Cover Feature

Andrew Forrest

Andrew Forrest began with Létourneau in February 1999 and, as the company’s artistic director, oversees all of the company’s various projects. He travels regularly to meet with clients, to supervise the company’s on-site tonal finishing, and to speak about the pipe organ. Areas of particular interest for Forrest include pipe scaling and reed tone. Among others, he has completed studies of the Wanamaker Organ’s String division and the 1955 Aeolian-Skinner pipe organ at Winthrop University. He was on the organizing committee for the joint AIO-ISO 2010 convention in Montréal, and from 2011 through 2014 served on the board of directors for the American Institute of Organbuilders. More recently, Forrest was elected vice president of the Associated Pipe Organ Builders of America in the spring of 2017. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario.

The Cathedral-Basilica of Notre-Dame de Québec is an important and historic location for the Catholic Church in North America as it was here the Church of Our Lady of Peace (Église Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix) was built in 1647. It became the first parish church north of Mexico in North America in 1664 and was dedicated as the Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception (Église Notre-Dame-de-l’Immaculée-Conception). Ten years later, the church was made the cathedral of the newly established diocese of Québec under Bishop François de Laval. The cathedral was almost completely destroyed during the battle for Québec in 1759 and was rebuilt between 1766 and 1771 from the remaining walls to resemble the previous building.

Further changes and improvements to the cathedral’s design took place in the nineteenth century, including the addition of a neoclassical façade, and the cathedral was elevated to the status of basilica in 1874 in honor of the diocese’s founding 200 years earlier. In the twentieth century, a devastating fire on December 22, 1922, forced the parish and diocese to rebuild again from singed outer walls. The reconstruction project took eight years, and while modern construction materials and techniques were employed, the cathedral’s architecture was again modeled after its predecessors.

The church was home to a pipe organ by an unknown builder as early as 1657, and this was followed by a number of instruments of increasing size and complexity by Robert Richard, Thomas Elliot, Louis Mitchell, and the Casavant brothers among others. Casavant’s Opus 211 from 1904, an electric action instrument with 46 stops over three manuals and pedal, was destroyed in the fire of 1922. The rebuilding of the Cathedral-Basilica in the years following saw the installation of three new pipe organs by Casavant Frères between 1924 and 1927: a seven-stop instrument for the Chapel of St. Louis, a 25-stop instrument for the sanctuary, and a grand 69-stop instrument in the church’s gallery. The organ in the Chapel of St. Louis remains as it was in 1924 apart from two stops having been swapped between the Grand-Orgue and the Récit divisions. While the history of the sanctuary organ follows, the gallery organ currently awaits rebuilding after some spectacularly unskilled alterations in the 1970s and a corrective reconstruction from 1983 through 1985.

The sanctuary organ was built in 1924 as Casavant’s Opus 1024 and is installed behind the first two triforium bays on the south side of the sanctuary; it is invisible from the nave. The instrument’s terraced two-manual console was originally installed opposite in the north triforium where it was situated in the midst of an amphitheatre-like arrangement of benches. The organ was built with electro-pneumatic wind chests with ventil-style stop actions and is tonally similar to other instruments from the period with its generous number of foundation stops. When the gallery instrument was installed in 1927, the sanctuary organ was made playable from the gallery organ’s enormous four-manual console.

Subtle differences from Casavant’s conventional practices at that time include the placement of the 8′ Trompette stop in the Récit division instead of the Grand-Orgue, as well as the inclusion of independent mutations stops in the Récit. It is said the French composer and organist Joseph Bonnet was responsible for the placement of the 8′ Trompette, having drawn an arrow on the organ’s proposed stoplist to move the stop from the Grand-Orgue to the Récit. Bonnet was likely consulted on the organ’s specification by Henri Gagnon, a gifted Québecois organist and titulaire at the Cathedral-Basilica from 1915 until his death in 1961. Gagnon lived in France from 1907 to 1910 and studied with Eugène Gigout and Charles-Marie Widor among others; he returned to France during the summers of 1911, 1912, 1914, and 1924 for further studies with Widor and Bonnet.

From the start, the instrument served the parish’s daily Masses, providing commentary on the liturgy and accompanying students from the nearby Grand Séminaire. Opus 1024 and the students from le Grand Séminaire were also sometimes heard in alternatim with les Petits Chanteurs de la Maîtrise (the chapter’s boy choir) who would sing from the gallery, accompanied by the gallery organ, Opus 1217.

The transfer of le Grand Séminaire to new facilities in the Ste-Foy neighborhood of Québec City in 1959 brought an end to the singing of the daily Mass in the cathedral. The explicit need for a sanctuary organ disappeared as a result, and with the instrument reportedly suffering from electrical problems, Opus 1024 was switched off at the blower’s breaker and abandoned.

It wasn’t until after Marc d’Anjou’s appointment as titular organist to the cathedral in 1993 that Opus 1024 was heard again from the distant gallery console. Some cleaning, minor repairs, and tuning followed, and this helped show the organ’s potential utility. The sanctuary console was carried down soon after from the triforium to the floor of the sanctuary where it was installed to the south of the altar. To provide the console and its electro-pneumatic mechanisms with wind, a crude flexible wind line was lowered from the triforium level inside a nearby column. From the column, the wind line snaked across the floor to the console where it entered through a hole cut into the side panel. The organ itself later suffered some minor water damage while the exterior of the cathedral was being sandblasted, but the affected portions were repaired soon after.

The contract to restore the sanctuary organ was awarded to Orgues Létourneau after a thorough evaluation process and a generous grant was provided to the cathedral towards the costs of the organ’s restoration by the Conseil du patrimoine religieux du Québec. A formal contract was signed in March 2014, the console was removed and wrapped for transit the following August, and the instrument itself was dismantled one month later. The wind chests’ internal components, some wind system elements, and much of the organ’s pipework were removed for transport to and restoration in the Létourneau shops.

The restoration of the instrument’s electro-pneumatic wind chests was a straightforward but time consuming process. All old leather diaphragms on the pouchboards were removed and replaced, while the primary actions were completely restored with new leather, felts, and leather nuts as well as new threaded wires. The wind chests have ventil-type stop actions, meaning the chests are subdivided laterally into chambers under each stop. The flow of wind to each chamber determines if the stop above plays with the flow being governed by a pneumatically operated valve. Given the quantity of wind going to each stop, these ventil valves are necessarily large and their prompt operation via pneumatics is paramount. The ventil stop actions were thoroughly restored with new materials similar to the originals and adjusted on-site for optimal operation.

The organ’s wind system was also comprehensively restored, including the recovering of its two enormous single-rise wind reservoirs and the blower’s static reservoir. The external curtain valve regulators were all restored, the flexible wind line connections under each chest were replaced, and the Récit’s tremulant unit was refurbished. The original nine-stage expression motor was replaced with a new pneumatic whiffletree-type unit with 16 stages.

Opus 1024’s pipework was cleaned and repaired as needed in our pipe shop. We experimented with softening the Grand-Orgue’s 8′ Montre stop for a less overbearing presence but its already-smooth tone only became more flute-like. We found ourselves working at cross purposes with this stop’s nature, having been built to a large scale from heavy lead and voiced with wide slots as well as leathered upper lips. We reduced the strength of the stop only slightly but removed the leather from the upper lips, improving the pipes’ tone and speech. We also recast the Grand-Orgue 8′ Salicional—its original voicing sounded more like a Dulciana with little intensity or specific color­—to produce a rich string tone with enough presence to color the other foundation stops.

New II–III Fourniture and 8′ Trompette stops were added to the Grand-Orgue, with the Trompette extended to 16′ pitch to play in the Pédale. Our goal for these new stops was to sound as if they might have been part of the original instrument, and in this respect, the composition of the new mixture might seem conservative by modern standards. The scaling and breaks for the Fourniture were developed after studying mixture stops in other Casavants from the same era as well as the Grand-Orgue’s 2′ Doublette. Breaks occur at every C after the third rank enters at c13, while the scaling of the individual ranks follows a halving ratio progression that slows considerably as the pitch ascends over ¼′.

The new 8′ Trompette was modeled after Casavant examples from the 1920s (including the 8′ Trompette in the Récit) and has tapered shallots with long, narrow triangular openings and leathered faces in the bass octaves. The spotted metal resonators were built to a generous scale (8′ C = 5′′Ø) and are harmonic starting at f42. Our harmonic-length resonators for new stops usually follow the same scale as their non-harmonic counterpart of the same length. Put another way, the first harmonic resonator is the same length and diameter as the natural length pipe one octave lower. Casavant’s harmonic-length resonators in the mid-1920s, however, employed narrower resonators; there is still a jump in diameter transitioning from natural to harmonic length but the increase is roughly eight pipes larger rather than a full octave (or twelve pipes).

