Quimby Pipe Organs, Inc., Cover Feature

Quimby Pipe Organs, Warrensburg, Missouri

Dunwoody United Methodist Church, Dunwoody, Georgia

Quimby Pipe Organs Opus 76, recently installed at Dunwoody United Methodist Church, comprises 100 ranks distributed over five manual divisions, playable from a four-manual and pedal console. The completion of this instrument represents the culmination of an idea and process that began in 2007. After many attempts to make an organ project “go,” either as a stand-alone project, or paired with other proposed major capital work on campus, it wasn’t until the need for a major renovation of the sanctuary occurred that a new organ, installed in a different location, became a necessity and, eventually, a reality.

This was a particularly challenging and yet ultimately rewarding sanctuary and chancel renovation project, the genesis of which was to adapt the space so that the church’s contemporary worship service could relocate from a social hall to meet in the sanctuary, where a traditional service and music program were making good use of the traditionally styled space and generous acoustics. The emergent projects goals were many, among which: 1) to relocate the choir and organ from the rear gallery to the chancel; 2) to somehow create organ chambers in a space where they didn’t exist and where there didn’t appear to be room for them; 3) to acoustically deaden and otherwise transform the room for the successful accommodation of the contemporary worship service; 4) but to do this without permanently changing the acoustics of the space for traditional worship.

The spacious sanctuary, which had been constructed new in the year 2000, had excellent acoustics, and even though the former organ, which had been relocated from a much smaller sanctuary, was undersized for the room, the acoustics of the space enabled the organ to remain in use for nearly twenty years following its temporary location. It was well constructed and a good example of its type; it simply didn’t go far enough in its scope to support the music program.  As director of music Sonny Walden and organist Mary Ruth Solem will immediately tell you, it not only wasn’t loud enough, it also wasn’t soft enough, and there were too few opportunities for smoothly graded dynamic levels in between the two.

The renovation solution was costly, but effective. Space for organ chambers was created, encroaching on unused above-ceiling space outside the existing chancel, the footprint of the original chancel, and a mechanical mezzanine behind the chancel. A choir loft with built-in risers was constructed in front of the new organ chambers. For contemporary worship, retractable acoustical banners lower down from the attic, covering the choir loft, Chancel organ, Antiphonal organ, and all windows at the push of the button. The result is a space acoustically and visually suitable for amplified music, electronic projection, and colored LED lighting effects; it has had a net-zero impact on the intrinsic acoustical quality of the space.

From an early point in the dialogue, the church voiced an interest in exploring the possible use of high-quality vintage American pipework for incorporation into a new instrument. Given our experience in working with vintage pipework for new organ projects that are not restoration-focused, we enthusiastically agreed, and began the search for an instrument that would fit the bill—something that would allow artistic latitude and freedom in the creation of a new, unified identity, but which would also contribute a unique tonal provenance and material advantage to the project.

What we eventually found, in fact, were two organs, which the church ultimately bought and placed into storage until the project could be realized. The first, Ernest M. Skinner Co. Opus 195 (four manuals, 66 ranks), dating from 1913, was originally installed in Grace Chapin Hall at Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts, where it was used until it was vandalized in 1959. As the story goes, which is now almost as apocryphal as it is difficult to document, an organ student, following his end of semester juries, entered the organ chamber, and destroyed nearly everything he could access. From that time until the organ was removed in 2011, the organ was mothballed at Williams College and never played again. A careful cataloguing of the surviving pipes following the organ’s removal from the college revealed a surprising picture: perhaps a third of the organ’s ranks either missing or damaged beyond any cost effective repair; another third showing some damage but imminently repairable under skilled hands; and a final third, perhaps, completely untouched and as good as the day the organ was installed.   

Surviving examples of pipes from the Great Diapason chorus, which was nearly entirely destroyed, exist from all pitch levels of that ensemble—from a 16′ Double Open Diapason through a three-rank chorus mixture—and provide an interesting insight into Skinner’s tonal work for a large organ in the early 1910s. These are scaled and voiced to be heroic while also harmonically developed and bright—not at all dull. The ensemble has much more in common with highly developed diapason chorus work at the culmination of the nineteenth-century American building tradition—before organ ensembles devolved into a tonal center around the unison pitch, with little-to-no upperwork—than it does the Skinner sound we have come to know and appreciate from the 1920s. It stands in complete contrast to his work from later periods, and it is a shame that this chorus work was destroyed.

In addition to the usual very fine diapasons, flutes, strings, and reeds, Opus 195 is the first Skinner organ to have one of the now-famous Skinner French Horns, and also is where the Skinner Corno di Bassetto first made its appearance. A review of the tonal specification for the new organ demonstrates that this defunct organ, constructed by one of the foremost early twentieth-century American organbuilders, has made a significant contribution to the new organ at Dunwoody, including the very fine Pedal 32′ Contra Bourdon, which produces some of the deepest tones in the instrument, and the Solo 8′ Tuba, which is the loudest stop in the organ.

The second organ procured for use in the new instrument was constructed in 1939 by Casavant Frères, Ltd. (three manuals, 42 ranks) for the now defunct Chapel of the Immaculate Conception Seminary in Darlington, New Jersey. Like most Casavant organs dating from the 1930s, this organ was constructed and voiced according to English Romantic ideals, brought to Casavant by tonal director Stephen Stoot, and included diapason chorus work of remarkably heavy construction, superbly constructed wood flutes, and English-style reeds. Our own assessment is that the flues were never voiced up to scale, and, as we found them, were rather lackluster and dull as individual voices. The reeds seem to have suffered an unfortunate fate following a haphazard revoicing prior to the closing of the seminary. After the seminary was closed in the early 1980s, the organ was repeatedly flooded due to serious roof leaks over the organ cases. Nevertheless, in terms of substantial, beautifully constructed pipework, suitable for revoicing, Casavant Opus 1600 presented a wealth of material. Most of the water damage was sustained by the 32′ Contra Posaune, which because of its miters, held the water in the miter knuckles, where, completely undetectable from the outside, the zinc corroded from the inside out. These pipes have been substantially reconstructed and revoiced and form the bass of the Pedal 32′ Contra Trombone at Dunwoody.

It may seem strange to conceptualize the combination of pipework from two very different instruments, constructed nearly thirty years apart, and with widely divergent tonal ideals in mind, in an attempt to create any kind of instrument that has a cohesive tonal identity. And it’s true that this is probably not a good idea, at least if it is approached with a restoration-conservation mindset, where the ranks from each respective organ are to retain their original voices, balance, and relationship to one another. That approach is on its own extremely valid, and certainly equally satisfying, and should certainly have been undertaken if, say, this were a project where the Skinner pipework (were it all intact) and mechanics were to be restored as an entity and installed in an environment that demanded a 1913 organ sound. However, because of the vandalism the 1913 Skinner all but disappeared in the 1950s, and the 1939 Casavant, with beautifully and substantially constructed pipes, was, as we found it, unevenly and under voiced, possessing a disappointing ensemble. Neither organ, as we encountered them, was playable or usable, and neither organ stood much prospect of restoration and reuse elsewhere. More importantly, we were not tasked with a restoration project by the church, but rather, to create something new using to advantage the accumulated material at hand.

Looking beyond this, however, it’s helpful to place the 1913 Skinner and 1939 Casavant organs, while different, both as a part of an organbuilding continuum that continued uninterrupted in development and refinement from its fifteenth-century origins right up until the middle twentieth century. Organs from later in this continuum are markedly different from earlier instruments, but each builder in this centuries-long procession built upon what had been given by the previous generation, at least until this succession was interrupted by the Organ Reform Movement. For the first time in organbuilding history, the work of the immediate past was swept away, intentionally and deliberately, in an effort to recapture ideals—sometimes real, and sometimes supposed—that marked organbuilding in an earlier age.

While it’s certainly true that the Organ Reform Movement has left a mostly-positive legacy (and some noteworthy landmarks of twentieth-century organbuilding) on the contemporary American organbuilding landscape—even though most contemporary organbuilders have moved beyond the strictures of its dictums—at QPO, we like to regard our own work as very much a return to the continuum and succession that existed prior to World War II. What would it be like, we ask ourselves, if organbuilding had continued uninterrupted, and the work of each new generation an expansion of what had gone before, rather than a violent reaction against it? We like to think that Opus 76 at Dunwoody United Methodist, along with a number of other recent projects, has given us a chance to explore this in detail.

As to the ensemble, Opus 76 has the hallmark of any QPO ensemble from the past twenty-five years or so: highly characteristic, individually beautiful colors or voices that are simultaneously extremely effective and flexible ensemble players. These individualist voices are each strong, characteristic examples of their class and type, and are the sort of voice you want to hear played alone—full of intrinsic beauty and interest. However, beautiful, characteristic voices alone are not enough, for we’ve all heard and played organs where the colors individually are beautiful, but combine intractably into loose ensembles, mixing like oil and water, where the ear can pick apart all the constituent parts. On the other hand, we’ve all heard and played organs where decent or even very good ensembles are given, but a review, one by one, of the individual voices reveals bland, uninteresting color and voicing. One of the measures of any great organ—whatever the period, style, or timbre—is that the individual voices pass this litmus test: to be highly characteristic, colorful, and intrinsically beautiful, and yet nevertheless combine with others to form a wide array of flexible and dynamic ensembles of all types.

In Opus 76, there are, in fact, individual voices that may be recognizable as early “Skinner,” pre-WWII “Casavant,” or even modern “Quimby,” but in each and every case, the emphasis in terms of voicing has not been to maintain the original voice, but to expand upon it, changing it as required so that a new identity is revealed: an organ that speaks with one voice, a cohesive ensemble, and a truly musical instrument.

A review of the accompanying tonal specification will reveal where Skinner or Casavant ranks were used in the new disposition, but the basic concept is as follows. The choruswork for Great, Swell, and Choir-Positive is all Casavant, which has been revoiced and in some cases rescaled to achieve the bold, colorful, heroic-yet-transparent, and clear organ ensemble we strive for. Skinner diapasons from the Swell of 195 were repurposed in the Antiphonal organ chorus. Throughout the organ, colorful flutes and strings were used from both organs. The Casavant Swell reed chorus has been revoiced and resides in the Great. The Skinner reed chorus, at least in part, after substantial reconstruction and revoicing, is in the Swell. The Casavant 32′ Contra Posaune, 16′ Trombone, and 8′ Tromba have been combined to provide a reed that plays at 32′, 16′, 8′, and 4′ in the Pedal and at 8′ in the Solo. One rank of the pipes from the church’s former instrument, along with the Zimbelstern and Chimes, was reused in the new organ: a very fine 8′ Trompette-en-Chamade, now installed vertically, in the Antiphonal organ, and called “8′ Harmonic Trumpet.”

Because of its favorable placement and lack of enclosure, the Antiphonal diapason chorus functions more like a Grand Choeur, rather than a secondary, lesser Great. It is a spectacular effect, at once foundational, colorful, and heroic that must be experienced to be fully appreciated.

Most all of the mechanics and internal structure of the organ, including the windchests, façade pipes, console, and winding system, are completely new. Manual windchests for all straight manual ranks are electro-pneumatic slider windchests, constructed according to the Quimby-Blackinton design, with square drop pallets that allow for copious winding of heroically voiced pipes on a common channel. Also importantly, the chests are constructed without slider seals, which means that the organ won’t have to be de-piped and disassembled to replace the slider seals in a few decades, when they are bound to fail.

Our standard electro-pneumatic unit-action windchests have been used for most pedal ranks and manual unit ranks; the exception here exists in a few instances, where 1913 Skinner unit action windchests were restored for reuse with original ranks, such as the Solo 8′ Tuba and the Pedal 32′ Contra Bourdon and 4′ Solo Flute.

