Cover feature

Lewtak Pipe Organ Builders, Inc.,
Camillus, New York, Opus 2
West Baptist Church, Oswego, New York

From the music minister
The original organ in the West Baptist Church was built by John G. Marklove in 1867, and was placed in the front right corner of the sanctuary with the console attached. The instrument had two manuals with mechanical key and stop action. Anything beyond this is not known, although the former organist has said that there was a second console in the back of the organ, which allowed the instrument to be played from the adjoining room. Unfortunately, we don’t even know the original stoplist.
In 1951 Paul C. Buhl of Utica was contracted to do a full rebuild of the church’s organ. Sadly, the work was not up to today’s standards. The organ was completely taken apart and the original Marklove slider-and-pallet windchests were chopped into pieces (we found parts of old chests used as catwalks, ladders, etc.). The pipework was mixed and matched with pipes from other instruments of unknown origin. In some cases, we found pipes from the same rank used in four different stops; this was especially apparent in the Pedal division. The configuration of ranks hardly made sense in terms of scale matching or materials used, not to mention any tonal coherence. Two manual keyboards that were built into the façade were disposed of and replaced with a three-manual console with electric action, detached from the organ chamber. Inside the organ chamber the Buhl Company placed new, direct-electric chests and distributed the existing pipework into three divisions. They ended up adding a few “modern strings,” changing the configuration of mixtures, duplexing many ranks, borrowing stops from one manual to another—all of it in a way that the person playing the organ couldn’t possibly tell whether the sound was coming from this or that division. In addition, the electrical system suffered from poor wiring and faults caused by climatic conditions. For years the church’s building has been extremely humid during summer months, which contributed to severe mold growth and this, in turn, caused a complete deterioration of old insulation made of fabric. Shorting wires caused an array of ciphers and dead notes and created a situation of serious unreliability.
In addition, the Pedal had only two independent stops and was unable to sufficiently support the sound of the full organ. The organ committee quickly became aware that another renovation was not a feasible option and decided to employ Lewtak Pipe Organ Builders to build a new instrument that would retain the original façade (at least in the general sense) and restore as much of the old pipework as possible, leaving the judgment of selecting the useful pipes to the organbuilder. All other components of the organ are brand new and were built specifically for this instrument.
—Abel Searor

From the organbuilder
When in 2006 our firm was contracted for the maintenance of the Buhl organ at the West Baptist Church in Oswego, New York, from the first visit to the church we knew that something had to be done with the existing instrument and that the situation was quite serious. As time progressed, we were first asked to do a complete renovation; however, upon further examination of the instrument, we advised the organ committee that funds spent for the renovation would simply become money wasted—the organ was beyond any sensible repair. It was then that a small miracle happened. The members of the West Baptist Church, quite few in numbers and certainly not spoiled with overflow of extra capital, decided to accept our proposal for a new organ that would incorporate the existing pipework (with great modifications, however) and would retain the existing outside appearance (although slightly changed as well).
When the decision was made to build a new organ, there was no question that going the “old way” would most certainly be the best way. We are passionate supporters of tracker organs. It has been proven through centuries of experience that the most reliable and artistically gratifying key action is a mechanical one. We also put our complete trust in the time-proven manner of building windchests with sliders and pallets. We strongly believe that the characteristics and performance of a tracker organ are unquestionably superior to any other kind of action. Coming from this viewpoint, the new organ was designed with fully mechanical key and stop action. We opted to go back to the two-manual setup and designed a stoplist that was not influenced by any particular style or builder. We simply wanted to create an instrument that would be quite universal, full of tonal variety, and suitable for many musical genres. We intended, however, to sustain a bit of an “old fashioned” flavor, which is clearly manifested in the voicing of pipes.
The new organ was built on a tight budget; therefore, some of the work has been done by the members of the congregation. The Buhl organ from 1951 had been completely removed and disposed of. The organ chamber was emptied out and renovated. New plasterboard was installed, and everything got a fresh coat of paint. The floor was refinished, and sufficient room was made in front of the organ for a new console—built into the organ case with two manuals and a pedal keyboard. All of this work was done by the members of the church.
The largest pipes, from the wooden Principal 16? in the Pedal, were placed on “benches” along the walls and connected via flexible conduits to a separate chest designated exclusively for this rank. The reason for this was twofold. First, these pipes were too big to fit on a “regular” pedal chest and, second, they required a considerable amount of wind, which would almost certainly cause a shortage of wind for the rest of the ranks, if placed on the same chest. The remaining pedal ranks were placed on two identical windchests butting against each other side to side.
All pipework in all divisions is distributed in a major-third configuration, of course split in the middle into two traditional sides, C and C-sharp. The Swell and Great divisions are mounted above the three single-rise wedge bellows. All windchests were provided with small shocker bellows, allowing for steady wind supply even during times of high wind demand. All major wind conduits are made out of wood; small offsets were carried out with flexible conduits.
We kept roughly 70% of the pipework from the Marklove/Buhl organ. It was nearly impossible to determine which pipes were “true originals” from 1867 and which came from some other sources. We opted for keeping only the pipes that offered us a chance to do a decent revoicing. The remaining 30% we acquired from various sources; however, all the pipework was voiced together as one instrument—the process took nearly five months.
The new instrument boasts 27 stops, 33 ranks, for a total of 1,803 pipes. Since it is nearly impossible to describe the sound, we can only say that the goal was to have an organ with a confident, but not bold, tonal character. Therefore, all of our voicing efforts went in the direction of having the pipes speaking in a manner that is naturally free and unobstructed. There is never a problem with using fewer stops, if needed, but one cannot produce a fortissimo effect if there is no substance to support it. In no way, however, is the organ “shrieky” or unpleasant, even with all the stops pulled out. Working with the relatively low wind pressure of 69 mm for the manuals turned out to be quite rewarding. The pipes develop a sound that is not forced and is very “singing” in nature, yet not lacking in natural strength.
The façade was left in its original general concept. The façade pipes were completely stripped to bare metal and repainted with the addition of some subtle stenciling. In the top portion of the middle arch, we added a painted rosette with elaborate decorative floral elements. The lower portion of the frontal cabinet had to be modified in order to accommodate our new keyboards and the drawknob desks. We used American walnut for all new frontal elements—the same wood species as the old cabinet. Neither time nor money was spared when it came to the console area. The keys are made of tightly grained spruce, naturals with granadilla overlays, sharps with maple and natural bone. Natural keys have their fronts embellished with a half-circle arch. The key cheeks as well as the music stand are made of solid walnut with hard maple inlays. Drawknobs are made from Norwegian maple. In the center of the ball there is a round inlay made of sterling silver and Baltic amber in honey color. The knobs were custom turned for us by Johannes Rieber in Oslo, Norway; the amber pieces were also made especially for this purpose—they came from Poland from one of the most renowned figures in amber art circles, Mariusz Drapikowski (his original creations are on permanent display at the Vatican Museum).
The tracker action is carried out in the simplest of ways, which is a bulletproof formula ensuring reliability for many years to come. Keys are a double-armed lever, with 10 mm movement in the front and 7.5 mm in the back. Trackers are made from red cedar, squares from hornbeam, and rollers from aluminum with wooden arms. Because of extreme humidity problems, we chose to make all pallets out of aluminum. The windchests were made of solid oak and maple, toe boards and pipe racking out of poplar. The stop action is made from white ash, sliders from the laminated phenolic fabric. The air is supplied by a 1-HP, three-phase Ventus blower.
We wish to extend our thanks to all members of the West Baptist Church in Oswego, New York for entrusting us with this project. We hope that this project will indeed help to rejuvenate the church family and that it will serve the community “For the glory of God.”
—Tomasz Lewtak
Lewtak Pipe Organ Builders, Inc.
1003 Barnwood Lane
Camillus, NY 13031
<www.lewtak.com&gt;

Craftsmen who worked on this project:
Vanessa McCrea—woodworking, bookkeeping, purchasing and general help (doing all the things that nobody else wanted to do . . . )
Iwona Henschke—pipe restoration, stenciling
Jeff King—electrical work, organ chamber and floor finishing
Gerry DeMoors—carillon restoration and electronics
Johannes Rieber—drawknob turning
Mariusz Drapikowski—Baltic amber and sterling silver setting
Pawel Lewtak—façade design, woodworking, pipe restoration
Tomasz Lewtak—mechanical design, woodworking, voicing and tuning

Lewtak Pipe Organ Builders, Camillus, New York, 2005

St. Joseph’s Catholic Church “On the Hill,” Camillus, New York


The Church

The history of St. Joseph’s Church in Camillus, New York, goes back to 1852, when the first resident pastor came to the parish and began to care for the religious needs of local Catholics. The original St. Joseph’s Church in the village of Camillus was built in 1867. The congregation eventually outgrew the small space of the old church, and in 1965 construction started on a new building—the cross-shaped church, with parabolic arches rising 90 feet and dramatic windows at the ends of each wing. As is often the case when substantial funds are required for construction, the purchase of a new pipe organ had to wait its turn. The delay turned out to be a long one—almost 40 years!
For years the rich and varied music program of St. Joseph’s Parish was supported by an electronic organ substitute and a Kawai grand piano. During the fall of 2001, an opportunity came along, and finally the decision was made to begin the construction of a new pipe organ that would fulfill the musical needs of the congregation and would aesthetically complete the sanctuary of St. Joseph’s. That year, another church in the Diocese of Syracuse—St. Louis in Oswego, New York—was closed and the pipe organ from this church was purchased with the thought that it would become a jump-board for a much larger instrument at St. Joseph’s.

The Old Organ

The old organ, a tracker consisting of two manuals with 21 stops, was built by Casavant Frères in 1896 as their Opus 69. It was the first organ from this builder imported in the United States.
At the time of acquisition, the Casavant organ was in a state of complete disrepair. It was obvious that a true historical renovation was not feasible for two primary reasons: the cost and the size of the instrument. Even if the parish were to allocate the funds, St. Joseph’s has a cubic volume approximately four times that of St. Louis Church. The volume of sound required to fill this large space could not possibly be achieved from a rather small and softly voiced instrument. With heavy hearts and facing no other options, the old organ from Oswego was dismantled and moved to St. Joseph’s in Camillus. Only the salvageable parts would be used in a new instrument. Virtually all of the old pipework was saved. A total of 1,202 pipes were moved to Camillus, most of which were in shoddy physical condition; some were badly damaged due to poor maintenance and careless handling. For example, an existing Mixture III on the second manual had twelve original pipes missing in the center, the sign of an obvious “tuning accident” occurring many years ago. These were replaced with “stock” pipes that did not make any sense in terms of either scaling or in the proper Mixture repetition sequence. Many wooden pipes also had visible water damage. The same was true for both manual windchests, which were also transported to St. Joseph’s. From four pedal chests only two were salvageable, with the remaining two damaged beyond any reasonable repair.