Space within the instrument was limited from the outset, and adding two new stops was a feat in packaging. The first seven pipes of the Pédale 16′ Flûte ouverte were originally laid horizontally from the floor to the sloping ceiling at the back of the chamber but from there, the stop continued as a wall of vertical wooden pipes beside the Grand-Orgue and finished up with the smallest pipes arranged vertically behind the Grand-Orgue’s passage board. To make way for the new 16′-8′ Trompette rank, the vertical pipes alongside the Grand-Orgue were relocated to lie horizontally within the chamber as well as at the base of the triforium arch at the very front of the instrument. Having now opened up a corridor beside the Grand-Orgue, the 16′-8′ Trompette rank was installed here on two wind chests with most of the 16′ octave mitred to fit under the chamber’s sloping roofline. The new II–III Fourniture stop is likewise located at the front of the instrument under the triforium arch, where it sits above one of the 16′ Flûte’s horizontal pipes.

The console’s original pedalboard had a compass of 30 notes and, further, did not radiate as much as an American Guild of Organists standard pedalboard.  The console was too narrow to accept a new 32-note pedalboard so we rebuilt the console’s chassis to be 8 inches wider, providing space for additional drawknobs in the process. The original expression pedal assembly was considerably offset with the Récit pedal lining up with note a#23 on the pedalboard. We rebuilt the expression pedal assembly to fit into its current central location, conforming to AGO standards, while its frame and pedals were also recovered with new chrome. The console was fitted with new thumb pistons and dome-shaped toe pistons as well as contrasting ebony and Pau Ferro oblique draw knobs to resemble the originals. Opus 1024’s two original pedal ranks were provided with two additional pipes each to correspond with the new pedalboard’s 32-note compass. The enlarged console returned to the cathedral on a new two-piece platform, enabling its movement throughout the sanctuary.

The console features 46 draw knobs for the sanctuary organ’s stops, couplers, and other ancillary controls. Once the gallery organ has been rebuilt, the sanctuary console will be ready to play the gallery organ blindly through a common piston system with 300 levels of memory. The row of 34 tilting tablets above the Récit manual will permit the gallery organ’s four manual divisions to be coupled as desired to the sanctuary console’s two manuals and pedal. Registrations for the gallery organ will be programmed in advance on general pistons at the gallery console but once done, the gallery stops can be brought into play at the sanctuary console by activating the “Appel Tribune” tablet and using the same general pistons. Aside from multiple memory levels, the rebuilt sanctuary console offers a general piston sequencer, four programmable Crescendo sequences of 30 stages each, and record-playback capability.

After reinstalling the organ’s restored components and testing the instrument’s mechanisms, the instrument’s voicing was thoroughly reviewed and adjusted as needed. Tonal changes to the 1924 materials were kept to a minimum aside from the changes mentioned earlier, but all of the organ’s original stops were carefully adjusted for improved consistency and blend. The voicing for the new II–III Fourniture and 16′-8′ Trompette was meticulous to ensure these new stops built smoothly on the instrument’s fortissimo without sacrificing color or excitement.

The restoration and enlargement of Opus 1024 was carried out on an expedited timeline, and the first sounds after the organ’s return to the cathedral were heard in February 2015. The renewed instrument was first heard by the public a few weeks later on Easter Sunday (April 5) when the organ was rededicated and blessed by the Archbishop of Québec, His Emmence Gérald Cyprien Lacroix. M. d’Anjou, the cathedral’s titular organist, then played a short recital that demonstrated the organ’s graceful versatility, its vivid palette of colors, and, when needed, its grand presence. Since then, the instrument has been heard regularly within the cathedral’s liturgy as well as a concert instrument in accompanimental and solo roles. Orgues Létourneau is honored to have been selected for this prestigious restoration project, and we expect our work to renew this elegant instrument will serve the cathedral for decades to come. It was our distinct pleasure during the project to work closely with Marc d’Anjou, Gilles Gignac, and Monsignor Dénis Bélanger at the cathedral, and we would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their support and assistance at every turn.

 

Casavant Freres, Opus 1024 (1924), restored, enlarged, and revoiced by Orgues LОtourneau (2014)

Grand-Orgue

16′ Bourdon 68 pipes

8′ Montre 68 pipes

8′ Flûte harmonique 68 pipes

8′ Salicional 68 pipes

8′ Bourdon 68 pipes

4′ Prestant 68 pipes

22⁄3′ Quinte 68 pipes

2′ Doublette 61 pipes

II–III Fourniture (new) 183 pipes

8 Trompette (new) 68 pipes

Recit expressif

16′ Quintaton 68 pipes

8′ Principal 68 pipes

8′ Viole de gambe 68 pipes

8′ Voix céleste (TC) 56 pipes

8′ Mélodie 68 pipes

4′ Violon 68 pipes

4′ Flûte douce 68 pipes

22⁄3′ Nazard 61 pipes

2′ Octavin 61 pipes

13⁄5′ Tierce 61 pipes

8′ Trompette 68 pipes

8′ Hautbois 68 pipes

8′ Voix humaine 68 pipes

Trémolo

Pedale

32′ Flûte (resultant) —

16′ Flûte ouverte 32 pipes

16′ Bourdon 32 pipes

8′ Flûte (ext 16′ Flûte) 12 pipes 

8′ Bourdon (ext 16′ Bourdon) 12 pipes

4′ Flûte (new, ext 8 Flûte) 12 pipes

16′ Bombarde (ext, Gr-O 8′) 12 pipes

8′ Trompette (fr Gr-O) —

 

Couplers

Gr-Orgue à la Pédale

Gr-Orgue aigu à la Pédale

Récit à la Pédale

Récit aigu à la Pédale

Gr-Orgue unisson muet

Gr-Orgue grave

Gr-Orgue aigu

Récit grave au Gr-Orgue

Récit au Gr-Orgue

Récit aigu au Gr-Orgue

Récit unisson muet

Récit grave

Récit aigu

 

Accessories

10 General pistons

6 Grand-Orgue pistons

6 Récit pistons

6 Pédale pistons

100 levels of memory

Récit expression shoe

Crescendo shoe

3 Tutti adjustable pistons

Transposer

Record/Playback mechanism

 

The console is prepared to play the gallery organ once it has been rebuilt at some point in the future. The gallery organ stops will be accessible via the General pistons plus the Tutti and Crescendo settings.  There are tilting tablet couplers for each of the gallery organ’s divisions, allowing them to be coupled as desired to the chancel console’s two manuals at 16′, 8′, and 4′. Also included is an “Unification des expressions” (All Swells to Swell) control plus ventils for both the gallery and chancel organs.

Michael McNeil

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

Editor’s note: Part 1 of this article was published in the August 2018 issue of The Diapason, pages 16–20.

 

The casework in pictures

The entire casework of Opus 161 is executed in solid black walnut, and in the author’s opinion is among the best of Johnson’s cases with its elegant proportions and understated Gothic ornamentation. The window above the entrance of Eastside Presbyterian Church, its original home, displayed similar, restrained Gothic form and ornamentation. Elsworth’s book illustrates a great many of Johnson’s organs, among them Opus 134, built in 1862 for St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Lanesborough, Massachusetts.¹⁷ Opus 134 has nearly identical stiles and ornamentation, but its proportions do not soar in the elegant manner of Opus 161, perhaps the result of limitations in height. It is ironic that one of Johnson’s best aesthetic creations has languished in anonymity for decades. Many American churches built in the early nineteenth century did not have a provision for a pipe organ, and as a consequence Elsworth noted that most of Johnson’s earlier organs were furnished with sides to the cases of the free-standing organs produced for such churches.¹⁸ As previously noted, Opus 161 originally had such side panels to its casework, and these were found crudely sawn and nailed behind the façade. The Piru church elected to place the façade casework flush with the wall of the church, necessitating the removal of the side panels.

As was typical of nearly all nineteenth century organs, the façade contains no smaller pipes. The side flats contain pipes of the Open Diapason with considerable overlengths. This is the only architectural flaw in this otherwise stunningly designed case. The use of pipes of very different lengths is an important architectural device—it gives a sense of scale, making the larger pipes appear more imposing in contrast. But façades with pipes of extremely different size are more complex and more expensive to make. Compared to the vast majority of nineteenth-century façades, Opus 161 is one of the finest aesthetic designs.

