Deltiology:1 an Early Twentieth-Century Postcard Tour of American Pipe Organs

Neal Campbell

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

Editor’s note: the first part of this series appeared in the February 2022 issue of The Diapason, pages 12–17.

Introduction

Based on correspondence in Barbara Owen’s and Charles Callahan’s books, we learned in the previous issue that it was Alexander Schreiner who, as the Tabernacle organ was nearing completion, asked G. Donald Harrison to have his name appear on the console in addition to the standard company nameplate. Harrison obliged by providing an ivory plate with a facsimile of his signature along with the opus number and date. In the ensuing years until his death in 1956 Harrison continued the practice of signing some organs built by Aeolian-Skinner with which he was personally involved.

Before identifying and commenting on those signature organs, a list which continues this month, I showed the progression of Harrison’s tonal ideas in the years leading up to the Tabernacle organ, based on his own words in letters to various of his associates and friends contained in Callahan’s books. In particular, GDH related that the organ for the Groton School was a turning point in the development of his tonal theories, and he considered it the smaller companion to the Tabernacle design. Also cited are several examples of both Harrison’s and Schreiner’s assessments of the Tabernacle organ in the years immediately following its completion.

Following the list of signature organs in this issue, I also comment on some organs built prior to the Tabernacle organ containing GDH’s signature plate and, assuming the Tabernacle organ to be the first organ GDH signed, I offer details as to their relative importance in the company trajectory. There follows commentary about significant Aeolian-Skinner organs of the era that do not contain Harrison’s signature, and then some brief commentary on the organs built in the era of Joseph S. Whiteford and the company’s final years.

In enumerating and commenting on the signature organs, the list and details are complete and accurate so far as I know. I have played many of the organs, but not all. I imagine there are signature organs of which I am unaware. For example, since beginning work on this article I learned via a Facebook page devoted to G. Donald Harrison and the American Classic Organ that the organ in the Worcester Art Museum bears a GDH signature plate. There likely are others, and I would be glad to hear from those with knowledge of them, preferably with documentation, and from those with additional commentary to what I provide here. Communications may be sent through the editor. Who knows, there may be an addenda or part 3 in the future!

Opus 1149: New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, Washington, D.C., 1948.

The first organ for this congregation was built by Hutchings, Plaisted, & Co. in 1873 for the original church. This was later rebuilt by John Brown and later still by Ernest M. Skinner & Son of Methuen. In 1948, the church signed a contract with Aeolian-Skinner for additions to the existing instrument, and in 1951 another contract was signed as Opus 1149-A for a rebuilding and re-installation in the present church.²⁹

This organ, now gone, was a very beautiful example of Aeolian-Skinner’s sound, even though it was of modest content and pedigree. My teacher, William Watkins, was the organist of the church at the time each contract was completed, and he and Joseph S. Whiteford did the work together on a very modest budget. Whiteford was a native Washingtonian, and he and Watkins were good friends; this was at about the time Whiteford became Harrison’s assistant at Aeolian-Skinner.

At the time, the church was famous for the preaching ministry of the Reverend Dr. Peter Marshall, who was also the chaplain of the United States Senate. Watkins at that time was a prominent concert organist, and he provided a serious program of organ music at services. The church maintained a choir of 100 singers directed by Charles Dana Beaschler. Watkins told me that he simply asked Harrison to sign the organ when they moved into the new church. At the time Watkins was probably the best-known organist in the country aside from Virgil Fox, his teacher. The organ as it turned out was entirely worthy of the Aeolian-Skinner legacy, but GDH had nothing to do with it personally. He complied with the request solely on the strength of his associations with Whiteford and Watkins. So, if it happened here, it likely happened in other places—an important clue when considering criteria that may have influenced Harrison’s decision to sign an organ.

By the time I knew the organ as a substitute in the early 1970s the signature plate had disappeared, though the screw holes where it had been were clearly visible. When the church eventually obtained a new console and made some additions during the tenure of Wesley Parrott, a replacement signature plate was made and affixed to the new console.

Opus 1150: Annie Merner Chapel of MacMurray College, Jacksonville, Illinois, 1952.

Robert Glasgow taught here before he went to the University of Michigan, and the organ was installed early in his tenure. He praised the organ in his address to the American Classic Organ Symposium in 1988. The college closed in May 2020, and the fate of the organ is still being determined.

Opus 1173: First Presbyterian Church, Kilgore, Texas, 1949.

This organ was a rebuild of a 1935 M. P. Möller, and it retained much of the pipework and structure, as well as three complete stops from the previous Henry Pilcher’s Sons organ. Nevertheless, it became one of the company’s most successful and best-known organs.

It was used for examples supporting GDH’s narration in Volume I of King of Instruments, and in Volume II played by Roy Perry, the organist of the church for forty years and one of Aeolian-Skinner’s most successful representatives and finishers. Two tracks were also played by William Watkins on Volume II, although he was identified ignominiously as the “staff organist,” owing to union regulations at the time. Volume X featured Opus 1173 in a complete issue entitled “Music for the Church,” featuring works for choir and organ. The only organ piece on the album was Bruce Simonds’s Prelude on Iam sol recedit igneus played by Roy Perry, who also played all of the choral accompaniments.

The cover photo of the new Trompette-en-Chamade for Opus 1173 was used for the first time on Volume X and continued to be featured in company brochures and other volumes of the King of Instruments series, becoming something of an Aeolian-Skinner icon. The company claimed that the stop was the first such built in America.

Opus 1174: First Baptist Church, Longview, Texas, 1951.

This organ provides an interesting contrast to its slightly older sister organ in Kilgore in that it was a completely new organ designed by Harrison for the new church, has not been altered or added to, and was placed in a strikingly modern, large edifice designed with the organ’s success in mind at the outset. The nave of the church is 92 feet high at the peak of the ceiling, and it seats 1,700 persons. The church’s pastor, the Reverend Dr. W. Morris Ford, was the driving force in both the building of the new church and the organ, and for many years thereafter musical events of significant proportions were included in the church’s program. The leading organists of the day, including Virgil Fox and Catharine Crozier, played there. An article about this organ appeared in the June 1954 issue of The American Organist stating:

Catharine Crozier made tape-recordings during the 1952 Christmas holidays for two L.P. discs [on the Kendall label]; Harold Gleason says Longview beats anything he has heard in Europe.

Opus 150-A: Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, New York City, 1953.

This organ is justly famous and needs little introduction, except to note that it used significant portions of the original instrument, one of Ernest Skinner’s early successes, especially structural components and orchestral stops. The organ has many unique attributes, and its success draws in large part from Harrison’s experience prior to his coming to the United States, when he worked closely with Willis on the organ in Liverpool Cathedral, a building approaching the size of St. John the Divine. For example, letters by GDH tell that in some stops the pipes for the individual notes are doubled, even tripled in the treble ranks, and that for the first time in many years Aeolian-Skinner built and voiced completely new Tuba stops for the organ.

An amusing story from the canon of oral tradition tells of Norman Coke-Jephcott, organist of the cathedral during the planning stages, and GDH visiting after dinner at Coke-Jephcott’s club in the presence of others, when Harrison asked “Cokie” if he had given any thought to what they might name the newly designed special trumpet stop at the west end of the cathedral. Cokie said that he really had not, so Harrison asked him how he planned to use it. Cokie said, “Well . . ., I suppose for state occasions.”

That is how this famous stop, voiced by Oscar Pearson on fifty inches of wind pressure, came to be called the State Trumpet. It was a major departure from the two previous horizontal reeds Aeolian-Skinner built for Opus 1173 and Opus 1208, which were essentially standard Trompette Harmonique designs voiced on moderate pressure, but mounted horizontally.

The cathedral organ is featured on Volume I of the King of Instruments in examples played by Joseph Whiteford to accompany Harrison’s narration. The instrument is again featured on Volume VI in a program played by Alec Wyton, who had recently been appointed organist of the cathedral, and on Volume VIII, played by his predecessor, Norman Coke-Jephcott.

Opus 825-A: St. Paul’s School, Concord, New Hampshire, 1953.

Opus 1196: Covenant Presbyterian Church, Charlotte, North Carolina, 1949.

This was a completely new four-manual organ for the new church building of this flagship congregation of the denomination. Richard Peek was the organist at the time, and he and his wife, Betty, directed the music here for over forty years.

Opus 1200: New England Conservatory, Boston, Massachusetts, 1949.

Originally displayed at the 1950 American Guild of Organists convention in Boston, this experimental organ saw many years of use in a studio at the conservatory. The console has three plates on it, and students recall that in addition to the company nameplate and the GDH signature plate, there was a plate identifying its use at the convention. The organ is now owned privately.

Opus 1201: St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Mount Kisco, New York, 1952.

A new three-manual organ of classic design was installed in casework designed by Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue, architect of the church, which contained the former instrument. The organ featured a divided Swell division, such as was first used in one of Ernest White’s studio organs at St. Mary the Virgin in New York City, and later at Christ Church, Bronxville, New York, Opus 1082. The Positiv division is suspended from the ceiling at the entrance to the side chapel, across the chancel from the main organ. Edgar Hilliar, organist of the church from 1948 until 1984, directed much of the design, and he recorded a complete program for Volume IV of the King of Instruments series.

Opus 1208: St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, New York City, 1951.

At the time the organ was installed, St. Philip’s was one of the largest Episcopal churches in the country and was a significant religious and political presence among the many churches in Harlem. The organ was a rebuild of the former 1943 Hillgreen-Lane organ of three manuals, reusing the console. It featured the company’s second Trompette-en-Chamade, which is similar in appearance to the one for Opus 1173 in Kilgore, Texas, except St. Philip’s is at the west end of the church.

Opus 1216: First Methodist Church, Tacoma, Washington, 1953.

Since relocated to First Baptist Church, Seattle, Washington.

Opus 1235: St. John Lutheran Church, Forest Park, Illinois, 1954. 

Photographs of the stopjambs of this organ were used as the cover of company brochures in the 1960s. The Positiv was prepared for at the time and later added by Berghaus Organ Company to a design somewhat different than the original.

Opus 968-B: Bruton Parish Church, Williamsburg, Virginia, 1955.

This was a large, four-manual organ of over 100 ranks with obvious Harrison attributes. The instrument also included an English organ from 1785 built by Samuel Green that had been donated to the church, made playable as a division of the organ. The unenclosed divisions were placed in a shallow gallery surrounding the Green organ over the altar, while the enclosed divisions were in attic chambers, including an Antiphonal division in the tower. The organ was an anachronism in the Colonial-era church, but it was very effective and saw much varied use in recitals several times a week for the many tourists who flocked to Williamsburg. The organ was replaced in 2019 by Dobson Pipe Organ Builders Opus 96.

Opus 1257: Winthrop College, Rock Hill, South Carolina, 1955.

Opus 1265: The Temple, Atlanta, Georgia, 1954.

Emilie Spivey, the organist of The Temple, commissioned Harrison to rebuild the 1931 Henry Pilcher’s Sons organ that had been installed in the new edifice. The new organ retained twenty-two ranks from the Pilcher. Virgil Fox was the consultant.

Opus 1275: Cathedral Church of All Saints, Albany, New York, 1953.

This is a rebuild of a 1904 Austin Organ Company instrument, retaining the console and some of the chests and pipework. There is a signature plate indicating that Harrison was responsible for the Great and Positiv divisions, and another indicating that Whiteford finished the Swell and Choir.

Opus 724-A: St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1956.

Significant structural portions and the three-manual console were retained from the previous organ, but little of the previous pipework was used in this rebuild, which was in the factory simultaneous with Opus 205-A for St. Thomas Church in New York City. Inasmuch as Harrison died while finishing the organ in St. Thomas, this organ may justly be identified as the last organ personally finished by G. Donald Harrison. Designed and installed during the tenure of Thomas Dunn, certain aspects of the unusual design and stop nomenclature have been attributed to him. The original Aeolian-Skinner nameplate and GDH signature plate were stolen, and the present console contains replacements.

Over the years, during the long tenure of Richard Alexander, additions to the organ included a new four-manual console built by Austin and several vintage Skinner stops, which were placed in the large ceiling chamber toward the front of the nave where most of the original Skinner organ had been located. A new Grand Choeur division built by Schoenstein was also added.

Opus 205-A: St. Thomas Church, New York, New York, 1956.

Much has been written about this famous organ, and it has become the fodder of legend, beginning with the fact that G. Donald Harrison died on the evening of June 14, 1956, after spending a day of tonal finishing on the organ as it neared completion, working against the clock to have it ready for the American Guild of Organists national convention a few weeks later. There was a subway strike in New York at the time, and GDH could not get a taxi, so he walked several blocks in extreme heat to the apartment he and his wife maintained on Third Avenue. Upon arriving home he felt poorly, but after dinner he relaxed and felt better. As he was watching Victor Borge on the television, he threw his head back roaring in laughter—and died of a sudden heart attack.

Many alterations were made to the organ over the years beginning in the late 1960s when the organ was barely a decade old. Toward the end of Gerre Hancock’s tenure he retrofitted nameplates on the right stop jamb documenting the provenance of the organ: The Ernest M. Skinner Co., Boston; Aeolian-Skinner; and Gilbert Adams. He also placed a GDH signature plate under the bottom manual near the General Cancel button.

Marcel Dupré made two stereo recordings for the Mercury Living Presence series of LPs in 1958, which assured the organ of a place in the annals of Aeolian-Skinner history. Private recordings of rehearsals and concerts by Marie-Madeleine Duruflé, Alexander Boggs Ryan, and Garnell Copeland made on the organ before the long series of alterations have recently been remastered and made available as CDs, the latter two of which are found on the Aeolian-Skinner Legacy series of recordings obtainable through the East Texas Pipe Organ Festival.

Signature organs prior to Opus 1075

Several organs built prior to the Salt Lake Tabernacle Opus 1075 also have a Harrison signature plate affixed to the console. Assuming that the Tabernacle organ was the first that Harrison signed as Barbara Owen states (see endnote #1), the exact circumstances of the placements of signatures on these pre-existing organs are subjects of further conjecture and add another layer of mystique to a subject that is inherently somewhat esoteric and imprecise.

The trajectory of Harrison’s organs culminating in the Tabernacle organ design has already been traced. That some of these organs were later given Harrison’s signature is entirely logical, as they contain many design precedents found in the Tabernacle organ that led Alexander Schreiner to ask Harrison to sign it in the first place. In that Harrison and Aeolian-Skinner later made alterations to some of these organs, it is likely that GDH himself directed his signature plate to be affixed at that time. In others the provenance is less obvious, and the exact logistics regarding their placement may be details consigned to the ages. I have attempted only to document what I know to have been in place at the time of this writing or at some point in the past. It is not difficult to fabricate these signature plates, and in several instances where the original nameplates have been stolen or broken, replacement replicas have been made available with relative ease.

Nora Williams told the story of someone in the console engraving department who would routinely make keychain fobs out of Harrison signature plates to hand out to workers and friends! So, the mystique continues.

Opus 909-A: All Saints Episcopal Church, Worcester, Massachusetts, 1933, 1940–1949.

The organ was recorded for Volume XI of the King of Instruments series played by Henry Hokans, the organist of the church at the time.

Opus 910-A: Grace Episcopal Cathedral, San Francisco, California, 1933, 1952.

Richard Purvis played a program of his compositions for Volume V of King of Instruments, although he was identified simply as “staff organist.”

Opus 927: Trinity Church on the Green, New Haven, Connecticut, 1935, 1949.

Opus 932-A: Calvary Episcopal Church, Memphis, Tennessee, 1935, 1952.

Harrison’s professional correspondence mentions his traveling to Memphis to work on the organ. Adolf Steuterman was the long-time organist of Calvary Church, a respected musician in that city, and was friendly with GDH.

Opus 936: St. John’s Chapel, Groton School, Groton, Massachusetts, 1935, 1945–1962.

The organ was featured for Volume VII of King of Instruments, played by Marilyn Mason.

Opus 940: Episcopal Church of the Advent, Boston, Massachusetts, 1935, 1964.

Opus 1024: University of Texas at Austin, Recital Hall, Austin, Texas, 1941.

This was a large, four-manual organ for the recital hall in the new music building, containing the usual four manual divisions, plus a Positiv, Bombarde, and floating String organ. A new console was provided in 1965 as Opus 1024-A, which does not contain a Harrison signature plate. The organ has since been installed in a new church building for St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Amarillo, Texas, which has been widely documented on video, and a signature plate is not on it.

However, in a letter to Brock Downward for his dissertation about Harrison, E. William Doty, professor emeritus and long-time organ teacher at the university, wrote that:

After the College of Fine Arts had been in existence for two years, the Board of Regents authorized the construction of a music building plus an organ to go in the recital hall . . . . Its acoustics were designed by C. C. Potwin of Electrical Research Corporation. He was recommended by Paul Boner, UT Professor of Physics, who was one of several consultants on the building and the organ. Ned Gammons of Christ Church, Houston, now at Groton School was another consultant whose ideas on design were incorporated . . . . In my judgement [sic] G. Donald Harrison was the greatest artist tonal designer of the first half of this century and we are very proud that he signed the University of Texas organ because in his judgement it was one of his best.³⁰

So, the mystique continues, but there is no doubt that this organ in its new home is a success and probably far exceeds its effectiveness in its original location according to those who knew it then, including Gerre Hancock who studied on it with Doty when he was a student at the university.

