Cover feature

A. E. Schlueter Pipe Organ 

Company, Lithonia, Georgia

Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church, Atlanta, Georgia

The O’Neil-Foster Memorial Pipe Organ

Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church is located in my hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, just a short drive from my office. Our involvement in the project began with an invitation to consult with this church from director of liturgy and music William Jefferson (Jeff) Bush. The church was planning a new sanctuary and wanted to study the possibility of building a pipe organ for this space.

During my first visit I had the opportunity to meet many of the church leadership, including Rev. James A. Schillinger, S.T.L., pastor; Michael D. Mullink, associate director of music; and Paul Tooher, director of business. The organ committee at this church included Jeff Bush as committee chair, Michael Mullink, Phil Jardina, Leann Logsdon, and Mark Galvin. Dr. John Romeri was invited by Jeff to serve as an informal consultant to him personally on this project.

As this distinguished group talked about plans for the new sanctuary, there was an excitement and zeal for their mission, which personally enveloped me. Beyond a simple cerebral response, I found a lasting emotional attachment to this church and its membership. I left this church posed with the question, “How could the members of the Schlueter family and our staff not be a part of this grand commission?” 

To design the new sanctuary, the church engaged the services of the architectural firm CDH Partners with project architect Michael Boland. This firm’s work was interlaced with that of the liturgical consultant Brother Martin Erspamer, OSB. His contribution to this project was invaluable. Over a period that spanned years, he provided a distinct vision for the finished church building and its furnishings. He also worked as an able arbiter to diligently channel and focus the ideas, concerns, and aspirations of all the design parties and committees. 

The organ, later to be named the O’Neil-Foster Memorial Pipe Organ, was made possible through the generous donations of Walter & Mary Alice Foster and Jim & Pat Sedlack. 

When I was brought into the project, the basic layout of the sanctuary had already been formed and we lacked a space that allowed consideration for an organ chamber location. The only possibility was to incorporate a free-standing organ case design. The challenge was to find sufficient space that would work physically and tonally for the organ. As we studied the building plans to find a location, the sole workable area was on the central axis of the church, just behind the altar. The members of the church were willing to consider this space, but we all knew that the path to a final design would be an arduous choice, given the prominent chancel location. We considered over a dozen different organ case iterations, before settling on a final rendering.

To minimize the visual impact of the organ case, we held the center of the organ case to 10 feet of width on its forward exposure. The largest pipes of the 16′ Principal are positioned to the sides of the case and arrayed in an inverted ellipse that arcs away from the case center, which de-emphasizes the overall case width and accentuates its verticality. This greatly reduced the visual weight of the organ case.

What has pleased us most with the completed design is that it “feels right.” The casement is built of red oak with ebonized walnut accents. Taking the form of a reredos, it provides a visual backdrop that anchors the cross and the corpus. When viewed from an off-center location, the largest pipes vertically ascend toward the center to provide a central focus on Christ. 

Taking advantage of the organ’s position in the church, we used the mass of the instrument casework to separate the main sanctuary from the chapel behind it. The rear of the organ case was built as a paneled oak wall with ebony dividers. The center panels form an arch to mirror and highlight the baldacchino. The stained glass in the cupola that forms the rear chapel wall provides a coalesced mixture of light and shadow, which plays off the organ’s oak panels to make this area a quiet, contemplative space for prayer. Here one senses the cloistered feeling of a space that is at once part of, and separate from, the main sanctuary. The emotional response experienced in the chapel leaves no doubt that this is Holy Space.

As the outer shell of the casework was brought to a point of design conclusion, we began to develop a stoplist that would be capable of the varied uses required of this instrument. From the beginning, the charge we were given was to design an instrument that would support worship, with a specificity of a literature bias to be a secondary concern. From shared listening experiences with the church, we developed an eclectic specification with roots in American Classicism. To support the choir and congregation, all divisions of the organ were planned to be weighted around an 8′ chorus structure with multiple weights of this tonic pitch register.

As we labored on the final stoplist, there were budgetary considerations that could not be ignored. With the free-standing case, console, and three-manual specification, this would not be an inexpensive organ to build. We faced a crossroad where the design for an instrument included most but not all of the elements we wanted in a stoplist, but a budget that had already been reached. To free ourselves from this stricture we looked inward. Those who have followed our work know it has not been uncommon for our firm to gift some additional items to our clients. We have always looked at this as our tithe to the communities of faith where we build organs. In the end, the 8′ Viole Dolce, 8′ Viole Dolce Celeste, 4⁄5′ Terz, and the 16′/8′ Trombone unit became gifts from the Schlueter family. As artists, it can be liberating to add stops into the organ on the basis of “it should be there” without sole regard to budget. Hearing the organ in the church we know that we made the right decision by our gifts.

The Great division of this instrument was built with a Principal chorus of 8′, 4′, 2′, and IV-rank Mixture that is grounded with a 16′ Bourdon. Due to a room acoustic that promotes the propagation of bass frequencies, the pipe scales of the 16′ and 8′ registers were pulled in, and made slightly smaller to support clarity of speech and phrasing. We chose to use a large-scale metal open 8′ Hohl Flute because of its ability to be used as a blending and thickening agent to the Great chorus. When used as an independent solo voice it has a clarity and focus that are often lost in large-scale open flutes of different construction. It is paired with a lyrical 4′ Rohr Flute that is a playful muse in this acoustic. The 8′ Trumpet on the Great has English shallots and is thinner in scale and texture than its compatriot in the Swell division. As a chorus reed with a subtle edge-tone, it provides a blaze of color under the Great chorus. The Swell Basson-Hautbois and Positiv Krummhorn are duplexed to this division to allow differing weight and color possibilities to the ensemble or allow their use as solo voices.

While everyone recognizes the utilitarian function of the Swell division as a foil to the Great for congregational accompaniment, we realized early on the importance of careful stop choice for the single enclosed division on this instrument. It would need to have a wide dynamic range and timbre to be effective in undergirding the choir and soloist. The Swell division was designed with a rich palette, replete with various weights of color and texture.

With the choir on the side apse, there was a concern about the organ being heard evenly. The expression box opens on three sides to provide an evenly diffused cone of sound in the church and also to provide tonal focus for support of the choir. 

The third manual on this instrument is an unenclosed Positiv division. With its rearward position in the upper portion of the chapel cupola, we were able to take advantage of the tangential incidence of the wall surfaces. This reflects and refracts the Positiv division to a position of forward presence in the organ.

The Erzahlers proved to be the perfect string stops in this unenclosed division. With their position at the capstone in this space, the sound filters throughout the church in an even, gentle manner. These stops, when drawn and coupled with the Viole de Gambe, Viole Dolce, and their companion Celestes, mass in a bloom of sound that buoys the spirit and lifts the soul.

An unusual stop in this Positiv is the 4⁄5′ Terz. Constructed as small principal pipes, it breaks back one octave at G3. It can be effective as a coloring agent to 8′ and 4′ stops in the organ, added to the 11⁄3′ to build a bell-like Glockenspiel mixture, or used with the 16′ and unison couplers to build a secondary Cornet. With its middle compass octave shift, the 4⁄5′ has enough tonal weight to combine with the mixture to supply a French accent to larger registrations. 

To provide sufficient undergirding for this instrument, we started with a case design that allowed an exposed 16′ Principal in the Pedal. With its forward position in the case, this stop is voiced in an unforced manner that provided the fundamental we desired allied with harmonic definition. The 16′ Bourdon and balance of the Pedal resources are positioned at the upper rear of the organ case to take advantage of the acoustical reflection of the cupola in the same manner as the resources of the Positiv division. With this spatial treatment, these stops project forward to tonally sit beside the 16′ Principal. Softer underlayment of the Pedal foundation is provided by the 16′/8′
Lieblich Gedeckt in the Swell division. 

The 16′ Trombone and 16′ Basson-Hautbois provide the reed foundation for this instrument. The 16′ Trombone in the Pedal division is available as a manual extension to provide a dynamic solo reed. This stop is eight inches in scale at CCC and is on a moderately high wind pressure. It provides a rich, vibrant voice in the favorable acoustics of the room and can work equally well as a solo voice or logical conclusion to the ensemble in large registrations.

Mechanically, this organ follows our normal practice with its use of electro-pneumatic slider windchests of the Blackinton style, electro-pneumatic unit action for reeds and large flue stops, and a winding system with dual curtain valve reservoirs. The resources of the organ are controlled by a three-manual drawknob console that is built of red oak and includes ebonized accents commensurate with the organ case. The console features such modern conveniences as multiple memory levels, programmable crescendo and sforzando, transposer, piston sequencer, MIDI, and the ability to record and play back organ performances.

