New Organs

David E. Wallace & Co., LLC, Gorham, Maine

Opus 73

Wallace & Co.’s Opus 73 is a portable instrument designed for both demonstrations and concerts. It was first showcased in the exhibition hall during the 2014 American Guild of Organists’ national convention in Boston, Massachusetts. Opus 73 made its concert debut in March of 2015 when it was used for two concerts by the Maine Music Society (www.mainemusicsociety.org). The organ was well received in these performances and was successful in accompanying a large chorus and orchestra.

Opus 73 is moved easily in two large sections. The top section holds only the pipes, which have been carefully racked for optimal stability. Pipe racking was accomplished in the traditional manner using red-hot burning irons to cauterize and taper the rack holes for a more supportive fit. Each pipe also has a hook soldered onto the foot just above the rackboard that fits over a pin that prevents the pipe from turning while being transported. All of the largest metal pipes have reinforced feet for durability. The bottom section of the organ contains the windchest, key action, and wind system. For safe transport the keyboard slides in, the pedalboard pulls out, and the decorative cornice lifts off. Assembly takes less than ten minutes and involves setting the upper half gently on top of the lower half and pulling out the keyboard. Opus 73’s careful design allows the organ to be rugged and transportable with minimal effort while providing an instrument with a full and rich voice.

When fully set up, the organ measures 7 feet 10 inches tall, 46 inches wide, and 21 inches deep (excluding pedalboard). The higher placement of the pipes allows the organ to speak freely when used with large ensembles and in large rooms. This is a distinct difference from the smaller portable box organs. Generous scaling of the pipework has allowed Opus 73 to perform well with large ensembles without being overpowered or sounding forced. By closing the panels and front doors, the sound of the organ can be diminished appropriately for quieter settings while still remaining present and warm.

While the instrument was not designed to be a replica of any ancient instrument, inspiration for all aspects of the organ came from the study of older organs. The design of the organ case is simple, yet elegant with delicate moldings that catch the eye but do not distract. The casework, bench, and pedalboard are made of reclaimed quartersawn white oak. All joinery was executed in the traditional manner with hand-cut dovetails and either pinned or wedged mortise and tenon joints. All interior parts, to include the wind system, slider windchest, and key action are of reclaimed white pine. The key desk is of black walnut with horizontal stop bars of solid brass. Natural key coverings are ebony with flamed maple sharps.

Opus 73’s key action is balanced and self regulating with a floating backfall. The front end of the backfall rests passively on the key tails while the back end is directly connected to the pulldown wires from the pallets. This mechanical design permits the keyboard to slide in, as there is no hard connection between the backfall and the keys. All parts of the key action are made to ensure that there is little unwanted friction. The result is key action that is light and responsive and promotes careful articulation. The pedal is attached to the key action by a coupler, and having the pedalboard in place is optional. 

The organ is winded by a .18hp Ventola blower, which feeds into a double fold, parallel rise reservoir. The organ has an ample supply of wind at 3″ pressure set primarily by the weight of the blower itself. All panels on the organ are removable for maintenance and for demonstrations. During educational events, spectators can easily view the inner workings of the organ as all the components are in full view. The pallet box has a polycarbonate bungboard so that the pallets are visible while the organ is being demonstrated. 

All parts of Opus 73 were designed and built in the Wallace shop, with the exception of the pipes. The 8′ Stopped Diapason is from E. & G.G. Hook Opus 266 and was restored by the Wallace crew. The metal pipework was commissioned from Organ Supply Industries, Erie, Pennsylvania. To better accommodate a mobile lifestyle, the 2′ Principal and 11⁄3′ Quinte are cone tuned (scroll tuned in the bass) and the 4′ Chimney Flute is tuned on the ears. The tonal finishing was completed by David Wallace and Nick Wallace.

Photo credits:  Nick Wallace

David E. Wallace & Co., LLC

Pipe Organ Builders

147 County Road

Gorham, Maine 04038

207-839-7621

[email protected]

www.wallacepipeorgans.com

C. B. Fisk, Inc., Gloucester, Massachusetts, Opus 146

Chapel of the Holy Spirit, 

Christ Church, Glendale, Ohio

Glendale, Ohio, incorporated in 1855, is an enchanting, historic village of 2,200 inhabitants located 15 miles north of Cincinnati. One of the earliest planned communities in the state, Glendale was positioned next to a railroad that originally provided transportation to local industries and to downtown Cincinnati. These rails now carry only freight but are still part of Glendale’s unique ambiance. Its winding streets and charming Village Square are surrounded by many parks and large Greenbelt preserves. It is the only village in Ohio designated a National Historic Landmark.

In 1865, only 10 years after Glendale’s incorporation, Christ Church, Episcopal, was founded, and soon thereafter an elegant Victorian era stone church with surrounding campus was built. Nearly 150 years later, in the spring of 2014, Christ Church completed an exciting new addition to their campus—the Chapel of the Holy Spirit. Attractive, modern in design, and filled with light, the chapel was designed by City Studios Architecture of Cincinnati. Acoustically, the new space is reverberant, well balanced, and nicely supportive of both organ and choral sound. It is outfitted with movable furnishings, allowing for great flexibility and multiple configurations for various types of worship and performance. 

Discussions focusing on a new tracker organ for the chapel began with Bryan Mock, organist and director of music at Christ Church, in the summer of 2011, and by May of 2014, C. B. Fisk was chosen to be the builder of a two-manual, 25-stop instrument. A contract was signed in July of the same year. Dr. Mock, a past president of the Association of Anglican Musicians, presides over a comprehensive music ministry that involves numerous volunteer musicians and encompasses four choirs. From the beginning, he insisted that the primary function of the new organ be to provide fitting, sympathetic accompaniment of his multiple choirs. Naturally, liturgy and literature were central considerations as well, but our charge was to strike just the right balance, with choral accompaniment being the top priority.

Constructed in our Gloucester workshop during the winter and spring of 2015, Opus 146 was delivered to the Chapel of the Holy Spirit in early August. On October 25, one week after the tonal finishing was completed, the organ was dedicated in a service of Evensong, with the Holy Spirit as the theological motif. Dr. Mock presided at the organ, presenting Veni Creator-based music of Nicolas de Grigny, Maurice Duruflé, and J. S. Bach. Christ Church’s 30-voice Adult Choir, accompanied by the new organ, also participated in the liturgy, singing Thomas Attwood Walmisley’s Service in D Minor and Michael McCarthy’s choral arrangement of O Love of God, How Strong and True.

Charles Nazarian’s striking case design for Opus 146 was accomplished in a 1:16-scale physical 3D model, a process that has been the norm in the Fisk workshop for over five decades. As the photos show, the instrument occupies one corner of the chapel space. In plan, the shape of the façade is the result of two intersecting planes tailored to this corner location. The interior layout of the organ reflects this shaping, with the Great and Swell divisions placed behind the hammered spotted metal Principal 8′ in the three right-hand façade compartments (the Great is at impost level, with the Swell just above, oriented back-to-front), and the Pedal division located behind the wooden Violone 16′ in the two left-hand towers. With regard to the development of the visual design, Charles Nazarian has written:

One of the most interesting features of the room architecture is the way intersecting wall planes and wood paneling form dynamic triangular and polygonal shapes. Those interesting shapes provided the angular design language that helps the organ to feel at home in the Chapel’s architectural context. On first view, the most striking example of this shaping may be the organ’s roof. It is deliberately allowed to “fly” above the square ends of the casework with exciting polygonal angles that give the entire organ a sense of being ready to lift off into flight. . . . Since the Chapel is named for the Holy Spirit whose traditional symbol is the Dove, the theme of flight is represented in abstract forms of the pierced pipe-shades over the pipe arrays. The composition of the five shades is
identical, but each one is different in scale and angle, tailored to the pipe tops below. In this case we saw a wonderful opportunity to represent the Dove and to give a signature design element to the organ. The pierced panels also provide a variegated screen for tonal egress.

The request to display the Tetragrammaton was answered by creating three indented panels above the console, just under the three metal pipe arrays. The lettering appears in the center panel. The organ console features vertical stop jambs that add sculptural interest to the casework and afford easy access for registration changes by the musician who is often conducting the Choir. The intended Choir location, in the large room indentation to the right of the organ, provides good lines of sight for the singers to watch the music director at the organ console.

In overview, the design of Opus 146 has taken us down some anticipated as well as some exciting unexpected paths. In every aspect of the organ’s development we have asked the question, “What will make this instrument mechanically, tonally, and visually a perfect match for its home with a personality like no other?”

Reflecting on the presence of the Tetragrammaton on the organ case, music director Bryan Mock wrote in the dedication leaflet, “Christ Church Glendale is dedicated to the second person of the Trinity, our new Chapel to the third person, and the Fisk organ bears the Tetragrammaton (), that is, the Hebrew letters for the unpronounceable and ineffable Name of God, thus bringing us around full circle to the symbolic abiding presence of the Holy Trinity within our community.”

Tonal finishing of Opus 146’s 1,420 pipes took place from early September through mid-October and was under the direction of Fisk voicer Nami Hamada. Nami had visited the chapel the previous September in order to get a first-hand look at the space and to listen to music being made by instrumentalists and singers performing from various points in the room. An acoustical profile was created in imagination, thus beginning the tonal design process. What Nami learned informed countless decisions as we scaled the pipework, computed mouth widths, chose pipe materials, and settled on wind pressures. Recently reflecting on her experiences working in the chapel, Nami Hamada wrote:

When we start to voice an organ, the first thing we need to do is to learn what the characteristics of the room’s acoustics are. As we began voicing the Principal 8′ of the Great for the Chapel of the Holy Spirit, we did a lot of analysis of the room by experimenting with changing the tone and volume of the pipes. One thing that became clear was that the space was very sensitive to the number of chairs present (and, by extension, to the amount of floor area that was exposed), as well as the number of people in the Chapel. The space had a pleasant reverberation and good bass support. The treble range, while not overpowering, sustained its clarity.

Once we learned about the room, we continued with the voicing of each pipe, carefully keeping in mind the changes to the acoustic when the room was in use for various occasions. One of the specific challenges to the voicing of Opus 146 was to achieve the proper volume level of each stop without forfeiting the expressive qualities and distinctive colors of each voice. Another challenge was to find just the right balance between the principal and flute choruses. 

The light and responsive key action of Opus 146 allowed the pipes’ speech to be voiced freely and expressively, which in turn offers the organist the ability to
control the pipes’ speech. The ability to have “flexible” wind, by disengaging the largest winker, enables expression through emphasis or accent not unlike the human lungs, especially in earlier music and hymn playing. For me, this means that the organ can perform a wider range of repertoire very convincingly, and its capacity to lead hymn singing is enhanced.  

