Hinners & Albertsen on the Mississippi Bluffs, Part 2: The Tale Unfolds

Allison Alcorn

Allison A. Alcorn received her PhD from the University of North Texas, Denton, in 1997 and is now professor of musicology at Illinois State University, where she is active in the Honors Program, Study Abroad, and Faculty Development and mentoring. Alcorn served as editor of the Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society from 2012–2017 and joined the AMIS Board of Governors in 2017. She has previously served as councilor for research for the Organ Historical Society and on the governing board of the American Organ Archives. Publications include articles for the Grove Dictionary of American Music and the Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments as well as articles in a variety of national and international journals.

A unique figure in the story of the American organ is John Leonard Hinners (1846–1906), who perhaps epitomizes the late nineteenth-century entrepreneurial spirit in the face of the closing frontier (Figure 1). He is something of a musical amalgam of Henry Ford and Montgomery Ward: Ford brought the passenger car to the common man and Hinners brought the pipe organ, and just as Montgomery Ward successfully reached the isolated Midwestern farm house with its mail order merchandise, Hinners reached out to the isolated Midwestern country church with his mail order pipe organ business. Although Hinners was not the only company to use the mail order idea, he seems to have been at least among the most successful with it. In fact, the Hinners Organ Company never extensively employed outside salesmen. All preliminary business was conducted by catalog and letter, the organ was crated up and shipped by rail, and the first time the buyer had any real contact with the company was when an employee, whose expenses were included in the contract, arrived to direct the parishioners in installing the new instrument. John Leonard’s entrepreneurial ambition was clearly shaped by the experiences of his entire life, combining to formulate his ideas about meeting the musical, religious, and social needs of rural churches.

 

Family background

John Leonard Hinners was the son of German immigrants who set out from Hanover, Germany, with a group of Pietists seeking religious freedom. In 1849, Peter Hinners (1824–1887), John Leonard’s father, was accepted as a missionary of the German Methodist Episcopal Church. Peter and his family left Wheeling, West Virginia, to work a circuit in the Midwest, locating variously in Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana for the next number of years. Unlike the English-speaking Methodist circuit riders, the German missionaries tended to use river transportation, traversing north on the Mississippi to visit German settlements scattered across the Midwest, particularly along the line of St. Louis-Chicago-Milwaukee, each of which was home to more than 10,000 Germans in 1860. Peter’s particular skill was constructing churches, and many of his assignments involved mission sites in which he erected a church before moving to the next site. With Pekin located as a major port on the Illinois River, the decision to move the John L. Hinners family to Pekin in 1879 may have been related to the work of the Methodist missionaries, among several other factors. 

John Leonard, therefore, spent his childhood in any number of small, rural congregations throughout the Midwest, shaping his future in profound ways. As a musician deeply involved with these churches, he certainly would have felt the limitations of the typical church reed organ from both a musical and an aesthetic/cultural point of view. Moreover, he would have been intimately familiar with the frustration of these rural congregations who struggled to pay their ministers, much less find additional cash for a pipe organ. Peter, known for his skills as a church builder, must have provided John Leonard’s basic woodworking skills, since one might reasonably expect that Peter’s sons would have assisted him with his building projects. Music occupied a central position in the Peter Hinners household as well and so, as Peter’s son, John Leonard was reared with his hands on a hammer and his feet on the pedals, learning skills of building and music that he would later combine into a business that produced nearly 3,000 pipe organs and approximately 20,000 reed organs in its five and a half decades of existence.¹

 

Marketing and sales models

John Leonard accepted a position with Mason & Hamlin in Chicago in the 1870s, a time when reed organs were rapidly gaining popularity throughout America. Music was seen as a worthy pastime, one that was integral to a happy home. Further, owning a reed organ signified a measure of prestige that was second only to the piano, the latter more of a “citified” instrument and the former more of a status symbol in rural areas. Reed organs were such a desirable commodity that in the mid-1880s, a small reed organ was offered by the Ladies’ Home Journal as a premium for submitting 350 one-year subscriptions at .50 each (Figure 2).

The sales techniques of reed organ companies are particularly important, because it appears that John L. Hinners modeled his pipe organ enterprise, both target audience and sales approach, directly on that of the reed organ business. Advertisements in periodical literature were ubiquitous. Everything from popular magazines and newspapers to church journals ran the advertisements of dealers or manufacturers hawking their particular brand of organ. Some ads were a full page, but many were no larger than an inch square, squeezed in among advertisements for women’s shirtwaists and Calumet Baking Powder.

A common technique of these ads was to include an “inquiry address” to which one could write for a free catalog. Often these catalogs—such as the Hinners catalog from 1895 in Figure 3—were not much more than testimonials from satisfied customers, and occasionally the accounts were somewhat improved in the editing process, and some were probably entirely fabricated. Catalog houses such as Montgomery Ward and Sears carried entire lines of musical instruments, including reed organs. The catalog houses’ sales philosophies were followed almost to the letter by John L. Hinners in his pipe organ business.

 

The move to Pekin

Why John Leonard chose to move his family to Pekin, Illinois, in 1879 is a subject for speculation. Pekin is located on the banks of the Illinois River about 50 miles due north of present-day Springfield and was organized under a city charter dated August 20, 1849. It is said that the town was named after Peking, China, when Ann Eliza Cromwell, wife of one of the original town title-holders, pushed a hat pin through “Townsite” on a globe and it came out on the opposite side at Peking, China.² Because of the town’s prime location on the river and its status as a terminal railroad station, numerous industries developed in Pekin. More than that, however, if one conjectures that John Leonard had the rural church market in mind right from the start, a Midwestern location was desirable as an effort to gain the trust of an Eastern-wary rural Midwestern clientele. Because the first settlers in Pekin were primarily native-born Americans, the earliest churches in each denomination were English-speaking, but when the Germans began to arrive in large numbers in the 1850s (attracted initially by the T. & H. Smith Wagon Company), German-speaking congregations were established. The first German congregation in Pekin was the Methodist Episcopal, building a small frame structure in 1850 and becoming a leading congregation in the St. Louis Methodist Conference.

Undoubtedly, the Hinners family had contact with that congregation through their strong involvement with the national German Methodist Episcopal denomination. After his years as a circuit rider, Peter Hinners, John Leonard’s father, functioned as a financial agent for the denomination and traveled frequently to the regional German Methodist Episcopal churches, surely visiting Pekin on a regular basis. Pekin’s congregation even hosted the 1875 Conference of the German Methodist Episcopals, which John Leonard may well have attended, probably then meeting Fred Schaefer, for whom he initially manufactured his reed organs. Schaefer was a member of the church, and as a musical instrument dealer, he certainly would have spoken with an employee of Mason & Hamlin who happened to be visiting his church. In the course of conversations, it would have been quite natural for John Leonard to voice his frustrations with hopes of advancing within the Mason & Hamlin operation as well as his desire to build his own organs. The scope of Schaefer’s businesses shows him to be nothing if not enterprising (Figure 4), and it is easy to picture the wheels turning in his mind at the idea of enticing a young organbuilder to manufacture reed organs for him right there in Pekin. The city did offer a small amount of competition for the Hinners organs. In an 1878 Pekin newspaper, Geiger & Thompson’s Sewing Machine Exchange also advertised “the Matchless Burdett Organ” (Figure 5).

After Chicago, however, the competition in Pekin offered little intimidation or resistance for the ambitions of John Leonard, though some even continued to offer Mason & Hamlin organs, like the local musical merchandise dealer in this advertisement in Figure 6. Another competitor, however, succumbed to the offer of employment by the Hinners firm, as is documented in the 25th anniversary booklet listing Gilbert Skaggs as a 14-year employee. Skaggs is cited in the 1905 Pekin City Directory as an independent organbuilder and may have been one of the men recruited to help get the pipe organ enterprise underway, as his tenure coincides with the beginning of pipe organ production.

Regardless of the impetus, John L. Hinners’s Perfection Organ Manufactory in Pekin began a new era of industry for the region. He set up shop in a back room of Schaefer’s new building on Court Street, across from the courthouse and spent the next ten years building reed organs, perfecting the skills and techniques he would then apply to the manufacture of pipe organs. Specifically, in addition to the marketing and sales acumen modeled on the reed organ trade, John Leonard brought to his pipe organs an understanding of compactness, mechanical reliability, and superb carpentry that he had learned in reed organ construction.³ Perhaps the most important entrepreneurial application, later seen as a defining characteristic of the pipe organs, was his standardization of the reed organ. In an 1895 Hinners Reed Organ catalog (in English and German) he lays out just five action types and ten cabinet styles. By strictly controlling variations, he was able to produce them literally by the dozens. When he turned this idea to pipe organs, such standardization permitted him to offer quality instruments at significantly lower prices.

 

Hinners & Albertsen

Schaefer sold his instrument manufactory and musical merchandise business in early 1881. John Leonard took the opportunity to cash in on the reputation he had built for himself in the previous year and recruited a group of local investors to back the Perfection Organ Works as a private reed organ factory. Ubbo J. Albertsen (Figure 7) purchased the interest of the original investors in 1885, and the company became Hinners & Albertsen.⁴ With the infusion of Albertsen’s capital, the firm expanded once again and reed organ sales soared. The turn to pipe organ production was announced in a special catalog that was written in German and English—with a sketch of the Boston Music Hall organ on the cover. These Hinners & Albertsen organs had one manual and pedals, available in three ranks for $375, four ranks for $485, five ranks for $575, and six ranks for the bargain price of $635. The 1890 catalog introduced “Our New No. 5 Pipe Organ” for $485 with economical specifications:

 

8′ Open Diapason (metal, 61 pipes)

8′ Melodia (wood 61 pipes, enclosed)

8′ Gamba (metal, 61 pipes, enclosed)

4′ Principal (metal, 61 pipes)

 

16′ Pedal Bourdon (wood, 15 pipes)

 

Super Coupler

Manual to Pedal Coupler

Swell Pedal

The three-rank organ included two 8′ ranks and one 4′ rank; for the five-rank instrument, they added a 2′ rank to the No. 5 specifications, and the six-rank organ added two 2′ ranks to the No. 5 specifications. Churches close to Pekin could reduce the cost by sending members of its congregation to the factory with their own wagons, handling drayage and set-up themselves. In this case, the organ would cost only $75 a rank, which amounts to a significant savings for budget-minded congregations.