The winding system includes a 10-H.P. vintage Spencer blower, which provides 6-inch wind pressure for most manual and pedal flues, and 10-inch wind pressure for all reeds and Solo flues. The Solo 8′ Tuba is on 20-inch wind pressure, with its own step-up blower. New cone-valve reservoirs, according to our custom design, which is an adaptation of the Skinner reservoir, have been constructed for regulation of wind in the Chancel organ. The Antiphonal organ makes use of a blower and static wind system that was retained from the previous organ.

All manual divisions, except the Antiphonal, are individually enclosed by 2-inch-thick expression shutters and solid wood walls, which enable the heroically voiced ensembles to be brought down to a surprising diminuendo, and the soft voices to fade to nearly a whisper. A new four-manual and pedal console was constructed to a custom design and finished to match the renovated interior of the church, with solid oak exterior cabinetry and solid walnut interior.

During the first choral rehearsal with the new organ, director of music Sonny Walden told Mary Ruth Solem, “I know I’ve never said this before in this room, but the organ is too soft. Isn’t it wonderful to be able to say that?!” And he burst out into joyful laughter. Later, as she has continued to rehearse and perform with Opus 76, Mary Ruth said, “I am starting a long friendship with this instrument!  It’s beautiful, and I am immensely grateful . . . . This is a rare gem.”

We hope that the assessment will over time continue to be as equally enthusiastic and kind, as Opus 76 finds its place in the heart of traditional worship at Dunwoody United Methodist Church, and also in the greater organ world beyond. For our own part, at QPO we have found that working with the vintage fabric, as represented by the many ranks of pipes, originally constructed and voiced by some of the most reputable of our organbuilding forebears, has taught us many lessons, and will continue to yield an impact on the development of our organs into the future.

Because the organ is substantially new mechanically, and because the sound of the new organ is completely unlike a 1910s Skinner or a 1930s Casavant, we have given this instrument an opus number in our body of work. To be sure, the completed instrument does, in certain instances, reveal its parentage, but the overall ensemble has as much in common with all-new organs constructed by Quimby Pipe Organs as it does either Casavant or Skinner. This is no mere restoration of an artifact or the assemblage of collected parts; rather, this organ has been conceptualized to be musically communicative, inspiring, and above all, to support the music ministry and worship cycles of Dunwoody United Methodist Church in the broadest, most flexible way possible; an instrument that offers options, rather than limitations. In this regard, Opus 76 is an original creation—a testimony of our own time; one that we hope will remain timelessly relevant for generations to come.

—T. Daniel Hancock, A.I.A., President

Quimby Pipe Organs, Inc.

GREAT (Manual II, enclosed, 17 ranks, flues 6″ w. p., reeds 10″ w. p.)

16′ Violone (a & b) 73 pipes

16′ Bourdon (Ped)

8′ Open Diapason (b) 61 pipes

8′ Harmonic Flute (a) 49 pipes, 1–12 fr 8′ Stopped Diapason

8′ Stopped Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Violoncello (ext 16′)

51⁄3′ Quint (MC) (b) 37 pipes

4′ Octave (b) 61 pipes

4′ Wald Flute (a) 61 pipes

2-2⁄3′ Twelfth (b) 61 pipes

2′ Fifteenth (b) 61 pipes

1-3⁄5′ Seventeenth (b) 61 pipes

1-1⁄3′ Mixture IV (b) 244 pipes

16′ Double Trumpet (b) 61 pipes

8′ Trumpet (b) 61 pipes

4′ Clarion (b) 61 pipes

8′ Tuba (Solo)

8′ Harmonic Trumpet (Ant)

Chimes (d) 25 tubes

Tremolo

Great to Great 16

Great Unison Off

Great to Great 4

SWELL (Manual III, enclosed, 24 ranks, flues 6″ w. p., reeds 10″ w. p.)

16′ Spitz Flute (b) 73 pipes

8′ Open Diapason (b) 61 pipes

8′ Chimney Flute 61 pipes

8′ Spitz Flute (ext 16′)

8′ Gamba (b) 61 pipes

8′ Voix Celeste (b) 61 pipes

8′ Flauto Dolce (b) 61 pipes

8′ Flute Celeste (TC) (b) 49 pipes

4′ Octave (b) 61 pipes

4′ Night Horn 61 pipes

4′ Salicet 61 pipes

2-2⁄3′ Nazard 61 pipes

2′ Fifteenth 61 pipes

2′ Flautina 61 pipes

1-3⁄5′ Tierce 61 pipes

2-2⁄3′ Mixture IV–V 281 pipes

16′ Contra Trumpet 61 pipes

16′ Contra Oboe (a & b) 73 pipes

8′ Trumpet (a) 61 pipes

8′ Oboe (ext 16′)

8′ Vox Humana (a) 61 pipes

4′ Clarion (a) 61 pipes

Tremolo

Swell to Swell 16

Swell Unison Off

Swell to Swell 4

CHOIR-POSITIVE (Manual I, enclosed, 20 ranks, 6″ w. p.)

16′ Contra Dulciana (a & c) 73 pipes

8′ Geigen Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Claribel Flute (b) 61 pipes

8′ Gedeckt (c)  61 pipes

8′ Erzähler (b)  61 pipes

8′ Erzähler Celeste (GG) (b) 54 pipes

8′ Dulciana (ext 16′)

8′ Unda Maris (TC) (c) 49 pipes

4′ Geigen Octave (b) 61 pipes

4′ Traverse Flute (b) 61 pipes

2-2⁄3′ Nazard (b) 61 pipes

2′ Harmonic Piccolo (a) 61 pipes

1-3⁄5′ Tierce (a) 61 pipes

1-1⁄7′ Septieme (a) 61 pipes

1-1⁄3′ Larigot 61 pipes

1′ Sifflute 61 pipes

1-1⁄3′ Mixture III–IV 190 pipes

8′ Clarinet (b) 61 pipes Tremolo

8′ Tuba (Solo)

8′ Harmonic Trumpet (Ant)       

8′ French Horn (Solo)    

8′ English Horn (Solo)    

Chimes (Great)      

Choir to Choir 16

Choir Unison Off

Choir to Choir 4

SOLO (Manual IV, enclosed, 12 ranks, 6″ w. p., Tuba 20″ w. p.)

8′ Stentorphone 49 pipes, 1–12 fr Pedal 16′ Diapason

8′ Doppel Flute 49 pipes, 1–12 fr Pedal 32′ Bourdon

8′ Gross Gamba (a) 61 pipes

8′ Gross Gamba Celeste (a) 61 pipes

8′ Dulcet II (a) 122 pipes

4′ Orchestral Flute 61 pipes

4′ Violin 61 pipes

8′ French Horn (b) 61 pipes

8′ English Horn (c) 61 pipes

8′ Orchestral Oboe (c) 61 pipes

Tremolo

16′ Ophicleide (ext 8′, 1–12 Ped Tbone)

8′ Tuba (a)   73 pipes

8′ Harmonic Trumpet (Ant)    

8′ Tromba (Ped)

4′ Tuba Clarion (ext 8′)

Solo to Solo 16

Solo Unison Off

Solo to Solo 4

PEDAL (unenclosed, 10 ranks, flues 6″ w. p., reeds 10″ w. p.)

32′ Contra Bourdon (a) 73 pipes

16′ Open Metal Diapason 56 pipes

16′ Bourdon (ext 32′)

16′ Violone (Great)

16′ Spitz Flute (Swell)

16′ Contra Dulciana (Ch-Pos)

10-2⁄3′ Gross Quint (ext 16′ Open Diap)

8′ Octave (ext 16′)    

8′ Bourdon (ext 32′)

8′ Violoncello (Great)

8′ Spitz Flute (Swell)

6-2⁄5′ Gross Tierce (a) 44 pipes

5-1⁄3′ Quint (ext 16′ Open Diap)

4-4⁄7′ Septieme (b) 32 pipes

4′ Super Octave (ext 16′)

4′ Solo Flute (a) 32 pipes

3-1⁄5′ Tierce (ext 62⁄5′ Gross Tierce)

2-2⁄3′ Mixture IV 124 pipes

32′ Contra Trombone (b) 85 pipes (enclosed with Great)

16′ Trombone (ext 32′)

16′ Double Trumpet (Great)

16′ Contra Trumpet (Swell)

16′ Contra Oboe (Swell)

8′ Tromba (ext 32′)

8′ Trumpet (Swell)  

8′ Oboe (Swell)

4′ Tromba Clarion (ext 32′)

4′ Oboe (Swell)

8′ Tuba (Solo)

ANTIPHONAL (Manual IV, unenclosed in rear gallery, 15 ranks, 6″ w. p., Harmonic Trumpet 10″ w. p.)

8′ Open Diapason (a) 49 pipes, 1–12 fr Ant. Pedal 8′ Octave

8′ Concert Flute (a) 49 pipes, 1–12 fr 8′ Bourdon

8′ Bourdon (c) 61 pipes

8′ Gamba 61 pipes

8′ Voix Celeste (TC) 49 pipes

4′ Octave (a)   61 pipes

4′ Harmonic Flute (c)   61 pipes

2′ Fifteenth (a) 61 pipes

2′ Mixture III–V 244 pipes

8′ Trumpet     73 pipes

8′ Harmonic Trumpet (d) 61 pipes

Zimbelstern (d)

Antiphonal to Antiphonal 16

Antiphonal Unison Off

Antiphonal to Antiphonal 4

ANTIPHONAL PEDAL (unenclosed in gallery, 2 ranks, 6″ w. p.)

16′ Bourdon 44 pipes

8′ Octave (c) 44 pipes

8′ Bourdon (ext 16′)

4′ Super Octave (ext 8′)

16′ Posaune (ext Ant 8′ Trumpet)

8′ Trumpet (Ant)

8′ Harmonic Trumpet (Ant)    

ORIGIN KEY

(a) ranks from 1913 Ernest M. Skinner Company Opus 195, formerly in Grace Chapin Hall, Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts.

(b) ranks from 1939 Casavant Frères Opus 1600, formerly in Immaculate Conception Seminary Chapel, Darlington, New Jersey.

(c) vintage Skinner ranks from QPO inventory.

(d) ranks and tuned percussions from 1972 Schantz Opus 1125, formerly in Dunwoody United Methodist Church, Dunwoody, Georgia.

All other ranks are either new by Quimby Pipe Organs, Inc., or from QPO inventory.