Opus 1036: Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts, 1942.

Conclusions

Beginning with the Groton organ in 1935, which Harrison himself identified as a turning point in his design of the Classic organ, it is a fairly straightforward task to identify further similar designs throughout the 1930s and 1940s leading up to the Tabernacle organ in 1945—and from thence to others in a similar trajectory, which GDH himself then signed, up until his death in 1956. Even so, if one were listening to a variety of the company’s instruments during this period, whether signed or not, there is no foolproof, obvious, definite distinction. Similarly, from a technical standpoint there are no absolute defining attributes or “smoking gun” signals that separate an organ that GDH signed from one he did not. They each bear a family resemblance in sight and sound, and some may be said to be more effective than others for any number of tangible and intangible reasons. It is, however, a given assumption that these signature organs are considered to be the best of the best that the company built.

In addition to tonal and technical attributes, however, there is another intangible aspect to the signature question that, from a purely scientific standpoint, is difficult to precisely define. Given the uniform tonal success of each of the signature organs along GDH’s developing Classic designs, I feel certain that, when all is said and done, Harrison’s reason for signing an organ also represented some very personal, quiet tribute of his own bestowing—some personal affinity GDH had for the way a particular job turned out, occasioned by its design and outcome together with perhaps some pleasant personal association with the incumbent, such as clearly was the case with Opus 1149 in Washington. Or perhaps there was the sense of a successful achievement that involved working with a collaborator on the job that reminded Harrison of his association with Schreiner and the outcome of the Tabernacle organ. There may have been some personal affinity that prompted Harrison to pronounce his own benediction on the job. And Philip Steinhaus’s letter to William Self at the outset of part 1 of this article confirms that the signature organs represent jobs with which Harrison was “deeply and personally involved.”

There certainly are wide varieties of styles to the signature organs, located in places humble and impressive, sizes small and large. Most of them are complete organs of GDH’s sole design that echo his aspirations for the Tabernacle organ, although there are obvious exceptions that contain significant portions of other builders’ work. Some signature organs are rather straightforward manifestations placed in ideal locations, and some are very unusual schemes or are the result of challenging layouts and unusual engineering solutions, such as Opus 1201 in Mount Kisco.

Some scholars and historians have posited that signature organs contain only pipework designed and finished by G. Donald Harrison. However, there are several examples that clearly suggest otherwise, such as the Washington and Kilgore organs cited previously, but also Opus 1265 at the Temple in Atlanta, Opus 1275 for the Cathedral in Albany, Opus 1208 in Harlem, Opus 1134 for Symphony Hall in Boston, and the various rebuilds of original Skinner organs that are indicated by the suffix letter “A” following the original opus number.

It is also very interesting to consider some important Aeolian-Skinner organs that were not signed by Harrison, including two of the company’s most famous: The Mother Church in Boston (Opus 1203 in 1949, the largest single organ produced by the company) and The Riverside Church in New York (Opus 1118, 1947–1955). Each is a very large, beautiful organ, in a prominent church in a major city, containing many singular attributes associated with Harrison and the American Classic Organ movement. Each possesses a sound that is unmistakable as being from Aeolian-Skinner of the era. However, each of these landmark organs was designed under the significant influence of others—in this case Lawrence Phelps and Virgil Fox, respectively. That is, their design inception was just the opposite of Opus 1075 for the Salt Lake Tabernacle where GDH was given a free hand and charged at the outset to build the organ as he saw fit. So it seems likely that GDH may not have been moved to sign organs so closely associated with others, even though they were still built by Aeolian-Skinner.

In neither case, though, can it be said that Harrison or the company in any way denigrated these organs or regarded them with less favor than the signature organs. The organ in The Mother Church was featured twice in the King of Instruments series of recordings (Volumes IX and XIII) and in reissues. GDH was quick to praise the sounds that Virgil Fox got from the Riverside organ when writing to Willis about it. When Harrison died suddenly in 1956, Virgil Fox immediately offered to play for his funeral—though in the end the small service at St. Mary’s Church in Hampton Bays, Long Island, had no music whatsoever.

The large organ formerly in the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Boston, Massachusetts, was not signed by Harrison, for the presumed same reason, that it was the result of the collaborative design of Ned Gammons of the Groton School and George Faxon, the organist of the church. Yet, the organ contains all of the hallmarks of the American Classic movement—lavishly so in fact, and it was featured in the first two volumes of King of Instruments. There appears to be no obvious hints of pettiness or retribution in Harrison’s decisions regarding jobs that he did not sign.

St. Mark’s Church in Philadelphia is yet another example of a large, prominent organ in a notable urban parish church with the same Harrison tonal attributes as contained in its contemporary sister organs in Advent in Boston and Groton, yet it was not signed by Harrison. We know that Harrison and/or Aeolian-Skinner later made significant alterations at both Advent and Groton, and it is easy to readily assume that GDH, or someone else, added the signature plates at that time. If that be the case, it is ironic that St. Mark’s, which has received no substantive alterations, does not bear Harrison’s signature, while the other two that have been altered do!

Harder to document are instances where there exists a beautiful example of Harrison’s work without the signature, and where it is known that GDH had difficult dealings in some aspect of the job with representatives of the church and/or the incumbent organist. I personally know of a couple of likely candidates for that scenario—but it is hard to substantiate, there is little to be gained by “outing” a church in this way, and in the end it is of little consequence, except that in the process these places are permanently deprived of the intangible benefit of Harrison’s privately bestowed, yet very obvious public stamp of approval for all to see as the years pass by.

For the researcher, and especially for the player, the presence of the Harrison signature plate on the console suggests an invitation to simply consider the organ on another level, to check the organ’s provenance and files, to try to see who was behind a given project, and attempt to discover the lines of continuity between Harrison and the project, further appreciating the music the organ produces in that light. In providing commentary on the signature organs, I have been able to dig deeper in some cases than others, and in no way do I present this monograph as the end of the story on this topic.

Aeolian-Skinner after Harrison

In the years after Harrison’s death, Joseph Whiteford continued the practice of placing his nameplate on many organs, but to my knowledge it was never in the form of his signature. Although I have not researched it carefully, it also appears that a larger percentage of the company’s total output during Whiteford’s tenure as tonal director received his nameplate. Of course, the total number of organs the company built continued to decrease as the 1960s led inexorably to the company’s sad denouement in 1972.

Much has been written, and even more spoken, about Aeolian-Skinner’s demise. Twenty-five years after the company closed, Michael Gariepy, who had been on the company’s technical staff, wrote:

There were four “coffin nails” which sealed the fate of Aeolian-Skinner—

1. The death of G. Donald Harrison;

2. The Southeast Expressway, which split the operation in two;

3. The departure of Joseph Whiteford from the company;

4. The move to Randolph; such were the disruptions caused by relocating the company that it took six months to return to “normal” operational efficiency.³¹

There is no doubt that Harrison’s prestige brought credit and contracts to the company, and his death is generally thought to have been the beginning of its end—and that may be so. But there is every indication, including Dun & Bradstreet reports, that Aeolian-Skinner was never in a favorable financial position following World War II and its attendant inflation. Joseph Whiteford clearly was not the typical career “organ man” that Harrison had been. There is no doubt that many of the old-timers in the company did not resonate to his patrician ways and may have lacked confidence in his leadership. But in the post-Harrison years Joseph Whiteford designed some impressive organs, including those for the symphony orchestras in New York, Philadelphia, Detroit, Milwaukee, and the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. And under his successor Donald Gillett’s direction, Aeolian-Skinner built the organ in the new Kennedy Center Concert Hall in Washington.

Many “Hail Mary” attempts were made to keep the company afloat in its closing days, and there were valiant attempts to adapt to the changing times and tastes, such as moving to a more economical and efficient factory outside of Boston and introducing tracker-action organs. Roy Perry told me that Martin Wick seriously pursued the idea of purchasing Aeolian-Skinner and moving it to Texas, with Roy as tonal director. Martin said he had no trouble building Chevrolets in one factory and Cadillacs in another! But his board did not go along with the idea. In the end it was all too little, too late.

Having played many organs designed by G. Donald Harrison, Joseph Whiteford, and Donald Gillett over my entire professional career, I feel that many of Aeolian-Skinner’s organs built since 1956 are very beautiful indeed and are landmarks easily on a par with some of those the company built under Harrison. It is prescient to read what Emerson Richards said about Joseph Whiteford when he wrote to Henry Willis shortly after Harrison’s death:

I think that he [Whiteford] has more ability than he is given credit for but he is impatient and for some reason does not inspire confidence—just why I cannot say.³²

In considering Aeolian-Skinner after Harrison’s death, Charles Callahan’s sage advice in the introductory material to his second book is still worthy of consideration:

The pendulum of taste and opinion is constantly in motion. Caught up in the enthusiasms of a particular moment in time, it is all too easy for anyone to belittle others’ achievements. Perhaps Joseph
Whiteford and his work are overdue for a fair assessment.³³

The author gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Charles Callahan, William Czelusniak, Allen Harris, Douglass Hunt, Allen Kinzey, and Larry Trupiano in the preparation of this article.

Notes

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

29. Allen Kinsey and Sand Lawn, comp., E. M. Skinner/Aeolian-Skinner Opus List (Richmond, Virginia: Organ Historical Society, 1997), 152.

30. E. William Doty to Brock W. Downward, December 14, 1974. Downward diss., 97.

31. Michael Gariepy to Charles Callahan, February 9, 1996, Callahan, Aeolian-Skinner Remembered, 372.

32. Emerson Richards to Henry Willis III, July 12, 1956. Callahan, The American Classic Organ, 433.

33. Callahan, Aeolian-Skinner Remembered, xvi.

Bibliography

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Buhrman, T. Scott. “Arthur Hudson Marks.” The American Organist, vol. 22 (June 1939).

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______ . Aeolian-Skinner Remembered: A History in Letters. Minneapolis: Randall Egan, 1996.

Cundick, Robert. “The 1988 Renovation—An Organist’s Perspective.” The American Organist, vol. 22, no. 12 (Dec. 1988): 79–80.

Downward, Brock W. “G. Donald Harrison and the American Classic Organ.” D.M.A. diss., Eastman School of Music, Rochester, NY, 1976.

Fesperman, John. Two Essays on Organ Design. Raleigh, NC: The Sunbury Press, 1975.

Harrison, G. Donald. “Organ,” in Harvard Dictionary of Music. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1944.

______ . “Slider Chests?” The Organ Institute Quarterly, 3 (Summer 1953).

______ , and Emerson L. Richards. “Chorus Reeds, French, English, and American.” The American Organist, vol. 24, nos. 4–7 (April 1941: 107–108; May 1941: 141–143; June 1941: 172–174; July 1941: 203–204).

Kehl, Roy. “The American Classic Symposium in Salt Lake City.” The Diapason, vol. 80, no. 5 (May 1989): 10–11.

King, John Hansen. “The King of Instruments.” The Diapason, vol. 94, no. 5, April 2003.

Kinsey, Allen, and Sand Lawn, comp. E. M. Skinner/Aeolian-Skinner Opus List. Richmond, VA: The Organ Historical Society, 1992, 1997.

Langord, Alan C. “Aeolian-Skinner: A Study in Artistic Leadership.” Bachelor’s thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1959.

Nies-Berger, Édouard. Albert Schweitzer As I Knew Him. Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press, 2003.

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

Richards, Emerson L. “Advent Organ in Boston.” The American Organist, vol. 19, no. 9 (September 1936): 304–307.

_______ . “An American Classic Organ Arrives.” The American Organist, vol. 26, no. 5 (May 1943): 104–108.

_______ . “Boston Symphony Hall’s Third Organ.” The American Organist, vol. 33, no. 1 (January 1950): 17–22.

_______ . “Curtis Institute’s New Organ.” The American Organist, vol. 25, no. 1 (January 1942): 10–14.

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

_______ . “100 Years of Organs in the Mormon Tabernacle.” The Diapason, vol. 58, no. 11 (November 1967): 19.

Zeuch, William E. “An Appreciation of the Work of G. Donald Harrison.” The American Organist, vol. 16, no. 9 (September 1933): 438–439.

About The American Organist magazine entries: for most of the twentieth century the official journal of the American Guild of Organists was The Diapason, independently owned, edited, and published in Chicago. Simultaneous with The Diapason was an organists’ journal titled The American Organist, published by T. Scott Buhrman in New York City. These two journals coexisted until 1967 when the AGO established its independent journal, initially titled MUSIC: The AGO/RCCO Magazine reflecting that it was the official journal of the American Guild of Organists and the Royal Canadian College of Organists. After Buhrman died in the 1960s his journal continued briefly, but it soon ceased operations. The AGO soon adopted the title The American Organist for their official magazine, but it is not in any way related to Buhrman’s magazine. In this bibliography the two 1988 entries referring to The American Organist refer to the magazine’s later iteration as the journal of the AGO.

Joyce Johnson Robinson

Joyce Johnson Robinson is a past editor of The Diapason.

More than a century and a half after his birth, Ernest Martin Skinner (born January 15, 1866; died November 27, 1960) is still acknowledged to be one of the most innovative of American organbuilders. Skinner created instruments that emphasized orchestral-imitative stops (such as the French Horn and English Horn), with consoles that were models of practical design. He created exquisite and colorful soft stops, including the Erzähler, the Orchestral Oboe, and the English Horn. His innovations also include the pitman windchest, and he perfected the electro-pneumatic motor for swell shutters.¹

Skinner began his career in 1886, working for George H. Ryder in Reading, Massachusetts, north of Boston. Skinner worked there for four years, and in 1890 after being fired by a new foreman, was subsequently hired by George S. Hutchings, for whom he worked for eleven years.

Skinner founded Ernest M. Skinner & Co.—the firm changed names several times before becoming known as the Skinner Organ Company in 1919—and his career lasted a good four decades, with 1910 to the early 1920s being its heyday. The Great Depression greatly reduced the market for Skinner’s instruments. Furthermore, staff changes in the company resulted in Skinner losing control of his own firm, and through a merger, a new entity emerged, the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company, in 1932. The factory that Skinner opened in 1936 (when he was 70!) with his son Richmond, when the company was known as Ernest M. Skinner & Son Organ Company, was destroyed by fire on June 17, 1943. Changes in musical tastes also eventually led to a diminished market for Skinner’s instruments. By the time of Skinner’s death in 1960, his style of organbuilding had gone out of fashion, with orchestral color and tone being de-emphasized in favor of clarity and brightness.

From 1911 to 1961, news of the life and work of Ernest M. Skinner was reported in The Diapason. The announcements, advertisements, letters, and features that appeared in The Diapason illuminated the great scope of Skinner’s work and personality, along with the waxing and waning of his company and career, and the occasional glimpse into his personal life. Over the course of fifty years there were dozens of announcements and articles that documented the instruments in the Skinner opus list and traced the arrival of G. Donald Harrison in 1927, the 1932 merger with the pipe organ division of the Aeolian Company, Skinner’s establishment of his own factory and company in 1936, and his joining the staff of the Schantz Organ Company of Orrville, Ohio, in 1947.

This article offers a brief summary of Skinner’s life and history as revealed in the pages of The Diapason. By no means will it present every reference that can be found in the journal; it is intended to give a flavor of the life, times, and work of this important organbuilder.

Skinner instruments

We first read of Skinner in January 1911, when The Diapason reported on the near-completion of the new, “monster” Skinner organ at New York City’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine. The next month, the journal published a letter from Skinner in which he complains about inaccurate reporting in a letter discussing that organ; Skinner’s letter also touches on the question, “what makes an organ modern?”

To the Editor of The Diapason. Dear Sir:—One of the reasons why I usually decline to give information to newspaper reporters is the fact that they are not satisfied to take the facts as submitted, but have to enlarge upon them and indulge in flights of imagination, which makes a farce of most accounts of church organs.

I note an article in the January number relating to the organ being installed in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, in which it is stated: “The thirty-two foot pipe at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine gives the same tone because it has a sixty-four foot stop.” I do not know where the reporter got this information, nor am I able to comprehend its meaning. There is certainly no stop in this instrument of sixty-four foot pitch, nor have I heard of a stopped sixty-four in any other. The reporter is pleased to call this tone a “gusty rumble.” He vaults from this to the “shrill singing of a tea kettle just beginning to whisper to itself about boiling,” which makes a paragraph rich in metaphor, and is about as rational as the average article of this description.

I note a letter from James E. Dale, in which he says the organ for the Cathedral of St. John the Divine will not be the largest and most modern ever built. I was particular to state in such information as I gave the reporter that the organ was not the largest ever built. I wish Mr. Dale would inform me upon what he bases his conclusion that the Sydney organ, built twenty-one years ago, is more modern than the organ going into the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

What makes an organ modern? Is it the character of its resources or the number of stops? Also, allow me to say that the Sydney organ is not the largest in the world. The organ built by Murray M. Harris of California for the St. Louis Exposition, and being installed in Wannamaker’s store in New York city [sic], has that distinction to the best of my knowledge and belief.

The organ in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine has three thirty-two foot pedal stops, an open, violone and reed, all of which are the full thirty-two feet in length at low C and are open pipes. The organ is guiltless of a sixty-four foot stop of any description.

Yours very truly,

ERNEST M. SKINNER

The June 1911 issue reported on Clarence Dickinson’s opening recital at the cathedral.

