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Rudolf von Beckerath Orgelbau, Hamburg, Germany
Maurine Jackson Smith Memorial Organ, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Doc Rando Recital Hall

The public perception of Las Vegas is hardly one that conjures up visions of fine pipe organs. Some people who visit Las Vegas for the first time are amazed to find schools, lovely houses, and churches. At one time, Las Vegas boasted more churches per capita than any other city in the country. A recent survey counted a total of 33 pipe organs currently in Las Vegas churches, LDS chapels, and residences. Most of the church instruments tend to be relatively small. The big boom in the growth of the city (now approaching two million residents) paralleled the arrival of the mega-church, improved electronic organs, and more informal styles of worship that do not usually include the installation of organs of any kind.
It may come as a surprise that the Maurine Jackson Smith Memorial Organ, installed at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) in the Beam Music Center’s new Dr. Arturo Rando-Grillot Recital Hall, though modest in size (38 stops, 53 ranks, three manuals and pedal), is the largest pipe organ in Nevada. The hall seats 300 and is acoustically supportive of the organ.
Maurine Jackson Smith was an accomplished organist in Las Vegas and conscientiously served as a long-time church musician in several local wards of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. After raising her family, Mrs. Smith entered the University of Nevada, Las Vegas to obtain her bachelor’s degree with a major in history, graduating magna cum laude. Mrs. Smith died on October 1, 1999, after a protracted and valiant fight against cancer. The UNLV organ was given in her memory to the university and the community by her family, the Edward D. Smith family. Through this magnificent gift, her lovely spirit and devotion to excellence continue to perpetuate her memory and to inspire.
When the promise of funding for the building of an organ at UNLV was made, the choice of an organbuilder was begun by a search committee, appointed by then chair of the music department, Dr. Paul Kreider. The committee included Dr. Isabelle Emerson, Ethelyn Petersen, and Dr. Paul S. Hesselink. Dr. Kreider served in an ex-officio capacity. At its first meeting in March 2000, the committee decided that the organ must be a quality mechanical-action instrument of three manuals and pedal. Subsequently, the committee considered 18 organbuilders from Germany, Italy, England, Denmark, Canada and the United States. After visiting instruments by many of these builders, the committee chose Rudolf von Beckerath Orgelbau of Hamburg, Germany to be the builder. Two members of the committee were invited to visit the workshop in Hamburg and to see and play several instruments nearby, recently completed by the company. The Beckerath instrument initially visited by the committee had been designed and voiced by Herr von Beckerath (died 1976), so there were concerns that the qualities admired in that instrument be evident in the current work of the firm.
The project was expedited by the willingness of the donor to assume responsibility for contracting and its attendant technical logistics for the building and installation of the instrument. All aspects of the contract were turned over to his business manager, who was fluent in German. Procedural red tape, which is often part of the baggage of working with a state-supported university system, was avoided. In effect, Mr. Smith contracted for the organ to be built, was granted permission to have it installed at the university, and after installation, donated the instrument to the university. The committee stayed in close contact with the von Beckerath company throughout the process; all business arrangements were conducted with Holger Redlich, manager of the firm.
The building of the organ, from the time of signing the contract to completion, took about four and a half years. The case, pipes, windchests, and mechanism were constructed piece by piece in the Hamburg factory by 14 artisans over a period of about ten months and then securely packed into three semi-trailer-sized waterproof, sealed containers. These containers were loaded on a ship in the Hamburg harbor and made the five-week sea voyage to Los Angeles. After a customs inspection, the containers were loaded on flatbed trucks and driven to Las Vegas. They arrived in Las Vegas mid-June 2004. Voicing of the instrument was done by Rolf Miehl, tonal director of the company.
The organ is approximately 25 feet high, 20 feet wide and 8 feet deep. The organ case is constructed from blond ash wood and has color accents of deep red that contrast with the silver color of the façade pipes; the university colors are red and gray. The rather plain lines of the modern hall immediately focus on the imposing organ case. People visiting for the first time are routinely heard to exclaim, “Wow!”
The organ has a sophisticated sequencer and combination action making possible 4,000 settings. This feature is especially helpful in teaching, as each student can be assigned 100 or more pistons; students can preserve the registrations chosen for the works they are studying, so that time is not wasted in resetting pistons during practice times or lessons. The stops are numbered for ease in writing down registrations.
The terraced French-style console has naturals covered in granadilla wood, and sharps covered in bone. The oversized music rack is adjustable both forward and vertically. An on/off foot piston prevents accidental use of the crescendo pedal when in the off mode. Other foot pistons provide for Plenum, Mixtures Off, Reeds Off, and Sforzando settings and the usual coupler reversibles. The sequencer can be accessed (forward and backward) from the middle (below the Positiv keyboard), from the left and right sides of the console, and a forward foot piston is conveniently located next to the crescendo pedal for forward motion through the sequencer. Ten lighted pistons (from 0–9) are located under the Positiv keyboard and function as normal general pistons within the set of ten in use. A digital read-out above the Swell manual indicates which one of the 4000 pistons is in play; a second digital read-out displays the position of the crescendo pedal (1–60), and a third digital display informs the performer of the position of the swell shades (1–9), since they cannot be seen from the organ console. Both the Swell and Positiv tremulants are adjustable from the console.
Even though the organ was to fill the role of a concert instrument for the community, it was to be above all a teaching instrument at the university. The committee felt that the instrument needed to be “eclectic” in the best sense of the word, so that it could handle a wide variety of styles of the organ literature. It was paramount that Baroque literature could be performed with success, but it was also important that French Classic, Romantic, and modern literature fare equally as well. To give added flexibility to the performance of the full gamut of the literature, several non-unison couplers were included in the disposition.
Fittingly, the new instrument was heard for the first time in a Smith family celebration on October 1, 2004, marking to the day the fifth anniversary of Mrs. Smith’s death. Two hundred invited guests heard tributes to Maurine Jackson Smith by members of her family; one of Mrs. Smith’s favorite hymns was sung by everyone; organ selections were performed by her daughter, a niece, and a great-niece who had studied with her, and by close friends. A 75-voice choir from the stake center where Mrs. Smith had played and accompanied for many years presented a favorite anthem with four-hand organ accompaniment. Rolf Miehl and Holger Redlich of the von Beckerath firm were present to honor the family by presenting a key to the console of the organ and an exquisitely embossed and mounted pipe, accepted on behalf of the family by Mrs. Smith’s daughter, Melanie Larkin. An elegant reception provided by the university followed. The formal public inauguration on October 4 and 5 featured Daniel Zaretsky, organist of the St. Petersburg (Russia) Philharmony, in two recitals. The first recital presented a variety of works from the standard organ repertoire, and the second presented relatively unknown organ works by Russian composers.
The Southern Nevada chapter of the American Guild of Organists and the Music Department of UNLV have brought guest artists to perform recitals in Doc Rando Hall. Students and local organists have also presented recitals, and the members of the AGO chapter have presented annual Advent-Christmas recitals in early December the past three years. In January 2006, the Region IX Convention was held in Las Vegas with the von Beckerath organ being the focal instrument. This “conclave” was an unqualified success, and the versatility of the organ was demonstrated—it successfully met the challenges of an all-Emma Lou Diemer program, played by the composer; an all-Langlais program, played by Ann Labounsky; a lecture-recital on the organ works of Mozart; a violin-organ recital presented by the Murray-Lohuis Duo; a “Pipedreams Live” program (“Around Bach: Music by Sons and Students, and in the Bach Spirit”) with host Michael Barone featuring eight guest organists from many areas of region IX; and a stunning recital presented by Chelsea Chen.
Paul S. Hesselink
Adjunct Faculty, Organ
Department of Music
University of Nevada Las Vegas

From the builder
In August 2001, our firm received a short e-mail inquiry from Dr. Paul Hesselink, member of the UNLV organ search committee, asking whether our firm was still contracting for the building of organs in the United States. Since about 1986, our company had been very successful in contracting for organs in Japan, and our company had also been engaged in restoring several Arp Schnitger instruments in Germany, as well as restoring an organ in Brazil. Because of this work, several potential U.S. customers decided to contract with other organbuilders because the waiting and delivery time would have been too long.
Certainly, we were interested in building organs in the U.S. Upon receiving our response, the Las Vegas committee asked us to prepare a proposal and cost estimate for the UNLV project. Because we knew that the committee already had in hand several proposals from other builders, and that the committee was nearing the final stages of making a decision on a builder, we worked day and night, and in two days sent a proposal to the committee. [It was fortuitous that the Beckerath proposal and cost estimate were received the day before the committee was making a trip to Southern California to see and play several instruments by builders being considered; the committee made an impromptu visit to the von Beckerath organ in the recital hall at Pomona College.—Paul Hesselink] On September 13 we received a number of questions and concerns from the UNLV committee regarding our proposal, to which we responded immediately, and on September 21 they notified us that the committee was pleased with our proposal and had decided to choose Rudolf von Beckerath Orgelbau, GmbH as the builder of the new instrument.
We made our first visit to Las Vegas the end of September 2001. We had heard much about Las Vegas and were excited to be visiting. On this trip, we were pleased to meet the donor of the funds to build the organ, Mr. Edward Smith; we also met with the architect who designed the recital hall. We showed them our proposed façade drawing. When we began designing the organ we wanted to provide a special Hamburg façade, modified to fit into the hall. The “Hamburger façade,” typical for North German organs in the 17th and 18th centuries, is a timeless architectural design, and in our modern interpretation is successful and perfect for the hall.
During this first visit we gathered on the stage of the almost-completed hall and discussed placement of the instrument, its height, width and depth and how much space on the stage could be allowed for the instrument, considering the other uses of the recital hall. Temperature and humidity requirements were evaluated, and we had a long discussion about acoustical properties of the room. We were confident about the acoustical setting because of our long and varied experience with churches and concert halls. Concerns about weight were important because we estimated that the proposed organ would weigh around eight tons.
The tonal conception of the UNLV organ was generated from the need to provide both a teaching and concert instrument. The distribution of the 38 stops, 53 ranks and 2,802 pipes into Great, Positiv, Swell and Pedal divisions was planned to give each stop its own individual and beautiful sound. Each division has its own distinctive character. Beckerath, in building all of its instruments, employs thoroughly researched and established scaling practices, uses careful methods of construction, and takes meticulous care in the voicing of each stop. Thus, the company has established a world-renowned reputation for producing organs in which individual stops function and blend impeccably in ensemble but that also produce beautiful solo sounds. These qualities provide the player with an optimum number of varied and creative registration possibilities. This makes possible artistic performance of the historic organ literature and gives the organist many choices for effective interpretation of organ compositions from the Romantic and modern literature.
Between the signing of the contract for the UNLV project in January 2001 and beginning construction of the instrument in 2003, several additional visits were made to Las Vegas to clear up questions that arose. We needed to make sure that the power supply would be compatible with the electronic components in the stop, coupler, sequencer and memory level functions. The technical plans and drawings required three months of work.
By mid-2003, 14 team members of the firm began the actual construction of the organ in our Hamburg factory. More than 7,000 man-hours would be needed to build all the thousands of parts for the organ. The builders of the case, the mechanical tracker system, the windchests, the wind channels, and the pipe makers—all of them gave their best workmanship. After the June 2004 arrival of the organ in Las Vegas, three months were needed for assembly and technical installation, and after an intensive six-week period for the voicing, the instrument was completed.
The first public hearing of the instrument on October 1, 2004, was a very exciting moment for all of us. Our finished organ was a confirmation for us to continue our path in the future as our firm has done since its beginnings: maintain the traditions of the past but let that tradition be alive in a changed shape for today and for the future. We are proud that the sound of our Beckerath organ imparts pleasure and joy to students, to performers and to listeners from the community who will hear this organ for many years to come.
Rolf Miehl
General Organbuilding Director
Rudolf von Beckerath Orgelbau

GREAT (C to a''') 58 notes
16' Bordon
8' Principal
8' Rohrflöte
4' Octave
4' Spitzflöte
22⁄3' Quinte
2' Offenflöte
11⁄3' Mixtur V
8' Trompete
Positiv to Great
Swell to Great
Swell to Great 4'
Swell to Great 16'