With any organ project it is possible to be so close to your own work that you cannot judge it on its own merits. It becomes important to step back from your work before you can say it is time to “put down the brush.” This is particularly true of tonal finishing. The surety of vision and purpose that guides one’s work can also result in blinders preventing your best work from coming forward. To mitigate this, our firm completes tonal finishing over a period of time. Not only does it allow the ears to relax, but it also allows you to come back to a project more objective and able to assess your work dispassionately. The tonal finishing occurred throughout the first year, with multiple visits to the church as we traveled through the liturgical year and made different demands of the organ’s resources. 

I want to extend a sincere “thank you” to our team of tonal finishers on this project, which included Dan Angerstein, Anthony Nichols, John Tanner, Bud Taylor, Dave Koscis, and Fred Oyster. I also want to thank the dedicated members of my staff, led by Marc Conley, who selflessly provided their hands and hearts to the building and installation of this instrument. The construction of an instrument of this scale is a monumental task with thousands of man hours that are visible and many thousands more that are unseen. The aforementioned are the people who helped sculpt the wood, zinc, lead, copper, and brass into poetry.

In the end, as a principal of the firm whose name is on the organ, what do I think about the organ we built? Early on I knew how special this project could be. As a builder I have been privileged to attend many concerts at this church and to attend Mass on multiple occasions. I must confess that as much as I have enjoyed the organ in recital, I have taken far great pleasure hearing the organ in a worship setting. This is not said to diminish the music brought forth by those who have played the organ in concert; rather, hearing the organ taking its part in worship is a validation of the years of planning and work that go into such an instrument. Having been part of building an instrument that serves in worship every day is the greatest gift an organ builder can have. It is a culmination of pride, passion, and a legacy that we are leaving to future generations.

We are very pleased to offer selections from recordings made on this organ by Herbert Buffington, available at pipe-organ.com/listen.shtm. 

A. E. Schlueter Pipe Organ Company can be reached at P. O. Box 838, Lithonia, GA 30058; 770/482-4845 or via our website: www.pipe-organ.com. 

—Arthur E. Schlueter III

Schoenstein & Co., Benicia, California: First Lutheran Church, 

Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Schoenstein & Co., 

Benicia, California

First Lutheran Church, 

Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Polishing a gem

When we talk with committees today about building a new organ, we remind them that their decision will have ramifications for many generations and that insisting on top quality will be like establishing an endowment—a lasting legacy. First Lutheran’s choice of an Æolian-Skinner in 1956 proves the wisdom of investing in the best—not just the “good enough.” Æolian-Skinner was the gold standard then and still is today. The majority of the most famous and highly regarded instruments in America were made by Skinner in Boston.  

What makes an Æolian-Skinner so special? The answer is that the firm was always guided by people who knew and loved music. The Skinner people seemed to have an innate sense of refined good taste. This artistic impulse was supported by outstanding craftsmanship in every facet of organ building. The depth of expertise was unrivaled.  

Schoenstein & Co. has a long-standing connection with Skinner. From 1907 to 1909 Louis Schoenstein, third generation member of our founding family, worked for Ernest M. Skinner, following the family tradition of broadening skills by apprenticing with other builders. Later, his son Lawrence joined Æolian-Skinner in a more permanent way at the invitation of G. Donald Harrison in 1956. He extended his “apprenticeship” for 16 years! Our company has maintained, restored, and installed numerous Skinner and Æolian-Skinner organs. We can say from decades of practical experience that Æolian-Skinner organs deserve the reputation they have.

Our work at First Lutheran Church began in 1989 when we were asked to survey the organ for the possibility of completing stops prepared for later addition. The organ is Æolian-Skinner Opus 1342, designed in 1957, completed and dedicated by Virgil Fox in 1959. It replaced Wurlitzer Opus 2127, built for the then-new church in 1930. The builder’s plan was for an enlarged Pedal division and a floating Positiv, typical of the period. In 1964, Æolian-Skinner was called back to add an 8′ Festival Trumpet and a Zymbelstern. By 1989, the primary concern was to add more weight and power to the Pedal and possibly move forward with some of the other planned additions.  

Our survey confirmed the need for additional Pedal weight, but revealed other points that we thought should take precedence over additions such as the Positiv. The organ suffered from an accumulation of mechanical maintenance issues and it was badly out of regulation, with poor speech and erratic balance within and among stops. This appeared to be due to a rushed installation that allowed hardly any time to finish the instrument before Virgil Fox was to arrive, as well as layout of the enclosed divisions that made the pipework so inaccessible that regulation efforts were undoubtedly hampered. Rushed installations were fairly common during the fast moving post-war boom. The overall quality of Skinner’s magnificent factory voicing, however, made even the jobs finished with a lick and a promise sound quite grand. In 1990 we thoroughly serviced the organ, correcting the mechanical problems and doing some preliminary tonal work. This led us to recommend installing only the planned Bombarde in the Pedal and giving the instrument a thorough tonal regulation before considering any further additions. Hearing an instrument in proper balance with every stop delivering its full potential often obviates the need for more stops or changes the direction that additions might take. Furthermore, we knew that the instrument would need releathering and that the most efficient approach was to take care of any tonal additions along with renovation work. The Bombarde and regulation were completed in 1994.  

By 2010 it was clear that the need for mechanical renovation was imminent and the church was determined to complete the instrument and at the same time rearrange the choir seating and improve the acoustic as far as possible. In consultation with committee chairman James Moore, who is also a trained organist, consultant John Ferguson, music director Michael Elsbernd, and organist emeritus Marcia Kittelson, we developed a plan to solve three musical problems that were considered truly worth addressing after years of experience with the instrument. Although the planned Positiv and additional Pedal upperwork would be nice, it was considered far more urgent to direct the tonal character of the organ towards making up for acoustical problems. After intensive acoustical study, it was determined that it was not practical from an engineering standpoint to make major changes in the building, such as strengthening the ceiling for better sound reflection. Several improvements, including removal of carpet, would make a significant difference; however, sound would not carry well from the balcony to the chancel and mid-range tenor and bass tones would not be supported as well as treble. We decided on a program that would use the available budget to address these issues as well as honor as much as possible the original intention of a Positiv division.

To augment the foundation of the Great, we added a 16′ Violone and a large-scale 8′ Flute Ouverte. To add some of the “sparkle” promised by the Positiv we added a Seventeenth to the Great as well as a 4′ Fugara and Klein Mixtur to the Choir. A five-rank Antiphonal division was added in the chamber formerly occupied by the Wurlitzer organ. Dominated by 8′ tone, its main purpose is to provide the acoustical illusion of tone from the main organ in the balcony reaching forward to the chancel. It has proved to be quite effective in this role. It is difficult for anyone in the nave to determine that the Antiphonal is playing; it simply seems to extend the “reach” of the main instrument. The division is also quite helpful in accompanying choirs that occasionally perform from the chancel. The 16′ Quintaton, which was a bit light in this acoustic for the Great division, has turned out to be an ideal double for the small Antiphonal.

Our other work included a complete rebuild of the console and electrical control system, which also facilitated the addition of a few useful borrows in the Choir and Pedal. An interesting feature of the console work was the addition of a large music storage cabinet filling the space formerly taken by the electro-pneumatic combination and switching equipment! We built an entirely new expression system with vertical shades located on two sides of each expression box. These replaced the horizontal shades that opened in only one direction and had become warped over the years. This greatly improved the tonal egress of both Swell and Choir divisions. The pipe display was rearranged to incorporate the new 16′ and 8′ pipes of the Great, making quite a dramatic façade. We also did a complete mechanical rebuild with the exception of wind regulators, which had been completed earlier by the J.F. Nordlie Company, who have done excellent work on the organ over the years. Perhaps of most importance for the organ’s long-term maintenance was a re-engineering of certain aspects of the layout to provide improved access for maintenance.  

This project has been a special pleasure for us because of the long-term relationship we have had with the congregation. Over the years, as we have taken steps towards this final completion, we have enjoyed each of our experiences in Sioux Falls. The congregation is a most active one and is deeply appreciative of good, traditional church music. We have been privileged to know and work with all their musicians throughout this period and the atmosphere has been totally supportive and most pleasant. 