 

The keydesk in pictures

The reader should refer to Part 1 of this series for photographs of the keydesk and stop jambs (August 2018, pages 17–18). Elsworth described the keydesks of Johnson organs from the period of Opus 43, 1855, to Opus 268, 1868:

 

The manual compass was invariably fifty-six notes, from CC to G3. The stop knobs were disposed in vertical rows on each side of the manual keyboards, and always had square shanks with round knobs that had flat faces. Into these faces were set the ivory labels with the stop names. The labels were always engraved in Spencerian script with no pitch indication. The nameplates up to about 1867 or 1868 were of silver, engraved “Wm. A. Johnson, Westfield, Mass.”¹⁹

 

This description provides some evidence that the organ was modified during its installation at Piru. The stop action does indeed have square shanks leading to the bellcranks, but the shafts connecting to the square shanks and leading through the stop jambs are round. The author had initially believed that the stop jambs were original, observing well-worn and professionally installed felt bushings in the openings of the stop jambs. But a more likely explanation is that the round shafts and extant jambs were added at a later date, and this goes a long way to explain the disappearance of the split bass stops, all of which were screwed together to make continuous stops with no splits. And this nicely explains the current specification with 20 controls instead of the 22 controls indicated in the opus list of the Johnson factory.

The organ was initially supplied with a hook-down Swell shoe, normal fare for Johnson’s work of this time. This feature was deleted, and a balanced Swell shoe was installed by crudely re-routing the action of the Great to Pedal coupler rollerboard. Note the added Swell pedal in Figure 7, the missing hook-down pedal in Figure 8, and the damage to the action in Figure 9 and Figure 10. All of this damage was repaired in the 1976 restoration and the original hook-down mechanism refabricated. The figures show the condition of the console prior to the restoration.

 

The key action in pictures

The basic layout of the key action can be seen in Figure 6 in Part 1 of this series (August 2018, page 20). With the exception of the repositioning of the Swell chest and the addition of the balanced Swell pedal, the key and stop action of Opus 161 was well worn but virtually unaltered in 1976. The damage to the trackers on the Pedal couplers from the installation of the balanced Swell pedal was repaired in 1976 with new trackers, wires, felts, and buttons, and basic repairs to the stickers on the Swell to Great coupler were made, but this was a stopgap solution. At this time the console was in need of a complete disassembly and refurbishment of the leather on the couplers, the felts, and the leather buttons. The action was well designed, had served for a period of more than a hundred years, and had survived a move from Stockton to Piru. But the leather facings of the key tails where the coupler stickers made contact and the felts and leather buttons were showing their age. There were no funds for such work in 1976. 

In Johnson’s action we see similarities to Samuel Green. Bicknell writes: 

 

Green introduced or developed numerous refinements to the mechanism. He often arranged pipes from f# up in chromatic order on the soundboards, even in large organs. This reduced the extent to which rollerboards were required. . . . To make the key action readily adjustable the ends of the trackers were fitted with tapped wires and leather buttons. The appearance of Green’s consoles was enhanced by the use of ivory inserts screwed into the heads of the stop knobs, engraved with the name of the stop. . . . Green also usually made keyboards with white naturals and black sharps. . . .²⁰

 

All of these features are found on Opus 161. The photographs of the action were all taken in 1976 prior to the restoration work.

 

The stop action in pictures

The stop action of Opus 161 is conventional, with metal squares and square wooden shanks. The stop action to the Pedal 16′ Double Open Diapason is a ventil valve to the three windchests of that stop, which are placed at the sides (largest pipes, diatonic) and the treble pipes at the back (chromatic). The photographs show the details of the stop action construction.

A description of the stops and general notes on the scaling and voicing

This section provides a detailed description of the stops; two of the Swell stops were not measured (16′ Bourdon and 8′ Stopped Diapason). For the stops which were measured, a table of data in millimeters is shown. The photographs show some details of the construction, although the poor resolution of the camera is regrettable.

As earlier noted, there is a close resemblance between the organs of Samuel Green in late eighteenth century England and the organs of William A. Johnson in nineteenth-century America. Bicknell writes:

 

On the tonal side Green seems to have adopted the trend towards delicacy and developed it still further. . . . Green’s first line of development in securing the effect he desired was to experiment . . . with the scales of the chorus . . . . in 1778 the Open Diapason is larger than the rest of the chorus. . . . The appearance of extra pipes in some ranks, definitely by Green and contemporary with the instruments themselves, together with re-marking of the pipes, suggests that Green took spare pipes with him to the site and rescaled stops during the tonal finishing in the building. This is considerably removed from the standardised scaling and voicing adopted by, for example, Snetzler. The reasons for this become clearer when one understands that Green’s voicing broke new ground in other aspects as well. Delicacy was achieved partly by reduction of the size of the pipe foot and by increasing the amount of nicking. The loss of grandeur in the chorus was made up for by increasing the scales of the extreme basses. . . .²¹

As we will see in the graphical analysis of the data, all of the features mentioned by Bicknell about Samuel Green would apply equally well to Johnson’s Opus 161. Bicknell observes, “Where Snetzler provided a chorus of startling boldness and with all the open metal ranks of equal power, Green introduced refinement and delicacy and modified the power of the off-unison ranks to secure a new kind of blend.”²²

As earlier noted by Elsworth, Johnson’s wind pressure during the period of 1855 to 1868 “was generally between 21⁄2 and 23⁄4 inches (63 and 70 mm), and in rare examples, nearly 3 inches.”²³ The lower wind pressures, narrower scales of the upperwork, and reduced toes produced a sound with restrained brilliance. 

Referring to his conversations with Edwin B. Hedges (1872–1967), a voicer for Johnson organs, Elsworth made some telling observations. In the process of making the pipework, “ . . . the languids were carefully soldered in place, and the flues were properly adjusted.”²⁴ This is a very important comment, because today the flueway is considered a variable for adjusting power in some voicing styles, especially North Germanic voicing. Johnson’s flueways are very open, often the maximum that would produce good speech, even with Johnson’s bold nicking. Power balances, for Johnson as well as Green, were designed into the scales and further adjusted by the voicer at the toe. “The voicing of flue pipes, such as Diapason, Dulcianas, and strings, consists of nicking the languid, cutting up the upper lips to the proper mouth height, and adjusting the positions of the languid and the upper and lower lips. The amount of wind entering the pipe foot must be carefully adjusted by opening or closing the orifice in the pipe toe.”²⁵ There is no direct evidence that William A. Johnson had first-hand knowledge of the 1792 Samuel Green organ delivered to Boston, but the legacy of Green is obvious in Johnson’s work.

A few comments are in order on the nicking and languid treatment. The languids contain a counterface with a negative angle; the more usual angle is vertical, or 90 degrees. The Isnards made a positive-angled counterface at about 75 degrees with a normal bevel at about 45 to 55 degrees. The negative counterface of the Johnson languid is unusual. This languid is nicked at an angle with a knife, cutting a fine nick as deep as halfway into the languid bevel. Long knife cuts were also in evidence inside the lower lip. As a general rule there are the same number of nicks on a languid, regardless of pitch. These languids work well and produce fast speech even when the lower, negative languid bevel shows above the top edge of the lower lip; the upper lip is not pulled out to compensate for this languid position. Ears are generally found up to 1′ in pitch in the principal chorus, but they are very narrow, not extending far in front of the mouth.

Many of the pipes were found in 1976 to be crudely pinched at the top, part of an effort to reduce the pitch to the modern standard. All of this damage was repaired on mandrels, and tuning slides were fitted.

 

Great division

 

8′ Open Diapason 

This is the first stop on the front of the Great windchest. It has zinc resonators from low C to tenor B and planed common metal feet from about tenor E. All pipes from middle C are planed common metal (30% tin, 70% lead). Zinc wind conductors to the façade pipes supply copious wind; the conductor diameters are 38 mm at low C and 25 mm at tenor C. If memory serves, at least one or two of the pipes in the side flats were dummy pipes, implying that the speaking façade pipes extended to tenor D. The façade pipes were tuned with scrolls at the back, which were entirely rolled up as a consequence of the drop in pitch to 440 Hz, where the original pitch was probably closer to 450 Hz. See the earlier notes on the pitch and wind pressure. As with all of the stops in the principal chorus, the ears are very narrow. 

