Cover Feature: St. Peter's Episcopal Church, Philadelphia

A. Thompson-Allen Company, New Haven, Connecticut; Saint Peter’s Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

St. Peter's Church — St. Peter's Episcopal Church, Philadelphia

Philadelphia’s Society Hill

Society Hill is Center City Philadelphia’s oldest residential neighborhood, a one-quarter square-mile area that was first settled in the 1680s. It took its name from the Free Society of Traders, an association of merchants and landowners chosen by William Penn to shape the future of that growing city. During the nineteenth century, as Philadelphia’s population expanded westward away from the Delaware River, the area became rundown and disreputable, and by the end of the Second World War was one of that city’s worst slums. A successful urban renewal program begun in the 1950s largely returned Society Hill to its former character. Today it is known for its expanse of eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century row houses, traversed by narrow cobblestone streets lined with brick sidewalks and punctuated by street lamps after a design by Benjamin Franklin.

Saint Peter’s Church

Saint Peter’s Episcopal Church, at the corner of Third and Pine Streets, was originally intended as a “chapel of ease” for nearby Christ Church and was built to accommodate the burgeoning congregation of that parish. On land donated by two of William Penn’s sons, architect-builder Robert Smith (1722–1777) designed a church based upon Christopher Wren’s “auditory” style. With this plan, sightlines and speech clarity are of primary importance, especially for a worship service focused upon Scripture and preaching. The first services in the church were held on September 4, 1761.

It is an edifice of breathtaking elegance in its simplicity. To stand within its sun-drenched walls, absorbing the ambience of centuries, is to experience a whiff of eighteenth-century Philadelphia. Many civic luminaries have been members of Saint Peter’s. Mayor Samuel Powel, who lived just down Third Street, often shared his family’s pew with George and Martha Washington.

Saint Peter’s is one of two churches of its type surviving in America, the other located in Cooper River, South Carolina, built in 1763. In these churches, the pulpit and lectern are at the opposite end of the main aisle from the altar, which is placed against the east wall, beneath a large Palladian window. Most of the tall box pews have seating on three sides. Following the readings and sermon, the congregation turns and faces the altar for the rest of the service.

In 1832 Saint Peter’s and Christ Church parted ways and became separate parishes. Ten years later, the vestry commissioned William Strickland to build a new tower to accommodate a chime of eight bells given by Benjamin Chew Wilcocks. The soaring 210-foot tower and steeple are conspicuously out of scale with Robert Smith’s church, perhaps to allow the bells to be heard at a greater distance, or possibly to reflect the congregation’s desire to establish a strong visual presence in its neighborhood.

Earlier instruments

The first permanent organ for Saint Peter’s was constructed by Philip Feyring (1730–1767), who died the year it was completed. His two-manual instrument consumed almost half of the north gallery and caused regular complaints from those seated nearby that it was too loud. In 1774 the vestry voted to remove the organ and put it into storage until it could be sold. Fortunately, nothing happened for fifteen years, and then in 1789 Feyring’s organ was moved to a newly constructed organ loft above the altar, where it continues to cover most of the Palladian window behind it.

This instrument served Saint Peter’s for more than fifty years and in 1815 was either rebuilt or replaced (vestry records are sometimes incomplete). Little is known about this second instrument apart from its short career in the church. In 1829 London-trained organ-builder Henry Corrie furnished a new instrument using some of the pipes from the 1815 organ. Corrie’s work served for twenty-seven years, but in 1855 local builder John C. B. Standbridge reported that it was beyond repair. The following year he signed a contract for a new instrument, dedicated in 1857.

Hilborne Roosevelt rebuilt the Standbridge organ in 1886 and added a third manual to the console. Within two years, however, the vestry began to consider replacing the “double quartet” that stood with the organ in the loft, with a men-and-boys choir on the main floor of the church. Charles S. Haskell, a former employee of the Roosevelt firm, electrified the organ in 1892 and provided a four-manual console placed among the new choir stalls on the main floor. Additions in 1911 included a small Echo Organ, located within the walls of the original tower immediately behind the pulpit door, and a Choir Organ, placed unfortunately beneath an iron grate under the choir stalls in a basement chamber.

The Choir Organ suffered from constant dampness and regular water seepage, especially following a heavy rainfall. Eight years after the Choir Organ was installed, Haskell had to remove portions of that division for repairs. A contract dispute between Haskell and the vestry ensued in 1921, with the builder refusing to return the parts taken from the church. About 1928 the Choir Organ was completely removed, and its chamber abandoned.

The Skinner organ

Weary of their troublesome instrument, parts of which were very old, the vestry contracted with the Skinner Organ Company to build an entirely new instrument, their Opus 862, finished in November 1931. It is a three-manual, 49-stop organ placed entirely within the organ case, which was enlarged (probably in the 1892 rebuilding) by bringing the façade forward to the edge of the organ loft. Nothing except Feyring’s case remains of the earlier instruments, and there is credible speculation that even it was made by David Tannenberg of nearby Lititz, Pennsylvania.

As the Skinner organ approached fifty years old, its pneumatic leatherwork began to fail. Saint Peter’s vestry was committed to keeping the organ in good order, and much of the instrument was releathered as necessary to keep the organ playing reliably. At ninety-one years, the Skinner organ holds the record for the longest tenure of all of Saint Peter’s instruments. The current work is the first comprehensive restoration of this organ.

—Joseph F. Dzeda

The restoration of Opus 862

The mechanism and pipework were found to be mostly complete. The original “vertical selector” electro-pneumatic console was long gone and had been replaced, first by an Austin tab console in the 1970s, and then by a solid-state console by David Harris in 1985. Richard Houghten updated and rebuilt this console in 2017, and it remains as such. All of the components of the 1931 chassis remain and have been fully restored.

Opus 862 underwent tonal changes characteristic of their time. The 4′ Flute on the Great was replaced by a high-pitched mixture, and the Great 8′ Tromba, enclosed in the Choir expression box, was revoiced as a bright Trumpet. The Choir Nazard was replaced by a 4′ Principal. The Class A Deagan Cathedral Chimes were removed, along with their electric action, from the Swell box, and the Harp/Celesta was removed from the Choir box in preparation for tonal additions that were never realized.

The pipework was mostly complete and has been restored to the original specifications except for one missing stop, the Swell Aeoline. This stop was a 75-scale string, also sometimes called Echo Gamba or Dulcet. These are very rare. We did replace it with a 75-scale Dulcet from an earlier Skinner. Also missing were the Harp and Chimes. These have been replaced with identical items from Opus 659.

The blower has been fully restored by Joseph Sloane, converting the original motor from two-phase to three-phase. The reeds have been restored by Chris Broome of Broome & Co., LLC, to the original specifications. The original reed tongues were gone and had been replaced with thinner tongues and reduced loading. Chris Broome has replaced these using the thickness and loading schedules as listed in the Skinner records. The goal of the restoration has been to restore the organ to “as built” condition throughout.

From the Skinner documents we have acquired, it is clear that Opus 862 was overseen and designed by Ernest Skinner personally. For point of reference, we are going to compare Opus 862 with Opus 836, Saint Peter’s Episcopal Church in Morristown, New Jersey. We are including the original voicer’s charts for both organs. Opus 836, again from factory documents, was clearly overseen by G. Donald Harrison. The two organs are similar in many ways. The strings and flutes are identical for the most part, but the chorus reeds and principal choruses are quite different. As indicated in the reed voicer’s charts, the Swell chorus reeds are “Skinner” in 862, and the Swell chorus reeds are “English” in 836. The “Skinner” reeds are harmonic at 2′ F-sharp and the “English” reeds are harmonic at 1′ F#, and the harmonic pipes are spotted metal. The “Skinner” reeds have different shallots and loading producing a rounder, fuller, and refined tone. The “English” reeds are brighter with more “clang” and are reproductions of Willis reeds. The specifications of the “English” reeds were part of the exchange established between Skinner and Henry Willis III during their quid pro quo arrangement of exchanging Skinner’s mechanical innovations with Willis’s pipe construction and reed voicing details. Both of these reed choruses are beautiful in their own way, but the differences are very obvious.

The same can be said for the principal choruses. If you compare the two flue voicer’s charts, you will notice that there are no 1/4 mouths in 862. The upper work is more restrained in 862, and conversely more pronounced in 836. The biggest and most noticeable difference is that if you run up the scale on any of the Diapason stops, 862 gently fades, while 836 is pushed to the limit. I believe that this is due to the Willis influence as carried out by Harrison. It is interesting to note that Harrison abandoned both of these tonal set ups after 1932. These are both beautiful Skinner organs from the same period but realized differently by Skinner and Harrison.

—Nicholas Thompson-Allen

Frederick Lee Richards’s 1992 paper, Old St. Peter’s Protestant Episcopal Church, Philadelphia: An Architectural History and Inventory (1758-1991), provided much of the historical information cited above.

Builder’s website: www.thompson-allen.com

Church’s website: www.stpetersphila.org

GREAT (5″ wind pressure)

16′ Bourdon (Pedal) 17 pipes

8′ First Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Second Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Principal Flute 61 pipes

8′ Erzähler 61 pipes

4′ Principal 61 pipes

4′ Flute 61 pipes

II Grave Mixture (2-2⁄3′ – 2′) 122 pipes

Enclosed in Choir box 10″ w.p.