POSITIV (C to a''') 58 notes
8' Holzgedackt
4' Rohrflöte
4' Principal
22⁄3'-13⁄5' Sesquialtera II
2' Waldflöte
11⁄3' Larigot
1' Scharf IV
8' Dulcian
Tremulant
Swell to Positiv

SWELL (C to a''') 58 notes
16' Flûte allemande
8' Violprincipal
8' Salicional
8' Bordon
8' Voix célèste
4' Fugara
4' Flûte octaviante
22⁄3' Nasard
2' Octavin
13⁄5' Tierce
2' Plein jeu V
16' Basson
8' Trompette harmonique
8' Hautbois
Tremulant
Swell to Swell 4'
Swell to Swell 16'

PEDAL (C to g) 32 notes
16' Principal
16' Subbass
8' Octavbass
8' Spielflöte
4' Choralbass
22⁄3' Hintersatz IV
16' Posaune
Positiv to Pedal
Great to Pedal
Swell to Pedal
Swell to Pedal 4'

 

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Kegg Pipe Organ Builders, Hartville, Ohio

The Sharkey-Corrigan Organ, Texas A&M International University, Laredo, Texas

From the President of the University

Like a birth in the family, a new organ fills the community with expectation, optimism, and joy. Our experience of imagining an organ for Laredo very much mirrored a family’s strategy for acquiring progeny: plan and hope. In August 2003, at Texas A&M International University we opened and dedicated to the people of South Texas our new fine and performing arts center. Conceived to offer the best possible venues for music, dance, and drama, the university planners insisted upon including both a recital hall and a theater. From the very first discussions, the recital hall was to have generously live acoustics to ensure that music played in that room, regardless of dynamic, envelop both player and listener in that three-dimensional experience we all cherish in great halls. A large expanse behind and above the stage in the recital hall, conspicuously vacant at the completion of the building, was simply marked “organ” on the architect’s rendering.
A few days after the gala opening of the new center, E. H. Corrigan, native Laredoan and longtime patron of the arts in Santa Fe, New York, Washington, San Antonio, and Laredo, called and asked that we talk about how to fill that space. Mr. Corrigan’s generous determination to bring to Laredo and South Texas a world-class instrument led first to a national call for proposals, then a contract with Kegg Pipe Organ Builders to build the instrument.

Our vaunted expectations for the organ, both our needs and our wants, established clear indications for design. Since the organ is to inspire and undergird an academic program, we asked that it accommodate repertoire of all periods. Placement in a concert hall would allow for an intimate relationship between the organ and programs of great diversity—choral, band, orchestral. The instrument must be adequate to support a full range orchestral repertoire. While a tracker would be ideal for organ recitals, we asked for the flexibility of a movable console on the stage below the pipes. A plethora of reeds and solo stops, a solo division under expression, and a full positiv division in the forward position rück style provide a variety normally only found on a much larger instrument.
Today, like a family grateful for a trouble-free birth, we recognize that this project was from the first somehow marvelously blessed to be in the hands of Kegg Pipe Organ Builders. “I will be in Laredo on April 24, 2006. The organ will be done by late June,” Charles Kegg promised the anxious organ committee in the fall of 2003. And it was. Voicing is rich and full, a strategy to exploit the marvelous acoustics in the hall. Visually, the organ is nothing short of spectacular, the first instrument of its kind built in South Texas and on the Texas-Mexico border.

The dedication recital, by Dr. David Heller of Trinity University, San Antonio, did, in Dr. Heller’s words, “put the organ through its paces.” A capacity crowd listened attentively and roared to its feet on the last note of Craig Phillips’ Fantasy Toccata. In addition to numerous solo recitals and concerts with the Laredo Philharmonic Orchestra for this year, we are at present planning an organ symposium for the summer of 2007; the topic: “The Concert Organ: Its Music and Its Performers.”

Ray M. Keck, III, PhD



From the Consultant and Artist


Selecting a builder for a new organ in a new concert hall is a rare opportunity for any consultant—and it poses a different set of questions with regard to its tonal design. At the onset of the project, the following criteria were established for the new organ: 1) It should have the ability to perform a wide range of the solo repertoire for organ; 2) It should work effectively with an orchestra, both as soloist and as a member of the ensemble; 3) It should possess the capability for effective collaborative performances with soloists and vocal and instrumental ensembles; and 4) It should serve effectively as a teaching instrument.

Recognizing that this new installation was for a concert hall and not a church, the desire was expressed for a flexibility that would allow for the performance of non-traditional literature, such as transcriptions and literature from the “concert hall” era of the pipe organ in the earlier 20th century. After careful study and analysis of the proposals submitted, TAMIU awarded the contract to Kegg Pipe Organ Builders of Ohio because of the firm’s innovative tonal design, the manner in which the proposal met our criteria, and the potential impact that such an instrument would have on the public. The end result has surpassed our expectations!

Each division of the Sharkey-Corrigan organ has a highly distinctive character. The Great Principal chorus is an evenly-voiced plenum based on 16' pitch and crowned by the Sharp Mixture III. This main body of the division is enhanced with a full complement of 8' registers (in the manner of 19th-century French organ building) and completed with a reed chorus that blends richly into the ensemble. One of the most beautifully voiced stops in the organ is the Harmonic Flute 8', which soars in the upper octaves, making it one of the most effective solo stops in the entire organ.

The Positiv division, cantilevered out in front of the main case of the organ, is a perfect foil to the Great division with its Principal chorus based on 8' pitch (and of a different tonal character from the Great). Completing the Positiv are two marvelous Baroque style reeds—the Holz Regal 16' (with a darker character, perfect for running bass lines), and a brighter Krummhorn.

The Swell division has a complete array of tonal resources for both the solo literature as well as the accompaniment of vocal and instrumental ensembles, capped off by a powerful reed chorus at 16'-8'-4' pitches. Of special note here is the Vox Humana 8'that makes the performance of Franck’s organ works an absolute joy for both the performer as well as the listener.

The Solo division gives this new organ its truly distinctive character with its combination of solo and ensemble registers. The Diapason 8' is especially effective when all of the divisions are coupled together, by reinforcing that particular pitch line. The Tromba chorus at 16'-8'-4' works extremely well in a full-organ registration much like the Bombarde division of a 19th-century French organ. The dark and haunting Clarinet along with the piquant English Horn provide the performer with greater opportunities for solo voices, particularly in transcription literature. One of the unique features of this instrument is the Solo Tuba, which is housed in its own expression box, making it useful not only as a solo stop but as an ensemble register as well, particularly in building up a crescendo to imitate the brass section of an orchestra.

And finally, the Pedal division provides effective support for the entire instrument, featuring an independent Principal chorus, softer flue stops, string stops to support the orchestral strings of the Solo division, and a full reed chorus based on 32' pitch. Judicious duplexing of manual stops to the pedal provides even greater tonal flexibility for the performer.

As an artist, I can honestly state that this organ is one of the most flexible and musically satisfying instruments I have ever played. Each stop carries its weight, and each stop does what the drawknob tells you. The balance between the divisions is so finely honed that one can select registrations with complete ease. It was a joy to conceive and put together an inaugural recital that combined the works of Hancock, Bach, Franck, Duruflé, and Phillips with more non-traditional repertoire by Lefébure-Wely, Ramón Noble, and Edward Elgar. And if all of that were not enough, the design of the console and the operating system for the combination action (one of the most user-friendly systems I have seen to date) made the entire experience of recital preparation and performance a breeze.

Texas A&M International University and the city of Laredo have a musical instrument in which they can take great pride. It will serve them well in the years to come and help cultivate future generations of organists and organ aficionados.

Dr. David A. Heller

Trinity University

San Antonio, Texas



From the Builder


The new Texas A&M International University organ was at once a formidable challenge and a golden opportunity. The challenges were many: to build into a reasonable size instrument a tonal design that could play with conviction organ literature of all styles, accompany great choral works, and also crown the resident Laredo Philharmonic Orchestra in romantic splendor. Dr. Ray Keck, university president, organist, project lightning rod, and Bach aficionado, also made known his desire for accurate renderings of Bach. All this was to be done with an instrument that is not exceptionally large and with some significant space limitations. We are delighted to have been chosen for this landmark instrument.
Our tonal design was based on the simple fact that this was to be the only instrument on campus (indeed the only concert-size organ in a large geographical area), and needed to be used for teaching, practice, recital, and with orchestra. It needed to have a full spectrum of dynamic range from very delicate to confronting a full orchestra—and win. For practice and teaching, the majority of voices needed to speak at comfortable volume levels that would focus on color and deliberately counteract aural fatigue.

In addressing these needs, we started with four independent Principal choruses, each with its own character and purpose that provide proper polyphonic clarity. The articulation is not pronounced, but precise speech is always apparent. The Great chorus is full and noble. The Positiv is light and delightful, equal in impact to the Great. The Swell is richer than the Great with its slotted 8' and deeply textured Plein Jeu. The glory of these choruses is that Bach, Buxtehude and Bruhns are sheer delight, and it is not until six or seven preludes and fugues later that the organist realizes that not even a single unison coupler has been touched! When the couplers are engaged, the new organ at TAMIU begins a remarkable transformation. The same stops that gave such clear distinction to divisions in the Baroque literature now become contributors to a more global full organ sound. Beginning with the softest Flauto Dolce it is possible to build a seamless crescendo to full organ that is an intricate fabric of sound, at once cohesive and fabulously rich in texture and color.

Each stop in the organ does exactly what one would expect and need it to do, but there are several specific tonal features that will enjoy further exploration here. The Great has two reed choruses. The Trompetes are light and are intended for early works where the chorus reeds are subordinate to the flues. The Tromba chorus is intended for those works where the reeds must command the respect of the principals and dominate them. For those in-between works, the Tromba chorus is located in the Solo box such that they can be reined in as required.
There are three Cornets in the organ. The Great has a Principal Cornet that is commanding. Built décomposé, it can be tailored. The Positiv Cornet is of lighter principal character and has a flatted seventh added to the normal third and fifth, giving the stop a lovely edge that is very distinct. The Swell Cornet is of flutes and is serenely gentle.

The Solo Diapason IV 8¢ is a collection of unenclosed principal stops from the Great and Pedal, all playing at 8' pitch. This quartet of 8' principals gives the organ a velvet Diapason line. The stops are drawn from the Great Principal, Great Octave, Pedal Octave and Pedal Choralbass.

The Tuba is located in the very heart of the organ case, in its own swell box. On 18" wind, this stop can solo above the full ensemble or with shade control can be subtly brought into the full ensemble, blending easily with it and expanding it horizontally.

The case design here presented a particular challenge. The TAMIU organ is located in a low balcony above the hall stage. There is not a lot of height to allow the organ to visually soar. The solution was to build a Rückpositiv that is lowered into the back stage wall. This has the visual effect of anchoring the organ to the stage in addition to providing the classical forward position for the division. The main case is considerably wider than it is high. Organ cases are happiest when their proportions are as pipes: tall and slender. This was not possible here, and much care was taken to give the case as much verticality as possible. The lowered Positiv case helps with this. The center three towers of the main case stand forward of the side Pedal towers. The change of depth is accomplished as the outside pipe flats curve. The result is very satisfying in the room.

I approach every organ in a comprehensive manner. Placement of divisions within the room and in relation to each other is as important as scaling and voicing. The case design is a classic five tower design plus Positiv with a contemporary flair. The gilded pipe shades are a stylized interpretation of the university seal, which includes a globe showing the Western hemisphere. The internal layout has the Great high and in the center. The Swell is behind it. The Pedal upper work is below the Great. The Positiv is below and forward of the Great. Thus the main manual divisions are centered in the hall with their physical relationship matching their musical relationship. This enhances polyphonic music when the organ is played uncoupled and blends the divisions together when the divisions are combined. The Solo division is in the right side of the case and the Pedal basses are in the left side. For those that are interested in unusual pipe design, the 32' Trombone is large scale and is built with Haskell bass pipes, which are not common when used with reeds. They save considerable lateral space over mitering when height is severely restricted.

Working with the TAMIU staff could not have been easier or more delightful. We are indebted to Dr. Ray Keck, university president, who envisioned the instrument from the start and drove the project; Dr. David Heller, consultant and artist of the opening concert, for his thoughtful help and encouragement; physical plant manager Richard Gentry for his instant and complete help during installation; and of course to E. H. Corrigan for his generous funding of the entire project. The organ bears the name of Sharkey-Corrigan in memory of Mr. Corrigan’s mother.