CONSOLE ACCESSORIES

INTER-MANUAL COUPLERS

Great to Pedal 8′, 4′

Swell to Pedal 8′, 4′

Choir-Positive to Pedal 8′, 4′

Solo to Pedal 8′, 4′

Antiphonal on Pedal 8′, 4′

Swell to Great16′, 8′, 4′

Choir-Positive to Great 16′, 8′, 4′

Solo on Great

Antiphonal on Great

Swell to Choir-Positive 16′, 8′, 4′

Solo on Choir-Positive

Great to Choir-Positive 8′

Pedal to Choir-Positive 8′

Manual Transfer

COMBINATION ACTION

General pistons 1–20 (thumb) and 1–10 (toe)

Great divisional pistons 1–8

Swell divisional pistons 1–8

Choir-Positive divisional pistons 1–8

Solo divisional pistons 1–8

Antiphonal divisional pistons 1–5

Pedal divisional pistons 1–5 (thumb), 1–8 (toe)

General Cancel Piston

Set Piston

Memory Level Up and Down pistons

Previous and Next pistons (5 each, thumb) and toe studs (1 each)

Transposer Up and Down pistons

General Crescendo pedal 60 positions, three adjustable and one standard

REVERSIBLES

Great to Pedal piston & toe paddle

Swell to Pedal piston & toe paddle

Choir-Positive to Pedal piston & toe paddle

Solo to Pedal piston & toe paddle

Swell to Great piston

Choir-Positive to Great piston

Swell to Choir piston

Antiphonal on Great piston

Antiphonal on Swell piston

Antiphonal on Choir piston

Antiphonal on Solo piston

Antiphonal on Pedal toe paddle

Pedal on Divisionals piston

32′ Contra Bourdon piston & toe paddle

32′ Contra Trombone piston & toe paddle

Sforzando I and II pistons & toe studs

Manual Transfer—piston & indicator light

Crescendo on Solo Expression piston & indicator light

EXPRESSION & CRESCENDO

Great Expression Pedal

Swell Expression Pedal

Choir-Positive & Solo Expression Pedal

Solo Expression & Crescendo Pedal

SUMMARY

Great 17

Swell 24

Choir-Positive 20

Solo 12

Antiphonal 15

Antiphonal Pedal   2

Pedal 10

Total 100 ranks

Photo credits, including cover (except where noted): Sandra Jausch, Vitamamans-Pictures

Quimby Pipe Organs, Inc., Warrensburg, Missouri; Immaculata Church, Saint Marys, Kansas

In the middle of Kansas, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, sits the newly constructed Immaculata Church in Saint Marys. The magnificent structure stands tall against the Kansas winds, and the brick structure provides a stark contrast to the open, light interior of the building. Walking into the sanctuary, one is immediately struck by the craftsmanship of the skilled hands that created the space: marble flooring and altar are surrounded by murals inserted into the ceiling (with a proverbial nod to the Sistine Chapel). Crosses dedicated to the apostles surround the nave and bless those who look on. The tall ceilings and ornate artwork provide a worship space unparalleled by modern-day architecture. The blue background gives the feeling that the ceiling opens to Heaven as parishioners sit in pews to pray and sing.

In 2021 the church building was not complete, but the congregation needed an instrument to complement the space; something that would expand into it and give additional harmony and accompaniment to voices lifted in praise and supplication. This instrument was built and installed in the first half of 2023. The church, in its construction, creates five seconds of reverberation. Because of that, we had to scale the organ to compensate for the magnificent acoustic of the space. Even the mixtures have a say there, because the room carries the upper tones so well. Quimby is also in the process of completing and installing a smaller organ for the transept of the church.

With consideration to the demands required of the proposed instrument, we determined that the inspiration for the diapason chorus would be based on the English organ builder, Thomas C. Lewis (1833–1915), who fashioned his work in the form of the German, Edmund Schulze (1824–1878), who built most of his instruments for English clients. These builders were renowned for their assertive and majestic chorus flue work.

In Immaculata, the splendid acoustics and the size of the space called for the use of heroic scales and voicing to achieve our intended goals.

The major flue chorus complements the chorus reed rank, which incorporates the use of French domed shallots that provide the tonal characteristics of Cavaillé -Coll, and blends to provide full, luscious tones throughout the space. The other ranks in the specification complement the two major flue choruses and provide a balanced level of dynamics.

The instrument installed in the north transept of Immaculata was built in 1966 by Aeolian-Skinner as their Opus 1483. The organ was secured from the University of Colorado, Boulder, by Quimby Pipe Organs in 2021. A complete rebuild and revoicing, retaining all ranks, was accomplished, incorporating the console from Aeolian-Skinner Opus 1523 from Seventy-Sixth Street Presbyterian Church, Birmingham, Alabama: two manuals and pedal, four ranks, 316 pipes: 16′ Rohrgedeckt (95 pipes); 8′ Spitzflöte (85 pipes); 2-2⁄3′ Nasat (61 pipes); 4′ Principal (73 pipes).

Those at Quimby Pipe Organs who made contributions to the building and installation of these fine instruments are Michael Quimby, president and tonal director; Eric Johnson, head reed voicer; Joseph Nielson, and Sean Estanek, flue voicers; Brian Seever, service department manager and lead installer; Daniel Sliger, woodshop foreman and lead installer; Charles Ford, project designer; Chris Emerson, executive assistant and lead installer; and the following production and installation team members: Chirt and Aime Touch, Anthony Soun, Mahoney Soun, Bailey Tucker, Bryce Munson, Noah Lipham, Baylee Marten, Rebecca Estanek, and Tygran Gilligan, intern.

—Michael Quimby

Builder’s website: quimbypipeorgans.com/

Church’s website: www.anewimmaculata.org/

Photo credit: Michael Quimby

GREAT (unenclosed) 9 ranks 

16′ Violone (Swell) 

8′ Principal 61 pipes 

8′ Gedeckt 61 pipes 

8′ Viola (Swell)

4′ Octave 61 pipes 

4′ Hohl Flute (prepared) 

2′ Super Octave 61 pipes 

1-1⁄3′ Mixture IV 244 pipes 

8′ Trumpet 85 pipes

8′ Cromorne (prepared) 

4′ Clarion (extension) 

Great to Great 16 

Great Unison Off 

Great to Great 4 

SWELL (enclosed) 9 ranks 

8′ Principal (prepared) 

8′ Rohrflute 61 pipes 

8′ Viola 85 pipes 

8′ Viola Celeste (TC) 49 pipes 

4′ Octave 61 pipes 

4′ Nachthorn 61 pipes

2-2⁄3′ Nazard 61 pipes 

2′ Fifteenth 61 pipes 

1-3⁄5′ Tierce 61 pipes 

Mixture IV (prepared) 

8′ Trumpet (prepared) 

8′ Oboe 61 pipes 

Tremulant 

Swell to Swell 16

Swell Unison Off 

Swell to Swell 4

CHOIR (prepared for 8 ranks) 

8′ Solo Diapason (prepared, Pedal)

8′ Viola (Swell)

4′ Viola (Swell)

16′ Contra Trumpet (Great)

8′ Trumpet (Great)

8′ Cromorne (prepared, Great) 

4′ Clarion (Great) 

Choir to Choir 16 

Choir Unison Off 

Choir to Choir 4 

PEDAL  2 ranks 

32′ Bourdon (ext 16′ Bdn, 1–12 digital) 

16′ Principal 73 pipes 

16′ Violone (Swell) 

16′ Bourdon 44 pipes 

8′ Octave (extension 16′ Principal) 

8′ Viola (Swell)

8′ Bourdon (extension 16′ Bourdon) 

4′ Super Octave (extension 16′ Princ)

16′ Contra Trumpet (Great)

16′ Bassoon (prepared) 

8′ Trumpet (Great)

4′ Clarion (Great) 

Couplers 

Swell to Great 16-8-4 

Swell to Choir 16-8-4 

Choir to Great 16-8-4

Great to Choir 8 

Great to Pedal 8-4

Swell to Pedal 8-4

Choir to Pedal 8-4 

Pedal to Choir 8

Combination Action 

Great divisional pistons: 1–5 

Swell divisional pistons: 1–5 

Choir divisional pistons: 1–5 

General pistons: 1–6 thumb, 7–10 toe studs 

Next Piston Sequencer: 1 toe stud, 1 piston 

Previous Piston Sequencer: 1 toe stud, 1 piston 

Set piston 

Sforzando piston 

General Cancel piston 

Memory Level Up or Down: 2 pistons 

Crescendo and Expression 

General Crescendo pedal 

Adjustable Crescendos 

Swell expression pedal 

Reversibles 

Great to Pedal toe stud 

Sforzando toe stud 

Playback and transposer 

 

20 ranks, 35 stops, 1,251 pipes

Quimby Pipe Organs, Inc., Warrensburg, Missouri; First United Methodist Church, Athens, Georgia

First United Methodist Church of Athens, Georgia, is home to the newest instrument by Quimby Pipe Organs, Inc., of Warrensburg, Missouri. The four-manual, 68-rank pipe organ, Opus 77, was created through the collaboration of Michael Quimby, president and tonal director, and T. Daniel Hancock, former president and designer, Quimby Pipe Organs; James F. Mellichamp, president and professor of music, Piedmont College, Athens, Georgia, consultant; Stephen Mitchell, director of music; and Janis Maxwell, organist.

The instrument is designed primarily to fulfill its first job of leading worship and then to serve a variety of musical functions. The tonal design is not intended to copy any one particular school or period of organbuilding; however, Michael Quimby does draw his inspiration from the great builders of the past, such as Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, Father Willis, Ernest M. Skinner, and the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company, as well as renowned English organbuilder T. C. Lewis, among many others. His goal is to build an instrument with its own identity and character that will embrace the needs of the client and to provide an instrument that not only serves as a recital instrument but can also be used in the wide variety of musical genres found in the worship practices of the twenty-first century.

The tonal concept of this instrument was carefully conceived and notably avoids the redundancies that are often found in large organs. Each stop is designed and voiced to provide sounds that not only work well within the ensemble but are also intriguing and beautiful on their own, making the organ tonally diverse, while at the same time cohesive and easy to register.

The instrument is unusual in a number of ways. First, it has four enclosed divisions. Second, the 32′ and 16′ Pedal reed stops and all other manual 16′ reeds are full length. Third, the instrument contains certain features of the symphonic style of organ that were sought after in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Michael Quimby and his team have striven to play a leading role in reviving and developing this style of building over the last two decades. Fourth, departing from the symphonic tradition, each division of the instrument, excluding the Solo, contains a completely developed Diapason chorus. This has proven to increase the versatility of the instrument in classical, romantic, and symphonic styles of music. One thing that sets these Diapason chorus ranks apart is the unusual use of substantial metal thicknesses incorporating antimony and trace elements for stability. Over the last twenty-five years Quimby Pipe Organs has discovered that using thicker metal allows the pipework to be voiced to its full potential—for stability in pipe speech and achieving the optimum in harmonic development.

Another feature is the chorus of trumpets and orchestral reeds, including the Tuba, French Horn, Oboe, English Horn, and Corno di Bassetto, all voiced by head reed voicer, Eric Johnson. Of particular interest are two contrasting solo reeds, the Tuba in the Solo division and the Hooded Trumpet in the Antiphonal division, voiced on twenty inches wind pressure and ten inches wind pressure, respectively. Over his many years of study Eric has developed a technique and sound that sets him apart as one of the premier reed voicers in the world today.

Mechanically, Quimby instruments feature the use of our version of the Blackinton slider windchest, distinguished by a pneumatic pallet design and absence of slider seals, allowing for the flue pipes in each division to speak without the “explosive attack” experienced by individual valves since each note shares a common note channel with the other ranks. The reed ranks, Solo, Pedal, and offset pipes are on electro-pneumatic, pouch-style windchests.

As with most instruments, the console is seen as the crown jewel of the installation. Made of solid mahogany, in the Aeolian-Skinner style, with walnut drawknob jambs, coupler rails, and accents, the console incorporates the Virtuoso control system, provided by Integrated Organ Technologies of Alpharetta, Georgia. The solid mahogany case, designed by T. Daniel Hancock, and built by Southern Elegance Custom Cabinetry of Crawford, Georgia, incorporates design features from both the existing grillwork and the sanctuary, achieving an aesthetically elegant display. Located in the twin chancel façades are notes 1–21 of the Great 16′ Double Open Diapason and notes 1–12 of the Pedal 8′ Octave.

It is with great gratitude that Quimby Pipe Organs wishes to thank all of those at First Methodist who made their stay in Athens an enjoyable one: Chuck Hodges, senior pastor; Dave Walton, business administrator; Bob Winstead, executive director of administration and project manager; Steven Mitchell, director of music; Janis Maxwell, director of youth music; Ron Young, facilities manager; and all those in the congregation who showed the love of Christ by supplying treats and meals throughout the installation.