8′ Tromba 61 pipes

8′ French Horn 61 pipes

Chimes (in Swell box) 20 tubes

SWELL (Enclosed) (71⁄2″ wind pressure)

16′ Echo Lieblich 73 pipes

8′ Diapason 73 pipes

8′ Rohrflöte 73 pipes

8′ Salicional 73 pipes

8′ Voix Celeste (CC) 73 pipes

8′ Aeoline 73 pipes

4′ Octave 73 pipes

4′ Flute Triangulaire 73 pipes

2′ Flautino 61 pipes

III Mixture (C-14) 183 pipes

16′ Waldhorn 73 pipes

8′ Cornopean 73 pipes

8′ Oboe 73 pipes

8′ Vox Humana 73 pipes

Tremolo

CHOIR (Enclosed) (6″ wind pressure)

16′ Contra Gamba 61 pipes

8′ Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Concert Flute 61 pipes

8′ Gamba 61 pipes

8′ Dulciana 61 pipes

8′ Unda Maris (TC) 49 pipes

4′ Flute 61 pipes

2-2⁄3′ Nazard 61 pipes

8′ Clarinet 61 pipes

8′ English Horn 61 pipes

Harp (TC) 49 bars

Celesta (CC) 12 bars

Tremolo

PEDAL (6″ wind pressure)

32′ Resultant

16′ Diapason (bearded) 32 pipes

16′ Bourdon 32 pipes

16′ Echo Lieblich (Swell)

16′ Contra Gamba (Choir)

8′ Octave (ext Diapason) 12 pipes

8′ Gedeckt (ext Bourdon) 12 pipes

8′ Still Gedeckt (Swell)

8′ Cello (Choir)

32′ Fagotto 12 pipes (10″ w.p., ext Sw Waldhorn)

16′ Trombone 12 pipes (10″ w.p., ext Gt Tromba)

16′ Waldhorn (Swell)

Chimes

49 stops, 38 ranks, 2,457 pipes

Cover Feature: Derry Presbyterian Church, Hershey, PA

A. Thompson-Allen Company, New Haven, Connecticut; Derry Presbyterian Church, Hershey, Pennsylvania

Files

DiapasonApril1951.pdf (437.14 KB)

Derry Presbyterian Church, Hershey, PA — The new console for Aeolian-Skinner Opus 1132

Editor's note: Click on the link above to view the front cover of the April 1951 issue of The Diapason and announcement of Opus 1132 for the Church of the Redeemer, New Haven, Connecticut.

The organ’s first career

In 1951 New Haven’s Church of the Redeemer, founded in 1838, moved into a neo-colonial structure designed by prominent local architect Douglas Orr. The new church was located in the city’s East Rock neighborhood and quickly took its place among Orr’s other distinguished buildings that remain popular to the present day.

The church’s organist-choirmaster, Hope Leroy Baumgartner (1891–1969), was assigned the task of designing a suitable organ for the new sanctuary. A student of Horatio Parker and Harry Benjamin Jepson, Baumgartner was awarded a Bachelor of Music degree from the Yale School of Music in 1916. In 1919 he was appointed to the faculty as an associate professor where he taught composition and music theory with distinction until his retirement in 1960.

As a teacher, Baumgartner was famous for his attention to detail, so it is no surprise that he took an intense interest in the designing of Church of the Redeemer’s new organ, to be built by the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company as their Opus 1132. The April 1951 issue of The Diapason carries a front-page article describing the completion of the new organ, noting:

The organ was designed by H. Leroy Baumgartner, organist and choirmaster of the church, associate professor of the theory of music at Yale University and noted composer. Professor Baumgartner spent several years developing the scheme for this instrument and provided detailed instructions for its construction, which included drawings specifying the placement of the controls at the console. A feature of the organ will be an unusually large number of mechanical controls, some of which were designed by Professor Baumgartner.

Baumgartner was especially known for accompanying oratorios as part of his music program, and he wanted an instrument that would facilitate complex registrational changes. Not only did he specify several highly unusual console controls, but he also had some idiosyncratic ideas about the design of the stoplist.

The founder of our company, Aubrey Thompson-Allen, was assistant to G. Donald Harrison while Opus 1132 was being negotiated. Harrison had become exasperated with Baumgartner’s incessant micromanaging of the details of the organ’s stoplist and console controls, ultimately placing a large stack of correspondence in Aubrey’s hands and asking him to go to New Haven to see if the contract somehow might be finalized and signed. Ultimately it was, and an order was given for an instrument of fifty-one speaking stops controlled by a three-manual console, with a floating Positive division that could be played from the Great or Choir manuals.

In an effort to wring the greatest number of stops from the complement of pipes, a number of compromises had to be made. To cite only one example, the 8′ Rohr Bordun in the Swell served also as the unison flute for the Great, Choir, and Pedal divisions, which had none of their own. To save expense, the design of the organ omitted the use of chest relays, with the result that this flute would not “travel” with any of the couplers and had to be drawn separately on any manual to which the Swell might be coupled.

For more than sixty-five years, Opus 1132 provided reliable and beautiful music under the hands of several musicians. Each of them learned to accommodate the organ’s peculiarities, including an amazingly complicated setterboard that controlled the combination pistons. The members of the Church of the Redeemer cherished their Aeolian-Skinner organ and maintained excellent stewardship of it, including a basic releathering of the chassis and the installation of a multi-level combination action in 2007, even as the congregation was beginning to contemplate its own future.

By 2018 the membership had dwindled to about 170 dedicated people, and they found it increasingly difficult to keep their large physical plant maintained to the standards they had set for themselves. After exploring possible mergers with other Congregational churches in the area, the members voted to close the church and sell the property, ending Redeemer’s 180-year history of service to New Haven. Consistent with the congregation’s strong commitment to its core values, more than $2.2 million was donated to other churches and entities having similar values and missions, including almost $800,000 set aside as the Church of the Redeemer Community Legacy Fund at the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven.

Unable to find a buyer willing to continue the building’s use as a church, after two years the congregation sold the property to a developer for conversion to apartments, with the stipulation that the external appearance of the church and its parish house would be preserved as a neighborhood landmark. The organ was offered for sale, and while several church delegations were enthusiastic about the instrument, none of them could undertake the project. As the deadline for interior demolition approached, the organ’s fate looked increasingly uncertain. Those who knew and loved Opus 1132 became anxious for the organ’s future.

In late September 2019, a committee from Derry Presbyterian Church in Hershey, Pennsylvania, which had been searching for an Aeolian-Skinner organ, heard about Opus 1132’s availability, and on October 4 visited Church of the Redeemer. Yale Institute of Sacred Music student Jerrick Cavagnaro engagingly demonstrated the instrument for the committee, and it was love at first sight. They were impressed by the organ’s musical qualities and excellent state of preservation, and in short order, contracts were drawn up and signed. On November 3 a farewell concert was played by several prominent local musicians, with members of the Derry Presbyterian Church present to formally receive the instrument. Removal of the organ began immediately afterwards, just as construction equipment started to appear on the property.

—Joseph F. Dzeda

Restoration and relocation of Opus 1132

The restoration of this fine Aeolian-Skinner was perfectly straightforward for us as we have restored a number of Skinner and Aeolian-Skinner organs over the last fifty years. After we removed the organ from Church of the Redeemer we proceeded to complete the restoration. We had releathered the organ ten years earlier, but this did not include restoration of the pipework and new gaskets for all the chests and windlines.

The flue pipes were cleaned, repaired, and fitted with new stainless slide tuners. The wood flutes were cleaned and shellacked, with the stoppers releathered. Then each stop was placed on my voicing machine to be regulated for power and speech. The wind pressures were reset to the factory records. All the pitman and unit chests had been fully rebuilt and were in perfect condition. Anything that was not done during the previous work was now completed, including new gaskets for all the pitman and unit chests and assorted windline flanges.

The original console and all relays and wiring were replaced. The old console was painted and was unsuitable to go with the other woodwork in the church. A new oak console with Peterson solid-state was built by Organ Supply Industries and was matched to the existing furniture in the new location. We made every attempt to replicate the appearance of an Aeolian-Skinner console, especially with knob, coupler, and piston layout.

We wanted to restore the organ tonally to the way that G. Donald Harrison had originally designed it. In the final specification the organ did not contain unison flutes on the Great, Choir, and Pedal. The unit Swell 16′ Rohr Bordun had to do the job on all manuals and pedal. GDH was dead set against this, and he eventually put the project in Aubrey Thompson-Allen’s (assistant to GDH) hands.

We have endeavored to complete the specification with the addition of:

• A new Skinner-style Choir 8′ Concert Flute.

• A repurposed 1930 Skinner Great 8′ Flute Harmonique.

• A repurposed Pedal 16′–8′ Bourdon, retained from the Hershey church’s former Reuter organ.

In its previous home the Pedal Bombarde was buried in a tone pocket in the Choir organ and was ineffective. We have relocated it, unenclosed, with the Pedal division just behind and slightly above the Great division. It is a fine “English Trombone” and is very successful in its new location. This and all of the other reeds in the organ have been beautifully restored by Broome and Company.

Relocating the organ designed for a completely different organ chamber presented many challenges, especially as Opus 1132 is much larger than the former organ. The entire organ was reconfigured and assembled in our erecting room. The organ had originally been installed either side of the chancel with the Choir, Positive, and Pedal on one side and the Swell and Great on the other. There were always pitch issues with the Great and Positive being in different locations, and it could be perilous to combine them!

The new chamber has the Swell and Choir in identical swell boxes on either side of the chamber, with vertical shutters on the front and diagonally on the sides, with the shades angled to project the sound out into the church. The Great and Positive, which are on chromatic chests, are installed next to each other with the treble end facing the chamber opening and passage boards between the chests for tuning access. This has eliminated the pitch differences that had existed. The entire organ is on one level except for the Great and Pedal zinc basses that had been in the façades of the Redeemer organ. These were cut to speaking length and placed on new chests above the Great and Positive. Aeolian-Skinner often did this when space was at a premium.

The Pedal organ has been placed at the back of the main chamber starting with the 16′ Contra Bass and continuing forward with the 16′ Bourdon and then the 16′ Bombarde. The mouths are at different heights to ensure adequate speaking room, and every effort has been made to have all of the windchests accessible for maintenance.

The entire wind trunk system is made up of either new galvanized metal or the original windlines unsoldered and reconfigured as needed. All of the Aeolian-Skinner flanges were retained.

The original Spencer blower was retained and restored by Joseph Sloane. The hubs and turbine fans had been badly damaged when the fans were removed to service the motor in the past. New fans and hubs had to be manufactured and installed, and the old single-phase induction motor was replaced with a new three-phase motor. We have found the single-phase motors to be unreliable after 70–100 years and warrant replacement for safety and reliability. Also, the blower never had a static reservoir, instead having a small Spencer pressure regulator. Not only did this have inadequate capacity, but it also allowed wind noise into the chamber through the windlines, caused by fan turbulence. We have installed a vintage Skinner reservoir over the blower to overcome these issues. Now up in the chamber the organ is silent with the wind on.

This very rewarding project was completed by the following members of the ATA Company:

• Kurt Bocco—reservoirs, wind trunks and installation.

• Joseph Dzeda—wiring and keeping the company in order during our many weeks away.