While the various flue choruses make available a wide variety of tonal colors, the Hautbois 8′ on the Swell provides a quiet reed color, under expression. The Trumpet 8′ on the Great and the Trombone 16′ on the Pedal add a wonderful strength and support to create a full and exciting tutti sound in the chapel.

All of us at C. B. Fisk are grateful for having had the opportunity to build Opus 146 for Christ Church Glendale. It has recently come to light that this instrument will be made available to organ students of Professor Michael Unger at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Thus, in addition to its many important sacred roles in the chapel, the organ will take on an additional role of great consequence—that of teacher. We couldn’t be more pleased.

—David C. Pike

Senior Vice President & Tonal Director

C. B. Fisk, Inc.

From the organist and director of music

Christ Church Glendale, an Episcopal Church in suburban Cincinnati, Ohio, was founded in 1865. Three years later the parish built a worship space in Victorian Gothic style, complete with Connick windows and a Hilborne Roosevelt organ, Opus 25. The parish built a new education building between this church and the adjacent parish house in the mid-twentieth century. This new construction included a small chapel designed in scale to be primarily used by children. Over time, adults also chose to use this space, and attendance quickly outstripped the chapel’s capacity. This mid-century building was demolished and a new education building was built in 2014, including a large chapel with seating capacity for over 200 congregants. This chapel was carefully engineered and designed for optimal resonant acoustics for clear and beautiful production of music and speech.

Initially there was little planning for a new organ in the new Chapel of the Holy Spirit, as discussions centered on alternative musical expressions within the worship life of the church. Eventually the parish decided that a new organ, of the best quality available, should be built for the space. This organ should, within the constraints of space and resources, be as flexible as possible in accompanying corporate worship within current and foreseeable trends in Episcopal liturgy and the needs of the community. The C. B. Fisk organ company of Gloucester, Massachusetts, was ultimately chosen for its proposed sensitivity to the 21st-century design of the room visually and the superior musical quality of their extant instruments.

Our Fisk, Opus 146, continues to amaze and charm listeners with its beauty as a solo and accompanimental instrument in its acoustical and visual space. It has a warm and inviting sound that aids and supports both congregational and choral singing. It also renders beautifully singing solo stops and powerful pleno for a very wide spectrum of musical production, and I am certain that this instrument will continue to inspire many generations to come at Christ Church Glendale.

—Bryan K. Mock, DMA

Organist and Director of Music

Christ Church, Glendale, Ohio

GREAT – Manual I – 61 notes

16′ Bourdon 

8′ Principal 

8′ Spire Flute 

4′ Octave 

4′ Chimney Flute 

22⁄3′ Quinte 

2′ Superoctave 

Mixture IV–V

8′ Trumpet 

Peragallo Pipe Organ Company, 

Paterson, New Jersey

St. Malachy’s—The Actors’ Chapel, New York City

Peragallo Pipe Organ Company, 

Paterson, New Jersey

St. Malachy’s—The Actors’ Chapel, New York City

The music ministry at St. Malachy’s Church in New York City 

On Monday, January 20, 2012, the New York Times published a feature article on the Paul Creston Memorial Pipe Organ, Aeolian-Skinner (1935), Opus 938, that was relocated to St. Malachy’s—The Actors’ Chapel, New York City, and rebuilt, renovated, and enhanced by the Peragallo Pipe Organ Company (2012) of Paterson, New Jersey. This vintage instrument has a storied past, which, coupled with its remarkable ‘rebirth,’ makes it a cultural landmark in its new home in the heart of New York City’s Theater District, the performing arts capital of the world.

In 2007, the late John Peragallo, Jr. received a call from a church in East Orange, New Jersey (formerly Hillside Presbyterian Church) about the organ, which had been damaged from a water leak in the roof. There was significant damage to the console, but the majority of the instrument, including the pipes and chests, remained mostly in good condition. However, the church no longer had the ability to maintain or use the organ and it was days away from being thrown away. Upon hearing this, Peragallo said to hold off on demolition. He returned the next day with his staff to dismantle the organ and began looking for a new home for it. John Peragallo, Jr.’s next call was to his friend, Reverend Richard D. Baker, pastor at St. Malachy’s—The Actors’ Chapel, to consider this instrument for installation at the church. With the guidance of then director of music Daniel Brondel, a proposal was developed in 2008. It was not until current director of music Mark Pacoe arrived in January 2009, that the project would gain traction. A comprehensive and multi-faceted fundraising and education campaign was launched in early 2009.

Over the next few years (2009–2012), St. Malachy’s Parish garnered widespread support for this extensive undertaking. St. Malachy’s is a relatively small parish that listed about 600 families on the register in 2009. Compared to its suburban counterparts that typically have rosters two and three times as large, St. Malachy’s is uniquely situated in the heart of the theater district and attracts regular visitors from around the world, as well as tourists on a daily basis. Fittingly, a campaign was developed to promote not only fundraising for this ‘King of Instruments,’ but also a liturgical and cultural outreach that resonates with all who visit and pray at The Actors’ Chapel. Through Fr. Baker’s vision, a high-quality music program, with its fine choral and liturgical tradition, was paramount in the challenge of acquiring such a fine, vintage instrument.

The new installation would be called the ‘Paul Creston Memorial Pipe Organ,’ honoring the legacy of the great American composer, who served as organist at St. Malachy’s from 1934–1967. During Creston’s time, there was a Kimball organ (15 stops) in the upper church and a Kilgen organ (20 stops) in the lower church (commonly referred to as The Actors’ Chapel, which was converted into the Encore Senior Center in 1978). Unfortunately, because of disrepair and other mitigating factors, both instruments were eventually removed in the late 1970s, when the church and the neighborhood were entrenched in difficult times and transition. Fr. George Moore was assigned to assess the dire existence of St. Malachy’s in the late 1970s, and became its pastor in 1978. Through Fr. Moore’s leadership, he re-galvanized St. Malachy’s influence and ministry in the neighborhood. Father Moore’s legacy is still felt today because of the measures he took then as a community activist and leader of the church. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Times Square and the Theater District became more attractive, commercial, and family friendly. The neighborhood surrounding St. Malachy’s was in the early years of a successful re-gentrification. While the church and surrounding areas were on the verge of ‘better days,’ it would be a very long time before a new pipe organ would sound again in the sacred place. In the 1980s, a two-manual electronic organ was installed and was used until obsolete in 2012. 

One of the most important challenges of this pipe organ project was how to promote St. Malachy’s rich history, its location, and its mission and ministry; this special place needed a worthy and versatile American classic organ, namely Aeolian-Skinner. The essential part of this campaign resides in the legacy of St. Malachy’s own distinguished composer and organist, Paul Creston. Future generations will benefit from the campaign and the new organ that embody Creston’s timeless ideals. Paul Creston is hailed as one of America’s leading 20th-century composers. During the 1940s–1960s, Creston’s music was performed regularly by leading orchestras across the nation, including the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra, and the Seattle Symphony, to name a few. Legendary conductors such as Leopold Stokowski, Arturo Toscanini, Eugene Ormandy, and Gerard Schwarz championed Creston’s music. In addition to Creston’s prolific compositional output, he also published authoritative books on music and devoted himself to teaching and academia, especially following his time at St. Malachy’s. ‘The Creston Creed,’ a self-penned statement about his philosophy of music and composition, expressed his strongest sentiments in the spiritual nature of creativity, music-making, and well-being. Creston’s ‘credo’ became the foundation of the Paul Creston Award that was established in 2009. This annual award honors a distinguished artist who embodies the Creston Creed, excellence in the arts, and is a significant figure in church music and the performing arts.

The first recipient of the Paul Creston Award (2009) was Frederick Swann, internationally recognized church musician and concert artist. At this inaugural Creston Award event, coupled with the official launch of the pipe organ campaign, an all-Creston program, ‘The St. Malachy’s Years’, was presented at the church. This unusual program included Prelude and Dance for solo accordion, his well-known setting of Psalm 23 for countertenor, and the Concertino for Marimba and Orchestra. Craig R. Whitney, former assisting managing editor of the New York Times and author of All the Stops: The Glorious Pipe Organ and Its American Masters, presented the keynote address about the Aeolian-Skinner pipe organ, Opus 938. Whitney’s address recounted American organ building in the 1930s, organ builder and Opus 938 consultant G. Donald Harrison, Opus 938’s relevance to the acoustical space and future usage at St. Malachy’s, and most interestingly, a novel and entertaining narration that enlivened Paul Creston’s legacy through the organ at The Actors’ Chapel. 

The second recipient of the Paul Creston Award (2010) was Bruce Neswick, then director of music at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York City, now on the faculty at Indiana University, Bloomington. The award event featured a professional orchestra, the Salvatones (a professional choral ensemble), and the New York Boychoir. This program, ‘Creston’s New York’, included music by American composers Copland, Gershwin, Larsen, and Corigliano. 

The third recipient of the award was David Higgs, chair of the organ department at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. Higgs was presented the award at ‘Voices United’, a benefit event for St. Malachy’s Outreach Ministries and Covenant House New York at the historic Beacon Theatre in New York’s Upper West Side in November 2012. Higgs presented the headlining recital for the inaugural season of the Paul Creston Memorial Pipe Organ in April 2013, co-sponsored by the New Jersey Metropolitan and New York City chapters of the American Guild of Organists. Higgs performed Creston’s rarely heard, complex solo organ work Fantasia. This co-sponsored event was the first of its kind between these two AGO chapters and coincidentally connected the heritage of Opus 938 from the New Jersey chapter to its new home in the New York chapter.

The Concerts at St. Malachy’s series was initially developed to benefit the organ campaign through diverse and distinct programming, featuring instrumental, choral, Broadway, opera, chamber and symphonic performers. Concerts at St. Malachy’s programs have included the Fairbanks Trio (Asimov, Nagin and Hopkins), Danilo Pina (piano), ‘Love Notes—from Broadway to Opera’ (NY Bar Association), the Three Cantors—from Sanctuary to Stage, the Salvatones, the Orchestra of St. Malachy’s, the New York Boychoir, Face the Music, the Auburn University Show Choir, the Virtuosi (wind) Quintet, Sweet Plantain String Quartet, and Simon Boyar, Daniel Brondel, Deborah Jamini, and Joanna Arnold Darrow in a performance of Creston’s music. For the inaugural year of the new organ, Concerts at St. Malachy’s launched the ‘Fridays in October’ post-theater organ recitals at 11 p.m., and the ‘Fridays in December’ pre-theater organ recitals at 6:30 p.m. Other special performances included silent films, the Educational Outreach Series for school-age children through college-level music appreciation classes, massed choral performances and collaborations between St. Malachy’s Choir and tri-state regional choral societies, as well as full-length feature recitals. Inaugural-year recitalists included David Higgs, Mark Pacoe, David Ball, Jon Johnson, Michael Hey, Crista Miller, James Wetzel, Jonathan Ortloff, and Vincent Carr.