On Sunday, August 1, Joe Russell, a student of both Alan Morrison of the Curtis Institute of Music and Ken Cowan of Rice University, began his tenure as associate director of music ministries and organist. Bradley Welch played the inaugural recital on Sunday, August 29, after a one-year delay due to Covid restrictions. The recital was live-streamed and is available on the church’s website: athensfirstumc.org/.

Current associates of Quimby Pipe Organs, Inc., who took part in the construction and installation of this instrument include Michael Quimby, Eric Johnson, Chris Emerson, Dan Sliger, Brian Seever, Chuck Ford, Chirt Touch, Anthony Soun, Bailey Tucker, Mahoney Soun, Joseph Nielsen, Kevin Kissinger, Ruth Anne Parrott, Dwight Parrott, Joe Lambarena, and Jim Schmidt.

—Chris Emerson, Administrative Assistant, and Daniel Sliger, Project Lead

 

Builder’s website: quimbypipeorgans.com/

Church’s website: athensfirstumc.org/

 

Cover photo: Chris Emerson

Other photos: Chris Emerson and Daniel Sliger

 

Quimby Pipe Organs, Inc.

208 Marshall Street, P. O. Box 434

Warrensburg, MO 64093

GREAT–Manual II, unenclosed

16′ Double Open Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Open Diapason 61 pipes   

8′ Hohl Flute 61 pipes

8′ Violoncello 61 pipes

4′ Octave 61 pipes

4′ Stopped Flute 61 pipes

2-2⁄3′ Twelfth 61 pipes

2′ Fifteenth 61 pipes

1-3⁄5′ Seventeenth 61 pipes

1-1⁄3′ Mixture IV 244 pipes

16′ Double Trumpet (Swell)

8′ Trumpet 61 pipes

8′ Tuba (Solo)

8′ Tromba (Pedal)

8′ Hooded Trumpet (Antiphonal)

Chimes 25 tubes

Great to Great 16-UO-4

SWELL–Manual III, enclosed

16′ Contra Gamba 73 pipes

8′ Open Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Stopped Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Viola da Gamba (ext 16′ Contra Gamba)    

8′ Voix Celeste (CC) 61 pipes

4′ Octave 61 pipes

4′ Harmonic Flute 61 pipes

2′ Super Octave (from Mixture IV–V)

2′ Mixture IV–V 252 pipes

16′ Double Trumpet 61 pipes

8′ Trumpet 61 pipes

8′ Oboe 61 pipes

4′ Clarion 61 pipes

Tremolo

Swell to Swell 16-UO-4

CHOIR–Manual I, enclosed

16′ Gedeckt 73 pipes

8′ Geigen Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Chimney Flute (ext 16′ Gedeckt)

8′ Erzähler 61 pipes

8′ Erzähler Celeste (TC) 49 pipes

4′ Principal 61 pipes

4′ Night Horn 61 pipes

2-2⁄3′ Nazard 61 pipes

2′ Flageolet 61 pipes

1-3⁄5′ Tierce 61 pipes

1′ Mixture III–IV 191 pipes

16′ Contra Fagotto 73 pipes

8′ Fagotto (ext 16′ Contra Fagotto)

Tremolo

8′ Corno di Bassetto (Solo)

8′ Tuba (Solo)

8′ Hooded Trumpet (Antiphonal)

Choir to Choir 16-UO-4

SOLO–Manual IV, enclosed

8′ Harmonic Flute 61 pipes

8′ Gamba 61 pipes

8′ Gamba Celeste 61 pipes

8′ Corno di Bassetto 61 pipes

8′ English Horn (GG) 56 pipes

8′ French Horn 61 pipes

Tremolo

16′ Double Trumpet (Swell)

16′ Contra Fagotto (Choir)

8′ Fagotto (Choir)

8′ Tuba 61 pipes

8′ Tromba (Pedal)

8′ Hooded Trumpet (Antiphonal)

Solo to Solo 16-UO-4

Chimes (Great)

ANTIPHONAL–Manual IV, enclosed

8′ Open Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Lieblich Gedeckt 61 pipes

8′ Flauto Dolce 61 pipes

8′ Flute Celeste (TC) 49 pipes

4′ Octave 61 pipes

2′ Fifteenth 61 pipes

Tremolo

8′ Hooded Trumpet 61 pipes

8′ Tuba (Solo)

Antiphonal to Antiphonal 16-UO-4

PEDAL–10 ranks, unenclosed

32′ Double Open Wood Diapason (Resultant, 10-2⁄3′ stopped pipes and 16′ Open Wood) 12 pipes

32′ Contra Bourdon 56 pipes

16′ Open Wood Diapason 44 pipes

16′ Open Metal Diapason (Great)

16′ Bourdon (ext 32′ Contra Bourdon)

16′ Violone 44 pipes

16′ Gedeckt (Choir)

16′ Contra Gamba (Swell)

8′ Open Bass (ext 16′ Open Wood)

8′ Octave 44 pipes

8′ Bourdon (ext 32′ Contra Bourdon)

8′ Violone (ext 16′ Violone)

8′ Erzähler (Choir)

8′ Gedeckt (Choir)

4′ Super Octave (ext 8′ Octave)

4′ Solo Flute 32 pipes

2-2⁄3′ Grave Mixture II 64 pipes

1-1⁄3′ Sharp Mixture II 64 pipes

32′ Contra Trombone 85 pipes

32′ Harmonics VII (derived)

16′ Trombone (ext 32′ Contra Trombone)

16′ Double Trumpet (Swell)

16′ Contra Fagotto (Choir)

8′ Trombone (ext 32′ Contra Trombone)

8′ Trumpet (Swell)

8′ Fagotto (Choir)

8′ Oboe (Swell)

8′ Clarion (ext 32′ Contra Trombone)

8′ Fagotto (Choir)

8′ Tuba (Solo)

ANTIPHONAL PEDAL–1 rank, enclosed

16′ Bourdon 44 pipes

8′ Octave (Antiphonal 8′ Open Diap)

8′ Bourdon (ext 16′ Bourdon)

 

Couplers

Great to Pedal 8

Great to Pedal 4

Swell to Pedal 8

Swell to Pedal 4

Choir to Pedal 8

Choir to Pedal 4

Solo to Pedal 8

Solo to Pedal 4

Antiphonal on Pedal 8

Swell to Great 16

Swell to Great 8

Swell to Great 4

Choir to Great 16

Choir to Great 8

Choir to Great 4

Solo to Great 16

Solo to Great 8

Solo to Great 4

Antiphonal on Great 8

Swell to Choir 16

Swell to Choir 8

Swell to Choir 4

Solo to Choir 16

Solo to Choir 8

Solo to Choir 4

Great to Choir 8

Pedal to Choir 8

Antiphonal on Choir 8

Solo to Swell 16

Solo to Swell 8

Solo to Swell 4

All Swells to Swell

Combination Action

Great Organ divisional pistons 1–8

Swell Organ divisional pistons 1–8

Choir Organ divisional pistons 1–8

Solo Organ divisional pistons 1–8

Antiphonal Organ divisional pistons 1–8

Pedal Organ divisional pistons 1–8 and 1–8 toe studs

General Pistons 1–12 (duplicated on toe studs) and 13–18 pistons only

Next Piston Sequencer: 3 pistons and 1 toe stud

Previous Piston Sequencer: 3 pistons and 1 toe stud

Set Piston

General Cancel Piston

Crescendo & Expression

General Crescendo pedal, 60 positions, three adjustable and one standard

Swell expression pedal

Choir expression pedal

Solo expression pedal

Antiphonal expression pedal

Reversibles

Great to Pedal - thumb and toe paddle

Swell to Pedal - thumb and toe paddle

Choir to Pedal - thumb and toe paddle

Solo to Pedal - thumb and toe paddle

Swell to Great - thumb and toe paddle

Choir to Great - thumb

Swell to Choir - thumb

32′ Contra Bourdon - thumb and toe paddle

32′ Contra Trombone - thumb and toe paddle

Sforzando - thumb and toe paddle

Manual Transfer - thumb and indicator light

Summary

Great Organ 14 ranks

Swell Organ 15

Choir Organ 14

Solo Organ 7

Antiphonal Organ 7

Pedal Organ 10

Antiphonal Pedal Organ 1

 

Total number of ranks 68

Total stops 97

Total pipes 3,867

A. E. Schlueter Pipe Organ Company, Lithonia, Georgia; Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Fort Pierce, Florida

As I contemplated writing this article about the new pipe organ for Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Fort Pierce, Florida, many things came to mind, several of them cathartic and all of them personally important. Fort Pierce is a location where, as they say, I have “roots.” I was born in the Fort Pierce area in 1967, and was baptized at the First United Methodist Church. In the ensuing years, my family would continue to come back to this community to visit, to rest, and for recreation. It was an important enough location to me that when I got married in the early 1990s, I brought my young wife to one of the barrier islands near Fort Pierce for our honeymoon. This area was special to me, and I wanted to share it.

Moving forward to 2022 and a country still in the grip of Covid, I am glad that, in light of the pandemic, the building of this instrument occurred at a time and place that is familiar, and that I was working for a congregation and clergy that are some of the finest people on this planet. One cannot have endured the last couple of years without considering the pandemic and its effects on the world, our houses of worship, and on many of us personally. This church and its people buoyed us. They have offered unyielding prayer, support, and an unbridled excitement for the completion of this project.

The commission to build this instrument started out in a world that was Covid-free. By the time we were taking out the old organ, we were in masks, with travel and work restrictions and navigating a brave new world. In the meantime, we continued our work with a myriad of social, business, and personal interaction changes.

Along with the personal challenges (and losses) that have been endured, we also have had to deal with supply chain and vendor issues. There have been several suppliers and major vendors that were not able to weather this disruptive period and ceased operations. We have been fortunate with our depth of resources, the excellence of our staff, and full order books, that we have been able to navigate this period in a way that not all have been able to do. This is and has been a very real blessing. As I write this, I am hoping that we are in the waning period of the pandemic, but we are still in masks, and there are still many in the hospital from this malady.

How it started

When we were approached to evaluate the original organ at Saint Andrew’s, we arrived to find an instrument that was in a failing condition. We made a detailed study of the entire instrument with its mechanical condition, scaling, and tonality, balanced with the church’s musical needs. We also looked at the organ layout, the chamber spaces, and the acoustics.

The former organ was an electric-action, open-toe instrument that was built in the late 1970s. The organ did have some nice moments and some good materials, but, as a whole, with its stoplist and tonal design, it was not well suited to support the choral and congregational needs of this Episcopal church. In its later years, the organ had been damaged in a hurricane and endured some unfortunate attempts by others to repair, augment, and change it. The organ had a number of older relay components along with a console that had been rebuilt by others with a used solid-state combination system of various ages of materials. Its condition had been further exacerbated by lightning strikes to its systems. The console and relays were not reliable and could not be made so without heroic work that simply could not be justified.

The layout of the original instrument caused multiple tuning and tonal issues. This was due to a Choir division that was double stacked with the main air return of the church in front of this division, the Great division located four feet above the choir loft floor, directly behind the choristers and below a stained-glass window, and the Swell division in a freestanding box in an organ chamber fronted with a fabric grille. All of this conspired to create major tuning issues inter- and intra-divisionally, as well as a lack of tonal focus.

Our plan

We proposed to work with a clean sheet in design that would fully support worship along with a new façade and case to provide visual enhancements to the chancel. With the proximity of the church to the coastline, we chose a façade design that was evocative of the billowed boat sails that one sees in the waters around the church. The center of the case includes quatrefoils and moulding details found in the stained-glass windows from the original church building. The center case features an open top to allow the central window to be seen with minimal occlusion. The façade pipes are built of polished aluminum and include 16′ and 8′ bass pipes of the Pedal and Great divisions.