Other 1911 announcements mentioned new Skinner instruments and contracts: Asylum Hill Congregational Church, Hartford, Connecticut; Sts. Peter and Paul’s Cathedral (the National Cathedral), Washington, D.C.; and Church of the Holy Communion, New York City (April 1911); and the completion of a large four-manual organ in the Grand Avenue Methodist Church, Kansas City, Missouri (September 1911).

The October 1912 issue noted the contract and stoplist of a four-manual organ for Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts, along with the dedication of a three-manual instrument in the First Methodist Church of Muscatine, Iowa—played by Mrs. Wilhelm Middelschulte.²

In October 1917, it was noted that Gordon Balch Nevin (probably best known to us as the composer of Will o’ the Wisp) had joined the company (having left his position as organist of Second Presbyterian Church of Cleveland), to arrange musical scores for the “Orchestrator”—a player organ using rolls (“which Mr. Skinner has invented and perfected after twenty years’ work”). The Diapason reported that:

The new instrument contains many of Mr. Skinner’s inventions whereby the tones of the orchestral instruments are faithfully reproduced. In addition the instrument contains a full size concert grand piano, and it is possible to reproduce a concerto for piano with complete orchestral accompaniments.

The Ernest M. Skinner company is erecting a special laboratory building for this branch of the work, containing rooms for cutting work, a studio for the head of the department, and a fine concert hall—equipped with a large “Orchestrator.”

By the way, a player mechanism using perforated rolls was also to be part of the Skinner Organ Company’s organ for the auditorium in St. Paul, Minnesota, mentioned in the April 1920 issue (“City raises fund of $61,000”). This four-manual, 105-stop instrument (stoplist given in the article) would also include a concert grand piano that could be played from the organ keyboard, “as it is in the case of the Skinner organ in Carnegie Hall, Pittsburgh,” along with a new feature, a 16′ Heckelphone in the Solo division (“which will resemble an English horn, but six or seven times as powerful”), and a six-rank string division.

The Diapason’s office was located at that time in Chicago, Illinois; naturally, local instruments would certainly be noted. It was reported in March 1921 that St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in nearby Evanston would have a great organ, designed by Herbert Hyde and Joseph Bonnet:

The Chicago district is to have another notable organ—one which probably will be the largest in any church of the city or suburbs. The Skinner Organ Company has been awarded the contract for a four-manual instrument for St. Luke’s Episcopal Church of Evanston. It will have a total of 78 speaking stops. The instrument is to be completed early in 1922 and will be the crowning feature of the new edifice under construction. The present chapel organ is to be used as an echo division for the new organ. The specification is the work of Herbert E. Hyde, organist and choirmaster of St. Luke’s, in consultation with Joseph Bonnet.

The front page of the October 1921 issue of The Diapason was virtually dominated by Skinner. There was a notice of the dedication of St. Paul’s new municipal organ, with recitals by H. Chandler Goldthwaite, the city organist, who declared the Skinner instrument to be “the best in the country, bar none,” and that “visiting organists are going to discover that compositions may be played here that will be almost impossible” on other organs. The center of the page shows Skinner at the organ console, and Arthur Marks standing by the organ built for Marks’s country place in Westchester County. And the right-hand column provided details on the two “wonder organs” for the Eastman School—one an Austin, and the other a 4-manual Skinner, every division of which was enclosed, including the entire pedal, which possessed a 32′ Bombarde. This organ also featured a full Dulciana chorus (16′, 8′, 4′, 2′, and a Dulciana Cornet), and on the Great, a complete harmonic series, including a Septieme.

The Skinner Organ Company’s New York office, located at 677 Fifth Avenue in New York City, also had an organ studio. The December 1925 issue of The Diapason lists the 36 “noted men” who would play a series of “great artists” Friday evening recitals at the studio, to be broadcast on radio station WAHG. The list is worthy of a Who’s Who: Lynnwood Farnam, T. Tertius Noble, Albert William Snow, Hugh Porter, Edwin Arthur Kraft, Palmer Christian, Charles Heinroth, Harold Gleason, W. A. Goldsworthy, Maurice Garabrant, Marshall Bidwell, Louis Potter, Gordon Balch Nevin, Guy C. Filkins, Rollo Maitland, John Priest, Chandler Goldthwaite, Alexander McCurdy, George Rogers Pratt, Alfred Greenfield, Arnold Dann, Walter Hartley, Warren D. Allen, Allan Bacon, Walter P. Zimmerman, Herbert E. Hyde, G. H. Federlein, William E. Zeuch, Henry F. Seibert, Edward Rechlin, and Clarence Dickinson. A photo of six of the recitalists gathered around a Skinner console graces the top of the issue’s front page.

The lead news article on page 1 of the April 1931 issue of The Diapason was the signing of a contract by the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles for “a large four-manual Skinner organ.” William H. Barnes, the consultant, and Stanley W. Williams, Skinner’s Pacific coast representative, prepared the stoplist for the sixty-rank (plus Harp/Celesta and Chimes) instrument.

The April 1931 issue also mentions the dedication recital of the four-manual, eighty-nine-stop Skinner organ at Severance Hall in Cleveland, played by Palmer Christian, noting that, “In spite of the fact that the event was held on Friday—a rehearsal night for church choirs—many organists and other church musicians were present. It is presumed that a number of choir rehearsals in town were curtailed to enable interested members to attend.” The organ’s console had three terminals for the cable—one so that it could be in the center of the stage, a second so that it could be at the side, and a third so that it could be in the sunken pit. “The tone is characterized by great beauty of individual solo registers. The ensemble is of the English type, with great prominence of chorus reeds and brilliant mixtures. These features were sufficiently outstanding to cause comment from the musical critics, one calling it a present-day ‘fashion’ in organ design.” (The stoplist was published in the February 1930 issue.)

The front page of the January 1932 issue featured a large portrait of Arthur Hudson Marks, “head of new organ company,” which is to say the new Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company, Inc., the combining of Skinner with the pipe organ division of the Aeolian Company. Marks was president, with W. H. Alfring, Aeolian president, and Ernest Skinner as vice-presidents, along with George Catlin of Skinner and Frank Taft of Aeolian. It was noted that 85% of Skinner’s business had been for churches, colleges, and institutions, and 15% for residences, while Aeolian’s was almost the reverse—80% residential and 20% institutional.

One early deal that resulted for Aeolian-Skinner was the 1933 order for a four-manual organ for the W. K. Kellogg Auditorium in Battle Creek, Michigan. The instrument and the auditorium were to be a gift to the Battle Creek public schools from Mr. Kellogg, “the breakfast food manufacturer whose products are known throughout the world.” The February 1933 issue’s front page gave the announcement and listed the specification, of sixty-five ranks plus Harp/Celesta and Chimes; an Echo organ was playable from the Solo manual. The specification included a 16′ Ophicleide (Great), 8′ Flugel Horn (Swell), 8′ Corno di Bassetto (Choir), and in the Solo division, 8′ Orchestral Oboe, French and English horns, and a heavy-pressure Tuba Mirabilis.

In February 1936 we read Skinner’s announcement that he established, with his son Richmond, his own organbuilding plant at Methuen, Massachusetts, under the name of Ernest M. Skinner & Son Company. The announcement is brief; Skinner “will engage in the designing and construction of instruments that are to embody his principles of tone and that are to be like the large organs in America on which his reputation is based.”

From this point on the number of new Aeolian-Skinner instruments far exceeded those of Skinner’s company. New organs were few and far between: First Church of Northampton, Massachusetts (three manuals, November 1936); First Baptist, Jackson, Mississippi (four manuals, 1940); St. John’s Lutheran, Allentown, Pennsylvania (April 1940); the reconstructed/enlarged organs at Brick Presbyterian (June 1940) and First Presbyterian, Englewood, New Jersey (three manuals, October 1946).

Skinner’s writings

Skinner’s own writings appeared throughout the years in The Diapason, from letters to the editor to feature articles. In 1919 Skinner was elected president of the Organ Builder’s Association of America. The September 1919 issue noted: “Ernest M. Skinner of Boston was elected president of the association, as the successor to John T. Austin, the first president. W. E. Pilcher of Louisville was made vice president; Farny R. Wurlitzer was re-elected treasurer and Adolph Wangerin was chosen again to be secretary.” At the organization’s first annual meeting, a motion for the association to declare itself in favor of the eight-hour day was voted down. In 1920, along with his report, Skinner gave an address on the importance of such an organization, noting how it could build respect and collegiality, in “a field that offers no one an easy road to success either artistically or financially.” The year 1920 looked rosy indeed. Note Skinner’s optimism (and mourn the passing of this era):

It looks to me as though from now on the organ builder were to become a decidedly necessary citizen. The organ is becoming immensely popular. The church no longer appears to have an exclusive ownership of the instrument. The auditorium, residence, motion picture theater and even the great municipal art museums are finding it worth while to give the king of instruments a place of honor in their activities. Let us make the most of our association for whatever it may do to insure the future for us.

At this meeting, the association drafted a uniform contract for purchase of new pipe organs, with a payment schedule set at 10% down, 55% at shipment, and the balance upon completion.

Also in 1920, in October, The Diapason printed Skinner’s lecture, “The Organ in the Home,” delivered before the National Association of Organists in New York. It offers an entertaining look at Skinner through his whimsical writing:

When the handle is turned on to let on the water for the morning tub, what is more fitting than Handel’s water music played on the unda maris? A little later we are led to the breakfast table and hear sweet discourse on a stop voiced smooth and round, to picturize a grapefruit, or a bald head.

But the essay focused on player organs:

. . . The present popularity of the residence pipe organ was brought about by the application of the perforated roll mechanism . . . . It satisfies an inherent craving for self-expression common to every living music lover.

Skinner was addressing organists, and he was discussing the organist who would be employed to play an organ in a wealthy home, noting that sometimes the performer would not be listened to:

The client and one or two friends carried on an animated conversion and paid no more attention to the organist than they would have paid to a yellow pup—in fact, I think the pup might have had the best of it. An artist will in this case be hammered into a mere mercenary . . . . The client knows there is, apart from the sound heard, more class to an actual organist than to a machine, and the organist undoubtedly wears this halo, whatever it amounts to.

The organ in the home necessarily has a much smaller public than elsewhere, but it certainly presents, particularly with the perforated roll adjunct, wonderful opportunities for an intimate acquaintance with whatever kind of music one is interested in . . . . The future for the organist looks wonderful to me . . . . But you can do more than anybody else to better the conditions of public music. A given plane is raised from a higher one, never from below.

The early 1920s were prosperous for the Skinner company. The April 1921 issue of The Diapason reports that the Skinner Organ Company would combine with the Steere Organ Company, to handle a large amount of new work. The Steere plant would operate as a unit of the Skinner organ company:

The two factories have been consolidated, but the plant of the Steere Company at Westfield, Mass., will be operated and the entire staff of that concern will be retained. The addition of the Steere forces to the facilities of the Boston plant of the Skinner Company will make it possible to take care of the large amount of new work, orders for which have been received by the Skinner Company. The deal therefore does not actually remove any factor from the organ business, but serves to make for better results through a combination of interests.

The announcement includes Skinner’s letter to the editor, detailing the consolidation, noting that George Kingsbury, Steere’s president, and Harry Van Wart, superintendent (who had previously worked for Skinner), supported “high standards of excellence.” Skinner had written that:

There has been a tremendous demand for Skinner products during the past year, which can be satisfied only by an organization expert in organ building and familiar with the technique and rigid inspection requirements of the Skinner Company. The Steere plant will operate at capacity as a unit of the Skinner Organ Company making standard Skinner parts under our standard specifications and inspection.

Skinner commented on whiffle-tree swell shade action in The Diapason Forum of the February 1922 issue. He explains his preference for it: “The whiffle-tree engine will move the shades about twice as fast as in the old mechanical action without slamming.” Skinner was responding to a previous letter that had criticized the whiffle-tree, and did not spare feelings in doing so: “Except for the fact that M. E. Hardy has overlooked everything of importance relating to the whiffle-tree swell shutter action, his article on the subject is very well expressed.”³

In a letter in May 1945, Skinner explained why organ pipes go sharp when temperature rises, what a temperament is, and what a “wolf” is. The first: As temperature rises, pipes contain less air than formerly, as some has left, due to expansion. Thus less air is excited by the same amount of force. The second: The wolf is the dissonance remaining in one interval of a perfectly tuned or untempered octave. Setting a temperament consists in tuning an octave so that the wolf is distributed equally throughout its twelve intervals.

Later that year, Skinner defined a “classical” organ: “Generally I have regarded it as the type represented by the French organs in Notre Dame and San [sic] Sulpice, and perhaps by the Roosevelt, Johnson and Hutchings organs in America . . . .” He felt that the “so-called romantic organ is the type developed here in the United States” and that its characteristics were “strings of warmth and prompt speech, the new orchestral voices, and unfortunately the Philomela, heavy claribel flutes and fat diapason.” He concluded by saying that since Webster defines classical as “a work of the highest class, of acknowledged excellence,” then the organs of Washington National Cathedral, Girard College, or Bruton Parish Church should be considered so.

In July 1949, Skinner complained about William H. Barnes’s Contemporary American Organ. Barnes claimed, based on letters he had received, that Skinner was not the inventor of certain stops. Skinner’s letter to the editor disputes this, demanding some proof: “Will Mr. Barnes please give in these columns a single instance where any one of these stops was placed by another organ builder, of a character authentic to an equal degree with those designed by the undersigned, and where they were placed, previous to the dates named?” The battle of letters continued, with Mr. Maclean of Toronto and Edwin D. Northrup joining in (September 1949). Skinner clarified that his contribution was the stop’s tone, not merely a stop name.

Please tell Mr. Maclean of Toronto that I did not refer to engraving the name English horn or cor anglais on a stopknob. I have seen many such, but the authentic English horn tone was not heard when the stop was drawn. I have been in England, France, Belgium, Holland and Germany several times, but never once heard the tone of an orchestral English horn, regardless of the name. Also in my sixty-five years as an organ builder I have seen organs of all makes in every state in the Union, but never once heard an authentic English horn, except my own.

. . . I invited Willis to America and gave him my French horn, personally, likewise men from Cavaille-Coll of Paris. I also gave many builders my pitman windchest and whiffletree swell engine; so now I suppose the logical thing to do is to try to do me out of their invention. I invented a contre bombarde and other stops. That doesn’t prevent others from designing other forms of the same name, does it?  . . . Cancel “inventions” to please Mr. Maclean, substitute “developments.” Moral: To avoid criticism, do nothing.

In 1951, when the organbuilder turned 85, the journal published “Ernest M. Skinner recalls the past” in the March issue. Later that year, Skinner’s wife Mabel died, and the grieving Skinner stayed with his daughter Eugenia in Reading, Massachusetts. In this article, Skinner summarized his life, beginning with a description of his limited education—“high school for a while”—and his on-the-job training, beginning with George H. Ryder, for whom Skinner swept the shop and wound trackers. He taught himself tuning (both piano and organ). He worked at George S. Hutchings in Boston, moving up to foreman, and then struck out on his own.

Skinner cited his organs at City College in New York, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, the Washington National Cathedral, Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, Girard College Chapel, and Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. He described operatic and symphonic inspiration for his French Horn (Strauss, Salome), Bassoon (Zarathustra), and Orchestral Oboe and English Horn (Wagner, Parsifal), noting that “every improvement I ever made in the organ was opposed by somebody.” He concluded noting that Hutchings turned down a half-interest in Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone—for $50.

In July 1952, Skinner’s “Principles of Tonal Design” was a feature article. Skinner began by explaining that the electrically driven fan made subsidiary wind pressures possible. He suggests five-inch pressure “satisfactory for general purposes, except on large organs.” The article presented the characteristics of different stop pipes, where to locate their ranks in the organ, and tuning.

Skinner advertisements

The Skinner company was a regular advertiser in The Diapason. Skinner’s advertisements provide a view of the progress of Skinner’s business, and also his philosophies. Those from the 1930s after his separation from the company that he founded decades earlier are particularly telling.

One of the earliest advertisements appeared in August 1917, simply stating that “It isn’t what you Pay; it what you Get for what you pay. Buy by the tone, not by the ton.” The advertiser is the Ernest M. Skinner Company, Church Organs, Boston, Massachusetts.

An advertisement in February 1936 announces that “Ernest M. Skinner is established at Methuen, Mass., where organ building, as exemplified by the instruments at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, St. Thomas’ and St. Bartholomew’s churches, New York City, and similar examples elsewhere, will be continued. The traditional ensemble, enhanced by Mr. Skinner’s orchestral and tonal inventions . . . will ensure the character of these instruments. Their beautiful tone and uncompromising fidelity to quality are acknowledged by American and foreign artists alike.” This advertisement emphasizes what Skinner would be forever remembered for: orchestral and tonal inventions in the ensemble, with beautiful sound quality in a well-made instrument.

An April 1936 advertisement with the title “A Personal Word from Ernest M. Skinner” emphasizes that “Tone production, of distinction, is as individual and personal as handwriting, and even more difficult to copy. It is the product of personal musical experience, taste, research, technical skill and sense of hearing” and that Skinner’s company is the only one from which one can purchase instruments having “tonal characteristics of breadth and splendor.”