The author feels obligated to point out a grave error he made in the restoration by removing the heavy nicking on the languids of the Open Diapason, and only on this stop. To make the record clear, David Sedlak advised against doing this, and the author regrets that he did not take Sedlak’s advice. These nicks should be renewed in the manner used by Johnson.

8′ Keraulophon

The second stop on the chest, the Keraulophon pipes were found badly pinched at the top along with crudely reduced toe bores in an effort to reduce the pitch. All of the pipes were straightened on mandrels and tuning slides added. Toes that were not damaged were used as a guide for readjusting damaged toes. This stop is voiced with tuning slots and ears, but no beards of any kind. The bass octave is common with the Clarabella, five pipes from tenor C to E have zinc resonators, and the rest have planed common metal resonators. The nicking is bold and often crossed to keep the speech stable. Flueways were often more closed on one side. This is a bolder string than a Dulciana. 

 

8′ Clarabella

This is the third stop on the chest. Bass pipes C to tenor E are stopped wood; the remainder are open wood with lead plates covering the tops for tuning. These lead plates are somewhat closed down to accommodate the lowered pitch. The internal blocks forming the languids are lower than the front plates by 2.0 mm at tenor E, and 1.5 mm at tenor F. The bevel of the upper lip is internal for the open pipes and external for the stopped pipes. The stopped pipes have narrow, slanted strips at the sides of the mouth to form narrow ears; the open pipes have no extra strips functioning as ears. The nicking is deeper and heavier than the pipes of the principal chorus. The scales and voicing of this stop place its power on the same level as the principal chorus foundations. The only concession to power is a greatly reduced mouth width in the bass octave, a concession to its function as a common bass to the Keraulophon. 

The effective inside diameter of a wooden pipe is a calculation of its diagonal, a method proposed by Nolte.²⁶ The potential power of a round pipe is related to the amplitude of the standing wave in the pipe, which is in turn related to its diameter. Following this logic, Nolte has pointed out that the amplitude of a standing wave in a rectangular pipe is related to its widest point, i.e., its diagonal. We often see modern conversions of wood pipe scales by relating their rectangular areas to those of round metal pipes with equivalent areas, but this does not produce balanced power. The consequence is that conventional modern wisdom decrees that wood pipes should be scaled a few half tones narrower than round pipes of equivalent area. This disconnect disappears with Nolte’s observation of the relevance of the diagonal, not equivalent areas. This is not a new idea. Many older organs, e.g., J. A. Silbermann’s organ of 1746 at Marmoutier, show very disjointed scales between the rectangular wood bass of the 16′ Montre and its metal pipes when plotting by equivalent areas. Convert the Silbermann wood bass scales to diagonals and those scales merge seamlessly into the scales of the metal pipes. Diagonal computations of the effective diameters for the Johnson Clarabella can be found in the table, and those calculations are used in the graphical analysis. 

 

4′ Principal

The fourth stop on the chest, the Principal has five zinc resonators from C to E; the rest are all planed common metal. These pipes showed very little damage. The flueway depths are remarkably wide, especially in the treble, and demonstrate that Johnson regulated power entirely at the toe, not the flueway. Such flueway depths are often found in classical French voicing. This data set can be taken as reasonably accurate evidence of Johnson’s unmolested voicing.

 

4′ Flute И CheminОe

 The fifth stop on the chest from tenor C, this is a classically constructed flute in planed common metal with soldered domed tops, chimneys with no tuning mechanism, and very large ears for tuning. Those large ears had been pushed in far enough to virtually touch each other when found in 1976, another effort to reduce the pitch. The cutups were lightly arched. There was considerable handling damage to the flueways. The toes were reasonably intact. The reduction in pressure from 76 mm to 63 mm allowed these pipes to speak much more freely with the ears much more opened (but not completely straightened). The pipe construction becomes open at g#′′, i.e., the last twelve pipes, and they are noticeably wider across the break. The table above shows a calculation of the total resonator length, i.e., the body length plus the chimney, and the percentage of the chimney length to the total length. This gives an idea of the harmonics that Johnson was trying to emphasize with the chimney. At tenor C the chimney is 25% of the total length, emphasizing the fourth harmonic, while at middle C the chimney is 30% of the total length, roughly emphasizing the third harmonic. The chimney progresses to larger percentages of the total length as the pitch rises. The chimney is not a constant percentage of the total length.  The photograph shows the classical construction of this stop. 

 

22Џ3′ Twelfth

The sixth stop on the chest, this stop consists entirely of planed common metal pipes that had minimal damage.

 

2′ Fifteenth

The seventh and last flue stop on the chest, the 2′ Fifteenth continues the trend of extremely deep flueways and closed toes. The flueway depths of this stop are perhaps the largest the author has measured on any organ. Remarkably, this planed, common metal stop has no ears on any pipe, and its sound is exquisite. The toes are very restrained and represent the means of controlling power. The diameter and mouth width scales are considerably narrower than the Open Diapason, continuing the trend of narrower scaling with higher stop pitches, a characteristic introduced by Samuel Green. This progression can be clearly seen in the graphical analysis, in stark contrast to the Hook’s constant scaling of  the principal chorus. By this means Johnson and Green achieved a chorus with more refinement and less impact, but they compensated with very wide scaling of the extreme basses.

 

8′ Trumpet

The extant pipework of this eighth and last stop on the chest was constructed of planed common metal with zinc bottom sections from tenor C to tenor B. The Trumpet has an obscure history. In 1976 only two octaves of pipes were found from tenor C 13 to C 37. These were all in fairly good condition without obvious modifications; some crude slotting of the tops was repaired and the pipes spoke well on 63 mm wind. All of the original pipes were cut to exact length with no tuning slots or scrolls. The bass octave of the Trumpet was originally separated on the slider, but found screwed together in 1976. Interestingly, while the bass topboards were bored and chamfered to receive pipes, the chamfers were not burned in like all other borings on both windchests. With the repositioning of the Swell chest over the Great chest, it was now impossible to reconstruct a full-length bass set of pipes, and a half-length set was fabricated with limited tonal success (a few of the half-length pipes needed mitering to clear the Swell chest). The missing treble pipes were recreated by the firm of Stinkens to scales extrapolated from the original pipework. These were quite successful and a good tonal match. The high treble from c#′′′ to g′′′ were obviously flue pipes, and the rackboard borings provided guidance for their scales. All shallots are brass and are marked “H. T. Levi,” one of the reed voicers for William A. Johnson, according to both Barbara Owen²⁷ and Elsworth.²⁸ This stop bears a strong resemblance to the Trumpet heard in the recording of the Samuel Green organ at Armitage, Staffordshire, England (see the section on Recordings).

The Trumpet was carefully disassembled during the restoration and its measurements carefully tabulated; see the drawings and tables below. Measurements unfortunately omitted were the height of the block and the length and width at the top of the main taper on the tongues.

 

II Mixture

The author added a two-rank mixture in planed common metal to the Great during the 1976 restoration. While the merits of this can be debated, it was added in a manner that did not affect the other stops. A thick oak board was mounted at the back of the key channels, extending backwards and upwards, making this the ninth stop on the Great. The pipework was narrowly scaled in the manner of Johnson, roughly -7 half tones from 2⁄3′ pitch to 1⁄4′ pitch, then widening to about -3 half tones at 1⁄8′ pitch. A great many Johnson organs of this size had mixtures. It should be noted that Johnson mixtures of the time period during which Opus 161 was created were called Sesquialtera, and they included third-sounding ranks. Elsworth states, “ . . . these were composed of 17th, 19th, and 22nd ranks [i.e., 13⁄5′, 11⁄3′, and 1′, the same pitches observed in Samuel Green’s Sesquialteras] with two or three breaks.”²⁹ The mixture added by the author is more typical of later Johnson work in its composition without thirds.