The design of the new organ moved the divisions and the return ducts, placed a roof over the center division to mitigate the effects of the central stained-glass window, and generally has placed the pipework on a similar thermocline. There are openings behind the façade pipes to allow a free exchange of heat and air to the chamber spaces.

The church and its contractor must be commended for their revisioning of the chancel and renovation of the worship center of the church. Notably, this included the removal of carpet and the installation of marble in the altar area. The choir area was finished with custom tile and individual chairs replacing fixed pews. Not only is the area more functional, it is visually beautiful and aurally supportive to the organ and the choir. This church acoustic gives back to the listener, and it has gotten even better.

The new stoplist was envisioned first and foremost to support the musical needs of this church and its English choral tradition. There has always been a hope to use the music ministry for community outreach, so while focused on the choral and congregational worship needs of the organ, the stoplist is purposely eclectic in design, allowing it to support many different schools of organ and choral music.

As we designed the new organ, we did look at some of the existing pipes. The pipework contained in the old organ was generally of high quality with low cut-ups and an absence of nicks and other voicing techniques that were permanent to the pipes. It was, in a way, raw media waiting to be voiced. As a company, we have never shied away from evaluation of extant pipework for consideration. Equally important is that one should never—I emphasize, never—design an organ around the pipes that are present with this being the only consideration. It was clear to us that some of the pipework, for purposes of stewardship, could and should be considered for reuse as long as it did not compromise the overall tonal design. It was also clear that some pipework would not, and indeed should not, find a home in the new instrument. Our approach was to design the specification and scaling that should be at the church, and only then did we look afresh at the existing pipework to see if it could be recast. The pipes that were reused were revoiced, rescaled, and/or repitched for their new role. Many of these allowed the fiduciary luxury of additional pedal resources and mutations.

The specification is designed around a Great division with a well-developed, leading principal chorus. The design includes a second 8′ Geigen Principal to allow a differing root structure in the chorus or doubling of the 8′ pitch line. The flutes are designed to fold hand in glove with the chorus while maintaining an individual identity and voice for melodic solo lines. The reeds of the Choir-Positiv and Swell are duplexed to the Great.

The Great division is located at the cantilevered façade level of the organ case, which allows the sound to bloom forward of the choir. To help focus the Great division, the Bourdon chest and upper walkboard act as a canopy above the Great to project this division.

The Choir-Positiv division sits in the former central location of the old Great division, and was conceived as a diminutive, dual-natured division. Its design supports text painting under the choir while also supporting the literature bias of an unenclosed Positiv division. With a secondary principal chorus rooted with the 8′ Holzgedeckt and 8′ Erzahler, it acts as a counter chorus voice to the Great and Swell divisions. The 2′ Schweigel and 1-1⁄3′ Quint allow the chorus to have “mixture texture” that is unweighted and some of the first upperwork available in building the organ to its full voice.

The 8′ Erzahler was chosen because it allows a voice that is at one time a diminutive string while at another time a soft accompanimental voice that can be broadened with the 8′ flute line. It is given an 8′ celeste of similar scale and construction, and becomes one of the voices in the ether of the church acoustics.

The flutes of the Choir-Positiv include the 8′ Holzgedeckt and 4′ Gedeckt-Pommer that are voiced to retain a degree of chiff and puckishness while still folding in with their string and principal neighbors. The Choir-Positiv mutations and 2′ Schweigel are stops that walk the line between principal and flute. As hybrid voices, the 2-2⁄3′ Nasat, 2′ Schweigel, 1-3⁄5′ Terz, and 1-1⁄3′ Quint allow for a great deal of color, building of multiple solo stops, and upperwork support for chorus registers.

The color reed in the Choir-Positiv is an 8′ Cromorne with parallel shallots and lift lids. It supports a generous vowel cavity that allows it to be a chameleon stop: it can be a piquant solo voice that easily is broadened into the woodwind timbre of a Clarinet when compounded with the Holzgedeckt or drawn into the Great as a weightless ensemble reed to add color and complexity to the principal chorus.

The Swell division is designed with a secondary principal chorus that is harmonically rich and complements the leading voices of the Great. The Swell Mixture III is pitched at 2′ to allow for the logical completion of its principal chorus. As a lower-pitch enclosed mixture, it is the first mixture that can be drawn in building a seamless crescendo. As with the Choir-Positiv, the Swell was designed with a flute chorus of differing voices that allows color and a multiplicity of compound registers.

The Swell reeds have English shallots and are unified to develop the 16′-8′-8′-4′ reed chorus. For the desired color and tuning stability, all of the reeds are on an individual winding system to allow higher pressures and tremolos separate from the flue voices.

The Pedal division is grounded with an independent 16′-8′-4′ principal chorus and independent and duplex flute registers at multiple pitches. The Pedal reed is an independent 16′ Posaune that can be combined with the duplex registers of the Swell and Choir-Positiv reeds.

To provide 32′ weight in the Pedal we included the discrete use of some custom digital voices to allow for this pitch register where there was not space to accommodate the pipes. With the “genie out of the bottle” we opted to also include the color of several additional companion strings and celestes along with the ubiquitous 8′ Vox Humana to allow the building of a string organ within the Swell division. Please note that we have allowed the physical space in the Swell chamber for these pipe additions, minimizing the compromise.

The 8′ Festival Trumpet is one of several stops gifted from the Schlueter family to the church. This particular stop is given in honor of my wife, Stephanie Schlueter, whom I brought to Florida for our honeymoon so many years ago and who has personally supported me in the building of instruments for over thirty years. It is located in the Choir-Positiv expression box and includes console controls to allow it to independently float to all manual divisions and the Pedal. Being enclosed in the box provides for wide dynamic control that allows this reed to be used as an ensemble voice with the expression box closed. It is my hope that this signature stop is used often in the coming years to support weddings and festive occasions with church worship.

Much of the emotive quality of an instrument is not only the quality of the voices but also how they project from the organ chamber and their reaction to enclosure in an expression box. The expression boxes were carefully designed to be as sonically transparent as possible when open and to fully contain the divisions when closed. We also functionally use the expression shades to direct sound when they are open. In the Choir-Positiv we used horizontal expression shades on the front and on top of the expression box to direct the pipe speech up and forward of the choristers and, importantly, out to the congregation. In a like but disparate fashion, the Swell division with its off-axis location was designed with a very large two-story shade front that opens bi-directionally. This evenly focuses the voices of the Swell to the choir and congregation along the center core of the church.

The windchests on the organ are electro-pneumatic slider and electro-pneumatic unit action. The winding system is our normal combination of spring and weighted reservoirs with independent concussion bellows on the windchests. This church’s generous acoustic allowed us to use moderate wind pressures on the organ ranging from 2½ to 4 inches.

To control the instrument, we built a three-manual console with terraced drawknobs. It was constructed of sapele mahogany with drawknobs custom turned from African blackwood. With its low profile, it allows excellent sightlines to the choristers, and the inbuilt castors permit it to be moved as needed. For a control system, the console features the Syndyne 8400 system, which supports a large number of functions.

As I started this article, I mentioned that building this instrument was a cathartic exercise. One year prior to this, I was at Saint Simons Island Presbyterian Church finishing an instrument and received the imposition of ashes on my forehead for Ash Wednesday. At that time, I was still recovering from a bout of Covid that saw me hospitalized just prior to that installation. I was well reminded about my mortality. One year later, I was in Fort Pierce working on the completion of this instrument—again, on Ash Wednesday. When one is an organ builder, it is invariable that the church becomes the worksite. It was therefore my good fortune to have an opportunity for worship where I entered the church as a congregant. I was able to sit contemplatively in the church and see an image of Christ in the center window framed and focused by the new organ façade. I heard the music of the church. I heard the recitations of the members of the church mixed with my own voice. Again, I received the imposition of ashes on my forehead from a congregation that has adopted me as their own. This was followed by the communion and the bounty of grace it represents. On this day the instrument’s voice began to come alive to support the worship of this ministry. As pipe organ builders, the work that all of us do is to design and build instruments that will outlive us as they support worship and praise in the church. On this particular Ash Wednesday, it was personally brought home to me how welcome it is to see the sign of the Cross on my forehead and realize how truly fortunate I am as a father, husband, organ builder, and a Christian.

As always there are too many people to thank with a project like this one. First and foremost I would like to thank the Reverend Canon Ellis E. Brust, rector; Mr. Peter Charles and Mr. Andrew Hemmer, senior wardens; Mrs. Karen Kozac and Mr. Chris Kasten, organ committee chairs; Mr. Larry Clancey and Mr. Richard Stable, treasurers; Dr. Jerry Davidson, organist/choir director; and Kirk Carlson, general contractor.

I would also like to extend a thank you to our staff: Arthur E. Schlueter, Jr., Arthur E. Schlueter III, John Tanner, Marc Conley, Patrick Hodges, Jeremiah Hodges, Marshall Foxworthy, Peter Duys, Kerry Bunn, Shan Dalton-Bowen, Michael DeSimone, Al Schroer, Dallas Wood, Josse Davis, Bob Weaver, Preston Wilson, Clifton Frierson, Kelvin Cheatham, Ruth Lopez, Elio Lopez, Chad Sartin, Sara Cruz, Ruth Gomez, Yolanda Sandoval, Kymoni Colbourne, Juan Hardin, Demitrius Hardin, Rico Hardin, and Angie Lindsey.

Visit www.pipe-organ.com for more information or to contact A. E. Schlueter Pipe Organ Company.

—Arthur E. Schlueter III, Visual and Tonal Direction, A. E. Schlueter Pipe Organ Co.

 

GREAT (manual II)

16′ Sub Principal (1–12 Ped 16′ Sub Princ, 13–61 Gt 8′ Geigen Princ)

8′ Principal 61 pipes

8′ Geigen Principal 49 pipes (1–12 Ped 8′ Octave)

8′ Bourdon 61 pipes

4′ Octave 61 pipes

4′ Hohlflöte 61 pipes

2′ Super Octave 61 pipes

V Cornet TC*

1-1⁄3′ Mixture IV 244 pipes

16′ Contra Oboe (Sw)

8′ Trumpet (Sw)

8′ Oboe (Sw)

8′ Cromorne (Ch)

CHOIR-POSITIV (manual I, enclosed)

8′ Holzgedeckt 61 pipes

8′ Erzahler 61 pipes

8′ Erzahler Celeste (TC) 49 pipes

8′ Schwebung II*

4′ Prinzipal 61 pipes

4′ Gedeckt Pommer 61 pipes

2-2⁄3′ Nasat (from G1) 54 pipes

2′ Schweigel 61 pipes

1-3⁄5′ Terz (from G1) 54 pipes

1-1⁄3′ Quint 61 pipes

8′ Cromorne 61 pipes

Tremolo

Zimbelstern (multiple bells)

Chimes

SWELL (manual III, enclosed)

16′ Lieblich Gedeckt 12 pipes (ext 8′ Rohr Flute)

16′ Flauto Dolce*

8′ Viola Pomposa 61 pipes

8′ Viola Celeste II 49 pipes (draws Viola Pomposa)

8′ Muted Violes II*

8′ Aeoline Celeste II*

8′ Rohr Flute 61 pipes

4′ Principal 61 pipes

4′ Spindle Flute 61 pipes

4′ Unda Maris II*

2-2⁄3′ Nazard (TC) 49 pipes

2′ Flageolet (ext 8′ Rohr Fl) 24 pipes

1-3⁄5′ Tierce (TC) 49 pipes

2′ Mixture III 183 pipes

16′ Contra Oboe (TC, from 8′)

8′ Trumpet 61 pipes

8′ Oboe 61 pipes

4′ Oboe (ext 8′ Oboe) 12 pipes

8′ Vox Humana*

Tremolo (Vox)