—Jack M. Bethards

President and Tonal Director

Schoenstein & Co.
Pipe Organ Builders

From the consultant

I have long been a friend of First Lutheran Church, Sioux Falls and enjoyed bringing the St. Olaf Cantorei to the church many times. Thus I was delighted to be asked to help the organ committee explore options for the renovation and possible completion of its 1959 Aeolian-Skinner organ. Fortunately, the people of First Lutheran had taken exceptional care of the instrument and while the time had now arrived for more significant mechanical and electrical upgrades, its basic integrity had been maintained.

The church’s experience working with Jack Bethards and Schoenstein & Co. suggested that the firm was the logical choice to undertake a more extensive process of renewal of the instrument. Since they are highly respected for their restoration work on many Aeolian-Skinner organs, the fit was a natural. It seemed to be the ideal time to complete the preparations evidenced in the console, especially the absent Positiv division. All agreed to utilize the console preparations for an Antiphonal organ instead of adding the typical Aeolian-Skinner brightly voiced Positiv to what already was an instrument needing more gravitas in its sound, especially considering the relatively dry acoustics in the room. It has made a great difference in the effectiveness of the organ, especially as a leader of congregational song. Additional foundational sound was added to the Great and the existing Choir was provided with a complete chorus with mixture, a significant move since the Positiv division was not to be.

During the long gestation of the project, a careful study of the acoustics in the space was undertaken. It soon became evident that any major improvement to the acoustics was not structurally or fiscally possible. However, reflective surfaces in the gallery, especially directly behind the choir, were improved and have enhanced the choir’s projection into the nave and enabled its members to hear one another significantly better.

First Lutheran now has a warmer, more colorful organ. The strong choral tradition of the church has a more versatile accompanimental colleague and the overall sound of the instrument in the room is richer and much more satisfying. Its leadership of the congregation’s singing has been substantially improved. Throughout this lengthy and sometimes frustrating process, I’ve been impressed by the creativity and patience of Jack Bethards of Schoenstein and the perseverance of the committee, especially its chair, James Moore, and organist Marcia Kittelson. They had a vision, never wavered, and the result more than fulfills their hopes and aspirations. Would that it always were so.

—John Ferguson

From the organist

Music ministry has long been an important facet of First Lutheran’s identity. It came as no surprise to me, when I joined the professional staff of this church in 2007, that the organ enjoys an active role in the leading of weekly services. Since the installation of Aeolian-Skinner Opus 1342 in 1959, only two other organists have presided at the console: the late Dr. Merle Pflueger (who designed the original stoplist in collaboration with Aeolian-Skinner representatives) and Organist Emerita and Curator of Organs, Marcia Kittelson, whose scholarship and musical excellence cultivated appreciation for the organ and its role in Christian worship. During her tenure at First Lutheran, Marcia Kittelson took excellent care of Opus 1342, and the church owes a tremendous debt of gratitude for her careful preservation of this heritage instrument.  

Given the history of the sanctuary organ, with slightly more than fifty years of service to the congregation, it was not difficult to gain the momentum to undertake its necessary renovation. Knowing the benefits in terms of overall cost, and faced with the prospect of not being able to finish the organ more than fifty years after the initial investment, the organ committee pressed forward with the tenacious and unflagging leadership of chairman James Moore. With the generosity of two lead gifts, the committee was able to finally realize the total project.

Under the guidance of project consultant John Ferguson, the organ committee confidently engaged Schoenstein & Co. to proceed with the renovation and completion of Opus 1342. From the outset, the committee sought to preserve the Aeolian-Skinner aesthetic, while blending in new pipework with the existing stoplist. The committee’s decision to entrust the work to this firm began in the 1990s, when Schoenstein & Co. added a pedal reed and completed necessary regulation work. Furthermore, Schoenstein’s connection to Skinner and Aeolian-Skinner via Louis Schoenstein and his son, Lawrence, who worked for G. Donald Harrison, naturally affirmed this decision.   

From the beginning of the committee’s discussions with Jack Bethards, President and Tonal Director of Schoenstein & Co., it was clear that we could accomplish astounding results with a strikingly conservative approach. Acoustically, it was determined that an Antiphonal organ would be a more appropriate way of rendering the prepared division. Housed in the chancel, the Antiphonal organ lends valuable support to the cantor, choirs, and congregation at the crossing and front portions of the nave. The Quintaton 16′, formerly the basis for the gallery Great, now takes its place as a foundation for the Antiphonal organ. The ability to draw the Quintaton separately in the Pedal as well as a manual stop makes it a fine addition to the new colorful foundation stops.

Further enhancements to the Great and Choir divisions were also desired; the Great lacked an appropriately scaled 16′ to support the principal chorus, and the Choir division, while ideal for the accompaniment of choirs and solo vocalists, lacked a chorus that could contrast with the Swell. Added support to the Great division is offered by a new Violone at 16′ and 8′ pitch, an 8′ Flute Ouverte, and a 13⁄5′ principal-scaled Seventeenth. With the appropriate foundation tones now in place, the existing mixture, a 11⁄3′ IV–VI Fourniture, makes sense to the ear. The additional mutation stop, when combined with the existing 22⁄3′ Twelfth, allows for a contrasting Sesquialtera to the Choir.   

Joining the existing pipework in the Choir are a new 4′ Fugara and 2′ Klein Mixtur. While modest, to be sure, these two additions give the Choir a firm identity, and a fine contrast to the Swell plenum. The ability to make the existing Krummhorn speak at 16′ to tenor C adds further gravity to the division.

The finished organ opens a new chapter in the life of First Lutheran and Opus 1342. With the renovation and completion accomplished, the church members have answered the call of the 1956 organ committee—continuing to invest well in those things that ensure a worthy legacy of faith—even as other “steeples are falling” in favor of fleeting trends. Towering over the east balcony is an instrument of stately beauty, completely at home with its Gothic surroundings. In this context, I believe one starts to hear the organ—first by sight. When played, it sounds like one expects it should—with grace, exquisite beauty, and majestic power. It was rededicated in a public recital played by Grammy Award-winning organist Paul Jacobs, chairman of the organ department at the Juilliard School, to a capacity audience on December 4, 2011.  

On behalf of the organ committee, I wish to extend our deepest appreciation to Jack Bethards, Louis Patterson, and the entire staff at Schoenstein & Co. First Lutheran has enjoyed an ongoing relationship with this firm since the early 1990s, and it is a joy to see the progress over the years that continues to make Opus 1342 an ever more perfect instrument. The finished organ has exceeded what many of us thought possible, and we could not imagine a more satisfying relationship than that which we have enjoyed with the professionals at Schoenstein & Co.  

—Michael J. Elsbernd 

Director of Music Ministry 

& Principal Organist 

From the chair of the
organ committee

When the organ committee recommended the purchase of an Aeolian-Skinner in 1956, they probably knew how well the instrument would serve the church beyond their lifetimes. They probably did not know that the organ would still be unfinished 50 years later. Purchased at a cost of $52,000, the organ as installed and dedicated was missing reeds, a mixture, and upperwork in the Pedal division, as well as a Positiv division, all of which could have been added at the time for another $12,000.  

As Opus 1342 approached its fiftieth anniversary in November 2009, a new organ committee, formed in 2007, had two goals: to complete the instrument, and to do everything necessary to keep the organ in service for another 50 years. 

Having worked with Jack Bethards and Schoenstein & Co. in the early 1990s on a reed addition to the Pedal and other tonal regulation of the entire organ, the committee had no trouble deciding to move forward with Schoenstein. With the invaluable help of John Ferguson, our consultant and long-time friend of First Lutheran, we quickly agreed on the scope of work. It took longer to find our way through the political processes and to raise the money needed to finish the project, but with help from many faithful members, we did. 

In the end, we made the instrument mechanically current, added 12 ranks of pipes, and ensured that the organ should serve First Lutheran Church long beyond those of us on the committee. The results exceed our expectations in every way: the Antiphonal division enables the sound of the organ to fill the room for the first time, the new 8′ stops add warmth and richness of tone without changing the organ’s identity as an Aeolian-Skinner, and all of the new stops add impressive tonal color and versatility. 

Jack Bethards, Louis Patterson, and everyone at Schoenstein have been always timely, responsive, and professional. Their work is simply excellent, and speaks for itself.

