDH to Henry Willis III, December 19, 1945. Callahan, The American Classic Organ, 222.

20. Alexander McCurdy to Brock W. Downward, September 18, 1974. Brock W. Downward, “G. Donald Harrison and the American Classic Organ,” D.M.A. diss., Eastman School of Music, Rochester, NY, 1976, 97.

21. GDH to Henry Willis III, December 21, 1948. Callahan, The American Classic Organ, 167.

22. GDH to Joseph S. Whiteford, December 1948. Owen, 43.

23. GDH to Henry Willis III, March 18, 1949. Bethards, “The Tabernacle Letters, Part 3,” The Diapason, 81, 8 (August 1990), 11.

24. GDH to Ralph Downes, January 14, 1949. Callahan, The American Classic Organ, 276–277.

25. Alexander Schreiner, “The Tabernacle Organ in Salt Lake City,” Organ Institute Quarterly, vol. 7, no. 1 (1957). Owen, 43.

26. Owen, 47.

27. GDH to Wm. King Covell, June 25, 1947. Callahan, The American Classic Organ, 253–254.

28. Nies-Berger, Schweitzer As I Knew Him (Hillsdale, New York, Pendragon Press, 2003), 10.

Stephen Schnurr

Stephen Schnurr is editorial director and publisher for The Diapason; director of music for Saint Paul Catholic Church, Valparaiso, Indiana; and adjunct instructor of organ at Valparaiso University.

Editor’s note: much of the information in this article was delivered as a lecture for the Ernest M. Skinner Sesquicentennial Conference on April 25, 2016, in Evanston, Illinois. The conference was sponsored by the Chicago, North Shore, and Fox Valley Chapters of the American Guild of Organists, the Chicago-Midwest Chapter of the Organ Historical Society, the Music Institute of Chicago, and The Diapason.

The first part of this series appeared in The Diapason, April 2021, pages 14–20. The article focused on the first contracts of the Skinner firm in the Chicago area.

Saint Luke’s Episcopal Church of Evanston, Illinois, was founded in July 1885 as a mission of Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church, also of Evanston. The new congregation’s first services were conducted in Ducat’s Hall. Within a month, a store was rented on Chicago Avenue for services.

In October 1886, ground was broken for the congregation’s first church building of frame construction at the northeast corner of Lincoln Avenue (later Main Street) and Sherman Avenue. The building was occupied for services in May of the following year. The church was consecrated on November 10, 1889, and it would be expanded twice. Saint Luke’s was given parish status on January 1, 1891.¹

This building was served by a small organ by an unknown builder. In February 1894, the church purchased Hook & Hastings Opus 1605, a two-manual, twelve-stop instrument (twenty-one registers), at a cost of $1,840.

The parish began construction for the present building in 1906 with an estimated cost of $125,000. Considered by many to be the best design of the oeuvre of architect John Sutcliffe (1853–1913), the edifice was erected in several stages and was apparently modeled on Tintern Abbey in Wales. Sutcliffe, a native of England, was active in Chicago from 1892 until his death in 1913. Among his other commissions was Grace Episcopal Church of Oak Park, Illinois.

In the first stage of the new construction, the walls of the church were built to a height of ten feet, accomplished in 1907. In 1910, the Lady Chapel was completed. Four years later, the nave of the main church was completed to a height of seventy feet. The interior decoration of the nave was never completed. The fifteen-foot-high hanging rood was carved by Johannes Kirchmayer, a native of Oberammergau, Germany, who worked in Boston, Massachusetts. Saint Luke’s Church was used as the pro-cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago from 1932 until 1941. The Bishop of Chicago at that time was the Right Reverend George Craig Stewart, who had previously served as rector of Saint Luke’s.

When the first portion of the church was finished in 1907, Saint Luke’s purchased an organ from Coburn & Taylor of Chicago, an instrument that is known to have utilized the case and façade pipes of the Hook & Hastings organ (and perhaps, if not likely, more). The two-manual instrument had fourteen stops. It cost $2,600, less $1,800 for the Hook & Hastings. The Coburn & Taylor was installed temporarily behind the pulpit on the chancel floor, now a part of the south ambulatory. It was used until 1922, and its fate is unknown.

For the Lady Chapel, Casavant Frères of Canada installed its Opus 386, a two-manual, twelve-stop, tubular-pneumatic-action organ, finished in 1910.²

1910 Casavant Frères Opus 386

GREAT (Manual I)

8′ Open Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Melodia 61 pipes

8′ Dulciana 61 pipes

SWELL (Manual II, enclosed)

16′ Bourdon 61 pipes

8′ Stopped Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Salicional 61 pipes

8′ Voix Celeste 61 pipes

8′ Aeoline 61 pipes

4′ Dolce Flute 61 pipes

8′ Oboe 61 pipes

Tremulant

PEDAL

16′ Gedeckt

16′ Bourdon (Sw)

Couplers

Great to Pedal 8

Swell to Pedal 8

Great to Great 4

Swell to Great 16

Swell to Great 8

Swell to Great 4

Swell to Swell 16

Swell to Swell 4

Accessories

2 Great pistons

3 Swell pistons

Great to Pedal reversible

Balanced Swell expression shoe

Balanced Crescendo shoe

The need for a pipe organ worthy of the new church edifice

When the nave of the church was completed to its intended height, the Coburn & Taylor organ was found to be inadequate for the much larger space. In early 1920, Herbert Hyde was appointed organist and choirmaster for Saint Luke’s. Hyde was an accomplished musician who had served Saint John’s, Ascension, and Saint Peter Episcopal parishes in Chicago as well as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and had studied with Clarence Dickinson, Charles-Marie Widor, and Joseph Bonnet. Plans and fundraising were commenced practically immediately by the rector, Father Stewart, and Hyde for a substantial new instrument. Fortunately, the church’s archives contain a fountain of interesting letters and documents related to this process.

Negotiations for the organ quickly focused on the Skinner Organ Company of Boston, Massachusetts. Surviving correspondence in the church archives between the church and the organbuilder are primarily between Hyde and William Zeuch, Skinner vice-president. Zeuch had until recently lived in Chicago (his family was still there) and was good friends with Hyde. (The Zeuch family residence at 2833 Kenmore Avenue, Chicago, would see Skinner Opus 424 installed in 1923, a two-manual, twenty-two-rank organ that replaced a 1905 Marshall-Bennett organ.) Hyde and Zeuch referred to each other in correspondence as “Bert” and “Bill,” respectively. Despite the lack of letters from Ernest Skinner, one cannot discount his interest in the design and construction of the organ, as it was to be the largest installation by the firm in the Chicago region to that date.