In another 1936 advertisement, this from May, Skinner writes that an organbuilder must have a musical imagination, so that the tone he creates would have “an artistic character, of poetic implication. . .”
and that “tonal charm is a fundamental requisite of every musical instrument.” In July, Skinner’s advertisement reaffirms that his work in Methuen, with his son Richmond, produces “beautiful orchestral voices, original and eloquent colors of the Erzahler type, the Trumpets, Diapasons and Mutations . . . all . . .
in just proportion.” Skinner explained in October the workings of his electro-pneumatic key action.

It consisted of a high resistance magnet, operating at a low voltage and controlling an armature of fixed movement. This armature commanded a pneumatic key action having a double motor—a primary and secondary—which operated at great speed, making it the most responsive and reliable of all organ mechanisms, which it remains to this day.

In December Skinner touted his ability to improve an existing instrument through “a few judicious touches:” “Skinner experience will find and eliminate the weak spots and for some of the present indifferent stops, the old organ may be improved to an unbelievable degree.”

In his 1937 advertisements, Skinner took to including testimonials. An ad that appeared in April and July quoted Louis Vierne, from a letter to an unidentified third party:

When you shall see Mr. Skinner tell him that I should be delighted if my opinion of his organs could be of any use to him. It is already ten years since my American tour, and . . . I still have, in my ears, the memory of those magnificent timbres and in my fingers that of the marvelous touch of the instruments of this very great builder. I have retained an unforgettable joy in them, and he can proclaim this publicly in reproducing this passage of my letter.

Vierne also was quoted remarking after hearing a Skinner organ, “If I had had an organ like that when I was a young man, it would have changed the whole character of my compositions.”

In September of that year, The Diapason published an advertisement that contained a letter from Virgil Fox to Skinner. The letter was dated July 21, and one wonders whether Skinner actively solicited the letter:

Dear Ernest, How proud you must feel about your organ we played Monday—the one just completed at Northhampton! Your action will take any tempo, however fast, and any phrasing. And, you’ve built pipes that sing! The ensemble is clarity personified.

Though only a three-manual organ, the real 32-ft tone in the pedal makes it a distinguished one.

Your new 4-ft Swell Flute deserves to stand with your other contributions to the pipe organ. Don’t ever doubt that the world is grateful to you for the beauty you have given thru your invention of the Flute Celeste, French Horn and those other well-known voices.

Congratulations on Northampton! Congratulations because you are even more interested in music than you are interested in organ.

Yours in all sincerity,

Virgil Fox

Letters in 1938 include an announcement that the temporary organ in the choir of Washington National Cathedral was for sale at “about half its cost.” The instrument was of nineteen ranks and included a 32′ Fagotto (optional). Other advertisements announced work booked, in progress, and on hand; others reprinted more letters, from satisfied customers or those who had just approved a contract. One charming advertisement from the August 1938 issue beckons travelers, in those pre-Disney World days, to consider Skinner’s workplace as a vacation destination.

The completion of the organ in Washington National Cathedral was a landmark in Skinner’s career, and he continually trumpeted it, calling it a “masterpiece” that “will stand as a supreme example of the art of organ building for the next century.” He quotes Robert Barrow, organist and choirmaster of the cathedral, who calls the new organ “the greatest instrument as yet produced in this country, and one of the really great organs of the world . . . an organ designed by a musician, for musicians.”

Another advertisement quotes the Washington Herald’s article reporting on the dedication recital. Three thousand attendees “heard one of the greatest instruments in the world today in so far as its capacities, ordinary and unusual, could be demonstrated in a program of less than an hour’s duration . . . .”

In January 1939 Skinner’s advertising quoted T. Tertius Noble, the organist of St. Thomas in New York City, who praises the “superb instrument” there and to the new Washington instrument, with its full and rich Diapasons, which “may be compared with the finest to be found in the great English cathedral organs,” the reeds—“rich in tone, brilliant where needed, and full of character,” and above all the voicing of the mixtures, “so full of sparkle and clarity, without the horrible harshness which seems to be so much the fashion today.” In the following year Skinner printed testimonials from Clarence Dickinson regarding the organ in the Brick Presbyterian Church.

Other advertisements in 1930 and 1940 mentioned new instruments that were being built, and what Skinner could do for an old organ—that is, a slider chest tracker organ, a Johnson, Hutchings, or Hook & Hastings: electrification, curing sticking slides, guaranteeing steady wind and pitch integrity, a silent and instantaneous stop action, a silent high speed key and pedal action. And “by substituting a few stops we can give a substantial factor of modern tonal beauty. All the above under control of a modern Skinner console, at something less than half the cost of a new organ.” (June 1939)

Some of Skinner’s advertisements were pithy, such as May 1940: “Faith without works is dead. A like condition attends theory without ears.” Or March 1940: “Stradivarius, Steinway, Skinner obviously have something in common. In all three, beauty of tone is the first objective.”

While some of the letters quoted in The Diapason give one a sense that they were actively solicited, a letter from Thomas H. Webber, Jr., writing from Idlewild Presbyterian Church in Memphis (January 1941), has a personal and friendly tone:

I am very sorry the rush of the Christmas time has kept me from writing you before this in regards to the beautiful organ you recently finished in the First Baptist Church of Jackson Mississippi. It was a joy and privilege to play the dedicatory recital on this magnificent instrument . . . .”

[The writer goes on to praise the responsive action, diapason chorus, and especially the 32′ Fagotto.]

I am delighted that there is another fine Ernest Skinner organ here in this section of the South. The Idlewild organ is a constant joy to me in every respect. . . . More than ever, I am convinced that people want beauty in tone as well as beauty in other things and you surely create that beauty in these fine organs.

It was very nice to see you and Richmond again. I think he did an excellent piece of work in the Jackson organ.

In March 1941 Skinner’s advertisement was headlined “The Original Skinner Quality Still in Demand!” as though he felt the need to convince the reader of such. The advertisement listed “recent installations and work in process”—16 instruments, of which one was a rebuild, a second received a new console and electrification, and a third new pipes. All were on the Eastern seaboard, except for one in Mississippi and one in Ohio.

The entry of the United States into World War II at the end of 1941 did not immediately affect organbuilding, but it was inevitable that the industry would see changes. The July 1942 issue of The Diapason reported on the order from the War Production Board, which required that the entire organbuilding industry be converted to defense work after July 31. This order forbade the manufacture of musical instruments containing more than ten percent by weight of “critical materials”—metals, cork, plastic, and rubber. The report explained that “the part assigned to the organ manufacturers is to produce blowers for link trainers used in ground training of pilots.”

In July 1943, The Diapason reported that the Skinner factory in Methuen, Massachusetts, was destroyed by fire on June 17.

The origin of the spectacular blaze has not been established. The three-story wooden structure was razed, only the frame front remaining. Serlo Hall, adjacent to the factory and nationally famous because it houses the great organ that originally stood in the Boston Music Hall, being later acquired by Ernest M. Skinner, was saved from the flames by a fire wall . . . . The factory was operated by Mr. Skinner and his son until organ manufacture was suspended and the property was under the control of a bank.

Following this event, Skinner was largely absent from mention in the pages of The Diapason.

About Skinner’s life

Skinner was of sufficient importance that he and his family were worthy of note. The September 1914 issue quotes an article that appeared in the Boston Post in August, of how eighteen-year-old Eugenia R. Skinner saved her “chum” from drowning, “nearly a mile” (!) off shore at the beach. The journal also reported on Skinner’s own health. A February 1915 announcement mentions that Skinner broke a rib in a collision of his automobile with a tree in Cambridge.

In March 1951, The Diapason published a piece in which Skinner reminisced, by the editor’s request; this was on the occasion of his 85th birthday. Skinner tells the story of his life, how as a twelve-year-old he attempted to build an organ of wooden pipes—they did not speak—and how he began working for George H. Ryder, sweeping the shop and winding trackers. He designed a machine that could wind the trackers better and faster than by hand. He next taught himself tuning and moved on to work with George S. Hutchings. Skinner eventually went out on his own. He mentions his landmark instruments, and cites operatic and symphonic works as the inspiration for his French Horn, Orchestral Oboe, and Contra Bassoon.

The May 1951 issue reported on page 1 of the death of Mrs. Ernest M. Skinner (nee Mabel Hastings) in her sleep on April 14. The Skinners had been married for 58 years. “Mrs. Skinner had not been ill and she enjoyed a chess game with her husband the evening before her death. She is survived by her husband, two daughters and a son.”

In January 1956, The Diapason reported that Skinner, “who still enjoys good health and takes a lively interest in musical matters,” would turn 90 on January 15. It also reported his home address, presumably so greetings could be sent. (How times have changed!) It noted that Skinner was “a household word in the organ world,” that Skinner “built many of the notable organs in this country,” and that “he is credited with inventions which have become standard equipment on modern instruments.” This notice was followed by a reprint of Skinner’s autobiography, first presented five years earlier.

Skinner fell in the spring of 1957, as reported in the June 1957 issue, tripping over a small podium in a church aisle, resulting in a broken right shoulder. He spent ten days in the hospital and then was moved to a nursing home, “where he will be staying for at least the next month.” On the front page of its January 1961 issue, The Diapason reported the death of Ernest M. Skinner, “America’s most widely known builder of pipe organs,” age 94, on November 27, 1960, in Duxbury, Massachusetts. The headlines called him a “renowned organ builder” and the “most influential designer of American instruments in first half of the century.” The journal reprinted Skinner’s reminiscence article of ten years prior, noting that “Though most of his best known organs have been rebuilt and greatly changed in the last two decades, many of them retain some of the stops which he originated and perfected and which were most characteristic of the great Skinner organs of a generation ago.”

Notes

1. For a fine summary of Skinner’s career, see Craig R. Whitney, All the Stops (New York: Public Affairs, 2003). For more on Skinner instruments, see Dorothy J. Holden, “The Tonal Evolution of the E. M. Skinner Organ,” The Diapason, July 1977, February 1978, June 1978, March 1979, January 1980.

2. Wilhelm Middelschulte married Annette Musser on June 29, 1896. Prior to their marriage she was a prominent organist, pianist, and teacher in Memphis, Tennessee. In Chicago, Illinois, where they resided, she served as organist at St. Paul’s Universalist Church. See www.wilhelm-middelschulte.de/biographie.htm (accessed August 22, 2017).

3. For a brief definition of the whiffle-tree and a photograph, see John Bishop, “In the wind . . .” in The Diapason, June 2008, page 14.

John Bishop

On the Hook

When I was a teenager, I had an unofficial job as assistant organist at the First Congregational Church of Woburn, Massachusetts. My mentor and friend George Bozeman was the organist there, and he brought me on to help when he was home and to take over the helm when he was away installing an organ. The organ is E. & G. G. Hook Opus 283 from 1860 with three manuals, thirty-one stops, and thirty-four ranks.¹ It was one of about five organs I had played by then. I knew it was mighty special and especially mighty, but fifty years later I know a lot more about how lucky I was to play such an instrument.

Opus 283 is one of the last surviving of a distinctive breed, the three-manual pre-Civil War American pipe organ. There were two such Hooks in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, one of which (Opus 253, 1859) was destroyed by fire with the First Baptist Church in 2005.² “Mine” was one of three grand Hook organs in Woburn. E. & G. G. Hook Opus 553 (1870) was in the First Unitarian Church and is now in the Heilig Kreuz Kirche in Berlin, Germany, and commonly called Die Berliner Hook;³  and E. & G. G. Hook & Hastings Opus 646 (1872) is in Saint Charles Borromeo Catholic Church.⁴ In my first days as director of the Organ Clearing House, I was privileged to speak at a conference about the preservation and relocation of historic organs at the Heilig Kreuz Kirche in Berlin representing the work of the Organ Clearing House. As owner of the Bishop Organ Company, I maintained the organ at Saint Charles for thirty years. That one has two manuals and twenty-three ranks and sits high in the rear gallery of the lofty church with some of the best acoustics one will find in an American parish church. It is a bold, brilliant organ with amazing lungs. I releathered the huge double-rise reservoir in place twenty years ago.

I also maintained E. & G. G. Hook & Hastings Opus 635 (1872) in the First Baptist Church of Wakefield, Massachusetts.⁵ That was the home church of old friend and colleague John Boody of Taylor & Boody Organ builders—his grandfather had been pastor there. John and I shared a special bond because of that organ, which was sadly destroyed by fire on October 23, 2018.

I grew up in the Boston area, the home of the Hook brothers, and I have serviced, played, restored, and relocated many of their instruments. Admitting this personal bias and remembering that the grand organ in the First Congregational Church of Woburn was one of the first organs I knew, I have long felt that E. & G. G. Hook and its continuation as E. & G. G. Hook & Hastings to be among the very best organ builders in history. I once had the good fortune to hear Dame Gilliam Weir play a recital on the iconic Cavaillé-Coll organ at Saint-Sulpice in Paris and Peter Sykes in recital at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Boston, otherwise known as the Jesuit Urban Center,⁶ within the same week. I was struck by the comparison of those two grand instruments. The Cavaillé-Coll had the edge with the power and romance of its reeds, but to my ears, the Hook & Hastings took the lead with its variety of principal and flute tone and clarity and beauty of individual voices. The Immaculate Conception organ was originally built in 1863 (and later expanded by Hook & Hastings in 1902), just three years after the Saint-Sulpice organ, and the two beauties have a lot in common.

Long dismantled and languishing in storage, the organ from the Jesuit Urban Center holds a special place in my heart, as my predecessor Alan Laufman’s memorial service was held there in the spring of 2001. There was a huge congregation of “organ people” present, and the congregational singing supported by that heroic organ was beyond belief.

Brothers and partners

Elias Hook (1805–1881) and George Greenleaf Hook (1807–1880) were sons of a cabinet maker in Salem, Massachusetts. In 1822 Elias apprenticed with the Boston organ builder William H. Goodrich, and it is supposed that George followed him. George built a one-manual organ in 1827, and the two brothers built an organ together in 1829 for the Unitarian Church of Danvers, Massachusetts. In the company’s first eighteen years, they built one hundred organs; Opus 100 was finished in 1856. The next hundred organs were built in seven years, and numbers 400 through 500 were built in just three years, between 1866 and 1869.

Frank Hastings (1836–1916) joined the company as a draftsman in 1855 and worked in every department of the factory building windchests, pipes, bellows, cabinets, and mechanical actions—all the thousands of components that make up a pipe organ. In 1870, when George was 63 and Elias was 65 years old, they made Frank Hastings a partner in the firm and changed the name to E. & G. G. Hook & Hastings. After 1881 when both brothers had died, Frank purchased their shares and moved the company from its longtime home in what is now Roxbury, Massachusetts, a neighborhood of Boston, to then farmland, now the suburb of Weston, ten miles west of the city.

The 1880s were a time of increasing labor unrest in the United States. There was a series of violent railroad strikes, and an anarchist exploded a bomb in Chicago’s Haymarket in 1886, the same year that the American Federation of Labor was formed. In 1892 there was a highly publicized, exceedingly violent strike at Andrew Carnegie’s Homestead Steel Mill near Pittsburgh, and there was a violent and costly strike at the Pullman Rail Car factory in Chicago in 1894 that spread to other localities. Aware of these events, Frank Hastings wanted to maintain a harmonious work environment.

Hastings purchased half of his family’s homestead in Weston in 1884. In 1886 he bought the remaining forty-five acres and an adjoining 150-acre farm, and the new factory was opened in 1889. In 1893 the company was reorganized and renamed the Hook & Hastings Company. Frank created a “community of labor,” building homes that he made available to workers with low-interest loans, a community hall, a theater, and a company school. By the end of 1893 the company had completed its Opus 1590.

We know little about Frank Hastings’s first wife. His son Francis Warren Hastings was an officer in the company, but because of failing health he moved to Bermuda in 1895, where he died of consumption in 1903 at the age of 41. After Warren died, Arthur Leslie Coburn (brother of Anna Coburn, the company schoolmistress) became president of the company. Frank Hastings married Anna Coburn in 1899 when he was 62 and she was 46 years old.

Frank Hastings died in 1916 at the age of 80. Arthur Coburn continued as president of the company, and long-time Hastings associates Norman Jacobsen and Alfred Pratt were the other officers. The legendary quality of Hook & Hastings organs continued, but the pace was diminishing. The company produced eighteen organs in 1916 and fifteen in 1917.

Then came the years of the Great Depression, Hollywood introduced “talkies,” and the radio and phonograph were becoming popular. Municipal music programs were dramatically diminished during the Depression. Perhaps more importantly, in those years Ernest Skinner was ensconced in Dorchester, Massachusetts, building organs by the hundred for an increasingly loyal patronage. All these factors contributed to the weakening and ultimate failure of the Hook & Hastings Company.

The company continued for several years after Coburn’s death in 1931, until Anna Hastings felt that the quality of the company’s products was declining sufficiently to close its doors in 1935. Remembering that her husband had always put quality before price, she felt that when organ builders started talking about price first, it was time to stop. A contract was signed with the Mystic Building Wrecking Company of Chelsea, the buildings were demolished, the lumber was salvaged, and the company was dissolved in April of 1937. The final tally was 2,614 organs in 110 years—a remarkable record of longevity, quality, and artistic achievement. Elias and George Hook built the company, and Frank Hastings carried their artistic vision into the twentieth century while creating a model for employee relations in a time of vicious labor disputes.