My personal thanks also to the Kegg staff including Fred Bahr, Phil Brown, Joyce Harper, Mike Carden, Phil Laakso, Walt Schwabe, Rick Schwabe, and Tom McKnight. In addition to these people being the finest craftspeople I know, they are also the finest friends.

Charles Kegg

Kegg Pipe Organ Builders

Kegg Pipe Organ Builders

Texas A&M International University, Laredo, Texas

52 stops, 69 ranks, 4003 pipes

GREAT Manual II (3.5" wp)

16' Violone

8' Principal

8' Violone (ext)

8' Rohrflute

8' Harmonic Flute

4' Octave

4' Spitzflute

22⁄3' Twelfth

2' Fifteenth

13⁄5' Seventeenth

11⁄3' Full Mixture IV

2⁄3' Sharp Mixture III

16' Contra Trompete

8' Trompete (ext)

Tremulant

16' Tromba (Solo)

8' Tromba (Solo)

4' Clarion (Solo)

Zimbelstern (5 handbells, adjustable speed, volume and delay)


CONTINUO manual II

(duplexed from Positiv)

8' Gedeckt

4' Koppelflute

2' Flute

2' Principal

11⁄3' Quinte

This division also has its own small one-manual console including blower control and transposer switch that will lower the played pitch by one half-step for use with historical instruments. This console may be used in place of the large main console for chamber work.


SWELL Manual III (4" wp)

16' Bourdon (metal)

8' Principal

8' Bourdon (ext)

8' Salicional

8' Voix Celeste

8' Flauto Dolce (Solo)

8' Flute Celeste (Solo)

4' Octave

4' Flute

22⁄3' Nazard

2' Piccolo

13⁄5' Tierce

2' Plein Jeu V

16' Basson

8' Trompette

8' Hautbois (ext)

8' Vox Humana

4' Clairon

Tremulant

Swell 16-UO-4


POSITIV Manual I (2.75" wp)

8' Principal

8' Gedeckt (wood)

4' Octave

4' Koppelflute

22⁄3' Quinte TC (from 11⁄3¢)

2' Octave

11⁄3' Quinte

Sesquialtera II–III

1' Mixture IV

16' Holz Regal

8' Krummhorn

Tremulant

Positiv 16-UO-4


SOLO Manual IV (5" wp)

8' Solo Diapason IV*

8' Gamba

8' Gamba Celeste

8' Flauto Dolce

8' Flute Celeste TC

8' Clarinet

8' English Horn

Tremulant

16' Tuba TC (ext)

8' Tuba (18≤ wp, separate enclosure)

4' Tuba (ext)

16' Tromba

8' Tromba (ext)

4' Clarion

*From Great 8' Principal, 4' Octave, Pedal 8' Octave, 4' Choralbass


PEDAL (5" wp)

32' Subbass (56 pipes)

16' Open Diapason (wood)

16' Violone (Gt)

16' Subbass (ext)

16' Viole (44 pipes)

16' Bourdon (Sw)

8' Octave

8' Violone (Gt)

8' Subbass (ext)

8' Viole (ext)

8' Bourdon (Sw)

4' Choralbass

4' Cantus Flute (Gt Harm Fl)

22⁄3' Mixture IV

32' Trombone (full length, 68 pipes)

32' Harmonics (derived)

16' Trombone (ext)

16' Trompete (Gt)

16' Basson (Sw)

8' Trombone (ext)

8' Trompete (Gt)

4' Clarion (ext)

4' Clarinet (Solo)

4' Krummhorn (Pos)



Inter-manual couplers

Great to Pedal 8, 4

Swell to Pedal 8, 4

Positiv to Pedal 8, 4

Solo to Pedal 8, 4



Swell to Great 16, 8, 4

Positiv to Great 8

Solo to Great 16, 8, 4



Solo to Swell 8



Swell to Positiv 16, 8, 4

Solo to Positiv 8



Great / Positiv Transfer (including keys, pistons and couplers)

All Swells to Swell



Photos by Charles Kegg unless otherwise indicated.

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Russell & Co. Organ Builders,
Chester, Vermont
First Presbyterian Church, Ithaca, New York