The builders 

The new installation of Aeolian-Skinner Opus 938 (1935) was completed by the Peragallo Pipe Organ Company of Paterson, New Jersey. The Peragallo Pipe Organ Company was founded in 1918 by John Peragallo, Sr., who developed his craft as an apprentice with the E. M. Skinner Company. His son, John Peragallo, Jr., who was a member of the American Guild of Organists, joined the company in 1949. 

Now in its fourth generation, the sons of John Jr., John Peragallo III and Frank Peragallo, having grown up in the business, now head the company. John III received his Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology and also studied organ with Russell Hayton of Montclair and Leonard Raver of the Juilliard School. He also pursued musical studies at the New York School of Liturgical Music. Frank studied cabinetmaking with the Salesian Brothers of Don Bosco. 

John III and Frank are now joined by their sons, Anthony and John IV. Anthony received his Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from Montclair State University. John IV received the Bachelor of Science degree in Architecture and a Master’s of Architecture degree from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. 

The firm’s leadership is well rounded, with diverse skills and business acumen, and has distinguished the Peragallo Pipe Organ Company in fine pipe organ building and restoration. 

The organ 

The Paul Creston Memorial Pipe Organ includes 73 stops, 43 ranks of pipes, and 19 digitally sampled stops. These are all playable from two keydesks. A repurposed E. M. Skinner keydesk from Opus 524 is located in the gallery. The Aeolian-Skinner keydesk original to Opus 938 is located on the floor of the chancel. Both keydesks were completely updated with new key claviers and pedalboards, rocker tablets for stop control in the gallery keydesk and new drawknobs for the chancel keydesk. 

The tonal design was slightly modified with the addition of Walker components, primarily to expand the existing small pedal division and for a new floating division in the chancel for support of choral accompaniment. Several ranks of pipes were also added, including a Great four-rank mixture (12-15-19-22), 16′ Violone (façade, with 8′ Violoncello on the Great), and a hooded solo reed, the Actors’ Trumpet, on eight inches of wind pressure. The ranks of the original Dolce Cornet III of the Swell division were separated and installed independently as a 22⁄3′ Nazard, 2′ Flautino, and 13⁄5′ Tierce. The Grave Mixture II of the Great Organ was also separated and installed as the 22⁄3′ Twelfth and the 2′ Fifteenth. 

The casework of the instrument was designed and handcrafted to match the Gothic architectural style throughout the church. The façade includes the original pipes from the Aeolian-Skinner, along with the Violone 16′ comprising the towers. The case is adorned with gold accents found in the ceiling of the church and also features hand-crafted trefoil moldings and tower crowns featured throughout the nave. 

The superb acoustic of the church, at about three seconds, is a result of the high, narrow, neo-Gothic vaulting of the room. The room seats 350 comfortably, and provides an intimate and aesthetically pleasing setting for the dynamically subtle yet powerful instrument. While only steps away from the bustling theaters of Broadway and the frenzy of Times Square, St. Malachy’s is a hidden gem, a sanctuary where tourists, parishioners, neighbors, and people from all walks of life feel welcomed. 

For more information about St. Malachy’s—The Actors’ Chapel, the music calendar, and the Paul Creston Memorial Pipe Organ, see www.actorschapel.org or ‘Creston Memorial Pipe Organ’ on Facebook. 

We recognize those who made this restoration and relocation possible: Reverend Richard Baker, Mark Pacoe, Peggy Pugh, Daniel Brondel, Benjamin Lorello, Andy Nerhbas, John Peragallo Jr., and the parishioners and supporters of St. Malachy’s Parish. 

Information about the construction and rebuilding of this fine instrument can be found at www.peragallo.com.  

—Mark Pacoe, Director of Music, 

St. Malachy’s Church

—John Peragallo IV, Architectural Designer, Peragallo Organ Company

—John Peragallo III, Principal, Tonal Director, Peragallo Organ Company

Copenhagen is home to the organ collection of St. Andreas Church, nine small church organs representing various Danish organ builders

At the north end of Copenhagen’s city center, nestled peacefully near the botanical gardens on Gothersgade, lies the Sankt Andreas Kirke. Its exterior, unassuming by European standards, belies the musical treasures harbored within its cavernous interior, namely a collection of nine small church organs built in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, all of which were collected from throughout Denmark and which represent various Danish builders. These small pipe organs, ranging in size from one to four ranks, comprise Orgelsamlingen i Sct Andreas Kirke, or “The Organ Collection of St. Andreas Church,” a cooperative collaboration between the church and the collection’s curator, Dr. André Palsgård, a Copenhagen physician. Although the first organ was renovated and installed in the gallery in May 1998, the collection was not inaugurated until February 2000, at the time comprising only four organs.¹ The Orgelsamling’s growth and development during the last decade, attributable to the passion and effort of Dr. Palsgård, not only allows scholars and church musicians a glimpse into Danish organbuilding practices, but also serves as an educational, interactive museum by which the pipe organ and its music are promoted.²  

Historical background

Interested in music since a child, André Palsgård began acquiring and restoring modest pipe organs during the 1970s, even building a larger home to accommodate his growing collection of musical instruments, including a harmonium and a pneumatic organ that had been stored in a hen house! As Dr. Palsgård cultivated his knowledge of organ restoration, his colleagues would approach him regarding organs that had become redundant. His first such relocation project occurred in 1989 when he discovered that the I/6 organ built by Immanuel Starup (1862–1944) for the village church in Smørum was to be replaced with a new organ. Through his initiative, it was brought to Copenhagen to install in the chapel of the Sundholm, a social welfare institution. Although this idea never came to fruition, it was eventually installed as the choir organ of the Helligåndskirken, the Church of the Holy Spirit, in the medieval center of Copenhagen, undergoing a restoration by Svend Nielsen in 1998, which included the addition of significant casework and gilding.³ The redundant organs that would become available were not always the simple discards of a thoughtless church committee. That none of them have pedals and that all of them have unpretentious tonal schemes, negating the ability to play much organ literature, prompted some of their organists to campaign for their replacement with more complete, modern instruments.  

Recognizing the need for a permanent location for several historic instruments that might otherwise face destruction, Dr. Palsgård approached the pastor of the Sct Andreas Kirke, Mads-Bjørn Jørgensen, a former flight museum administrator and a proponent of organ music, with the idea of establishing a permanent home in the church’s wrap-around balcony. Having found a favorable reception, the Orgelsamling has been housed in the spacious side balcony since 1998 and has grown to seven instruments upstairs, one beneath the balcony, and one in the chancel, and all within view of the imposing Frobenius organ, the primary instrument for the church’s liturgy, in the west gallery.  

These organs must be considered in their proper historic context within the greater purview of the Northern European organbuilding tradition, Denmark being thoroughly Scandinavian, yet heavily influenced by its southern neighbor, Germany. Since its founding in 1806, Marcussen & Søn, established by Jürgen Marcussen and, at least by 1820, assisted by Andreas Reuter, has dominated the Danish organ landscape, with instruments attractive to buyers as much for their reliability as for their aesthetic ideals. Marcussen, based since 1830 in Åbenrå, found itself annexed to Prussia (and subsequently Germany) from 1864 until 1920 with all of Northern Schleswig, allowing its remaining Danish competitors room to develop, if not to flourish. And it is these competitors, some of whom specialized in the market for small church organs, or whose pipe organ building encompassed only a small portion of an output otherwise dedicated to pianos or harmoniums, whose work is represented in the organs of the Orgelsamling. In this essay, each organ shall be referred to by its place of origin.

The collection includes:

Badskær Kirke organ, 1890

Krummerup Kirke organ, 1898

Venø Kirke organ, 1900

Indslev Kirke organ, 1900

Øster Hjermitslev Kirke organ, 1902

Børglum Kirke organ, 1903

Alling Kirke organ, 1906

Øland Kirke organ, 1906

“Dr. Felter’s House Organ,” 1943.

Nineteenth-century organs

Frederik Nielsen (1844–1903), who had established himself as a piano manufacturer in Copenhagen before adding organbuilding to his marketable skills, established an organ fabrik in Åarhus, where he published a catalogue with nine different organ models from which to choose. The Badskær Kirke organ in the collection, built in 1890, is the first and cheapest of his nine specifications; an 1887 catalogue listed the price as 950 to 1000 kroner. Although the specification of this instrument is Principal 8′, Gedact 8′, and Fløite 4′, Nielsen’s catalogue promoted other instruments with a Bordun 16′, a practical advantage for any instrument lacking a pedal division. The keydesk is located on the side of this rather squat, square instrument, with its multiple Doric columns lending an air of neo-classicism. A number of these instruments have keydesks located on the side, a practical necessity for a small village church with minimal space and possibly no choir loft. In this case, the organ’s original location had been in the back corner on the ground floor, providing sufficient tonal egress as well as allowing the organist to see the chancel.  

The Krummerup Kirke organ dates from 1898, when it was built by Christian Anton Schuster (1850–1911) for the Johan P. Andresen & Company. Johan Andresen (1854–1926), an amateur musician, opened a furniture factory in Ringkjøbing in 1882 in which he also repaired harmoniums, giving impetus to his interest in building the musical instruments that he called “Orgel-Harmoniums.” Although his firm would build 15,000 harmoniums from 1891, Andresen apparently employed Schuster in his pipe organ division, a fact that might not have been known except for Schuster’s signature within the organ. Schuster’s exact role in the building of this instrument is not known, but the questions raised elucidate some of the common business practices in which organ firms engaged. 

Born in Denmark, Schuster apprenticed with organbuilders in Copenhagen before settling in Sweden, where his instruments are known. However, between 1896 and 1901 he seems to have built no instruments, although his address in 1898 was in Ringkjøbing, suggesting a connection with Andresen. Both Schuster and Andresen had been to Germany in 1896 to study contemporary building methods, and it is possible they entered into an agreement for Schuster to work at the Andresen factory. It is also likely that, rather than building new organs for Andresen, Schuster merely assembled them as they were shipped to Denmark from a continental builder, a fact suggested by the windchest of at least one Schuster organ, which bears a stock number, implying a larger factory than Andresen’s, ostensibly either Laukhuff or Rieger. Indeed, Rieger-Kloss factory records indicate that 19 organs were delivered to Denmark between 1900 and 1905, including one in 1902 to Ringkjøbing.⁴ Schuster’s role, then, seems to have been as an assembler and voicer of Rieger organs that would then bear the Andresen name.

The Krummerup organ, restored in 1995–96 by Dr. Palsgård, was the first in the Orgelsamling and contains a Violinprincipal 8′, Gedacht 8′, and Fugara 4′, to which a Gemshorn 2′ was added in 1956, in addition to an original bass and treble coupler that is activated via a pedal. As with all the organs in the collection, a modern blower has been added, even though all the original hand-pumping apparatus remains.  