If shipped, the swell box served as the shipping crate, and many of these still have the shipping labels nailed to what is now the inside of the box (Figure 8, nailed on the far back side). In the early years, all of the non-local organs were shipped via the railway. The pipes and components, all numbered, were placed in numbered crates and loaded into the boxcars. When the organ arrived at its destination, church members retrieved the crates from the depot along with the company representative who directed the organ’s installation. The numbering system (cf. Figure 9) made installation quick and easy, usually requiring only one company man to oversee the operation, though larger organs sometimes required teams of two or, rarely, three. The Hinners representative’s signature and the installation date is often found penciled somewhere inside the instrument, frequently somewhere on or in the swell box. Trucks eventually replaced the horse-drawn wagons, and organs within an eleven-state radius of Illinois were delivered by truck, which drove at a top speed of 25 miles per hour. The Hinners firm managed to keep even the switch to motorized drayage within the family—or at least within the extended organ family—when Philip Kriegsman, a 13-year tuner for Hinners, purchased the drayage company that had been handling organ shipping and became the contractor who moved the organ business from horse-drawn wagons to motorized vehicles.

The 1898 Hinners & Albertsen organ built for the St. Peter Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church in Red Wing, Minnesota, exemplifies the typical smaller two-manual organ (Figure 10). Like the reed organs, the one-manual pipe organs had a keyboard divided at middle C, each half controlled by a treble and bass knob. Most often, the Hinners & Albertsen pedal ranks encompassed only the lower octave, and the second octave was supplied as a pull-down. The catalogs claimed that the notes above the lower octave were only very rarely used for church services, and so they were omitted “as a needless expenditure.”

 

To be continued.

 

Notes

1. Cf. Allison Alcorn, “A History of the Hinners Organ Company of Pekin, Illinois,” The Tracker, vol. 44, no. 3 (2000): 13–25. The Tracker article provides a more detailed account of the complete company history, though much in the present article’s overview is indebted to that work. This article provides a simple company overview up to the date of the Red Wing organ and then a focus on the story of that Red Wing, Minnesota, instrument.

2. Louella Dirksen, The Honorable Mr. Marigold (New York: Doubleday, 1972), 1. Mrs. Cromwell must have had a rather crooked pin, actually, because the direct antipode of Pekin is in the Indian Ocean off the far southwestern tip of Australia.

3. Unfortunately, the only Hinners organ remaining in Pekin is at St. John Lutheran Church. In 2014 it was rebuilt by the Buzard Organ Company of Champaign, Illinois. The original console was gone, so they used a 1927 console from the Hinners built for Hope Reformed Church in Chicago plus a number of other console materials from the Hinners that had been built for the Pekin Elks Club Lodge (the last Hinners pipe organ built before the company closed). Some odds and ends were used in the interior from the 1913 organ built for the Hinners’ family church, which assumed the non-Germanic name of Grace Methodist Episcopal Church when it rebuilt in 1914 after a devastating 1911 fire. That organ is now completely dismantled, with only the façade pipes remaining as visual display to house an Allen electronic organ. 

4. An unfortunate typographical error in the 2000 Tracker article (op. cit., 15) cites “Uddo” J. Albertsen as John Leonard’s partner. Some confusion had already existed about Albertsen, as early sources sometimes incorrectly reference Urban J. Albertsen as the partner in the organ business. Urban, however, was not born until 1887, and it was his father, Ubbo J. Abertsen (1845–1926), who bought into the Hinners organ enterprise.

Michael McNeil

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

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

 

The casework in pictures

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

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

 

The keydesk in pictures

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

The key action in pictures

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

The stop action in pictures

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Great division

 

8′ Open Diapason 

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

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

8′ Keraulophon

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

 

8′ Clarabella

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

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

 

4′ Principal

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

 

4′ Flute И CheminОe

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

 

22Џ3′ Twelfth

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

 

2′ Fifteenth

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

 

8′ Trumpet

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

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

 

II Mixture

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

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

 

C 2⁄3′ 1⁄2′

c 1′ 2⁄3′

c′ 11⁄3′ 1′

c′′ 2′ 11⁄3′

c′′′ 4′ 2′

 

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

Notes and Credits

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

17. The Johnson Organs, p. 50.

18. Ibid, p. 22.

19. Ibid, p. 23.

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

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

22. Ibid, p. 207.

23. The Johnson Organs, p. 25.

24. Ibid, p. 45.

25. Ibid, p. 47.

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

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

28. The Johnson Organs, p. 36.

29. Ibid, p. 48.

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

31. The Johnson Organs, p. 48.

To be continued.

Michael McNeil

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

Preface

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

 

Tonal design overview

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

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

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

 

Pitch, wind pressure, and general notes

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

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

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

 

Stoplist

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

GREAT

8′ Open Diapason

8′ Keraulophon

8′ Clarabella

4′ Principal

4′ Flute à Cheminée (TC)

22⁄3′ Twelfth

2′ Fifteenth

8′ Trumpet

SWELL

16′ Bourdon (TC)

8′ Open Diapason

8′ Stopped Diapason

8′ Viol d’Amour (TF)

4′ Principal

8′ Hautboy (TF)

Tremolo

PEDAL

16′ Double Open Diapason

 

Couplers

Great to Pedal

Swell to Pedal

Swell to Great

 

Blower signal

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

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

 

The wind system

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

The wind system in pictures

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

 

The layout in pictures

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

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

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

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

Notes and credits

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

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

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

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

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

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

6. The Johnson Organs, p. 100.

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

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

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

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

11. Ibid, p. 207.

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

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

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

15. The Johnson Organs, p. 25.

16. Ibid, p. 23.

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

18. The Johnson Organs, p. 23.

 

To be continued.

American Organ Institute, 

University of Oklahoma, 

Norman, Oklahoma

Trinity Lutheran Church,

Norman, Oklahoma

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

­—Fredrick Bahr, Shop Manager

 

Stephen L. Pinel

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

After attending Morning Prayer at Christ Church during the summer of 1873, a visitor wrote:

 

The church bells ring at half past nine, and speak in suggestive and pleasant tones to those who are accustomed to answer their call. The bells are rung again at a quarter past ten, and soon after the streets present a scene to delight the heart of any Christian. The multitude of those who go forth, embraces people of all ages, from the prattling child to hoary and tottering old age, and including all conditions, from the affluent to the humble poor. . . .

We are favorably impressed as we approach the edifice [of Christ Church] by its massive and substantial front. We are met at the door by attentive ushers, and feel at once that though strangers we are welcome. An appropriate voluntary upon the organ is in progress, and as the worshippers come in one after another and proceed quietly to their places all about us and engage, as is the beautiful custom of the denomination, in silent prayer, we feel the truth of the sentiment which spans the arch above the chancel. “The Lord is in His Holy Temple. . . .” 

The musical part of the service—aside from the metrical hymns—is sometimes in anthem and sometimes in chant form, and is at present under the direction of the organist, Mr. Horace H. Scribner. One will hear many fine adaptations here by Warren, Thomas, Buck and others. Among the worshippers are Hon. Timothy P. Redfield, Hon. B. F. Fifield, Dr. J. Y. Dewey, Hon. Charles Dewey, Hiram Atkins, T. C. Phinney, Fred E. Smith, and J. W. Ellis. . . .¹

 

Christ Church was the fashionable parish in the capital city. It was the place where people of affluence, culture, education, prominence, and social stature went to church. The Hon. Timothy P. Redfield (1812–1888), an 1836 graduate of Dartmouth College, was a justice on the Vermont Supreme Court.² The Hon. Benjamin F. Fifield (1832–1918), a staunch Republican and an 1855 graduate of UVM,³ was the primary legal counsel for the Vermont Central Railroad.⁴ Dr. Julius Y. Dewey (1799–1866) was a notable Vermont physician who, after the state issued an 1848 charter for the National Life Insurance Company, became its chief medical officer.⁵ Of his sons, Charles Dewey (1826–1905) served as president of the same company between 1877 and 1901.⁶ Another son, the Admiral George Dewey (1837–1917), surpassed both of them in national fame when he became an American naval hero during the Spanish-American War. In May 1898, his squadron decimated the Spanish flotilla near the Philippines without the loss of a single American life.⁷ Hiram Atkins (1831–1892), a prominent Vermont Democrat, was the editor and publisher of the Argus and Patriot, a Montpelier weekly.⁸ Truman C. Phinney (1827–1901) served 25 years as the sergeant-at-arms for the Vermont State Legislature.⁹ Fred E. Smith (1836–1907), who later figured prominently in the narrative of Christ Church and its organs, was the president of the Vermont Life Insurance Company.¹⁰ And J. W. Ellis was an illustrious Montpelier banker. Christ Church was the society church in central Vermont.

In addition to its influential parishioners, Christ Church was also known for its fashionable music. The parish has owned six different pipe organs during its 178-year history, more than any other congregation in the state. The first was a small instrument probably made by organbuilder William Nutting, Jr. (1815–1869), who had a shop in nearby Randolph. In 1854, it gave way to a larger, two-manual organ built by Stevens & Jewett of Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1902, accepting the recommendation of a former organist, Samuel B. Whitney (1842–1914), the parish bought a two-manual Hutchings-Votey organ. In a freakish twist of fate, that instrument was lost in a fire less than a year later, so the Vestry turned again to the firm for a replacement. In November 1927, their second Hutchings-Votey organ was wrecked in the Great Vermont Flood, so the following year, the parish ordered a new instrument built by the Estey Organ Company in Brattleboro. The Estey remained until 1972, when the current elegant instrument—the “Abiel M. Smith Organ”—was built for the parish by Karl Wilhelm of St.-Hyacinthe, Québec, Canada. Christ Church has the bizarre “distinction” of losing two of its pipe organs to natural disasters!