• Joe Linger—all windchests and installation.

• Sam Linger—all windchests and installation.

• Nick Thompson-Allen—pipe restoration and voicing and installation and tuning.

• Nate Ventrella—wiring and installation.

• Zack Ventrella—layout, console and wiring, installation, and tuning.

Also, we thank:

• Chris Broome—all reed pipe restoration.

• Joseph Sloane—blower restoration and installation.

• Bryan Timm and Organ Supply Industries—new console, new Peterson solid-state, new chests for the Great and Pedal basses and the two added stops, and the new pipes for the Concert Flute.

And finally:

• Grant Wareham—organist and liaison with the church, whose help and patience have been greatly appreciated.

—Nicholas Thompson-Allen

The musician’s perspective

Opus 1132 is a wonderful instrument. It is ideal for all types of choral accompanying, fills the room well for congregational singing, and can tackle almost any type of organ repertoire.

All five divisions are exceedingly useful and come together for an excellent chorus. The Swell gives everything I would expect from an Aeolian-Skinner Swell division, and the 16′ Clarinet doubles beautifully as a color reed. I’ve also found that removing the mixture and super-coupling the division into the chorus works very well for a “chorus-crowning” brilliance.

The addition of the Harmonic Flute gives added strength to an already-strong Great division. Similar in scale to the Principal Flute on the Newberry Memorial Organ at Woolsey Hall, it serves as a subtle third diapason from midrange down and scintillates impeccably in the soprano range. The rich, warm Montre and firm Diapason complement each other perfectly. The 2′ and Quint can serve as an alternate mixture before adding the Fourniture to crown the chorus.

A pair of Erzhälers on the Choir give the signature light Skinner string shimmer and are exceedingly useful for quiet moments either in repertoire or in services. The Koppelflöte and new Concert Flute make a beautiful pair and blend nicely with the Viola. The English Horn is predictably delectable. With a non-mounted cornet and a sparkling Cymbal, the Positive rounds out the organ nicely.

The Bombarde is at its best in the Pedal—it’s an excellent, present reed at both 8′ and 16′ pitch. The addition of the 16′ Bourdon, from the Reuter instrument (Opus 1499) previously installed in the space, rounds out the bass end of the Pedal division beautifully. Adding the 102⁄3′ Quint stop produces a strong 32′ resultant and anchors the organ perfectly.

It was truly a pleasure to work with Nick Thompson-Allen, Joe Dzeda, Zack and Nate Ventrella, Joe and Sam Linger, Kurt Bocco, and everyone at Thompson-Allen, who all worked very hard throughout this project. Through all the challenges this project threw them (including the physical puzzle of putting the pipework in the existing chamber, complex wiring, and pandemic-related delays), they displayed the utmost of professionalism. My thanks as well to Bryan Timm of OSI for the console, which is so close to Aeolian-Skinner specifications, I often forget it is, in fact, brand-new. I feel very lucky to preside over this fine organ.

—Grant Wareham

Total speaking stops: 59

Total ranks: 45

Total pipes: 2,794

Builder’s website: www.thompson-allen.com

Church’s website: www.derrypres.org

Cover photo by Robert J. Polett, Photographer

View a PDF of Opus 1132’s first front cover in The Diapason, April 1951, at the website. Click on the cover feature for the March 2022 issue.

GREAT (3¾″ pressure)

16′ Rohr Bordun (Swell)

8′ Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Montre 61 pipes

8′ Flute Harmonique (1) 61 pipes

8′ Rohr Bordun (Swell)

4′ Octave 61 pipes

2-2⁄3′ Quinte 61 pipes

2′ Super Octave 61 pipes

IV Fourniture 244 pipes

8′ Bombarde (Pedal) 17 pipes

Chimes (in Choir) (2) 20 notes

SWELL (4″ pressure)

16′ Rohr Bordun 68 pipes

8′ Spitz Principal 68 pipes

8′ Rohr Bordun (ext 16′) 12 pipes

8′ Viole de Gambe 68 pipes

8′ Viole Celeste (CC) 68 pipes

4′ Prestant 68 pipes

4′ Holzflöte (3) 68 pipes

2′ Spitzflöte 61 pipes

III Plein Jeu 183 pipes

16′ Bass Clarinet 68 pipes

8′ Trompette 68 pipes

8′ Oboe 68 pipes

8′ Vox Humana (4) 68 pipes

4′ Clarion 68 pipes

Tremulant

POSITIVE (3″ pressure)

8′ Singend Gedeckt 61 pipes

4′ Nachthorn 61 pipes

2-2⁄3′ Nasat 61 pipes

2′ Blockflöte 61 pipes

1-3⁄5′ Terz 61 pipes

1-1⁄3′ Larigot 61 pipes

III Cymbel 183 pipes

CHOIR (4″ pressure)

16′ Erzähler 61 pipes

8′ Viola 68 pipes

8′ Concert Flute (5) 68 pipes

8′ Erzähler (ext 16′) 12 pipes

8′ Kleine Erzähler (TC) 49 pipes

4′ Koppelflöte 68 pipes

4′ Erzähler (ext 16′) 12 pipes

8′ English Horn 68 pipes

Tremulant

8′ Bombarde (Pedal)

PEDAL (5″ pressure)

32′ Resultant (16′ Bourdon, 10-2⁄3′ Rohr Bordun)

16′ Contra Bass 32 pipes

16′ Bourdon (6) 32 pipes

16′ Rohr Bordun (Swell)

16′ Erzähler (Choir)

10-2⁄3′ Quint (from Bourdon)

8′ Principal 32 pipes

8′ Gedeckt (ext Bourdon) 12 pipes

8′ Rohr Bordun (Swell)

8′ Erzähler (Choir)

5-1⁄3′ Quint 32 pipes

4′ Super Octave (ext Princ) 12 pipes

4′ Rohr Bordun (Swell)

16′ Bombarde 32 pipes

16′ Bass Clarinet (Swell)

8′ Bombarde 12 pipes

4′ Bombarde 12 pipes

Chimes (Great)

Notes

(1) 1–12 Organ Supply Industries, 13–61 Skinner Organ Co. 1930, chest by Organ Supply Industries

(2) Old Chimes and action reused by Aeolian-Skinner in 1951

(3) Old Hall Organ Company pipes reused by Aeolian-Skinner in 1951

(4) Skinner & Son pipework, installed in chest preparation, 2007

(5) Pipes and chest by Organ Supply Industries, to Skinner scales

(6) Pedal Bourdon from previous organ by Reuter

2007 - Releathering, multi-level combination action, and addition of Skinner & Son Vox Humana

2020 - Relocation, completion of chassis and pipework restoration, additional stops as noted. Console by Organ Supply Industries, reed pipes restored by Broome and Company, LLC, Spencer Turbine blower restored by Joseph Sloane

Ernest M. Skinner in Chicago, Part 2: Saint Luke’s Episcopal Church, Evanston

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.

The front page of the November 1, 1922 issue of The Diapason

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1910 Casavant Frères Opus 386

GREAT (Manual I)

8′ Open Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Melodia 61 pipes

8′ Dulciana 61 pipes

SWELL (Manual II, enclosed)

16′ Bourdon 61 pipes

8′ Stopped Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Salicional 61 pipes

8′ Voix Celeste 61 pipes

8′ Aeoline 61 pipes

4′ Dolce Flute 61 pipes

8′ Oboe 61 pipes

Tremulant

PEDAL

16′ Gedeckt

16′ Bourdon (Sw)

Couplers

Great to Pedal 8

Swell to Pedal 8

Great to Great 4

Swell to Great 16

Swell to Great 8

Swell to Great 4

Swell to Swell 16

Swell to Swell 4

Accessories

2 Great pistons

3 Swell pistons

Great to Pedal reversible

Balanced Swell expression shoe

Balanced Crescendo shoe

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The arrival of the Skinner organ

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mr. Evans’s program was as follows:

Grand Choeur, Guilmant

Prayer and Cradle Song, Guilmant

Prelude and Fugue in D Minor, Bach

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

Processional March, Rogers

Mr. Hyde’s program was as follows:

Caprice Heroique [sic], Bonnet

Reverie, Bonnet

Romance sans Paroles, Bonnet

Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, Bach

The Guardian Angel, Pierne [sic]

Slumber Song, Seely

Menuet à l’Antico, Seeboeck-Hyde

To a Wild Rose, MacDowell

Chromatic Fantasie, Thiele

Vision, Rheinberger

Cradle Song, Grieg

Le Bonheur, Hyde

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

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

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

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

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

Mr. Martin’s program:

Suite in F, Corelli-Noble

Contrasts, J. Lewis Browne

Scherzo, Fifth Sonata, Guilmant

Mrs. Middelschulte’s program:

Prelude and Nocturne, Bairstow

Toccata, Grison

Mr. Lester’s program:

Invocation (dedicated to Herbert Hyde), Lester

In Indian Summer, Lester

Venetian Idyl, Andrews

Andante con moto, Bridge

Heroic Overture, Ware

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

Mr. DeLamarter’s program:

Chant de Printemps, Bonnet

Intermezzo, DeLamarter

Legende, Zimmerman

Finale, Sixth Symphony, Widor

Miss Haines’s offerings:

Matin Provencale [sic], Bonnet

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

Meditation at Ste. Clotilde, James

Fantasie on Spanish Themes, Gigout

Mr. Christian’s appearance included:

Dreams, Strauss

Rhapsodie, Rossetter G. Cole

A Cloister Scene, Mason

Scherzo Caprice, Ward

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

Sonata 1, Borowski

Meditation, Klein

Bourée, Bach

Suite Gothique, Boëllmann

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

Berceuse, Dickinson

Caprice (manuscript), Seely

Toccata, Fifth Symphony, Widor

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

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

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

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

As the years passed . . .