Turn-of-the-century organs

These chronological distinctions being rather arbitrary, the Venø Kirke organ dates from 1900, only two years later, again from the Johan Andresen firm through the craftsmanship of Christian Schuster. This little organ, bearing the appellation “the smallest organ in Denmark,” contains only a Geigenprincipal 8′, supplemented with a bass and treble coupler of the same mechanism as employed by contemporary harmoniums.  

The late nineteenth century was epochs removed from the outset of the century during which traditional methods of organbuilding continued much as they had for centuries prior. By the turn of the century, industrialization had been incorporated into organbuilding methods, with factories encouraging an economy of scale unimaginable to the provincial builder only decades before. Such industrialization could result in standardization of organs that could be built cheaply, efficiently, and be delivered to their ultimate destination through the clockwork reliability of the European railroad system. Social interaction, fostered by increasingly reliable forms of transportation and communication, encouraged a free interchange in which organbuilders could learn and employ new ideas. Andresen, for example, toured southern Germany during the summers of 1896 and 1897, visiting significant installations by notable builders in order “to study the new and improved design of church organs.”⁵ The Venø Kirke organ, having been placed in two successive churches, a museum, and finally an abbey church before coming into Dr. Palsgård’s possession in 2003, evidences in its compact simplicity the potential Andresen might have seen in the small church market. Requiring no more space than a harmonium, here was an instrument that could be constructed, shipped, and installed with economical ease.  

Technological innovation was a logical consequence of this progressive Zeitgeist, evident in the Indslev Kirke organ, built in 1900 at Roerslev Margaards Pianoforte-og Orgelfabrik at Nørre Aaby. Hans Jørgen Hansen, apparently a largely self-taught builder, studied books on pianos and organs and visited organ factories in Odense and Germany before founding the firm in 1892, building about 6,000 pianos and 70 organs before the company’s closure in the late 1920s. This organ possesses a Bordun 16′ in addition to a Principal 8′, Gedakt 8′, and Fløite 4′ on a slider windchest, boasting also an “adjustable collectiv,” a type of mechanical system reminiscent of the freikombination assists on pneumatic instruments. Each stop knob is paired with a smaller knob situated below. These small knobs may be drawn in order to prepare a new stop combination that is only engaged with the pull of a lever on the organist’s left side. The strength required to engage the adjustable collectiv, as well as its location, suggests that this would have been the task of an assistant in addition to the calcant (bellows pumper) located on the other side of the case, resulting in a four-rank organ requiring no fewer than three people to play! Dr. Palsgård posits that this rather unwieldy arrangement might have been an attempt to imitate the characteristics of pneumatic action without actually having to incorporate the new technology, which only by the turn of the century had reached southern Denmark. Unable to escape technological progress, the Indslev Kirke organ is marred by a 1929 modernization project, which installed swell shutters over the façade pipes; although the swell mechanism has been removed, a superfluous swell pedal remains.

Later organs

The Øster Hjermitslev Kirke organ, built in 1902 but acquired by the Orgelsamling in 2007, sits beneath the balcony. Having a Geigenprincipal 8′, Gedackt 8′, and Gemshorn 4′, a pull-down pedalboard had been added but was removed with the restoration. Although its exact provenance is uncertain, with its conspicuous tripartite façade it bears a similarity to the organ at the Garder Church in Norway, an instrument built in 1900 by Rieger. So, too, would Rieger have built this instrument under the auspices of Andresen.
Dr. Palsgård observes that this instrument utilizes slider chests, placed in an organ case typical of Rieger’s, which normally employed cone chests (Kegellade). Interestingly and perhaps surprisingly for organs of such limited tonal resources, none of the instruments has a divided keyboard, as their American contemporary equivalents certainly would have had. A conclusion is dangerous to posit, especially given Denmark’s rather isolated and parochial organ culture, but one can surmise that, if the primary goal of these instruments was to lead the congregation in the chorales, there would be as little use for a divided keyboard as there would be for colorful solo stops.  

Gebrüder Rieger likewise built the Børglum Kirke organ as Opus 837, but the instrument was delivered and installed by the Andresen firm in the Bangsbostrand Kirke in Frederikshavn in 1903, where it remained until it was moved to Børglum in 1945. This mechanical cone chest instrument has a Rorfloite 8′, Principal 8′, and Octave 4′, with a Bordun 16′ extended from the Rorfloite. The Rorfloite is curiously double-labiated, with the mouths oriented on opposite sides of the pipe to form the equivalent of a Doppelfløte but with the ror (chimney.) The only registrational aid is a tutti pedal. The organ was restored by Dr. Palsgård in 2000 and entered the collection the following year. 

The Børglum organ demonstrates one hitherto unexplored characteristic of Dr. Palsgård’s restoration technique, namely the color scheme. Painted pink with light blue trim and green cornices, complete with faux marble on the Doric columns of the façade, the organ certainly appears more vibrant than its original oaken hues. The Venø organ is light blue, the Badskær organ is the same color with red and white trim, and the Krummerup organ is pastel pink and blue, with only the Indslev organ retaining its original varnished wood. The controversial color scheme broadly reflects some of the church’s own colors, with the pews trimmed in green and red. Additionally, the brighter colors, some of which are more reminiscent of carnival or theatre instruments than those in service to the church, lend an aura of visual excitement to the many student groups who visit the collection.  

The Alling Kirke organ, also from Roerslev Margaard Pianoforte- og Orgelfabrik in 1906, has a mechanical cone chest with an Aeoline 8′, Gedackt 8′ (the lower octave of which is shared with the Aeoline), and a Flöte 4′. Again reflecting neo-classical casework, the organ stands only 208 cm and its flat top was flush with the flat ceiling of the choir loft in the Alling Kirke, where its façade pipes spoke only a few centimeters above the railing. Additionally, the case’s ornamental woodwork mirrors the symmetry and patterns of the original decorative patterns of the church and choir loft, suggesting an organ uniquely tailored for its location even by a “factory” builder. This distinctive character is only enhanced with a silver plaque on the keydesk, which notes that the organ was a gift in memory of Søren Lauersen and his wife Johanne Kathrine Westergaard.

In his restorations, Dr. Palsgård has retained each rank’s original voicing, revealing principals of clear but mellow character, and flutes of restrained, pure tone. Each of these organs exhibits a comparable specification based on the Principal 8′ (with the occasional addition or substitution of a weighty string for a principal), their stoplists dictated by the ubiquitous practicalities of liturgical performance and hymn singing rather than by any sort of Danish national musical stylistic consciousness. Instead, the Danish musical aesthetic is present in the voicing and character of each stop, Dr. Palsgård equating these sounds with the bowing of a stringed instrument, producing a lively “singing” tone whose affinity to the human voice promotes hymn singing. Ole Oleson, researcher at the Danish National Museum, characterizes Danish organbuilding during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as producing “. . . dignified, mellow instruments with no brashness, special effects or spicy sounds, and devoid of the intense, almost indecent obtrusiveness which is also a part of the Romantic-symphonic organ’s personality.”⁶ None of these instruments is of sufficient size to bear a tonal palette beyond the most fundamental, yet they all exhibit that particular Danish melodious lyricism whose primary task is to support the human voice.  

The Øland Kirke organ, built by AC Zachariasen Orgelfabrikken in 1906 and an early acquisition of the collection, exemplifies the belated adoption of pneumatic technology in Denmark. Although pneumatic action had been developing for almost two decades in the German lands, Denmark had been reticent in espousing the new technology. However, a number of practical reasons had begun to mitigate the predominant use of the slider chest. The gradual installation of furnaces in church buildings, often engaged shortly before a service, resulted in abrupt changes in temperature and humidity to which slider chests were not acclimated, pneumatic action being less susceptible to leaks. Furthermore, the homophonic and colorful textures of Romantic repertoire necessitated playing aids such as octave couplers, freikombinationen, and the Walze or crescendo pedal, all of which could be easily and cheaply achieved with pneumatic action. Smaller instruments, such as those by Zachariasen, were primarily designed for liturgical, not concert use, and pneumatic action was more of a hindrance in terms of increased maintenance and a sluggish key response; in the Øland organ, Dr. Palsgård modified the keyboard slightly to generate a more responsive action.  

The Zachariasen firm traced its lineage to P. U. F. Demant (1802–1868), an Odense builder whose son J. A. Demant (1830–1878) profited from organ work in Jutland when Åbenrå, where the Marcussen firm was located, was reappropriated into German territory. After the younger Demant’s death, Frederik Nielsen took over the company, which went bankrupt in 1906 after Nielsen’s own son was unable to maintain profits. As a consequence of the bankruptcy, organbuilder A. C. Zachariasen (1877–1954) bought Nielsen’s tools and machines, eventually establishing his own organ factory in which the illustrious organbuilder Theodore Frobenius (1885–1972) was hired in 1907. A. C. Zachariasen had observed and possibly apprenticed with German builders prior to establishing his own firm. His 330 pipe organs include many in Copenhagen and even a large installation in Iceland, Zachariasen himself voicing each instrument. The Øland organ, which was electrified in 1943, has an Italianate disposition of Bordune 16′, Principale 8′, Salicionale 8′, and Flauto 4′.  

The final organ, referred to as “Dr. Felter’s House Organ,” differs greatly from the remainder of the instruments in the collection. Built by Danish builder Wilhelm Hemmersam (1909–1994) as his Opus 1 in 1943, this organ reflects the ideals of the Orgelbewegung both in terms of its façade and disposition. Its lack of non-functional casework contrasts with the neo-classical or semi-Victorian casework of the instruments dating from only four decades prior. The stoplist of Gedakt 8′, Principal 4′, Qvintatøn 2′, and Quint 11⁄3′ utilizes slider chests.  

Wilhelm Hemmersam trained with Marcussen and would build 25 organs, mostly in Sweden. This organ was built for the Jægersborg Kirke in 1944 but went through a succession of owners before it was purchased by Dr. Ralph Felter, a specialist in diagnostic radiology, as his home organ around 1971. In 2003 Dr. Palsgård, with the help of Pastor Mads-Bjørn Jørgensen, negotiated to purchase this organ for the collection from Dr. Felter’s children, Pastor Thomas Felter and Charlotte From. The organ is placed in the chancel, where it is able to serve the church as a choir instrument.