Christ Church has also had its share of fine organists. The prominent Mr. Whitney served between 1862 and 1866,¹¹ followed by George W. Wilder (1825–1901), the proprietor of a Montpelier music store.¹² Horace H. Scribner (1849–1895) was the parish’s organist for twenty-five years and is memorialized by a stained-glass window in the church.¹³ Cecil George Egg, a native of Ontario, Canada, served Christ Church from 1908 to 1916. He was an 1899 graduate of Dominion College in Montréal and had played between 1900 and 1908 at Trinity Church in Shelburne, Vermont.¹⁴ Abiel M. Smith (1897–1967), who became organist in 1941, served twenty-five years and was held in high esteem;¹⁵ the 1972 Wilhelm was posthumously named in his honor. Jack Russell followed Smith; he was the consultant for the Wilhelm organ and played the dedicatory recital on June 4, 1972.¹⁶ Dr. Brian P. Webb (1948–2014), a native of New Zealand, was the organist until his tragic death on August 23, 2014, in a boating accident on Lake Champlain.¹⁷ He was a distinguished graduate of both the University of Auckland and Indiana University, the music director and conductor of the Vermont Philharmonic, and served as associate dean, Master of Arts, at Union Institute and University in Montpelier. Carl Schwartz served seasonally as associate organist between 1998 and 2015, and twice as interim organist/choirmaster, first in 2013 and then between December 2014 and June 2015. Since the summer of 2015, the parish has been ably served by Lynnette Combs, a distinguished graduate of Swarthmore College and one of Vermont’s better-known organists.¹⁸

 

The origins of Christ Church

The organizational framework for the parish was laid when the Rt. Rev. John Henry Hopkins (1792–1868), the first bishop of the Diocese of Vermont, visited the capital in 1839 and officiated at confirmation. Almost a year later, he reported the event to the diocesan convention:

On Tuesday, the 15th of October [1839], I visited Montpelier, at the request of some friends of the Church. . . . The desire was expressed by many that a parish might be organized in this important place, but no immediate action was resolved upon.¹⁹

Montpelier residents were said to be rowdy, unchurched, and uncatechised. Cryptically, one mid-nineteenth-century author opined that “Puritanism was then rampant here, and it is said very many were so ignorant of the fasts and festivals of the church as to suppose Christmas a day appointed by the Governor!”²⁰

The bishop reported again in September 1842:

 

I commenced my visitation on Friday, January 7th, of the present year [1842], at Montpelier; where I preached, morning and afternoon, at the Methodist Chapel, which was kindly offered for that purpose, on the following Sunday, being the first
after the Epiphany. There was considerable conversation held with our friends upon the building of a Church, but nothing concluded. My second visit was on Friday, the 15th July, on which occasion I was rejoiced to find a subscription actually begun, and now a handsome and appropriate edifice is so far advanced that it is expected to be ready for consecration by November.²¹

 

Christ Church had been organized in 1840 by Deacon George B. Manzer (1803–1862), then a candidate for Holy Orders who, after his ordination, became the founding rector of the parish. Manzer was a New Haven, Connecticut, native, who graduated from Dartmouth, Class of 1825, Middlebury College, and later received his Doctor of Divinity degree from Norwich University in 1853. After leaving Montpelier in 1849, he became the rector of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Bennington, Vermont,²² where he served until his death.²³

The Christ Church Vestry was elected on Easter Monday, 1841, and the first representatives of the parish attended the diocesan convention in September 1842.²⁴ A modest frame building with a small bell tower in front was begun in the fall of 1842. When it was finished, the consecration ceremony was announced in the local newspaper:

 

The Episcopal Church, erected in this village the past season, will, by favor of Divine Providence, be consecrated to the public worship of God, on Thursday the 19th inst. Services to commence at half past ten o’clock, forenoon.

Montpelier, 14th Dec. 1842.²⁵

 

Recalling the event, the bishop wrote:

 

On Thursday, December 29th, 1842, I was called to perform the most acceptable duty of consecrating, to the service of Almighty God, the building in which we are now assembled, the Rev. Messrs. Clap, Hicks, Sabine, John T. Sabine, Hoit, Sprague, Bostwick, and Manser, assisting.²⁶

 

Little is actually known of the architecture, cost, furnishings, interior arrangements, or seating capacity of the building, but a circa 1865 stereograph of the exterior shows a modest, clapboard structure.

 

An organ by an unknown maker, before 1850

To date, only one reference has surfaced to the first organ in Christ Church. The 1850 parochial report to the diocesan convention reads:

 

Among other measures of improvement in externals, may be mentioned the renovation of the organ, the purchase of a fine-toned Bell from the excellent establishment of A. Meneely, Troy, N. Y., who kindly contributed $12.00 to the sum elsewhere specified.²⁷

Use of the word “renovated” suggests that the organ had been in service awhile, perhaps since the consecration of the building, but it was surely a small organ. The geographical proximity of Montpelier to Randolph supposes that it was possibly the work of William Nutting, Jr., but there is no evidence to confirm or deny that presumption. Nor is it known what happened to the organ when it was replaced.

 

An organ by Stevens & Jewett, 1854

Much more is known about the second organ at Christ Church. It was built in Cambridge, Massachusetts, by Stevens & Jewett, a partnership of William Stevens (1808–1896) and James Jewett (1810–1890). William was the younger brother of George Stevens (1803–1894), and Jewett was a carpenter turned organ builder. The partnership lasted only a few years during the 1850s, although Jewett returned to work for William Stevens during the 1860s, after the firm had moved to Boston. In December 1862, Stevens & Jewett built another large organ for a Vermont congregation—First Congregational Church in St. Albans.²⁸

The instrument was completed in December 1854, and a notice in the Patriot provided some details:

 

New Church Organ.

We take especial pleasure in being able to state that the new Church Organ, contracted for some two months since by the Episcopal Society in this village, has been completed, and now stands in its place in the Church, ready for use. It is, to both eye and ear, a beautiful and perfect instrument. In the variety of its stops, and the number of its pipes, it is perhaps seldom equaled, except in the cities. It is built with extended Keyboard and has two banks of Keys, twenty-eight registers and about one thousand pipes. Its compass is from c c to G in alt., exclusive of a pedal bass which runs down to c c c—a sixteen feet pipe.

A few individuals were invited to the Church, last Wednesday evening [i.e., December 20], to hear it played. The exhibition was eminently satisfactory. All were delighted who heard it. We have never heard better or purer tones from any organ. It was manufactured at the Establishment of Messrs. Stevens & Jewett, Boston [sic, Cambridge], and cost about $2000. It reflects great credit to the builders, as well as on the enterprise of the Society and individuals by whose very liberal subscriptions it has been purchased. Long may they live to enjoy it.²⁹

 

A similar notice appeared in the Montpelier Watchman.³⁰ Indeed, a manual compass of 56 notes, CC to g³ was “extended” when compared to CC to f³, 54 notes, then the current standard. Bishop Hopkins noticed the organ when he reported to the 1855 diocesan convention: “Here I was gratified to find a splendid new organ, the most costly in the Diocese. . . .”³¹ For its time and place, the Stevens & Jewett organ must have been a remarkable acquisition.

In 1868, following the completion of the new building, the organ was installed in a right-hand chamber beside the chancel and presumably lost its original case. An 1885 notice of the instrument remarked:

 

The organs of Bethany [Congregational, Wm. A. Johnson, Op. 264 (1868), 3m] and Christ churches have been tuned during the past week by Mr. [Henry J.] Poole of Boston, assisted by Mr. [Wm. A.] Briggs. . . .
Mr. Poole expressed much satisfaction with the working of the Perry & Canning [water] motor at Christ church.³²

 

The removal of the Stevens & Jewett occurred in February 1902, just before the congregation acquired a new organ from Hutchings-Votey: “The new organ for Christ Church has arrived from Boston and the old organ will be placed in the boxes in which the new organ came, so that it can be readily shipped wherever a sale is made.”³³ What happened to it next is undocumented, but Edgar A. Boadway (1936–2016), Vermont’s foremost organ historian, asserted that it was moved second-hand to Montpelier’s First Baptist Church. It remained there until replaced by another second-hand organ about 1920.³⁴

 

The new church, 1868

In March 1866, the wooden edifice of Christ Church was in such dilapidated condition that the Vestry proceeded with plans to erect a new building. Nine days later, land was acquired on the south side of State Street near the Vermont State House, and a subscription list was opened to raise funds for the project.³⁵ The Vestry appointed a committee, and by May 4, 1866, the design for a new building was in hand: “The plan for the new Episcopal Church by J. J. Randall, of Rutland, is a very neat one, in the Gothic style. We learn that the intention is to build of granite.”³⁶ By November, the foundation had been laid, and the cornerstone ceremony was reported in the local newspaper:

 

The cornerstone of Christ Church will be laid with appropriate ceremonies, according to the ritual of the church, at eleven A.M. of Thursday the 8th inst., Providence permitting. If the day prove stormy the ceremony will be delayed until the same hour on Friday. There will be Divine service in the old church, on Thursday evening, at half-past seven o’clock.³⁷

In September 1867 the interior was nearing completion. The tower was finished during the summer of 1868, and the pews were sold in May 1868.³⁸

Abby Maria Hemenway (1828–1890), Vermont’s audacious lady historian, described the interior:

 

The ground plan includes nave and aisles, chancel, organ chamber and sacristy, the tower being engaged in the northern end of the east aisle. Exterior, 108 by 55 feet; tower and spire, 100 feet; interior—nave, 22 feet wide, separated by two colonnades from two aisles, each 11 feet wide; chancel, 17 feet wide by 23 deep; whole exterior, except roof and clerestory, 

light-colored Barre and Berlin granite; aisle walls without buttresses; clerestory, timber slated outside. The north front is the most imposing part of the exterior. . . .³⁹

 

Hemenway also mentioned the placement for the organ: “The organ chamber, on the west, opens by a narrow arch in the church, and by a broader one into the nave; the organ is a powerful instrument.”⁴⁰

A newspaper mentioned the music at the consecration, which occurred on June 2, 1868:

 

The singing on the occasion, under the direction of Mr. A. J. Phillips, the excellent tenor, whose effort was handsomely sustained by the fine soprano of Mrs. C. J. Gleason, the alto of Miss Laura T. Field, and the bass of Mr. L. T. Gleason, and the organ-playing by Mr. George W. Wilder, were remarkably good, and added much interest and solemnity to the occasion.⁴¹

By the late 1890s, there was increasing dissatisfaction with the Stevens & Jewett organ. A report in the archives of Christ Church dated November 30, 1898, outlined some of the issues. The unsigned document was typed on stationery from the Vermont Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and was surely written by Fred E. Smith, the same Mr. Smith noticed by our 1873 visitor to Christ Church at the start of this essay. He wrote:

 

On account of the continued trouble with the mechanical attachments to our organ, the repeated breakings of the trackage [sic, trackers], and failure of the valves and slides, we must recognize that some important change must be made at no distant day or we shall be obliged to give up our organ entirely and face the question of procuring a new one. From the best advices [sic] I can obtain I am satisfied that we cannot install a new organ of proper size and quality for a cost less than $2500, to $3,000.00. From equally good sources of information I am led to believe that by the expenditure of from $500, to $800, our own organ can be put in just as good condition for practical service with a prospect of finer tone than we could get from a new one. . . .⁴²

 

Smith then asserted that the old pipework could be placed on new wind chests with tubular-pneumatic playing action.