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1959 M. P. MЪller Opus 9244

GREAT (Manual I, unenclosed)

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

8′ Gemshorn (Sw)

8′ Unda Maris (Sw)

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

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

SWELL (Manual II, enclosed)

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

8′ Gedeckt (ext 16′)*

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tremolo

PEDAL

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

16′ Gedeckt (Sw)

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

8′ Gedeckt (Sw)

4′ Octave (ext 8′)

2′ Gedeckt (Sw)

* stops available at the Skinner console

Couplers

Great to Pedal

Great to Pedal 4

Swell to Pedal

Swell to Pedal 4

Great 4

Swell to Great 16

Swell to Great

Swell to Great 4

Swell 16

Swell Unison Off

Swell 4

Accessories

3 General pistons

3 Great and Pedal pistons

3 Swell and Pedal pistons

Great to Pedal reversible

Balanced Swell expression shoe

Balanced Crescendo shoe with indicator light

Great Mixture “Formula ‘A’”

1–30 15 19 22

31–42 12 15 19

43–61 8 12 15

Unison scale 48 at 8′ CC, ¼ mouth

Quint scale 49 at 8′ CC, 2⁄9 mouth

Swell Cymbal “Formula ‘B’”

1–12 26 29

13–24 22 26

25–36 19 22

37–48 15 19

49–61 12 15

Unison scale 50 at 8′ CC, ¼ mouth

Quint scale 51 at 8′ CC, 2⁄9 mouth

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

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

Bringing the Skinner organ back to its origins

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chimes (from Solo)

* enclosed

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tremolo

Harp (Ch)

Celesta (Ch)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tremolo

Harp (61 bars, first octave repeats)

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

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

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

8′ Philomela 73 pipes

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

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

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

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

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

Tremolo

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

Chimes (25 tubes)

PEDAL (6″ wind pressure)

32′ Diapason (open wood) 68 pipes

16′ First Diapason (ext 32′ Diapason)

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

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

16′ Bourdon (stopped wood) 56 pipes

16′ Echo Bourdon (Sw 16′ Bourdon)

8′ Octave (ext 32′ Diapason)

8′ ’Cello (ext 16′ Violone)

8′ Gedeckt (ext 16′ Bourdon)

8′ Still Gedeckt (Sw 16′ Bourdon)

4′ Super Octave (ext 32′ Diapason)

4′ Flute (extension, 16′ Bourdon)

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

16′ Trombone (ext 32′ Bombarde)

8′ Tromba (ext 32′ Bombarde)

4′ Clarion (ext 32′ Bombarde)

Couplers

Great to Pedal 8

Great to Pedal 4

Swell to Pedal 8

Swell to Pedal 4

Choir to Pedal 8

Solo to Pedal 8

Solo to Pedal 4

Swell to Great 8

Choir to Great 8

Solo to Great 8

Swell to Choir 8

Great to Solo 8

Swell to Solo 8

Great to Great 16

Great to Great 4

Swell to Great 16

Swell to Great 4

Choir to Great 16

Choir to Great 4

Solo to Great 16

Solo to Great 4

Choir to Choir 16

Choir to Choir 4

Swell to Choir 16

Swell to Choir 4

Swell to Swell 16

Swell to Swell 4

Solo to Solo 16

Solo to Solo 4

Great to Solo 16

Great to Solo 4

Accessories

5 General pistons (thumb and toe)

9 Great pistons (1–9 thumb, 1–4 toe)

9 Swell pistons (1–9 thumb, 1–4 toe)

7 Choir pistons (1–7 thumb, 1–4 toe)

7 Solo pistons (1–9 thumb, 1–4 toe)

4 Pedal pistons (toe)

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

Couplers Off (thumb)

Combination setter button (thumb)

Great to Pedal reversible (thumb and toe)

Swell to Pedal reversible (thumb)

Choir to Pedal reversible (thumb)

Solo to Pedal reversible (thumb and toe)

Solo to Great reversible (thumb and toe)

3 buttons: Chapel, Off, Both on Great

3 buttons: Chapel, Off, Both on Swell

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

2 buttons: all Swells to Swell shoe, Off

Balanced Swell expression shoe

Balanced Choir (and Great) expression shoe

Balanced Solo (and Great) expression shoe

Balanced Crescendo shoe (with indicator light)

Sforzando reversible (toe, with indicator light)

Cymbala (knob in Swell stop jamb)

Great IV Chorus Mixture

1–17 15 19 22 26

18–24 12 15 19 22

25–49 8 12 15 19

50–61 8 8 12 15

Great III Mixture

1–18 15 19 22

19–30 12 15 19

31–61 8 12 15

Swell III Mixture

1–22 15 19 22

23–42 12 15 19

43–61 8 12 15

Church website: stlukesevanston.org

Organ website: opus327.org

Notes

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

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

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

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

5. McCain, “St. Luke’s,” 26–32.

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

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

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

9. McCain, “St. Luke’s,” 26–32.

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

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

Bibliography

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Skinner Organ Company Opus 862, Saint Peter’s Episcopal Church, Philadelphia

A. Thompson-Allen Company restores Skinner Opus 862

Cover Feature

A. Thompson-Allen Company, LLC, New Haven, Connecticut;

Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, Worcester, Massachusetts

From the builder

Having tuned and maintained the organ for about ten years, we had a good idea of what was needed to get the organ back into first class condition. There were a number of dead notes, and the organ would not stay in tune. The organ had survived remarkably well, having very little work done to it since 1928 when it was installed as Skinner Organ Company Opus 736.

Normal wear and tear combined with some water damage from the tower made it clear the time had come to give the organ a full restoration to its original condition. Before this could happen, the organ’s environment had to be addressed. There were three covered windows within the chamber that were collapsing, leaking, and drafty. These could only be repaired by first removing the entire instrument. We did so in 2017, and while all of the components of the organ were in our shop in New Haven, Connecticut, we fully restored the organ without any changes to the pipes or the chassis. All of the perishable materials in the organ mechanism have been fully replaced. Skinner organs are world famous for being the very finest that money could buy, and Opus 736 is no exception. Now restored, its beauty of tone can again be fully appreciated. It truly is a masterpiece!

The windows have been fully restored, and the Saint Cecilia window in the tower has been fitted with LED lights so that it can be seen from the outside of the church. This window had been sealed up since the organ was installed in 1928. The two side windows, which were plain glass, have been removed and filled in with matching stone. The roof and tower have all been properly repaired to keep the interior of the church and the organ dry and free from plaster debris.

The interior of the organ chamber has been repaired and fully painted. New work lights have been installed as well. The oak case and pipes, which had been painted the same color as the wall, have been fully restored to their original appearances. The original blower has been restored by Joseph Sloane with a new three-phase motor.

This beautiful instrument is now ready for another ninety to one-hundred years of service, at which time, this can all be done again. The organ is so well designed and constructed out of the very finest materials that it can be renewed over and over.

The rededication recital of the organ was performed by Thomas Murray on October 6. Professor Murray is a very well-known organist and expert on Skinner organs, having held the position of university organist at Yale University for the last thirty-eight years. Yale is home to the incredible 12,600-pipe Skinner organ from 1928 in Woolsey Hall, Opus 722.

The restoration could not have happened without the full support of the Diocese of Worcester, Elizabeth Noone (director of music), Father Richard Trainor, The Bradley Foundation, Broome and Company, LLC, Royal Finishing Company, and the members of Blessed Sacrament Church.

Please visit our website for a detailed specification of the organ.

We at the A. Thompson-Allen Company are very grateful for the opportunity to renew this superb instrument.

—Nicholas Thompson-Allen, Co-Director

A. Thompson-Allen Company, LLC

Curators of Organs at Yale University

Pipe Organ Maintenance and Restoration

From the organist

On first visiting the Opus 736 Skinner, Nicholas Thompson-Allen remarked that it was in pristine condition for restoration. The organ had been maintained throughout its history, but nothing had ever been altered.

A complete, historic restoration seemed like a dream. It is now a dream realized.

The quality of the original construction was such that, though clearly in need of restoration, the instrument was playable and in continuous use right up until its removal to New Haven.

The first time I played the fully restored instrument I was astounded! I expected the sound to be cleaner and brighter. I did not expect to feel that I was hearing the instrument for the first time!

The genius of E. M. Skinner’s tonal design is now fully apparent, everything is balanced and suitable to the space, from the magnificent 16′ Waldhorn in the Swell to the delicacy of the string combination in the Choir. The full tonal spectrum can now be heard. All of the voicing was done using the specifications original to this specific instrument, so we truly have a sense of what it sounded like in 1928. I find the results comparable to the restoration of an old master’s painting: it was already wonderful, but restoration brings to light a whole new world of beauty.

Professor Thomas Murray’s October 6 re-dedication recital was truly a joyous, celebratory event.

The instrument is a delight to play and we look forward to its music in service to the parish and concert use for years to come.

We at Blessed Sacrament are so grateful to everyone at the A. Thompson-Allen Co., the Joseph Bradley Foundation, and all those who worked on this project.

—-Elizabeth Noone, Organist and Director of Music

Blessed Sacrament Church

From the pastor

Liturgy is the work of the people. The work of all the people that brought about the total restoration of our E. M. Skinner organ reminded me of the craft guilds of the Middle Ages in Europe. At the level of Master Craftman was the hallmark of these workers who restored the wonderful warm sounds of this instrument. Our Faith Community now makes an even more “Joyful sound unto the Lord.”