These details about the history of this great organ company come from the enormous and exhaustive book, Farm Town to Suburb: The History and Architecture of Weston, Massachusetts, by Pamela W. Fox, published by Peter E. Randall, Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Pages 196 through 217 include the historical details accompanied by numerous photographs. Pam gave a lecture on this subject at the 2000 convention of the Organ Historical Society in Boston. Later, I developed a lecture on the subject, and Pam welcomed me into her home and shared photos and historical details not included in the book. I admire and commend Pam for her exceptional work and am grateful for her generosity.

I have also relied on The Hook Opus List, compiled by William T. Van Pelt and published by the Organ Historical Society in 1991. The book’s preface written by my predecessor at the Organ Clearing House, Alan Laufman, is a concise history of the Hook companies.

A relocation tale

In 1995, I had a call from the chair of the organ committee at Follen Community Church (Unitarian Universalist Association) in Lexington, Massachusetts, about the church’s organ that had been assembled by a well-meaning parishioner using “parts-n-pieces” from various sources. The resulting hodge-podge was unmusical and unreliable, and the committee was considering options for its repair or replacement. I inspected the organ, and we began a conversation about how the situation could be improved without offending the faithful congregant who had “created” the organ. The process was accelerated when the 48-volt electrical system in the console shorted out and the congregation witnessed smoke emerging from within.

At the same time, the congregation of the First Unitarian Church of Stoneham, Massachusetts, disbanded, and the building was sold to a children’s day care center. A group of volunteers led by organ historian and consultant Barbara Owen dismantled the two-manual Hook organ (Opus 466, 1868)⁷ and placed it in storage. Barbara, working as an agent for the Unitarian Universalist Association of Boston, advertised the availability of the organ in a UUA newsletter, “Free to a good home.” The chair of the Follen Church committee saw the notice and called me wondering if this might be an option for them. A quick study showed that Follen would be an ideal home for the organ, the church received ownership, and the Bishop Organ Company was engaged to restore and install it.

Volunteers from the church helped with the heavy work of refinishing the case and setting up the organ. They came to my workshop to clean small components and wind new tracker ends while I restored the windchests and releathered the double-rise reservoir and its two feeder bellows. The organ was first played in its new home on Easter Sunday of 1996.

I spent about six months up close and personal with Opus 466, handling every part myself. I dismantled the windchests and decided that the original chest tables could be retained if I routed out a few cracks and filled them with shims. I put new leather on the pallets, cleaned the pipes, reconditioned the actions, and replaced the bushings in the keyboards. Milling a couple pipes from the salvaged 16′ Subbass of another Hook organ into a mile of tracker stock, I noticed that the “virgin” nineteenth-century pine lumber was white, not the rich deep brown we are used to seeing inside historic organs. Could it be that when the organ was new, its interior was bleached-blond-white wood?

I felt as though I got to know the people who built the organ in 1868. When they were working on that organ, Ulysses S. Grant was elected president of the United States. Arkansas, Louisiana, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Alabama were admitted back into the Union following the Civil War.
E. & G. G. Hook built thirty-six organs that year. I marveled at the precision of the woodworker’s measure markings and the elegant penmanship of their labeling—how did they get their pencils that sharp? I saw the marks of hand tools and milling machines on the thousands of parts. I wondered what a worker in that factory would bring for lunch and how many hours they worked each day. They must have taken pride in their work, or it would not have been so good. Each of the multitude of parts was crafted with exquisite care.

Stephen P. Kinsley was the head voicer in the Hook workshop. In each organ he voiced, he left his mark on the first pipe of the Open Diapason that sat on the Great windchest, a half-step up from the smallest façade pipe. It is a shield drawn in ink, inscribed “Wind, S.P.K. 25⁄8, 1868.”⁸ When I first picked up a pipe of this organ and blew in it, I was surprised by how much sound was produced with so little effort. Remember that in those days, all organs were hand pumped. Efficiency of tone production was essential to their success.

Mr. Kinsley is the only person I know by name who worked on that organ. Frank Hastings had been working for the Hook brothers for thirteen years and was thirty-two years old. In 1868, Frank was still working his way through all the departments of the company. As thirty-six organs were built there that year by over two-hundred craftsmen, he may or may not have put his hands on any piece of the instrument. Perhaps he admired it when it was complete on the shop floor ready for shipment.

Follow the money.

When Hook Opus 553 was sold by the Unitarian Church of Woburn, Massachusetts, to the church in Berlin, Charley Smith, a longtime church member, became steward of the proceeds of the sale. Since Woburn, Stoneham (the original home of Opus 466), and Lexington (home of the Follen Church, the new home of Opus 466) are all adjoining towns,⁹ Charley knew that the Stoneham Organ was being preserved by relocation. Since both organs were built within two years of each other, he recognized that they were sisters, and the Woburn organ fund was donated to the Follen Church to be dedicated to the care and use of the newly installed organ. Members of the former Woburn church were present at the dedication of Opus 466 in Lexington, closing the circle that started when their church was closed and their organ was sold overseas.

§

George and Elias Hook sure started something. George was an organist with a musical ear and led the company’s artistic development. Elias was a genius manager who established the strong financial base of the company and enabled the correspondence necessary for contracting, designing, building, and installing as many as fifty-five organs in a single year. Remembering the state of communication and transportation in the second half of the nineteenth century, that alone was a great accomplishment. The factory equipment was powered by a large stationary steam engine, and materials were delivered and finished organs were shipped on horse-drawn rail cars at night, using tracks that carried trollies by day.

E. & G. G. Hook, E & G. G. Hook & Hastings, the Hook & Hastings Company, and Hook-Hastings combine to form a great heritage of artistic development and musical excellence. I was fortunate to practice and perform on one of their masterpieces when I was a pup. Those beautiful tones informed my naïve ears, and I am thrilled anew whenever I encounter one of their organs.

Notes

1. pipeorgandatabase.org/organ/6083.

2. pipeorgandatabase.org/organ/5994.

3. pipeorgandatabase.org/organ/49571.

4. pipeorgandatabase.org/organ/6962.

5. pipeorgandatabase.org/organ/6950.

6. pipeorgandatabase.org/organ/5670.

7. pipeorgandatabase.org/organ/8579.

8. 2-5⁄8′′ was the original wind pressure. When we received the organ from storage there was a note saying the pressure had been measured as 3-1⁄8′′. When commissioning the wind system, we set the pressure according to Mr. Kinsley, and original voicing sang clear.

9. My hometown of Winchester, Massachusetts, adjoins Woburn, Stoneham, and Lexington.

Stephen Schnurr

Stephen Schnurr is editorial director and publisher of The Diapason and director of music for Saint Paul Catholic Church, Valparaiso, Indiana.

The First Presbyterian Church holds the distinction of having the longest history of service of any religious organization in the city of Chicago. The first home for the fledgling church was within Fort Dearborn, the location of which today can be found marked within the sidewalks of Michigan Avenue near the Chicago River. The first century of the history of First Presbyterian Church reveals that the congregation was a leader in the city, a distinction that extended to the congregation’s music and its pipe organs.

The first church building

On May 13, 1833, the Reverend Jeremiah Porter arrived at the fort to commence missionary work. The first service was held the following Sunday, May 19, in the fort’s carpenter shop. The church was organized within the Presbytery of Detroit on June 26 of that year with twenty-six founding members. The first church structure was built by Joseph Meeker at a location that is now the southwest corner of Lake and Clark Streets. It was a frame building measuring forty feet long and twenty-five feet wide, costing $600 and seating 200 persons. The Reverend Porter dedicated this building on January 4, 1834. He would leave Chicago the following year. By that time, the congregation was incorporated as the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago on February 6, 1835. During the two-year interim before a new pastor was called, the Reverend Isaac T. Hinton, pastor of First Baptist Church, also served 
the Presbyterians.¹

The “Brick Church”

On July 1, 1837, the Reverend John Blatchford was installed as the second pastor of First Presbyterian Church. Within the following year, the frame church was moved to property located at Clark Street and Calhoun Place. In May 1844, after the Reverend Flavel Bascom had become pastor, the church acquired adjacent property. Construction for a new church commenced in 1847, and in September 1849 the building known as the “Brick Church” was dedicated. The following year, the Reverend Harvey Curtis was installed as pastor. Before long, First Presbyterian began its first of several moves south, and the property was sold in October 1855. The church building continued to serve several uses, including Mechanics Institute Hall and as Smith & Nixon Hall, when it was utilized for concerts and lectures.

The 1857 church and the first pipe organ

First Church purchased property on Wabash Avenue near Congress Street and began construction of a new church building in 1856 to the designs of Boyington and Wheelock of Chicago. The new church of Gothic influence was dedicated on the evening of October 15, 1857, at a cost of $135,000.

The first organ known to have been owned by First Presbyterian Church was present at the dedication of the 1857 church, as it was played by W. H. Currie of Saint Paul (Universalist?) Church. According to Philo Adams Otis, the organ had three manuals, thirty-eight stops. It was placed in a gallery at the front of the auditorium. The Chicago Daily Press of Monday, October 19, noted:

The organ is a splendid instrument. The case, or screen, is executed in the same style of architecture as the other parts of the house, and was designed by the architect to fill the place arranged for it. It is a perfect model. The instrument is one of the largest first-class organs made by the well-known firm of Hall & Labagh, of New York City. The case of the organ has been grained to correspond with the pulpit and pews.²

The first organist of record for First Church was Adolph W. Dohn (1835–1901), who came from First Congregational Church to First Presbyterian Church when the Hall & Labagh organ was installed and remained until the winter of 1859–1860. In the spring of 1860 Horace Grant Bird (1837–1897) began service as organist, remaining until about 1868. Nicholas Cawthorne succeeded Bird, and others in quick succession were Frank T. Baird, Dr. Louis Falk, and Dr. J. E. Gilman.

In 1859 the Reverend Z. M. Humphrey was installed as pastor of First Presbyterian Church. During his tenure, the towers of the church were completed. This building burned in the Great Fire of October 1871. Nothing was salvaged save for church records, the communion service, and the “Sexton library.”

The merger with Calvary Presbyterian Church and the Indiana Avenue church

The homeless church again felt the need to move southward, as the area in which it was located had become commercial and many members had already moved in that direction. The decision was made to merge with Calvary Presbyterian Church, which had recently purchased property on South Indiana Avenue at Twenty-First Street and was in the process of building its new church home. The first worship service of the two congregations together was held on November 5, 1871, in Christ Reformed Episcopal Church. In February of the following year services were moved to Immanuel Baptist Church.

Calvary Presbyterian Church was formed on June 20, 1859. About one year later property was purchased on South Indiana Avenue between Ringgold Place (Twenty-Second Street) and Palo Alto Place (Twenty-Third Street), where the first frame church building was erected and completed in 1860. Two years later property extending to Ringgold Place was purchased, and the building was moved to the corner and expanded. The Reverend Daniel Lord, pastor of South Congregational Church of Bridgeport, Connecticut, was appointed fifth pastor of Calvary in 1869. Dr. Lord was the last pastor of Calvary Church, his term ending with its merger with First Church.

The growing Calvary congregation felt the need for more commodious accommodations; hence they sold their property and purchased the stone edifice that was built by Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church on South Indiana Avenue at Twenty-First Street. The Trinity building was demolished, and plans for a new church were drawn by John Crambie Cochrane, who also designed the Illinois and Iowa state capitols. The cornerstone was laid in November of 1870. The coming of winter practically halted progress, but by the Great Fire of October 1871, most of the exterior walls were complete. The church’s organ committee, comprising Philo Adams Otis, Henry Wood, and George F. Bacon, were finalizing plans with the E. & G. G. Hook & Hastings firm of Boston. These plans were to be completed after the merger with 
First Church.

The newly consolidated First Presbyterian Church occupied the lecture room of its new church by May of 1872; the church auditorium was dedicated on February 6, 1873. A debt of $70,000 remained on the church and was not paid until 1878. The quartet choir of Calvary Church was retained for First Church. The Reverend Dr. Arthur Mitchell, pastor of First Church since 1869, became pastor of the united church. During the summer of 1902 the interior of the nave was redecorated and the choir gallery was enlarged. On January 19, 1906, the funeral of Marshall Field, founder of the legendary department store bearing his name, was held in the sanctuary.

The contract for E. & G. G. Hook & Hastings Opus 649 for the Indiana Avenue church, mentioned above, was signed in the summer of 1872, with completion set for November of that year. The builders had the organ ready on time, yet the church was not ready to receive it, so it was placed in storage when it was shipped to Chicago. The cost was approximately $9,000. Pneumatic action was applied to I Manuale (Great).³ As with the Steere organ mentioned below, the nomenclature of the manuals is given here as found in the source, yet the order of manuals, bottom to top, would have been Choir, Great, and Swell. Installation was under the charge of George S. Hutchings, then superintendent of the builder’s factory, who would go on to establish his own firm in 1901.

1873 E. & G. G. Hook & Hastings Opus 649

I MANUALE (Great)

16′ Open Diapason

8′ Open Diapason

8′ Doppel Flote

8′ Viola de Gamba [sic]

8′ Viola d’Amour

4′ Flute Harmonique

4′ Flute Octave [sic]

3′ Twelfth

2′ Fifteenth

Mixture III

Acuta III

8′ Trumpet

II MANUALE (Swell, enclosed)

16′ Bourdon

8′ Open Diapason

8′ Viola

8′ Stop’d Diapason

8′ Quintadena

4′ Violina

4′ Flauto Traverso

2′ Flautino

Dulce Cornet III [sic]

8′ Cornopean

8′ Oboe with Bassoon

8′ Vox Humana

III MANUALE (Choir)

8′ Geigen Principal

8′ Dulciana

8′ Melodia

4′ Flute d’Amour

4′ Fugara

2′ Piccolo

8′ Clarinet

PEDALE

16′ Double Open Diapason

16′ Bourdon

12′ Violone [sic]

8′ Violoncello

16′ Trombone

Mechanical Registers

I Manuale to Pneumatic, Coupler

II Manuale to Pneumatic, Coupler (Swell to Great)

III Manuale to Pneumatic, Coupler (Choir to Great)

II to III Manuale, Coupler (Swell to Choir)

I Manuale to Pedale, Coupler (Great to Pedale)

II Manuale to Pedale, Coupler (Swell to Pedale)

III Manuale to Pedale, Coupler (Choir to Pedale)

Tremolo

Bellows Signal

Pedale Movements

Forte Combination Pedale, I Manuale

Mezzo Combination Pedale, I Manuale

Piano Combination Pedale, I Manuale

Forte Combination Pedale, II Manuale

Mezzo Combination Pedale, II Manuale

Piano Combination Pedale, II Manuale

Forte Combination Pedale, Pedale

Adjustable Swell Pedal

Reversible Pedal to operate Pedale Coupler for I Manuale (Great to Pedal)

 

The organ and church were dedicated on February 6, 1873, with a recital under the direction of G. C. Knopfel, the “western agent of the builders.” (Knopfel arrived in Chicago during the early 1860s and served as organist for Saint Paul Universalist Church, Trinity Episcopal Church, and Saint James Episcopal Church. After the Fire of 1871, he served Immanuel Baptist Church.) Other notable Chicago organists for this occasion included Louis Falk and I. V. Flagler (Plymouth Congregational Church). Another respected musician in the world of Chicago organbuilders was George W. Lyon, of Lyon & Healy, who played harp for the occasion.⁴ The program was as follows:

Part I.

1—Opening of the Organ,   Mr. G. C. Knopfel.

Agent for the Builders.

a. Selections

b. Offertoire, Op. 22 Batiste.

2—Benedic Anima, Buck.

Choir of First Presbyterian Church.

3—Angels, Ever Bright and Fair, Handel.

Mrs. O. L. Fox.

4—A Tear Shed at the Grave of Rossini, Ciardi.

Organ, Piano, Harp, Violoncello, Violin and Flute.

Messrs. Knopfel, Falk, Lyon, Bachmann, Sir [sic] and Bareither.

5—Volkslied, Krebs.

Choir of Second Presbyterian Church.

6—Variations on a Scotch Air, Buck.

Mr. Louis Falk.

7—The Message, Blumenthal.

Mrs. W. H. Aldrich.

 

Part II.

1—Gloria in Excelsis, Knopfel.

Performed by the Choirs of the First, Second, and Fourth Presbyterian Churches.

2—Grand Duo for Two Pianos and Organ Obligato, Lysberg.

Miss Eva Manierre and Messrs. Ledochowski and Knopfel.

3—Venite, Buck.

Choir of Second Presbyterian Church.

4—a. Transcription—Robin Adair, Flagler.

      b. Prelude in B Minor, Bach.

Mr. I. V. Flagler.

5—Trio, Lift Thine Eyes, Mendelssohn.

Mesdames Farwell, Fox, and Johnson.

6—Miserere, from Trovatore, Verdi.

For Piano, Organ, Violoncello, and Violin.

Messrs. Knopfel, Flagler, Bachmann, and Sir.

7—Festival March, Zundel.

Mr. G. C. Knopfel.