An unsolicited letter from organbuilder Geo. S. Hutchings (1835–1913) arrived a few months later:

 

Boston, Apr. 28, 1899

Mr. Frederick E. Smith

Montpelier, Vt.

 

Dear Sir:—

Mr. Almar Green, who is familiar with my work, has suggested that I address you regarding an organ for your church to cost between $3,500 and $4,000. I have therefore taken the liberty of handing you under separate wrapper my catalog, together with other printed matter which may interest you.

Before I can make a definite proposition I need to know what space in height, width and depth can be given to the organ, because the cost of building depends materially upon this. I would also like to know about when the organ would be needed. If you will inform me on these points, I shall take pleasure in making a definite proposal for your consideration.

I desire very much to build the organ for you and shall await your reply with interest.

Trusting you will command me freely for any information in my line.

Yours truly, Geo. S. Hutchings⁴³

Enclosed was a proposal for a small, mechanical-action organ of twelve registers distributed over two manuals and pedals.

On February 1, 1899, organbuilder Emmons Howard (1845–1931) visited Montpelier to inspect the organ. Again, it was Smith who issued the report, stating:

 

. . . after examining the Church and organ with Mr. Hutchinson [not Geo. Hutchings] and myself, he quite positively gave his opinion that we would not be warranted in going to such expense on our organ as we had contemplated. He found the value of the organ much less than we had supposed, and was quite positive that it would cost $1500, to $2000, to make the changes we had talked about, with the new additions which would be necessary—such as tubular pneumatic action, new bellows, air-chest, etc.—saying that our organ would still be an old one and imperfect in many features. . . .⁴⁴

 

With the prospect of repairing the organ increasingly unfeasible, an organ committee was formed in September 1901 for “the purchase of a new organ.”⁴⁵ Within a week, financial canvassers were at work,⁴⁶ and a “final” reference to the Stevens & Jewett appeared in the local newspaper during February 1902, when: “The organ builders are at work in Christ Church, taking down the old organ. . . .” ⁴⁷

 

Hutchings-Votey Organ Co., Opus 1538, 1902

In November 1901, former organist Samuel B. Whitney was consulted. Writing to Smith on October 29, 1901, Joseph A. De Boer, another committee member communicated the substance of a meeting he had had with Whitney in Boston. Whitney recommended Hutchings-Votey. Two letters from John H. Waterhouse, the treasurer at Hutchings, to Smith indicated that acquiring an organ was underway:

 

Boston, Nov. 7, 1901

Col. Fred E. Smith

Montpelier, Vt.

Dear Sir:—

 

We received your letter of Oct. 31st and have been considering what we should be able to do. After Mr. De Boer left the other day, Mr. Whitney seemed very anxious to have us put in 49 notes of the Vox Celestis. When upon receipt of your letter we went over our figures very carefully, but do not feel that we can really afford to make any difference in the price. We will, however, deduct $100 to assist you in the purchase of this organ. Will say, however, that this is very largely because we know that Mr. Whitney is very desirous that you should purchase one of our organs, and as his good opinion is valuable to us, we are ready to do the very best we can in a case in which he is especially interested. In looking over the scheme we do not feel that there is any stop which could be very well left out. The scheme is well balanced, and would make a very fine instrument.

We think the plan you sent us showing the key-desk and openings in the arches as you propose is very good, and that in this way the sound would come out into the church very well.

It would seem too bad in purchasing an organ which will last for several generations, to allow a few hundred dollars to stand in the way of a desirable instrument. Regarding the cost of our organ, we believe without question that it would be cheaper for you in the long run to purchase one of our make than it would to buy a cheaper grade, outside of the advantage you would have in the way of tone and voicing. We desire very much to build the organ, and trust you will see your way clear to meet us in this matter. I suppose we shall have to know before very long in order to begin this with the other instrument which we mentioned. We should be willing to allow the difference between the $3,900 and the sum which you have to stand for six months or a year without interest if it will help you out.

Yours truly, Hutchings-Votey Organ Co.⁴⁸

 

•

 

Boston, Nov. 8, 1901

Col. Fred E. Smith

Montpelier, Vt.

Dear Sir:—

 

Regarding the position of the console, we could place the console in practically any position you may wish, and this would have no bearing on the building of the rest of the organ; so that if we should start to build the organ we would not necessarily have to know the position of the console for a couple of weeks. Mr. Whitney suggests that it be placed where we have drawn it in pencil, his reason being that from this position the organist could see the altar, which is quite necessary, and it would be possible to get into the space where the quartet would sing on the other side or on the front, we presume. This would make the quartet, if you had one, at the side of and back of the organist, but as they would be very close, it would not be very hard and perhaps considering all things, this position would be the most advantageous.

Yours truly, Hutchings-Votey Organ Co.⁴⁹

 

The contract for the organ has not survived, but it was apparently signed around November 10, 1901, for on November 29, Waterhouse wrote Smith asking, “Have you decided the matter of decorating the front pipes for the organ?”⁵⁰ 

The completed organ was shipped on March 1, 1902, and a notice in the Argus related:

 

S. B. Whitney, formerly organist of Christ church in this city, but now occupying a similar position with the Church of the Advent in Boston, has had the oversight of the new organ which has been built for Christ Church, that instrument having been finished. Mr. Whitney says of it that he is sure that it will delight everyone who hears it. It is now being taken down to be shipped, having been tested twice by Mr. Whitney. . . .”⁵¹

 

The installation took the better part of a month, and on March 24 the Evening Argus stated: “The new organ has been installed in Christ Church and will be ready for the rehearsal Thursday and Friday and for Easter Sunday.”⁵²

The organ was described in detail on the front page of the Argus on March 26:

 

The new organ for Christ church is fast reaching a state of completion and will be ready to peal forth its inspiring sounds to the worshippers Easter morning.

Everything is in readiness now with the exception of three sets of pipes which will be in position at the close of this week.

The new organ is one of the best in the State and combines all of the latest improvements of stops, copulas [sic], pistons and action, making it as easy of action, even with the great [and] swells on, as a piano.

Charles Bowen, of Boston, has had charge of setting up the instrument. It is so adjusted that the very lightest touch will produce strains of harmony.

A little over four weeks ago Mr. Bowen, who is assisted by W. H. Colbath, commenced installing the organ, which was made especially for Christ Church by the Hutchings-Votey Organ company, of Boston. The old one had to be taken out and this was also done by them. The work has been done in a very short time, considering the amount of it.

The organ occupies the same position as the old one, at the right of the chancel, but the key desk has been moved so that it sets at the left across the chancel. The lower part of the organ is of antique oak, with a dark finish, and above this is a row of speaking pipes, gilded.

The key desk is a model of convenience and is equipped with all the modern improvements. The stops are set in such a way as to face the player and be of the easiest possible access.

The organ has 1,098 pipes. Lead tubing runs underneath the floor from the key desk to these pipes and nearly a mile and a half of it was used for this purpose. Through these tubes the air passes and the quickness of the response to the touch of the player is remarkable. The desk has two manuals of 61 notes each. The combination pistons are placed under each manual, four of them operating the swell stops and three the great stops.

An indicator is placed a little to the right of the center of the front of the desk, which shows which piston is being used. At the right of the desk is the pedal and great stops, while at the left are the swell stops. All told there are 18 speaking stops. Seven cupolas [sic] are placed just over the upper manual in the center of the desk.

A full set of pedals, 30 in all, occupy their place, and in connection with these there are two pedals, a crescendo, which brings on the stops one at a time and closes them in a similar manner: also the balanced swell pedal, operating two sets of shades. To the left of these pedals there are three smaller ones, the reversible great to pedal, full organ and Tremulant.

The whole action is tubular pneumatic, compressed air being produced by a hydraulic water motor. This motor was adjusted by Allen D. Moore and is controlled by a wire running from the bellows to the shut off. The water motor can be controlled by the organist, as there is a valve at the left of the organ desk.

All who have seen and heard the organ say it is one of the finest that they have ever listened to.

Mr. Whitney, of Boston, will give a recital. . . .⁵³

 

The organ was a cause of jubilation when it was first heard on Easter Day 1902: “Prof. A. J. Phillips with Miss Laura A. Rugg as organist, and Christ church vested choir of about forty mixed voices outdid, if possible, previous efforts in preparing an Easter musical program. His efforts were augmented to a large extent by the magnificent new pipe organ which was recently placed in the church. . . .”⁵⁴ On April 2, the two installers, Bowen and Colbath, returned to Boston.⁵⁵

Whitney opened the organ on May 20, and the program was billed as “the finest musical feature of the season.”⁵⁶ The program opened with Miss Rugg at the console, followed by the church choir processing to “The Day Is Gently Sinking to a Close.” Whitney played selections of Guilmant, Handel, Lemaigre, Rinck, and Wagner, but it was Master John B. Findlay, a solo boy treble from the choir of the Church of the Advent in Boston, who stole the show with his rendition of “With Verdure Clad” from Haydn’s Creation. A newspaper reported that “The recital and concert was a thorough success musically. . . .”⁵⁷
The project had taken years of planning, and everyone at Christ Church was delighted by the outcome.

 

The 1903 Fire

Taken in context, imagine the congregation’s distress when only seven months later the chancel end of the church was gutted by fire. The headline in the Daily Journal said it all: “FIRE! Discovered 3:30. This afternoon in Christ Church. Organ Will Be Ruined.” An unnamed author in the Inter-State Journal put the disaster into larger perspective:

 

For a season when coal was unobtainable at any price and wood had to be used in coal furnaces, as during the past winter, it is not surprising that many destructive fires have occurred and that many incipient blazes were discovered just in time to save the property. Among the cheifest [sic] conflagrations in central Vermont was that of the partial destruction of Christ’s (Episcopal) Church, at Montpelier, on Jan. 24.⁵⁸

 

Although the interior and roof were badly damaged, the building was not destroyed. The organ, however, was a total loss.⁵⁹

Months passed before the congregation could rebuild, and then a number of construction problems caused further delays. An August 1903 announcement in the Argus and Patriot noted that the stained-glass was late, the black walnut wainscoting around the altar was being installed, and painters had finally completed their work on the interior.⁶⁰

 

Hutchings-Votey Organ Company, 1904

A second contract with the Hutchings-Votey Organ Co. was signed on June 29, 1903, for a replica of the previous instrument, but the organ did not arrive until January 1904. An announcement in the Daily Journal remarked:

 

The work of installing the new organ at Christ church is progressing rapidly, but is not sufficiently advanced to permit the holding of services in the church next Sunday.⁶¹

 

Two weeks later, this notice appeared:

 

Will Be Opened Sunday.