From the builder
The term magnum opus is often used in the organbuilding trade to denote the apotheosis of an organbuilder’s career. It is an impressive expression, and the organs that receive such an accolade are usually equally impressive. It is interesting to note, however, that the distinction of magnum opus can be an ephemeral one. What a builder thinks of as his ‘biggest and best’ may be eclipsed just a few years later with an opus magnum novum. In any event, at the outset of a project an organbuilder has termed his magnum opus, he inevitably approaches the creation of the instrument with great reverence and dedication. When we received the contract to build our opus 47 for First Presbyterian Church in Ithaca, New York, we knew this would be our magnum opus and, regardless of whether a grander organ would leave our shop in years to come, took on the project in this way, making no little plans to design and build a pipe organ worthy of this special moniker.
First Presbyterian is a grand Romanesque stone structure built in 1894 and located in the heart of downtown Ithaca. The sanctuary seats 500 under a high barrel vault, coffered and richly ornamented with plaster florets. The church enjoys a large, vibrant congregation and an equally active music program, including a sizable adult choir, children’s choir, and handbell choir. In conjunction with the organ project, the sanctuary was renovated to remedy the less-than-desirable acoustics. Previously, the entire floor of the room was carpeted, and the pews were cushioned in heavy velvet. A completely new ceramic tile floor, new and less-absorbent seat cushions, hardened wall surfaces, and a new rear wall designed to reflect sound randomly all contribute to a lively and supportive acoustic, approaching three seconds of reverberation.
The preceding instrument began its life in 1901 as Austin’s opus 39—a three-manual instrument of 47 ranks, including a five-rank Echo organ added in 1930. The organ was installed in the front of the church behind a handsome white oak case crowned with a magnificent central tower rising nearly the full height of the sanctuary. Designed in traditional early 20th-century style, the organ contained the typical myriad of foundation stops, with sparse trimmings of upperwork, undergirded by an ample and satisfying pedal department. Sixty-five years later, Austin was called to rebuild the organ in keeping with the tonal thinking of the day. The result was completely new pipework typical of late 1960s construction and voicing; the Echo organ, thanks to the organist, Dorothy Arnold, was retained and unchanged. With many manual stops sharing common basses, and the pedal division largely borrowed from the manuals, there was little foundation tone. The scaling of the new pipework exacerbated this condition, with halving ratios that resulted in a thin bass and a treble ascendancy unwelcome in so dry a room. The impressive 16¢ and 8¢ 1901 façade was completely replaced by much narrower-scaled pipes with English bay mouths, leaving large, odd-looking gaps between the pipes.
By the 1990s, the organ proved to be inadequate for the many demands the church’s music program placed upon it. Mounting mechanical problems toward the end of the decade that rendered the instrument increasingly unreliable led the church’s organist, George Damp, and the director of music, Larry Doebler, to realize that a completely new instrument was needed to correct the tonal inadequacies of the existing instrument and to fill the needs of the extensive music program. The church named John Schwandt as consultant on the project. Dr. Schwandt recommended requesting proposals from lesser-known builders of high quality. After a national search, Russell & Co. of Chester, Vermont was selected in late 2002 to build the new organ.
A profusion of new romantic organs in recent years, as well as a renewed reverence and interest in the work of early 20th-century American builders, specifically Skinner, was the milieu for the design and construction of this instrument. While Russell & Co. have built several large instruments along French romantic lines, an American romantic/ symphonic organ presented a new challenge: how to take all the lessons learned from our previous instruments, combine them with a century of progress in American organbuilding, and produce an organ capable of accompanying congregational song, playing choral and orchestral literature, and still be able to play the solo organ repertoire, all the while staying true to a ‘symphonic’ ideal.
This challenge was met valiantly with an effective partnership between our firm and George Damp. Having spent all his professional life as an organist, teacher, and church musician, George brought years of experience and a clear idea of what he wanted to the drawing board—a grand, large-scale organ that would make Ernest Skinner proud, but would also not disappoint the likes of G. Donald Harrison. While orchestral voices and ensembles were of great importance, so too was the presence of well-developed and blended choruses in each division.
Our initial proposal was for a three-manual organ with a separately enclosed Solo and Choir sharing one manual. However, during our early discussions with the church music staff, it became clear that to fill all the demands placed upon it, a significantly larger, four-manual instrument would be better suited and would eliminate several reluctant compromises in the original design. Having completed the rebuild of a four-manual Æolian-Skinner, opus 1433, for First Unitarian Church in Worcester, Massachusetts, and the building of a new, large three-manual French romantic organ for the Cathedral of St. Paul, also in Worcester, we felt ready to tackle our first new four-manual organ. During the selection process, George visited Worcester’s First Baptist Church, home to a rebuilt Reuter for which we constructed a new, large four-manual Skinner-style console. Skinner consoles have long been renowned for their visual elegance, impeccable craftsmanship, and intuitive and comfortable ergonomics. It was agreed First Presbyterian should possess such a console to complement the new organ.
First Presbyterian has long been host to performances of choral and chamber music by numerous local ensembles, and the acoustical renovation that preceded the organ installation only made the space more attractive for outside groups’ use. Knowing this, we included in the initial proposal a small division designed for use as a continuo organ at chancel level. George was hesitant at first—it seemed like a water and oil situation to have such a division included in a grand romantic organ. However, with a large, higher-pressure instrument as the main organ, George and Larry Doebler agreed that it would be futile to attempt to use it in continuo playing, and not only agreed to the division’s inclusion, but encouraged its enlargement. What started out as a small five-stop division grew into a full-fledged low-pressure Positiv, complete with a Sesquialtera and a very gently voiced four-rank Scharff. Its elegant case makes use of the crown and columns of the large throne chair that used to sit in the middle of the chancel, blending the case with the rest of the chancel decoration.
While spacious, the two front organ chambers had previously housed 47 ranks of pipes, including a very small pedal division. One of the project’s greatest challenges was to make 79 ranks of pipes fit in these same chambers—including a large-scale independent pedal division with three 32' stops—while maintaining easy access to each pipe and mechanism. After much experimenting in the forgiving world of computer-aided design, a layout that achieved both of these goals was reached. Aside from the Antiphonal and Positiv, the entire instrument is installed behind the organ case, with the Great, Solo and Choir divisions to the congregation’s left, and the Swell and Pedal on the right. There is no ceiling over these chambers, allowing for a great deal of sound to ascend into the barrel vault over the chancel, creating a wonderful blending chamber of sorts, which then projects the sound well into the room. Even from the center of the chancel, it is difficult to tell from which side sounds are coming.
The Antiphonal organ is located high up in the right rear corner of the sanctuary. The Antiphonal Swell division, consisting of the original Echo organ with two additions, is housed in the former Echo organ chamber. The two stops of the Antiphonal Great sit on a newly constructed ledge in front of the chamber, with the pipes from the 8' Prestant forming a simple and elegant façade.
The console constructed for opus 47 models the console at First Baptist in Worcester. Built of quarter-sawn red oak and walnut with a hand-rubbed oil and stain finish, it complements the elegance of the renovated sanctuary and restored organ case. With manual keys of 10th-cut ivory and ebony, and pedals of maple and ebony, the console immediately has a luxurious tactile feel. Through many consultations with George as well as with the organists working in our own shop, the selection and layout of controls were designed to be as intuitive to the player as possible. The stopjamb layout takes its cue from the tall consoles of English cathedrals; this provides the vertical space to lay out the complete choruses of each division in one line, making drawing every plenum quick and straightforward. Though a complete list of playing aids and mechanicals accompanies the specification, several are worth noting here. With the choral accompanist in mind, the Swell is provided with ten divisional pistons, and pedal-to-manual combination couplers with discrete memories are available on each division. A 99-level combination action is included with 16 general pistons and a sequencer; additionally, each piston can be easily modified as to which stops it affects, releasing the player from the distinction and restraints of divisional and general pistons. Divisional cancels are also provided by pushing the division nameplate on the stopjamb.
The key and stop action throughout the instrument is electro-pneumatic, a departure from our usual practice of employing slider and pallet chests. The chests are modeled on late 1960s Aeolian-Skinner pitman chests, with several of our own modifications. Even the Positiv, speaking on 23⁄4" pressure, plays on a pitman chest and works beautifully, resulting in quick and desirable pipe speech, ideal for its anticipated continuo use.
A design goal from the outset of the project was to make the organ large enough to have four complete manual divisions (seven, including the Positiv and Antiphonal Great and Swell), but to keep costs manageable, all the while not sacrificing quality. To this end, we looked to the existing Austin pipework, all having been new (with the exception of the Echo) in 1969, to see what might be reused in the new organ. While hard to believe this neo-baroque pipework could blend its way into an American romantic organ, we found much of the pipework was well constructed and cut up low enough to permit its successful rescaling and revoicing in a very different style.
Of the 40 completely new ranks of pipes added to the organ, all new choruses and flutes are constructed of 94% lead alloy, a practice we have long employed, allowing our voicers to achieve a degree of tonal superiority unattainable with the use of lighter, higher tin content alloys. In general, this allows the 8¢ line to be weighty and warm, progressing through a velvety chorus to light and silvery upperwork—all mixtures in the organ are also of the same high-lead content. The epitome of this construction and voicing style is the 8¢ Montre on the Great, a 42-scale Diapason more English than French, despite its name. Being placed outside the Great expression box, the Montre’s tone is commanding, warm and strong, and is paired with the enclosed 44-scale 8' Principal for lighter choruses. True to the design objective, choruses through at least 4¢ were provided in the three main manual divisions (Great, Swell, Choir), resulting in three very independent divisions that terrace and blend successfully for the performance of French literature. With the old Great 8' Principal revoiced as the Swell Diapason, and the 45-scale English Diapason in the Choir of special variable scale, the five combined 8' Diapasons create a rich, singing tone that serves as a lush solo color, as well as the basis for the aforementioned well-blended choruses.
One of the hallmarks of an American symphonic organ is the abundance of orchestral reeds, so carefully developed by the likes of Skinner a century ago. Fittingly, opus 47 has a delicious array of imitative stops spread out amid the manual divisions. The demand for these stops allowed us to use several ranks we had been storing in our stockroom for many years while the popular organ style called for very different reed stops. In the Choir division, the Clarinet finds its traditional home, and comes to Ithaca as a restored Johnson Bell Clarinet. In our study of early 20th-century American organs, a common finding was that the Choir division, while potentially having enough foundation tone, nearly always lacked the trumpet-class reed timbre to assert itself against the Swell organ. In this light, the second Choir reed deserves special note as an unusual stop, even in this age of rediscovered orchestral sounds. The 8' Waldhorn uses restored Aeolian pipes from the Higgins estate in Worcester, Massachusetts. This medium-scaled, capped trumpet is not quite a French Horn, and not quite a Trumpet, but something in between. It has a chameleon-like quality in that it is a beautiful and haunting solo voice, but when drawn with the full Choir, it acts as a chorus reed, giving the Choir a definite presence amidst full organ.
Two new reeds, the English Horn in the Solo, and the Orchestral Oboe in the Antiphonal Swell, were beautifully voiced by Chris Broome, turning out exactly as we had wanted them, and possessing striking imitative qualities.
For climactic moments in both repertoire and accompaniments, two solo chorus reeds are provided in the Solo division. The enclosed Tuba Mirabilis has harmonic resonators from tenor F# and is voiced on 15" pressure, providing the traditional dark, smooth and powerful tone suggested by its name. The 8' Silver Trumpet, played on 10" pressure, serves to contrast with the Tuba for a different effect. Envisioned in the same manner as the Solo Trumpet Harmonique at Yale’s Woolsey Hall, the pipes are constructed with French shallots and placed outside the Solo enclosure, yielding a brighter and brassier tone. While neither stop is oppressively loud, when combined they yield a tone of refined power that can top full organ with single notes.
Another criterion from early on in the project was to have a profusion of string stops of varying power and brightness to enable a truly orchestral string crescendo from pp to ff. While there are the usual strings sprinkled throughout the Choir and Swell, the Solo strings truly cap the string chorus, possessing incredible intensity and brilliance. Although the Solo was originally designed with one pair, the discovery of two ranks of Skinner orchestral strings in our stockroom led to the addition of a second set to be the pinnacle of the string chorus. Voicer Ted Gilbert worked wonders with these two pairs—the Gamba is the quieter of the two, possessing an almost woody quality, whereas the Cello represents the extreme limit of bright, powerful, shimmering string voicing. Twelve ranks of string or undulating tone in the organ, from the Swell Flauto Dolce through the Solo Cello, provide a seamless powerful crescendo, made even more effective with the use of double expression in the Solo.
No symphonic organ is complete without an expression system that can fully restrain the power of the instrument and instantly change the dynamic of the stops drawn. To this end, no fewer than six Skinner-replica whiffletree expression motors are used in this organ. While the Swell, Choir, and Antiphonal Swell are enclosed and expressive as expected, the Solo and Great warrant description of their expressive capabilities. From the outset, we had designed the Great to be partially enclosed, mainly the reeds and upperwork. Additionally, the Solo was to speak through its own shades into the Great box, providing the division with the aforementioned double expression.
The Great organ’s expressive capabilities were expanded early on with the decision to enclose the entire division with the exception of the 8' Montre and 16' Principal. Through careful scaling and voicing, the division doesn’t suffer its enclosure with the shades open, and contains the tonal resources necessary to lead enthusiastic congregational singing with all 500 seats filled, as well as serving its traditional role in the performance of organ literature. However, with the added benefit of 16-stage expression, these same tonal resources can be manipulated to match any congregation size, as well as provide another enclosed division of power for choral accompaniment.
At the same time, to give the Solo and Great more independence from each other, we added a second set of shades to the Solo, allowing the division to speak directly into the chancel. This provides the Solo division with a third expressive option. As installed, the Solo swell box is behind the Great box and four feet higher. The primary Solo shades open into the Great, with the Solo chancel shades being at the very top of the Solo box, four feet high, and opening directly into the room. While giving an acceptable dynamic range, these smaller shades provide an enormous timbral range, noticed especially with the strings. With the full Solo string chorus playing and the main Solo shades open, the full weight of the 8' stops comes through—one can almost hear bows drawn across the strings. However, when the upper shades open, the full range of upper harmonics from these stops erupts from the box, filling out the sound just when you thought it couldn’t be any brighter and more sonorous.
The control of all these expression options is met with four swell shoes, including the crescendo shoe. The Solo shoe normally controls the chancel shades. However, when the “Solo Double Expression” drawknob is drawn, the Solo shoe operates both sets of Solo shades, as well as the Great shades, in a set sequence to give the maximum crescendo possible. Additionally, a second drawknob closes the Solo chancel shades should that be desired, and sets the Solo shoe to control only the main Solo shades. The Great and Antiphonal Swell expression functions are independently assignable to any shoe, including crescendo. When not assigned, the shades default to a position settable by the organist. Harris Precision Products retrofitted two of their standard drawknob units with potentiometers to set these defaults, and thus these controls are seamlessly integrated into the console via rotating drawknobs. All Swells to Swell is provided to afford simple control over the entire dynamic range of the organ, and indicators are provided below the coupler rail to show the position of each set of shades.
The use of such sophisticated expression functions allows the organist to present the full dynamic range of the orchestra, and the use of the smaller Solo chancel shades allows for the ultimate in dynamic and timbral expression, a feature unique to this organ, and one we hope to further develop and use in subsequent installations.
To complement the varied and colorful manual divisions, a large, independent Pedal division affords the appropriate bass sonority for whatever registration is drawn on the manuals. Consisting of eleven independent ranks and 29 stops, the Pedal organ is augmented by judicious borrowing from the manuals. Four 32' stops are provided to underpin the instrument and provide a true feeling of gravitas. From the initial planning phases of the project, it was made clear that no digital voices were to be used in the organ; thus, all 32' stops play real pipes, or are derived. The Bourdon, of generous scale, is voiced gently for use with the softest registrations, but with enough quint in its tone to be made stronger as more pedal stops are added. The 32' Principal, an extension of the 16¢, uses Haskell pipes to GGGG#, the rest of the 32' octave being a resultant. The full-length 32' Contra Posaune, also masterfully voiced by Chris Broome, gives plenty of weight and power to full organ, but without being brash or rattling. For a ‘second’ 32' reed, the Harmonics is a 102⁄3' cornet, derived from the Great 16' Double Trumpet and 16' Gemshorn, giving the semblance of 32' reed tone underneath smaller tutti registrations.
With the added features of sophisticated expression, as well as the inclusion of more fully developed choruses, First Presbyterian’s instrument represents a logical and successful extension and merging of the two dominant styles of 20th-century American organbuilding: the symphonic and American classic schools. The instrument serves as a platform for the successful performance of a wide body of organ literature, as well as fulfilling its accompanimental roles. In its design, construction, voicing and tonal finishing, we feel truly proud to call this instrument our magnum opus, regardless of what instruments leave our shop in years to come, and thank First Presbyterian for the opportunity to set our sights high and build an organ we have so long dreamed of creating. We therefore commend this instrument to the glory of God and the people of First Presbyterian Church as a product of our finest craftsmanship. May it long bring joy and inspiration to those who hear and play it, just as it has inspired us as organbuilders in its creation.
Those working on the project included: Stephen Russell, David Gordon, Gail Grandmont, Carole Russell, Theodore Gilbert, Jonathan Ortloff, Larry Chace, Frank Thompson, Matthew Russell, Peter Walker, Allan Taylor, Eric Johansson, and Andrew Lawrence.
—Jonathan Ortloff

From the organist
Now in my fifth decade of deep affection for the pipe organ, its music, and its role in worship, I am brought to this point of extraordinary magnificence in the creation of the opus 47 Russell & Co. organ. During these five decades, I have witnessed many trends and fads in organbuilding. The commitment of this church to the pipe organ as its primary medium for the leading of congregational song is all the more inspiring to me.
This instrument transcends the fads of recent decades. The organ/sanctuary committee, formed by this church in the fall of 2000 and guided by our organ consultant, John Schwandt, selected several organbuilders to consider for the project. This committee authorized my colleague Larry Doebler and me to travel far and wide to experience the work of the builders we had selected as finalists, each of whom subsequently visited the church to inspect the sanctuary space and existing organ. In the end, we all had no doubt that Russell & Co. was the appropriate choice for us.
While we were confident that our new organ would be very fine indeed, we could not have anticipated the level of magnificence that has been achieved here by Stephen Russell and his colleagues. In my 50 years of playing pipe organs, I have never been privileged to play an organ so elegant, expressive and versatile as this one. The word synergy is one that I have never before been comfortable using. This powerful word, meaning “combined or cooperative action or force,” is the perfect term to describe the wondrous emergence and continuing presence of this organ. Beginning with the collective sharing of the original committee, the guidance of Anita Cummings, pastor of this church at the outset of the project, the beneficence of Mrs. Dorothy Park, church member and donor of funds for this organ, the courage and vision of church members to undertake and fund the acoustical transformation of the sanctuary from sonically “dead” to vibrant and moderately reverberant, and the mutual respect and creative sharing of organbuilder, consultant and resident organist, have resulted in the ultimate synergy: the harmonious blending of thought, craft, sound and space that is far greater than the sum of its parts.
I offer gratitude and the highest of commendations to master organbuilder/voicer, Stephen Russell, his dedicated staff, and the many others who have had a hand in the three-year process of the emergence of opus 47!
—George Edward Damp