The voicing of the cutups was a fortunate accident, where the pipes were mouth-voiced before realizing that they were left many half tones overlength by the pipemaker. When the cone-tuned pipes were cut to length, it was obvious that the cutups were very high. But this was fortuitous, because it taught the lesson that high cutups can have a superb blend, and this mixture provided a fine sparkling glitter in the plenum with no hint of harshness. There are no ears on any pipes. The toes are relatively more open than what Johnson would have done and the cutups are higher. The mixture composition is as follows:

 

C 2⁄3′ 1⁄2′

c 1′ 2⁄3′

c′ 11⁄3′ 1′

c′′ 2′ 11⁄3′

c′′′ 4′ 2′

 

Barbara Owen noted that William A. Johnson was hired to add a VII Cymbal to the Hook organ.³⁰ This mixture was installed in 1870, and no records indicate how this happened. The political implications invite much speculation, of course. The differences in scaling and voicing of the Johnson mixture relative to the Hook chorus illuminates the different approach to chorus design between Johnson and Hook. We will look at this in detail in the graphical analysis. The Johnson VII Cymbal provides a scintillating crown to the Hook chorus and contains a third-sounding rank. In 1871 William H. Johnson, the son of William A. Johnson, joined his father as a partner in the firm and the mixtures built from that time deleted the third-sounding rank.³¹ ν

Notes and Credits

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

17. The Johnson Organs, p. 50.

18. Ibid, p. 22.

19. Ibid, p. 23.

20. The History of the English Organ, p. 186.

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

22. Ibid, p. 207.

23. The Johnson Organs, p. 25.

24. Ibid, p. 45.

25. Ibid, p. 47.

26. John M. Nolte, “Scaling Pipes in Wood,” ISO Journal, No. 36, December 2010, pp. 8–19.

27. Scot L. Huntington, Barbara Owen, Stephen L. Pinel, Martin R. Walsh. Johnson Organs 1844–1898, The Princeton Academy of the Arts, Culture, and Society, 2015, Cranbury, pp. 11, 13, 14, 16.

28. The Johnson Organs, p. 36.

29. Ibid, p. 48.

30. Johnson Organs 1844–1898, pp. 17-18.

31. The Johnson Organs, p. 48.

To be continued.

Stephen L. Pinel

Stephen L. Pinel holds two degrees from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, and did further graduate work in historical musicology at New York University. A church musician for 45 years, he retired from full-time work during the fall of 2017. He held a Langley Fellowship at New York University, is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda Music Honor Society, an honorary member of the Organ Historical Society, and a past chair of the St. Wilfrid Club of New York City. He is also the author of several books and regularly contributes articles pertaining to American organ history both here and abroad.

The St. John’s Organ Society of Bangor, Maine, reached a noteworthy milepost this fall with its “silver” anniversary! The organization was established a quarter of a century ago to maintain, promote, and foster public interest in E. & G. G. Hook Opus 288 (1860), an illustrious, three-manual pipe organ in the back gallery of St. John’s Catholic Church. The society has sponsored a considerable number of cultural events surrounding this instrument, including concerts, symposia, and teaching institutes. The organ is a large, fully American Romantic organ, equal in grandeur to anything comparable in Europe, and is situated in a reverberant 1855 Gothic-revival building. The instrument has had work, especially in 1980 when it was restored by George Bozeman & Co., and more recently by Robert C. Newton and the Andover Organ Company. The society is directed by Kevin Birch, the organist and music director at St. John’s; Catherine Bruno, an advocate known for her infectious enthusiasm and organizational skills; and a loyal coterie of volunteers. The fact that this society has flourished through several pastoral changes at the church is in itself a noted accomplishment.

 

The Maine Historic Organ Institute

To celebrate this anniversary, the society sponsored the Maine Historic Organ Institute this fall between October 24 and 28. The institute featured concerts, lectures, masterclasses, and organ tours using St. John’s Hook and a number of historic instruments nearby. Most of those were built by the Hooks (or their successors), but we also saw an important 1849 instrument by George Stevens in First Parish Church, Belfast. What made the institute memorable was the diverse cross-section of the participants—organbuilders, performers, scholars, students, and five well-respected American teachers. The gathering provided an excellent opportunity to exchange ideas, hear and visit organs, interact, study, and consider the organ from a variety of contrasting but complimentary perspectives. A surprising guest among the registrants was the great American soprano, Phyllis Bryn-Julson, universally recognized for her iconic interpretation of atonal and twelve-tone music. Bryn-Julson happens to like organ music!

Central to the institute were a series of four evening performances by the teaching faculty: Kevin Birch, Margaret Harper, Christian Lane, Jonathan Moyer, and Dana Robinson. The repertoire varied, but one evening each was devoted to American, French, and German compositions, and the final evening was given dedicated to “Masterworks for the Organ.” The quality of the playing was impeccable, but a few of the highlights included Birch’s exquisite reading of “Andante sostenuto” from Symphonie Gothique, op. 70, of Charles-Marie Widor, and Harper’s elegant performance of “Vater unser im Himmelreich” (BWV 682) from the Clavierübung of Johann Sebastian Bach, surely one of the hardest pieces in the repertoire. To my ears, the performance honors went to the remarkable Dana Robinson from the University of Illinois at Champaign. His  performance of Felix Mendelssohn’s Sonata No. 1 in F, op. 65, no. 1, and the Choral in E Major by César Franck were among the finest interpretations of those works I recall hearing. A few at the institute referred to Robinson as an “organists’ organist,” and his faultless accuracy, rhythmic drive, and musical sensitivity were astounding. Regardless of the literature, Opus 288 was convincing. Put simply, it is a really good organ; it was a privilege to hear it played so well day after day.

 

Students, teachers, scholars, and organbuilders

A feature of the institute was a series of masterclasses. While many of the participants opted to visit the region’s historic organs instead, the students worked with the faculty daily on old and new literature. Andrew Scanlon, organ professor from East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina (and a distinguished player in his own right), brought a number of his students. They were excited to study with the faculty, and a Friday-morning program featuring them was enthusiastically applauded.

Significant elements of new scholarship were offered. Barbara Owen’s book, Hook Organs in the State of Maine, recently published by the Organ Historical Society Press (ISBN 978-0-913499-80-1), reinforced the topic of her lecture. David E. Wallace, noted organbuilder from Gorham, Maine, gave a detailed account of current organ work in the state. He also produced a detailed handout on the known work of George Stevens in Maine. George Bozeman presented an admirable presentation-recital on the English voluntary. The Stevens organ at First Parish Church in Belfast—an organ Bozeman beautifully restored in 1975—served the purposes of this genre with distinction and was well-received. James Woodman, a composer of some note, spoke on the attributes of small organs. Vermont’s remarkable organbuilder, A. David Moore, shared some of the challenges he faced recently restoring a Hook organ, Opus 304 (1861), for Bangor’s Hammond Street Congregational Church. His discussion was illustrated, and Moore showed us different types of organ pipes, explaining how their physical characteristics influenced the sound they produced.

Other well-known organ builders were present and added immeasurably to the discussions; among them were William F. Czelusniak, Scot L. Huntington, and the great-granddaddy, the honorable Robert C. Newton. While three organbuilders brought chamber instruments to the institute, it was the superb wood-working skills of Nicholas Wallace (a member of The Diapason’s 20 Under 30 Class of 2015) that most impressed attendees. Expect to hear much more from this young organbuilder in the future.

The Organ Historical Society was much in evidence: no less than three former presidents, several former members of its national council and staff, and a considerable number of current members were present. A few “extras” at the event, such as an old-fashioned, New England chicken-pie supper, and a visit to the award-winning Young’s Lobster Pound in Belfast, were enjoyed. And Lorna and Carlton Russell’s fine and carefully planned demonstration on the elegant 1847 Hook organ in Stockton Springs was greatly appreciated.

We left the institute on Saturday wanting more. Bangor is certainly not on the ordinary traveling routes of most people, and getting there was a challenge for anyone outside northern New England. Some seventy participants came from as far away as Colorado, Georgia, and Texas. St. John’s Organ Society brought a varied group of people together for an extraordinary event that was as enjoyable as it was informative. Putting an event like this together is a lot of work. Sincere thanks and a warm salute were extended to Kevin Birch, Cathy Bruno, and the members of St. John’s Organ Society for a satisfying experience.