 

When the congregation moved to the Indiana Avenue church, George F. Bacon served as organist. Bacon, who had served Calvary Church since 1868, died in December of that year, and Henry Fuller succeeded him. Fuller would serve until his death in September of 1869. For a brief time, Benjamin Owen, who served Plymouth Congregational Church and Trinity Episcopal Church, served as organist, followed by Emil Liebling and William H. Cutler for brief terms. In October of 1874 Charles Arthur Havens began service to First Church. Havens had previously served Second Presbyterian Church and First Baptist Church. One year later he left for three months at Saint James Episcopal Church, before returning to First Presbyterian on January 1, 1876. (During his absence, a Mr. Dyer, Samuel C. Moore, and Frederick W. Root, served as organists.) Mr. Havens’s second term at First Presbyterian lasted three years.

On January 12, 1879, the world-renowned organist Hiram Clarence Eddy began his term as organist to First Church, a position he would retain until May 19, 1895. When Mr. Eddy was away for frequent recitals, substitute organists were drawn from a list of Who’s Who in Chicago’s musical circles: Harrison M. Wild, A. F. McCarrell, L. J. Henderson, Louis P. Hoyt (Saint Mark Episcopal Church, Chicago), A. W. Dohn, John A. West, Charles David Irwin, and Wilhelm Middelschulte. During the World’s Fair exhibition of 1893, Mr. Otis notes in his history of the church the visits of numerous church musicians to the congregation: S. B. Whitney of the Church of the Advent, Boston; R. Huntington Woodman of First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn; W. C. Carl of the old First Presbyterian Church, New York City. On September 3, 1893, “M. Alexander Guilmant gave an informal organ recital, the congregation remaining seated at the request of Dr. Burrows.” When Eddy left First Church in 1895, his student, Charles David Irwin, became the congregation’s organist. Irwin remained until May 31, 1896, when he resigned.

After Irwin’s departure from First Church, Francis Silvey Moore, a member of First Church since his childhood and a student of Clarence Eddy, began a distinguished tenure as organist, serving some thirty years. With the removal of First Presbyterian Church to Woodlawn Park, Anne Pearson Maryott, organist for Woodlawn Presbyterian Church was appointed organist of the united church, a post she held until 1929. Organists in later years have included Willard J. Congreve and Barbara Dickerman.

The E. & G. G. Hook & Hastings organ remained under the care and maintenance of Ira Bassett until his death on December 19, 1895. A hydraulic motor was installed in 1896, paid for largely by Charles David Irwin. During the summer of 1906, it was noted that the organ was cleaned and that “the low or international pitch has been installed.”⁵ An 8′ Aeoline was placed in the Swell division, and the Choir manual was fitted with a combination pedal. It is not noted who carried out this work.

The merger with Forty-First Street Presbyterian Church and the move to Grand Boulevard

As early as 1895, the congregation found itself once again contemplating a move, as its membership continued to relocate to residences south of Thirty-Ninth Street. By 1897, decline in church receipts became noticeable. On June 7, 1912, a joint committee of First Presbyterian Church and Forty-First Street Presbyterian Church recommended a merger of the two congregations. (Another faction in the church had argued for construction of a new church in the Kenwood neighborhood. This group had gathered pledges nearing $83,000 for this effort, less than half that necessary for this plan to be acted upon.)

The merger was adopted at the annual meeting of First Church on December 2 of that year. A part of the action provided “that if found practical, all our memorial windows and tablets, upon consent of the donors, together with the furniture and organ, be moved to [Forty-First Street] church.” The last service in the Indiana Avenue church was held on Sunday, December 29,⁶ with the minister of Forty-First Street Church, the Reverend Dr. William Chalmers Covert, and his congregation present. The first service of the combined church in its new home was held on Monday, December 30. The congregations were officially merged on December 31, 1912, retaining the name of First Presbyterian Church and the property of Forty-First Street Presbyterian Church. The Reverend Covert became minister of the united congregation.

Forty-First Street Presbyterian Church was organized on February 14, 1875. Activities of the congregation began in 1869 under the auspices of First Presbyterian Church in a frame building located at Prairie Avenue and Forty-First Street. The Reverend Dr. Thomas Cuming Hall became the third pastor on November 4, 1886. During his pastorate, the building at the southwest corner of Grand Boulevard (now Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Drive) and East Forty-First Street was constructed at a cost of $115,000. The cornerstone was laid in October of 1889, and the building was dedicated on December 21, 1890. The architect of the Richardsonian Romanesque-style building seating 2,000 persons was Chicago’s Solon S. Beman, who designed numerous other churches, particularly Christian Science churches, as well as the entire town of Pullman, now annexed into Chicago. A debt of $50,000 remained at the time of dedication, which was paid in 1907. In 1926 the building was sold to Metropolitan Community Church, and today is home to the congregation of Metropolitan Apostolic Community Church.

Forty-First Street Presbyterian Church was served by the following organists from 1874 until its consolidation with First Church in 1912: Elizabeth Lamson, Charlotte Dodd, Anna Carhart, Henry Howenstein, Mary Pierce, Frank Hazen, Victor Garwood, Allen B. Benedict, and C. H. Demorest. The only pipe organ known to have been owned by this congregation was built for the Grand Boulevard church by J. W. Steere & Sons of Massachusetts as their Opus 331. The contract, copied from company ledger books now located in the Organ Historical Society Library and Archives in Villanova, Pennsylvania, was signed on September 7, 1891, and the three-manual organ was to be completed by May 1, 1892. The contract price was $5,700.00. The compass of manuals was 61 notes (C–C); pedal compass was 30 notes (C–F). “Bassett’s Patent Pneumatic Motor” was to be used for the Great division and “its couplings.” When the congregation merged with First Church in 1912, the Steere organ was removed in the summer of 1913 and replaced with the altered E. & G. G. Hook & Hastings from the 1873 church, the latter rebuilt and electrified by the Coburn & Taylor (or Coburn Organ) Company of Chicago for its new home behind the Steere façade. The Steere organ was offered for sale, though its ultimate fate is unknown.⁷

While manual designations are copied from the contract ledger book,⁸ presumably the order of manuals, bottom to top, was Solo, Great, and Swell.

1892 J. W. Steere & Sons Opus 331

FIRST MANUALE—Great Organ (* enclosed with Solo)

16 ft. Double Open Diapason (metal—61 pipes) 

8 " Open Diapason (metal—61 pipes)

8 " Doppel Flote (wood—61 pipes)

8 " Viola da Gamba (metal—61 pipes)

4 " Octave (metal—61 pipes)

4 " Flauto Traverso (wood—61 pipes)

2 2⁄3 " Twelfth (metal—61 pipes)*

2 " Fifteenth (metal—61 pipes)*

Mixture (4 rank, metal—244 pipes)*

8 " Trumpet (Reed, metal—61 pipes)*

SECOND MANUALE—Swell Organ

16 ft. Bourdon Treble/Bass (wood—61 pipes)

8 " Open Diapason (metal—61 pipes)

8 " Stopped Diapason (wood—61 pipes)

8 " Salicional (metal—61 pipes)

8 " Æoline (metal—61 pipes)

4 " Violina (metal—61 pipes)

4 " Flute Harmonique (wood and metal—61 pipes)

2 " Flautino (metal—61 pipes)

Dolce Cornet (3 rank, metal—183 pipes)

8 " Cornopean (Reed, metal—61 pipes)

8 " Oboe and Bassoon (metal—61 pipes)

8 " Vox Humana (metal—61 pipes)

THIRD MANUALE—Solo Organ (enclosed in a separate swell box)

8 ft. Geigen Principal (metal—61 pipes)

8 " Melodia (wood—61 pipes)

8 " Dulciana (metal—61 pipes)

4 " Fugara (metal—61 pipes)

4 " Flute d’Amour (wood—61 pipes)

2 " Piccolo (metal—61 pipes)

8 " Clarinet (Reed, metal—61 pipes)

PEDALE ORGAN

16 ft. Open Diapason (wood—30 pipes)

16 " Bourdon (wood—30 pipes)

8 " Violoncello (metal—30 pipes)

16 " Trombone (metal—30 pipes)

Mechanical Registers

Great to Pedal

Swell to Pedal

Solo to Pedal

Great to Pneumatic, Coupler

Swell to Pneumatic, Coupler

Solo to Pneumatic, Coupler

Swell to Solo

Tremolo to Swell

Tremolo to Solo

Blowers Signal

Wind Indicator over Manuals

Pedale Movements

Forte, Great Organ and Pedal

Mezzo, Great Organ and Pedal

Piano, Great Organ and Pedal

Forte, Swell Organ

Piano, Swell Organ

Reversible Pedal to operate Great to Pedal

Balanced Swell Pedal—Swell Organ

Balanced Swell Pedal—Solo Organ

Pedal Check
 

Recapitulation

Great Organ 10 Stops 793 Pipes

Swell Organ 13     " 839    "

Solo Organ   7     " 427    "

Pedal Organ   4     " 120    "

Mechanicals 10     "

Total 44 Stops 2,179 Pipes

The First Church organ was replaced in 1922 by Opus 348 of the Skinner Organ Company of Boston, Massachusetts. Philo Adams Otis, chair of the church’s music committee since 1875, was chair of the organ committee for this project. The contract with Skinner was signed in the last week of July 1921.⁹ The specification, printed in the September 1, 1921, issue of The Diapason,¹⁰ was drawn by Francis S. Moore.¹¹ The Solo 8′ Stentorphone was originally to be prepared, but correspondence dated March 6, 1922, provided for the rank to be installed.

The Steere façade was again retained and brought forward for the new organ. The E. & G. G. Hook & Hastings organ was listed for sale in the September 1, 1921, issue of The Diapason¹² and was eventually relocated and rebuilt in 1925 by Casavant Frères of Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec, Canada, as a four-manual instrument, their Opus 1106, for H. R. Austin of Beach Bluff, Massachusetts. In 1937 this organ was again relocated and altered for Saint Matthew Catholic Church of Central Falls, Rhode Island, where it was still extant in 2018. The church is now Holy Spirit Parish.

The Skinner organ was opened with a great fanfare of recitals in November of 1922. Eric DeLamarter, organist of Fourth Presbyterian Church, presented the inaugural recital on Wednesday, November 1. Ernest M. Skinner presented an “illustrated lecture on modern organ design.” DeLamarter’s program was as follows: Chant de Printemps and Angelus du Soir, Bonnet; Chorale [sic] in A Minor, Franck; “Scherzo,” Sonata V, Guilmant; Reverie Pathetique, Godfrey; Fantasia on Scottish Airs, Mansfield; Scherzo, Rousseau; Carillon, DeLamarter; “Final,” Symphony VI, Widor.

The following evening featured a program by Herbert E. Hyde of Saint Luke’s Episcopal Church, Evanston, and a lecture by Frederick A. Stock of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Hyde’s program: Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, Bach; Cradle Song, Grieg; Vision, Rheinberger; Chromatic Fantasie, Thiele; Romance sans Paroles, Bonnet; Bourree [sic], Bach; Menuet a l’Antico, Seeboeck-Hyde; and Caprice Héroïque, Bonnet. Friday’s (November 3) program focused on a lecture on music in the church by Dr. William Pierson Merrill of the Brick Presbyterian Church of New York City (and of the former Sixth Presbyterian Church of Chicago) in the presence of the pastors of First Church since 1893. Frances Anne Cook, organist of the former Sixth Church, played a brief program preceding the lecture. Her program: Marche Russe, Schminke; Autumn Sketch, Brewer; Angelus du Soir, Bonnet; Toccata, Frysinger. On Sunday, November 5, the organ was dedicated in service, and that evening Helen W. Ross, assistant organist to the church, gave a recital. Francis Moore was rather ill through all the celebrations and therefore unable to participate actively.¹³

The church interior and organ were pictured in the February 1, 1923, issue of The Diapason,¹⁴ wherein the same issue a series of three organ recitals was announced for the upcoming months.¹⁵ On February 23 William Zeuch, formerly of Chicago and then in Boston as an employee of Skinner, performed. Mr. Zeuch’s program included: “Allegro maestoso,” from Symphonie VI, Widor; Cantabile, Jongen; Rigaudon, Rameau; Prelude and Fugue in B Major, Dupré; Within a Chinese Garden, Stoughton; Scherzo Pastorale, Federlein; Serenade, Rachmaninoff; Marche Marocaine, de Meyer; Gesu Bambino and Minuet Antico, Yon; Liebestod and Ride of the Valkyries, Wagner.¹⁶ On March 10 Marcel Dupré performed. His program included “Allegretto” and “Toccata” from Symphonie V, Widor; Final in B-flat, Franck; and an improvisation for the second half on themes submitted by Adolf Weidig, Francis Moore, Philo Otis (Adeste Fideles), and the Reverend William Chalmers Covert (Saint Anne), pastor.¹⁷ The series concluded on April 10 with a program by Mr. Moore.

1922 Skinner Organ Company Opus 348

GREAT (Manual II)

16′ Bourdon 61 pipes

8′ First Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Second Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Claribel Flute 61 pipes

8′ Erzähler 61 pipes

4′ Octave 61 pipes

2 2⁄3′ Twelfth 61 pipes

2′ Fifteenth 61 pipes

8′ Tromba 61 pipes (enclosed with Choir)

Chimes (from Echo)

2 blank knobs

SWELL (Manual III, enclosed)

16′ Bourdon 73 pipes

8′ Diapason 73 pipes

8′ Gedeckt 73 pipes

8′ Salicional 73 pipes

8′ Voix Celeste 73 pipes

8′ Aeoline 73 pipes

8′ Unda Maris (TC) 61 pipes

4′ Flute 61 pipes

2′ Flautino 61 pipes

Mixture III 183 pipes

8′ Cornopean 73 pipes

8′ Flugel Horn 73 pipes

8′ Vox Humana 73 pipes

Tremolo

CHOIR (Manual I, enclosed)

8′ Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Concert Flute 61 pipes

8′ Dulciana 61 pipes

4′ Flute 61 pipes

2′ Piccolo 61 pipes

8′ Clarinet 61 pipes

8′ Orchestral Oboe 61 pipes

Tremolo

3 blank knobs

SOLO (Manual IV, enclosed)

8′ Stentorphone 73 pipes

8′ Gamba 73 pipes

8′ Gamba Celeste 73 pipes

8′ French Horn 61 pipes

8′ Tuba Mirabilis 73 pipes

Tremolo

1 blank knob

ECHO (Manual IV, enclosed)

8′ Cor de Nuit 61 pipes

8′ Vox Humana 61 pipes

Tremolo

Chimes 30 tubes

2 blank knobs

PEDAL

32′ Diapason (fr 16′ Diapason, resultant in bottom octave)

16′ Diapason 44 pipes

16′ Bourdon (fr Great)

16′ Echo Bourdon (fr Swell)

8′ Octave (ext 16′ Diapason)

8′ Gedeckt (fr 16′ Bourdon)

8′ Still Gedeckt (fr Swell 16′)

4′ Flute (ext 16′ Bourdon)

16′ Trombone 44 pipes

8′ Tromba (ext 16′ Trombone)

Couplers

Great to Pedal 8

Swell to Pedal 8

Swell to Pedal 4

Choir to Pedal 8

Solo to Pedal 8

Solo to Pedal 4

Great to Great 4

Swell to Great 16

Swell to Great 8

Swell to Great 4

Choir to Great 16

Choir to Great 8

Choir to Great 4

Solo to Great 16

Solo to Great 8

Solo to Great 4

Choir to Choir 16

Choir to Choir 4

Swell to Choir 8

Solo to Choir 8

Swell to Swell 16

Swell to Swell 4

Solo to Solo 16

Solo to Solo 4

Great to Solo 8

Accessories

6 Great Pistons (thumb)

6 Swell Pistons (thumb)

5 Choir Pistons (thumb)

5 Echo and Solo Pistons (thumb)

6 Pedal Pistons (toe)

General Cancel (thumb)

Combination Setter (thumb)

Pedal to Great Combination On/Off (thumb)

Pedal to Swell Combination On/Off (thumb)

Great to Pedal Reversible (toe)

Solo to Great Reversible (toe)

Swell Expression Shoe

Choir Expression Shoe

Solo and Echo Expression Shoe

Crescendo Shoe

Sforzando Reversible (toe)

The Swell, Great, Choir, Solo, and Pedal divisions are located behind the Steere façade (Great at lower left; Choir at upper left; Pedal at center; Solo at lower right; Swell at upper right). The Echo division is located in a room off the second-floor rear balcony.

The merger with Woodlawn Park Presbyterian Church and the construction of the present church

First Church did not remain on Grand Boulevard for very long. By the mid-1920s, demographics of church membership prompted plans for another move south. In October of 1924 negotiations began toward merger with Woodlawn Presbyterian Church, then located at South Kimbark Avenue and East Sixty-Fourth Street. On January 27, 1926, a committee recommended merger with Woodlawn Church, or, if this did not work, a merger with Hyde Park Presbyterian Church. The merger with Woodlawn Church occurred on October 20, 1926, at which time the Grand Boulevard property was sold to Metropolitan Community Church.

Woodlawn Presbyterian Church was formally organized January 19, 1885, a mission of Hyde Park Presbyterian Church (now United Church of Hyde Park), with a membership of thirty-nine. Early activities can be traced to 1865, with sponsorship by Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian churches. After organization, it was initially known as First Presbyterian Church and Society of Woodlawn Park. A small building was erected at a cost of $3,000. Under the third pastor, the Reverend Edward Harvey Curtis, a brick church was constructed at a cost of $25,000. In 1924 the Reverend William Henry Boddy became pastor of Woodlawn Church, remaining until the merger with First Church and beyond as pastor of the united congregation.