From the church
The history of our new Russell organ begins with the construction of our current sanctuary in 1894. In 1901, the Austin Company installed our first permanent organ (the oak façade that currently supports the visible organ pipes behind the choir is part of that original installation). In 1930, the Echo organ (above the southwest entrance to the sanctuary) was added. In 1969, Austin built a completely new organ in the chancel, one typical of that period—an instrument that, with its sheer power and rough voicing, overwhelmed our beautiful, but acoustically rather dead, sanctuary.
Problems with the Austin organ started to appear in the early 1990s. Minor problems continued to occur, and it was clear that something needed to be done. An organ/sanctuary committee was formed that, early in its existence, possessed the keen insight that the sanctuary itself was a part of the organ (the box that the organ’s voice is dispersed into), and that any renovations to the organ must be accomplished within the acoustical framework of the sanctuary.
As a result, the committee hired an organ consultant, John Schwandt, and an acoustical consultant, Scott Riedel, to guide them through the decision-making process of repairing our organ. Each made an initial, individual presentation to the committee, but most memorable was their joint participation in a lengthy “town meeting” with the committee and members of the congregation. The meeting ended with a focus for the project—to improve our worship experience by enhancing both music and the spoken word through renovations to both the organ and the sanctuary.
Early on in this process, then-pastor Anita Cummings and organist George Damp approached Mrs. Dorothy Park with the invitation to become a supporter of this exciting adventure for the church. After several subsequent discussions, Mrs. Park indicated that the church deserved the finest organ created by the finest builder, and that she would cover the cost of the organ if the congregation would pay for the acoustical renovations.
A clear consensus decided that Stephen Russell was the right person to build the new organ. At the same time, Schickel Architecture of Ithaca was selected to design the renovations to the sanctuary. Several significant changes to the sanctuary were implemented to improve the acoustical environment. Certainly the most outstanding component of the sanctuary renovations is the reconstruction of the rear wall of the sanctuary. Its subtle sunburst pattern surrounding a high circular window is both extremely pleasing to the eye as well as functional in randomly scattering sound.
Suffice it to say, every aspect of the organ, from its general layout to the voicing of each individual pipe (all 5,000 of them) was accomplished with the unique features of our sanctuary in mind. The outcome is truly a gift for the ages, something that First Presbyterian Church can share with Ithaca and the surrounding area for decades to come. One can only hope that the generosity of Mrs. Park and the efforts of those involved in this project will be more than repaid by the joy and exhilaration shared by all those who experience our wonderful new organ.
—Tom Owens,
Elder and member of session,
First Presbyterian Church

From the consultant
It is a privilege to offer a few words regarding Russell & Co. opus 47. In a world that so desperately hungers for and needs beauty, it is satisfying to have been a part of a long process that has ultimately yielded a thing of great beauty that will inspire the generations yet to come.
My primary involvement in this project occurred before contract-signing. It is my fervent belief that consultants should provide general education and thereby enable church committees to make an informed decision about what is best for their congregation’s worship and community life. However, before we could start to talk about organs, it was very important to have the bigger picture in perspective, namely the inferior acoustical properties of the room. The committee wisely considered the importance of good acoustics that benefit congregational prayer, singing, oratory, as well as but not limited to instrumental music. Scott Riedel provided acoustical consultation; the action taken on most of his recommendations yielded a vastly improved sacred space.
The pipe organ, while not the only possible instrument for worship, remains the best single instrument to lead corporate worship because of its ability to sustain tones from soft to loud and from every pitch level. A well-designed and constructed pipe organ should enable an organist to creatively and expressively accomplish this musical leadership, often interpreting music of many different styles. It was my recommendation that an organ of rich, warm tone and with ample variety of color from all pipe families (principal, flute, string, and reed) be considered. The great organbuilders of the past were not striving to build instruments after someone else’s style, but to create organs suited to the rooms in which they were installed and reflecting the cultural identity of their time and place. That Russell opus 47 resembles in some aspects organs of the early half of the 20th century is entirely irrelevant. The fact remains that it is not an E. M. Skinner organ, an Æolian-Skinner organ, a Kimball organ, or any other organ. Rather, I believe that this instrument transcends labeling of any kind. Opus 47 has richness of color, overall warmth, and clarity. In previous periods of organ building, rich fundamental tone and clarity were thought to be mutually exclusive attributes; one could not have both. The refined voicing and the mechanical perfection of the pitman windchest exemplify an organ that will allow for music of any style. Congratulations are due to the committee and congregation for investing in their future so well!
—John D. Schwandt

Russell & Co. Organ Builders, Opus 47
First Presbyterian Church, Ithaca, New York, May 2006

GREAT – II (Expressive)
16' Principal* 49 pipes, 1–12=Pedal
16' Gemshorn* 12
8' Montre* 61
8' Principal 61
8' Bourdon 61
8' Flûte Harmonique 49
8' Gemshorn 61
4' Octave 61
4' Rohrflöte 61
22⁄3' Nasard 61
2' Fifteenth 61
11⁄3' Fourniture IV–V 297
16' Double Trumpet 61
8' Trumpet 61
Chancel Great Off
MIDI on Great
*Unenclosed

SWELL – III (Expressive)
16' Lieblich Gedeckt 61
8' Diapason 61
8' Bourdon 61
8' Viola 61
8' Viola Celeste 61
8' Flauto Dolce 61
8' Flute Celeste 49
4' Octave 61
4' Nachthorn 61
2' Octave 61
2' Plein Jeu IV–V 296
16' Fagotto 61
8' French Trumpet 61
8' Oboe d’Amour 61
8' Vox Humana 61
4' Clarion 61
Tremulant
MIDI on Swell
Swell Sub
Chancel Swell Off
Swell Super

CHOIR – I (Expressive)
8' English Diapason 61
8' Hohlflöte 61
8' Quintadena 61
8' Erzahler 61
8' Erzahler Celeste 49
4' Octave 61
4' Koppelflöte 61
22⁄3' Nazard 61
2' Flute 61
13⁄5' Tierce 61
16' Corno di Bassetto 12
8' Waldhorn 61
8' Clarinet 61
Chimes Ant. Swell
Tremulant
Choir Sub
Choir Off
Choir Super
MIDI on Choir

POSITIV – I
8' Gedeckt 61
8' Spillflöete 61
4' Prestant 61
2' Principal 61
11⁄3' Quint 61
22⁄3' Sesquialtera II 122
1' Scharff III–IV 232
Tremulant
Zimbelstern
Positiv Off

SOLO – IV (Expressive)
16' Cello 12
8' Concert Flute 61
8' Cello 61
8' Cello Celeste 61
8' Gamba 61
8' Gamba Celeste 61
8' English Horn 61
8' Tuba Mirabilis 61
8' Silver Trumpet* 70, double trebles
Chimes Ant. Swell
Tremulant
Solo Sub
Solo Off
Solo Super
MIDI on Solo
*Unenclosed

ANTIPHONAL GREAT – II
8' Prestant 61
8' Stopped Flute 61
Antiphonal Great Off
Antiphonal Great Super

ANTIPHONAL SWELL – III
8' Gedeckt 61
8' Viole Aetheria 61
8' Vox Angelica 49
4' Flute d’Amour 61
8' Orchestral Oboe 61
8' Vox Humana 61
Chimes
Tremulant
Antiphonal Swell Sub
Antiphonal Swell Off
Antiphonal Swell Super

PEDAL
32' Principal (GGGG#) 4
32' Contra Bourdon 12
16' Open

Russell & Co. Organ Builders,
Chester, Vermont
First Presbyterian Church, Ithaca, New York

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A. E. Schlueter Pipe Organ Company, Lithonia, Georgia
New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary
Monday, August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall. The levee system failed, and over 80% of New Orleans was flooded. For weeks, portions of the city remained under water, with heat and moisture completing the destructive cycle that Katrina began. While waiting for the water to dissipate, we knew that the damage to persons and property would be immense.
Our firm was called by the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary to evaluate and salvage the damaged instruments on the campus. Founded in 1917, the seminary sits on a 75-acre campus in the hardest-hit 9th Ward area of New Orleans. The Division of Church Music Ministries aims “to equip leaders for excellence in music ministry among Southern Baptists through performance, education, and technology.” Our charge was to assure that the musical resources were available for their mission.
What we found upon our arrival is perhaps best described by Seminary President Dr. Charles S. Kelly, Jr.:

Hurricane Katrina well and truly earned its designation as the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States. Our campus, like most of the city, was devastated. Our homes, many of our buildings, most of our grounds, and virtually all of our musical instruments were hit very, very, hard. The recovery process was long, difficult, and messy beyond anyone’s ability to describe. . . . What made our plight even more difficult was the massive damage to the rest of the campus and the severe losses sustained by our faculty, staff, and student families. The larger picture of what had to be done to reopen the campus and care for our families made allocation of the necessary dollars for the recovery of our lost and severely damaged instruments a very difficult thing to do.

Our work on the campus involved the protection and removal of many of the significant music instruments including multiple grand pianos, a harpsichord, and the 1954 Möller (III/27) and 1966 Aeolian-Skinner Opus 1468 (IV/38) pipe organs. Of prime concern was protecting the instruments to prevent further damage. In addition to water, the storm brought massive amounts of airborne contaminants into the instruments, and, with heat, mold.
The Möller organ, located in the Sellers Music Building Recital Hall, was damaged when the roof gave way, flooding the organ with thousands of gallons of water that passed through the two chambers and filled the pitman chests and winding system. When we arrived several weeks later and opened the chests, there was still a significant amount of water in the organ.
The Aeolian-Skinner was damaged when the 150-mile-per-hour winds blew out the window behind the organ. For hours on end, the outside became the inside as the storm vented its fury on the Skinner. As with the recital hall organ, we found water in the organ many weeks after the storm.
It was inevitable that there would be long and intense negotiations with insurance companies about the losses and rebuilding. The enormity of Katrina simply overwhelmed insurers. One could go on at length about the negotiations and the efforts and education that were required with the insurance companies. Suffice it to say that at one point the insurers appraised the older, smaller Möller at a greater amount than the larger, newer Aeolian-Skinner.
The Möller organ’s status was very clear cut because of the extreme damage to the chassis and its utilitarian design. The Aeolian-Skinner and its disposition was a thornier issue. The damage to the organ was severe, but with heroic measures it could have been restored. The problem was that a true restoration would involve tremendous expense that could exceed the organ’s replacement cost. The insurance company did not understand that if you replace the chests, swell box, some pipework, the winding system, and the console with new materials, the organ would cease to be Opus 1468. While we fought for funds for restoration, the client and our firm resolved that either the Skinner would be unaltered and restored without change, or if changes were required, that the resources would be folded into a new instrument. As negotiations concluded, funds available for the Skinner were not sufficient for a true restoration.
In addition to wide-ranging discussions about how the instruments would be used, we also traveled with Dr. Becky Lombard, professor of music theory and keyboard studies, to hear many of our recent instruments. We evaluated how these differing specifications might relate to the needs of the seminary and the church music program. From these visits it became apparent that we would build two distinctly different instruments.

Sellers Recital Hall (III/34)
The recital hall organ is used primarily for teaching and for literature performance. Space was limited, but we felt that the organ could be enlarged to provide additional resources not present in the 1954 instrument. With the performance of literature being the goal, choices had to be made about meeting the requirements of specific periods—yet the stoplist couldn’t be too era-specific.
The decision was made to design an instrument that could create the colors of all periods of music history. We also had to consider accompaniment of voice, both solo and choral. In this diminutive hall with seating for around 100, we had to create a rich, full palette without overwhelming the performer or listener. Tonally, the voicing is in a very clean, unforced style. There is crispness to registrations that will promote clean, articulate playing.
This organ had to be able to transform itself into any number of service instruments that the student might encounter in music ministry. The organ we designed is three manuals with 34 ranks of pipe resources. It is equally tempered to accommodate contemporary worship and use with piano accompaniment, and also offers full MIDI capability. This was the first instrument delivered to the campus.