—James E. Moore

Chair of the organ committee

Photo credit: Louis Patterson, unless indicated otherwise

Fratelli Ruffatti, Padua, Italy

St. Mel’s Cathedral, 

Longford, Ireland

From the organ consultant

The present organ is the fourth to be built for the cathedral. The first instrument was built by the highly respected Victorian firm of Bevington & Sons of London in 1857. This organ served the cathedral for 56 years, being replaced in 1913 by a new instrument made by the German firm of Stahlhuth of Aachen, on the advice of the Reverend Professor Heinrich Bewerunge of St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth, Ireland’s national seminary for the training of priests for the Roman Catholic Church since 1795. Some 14 years earlier Bewerunge had commisioned the same firm to build an instrument for the new College Chapel on the Maynooth campus. This was an innovative instrument for its time and one that clearly impressed and satisfied Bewerunge; hence his recommendation that the same firm from his native country should be commissioned to build the new organ for Longford’s St. Mel’s Cathedral. It was a substantial three-manual and pedal organ, but its positioning in the cathedral was problematic, having to be “shoe-horned” onto the small, high west gallery of the building, tight up against the barrel of the ceiling, leaving only cramped accommodation for what must have been a small choir. It was housed in grilled timber enclosures without visible pipes, and employed the latest pneumatic-action technology that had so impressed Bewerunge in the Maynooth instrument.

By the 1970s it had clearly served its time and had become unreliable in function, and its location, long a problem in terms of participative liturgy, had now become anachronistic in the context of the cathedral’s major reordering according to the liturgical norms of Vatican II. It was, therefore, decided to replace the Stahlhuth installation with a new organ, which, however, was to retain the best of the pipes of the original instrument. This was commissioned from Kenneth Jones & Associates of Bray, County Wicklow. It was to be a two-manual and pedal organ with mechanical action. While the pipes and soundboards of the new instrument remained in the original high gallery, they were sited more advantageously and with less obstruction to tonal egress. A new, generously proportioned gallery was built at a lower level to provide comfortable accommodation for both choir and organist. This organ served the cathedral well until the disastrous fire of Christmas 2009, which saw its complete destruction.

The contract was put out to international tender, with three eminent organ building firms making it to the short list. The contract was ultimately awarded to Fratelli Ruffatti of Padua, Italy, a firm with a long history of organ building in various styles on both sides of the Atlantic. In a sense, the commissioning of this instrument from the Italian firm saw history repeating itself, as Fratelli Ruffatti has also recently completed the major restoration and renovation of the Maynooth College Chapel organ, just as Stahlhuth had similarly worked in Maynooth before coming to Longford over a century ago. 

In seeking to provide a new organ for the restored cathedral, the primary aims were to secure an instrument that would at least be of the same high quality as the Jones organ, while providing a richer palette of tonal colors that would make the instrument more suited to a wider range of repertoire, and enhance its accompanimental capacity for choir and congregation. The new Fratelli Ruffatti organ is sited in a case of striking design—placed to the right of the altar, apparently suspended between columns as it follows and echoes the cathedral’s architectural elegance of line. It is thus a visual and musical enhancement of the “new” St. Mel’s, positioned in a manner that clearly gives witness to its key role in providing music for the liturgy, suited to its functions in accompanying choirs, cantors, and congregation, while its sonic design gives the range of color and dynamics necessary to perform with fidelity the centuries-old solo repertoire of the “king of instruments.”

The present organ is the largest in the cathedral’s 160-year history. The instrument now numbers 39 stops, and its enclosed Choir division enhances the accompanimental capacity of the organ, while also enabling it to cope with both romantic and contemporary repertoire with a degree of authenticity and color that the previous organs lacked.

The tonal ethos of the instrument is eclectic, with a bias towards the romantic and symphonic style of organ design. For example, 14 of the stops are at 8′ or 16′ pitch, thus providing solid tonal foundations of varying intensity and flexibility, while seven reed stops provide both variety of color and grandeur as required. The expressive Choir division with its American-style Celeste stop is a bold statement of the instrument’s expressive romantic intent.

Ruffatti opted to manufacture the divisional soundboards and other internal components using Sipo mahogany from Central Africa, as it was felt that this variety of wood would guarantee maximum stability in varying climatic conditions.

New pipes have been cast in the Ruffatti workshop in Padua, some using an alloy of 95% tin to ensure optimal tonal and structural properties, not only for the crafting of the display pipes, but also for all internal pipes of large dimensions. Other pipes have been manufactured utilizing selected alloys to achieve the best tonal properties for each individual stop.

The playing action of the instrument is electric, yet with an application of traditional procedures that look to the future. The three-manual playing console is on a moveable platform with hardwood parquet floor, providing flexibility for both varying liturgical demands and concert usage. In addition, the console accessories include a generous provision of both general and divisional combination pistons, a sequencer system, and record/playback connections to MIDI. Organists can also store a very large number of stop combinations within personalized password-protected memory folders, to facilitate ease of performances.

The organ was installed in the final months of 2014, with tonal completion taking place in April 2015. The dedication and inauguration took place on Sunday, May 24, 2015.

—Gerard Gillen

Titular Organist, Dublin Pro-Cathedral

Professor and Head of Music, Maynooth University, 1985–2007

The architecture
of the Longford organ

The organ in St. Mel’s Cathedral was originally located in the rear balcony. It was decided that a new position in the rebuilt cathedral, in the front of the building, would better suit the liturgical needs of the worship space. In its new location, the organ is elevated from floor level, under three arches in the right side transept. With this configuration the choir sits at the end of the right side nave, in front of the organ. Here, the organ’s presence is significant without being prominent.

It was required that the two columns in the right side transept be free of any load, and that they remain visible. A steel structure with two long beams was built behind the columns, spanning 34 feet and supported by the side pilasters. Since most of the organ’s weight hangs from these main beams, an additional steel structure was built about ten feet above the bottom structure to help support the load. This complicated steel structure further limited the available space and presented a problem for winding and access. Nevertheless, the most important goals to make an installation successful were achieved: ideal location of pipes and access for maintenance needs.

We were asked to design and build the organ case, including the cover of the steel frame. Although the cathedral had to be rebuilt exactly the way it had been before the fire, the general restoration philosophy called for any artwork, all furniture, and the organ to be contemporary in design. Although we have created many organs of traditional design, we at Ruffatti are particularly pleased when we can use creativity and innovation in a design, creating instruments with personality that can be remembered as unique.

We chose a symmetrical concept in the central bay and an asymmetrical concept in the side bays that put a visual emphasis on the central bay. The design is a combination of straight vertical lines and curved horizontal lines, which are traditionally seldom used. The curved lines work well with the arches over the organ, which are a prominent architectural feature recurring throughout the building.

The two enclosed divisions are located in the side bays. They are very effective, incorporating the unique Ruffatti hyperdynamic expression system. The Great and part of the Pedal are in the central bay. To save space inside the case, and to limit its depth, we decided to install the large wood pipes on the back of the organ case, effectively creating a front façade and a rear façade, which turned out to be very successful both aesthetically and tonally.

—Piero Ruffatti

The tonal design
of the Longford organ

Expression is the key to this approach. In using this word, we do not mean merely introducing enclosed organ divisions as a form of control over the volume of sound. Making the organ an expressive instrument means, primarily, creating the conditions by which every single voice, or stop, can be successfully combined with all others. If this condition is met, the number of possible tonal combinations becomes huge even in a relatively small instrument, thus creating the conditions to “express” music more freely and creatively. This is being achieved, in Ruffatti instruments, by the careful dimensioning and voicing of every single stop.

The creation of different volume levels also contributes, of course, to making the organ an “expressive” instrument. In the Longford Cathedral organ, two of the three manual divisions, the Choir and the Swell, are each located inside an expression box. While this feature does not represent anything new, there is something in this instrument that makes it unique. Research conducted by Ruffatti has produced an innovative system for dramatically increasing the dynamic range of the expression enclosures. Far beyond the simple possibility of providing a wider differentiation between “the softest” and “the loudest,” this feature is the key to a wider degree of freedom both for the tonal designer and the performer. A practical example of this concept can be found in the Choir division of this instrument, where a Gemshorn stands alone (possibly with a bit of help from a Holzgedeckt) as the foundation for the secondary Principal chorus of the organ. The possibility of reducing volume to a dramatic degree with the box closed allowed the tonal designer to “scale” and voice the Gemshorn almost to the tonal character and volume of a Principal, big enough to act as the natural foundation of a Positiv division, knowing that, with the box closed, such a stop could also be used, in conjunction with the Gems-horn Celeste, as an elegant, quiet Flute Celeste-like stop.

The same dynamics apply to all stops under expression, in particular the flutes, strings, and reeds, which have been voiced to function both as assertive solo stops and in contexts requiring moderate volume levels.