A living legacy

The Orgelsamling’s nine organs are supplemented by seven more instruments, including a four-rank organ built by Jens Johan Peter Schierf in 1843, which are undergoing renovation and have yet to be displayed. All stand as a testimony to those builders and musicians who supplied music to small churches over a century ago. Yet, their legacy is not merely liturgically academic or scholarly; rather, these instruments still contribute to the musical life of Copenhagen. Dr. Palsgård hospitably welcomes and demonstrates the organs to an array of visitors, including foreign performers and interested American scholars and organists. His presentation “How Do Organs Speak to Themselves and Each Other?” is aimed toward Danish schoolchildren who are captivated by the organs’ bright colors and gentle sounds. The Orgelsamling presents a busy concert schedule, featuring performances of Danish music as well as transcriptions and even jazz arrangements for these small instruments. The collection even inspired English musician Peter Lea-Cox to compose his Pièce pour cinq orgues, which was first performed on the instruments in September 2003.  

The rather esoteric focus of this collection—small organs from fin de siècle Denmark—might seem too abstruse to have much appeal in an era characterized by a fascination for that which is increasingly bigger, faster, and louder. Long ago bypassed by popular music as well as by the organbuilding world, these instruments are a tribute to a difficult but not exceedingly different time. Most are the products of an industry struggling to make a profit while attempting to integrate new technologies reflecting increased industrialization. These builders must have striven to maintain their artistic integrity while concurrently attempting to ensure their survival by advertising through new media such as printed catalogues. They reflect a conservative cultural and national identity that was being challenged by foreign interactions, which, over the next several decades, would plunge all of Europe into war. Reflecting the simplicity of the Danish Church, these instruments perhaps represent a time of ecclesiastical hegemony that the twentieth century would soon subvert. These concerns are as applicable to the present day as they were over a century ago and, for organists, it is a pleasant lesson when it can be learned from the singing tone of a well-crafted organ pipe.  ν

Notes

1. The majority of the information contained in this article was taken from an interview by the author with Dr. André Palsgård at Sct Andreas Kirke, June 10, 2010.

2. Scandinavian languages use the postpositive definite article, meaning the definite article (en or et) is placed at the end of the word. Therefore, orgelsamlingen means “the organ collection” while orgelsamling means an unspecified organ collection. Although Danish does not capitalize all nouns, this essay will consider Orgelsamling a proper noun, thus capitalizing it.

3. Ole Olesen, “Organs in Denmark.” http://orgel.natmus.dk/oversigt_oid_rammex.htm.

4. André Palsgård, Kirkeorgelafdelingen på harmoniumsfabrikken Joh. P. Andresen & Co., Ringkjøbing, 1897–1908 (Søborg, DK: Eget Forlag, 1997), p. 8.

5. Ibid, 8ff.

6. Ole Olesen, “Musical Fragrance in a Romantic Fantasy,” The Nordic-Baltic Organ Book, ed. Anna Frisk, Sverker Jullander, and Andrew McCrea (Göteborg: Göteborg Organ Art Center, 2003), 212–213.

The Organ Historical Society’s 60th Annual Convention took place in the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts, with the Marriott Hotel in central Springfield as the convention headquarters. I arrived on Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited on Saturday, June 27, and found the hotel conveniently located a short walk from the railroad station. Pre-convention events offered on Sunday morning and afternoon included visits to the Norman Rockwell Museum and the Daniel Chester French Estate, and a walking tour of the Springfield Quadrangle, though I opted instead to attend the Sung Eucharist at Christ Church Cathedral (Episcopal) in Springfield, again conveniently located a short walking distance from the hotel.

Sunday, June 28

The convention proper began with Choral Evensong at Christ Church Cathedral, with an augmented Cathedral Choir directed by David Pulliam, in which we were treated to the John Sanders Responses, Sumsion in G, and Stanford’s Te Deum in B-flat. Evensong was rounded off by a spirited performance of the Allegro from Mendelssohn’s Sonata No. 5 on the fine 1953 Austin Opus 2195, rebuilt as a III/54 instrument by Theodore Gilbert Associates in 1985. 

Another short walk took us to St. Michael’s Catholic Cathedral, where we heard the first recital of the convention, given by Christopher Houlihan on the rebuilt 1929 4-manual Casavant organ, comprising a gallery organ in the fine Gothic case of the previous 1862 E. & G. G. Hook organ, and a chancel division in cases designed when the present organ was installed. This is the largest organ in Western Massachusetts. The program included the Prelude and Fugue in B-flat Minor by Henry Martin (b. 1950) of Rutgers University, commissioned by OHS member Michael Barone and previously given its première performance by Christopher Houlihan in New York City. Houlihan also treated us to one of Brahms’s earliest works, the Prelude and Fugue in A Minor, WoO 9, and one of his latest works, the chorale prelude O Welt, ich muss dich lassen, op. 122, no. 11, effectively sandwiching the chorale prelude between the prelude and the fugue. Houlihan’s performance of Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in E Minor, BWV 548, was masterful, and indeed I think this was the best performance of the “Wedge” Fugue I have ever heard. The other major work in the recital was Vierne’s Symphony No. 4 in G Minor, op. 32, in which Houlihan effectively demonstrated the large mood swings that characterize this work. After this, it was a short walk back to the hotel for drinks and to explore the books, music, and recordings in the exhibit hall.

Monday, July 29

We boarded the buses early Monday morning for a day looking at organs in and around Westfield, Massachusetts. The day began with a recital given by Patricia Snyder on the 1977 C. B. Fisk organ, Opus 71, in First Congregational Church. This splendid little organ was ideally suited to the program of de Grigny and Bach that Ms. Snyder played. Next was a recital by Caroline Robinson on the 1897 Casavant tracker organ, Opus 78, relocated in 2008 from Pittsfield by the Czelusniak firm.to St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Westfield. The organ is situated in a divided case in the gallery at the west end of the church, with the console on the north side, and is believed to be the second oldest Casavant organ in the United States. It has a warm, bold tone with rolling diapasons, but is brilliant enough to be effective in classical as well as romantic music. Ms. Robinson’s recital consisted of music by Brahms, Widor, Schumann, and Boëly.

Following these recitals, founding OHS member Barbara Owen gave a lecture on organ building in the Pioneer Valley. Three important organ builders had their workshops in Westfield—William A Johnson/Johnson & Son, Steer & Turner/J. W. Steer(e) & Son, and Emmons Howard. The Steere company was purchased by the Skinner Organ Company in 1921; the Westfield factory continued to run as a branch of the Skinner firm until 1929. The lecture was accompanied by slides illustrative of the history of all these companies.

After lunch we went to nearby Lenox, Massachusetts, for a recital on the famous Aeolian-Skinner, Opus 1002 of 1940, at the Serge Koussevitzky Music Shed of the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood. The “shed” is a fine semi-outdoor concert hall designed by Joseph Franz. James David Christie, who is the resident organist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, gave an interesting concert, assisted by two members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Robert Sheena, English horn and oboe, and Cynthia Meyers, flute. The program included music by Johann Sebastian and Johann Bernard Bach, Georg Böhm, Marguerite Roesgen-Champion, Charles Callahan, Jacques Berthier, and Jean Langlais. The J. S. Bach piece was the Sonata No. 1 in B flat, BWV 525, transposed to G major and transcribed for organ and flute, a very interesting change from the usual version.

We then moved to the Church on the Hill (United Church of Christ) in Lenox for a recital played by Peter Crisafulli on the I/9 William A. Johnson organ, Opus 281 of 1869. In 1988, Andover Organ Company releathered the bellows and in 1991 carried out a thorough historically informed restoration. Crisafulli’s eclectic program ranged from No. 5 of the Eight Little Preludes and Fugues, attributed to J. S. Bach but probably by Johann Tobias Krebs, to a modern piece, the Sonatina by Robert W. Jones. Altogether this was a pristine and delightful little organ. Next was a recital given by Adam Pajan on a later Johnson instrument, Johnson & Son Opus 805 of 1893, at the Unitarian-Universalist Meeting of North Berkshire in Housatonic, Great Barrington. The music included works of Arthur Foote, J. S. Bach, Brahms, and Mendelssohn.

The day culminated in the evening recital given by Bruce Stevens on the Hilborne L. Roosevelt organ, Opus 113 of 1882, at First Congregational Church, Great Barrington, an organ I have been longing to hear since I first heard of it around thirty years ago. I was not disappointed: it is a wonderful mellow, cohesive instrument. The chorus was perhaps a little lacking in brilliance for the Bach Prelude and Fugue in G, BWV 541, though Stevens’s performance was nevertheless very effective, and the instrument later proved more than capable of softer baroque effects in the Pachelbel Partita on ‘Christus, der ist mein Leben.’ The organ was at its best, however, in the performance of Max Reger. We heard both Reger’s Scherzo, op. 65, no. 10, and his Introduction and Passacaglia in D Minor, op. 96, in which the organ sounded absolutely magnificent. We then heard the suite In Festo Corporis Christi by Bruce Stevens’s former teacher Anton Heiller, and finally Wilhelm Middelschulte’s transcription of Bach’s Chaconne for Violin Solo from the Partita in D Minor, BWV 1004. A feature of the Great Barrington Roosevelt is the striking façade of pipes stenciled in blue and brown on a background of gold. Small chunks of wood and plaster were glued to the pipes under the paintwork to create a rich three-dimensional effect that is most unusual and possibly unique.

Tuesday, June 30

We began the day with a recital by Michael Plagerman on the 1907 Emmons Howard organ in South Deerfield Congregational Church. If anyone thought that Johnson and Steere were the important organ builders in Westfield and that Emmons Howard was an “also ran,” this instrument and the other Emmons Howard organ we heard would definitely give the lie to such a thought. Emmons Howard may not have had quite such a large output as the other Westfield builders, but his instruments were certainly of equal quality. The conventioneers began by singing the chorale Vater Unser, after which Plagerman played Bach and Pachelbel chorale preludes on this hymn. We then heard a voluntary by the eighteenth-century English composer Maurice Greene, Franck’s Cantabile, and the Allegro from Mendelssohn’s Organ Sonata No. 2. The organ produced a grand effect—rich and powerful—and Plagerman brought forth some very pretty effects in the Greene.

We next heard an organ—perhaps the only surviving organ—built in 1868 by William Jackson of Albany in Holy Name of Jesus Polish National Catholic Church in South Deerfield. Jackson was the son of an organ builder in Liverpool, England. Jackson’s father was chiefly memorable for having built the first organ in England with a 1-1/7 foot stop. William Jackson trained with Gray & Davison in London before coming to the United States, which is evident from the Gray & Davison-style console of the South Deerfield organ. The recitalist, Larry Schipull, began with Niels Gade’s Three Tone Pieces, op. 22, and then—appropriately for an ethnically Polish church—played a transcription of a Chopin Fugue in A Minor. The Chorale Prelude on ‘Wie schön leucht die Morgenstern’ by Johann Christoff Oley featured the labial oboe on the Swell, perhaps the earliest stop of its kind in North America. We also heard the Andante with Variations in D of Mendelssohn and the Finale in D by T. Tertius Noble. The organ sounds grand yet bright and has a particularly beautiful Melodia.