Leavell Chapel (IV/83)
The chapel organ was designed with a different focus. While literature will be performed regularly, the organ’s role in service playing determined the overriding design. Each week chapel services are held and the organ is called on to support congregational singing and to accompany soloists. Collaborative performances with the organ and piano are quite common. The organ is also used to play for services with small numbers in the congregation and, at the end of each semester, for a “packed house” during graduation ceremonies, so a wide dynamic range was needed. The chapel is a cavernous space with seating for over 2000.
When the Aeolian-Skinner was installed, it had 38 ranks with “prepared for” Choir and Positiv divisions and additional Pedal and Great registers that were never added. The room had been acoustically altered from its 1966 incarnation, and the gently voiced Great and Swell on the Skinner did not have the presence required for this hall. Because of other uses of the chapel, the room had been softened with acoustically absorbent material, and this was to remain in place.
The new organ was conceived as a four-manual with Great, Swell, Choir, and Solo divisions. It is located on the central axis of the room on a shelf. The dimensions of this space are 36 feet wide and 18 feet deep.
It was important to the school that the room remain visually unaltered; so, the old façade and casework were restored. The Skinner 16′ Sub Principal was revoiced into a 16′ Violone for the Great division. The college wanted to leave the window at the rear of the organ, which was a concern thermally and acoustically. To overcome this problem, the new windows were designed as insulated units rated to resist a storm stronger than Katrina. We placed the enclosed expression boxes across the rear span of the space with inward partitions to provide our own back chamber wall. With a height of over 16 feet, the expression boxes provide a forward focus for the organ in addition to the needed thermal barrier, while still allowing light through the windows above the organ.
In designing the specification and scaling, I wanted to provide the resources that would allow the performer a vast array of color and weight, suitable for any repertoire. The organ was built with the classical underpinnings of principal, flute, and reed chorus structure to support classical and sacred repertoire; in a bow to Romanticism, I included elements of the American romantic or symphonic organ. This blending provides an instrument that would be evocative of early American Classicism, albeit with cleaner and more articulate flue choruses.
In concert with this eclectic tonal design, an expressive, floating Solo division was included. Included in this division are some of the rarer high-pressure stops, including French Horn, English Tuba, Solo Gamba and companion Celeste, and the hauntingly beautiful 8′ Philomela and 4′ Flauto Major.
We were able to retain about half of the Skinner resources, which were revoiced and rescaled for the new instrument. Some stops were either too damaged, or the material suspect, to consider their reuse. The original Skinner reeds were French in design and small-scaled. We felt that the size and acoustic of the chapel, in conjunction with the stoplist design, would be better served with English shallots, thicker tongues, and higher wind pressures. In addition to chorus reeds, the organ has a full battery of high wind pressure solo reeds that were duplexed in a floating Trompeteria division at multiple pitches with separate couplers.
In keeping with the accompanimental nature of the organ, each division is designed around an independent 8′-weighted principal chorus. The divisional choruses, while differing in color, are designed to be compounded as a unified whole. The mixtures in this instrument are pitched lower than what might be found in many contemporary instruments. Where additional treble ascendency is required, secondary higher-pitched mixtures were also included in each division, scaled and voiced to serve as a functional foil to the divisional chorus without stridency.
The strings and flutes in the expressive divisions are designed to build weightless accompaniment for choral work, or massed in support of romantic or transcription repertoire. The organ features a divided string division located among the Swell, Choir, and Solo divisions, to be compounded by means of couplers. Ever present, to be blended with this string chorus, is the 8′ Vox Humana, which has its own enclosure and tremulant.
With the exception of some 32′ Pedal registers and percussions, the organ does not include digital augmentation. We wanted the organ to stand on wind-blown resources. In support of this decision, we added an additional register to the Pedal—the independent 16′ Wood Open. Installed to the right and left of the center organ core and on 7½ inches of wind pressure, it provides a solid fundamental that is truly felt in the room.
Our experience in servicing instruments in this region has made us aware of the need for stability in the materials and action choices, due to the temperature extremes and constant humidity. The organ chest action is electro-pneumatic slider, with all reeds on electro-pneumatic unit action. The flue pipes and the reed pipes are thus on actions that maximize the speech characteristics of each type of pipe. This also allows the flues and reeds to be placed on differing wind pressures and tremulants. The wind is regulated with dual-curtain valve, spring and weighted reservoirs.
The wind pressures on this instrument vary from 4 to 18 inches. To control these resources, the expression boxes are built 1½ inches thick, with interlocking shades. Multiple motors are used on the shade fronts to allow a full dynamic gradation. The four-manual, drawknob console, built of mahogany and ebony, includes features such as multiple-level memory, transposer, Great/Choir manual transfer, piston sequencer, programmable crescendo and sforzando, record/playback capability, and MIDI.

Installation and voicing
The removal, building, and installation of these instruments were herculean tasks. It is an understatement to say that the staff of the Schlueter firm took up residence in New Orleans. I simply cannot give enough credit to the leadership of our senior organ builders Marc Conley, John Tanner, Rob Black, and Bud Taylor for the untold hours of travel and work that they put into these projects. Organ building cannot be achieved as the result of any one individual, but requires a skilled team. These individuals continue to exceed expectations in the creation of art.
From the outset, we decided that these two instruments would be voiced in the rooms, with the pipes arriving to the installation only prevoiced to allow full latitude with cut-ups and any required nicking. All of the samples were set in the chambers on their windchests and then the pipes were removed from the chambers. We brought a portable voicing machine and layout tables into spaces adjacent to the organ chambers to voice the pipes prior to their reinstallation in the chambers for final voicing and tonal finishing. Because of the size of these two projects, it was necessary to work as a team in tonal finishing, led by Daniel Angerstein, with the able assistance of John Tanner, Marc Conley, Bud Taylor, Kevin Cartwright, Lee Hendricks, and Gerald Schultz. As with so much of our previous work, I want to single out Dan and his contributions. In the many weeks of tonal finishing, he patiently brought forth the organs as they had been envisioned by the client and the builder.

Final thoughts
As we designed the two organs, it became clear that the organs that were desired could not be afforded by the school with the balance of their settlements. Over the years, we have been privileged to gift resources to churches. As owners, my father and I looked inward and decided that the importance of a continuing role of the organ in worship was a worthy cause. This required us to consider a donation, and without revealing the dollar value of our gifts, suffice it to say that there is a four-manual, 83-rank instrument where there had been a 38-rank instrument, and a 34-rank instrument where there had been a 27-rank instrument.
We would like to thank Dr. Charles Kelly, Dr. Becky Lombard, and Dr. Kenneth Gabrielse for their contributions and support during this project. Thanks also to our dedicated staff, listed on our website (www.pipe-organ.com).
Our tonal philosophy is to “build instruments that have warmth not at the expense of clarity, and clarity not at the expense of warmth, and to serve God in our efforts.” We pray that in future years our gifts endorse the importance of the organ in worship, and we hope that our instruments will plant the seeds of worship through music, for future students who pass through this institution.
—Arthur Schlueter III

New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Leavell Chapel, four manuals, 83 ranks
GREAT – Manual II (unenclosed)
16′ Violone (73 pipes) (1–24 façade)
8′ First Open Diapason (Pedal)
8′ Second Open Diapason
8′ Principal (1–12 façade)
8′ Stille Principal (from Cornet)
8′ Violone (ext, 12 pipes)
8′ Harmonic Flute (49 pipes)
(1–12 common bass)
8′ Bourdon
4′ Octave
4′ Diapason (Pedal ext, 12 pipes)
4′ Nachthorn
22⁄3′ Twelfth
2′ Super Octave
V Cornet TC
2′ Mixture VI
1′ Scharf IV
16′ Contre Trumpet (ext, 12 pipes)
8′ Trumpet
8′ Tromba Heroique (Choir)
8′ English Tuba (Solo)
Tremolo
Gt/Gt 16′–Unison Off–4′
SWELL – Manual III (enclosed)
16′ Lieblich Gedeckt (ext, 12 pipes)
8′ Geigen Principal
8′ Rohr Gedeckt
8′ Viola de Gamba
8′ Voix Celeste
8′ Dolce
8′ Dolce Celeste (54 pipes)
4′ Principal
4′ Harmonic Flute
22⁄3′ Nazard
2′ Flageolet
13⁄5′ Tierce
22⁄3′ Plein Jeu V
1′ Klein Fourniture IV
16′ Contra Bassoon (ext, 12 pipes)
8′ Trumpet
8′ Oboe
8′ Vox Humana
4′ Clairon
Tremolo
Sw/Sw 16′–Unison Off–4′
CHOIR – Manual I (enclosed)
16′ Gemshorn (ext, 12 notes)
8′ Principal
8′ Hohl Flute
8′ Gemshorn
8′ Gemshorn Celeste (49 pipes)
4′ Principal
4′ Koppel Flute
22⁄3′ Nasat
2′ Principal
13⁄5′ Terz
11⁄3′ Larigot
11⁄3′ Choral Mixture IV
8′ Clarinet
8′ Tromba Heroique (high pressure)
8′ English Tuba (Solo)
8′ Trompette En Chamade (Trompeteria)
Tremolo
Chimes (digital)
Harp (digital)
Zimbelstern (9 bells)
Ch/Ch 16′–Unison Off–4′
SOLO – Manual IV (enclosed)
8′ Philomela
8′ Gamba
8′ Gamba Celeste
4′ Flauto Major
8′ French Horn
8′ Tromba Heroique (Choir)
8′ English Tuba (high pressure)
Tremulant
Solo/Solo 16′–Unison Off–4′
TROMPETERIA – Manual IV
16′ Tromba Heroique (Choir)
8′ Tromba Heroique (Choir)
4′ Tromba Heroique (Choir)
16′ English Tuba (Solo)
8′ English Tuba (Solo)
4′ English Tuba (Solo)
8′ Trompette En Chamade (high pressure)
Trompeteria Unison Off
Trompeteria on Great
Trompeteria on Swell
Trompeteria on Choir
PEDAL
32′ Violone (digital)
32′ Bourdon (digital)
16′ Open Wood
16′ Principal (ext, 12 pipes)
16′ Violone (Great)
16′ Gemshorn (Choir)
16′ Subbass
16′ Lieblich Gedeckt (Swell)
8′ Octave Bass
8′ Violone (Great)
8′ Bass Flute (ext, 12 pipes)
8′ Spitz Flute
4′ Choral Bass
4′ Nachthorn
22⁄3′ Mixture V
32′ Harmonics (wired cornet series)
32′ Contra Trombone (digital)
16′ Trombone (ext, 12 pipes, enclosed in Ch)
16′ Contre Trumpet (Great)
16′ Contra Bassoon (Swell)
8′ Tuba (Solo)
8′ Tromba (Choir)
8′ Trumpet (Great)
4′ Tromba Clarion (Choir)

Standard couplers and MIDI

New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Sellers Recital Hall, three manuals, 34 ranks

GREAT
16′ Pommer (Choir)
8′ Gedeckt Pommer (Choir)
8′ Principal
8′ Bourdon
4′ Octave
4′ Nachthorn
4′ Gedeckt (Choir)
2′ Super Octave
11⁄3′ Fourniture IV
16′ Contre Trompette (Swell)
8′ Trompette (Swell)
8′ Clarinet (Choir)
8′ Festival Trumpet (Pedal)
Tremolo
Chimes
Great 4′

SWELL (expressive)
16′ Contra Viola (ext, 12 pipes)
8′ Gedeckt
8′ Viola de Gambe
8′ Viola Celeste (49 pipes)
4′ Principal
4′ Spitzflute
22⁄3′ Nazard
2′ Blockflute
13⁄5′ Tierce
2′ Plein Jeu III–IV
16′ Basson-Hautbois (ext, 12 pipes)
8′ Trompette
8′ Festival Trumpet (Pedal)
8′ Hautbois
4′ Hautbois (ext, 12 pipes)
Tremolo
Swell 16′–Unison Off–4′

CHOIR (expressive)
16′ Pommer
8′ Koppel Flute
8′ Viola
8′ Viole Dolce
8′ Viole Dolce Celeste TC
4′ Principal
4′ Gedeckt (ext, 24 pipes, from 16′)
2′ Gemshorn
11⁄3′ Larigot
8′ Clarinet
8′ Festival Trumpet (Pedal)
Celesta (digital)
Harp (digital)
Tremolo
Choir 16′–Unison Off–4′

PEDAL
32′ Bourdon (digital)
16′ Principal (digital)
16′ Contra Viola (Swell)
16′ Sub Bass
16′ Pommer (Choir)
8′ Principal
8′ Viola (Swell)
8′ Bourdon (ext, 12 pipes)
8′ Gedeckt (Choir)
4′ Choral Bass (ext, 12 pipes)
4′ Bourdon (ext, 12 pipes)
4′ Viola (ext, 12 pipes)
32′ Posaune (digital)
16′ Contre Trompette (ext, 12 pipes)
16′ Hautbois (ext, 12 pipes)
8′ Trompette (Swell)
8′ Hautbois (Swell)
4′ Hautbois (Swell)
4′ Clarinet (Choir)