—Francesco Ruffatti

Létourneau Pipe Organs worked closely with the cathedral’s architect, Craig Hartman of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, to develop the organ’s visual design, through a process of discussion, collaboration, and at times, mutual compromise

Létourneau Pipe Organs, 

Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, Canada

Opus 118 (2010)

The Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California

From the director of music and 

organist

In July 2009 I was appointed director of music and organist for the Cathedral of Christ the Light, well after the cathedral was built and the organbuilder had been selected. Unlike similar organ projects, I could not take credit for the new instrument. However, even in the early stages of the design of the cathedral, the pipe organ formed an integral part of the building’s design. The cathedral’s architect, Craig Hartman, was extensively involved in the design of the pipe façades and the organ console, so that they complement the overall design of the cathedral.

At the time when it became clear that Oakland would be home to a great cathedral, Daniel Whalen and his wife, Katharine Conroy Whalen, thought of her mother, Gerry Conroy. The Whalens soon made the decision to give a custom-made pipe organ in her memory and, as such, all funding for the Conroy Memorial Organ came from the gift of Daniel and Katherine Conroy Whalen.

The organ committee did extensive research and visited several instruments by several different builders before the decision was made to commission an instrument from Létourneau. Because of the layout of the cathedral, it was apparent from the project’s inception that a tracker instrument was impossible and that electric action would be necessary. The organ needed to serve both as a liturgical instrument and as a concert instrument. It needed to be capable of accompanying choral repertoire and congregational singing, providing processional fanfares, and playing a variety of organ literature in both liturgical and concert settings.

The instrument has been a great success, serving the Diocese of Oakland and the cathedral parish well in liturgical settings, as well as making the cathedral a sought-after venue for organ and choir concerts.

—Dr. Rudy de Vos

From the builder

Létourneau pipe organs are custom-built for their surroundings, and we strive for a good fit, both architecturally and tonally. From time to time, we are privileged to work in some exceptional surroundings. We knew this to be the case from our first contact with the Cathedral of Christ the Light in the spring of 2006. Though the cathedral existed only as a design on paper at that time, the clarity of the worship space’s towering architecture was as striking as the use of sunlight filtering through the ceiling’s central oculus, and the hundreds of wooden louvers making up the sides of the worship space.

Also striking were the locations set aside for a pipe organ in the architectural plans. Large canopies on either side of the cathedral’s central omega window were designed to display a significant instrument, while a discreet organ chamber was provided behind the seating area for the cathedral choir. The lateral and vertical distances between these three locations presented a number of intriguing possibilities but also a number of challenges.

Having agreed to work closely with the cathedral’s architect, Craig Hartman of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, we developed the organ’s visual design through a process of discussion, collaboration, and at times, mutual compromise. From the outset, Mr. Hartman wanted the organ’s visual aspect to leave an organic impression (no pun intended), with organ pipes arrayed unpredictably, as one might find with trees in a forest or tufts of wild grass. The great majority of the organ’s façade pipes were accordingly constructed from clear Douglas fir to match the surrounding ribs and louvers. Special narrow scales were developed to provide the wooden basses for the Great and Bombarde 16′ principal ranks, while the Pedal 32′-16′-8′ Contra Bourdon and 16′ Open Wood are more typical, with generous cross-sections. All wooden façade pipes were constructed with wooden skirts to conceal the pipe foot, providing a uniform appearance from top to bottom.

Likewise, the 32′-16′ Trombone and 16′ Bombarde stops were provided with full-length wooden resonators in the bass octaves and appear to sprout up through the organ façades. The number of tin pipes in the façades was carefully limited, while a unique finish was developed to ensure the metal did not appear overly brilliant relative to the surrounding surfaces.

Oakland’s previous cathedral, the Cathedral of St. Francis de Sales, was heavily damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and was eventually condemned. The new cathedral’s structure was consequently designed to absorb large seismic shocks; the entire building sits on isolator pads to resist oscillations in the event of an earthquake. The organ, too, was built to a rigorous standard for seismic reasons. The visible portions of the instrument are built around substantial steel frames, which are anchored to the platform of each canopy. The irregular arrangement of the façade pipes ruled out the usual linear pipe racking, and instead, most pipes are supported independently from behind by steel rods.

The main level of the cathedral has a substantial climate control system inconspicuously built into the nave floor. The system can heat or cool the ambient air to a height of approximately 15 feet above the floor. Being built into the reliquary wall, the organ chamber is likewise controlled for temperature. However, the immense volume of air above this 15-foot height has no climate control at all, and air temperatures can vary greatly depending on internal and external conditions. This is to say that temperatures on the two organ canopies would vary unpredictably from the organ chamber below but could also diverge between the two sides of the building.

Given the disastrous implications this would have on tuning, it was nonetheless with some reservations that we agreed that some form of climate control had to be provided for the organ canopies themselves. After many meetings and discussions, a system was put into place; it is comprehensive and self-regulating. Each organ canopy has its own microclimate control system capable of providing heat or cool air as required. A total of eight sensors per canopy monitor temperatures from strategic locations, and treated air is then directed as needed to twelve diffusers per side. From the outset, it was understood that the system could not provide absolute temperature stability, but would minimize temperature variations among the organ’s divisions as much as possible, ensuring the instrument is broadly useable.

The stoplist for the instrument evolved over the life of the project, based both on our own design and with input from the cathedral’s organ committee. We felt from the outset that the lower organ chamber needed to house an instrument that could function independently from the main organ when desired. The result was a 25-rank orgue de choeur (essentially the two Choir divisions) that was installed as the first phase of the project and was first heard at the cathedral’s rite of dedication on September 25, 2008.

The Choir, Echo Choir, and one 16′ pedal rank speak through a screened opening in the reliquary wall to the west of the central altar. The Choir division has the resources of a minor Great division, with complete principal and reed choruses, while the Echo Choir contrasts with more delicate colors. Essential for accompanying, both divisions are independently expressive, feature light 16′ manual stops, and offer distinct celeste effects. While not surprising, we have noted that the cathedral’s acoustic reacts in a decidedly muted manner to sound from the chambered divisions when compared to sound from the canopies above.

Befitting its visual dominance and the cathedral’s great interior volume, the main organ is grand in its scope. The Great division is particularly large and flexible, offering a 16′ principal chorus, a variety of foundation stops, and three mixture options, with the Cornet stop being made up of principal-scale pipes. The Swell is likewise colorful and is enhanced by its efficient enclosure; the 16′ Gamba pipes—open down to 16′ C—are mounted horizontally against the back wall of the division. The Solo division offers a number of specialized, even orchestral, stops that one reviewer praised as “retro Aeolian-Skinner voices.” The 8′ Doppel Flute makes for a powerful and harmonically rich solo voice, while the Viole d’orchestre and Viole céleste are razor-sharp in their tone. The Bombarde and Pedal divisions are inextricably intertwined, as the Bombarde stops are upward extensions of select pedal ranks to produce climactic choruses. The Bombarde division’s principal chorus is pleasingly dense, with the mixture adding weight and brilliance in equal measure. Other pedal ranks were deliberately not shared with the Bombarde division, to ensure the Pedal division could always have the last word; these include the 32′-16′-8′ Bourdon, the 16′ Open Wood, and the 32′-16′ Trombone ranks.

Reed choruses throughout the organ are intentionally varied; the Swell trumpets employ tapered English shallots to contrast against the French-inspired reeds in the Choir division. The Bombarde trumpets at 16′, 8′, and 4′ pitches are particularly grand in their effect, resulting from higher wind pressure, generous resonator scales, and Bertounèche-style shallots. The Solo 8′ Tuba, speaking on 18 inches of wind, uses closed Willis-style shallots and harmonic resonators from G20 up to achieve its particular pealing tone. In contrast, the 8′ Trompeta de luz is mounted horizontally in the organ’s façade and speaks on just over six inches wind pressure. The Trompeta de luz is not so powerful as to be harmful when brought in for the occasional final chord. The Pedal division’s 32′-16′ Trombone rank features our own Schnitger-type shallots for a firm, grounding bass tone.

The design of the unique four-manual console was also a rewarding collaborative effort with Craig Hartman. It was at his suggestion, for example, that the shapely upper portion was constructed using laminated strips of quarter-sawn oak. Our intention was to provide a uniquely uncluttered and timeless design; the final product has a total of 157 long-stem ebony drawknobs sweeping around the organist against a backdrop of rich walnut. Alert readers will note the console has three expression pedals, while there is a total of four expressive divisions. The default mode of operation has the Echo Choir following the Choir expression pedal, but it can be reassigned to any of the other pedals via drawknobs as well as programmed to change pedals on the General pistons. There is also an All Swells to Swell function for good measure. Other refinements include remote thumb pistons operating the General piston sequencer, to allow page-turners to assist with registration changes, and an All Pistons Next feature.