The first surviving letter is from Zeuch to Hyde, May 13, 1920, noting that Hyde had submitted two specifications, one on May 6, the other on May 11. Hyde’s specifications were created with the consultation of his teacher Joseph Bonnet, Eric DeLamarter of Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago (which housed 1914 Skinner Opus 210), and Zeuch. Zeuch felt the second specification was much better, except for:

. . . the lack of a large scale string, such as a Gamba and Gamba Celeste on the Solo Organ. . . . You mention a large scale Viol d’ Orchestre. Could this not serve as one rank of such a string? Permit me to call your attention to the fact that all our Celestes run through to low C (of the manual keyboard) except the Unda Maris and the Flute Celeste. I have a slight personal preference for a Flute Celeste made with a Spitz on the Swell Organ. The scale and voicing of the stops of that name on my organ are of remarkably subtle charm, which I am sure you would be quick to appreciate.

I am with you without reservation on the “no borrowing” idea. I resort to this expedient only on small 2 manual specifications, where it is desirable to have several accompanimental stops on the Great Organ under expression.

For the price tag of $47,950 without casework, this would, Zeuch declared, provide “a perfect specification, and would give you the greatest organ in the country. It is not given to many organists to have an organ built just as they want it, and I congratulate you that you are to have this great fortune.”

Price would be a point of considerable discussion between the church and the builder, as Hyde stated in his letter to Zeuch, December 9, 1920, the church vestry “refuse to have the cost of the organ exceed $49,999.99,” which was a large sum for an organ in that day (nearly $675,000 in today’s currency). In this same letter, Hyde wanted the specification altered to remove the 8′ Dulciana from the Choir at a savings of $580; addition of a Dulcet II in its place at $828; addition of 16′ Violone/8′ Cello in the Pedal at $1,242; addition of Chimes at $993; and duplexing the Harp/Celesta on the Swell for $180; bringing the total cost of the organ to $52,613, without casework. Hyde embarrassingly asks the Skinner firm if they would kindly build the organ for less than $50,000.

A memorandum dated December 30, 1920, indicates that Zeuch had come to the Chicago area in order to meet with key people of Saint Luke’s Church. Between December 9 and the meeting, the Skinner firm offered to build the organ with the changes except the Chimes to be left prepared at the console at a cost of $49,998. The church further convinced Zeuch to allow a 5% discount for cash, amounting to $2,499.90, pending vestry approval.

A contract with the Skinner Organ Company and the church dated January 4, 1921, was signed on January 14 in the amount of $47,500 for a four-manual, 83-stop instrument of 5,343 pipes, Opus 327. (The Chimes were included, a memorial to William N. Cotterell.) Zeuch signed for the builder; Gabriel F. Slaughter, chairman of the music committee, signed for the church. Completion was set for January 10, 1922. The first payment of $10,000 was due on October 1, 1921, with the balance of $37,500 due “on completion and acceptance by a committee of three; one to be appointed by organ builders, one member by the church, these two to select a third member.”

The arrival of the Skinner organ

The blower arrived at the church December 9, 1921, well ahead of the rest of the instrument. It was clear in a letter from Zeuch on December 21, 1921, that the organ was behind schedule:

The organ is in the works and making good progress, tho I am sorry to say it is not yet sufficiently advanced to leave the factory. A few weeks more will suffice for that so that you will soon have tangible evidence of a new organ. Your suggestion to put more men on the work is interesting, if not practical. If you know of any skilled and experienced organ builders that would like a job with us send on as many as you care to. There is plenty of work for them.

As far as being late with our contracts is concerned, we are not the only ones. I don’t know of an organ concern in the country that meets their deliveries as called for. It isn’t possible in the nature of the business. Besides there is another side to the story. Last year we had six organs in storage all completed and ready for installation but held up because the buildings were not ready to receive them. At present moment we have two such cases. If we had the gift of prophecy it would indeed be helpful.

On Christmas Eve, Slaughter wrote to the Skinner firm as to when to expect the organ to be shipped:

Since it takes several weeks to install the organ, and as you may know the Ecclesiastical kalendar is strictly observed, and Lent arrives on the first of March, you will realize our anxiety lest any continued delay might make it impossible for us to open the new organ with an appropriate series of recitals.

The first railcar of the organ was not shipped until April 7, 1922. (Easter Sunday occurred April 16.) In all, a total of twelve railroad freight cars were dispatched to Evanston’s Main Street station, two blocks from the church. The organ was announced on the front page of The Diapason’s March 1, 1921, issue, along with a specification and a picture of Herbert Hyde.

When the Skinner organ was installed in the nave, the action of the Casavant organ in the Lady Chapel was electrified, and this instrument was made playable from the main organ console as an Echo division. Skinner added an 8′ Vox Humana to the Echo. The Skinner main console of four manuals was movable within a radius of twelve feet, situated in the choir stalls of the chancel. The chapel organ had a new console installed for use in that space. In the main organ chamber, the Choir and Pedal divisions were installed at the bottom, with the Great and Solo above, and the Swell at the top.

Installation of the organ was supervised by William S. Collins. Regulating, tuning, and “delicate voicing” was accomplished by Gust Bergkvist. Simplified casework was installed, with the more complex casework designed by the architect Thomas Tallmadge of Chicago’s Tallmadge & Watson created later. As eventually completed, the main façade facing the chancel includes some eighty-six speaking pipes from the Great and Pedal diapasons. A smaller façade in the south aisle is composed of non-speaking pipes.

The instrument was dedicated on Sunday, October 15, 1922, in a service presided over by the Right Reverend Sheldon Munson Griswold, Suffragan Bishop of Chicago, with Hyde at the console. The choir sang Hyde’s composition for the occasion, “O Praise the Lord of Heaven.” In the afternoon, assistant organist Mack Evans gave a brief program. That evening, Hyde presented a recital to the public, which was a capacity crowd.

Mr. Evans’s program was as follows:

Grand Choeur, Guilmant

Prayer and Cradle Song, Guilmant

Prelude and Fugue in D Minor, Bach

Variations on “Saviour, Breathe” and “Evening Blessings,” Thompson

Processional March, Rogers

 

Mr. Hyde’s program was as follows:

Caprice Heroique [sic], Bonnet

Reverie, Bonnet

Romance sans Paroles, Bonnet

Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, Bach

The Guardian Angel, Pierne [sic]

Slumber Song, Seely

Menuet à l’Antico, Seeboeck-Hyde

To a Wild Rose, MacDowell

Chromatic Fantasie, Thiele

Vision, Rheinberger

Cradle Song, Grieg

Le Bonheur, Hyde

 

This was the first day in a series of four that included programs that more than filled the church. The Diapason of November 1, 1922, stated:

The new Skinner organ in Saint Luke’s Church at Evanston, rated as the largest organ in any church in Chicago or vicinity, was inducted into service in a manner befitting the size and quality of the instrument . . . . None of the recitals was attended by fewer than 1,000 people and the night of the services under the auspices of the Illinois chapter, A. G. O., hundreds stood in the aisles throughout the performance.