Standard couplers and MIDI

On a personal note
“New Orleans Spared”—Such was the erroneous headline of the newspaper in Savannah, Georgia, on the morning after Hurricane Katrina. At the time, the Schlueter firm was completing the organ at First Presbyterian Church in Savannah (featured in The Diapason, April 2006). My father, members of the installation crew, and I had stared anxiously at the news the previous evening and wondered about our friends in New Orleans and outlying areas. Our firm has worked in the aftermath of a number of major hurricanes and storms in recovery and restoration efforts. Unlike these other disasters, every day the situation in New Orleans grew steadily worse.
Almost exactly one year prior to Katrina, we had completed the rebuilding, relocation, and enlargement of the IV/74 instrument for the First Baptist Church in New Orleans. We made many acquaintances during this period, and through the Internet we were able to find many of our friends who had fled to other cities and states. We prepared for what would face us when the water receded and we could make our way into the city.
It was surreal as the shop vehicles were packed with our own stores of food, water, fuel and medicine for the trip. As we neared the Gulf Coast, the sheer enormity of the disaster began to unfold. We crossed Lake Pontchartrain’s 24-mile causeway on a road that had been reduced to a single lane, following the collapse of entire spans of the eastbound lanes. As we arrived in the evening, the scene before us was a macabre black hole that enveloped the city. From the elevated roadway, the marginally lit downtown of New Orleans was surrounded by a dark, lightless void for miles and miles, indicating the extent of the flooding. We arrived in the city under martial law, and had to learn the intricacies of identification and going through armed checkpoints.
With the daylight, the enormity of the flood was overwhelming. Driving into the 9th Ward, you could see watermarks that were many feet over one’s head. Homes, businesses, and structures sported the hieroglyphics of spray paint, with X’s, O’s and slashes to indicate that the structures had been searched and what had been found. Traveling around places once familiar, we found abandoned cars, collapsed buildings, and most distressingly, an absence of life. When we talked with people we knew and asked what we could do, the answer was always the same, “Pray for us.”
In the ensuing months that stretched out over two years for the three instruments we worked on, we became emotionally involved with the city and its people. We came to New Orleans to work on behalf of the First Baptist Church of New Orleans and the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, and to restore part of their community. When we visit today, there are still signs of Katrina that only the passage of time will erase, but undeniable is the resilience of the people as they seek to rebuild their community. It is our hope that our response to Katrina on behalf of this community exemplifies “laborare est orare.”
—Arthur Schlueter III

 

 

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Bedient Pipe Organ Company, Roca, Nebraska, Opus 81
First Congregational Church, Sioux Falls, South Dakota
As organbuilding and organ performance evolve in the beginning of the 21st century, as financial resources of churches are often limited, there is renewed incentive to incorporate the good of past American organbuilding into new instruments. That is what we have done at First Congregational Church, Sioux Falls.
Although the practice of incorporating elements of former instruments into new ones has been perhaps shunned by some of our better builders in past decades and certainly by me, it was common in earlier times of organbuilding history for organbuilders to recycle functional components. Look at many stoplists of Arp Schnitger as reported by Gustav Foch and more often than not, some stops on a new instrument will be attributed to an earlier builder, or simply “vor Schn.”
This practice has certainly occurred in American organbuilding throughout our history and with varying degrees of success. The advisability and resulting success depends on the style of organ being built and the skills of the organbuilder.
Based on our successful combination of new and old in our Opus 81, the practice of “reuse and renew” continues to be a logical organbuilding technique.
Our goals were: 1) To rebuild and enhance the existing organ to make it reliable and visually attractive; 2) To create an organ rich in fundamental sound that would generate a wide dynamic range for various accompanimental tasks as well as lead hymn singing; 3) To create a variety of beautiful sounds for playing organ literature; 4) To integrate the old with the new in such a manner that the two work together seamlessly; and 5) To improve the internal layout of the organ to make it an easy organ to tune and service.
The lack of a comprehensive approach to work that had been done over the past 40 years had left things in a state of disarray. A new control system had been installed a few years before our involvement. The main control panel had been removed from its wooden packing crate, set on top of the crate, leaned against a windchest leg and wired in place! There was a nightmare of cables and individual wires running helter-skelter. Pipes were leaning to and fro. The layout of main windchests and offsets was illogical and used the space inefficiently. The Great windchest had serious defects and had to be replaced. This allowed us to totally reconfigure the Great and Pedal organs and their related offset chests. Some offset chests were retained, and a new Pedal windchest was made, allowing us to clean up the Pedal division and organize it in a meaningful way. The available space behind the façade for the Great and Pedal divisions was limited, but we were able to make a very good and serviceable layout.
What most people know about an organ is what they can see. We were able to make a dramatic change in this instrument by replacing the uninteresting façade of non-speaking pipes with one of dynamic appearance that also creates inviting, living sounds. If an organ looks beautiful, the viewer is more inclined to want to hear the instrument. If it sounds great and looks beautiful, the viewer’s expectation is realized and it sounds even better than anticipated.
Besides the non-speaking façade, the organ we inherited was characterized by a marked lack of harmonic interest. Thankfully, there were individual stops with potential that served a meaningful place in our new tonal scheme. We were able to provide an almost totally new Great division, and that was an important advantage—being able to present the core of the organ as a new division of beautiful sounds with a rich principal ensemble. Having said that, we did retain the old Great Mixture. We were able to improve it by increasing the cut-ups and making it a darker, less edgy, and generally very satisfactory sound. The new Great is an amalgamation of Germanic and French ideas from our varied tonal palette at Bedient. The Great Trompete is a dark German reed that blends well with the ensemble. When used with the Great principal chorus based on 16′ pitch or 8′ pitch, it makes a grand but not overwhelming sound and is very suitable for supporting hymn singing. The Flûte harmonique, straight out of the Cavaillé-Coll tradition, is a wonderful addition—especially in the renewed, live acoustic.
The Swell division was greatly enhanced by some revoicing and the addition of a new Trompette 8′, Clairon 4′ and a new Mixture. The Swell is now a very effective division, and there is quite a dramatic difference between Swell shades open and closed. The Choir division, previously lacking in fundamental, was greatly improved by the addition of a new Principal 8′. Adding a Mixture gave the Choir a complete chorus. The completed specification includes a principal chorus in each division.
The original specification called for a new solo trumpet stop. Well into the design, it occurred to me that this stop would be more usable and effective if it were placed en chamade instead of in the Choir chamber as planned. For those of us who have spent much of our lives clinging to ladders trying to reach and service en chamade reeds, we offer relief in this installation. Flats of pipes directly under the en chamade reed hinge outward and the stop can be tuned conveniently from a walkboard behind the façade by reaching out and up a short distance.
The Pedal division was enhanced by the addition of new reed stops as well as a Pedal Mixture. There are always many judgment calls in organbuilding. The Pedal Bombarde, Trompette, and Clairon began life in our shop as typical French, parallel shallot reeds of the French trompette tradition. It was apparent upon hearing them in the new, lively acoustic that they created too much sound. We took all of the lower registers back to the shop and put brass plates on the shallots to reduce the openings and thus the amount of sound created. They are still very prominent reeds, but fit the ensemble and help create a very exciting tutti. The bottom eight notes of the old Pedal Principal 16′ were retained as well as treble pipes of the Pedal Principal 8′ and a Choral Bass 4′.
The Möller console had been modernized at least two times before our involvement in the project. We were able to make a good stopknob layout and add the stops needed in a logical way. Piston slips were replaced to make a better piston layout. We added a “tracker touch” system to the keyboards to improve the feel. The entire console was disassembled and the finish carefully restored to match the beautiful oak woodwork in the sanctuary.
The organ has three manuals and pedals, 45 speaking stops, 57 ranks of pipes, totaling 3,138 individual pipes. The wooden organ pipes are made of sugar pine, fir, and poplar, and the metal pipes are made of zinc as well as various alloys of tin and lead. With the exception of the façade pipes, the new pipework was fabricated in the Bedient shop.
The organ façade is made of red oak and employs decorative motifs found in the decoration of the nave and its furnishings. It is enhanced by pipe shades carved of basswood, giving the organ a depth of artistic visual character.
The organbuilders who made the instrument:
Arden Bock
Jasmine Beach
Gene Bedient
Gwen Bedient
Duane Grosse
Chad Johnson
Todd Lange
Paul Lytle
Mark Miller
Eric Smith
Jason Smith
Edward Stibal
Jonathan Taylor
Fred Zander
Todd Znamenáček

The organ was dedicated on February 8, 2008 by Douglas Cleveland, who played to a capacity audience. Special thanks is offered to Eric Grane of the
J. F. Nordlie Co., who worked with me in the tuning and voicing of the instrument. It is our hope that this new instrument will provide inspiration and worship enhancement to all who see and hear it over the coming generations.
Gene R. Bedient, Organbuilder

Like so many downtown churches, First Congregational United Church of Christ has had to ask the question, “Who are we and what are we doing here?” Circumstances such as space for the activities of ministry, adequate parking, and maintenance of our historic building keep these from being just philosophical questions. During the past decade, several groups of dedicated church members have again wrestled with these issues. These discussions have brought together and empowered a wide variety of special interests and focused them into a vision that has guided us in addressing our challenges and facing our future.
Drawing on the historic traditions of the Congregationalists in America, we seek to create an environment that encourages people to come together, not only for worship, but for learning, public discourse and the sharing of ideas. We believe that it is in the honest exploration and expression of our own creative gifts that God still speaks in our world today. Our remodeled sanctuary is reminiscent of the early meeting houses in that it is a simple, versatile space. Yet, it also inspires and enables a creative spirit with colors in the walls and windows and the magnificent new façade of the Bedient pipe organ.
Since this building was first constructed in 1907, the organ has always had a central place in the sanctuary and a central function in the things that happened there. The most recent organ was a 1932 Möller, rebuilt and enlarged in 1967 by Reuter. It seemed that about every 20 years some major maintenance and improvement was undertaken, but the organ was never fully completed. It served the congregation very well, but was missing some basic components including a swell mixture and independent pedal reeds. The console controls needed updating, as well.
An organ committee was formed to review the situation and develop a proposal. As the committee did its work, it became clear that there was strong sentiment for a more involved project to not only address the problems, but complete and expand the instrument as a significant part of the evolving sanctuary renovation that was also being planned. A preliminary specification was developed and builders were contacted for their input.
Upon the recommendation of Dr. Larry Schou, Professor of Organ and Harpsichord at the University of South Dakota, the Bedient Organ Company was on our list of builders contacted. Initially Gene Bedient was not interested in the project as it had been presented. When he was contacted for further discussion, our conversations revealed a depth of care and concern for the art of organbuilding that impressed everyone. Further discussions, as well as a visit to the Bedient shop and several new and rebuilt instruments, convinced the committee that this was the builder we wanted to work with.
As we continued to work with Bedient, the project evolved further. The most notable suggestion that was enthusiastically adopted by the committee was the replacement of the existing “picket-fence” non-speaking façade with fully functional pipework arranged in a beautiful new oak case that complemented perfectly the existing woodwork in our century-old sanctuary. This new feature brought the organ into the mainstream of the larger sanctuary renovation project, providing a striking visual element that appealed to many who had not been particularly invested in the organ before.
The specification was finalized and the contract signed, and on November 11, 2007, nearly 50 members of the congregation gathered to help unload the truck containing the new Bedient organ. The organ was dedicated with a weekend of celebration February 8–10, 2008. Events included a concert by Douglas Cleveland, a Pedals, Pipes and Pizza event, and festival worship services including a formal Rite of Dedication on Sunday morning.
The organ has inspired us in our worship and attracted a great deal of interest in our developing Arts Ministry. The combination of the open versatile chancel space, excellent acoustics, and the organ located in the front of the room have already attracted several area choral groups to perform here. We hope to continue to reach out and encourage people to develop and share their creative expressions with us and each other.
Finally, I want to express my deepest gratitude to former Pastor Arlan Fick, whose leadership encouraged and inspired us to dare to dream this big. Thanks also to former music associate Brian Williams, who did a great deal of work in the early stages, to Rev. Norm Shomper for his leadership throughout this project, to Dave Sellers and the members of the organ committee, to Rev. Kathryn Timpany for her enthusiastic support, and to Gene Bedient, Paul Lytle and the rest of the Bedient crew for sharing their creative artistry with us.
Jack Mohlenhoff
Minister of Music and Arts
First Congregational Church
Sioux Falls, South Dakota