Mr. Mendal of Boston is at work today tuning the new organ in Christ church, which has been in the process of installation for several days. Services have been held in the church for a few weeks only since the burning of the church a year ago this month. They had to be suspended on account of work of putting in the new organ. The organ is one of the finest Hutchings & Votey makes and the melodious sound of the instrument will be a welcome part of the services, long dispensed with. It is planned now to have the church in readiness for services on Sunday if nothing unforeseen obstructs the plans of those in charge of the work. The rehearsal for the Sunday music will be held in the church on Saturday evening instead of Friday.⁶²

A final report stated:

 

A very large congregation attended the morning service at Christ church Sunday at which time the instrumental music was furnished by the organ, for the first time since the fire last January.

The instrument had been placed in position and although there is still three or four days’ work to be done upon it, it was possible to use it at the services, and the result was wholly satisfactory. The musical part of the service was especially fine and those who participated were highly commended. . . .⁶³

 

The tubular-pneumatic action organ cost $4,000.⁶⁴ It remained in the church until it was water-damaged on November 3, 1927.

 

The 1927 Flood

Following a particularly wet autumn, there were torrential rains in the days leading up to November 2–4, 1927. Montpelier is located at the confluence of the North Branch and the Winooski River, and late on November 1, 1927, the rivers began to rise. By November 3, the water on State Street in downtown Montpelier was 12 feet high, up to the top of the first story on most of the buildings. For church buildings at ground level, the flooding caused considerable damage, including the loss of two church organs: the 1868 Wm. A. Johnson at Bethany Congregational Church and the 1904 Hutchings-Votey at Christ Church. The 1927 Flood is universally considered the worst natural disaster in Vermont’s modern history. It resulted in 84 deaths, crippled communications and transportation networks throughout the state, and the property losses were reported to be some $21,000,000,⁶⁵ a staggering amount for the time. Montpelier was particularly hard hit.

 

Estey Organ Company, Opus 2730, 1928

After the waters receded, it was obvious that Christ Church needed a new organ. The Vestry looked south to Brattleboro and ordered an instrument from the Estey Organ Company. Estey reused the case front of the old organ so the new instrument did not look any different, but the mechanism was entirely new. The Estey organ was actually smaller than the 1904 Hutchings-Votey had been, with 4 ranks on the Great, 7 in the Swell, and 2 in the Pedal. The shop order specified a luminous console (which soon malfunctioned and was replaced!), and many of the ranks were extended to either 73 or 85 pipes to speak at multiple pitches. The finished organ was due for delivery on June 15, 1928, but it was not completed until early in the following year.

A February 9, 1929, notice in the Evening Argus related: “The new organ at Christ church will be dedicated Sunday evening at 8 p.m. by Ruth Bampton, member of the American Guild of Organists and instructor at [the] Montpelier Seminary.”⁶⁶ She was a sister of the famed Metropolitan Opera soprano, Rose Bampton. Two days later, another report stated:

 

The new organ is a 21-stop Estey organ, modern in every way, of a fine quality of tone well adapted for the Christ church, and Miss Bampton, who commenced playing the organ as soon as it was set up by representatives of the Estey company, handles it easily, for she is much at home with pipe organs, being not only an organist but composer as well. By some it was said that last evening the recital was the equal of any given in Montpelier in a long time. Miss Bampton played the program that she announced in Saturday’s edition, which included a variety that brought the best tones out of the organ, showed its soft sweet low tones as well as the volume that can be produced.⁶⁷

 

The program included works by Bach,  Borowski, Chadwick, Karg-Elert, Tchaikovsky, and Widor, and was well received.⁶⁸  

By the 1960s, the Estey was showing signs of age. Cracks and splits had developed in the windchests, and after studying the situation, a parish committee recommended buying a new organ.⁶⁹ The Estey remained until it was replaced in April 1972.

 

Karl Wilhelm, Opus 27, 1972

The desire for a new organ actually came earlier than April 1969, when it was announced to the annual diocesan convention that Christ Church was embarking on a capital improvement program involving an expenditure of some $50,000. The parish had just celebrated the centennial of the building, and work on the narthex was necessary. The project was expanded to include painting, reorganization of the choir space, a new organ, and the building of a chapel where the former Estey organ had stood. The new organ was dedicated in memory of Abiel M. Smith, who for twenty-five years had been the organist of Christ Church.⁷⁰ The project was the visionary effort of Jack Russell, then the organist, and the rector, the Rev. David Brown.

The contract went to Karl Wilhelm of St.-Hyacinthe, Québec, Canada. Following an energetic discussion regarding the placement of the organ in the building, the two-manual, mechanical-action instrument was installed in the spring of 1972. Christophe Linde designed the instrument, and Jacques L’Italien did the tonal finishing. Boadway described the installation in the Boston Organ Club Newsletter:

 

The new organ stands free in the right side aisle, the front of the case facing the opposite side wall of the nave, and the choir is thus seated with the congregation. The tall and shallow case of white oak displays five flats of Prinzipal pipes, the tall central group being a tower above the Brustwerk doors. The pipe shades and doors are carved, and the appearance of the case is indeed very handsome. . . . The attached key desk has manuals with black naturals and ivory-capped sharps; the Pedal sharps are capped with rosewood; the plain, large, flat drawknobs are arranged in double columns at each side with, unfortunately, machine-engraved labels that are not of ivory; the hitch-down brass coupler pedals are labeled as indicated in the stoplist above; there is no combination action; the stop and key action is mechanical but the Tremolo is electric; the very silent blower is within the case; the bass 12 pipes of the Subbass are exposed at the rear of the case with the access doors above; the lowest 12 pipes of the 8′ Rohrflöte are of stopped wood; and the Fagott is of half-length cylindrical spotted metal pipes.⁷¹

 

The noted Canadian organist Bernard Lagacé played a program for the Vermont Chapter of the American Guild of Organists on May 7, 1972, including works of Alain, Bach, Buxtehude, Reger, and Sweelinck.⁷² The organ was described in The Diapason⁷³ and remains in the church today. A. David Moore is the current caretaker of the instrument.

Despite the loss of two instruments to natural disasters, Christ Church remains at the forefront of Montpelier’s musical, religious, and social culture today. The choir, led by Lynnette Combs, is one of the finer church choirs in central Vermont. The parish’s six pipe organs have mirrored the progression of style and taste in American organ design, and the church’s fine musical program has been a beacon of culture in central Vermont for 178 years. ν

 

Sidebar I: Stoplists

 

Stevens & Jewett, 1854

Great, CC–g3, 56 notes

16′ Tenoroon, TC, 44 pipes

  8′ Open Diapason, 56 pipes

8′ Dulciana, 56 pipes

  8′ Keraulophon, TG, 37 pipes

  8′ Melodia Treble, TG, 37 pipes

  8′ St. Diapason Bass, 19 pipes

  4′ Principal, 56 pipes

  4′ Flute, TC, 44 pipes

  22⁄3′ Twelfth, 56 pipes

  2′ Fifteenth, 56 pipes

  8′ Trumpet, TC, 44 pipes

Swell, CC–g3, 56 notes,
enclosed

16′ Bourdon Treble, TC, 44 pipes

16′ Bourdon Bass, 12 pipes

  8′ Open Diapason, TC, 44 pipes

  8′ Viol de Gamba, TC, 44 pipes

  8′ St. Diap. Treble, TC, 44 pipes

  8′ St. Diap. Bass, 12 pipes

  4′ Principal Treble, TC, 44 pipes

  4′ Principal Bass, 12 pipes

  2′ Fifteenth, TC, 44 pipes

  II Cornet, TC, 88 pipes, 12th and 17th

  8′ Hautboy, TC, 44 pipes

Pedal, CCC–FF, 18 notes

16′ Sub Bass, 18 pipes, an Open Diapason

 

Couplers and Mechanicals

Swell to Great

Pedal to Great

Pedal to Swell

Pedal Check (see notes below)

Tremolo

No combination pedals

 

The Pedals are coupled to the Swell when the Pedal Check is drawn (no ‘Pedal to Swell’ stop), except when Pedal to Great is drawn out. Pedals cannot be coupled to both manuals at the same time, nor can they be uncoupled from both of them.

 

Source: Reconstructed from notes made in 1898–1901 by Almar Green, when the organ was to be rebuilt, sold, or replaced; and “A correspondent from Montpelier is loud in his praises. . . .,” (Boston) Daily Evening Traveller [sic] 10, no. 257 (Feb. 2, 1855): 1.

•

Estey Organ Company, Opus 2730, 1928

Great Organ, CC–c4, 61 notes

8′ Open Diapason (Leathered Inside 

    Bass), 73 pipes

8′ Dulciana, 73 pipes

8′ Melodia, 73 pipes

4′ Flute Harmonic, 73 pipes

Swell Organ, CC–c4, 61 notes

16′ Bourdon, 97 pipes

8′ Stopped Diapason, 73 notes

4′ Flute d’Amour, 73 notes

2′ Flautino, 61 notes

22⁄3′ Nasard, 61 notes

13⁄5′ Tierce, 61 notes

8′ Open Diapason, 73 pipes

8′ Salicional, 73 pipes

8′ Aeoline, 73 pipes

8′ Vox Celeste, TC, 61 pipes

4′ Violina (use top board wide enough 

    for Cornopean), 73 pipes

8′ Oboe, 73 pipes

Pedal Organ, CCC–G, 32 notes

16′ Open Diapason, 44 pipes

8′ Octave (Fm. Ped. Open), 32 notes

16′ Bourdon, 44 pipes

8′ Flute (Fm. Ped. Bdn.), 32 notes

16′ Lieb. Ged. (Fm. Sw. Bdn.), 32 notes

 

Tremolo

 

Couplers

Gt. to Gt. 4

Sw. to Gt. 16–8–4

Sw. to Sw. 16–4

Sw. to Ped. 8–4

Gt to Ped.

Gt. Uni. Sep.

Sw. Uni Sep.