Gregory Crowell then played the early William A. Johnson organ, Opus 54 of 1856, in First Congregational Church, Montague. Works of the eighteenth-century English composers Jonathan Battishull and Henry Heron were followed by Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in C Major, BWV 870, from Das wohltemperierte Klavier II, together with an Adagio by nineteenth-century German composer E. F. E. Richter and a Maestoso by an anonymous German composer of the same period. This is quite a charming little instrument with a very substantial Pedal Sub Base [sic]. We also took in a recital by Don VerKuilen at the First Congregational Church of Sunderland, home of an early Odell organ, Opus 109 of 1871, a relatively rare example of a New York-built organ in the Pioneer Valley. The program consisted of nineteenth-century American music and Seth Bingham’s Fughetta on ‘St. Kevin.’

Following lunch at the same church, we boarded the buses for a recital at St. Paul’s Catholic Church in Springfield. This for me was one of the highlights of the convention. The church was built in 1962 during the pastorate of Father Basil J. Rafferty, who spared no expense to make sure that it was an outstanding example of modern architecture, with excellent acoustics and built from the finest materials. Much of the building is lined with marble in various hues, including a striking emerald green marble reredos. The stained glass is also extremely beautiful. The organ is a three-manual electro-pneumatic Lawrence Phelps Casavant, Opus 2750, built in 1963. The church was threatened with closure in 2005, but following the appointment of Father Quynh D. Tran as pastor in 2006 has taken on a new lease on life as a predominantly ethnically Vietnamese congregation. One would hope that this fine Casavant organ might inspire some parishioners to learn the instrument. The recital was given by Joey Fala. Fala, a native of Hawaii, has completed two degrees at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Albany, New York, and is now undertaking graduate work in organ performance at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. Fala promises to be one of the outstanding organists of the upcoming generation. His varied program included Marcel Dupré’s transcription of the Sinfonia from Bach’s Cantata 29, the Prélude from Franck’s Prélude, Fugue, and Variation, and Hyfrydol from Vaughan Williams’s Three Welsh Hymn Preludes. Fala’a program continued with Miroir by Dutch composer Ad Wammes and ended with the Te Deum, op. 11, by Jeanne Demessieux. The Casavant is a wonderful organ in excellent acoustical and architectural surroundings.

The evening recital featured Peter Sykes, assisted by his wife Victoria Wagner, playing the four-manual E.M. Skinner organ, Opus 322 of 1921, in the United Congregational Church of Holyoke. This is a very forthright Skinner organ—I found it a little brutal in the bass at times—in a vast and very beautiful church. Following an American folk tune, White’s Air, arranged by William Churchill Hammond, we heard Peter Sykes’s fine and now well-known transcription of Holst’s The Planets, op. 12. I have now heard Sykes’s transcription of The Planets on several organs in several states, but I thought this was the best performance I have heard. Sykes was able to produce some almost magical effects on the Skinner organ in the quieter passages.

Wednesday, July 1

The first recitalist on Wednesday was Monica Czausz, a young woman who also promises to be one of the outstanding organists of the upcoming generation. A student of Ken Cowan, she has already received several awards in organ-playing competitions. The organ was Johnson Opus 424 of 1874 in Wesley United Methodist Church, Warehouse Point, Windsor, Connecticut, a lovely little organ in a very well-kept church. Ms. Czausz played selections from Widor, Schumann, and Saint-Saëns, as well as a haunting Adagio by Charles-Valentin Alkan and Will o’ the Wisp by Gordon Balch Nevin.

Next we travelled to Somers Congregational Church (United Church of Christ), Somers, Massachusetts, for a recital by Christa Rakich, organ, with cellist Jeffrey Krieger of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. The recital included Ms. Rakich’s own composition, Hommage à Pachelbel: Eleven Variations on ‘St. Anne,’ three pieces for cello and organ by Edward Elgar, and the Ricercar à Trois from Bach’s Musical Offering, BWV 1079. The organ is a fine new tracker instrument by Richards, Fowkes & Co., Opus 21 of 2014. 

We then went to St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, South Hadley, Massachusetts, for the OHS Annual Meeting followed by a hymn sing led by Patrick Scott and featuring the church’s 1964 Casavant tracker organ, Opus 2791. At the meeting, we heard the exciting news that through the generosity of the Wyncote Foundation, founded with monies from the late Otto and Phoebe Haas Charitable Trusts, the Organ Historical Society offices, library, and archives are all to be housed in Stoneleigh, a 35-room mansion built in 1901 in Villanova, Pennsylvania. A presentation showing the plans for the new climate-controlled OHS headquarters was given by OHS member Fred Haas, son of Otto and Phoebe Haas, and also the chair of next year’s OHS convention in Philadelphia. I was particularly interested in the organ at St. Theresa’s used for the hymn sing, a Lawrence Phelps Casavant tracker originally built for St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Wellesley, Massachusetts. My late mother-in-law was for many years a member of St. Andrew’s, and so I knew the Casavant organ in its original location well. It was far from satisfactory, being architecturally out of keeping with the building, too loud, and excessively bright and screechy. The church put up with the instrument until 2005 when the then organist and choirmaster, OHS member Harry Kelton, persuaded them to buy a new Juget-Sinclair organ, which is as perfect an organ for the church as one might imagine. The Casavant organ was secured for St. Theresa’s in South Hadley through the Organ Clearing House and was installed in 2005 by Czelusniak et Dugal of Northampton, Massachusetts. Bill Czelusniak told me that no changes were made to the voicing apart from raising a few drooping languids and note-to-note regulation. The Casavant organ fits St. Theresa’s as though it had been built for it. The casework that was so out of place in Wellesley looks just right in the fine modern architecture of St. Theresa’s and the volume of the instrument is just right for the spacious acoustics of the church. Furthermore, the acoustics of the building boost the bass frequencies and absorb some of the upper frequencies, so the organ is perfectly balanced for the room. So now St. Andrew’s, Wellesley, and St. Theresa’s, South Hadley, both have ideal tracker instruments in their buildings. As I asserted above, it is as though the Casavant organ was built for the South Hadley church: the organ has at last found its true home.

The next venue was the South Congregational Church of Amherst, where Christopher Marks gave a recital on Casavant Opus 74 of 1896. This is believed to be the oldest unaltered Casavant organ in North America and was relocated to the Amherst church by Czelusniak et Dugal. The stoplist is interesting in being somewhat similar to many Cavaillé-Coll orgues de choeur, with a small Grand-orgue to 4 foot and a larger Récit to mixture and reed. The recital consisted of works by Pierné, Ropartz, and Widor. 

After this we made a short trip to the Jewish Community of Amherst for a recital by Vaughn Watson. The organ, a splendid little instrument, was built by Emmons Howard in 1900. The synagogue inherited the organ in 1976 when they purchased the building from the Second Congregational Church of Amherst, which had merged with First Congregational Church in 1970. Although the Jewish Community used the organ for a time, they had not used it recently and were excited to discover that it might still be played. Several members of the community were present and expressed interest and enthusiasm for the recital, so one hopes they may make more use of the instrument in future. The recital consisted of works by Bach, Schumann, and Mathias, after which the congregation sang “The God of Abraham Praise,” and Watson rounded off the program with Louis Lewandowski’s Prelude ‘Rosh Hashanah.’

For the evening concert we went to the First Church of Monson (United Church of Christ) for a concert on the organ, Johnson & Son Opus 781 of 1892, played by Rosalind Mohnsen. I suspect that the convention committee’s choice of Mohnsen to give a concert on the Johnson in Monson may have been a little tongue-in-cheek, but it proved to be an excellent pairing. The organ is a fairly comprehensive three-manual and includes—unusually for the period—a soft yet very effective 32-foot Pedal Quintaton. In addition to some well-known works such as Saint-Saëns Fantaisie, the recital included a number of interesting works that are not often played. These included Albert W. Ketelbey’s Sanctuary of the Heart, Karg-Elert’s concert arrangement of Handel’s The Harmonious Blacksmith, Alfred Hollins’s Concert Overture in C Minor, Toccata from Sonata No. 1, op. 40, by René L. Becker, and the Concert Sonata No. 5 in C Minor, op. 45, by Eugene Thayer. Of particular interest was Zsolt Gárdonyi’s playful Mozart Changes.

Thursday, July 2

We began the day with a visit to Heath Union Evangelical Church for a program given by Frances Conover Fitch on the very early William A. Johnson two-manual organ, Opus 16 of 1850. The instrument is interesting in that it appears to have been constructed as a G-compass organ but changed to C-compass during installation. Ms. Fitch demonstrated this very attractive little organ with a selection of works by Percy Buck, John Stanley, John Zundel, and Samuel Wesley. 

The next organ we visited at First Congregational Church in Shelburne was an eye-opener for me in a number of ways. The instrument was J. W. Steere & Son Opus 681 of 1915, an early example of a pitman electro-pneumatic action Steere. The first thing that impressed me was the quality of the work, both tonally and mechanically, every bit as good as the best work of Ernest M. Skinner during the same period. But what was also really impressive was that the organ is a hundred years old and still operating on its original leather, which as yet is showing no signs of giving out. This can be attributed to three factors—the use of very high quality vegetable-tanned (or perhaps even mercury-tanned) leather, the careful sealing of the leather against the atmosphere, and the absence of air pollution in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts. The only changes ever made to the organ were the addition of an electric blower and the replacement of the original dry batteries for the action current with a rectifier. I was further impressed by how laid back the organist Carol Britt was about her recital. Unlike the other organists who spent the first few days of the convention frantically practicing for their recitals, Dr. Britt had practiced the previous week and came along on the bus with the rest of us and enjoyed listening to all the organs. She gave a faultless recital consisting of the Pastorale from Guilmant’s Organ Sonata No. 1, David Dahl’s Suite Italiana, and Lefébure-Wély’s Sortie in E-flat.

One of the little-known gems of the Pioneer Valley is the village of Florence, now part of Northampton, Massachusetts. The Victorian Annunciation Chapel was formerly a parish in its own right, but is now part of the consolidated St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish and is only used for one Mass each week. The organ, Steere & Turner Opus 305 of 1890, is the oldest organ in Northampton. It is a surprisingly powerful organ for its size. The recitalist was Grant Moss, organist of nearby Smith College in Northampton. The last time Dr. Moss gave a recital at an OHS Convention, our bus driver got hopelessly lost and we missed the recital, so I was delighted that I finally got to hear him this time. The program consisted of works by Healey Willan, Nadia Boulanger, Joseph Jongen, and Alexandre Guilmant.