When Washington High School closed its doors in downtown Sioux Falls in 1992, the citizens of this thriving Midwestern city recognized an opportunity they could not pass up “to contribute to the artistic and cultural well-being of our community and state.” The native quartzite stone building is now the Washington Pavilion of Arts and Sciences. It houses the Kirby Science Discovery Center, an Imax theater, a black box theater, a Visual Arts Center, Leonardo’s Cafe, and the Husby Performing Arts Center, whose jewel in the crown is the stunning Great Hall.
First Congregational United Church of Christ sits directly across the street from the Pavilion. Made from the same native quartzite, it is home to a visionary congregation. For several years we have been developing a mission that is reflected in our motto—“God’s hands at work in the heart of the city”—that includes offering our meeting house as a place where people can experience the intersection of faith and the arts. Our recent renovation of the sanctuary, including the completion of the organ, symbolizes our investment in that vision.
Our weekly worship services are joyous occasions. The Bedient organ, under the expert artistic direction of Jack Mohlenhoff, our Minister of Music and Arts, sings us into praise and soothes our anxieties with its rich arrays of sounds and moods. The visual panorama the organ provides, together with our vibrant stained glass windows, draws us out of ourselves and turns us toward transcendent mystery. There is a creative spirit that is active in our midst, and our organ is the breath beneath our ribs, the vehicle of our song.
It is a great privilege to serve such a congregation, one in which traditional forms of worship and instruments of artistic expression are deeply valued, and generosity is understood as a joyful mark of Christian discipleship. The Bedient organ builders have given us an instrument crafted with the same sense of reverence and perfection that we bring to all aspects of our community life The congregation and the community will be blessed by this gift for generations to come.
Rev. Kathryn Timpany
Senior Pastor

Bedient Opus 81
First Congregational Church
Sioux Falls, South Dakota

GREAT
16′ Principal 1–8 Reuter,
9–61 new, 9–37 in façade
8′ Principal new, 1–25 in façade
8′ Bourdon Reuter
8′ Flûte harmonique new
4′ Octave new, 1–10 in façade
4′ Spitzflute new
22⁄3′ Quinte new
2′ Fifteenth Reuter
IV Mixture Reuter
8′ Trompete new
8′ Solo Trumpet (Choir)
Carillon
Zimbelstern
Chimes

SWELL
16′ Gedackt Möller
8′ Viole de Gambe Reuter
8′ Voix céleste Reuter
8′ Gedackt Möller
4′ Principal Reuter
4′ Harmonic Flute Möller
22⁄3′ Nazard Reuter
2′ Blockflote Reuter
13⁄5′ Tierce Reuter
IV Plein jeu new
16′ Contrafagott Reuter
8′ Trompette new
8′ Fagott (ext)
8′ Oboe Reuter
4′ Clairon new
8′ Solo Trumpet (Choir)
Tremulant
Carillon
Swell 16
Swell Unison
Swell 4

CHOIR
16′ Quintaton Reuter
8′ Diapason new
8′ Holtzflote Reuter
8′ Viole d’Amore Reuter
8′ Viole celeste Reuter
4′ Spitzprincipal Reuter
4′ Koppelflote Reuter
22⁄3′ Nazard new
2′ Octave Reuter
13⁄5′ Tierce new
11⁄3′ Quinte Reuter
IV Scharf new
8′ Krummhorn Reuter
8′ Solo Trumpet new,
13–54 en chamade, 1–12 inside
Harp
Tremulant
Choir 16
Choir Unison
Choir 4

PEDAL
32′ Contrebourdon (from Bourdon 16)
16′ Principal (Gt)
16′ Bourdon mixed
16′ Gedackt (Sw)
102⁄3′ Quinte (from Principal 16)
8′ Octave 1–12 new in façade
8′ Bourdon (ext)
8′ Gedackt (Sw)
4′ Choral Bass Reuter
4′ Bourdon (ext)
IV Mixture new
32′ Contrebombarde (prepared)
16′ Bombarde new
16′ Fagott (Sw)
8′ Trompette new
8′ Fagott (Sw)
4′ Fagott (Sw)
4′ Clairon new

Couplers
Great/Pedal
Swell/Pedal
Choir/Pedal
Great 16
Swell/Great 16, 8, 4
Choir/Great 16, 8, 4
Swell Unison Off, 16, 4
Choir Unison Off, 16, 4
Swell/Choir 16, 8
Reverse Choir/Great

New Organs

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Juget-Sinclair Organbuilders,
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Opus 32, St. Mark’s Episcopal
Church, St. Louis, Missouri

Designed by the architectural firm of Nagel & Dunn and built in 1938, St. Mark’s Church in the City of St. Louis is famous as an outstanding example of the Moderne style, noteworthy for its Art Deco detailing, including a complete set of stained glass windows designed by Robert Harmon and executed by Emil Frei Studios. The building, seating around 200, is shaped like a shoebox on its side and—surprisingly for a building of its size—has a reverberation period of around four seconds. The original organ, an 8-stop G. Donald Harrison Æolian-Skinner, Op. 979 of 1939, consisted entirely of principals and flutes. Though the plenum was very impressive for its size—Emerson Richards described it as “the biggest little organ in the world”—it had no strings, reeds, or solo stops, and the balances between the manuals were very poor. By the early 2000s it was in urgent need of restoration.
In deciding what to do about the organ, the congregation found itself faced with a serious difficulty. The choir loft, the only practical position for a pipe organ in the building, is extremely shallow, and in order for the choir and organist to be able to get up the stairs into the gallery, the depth of the organ at the level of the gallery floor had to be restricted to a little over four feet. Furthermore, the west window is an extremely fine one, and it was unthinkable that the organ should obscure it. This meant that although there was some room for expanding the Great and Pedal divisions of the Æolian-Skinner to include reeds, strings, and solo stops, there was no way that the Swell could ever be enlarged, and this in turn meant that any enlargement would result in an even more poorly balanced instrument than before. While the vestry was wondering what to do about this, the church was most fortunate to receive a substantial legacy from the late Ruth E. Proehl, making possible the replacement of the organ by an entirely new one.
In 2005 the vestry appointed an organ committee composed of my wife, the Rev. Dr. Lydia Agnew Speller, rector; Robert S. Mullgardt, organist and choirmaster; and seven others. No fewer than five organists were members of this committee, including one who was also an architect and another, me, who was also an organ builder. Though unusual, having a committee composed of so many extremely well-informed and opinionated individuals is something of a two-edged sword, and the vestry wisely appointed Barbara Owen to be the organ consultant so as to keep order. In practice, no referee was needed since, perhaps surprisingly, we found ourselves in remarkable harmony and agreement throughout—but we were glad to have Barbara Owen on the team, since her very practical advice proved to be an invaluable resource at many points in the process of selecting our new organ.
The organ committee made the decision quite early on to look for a mechanical action organ, and for the next two-and-a-half years members of the committee visited dozens of tracker-action instruments throughout Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Tennessee. Our final choice fell upon Juget-Sinclair Organbuilders of Montreal, whose organs at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and Second Presbyterian Church, Nashville, Tennessee, had impressed us as standing head-and-shoulders above any other instrument we visited. Juget-Sinclair proved an especially happy choice since Denis Juget, Stephen Sinclair, and the other members of their team showed themselves to be an exceptionally charming and interesting group of people with whom to work.
Juget-Sinclair came up with a brilliant solution to the church’s space problems. Like the old Æolian-Skinner, the new Juget-Sinclair organ is placed against the west wall of the church. By contrast with the old organ, a rather squat caseless organ that ran all the way across the church, the new instrument is divided in two cases, framing and showcasing Robert Harmon’s striking west window, The Massacre of the Innocents. The church is extremely lofty, and the new organ makes full use of the available height. Although the two cases are necessarily shallow at floor level, they are cantilevered out at impost level to accommodate a two-manual-and-pedal organ of twenty stops, more than we had thought possible.
The Grand-orgue occupies the south case above the impost, with the bellows beneath, and the Récit expressif occupies the north case, with the Pédale, including a full-length 16′ reed—which required a little mitering—underneath. The detached and terraced drawknob console is at the front of the gallery in the same position as the old one, and the trackers run under a new oak gallery floor between the console and the organ cases. The casework is of oiled solid quarter-sawn oak, with polished tin façade pipes drawn from the G.O. 8′ Montre and Pédale 8′ Principal. Much of the interior of the organ is also solid oak, as is most of the console, though the music desk is of burr maple inlaid with mahogany. The detailing of the console and cases makes use of Art Deco motifs found elsewhere in the building.
The church signed a contract with Juget-Sinclair at the end of 2007, and the installation and tonal finishing of the instrument took place between September and November 2009. The members of the Juget-Sinclair firm responsible for building Opus 32 were Robin Côté, François Couture, Dean Eckmann, Jean-Dominique Felx, Denis Juget, Céline Richard, Stephen Sinclair, and Jerome Veenendaal. The dedication took place at the Sunday Eucharist on November 22, when there was special music, and no fewer than six organists—all members of St. Mark’s—played the new organ.
The instrument has surpassed our wildest expectations. The many who have played it have included a number of very distinguished organists, and everyone who plays it comments on the excellent feel of the tracker action—personally I think it is the most comfortable organ I have ever played—and on how remarkable this is for a tracker with a detached console. Everyone also comments on the versatility of the organ, which though designed primarily with French Romantic repertoire in mind, manages also to be an excellent medium both for accompanying the Anglican liturgy and for playing Classical and Baroque organ music.
St. Mark’s is the third largest organ that the Juget-Sinclair firm has built. In spite of the less than perfect acoustics of their buildings, the two larger Juget-Sinclair organs at Wellesley (Op. 24) and Nashville (Op. 26) are both remarkable instruments. At St. Mark’s, however, equally fine tonal design and voicing design is coupled with excellent acoustics, resulting in a stunning sound such as might be expected from an instrument two or three times its size.
One Sunday morning a week or two after the organ was completed, I walked into the church and heard the strains of Bob Mullgardt playing the Franck
A-minor Choral. I did a double take. Was this St. Mark’s or was I listening to St. Sulpice? To help them in planning future instruments, the organ builders asked us to give them any feedback of an unfavorable kind coming from organists who play the St. Mark’s organ. So far we have been unable to oblige, since all the comments have been favorable.
A concert series featuring the new instrument was inaugurated with a dedicatory recital of music by William H. Harris, César Franck, W. A. Mozart,
J. S. Bach, Guy Bovet, and Marcel Dupré, given by Clive Driskill-Smith of Christ Church, Oxford, England, on April 18, 2010. If anyone would like to visit the organ, the organist and choirmaster, Bob Mullgardt, is always happy to welcome organists and others who contact him beforehand through the church office (314/832-3588).
John L. Speller

Juget-Sinclair Organbuilders,
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Opus 32, St. Mark’s Episcopal
Church, St. Louis, Missouri
20 stops, 23 ranks

Grand-orgue C–a3, 58 notes
8′ Montre
8′ Flûte à cheminée
4′ Prestant
4′ Flûte ouverte
2′ Doublette
11⁄3′ Fourniture IV
8′ Trompette

Récit expressif C–a3, 58 notes
8′ Bourdon
8′ Viole de gambe
8′ Voix céleste (TC)
4′ Principal
4′ Flûte douce
22⁄3′ Nazard
2′ Doublette
13⁄5′ Tierce
8′ Basson-Hautbois

Pédale C–-f1, 30 notes,
radiating and concave

16′ Soubasse
8′ Principal
4′ Octave
16′ Trombone

II/I I/P II/P
Tremblant Récit

Mechanical key action, electric stop action
1/9-syntonic comma temperament
Balanced swell pedal
Cuneiform bellows
3 inches wind pressure
10 General pistons, thumb and toe
6 thumb pistons to G.O.
6 thumb pistons to Récit
4 toe pistons to Pédale
Reversible pistons for the unison couplers, thumb and toe
Sequencer “forward” and “back” pistons, thumb and toe
General Cancel thumb piston
Combination Setter thumb piston
Solid-state combination action with 400 levels of memory
Photo credit: Stephen Sinclair

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