The New Tonal Design

Even though the old organ had to be dismantled, it became the backbone for—first and foremost—the tonal design of the new instrument. Professor Ulrik Spang-Hanssen from the Royal Danish Music Conservatory in Aarhus, Denmark was consulted, and a plan was devised for the preservation of the original stop configuration, augmenting it with a new third keyboard that would serve as the foundation for the “big sound.” Very few old ranks have been shifted. What was acquired from Oswego became the second and third manuals (Positif and Récit) with some changes necessary to move the timbre out of the dark and 8'-heavy character. The original configuration did not have any fifths or thirds among its stops. In addition, the first manual (the Great) had four 8' stops and one 4' stop; the second manual (the Swell) had a 16' Bourdon and a sub-octave coupler to the Great. New ranks were added with the purpose of not just strengthening the volume, but more importantly brightening the sound of the organo pleno in these two divisions. The old Great (current Positif) received the 2' Piccolo from the old Swell, and the original Dulciana 8' was moved to the new Grand Orgue division. The old Swell (current Récit) received a new Nasard 22?3', Principal 2' and Tierce 13?5'. From the same division, the Trumpet 8¢ and Bourdon 16' were moved to the new Grand Orgue.

The addition of a new first manual (the Grand Orgue) allowed not only for keeping the stop configuration as close to the original as possible, but also opened completely new sound prospects to build on and to draw from. This is the division that is by far the strongest. It is rather basic in terms of utilized ranks, not too far from the tonal character of the old instrument and yet created with the sole purpose of giving a complete Principal chorus to the entire instrument. The Cornet Harmonique III deserves special mention. It is a three-rank cornet (22?3¢, 2¢ and 13?5¢) consisting of widely scaled, overblown flute pipes with two small holes midway through the body length. The aural effect is quite unusual: the cornet combination has a far greater penetration and clarity of timbre thanks to the characteristic “hollow” sound of the harmonic pipes.

Obviously the Pedal division required more power. This was simply achieved by adding to the original three stops (Double Open 16', Bourdon 16' and Violoncello 8') a new Octave 8', Cor de Nuit 4' and a round-sounding 16' Buzène, a reed stop with leathered shallots. It would have been an asset to have a mixture in the Pedal; however, the financial constraints made it impossible. The total number of new pipes added is 1,100.

The New Façade

The difficult task of designing the façade for this organ fell on our shoulders after we approached various outside architects and artists. The problems we encountered with the architects were their lack of understanding the principles of how the organ works, not knowing what is and what is not attainable. There was also the lack of positive and healthy aesthetics. The objectives were quite simple: first, to fit the organ into the arch shape of the ceiling, and second, to show that this instrument blends the old with the new. An additional requirement came from the fact that it had been explicitly requested that the console must stay on the main floor of the church while the rest of the organ rests on a 10-foot high loft. The reasoning for this came from the liturgical documents of the Second Vatican Council, which dictates that the music ministry is not to be separated from the congregation. In the case of a tracker organ, it immediately makes things a lot more complicated simply because the linkage becomes dangerously long.

The design of this church building cannot be classified as “contemporary” but it may be described as “modern.” However, all throughout the building there are many elements of traditional architectural design: harmonious lines, time-honored proportions, and a lot of symmetry. The answer to all of these challenges came from my brother, architect Pawel Lewtak. He is the creator of the design that became a real head-turner among parishioners and visitors alike. In his words, his worst fear was to create another organ that would be sitting “up there” with the console that is placed “down there,” and one has little to do with the other. Instead, he created a homogenous shape that ties the top with the base in a seamless manner. The tower-like structure of segments gives it slenderness and allows for traditional pipe grouping. To reflect what is inside the organ case, the original façade pipes were kept in their distinctive clusters, and new groups of double flamed copper pipes were added. Copper was definitely the material of choice for its perfect blend with the surrounding color scheme.

There is one special feature of this façade that separates it from all others: mirrors, more specifically, forty of them! Hardly noticeable at first glance, they add light, depth, spark, and elegance. The mirrors are only four inches wide, and are of various lengths. They are placed in wooden frames in the spaces between the pipe clusters. They enhance the design by offering a true three-dimensional effect. As people walk through the church they are always viewing a distinctive picture with variegated light reflections, innumerable shadows and highlights, an array of geometrical shapes, yet all elements are well organized with pleasing aesthetic integrity.

The façade is made of white ash with mahogany ornaments, and the case behind it is made from birch and carefully selected white poplar.

The Mechanics and Materials

The key action is purely mechanical. It is referred to as a suspended action and was the only logical choice given our circumstances. Long distance between the keyboards and the windchests dictated absolute precision in the making of the tracker action. The longest linkage run is 33 feet and yet the average weight of the key—when the chests are under pressure—is only 120 grams. The action is not the least sluggish thanks to the employment of a pressure rail on the back of each keyboard with springs that remove some of the key weight. Each division has its own floating rail allowing for climatic changes of the wood of the trackers, which are made of red cedar. The squares are fashioned out of aluminum as are the rollers and roller arms. On the longest rollers, needle bearings were utilized to support the weight of each roller.

The keys are made of tight-grained pine covered with black African wood (grenadilla) for the naturals, and bone-on-maple for the sharps. The cheeks of the keyboards are white oak with ebony inlays.
All windchests are of slider and tone-channel construction. Two old windchests (Positif and Récit) have been completely taken apart and restored to mint condition. In both, the pallets used are of a so-called “relief” type: in essence, each pallet consists of two pieces, one of which is being pulled down first thus releasing the pressure and breaking the initial resistance. After cleaning, releathering and complete re-regulating of all the parts, they work flawlessly. New windchests are made out of select yellow pine and have single pallets in all but the lowest octaves. In the bass, we installed two pallets per tone channel, but with sequential opening, which causes the touch to be the same as the rest of the keys.
Pedal pipes are split diatonically and stand on either side of the case. The open 16¢ flute stands on its own two chests (C side and C# side). The remaining pedal pipes received two new windchests with space for both the old and the new ranks.

The stop action is state-of-the-art electric. The stop plates, made of grenadilla, hide behind them contactless switches. The system offers full convenience of 1,280 memory levels for even the most demanding performer. Half of the levels are lock-protected. The layout of thumb and toe pistons is very simple and offers some necessary redundancy. Couplers can be operated either by thumb pistons or toe studs. Also, the navigation through the system’s memory levels can be done either by hand, by foot or on the side by an assistant. There is one expression pedal for the Récit and a Crescendo pedal. The Crescendo, in order to work, first must be activated by a toe stud. It is fully programmable and has a digital level display from 0 through 30. A similar kind of digital level display is in place for the expression pedal of the Récit. The shutters are operated by a 30-stage, digitally controlled electric motor.

The organ utilizes a three-phase 1.5 hp electric blower with slow RPM. There are two reservoir bellows—one old one and one new— providing ample air supply to the whole instrument. There are three tremolos, one for each manual. Two of them have electronically adjustable speed of undulation right at the console.

The Voicing

Any organ is only as good as it sounds. Therefore, even though we spared neither time nor money on mechanical details, the most important element remained the voicing. All of the old ranks received some sort of voicing re-vamp. They had all previously been voiced down for a much smaller building. We made them more free speaking, definitely less obstructed at the toe. All of the old ranks were heavily nicked, which made things difficult at times. The new ranks were voiced with a little bit of chiff, just enough to make their speech more pronounced in the large acoustics of St. Joseph’s Church. The old reeds needed to be re-tongued in order to gain a larger sound. The Trumpet 8¢, especially, required more brilliance and volume in order to balance well with the rest of the Grand Orgue. The organ is tuned to a Tartini-Vallotti temperament, which gives it a pleasant color and tonal personality. The instrument has much to offer in terms of variety of sound colors as well as the dynamics and individual stop character.



From an organbuilder’s perspective, taking a vintage 1896 organ and bringing it up to present day expectations, and having an organ that could be used for church services as well as concert performances has been a personally demanding and ingratiating experience. In organ building, the idea is always to be creative while retaining the original elements and merging them with new technologies. It is rewarding beyond words when an artist sits down at the console and you begin to see the smiles of pleasure. It means you have accomplished your goal of creating the finest organ from available sources.
Lewtak Pipe Organ Builders wishes to extend our sincere thanks to all volunteers who gave their time and energy to this most worthy project. We also thank the parishioners of St. Joseph’s Church of Camillus, New York, for their continuing understanding, patience and support.

—Tomasz Lewtak

Organbuilder




The following craftsmen took part in the construction of the organ for St. Joseph’s Church in Camillus, New York:

Tomasz Lewtak – mechanical design, pipe scaling, voicing, woodworking

Pawel Lewtak – façade design, woodworking, traction

Gerry DeMoors – electronics, carillon, general construction

Kevin Reedy – general construction

John Fergusson – woodworking.




Lewtak Opus 1

St. Joseph’s Church “On the Hill”

Camillus, New York


GRAND ORGUE

16' Bourdon*

8' Grand Principal

8' Dulciane*

8' Flûte à Cheminée

4' Octave

4' Flûte à Fuseau

3' Quinte

2' Doublette

2' Flûte

III Cornet Harmonique

IV Mixture

8' Trompette*

Tremblant Fort

POSITIF

8' Montre*

8' Mélodie*

8' Gambe*

4' Prestant*

2' Piccolo*

Carillon a22–f42

Tremblant Doux

RÉCIT

8' Viole de Gambe*

8' Principal*

8' Flûte Harmonique*

8' Bourdon*

8' Voix Cèleste*

4' Flûte Harmonique*

4' Fugara*

22?3' Nasard

2' Principal

13?5' Tierce

III Mixture*

8' Basson-Hautbois*

8' Cor Anglais*

Tremblant Doux

PÉDALE

16' Flûte Basse*

16' Bourdon*

8' Octave

8' Violoncello*

4' Cor de Nuit

16' Buzène




* Original Casavant stop

Mechanical key action

Electric stop action

Electronic register presets, 1280 memory levels

Wind pressure: 90 mm Positif, Récit & Pédale; 82 mm Grand Orgue

Couplers: III-I, II-I, III-II, III-P, II-P, I-P

Tuning A34=438 Hz at 18ºC

Temperament: Tartini-Vallotti

Lewtak Pipe Organ Builders, Inc., Camillus, New York
First Presbyterian Church,
Greenville, North Carolina