The front-page article included a picture of the console.³

The six other recitalists heard in this series were Eric DeLamarter of Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago; Palmer Christian, then of Northwestern University and Fourth Presbyterian Church, formerly of Kenwood Evangelical Church, Chicago, and shortly thereafter at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Tina Mae Haines of Saint James Methodist Episcopal Church, Chicago; Stanley Martin of Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church, Evanston; William Lester of First Baptist Church, Evanston; and Mrs. Wilhelm Middelschulte of First Presbyterian Church, Evanston.

Monday, October 16, was “Evanston Organists” recital night, with appearances by Martin, Middelschulte, and Lester. Peter C. Lutkin of Northwestern University, Evanston, delivered an address, “The Education of the Soul,” as noted in The Diapason, “in which he dwelt on the need of cultivating the soul through music and art as being as essential to humanity as the training of the mind.”

Mr. Martin’s program:

Suite in F, Corelli-Noble

Contrasts, J. Lewis Browne

Scherzo, Fifth Sonata, Guilmant

 

Mrs. Middelschulte’s program:

Prelude and Nocturne, Bairstow

Toccata, Grison

 

Mr. Lester’s program:

Invocation (dedicated to Herbert Hyde), Lester

In Indian Summer, Lester

Venetian Idyl, Andrews

Andante con moto, Bridge

Heroic Overture, Ware

 

Tuesday, October 17, featured a “Recital by Chicago Organists Under the Auspices of the Illinois Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.” DeLamarter, Haines, and Christian were the featured performers.

Mr. DeLamarter’s program:

Chant de Printemps, Bonnet

Intermezzo, DeLamarter

Legende, Zimmerman

Finale, Sixth Symphony, Widor

 

Miss Haines’s offerings:

Matin Provencale [sic], Bonnet

Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy (Nut-Cracker Suite), Tschaikowsky [sic]

Meditation at Ste. Clotilde, James

Fantasie on Spanish Themes, Gigout

 

Mr. Christian’s appearance included:

Dreams, Strauss

Rhapsodie, Rossetter G. Cole

A Cloister Scene, Mason

Scherzo Caprice, Ward

 

The series closed on Wednesday evening, October 18, Saint Luke’s Day, with a program by Hyde, assisted by the church choir:

Sonata 1, Borowski

Meditation, Klein

Bourée, Bach

Suite Gothique, Boëllmann

O Praise the Lord of Heaven, Hyde (with the choir)

Berceuse, Dickinson

Caprice (manuscript), Seely

Toccata, Fifth Symphony, Widor

 

For many years, the organ was the venue of many important recital events. It was featured during the 1925 national convention of the American Guild of Organists and the 1933 national convention of the National Association of Organists. It was also a demonstration instrument for the builder, especially as Hyde became the western representative for Skinner.

Mr. Skinner exhibited great pride in the instrument over decades. In The Composition of the Organ, co-authored with his son Richmond H. Skinner, he wrote of Opus 327:

The Diapasons of the Great division of the organ in St. Luke’s Church, Evanston, Illinois, are most satisfactory to me and are of ideal Diapason character. There are three of eight foot pitch; First Diapason, scale 41 [sic], second 43 [sic], third 45. Later judgment suggests that the smallest be scale 48.

The church has fine acoustics and, in their locations, these Diapasons have an indescribable glow and richness, making them exceptionally churchly. All have a 1⁄5 mouth, cut up 5⁄12 their width. This is reduced in the trebles. All are tuned with sliding sleeves. The first, and I believe the second, has a thickened upper lip and structurally is of good weight of metal, including 22% tin. They have a pronounced octave harmonic and no flavor of thickness, nor have they any of the string quality characteristic of the German Diapason. The[y] differ again from the English types, which to me suggest the American Melodia, having little foundation and few harmonics and which M. Dupré calls “Gemshorns.”⁴

As the years passed . . .

Dr. Thomas Matthews became organist and choirmaster of Saint Luke’s Church in May 1946. Shortly thereafter, and in cooperation with William H. Barnes, organ consultant and author of the many editions of The Contemporary American Organ, some alterations were made to the Skinner organ. The Solo 8′ Philomela was replaced by an 8′ Doppel Flute from the 1889 Roosevelt organ removed from the Auditorium Theater of Chicago in 1942. Barnes ordered an 8′ Trompette from Gieseke in Germany to replace the Swell 8′ Cornopean. (The Cornopean was placed in safe storage at the church.)⁵

On December 18, 1956, Matthews wrote to Zeuch at the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company about the possibility of addition of a horizontal trumpet to Opus 327. Joseph S. Whiteford, then tonal director for Aeolian-Skinner, replied in acknowledgment on January 3, 1957. On March 15, 1957, Thomas V. Potter, Midwest representative for Aeolian-Skinner, wrote to Matthews proposing a “Fanfare Trumpet” with several options. The preferred option was installation at the rear of the nave, above the entry door and below a window, for $4,000, including a blowing plant. A second option was installation behind the main altar reredos, which would cost $2,250 without a second blower, or $2,500 with blower. Delivery would be within one to two years.

It was agreed to install the trumpet at the rear of the nave, and a contract was sent to the church in the amount of $4,000, for completion by March 1, 1959. A down payment of $400 was due on signing, $1,080 when construction began, $1,080 when the trumpet arrived at the church, and the balance due upon completion. The reed pipes were harmonic from middle C, and the wind pressure was between 7-1⁄2 and 8 inches.

Materials were finished for shipping to Evanston in April 1958, but a strike by truckers stalled shipment until May 19 as noted in the church’s newsletter, The Parish Visitor, June 1958.⁶ The stop was first used on June 15 for the arrival of the Most Reverend Joost de Blank, Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, for his visit to Saint Luke’s Church. Final payment was received by Aeolian-Skinner on July 7 of that year. Saint Luke’s possessed the first Aeolian-Skinner fanfare trumpet in the Midwest, the fourth created by the builder. (Earlier examples were the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and Saint Thomas Church, New York City, and First Presbyterian Church, Kilgore, Texas.)

The trumpet stop was dedicated September 28, 1958, during a Eucharist service that featured a newly composed choir anthem by Thomas Matthews, “The Trumpeters and Singers Were As One.” The trumpet was named in memory of Joseph G. Hubbell. It is played from the Choir manual, its drawknob replacing the original 8′ Harp knob.

In November 1959, The Parish Visitor announced that William H. Barnes of Evanston, “a non-Episcopalian but a great admirer of St. Luke’s organ and music,” donated a new Chorus Mixture in memory of the late Herbert Hyde, who had died August 25, 1954, at the age of 67.⁷ The article stated:

Dr. Barnes is a nationally known organ architect and author of the book, “The Contemporary American Organ.” The new stop was built to his special specifications in Holland at an approximate cost, including installation, of $2,000. . . . Through the years, he has done much to keep our organ in good repair, and several years ago he gave a new Doppel Flute to replace an old one in the organ.