—Rev. Richard F. Trainor, Pastor

Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, Worcester, Massachusetts

Builder’s website:

www.Thompson-Allen.com

Church website: blessedsacrament.us

GREAT ORGAN (Manual II)

16′ Bourdon (Pedal, 56 pipes; 5 pipes)

8′ First Diapason (43 scale, 1/4 mouth, linen lead, 2′ C = 6)

8′ Second Diapason (45 scale, 1/5 mouth, linen lead, 2′ C = 7)

8′ Flute Harmonique (“new” scale, Cavaillé-Coll type, spotted metal, 2′ C = 9)

4′ Octave (58 scale, 1/5 mouth, linen lead, 2′ C scant 7)

II Grave Mixture (C-11, 1/5 mouth spotted metal, 22⁄3′ 53 scale, scant 9; 2′ C 50 scale, scant 9)

CHOIR ORGAN (Manual I, enclosed, vertical shutters)

8′ Concert Flute (“new” scale, C1–B12 stopped wood; C13–B36 open wood; C37–C61 harmonic metal; C#62–C73 not harmonic, all plain metal)

8′ Dulciana (56 scale,1/5 mouth, zinc and spotted metal, 2′ C = 13)

8′ Unda Maris (TC; same as Dulciana)

4′ Flute (#2 harmonic flute, plain metal, harmonic at middle C, 2′ C = 10)

8’ Clarinet (common)

Tremolo

SWELL ORGAN (Manual III, enclosed, horizontal shutters)

8′ Diapason (46 scale, 1/4 mouth, spotted metal, 2′ C = strong 8)

8′ Rohrflöte (common, Willis III type, wood and stopped plain metal with bored stoppers)

8′ Salicional (60 scale, 1/5 mouth, spotted metal, 2′ C = 14, soft on account of no Flute Celeste)

8′ Voix Celeste (CC, same as Salicional)

4′ Octave (60 scale, 1/5 mouth, linen lead, 2′ C = 8)

4′ Flute Triangulaire (common, 2′ C = 11)

III Mixture (C-14, 1/5 mouth, spotted metal, 15-19-22)

C–A 15 – 19 – 22 = 22 notes 8 – 15 – 22 50 scale

A#–F 12 – 15 – 19 = 20 notes 12 – 19 52 scale

F#–C 8 – 12 – 15 = 19 notes

61 notes

16′ Waldhorn (common, English)

8′ Trumpet (common, English)

8′ Oboe (common, bells with no caps)

Tremolo

PEDAL ORGAN

16′ Diapason (common)

16′ Contre Basse (common)

16′ Bourdon (common)

8′ Octave (ext 16′ Diapason)

8′ Gedeckt (ext 16′ Bourdon)

4′ Flute (ext 16′ Bourdon)

PEDAL COUPLERS

Great to Pedal

Swell to Pedal

Choir to Pedal

Swell to Pedal 4

UNISON COUPLERS

Swell to Great

Choir to Great

Swell to Choir

OCTAVE COUPLERS

Swell to Great 16

Swell to Great 4

Swell to Choir 16

Swell to Choir 4

Choir to Great 16

Choir to Great 4

Choir 16

Choir 4

Swell 16

Swell 4

DIVISIONAL PISTONS

Swell 6

Great 4

Choir 4

Pedal 4

MISCELLANEOUS CONTROLS

General Cancel

Sforzando reversible

Great to Pedal reversible

Pedal to Manual on Great

Pedal to Manual on Swell

Pedal to Manual on Choir

Set

23 stops, 26 ranks, 1,696 pipes

Cover Feature: Community of Jesus, Orleans, MA

The Saint Cecilia Organ, Church of the Transfiguration; Community of Jesus, Orleans, Massachusetts

If we all embrace a new vision, special guidance and support will surely come.

—Nelson Barden

On Monday, May 15, 1995, at 10:56 p.m., a fax from Nelson Barden (president, Nelson Barden & Associates, restorer-in-residence, Boston University) arrived in the music office. This was not just another fax. This document was in response to Nelson’s first visit to the Community of Jesus to meet with the superior, Mother Betty Pugsley, during which they discussed the vision, need, scope, and reason for an organ of incredible depth, proportion, beauty, and scale that would support the worship at the Community of Jesus and its world-renowned music outreach. Nelson realized instantly and exactly what she was saying, and both agreed that, “Above all other considerations, this organ must uncompromisingly spring from its spiritual and artistic vision until that vision becomes reality.”

To that end, the organ’s specification, geographic layout, and overall design were inspired and motivated by the ministry and mission of Gloriæ Dei Cantores (the resident professional choir at the Community of Jesus) as well as the community’s enthusiastic hymn singing. Gloriæ Dei Cantores performs repertoire of more than thirty nationalities, from Gregorian chant to music of the present day—a challenge for any organ to support, given the number of genres this includes!

Before meeting Nelson, we had committed to the restoration of an E. M. Skinner organ for the Church of the Transfiguration, knowing the innate beauty and flexibility of these instruments. In fact, we had already purchased, and had in storage, Skinner Organ Company Opus 762 from the Munn Avenue Presbyterian Church in East Orange, New Jersey. We soon realized, however, that this instrument would not be enough on its own and instead would need to become the basis for something far larger and with greater impact. In order to fulfill his vision and charge to unite the organ with the basilica form of the church, Nelson said, “Surround Sound:”

For this installation, I suggest rotating the traditional east-west organ placement 90 degrees to north-south and stretching the instrument completely down the nave in balconies over both side aisles. The divisions would start near the chancel (above the choir seating) with the Swell and Choir on opposite sides. These would be followed by an exposed Great and an Enclosed Great (including some Pedal) to broaden the tone and bring it down the nave . . . . Next would be matching north and south Solo divisions, followed by North and South Orchestral. These paired divisions would contain similar but distinct voices. These four matched divisions would form the “moving melody” section. . . . Near the west end would be the Bombarde/Antiphonal opposite the Echo. The shades of these divisions would not open directly toward the congregation but project the sound toward the back wall. This would modulate the heavy hitters in the Bombarde and allow the Echo to do a tonal “disappearing act.” The directional and surround effects achieved by computer control of stops and shades would lift the instrument beyond state-of-the-art into a unique realm. Moving melody could range freely over the building from left to right and front to back . . . . A single pianissimo chord from the chancel could grow into a mighty wave of sound, roll down the entire length of the nave, cascade into the Echo, and disappear.

Over the course of many years, there ensued hundreds of discussions about the numerous specifics needed to arrive at such a conclusion. (The specification alone has been through more than 150 revisions!) Only two weeks after the first fax came the next “prophetic” fax that would soon reveal the platform upon which we would collaborate for more than two and a half decades.

In addition to the primary precept of always maintaining the spiritual and artistic vision, two other significant points were developed from this second exchange:

1. Encourage apprentice-interested Community of Jesus members into the organ building field to act as good stewards in both the construction and future care of this instrument; and

2. Let the project take the time required for the organ to “teach and tell us” how it should grow and be transformed through varied experiences.

Upon mutually enthusiastic agreement, we reviewed the concepts set forth in the May 15 document in which Nelson said the organ should be:

1. World-class and unique

2. Ideally suited to your purposes

3. A tangible expression of Community of Jesus spiritual principles

4. Beautiful and musical, with instantly recognizable tone

5. Designed for posterity; built to last forever

6. Able to perform both nineteenth-century music authentically and eighteenth-century Bach convincingly

7. Capable of eliciting profound emotions

8. Designed for HDCD recordings

9. Focused on future developments, not current technology

10. A “trend setter.”

These discussion points quickly converted into:

1. Adopting the vision

2. Making the commitment to move forward

3. Incorporating the organ space into the church design

4. Refining the vision, shaping it to our precise needs

5. Defining the mechanical system of the organ

6. Developing a plan of action and a realistic budget

7. Locating a shop and storage space

8. Beginning to implement the plan of action

9. Training part-time workers and develop their expertise

10. Acquiring more component parts to restore

11. Organizing and commencing restoration work

12. Setting up a division and playing it for inspiration!

Thus, the organ restoration project began in earnest.

Fast forward to the summer of 2021, and we look back to see that Nelson’s original division layout, with some changes in nomenclature, has come true. The disposition of the divisions is as follows:

APSE

Choir Swell

North Gt (& Ped) South Gt (& Ped)

Solo (& Pedal) String (& Pedal)

Antiphonal/Processional Echo

WEST END

We were extremely fortunate to find instruments available for purchase that, together, created a “joyful musical genesis.” Below is a partial list of the Skinner organs whose components constitute this “new” instrument:

Opus 140, Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Cleveland, Ohio

Opus 195, Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts

Opus 310, Plymouth Church, Shaker Heights, Ohio

Opus 473, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida

Opus 540, Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church, Williamsport, Pennsylvania

Opus 541, First Congregational Church, St. Petersburg, Florida

Opus 655, Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church, Rochester, New York

Opus 656, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey

Opus 762, Munn Avenue Presbyterian Church, East Orange, New Jersey

Opus 855, Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Opus 858, Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida

Opus 934, Saint Joseph’s College, Adrian, Michigan

Opus 991, Broadway Tabernacle, New York, New York

Opus 1242, First Baptist Church, Abilene, Texas

Nelson and the Community of Jesus have maintained an organ building apprenticeship program over these many years, having trained one of our members to journeyman status (over the course of twenty years), and four others in multi-year, work-training situations. During this time, the construction and installation truly did follow Nelson’s initial concept—division by division. This is what allowed the organ to “teach” us. Below are some other significant dates in the history of this organ:

June 2000: Dedication of the Church of the Transfiguration: North Great, Swell, and Tuba Mirabilis

June 2003: Great Artist series begins with American Guild of Organists Regions I and II convention, featuring Thomas Murray: Choir division

June 2005: Fifth anniversary of the Church of the Transfiguration: Antiphonal/Processional divisions

June 2010: Tenth anniversary of the Church of the Transfiguration: Echo division and arrival of the West End console for the concerts by Gerre and Judith Hancock and Thomas Murray

Summer 2018: 32′ Bombarde installed on South side

Summer 2019: removal of 1929 console and return of the rewired west end console serving as temporary main console

February 2020: Arrival of the final console

Our new console was designed, constructed, and installed by Richard Houghten and Joseph Zamberlan. From 2000 until 2020, we had used the original Skinner Organ Company console from Opus 762, which by 2020 the organ had long outgrown. The new console was designed to be as comfortable as a Skinner one, with everything clearly identified and within reach. Special features include shade expression thumb slides underneath the bottom three keyboards, an expression matrix so that any of the divisions can be assigned to a specific swell shoe (the entire organ is under expression), ivory keyboards that came from the Opus 762 console and are E. M. Skinner’s “tracker touch.” Some unusual couplers such as pedal to manual are included.

Perhaps the most moving realizations are the visionary outlooks of how this organ would affect people as they listened and experienced it in the setting of the Church of the Transfiguration. In concluding his initial thoughts to us in May 1995, Nelson wrote this to encourage us to take this on:

The Ultimate Goal

Every church is an expression of the builders, and so is every organ. When this instrument is finished, Community members will feel they are a part of the organ, and the organ is part of them. It will give voice to their aspirations and resonate with deep-seated meaning.

Building a magnificent instrument is hard work, sometimes tedious and always prolonged. Non-professionals may become discouraged, just as organ builders are when the job drags on. The difference is that organ builders hold a vision that gives them boundless energy and faith. They know the end result and imagine how it sounds.

Community members will understand everything when their labor comes to life and the organ starts to play. Lumber and leather, wire, and wind—if a pipe organ can sing with the angels, isn’t there hope for us all?