A note from the organist/choirmaster
When I arrived at FPC Greenville in 1998, the 1971 two-manual W. Zimmer and Sons organ of about 20 ranks stood in the rear gallery. A gift of the Guy V. Smith, Max R. Joyner, and James Gibson families, it had served the congregation, community, and East Carolina University music department well for almost 40 years. When it was determined that the congregation and music program needed a larger instrument with placement in the chancel, we began exploring moving and expanding the organ.
The Zimmer’s copper façade pipes of the 8′ Pedal Principal were spread across the rear wall, directly behind the choir, in the shallow but wide gallery. With the Rückpositif division directly behind the organ bench and cantilevered over the balcony wall, the choir singers were literally in the middle of the organ pipes. The organ was of German neo-Baroque style, with no Swell or other enclosed division. It did have some nice pipework, a strong principal chorus, and a relatively independent pedal division for an organ of this size.
Originally the plan was to move the organ to the front chancel area with a few additions. The project evolved, and due to the generous gift from the estate of Mary Potts Goodman Sorenson, it was to become essentially a new organ—utilizing most of the pipes from the original instrument, along with new ranks, to make it over twice the original size.
We wanted the following qualities in a new instrument: well-rounded sound that would support and enhance congregational singing; an organ that would speak evenly through the worship space, filling but not overwhelming it; one that would play repertoire of all periods and be a worthy recital instrument. We also wanted to build upon the German nature of the original. I had wished for full-length 16′ pedal ranks, string ranks, a Swell division with reeds and mixtures, colorful mutations, and additional flutes and 8′ ranks—a lot to ask on a limited budget.
Upon the first visit of Tom Lewtak, his enthusiasm and vision of the possibilities for the space were inspiring to everyone. There were no problems or limitations that were not dealt with in a positive way and solved. When we got the first drawings, everyone was impressed by the boldness and artistry of the design, which was dramatic, yet still looked like it belonged in the space. It complements the contemporary design of the church building and its best feature, the beautiful stained glass windows.
Before renovations, which started in 2009, the focal point of the sanctuary was the prominent high pulpit with a large overhanging tester, which fanned out toward the congregation. Looking further and behind this, one would see the empty space behind the pulpit forming a kind of alcove, which rose to over 40 feet. What was this space designed for if not for organ pipes? So it is now filled with a beautiful arrangement of pipes, casework, and tower façades.
First Presbyterian Greenville is located on the edge of the campus of East Carolina University and enjoys a close relationship with the ECU music department. The Zimmer organ, at one time the premier instrument in Greenville, had been used as a teaching and practice tool for students. Many recitals, organ and other, have been held in our space. The church has been host to many AGO meetings and events.
Even when the organ was a little over half done and heard at the Eastern Carolina AGO chapter meeting last fall, participants were overwhelmingly positive about the sound, observing its sweetness of tone as well as power. This is even more the case now, and we are fortunate to have an instrument with character and color, warmth in the ensembles and choruses, with brilliance as well as depth.

William M. Wood, organist/choirmaster, is originally from Graham, North Carolina. He did undergraduate work at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and Elon University, and holds the Master of Sacred Music in organ from East Carolina University. His organ teachers have included Robert B. King, William J.N. Stokes, and Janette Fishell. A frequent recitalist, he has served churches in Richmond, Virginia, and in North Carolina.
From the organbuilder
Building a straight tracker organ in a space that requires 30-foot-long tracker runs is always a challenge. I feel very strongly that mechanical action is superior, so I had no doubts that this is what was needed at First Presbyterian Church in Greenville, North Carolina—that is, if the church wanted to remain a leading center for cultural events in town. The acoustics of the sanctuary are more like those found in concert halls than in churches. There is sufficient reverberation to fill the room with lively sound, and the bass response is excellent, thanks to brick walls all around. The conditions for a new instrument were very favorable; this allowed us to design an instrument that, despite having just two manuals, has a comprehensive specification throughout, giving the organist a wealth of possibilities.
The tonal design called for a mid-German-style organ, with full principal chorus in the Great and rich complement of flutes in the Swell, along with strings and a well-developed reed section throughout the instrument. Both manuals are based on 16′ stops—Bourdon 16′ in the Great, and Fagott 16′ in the Swell—which provides the necessary gravitas of sound. The Great offers Principals 8′, 4′, 22⁄3′, 2′, and Mixture. This, along with a warm Trumpet 8′ and a bright Clarion 4′,
guarantees a strong plenum. There are also two flutes in the Great, to enable soft registrations and good blend for accompaniments. Lastly, there is a lively Cornet III, which serves as a versatile transition stop, good for both solo as well as plenum, with or without the Mixture.
The Swell has a substantial selection of colorful ranks. At the 8′ level we have included a wide-scale Hohlflöte, Quintadena, and Gambe, along with complementing Celeste. The Prestant 4′ has a slightly stringy quality to it, and the metal Gedackt 4′ perfectly complements the 8′ flute. Going up, we added a 2′ Piccolo and 11⁄3′ Larigot—this gives lightness and a “sparkle” to this division. The Mixture III–IV in the Swell is a bit unusual in that it includes a Tierce. The Tierce is voiced very mildly, not to be too present, and yet changes the character of the Mixture toward the “wider” sound, rather than the typical high-pitched shrill. This allows the Mixture to be used more frequently even in smaller ensembles with no danger of overpowering the singers. The Swell offers a generous choice of reeds as well; aside from the already mentioned Fagott 16′, we have included Oboe 8′ and Rohrschalmei 4′.
The Pedal division features a Posaune 16′ with full-length metal resonators, which along with a metal Principal 16′ makes for a solid bass foundation, even at the loudest dynamic level. The Pedal is independent enough to support the manuals without coupling, but of course we installed traditional couplers I–P and II–P for additional flexibility.
Since flexibility was one of the main goals in the design of this organ, it is worth mentioning the inclusion of an additional II–I Sub coupler. It is a fully mechanical coupler and yes, it does make you work a bit harder than normal, but it is worth it. The usefulness of this coupler is unquestionable, both for solo combinations as well as full-organ playing. Just consider this—when you sub-couple the 16′ Fagott to the Great, you end up playing a 32′ pitch on the main manual!
One peculiarity of this organ is the fact that the Quintadena 8′ of the Swell division happens to be placed entirely outside of the expression box. This is because we inherited the façade pipes from the old Zimmer organ, and among them was this Quintadena, which had 20 of the lowest pipes in the façade. We did not want to have 20 pipes out in the open and the remaining 36 under expression, so the logical solution was to offset the top of this rank completely outside the Swell. It seems to be working quite well, giving the Quintadena a distinct solo capability.
The design of the façade went through several stages. We first submitted three different proposals from which one was chosen and then modified to fit the space, the needs, and the taste of the congregation. The cabinetry is made from solid cherry, real mahogany, sapele, and wenge (the last two species are native to African tropical forests). Milder wood tones were needed to complement the church interior, and yet we did not want to make a completely dark façade, as the light in the building is rather subdued. The façade consists of eight towers—five in the lower tier and three in the upper—with rather daring angles and lines. As one can see on the drawing, the windchests and all playing components sit on the loft, twelve feet above the floor level, but the console is placed on the main floor. In designing the façade, we strove to make the organ look as “one”, with no detectable division between the upstairs and the downstairs. The towers are visually supported by the console cabinet, making the design very cohesive. In reality, the presence of the “loft” is hardly noticeable. The highest tower peak is 41.5 feet (12.6 meters) above the floor of the sanctuary, and the façade is 17.4 feet (5.3 meters) wide. Needless to say, the rigging was difficult and risky. We were able to use 90% of the Zimmer façade pipes: 29 made from copper and 27 made out of tin. All pipes were totally renovated so that they would look like new.
The console boasts our trademark features: drawknobs turned in Norway from real mahogany wood and then inlayed with Baltic amber stones set in sterling silver. The jewelry work was hand-crafted in Poland. The keyboards were produced in Germany, with key coverings provided by us. The naturals are covered with Madagascar rosewood called Bois de Rose, the sharps covered with bone. Bois de Rose was also used throughout the keydesk, key cheeks, and the music stand for inlays. All thumb pistons that control the electronics were capped with this wood as well. Stop nameplates are made of sugar maple and laser-engraved. The music rack is made of solid wenge wood and has all lighting fixtures concealed within it. It is easily detachable, to provide access to action regulation right behind it.
The key action is purely mechanical, with suspended action. It only has two square rails per manual to change the direction of the tracker run. One of the square rails for each manual is free-floating, providing the necessary self-adjustment of the action for climatic changes. The trackers are made from bass wood (linden tree) and all tracker parts (squares, arms, etc.) are made of hornbeam. Because of the significant distance between the windchests and the keyboards, we opted for a “double pallet” construction—imagine a normal pallet being sliced horizontally into two parts; the lower part opens first (breaking very minimal pluck force) and then the upper part falls down, letting a sufficient amount of wind into the tone channel. It is a simple and bulletproof solution for long tracker runs, allowing the key action to be light and crisp even with many stops drawn.
For the stop action, we utilized a German-made solid-state system with 3,999 levels of memory. Stops are controlled by drawknobs connected through this electronic system to slider solenoids opening and closing the stops. The console layout is European in its character, with only a minimal amount of buttons and gadgets. There is a clear numeric indicator for the swell shutters and for the crescendo. The thumb pistons are placed above the second manual, not under or between the keyboards. An average American organist will find it very user friendly, although different from our typical AGO standard. We also included one special feature for the drawknobs—the nameplates become gently illuminated from the back when the stops are turned on. It makes one’s eyes immediately aware of which stop is on and which is off.
Voicing—always the most important part of any organ—took a good half-year to complete. All pipes from the old Zimmer organ were treated as virgin pipework and revoiced from scratch, just like new pipes. The neo-Baroque flavor was removed in favor of a more rounded but full-bodied sound. There is no hint of shrillness and yet the sound is vibrant and bright. The instrument has plenty of power to impress the listener, with the might so typical for the King of Instruments; however, it is not senseless noise, which annoys our ears so often these days. For those who really want to experience the sound of this instrument, I cannot offer words of description. You need to come to Greenville and listen. The dedication of this organ will take place this month, on March 27, presented by Christopher Marks, assistant professor of organ at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
I wish to offer my heartfelt thanks to the people and staff of First Presbyterian Church of Greenville, North Carolina. Their incredible kindness, patience, and enthusiasm made this project the most gratifying experience one can ask for. This project would not have been possible without the support of Dr. William Neely, pastor.

Tomasz Lewtak was educated as an organist, having two master’s degrees in organ performance. His inspiration to become an organbuilder came at the age of 16, when he viewed the building process of the monumental organ at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Gdansk (Danzig), Poland, by the German firm of Hillebrand. Later, he studied organbuilding and design during his five years at the Academy of Music in Katowice, Poland. The following years took him to Denmark and Norway, where he apprenticed with Carsten Lund Organ Builders of Copenhagen. He acquired his voicing skills from Mogens Pedersen, chief voicer of Frobenius Organ Builders. Tomasz Lewtak is responsible for tonal design, pipe scaling, voicing, windchest and action design.
The following people worked on this project: Tomasz Lewtak, Pawel Lewtak, Craig Regan, Elliott Regan, Peter Clouser, Vanessa McCrea, Tony Pernisi, Michael McCrea, Kevin Reedy, and Joe Stillwell. Special thanks to Dick Marks for his volunteer service.
Photo credit: Tomasz Lewtak, unless indicated otherwise.
For more information about Lewtak Pipe Organ Builders: <A HREF="http://www.lewtak.com">www.lewtak.com</A&gt;.