The addition of the new Chorus Mixture stop is the first step in modernizing the main organ. The next step will be the installation of three new sets of French reed pipes in the swell division as soon as the necessary funds become available.

The original Skinner III Mixture on the Great division was disconnected and the stop action reconnected to the new Chorus Mixture. The Skinner mixture pipework was removed, and it eventually disappeared.

The 1910 Casavant Lady Chapel organ was discarded in favor of an M. P. Möller organ of two-manuals, fourteen-ranks, playable from the Skinner console as well as a new two-manual console of tilting-tablet control in the chapel. The contract for Möller Opus 9244 was dated May 16, 1958, with completion set for August 1, 1959, at a cost of $16,950. Henry Beard was the builder’s legendary representative for the Chicago region. Wind pressures were three inches for the Great and Pedal divisions and 3-1⁄2 inches for the Swell. The Casavant organ became the property of Möller, but was apparently discarded. (The Möller organ was sold in 1986 to Our Lady of Hope Catholic Church, Rosemont, Illinois.) Funds for the new chapel organ were given in memory of Gabriel and Jessie Slaughter. Mr. Slaughter had served as chair of the parish music committee when the Skinner organ was procured and was a longtime vestryman.⁸

1959 M. P. MЪller Opus 9244

GREAT (Manual I, unenclosed)

8′ Rohrflöte 73 pipes (scale 54, halve on 20th, 12 zinc basses, remainder spotted metal)*

8′ Gemshorn (Sw)

8′ Unda Maris (Sw)

4′ Principal 73 pipes (scale 60, halve on 18th, spotted metal)*

III Rks. Mixture 183 pipes (“Spec. Formula ‘A’,” halve on 17th, spotted metal)*

SWELL (Manual II, enclosed)

16′ Gedeckt 73 pipes (scale 44, halve on 20th, 24 zinc basses, remainder spotted metal)

8′ Gedeckt (ext 16′)*

8′ Gemshorn 61 pipes (scale 52, 1⁄3 taper, halve on 17th, 12 zinc basses, remainder spotted metal)*

8′ Unda Maris 54 pipes (GG, scale 56, 2⁄3 taper, halve on 17th, 5 zinc basses, remainder spotted metal)*

4′ Nachthorn 61 pipes (scale 60, halve on 20th, spotted metal)*

2′ Prinzipal 61 pipes (scale 72, halve on 18th, spotted metal)*

II Rks. Cymbale 122 pipes (26–29, Spec. Formula “B,” halve on 17th, spotted metal)*

8′ Trompette 61 pipes (2-1⁄4″ scale, halve on 42nd)*

Tremolo

PEDAL

16′ Bourdon 12 pipes (CCC scale 40, CC scale 54, halve on 20th, 12 pipes, ext Gt 8′)*

16′ Gedeckt (Sw)

8′ Geigen 44 pipes (scale 46, halve on 18th, 17 zinc basses, remainder spotted metal)*

8′ Gedeckt (Sw)

4′ Octave (ext 8′)

2′ Gedeckt (Sw)

* stops available at the Skinner console

Couplers

Great to Pedal

Great to Pedal 4

Swell to Pedal

Swell to Pedal 4

Great 4

Swell to Great 16

Swell to Great

Swell to Great 4

Swell 16

Swell Unison Off

Swell 4

Accessories

3 General pistons

3 Great and Pedal pistons

3 Swell and Pedal pistons

Great to Pedal reversible

Balanced Swell expression shoe

Balanced Crescendo shoe with indicator light

 

Great Mixture “Formula ‘A’”

1–30 15 19 22

31–42 12 15 19

43–61 8 12 15

Unison scale 48 at 8′ CC, ¼ mouth

Quint scale 49 at 8′ CC, 2⁄9 mouth

Swell Cymbal “Formula ‘B’”

1–12 26 29

13–24 22 26

25–36 19 22

37–48 15 19

49–61 12 15

Unison scale 50 at 8′ CC, ¼ mouth

Quint scale 51 at 8′ CC, 2⁄9 mouth

Around 1960, in the Choir division of the Skinner organ, the 8′ Melodia was replaced by an 8′ Gedeckt, the 4′ Flute d’Amour replaced by a 4′ Rohr Flute, and the two-rank 8′ Dulcet replaced by a II Cymbal. This work was supplied by the Tellers Organ Company. A Cymbala or cymbelstern of four bells was installed in memory of Eliza C. Akeley. In the 1970s, Frank J. Sauter & Sons of the Chicago region repitched the Choir 8′ Diapason to 4′ and reinstalled the Swell 8′ Cornopean.⁹ At some point, the Swell Mixture was recomposed, and the 2′ stops in the Swell and Choir divisions were swapped. The organ was honored with the Organ Historical Society’s Historic Organ Citation #161.

In 1986 a restoration of the historic building and its nave was carried out. The project included removal of four-inch-thick horsehair and burlap padding from the wooden ceiling, installed in 1914. The result was a remarkable nearly four seconds of reverberation. Around the same time, the church acquired a one-manual, four-stop, portable, mechanical-action pipe organ from Karl Wilhelm.

Bringing the Skinner organ back to its origins

Most of the alterations to the Skinner organ were reversed in a restoration project by the A. Thompson-Allen Company of New Haven, Connecticut, begun in 1994 and completed in 1998. The first phase of the project included removal of the Swell division for restoration, the remainder of the instrument completed in time for Christmas 1998. Several of the ranks that were removed from the organ and stored in the church in previous decades were reinstated in the organ, namely, the three Choir division stops noted above. The Swell and Great mixture stops were recreated with new pipework.¹⁰ All of the original Skinner reed ranks were restored by Broome & Company of East Granby, Connecticut. Thompson-Allen added a General Cancel piston, as the console never had one.

The organ was rededicated on September 12, 1999. A series of recitals occurred in the 1999–2000 year; featured performers included Marilyn Keiser, Gillian Weir, Karel Paukert (a former organist and choirmaster of Saint Luke’s Church), and Richard Webster, organist and choirmaster of Saint Luke’s.

In 2013, the original blower for the organ was replaced. The parish completed a $1.8 million restoration of the church nave in 2016.

In anticipation of the organ’s centennial year and celebrations in 2022, the Thompson-Allen firm returned to Evanston in May and October 2021 for minor repairs. Centennial celebrations began February 25 of this year, with Jackson Borges accompanying the silent film feature of Buster Keaton’s Sherlock Jr. Friday through Sunday, October 14–16 will see a weekend of events, including a hymn festival with Richard Webster and a newly composed work by Malcolm Archer, both of whom will be present for the festivities.