The congregation then numbered 1,400 persons and had begun plans for building a new church, having raised $300,000 for this purpose. The plans were redrawn on a larger scale for the union of the congregations. The 1900 church building, which was demolished when the present First Church was constructed, contained a two-manual organ of tubular-pneumatic action, built by W. W. Kimball of Chicago. From a letter by George W. Ford, Chicago representative of M. P. Möller, to the factory, dated October 23, 1934, we learn that the organ had approximately eighteen ranks.¹⁸ For several months after the merger, worship was held in the 1900 Woodlawn building. The last service there was held on May 1, 1927. Until the present church was completed, worship occurred at the Wadsworth School at University Avenue and Sixty-Fourth Street. Midweek services were held in conjunction with Woodlawn Park Methodist Episcopal Church, virtually across the street at the northeast corner of South Woodlawn Avenue and East Sixty-Fourth Street. Sunday Vesper services were held at Immanuel Lutheran Church, two blocks east on Sixty-Fourth Street at Kenwood Avenue. (The Methodist and Lutheran churches have been demolished.)

The cornerstone of the present building was laid on September 25, 1927. John Knox Hall was occupied and used for services beginning on December 18 of that year. On April 22, 1928, the first services were held in the new church.

The present Gothic building of Indiana limestone was designed by Tallmadge & Watson of Chicago. Construction cost was $750,000. The great tower stands 125-feet high and is surmounted by representations of the four archangels. Within the tower, a set of Deagan chimes were in place at the dedication, a memorial to Ina Law Robertson. The nave of the church measures ninety-five feet long, sixty-two feet wide, and forty-nine feet high, and originally seated 1,200 persons. It has a stone in the center floor from the Basilica of Saint John Lateran, Rome; another stone within the walls came from the Temple of Karnak, Egypt. The floor of the nave at the front has a stone from the Church of the Waldensians, Chabas. The reredos behind the altar rises forty feet high. Windows near the top of the reredos were executed by the Willet Studios of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The windows of the nave, featuring events in the life of Christ, were completed by R. Toland Wright of Cleveland, Ohio. The desk of the pulpit was retained from the Indiana Avenue church. The church was dedicated on Sunday, October 14, 1928, with celebrations continuing for the week following.

The chapel is named for Lafayette McWilliams and Mary Goodman McWilliams, given by their children. The room features fascinating quarter-sawn white oak paneling, accomplished by the American Seating Company of Chicago, and an ornamental plaster ceiling. It has a stone in the floor from the Basilica of Saint Peter, Vatican City. The windows of this room were executed by Willet. The exterior walls along the nave facing the central courtyard include stones from First Church (Indiana Avenue); Forty-First Street Church; Sixth Church; Woodlawn Park Church; Reims Cathedral, France; Chester Cathedral and Westminster Abbey, England; Saint Andrew Church, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Saint Olave Church, London, England; Saint Peter Church, Geneva, Switzerland; Solomon’s Quarries of Jerusalem; Bethlehem; Nazareth; and Old Rehoboth, Maryland.

At that time the Grand Boulevard church was sold to the Metropolitan Community Church, the First Congregational Church of Evanston considered purchasing the Skinner organ from the Presbyterian church. The Congregational church had by that time signed a contract with Skinner for a new instrument and would have broken this contract. The Congregational church went through with the purchase of Skinner Opus 616, and Opus 348 remained in the Grand Boulevard church. Curiously, it appears that the Presbyterian congregation did not consider moving the Skinner organ, less than a decade old, to its Woodlawn building. The building is now Metropolitan Apostolic Community Church, and the Skinner organ is extant, though unplayable.

The organ in the present sanctuary was built in 1928 by M. P. Möller of Hagerstown, Maryland, as their Opus 5001, a four-manual, electro-pneumatic-action instrument. The contract, signed by Oscar E. Aleshire, chairman of the First Church building committee, was drawn on April 27, 1927, and received in Hagerstown on May 3. The price was $22,050.00, plus the Kimball organ in the former Woodlawn Presbyterian Church, which was junked. (Fifty dollars was for the connection between the organ and the tower chimes system.) One-half the price was due upon completion of the organ, with one-quarter due after each of one and two years, at six percent interest, though the congregation could pay off the debt earlier at its convenience.¹⁹ (With the Great Depression beginning one year after completion of the church and organ, the church was unable to honor this debt for a number of additional years.) The organ was to be delivered by November 1 of that year, although it would be an additional eleven months before it was actually finished.

Möller announced the contract in its full-page advertisement in the June 1, 1927, issue of The Diapason, including a rendering of the exterior of the new edifice. The specification was printed in the October 1, 1927, issue.²⁰ Before the organ was completed, some changes were made in the specification, which were requested by the church organist, Anne P. Maryott, in consultation with William H. Barnes, noted organ architect. (Barnes included the church in a list of his clients in his advertisement in the February 1, 1928, issue of The Diapason.) Installation of the church and chapel organs was carried out under the supervision of D. S. Wentz of Chicago.

The Möller organ in the church was dedicated in recital by Palmer Christian, formerly organist for the nearby Kenwood Evangelical Church, on Sunday, October 21, 1928.²¹ (Palmer was responsible for the installation of the Skinner organ there, the first Skinner contract in the state of Illinois.²²) A letter from Ford & Reynolds, the Chicago representative for Möller, dated October 11, 1928, sums up the importance of the event for the company:

. . . and we certainly want to make an impression on Palmer Christian as he has great influence in this territory, and this is the first Moller [sic] Organ of a respecitible [sic] size that he has ever played.

He is a Skinner man, and Skinner just installed a new $50,000 organ in the College where he is located [University of Michigan, Ann Arbor]. I understand, however, that he is not satisfied with the organ, so we hope to have our organ in the best of shape to see if we can’t win him over to a Moller.

. . . This is important enough that Mr. Moller should make a special effort to be here. It would be a nice thing for him to get here the day before if possible so as to meet Dr. Boddy [pastor] and get acquainted.²³

The organ was dedicated during an entire week of festivities for the congregation and its new building. The period began with dedication of the church itself on Sunday, October 14.²⁴ That afternoon, the chapel was also dedicated. Other events followed during the week. The following Sunday, the organ of the main church was dedicated. The program follows:

The Processional—No. 166

“Crown Him With Many Crowns” The Choir

The Invocation

Organ Group—Toccata, Adagio, and Fugue in C Bach

An Anthem—“Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem” Maunder

Organ Group—Prelude on an Ancient Flemish Theme Gilson

     Allegro con spiritu (Sonata III), Borowski

     Impression, Karg-Elert

An Address—“The Place of Music in Worship” Reverend Harold L. Bowman, d.d.

Organ Group—

     Up the Saguenay (St. Lawrence Sketches) Russell

     Scherzo Rousseau

     Pilgrims Chorus (Tannhauser)* Wagner

     Ave Maria Schubert

     Rhapsody Catalane Bonnet

*—By request.

That afternoon, the Ina Law Robertson Memorial tower chimes were dedicated.²⁵

D. S. Wentz corresponded with the Möller office regarding the events:

The recital at the First Presby. Church here was a very big success, as everything went off in “tip-top” shape and we had no troubles at all. There was a big turn-out of organists from around town—some that play big Skinners and Cassavants [sic], and I heard nothing but praise everywhere. In fact, Mr. Christian remarked that it was a very good toned church organ, and Miss Tina Mae Haines, who plays the big Cassavant in St. James M. E. Church here, said: “There is one organ you do not have to make any excuses for.”

Sunday morning about five minutes of eleven—(just five minutes before services began) one of our men whom I had at the church called me and said they could not get the motor started and could not find the fuses that was [sic] burned out. I rushed over and we finally located the trouble and got the motor going, altho they had to hold up the services about five minutes. They had electricians there Saturday afternoon and evening to fix this starter as it caused trouble before, and they were the last men to be at church, so the church people did not blame us at all for it.

Yesterday morning when we went over to the church and started to work, we blew at least six fuses before we got the motor started. We are going to have the Century Motor people come and tear out the motor as it is either the motor or ground jumping over somewhere cause the trouble, as we have fuses twice the size as ordinarily supposed to be used.

At any rate, just wanted to let you know that everything went along fine at the recital.²⁶

Mr. Möller had not attended the program.

The tops of the façade pipes are decorated in hand-wrought sheet lead furnished by National Lead Company, which also made Hoyt metal for organ pipes. The lead sheets were fashioned into the decorative patterns by H. R. Bonnewitz of Van Wert, Ohio. (The façade pipes of the 1926 Casavant organ at Saint James Methodist Episcopal Church, Chicago, designed by the same architect, Talmadge & Watson, were treated with similar decoration.)²⁷ The Presbyterian façade was pictured in the June 1931 issue of The American Organist with a brief article about the process. Bonnewitz remarked:

Lead, being neutral in color, blends into any surroundings and does not clash 
wherever you use it. Owing to the nature of the material it is susceptible to feeling and on account of its rapid oxidation it takes on a beautiful effect that is impossible in any other medium, and it grows more beautiful with years.

In the Chicago example the caps are 27′′ high and 9′′ wide, and there are two designs that alternate. They were all cut by hand, bent around the pipes, and laced on the back by means of studs and soft copper wire. The weight is carried by small clips over the top of the pipe. The lead used weighs five pounds to the square foot.²⁸

Several sets of pipes proved unsatisfactory and were shipped back or replaced. These included the Great 8′ Trumpet, found to be “entirely too thin” and replaced during installation with a new set with Tuba quality. Several years later, the Solo Tibia pipes were shipped back to the factory for further work. The diapasons would also prove problematic. In an August 26, 1931, letter from W. H. Strock in the Chicago office of Möller, we learn:

Referring to the Diapason pipes in the large four manual organ, First Presbyterian Church, Chicago.

They certainly are a mess. We could boost them up a little more and make them louder, but that will not enrich the tones. Guest organists have voiced their complaints about them, and Mr. Ford advises that every prospect he has had over there seems to like the organ, but voices disapproval about the Diapasons. Even our competitors know about this, and when they demonstrate to a prospect they tell them to take particular note to their Diapasons—and then listen attentively to those in the Presbyterian Church.

I believe there remains only one thing to do—and that is to replace the Diapasons.

Please let me hear from you.²⁹

It is unclear from the builder’s records what happened regarding this issue.

The four-manual console of stopknob control is situated within the chancel to the left (south) of the altar. Manual compass is the standard 61 notes (C–C); pedal compass (concave, radiating pedalboard) is 32 notes (C–G). The instrument was powered by a fifteen-horsepower Spencer Orgoblo. The Great and Choir divisions are located at the front of the chancel to the left (south) of the altar; the Swell and Solo divisions are located to the right (north) of the altar. The Choir is located above the Great; the Swell is located above the Solo. The Echo division is located at the rear of the nave in a chamber at the southwest corner of the gallery.

1928 M. P. Möller Opus 5001

GREAT ORGAN (Manual II, enclosed with Choir, 7-inch wind pressure)

16′ Open Diapason 85 pipes (scale 44, 24 wood basses, 61 metal trebles)

8′ First Open Diapason 73 pipes (scale 40, 12 wood basses, 61 metal trebles)

8′ Second Open Diapason 73 pipes (scale 42, 12 wood basses, 61 metal trebles)

8′ Doppel Flute 73 pipes (61 wood basses, 12 metal trebles)

8′ Clarabella 73 pipes (49 wood basses, 24 metal trebles)

8′ Gemshorn 73 pipes (tapered, 12 zinc basses)

4′ Octave (ext 16′ Open Diapason)

4′ Flute (ext 8′ Clarabella)

2 2⁄3′ Twelfth 61 pipes (originally to be 4′ Flute Harmonic, metal)

2′ Fifteenth (metal) 61 pipes

8′ Trumpet (metal) 73 pipes

Tremulant

Chimes (originally to have played Choir Harp, from Echo)

Tower Chimes (not effected by combination action)

SWELL ORGAN (Manual III, enclosed, 7-inch wind pressure)

16′ Lieblich Gedeckt 97 pipes (wood, at side of chamber)

8′ First Open Diapason 73 pipes (lower front chest, scale 40, 12 wood basses, 61 metal trebles)

8′ Second Open Diapason 73 pipes (lower front chest, scale 44, 12 wood basses, 61 metal trebles)

8′ Stopped Diapason (ext 16′ Lieblich)

8′ Salicional (metal) 73 pipes

8′ Viole d’Orchestre 73 pipes (lower front chest, scale 64, tin)

8′ Viole Celeste 73 pipes (lower front chest, scale 62, tin)

4′ Fugara 61 pipes (addition to contract, metal)

4′ Flute d’Amour (ext 16′ Lieblich)

2 2⁄3′ Nazard (addition to original specification, ext 16′ Lieblich)

2′ Flautina (ext 16′ Lieblich Gedeckt)

Dolce Cornet IV Rks 292 pipes (elevated at front of chamber, 12^th, 15^th, 17^th, 19^th, metal)

16′ Posaune 73 pipes (lower front chest, metal)

8′ Cornopean (metal) 73 pipes

8′ Oboe (metal) 73 pipes

8′ Vox Humana 73 pipes (“SSB,” metal)

4′ Clarion 61 pipes (addition to original contract, metal)

Tremulant

CHOIR ORGAN (Manual I, enclosed, 7-inch wind pressure)

8′ English Diapason 73 pipes (scale 46, zinc bass, metal)

8′ Concert Flute (wood) 73 pipes

8′ Gamba (metal) 73 pipes

8′ Dulciana (metal) 73 pipes

8′ Unda Maris 61 pipes (TC, draws 8′ Dulciana, metal)

4′ Flute (extension, 8′ Concert Flute)

4′ Dulcet (addition to original specification, ext 8′ Dulciana)

2′ Piccolo 61 pipes (“Harmonic,” metal)

8′ Clarinet (metal) 73 pipes

8′ French Horn (metal) 73 pipes

Tremulant

Harp (Deagan, TC) 49 bars

SOLO ORGAN (Manual IV, enclosed, 15-inch wind pressure)

8′ Stentorphone 73 pipes (38 scale, “Heavy,” wood bass, metal trebles)

8′ Tibia Plena 73 pipes (originally to have been on the Great, “Leathered Lip,” wood)

8′ Gross Gamba 73 pipes (scale 56, metal)

8′ Gamba Celeste 73 pipes (scale 56, metal)

16′ Ophicleide 85 pipes (10′′ scale, metal)

8′ Tuba (extension, 16′ Ophicleide)

8′ Orchestral Oboe 73 pipes (originally to have been a 4′ Suave Flute, metal)

4′ Clarion (extension, 16′ Ophicleide)

Tremulant

ECHO ORGAN (Manual IV, enclosed, 5-inch wind pressure)

8′ Spitz Flute 73 pipes (originally to have been an 8′ Viole Celeste, metal)

8′ Flute Celeste 61 pipes (TC, metal, originally to have been 16′ Bourdon, playable in Pedal)

8′ Echo Flute 73 pipes (“concert scale,” wood)

8′ Muted Viole 61 pipes (tapered, scale 68, metal)

4′ Forest Flute (ext 8′ Echo Flute)

8′ Vox Humana 61 pipes (“S.S.B.,” metal)

Tremulant

Chimes 25 tubes (Deagan, Class A, fr TG)

PEDAL ORGAN

32′ Resultant

32′ Contra Bourdon (wood) 68 pipes

16′ First Open Diapason 44 pipes (wood)

16′ Second Open Diapason 32 pipes (scale 32, metal)

16′ Bourdon (ext 32′ Contra Bourdon)

16′ Lieblich Gedeckt (fr Sw 16′ Lieb.)