We then travelled into the center of Northampton for a recital at the First Churches of Northampton, affiliated with both the United Church of Christ and the American Baptist Church. The church is a fine Victorian brownstone building with cast iron pillars and an outstanding Tiffany glass window. The celebrated preacher and theologian Jonathan Edwards (1703–58) was once the pastor. The organ is E. M. Skinner & Son Opus 507 of 1936, which retains the case and 16 ranks from the previous Johnson & Son organ, Opus 718 of 1889. Lorenz Maycher was intending to give the recital but had to withdraw owing to indisposition, and Charles Callahan graciously agreed to come down from Orwell, Vermont, and step into the breach. He played the Bourée in D of Wallace A. Sabin, Adoration by Florence Price, Nevin’s Will o’ the Wisp, and two pieces of his own composition, Folk Tune (1994) and Hymn-Fantasia on ‘Melita’ (2013)—altogether a very interesting and varied program that showed off the lovely voicing of the Skinner organ to good advantage.

We then returned to the United Congregational Church of Holyoke, where we had heard The Planets on Tuesday evening, for a recital by Christoph Bull in the monumental Skinner Chapel, an amazing neo-Perpendicular building with a vaulted apse. As a chapel, it is much larger than most people’s churches! Unlike the main church, the chapel has air conditioning, so the congregation has the main worship service there during the summer. The organ was Ernest M. Skinner Organ Company Opus 179 built in 1910–12. It was rebuilt in 1972–74 by the Berkshire Organ Company, and reconstructed again, more in keeping with the original design, by Czelusniak et Dugal in 1990–92. Christoph Bull began his recital with one of his own compositions, a rather exciting piece named Vic 1, short for Victimae Paschali Laudes, the Gregorian chant upon which it is based. He followed this with Bach’s Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor, BWV 582, an Invention in C Minor by William Joel, and a transcription of Ravel’s Boléro. Bull’s program continued with another entertaining piece composed by the recitalist, When Felix met J. S.—Mash-up of Mendelssohn and Bach. The organ retains much of its E. M. Skinner sound, but as this recital demonstrated it can handle many varied styles of repertoire well.

The convention proper ended with the evening recital on Thursday, although there was an additional optional day on Friday. The Thursday evening recital was given by Nathan Laube and was streamed live on the Internet. The webcast will be available on the OHS website under “Conventions” at www.organsociety.org. The recital featured the two organs of the Abbey Chapel, Holyoke College, South Hadley. Laube played the first half of the program on the large two-manual C. B. Fisk organ, Opus 84 of 1986, in the west gallery of the chapel. The program reflected Laube’s recent research in early European styles of music and included works by Buxtehude, Cabanilles, Poglietti, Rossi, and van Noordt. These came off extremely well on the organ, which I think in some ways is the best Charles Fisk organ I have ever heard. 

The second half of the concert was performed on the Abbey Chapel’s magnificent four-manual chancel organ, built by George S. Hutchings, Opus 436 of 1896, rebuilt by the Skinner Organ Co., Opus 367 of 1922, and again rebuilt by E. M. Skinner & Son, Opus 511 of 1938. Restoration work was subsequently carried out by William Baker in 2001 and Czelusniak et Dugal in 2013. The second half of Laube’s program included a transcription for organ of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in G, op. 23, no. 5, Lynnwood Farnam’s transcription of Dupré’s Cortège et litanie, op. 19, no. 2, the third of Herbert Howells’s Three Psalm Preludes, op. 32, Joseph Jongen’s Sonata Eroïca, op. 94, and the Andante Sostenuto from Widor’s Symphony No. 9 (Symphonie Gothique). The program provided a very fitting close to a great convention.

Friday, July 3 

More than half of us were still around to board the buses for the optional extra day of the convention on Friday. We began the day with recitals on two early E. & G.G. Hook organs. The first of these was Opus 93 of 1849 in First Congregational Church, Hinsdale, New Hampshire. The recitalists were David and Permelia Sears, organ, and their daughter, Rebecca Sears, violin. Permelia Sears played a suite by Jacques Boyvin, which came off very well since the surprisingly complete specification of the organ includes a Tierce, Cremona, and other stops suited to eighteenth-century French organ music. Next Permelia and Rebecca Sears played a transcription for organ and violin of Arthur Foote’s Cantilena in G, op. 71. Permelia Sears’s final offering was the Introduction and Passacaglia from Rheinberger’s Eighth Sonata. Then, in honor of it being the day before July 4, David Sears played his own transcription of Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever, specially written to exploit the G-compass of the Hook organ. The organ was originally built for the much larger First Congregational Church in Springfield, where it may have been used to accompany Jenny Lind, the “Swedish Nightingale,” when she visited the church in 1851. It makes a very grand sound in the rather smaller church in Hinsdale, New Hampshire.

The second early Hook organ we visited was also located in a rather smaller building than the one for which it was originally constructed. This was Hook Opus 48 of 1842 in the First Parish (Unitarian) in Northfield, Massachusetts, originally built for Third (later Unity) Church in Springfield. Lubbert Gnodde gave a short recital of works by Franck, Dupré, and Sweelinck. The instrument, though smaller than the Hinsdale one, again produced a rather grander sound than one might
have expected.

We had lunch on the attractive grounds of the Northfield Mount Hermon School in Gill, Massachusetts, with lovely views of the surrounding hills. After lunch it was only a few yards to the school’s Memorial Chapel, built in 1901. Here we heard Rhonda Sider Edgington give a recital on Andover Organ Company Opus 67 of 1970. The program was made up entirely of works by composers born in the last century—Adolphus Hailstork, James Woodman, Margaret Sandresky, Daniel Pinkham, and Libby Larsen. The organ is a fine instrument in fine acoustics and though now 45 years old has weathered well. There is something to be said for the view that a good organ will never really go out of fashion.

Next we proceeded to the First Church of Deerfield, affiliated with both the United Church of Christ and the Unitarian Universalist Association. Here there is a 2003 organ by Richards, Fowkes & Co., Opus 13, which was designed to be similar to the small village church organs in Thuringia that J.S. Bach would have been familiar with, by builders such as Trost and Hildebrand. The builders have done a remarkable job of fitting a II/22 organ into a case in the relatively shallow gallery that is a mere fourteen feet high. Margaret Irwin-Brandon gave a recital of works by J. G. Walther and J. S. Bach that was well suited to the instrument.

The final recital of the post-convention day was given by Daniel Romero on the organ of Our Lady of the Valley in Easthampton. The J. W. Steere & Son organ, Opus 504 of 1902, originally had a Weigle membrane tubular-pneumatic action that was never satisfactory, but this has now been replaced with an electro-pneumatic action by Czelusniak et Dugal, who also made additions, including a mixture, using Steere pipework. The organ has a rich, warm sound, not unlike a Skinner organ. The program unusually included a plainsong Credo sung by the congregation and accompanied on the organ. Also included were Duruflé’s Choral varié sur le thème de ‘Veni Creator,’ Philip G. Kreckel’s Silent Night, Harold Darke’s An Interlude and Charles Tournemire’s Improvisation sur le ‘Te Deum’ as reconstructed by Maurice Duruflé. And so back to the hotel for drinks and a dinner together before parting homewards by our several ways, God willing to meet again at the Philadelphia convention, June 26 to July 1, 2016.

Schoenstein & Co., Benicia, California: First Lutheran Church, 

Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Schoenstein & Co., 

Benicia, California

First Lutheran Church, 

Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Polishing a gem

When we talk with committees today about building a new organ, we remind them that their decision will have ramifications for many generations and that insisting on top quality will be like establishing an endowment—a lasting legacy. First Lutheran’s choice of an Æolian-Skinner in 1956 proves the wisdom of investing in the best—not just the “good enough.” Æolian-Skinner was the gold standard then and still is today. The majority of the most famous and highly regarded instruments in America were made by Skinner in Boston.  

What makes an Æolian-Skinner so special? The answer is that the firm was always guided by people who knew and loved music. The Skinner people seemed to have an innate sense of refined good taste. This artistic impulse was supported by outstanding craftsmanship in every facet of organ building. The depth of expertise was unrivaled.  

Schoenstein & Co. has a long-standing connection with Skinner. From 1907 to 1909 Louis Schoenstein, third generation member of our founding family, worked for Ernest M. Skinner, following the family tradition of broadening skills by apprenticing with other builders. Later, his son Lawrence joined Æolian-Skinner in a more permanent way at the invitation of G. Donald Harrison in 1956. He extended his “apprenticeship” for 16 years! Our company has maintained, restored, and installed numerous Skinner and Æolian-Skinner organs. We can say from decades of practical experience that Æolian-Skinner organs deserve the reputation they have.

Our work at First Lutheran Church began in 1989 when we were asked to survey the organ for the possibility of completing stops prepared for later addition. The organ is Æolian-Skinner Opus 1342, designed in 1957, completed and dedicated by Virgil Fox in 1959. It replaced Wurlitzer Opus 2127, built for the then-new church in 1930. The builder’s plan was for an enlarged Pedal division and a floating Positiv, typical of the period. In 1964, Æolian-Skinner was called back to add an 8′ Festival Trumpet and a Zymbelstern. By 1989, the primary concern was to add more weight and power to the Pedal and possibly move forward with some of the other planned additions.  

Our survey confirmed the need for additional Pedal weight, but revealed other points that we thought should take precedence over additions such as the Positiv. The organ suffered from an accumulation of mechanical maintenance issues and it was badly out of regulation, with poor speech and erratic balance within and among stops. This appeared to be due to a rushed installation that allowed hardly any time to finish the instrument before Virgil Fox was to arrive, as well as layout of the enclosed divisions that made the pipework so inaccessible that regulation efforts were undoubtedly hampered. Rushed installations were fairly common during the fast moving post-war boom. The overall quality of Skinner’s magnificent factory voicing, however, made even the jobs finished with a lick and a promise sound quite grand. In 1990 we thoroughly serviced the organ, correcting the mechanical problems and doing some preliminary tonal work. This led us to recommend installing only the planned Bombarde in the Pedal and giving the instrument a thorough tonal regulation before considering any further additions. Hearing an instrument in proper balance with every stop delivering its full potential often obviates the need for more stops or changes the direction that additions might take. Furthermore, we knew that the instrument would need releathering and that the most efficient approach was to take care of any tonal additions along with renovation work. The Bombarde and regulation were completed in 1994.  

By 2010 it was clear that the need for mechanical renovation was imminent and the church was determined to complete the instrument and at the same time rearrange the choir seating and improve the acoustic as far as possible. In consultation with committee chairman James Moore, who is also a trained organist, consultant John Ferguson, music director Michael Elsbernd, and organist emeritus Marcia Kittelson, we developed a plan to solve three musical problems that were considered truly worth addressing after years of experience with the instrument. Although the planned Positiv and additional Pedal upperwork would be nice, it was considered far more urgent to direct the tonal character of the organ towards making up for acoustical problems. After intensive acoustical study, it was determined that it was not practical from an engineering standpoint to make major changes in the building, such as strengthening the ceiling for better sound reflection. Several improvements, including removal of carpet, would make a significant difference; however, sound would not carry well from the balcony to the chancel and mid-range tenor and bass tones would not be supported as well as treble. We decided on a program that would use the available budget to address these issues as well as honor as much as possible the original intention of a Positiv division.