Tremolo (Main)

FANFARE (floating division)

16′ Festival Trumpet (TC) 49 notes

8′ Festival Trumpet 61 pipes

4′ Festival Trumpet 49 notes

Fanfare On Pedal

Fanfare On Great

Fanfare On Swell

Fanfare Off Choir-Positiv

PEDAL

32′ Untersatz*

16′ Sub Principal 32 pipes

16′ Bourdon 32 pipes

16′ Lieblich Gedeckt (Sw)

8′ Octave 32 pipes

8′ Bourdon 32 pipes

8′ Gedeckt (Sw)

4′ Choral Bass (Gt)

4′ Gedeckt (Sw)

2′ Gedeckt (Sw)

32′ Bombarde*

16′ Posaune 32 pipes

8′ Trumpet (Sw)

4′ Oboe Clarion (Sw)

* Digital stop/prepared for pipe additions

Couplers

Great to Pedal 8

Great to Pedal 4

Swell to Pedal 8

Swell to Pedal 4

Choir-Positiv to Pedal 8

Choir-Positiv to Pedal 4

Swell to Great 16

Swell to Great 8

Swell to Great 4

Choir-Positiv to Great 16

Choir-Positiv to Great 8

Choir-Positiv to Great 4

Choir-Positiv to Choir-Positiv 16

Choir-Positiv Unison Off

Choir-Positiv to Choir-Positiv 4

Swell to Choir-Positiv 16

Swell to Choir-Positiv 8

Swell to Choir-Positiv 4

Swell to Swell 16

Swell Unison Off

Swell to Swell 4

MIDI (as preset stops)

MIDI on Pedal

MIDI on Great

MIDI on Swell

MIDI on Choir-Positiv

60 stops, 38 ranks, 2,147 pipes

Builder’s website: www.pipe-organ.com

Church’s website: www.mystandrews.org/

 

Cover photo: Arthur E. Schlueter III; article photos contributed by the Reverend Canon Ellis E. Brust and the staff of A. E. Schlueter Pipe Organ Company

Stephen Schnurr

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

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

Ernest M. Skinner was a busy organbuilder from the time he first organized his own firm in 1901 in South Boston, Massachusetts. Most of the first 100 instruments were built for East Coast clients, though occasionally an organ would make its way further afield. In the Midwest United States, within a few years, Skinner organs would be sent to locations in Ohio, Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Indiana; however, it would take more than a decade before the first contract for a Skinner organ was inked for a destination in Illinois.

By the turn of the twentieth century, Chicago had fully recovered from the devastating fire of October 8–10, 1871. The city hosted the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, centered where one now finds Jackson Park. Everything was new in Chicago, with resplendent churches, large fraternal lodges, educational institutions, and residences that drove a healthy, modern market for acquiring pipe organs of all sizes in the most up-to-date designs.

Breaking into the Chicago organ purchasing market must have become a priority for Skinner, for in 1913 a sudden flurry of four contracts was signed in quick succession in Chicago and Evanston for opuses 207, 208, 210, and 211. This breakthrough for the Skinner firm likely came with the assistance of the young and rising-star organist, Palmer Christian. Born in 1885 in nearby Kankakee, Illinois, Christian studied at Chicago’s American Conservatory of Music with Clarence Dickinson before traveling abroad to study with Karl Straube in Leipzig and Alexandre Guilmant in Paris. Upon his return to the United States in 1911, Palmer became organist of Kenwood Evangelical Church in the fashionable Chicago South Side neighborhood of Kenwood.

Kenwood Evangelical Church, Chicago

The city block bounded by 46th and 47th Streets and Greenwood and Ellis Avenues contains three monumental churches of significant architectural quality, all constructed between 1887 and 1926: the former Saint James United Methodist Church (46th Street and Ellis Avenue), Kenwood United Church of Christ (46th Street and Greenwood Avenue, just across the alleyway from Saint James), and Saint Ambrose Catholic Church (47th Street and Ellis Avenue). When these buildings were erected, Kenwood was a neighborhood of high society, as the likes of John G. Shedd of Marshall Field & Company fame belonged to Kenwood Evangelical Church. The Swift family of the meatpacking industry and the Harris family of banking belonged to Saint James Methodist Episcopal Church.

Kenwood Evangelical Church was organized on November 17, 1885, having grown from a Sunday school formed earlier that year. On November 26, 1887, the cornerstone of the present church was laid. The Romanesque Revival building was designed by William W. Boyington in association with H. B. Wheelock and dedicated November 18, 1888. (Boyington designed many important Chicago landmarks, most of which, like the old Chicago Board of Trade Building, are gone. His 1869 Chicago Water Tower and Pumping Station remain.) The edifice and the lot cost $65,423.92. The church is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1888, Steere & Turner of Massachusetts installed its Opus 263, a two-manual, twenty-three-rank, mechanical-action organ costing $3,250. Portions of the gumwood case and the façade, including pipes from the Great 8′ Open Diapason, were retained to hide the new Skinner organ.

As mentioned above, in 1911 Palmer Christian was appointed organist to Kenwood Church. He soon led efforts to replace the Steere & Turner organ, and he specifically worked to have the contract awarded to the Ernest M. Skinner Company. This was to be the first Skinner contract in Illinois.

A specification was drawn for a three-manual organ in January 1913, and the contract was announced in the March issue of The Diapason. This was to be Opus 207, followed closely by three other Chicago-area contracts: Opus 208, First Church of Christ, Scientist, Evanston; Opus 210, Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago; and Opus 211, Hyde Park Baptist Church, Chicago.

Several changes would be made to the specification by the time the organ was installed the following year. On May 22, Christian wrote authorizing addition of the Great 8′ Philomela, extended from the Pedal 16′ Diapason, for an additional $150. Already, Christian and Skinner were at odds on just when the organ would be finished: 

Regarding the matter of time, I have only this to say, that, inasmuch as our church was the first to get you out here—and, if I must say it, this was entirely due to my “plugging” for you—we most certainly hope that you can make a special effort in our case, if need be, to be ready according to schedule.

On July 14, 1913, the church treasurer, John B. Lord, wrote to Skinner, authorizing several changes to the specification: elimination of the Choir 8′ English Horn and casework; addition of the Choir two-rank 8′ Dulcet; 8′ Posaune, 8′ Salicional, and 4′ Octave borrows from the Swell to the Great; addition of Chimes for $500; and a six-rank Echo division on a fourth manual for $1,800. The church could now claim it was to have a four-manual organ, not three, as another Chicago church had since signed a contract for a four-manual Skinner organ, Fourth Presbyterian Church.

Christian wrote Skinner on December 19, 1913, reminding him that he wanted Swell and Choir Unison Off couplers, five pistons for each manual except Echo (there were no General pistons), Swell to Pedal reversible, and a Choir to Pedal 4′ coupler. The old organ had been removed from the church, and Christian was complaining about the delay in completing the new organ, noting he had lost $100 in wedding fees, as there was no organ to play for the ceremonies. He asked if Skinner would be able to keep a February 1, 1914, completion date, as he wanted his former teacher Clarence Dickinson to play the dedicatory recital soon thereafter when he was in Chicago.

Dickinson did not play the dedicatory recital during this visit. The May 1, 1914, issue of The Diapason notes that Christian himself played the opening recital on April 16. Apparently, Mr. Skinner was present for the program. This was the first Skinner organ to be completed in Illinois, but not for long.

The Great, Swell, Choir, and Pedal divisions are housed behind the old Steere façade above the pulpit and choir loft at the front of the nave. The Echo division and Chimes are in a room located off the second-floor rear balcony. The console sits in the choir loft at the far right. The manual compass is 61 notes (C–C); pedal compass is 32 notes (C–G). (Opus 208 would have a 30-note pedalboard.) The unaltered organ has been unplayable for several decades.

The congregation is now known as Kenwood United Church of Christ. The church has experienced a renewal in numbers over the last several decades, mostly due to the leadership of Reverend Dr. Leroy Sanders.

First Church of Christ, Scientist, Evanston

Evanston’s First Church of Christ, Scientist, was founded in January 1895. The first worship site was probably a residence located on the present property, which was converted for use as a church. This building burned in 1897, and the members of the congregation set about building a new church costing $25,000.

Construction for the present church seating 900 commenced in 1912 and was completed the following year. It is an excellent example of Neo-Classical architecture that has been revered by Christian Scientists everywhere and by the denomination’s founder, Mary Baker Eddy. Mrs. Eddy became interested in this style of architecture while attending the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. Many of the exhibition buildings reflected this influence, including the Parliament of World Religions. First Church of Christ, Scientist, Chicago, now home to Grant Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Church, was among the first buildings of this type. The architect of First Church, Evanston, Solon Spencer Beman, also served as architect for First, Second, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Churches of Christ, Scientist, Chicago. He designed the mansion of the W. W. Kimball family on South Prairie Avenue, Chicago, as well as the entire “town” of Pullman on the South Side of Chicago. Beman became a personal friend of Mrs. Eddy, became a Christian Scientist, and served as a consulting architect for construction of the Mother Church Extension in Boston. First Church, Evanston, was Beman’s final commission, as he died the following year at the age of sixty-one. The church reportedly cost $100,000 to build.

The first organ that the congregation owned was apparently a reed organ built by Leonard Peloubet & Co. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1902, Lyon & Healy of Chicago built their Opus 105 (factory number 1357) for the congregation. This two-manual organ had mechanical key and stop action. When the present building was constructed, the Lyon & Healy was retained and installed in the Sunday school room of the lower level. In the 1990s, the then small congregation, unable to retain the organ, turned it over to the Organ Clearing House for eventual sale.

The organ in the new church auditorium, built by the Ernest M. Skinner Company, was completed on June 1, 1914, as Opus 208. The contract was signed in 1913. It is the oldest functioning Skinner organ in the state of Illinois. The Diapason announced the organ in July 1914:

The organ chamber is at the rear of the readers’ platform, and the tone comes into the auditorium through open ornamental lattice work, which conceals the pipes. The console is at the north (right) end of the platform, at the left of the readers.

Within the organ, the Great is centrally located with the Swell behind. The Choir and three Great additions are to the right. Interestingly, the pedal compass is 30 notes (C–F). During construction, the 4′ Octave was added to the Swell division, on its own chest with channel jumpers. Wind pressure was six inches throughout. The late Roy Kehl of Evanston has noted that Opus 208 was nearly identical to Opus 204, installed in Synod Hall of the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, New York, New York.

At a later date, three ranks were added to the Great. Additional tilting tablets above the Swell manual were added for these stops, which were not controlled by the combination action. This work is believed to have been carried out by La Marche of Chicago.

The congregation was served by several excellent organists. Rossetter Gleason Cole was appointed organist in 1909 and served through 1929. Cole was born in 1866. After study at the University of Michigan and in Berlin, he returned to the United States, settling in the Chicago area in 1902. For over fifty years, he served on the faculty of the Cosmopolitan Music School, and for a time served as dean of the school. He was twice dean of the Illinois (now Chicago) Chapter of the American Guild of Organists (1913–1914 and 1928–1930). On January 1, 1930, he became organist to Second Church of Christ, Scientist, Chicago. During his lifetime, over ninety of his compositions were published in many different forms. He died in 1952, at Hilltop, near Lake Bluff, Illinois.

One of the oldest community music schools in the state, the Music Institute of Chicago was founded in 1931 and has campuses in Downers Grove, Evanston, Highland Park, Lake Forest, Lincolnshire, Northbrook, and Winnetka. In 2001, Music Institute purchased its second Evanston campus, the former First Church of Christ, Scientist. First Church had recently merged with Second Church of Christ, Scientist, Evanston, moving to that congregation’s worship space.