1922 Skinner Organ Company Opus 327, as restored by A. Thompson-Allen Company¹¹

GREAT (Manual II, 7-1/2″ wind pressure)

16′ Diapason 73 pipes (scale 32, 1–29 zinc, 30–73 common metal)

8′ First Diapason 73 pipes (scale 40, 1–17 zinc, 18–73 linen lead, 1/5 mouth, leathered lips)

8′ Second Diapason 73 pipes (scale 42, 1–17 zinc, 18–73 linen lead, 1⁄5 mouth, leathered lips)

8′ Third Diapason 73 pipes (scale 45, 1–17 zinc, 18–73 spotted metal, 1⁄5 mouth)

8′ Claribel Flute* 73 pipes (1–12 stopped wood, 13–36 open wood, 37–73 open metal)

8′ Erzähler 73 pipes (1–12 zinc, 13–73 spotted metal, 1⁄4 taper)

4′ Octave 61 pipes (scale 58, 1–5 zinc, 6–61 spotted metal, 2⁄9 mouth)

4′ Harmonic Flute* 61 pipes (1–5 zinc, 6–61 common metal, harmonic 25–49)

2-2⁄3′ Twelfth* 61 pipes (scale 69, spotted metal)

2′ Fifteenth* 61 pipes (scale 70, spotted metal)

Chorus Mixture IV 244 pipes (added 1959, revoiced by A. Thompson-Allen in 1998)

Mixture III (A-9)* 183 pipes (original removed; replicated by A. Thompson-Allen in 1998)

16′ Trombone* 73 pipes (4-1⁄2″ @ 8′ C, 1–6 wood resonators, 6–61 zinc and Hoyt metal, 43–61 harmonic, 62–73 open spotted metal flues)

8′ Trumpet* 73 pipes (4-1⁄2″, 1–56 reeds, zinc and Hoyt metal, 31–56 harmonic, 57–73 spotted metal flues)

4′ Clarion* 61 pipes (3-1⁄4″, 1–44 reeds, zinc and Hoyt metal, 19–44 harmonic, 45–61 spotted metal flues)

Chimes (from Solo)

* enclosed

SWELL (Manual III, enclosed, 7-1/2″ wind pressure)

16′ Bourdon 73 pipes (1–61 stopped wood, 62–73 open common metal)

8′ Diapason 73 pipes (scale 45, 1–17 zinc, 18–73 common metal, 2⁄9 mouth)

8′ Salicional 73 pipes (scale 64, 1–12 zinc, 13–71 spotted metal)

8′ Voix Celeste 73 pipes (draws 8′ Salicional, scale 64, 1–12 zinc, 13–73 spotted metal)

8′ Gedeckt 73 pipes (1–43 stopped wood, 44–73 open common metal)

8′ Spitz Flute 73 pipes (1–17 zinc, 18–61 tapered common metal, 62–73 cylindrical common metal)

8′ Flute Celeste (TC) 61 pipes (13–17 zinc, 18–61 tapered common metal, 62–73 cylindrical common metal)

8′ Aeoline 73 pipes (scale 60, 1–12 zinc, 13–73 spotted metal)

4′ Octave 61 pipes (scale 60, 1–5 zinc, 6–61 common metal)

4′ Traverse Flute 61 pipes (1–5 zinc, 6–61 common metal, 25–49 harmonic)

2′ Flautino 61 pipes (scale 70, spotted metal)

III Mixture III 183 pipes (original A-9 mixture removed; replicated to a slightly later C-15 Skinner formula by Austin/ A. Thompson-Allen, 1998)

16′ Contra Posaune 73 pipes (4-1⁄2″ @ 8′ C, 1–6 wood resonators, 7–61 zinc and Hoyt metal, 55–61 harmonic, 62–73 open spotted metal flues)

8′ Cornopean 73 pipes (4-1⁄2″, 1–32 zinc and Hoyt metal, 33–56 Hoyt metal, 43–56 harmonic, 57–73 spotted metal flues)

8′ Oboe 73 pipes (zinc, common metal, spotted metal, 1–56 reeds, 57–73 spotted metal flues)

8′ Vox Humana 73 pipes (zinc and Hoyt metal, 1–56 reeds, 57–73 spotted metal flues)

4′ Clarion 61 pipes (3-1⁄4″, 1–44 reeds, 31–44 harmonic, 45–61 spotted metal flues)

Tremolo

Harp (Ch)

Celesta (Ch)

CHOIR (Manual I, enclosed, 6″ wind pressure)

8′ Diapason 73 pipes (scale 44, 1–17 zinc, 18–73 linen lead)

8′ Melodia 73 pipes (1–12 stopped wood, 13–43 open wood, 44–73 common metal)

8′ Dulcet II 146 pipes (scale 75, 1–12 zinc, 13–73 spotted metal)

8′ Kleine Erzähler 134 pipes (celeste TC, 1–31 stopped wood, 32–73 open common metal)

4′ Flute d’Amour 61 pipes (“#2,” 1–5 zinc, 6–73 common metal, 25–49 harmonic)

2-2⁄3′ Twelfth 61 pipes (slotted spotted metal, 1–49 tapered, 50–61 cylindrical)

2′ Piccolo 61 pipes (common metal, 13–49 harmonic)

1-1⁄3′ [sic] Tierce 61 pipes (slotted spotted metal, 1–41 tapered, 42–61 cylindrical)

8′ Clarinet 73 pipes (1–56 common metal, 57–73 open spotted metal flues)

8′ Orchestral Oboe 73 pipes (1–56 zinc and Hoyt metal, 57–73 open spotted metal flues)

Tremolo

Harp (61 bars, first octave repeats)

8′ Fanfare Trumpet 61 pipes (7-1⁄2″ wind pressure, 1–12 zinc, 13–56 spotted metal, 25–56 harmonic, 57–61 flues)

SOLO (Manual IV, enclosed, 10″ wind pressure)

8′ Diapason 73 pipes (scale 40, leathered lips, 1–17 zinc, 18–73 linen lead)

8′ Philomela 73 pipes

8′ Gross Gamba 73 pipes (scale 50, flared 4 notes, 1–12 zinc, 13–73 spotted metal)

8′ Gamba Celeste 73 pipes (scale 50, flared 4 notes, 1–12 zinc, 13–73 spotted metal)

8′ French Horn 73 pipes (7″, large scale, 1–49 zinc and common metal, capped, 50–73 open spotted metal flues)

8′ English Horn 73 pipes (single bell-type, 1–49 zinc and common metal, double-conical capped, 50–56 lidded conical resonators, 57–73 open spotted metal flues)

4′ Tuba Clarion 61 pipes (1–49 zinc and Hoyt metal, 7–49 harmonic, 50–61 open spotted metal flues)

Tremolo

8′ Tuba Mirabilis 73 pipes (20″ wind pressure, 1–61 zinc and Hoyt metal, 19–61 harmonic, 62–73 open spotted metal flues)