The opening concert was performed on February 11, 2010 by Parisian organist Olivier Latry. The program featured well-known works by Boëllmann, Bach, Barié, Vierne, Duruflé, Cochereau, Messiaen, and Widor. Marking the first time the instrument’s full resources were deployed, we noted that the capacity audience had a calming effect on the cathedral’s tremendous acoustic. This equally made our instrument sound with improved clarity and precision.

The morning after M. Latry’s concert, it was gratifying to receive a letter from Mr. Hartman with his reaction to the completed instrument: “The organ is just magnificent . . . I’ve been told the architecture sings, but, at last, it truly has a voice . . . The quality and precision that Létourneau’s craftsmen brought to this amazing instrument is everything I could have wished for and more . . . The entire ensemble—not only the pipe arrays but also the console—is truly an extension of the cathedral’s architecture.”

In closing, we would like to offer our thanks to the following individuals without whose help our Opus 118 would not be the success it is: Dr. Rudy de Vos, John L. McDonnell Jr., Mario Balestrieri, Father Paul Schmidt, Father Denis DesRosiers, Brother Martin Yribarren, Craig Hartman, Peter McDonnell, Eileen Ash, Eric Long, Gwelen Paliaga, Mike Brown, Maryliz Smith, Jack Bethards, and Phil Browning.

Andrew Forrest, Artistic Director

Fernand Létourneau, President

Dudley Oakes, Vice President for Sales and Marketing

Foley-Baker, Inc.,

Tolland, Connecticut

St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, 

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Foley-Baker, Inc.,

Tolland, Connecticut

St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, 

Minneapolis, Minnesota

From the builder

The Welte name is mostly known for its roll-player mechanisms, the Mignon reproducing piano, and their Orchestrion. However, as builders of traditional pipe organs, Welte’s output was small; organs were but one in a family of Welte “products” typical of the era’s massive instrumental output. In 1912, Welte opened a factory in Poughkeepsie, New York, but their earliest organs were purchased from other builders and fitted with Welte players. Since Welte was of German ownership, the First World War threw things into disarray, and after the war, ownership changed hands. A larger reorganization in 1925 by former Kimball man Robert Pier Elliot had Welte building its own organs of fine quality and for any venue: residence, theater, or church. But the firm struggled to gain a strong financial footing. It suffered a setback in 1927, repurchase and relocation in 1929, and finally absorption by Kimball of Chicago in 1931. Today, there are few surviving examples of Welte organs, and, even after our 42 years in business, we had never worked on one. St. Mark’s Minneapolis would be a new experience. 

The cathedral’s consultant was David Engen of Maple Grove, Minnesota. His request for proposal offered a general description of the organ’s overall condition. Our assumption was that we would see huge diapasons, pencil-scale strings, and tibia-like flutes, all on a massive chassis. In fact, the St. Mark’s Welte had been tonally and mechanically modified on two different occasions by M.P. Möller. Much of the Welte material was long gone, although the organ remained capable of producing an impressive volume of sound.

But it was clear the various rebuilds had compromised the instrument. The chamber was packed with non-Welte chests, flexible wind lines, dangling wires, and a chamber entrance door that barely opened, due to added ranks and equipment. There were reservoirs everywhere, fully 17 in the main organ. Tuning access was bad enough, while actual service work required unnecessarily heroic effort. One reason the organ continued to generate an impressive sound was the chamber’s placement and hard walls. More than projecting sound, the chamber almost seemed to amplify it. The cathedral’s impressive acoustics certainly helped as well. 

The organ was on its third console and had a dated relay system spread throughout four different areas of the building. In the basement, the large Spencer blower’s motor needed all new bearings. Adding insult to injury, HVAC ducts installed in the 1950s had seen the removal of the organ’s important static reservoirs, further compromising the wind supply.

At Foley-Baker, we love to save old organs. However, it was clear that at St. Mark’s, there wasn’t an old organ to save, just parts of one. Trying to determine what was possible and affordable would take both positive and practical thinking. If the organ were to be rebuilt, the results had to be worth the investment. 

We spent days measuring pipe scales and gathering details. There were interesting finds, such as high in the tower, where the Möller crew had stored some of the 1928 Welte pipework. There was much damage; some ranks were incomplete, while others were beyond repair. Our tonal director Milovan Popovic laid out rank after twisted rank on the large tower room floor. Out of this survey we found three Welte stops to reclaim: the Swell 4′ Clarion, Great 8′ Second Open Diapason, and the large-scale Swell 8′ Vox Humana. All three became valuable additions. 

As our familiarity with the cathedral’s music program and organ grew, so did our concepts for the renewed instrument. Tonally, we had 1920s Welte mixed with 1980s Möller. In 2012 it is perhaps too easy to criticize Möller’s radical changes as heavy-handed; they were in the spirit of the time, and had introduced a variety of useful colors, including mutations, large-scale strings, and solo reeds. In time, we decided just where and what reused ranks would work and what new ones had to be added to create a bold, cohesive American sound to fill the cathedral’s large nave.

The chamber size and shape dictated the same stacked layout as had existed from the beginning. For us, multi-level organs raise red flags for service accessibility. Without careful design, the new and larger instrument had the potential for being another service nightmare. Our solution was to start from scratch, using a new chassis designed and built at Organ Supply Industries. The elegant simplicity of their slider chests promised minimal maintenance and assurance of accessibility. Their built-in schwimmer-regulators greatly simplified the winding, adding space for more stops and wider passage boards.

Given the scales and pressures, effective swell boxes would be essential. The original Welte shades were rebuilt and fitted to new boxes of 11⁄2-inch-thick medium density fiberboard. The combination of the two makes for a marvelous range of expression; massive ensembles can whisper or roar.

In addition to restoring the 1928 Spencer blower, we were able to find and install appropriate static reservoirs. Unlike 1928, however, this equipment now stands in separate rooms dedicated for the purpose. The result is that, despite wind pressures from five to 20 inches, an indicator light is necessary to know that the wind is on. As we have done elsewhere, we designed and installed an automatic, in-chassis humidity system that requires minimal service attention and combats Minnesota’s problematic humidity swings. 

The low-profile Schantz console dating from 1990 was reused, with modified stop jambs, new drawknobs, and burled mahogany jamb faces for a sharper appearance. (Schantz graciously provided and installed new, easy-to-read piston buttons.) We installed a new electronic relay that is easily accessed by simply raising the now-hinged console lid.

Years of change had seen many stops swapped between divisions. The Choir Diapason had been moved into the Solo as a 4′ Octave. We returned it to the Choir at 8′ with a new bass octave. The Welte Second Open found in the tower became our Great Diapason. Other stops were also returned to their original 1928 locations. The renewed instrument is a blend of remaining Welte pipework, selected Möller ranks, and important new registers. All retained ranks were cleaned, repaired, and revoiced, perhaps none more important than original large pedal basses and their Welte chests. These provided the weight and heft we envisioned as a foundation for the new instrument. 

The reed stops presented their own challenge, with ranks by five different builders and, in some cases, using scales and pressures dictated by available—or unavailable—space. Working with Chris Broome of Broome & Co. LLC, we examined the potential of each rank for our new scheme. In the end, we designed and had built an all-new Great reed chorus. Having found the original 1928 Welte 4′ Clarion, we were able to use it to recreate Welte’s original Swell reed chorus; industrial strength pipes with a just-right massive sound. A small-scale yet piercingly loud Möller Trumpet, which had been taking up valuable room in a corner of the Great, was revoiced into an ideally scaled Choir Trompette. Chorus reeds now serve to cap wonderful choruses, enriched by solo stops such as the Skinner Clarinet or Kimball Corno d’amour. 

The new organ’s sound ties together all the good qualities that go into creating it: the new specification, high pressures and large scales, the chamber’s ability to project sound and the swell shutters’ ability to contain it, and the new layout and chassis, which provided optimal placement for all stops. As the bottom photo on the front cover clearly displays, even 1928 pipes can look (and sound) like new. We were really thrilled to hear Canon Musician Ray Johnston play the “new” organ at the inaugural concert on May 18, an outstanding program that included brass and the cathedral’s choirs. To him and David Engen we owe thanks for supporting us in this challenging and rewarding project.

Upcoming concerts involving the rebuilt organ are posted on the cathedral’s website. All photos of the cathedral and reconditioned instrument are by Mark Manring (www.manring.net). All other photos are from Foley-Baker, Inc. files.