First Church vacated its building in 2001, and renovations for the Music Institute began the following year. The building is registered on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2003, when renovations were complete, the prestigious Richard H. Driehaus Award was presented to the Music Institute for its creative reuse of this historic building. For the organ’s ninetieth birthday celebration, the Organ Historical Society presented its Historic Organ Citation #312 on June 13, 2004, during a recital by James Russell Brown.

Between 2005 and 2007, the organ received a historic restoration by J. L. Weiler, Inc., of Chicago. At the conclusion of this project, the organ was reinaugurated in recital by Thomas Murray on September 28, 2007.

Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago

The Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago is the merger of North Presbyterian Church (founded in 1848) and Westminster Presbyterian Church (founded in 1855); Fourth Church was formally organized February 12, 1871, thus celebrating its sesquicentennial in 2021. According to the church’s website: “The name ‘Fourth’ was selected not because it was the fourth Presbyterian church to be founded in Chicago, but because Fourth was the lowest number then not in use.”

Fourth Church refurbished the North Church building at the southeast corner of Wabash and Grand Avenues and dedicated it on October 8, 1871. Within a day, the church burned in the Great Fire of Chicago. North Church housed 1865 Pilcher Bros. & Chant Opus 65, which burned with the church.

The congregation built a new stone building at the northwest corner of Rush and Superior Streets and dedicated it in February of 1874. This building housed Johnson & Son Opus 436, a three-manual organ.

The cornerstone of the present building was laid on September 17, 1912. The English and French Gothic edifice was designed by Ralph Adams Cram, while the accompanying buildings were built to the designs of Chicago’s Howard Van Doren Shaw. This part of what is now North Michigan Avenue was then known as Lincoln Parkway.

The building was dedicated in May 1914. In the ensuing years, the sanctuary was adorned with stained glass windows by Charles J. Connick. At its dedication, it also featured a new, four-manual organ built by the Ernest M. Skinner Company, Opus 210. In the church archives, there is a letter from Ernest M. Skinner to Mrs. Emmons Blaine, 101 Erie Street, Chicago, dated February 13, 1913. Mrs. Blaine was the donor of the organ. Apparently, Skinner had come to the church during its construction, met with Mrs. Blaine, took measurements, and drew a preliminary specification for an organ while at her house. There must have been disappointment with what was perceived to be the size of the organ that could fit into the small main chamber. In the end, the chamber’s exceptionally large height allowed Skinner to stack the organ, providing a much larger instrument to be built. Skinner probably overdid it in this letter by stating:

When I say I am pleased with the result, I mean that the tone will have a perfect outlet, that the organ is not crowded in any way, that it is roomy and convenient of access for the tuners, and that it is a very large complete instrument, second to none in this country; that while there are several stops appearing in the Cathedral organ in New York that I did not put here, I did get in one or two stops that are not in the Cathedral organ, because they were not in existence when that was built. I have invented a new stop through my study over this case.

I wanted to put in a Flute Celeste of which I am very fond. It takes up considerable room, and I set about finding a way to take less. I wanted to make the stop softer than usual, so I had some pipes made to small scale from the model of my Erzahler. The result is a most beautiful combination. I think the most beautiful soft effect I have heard.

It is easy to make a soft tone. It is not easy to make a soft tone and fill it with significance. The sheer beauty of this stop gives me a very great asset and adds another to my list of original stops. I call it “Kleine Erzahler,” which means “little story tellers.” Erzahler means story-teller, it is a german [sic] word and is a stop I designed seven or eight years ago. The stop is so talkative, I have always said it named itself. This new one is a smaller scale of the same family and it takes two pipes to each note, and so becomes plural. They speak with a vibration, as a Violin. I feel very happy over it . . . .

I say without reservation, I am better pleased with this specifications [sic] than any other I have drawn. It is a fine church organ and besides has a wealth of orchestral color and it does not contain a stop of doubtful value. I have always hoped I should land in Chicago with a big one.

While Palmer Christian may have given Ernest Skinner his first organ in Chicago, and even a four-manual organ, it was Mrs. Blane who gave Skinner his first four-manual organ in Chicago that would definitively sow the seeds for more large contracts.

The first mention of Opus 210 in The Diapason occurred in the February 1, 1913, issue on the front page:

Ernest M. Skinner has been commissioned by the Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago to build for it a four-manual organ which will be one of the largest and most noteworthy instruments in the country. The organ is to be installed in the new edifice under construction by that church on the north side of the city. This will be probably the largest Presbyterian church in Chicago and the music here, which has always been of the best, is to continue so when the new building is occupied . . . . Expense is not to be spared, and Mr. Skinner is to incorporate every feature that could be of advantage when the size of the building is considered . . . . Mr. Skinner closed the deal when in Chicago about the middle of January. There was no competition for the contract.

The article also mentioned J. Lawrence Erb had been hired as the new organist for the church. The May issue provided the organ’s specification.

The June 1, 1914, issue of The Diapason noted the organ was played at the opening of the church on May 10, and that afternoon a recital was given by Eric DeLamarter, who by then had become the church’s new organist. The article noted the work on the organ had yet to be finished, and Mr. Skinner had made several visits to Chicago during installation. Voicing was done at night, “when the noises of the city were nearly enough stilled to permit them to get in their artistic touches.” Walter Binkemeyer and T. Cecil Lewis were assisting with voicing.

In 1946, Aeolian-Skinner would make some tonal revisions to the organ, adding six ranks. This project was paid for again by Mrs. Blaine. In 1971, the organ was rebuilt/replaced by the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Co. with its Opus 1516, among the last organs completed by the firm, with four manuals, 125 ranks. Goulding & Wood of Indianapolis, Indiana, renovated the organ in 1994 with slight alterations. In 2015, Quimby Pipe Organs completed for this church its Opus 71, the largest organ in Chicago, with five manuals, 142 ranks.

Hyde Park Baptist Church, Chicago

On May 9, 1874, the First Baptist Church of Hyde Park was founded. Hyde Park was a township annexed by Chicago in 1889. With the opening of the University of Chicago nearby on October 1, 1892, the congregation grew rapidly in membership. One of the congregation’s new members was Dr. William R. Harper, president of the new university. Under Harper’s influence, the church began discussions about a new plant in 1893. A new chapel-sized building was finished on the present property in 1896.

In November 1897, ideas about completion of the main church and the acquisition of a pipe organ took form. In 1901 the congregation received a generous gift in the amount of $15,000 from John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who was instrumental in the building of the nearby University of Chicago. Architect James Gamble was commissioned to design the church of Romanesque influence, seating some six hundred persons. In 1904, the congregation changed its name to Hyde Park Baptist Church. The new church was dedicated on January 7, 1906. The exterior is of red sandstone with limestone trim. Original plans called for construction entirely of stone, but this proved too costly. The interior is constructed of limestone, brick, and dark oak, crowned with massive cross beams. A brochure printed by the church notes that “the peaked ceiling is as high as the center aisle is long (some 76 feet).” A small pipe organ acquired a few years earlier at a cost of $1,000 was moved from the chapel to the new church, but it proved inadequate.

In 1914, a new organ was installed by the Ernest M. Skinner Company. The contract was dated January 31, 1913, at a cost of $8,000.00. By April 30, it was decided by mail to move the Swell 8′ French Horn preparation (knob only) to the Choir. It was stipulated: “Both kinds of Vox Humana pipes to be sent for the church to decide which it wants.”

Construction of the organ commenced in May 1914, and it was dedicated on October 22 of that year. This project corresponded with a general decoration of the church interior, designed by James R. M. Morrison. The three-manual, electro-pneumatic action organ, Opus 211, consisted of thirty-one stops, twenty-one ranks, with a total of 1,281 pipes. The console had a manual compass of 61 notes (C–C) and a pedal compass of 30 notes (C–F). The organ was powered by a 71⁄2-horsepower Spencer Orgoblo turbine. Several years later, a set of chimes was added in memory of T. B. Merrill.

This organ was rebuilt by M. P. Möller of Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1956, and is now a thirty-rank organ. The project retained seven ranks of Skinner pipework as well as most of the chests. A new three-manual, drawknob console with 32-note pedalboard was installed. The existing blower was reused. In 1965, the congregation again changed its name, becoming the Hyde Park Union Church, reflecting its affiliation with both the American Baptist Church and the United Church of Christ.

§

The year 1914 became an important and busy year for Skinner in Chicago. Opus 207 (Kenwood Evangelical) and Opus 210 (Fourth Presbyterian) had their first recitals within a month of each other (April 16 and May 10, respectively), and the First Church of Christ, Scientist, Evanston, organ (Opus 208) was finished the following month (June 1). Dedication for Opus 211 at Hyde Park Baptist was not that far behind (October 22). Once these instruments became known to organists of the region, the Skinner and Aeolian-Skinner firms would proceed to build dozens of additional organs for the area, continuing through to the end of the company’s work.

Kenwood Evangelical Church, Chicago

Specification of 1914 Ernest M. Skinner Organ Company Opus 207

GREAT (Manual II, 6″ wind pressure)

16′ Bourdon 61 pipes

8′ First Diapason (scale 42) 61 pipes

8′ Second Diapason (scale 45) 61 pipes

8′ Philomela 73 pipes

8′ Waldflote 61 pipes

8′ Salicional (fr Sw 8′ Salicional)

8′ Erzahler (“com”) 61 pipes

4′ Octave (fr Sw 4′ Octave)

4′ Flute (“Har #2”) 61 pipes

8′ Posaune (fr Sw 8′ Posaune)

Chimes (fr Echo)

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

16′ Bourdon (“#2”) 73 pipes

8′ Diapason (scale 44) 73 pipes

8′ Gedackt (“com”) 73 pipes

8′ Salicional (scale 64) 73 pipes

8′ Voix Celestes (scale 64) 73 pipes

8′ Aeoline (scale 60) 73 pipes

8′ Unda Maris (TC, scale 60) 61 pipes

4′ Octave 61 pipes

4′ Flute (“#2”) 61 pipes

2′ Piccolo (“com”) 61 pipes

[III] Mixture (“1 break”) 183 pipes

16′ Contra Posaune (“cc 4-1⁄2”) 73 pipes

8′ Posaune (“cc 4-1⁄2”) 73 pipes

8′ Oboe (“com”) 73 pipes

8′ Vox Humana (“com”) 73 pipes

Tremolo

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

8′ Diapason (scale 50) 61 pipes

8′ Concert Flute 61 pipes

8′ Dulciana (scale 56) 61 pipes

8′ Dulcet 122 pipes

4′ Flauto Traverso (“#2”) 61 pipes

8′ Clarinet (“com”) 61 pipes

8′ French Horn (“com”) 61 pipes

8′ Orchestral Oboe (“com”) 61 pipes

Tremolo

Celesta

ECHO (Manual IV, enclosed, 5″ wind pressure)

8′ Rohrflöte 73 pipes

8′ Quintadena 61 pipes

8′ Unda Maris (2nd rank TC) 110 pipes

4′ Flute 61 pipes

8′ Vox Humana 61 pipes

Tremolo

Cathedral Chimes 25 tubes

PEDAL

16′ Diapason (ext Gt 8′ Philomela)

16′ First Bourdon (Gt)

16′ Second Bourdon (Sw)

16′ Echo Bourdon (ext Echo 8′ Rohrfl)

10-2⁄3′ Quinte (fr Gt 16′ Bourdon)

8′ Octave (fr Gt 8′ Philomela)

8′ Gedackt (fr Gt 16′ Bourdon)

16′ Ophicleide (fr Sw 16′ Contra Pos)