 

E. & G. G. Hook Opus 288 (1860)

St. John’s Catholic Church, Bangor, Maine

Great (Manual II)

16′ Bourdon (wood, 56 pipes)

8′ Op. Diapason (metal, 56 pipes)

8′ Melodia (TC, wood, 44 pipes)

8′ Std Diapason Bass (wood, 12 pipes)

4′ Principal (metal, 56 pipes)

4′ Flute (wood, 56 pipes)

22⁄3′ Twelfth (metal, 56 pipes)

2′ Fifteenth (metal, 56 pipes)*

3 ranks Sesquialtra (metal, 168 pipes)

8′ Trumpet (metal, 56 pipes)

4′ Clarion (metal, 56 pipes)

Swell (Manual III, enclosed, balanced Swell pedal, originally hitch-down)

16′ Bourdon (TC, wood, 56 pipes)

8′ Op. Diapason (TC, metal, 44 pipes)*

8′ Viol di Gamba (metal, 56 pipes)*

8′ Stopd Diapason (wood and metal, 

    56 pipes)

4′ Principal (metal, 56 pipes)*

4′ Flute Harmonique (metal, 56 pipes)*

2′ Fifteenth (metal, 56 pipes)*

3 ranks Dulciana Cornet (metal, 161 pipes)

8′ Trumpet (metal, 56 pipes)

8′ Oboe (TC, metal, 44 pipes)*

Tremulant

Choir

16′ Eolina (TC, metal, 44 pipes)

8′ Open Diapason (metal, 56 pipes)

8′ Dulciana (TC, metal, 44 pipes)*

8′ Viola d’Amour (metal, 56 pipes)*

8′ Stopd Diapason (wood, 56 pipes)

4′ Celestina (metal, 56 pipes)*

4′ Flute a’ Chiminee (metal, 56 pipes)

2′ Picolo (metal, 56 pipes)

8′ Cremona (TC, metal, 44 pipes)

8′ Corno di Basetto (CC–C, 12 pipes)

Pedal

16′ Dble. Op. Diapn (wood, 27 pipes)

16′ Dble. Dulciana (wood, 27 pipes)

16′ Grand Posaune (wood, 27 pipes, 

    new, 1981)*

Pedal Check*

Couplers and Mechanicals:

Sw. to Gr.

Sw. to Ch.

Ch. to Gr. Sub 8va.

Gr. to Ped.

Ch. to Ped.

Sw. to Ped.

Bellows Signal*

Combination Pedals:

Four unlabelled single-acting pedals:

Great p

Great f

Swell p

Swell f

Great to Pedal Reversible

 

Manual compass: 56 notes (CC–g3); pedal compass: 27 notes (CCC–D, originally 25 notes)

*Original label missing

 

The organ was first played by Boston organist John Henry Willcox on Christmas Eve, 1860. It was restored by the Bozeman-Gibson Organ Co. in 1981, and more recently has been under the care of Robert C. Newton and the Andover Organ Co. of Methuen, Massachusetts. Opus 288 received Historic Organ Citation no. 319 from the Organ Historical Society in 2005, and remains the largest nineteenth-century historical organ in the state.

 

E. & G. G. Hook (1847)

Community Church, Stockton Springs, Maine

Manual (GGG, AAA–f3, 58 notes)

8′ Op. Diapason (TC, metal, 47 pipes)

8′ Dulciana (TG, metal, 35 pipes)

8′ Clarabella (TG, wood, 35 pipes)

8′ St. Diapason Treble (TC, wood and 

  metal, 35 pipes)

8′ St. Diapason Bass (wood, 23 pipes)

4′ Principal (metal, 58 pipes)

4′ Flute (wood and metal, 58 pipes)

22⁄3′ Twelfth (metal, 58 pipes)

2′ Fifteenth (metal, 58 pipes)

8′ Hautboy (TG, metal, 35 pipes)

Pedal: GGG, AAA–E, 17 notes [no pipes]

Pedal Couple

Pedal Movements:

2 unlabelled single-acting pedals: all stops above 8′ on and off

Bellows Signal

The organ was built in 1847 for the Universalist Church, Bangor, Maine. It was replaced in Bangor by E. & G. G. Hook Opus 318 (1862), a large two-manual organ. In 1864 the 1847 organ was sold for $500 to the Universalist Church, Stockton Springs, Maine, when it was moved and installed in the gallery at an additional cost of $125. During the twentieth century, the congregation became known as the Community Church.

All the metal pipework is common metal. The St. Diapason Treble 8′ and the Flute 4′ are chimney flutes with stopped wood basses. The Clarabella 8′ is actually a Melodia with low cut-ups. The bottom eleven notes of the Open Diapason 8′ are grooved from the St. Diapason Bass 8′. The organ was restored by the Andover Organ Co. of Methuen, Massachusetts, and is unaltered.

Mander Organs, 

London, England

Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, New York, New York

25th anniversary of the organ

 

From the Director of Music 

Ministries

Much has been written about the propensity of music to expand the mind and heart beyond the world of active consciousness into a realm that renders language impotent. We musicians have an unshakeable faith in the power of the music we make—given the right frame of mind on the part of performer and listener, our own thorough preparation, and the adequacy of the instrument at hand—to break open facets of mystery heretofore undisclosed. The very sound of the instruments we play can get under our skin and show us new ways of being, giving us previously undiscovered avenues for experiencing the world and each other.

We have all trained our minds and our techniques. We are aware of our limitations and try to live within them while wisely and carefully pushing back, improving our craft bit by bit. What we don’t always have control over is, as I said above, the “adequacy of the instrument at hand.” At some point, all organists have to make the best of impossible instruments and acoustics, creating beauty from the most improbable circumstances. At the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola in New York City—a city full of landmark pipe organs—we are fortunate enough to experience the opposite.

The Church of St. Ignatius Loyola was founded in 1851 and entrusted to the Jesuits in 1866. Our present edifice, built in 1898 at the corner of Park Avenue and 84th Street, housed a magnificent 3-manual Hook & Hastings pipe organ of 51 registers, which was expanded in 1913 to 80 stops. At some point prior to 1950, a subsequent rebuild yielded an instrument of 3 manuals and 44 stops. The organ eventually fell into disrepair and was replaced by a hybrid pipe/electronic instrument in 1975, which, by the late 1980s, was also in need of replacement. Also requiring attention was the deteriorating physical plant of the church, housing a rather small local congregation, which itself was running annual budget deficits.

In 1986, the Reverend Walter F. Modrys, S.J., became pastor of the church. Recognizing the long-standing importance of music to the parish, he hired Kent Tritle, a young and dynamic organist and choral conductor, to serve as the church’s music director. But given the significant financial needs of the parish at the time, it was difficult to justify spending enormous sums of money on a pipe organ. In 1990, an anonymous donor stepped forward with a gift of $750,000, insisting that it be used to purchase the finest new organ money could buy. A second donor supplemented with a gift of $250,000, which the parish matched to renovate the organ loft and install the necessary additional electrical components and lighting. An organ committee was assembled and Mr. Tritle spent the next several months visiting organbuilders both in the United States and Europe. It became clear that the London firm N. P. Mander should build the new organ, and that it would be the largest mechanical action organ ever built in the New York metropolitan area.

Designed and constructed at the Mander workshops in England during 1991–1992, the first shipment of materials arrived at the church in November 1992. Over the next several months, a large contingent of craftsmen and technicians from Mander assembled the 4-manual, 68-rank, 91-stop, 5,000-pipe, 30-ton, 45-foot-high instrument. The organ’s debut recital on April 27, 1993, with David Higgs was a historic event, packing nearly 1,800 people into a church that sat 1,200 at Easter. At the time, historian Barbara Owen noted to the New York Times that it should become an organ of choice for concerts and recordings. Indeed it has.

The organ’s discography includes recordings by ensembles such as the Pittsburgh Symphony and the Westminster Choir, as well as renowned organists John Scott, David Liddle, Anthony Newman, Andrew Shenton, Harry Huff, David Enlow, long-time associate organist (now organist emerita) Nancianne Parrella, and two solo discs by Mr. Tritle. Through solo recitals by John Scott, Marie-Claire Alain, David Hurd, Simon Preston, Joan Lippincott, David Hill, Anthony Newman, Dame Gilliam Weir, Stephen Tharp, Philippe Lefebvre, Gerre Hancock, Thomas Murray, Sophie-Véronique Cauchefer-Choplin, John Grew, Martin Baker, David Briggs, Ken Cowan, Paul Jacobs, Christopher Houlihan, and staff organists Renée Anne Louprette, Andrew Henderson, Robert McDermitt, Mrs. Parrella, and Mr. Tritle, the warmth, brilliance, and majesty of the Mander organ have thrilled and delighted audiences. No stranger to St. Ignatius, the great Olivier Latry personally chose this organ and church as the American site for his acclaimed millennial cycle of Messiaen’s complete works for organ.