—Mike Foley

From the canon musician

St. Mark’s Cathedral has long been known for its various music programs and concerts. Built as a parish church in 1910 and designated a cathedral in 1941, it has during that time seen six directors of music as well as a number of rebuilds and additions to the original four-manual Welte installed in 1928. As musical tastes changed throughout the century, the tonal plan of the organ became distorted, becoming a combination of classical and romantic sounds, leading to a loss of identity for the instrument. 

The various additions also led to a chronic lack of space within the organ chamber, preventing access for tuning and repair to pipes bending over with metal fatigue. Equally worrying was the damage done to the winding as abundant leaks had resulted in pressure drops throughout the organ. 

In 2010 the cathedral launched a capital campaign, included in which was repair to the organ’s winding. However, on closer inspection it soon became apparent that problems ran very deep and fixing the leaks would in fact be a waste of money. Major action was required. The choice was stark—total reconditioning or a new instrument. This was an easy decision: much of the original Welte chorus was in good condition and had such quality and character that it could become the basis of a major overhaul. 

Next came the biggest challenge—persuading the vestry and the congregation that a lot of money needed to be spent to keep the organ in working order. To many, of course, the organ sounded just fine, as it always had. As is often the case, organists’ abilities to mask faults and ciphers go unnoticed by the majority. However, thanks to many organ tours and presentations by both committee and builder, and the fact that music and the pipe organ are such an integral part of worship at the cathedral, we were able to reach our target of $1.2 million.

In consultation with our selected firm, Foley-Baker Inc., a new specification was drawn up that necessitated replacing one-third of the pipework and relocating ranks from the gallery to the main organ. Of primary concern was an instrument to accompany the liturgy, from providing subtlety and color for the cathedral choir’s large repertoire to giving stimulating leadership to congregational hymnody. If the organ could do both those things well it would surely prove to be an admirable recital instrument also. 

While not a particularly large four-manual instrument, at least by American standards, it has exceeded all expectations as a concert instrument: almost endless color, a vast dynamic range, and a character that is totally suited to the building, all exquisitely voiced. It is unashamedly in the English romantic style, and, having played many of the great cathedral organs in the U.K., I am delighted that we now have such a fine instrument in that tradition, as well as an organ that is true to its original intention.

—Ray Johnston

From the committee chair

In May 2012, the refurbished St. Mark’s organ was inaugurated for concert audience and worshipers. Those were thrilling experiences, the result of meticulous planning and craftsmanship by Canon Musician Raymond Johnston and Foley-Baker, Inc.

I was privileged to chair the organ planning committee during the last phase of its pre-construction work. This was undertaken in the context of St. Mark’s “Opening Our Doors” capital campaign, which, by any standard, was a clear success, raising over $3 million. I was also privileged to co-chair the capital campaign with Inez Bergquist, Doug Eichten, and Courtney Ward-Reichard. The capital campaign had three highly visible purposes: restore the exterior of the 100-year-old building to stop leaks and deterioration; improve a long list of interior infrastructure items; and repair/restore the pipe organ. The first two of those purposes were easy for members and contributors to see and understand, especially when ice formed inside the church and fell on folks in procession during Sunday worship. The organ was a different matter.

Even though much of the organ was well beyond maintenance and some of it dead or ciphering, it still sounded pretty good much of the time. Most of this was attributable to Ray Johnston’s talents and the marvelous acoustic characteristics of the St. Mark’s Cathedral space. We conducted behind-the-walls tours of the chambers to show potential donors the points of failure and the grossly antiquated control mechanisms, leaking air handlers, and failing wiring. We were also careful to explain that much of the tuned pipework and blower could be restored and would be maintained.  At the end of the many days, the congregation did contribute and one very generous, anonymous donor provided most of the funds needed for the more than $1 million organ project.

While Foley-Baker did their work, the entire instrument was removed and a digital organ was rented and used with speakers around the cathedral. Many regular attendees commented that they could “hear the difference” and had come to understand why it was appropriate to rebuild a fine pipe organ. That was brought home once again to me on Sunday last, when Ray Johnston offered Samuel Sebastian Wesley’s Choral Song and Fugue as the service postlude. Most of the congregation stayed to hear it and to celebrate the glory of the rebuilt organ.  

—Fred Moore

Keeping up appearances

Fifth Avenue and Madison Avenue in New York City run north and south, parallel to each other a block apart. Together they form one of the world’s premier high-end shopping districts starting around 34th Street and continuing north. On Fifth Avenue, the shopping district ends at 59th Street, which is the southern edge of Central Park, a few blocks north of Trump Tower, and on Madison Avenue it continues north to perhaps 86th. That’s where you find the shops where people pay more for a handbag than I pay for a car. Saks Fifth Avenue, Shreve, Crump & Low, and Tiffany & Co. are some of the big landmarks. Rolex, Ferragamo, Versace, and Louis Vuitton continue the roster along with a host of lesser but equally dear names. The NBA Sportswear Store and the Disney Store are newer arrivals that cater to a different crowd.

Manhattan’s Upper East Side boasts some of the most expensive residences in the world. There’s a four-floor, 20,000-square-foot, 16-bedroom place on Central Park South that’s listed for $250,000,000. If you can afford a place like that, you can certainly afford a $100,000 handbag.¹

The sidewalks in that neighborhood are full of designer people with designer handbags, designer dogs, and designer facelifts, doing their expensive best to show the world who they are. While I expect many of them live in multi-million dollar homes and can actually afford all that, I’m sure there are people spending above the reasonable limits of their disposable income, going deep into holes to keep up appearances.

I’m reminded of an exchange I overheard 40 years ago in an auto parts store in Oberlin, Ohio, when a fellow customer asked the clerk for a CB antenna. The clerk asked what kind of radio he had, and the customer relied, “I don’t have a radio, I just want people to think I do.” That CB antenna had a lot in common with a $100,000 handbag.

What you see is what you get.

The pipe organ is the only indoor monumental musical instrument, and the only one with the possibility of having an architectural identity. Of course, many organs are housed in chambers, separate from the rooms into which they speak. Some of those have façades of organ pipes, while others have simple screens of cloth and wood. I’ve always felt that there’s something dishonest about concealing an instrument behind a grille. I love the feeling of walking into a building and knowing right away that I’m in the presence of a pipe organ. Whether the organ displays a simple fence of pipes with some woodwork surrounding to hold them up, or it has a grand decorated case, either freestanding or projecting from the front of a chamber, the visual information about the instrument is an exciting prelude to hearing it.

We can argue about when the development of the modern pipe organ began, but since I’m the one writing and there’s no one else here just now, and since I know I can back this up simply enough just with photos, let’s say that things were rolling along pretty well by the middle of the 16th century. By then, many organs had been built that had multiple manuals, stop actions that were easy to operate, and highly decorated architectural cases. An important feature of many of those cases was the fact that one could tell a lot about the content and layout of the organ with only visual information. The layout of the façade directly reflected the number of manuals, the principal pitches, and even the layout of the windchests.

There’s typically a Rückpositiv installed on the balcony rail, which is necessarily played by the bottom manual, because the tracker action would go down to the floor behind the knee panel (sometimes called kick-panel) and then under the pedalboard to the balcony rail. There’s an impost, the heavy molding that traverses the organ case above the console, forming the transition from the narrow base of the organ to the wider upper case. That upper case contains the Hauptwerk (Great), which includes the central Principal Chorus, the tonal foundation of the organ. The layout of that façade might show that the windchests are arranged diatonically (odd-numbered notes on one side, evens on the other), and it might further show that the trebles of the chests are arranged so major thirds are adjacent to each other. That’s when the “C side” (whole tones C, D, E, F#, G#, A#) is split, so one side reads “C, E, G#” while the other reads “D, F#, A#.” Likewise, the C# side of the organ is split so one side reads “C#, F, A” and the other reads “D#, G, B.”

That may seem complicated, but it’s a simple reordering of the notes that results in lovely symmetrical visual appearance. Also, in an organ tuned in a historic temperament, when major thirds are adjacent, chords draw beautifully in harmony with each other.

If there are three manuals, the top one might be a Brustwerk (literally, “Breast Work”) located above the music rack and below the impost. That division would be based on a higher Principal pitch, and would contain smaller, lighter stops—likely an 8′ stopped flute such as a Gedeckt, a single 4′, mutations, upper work, and a reed with short, fractional resonators such as a Schalmei or Regal.

The top manual of a three-manual instrument could also be an Oberwerk, a separate division above the Hauptwerk at the top of the case. If there are four manuals, you might have both Oberwerk and Brustwerk in addition to the Hauptwerk and Rückpositiv.