First Presbyterian Church
Greenville, North Carolina
2 manuals, 30 stops, 40 ranks

GREAT
16′ Bourdon
8′ Principal
8′ Rohrflöte
4′ Octave
4′ Spillflöte
22⁄3′ Quinte
2′ Principal
Cornet III
Mixture IV–V
8′ Trumpet
4′ Clarion

SWELL (under expression)
8′ Quintadena (outside of Swell)
8′ Hohlflöte
8′ Gambe
8′ Celeste
4′ Prestant
4′ Gedackt
2′ Blockflöte
11⁄3′ Larigot
Mixture III–IV
16′ Fagott
8′ Oboe
4′ Rohrschalmei
Tremolo

PEDAL
16′ Principal
16′ Subbass
8′ Octavbass
8′ Bassflöte
4′ Choralbass
Rauschquinte II
16′ Posaune
Couplers
II–I
II SUB–I
I–P
II–P

Manual keyboard compass: C–g′′′ (56 keys), naturals in black, sharps in white.
Pedal keyboard compass: C–g′ (32 keys), parallel keys, slightly concave.
Wind pressure: 90 mm water column for manuals, 99 mm for the pedal.
Mechanical key action (suspended), self-compensating for seasonal changes.
Electric stop action with 3,999 levels of electronic memory.

 

John-Paul Buzard Pipe Organ Builders, Champaign, Illinois
First Presbyterian Church,
Lexington, Kentucky

From the organ builder
Organ projects take a long time. In the case of this undertaking, it can perhaps be said that this project has taken 110 years! It was in 1897 that the W. W. Kimball Co. of Chicago installed a two-manual and pedal tubular pneumatic action pipe organ in First Presbyterian Church. In 1936, Kimball revisited their then 40-year old instrument, converting the action to electropneumatic action and making some minor tonal changes. Subsequent alterations and repairs, not up to the quality of the original work, led to the decision to pursue a comprehensive rebuilding.
It was in May 2004 that Buzard Pipe Organ Builders first inspected the organ and met with the church’s organ committee. Our enthusiasm for the project and approach to the particular requirements of the project were a good fit with the church’s desires, and after jointly refining our vision a contract was signed on June 6, 2005 for a complete rebuilding of the church’s pipe organ. The organ was removed to the Buzard factory in February 2006, with re-installation beginning just about a year later and taking about two months on site.
This project is not a restoration. Many changes had already been made to the instrument over its first 100 years, and although the organ made some nice sounds, it could not provide the full tonal palette that is desired for what this instrument is called upon to do. In addition, the mechanical systems of the organ were neither in good condition nor adaptable to the tonal changes being made.
The new wind system retains and supplements the original Kimball reservoirs and tremolos, with new wooden wind trunks throughout the organ. A completely new console and switching system have been crafted, incorporating preparations for future installation of an Antiphonal division in the gallery (the location of the church’s first pipe organ).
New electric pull-down slider and pallet windchests have been constructed for the straight manual stops, and new electropneumatic action windchests have been constructed for the unit stops. A new building frame and structure has been constructed behind the original casework, with new enclosures incorporating the Kimball shutter frames.
Twenty-five stops of Kimball pipework have been retained, supplemented with 11 ranks of new pipework. All of the existing pipes have been carefully repaired and revoiced, and all the new pipes were custom scaled and built for this project under the watchful eyes (and ears) of the Buzard Company’s tonal director, Brian K. Davis, with all tonal finishing completed on site by Mr. Davis and Mr. Buzard. The visible façade pipes, containing basses of the 16′ and 8′ Diapasons, have been brilliantly decorated using the original patterning.
The organ is now in as-new condition, ready to sound forth in its second century with both bold new voices and sounds that echo from its past. Everything old is new again!
—Keith Williams and David Brown
Buzard Pipe Organ Builders
Service Department

From the organ consultant
In March 2004, I was invited by the director of music and arts, Marlon Hurst, to advise the organ committee of the First Presbyterian Church with regard to their organ. On visiting the church, I found a rather decrepit instrument, originally built in 1897 by the noted Kimball firm, which had subsequently been repaired, patched, altered and added to on several occasions by various people. Kimball had electrified the action (originally tubular) and replaced the console in 1936, but both action and console were now rapidly deteriorating, resulting in dead notes, loose pedal keys, and an erratic combination action. Examination of the interior revealed obsolete windchests, a patchwork electrical system with components ranging from the 1936 electrification to recent solid-state, a replacement (and slow) swell shade motor, inoperative top-note pedal extensions, leaky windlines patched with duct tape, recently recovered reservoirs and winkers, and evidence of some re-leathering of primaries.
Even visually, the organ had been changed, the casework darkened, and the display pipes (along with much of the rest of the church interior) painted a dull off-white to match the sanctuary’s then rather drab interior. Tonally, there had been a few substitutions, along with various additions and extensions on offset chests, most of them done at different times and by different people. The original Kimball pipework was, however, reasonably intact and in good condition, although generally in poor tonal regulation and tune, some stops showing evidence of less than successful revoicing attempts. Yet despite the gradual disintegration of the organ’s original integrity, this pipework, with all its defects, still gave a strong and admirable impression of the original rich Kimball sound.
The committee had been wrestling with various approaches, from possible restoration to more patchwork repairs and additions to total replacement. After discussion with this very motivated committee, a more attractive option emerged. Because of all the changes and additions, restoration as an authentic Kimball was really out of the question. More patchwork could be dismissed on the basis of the dubious results it had achieved in the past. An entirely new organ was an option, but the most costly one. And then there was the matter of all of that excellent Kimball pipework with its distinctive character, which all of us agreed that we liked. Since the faults of the organ as it stood were primarily mechanical, we eventually agreed to focus on a new option, that of retaining and respectfully treating the Kimball pipework, possibly with a few carefully integrated new stops, but replacing all of the mechanical components with new, excepting perhaps the console shell and a few reservoirs. The hoped-for result would be a reliable and essentially new organ with a “vintage” sound.
The committee’s eventual choice of the Buzard firm was based not only on their favorable impressions of the quality of the firm’s work, but also on the builder’s willingness to make the most of the Kimball pipework in a tonal design that also included some additions to expand the overall usefulness of the organ in the church’s very active and vital music program.
Because the organ project was to be integrated into a larger plan of renovating and redecorating the church interior under the direction of Terry Byrd Eason, making more space for the choir was strongly recommended by all involved and was included in this plan. Once a builder had been chosen, he and the architect worked together on renovating the organ chamber and certain other details. Eventually it was discovered that Kimball’s display pipes had originally been colorfully stenciled, and, with the enthusiastic agreement of all involved, restoration of this element was added to the project and executed by Kristin Farmer, one of the most highly respected practitioners of this rather arcane art-form. Along with the restoration of the pulpit furniture to its original finish and a warmer and more historically authentic color scheme, the stenciled pipes have added considerably to the visual interest of the room.
Throughout the three years of the organ project, the committee and I were in regular communication as questions arose and some minor changes were considered. Indeed, I will have to say that Marlon Hurst and his committee comprised one of the most conscientiously dedicated groups that I have ever worked with. That their dedication paid off abundantly was demonstrated on Sunday, April 29, 2007, when the organ and the beautifully refurbished sanctuary—complete with improved acoustics—were dedicated in a unique festival of psalms, hymns and spiritual songs that included hymn-singing, choral music and organ music (both solo and with brass) impressively performed by John D. Schwandt. In one nicely orchestrated and well-attended event, the organ was put through its paces in all of its varied functions, and came through with flying colors. Its Kimball antecedents were clearly present in the warm foundations, lush strings and colorful solo stops, now all well-regulated again. Buzard’s new mixtures dovetailed seamlessly into the well-balanced choruses and the powerful new Tromba rank proved a successful “climax” stop. Musicians, clergy, architect, consultants and builders alike came away happy with what had been accomplished. But of greatest importance will be the far-reaching effects of a more welcoming sanctuary and a well-crafted and versatile organ for the church’s future worship and outreach.
—Barbara Owen
organ consultant

From the director of music and arts
The consideration of a major renovation—or replacement—of the pipe organ proved to be the impetus for examining other areas of concern in the 1874 sanctuary—issues of acoustics, chancel design, lighting, structural integrity and aging HVAC systems. Much like the maintenance history of the organ, each of these areas had received varying degrees of attention and improvement during the past century, but none of the improvements had been made in the context of a comprehensive plan.
With the identification of such a potentially comprehensive restoration project to the organ and sanctuary, a long range planning team (LRPT) was formed with the charge to thoroughly investigate the needs of the sanctuary and organ in the context of the overall ministry of the congregation. The LRPT enlisted the services of two consultants who would prove to be crucial to the direction of the project: Terry Byrd Eason, liturgical design consultant; and Barbara Owen, organ consultant.
Ms. Owen visited the church in March, 2004 and spent a day examining all aspects of the organ. The LRPT was reluctant to completely replace the instrument since it was installed during the same general period of construction as the church’s sanctuary. Furthermore, the warm Kimball sounds were valued by both the church’s members and music staff. Given Ms. Owen’s high estimation of the integrity of the existing Kimball pipes, it was decided that the church would seek a builder who would agree to build a new mechanical instrument, and who would combine the best of the existing Kimball pipe work with certain ranks of new pipes in a tonal scheme that would broaden the tonal palette and provide more timbral cohesiveness in the instrument.
At Ms. Owen’s recommendation, proposals and bids for the rebuilding project were solicited and received from five regional organ builders. In turn, trips were made to Atlanta, Cincinnati and Indianapolis to listen to representative work of each builder who submitted a proposal. Under the continued (and always impartial) guidance of Barbara Owen, we narrowed the field to two builders. A larger organ committee was formed to visit representative rebuilding work of our two final candidates. After hearing the tonal work of John-Paul Buzard, the committee unanimously agreed that it was Mr. Buzard’s work and proposal that best matched the goals stated by the LRPT.
In February 2006, the organ was sent to the Buzard shop. In the year following, the church underwent a restoration that included a complete redesign of the chancel and choir areas, the replacement of the church’s HVAC systems—including the re-routing of the HVAC ductwork for both efficiency and acoustic purposes—a complete scaffolding of the sanctuary to repair and replace sagging plaster in the drop-vaulted ceiling, the addition of new lighting and sound/recording systems and, most important to the organ project, the replacement of wall-to-wall carpeting in the chancel and nave with an oak hardwood surface. The combination of plaster repair and the installation of a hardwood floor in the choir, chancel and nave created an acoustic space that is now resonant and warm—an ideal environment for congregational song and prayer, choral singing and “the playing of the merry organ.”
At some point in the mid-20th century, the organ façade pipes (a functioning 16′ Open Diapason) had been painted over to match the color of the sanctuary walls. There was some photographic evidence from the early 20th century that the façade had originally been stenciled, though the details of the pattern were not discernible from the quality of the extant photographs. As the paint was being stripped from the pipes, the “shadow” of the original ornate stenciling pattern was discovered—and it was found intact to such a degree that its restoration was made possible.
Careful consideration was given to the color choices so that they would be consonant with the overall color scheme in the sanctuary. It was further decided that a large wooden cross, designed by Terry Byrd Eason, would be commissioned to hang in front of the façade pipes.
After all of the planning and careful consideration that led to the selection of a builder had been completed, we could only rest in the faith that we had been thorough in our process and that we had made the right choice in John-Paul Buzard. When John-Paul completed his work on the organ in April 2007, it was confirmed that we had chosen well. His respect for the pre-existing voicing found in the Kimball pipes guided his approach to the voicing of the entire instrument. Now, the old pipework blends with the new in a seamless way that is at once identifiably Kimball, while being skillfully broadened beyond the constraints of late 19th-century American tonal philosophies.
The end result of the project is that we have preserved the best of what we had inherited from our predecessors and have provided for those who worship in this place now and in the years to come an instrument that is capable of accompanying a wide variety of choral and congregational song, and on which can be faithfully played the broad spectrum of historic and modern organ repertoire. Soli Deo Gloria.
—Marlon Hurst, director of music and arts
Tina Wagoner, organist
Dr. Ben Arnold, Sara Holroyd, Jack Lansill, Renée Smith, organ committee