In addition to recitals, the organ is an invaluable partner to the incomparable Choir and Orchestra of St. Ignatius Loyola in our Sacred Music in a Sacred Space concert series. Over the years, Lincoln Center has presented many artists in concert, including Yo-Yo Ma, Dawn Upshaw, Ton Koopman, the Hilliard Ensemble, the London Symphony Chorus, the Kirov Opera Chorus, Les Arts Florissants, the late John Tavener, and a host of others. This past spring, the renowned Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir gave us a beautifully transcendent evening of works by Arvo Pärt, and I was fortunate enough to accompany them at the organ, as well as play a solo work by the venerable Mr. Pärt. A few months later, Carnegie Hall presented The Tallis Scholars at St. Ignatius with Daniel Hyde, organist and director of music at St. Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue, at the organ. 

In addition to its well-documented presence on New York’s concert scene, the Mander organ is a spiritual partner to the 4,400 families of our parish. At over 400 liturgies per year, this organ enriches and enlarges the prayers of our community, rejoices with brides and grooms, gives comfort to grieving families, and uplifts the intercessions of our children from the St. Ignatius Loyola grammar school and our Interparish Religious Education Program, all at the hands of our esteemed principal organist, Daniel Beckwith. It also serves as accompanist for three of our four adult choirs and our three children’s choirs.

For me personally, the Mander has been an endless wellspring of inspiration. The tonal palette, encompassing the warmth of the diapasons, the gentle silver crowning of the mixtures, the breadth and lushness of the strings, the varied shadings of the reeds—from dark richness to brilliant fire—and the liquid flutes, sparks my imagination as few instruments can. Every style of repertoire from every school of organbuilding and composition excels here with panache.

Now in its 25th year, the Mander has proven itself as a more-than-worthy investment of parish resources, reaching vast audiences and touching the lives of tens of thousands. The 29th season of Sacred Music in a Sacred Space opened on October 6 with an astonishing concert by the Philippine Madrigal Singers and a brilliant solo organ recital on October 22 by former St. Ignatius music director, now director of cathedral music at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, Kent Tritle. The organ remains at center stage as we celebrate its silver anniversary throughout the 2017–2018 season.

It is my hope that if you haven’t experienced the ravishing beauty of this landmark instrument, you will join us at some point, either in liturgy or concert. A feast for the ear and eye alike, it will stir your heart and mind. You will be changed.

—K. Scott Warren

Director of Music Ministries, Church of St. Ignatius Loyola

Artistic Director, Sacred Music in a Sacred Space

Organist/Choirmaster, Congregation Emanu-El

 

From the Builder

It is not every day that an organbuilder is asked to build an instrument of the size and significance of that at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola in New York. As the specification indicates, the organ draws on the French Romantic era for inspiration. But it also goes much further in its development to provide an instrument of versatility and integrity matching both the musical demands of the church’s liturgy and the wide-ranging requirements of St. Ignatius Loyola’s extensive Sacred Music in a Sacred Space concert series. However, the organ at St. Ignatius Loyola is not a slavish copy of a mid-nineteenth century French organ, let alone a copy of a Cavaillé-Coll. The style was used as a starting point rather than an end in itself.

The mid-nineteenth century French organ has an obvious relationship to the liturgy of a Jesuit church with an active music program. But to have restricted the style to that would have placed too many limitations on the general versatility of the organ. Attempts have been made to mitigate the limitations inevitably inherent in copying a particular style by the introduction of elements from different and often disparate schools. The consequential lack of blend has sometimes given rise to what is in essence a number of smaller organs masquerading as a large one.

How then to satisfy the requirements of a modern instrument to perform musically, if not strictly authentically, a large part of the rich repertoire for the organ? How could the request to provide an instrument with a French romantic flavor be acceded to without excluding the repertoire of the earlier French eras, not to mention the non-French literature? How could it be made sufficiently true to the chosen genre to afford players in the New York area a unique opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the music of Franck, Duruflé, Messiaen, and later? How could we ensure that the liturgical requirements were satisfied first and foremost but still afford sufficient character to provide an exciting concert instrument?

The combination of the varied requirements led to much discussion during the initial planning stages, among Kent Tritle, at the time director of music ministries at St. Ignatius Loyola, the consultants, and ourselves. Our main objective was to ensure that the whole instrument had integrity and a feeling of oneness. For this reason, we decided that rather than attempting to incorporate different styles in the one organ, we would approach the problem from the other end and develop the core style sympathetically, while staying true to the core itself.

At an early stage in the planning, we visited a number of appropriate instruments of Cavaillé-Coll (being the obvious candidate for investigation of the French organ of the nineteenth century), intentionally spreading the selection over as wide a period of his work as possible. Our first discovery was that it is very difficult to define the Cavaillé-Coll organ at all. There are wide variations in style, from the almost Dutch classical at St. Omer (1855) to the high symphonic of Rouen (1890). Our perception of the Cavaillé-Coll organ is, perhaps, influenced too heavily by the Parisian instruments in general and that of St. Sulpice in particular.

However, the study of these instruments actually gave us the clue as to the best way forward. In particular, we were able to appreciate the way Cavaillé-Coll could base a new instrument around existing pipework and cases, yet still produce an exciting and interesting result with the integrity essential to any good instrument. It was especially instructive to see how he could achieve this and still create an organ that bore his own unmistakable stamp.

With this appreciation, we decided to base the new organ for St. Ignatius on the middle period of Cavaillé-Coll’s own work, developing it, while remaining true to our chosen starting point. For example, a Positif de Dos was included, but the pipework was scaled and voiced in the same style as the rest of the organ. Very few, if any new organs of the mid-nineteenth century in France had a Positif de Dos, as the Positif was usually incorporated within the main case. The Grand Récit was developed to provide the grand Swell Organ effect demanded of an instrument of the late twentieth century.

The important requirements of a Franck-style Récit, which could not have been realized in a large enclosed department, were satisfied by the Petit Récit on the fourth manual, also the home of some of the important Solo elements. The Pedal was developed to be as complete and independent as possible. Finally, some registers, which would have been foreign to a true mid-nineteenth century French organ, were incorporated, but these were always scaled and voiced in a style firmly in keeping with the rest of the instrument.

Without proper attention to the starting point, the result could well have turned out to be bland and of indeterminate character. However, while voicing the organ, we continually ensured we were staying faithful to our model. As we progressed with the voicing, we had pieces of the French repertoire played on the organ to ensure we were neither straying too far away from our inspiration nor missing important details in our attempt to develop the overall style.

The result, we hope, is an organ with a voice of its own, perhaps an English organ speaking with a strong French accent. Our aim was an instrument capable of producing a musical result, accepting that the gain in character might to some degree limit true authenticity. Above all, however, we wanted to create an instrument that is unashamedly of our own era, one which can stand proudly as a representation of late twentieth-century craftsmanship.

No organ is the product of one person, and this one drew on some people who really need to be acknowledged as significant contributors to the project. The case design was conceived by Diddier Grassin, now president of the Noack Organ Company. He also advised us and arranged our study tour in France. The late Stephen Bicknell did the technical design as well as the realization of Didier’s design. The Mander team really pulled together to make this challenging dream a reality, not least Michael Blighton, the voicer. Fr. Walter Modrys, pastor at the time, gave unstinting support and encouragement to us all. But, above all, it was Kent Tritle’s vision, encouragement, trust, advice, and great friendship that bound us all together and made his dream possible.

—John Pike Mander

 

Concerts celebrating the 25th anniversary of the N. P. Mander organ, 2017–2018 season

 

Maurice Duruflé, Requiem and other works

Thursday, November 2, 2017, 8 p.m.

Choir of St. Ignatius Loyola

K. Scott Warren, conductor

David Enlow, organ 

Messe “Cum jubilo”

Four Motets on Gregorian Themes

Our Father

 

Love’s Pure Light: Annual Christmas Concert

Sunday, December 10, 2017, 3 p.m.

Sunday, December 17, 2017, 3 p.m.

Choirs & Orchestra of St. Ignatius Loyola

Daniel Beckwith, organ

J. S. Bach, Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme

Handel, “Hallelujah” from Messiah

Popular carols

 

N. P. Mander Organ Recital

Sunday, January 14, 2018, 3 p.m.

Simon Johnson

 

N. P. Mander Organ Recital

Sunday, February 18, 2018, 3 p.m.

Reneé Anne Louprette 

 

J. S. Bach: Visions of Eternity

Wednesday, March 21, 2018, 8 p.m.