8′ Octave Bass (ext 16′ First Open)

8′ Cello (from Solo, 8′ Gross Gamba)

8′ Bass Flute (ext 32′ Contra Bourdon)

4′ Flute (ext 32′ Contra Bourdon)

16′ Ophicleide (fr Solo, 16′ Ophicleide)

16′ Posaune (fr Swell, 16′ Posaune)

8′ Tuba (fr Solo, 16′ Ophicleide)

4′ Clarion (fr Solo, 16′ Ophicleide)

1 blank knob (to have been a 16′ Small Diapason)

Couplers (by tablets above Manual IV)

Great to Pedal 8

Great to Pedal 4

Swell to Pedal 8

Swell to Pedal 4

Choir to Pedal 8

Choir to Pedal 4

Solo to Pedal 8

Solo to Pedal 4

Great to Great 16

Great to Great 4

Swell to Great 16

Swell to Great 8

Swell to Great 4

Choir to Great 16

Choir to Great 8

Choir to Great 4

Solo to Great 16

Solo to Great 8

Solo to Great 4

Choir to Choir 16

Choir to Choir 4

Swell to Choir 16

Swell to Choir 8

Swell to Choir 4

Solo to Choir 8

Solo to Choir 4

Swell to Swell 16

Swell to Swell 4

Solo to Swell 8

Solo to Solo 16

Solo to Solo 4

Great to Solo 8

Swell to Solo 8

Choir to Solo 8

Echo On/Solo Off

Echo to Solo 8

Accessories

5 Full Organ pistons and Cancel (thumb and toe)

7 Great pistons and Cancel (thumb)

7 Swell pistons and Cancel (thumb)

7 Choir pistons and Cancel (thumb)

7 Solo pistons and Cancel (thumb)

7 Pedal pistons and Cancel (thumb)

4 Echo pistons and Cancel (thumb)

Coupler Cancel (thumb, below Manual IV)

Key operated combination setter above Manual IV

Pedal to Great Manual pistons on/off (in left keycheek)

Pedal to Swell Manual pistons on/off (in left keycheek)

Pedal to Choir Manual pistons on/off (in left keycheek)

Pedal to Solo Manual pistons on/off (in left keycheek)

Great Unison On/Off (in right keycheek)

Swell Unison On/Off (in right keycheek)

Choir Unison On/Off (in right keycheek)

Solo Unison On/Off (in right keycheek)

Great to Pedal Reversible (toe)

Swell to Pedal Reversible (toe)

Solo to Pedal Reversible (toe)

All Swells to Swell reversible (thumb, with indicator light, below Manual II)

Great and Choir Expression Shoe

Swell Expression Shoe

Solo Expression Shoe

Echo Expression Shoe

“Grand” Crescendo Shoe (with indicator bar: p/mf/ff)

Tower Chimes Start/Stop

Sforzando reversible (thumb and toe, with indicator light, below Manual III)

The chapel contains a two-manual, seven-rank organ of electro-pneumatic action, built in 1928 by M. P. Möller, Opus 5175. The contract for the organ, signed by Oscar E. Aleshire on behalf of First Church, was drawn on December 6, 1927, and was received signed in Hagerstown on December 31. The instrument was to be delivered on or before April 1, 1928. (The organ was actually shipped from the factory in early June.) The cost was $3,100.00, with one-half the amount due in cash upon completion of the organ and the balance due within the next two years.30 As with the organ in the main church, the Great Depression made it impossible to pay the balance of the cost until much later. The organ was placed on five-inch wind pressure. The instrument is enclosed in one expression chamber behind grillework at the rear of the chapel. Manual compass is 61 notes (C–C); pedal compass is 32 notes (C–G). Stop control is by stopkeys. Pitch is A=440 Hz. The pedalboard is concave and radiating.

When this instrument was installed, construction details and operations caused several items of controversy between the congregation and the builder. The console was agreed to be finished as the one in the main church. However, when this console arrived, it did not match the woodwork of the chapel. The congregation insisted that the console be refinished to match the lighter fumed oak of the chapel. In addition, some nails were mysteriously driven into the woodwork surrounding the organ chamber openings, and arguments pursued as to who was responsible, the organ builder or the building contractor. In the end, Möller ended up paying for both these items, as they clearly wanted these two installations (as well as their 1925 three-manual Opus 4210 in Saint Clara Catholic Church, immediately behind First Presbyterian) to be showcase organs for the Chicago area.

The First Presbyterian and Saint Clara organs were important enough to Möller that they took a full-page photo advertisement in the June 1, 1927, issue of The Diapason, trumpeting that some fifty-seven Möller organs were to be found in Chicago alone, of which thirty-two were of three or four manuals in size.

1928 M. P. MЪller Opus 5175

GREAT ORGAN (Manual I, enclosed)

8′ Open Diapason 61 pipes (44 scale, wood bass, metal trebles)

8′ Stopped Diapason (wood) 73 pipes

8′ Dulciana (56 scale, metal) 61 pipes

4′ Flute d’Amour (ext 8′ St Diap)

SWELL ORGAN (Manual II, enclosed with Great)

8′ Flute (fr Great 8′ St Diap)

8′ Salicional 61 pipes (60 scale, metal, now 4′)

8′ Dolce (fr Great 8′ Dulciana)

4′ Flute (fr Great 8′ St Diap)

8′ Oboe (metal) 61 pipes

8′ Vox Humana 61 pipes

PEDAL ORGAN

16′ Bourdon 32 pipes

16′ Lieblich Gedeckt (fr 16′ Bourdon)

Couplers

Great to Pedal 8

Swell to Pedal 8

Great to Great 16

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

3 Great and Pedal pistons (thumb)

3 Swell and Pedal pistons (thumb)

Setter bar for combinations

Great to Pedal Reversible (toe)

Tremulant (entire organ, with Swell stops)

Balanced Swell expression shoe

“Grand” Crescendo shoe with indicator bar (5 grades—pp/mf/ff)

Test light

The congregation celebrated its centennial from June 25 through July 2 of 1933. Former First Church organists Francis S. Moore and Clarence Eddy participated in services on Monday, June 26.

In less than twenty years, First Church once again found itself in a neighborhood that was quickly changing. This time, under the Reverend Bowman’s leadership, the congregation stayed and racially integrated. While membership is a shadow of the 2,200 persons on the rolls in 1949, the congregation has experienced some growth in recent years, and redevelopment in the Woodlawn area raises hope for continued renewal. The unaltered Möller organs remain in the church, though mute, also awaiting renewal.

Notes

1. The early history of the First Presbyterian Church, and much of Chicago as well, is chronicled in The First Presbyterian Church: A History of the Oldest Organization in Chicago With Biographical Sketches of the Pastors and Copious Extracts from the Choir Records, by Philo Adams Otis, published in 1900 by Clayton F. Summy Co. of Chicago. A “second and revised edition” was published in 1913 by Fleming H. Revell Co. of Chicago. Both editions contain a wealth of information regarding organ and church music in Chicago in the nineteenth century.

2. The First Presbyterian Church: A History of the Oldest Organization in Chicago With Biographical Sketches of the Pastors and Copious Extracts from the Choir Records (1900), pages 25–26.

3. Ibid. (1900), pages 49–51.

4. Ibid., pages 51–52.

5. The First Presbyterian Church: A History of the Oldest Organization in Chicago With Biographical Sketches of the Pastors and Copious Extracts from the Choir Records (1913), pages 146–147.

6. “Frances Moore’s Church Closed,” The Diapason, volume 4, number 2, January 1, 1913, page 10.

7. “Takes Organist and Organ: New First Presbyterian Church of Chicago Has Moving Plan,” The Diapason, volume 4, number 3, February 1, 1913, page 1.

8. Organ specification from contract ledger book in the Organ Historical Society Library and Archives, Villanova, Pennsylvania.

9. “Four-Manual for Chicago,” The Diapason, volume 12, number 9, August 1, 1921, page 17.

10. “Organ of 45 Stops for First Presbyterian,” The Diapason, volume 12, number 10, September 1, 1921, page 2.

11. “First Presbyterian to Open Its New Organ,” The Diapason, volume 13, number 12, November 1, 1922, page 1.

12. Ibid.

13. “Week of Exercises for New Chicago Organ,” The Diapason, volume 14, number 1, December 1, 1922, page 3.

14. “New Organ in First Presbyterian Church, Chicago,” The Diapason, volume 14, number 3, February 1, 1923, page 2.

15. “Series of Three in Chicago: Zeuch, Dupré and Moore to Play at First Presbyterian Church,” The Diapason, volume 14, number 3, February 1, 1923, page 1.

16. “Good Start by Zeuch; Dupre [sic] Will Play Next: Series in Chicago Church,” The Diapason, volume 14, number 4, March 1, 1923, page 22.

17. “Moore will close series: To Play at First Presbyterian April 10—Dupre [sic] Draws Crowd,” The Diapason, volume 14, number 5, April 1, 1923, page 7.

18. Correspondence in the Organ Historical Society Library and Archives, Villanova, Pennsylvania.

19. Organ contract in the Organ Historical Society Library and Archives, Villanova, Pennsylvania.

20. “First Presbyterian Orders Large Organ,” The Diapason, volume 18, number 11, October 1, 1927, page 11.

21. “Chicago Organ Is Opened,” The Diapason, volume 19, number 12, November 1, 1928, page 8.

22. Stephen Schnurr, “Ernest M. Skinner in Chicago: The first contracts,” The Diapason, volume 112, number 4, whole number 1337 (April 2021), pages 14–20.

23. Letter from Ford & Reynolds to M. P. Möller Company, October 11, 1928, in the Organ Historical Society Library and Archives, Villanova, Pennsylvania.

24. “To Open Chicago Church,” The Diapason, volume 19, number 11, October 1, 1928, page 41.

25. “Dedication Services: The First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, Illinois,” published by the church, October 1928, Chicago, Illinois.

26. Letter from D. S. Wentz to E. O. Shulenberger, M. P. Möller Company, October 23, 1928, in the Organ Historical Society Library and Archives, Villanova, Pennsylvania.

27. For more on the Casavant organ, see “A history of the organs of Saint John Cantius Catholic Church, Chicago, Illinois,” by the author, in The Diapason, January 2022, pages 12–19.

28. “Pipe Ornamentation: Hand-Wrought Lead Caps for New Effect in Case-Work,” The American Organist, June 1931, volume 14, number 6, pages 350–351.

29. Letter from W. H. Strock to M. P. Möller, Jr., August 26, 1931, in the Organ Historical Society Library and Archives, Villanova, Pennsylvania.

30. Organ contract in the Organ Historical Society Library and Archives, Villanova, Pennsylvania.
 

First Presbyterian Church website

Stephen Schnurr

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1910 Casavant Frères Opus 386

GREAT (Manual I)

8′ Open Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Melodia 61 pipes

8′ Dulciana 61 pipes

SWELL (Manual II, enclosed)

16′ Bourdon 61 pipes

8′ Stopped Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Salicional 61 pipes

8′ Voix Celeste 61 pipes

8′ Aeoline 61 pipes

4′ Dolce Flute 61 pipes

8′ Oboe 61 pipes

Tremulant

PEDAL

16′ Gedeckt

16′ Bourdon (Sw)

Couplers

Great to Pedal 8

Swell to Pedal 8

Great to Great 4

Swell to Great 16

Swell to Great 8

Swell to Great 4

Swell to Swell 16

Swell to Swell 4

Accessories

2 Great pistons

3 Swell pistons

Great to Pedal reversible

Balanced Swell expression shoe

Balanced Crescendo shoe

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The arrival of the Skinner organ

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mr. Evans’s program was as follows:

Grand Choeur, Guilmant

Prayer and Cradle Song, Guilmant

Prelude and Fugue in D Minor, Bach

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

Processional March, Rogers

 

Mr. Hyde’s program was as follows:

Caprice Heroique [sic], Bonnet

Reverie, Bonnet

Romance sans Paroles, Bonnet

Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, Bach

The Guardian Angel, Pierne [sic]

Slumber Song, Seely

Menuet à l’Antico, Seeboeck-Hyde

To a Wild Rose, MacDowell

Chromatic Fantasie, Thiele

Vision, Rheinberger

Cradle Song, Grieg

Le Bonheur, Hyde

 

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

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

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

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

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

Mr. Martin’s program:

Suite in F, Corelli-Noble

Contrasts, J. Lewis Browne

Scherzo, Fifth Sonata, Guilmant

 

Mrs. Middelschulte’s program:

Prelude and Nocturne, Bairstow

Toccata, Grison

 

Mr. Lester’s program:

Invocation (dedicated to Herbert Hyde), Lester

In Indian Summer, Lester

Venetian Idyl, Andrews

Andante con moto, Bridge

Heroic Overture, Ware

 

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

Mr. DeLamarter’s program:

Chant de Printemps, Bonnet

Intermezzo, DeLamarter

Legende, Zimmerman

Finale, Sixth Symphony, Widor

 

Miss Haines’s offerings:

Matin Provencale [sic], Bonnet

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

Meditation at Ste. Clotilde, James

Fantasie on Spanish Themes, Gigout

 

Mr. Christian’s appearance included:

Dreams, Strauss

Rhapsodie, Rossetter G. Cole

A Cloister Scene, Mason

Scherzo Caprice, Ward

 

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

Sonata 1, Borowski

Meditation, Klein

Bourée, Bach

Suite Gothique, Boëllmann

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

Berceuse, Dickinson

Caprice (manuscript), Seely

Toccata, Fifth Symphony, Widor

 

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

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

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

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

As the years passed . . .

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1959 M. P. MЪller Opus 9244

GREAT (Manual I, unenclosed)

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

8′ Gemshorn (Sw)

8′ Unda Maris (Sw)

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

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

SWELL (Manual II, enclosed)

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

8′ Gedeckt (ext 16′)*

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tremolo

PEDAL

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

16′ Gedeckt (Sw)

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

8′ Gedeckt (Sw)

4′ Octave (ext 8′)

2′ Gedeckt (Sw)

* stops available at the Skinner console

Couplers

Great to Pedal

Great to Pedal 4

Swell to Pedal

Swell to Pedal 4

Great 4

Swell to Great 16

Swell to Great

Swell to Great 4

Swell 16

Swell Unison Off

Swell 4

Accessories

3 General pistons

3 Great and Pedal pistons

3 Swell and Pedal pistons

Great to Pedal reversible

Balanced Swell expression shoe

Balanced Crescendo shoe with indicator light

 

Great Mixture “Formula ‘A’”

1–30 15 19 22

31–42 12 15 19

43–61 8 12 15

Unison scale 48 at 8′ CC, ¼ mouth

Quint scale 49 at 8′ CC, 2⁄9 mouth

Swell Cymbal “Formula ‘B’”

1–12 26 29

13–24 22 26

25–36 19 22

37–48 15 19

49–61 12 15

Unison scale 50 at 8′ CC, ¼ mouth

Quint scale 51 at 8′ CC, 2⁄9 mouth

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

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

Bringing the Skinner organ back to its origins

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chimes (from Solo)

* enclosed

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tremolo

Harp (Ch)

Celesta (Ch)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tremolo

Harp (61 bars, first octave repeats)

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

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

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

8′ Philomela 73 pipes

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

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

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

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

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

Tremolo

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

Chimes (25 tubes)

PEDAL (6″ wind pressure)

32′ Diapason (open wood) 68 pipes

16′ First Diapason (ext 32′ Diapason)

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

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

16′ Bourdon (stopped wood) 56 pipes

16′ Echo Bourdon (Sw 16′ Bourdon)

8′ Octave (ext 32′ Diapason)

8′ ’Cello (ext 16′ Violone)

8′ Gedeckt (ext 16′ Bourdon)

8′ Still Gedeckt (Sw 16′ Bourdon)

4′ Super Octave (ext 32′ Diapason)

4′ Flute (extension, 16′ Bourdon)

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

16′ Trombone (ext 32′ Bombarde)

8′ Tromba (ext 32′ Bombarde)

4′ Clarion (ext 32′ Bombarde)

Couplers

Great to Pedal 8

Great to Pedal 4

Swell to Pedal 8

Swell to Pedal 4

Choir to Pedal 8

Solo to Pedal 8

Solo to Pedal 4

Swell to Great 8

Choir to Great 8

Solo to Great 8

Swell to Choir 8

Great to Solo 8

Swell to Solo 8

Great to Great 16

Great to Great 4

Swell to Great 16

Swell to Great 4

Choir to Great 16

Choir to Great 4

Solo to Great 16

Solo to Great 4

Choir to Choir 16

Choir to Choir 4

Swell to Choir 16

Swell to Choir 4

Swell to Swell 16

Swell to Swell 4

Solo to Solo 16

Solo to Solo 4

Great to Solo 16

Great to Solo 4

Accessories

5 General pistons (thumb and toe)

9 Great pistons (1–9 thumb, 1–4 toe)

9 Swell pistons (1–9 thumb, 1–4 toe)

7 Choir pistons (1–7 thumb, 1–4 toe)

7 Solo pistons (1–9 thumb, 1–4 toe)

4 Pedal pistons (toe)

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

Couplers Off (thumb)

Combination setter button (thumb)

Great to Pedal reversible (thumb and toe)

Swell to Pedal reversible (thumb)

Choir to Pedal reversible (thumb)

Solo to Pedal reversible (thumb and toe)

Solo to Great reversible (thumb and toe)

3 buttons: Chapel, Off, Both on Great

3 buttons: Chapel, Off, Both on Swell

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

2 buttons: all Swells to Swell shoe, Off

Balanced Swell expression shoe

Balanced Choir (and Great) expression shoe

Balanced Solo (and Great) expression shoe

Balanced Crescendo shoe (with indicator light)

Sforzando reversible (toe, with indicator light)

Cymbala (knob in Swell stop jamb)

 

Great IV Chorus Mixture

1–17 15 19 22 26

18–24 12 15 19 22

25–49 8 12 15 19

50–61 8 8 12 15

Great III Mixture

1–18 15 19 22

19–30 12 15 19

31–61 8 12 15

Swell III Mixture

1–22 15 19 22

23–42 12 15 19

43–61 8 12 15

 

Church website: stlukesevanston.org

Organ website: opus327.org

 

Notes

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

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

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

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

5. McCain, “St. Luke’s,” 26–32.

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

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

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

9. McCain, “St. Luke’s,” 26–32.

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

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

 

Bibliography

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Neal Campbell

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

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

Introduction

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

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

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

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

Harrison replied to Schreiner:

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

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

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

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

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

Historical context

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

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

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

Dear Don:

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

Cordially, and with great admiration,

Ernest M. Skinner⁶

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

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

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

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

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

Attributes and examples of the emerging American Classic style

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Harrison replied a couple weeks later:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Plans emerge for a new organ for the Salt Lake Tabernacle

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The completed Tabernacle organ

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

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

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

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

Another to the workers back in the factory:

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

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

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

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

A summary to Henry Willis:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Organs containing G. Donald Harrison’s signature plates

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Harrison makes this interesting comment about the Methuen organ:

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

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

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

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

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

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

To be continued.

Notes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

26. Owen, 47.

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

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