Regarding the restoration of the stenciled façade
The exciting call from Terry Byrd Eason (liturgical design consultant for the First Presbyterian Church, Lexington project) came in early January 2007. He explained that he was working with a church that had an 1897 Kimball façade, which needed to be re-stenciled with its original patterns. The façade had been painted over several times, but was now thoroughly stripped down to the bare zinc. He assured me that the Kimball designs were all on the pipes, etched into the zinc. Not being one who is afraid of a challenge, I took on the job.
The pipes arrived via an 18-wheel tractor-trailer—all 41 of them! My mind could only think, “where am I going to put all these pipes?” And they were huge. Eventually we got them all stored away.
The process began with just looking at the pipes. I wanted to recreate the façade accurately, but having no idea of the original, I was hesitant to just dig in immediately. So I “looked” at the pipes for two weeks. I laid the pipes from each flat side by side, and walked past them several times a day. Finally, I began to comprehend the original layouts and relationships of designs—from one pipe to another and from one flat to another.
I traced the designs, drew them on paper, and then cut stencils. Some stencils were 51″ long and 15″ wide! When the stencils were ready to use, the pipes, one by one, were primed and sanded to a smooth finish. A scale stick was made for each of the pipes so the designs would be placed back in the exact original position.
Colors for the pipes were selected by Terry Byrd Eason to match the walls and interior colors of the sanctuary, leaving the exact disposition of the colors to my discretion. Luckily, in working with the pipes I did find indications of the original colors hidden in nooks and crannies of the pipes. Bright red and green were found, telling me that we were in keeping with the original spirit of the façade design.
First the body of each pipe was painted with five different colors and banded with 24-carat gold. Second, the stencils were applied, some applied by pouncing with a stencil brush while others were gold leafed. These leafed designs had to be traced on the pipes with a pencil, and the gold size was applied with an artist’s brush. The mouths of all the pipes were gold leafed. The bodies of the pipes were nearly completely covered by stenciled designs, and hand painting was required in some areas.
After nine weeks of painting (I saw the sunrise many days), the pipes were finished and ready to go home to Lexington. They now stand proudly in their home and will once again play for at least one hundred years.
My thanks to Terry Byrd Eason for his expert help and to David Brown of Buzard Organ Builders who did the tracings of the original designs.
—Kristin Farmer

John-Paul Buzard Pipe Organ Builders
First Presbyterian Church, Lexington, Kentucky
28 straight stops, 35 ranks
(with preparation for 7-stop, 9-rank Antiphonal division)

GREAT (Manual II)
Underlined stops enclosed
4″ wind pressure
12 stops, 15 ranks
16′ Double Open Diapason* (façade 7–30; 1–6 from Bourdon)
8′ First Open Diapason* (façade 1–15)
8′ Second Open Diapason* (from 16′)
8′ Viola da Gamba
8′ Doppel Flute*
8′ Dulciana*
8′ Unda Maris*
4′ Principal*
4′ Flute d’Amour*
22⁄3′ Twelfth
2′ Fifteenth*
Mixture IV
8′ Trumpet*
8′ Trombas (from Pedal)
Tremulant
Chimes (25 notes, old tubes, new action)
Great to Great 4-UO
Enclosed Great to Great 16-UO-4
Swell to Great 16′, 8′, 4′
Antiphonal to Great 8′

ANTIPHONAL (Manual I)
(in balcony, preparation in console & switching)
7 stops, 9 ranks
8′ English Open Diapason
8′ Melodia
8′ Flûte à Bibéron
4′ Principal
4′ Suabe Flute
Mixture III
8′ Corno di Bassetto
8′ Trombas (from Pedal)
Antiphonal Unison Off
Great to Antiphonal 8′, 4′
Enclosed Great to Antiph. 16′, 8′, 4′
Swell to Antiphonal 16′, 8′, 4′
Cymbalstern (toe piston)
SWELL (Manual III)
Enclosed, 4″ wind pressure
12 stops, 16 ranks
16′ Lieblich Gedeckt*
8′ Violin Diapason*
8′ Stopped Diapason*
8′ Salicional*
8′ Voix Celeste* (GG)
4′ Principal*
4′ Harmonic Flute
2′ Flautina*
Sesquialtera II*
Mixture IV
8′ Cornopean
8′ Oboe*
Swell to Swell 16-UO-4
Antiphonal to Swell 8′

PEDAL
Trombone enclosed
4″ wind pressure
4 stops, 4 ranks
32′ Bourdon (ext, 1–12 digital)
32′ Lieblich Gedeckt (ext, 1–12 digital)
16′ First Open Diapason*
16′ Second Open Diapason* (Gt)
16′ Bourdon*
16′ Lieblich Gedeckt (Sw)
8′ Principal*
8′ Bass Flute* (ext, 12 new pipes)
8′ Bourdon (ext)
8′ Gedeckt Flute (Sw)
8′ Violoncello*
4′ Choral Bass*
4′ Open Flute (ext Bdn, 24 new pipes)
16′ Trombone
8′ Trombas (ext)
4′ Clarion (ext)
16′ Antiphonal Gedeckt (ext)
16′ Antiphonal Bassoon (ext)
Great to Pedal 8′, 4′
Enclosed Great to Pedal 8′, 4′
Swell to Pedal 8′, 4′
Antiphonal to Pedal 8′

An asterisk (*) denotes pipework retained from the existing organ and restored for the new tonal context.

Photo credit: John-Paul Buzard

 

Wicks Organ Company, Highland, Illinois

First Congregational Church, Kalamazoo, Michigan, Opus 6419 From the spectacular display of floral color found at the annual Tulip Festival in Holland, to the ingenuity of the great Christopher Columbus Smith as he launched the first-ever Chris-Craft speedboat, Western Michigan has provided us with a rich cultural, artistic, and recreational history. Kalamazoo is no exception to this trend; in fact, when it comes to the presence and popularity of the pipe organ, Kalamazoo reigns as a leader.

When I first went to First Congregational Church in the year 2001, I was told that the new organ would be in the company of a host of large, new instruments. Moreover, I learned that these new organs were within walking distance of one another! The Congregational church’s organ would share turf with two instruments by Létourneau (one in the Methodist church and one in the Baptist church), two older Casavants (one in the Christian Science church and one in the Presbyterian church), a newer Dobson in the Episcopal church, a Kilgen in the Reformed church, and, of course, the soon to arrive Nichols & Simpson in St. Augustine’s Cathedral. Having so many intriguing, contrasting organs in such a small area is a true gift to the organ enthusiast and an invaluable tool to the deliberating organ committee. It was from this impressive list of instruments that the committee of First Congregational Church began to study.

The organ committee instructed the bidding builders to propose something special: something unique that would complement rather than duplicate the other instruments on the block. However, they were not yet sure of the actual style they desired. Even though several of the other organs on the square provide an interesting spectrum of tonal styles, representing varying degrees and spins upon the American-classic school of tonal design, they were not sure whether they wanted to venture too far from this tried and true “comfort zone.” Nevertheless, the Wicks team took a leap of faith and proposed an instrument of the firm’s so-called “Neo-Victorian” style—the first ever to be proposed in this region of the country. After many months of deliberation and soul searching, First Congregational Church selected the Wicks proposal; and, they too took a leap of faith with regards to this “new” Wicks style of tonal design, voicing, and construction.

The Wicks “Neo-Victorian” sound

The Wicks Organ Company of Highland, Illinois, has ventured into an exciting realm of tone, unknown by the firm or its customers for some fifty years. Indeed, this somewhat unique style is little known in most organ circles. Furthermore, it is rather shocking for most musicians to find out that Wicks is now building high-pressure organs, utilizing stops and tonal palettes that have not been typically associated with the firm.

The “Neo-Victorian” label is not one of our own making. Credit for this somewhat curious name of the new style must be given to the Wicks North Texas area sales director John Dill. When he played the first Diapason chorus on our display organ, Opus 6295 from 2002 (which still stands in shop’s erecting room), he coined this term, which I believe to be quite apropos on many levels. What he experienced was new for him, even as an experienced American organ man. He is among the many folk who, when they hear the description of “Victorian” applied to an American-made organ of the early 20th century, conjure up less-than-savory images to describe the sound. We have all been told in our organ studios that most Victorian organs have certain universal traits. Most of these traits have been described with words and phrases that we have all heard: “it’s so muddy,” “it just can’t articulate repeated notes in the texture,” “the action is so clumsy,” “this thing is so treble deficient,” “it’s tubby,” “it’s contrapuntally challenged and I cannot hear the voice leading at all,” “it is lacking in a solid classic chorus up through mixture,” and yes, I have even heard this one: “it’s so frumpy!”

So what makes Wicks Opus 6419 at Kalamazoo’s First Congregational Church “Neo” instead of “old-school” Victorian? Well, it is truly a long story, one that has been about 100 years in the making for the Wicks Organ Company! It is important to remember that Wicks has been around for more than 100 years. The firm has dabbled in virtually every 20th-century stylistic trend of American organbuilding. The first truly “solid” Wicks style came about in the 1930s with the arrival of Henry Vincent Willis on American soil. The 1950s stood as a transitional phase in which Wicks struggled with the arrival of the “American Classic style” from companies in parts east. The 1960s saw the dawn of the style most commonly associated with Wicks, the low-pressure, open-toe voicing era. And from the late 1970s through the beginning of the 2000s, Wicks has dabbled in various degrees of “American Classicism.”
Henry Vincent Willis was the son of Vincent Willis, the “other brother” who made up the “Willis II” era of the Willis firm in England. He came to Wicks with much the same knowledge and voicing skills that would have been utilized in creating some of England’s largest Willis masterpieces. Most of the American “Willis Wicks” organs, however, took on a slightly different role than their English, Anglican-inspired sisters.

In the days before Vatican II, many Roman Catholic churches in the U.S. commissioned either Kilgen or Wicks organs. Both were Roman Catholic companies, and both were experienced in building organs for the tradition. As a result, a majority of these Wicks organs were designed for the pre-Vatican II liturgy. They provided “Holy Hush” for the mystical parts of the liturgy, choral accompaniment for the singing of plainsong and other Mass ordinaries, and improvisation during the receiving of Communion. As a result, such organs were resplendent with silvery undulating stops, warm and subtle accompanimental flutes, full and luscious Willis-voiced diapasons, and powerful, yet accompanimental Willis-voiced chorus reeds.