Choir & Orchestra of St. Ignatius Loyola

K. Scott Warren, conductor

Andrew Henderson, organ

Chorales, motets, and arias

 

N. P. Mander Organ Recital

Sunday, April 15, 2018, 3 p.m

David Higgs

 

Francis Poulenc, Gloria, Organ Concerto, and Mass in G Major

Wednesday, May 23, 2018, 8 p.m.

Choir & Orchestra of St. Ignatius Loyola

K. Scott Warren, conductor

Reneé Anne Louprette, organ

 

Photo credits: 

Joshua South Photography

 

Builder’s website: 

https://mander-organs.com

Church website: 

www.stignatiusloyola.org

 

Concerts website:

www.smssconcerts.org

Church of St. Ignatius Loyola

980 Park Avenue

New York, New York 10028

 

Phone: 212/288-3588

 

GRAND ORGUE (85 mm w.p.)

16′ Montre 61 pipes

8′ Montre 61 pipes

8′ Flûte harmonique 61 pipes

8′ Violoncelle 61 pipes

8′ Bourdon 61 pipes

4′ Prestant 61 pipes

4′ Flûte à fuseau 61 pipes

22⁄3′ Quinte 61 pipes

2′ Doublette 61 pipes

13⁄5′ Tierce 61 pipes

2′ Fourniture V 305 pipes

2⁄3′ Cymbale IV 244 pipes

8′ Cornet V (from g⁰) 270 pipes

16′ Bombarde 61 pipes

8′ Trompette 64 pipes

4′ Clairon 76 pipes

Tremblant

Récit–G.O.

Positif–G.O.

IVe Clav.–G.O.

POSITIF (75 mm w.p.)

8′ Montre 61 pipes

8′ Flûte à cheminée 61 pipes

4′ Prestant 61 pipes

4′ Flûte douce 61 pipes

22⁄3′ Nazard 61 pipes

2′ Doublette 61 pipes

2′ Quarte de Nazard 61 pipes

13⁄5′ Tierce 61 pipes

11⁄3′ Larigot 61 pipes

11⁄3′ Plein jeu V 305 pipes

8′ Trompette 61 pipes

8′ Cromorne 61 pipes

Tremblant

IVe Clav.–Positif

Récit–Positif

RÉCIT EXPRESSIF (85 mm w.p.)

16′ Bourdon 61 pipes

8′ Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Salicional 61 pipes

8′ Unda Maris 61 pipes

8′ Cor de nuit 61 pipes

4′ Octave 61 pipes

4′ Flûte ouverte 61 pipes

2′ Doublette 61 pipes

22⁄3′ Cornet III 183 pipes

11⁄3′ Plein jeu IV 244 pipes

16′ Basson 61 pipes

8′ Trompette harmonique 64 pipes

8′ Clarinette 61 pipes

4′ Clairon harmonique 76 pipes

Tremblant 

IVe Clav.–Récit

IVe CLAVIER 

PETIT RÉCIT EXPRESSIF
(90 mm w.p.)

8′ Flûte traversière 61 pipes

8′ Viole de Gambe 61 pipes

8′ Voix céleste 61 pipes

8′ Bourdon 61 pipes

4′ Flûte octaviante 61 pipes

2′ Octavin 61 pipes

16′ Cor anglais 61 pipes

8′ Trompette 61 pipes

8′ Basson-hautbois 61 pipes

8′ Voix humaine 61 pipes

Tremblant

BOMBARDE (140 mm w.p.)

16′ Bombarde 61 pipes

8′ Trompette en chamade 64 pipes

4′ Clairon en chamade 76 pipes

PEDALE (95 & 110 mm w.p.)

32′ Soubasse (ext 16′) 12 pipes

16′ Montre 32 pipes

16′ Contrebasse 32 pipes

16′ Soubasse 32 pipes

8′ Principal 32 pipes

8′ Flûte bouchée 32 pipes

4′ Octave 32 pipes

31⁄5′ Mixture V 160 pipes

32′ Contre Bombarde (ext 16′) 

12 pipes

16′ Bombarde 32 pipes

16′ Basson 32 pipes

8′ Trompette 32 pipes

4′ Clairon 32 pipes

G.O.–Pédale

Récit–Pédale

Positif–Pédale

IVe Clav.–Pédale

 

Etoile (in memory of Bridie Callahan by The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation)

 

Orage

 

256 memory level capture action system. 

Keys of bone, sharps of ebony. 

Case of French oak. 

Interior supports of American oak. 

Stop jambs of bur walnut, maple inlay. 

Stops of rosewood.

 

All couplers are purely mechanical; there is no electric assist. 

 

5,196 pipes

American Organ Institute, 

University of Oklahoma, 

Norman, Oklahoma

Trinity Lutheran Church,

Norman, Oklahoma

Built in 1909, this Hinners organ was originally installed in the Eighth Street Methodist Church in Oklahoma City and is believed to be one of the first pipe organs installed in Oklahoma. The bombing of the nearby Murrah Federal Building in 1995, along with water damage and wear, made the organ unusable by the time the church converted the building’s primary function to be the home of Skyline Urban Ministries. John Schwandt, director of the American Organ Institute (AOI) at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, arranged for the organ to be removed and put in storage, awaiting restoration at the AOI shop if a new home for it could be found. Under the careful leadership of Pastor David Nehrenz, Trinity Lutheran Church in Norman decided to purchase the organ and to become that new home.

At the AOI shop, the full-time staff along with students in the organ technology program lovingly restored as many of the existing parts as possible. Pieces that had been damaged beyond reliable repair were replaced with new, replicating the old. The reservoir and feeder bellows were completely releathered, as were the pallets of the slider windchests. All bushings on the keyboards, squares, and other action parts were replaced, along with any broken trackers.

As one of the Hinners Organ Company’s stock model instruments, the organ had been made with casework for both sides, which had then been removed or substantially altered to install it in a partial chamber. In its new home, the organ would be freestanding, requiring suitable casework on either side. Using details from some surviving pieces of casework, completely new sides were designed and built to match the front casework that remains unchanged. The façade pipes were stripped and repainted with an elegant pale gold color.

One of the great assets of the AOI program is the opportunity to bring in experts from the organbuilding community for some aspects of a particular project. Not only does this yield excellent work, it also allows students to learn details by working directly with a master. On this project, the windchest retabling and pallet restoration were accomplished by Brad Rule from Tennessee. Releathering of the large double-rise reservoir and feeder bellows was done by Richard Nickerson of Massachusetts.

The Great 2′ Super Octave replaces the original 8′ Dulciana (from tenor C), which shared 12 basses with the 8′ Melodia. New bass holes were drilled in the chest for the Super Octave. The Dulciana pipes were carefully wrapped and stored in the organ for future restoration, if desired.

The entire organ was assembled in the shop for testing before being dismantled and transported to the church for final installation. On its final weekend in the shop, the AOI welcomed church members and the community for an open house celebration. Several students played pieces, and the entire group joined in hearty hymn singing. The organ was delivered on November 28, 2017, was used for the first time in worship on the evening of December 19, and was dedicated with a recital by Silviya Mateva on February 11, 2018. Evan Bellas, a graduate student at the AOI and part of the restoration team, is organist and choir director of Trinity Lutheran Church.

The staff and students of the American Organ Institute are proud to have had a part in bringing this instrument back to life and reinforcing the role of the pipe organ in Oklahoma.

­—Fredrick Bahr, Shop Manager

 

Michael McNeil

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

Preface

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

 

Tonal design overview

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

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

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

 

Pitch, wind pressure, and general notes

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

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

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

 

Stoplist

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

GREAT

8′ Open Diapason

8′ Keraulophon

8′ Clarabella

4′ Principal

4′ Flute à Cheminée (TC)

22⁄3′ Twelfth

2′ Fifteenth

8′ Trumpet

SWELL

16′ Bourdon (TC)

8′ Open Diapason

8′ Stopped Diapason

8′ Viol d’Amour (TF)

4′ Principal

8′ Hautboy (TF)

Tremolo

PEDAL

16′ Double Open Diapason

 

Couplers

Great to Pedal

Swell to Pedal

Swell to Great

 

Blower signal

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

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

 

The wind system

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

The wind system in pictures

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

 

The layout in pictures

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

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

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

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

Notes and credits

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

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

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

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

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

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

6. The Johnson Organs, p. 100.

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

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

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

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

11. Ibid, p. 207.

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

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

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

15. The Johnson Organs, p. 25.

16. Ibid, p. 23.

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

18. The Johnson Organs, p. 23.

 

To be continued.