 

Source: Estey Shop Order

•

Karl Wilhelm, Opus 27, 1972

Hauptwerk, CC–g3, 56 notes

8′ Prinzipal, 56 pipes

8′ Rohrfloete, 56 pipes

4′ Octav, 56 pipes

4′ Koppelfloete, 56 pipes

22⁄3′ Nazard, 56 pipes

2′ Waldfloete, 56 pipes

11⁄3′ Mixture IV, 224 pipes

8′ Trompete, 56 pipes

Brustwerk, CC–g3, 56 notes

8′ Holzgedackt, 56 pipes

4′ Rohrfloete, 56 pipes

2′ Prinzipal, 56 pipes

11⁄3′ Quinte, 56 pipes

Sesquialtera II, 78 pipes

2⁄3′ Zimbel II–III, 150 pipes

8′ Regal, 56 pipes

Tremulant

Pedal, CCC–F, 30 notes

16′ Subbass, 30 pipes

8′ Offenfloete, 30 pipes

4′ Choral Bass, 30 pipes

16′ Fagott, 30 pipes

 

Couplers

HW/PED

BW/PED

BW/HW

 

Mechanical key and stop action

 

Source: Dedication program

 

Sidebar II: Mr. Whitney’s Recommendations

October 29, 1901

Hon. F. E. Smith

Chairman, Organ Committee

Christ Church,

Montpelier, Vt.

Dear Mr. Smith:— 

Conformably to your wishes, I met Mr. Whitney, the former organist at Christ Church, on the 24th. inst. in Boston. He was extremely kind and courteous and exhibited the greatest possible interest in our affairs of a new church organ, having evidently given the subject, as the result of your correspondence with him, close and critical attention. All told, we spent two and one-quarter hours together, at my rooms in review of the various specifications, at his church in concrete illustration of the organ there, and at the shops of Hutchings & Votey, where I met the elder Mr. Hutchings and also your correspondent, Mr. Waterhouse, as I recall the name.

Mr. Whitney’s advices, summarized, may be expressed as follows:

(1) He is a strong advocate of Hutchings & Votey of Boston as the proper manufacturers of the proposed organ upon the grounds that their work is absolutely of the highest grade, sure of giving the church the best possible quality and finish, and is beyond all doubt of chicanery or misdirection.

(2) He believes that a good two manual organ is the thing to buy and declares that such an instrument, particularly with all the special connections set forth in the Hutchings & Votey specifications, will afford a wide range of both volume and harmony and prove eminently satisfactory in our church.

(3) He strongly advises the use of what he calls the tubular pneumatic action, particularly this action as supplied by the aforenamed firm, claiming that it does not get out of order, that it is strong in character and that it vastly contributes to the ease of playing, apart from the consideration that it enables you to locate the keyboard anywhere you wish.

(4) He emphasizes particularly the positive value and high importance of “putting the organ out”, meaning by its removal out of the present box and placing the pipes clear out, flaring with the music stand of the choir loft, that is, directly filling the arch facing the church. He also urges the making of an arch above the wainscoting in the chancel, the same to be filled with pipes, in order that volume and quality of tone may be conserved. The organist “should sit in the chancel” he claims, able to see and direct, if necessary, the choristers and in a position which will enable him to hear the organ and the singers. This is his advice upon this point, although in conversation he was ready to admit that want of space might force us to modify his wish in this respect, but on the whole he thought that we could so arrange it and, if we could, it certainly ought to be done.

(5) He was of the impression that we could satisfactorily arrange for the organist in the chancel, especially if there was a possibility of using a small choir for the purposes of the church. He thought in respect to this point that the object should be to get and hold a small, effective choir, effectiveness being the great point rather than numbers, and to keep reserves in hand out of which to supplement and recruit the regulars. I did not discuss this particularly but make it a part of this report as his suggestion in connection with our discussion of space limitations.

Permit me further to state the following items as bearing on the subject. Mr. Whitney had had this talk with Hutchings & Votey on the supposition that the church had $4,000 to spend for the purpose of an organ. That firm made its specifications to you in view of its now having a second organ to build, thus making a saving on both. They stated that possibly something might be saved on pipes and particularly on the case, a suggestion growing out of my statement that we had command of only $3500.00, but if there is to be a saving on the pipes and case it will depend upon where the organ is placed.

The matter was therefore left in this way: Mr. Whitney was to write you in substance all that he had said to me and return your papers. We are to send Hutchings & Votey full, exact and detailed measurements of all spaces affected, in order to enable them to refigure the price and to make any suggestions which their experiences may determine. I would suggest that this matter of making measurements be placed in charge of Mr. Phillips of the committee and that all measures be independently checked before being forwarded to Boston.

It is right to add that Mr. Whitney showed intense interest in this matter, often referring to his early work here and to old memories, and repeatedly expressed his wish to have Christ Church possess an organ of unquestioned merit, “and when it is installed”, said he, “I will come up and give an organ recital, bringing one of my best boy soloists”, adding with a smile, “without cost to you except for transportation of the boy”.

Trusting that all this may be found satisfactory by the Committee, I remain,

Yours very truly, Joseph A. De Boer

 

Sidebar III: Hutchings-Votey Organ Co., Contract, 1903

Boston, Mass., June 29, 1903.

MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT made this day by and between Hutchings-Votey Organ Co., Organ Builders of Boston, Mass., party of the first part, and Christ
P. E. Church of Montpelier, Vt., party of the second part.

To wit:—

The party of the first part shall build an Organ according to the annexed specifications, of the best materials and in the most thorough manner, and set it up in the above church in good working order, ready for use, warranted perfect in every respect on or about October 1st, 1903, barring any detention from labor troubles.

The party of the second part shall prepare the place for the Organ, and allow suitable convenience and opportunity in the church for the work of setting up and tuning it; shall fully insure it in the name of the party of the first part as soon as it or its parts shall have been deposited in the Church; shall keep said insurance in force until title to the organ shall be transferred to the party of the second part; and in full consideration for the finishing and delivery of the Organ as above, shall pay to the party of the first part, the sum of three thousand, four hundred and seventy-one dollars and sixty cents ($3,471.60), payable as follows—at least $1771.60 to be paid on completion of the organ in the church and the balance in two installments of $850 each in six and twelve months without interest, in Boston or New York funds.

It is agreed that the title to the organ shall be vested in the party of the first part until all payments and obligations, cash and deferred, have been paid in full, whereupon the title shall be given to the party of the second part.

John H. Waterhouse, Tres.

Hutchings-Votey Organ Co.

Fred E. Smith, Jr. Warden

Christ Church, Montpelier

 

SPECIFICATION OF AN ORGAN

prepared by

Hutchings-Votey Organ Co., Organ Builders, of Boston, Mass.

for 

Christ P. E. Church, Montpelier, Vt.

 

Two manuals, Compass from C to c 4, 61 notes

Compass of Pedals from C to f1, 30 notes

 

–GREAT ORGAN–

1. 8 ft. Open Diapason metal 61 pipes

2. 8 ft. Dolcissimo " 61 "

3. 8 ft. Melodia " 61 "

4. 4 ft. Octave " 61 "

5. 2 ft. Super Octave " 61 "

6. 8 ft. Trumpet " 61 "

 

–SWELL ORGAN–

7. 16 ft. Bourdon Treble wood 61 pipes

8. 16 ft. Bourdon Bass

9. 8 ft. Open Diapason

wood and metal 61 "

10. 8 ft. Salicional " 61 "

11. 8 ft. Stopped Diapason wood 61 "

12. 8 ft. Vox Celestis metal 61 "

13. 4 ft. Flute Harmonique " 61 "

14. 4 ft. Violina " 61 "

15. 2 ft. Flautino " 61 "

16. II Rks. Dolce Cornet " 122 "

17. 8 ft. Oboe " 61 "

 

–PEDAL ORGAN–

18. 16 ft. Open Diapason wood 30 pipes

19. 16 ft. Bourdon " 30 "

 

–COUPLERS–

20. Swell to Great

21. Swell to Swell 4 ft.

22. Swell to Swell 16 ft.

23. Great to Swell

24. Great to Pedal

25. Great to Great 16 ft.

26. Swell to Pedal

 

–COMBINATIONS–

1) Operating on Great and Pedal

2)

3)

0)

 

1) Operating on Swell and Pedal

2)

3)

4)

0)

 

General Release

Pedal Release

 

–PEDALS–

1. Reversible Great and Pedal

2. Balanced Swell

3. Tremolo

4. Sforzando (Full Organ)

5. Balanced Crescendo

 

Tubular pneumatic action

Extended keydesk

 

The builders are to have the privilege of using such parts of the old organ as can be used without detriment to the new instrument.

 

Notes

1. “The Sabbath at the State Capital,” The Rutland (Vt.) Daily Globe 1, no. 92 (Aug. 16, 1873): 1.

2. Jacob G. Ullery, Men of Vermont: An Illustrated Biographical History of Vermonters and Sons of Vermont (Brattleboro, Vt.: Transcript Publishing Company, 1894), 160.

3. Universitas Viridis Montis; or, The University of Vermont. 

4. “Hon. Benjamin Franklin Fifield,” Genealogical and Family History of the State of Vermont: A Record of Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Founding of a Nation (New York and Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1903), 1–4; and “Hon. Benjamin F. Fifield,” The Vermonter 4, no. 7 (Feb. 1899): 112.

5. The Vermont Encyclopedia s.v. “Dewey, Julius Y.”

6. “In Memoriam—Charles Dewey,” (Oak Park, Ill.) Life Insurance Courant 11, no. 2 (Sept. 7, 1905): 47–48.

7. The Vermont Encyclopedia s.v. “Dewey, George.” 

8. Norwich University, 1819–1911, Her History, Her Graduates, Her Roll of Honor (Montpelier, Vt.: The Capital City Press, 1911), 1.

9. “Phinney, Truman C.,” Men of Vermont: An Illustrated Biographical History of Vermonters and Sons of Vermont (Brattleboro, Vt.: Transcript Publishing Company, 1894), 312–13.

10. “Col. Fred E. Smith Dead,” (Montpelier, Vt.) Argus and Patriot 57, no. 17 (Feb. 27, 1907): 3; hereafter AP.

11. The Bicentennial of the Pipe Organ in Vermont, 1814–2014. Richmond, Virginia: OHS Press [2013], 70–79. 

12. “Old Business Man Gone,” AP 51, no. 23 (Apr. 17, 1901): 3.