Larger instruments had some of the more fanciful stops like the 4¢ Magic Flute, the Silvestrina II, the French Horn, or the Orchestral Oboe, all of which were very “English Willis-like” in nature. Although choruses were very “singing” and quite contrapuntally clear, very rarely, except in the largest of organs, would there be more than one independent stop of 2¢ pitch. In the same spirit, mixtures were usually not even a whimsical thought for a designer of these organs, with the exception of the Dulciana-scaled Harmonia Aetheria!

By and large, however, these organs make up one of the most uncelebrated chapters of American organbuilding history. Most of them are still in decent working order (thanks to those famous leather-free Direct-Electric® units!), and they deserve greater recognition from organ historians and appreciators, as they are quite remarkable. Certainly, they have provided the present-day Wicks Organ Company with living examples of good Victorian work, which we have studied with high-powered microscopes.

Wicks responded to the arrival of the Classic revival in American organ building, in a full-throttle manner beginning in 1965. Almost all of the scaling and pipe-making/voicing techniques of the past were set aside in order to embrace what customers were demanding. Often, instruments could reach the 10–15 rank mark without having a single 8' Open in the manuals. Languids and lower lips were left unscathed by the ravages of the nicking knife, and regulation was accomplished at the lower lip of most metal pipes. Gone were the Sylvestrinas and Salicionals, VDO’s, Clarinets, and French Horns in favor of Gemshorns, Schalmeis, Barpfeifen, and other neo-classically inspired sounds. All this was done, of course, as an answer to the demands of the times. People were demanding clear, contrapuntally precise choruses inspired by the notion of the Werkprinzip.

The company indeed answered the call. My predecessor, John Sperling, designed, voiced and finished several of the most elegant neo-classic-style organs to be found anywhere. In fact, he has just spearheaded the restoration, re-installation and revoicing of this era’s magnum opus, which has been provided for Mary, Mother of Hope Catholic Church in New Castle, Pennsylvania. I fear that this and other notable organs of this vintage are also unduly ignored by the organ public. However, the pres-ent tonal administration has learned a great deal from the importance that was placed on chorus building and contrapuntal clarity in this vintage of Wicks.

From the organs of the 1930s–1940s, the Neo-Victorian Wicks Opus 6419 rediscovers and celebrates the beauty of the individual stop. Nevertheless, from the organs of the 1960s and 1970s, the Neo-Victorian Wicks upholds the importance of clarity in ensembles in performing horizontal musical textures. Indeed, in Opus 6419, one can draw any one stop of unison pitch and be satisfied for hours just playing upon it alone. Not only will the stop’s individual timbre inspire with a singular beauty of tone, but the player will be amazed that something so rich will allow his choir or congregation to clearly identify every voice in a four-part texture! Furthermore, the musician can come out in the organist when he or she sits at the console of Opus 6419, for the stops are a sonic painter’s palette. Every voice is designed to work well in ensemble with what seems to be an endless array of other voices in combination.

Back again are the full, rich, yet contrapuntally clear Diapasons (of which this organ possesses six of 8' pitch!). Some familiar 1930s flutes, like the Melodia and the Transverse Flute, as well as favorite strings, like the 16' Violone and the 8' Violoncello, also have resurfaced. We seized the distinct opportunity of working with select ranks of 1920s pipework that were still present in the church’s 1920s/1970s Austin organ. The strings of the Swell and the Choir were restored to their 1920s glory—they stand as a testimony to the enduring legacy of Austin Organs, Inc. The new chorus reeds certainly show a 1930s influence with their powerful, yet accompanimental/blending characters. The color stops like the Magic Flute, English Horn, Harmonic Flute, Bassett Horn, and Oboe recall the great sounds of the symphonic-style organ, but they can also serve as clever coloration for the creative ensemble-building, orchestral-minded musician. The Great Tromba towers over the full ensemble in a firm, powerful, yet non-abrasive manner. The 32' Double Trombone, voiced on 15" of wind with its pocketed teardrop shallots undergirds the entire organ with a fundamentally powerful rumble rather than a “jack hammer.” And last, but certainly not least, the 20" wind-pressure Subterranean Tuba, a stop located in the basement and speaking up through the floor behind expression shades, truly envelops the listener with a firm sonic thrill rather than piercing him with a strident “laser beam” of sound.

Sometimes a leap of faith is a scary proposition, and the Wicks Organ Company team always will be grateful to the kind people of First Congregational Church for taking the plunge and entrusting us with this exciting commission. The church and the firm built an initial trust that allowed Wicks to build an organ in the new tonal style. The organist, Mrs. Helene S. Stuurwold, understood the tonal vision for the organ, recognized the vastly expanded musical parameters the organ would offer, and therefore embraced the project wholeheartedly.

The organ committee did the church and the firm a great service by appointing one of their own, Charles Krenick, as the liaison between the church and the company. Charlie was most helpful in coordinating the building plans with the arrival of the organ. He also did so much to ensure that our installation crew did not run into any hurdles.

Many thanks must also be given to the Michigan area Wicks director, Larry Boekeloo. Larry was an invaluable resource to both the church and the firm, spending many weeks with Helene and members of the committee to ensure the proposal was well understood. He was also available at the drop of a hat to get little details for our design team, and he spent countless hours on site with the installation crew from the factory assisting with much of the initial installation.

Finally, credit must be given to the “A-Team,” the factory installation crew who worked for many months on site. Jack Haase, chief installer; Mae Knaebel, Robert Stoker, and Steve Thompson labored for three months installing this instrument. Furthermore, they worked to make some important onsite mechanical upgrades to the instrument, making it even better and more serviceable. The installers also worked for two weeks with the tonal finishers to help lift some very tall pipes as fine adjustments were made.

The tonal finishing and final voicing was then accomplished by Mark Scholtz and me over four weeks in January 2005. A spectacular flue voicer and a first-rate organist, Mark was, nevertheless, new to the world of tonal finishing. However, during this “initiation by fire” he has become quite skilled at the art of fine adjustment and balancing of sounds. I am certain that Mark’s tenure at Wicks will be one characterized by the finest, most musically finished instruments in the company’s history. The resulting organ stands as a masterpiece in that everyone, the 60 craftsmen and women at Wicks, as well as the committee and congregation of First Congregational Church, believed in the dream. The leap of faith has landed with success.

—Bill Hamner

Tonal Director (2002–2006)

From the church

It is never easy to bid farewell to an old friend, but that was the situation facing the congregation of First Congregational Church in the late 1990s. The church’s venerable 1928 Austin organ was showing grave signs of trouble, most stemming from several “modernization” attempts in the late 1960s. Such was the love of the congregation for their beloved Austin that every possible avenue to save and rebuild it was thoroughly examined. Finally, the sad fact had to be faced that very little of the original pipework was left after the modernization attempts. Our very capable councilor, Jonathan Tuuk, helped us realize that the best stewardship would be to purchase a new pipe organ.

Thus began the long, arduous process of selecting an organbuilder. Mr. Tuuk was an invaluable help to the committee with his extensive organ knowledge, hard work, and never-failing optimism. The committee listened, learned, debated, and finally selected the Wicks Organ Company of Highland, Illinois, to build the new organ. The Wicks firm was chosen for several reasons: their willingness to listen to our needs and desires, their high-quality product, their longevity in the organbuilding business, and their talented and dedicated craftspeople.

The committee felt strongly that they wanted their instrument to be all pipe with no digital sounds, and Wicks was up to the challenge. Wicks representative Larry Boekeloo and Wicks tonal director Bill Hamner determined that eight ranks still remaining from the 1928 Austin could be refurbished and reused in Wicks Opus 6419. Wicks craftspeople also spent extra effort to rebuild the original 61-note Austin harp because it had special meaning to the congregation. Exciting stoplists were prepared, revised, and reworked until everything seemed in good balance, both tonally and financially. Then, we waited.
When the organist played the first chords on the new Wicks Opus 6419 set up in the factory, tears sprang to her eyes: it was better than she had hoped for. That first impression has proven true as luscious sounds fill the sanctuary Sunday after Sunday. The congregation is delighted, the organist is thrilled, and the hymn singing is more energetic than ever before. We look forward to many years of exciting exploration of Wicks Opus 6419.

•
The Wicks Organ Company will be taking attendees of the 2006 AGO national convention in Chicago to visit this instrument on Tuesday July 4. A bus will be leaving from Chicago at 8:00 am. A lunch will be provided, and the bus will be back in Chicago for the evening events. To reserve your space on this bus, please contact the Wicks offices by calling 877/654-2191, or using the contact form at .



Cover photo by Wicks Organ Company; shop photos by Brent Johnson.

GREAT

16' Violone

8' First Open Diapason

8' Second Open Diapason

8' Violoncello

8' Bourdon

8' Harmonic Flute

4' Principal

4' Night Horn

4' Flute Octaviante

22?3' Twelfth

2' Fifteenth

V Full Mixture

8' Tromba (Ch)

Tremolo

Chimes

8' Subterranean Tuba (Echo)


SWELL (enclosed)

16' Minor Bourdon

8' Horn Diapason

8' Stopped Diapason

8' Viola*

8' Viola Celeste TC*

4' Octave Diapason

4' Transverse Flute

22?3' Flute Twelfth

2' Harmonic Piccolo

V Chorus Mixture

16' Waldhorn

8' Cornopean

8' Oboe

8' Vox Humana

4' Clarion

Tremolo

8' Subterranean Tuba (Echo)


CHOIR (enclosed)

8' Violin Diapason

8' Melodia

8' Muted Viol*

8' Viol Celeste TC*

4' Octave

4' Magic Flute

22?3' Gemshorn Twelfth

2' Tapered Fifteenth

2' Recorder

13?5' Seventeenth

8' Trumpet*

8' Basset Horn

8' English Horn

8' Tromba

8' Subterranean Tuba (Echo)

Tremolo

Harp

Celesta


ECHO (enclosed, floating)

8' Open Diapason*

8' Chimney Flute*

4' Octave Diapason

4' Flute

Tremolo

8' Subterranean Tuba


PEDAL

32' Acoustic Bass

16' Major Bass

16' Violone (Gt)

16' Bourdon

16' Minor Bourdon (Sw)

8' Principal

8' Violoncello (Gt)

8' Stopped Flute (Gt)

4' Fifteenth

32' Double Trombone

16' Trombone

16' Waldhorn (Sw)

8' Subterranean Tuba (Echo)

8' Tromba (Ch)

8' Trumpet (Ch)

4' Tromba Clarion (Ch)

4' English Horn (Ch)

Chimes (Gt)



* Reused pipework from original 1928 Austin organ



Couplers

Sw/Gt 16-8-4

Ch/Gt 16-8-4

Echo/Gt

Echo/Sw

Sw/Ch 16-8-4

Gt/Gt 16-UO-4

Sw/Sw 16-UO-4

Ch/Ch 16-UO-4

Echo/Echo 16-4

Sw/Ped 8-4

Ch/Ped 8-4

Echo/Ped 8-4

Cover

Buzard Pipe
Organ Builders, Champaign, Illinois

Opus 29,
completed November, 2003

All Saints
Episcopal Church, Atlanta, Georgia

Some years ago I was contacted about a new organ for All Saints Episcopal
Church by the assistant organist, Jefferson McConnaughey. We seemed to be
speaking the same language concerning how we thought organs should sound, and I
was eager to meet him, music directors Ray and Elizabeth Chenault, and to visit
the church. Our conversations were put on hold while the parish called a new
rector and undertook other projects. At the time we were blessed with
commissions to build the organ at St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral, Oklahoma
City, and large instruments for Glenview Community Church (III/71) and Holy
Family Catholic Church of Rockford, Illinois (III/56).