Some people are better at judging measurements than others, but I’m guessing that if challenged, most anyone could tell the difference between 16 and 32 feet. And, you could also pretty easily guess at a succession of lengths, each half as long as the one previous. So you know all you need to know to judge the pitches of the divisions in an organ with classic case design. If you’re sure that the largest pipes in the pedal towers are 16-footers, then you can tell that the Principal pitch of the Hauptwerk is 8′, the Positiv is 4′, and the Brustwerk is 2′. If the Pedal has 32′ Principal, the Hauptwerk is 16′, the Positiv is 8′, and the Brustwerk is 4′. In a four-manual organ, the Oberwerk is likely to be an 8′ division, with smaller scales than the Hauptwerk.

Are you not sure you could tell the difference between a 16′ or 32′ pipe? Sixteen feet is a length or width measurement for a room in an average home. Our bedroom in New York is about 16 feet long. If you could get a 32-footer into your living room, you live in a big house!²

Werkprinzip is a twentieth-century term coined to describe an organ that’s arranged in clearly defined divisions that can be easily identified by viewing the façade. This simple and elegant style of organ design evolved from the simplest ancient organs where the keyboard of the Positiv division was on the back of the Positiv case, and the organist had to turn around to play it.

The Hamburger Schnitger

Arp Schnitger (1648–1719) was a prolific organbuilder whose work influenced all of organ history since then. Forty-eight of his organs survive, a great achievement by modern standards. But when you realize that he accomplished all that without electricity, power tools, trucks, or even FedEx, Mr. Schnitger’s output seems staggering. I was introduced to his work as a kid by E. Power Biggs’s 1964 recording, The Golden Age of the Organ. Biggs was right in choosing that title. Schnitger’s organs were the epitome of the high Baroque with thrilling voicing, marvelous complex actions, and stunning architectural cases.  

One of his largest organs is in the Jacobikirche in Hamburg, Germany’s second-largest city. It has four manuals, 60 stops, and is a terrific example of a classic Werkprinzip organ. There are two 32′ pedal towers, a 16′ Hauptwerk, and an 8′ Rückpositiv visible. There are two additional divisions that cannot be identified just by looking at the façade, an 8′ Oberpositiv (at the top of the organ), and an 8′ Brustpositiv above the keydesk.³

The façades of the Hauptwerk and Rückpositiv cases reflect the windchest layout of major thirds. On either side of the large center towers, there are fields (flats) of façade pipes arranged with the largest in the center, the pipes getting smaller in each direction. I don’t know exactly which note is in the center of the flats, but by counting the pipes in the center and side towers, I’m guessing that it’s A# (below middle C) on the left, and B (below middle C) on the right. So starting in the center of the lower left flat and going toward one side, the pipes would be A#, D, F#, A#, D, F#—and in the other direction C, E, G#, C, E. To the right of the center tower, starting in the center, you have B, D#, G, B, D#, G#—and in the other direction C#, F, A, C#, F. If you’re confused, just think of these sequences as every other whole tone.

What window?

The First and Second Church in Boston, Massachusetts, is located at the corner of Berkeley and Marlborough Streets in the neighborhood known as the Back Bay. The fifth church building on that site was a large stone Gothic structure, built in 1867 with a large rose window and a tall stone steeple. The building housed a large Aeolian-Skinner organ—no coincidence, as William Zeuch, vice-president of Aeolian-Skinner, was organist of the church from 1930 until 1958, and famously played weekly organ recitals on Sunday afternoons to huge audiences.

There’s a story about that rose window. Leo Collins was organist at First and Second Church from 1964 until 1997. Shortly after he started there, interested in the newly emerging movement of the return to classic styles of organ building, he assembled an organ committee to research the possibilities of replacing the Aeolian-Skinner with a new tracker organ. Rudolf von Beckerath was invited to propose a new organ, and he traveled to Boston to present his design to the committee. Predictably enough, his drawing showed a tall free-standing organ case with pedal towers in front of the rose window. An elderly and proper woman, denizen of the Back Bay, asked him, “Mr. Beckerath, what about our window.” He replied, “We have covered windows lovelier than this.”

That project never happened because the building burned in 1968, leaving only the east wall with the rose window and the steeple. A new building was designed by architect Paul Rudolph that incorporated the remains of the stone edifice. Leo got what he wanted. The church commissioned a fine mechanical-action organ by Casavant Frères (Opus 3140, 1972) with three manuals and 64 ranks.⁴ I assume that the organ was paid for with the help of the insurance settlement after the fire. I first tuned the Casavant organ when I joined the staff of Angerstein & Associates in 1984, and six organists later, I still maintain the instrument.

While it may seem apocryphal, the story about Beckerath and the rose window was told to me by Leo Collins, who was present at that meeting. That’s a good way to lose a job.

A new way to look at it

The Casavant organ at First Church in Boston is a great example of a modern Werkprinzip organ. If you’ve been paying attention as you read, you can tell instantly just by looking at the photo that the Pedal has a 16′ Principal, the Great (at the top of the main case) has an 8′ Principal, and the Positiv has a 4′. The modern adaption of the style allows for a large Swell division above the keydesk. You can see that the Great and Positiv are arranged in major thirds: the largest pipes in each of the spiky towers, from left to right, are C, C#, D, and D#. So the “C” tower has C, E, G#, C, E, G#­. The next has C#, F, A, C#, F, A. The next has D, F#, A#, D, F#, A#. And the last has D#, G, B, D#, G, B.

Though you can’t see it, behind the shutters, the Swell is arranged in major thirds, mirroring the Great and Positiv.

The arrangement of the Pedal tower is unconventional. There are three towers that start with C, C#, and D, so minor thirds are adjacent. That means that tuning the Pedal is arpeggios on diminished chords. I assume that the three-tower arrangement is for visual effect. The three spiky pedal towers nicely answer the four of the main case. Perhaps Paul Rudolph was involved in that design.

While tuning the minor-third Pedal division is arpeggios on diminished chords, tuning the major-third divisions provokes a parody on the main theme of Johann Strauss’s An der schönen blauen Donau (On the Beautiful Blue Danube), which starts with the three notes of a major triad. Altering that theme by playing two adjacent major thirds, with the answering treble triads adjusted accordingly, provides a comical effect—just the right tonic after tuning all the mutations and mixtures in that fully equipped organ.

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While I’m talking about pipe organ façades, there’s another interesting thought to share. Many organ cases, both ancient and modern, have large towers in their façades. Some are round or multi-sided in plan, while some are “pointed,” triangular in plan. It’s easy to identify them as purely architectural elements, but they also conserve space within the organ case, as they bear the largest pipes of an organ outside the confines of the case. Giving them rounded or pointed profiles also diminishes the width of the entire instrument. Standing five or seven 32′ pipes next to each other would add up to a lot of additional width.

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Of course, many wonderful organs have been built with clearly defined internal divisions whose façades don’t reflect the internal design. The massive Cavaillé-Coll organ at St. Sulpice in Paris is a good example. There is a massive wood case festooned with a procession of larger-than-life statues that take up so much space that it’s a wonder the sound can get out at all. What appears to be a Rückpositiv is actually concealing the back of the console. Of course, that’s not a reflection on the quality or content of the organ, just another way to present the instrument as a monumental work of visual art.

I’ve been in many churches where a modest organ is concealed behind a huge case. In some of those cases, the organ is a small, cheaper replacement for a much larger original instrument. But sometimes, the monumental case was designed by the architect of the building, and there was no funding for an instrument of appropriate size. That’s the equivalent of the guy in the auto parts store who didn’t have a radio but wanted an antenna for appearances, or buying a $100,000 handbag to imply that you live in a $100,000,000 house. Who’s going to wash the windows?

Notes

1. Maybe you think I’m kidding. Google “Hermès crocodile bag” and see what you get.

2. Our standard pitch designations refer to the “speaking length” of a pipe, which is the measurement from the bottom of the pipe’s mouth to its tuning point. Almost all façade pipes are two or three feet longer than speaking length to allow for the height of the pipe’s conical foot, and any “false length” at the top to allow for a tuning slot at the back. So a 32′ façade pipe is often close to 40 feet long. A standard semi-trailer passing you on the highway is 53 feet long. I’ve been working with pipe organs for more than 40 years, and I still marvel at the idea of a 32′ organ pipe, a thousand-pound whistle that can play one note at one volume level.

3. You can see the specifications of the Hamburg Schnitger organ here: http://www.arpschnitger.nl/shamb.html.

4. You can see the specifications of the First Church Casavant organ here: http://database.organsociety.org/OrganDetails.php?OrganID=23152.