Chimes (25 tubes)

PEDAL (6″ wind pressure)

32′ Diapason (open wood) 68 pipes

16′ First Diapason (ext 32′ Diapason)

16′ Second Diapason 32 pipes (1–29 zinc, 30–32 linen lead)

16′ Violone 44 pipes (1–12 bearded open wood, 13–32 spotted metal with rollers)

16′ Bourdon (stopped wood) 56 pipes

16′ Echo Bourdon (Sw 16′ Bourdon)

8′ Octave (ext 32′ Diapason)

8′ ’Cello (ext 16′ Violone)

8′ Gedeckt (ext 16′ Bourdon)

8′ Still Gedeckt (Sw 16′ Bourdon)

4′ Super Octave (ext 32′ Diapason)

4′ Flute (extension, 16′ Bourdon)

32′ Bombarde 68 pipes (15″ wind pressure, 16″ x 16″ @ low C, 1–24 wood resonators, remainder zinc and Hoyt metal)

16′ Trombone (ext 32′ Bombarde)

8′ Tromba (ext 32′ Bombarde)

4′ Clarion (ext 32′ Bombarde)

Couplers

Great to Pedal 8

Great to Pedal 4

Swell to Pedal 8

Swell to Pedal 4

Choir to Pedal 8

Solo to Pedal 8

Solo to Pedal 4

Swell to Great 8

Choir to Great 8

Solo to Great 8

Swell to Choir 8

Great to Solo 8

Swell to Solo 8

Great to Great 16

Great to Great 4

Swell to Great 16

Swell to Great 4

Choir to Great 16

Choir to Great 4

Solo to Great 16

Solo to Great 4

Choir to Choir 16

Choir to Choir 4

Swell to Choir 16

Swell to Choir 4

Swell to Swell 16

Swell to Swell 4

Solo to Solo 16

Solo to Solo 4

Great to Solo 16

Great to Solo 4

Accessories

5 General pistons (thumb and toe)

9 Great pistons (1–9 thumb, 1–4 toe)

9 Swell pistons (1–9 thumb, 1–4 toe)

7 Choir pistons (1–7 thumb, 1–4 toe)

7 Solo pistons (1–9 thumb, 1–4 toe)

4 Pedal pistons (toe)

General Cancel (thumb, added by A. Thompson-Allen, 1998)

Couplers Off (thumb)

Combination setter button (thumb)

Great to Pedal reversible (thumb and toe)

Swell to Pedal reversible (thumb)

Choir to Pedal reversible (thumb)

Solo to Pedal reversible (thumb and toe)

Solo to Great reversible (thumb and toe)

3 buttons: Chapel, Off, Both on Great

3 buttons: Chapel, Off, Both on Swell

3 buttons: Great Box to Solo, Off, Great Box to Choir

2 buttons: all Swells to Swell shoe, Off

Balanced Swell expression shoe

Balanced Choir (and Great) expression shoe

Balanced Solo (and Great) expression shoe

Balanced Crescendo shoe (with indicator light)

Sforzando reversible (toe, with indicator light)

Cymbala (knob in Swell stop jamb)

 

Great IV Chorus Mixture

1–17 15 19 22 26

18–24 12 15 19 22

25–49 8 12 15 19

50–61 8 8 12 15

Great III Mixture

1–18 15 19 22

19–30 12 15 19

31–61 8 12 15

Swell III Mixture

1–22 15 19 22

23–42 12 15 19

43–61 8 12 15

 

Church website: stlukesevanston.org

Organ website: opus327.org

 

Notes

1. Newton Bateman and Paul Selby, ed., Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Evanston, Volume II (Chicago, Illinois: Munsell Publishing Company, 1906), 374–375.

2. David McCain, “St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Evanston, Illinois: A History of the Organs,” The Stopt Diapason, Chicago-Midwest Chapter Organ Historical Society, volume 3, number 3, whole number 15 (June 1982): 26–32.

3. “Great Feast of Music Ushers in Huge Organ: Busy Week for Evanston, Recitals Draw Upward of Thousand People Every Evening—Hyde and Other Organists heard on Skinner Instrument,” The Diapason, November 1, 1922: 1–2.

4. Ernest M. Skinner and Richmond H. Skinner, The Composition of the Organ, ed. by Leslie A. Olsen (Ann Arbor, Michigan: Melvin J. Light, 1980), 26.

5. McCain, “St. Luke’s,” 26–32.

6. “Delivery of Fanfare Trumpets delayed by truck strike,” The Parish Visitor, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, volume 2, number 2 (June 1958): 5.

7. “Dr. Barnes donates organ stop,” The Parish Visitor, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, volume 2, number 12 (November 1959): 80.

8. “St. Luke’s to be given new chapel organ in memory of Gabriel & Jessie Slaughter,” The Parish Visitor, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, volume 2, number 7 (June 1958): 3.

9. McCain, “St. Luke’s,” 26–32.

10. “St. Luke’s Organ Rededication: September 12, 1999, Evanston, Illinois,” pamphlet published by St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 1999.

11. “Saint Luke Episcopal Church,” Organ Handbook 2002 (Richmond, Virginia: The Organ Historical Society, 2002): 167–173.

 

Bibliography

Bateman, Newton, and Paul Selby, ed. Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Evanston, Volume II. Chicago, Munsell Publishing Company, 1906: 374–375.

“Delivery of Fanfare Trumpets delayed by truck strike,” The Parish Visitor, St. Luke’s Church, Evanston, Illinois, June 1958, volume 2, number 2: 5.

“Dr. Barnes donates organ stop,” The Parish Visitor, November 1959, volume 2, number 12: 8.

“Great Feast of Music Ushers in Huge Organ: Busy Week for Evanston, Recitals Draw Upward of Thousand People Every Evening—Hyde and Other Organists heard on Skinner Instrument,” The Diapason, November 1, 1922: 1–2.

McCain, David. “St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Evanston, Illinois: A History of the Organs.” The Stopt Diapason, Chicago-Midwest Chapter Organ Historical Society, volume 3, number 3, whole number 15 (June 1982): 26–32.

“Saint Luke Episcopal Church,” Organ Handbook 2002. Richmond, Virginia, The Organ Historical Society, 2002: 167–173.

“St. Luke’s Organ Rededication: September 12, 1999, Evanston, Illinois,” published by the church.

“St. Luke’s to be given new chapel organ in memory of Gabriel & Jessie Slaughter,” The Parish Visitor, volume 2, number 7 (June 1958): 3.

Schnurr, Stephen. “Organ News.” The Stopt Diapason, Chicago-Midwest Chapter Organ Historical Society, whole number 65 (August 1999): 6–12.