A few years went by, and I was invited to visit the church. Judging from the
size of the instrument under discussion, I expected to enter a huge space.
Instead, the church was more modest than vast, the acoustic more understated
than generous. At first blush, it seemed that 40 stops could have adequately
met their needs. But, no real lady ever gives up all her secrets at once, and
so I patiently looked and listened.

I listened to their former instrument while walking around the room, and
observed the acoustical phenomena under which the musicians had been laboring
for so long. The organ, although installed in the chancel in relatively close
proximity to the congregation, diminished drastically in volume in the nave. I
concluded that a part of the organ had to be installed in the body of the
church, to support singing and "pull" the sound out of the main part
of the organ installed in the chancel. Additionally, sound generated in the
nave lost its energy quickly; sound simply didn't travel well without becoming
garbled.

The musicians wanted to be able to properly register an organ to
"text-paint" Anglican Chant, choral anthems and ceremonial music in
the Anglican musical tradition. They needed a wide variety of accompanimental
tone colors at every dynamic level so that the organ could always support the
singers, even at pianissimo volume levels. It was equally important that the
organ musically render the great body of organ literature, even that of the
French Baroque school, of which Mr. McConnaughey seemed quite fond. And, the
Chenaults are duo organists; the literature which has been (and has yet to be)
commissioned for them had to be accommodated. This requires a large organ, as
coloristic stops outside the component voices for the essential choruses had to
be included and integrated into the design. Fortunately, these stops were never
in competition for space or funding, nor were our classic concepts of the
hierarchical scaling of divisions within the instrument ever compromised. Some
specific organs were studied: The Temple Church, London; King's College,
Cambridge; and St. Paul's Cathedral, London.

There is a beautiful chapel behind the Epistle side choir stalls, at 90
degrees to the axis of the church, which also serves as an overflow room on
Sundays. Worshippers there were relegated to viewing services on a small
closed-circuit TV, and could not participate in the hymn-singing because, being
outside the body of the church, they couldn't hear the organ. If the new organ
were to address and meet all the musical and acoustical requirements of the
church, then the chapel also needed to have some pipes in it, so that those
seated there could feel a part of the worshiping community.

All of these requirements were brought to bear upon a single instrument. Yes,
I agreed, this instrument has to be large--very large. Even if the room seats
only 550 souls, the musical and physical requirements dictated an organ of a
size which one might initially think out of proportion.

The position and installation of the new Main Organ was relatively
straightforward. The Great, Swell, Choir, Tuba, and Pedal would have to be
installed in the chancel, in an enlarged version of their existing chamber,
plus spaces created by cantilevering steel platforms into the chancel space on
both Epistle and Gospel sides.

The antiphonal division, a romantic Solo Organ including a Diapason Chorus
which mirrors the Great, had to be installed in the nave. But there was no
floor space for cases, no desire to see columns, and windows everywhere, many
of them signed by Louis Comfort Tiffany. By clever engineering of the diatonic
windchest layouts (which we had first used at St. Paul's Cathedral in Oklahoma
City) we were able to tuck the Solo Organ cases up in the rafters of the church
above the narthex, on either side of a central great window. By creative use of
perspective, we were able to engineer the location of the supporting steel
platforms so that they wouldn't block the view of the Tiffany windows in the
side aisles, yet give us sufficient height for the pipes inside the cases.

As conversations concerning the tonal design took shape, Ray, Elizabeth, and
Jeff fell in love with our tonal style which, while embracing eclecticism, has
its own unique personality. They visited both our large organs, and Jeff
actually played Sunday services on our Opus 7 organ at The Chapel of St. John
the Divine in my wife Linda's stead. The All Saints organ is a very logical
outgrowth of our style as practiced in our smaller organs, and as our two
larger organs have led us. The humble beginnings of Opus 7 at the Chapel, in
which we made 29 stops into a cathedral organ, can be seen all over this much
larger organ. Well-informed national and historical inspirations are
distributed throughout, so that the whole is at unity with itself. No German
Hauptwerk, French Récit or English Chair Organs for us. For example the
Great includes the mature English practice of 8' First & Second Open
Diapasons, married nicely to the French Fonds d'Orgue. A voluptuous Full English
Swell has continental fire by virtue of the authentic (but modified) French
reed battery, but the lyrical soft solo reed is a plaintive English Oboe. No
quirky nomenclature either. Although rooted in 19th-century English practice of
"Diapason, Principal, Twelfth, Fifteenth," etc., the stops in our
organs are what they say they are. If the Swell reed is spelled
"Trompette," you can be assured that you will hear a Trumpet with
French shallots and pipe construction.

The Great is based upon a 16' Double Open Diapason of tin which stands
proudly in the Gospel side case along with the rest of the division. A complete
Diapason chorus through Mixture, flutes at 8' & 4', and a Viola da Gamba
make up the flue work, and the reeds are Trombas, brought up to the manuals from
the Pedal Trombone. The Mixture breaks at octaves, rather than at fifth
intervals. In this way, one doesn't hear alternating unison and fifths playing
as the top rank, and the breaks are virtually unheard.

The Great also incorporates an harmonic corroborating stop which was more at
home in English and American concert organs of the early part of the last
century. Our four-rank Harmonic Mixture has in it a unison, a quint, a tierce,
and a flat-seventh. These are all the harmonics present in Tromba class reeds,
which are on the Great at 8' and 4' pitches. We originally included the
Harmonic Mixture as a way to prevent the dark Trombas from covering the
brightness of the mixture work in full organ, but have found that when used
sans Trombas, the ancient flavor of 18th-century Dutch organs is perceived in
an uncanny way. One could even imagine the wind to be unsteady--but of course
it's not!

The Solo has a Diapason Chorus nearly mirroring the Great, and despite its
distance from the Main Organ, it can exactly balance the Great Plenum in
certain contexts. The Solo contains a pair of E. M. Skinner-inspired Gambas,
the celesting rank in the case across the church from its unison pair. Now
that's a Celeste! The Flügel Horn, while a lyrical romantic solo reed, has
just enough harmonic interest to function beautifully as a chorus reed. The
Bassett Horn is certainly at home playing obbligato parts in Elgar, but has
just enough Cromorne in it to play Daquin with a French nose in the air.

One can use the Choir in a classic context, as a Positiv when a lighter foil
to the Great is desired. But this division is the real choral accompanying
workhorse. It's one of the most elegant, light, but profound Choir divisions we
have created. The Choir features a flute chorus from 16' up, and a proper
Diapason chorus complete with a four-rank quint mixture, a fifth interval
higher than the Great. But the luxurious feature in this day and age is our
Dulciana Chorus, which includes a three-rank mixture in which the 4' enters
early on at tenor C. Our Dulcianas are truly small Diapasons, and there is
nothing like the effect of accompanying voices with Diapason color, but at such
a soft volume. The Dulciana Mixture has many uses in coloring and painting
texts, 90% of which I would never have envisioned. Our Cornopeans are
small-scaled, but fundamental Trumpets as the original prototypes were, not the
horn-like Cornopeans one would otherwise love to hate. The Clarinet is truly of
English style, and the English Horn is orchestral in color with enough body to
be the foundation of the Choir reed battery, yet enough jazz in the color to
differentiate itself from the more fundamental Swell English Oboe.

The Chapel Organ includes a small-scaled Diapason Chorus at 8' and 4' to
lead the hymn-singing, and an 8' Aeoline and Vox Angelica. These very, very
soft string-toned stops allow the worshippers there to feel connected, and also
provide a powerfully effective pianissimo "wrap-around" effect as the
softest sounds concluding a smooth decrescendo. These little strings can just
be barely heard in the nave as the expression box closes on the Solo Flute
Cœlestis. When they play alone, they are literally in another room, off in
the distance.

In the All Saints organ, the Great, Swell, Choir, Solo, and a portion of the
Pedal divisions play upon 4 inches of wind pressure. The Trombones and Trombas
play upon 7 inches of wind, the Solo Festival Trumpets on 6 inches, and the
Major Tuba plays upon 20 inches of wind. The Tuba is housed in its own
expression box, and the organist can easily select which expression shoe may be
used to operate the Tuba's expression (or whether it is to remain open) by a
simple rotary switch. We aim to expand the color and dynamic range of the pipe
organ, while keeping the console controls simple and straightforward.

Before I was selected as their builder, Ray, Elizabeth, and Jeff charged me
to design the perfect instrument for all their requirements, and they would
undertake the responsibility of presenting this plan to the organ committee to
get their reaction, and see if the instrument would have to suffer at the hands
of "value engineers." Although my past experience made me somewhat
timid about presenting such a large (expensive) instrument as part of a
selection competition, we arrived at the specification of 63 straight speaking
stops, 87 ranks of pipes (5229 pipes overall), in five free-standing cases
throughout their church.

I will never forget the evening of a crucial organ committee meeting when I
received an excited telephone call from Ray. The musicians presented the
proposal and the room fell silent. People on the committee asked questions to
the effect: "Now, do all three of you musicians agree on this builder? Do
all three of you agree with each other in every respect to this instrument?"
When the answer was an emphatic yes, a committee member said: "How many
times do musicians agree with each other about anything, let alone every of the
many thousands of details in this organ's design!? This is what we need for All
Saints, and we need John-Paul to build it for us." A member of the
committee, Sarah Kennedy, later wrote a check for the entire project, in loving
memory and in honor of her family, The Kenans.

The organs' visual designs were developed during August and September of
2001. The first draft of the Chapel Organ's design was revised to be more in
keeping with the modern nature of the chapel (and less like King's College,
Cambridge). The Main Organ and the Solo Organs were built according to my first
pen-and-ink renderings.

All of my design drawings are executed by hand. The discipline of cleaning
the drafting table and truing the parallel bars and 90-degree instruments
contributes to clearing my mind of everything except what I need to think about
for the organ on the blank piece of paper.

It is always my goal to design organ cases which appear as though they had
always been in the church. The All Saints cases use shapes and colors found
throughout the room, and mirror the restrained nature of the Victorian Gothic
design. But the cases become vivid, exciting, and dramatic by incorporation of
the fabulous red enamel and gold leaf adorning the church's clerestory. The
inclusion of the red gave me license to add contracting pieces of red-stained
Honduras mahogany in the stained white oak cases. The soaring nature of the
Solo Organs, as their lines ascend while moving toward the great window, seemed
to cry out for heraldic angels, announcing the Great Day of Judgment on
gold-leafed trumpets. Thanks to parishioner David Foerster for making these
possible.