COUPLERS

Great to Pedal

Swell to Pedal

Swell to Pedal 4

Choir to Pedal

Choir to Pedal 4

Echo to Pedal

Swell to Great

Choir to Great

Echo to Great

Swell to Choir

Great to Great 4

Swell to Great 16

Swell to Great 4

Choir to Choir 16

Choir to Choir 4

Swell to Swell 16

Swell to Swell 4

ACCESSORIES

5 Great Pistons (thumb)

5 Swell Pistons (thumb and toe)

5 Choir Pistons (thumb)

3 Echo Pistons (thumb)

5 Pedal Pistons (toe)

Combination Setter (thumb)

Pedal to Great Combination On/Off (thumb)

Pedal to Swell Combination On/Off (thumb)

Pedal to Choir Combination On/Off (thumb)

Pedal to Echo Combination On/Off (thumb)

Great Unison On/Off (thumb, left key cheek)

Swell Unison On/Off (thumb, left key cheek)

Choir Unison On/Off (thumb, left key cheek)

Balanced Swell expression shoe

Balanced Choir expression shoe

Balanced Crescendo shoe

Sforzando Reversible (toe, hitch-down)

 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, Evanston

Specification of 1914 Ernest M. Skinner Company Opus 208:

GREAT (Manual II)

16′ Bourdon (49 stopped wood, 12 open metal trebles) 61 pipes

8′ Diapason (leathered lips, metal) 68 pipes

8′ Philomela (wood) 80 pipes

8′ Erzähler (metal) 68 pipes

8′ Gedackt (fr Sw 8′ Gedackt)

8′ Dulciana (fr Sw 8′ Aeoline)

4′ Flute (fr Sw 4′ Flute)

8′ Cornopean (fr Sw 8′ Cornopean)

4′ Octave (addition, metal) 61 pipes

2-2⁄3′ Twelfth (addition, metal) 61 pipes

2′ Fifteenth (addition, metal) 61 pipes

SWELL (Manual III, enclosed)

16′ Bourdon (wood) 68 pipes

8′ Diapason (metal) 68 pipes

8′ Gedackt (wood) 68 pipes

8′ Salicional (metal) 68 pipes

8′ Voix Celestes (metal) 68 pipes

8′ Aeoline (metal) 68 pipes

8′ Unda Maris (TC, metal) 56 pipes

4′ Octave (metal) 68 pipes

4′ Flute (metal) 68 pipes

2′ Flautino (metal) 61 pipes

16′ Posaune (metal) 68 pipes

8′ Cornopean (metal) 68 pipes

8′ Flügel Horn (metal) 68 pipes

8′ Vox Humana (metal) 68 pipes

Tremolo

CHOIR (Manual I, enclosed)

8′ Geigen Principal (metal) 61 pipes

8′ Concert Flute (12 stopped wood basses, 25 open wood, 24 open metal trebles) 61 pipes

4′ Flute (metal) 61 pipes

8′ Clarinet (metal) 61 pipes

Tremolo

PEDAL

16′ Diapason (ext Gt 8′ Philomela)

16′ First Bourdon (Gt)

16′ Second Bourdon (Sw)

8′ Octave (fr Gt 8′ Philomela)

8′ Still Gedackt (fr Sw 16′ Bourdon)

16′ Posaune (Sw)

COUPLERS

Great to Pedal

Swell to Pedal

Swell to Pedal 4

Choir to Pedal

Great to Great 4

Swell to Great

Choir to Great

Swell to Choir

Swell to Great 16

Swell to Great 4

Choir to Great 16

Swell to Swell 16

Swell to Swell 4

ACCESSORIES

4 Great Pistons (thumb)

5 Swell Pistons (thumb)

4 Choir Pistons (thumb)

4 Pedal Pistons (toe)

Great to Pedal Reversible (toe)

Pedals to Great Combinations on/off (thumb)

Pedals to Swell Combinations on/off (thumb)

Pedals to Choir Combinations on/off (thumb)

Combination Setter (thumb)

Balanced Swell Expression Shoe

Balanced Choir Expression Shoe

Balanced Crescendo Shoe

Sforzando Reversible (toe)

 

Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago

Specification of 1914 Ernest M. Skinner Company Opus 210:

GREAT (Manual II, 6″ wind pressure, 16′ Diapason on 5″)

16′ Diapason 73 pipes

16′ Bourdon 61 pipes

8′ First Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Second Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Third Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Philomela 73 pipes

8′ Waldflöte 61 pipes

8′ Erzähler 61 pipes

4′ Octave 61 pipes

4′ Flute 61 pipes

2′ Fifteenth 61 pipes

16′ Ophicleide (10′′ wind pressure) 97 pipes

8′ Tromba (ext 16′ Ophicleide)

4′ Clarion (ext 16′ Ophicleide)

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

16′ Bourdon 73 pipes

16′ Dulciana 73 pipes

8′ Diapason 73 pipes

8′ Clarabella 73 pipes

8′ Gedeckt 73 pipes

8′ Spitzflöte 73 pipes

8′ Salicional 73 pipes

8′ Voix Celestes 73 pipes

8′ Aeoline 73 pipes

8′ Unda Maris (TC) 61 pipes

4′ Octave 73 pipes

4′ Flute 73 pipes

2′ Flautino 61 pipes

III Mixture (12-15-17) 183 pipes

16′ Contra Posaune 73 pipes

8′ Cornopean 73 pipes

8′ Oboe 73 pipes

8′ Vox Humana 73 pipes

4′ Clarion 73 pipes

Tremolo

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

16′ Gamba 73 pipes

8′ Geigen Principal 73 pipes

8′ Concert Flute 73 pipes

8′ Quintadena 73 pipes

8′ Kleine Erzähler (2nd rank TC) 110 pipes

8′ Dulcet II 122 pipes

4′ Flute 73 pipes

2′ Piccolo 61 pipes

16′ English Horn 73 pipes

16′ Fagotto (So) 

8′ Clarinet 73 pipes

8′ Orchestral Oboe (So)

8′ Flügel Horn (So)

Tremolo

Celesta (61 bars)

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

8′ Philomela (Gt)

8′ Gamba 73 pipes

8′ Gamba Celeste 73 pipes

16′ Fagotto 73 pipes

8′ Tuba Mirabilis (15′′ wind pressure) 73 pipes

8′ French Horn 73 pipes

8′ Flügel Horn 73 pipes

8′ Orchestral Oboe 73 pipes

Tremolo

ECHO (6″ wind pressure, enclosed)

8′ Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Gedeckt 61 pipes

4′ Flute 61 pipes

8′ Vox Humana 61 pipes

Tremolo (by Solo Tremolo knob)

PEDAL (5″ and 6″ wind pressure)

32′ Contra Violone 56 pipes

16′ Diapason (ext Gt 8′ Philomela)

16′ Violone (ext 32′)

16′ First Bourdon (Gt)

16′ Second Bourdon (Sw)

16′ Gamba (Ch)

16′ Dulciana (Sw)

8′ Octave (fr Gt 8′ Philomela)

8′ Gedeckt (fr Gt 16′ First Bourdon)

8′ Still Gedeckt (fr Sw 16′ Bourdon)

8′ Cello (So)

32′ Bombarde (ext Gt 16′ Ophicleide)

16′ Ophicleide (fr Gt 16′ Ophicleide)

16′ Posaune (Sw)

8′ Tromba (fr Gt 16′ Ophicleide)

4′ Tromba (fr Gt 16′ Ophicleide)

COUPLERS

Great to Pedal

Swell to Pedal

Swell to Pedal 4

Choir to Pedal

Choir to Pedal 4

Solo to Pedal

Swell to Great

Choir to Great

Solo to Great

Swell to Choir

Choir Sub

Choir Super 

Swell Sub *

Swell Super *

Solo Sub *

Solo Super *

Echo to Solo

* “transferred to Great with Swell to Great”

ACCESSORIES

3 Full pistons (draw manual and pedal combinations 5, 6, and 7, does not affect couplers)

7 Great pistons (thumb)

7 Swell pistons (thumb and toe)

7 Choir pistons (thumb)

7 Solo and Echo pistons (thumb)

7 Pedal pistons (toe)

Pedal to Swell Combinations on/off

Pedal to Great Combinations on/off (Great and Pedal combinations effect the other)

Pedal to Choir Combinations on/off

Pedal to Solo Combinations on/off

Combination adjuster (thumb)

Great to Pedal reversible (toe)

Balanced Swell expression shoe

Balanced Choir and Solo expression shoe

Balanced Crescendo shoe

Sforzando reversible (toe, hitch-down)

 

Hyde Park Baptist Church, Chicago

Specification of 1914 Ernest M. Skinner Company Opus 211:

GREAT (Manual II)

16′ Bourdon 61 pipes

8′ Diapason (17 basses in façade) 61 pipes

8′ Philomela 73 pipes

8′ Erzähler 61 pipes

8′ Gedackt (Sw)

8 Dulciana (Sw)

4 Flute (Sw)

8 Cornopean (Sw)

SWELL (Manual III, enclosed)

16′ Bourdon 61 pipes

8′ Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Gedackt 61 pipes

8′ Salicional 61 pipes

8′ Voix Celeste 61 pipes

8′ Dulciana 61 pipes

8′ Unda Maris (TC) 49 pipes

4′ Violin (knob only)

4′ Flute 61 pipes

2′ Piccolo 61 pipes

8′ Cornopean 61 pipes

8′ Flügel Horn 61 pipes

8′ Vox Humana 61 pipes

Tremolo

CHOIR (Manual I, enclosed)

8′ Geigen Principal 61 pipes

8′ Concert Flute 61 pipes

4′ Flauto Traverso 61 pipes

8′ Clarinet 61 pipes

8′ Orchestral Oboe 61 pipes

8′ French Horn (“knob only”)

Tremolo

PEDAL

16′ Diapason (ext Gt 8′ Philomela)

16′ First Bourdon (Gt)

16′ Second Bourdon (Sw)

8′ Octave (fr Gt 8′ Philomela)

8′ Gedackt (fr Gt 16′ Bourdon)

8′ Still Gedackt (fr Sw 16′ Bourdon)

COUPLERS

Great to Pedal

Swell to Pedal

Choir to Pedal

Swell to Great

Choir to Great

Swell to Choir

Great 4

Choir to Great 16

Choir to Great 4

Swell to Great 16

Swell to Great 4

Choir 4

Choir 16

Swell 4

Swell 16

ACCESSORIES

3 General Pistons (toe)

5 Great Pistons and Cancel (thumb)

5 Swell Pistons and Cancel (thumb)

5 Choir Pistons and Cancel (thumb)

5 Pedal Pistons (thumb)

Pedal to Great Combinations on/off (thumb)

Pedal to Swell Combinations on/off (thumb)

Pedal to Choir Combinations on/off (thumb)

Great to Pedal Reversible (thumb and toe)

Swell to Pedal Reversible (toe)

Choir to Pedal Reversible (toe)

Balanced Swell Expression Shoe

Balanced Choir Expression Shoe

Balanced Crescendo Shoe (with indicator)

Sforzando Reversible (toe)

Neal Campbell

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

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

Introduction

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

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

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

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

Harrison replied to Schreiner:

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

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

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

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

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

Historical context

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

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

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

Dear Don:

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

Cordially, and with great admiration,

Ernest M. Skinner⁶

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

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

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

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

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

Attributes and examples of the emerging American Classic style

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Harrison replied a couple weeks later:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Plans emerge for a new organ for the Salt Lake Tabernacle

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The completed Tabernacle organ

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

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

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

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

Another to the workers back in the factory:

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

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

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

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

A summary to Henry Willis:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Organs containing G. Donald Harrison’s signature plates

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Harrison makes this interesting comment about the Methuen organ:

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

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

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

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

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

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

To be continued.

Notes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

26. Owen, 47.

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

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