The list of people to thank is simply endless at this point, but here are names of those without whom this organ would not exist:

Mother Betty Pugsley

Nelson Barden

Sean O’Donnell

Joseph Sloan

Joseph Rotella

John Ananda

Jonathon Ambrosino

Duane Prill

William Czelusniak

Richard Houghten

Joseph Zamberlan

Christopher Broome

David Broome*

James Hudson Crissman

Peter Rudewicz

Thomas Murray

David Craighead*

Gerre Hancock*

*deceased

To learn more, please visit our website, www.communityofjesus.org.

—Nelson Barden and Jim Jordan

Since 1956, Nelson Barden has been recognized as one of America’s leading experts in the museum quality restoration of orchestral pipe organs—particularly the work of E. M. Skinner—and is President of Nelson Barden & Associates.

Jim Jordan is one of the organists in residence at the Church of the Transfiguration at the Community of Jesus since 1988, during which has performed as an organ accompanist for Gloriæ Dei Cantores, and a soloist throughout the United States and Eastern and Western Europe.

Nelson Barden & Associates

Church of the Transfiguration, Orleans, Massachusetts

NORTH GREAT

1. 16′ Violone 73

2. 8′ First Diapason 61

3. 8′ Second Diapason 61

8′ Violone --

4. 8′ Harmonic Flute 61

5. 8′ Gemshorn 61

6. 8′ Gemshorn Celeste (TC) 49

7. 4′ Octave 61

8. 4′ Harmonic Flute 61

9. 2′ Fifteenth 61

10. Willis Mixture IV 244

15 19 22 26 12

12 15 19 22 24

8 12 15 19 12

1 8 12 15 13

11. 16′ Posaune 61

12. 8′ Cornopean 61

13. 4′ Clarion 61

Tremolo

North Great Sub

North Great Unison Off

North Great Super

8′ Tuba Mirabilis Choir

8′ Tuba Major Processional

8′ Trompette Militaire Processional

SOUTH GREAT

14. 16′ Gedecktpommer 68

15. 8′ Stentorphone 73

16. 8′ Principal 61

17. 8′ Bourdon 61

18. 4′ Octave 61

19. 4′ Nachthorn 61

20. 2-2⁄3′ Twelfth 61

21. 2′ Fifteenth 61

22. Fourniture III–V 245

15 19 22 12

12 15 19 22 12

8 12 15 19 12

1 8 12 15 12

1 5 8 12 15 13

23. Scharff III–IV 220

15 19 22 18

12 15 19 6

12 15 17 19 18

8 12 15 17 6

8 10 12 15 13

24. 16′ Willis Trombone 56

25. 8′ Willis Trumpet 61

26. 8′ Hautbois 68

27. 4′ Clairon 68

Tremolo

South Great Unison Off

East Chimes

SWELL

28. 16′ Bourdon 73

29. 8′ Diapason 73

30. 8′ Salicional 73

31. 8′ Voix Celeste 73

8′ Bourdon (ext 16′ Bourdon) --

32. 8′ Rohrﬂöte 61

33. 8′ Flauto Dolce 73

34. 8′ Flute Celeste (TC) 61

35. 4′ Octave 73

36. 4′ Triangle Flute 73

37. 2′ Flautino 61

38. Willis Mixture IV 244

15 19 22 26 12

8 12 15 19 36

1 8 12 15 13

39. 16′ Waldhorn 73

40. 8′ Trumpet 73

41. 8′ Oboe d’Amour 73

42. 8′ Vox Humana 73

43. 4′ Clarion 61

Tremolo

Swell Sub

Swell Unison Off

Swell Super

8′ Tuba Mirabilis Choir

8′ Tuba Major Processional

8′ Trompette Militaire Processional

Orchestral Bells

Orchestral Harp

ANTIPHONAL

44. 16′ Lieblich Bourdon 61

45. 8′ Diapason 73

46. 8′ Gross Flute 73

47. 8′ Clarabella 73

48. 8′ Erzähler Celeste II (celeste TC) 134

49. 4′ Principal 61

50. 4′ Harmonic Flute 61

51. Mixture IV 244

12 15 19 22 18

8 12 15 19 12

1 8 12 15 31

Tremolo

Antiphonal Sub

Antiphonal Unison Off

Antiphonal Super

CHOIR

52. 16′ Erzähler 85

53. 8′ Diapason 73

54. 8′ Cello 73

55. 8′ Cello Celeste 73

56. 8′ Viola 73

57. 8′ Viola Celeste 73

58. 8′ Concert Flute 73

59. 8′ Lieblich Gedeckt 73

8′ Erzähler --

60. 8′ Erzähler Celeste 73

61. 8′ Aeoline Celeste II (celeste TC) 110

62. 4′ Principal 73

63. 4′ Flute 61

64. 2-2⁄3′ Nazard 61

65. 2′ Piccolo 61

66. 1-3⁄5′ Tierce 61

67. 1′ Sifﬂöte (to f54) 54

68. Low Mixture III–IV 207

15 19 22 12

12 15 19 12

8 12 15 13

1 8 12 15 24

69. High Mixture III 183

22 26 29 18

19 22 26 12

15 19 22 12

12 15 19 6

8 12 15 13

70. 16′ Heckelphone 73

8′ Heckelphone --

71. 8′ Flügel Horn 73

72. 8′ English Horn 73

73. 8′ Clarinet 73

Tremolo

74. 8′ Tuba Mirabilis 67

Choir Sub

Choir Unison Off

Choir Super

PROCESSIONAL

75. 8′ Principal Diapason 73

76. 8′ Gamba Celeste II 146

77. 8′ Orchestral Flute 73

78. 8′ Chorus Trumpet 73

Tremolo

79. 8′ Tuba Major 73

80. 8′ Trompette Militaire 73

Processional Sub

Processional Unison Off

Processional Super

STRING

16′ Double Violin (Kimball, ext) --

16′ Contra Viol (Haskell, ext. Ætheria)