All of us will remember exactly where we were on 9/11. I was at the drafting
table finishing the designs for the Main Organ cases. I had penciled the
drawing the day before and was preparing to ink the drawing when I heard the
news reports. My entire staff came up to the drafting room and we all went to
the conference area where a small television showed us the horrors unfold as
the second airliner smashed into the second building. As we heard a large
airplane overhead, being sent to land at our local airport, I was asked if we
were going to close for the day. I said, no. We had to go about our task of
making beautiful things, especially in light of the ugliness that visited
itself on our country that day. If we wanted to take time off individually to
mourn our country's losses, go with my blessing, but the doors would remain
open and I would continue to draw a beautiful pair of pipe organ cases.

I set to cleaning out my India ink pens, and put on a CD of The English
Anthem II from St. Paul's Cathedral,
London.

Oh Lord, look down from heaven, and behold the habitation
of Thy holiness and of Thy glory: Where is Thy zeal and Thy strength? Thy
mercies towards me, are they restrained?

My deepest thanks to the musicians at All Saints Church, everyone on the
organ committee, Greg Kellison, chairman; Paul Elliott, the rector; David
Foerster, and Sarah Kennedy for selecting me and my firm for this tremendous
commission.

My overwhelming gratitude goes to the members of my staff whose hard work
and dedication made such an excellent instrument so sublime: Charles Eames,
executive vice president, general manager and chief engineer; Brian K. Davis,
associate tonal director; Keith Williams, service department director; Shayne
Tippett, shop manager; Jay Salmon, office manager; Evan Rench, pipe maker,
voicer; Steve Downes, tonal assistant; C. Robert Leach, cabinetmaker; Stuart
Martin, cabinetmaker; Kenneth McCabe, winding systems; Ray Wiggs, consoles,
windchests; Robert Ference, service technician; Stuart Weber, service
technician; Jonathan Borchardt, service technician; JoAnne Hutchcraft Rench,
receptionist.

--John-Paul Buzard

GREAT (4-inch wind pressure)

Manual II - unenclosed pipework

16' Double Open Diapason

8' First Open Diapason

8' Second Open Diapason (ext 16')

8' Viola da Gamba

8' Harmonic Flute

8' Bourdon

4' Principal

4' Spire Flute

22/3' Twelfth

2' Fifteenth

2' Fourniture V

13/5' Harmonic Mixture IV

16' Double Trumpet

8' Trombas (ext Ped)

4' Clarion (ext Ped)

Tremulant

Chimes

8' Major Tuba (20" wind)

8' Tuba Solo (melody coupler)

8' Fanfare Trumpets (Solo)

SWELL (4-inch wind pressure)

Manual III - enclosed and expressive

8' Open Diapason

8' Stopped Diapason

8' Salicional

8' Voix Celeste

4' Principal

4' Harmonic Flute

22/3' Nazard

2' Flageolet

13/5' Tierce

22/3' Full Mixture V

16' Bassoon

8' Trompette

8' Oboe

8' Vox Humana

4' Clarion (ext 16')

Tremulant

8' Major Tuba (Gt)

8' Fanfare Trumpets (Solo)

CHOIR (4-inch wind pressure)

Manual I - enclosed and expressive

16' Lieblich Gedeckt (wood)

8' English Open Diapason

8' Flûte à Bibéron

8' Gedeckt Flute (ext 16')

8' Dulciana

8' Unda Maris

4' Principal

4' Koppel Flute

2' Recorder

2' Mixture III–IV (Dulcianas)

11/3' Fourniture IV

Sesquialtera II (22/3' & 13/5')

16' English Horn

8' Cornopean

8' Clarinet

Tremulant

Cymbalstern (14 bells)

8' Major Tuba (Gt)

8' Fanfare Trumpets (Solo)

Harp (digital)

Celesta (digital)

ANTIPHONAL SOLO (4- & 51/2-inch wind)

Manual IV - in twin cases over the narthex (expressive)

8' Open Diapason

8' Viola da Gamba

8' Gamba Celeste (CC)

8' Melodia

8' Flute Cœlestis II (Ludwigtone)

4' Principal

4' Flûte d'Amour

2' Doublette

11/3' Mixture IV

8' Flügel Horn

8' Corno di Bassetto

Tremulant

Cymbalstern (8 bells)

Chimes (Gt)

8' Fanfare Trumpets

8' Major Tuba (Gt)

Harp (digital)

Celesta (digital)

PEDAL (various wind pressures)

32' Double Open Diapason (digital)

32' Subbass (digital)

32' Lieblich Gedeckt (Ch, digital)

16' First Open Diapason

16' Second Open Diapason (Gt)

16' Bourdon

16' Lieblich Gedeckt (Ch)

8' Principal

8' Bass Flute (ext 16' Bourdon)

8' Gedeckt Flute (ext 16' Lieblich)

4' Choral Bass

4' Open Flute (ext 16' Bourdon)

22/3' Mixture IV

32' Contra Trombone (wood)

16' Trombone (wood, ext 32')

16' Double Trumpet (Gt)

16' Bassoon (Sw)

8' Trumpet (ext 16')

4' Clarion (Sw)

8' Major Tuba (Gt)

8' Fanfare Trumpets (Solo)

CHAPEL (4-inch wind, floating)

8' Open Diapason

8' Aeoline

8' Vox Angelica (tc)

4' Principal

Chapel on Great

Chapel on Swell

Chapel on Choir

Chapel on Solo

Chapel on Pedal

Intraddivisional couplers

Gt/Gt 16-UO-4

Sw/Sw 16-UO-4

Ch/Ch 16-UO-4

Solo/Solo 16-UO-4

Interdivisional couplers

Gt/Ped 8, 4

Sw/Ped 8, 4

Ch/Ped 8, 4

Solo/Ped 8, 4

Sw/Gt 16, 8, 4

Ch/Gt 16, 8, 4

Solo/Gt 16, 8, 4

Sw/Ch 16, 8, 4

Solo/Ch 16, 8, 4

Pedal Stops to Divisional Pistons

The Wicks Organ Company, Highland,
Illinois has built a new organ for the Barrington United Methodist Church,
Barrington, Illinois. In 1999 the church building was destroyed by fire. Their
losses included a 41-rank Möller pipe organ, which had been rebuilt as
recently as 1988. As planning for their new building began, the search for a
new pipe organ started. The church’s demands for their new organ were
that it had to be a great congregational organ, but also able to perform for
recitals as well. The sanctuary was to be a top-notch performance facility as
well as a place of worship. The church desired an organ of 3 manuals and 5
divisions, including an antiphonal. Each division was to have a principal
chorus, and the foundations of the Great organ were to be exposed.

The church committee heard many styles of instruments built by Wicks over
the last seven decades. This included, a North German neo-Baroque style
instrument, a symphonic organ scaled and designed by Henry V. Willis, an
American Classic, and an Aeolian instrument from the 1920s that had been
rebuilt by the Wicks Organ Company in conjunction with Mr. Madison Lindsey. The
service playing abilities of each instrument were demonstrated to the
committee, and they identified and found themselves drawn to the
English/symphonic style of the rebuilt Aeolian instrument. The organ committee
chose Wicks over several other builders after hearing several new Wicks
installations and the company ‘s recent success in exactly this style of
instrument.

The completed organ is described as an English service organ with orchestral
capabilities. The instrument is able to not only provide a seamless crescendo
from ppp to fff, but can do it with flair. In addition to service music, the
organ is able to perform every possible type of organ literature from the
Renaissance to the present. It is also able to realize orchestral
transcriptions with great skill, thanks to the presence of many orchestral solo
stops in each division, blending choruses, and 2-inch thick beveled and overlapping
felted shades. The completed organ consists of 24 ranks of pipes and 25 digital
voices. The Wicks design team pre-engineered space to accommodate real pipe
ranks to replace these voices. The Swell is on 7 inches of wind, the Pedal 10
inches; the Choir and Great are on 6 inches, with the exception of the
Clarinet, English Horn, and Tuba in the choir, which are all on 10 inches.

The solo reeds of this organ are of a unique style, derived from the
Willis/Wicks style reeds used in many Wicks organs over the decades, married to
the traditional ideas of Skinner solo reeds. The end results were clear,
smooth, stops of unique color and great versatility throughout the compass. The
greatest asset to the organ is the lively acoustical environment of the sanctuary.
The collaboration of the building committee, acousticians Kirkegaard &
Associates of Chicago, and the Wicks Organ Company have resulted in a
beautiful, successful combination of organ and room.

The console is drawknob style with 45-degree side jambs, a glass music rack,
and P&S keys with ivory resin naturals and ebony sharps. The drawknobs are
made of polished hardwood. Made of red oak, the interior is very light and the
exterior is stained to match the woodwork of the chancel furnishings. The console
features a tilt tab that allows the digital Tuba and Festival Trumpet to
emanate from the antiphonal division located in the rear of the church instead
of their native divisions. The console also has a Manual I/II transfer for
French literature.

Installation of Opus 6412 began in August of 2003, and an initial tonal
finishing and adjustment of digital voices took place in early September. After
the church’s dedication, Wicks tonal director Dr. William Hamner and reed
voicer Greg Caldwell completed an entire tonal finishing.

--Brent Johnson

Great (exposed)

16’ Violone*

8’ First Open Diapason

8’ Second Open Diapason

8’ Violoncello

8’ Harmonic Flute (Ch)

4’ Principal

4’ Flute Octaviante

2’ Fifteenth

IV Full Mixture

8’ Chorus Tuba (Ch)

8’ Festival Trumpet* (Ant)

8’ Tuba Mirabilis* (Ant)

Chimes* (Ant)

Swell (expressive)

16’ Minor Bourdon*

8’ Open Diapason

8’ Stopped Diapason*

8’ Viola*

8’ Viola Celeste*

8’ Flauto Dolce*

8’ Flute Celeste*

4’ Octave Diapason

4’ Triangular Flute*

22/3’ Nazard*

2’ Recorder*

13/5’ Tierce*

IV Plein Jeu

16’ Waldhorn*

8’ Cornopean

8’ Oboe*

4’ Clarion

8’ Festival Trumpet* (Ant)

8’ Tuba Mirabilis* (Ant)

Tremolo

Choir (expressive)

8’ Geigen (1-12*)

8’ Concert Flute

8’ Dolcan*

8’ Dolcan Celeste*

4’ Octave Geigen

4’ Transverse Flute

2’ Harmonic Piccolo

16’ Bass Clarinet

8’ Clarinet

8’ English Horn

8’ French Horn*

8’ Festival Trumpet* (Ant)

8’ Tuba Mirabilis* (Ant)

8’ Chorus Tuba

Tremolo

Harp*

Antiphonal (unenclosed - floating) (prepared)

8’ Festival Trumpet*

8’ Tuba Mirabilis*

Chimes*

Antiphonal Pedal (prepared)

Pedal

32’ Contre Bourdon*

16’ Open Wood

16’ Major Bourdon

16’ Violone* (Gt)

16’ Minor Bourdon* (Sw)

8’ Principal

8’ Flute

8’ Stopped Flute

4’ Octave

4’ Harmonic Flute (Gt)

32’ Ophicleide*

16’ Trombone (1–12*)

16’ Waldhorn (Sw)

8’ Tromba

8’ Trumpet (Sw)

4’ Oboe (Sw)

7-bell zimbelstern

*= Digital Voices