Schnurr, Stephen J., Jr., and Dennis Northway, Pipe Organs of Chicago, Volume 1. Oak Park, Illinois, Chauncey Park Press, 2005: 94–97.

John Bishop

Humble π

Archimedes (c. 287–c. 212 BC) lived in the ancient Greek capital of Syracuse, located on what is now Sicily. He was one of the great mathematicians, engineers, inventors, and astronomers of his time, even of all time. He imagined and recorded the origins of calculus and pioneered the concept of applying mathematics to physical motion, the applications of a screw, and the multiplication of pulleys and levers to allow the lifting of heavy objects. He is the source of the quote, “Give me a lever long enough and a place to stand, and I can move the earth.”

Among his many achievements was the realization of π (spelled pi), the mathematical constant that defines the properties of a circle and all shapes that are related to circles. ∏ is an irrational number—it cannot be expressed as an exact number. We round it off at 22/7 or 3.14, so we actually arrive at approximations of the exact number. It is a little like figuring a third of a dollar: $0.33 + $0.33 + $0.34 = $1.00. Because it cannot be expressed in an exact way, we use the symbol π to indicate the exact number. Around 600 AD, Chinese mathematicians calculated π to seven digits after the decimal, and with modern computing power it has been calculated to trillions of digits. It is infinite. Let’s stick with 3.14 to save time. ∏ is known as Archimedes’ Constant.

RELATED: Read "The Life of Pi" here

In the June 2021 issue of The Diapason, pages 12–13, I wrote about an encounter I had with a twenty-something kid in a local lumber yard as I was buying material to make a circular baffle to keep squirrels off one of our birdfeeders. I was planning to fasten aluminum flashing to the circumference of the circle, so I rattled off thirty inches (the diameter of my circle) times π to get a little under eight feet, so the ten-foot roll of flashing would be enough. The kid did not know about π (didn’t know about π?) so I gave him a primer. ∏ times the diameter of a circle (πd) is its circumference. ∏ times the radius squared (πr2) is its area. I suggested that we could compare the area of a twelve-inch pizza with that of a sixteen-inch pizza, and using the calculator in my phone, I rattled off the two areas, and he was impressed by how much difference that four inches made to the size of the pizza.

But when I recreated the exercise while writing the June column, I mixed up the formulas and used πd for the area rather than πr² (circumference rather than area) and triumphantly reported the difference between a twelve- and a sixteen-inch pie as about twelve and a half square inches. Had I used the correct formula, I would have found that the sixteen-inch pie is larger by about 88 square inches, or 44 two-inch bites, over six times more than my published result.

Two readers caught my mistake and wrote to me and to the editors of The Diapason. Nicholas Bullat is a retired organist and harpsichordist and former chair of the organ department and head of graduate studies at Chicago’s American Conservatory who also worked as a corporate and securities counsel. Nicholas carried the pizza story a step further using prices from a local pizzeria. Their $12.50 twelve-inch pie costs about $0.11 per square inch while the $18.00 sixteen-inch pie comes out at $0.09 per square inch. If I am right estimating a bite at two square inches, then those 44 extra $0.18 bites seem quite a bargain.

Glenn Gabanski, a retired high school math teacher in the Chicago area, also caught my mix up of pizza recipes, adding that the sixteen-inch pizza is 1.78 times larger than the twelve-inch. I will never buy a small pizza again. If the large one does not get finished, we will have leftovers for breakfast.

Achimedes’ mental model

Glenn found another significant error in what I wrote for the June 2021 issue. Remembering long-ago visits to Boston’s Museum of Science, I wrote:

When I was a kid on school field trips, I was interested in an exhibit at the Museum of Science in Boston that showed a perfect sphere and a perfect cone on a scale. Each shape had the same radius, and radius and height were equal. They balanced. My old-guy memory of my young-guy thinking had me wondering, “Who figured that out.” You can prove it by using π to calculate the volume of each shape.

The last time I was in that wonderful museum would actually have been when my sons were teenagers, more than twenty years ago, and I have since learned that the exhibit was installed around 1980, long after my field-trip days. I should hesitate to guess because I am apparently often wrong. Glenn pointed out that my memory of the cone and sphere could not be correct because the cone would have to be four times the radius of the sphere for the masses to be equal when the radii were equal. The volume of a sphere is V = 4/3 πr³. If r = 1, V = 4/3 π. The volume of a cone is V = πr²h/3. If r = 1, then V = π/3, ¼ the volume of the sphere. Using 1 for the radius made it easy to understand.

My foggy senior-citizen memory needed a boost, so I called the Museum of Science and was connected to Alana Parkes, an exhibit developer. When I described the volume-balancing exhibit she knew exactly what I meant and responded with a photograph reproduced here showing the balance beam with a cone and sphere on one side, and a cylinder on the other. If the radius of the sphere and the radii of the base of the cone and the cylinder are all equal, the volume of the cone plus the sphere equals that of the cylinder. I shared that with Glenn, and he whipped out his pencil and responded with a sketch, also reproduced here, a lovely piece of teaching with the reduction of the equations explaining the properties of the drawing. I am sorry the fellow in the lumber yard did not have Glenn as a teacher in high school.

I had engaging conversations with Nicholas and Glenn on Zoom, and I am grateful to them for reading carefully enough to catch my errors and respond. When I told Glenn that he was one of two who had written, he responded, “Only two?” And many thanks to Alana Parkes of the Museum of Science in Boston for her cheerful willingness to correct my faulty memory and provide this fine photograph.

Glenn mentioned that he had always been troubled by the moment at the end of The Wizard of Oz, when the Wizard confers a “ThD” degree on the Scarecrow, a Doctor of Thinkology, he explains. The Scarecrow instantly responds by misquoting the Pythagorean theorem. Humbug. (You can watch that scene here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxrlcLktcxU.) And remember that bird feeder baffle? The thirty-inch plywood circle with less than eight feet of flashing around it? It didn’t work. The squirrels “took the hill” within an hour.

A life’s work: remembering Fritz Noack

Forty hours a week times fifty weeks is 2,000 hours in a year. Maybe you took three weeks of vacation, but I bet you worked more than eight hours a lot of those days. At that rate, there are 100,000 working hours in a fifty-year career. Did you use them all wisely and productively? Professional accomplishments add up over a long career. I started writing this column in April of 2004 so this is the 208th issue at an average of 2,500 words, well over half a million words. When you visit, I will show you my pitchfork, um, I mean tuning fork. In twenty years, a church organist playing one service a week for fifty weeks each year plays at least 3,000 hymns, 1,000 preludes, 1,000 postludes, 1,000 anthems, and 1,000 dramatic lead-ups to the Doxology. Did you do that without repeats? Oh, right, you played a certain “Toccata” on twenty Easters.