13. George A. McIntyre, The History of Christ Episcopal Church (Montpelier, Vermont: Christ Church, 1982), 35; hereafter McIntyre.

14. Encyclopedia [of] Vermont Biography: A Series of Authentic Biographical Sketches of the Representative Men of Vermont and Sons of Vermont in other States (Burlington, Vermont: Ullery Publishing Company, 1912), 180.

15. “Rites for Mr. Smith,” The (Montpelier) Times Argus 71, no. 75 (June 12, 1967): 2. 

16. “New Wilhelm Tracker to Montpelier, Vermont,” The Diapason 63, no. 11 (Oct. 1972): 10.

17. Amy Ash Nixon, “Body of Local Orchestra Conductor Found,” (Montpelier) Times-Argus (Aug. 28, 2014); and “Brian P. Webb, Obituary On-Line,” Guare & Sons, Barbar & Lanier, Funeral Service, 30 School St., Montpelier, Vt.

18. Organ Handbook (2013): 66.

19. John Henry Hopkins, “Address,” Journal of the Proceedings of the Fiftieth Annual Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Vermont; Being the Eighth Annual Convention Since the Full Organization of the Diocese; Held in St. James’ Church, Woodstock on the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Days of September (Burlington: Chauncey Goodrich, 1840), 5; hereafter Vermont Convention Proceedings. 

20. “Historical Sketch of Christ Church, Montpelier,” AP 18, no. 25 (June 11, 1868): 3.

21. Hopkins, “Address,” Vermont Convention Proceedings (1842), 6.

22. The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Issued Quarterly, Under the Direction of the New England Historical Genealogical Society for the Year 1863 17 (Albany: J. Munsell, 1863), 177.

23. John Spargo, The Consecrated Century: An Outline History of St. Peter’s Protestant Episcopal Church, Bennington, Vermont (Bennington: Vestry of St. Peter’s Church, 1934), 16–17.

24. McIntyre, 25–26.

25. “Consecration,” (Montpelier) Vermont Watchman & State Journal 38, no. 16 (Dec. 23, 1842): 3; hereafter VWSJ.

26. Hopkins, “Address,” Vermont Convention Proceedings (1843), 7.

27. Vermont Convention Proceedings (1850), 29. 

28. “New Organ at the Congregationalist Church,” The St. Albans (Vt.) Messenger 26, no. 7 (Dec. 25, 1862): 3; hereafter SAM.

29. “New Church Organ,” (Montpelier) Vermont Patriot & State Gazette 30, no. 1 (Dec. 22, 1854): 3.

30. “Church Organ,” VWSJ 49, no. 6 (Jan. 5, 1855): 3. 

31. Hopkins, “Address,” Vermont Convention Proceedings (1855), 9.

32. “The organs of . . .,” The (Montpelier) Vermont Watchman 80, no. 29 (July 1, 1885): 1; hereafter VW.

33. “Montpelier Mere Mention,” AP 52, no. 16 (Feb. 26, 1902): 3.

34. E. A. Boadway, “An Annotated Catalog of Known Pipe Organs in Vermont,” The Bicentennial of the Pipe Organ in Vermont, 1814–2014 (Richmond, Virginia: OHS Press, [2013]), 200. 

35. McIntyre, 27.

36. “The plan for the . . .,” VWSJ 61, no. 27 (May 4, 1866): 2.

37. “The cornerstone of . . .,” VWSJ 62, no. 2 (Nov. 9, 1866): 2.

38. “State Items,” (St. Albans) Vermont Daily Transcript 1, no. 2 (May 14, 1868): 3.

39. Abby Maria Hemenway, The History of the Town of Montpelier, Including that of the Town of East Montpelier, for the First One Hundred and Two Years (Montpelier, Vt.: Published by Miss A. M. Hemenway, 1882), 412.

40. Ibid.

41. “Historical Sketch,” AP 18, no. 25 (June 11, 1868): 3.

42. MS, Church records, Report from an Organ Committee, November 30, 1898. Christ Church, Episcopal, Montpelier, Vermont [photocopied during the 1970s by E. A. Boadway; cited with permission]. 

43. Ibid.

44. Ibid., undated Organ Committee Report, likely Feb., 1899.

45. “Organ For Christ Church,” AP 51, no. 43 (Sept. 4, 1901): 3.

46. “Christ Church Organ,” AP 51, no. 44 (Sept. 11, 1901): 4.

47. “The organ builders. . .,” Montpelier (Vt.) Daily Journal 53, no. 70 (Feb. 24, 1902): 3; hereafter MDJ.

48. MS, Church records.

49. Ibid.

50. Ibid.

51. “New Organ For Christ Church,” AP 52, no. 16 (Feb. 26, 1902): 3.

52. “The new organ . . .,” The (Montpelier, Vt.) Evening Argus 5, no. 122 (Mar. 24, 1902): 4; hereafter EA.

53. “New Organ Placed in Christ Church,” EA 5, no. 124 (Mar. 26, 1902): 1; a similar article appeared as “New Church Organ,” MDJ 53, no. 100 (Mar. 31, 1902): 2.

54. “Glad Easter,” MDJ 53, no. 100 (Mar. 31, 1902): 1.

55. “Montpelier and Vicinity,” MDJ 53, no 102 (Apr. 2, 1902): 4.

56. “Organ Recital,” AP 52, no. 26 (May 2, 1902): 3.

57. “Whitney Organ Recital,” AP 52, no. 29 (May 28, 1902): 3.

58. “A Recent Fire at Montpelier, Vt., and its Probable Origin,” Inter-State Journal: An Illustrated Monthly of the Connecticut Valley 5, nos. 10–11 (Jan.–Feb., 1903): n.p.

59. “Christ Church Badly Damaged by Fire and Water,” MDJ 54 (Jan. 26, 1903): 1.

60. “Work on Church Delayed,” AP 53, no. 42 (Aug. 26, 1903): 4.

61. “Montpelier Locals,” MDJ 54 (Jan. 7, 1904): 4.

62. “Will Be Opened Sunday,” MDJ 54 (Jan. 21, 1904): 4.

63. “Services at Christ Church,” EA 7, no. 73 (Jan. 25, 1904): 4.

64. Vermont Convention Proceedings (1904), 122.

65. The Vermont Encyclopedia s.v. “Flood of 1927.”

66. “Christ Church,” (Montpelier, Vt.) Evening Argus 32, no. 87 (Feb. 9, 1929): 4; hereafter EA. 

67. “Dedication Services Occurred Sunday Including an Organ Recital,” EA 32, no. 88 (Feb. 11, 1929): 8.

68. “Christ Church,” EA 32, no. 87 (Feb. 9, 1929): 4.

69. MS, Vestry minutes. Christ Church, Montpelier, Vt. [custody of the church; cited with permission].

70. “Annual Episcopal Convention,” SAM 109, no. 85 (Apr. 30, 1969): 10. 

71. E. A. Boadway, “Christ Episcopal Church, Montpelier, Vermont.” The Boston Organ Club Newsletter 8, no. 4 (April, 1972): 6–7.

72. “Capital Organ Concert Sunday,” The (Montpelier-Barre, Vt.) Times-Argus 76, no. 43 (May 4, 1972): 24.

73. “New Wilhelm Tracker to Montpelier, Vermont,” The Diapason 63, no. 11 (Oct. 1972): 10.

Michael McNeil

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

Editor’s note: Part 1 of this article was published in the July issue of The Diapason, pages 17–19. Part 2 was published in the August issue, pages 18–21.

 

Re-pitching of the Pedal 

In Figure 23 we see the C side of the Pedal 16′ Trombone in the front row, and the Pedal 16′ Open Diapason in the back row. Both stops have their pipes in the original position. Note the crude addition of boards to the top of the Trombone pipes as the means of lowering the pitch from A450 to A435 Hz. Relative to its original voicing, this stop is choked off in power and brilliance. Also note the more professional lengthening of the resonators of the Pedal 16′ Open Diapason pipes.

 

Impact of the Solo division 

The Solo division was added in 1902 as Opus 1959 of E. & G. G. Hook & Hastings, placing the windchest over the C# side of the Pedal and Great divisions. Figure 24 is a view from below up into the bottom of the Solo chest. The Pedal wood Trombone pipe in the center is speaking directly into the bottom of the Solo chest, muffling its tone. The Trombone pipe on the left has been mitered to clear the Solo chest.

In Figure 25 one can see that the low C# pipe of the Great 16′ Trumpet speaks directly into the bottom of the Solo chest. In an effort to restore the tuning and power to the pipe, the entire scroll has been crudely forced open. In Figure 26 one can see the more normal scroll of the unobstructed low C pipe of the Great 16′ Trumpet. The diatonic differences heard in the voicing of many bass pipes are entirely due to the unfortunate placement of the Solo division. The craftsmanship and engineering skills of 1902 were clearly inferior to those of 1863.

The change of pitch

The organ was originally pitched at A=450 Hz. Sometime before 1902 the organ was repitched to A=435 Hz.⁶ The current pitch of the organ, 435.3 Hz at 74 degrees F, was measured in June 2000 with a Widener electronic tuner using the 4′ Octave of the Great as the reference pitch, while confirming that this stop was in good tune with itself and the rest of the chorus. The tuning of the organ is quite stable as a result of the use of scrolls in the bass pipes, cone tuning for the trebles, and generous pipe flueways, which do not easily become choked with dust. 

 

Resonator lengths of the reeds

How did this change of pitch affect the timbre of the reed chorus? Raising the pitch of a reed pipe by pushing down on its tuning wire will eventually force it to overblow to its octave. As an overblowing reed pipe’s tuning wire is slowly raised and the pitch flattened, the pipe will at some point flip back to its fundamental pitch. This is called the “flip point,” and it represents the pitch with the warmest fundamental power. As the wire is raised further, tuning to yet lower pitches, the fundamental will weaken and the harmonics will strengthen in power. The same effect will occur if the resonator is shortened at the flip point. Most reed pipe resonators are adjusted to a length where the flip point is just slightly sharp of the desired pitch—the speech is faster and the harmonic balances are more pleasing with good fundamental warmth and some fire in the harmonics. A good resonator length is not so close to the flip point that it “flips” to the octave when it is tuned on the wire to the flue pipes on the hottest summer days, but it is close to that condition.