To augment the foundation of the Great, we added a 16′ Violone and a large-scale 8′ Flute Ouverte. To add some of the “sparkle” promised by the Positiv we added a Seventeenth to the Great as well as a 4′ Fugara and Klein Mixtur to the Choir. A five-rank Antiphonal division was added in the chamber formerly occupied by the Wurlitzer organ. Dominated by 8′ tone, its main purpose is to provide the acoustical illusion of tone from the main organ in the balcony reaching forward to the chancel. It has proved to be quite effective in this role. It is difficult for anyone in the nave to determine that the Antiphonal is playing; it simply seems to extend the “reach” of the main instrument. The division is also quite helpful in accompanying choirs that occasionally perform from the chancel. The 16′ Quintaton, which was a bit light in this acoustic for the Great division, has turned out to be an ideal double for the small Antiphonal.

Our other work included a complete rebuild of the console and electrical control system, which also facilitated the addition of a few useful borrows in the Choir and Pedal. An interesting feature of the console work was the addition of a large music storage cabinet filling the space formerly taken by the electro-pneumatic combination and switching equipment! We built an entirely new expression system with vertical shades located on two sides of each expression box. These replaced the horizontal shades that opened in only one direction and had become warped over the years. This greatly improved the tonal egress of both Swell and Choir divisions. The pipe display was rearranged to incorporate the new 16′ and 8′ pipes of the Great, making quite a dramatic façade. We also did a complete mechanical rebuild with the exception of wind regulators, which had been completed earlier by the J.F. Nordlie Company, who have done excellent work on the organ over the years. Perhaps of most importance for the organ’s long-term maintenance was a re-engineering of certain aspects of the layout to provide improved access for maintenance.  

This project has been a special pleasure for us because of the long-term relationship we have had with the congregation. Over the years, as we have taken steps towards this final completion, we have enjoyed each of our experiences in Sioux Falls. The congregation is a most active one and is deeply appreciative of good, traditional church music. We have been privileged to know and work with all their musicians throughout this period and the atmosphere has been totally supportive and most pleasant. 

—Jack M. Bethards

President and Tonal Director

Schoenstein & Co.
Pipe Organ Builders

From the consultant

I have long been a friend of First Lutheran Church, Sioux Falls and enjoyed bringing the St. Olaf Cantorei to the church many times. Thus I was delighted to be asked to help the organ committee explore options for the renovation and possible completion of its 1959 Aeolian-Skinner organ. Fortunately, the people of First Lutheran had taken exceptional care of the instrument and while the time had now arrived for more significant mechanical and electrical upgrades, its basic integrity had been maintained.

The church’s experience working with Jack Bethards and Schoenstein & Co. suggested that the firm was the logical choice to undertake a more extensive process of renewal of the instrument. Since they are highly respected for their restoration work on many Aeolian-Skinner organs, the fit was a natural. It seemed to be the ideal time to complete the preparations evidenced in the console, especially the absent Positiv division. All agreed to utilize the console preparations for an Antiphonal organ instead of adding the typical Aeolian-Skinner brightly voiced Positiv to what already was an instrument needing more gravitas in its sound, especially considering the relatively dry acoustics in the room. It has made a great difference in the effectiveness of the organ, especially as a leader of congregational song. Additional foundational sound was added to the Great and the existing Choir was provided with a complete chorus with mixture, a significant move since the Positiv division was not to be.

During the long gestation of the project, a careful study of the acoustics in the space was undertaken. It soon became evident that any major improvement to the acoustics was not structurally or fiscally possible. However, reflective surfaces in the gallery, especially directly behind the choir, were improved and have enhanced the choir’s projection into the nave and enabled its members to hear one another significantly better.

First Lutheran now has a warmer, more colorful organ. The strong choral tradition of the church has a more versatile accompanimental colleague and the overall sound of the instrument in the room is richer and much more satisfying. Its leadership of the congregation’s singing has been substantially improved. Throughout this lengthy and sometimes frustrating process, I’ve been impressed by the creativity and patience of Jack Bethards of Schoenstein and the perseverance of the committee, especially its chair, James Moore, and organist Marcia Kittelson. They had a vision, never wavered, and the result more than fulfills their hopes and aspirations. Would that it always were so.

—John Ferguson

From the organist

Music ministry has long been an important facet of First Lutheran’s identity. It came as no surprise to me, when I joined the professional staff of this church in 2007, that the organ enjoys an active role in the leading of weekly services. Since the installation of Aeolian-Skinner Opus 1342 in 1959, only two other organists have presided at the console: the late Dr. Merle Pflueger (who designed the original stoplist in collaboration with Aeolian-Skinner representatives) and Organist Emerita and Curator of Organs, Marcia Kittelson, whose scholarship and musical excellence cultivated appreciation for the organ and its role in Christian worship. During her tenure at First Lutheran, Marcia Kittelson took excellent care of Opus 1342, and the church owes a tremendous debt of gratitude for her careful preservation of this heritage instrument.  

Given the history of the sanctuary organ, with slightly more than fifty years of service to the congregation, it was not difficult to gain the momentum to undertake its necessary renovation. Knowing the benefits in terms of overall cost, and faced with the prospect of not being able to finish the organ more than fifty years after the initial investment, the organ committee pressed forward with the tenacious and unflagging leadership of chairman James Moore. With the generosity of two lead gifts, the committee was able to finally realize the total project.

Under the guidance of project consultant John Ferguson, the organ committee confidently engaged Schoenstein & Co. to proceed with the renovation and completion of Opus 1342. From the outset, the committee sought to preserve the Aeolian-Skinner aesthetic, while blending in new pipework with the existing stoplist. The committee’s decision to entrust the work to this firm began in the 1990s, when Schoenstein & Co. added a pedal reed and completed necessary regulation work. Furthermore, Schoenstein’s connection to Skinner and Aeolian-Skinner via Louis Schoenstein and his son, Lawrence, who worked for G. Donald Harrison, naturally affirmed this decision.   

From the beginning of the committee’s discussions with Jack Bethards, President and Tonal Director of Schoenstein & Co., it was clear that we could accomplish astounding results with a strikingly conservative approach. Acoustically, it was determined that an Antiphonal organ would be a more appropriate way of rendering the prepared division. Housed in the chancel, the Antiphonal organ lends valuable support to the cantor, choirs, and congregation at the crossing and front portions of the nave. The Quintaton 16′, formerly the basis for the gallery Great, now takes its place as a foundation for the Antiphonal organ. The ability to draw the Quintaton separately in the Pedal as well as a manual stop makes it a fine addition to the new colorful foundation stops.

Further enhancements to the Great and Choir divisions were also desired; the Great lacked an appropriately scaled 16′ to support the principal chorus, and the Choir division, while ideal for the accompaniment of choirs and solo vocalists, lacked a chorus that could contrast with the Swell. Added support to the Great division is offered by a new Violone at 16′ and 8′ pitch, an 8′ Flute Ouverte, and a 13⁄5′ principal-scaled Seventeenth. With the appropriate foundation tones now in place, the existing mixture, a 11⁄3′ IV–VI Fourniture, makes sense to the ear. The additional mutation stop, when combined with the existing 22⁄3′ Twelfth, allows for a contrasting Sesquialtera to the Choir.   

Joining the existing pipework in the Choir are a new 4′ Fugara and 2′ Klein Mixtur. While modest, to be sure, these two additions give the Choir a firm identity, and a fine contrast to the Swell plenum. The ability to make the existing Krummhorn speak at 16′ to tenor C adds further gravity to the division.

The finished organ opens a new chapter in the life of First Lutheran and Opus 1342. With the renovation and completion accomplished, the church members have answered the call of the 1956 organ committee—continuing to invest well in those things that ensure a worthy legacy of faith—even as other “steeples are falling” in favor of fleeting trends. Towering over the east balcony is an instrument of stately beauty, completely at home with its Gothic surroundings. In this context, I believe one starts to hear the organ—first by sight. When played, it sounds like one expects it should—with grace, exquisite beauty, and majestic power. It was rededicated in a public recital played by Grammy Award-winning organist Paul Jacobs, chairman of the organ department at the Juilliard School, to a capacity audience on December 4, 2011.  

On behalf of the organ committee, I wish to extend our deepest appreciation to Jack Bethards, Louis Patterson, and the entire staff at Schoenstein & Co. First Lutheran has enjoyed an ongoing relationship with this firm since the early 1990s, and it is a joy to see the progress over the years that continues to make Opus 1342 an ever more perfect instrument. The finished organ has exceeded what many of us thought possible, and we could not imagine a more satisfying relationship than that which we have enjoyed with the professionals at Schoenstein & Co.  

—Michael J. Elsbernd 

Director of Music Ministry 

& Principal Organist 

From the chair of the
organ committee

When the organ committee recommended the purchase of an Aeolian-Skinner in 1956, they probably knew how well the instrument would serve the church beyond their lifetimes. They probably did not know that the organ would still be unfinished 50 years later. Purchased at a cost of $52,000, the organ as installed and dedicated was missing reeds, a mixture, and upperwork in the Pedal division, as well as a Positiv division, all of which could have been added at the time for another $12,000.  

As Opus 1342 approached its fiftieth anniversary in November 2009, a new organ committee, formed in 2007, had two goals: to complete the instrument, and to do everything necessary to keep the organ in service for another 50 years. 

Having worked with Jack Bethards and Schoenstein & Co. in the early 1990s on a reed addition to the Pedal and other tonal regulation of the entire organ, the committee had no trouble deciding to move forward with Schoenstein. With the invaluable help of John Ferguson, our consultant and long-time friend of First Lutheran, we quickly agreed on the scope of work. It took longer to find our way through the political processes and to raise the money needed to finish the project, but with help from many faithful members, we did. 

In the end, we made the instrument mechanically current, added 12 ranks of pipes, and ensured that the organ should serve First Lutheran Church long beyond those of us on the committee. The results exceed our expectations in every way: the Antiphonal division enables the sound of the organ to fill the room for the first time, the new 8′ stops add warmth and richness of tone without changing the organ’s identity as an Aeolian-Skinner, and all of the new stops add impressive tonal color and versatility. 

Jack Bethards, Louis Patterson, and everyone at Schoenstein have been always timely, responsive, and professional. Their work is simply excellent, and speaks for itself.

—James E. Moore

Chair of the organ committee

Photo credit: Louis Patterson, unless indicated otherwise