81. 16′ Bourdon 73

82. 8′ Diapason 61

83. 8′ Violin 85

84. 8′ Violin Celeste 73

85. 8′ Cello 73

86. 8′ Cello Celeste 73

87. 8′ Flared Gamba 73

88. 8′ Flared Gamba Celeste 73

89. 8′ Gross Gamba 73

90. 8′ Gross Gamba Celeste 73

91. 8′ Cellos II (flat-front) 134

92. 8′ Salicional 73

93. 8′ Voix Celeste 73

94. 8′ Viole Ætheria 97

95. 8′ Viole Ætheria Celeste (TC) 61

96. 8′ Voix Celeste II (celeste TC) 110

97. 8′ Chimney Flute 73

98. 8′ Dulciana 73

99. 8′ Unda Maris (TC) 61

100. 8′ Quintadena 73

101. 8′ Quintadena Celeste (TC) 61

102. 8′ Flute Celeste II (celeste TC) 110

4′ Violin Celeste II --

4′ Violina Ætheria --

4′ Voix Celeste II --

103. 4′ Triangle Flute 61

104. 2-2⁄3′ String Nazard 61

2′ Violette

105. 1-3⁄5′ String Tierce (to c49) 49

106. 8′ Cornopean 61

107. 8′ French Horn 61

108. 8′ English Horn (free reed) 61

109. 8′ Oboe (labial) 61

110. 8′ Vox Humana (TC) 49

Tremolo

String Sub

String Super

String Unison Off

SOLO

111. 8′ Horn Diapason 73

112. 8′ Flauto Mirabilis 73

113. 8′ Saxophone (wood) 73

114. 8′ Viola 73

115. 8′ Viola Celeste 73

116. 8′ Dulcet II 146

117. 8′ Silver Flute 73

118. 4′ Concert Flute 61

119. 4′ Viole Celeste II 122

4′ Silver Flute --

120. 8′ English Horn 73

121. 8′ Labial Clarinet 61

122. 8′ Orchestral Oboe 73

Tremolo

8′ Tuba Mirabilis Choir

8′ Tuba Major Processional

8′ Trompette Militaire Processional

Tremolo

Solo Sub

Solo Unison Off

Solo Super

Orchestral Harp

Harp

Orchestral Bells

East Chimes—West Chimes

ECHO

123. 8′ Echo Principal 61

124. 8′ Gamba 66

125. 8′ Dulcet Celeste II 146

126. 8′ Philomela 73

127. 8′ Fern Flute 73

128. 8′ Wood Celeste (TC) 49

129. 8′ Muted Viole 73

130. 8′ Muted Viole Celeste 73

131. 8′ Spitzflute Celeste II (celeste TC) 134

132. 8′ Double-Enclosed Aeoline 61

133. 4′ Fugara 61

134. 4′ Harmonic Flute 61

135. 2′ Piccolo 61

16′ Clarinet (Bassoon bass) 12

136. 8′ Clarinet (free-reed) 73

Tremolo

137. 16′ Bass Vox 73

138. 8′ Baritone Vox 73

139. 8′ Tenor Vox 73

140. 8′ Alto Vox 73

141. 8-4′ Soprano Vox I-II 112

142. 8′ Vox Humana (doubly-enclosed) 61

143. Aeolian Mixture IV–V 275

8 12 15 17 18

1 8 12 15 17 31

1 8 12 15 12

Vox Chorus Tremolo

PEDAL

64′ Gravissima --

32′ Open Wood (ext Major Bass) 12

32′ Erzähler (ext Choir) 12

144. 16′ Open Wood 56

145. 16′ Major Bass (wood, Haskell bass) 44

146. 16′ Open Diapason (metal) 32

16′ Double Violin String

16′ Violone North Great

16′ Contra Viol String

16′ Erzähler Choir

16′ Bourdon Swell

16′ Echo Bourdon String

16′ Lieblich Bourdon Processional

. 16′ Gedecktpommer South Great

147. 16′ Quintadena (in Echo) 32

8′ Open Wood --

148. 8′ Principal 44

8′ Major Bass --

8′ Violone North Great

8′ Viol Ætheria String

8′ Concert Flute Choir

8′ Erzähler Choir

8′ Gedeckt Swell

8′ Still Gedeckt String

8′ Lieblich Gedeckt Processional

4′ Octave --

4′ Concert Flute Choir

4′ Erzähler Choir

4′ Gedeckt Swell

32′ Bombarde --

32′ Waldhorn (TC) Swell

149. 16′ Bombarde 56

16′ Posaune North Great

16′ Willis Trombone South Great

16′ Waldhorn Swell

16′ Heckelphone Choir

16′ Clarinet Echo

8′ Bombarde --

8′ Heckelphone Choir

8′ English Horn Choir

4′ Heckelphone Choir

8′ Tuba Mirabilis Choir

8′ Tuba Major Processional

8′ Trompette Militaire Processional

COUPLERS

N. Great to Pedal

N. Great to Pedal 4

S. Great to Pedal

S. Great to Pedal 4

Swell to Pedal

Swell to Pedal 4

Choir to Pedal

Choir to Pedal 4

Solo to Pedal

Solo to Pedal 4

Swell to Great 16

Swell to Great

Swell to Great 4

Choir to Great 16

Choir to Great

Choir to Great 4

Solo to Great 16

Solo to Great

Solo to Great 4

Solo to Swell

Choir to Swell

Great to Solo

Swell to Solo

Swell to Choir 16

Swell to Choir

Swell to Choir 4

Solo to Choir 16

Solo to Choir

Solo to Choir 4

String on Great

Echo on Great

Antiph. on Great

Proc. on Great

String on Swell

Echo on Swell

Antiph. on Swell

Proc. on Swell

String on Choir

Echo on Choir

Antiph. on Choir

Proc. on Choir

String on Solo

Echo on Solo

Antiph. on Solo

Proc. on Solo

BALANCED PEDALS

I—II—III—IV—V/Crescendo

EXPRESSION THUMB SLIDES

Swell—Great—Choir

EXPRESSION MATRIX

Assigns any of the following onto any or all of the balanced pedals and thumb slides. When an enclosure or control is assigned to more than one pedal or slide, the pedal or slide open furthest takes precedent.

North Great

South Great

Swell

Choir

Solo

Echo (west end only)

Interior Echo (speaking into String enclosure)

String

Pedal

Antiphonal

Processional

Tremolo Speed

Tremolo Depth

All Swells

The Matrix has its own divisionals

Standard–1–2–3–4–5–6–7

COMBINATIONS

Generals 1–25 / 1–10 Thumb/Toe

Great 1–10 Thumb

Swell 1–10 Thumb

Choir 1–10 Thumb

Solo 1–8 Thumb

Pedal 1–10 Toe

Great to Pedal Thumb/Toe

Swell to Pedal Thumb/Toe

Choir to Pedal Thumb

Solo to Pedal Thumb

All Divisionals Next – All Generals Next

Next and Previous (multiple)

Library – Scope – Set – Cancel

Solid State Organ Systems Organist Palette

149 independent stops

185 ranks

11,964 pipes

Cover feature

The First Church, UCC, Nashua, New Hampshire

Austin Organs, Inc., Hartford, Connecticut, Opus 1406

From the Minister of Music and Consultant

When I was appointed Minister of Music in 2008, the organ was to be on the docket for a long-anticipated restoration early in my tenure. Upon learning about the vision for this instrument that was started under Dr. Robin Dinda, FAGO, in the early 1990s, two things were clear: the Young Memorial Console built by Austin in 1996 prepared the organ for significant expansion, and a new floating Solo division was to be part of this vision.

Over the years, attempts were made to undo tonal changes from the 1970s and 1980s (primarily light upperwork in the Great), which sacrificed some of the instrument’s most beautiful original softer stops. At some point in the past two decades, the original enclosed Great 8′ Gemshorn (once stored inside the organ casework) disappeared, as well as the original 8′ Harmonic Tuba. A significant, but somewhat misguided change to the entire Great division in the early 2000s continued to take the instrument away from its original symphonic roots. The “return” to these 1926 roots ultimately became the basis for our church’s $2.3 million Capital Campaign for Ministry, Music, and Mission in 2014.

This vision would be to restore the organ to its 1926 tonal specification and nomenclature and add new upperwork, scaled and voiced in typical 1920s Austin character. The original tonal design had no mixtures or mutations and only one 2′ stop (in the Swell). The existing stewardship of our 1996 three-manual console guided us in adding the prepared floating Solo division, with an eye toward more liturgical function rather than tonal tradition. In effect, we now have a III/47 versatile main instrument, with a 13-rank Solo (with two composite stops) bringing the total rank count to 60—an instrument easily suited for four manuals, but keeping former stewardship and sightline considerations in check for a three-manual console, with many options.

The Solo was designed with double-sided nave and chancel sets of swell shades. This allows use of the Solo division not only as a powerful solo voice (or part of the greater organ ensemble) but also adds the possibility of accompanying a choir from that area of the sanctuary with closed shades and Pedal stop additions. Consequently, the new division also assists our 5-octave bell choir, through a tonal reference closer to their placement in the church.

Austin concentrated on securing Austin (or similar) pipework from the original era, and where vintage pipes could not be sourced, Austin provided new pipework made to patterns Austin used in the 1920s. As a result, we have a thrilling instrument with a 21st-century eye towards its 1926 heritage—an impressive, warm sound over six divisions, and one of the most flexible accompanying instruments in Northern New England. Four celestes (three string and one flute) add wonderful warmth. Original color stops like the Vox Humana and vintage Harp (and classic fan tremulants) deliver sounds of yesteryear. The organ features complete string, flute, and diapason ensembles, with reeds (some independent and some unit treatments), and has retained the original two full-length 16′ reeds under expression! The versatility of the instrument is astounding, especially when one utilizes sub/super-coupling and unisons off. The return of 23 ranks of extension octaves (73 notes) provides a thrilling shimmer that can compete with the best of Boston’s local craze with Skinner and Aeolian-Skinner.

Two of the organ’s returned softest stops, the Swell 8′ Echo Salicional, (1930 Midmer-Losh) and the Enclosed Great 8′ Gemshorn (1925 Austin) have added sensitive softer dynamics, which now allow the instrument to offer every variation from ppp to ffff. Masterful tonal finishing led by Daniel Kingman, Austin’s senior voicer and associate tonal director, truly kept everything warm, lush, and never shrill. Full organ never “screams.” Additions to the instrument include the three-rank Solo Vox Seraphique (15th, 17th, 19th), a 1924-vintage harmonics stop that is designed to pair with the Major Gamba and Celeste to create a unique shimmer and color combination; this is a rare effect found in perhaps only a very small handful of instruments. The large-scaled Mounted Cornet IV in the Solo is designed to pair with the Solo’s Doppelflute, and also pairs with the new linen-lead pattern, leather-lipped Grand Diapason on the Open Great. This near-Stentorphone color alone fills the room with a sound long forgotten (and greatly misunderstood) in the days of American Classic and Neo-Baroque revival.

Complex “borrows” of stops, either as new divisional extensions, or in the Pedal, add amazing variations to registration. Cross-coupling of the Enclosed Great and Choir (to the Choir and Swell respectively) allows a flexibility unparalleled for an organ of this size. The mechanics are truly an engineering marvel, and every ounce of possibility was brought out of this instrument’s re-design, thanks to collaboration with the Austin staff.

I am privileged to sit at this console every week and was truly honored to serve as the principal consultant for this important and historic work. Thanks are due in particular to Charles Morris who acted as the church’s representative. The team at Austin was accommodating of nearly anything asked of them. The extension of the case and grillework for the new Solo division truly looks like it has always been in the sanctuary. The resulting instrument thrills congregation, recitalists, and audiences alike. By offering a minimum of seven public programs featuring the Anderson Memorial Organ annually on our First Music Concert Series, the organ’s voice is widely heard in this region and has garnered much regional attention, in print and on television—as the most significant organ project in the state of New Hampshire in a decade. It is an honor to be at the helm of this historic ministry, now with an instrument that will continue to praise God for generations to come. Soli Deo Gloria.

—Joseph R. Olefirowicz, CAGO

Minister of Music

Principal Organ Consultant

From the Builder

On our preliminary visit to the church, we were introduced to an instrument built by Austin some 90 years previous that was barely an echo of what had been installed. The contract was signed on December 19, 1925, with promised completion by September 1, 1926. By today’s standards, this timeframe would be unheard of, since a 3-manual, 42-stop instrument would surely require a minimum of 16 to 24 months. In 1925, however, the company was in the epoch of its greatest production, shipping nearly two organs per week. This contract was signed on behalf of Austin by Elisha Fowler of Boston, formerly of the Hutchings Company, but since 1919 served as New England (and later Midwest) sales representative for Austin. Also a seasoned tonal designer, Mr. Fowler likely had strong influence in drawing up the tonal specification for this organ. One interesting element in the contract stated that:

The Austin Organ Company hereby guarantees tonal satisfaction to Mrs. Frank Anderson, donor; Earl F. Nauss, minister; and Maurice Hoffman, organist; and agrees to exchange any and all pipes which do not satisfy and to continue to do so until results satisfactory to the committee named have been attained.

Perusing the files, no pipes appeared to have been returned by order of the committee; a happy circumstance that must have caused sighs of great relief in Hartford!

The organ was initially scaled rather heroically on wind pressure of seven inches water column. The Great Principal Diapason was 40 scale (nearly 6¾ inches diameter at bottom C). There was an accompanying “Small Diapason” of 46 scale, which is a scale that would be typical of instruments built in the late 1960s to 1970s. A revision in March of 1926 shows that the Principal Diapason bass was changed to 43 scale and the Small Diapason to 49 scale. This would be more in keeping with other similar instruments of the time in typical rooms. In today’s thinking, the 43 scale/17th ratio is typical of German Normalmensur, while the 49-scale Diapason (with a narrow mouth) is typical of a Violin Diapason and would be a bit more incisive. Likewise, the Swell Diapason bass was changed from 40 scale to 43. This provided the power and color in the manual range, without excessive heaviness in the pedal; it also consumed less windchest real estate.