With this in mind, the author saw an opportunity to explore the flip points of the Hook chorus reeds. With the exception of the low C pipe, which was added when the organ was repitched to 435 Hz, the resonators of the 4′ Clarion were cut dead length with no scrolls and no evidence of having been shortened. This afforded the opportunity to explore the timbre of these stops relative to what they might have been in 1863. 

The reeds were tested for flip points at 70 degrees Fahrenheit when the tuning of the 4′ Octave was 434 Hz. The pipes were tuned on the wire sharp to their overblowing octaves, then tuned down carefully to their flip points, and the pitch of the pipe relative to A was measured on a Widener electronic tuner. The table below (Figure 27) shows the flip point frequencies for the Great reed chorus and Pedal Trombone.

 

16′ 8′ 4′ 2′ 1′

Gt 16′ 434.2 441.4 434.3 434.5 445.2

Gt 8′ 435 444.2 435.8 434.5

Gt 4′ 444.1 439.2 449

Pd 16′ 437 434.6 432.6

Pitch @ 70° 434 434 434 434 434

Figure 27

 

When looking at this table we need to bear in mind that the flip point frequencies need to be higher than the relative pitch of A to which we want to tune the chorus, i.e., these flip points should be significantly higher than 434 Hz. What we find are values ranging from 432.6 Hz to 449 Hz. The direct inference, assuming that the pipes have not been otherwise modified, is that the original chorus was significantly brighter than what we now hear. The dead length reed resonators were apparently not shortened and their tuning wires were used to achieve A=435 Hz, pushing many of the pipes very close to, or even beyond, their flip points. This is a significant offset in the flip point from the original voicing. It is clear that as beautiful and inspiring as it is, we hear a darker approximation of the original 1863 reed chorus in the present organ.

 

The magnitude of the deficit

The issue of pitch is complicated. Figure 28 shows a graphic depiction of the problem. The shift in pitch at middle A from 450 to 435 Hz is a change of 15 Hz. The distance between a half step at this pitch is about 25 Hz, and when the pipes were moved up a half step, middle A was then repitched to about 425 Hz. The 10 Hz deficit between 425 and 435 Hz was corrected by retuning the pipes. In the case of the dead length reeds, the tuning wires were simply pushed down to raise the pitch, so we know that the original Hook pipes in the table in Figure 27 would have “flipped” at frequencies about 10 Hz higher (at middle A) than what we measured in the table. To bring the pipes back to their original timbre at the current 435 Hz, the resonators would need to be shortened on all reed pipes by an amount that would produce about a 10 Hz increase in pitch at middle A. This may be inadvisable as it would reduce the scale of the resonators.

The Pedal Trombone was not moved up a half step, but large flaps of wood were added to drop its pitch from 450 to 435 Hz, covering the tops of its resonators and reducing its power and brilliance (Figure 23). The correction would entail the removal of the flaps and a lengthening of the resonators, which may be also inadvisable, as it would increase the scale of the pipes, an effect opposite to the correction needed for the reed chorus pipes of the Great division. 

The flue pipes suffered a similar fate and were retuned 10 Hz higher by one or both of two methods: making the pipes shorter and/or opening their toes. Of the two methods, the opening of the toes had a major effect on the timbre and power of the pipes. The impact of such changes is described in the notes on the 16′ Open Diapason and the 8′ Open Diapason Forte, with the result that the current balances deviate markedly from the original intentions of the Hooks. The correction would entail a reduction of the toes where they were opened, and a further shortening of the pipes. Since nearly all façade pipes have had their scrolls rolled down to the maximum extent, or even removed, the correction would require deeper cutouts and new scrolls on all pipes, not a simple or necessarily desirable proposition.

Raising the pitch from 435 to 440 Hz would push some reeds beyond the flip point, further darkening the sound, and it would increase the tuning deficit to 15 Hz. Such an increase in pitch would require further deepening of the façade pipe scroll openings, most of which are already at their limit. Further opening of the toes of the façade pipes would make their timbre and power even more imbalanced than their current state. All of these reasons suggest why the organ was never repitched to 440 Hz. 

  

Reflections

The Hook organ was put back into regular service use during the tenure of Fr. Thomas Carroll, SJ, as the director of the Jesuit Urban Center at the Church of the Immaculate Conception. Many notable organists at that time visited the church and played the instrument in concerts that were warmly and appreciatively received. 

It is hoped that the research presented in this study will inform those who restore this organ at a future date. Virtually all of the tonal modifications made to this organ resulted from the change to its pitch and the addition of the Solo division; the rest is vintage and very well preserved E. & G. G. Hook. 

Serious consideration should be given to the relocation of the Solo division in a manner that does not encroach upon the tuning of the original Hook pipes or limit the sound egress of the original Hook layout. The raw data indicate that the 1902 installation of the Solo division had a major impact on both counts. If the decision is made to remove the 1902 Solo division from the organ, and that conclusion should not be reached lightly, it should be carefully crated and stored, not discarded. It is a part of the Romantic tapestry and history of this organ.

Three possibilities now suggest themselves: 

1) Leave the organ at 435 Hz and reposition the Solo division to allow sufficient clearance to the Great and Pedal bass pipes. This preserves the current sound but corrects for the tonal and mechanical damage inflicted by the Solo division installation. It does not address the darker character of the reed chorus or the tonal imbalances of the 16′ and 8′ Open Diapasons.

2) Same as Option 1, but shorten the manual reed resonators to their original flip points, i.e., about 10 Hz shorter at middle A. Lengthen the wooden resonators of the Pedal Trombone and remove the obstructing boards. Restore the toes of the Diapasons to their original values and further deepen the tuning slots of all façade pipes. This involves significant expense in pipework restoration, it comes closer to the original Hook sound and power balances, but it permanently and perhaps inadvisedly changes the diameter scales of the many reeds that are cut to length.

Note that most of the scrolls on the reed pipes in Figure 29 (see page 22) are excessively rolled down in an effort to achieve 435 Hz; restoring the original pitch would correct this, so . . .

3) Repitch the organ to its original 450 Hz and move the pipes back to their original positions and voicing, restore the toes of the two Diapasons back to their original values, and restore the tuning scrolls of all pipes back to their original positions. This restores the original sound of the Hook. Repositioning of the Solo division is still essential.

Option 3 would not be the exact sound familiar to those of us who have heard the organ at Immaculate Conception, but it would be faithful to the original intent of the Hooks. The reed chorus would come alive. The author strongly recommends Options 1 or 3 over Option 2. Repitched to 450 Hz, the organ will not be compatible with orchestral instruments tuned to 440 Hz, but neither is the present organ compatible at 435 Hz, and the pipework will clearly not support 440 Hz. The argument can be made that we have a great many organs tuned to 440 Hz in our concert halls, while we have very few large Hook organs in their original state designed for superb acoustics like those of Immaculate Conception. Hook Opus 322 presents us with a unique challenge: it has been passed down to us in superb condition by the careful attention of the Lahaise family, and it may be the best opportunity we have to hear a large, well-preserved Hook chorus of Civil War vintage designed for a stunning acoustic.

The importance of the choice we make of the restoration options pales in comparison to the decision of the site of the organ’s new home. Much of this organ’s fame was the result of its placement in the stunning acoustics of the Church of the Immaculate Conception. When selecting or building a new acoustic for this organ it is important to realize that architects are not accustomed to the requirements of pipe organs. Be especially aware that definitions of reverberation by architects will not even remotely correlate with your musical perception of those acoustics. See The Sound of Pipe Organs, p. 32, for a detailed discussion of this ubiquitous problem. If the Church of the Immaculate Conception still exists in its original acoustical form, an unlikely event, take the architects there and make the accurate replication of those acoustics a requirement. If that acoustic doesn’t exist, take the architects to the Duke University Chapel in Durham, North Carolina. Architects will know how to measure it, but they will be stunned by the request to replicate it. The fame of the Hook organ and its original acoustical environment are inseparable. As any organbuilder will tell you, the best stop in any organ is the room in which it is placed, or to put it more bluntly, a wonderful organ placed in a mediocre room will sound­—mediocre.

Professor Thomas Murray, Yale University organist, has been deeply involved with this Hook organ, has made recordings of it (listed in the discography), and possesses a deep knowledge of the Romantic literature. Future restorers of this organ could benefit from his advice. 

We are incredibly fortunate to have at least some detailed data on the Hook organ, and we owe the Jesuit community and especially Fr. Thomas Carroll, SJ, a great debt for the opportunity to acquire it. Fr. Carroll now resides at the Collegio Bellarmino in Rome, Italy, a home to a community of more than 70 Jesuits representing more than 35 countries. He is the spiritual director for many of the Jesuits pursuing advanced theological degrees, conversing with about half in English and half in Italian. He provides guidance for young Jesuit scholars in the preparation of theses written in English, and for whom English may be a second, third, or fourth language.

 

Notes and Credits

All photographs, tables, graphs, and data are by the author except as noted.

1. Owen, Barbara. “A Landmark within a Landmark: The 1863 Hook Organ,” undated typescript.

2. Excel files with all raw data taken on the Hook and the spreadsheets that produced the graphs and tables may be obtained at no charge by e-mailing the author at: [email protected].

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

4. Huntington, Scot L., Barbara Owen, Stephen L. Pinel, Martin R. Walsh, Johnson Organs 1844–1898, OHS Press, Richmond, Virginia, pp. 17–18.

5. Elsworth, John Van Varick. The Johnson Organs, The Boston Organ Club Chapter of the Organ Historical Society, Harrisville, New Hampshire, 1984, p. 45.

6. Noack, Fritz. Preliminary Report about the Pipework of the 1863 E. & G. G. Hook Organ, July 9, 1999.

Discography

Murray, Thomas. The E. & G. G. Hook Organ, Immaculate Conception Church, Boston, Sheffield Town Hall Records, Album S-11 (ACM149STA-B), Santa Barbara, CA.

Murray, Thomas. An American Masterpiece, CD, AFKA SK-507.

 

Useful References

Cabourdin, Yves, and Pierre Chéron. L’Orgue de Jean-Esprit et Joseph Isnard dans la Basilique de la Madeleine à Saint-Maximin, ARCAM, Nice, France, 1991, 208 pp.

Huntington, Scot L., Barbara Owen, Stephen L. Pinel, Martin R. Walsh, Johnson Organs 1844–1898, The Princeton Academy of the Arts, Culture, and Society, Cranbury, New Jersey, 2015, 239 pp.

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

Owen, Barbara. The Organ in New England, The Sunbury Press, Raleigh, North Carolina, 1979, 629 pp.