If your life’s work was a billion bits on a hard drive or 250,000 emails, you cannot stand them in a field and review them, but when you walk into the workshop of the Noack Organ Company you see photos of 160 pipe organs on the wall leading up the stairs to the office. Fritz Noack founded the company in 1960 in Lawrence, Massachusetts, moved it to a larger workshop in Andover, Massachusetts, in 1965, and in 1970 purchased an old school building on Main Street in Georgetown, Massachusetts. A tall erecting room with a voicing balcony was added, and the Noack team has been producing marvelous organs there for over fifty years.

Fritz Noack passed away on June 2 at the age of 86. He leaves a vast legacy that stretches from the infancy of the “Tracker Revival,” the renaissance of American organ building, to the present day. He apprenticed with Rudolf von Beckerath, and worked for Klaus Becker, Ahrend & Brunzema, and Charles Fisk (at the Andover Organ Company) before starting his own firm.¹ The nascent company was home to a host of apprentices who have had important and influential careers in the business including John Brombaugh and John Boody.

An American renaissance

As a teenager in the Boston area in the 1970s, I was swept up in the excitement of that renaissance. My mentors took me to concerts, workshop open houses, and parties, and I soaked it all in. I remember a moment in the Würsthaus in Harvard Square, a long gone but much-beloved haunt for the organ community. We had come from a recital played by Fenner Douglass on the Fisk organ at Harvard Memorial Church and were gathered around a large round table. It must have been around 1973 or 1974, because I was thinking about applying to Oberlin and was excited to meet Fenner for the first time. Someone at the table noticed that there were nine people present who were organists for churches that had Fisk organs. The guest list would have included John Ferris, Yuko Hayashi, John Skelton, and Daniel Pinkham. (If anyone reading was there that night, please be in touch and fill in my erstwhile memory.) That has stood out for me as an indication of just how much was going on in the organ world there and then. C. B. Fisk, Inc., was founded in 1961, and barely a dozen years later there were nine Fisk organs in the Boston area alone.

There is quite a list of adventurous instrument builders who opened workshops in the 1960s and jump-started that renaissance, including Fisk and Noack, Karl Wilhelm, Hellmuth Wolff, and John Brombaugh. Fritz Noack’s career was the longest of all these. It is hard to think of any field of endeavor that was affected by a renaissance as profound as the pipe organ. Comparing the organs built by these firms in the 1960s with those built at the same time by the long established companies like Möller, Reuter, and Aeolian-Skinner is like comparing chalk with cheese. The combination of research and imagination that went into that was dazzling. People were traveling to Europe to study ancient instruments supported by Fulbright scholarships and Ford Foundation grants and experimenting with their findings after returning to their workshops.

During the 1980s and 1990s, I maintained over a hundred organs in New England, and I was familiar with many of the earliest organs of that renaissance. Some of them could truly be described as experimental organs, prototypes that combined newly formed interpretations of ancient techniques with the practicality of creating a complex machine with an experimental budget, and some could be honestly described as not very good. There was a lot of plywood, contrasting with the opulent hardwood European cases. There were primitive electric stop actions using automotive windshield-wiper motors to move the sliders. The noise of those motors was a noticeable part of the experience of hearing the Fisk organ at Harvard.

A common flaw of organs of that time was “wind-sickness.” American builders were not used to working with low wind pressures, and there was much to do to develop the ability to deliver sufficient volume of air pressure to larger bass pipes. Lifting a pipe of a 32′ rank in a Skinner organ and playing the note will blow off your topknot. Visiting the famous five-manual Beckerath organ at the Oratory of Saint Joseph in Montreal while Juget-Sinclair was renovating it, I was struck by the two-inch paper tubing used to supply wind to the massive 32′ façade pipes. That one-inch radius squared times π equals 3.14 square inches. The largest Skinner toehole is at least five inches in diameter. The two-and-a-half-inch radius squared times π is 19.625 square inches. I will take the large pizza, thanks.

In a nutshell

The Andover Organ Company and Otto Hoffman of Texas were among the earliest American builders of modern tracker-action organs. Hoffman was building organs in the late 1940s, but the activity centered around Boston was the biggest concentration of the start of the renaissance. Four significant Beckerath organs were installed in Montreal in the 1950s including the five-manual behemoth at the Oratory. That inspired the leadership of Casavant to quickly branch out into mechanical-action instruments to establish a foothold in their own country.

In 1964, Casavant installed a three-manual tracker organ with forty-six ranks (many of them 2′ and smaller) at Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Wellesley, Massachusetts, Opus 2791, and Karl Wilhelm and Hellmuth Wolff were among the Casavant employees present. Shortly thereafter, both established their own firms. (That organ has subsequently been moved through the Organ Clearing House to Holyoke, Massachusetts, and replaced with a new two-manual instrument by Juget-Sinclair.) That same year, Fisk built the thirty-eight-stop organ (Opus 44) for King’s Chapel in Boston where Daniel Pinkham was the organist, the first modern American three-manual tracker organ. The first modern American four-manual tracker was built by Fisk in 1967 for Harvard, Fisk’s forty-sixth organ in the company’s first eight years.

Fritz Noack’s first large organ was the three-manual instrument for Trinity Lutheran Church in Worcester, Massachusetts, built in 1969, the fortieth Noack organ in the company’s first nine years. Those two small workshops produced close to a hundred organs in a decade. By 1980 when both firms were twenty years old, they had produced a combined 170 organs including the ninety-seven-rank Fisk at House of Hope Presbyterian Church in Saint Paul, Minnesota. That’s what I mean when I mention the tremendous amount of activity in Boston in the 1960s and 1970s.

Today, sixty years into the renaissance, we have a raft of firms to choose from, many of which are led by people who started in the Noack shop. It is fun to trace the genealogy of the American pipe organ business to understand how the histories of the companies intertwine.

I know others will write Fritz Noack’s biography, telling of his personal history and family. I am happy to point out the significance of his diligence and imagination, the extraordinary number of excellent instruments he produced in a workshop that I am guessing never had more than twelve people working at a time, and how I valued him as a friend and mentor as I made my way through life. I maintained perhaps ten of his organs, including the big one in Worcester (there was a swell Mexican restaurant nearby), and we had lots of close encounters when problems arose that we solved together.

He had a positive outlook, charming smile, and a twinkle in his eye. He carried the wisdom of the ages, always remained an avid learner, and helped raise the art of organ building in America for all of us. He gave the art a further great gift, ensuring his company’s future by bringing Didier Grassin into the firm to continue its work. With Fritz’s support and encouragement, Didier has added his style of design and leadership and has produced two monumental organs in his first years after Fritz’s retirement, Opus 162 in Washington, D.C., and Opus 164 in Birmingham, Alabama.

I salute Fritz Noack for all he has added to the lives of organists around the world. I am grateful for his friendship and wish him Godspeed as he assumes his new job, tuning harps in the great beyond.

Notes

1. noackorgan.com/history.