The tonal palette of this instrument was certainly typical for the era and boasted a plethora of fundamental stops; absent were mixtures or mutations. Similar organs of the period—for example, Opus 1409 at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Bridgeport, Connecticut, an instrument of 75 stops—boasted upperwork and a full set of independent mutations in the Swell, including a Nazard, Flautina, Tierce, Septieme, and Twenty Second. (An interesting side note, this organ appears to be the first instance found of an Austin with double expression—a box within a box—in the Swell department.) Mixtures were found in several instruments of the period, but usually confined to the Swell Organ. A notable exception is Austin Opus 1416, for the Sesquicentennial Exposition, built in 1926. At 162 ranks—it was for many generations the largest pipe organ built by Austin under a single contract. Each of the principal divisions has multiple ranks of mixtures; and of course, reed choruses, flute choruses, strings, mutations, etc.

Armed with this history, we surveyed the condition of this venerable instrument in Nashua. The organ had been a victim of several attempts at “tonal modernization” over the years. Diapasons had been removed and replaced with lighter-scaled pipework; a rather large mixture was added to the Great; and the Tuba was removed and replaced with a poorly recycled supply-house Trumpet. Also, the enclosed divisions had several stops removed, altered, or replaced entirely with random pipework. Many hours of discussion were spent attempting to recreate, or frankly create a new tonal specification that would echo the vision for this instrument, as if a time machine had transported us back to 1926, but with greater resources available, such as were reserved for larger instruments as mentioned above.

The result of fraternal collaboration between Joseph Olefirowicz and the Austin staff was to create a tonal design that could have been lifted from Austin’s archives. The overall limit of the “new” specification was perhaps a bit exhaustive, but the result is an extremely versatile instrument with amazing tonal variety and possibilities.

In our grand scheme, a significant addition was the inclusion of a new Solo division. There was space allowed on the 1996 console, and we were offered the possibility of utilizing a pass-through storage area located on the far right of the organ case. To transform this space into an organ chamber would require the construction of some new casework with additional tone openings. The existing organ has some unique carving that resembles vines within its openings. We scanned images of this casework and created a CAD file that was turned into magnificent scaled panels identical to the original. The Solo was voiced to speak on 10 inches wind pressure, typical of the era, which required the installation of an additional blower. To accommodate this requirement, we pulled a vintage Spencer blower from our inventory and sent it back to the factory for refurbishment and a new motor equipped with a variable frequency drive controller.

Upon completing the design phase, reality struck a severe chord when the actual challenge of building this instrument necessitated sourcing the required pipes to achieve the desired result. In some cases, it was as simple as making (or finding) an octave or a few pipes to restore scaling; many of the 73-note extension octaves had been lost to time, but happily we were able to source replacements for all of those lost from vintage inventory. In other cases we required complete stops; many were procured from Austin’s inventory. Some stops were new manufactured pipes made to vintage Austin patterns. An example is the 8′ Bassoon in the Great. While perhaps not typical of the time, there was a desire and need for a lighter chorus reed in the exposed division. This particular pattern was originally used in Opus 1010 (c. 1921 in the Eastman Theatre, Rochester New York) and also in Opus 1109 (1922, at the Cincinnati Music Hall). The original patterns were located in our archive and used for this instrument. Likewise, vintage patterns likely used for the original pipes in 1926 were used for the replacement Tuba in the Great. Conversely, we chose a vintage E. M. Skinner pattern for the Solo Tuba—for variety of dynamic and color. The Solo English Horn was sourced from vintage inventory, a 1924 Austin instrument.

We feel that this instrument embodies not only the 1920s tonal concepts, as detailed herein, but Austin’s design paradigm—a concept we refer to as Symphonic-Liturgical Tonal Design

It is arguable that the most advanced form of musical expression we celebrate today is the symphony orchestra. It is a comprehensive and versatile entity. Evidence of this fact is provided by reviewing any concert program. On any given evening, one can encounter a most sublime movement from Ravel; just a moment later, the terrific thunder crash of a powerful Wagnerian overture! These variations in repertoire, dynamic, and emotion are all delivered by the same performers and the same instruments. In much the same way, a well-designed tonal palette in an organ capable of supporting these timbres and styles gives an organist the ability to perform with similar flexibility.

Why do we consider this ability to be important?

The pipe organ in church today must bridge the gap between traditional solo organ literature, liturgical accompaniment, choral support, and yet have the ability to perform contemporary accompaniment and literature. One can only imagine where the next trend might lead! The tone of the instrument must be pleasing—but not that alone—for the instrument must be capable of fulfilling its role in the liturgy. In summation: the organ must be extremely versatile and able to be play almost any literature, and the organ’s tonality also has to be outstanding in its conceptualization, voicing, and disposition.

We feel that the Austin organ is built of the most solid construction to support the extra demands placed on a symphonic organ. Our design (the famed Austin Universal Airchest System) assures the church of steady wind, ease of maintenance, and maximum utilization of available space. We strive to build the most comfortable organ consoles with the finest control systems available.

The sound of an Austin organ plenum (tonal ensemble) is unique. To achieve our desired level of warmth and simultaneous transparency requires not only our specific style of voicing, but very close attention to pipe scaling, regulation, and of great importance, explicit confidence in our Austin Universal Airchest System.

Celebrating 125 years of pipe organ building experience, and our dedicated staff comprising one of the oldest pipe organ factories in the country; we are ready to build one of the finest instruments possible, and then provide ongoing support and service.

—Michael Fazio

President & Tonal Director

Austin Organs, Inc.

Austin team members involved with Opus 1406 renovation:

Raymond Albright

Michael Chiradia

Bruce Coderre

Colin Coderre

Jacob Dowgewicz

Michael Hart

Curt Hawkes

Victor Hoyt

Dan Kingman

Rafael Ramos

David Secour

Stewart Skates +

Richard Taylor

Tony Valdez

Anne Wysocki

Mike Fazio

GREAT ORGAN (* = enclosed Great)

16′ Major Diapason 73 pipes

8′ Grand Diapason 73 pipes

8′ Principal Diapason 73 pipes

8′ Small Diapason (ext) 12 pipes

8′ Flauto Major (Ped 16′ Dia) 41 pipes

8′ Violoncello * 73 pipes

8′ Gemshorn * 73 pipes

8′ Bourdon * 73 pipes

8′ Flute Celeste (Ch)

8′ Unda Maris (Ch)

4′ Octave 73 pipes

4′ Principal * 73 pipes

4′ Harmonic Flute * 73 pipes

22⁄3′ Twelfth 61 pipes

2′ Fifteenth 61 pipes

IV Fourniture (19-22-26-29) 244 pipes

16′ Tuba * (ext) 12 pipes

8′ Harmonic Tuba * 61 pipes

8′ Bassoon 73 pipes

4′ Clarion * (ext) 12 pipes

Harp (Ch)

Chimes 25 tubes

Tremulant *

SWELL ORGAN

16′ Bourdon 73 pipes

8′ Open Diapason 73 pipes

8′ Rohr Flute 73 pipes

8′ Viole D’Orchestre 73 pipes

8′ Viole Celeste (TC) 61 pipes

8′ Echo Salicional 73 pipes

4′ Fugara 73 pipes

4′ Flauto Traverso 73 pipes

4′ Violina (ext)

22⁄3′ Nasard 61 pipes

2′ Flageolet 61 pipes

13⁄5′ Tierce 61 pipes

III Mixture (15-19-22) 183 pipes

16′ Contra Posaune 73 pipes

8′ Tuba Mirabilis (Solo)

8′ Cornopean 73 pipes

8′ Oboe 73 pipes

8′ Vox Humana 61 pipes

Tremulant

CHOIR ORGAN

16′ Quintade (ext) 12 pipes

8′ Geigen Principal 73 pipes

8′ Concert Flute 73 pipes

8′ Flute Celeste (TC) 61 pipes

8′ Dulciana 73 pipes

8′ Unda Maris (TC) 61 pipes

8′ Quintadena 73 pipes

4′ Geigen Octave (ext)

4′ Flute D’Amour 73 pipes

2′ Piccolo 61 pipes

11⁄3′ Larigot 61 pipes

16′ Tuba (Gt)

8′ Harmonic Tuba (Gt)

8′ Clarinet 73 pipes

4′ Tuba Clarion (Gt)

Harp (Austin) 61 bars

Chimes (Gt)

Tremulant

SOLO ORGAN

8′ Doppelflute 73 pipes

8′ Major Gamba 73 pipes

8′ Gamba Celeste 73 pipes

4′ Flute Ouverte 73 pipes

4′ Gambette (ext) 12 pipes

4′ Gambette Celeste (ext) 12 pipes

III Vox Seraphique (15-17-19) 183 pipes

IV Mounted Cornet (TC) (8-12-15-17) 196 pipes

8′ Cor Anglais 73 pipes

8′ Tuba Mirabilis 73 pipes

Tremulant

Nave Shades Off

Chancel Shades Off

PEDAL ORGAN

32′ Diapason (Resultant)

32′ Bourdon (Resultant)

32′ Lieblich Gedeckt (Resultant, Sw)

16′ Open Diapason 32 pipes

16′ Violone (Gt)

16′ Bourdon 32 pipes

16′ Flute Bass (ext, Solo) 12 pipes

16′ Quintaten (Ch)

16′ Lieblich (Sw)

8′ Octave (Gt)

8′ Major Flute (Solo)

8′ Gross Flute (ext 16′ Diap) 12 pipes

8′ Flauto Dolce (ext 16′ Bdn) 12 pipes

4′ Super Octave (Gt)

4′ Flute (Sw)

32′ Grand Cornet (Resultant)

16′ Tuba (Gt)

16′ Posaune (Sw)

8′ Tuba Mirabilis (Solo)

8′ Harmonic Tuba (Gt)

4′ Clarion (Gt)

Chimes (Gt)

Pedal to Pedal 4

EXPRESSION PEDALS

Choir/Enclosed Great

Swell

Solo

CONTROLS

999-levels of memory

Bridal signal (HCTB)

Clock

Continuo

“Go-to” function

Manual Transfer

Piston sequencer

Playback

Transposer

Ventil (mixtures)

Ventil (reeds)

Builder’s website: http://austinorgans.com

Church’s website: tfcucc.org

Photo credit: Len Levasseur

Cover Feature: St. Peter's Episcopal Church, Philadelphia

Philadelphia’s Society Hill

Saint Peter’s Church

Earlier instruments

The Skinner organ

The restoration of Opus 862

GREAT (5″ wind pressure)

SWELL (Enclosed) (71⁄2″ wind pressure)

CHOIR (Enclosed) (6″ wind pressure)

PEDAL (6″ wind pressure)

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