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Kegg Pipe Organ Builders,
Hartville, Ohio
Zion Lutheran Church,
Wausau, Wisconsin
Zion Lutheran Church in Wausau, Wisconsin, has deep roots in Lutheran church music, laying claim to both Paul Bunjes and Carl Schalk in a distinguished lineage of musical leadership. Though less well known, Viola Bonsa was also a part of that lineage, and we are delighted to give a wink in her direction with the name of the Swell 8′ string. Virginia Giese is the current Kantor and Music Director, and Rev. Steven Gjerde is Pastor.
An organ that had served the church well in a previous space was moved to the new building in the 1950s and placed on platforms in the rear gallery that were to be surrounded with appropriate casework. The layout was tight at best, and the casework never materialized. As the musical understanding and requirements developed and changed over the years, so did the organ. Various revisions and additions were made, sometimes with little or no regard for scaling and even less for accessibility for tuning or repair. The organ lost its identity and virtually choked on itself.
Designing a new organ for Zion gave us an opportunity to exploit some of the effects of placement. There is no question that the focused sound of encased pipework in direct line of sight to the listener differs substantially from the reflected sound of pipes enclosed in a swell box perpendicular to the listener. Yet each of those placements can have distinct advantages. Our often-copied all-electric chest design with expansion chambers fitted to each note allowed us the freedom to locate pipes where they needed to be in the tonal strategy, and still arrange them for greatest ease of tuning.
The sounds most often used to lead congregational singing—Great and Positiv—are placed in the front of the cases in direct line of sight to the congregation. These two Principal choruses are nearly equal in volume, but are quite different in color and weight. Instead of the more usual front-to-back or up-and-down relationship of these two choruses, they dialog from side to side, complementing each other when used together.
The sounds most often used to accompany the choir—Swell and Enclosed Great—sit farther back, with the shades opening toward the choir loft. This placement gives the singers the advantage of hearing direct sound from the organ, but gives the congregation a perspective with the voices distinctly in the foreground.
The previous organ had the lowest nine pipes of the 16′ Open Wood installed in the ladder shaft at the very back of the right organ platform, in what appeared to be a hopelessly buried location. Surprisingly, the room responds very favorably to bass frequencies generated there, and we followed the cue, successfully installing the 16′ Subbass in the matching location on the other side.
The Festival Trumpet, with its resonators and flared bells of polished brass, was originally planned for a location high on the front corner of the chancel. In a decision made just hours before the organ left the shop, the church requested that it be relocated to the back with the rest of the organ. After some re-engineering and new chest construction, it now makes its dramatic statement from the gallery rail.
One might fear that such a mix of direct and reflected sound would result in chaos in the listener’s ears. Such is not the case! The sound in the nave is rich, clean and bold—a sound with a depth of field that no speaker system can begin to reproduce.
One of the most important goals of the new organ project was providing a fitting visual design. After decades of exposure to naked organ parts, we wanted to reward the people of Zion with an organ case that doesn’t just “clothe the naked,” but also feeds those who hunger for beauty as part of worship. As with all of our designs, we aim to have the new organ appear to have been built with and for the building. It is deeply satisfying when parishioners tell us that the new organ looks like it has always been there.
Several elements make this case interesting. The four towers on each case, especially the large corner ones, appear to extend weightlessly over the edge of the organ platforms, even though their cantilevered supports are anchored securely by the weight of the rest of the organ. The effect is subtly enhanced by the fact that the bottom of the casework sits 1/8″ above the platform and seems not to touch it at all.
Our use of CAD software, particularly in 3D modeling, was of tremendous help not only in engineering this much organ into the available space, but also in planning the many visual aspects.
The tower crowns have discreet polychrome accents of gold and aqua to coordinate with other decoration in the roof beams. Decorative bands across the flat sections are also polychromed and topped with carved crosses. The use of exaggerated foot and body lengths in these sections that face the choir lends the impression that these pipes are delicately scaled, greatly reducing their visual weight in the gallery.
The 100 façade pipes all speak, and are from the Pedal, Great and Positiv Principals, Octaves and Choralbass.
The pipe shades, hand-carved from basswood by Spirit Williams of Hocking Hills, Ohio, feature Archangels Gabriel, Michael, Uriel, and Raphael on the two large corner towers. The pipe shades on the remaining towers depict the traditional symbols of the twelve Apostles.
Pastor Steven Gjerde writes:
Choral music has been a longstanding and cherished feature of worship at Zion. In the Lutheran liturgical tradition, choirs have often been likened to the company of angels: “Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his heavenly hosts” (Psalm 148:2). For this reason, they are typically placed in a gallery at the back of the nave, where their voices can fall upon the congregation like a benediction and raise congregational singing to heights that it cannot reach on its own. This “celestial” role of the choir led to our suggestion that the pipe shades feature carvings of the archangels. It gives visible expression to our working theology of music, in which the Church joins the heavenly hosts in their unending hymn.
An additional, deliberately planned case decoration is brought about by the reflection of the large stained glass window in the highly polished façade pipes. This kaleidoscopic effect changes minute by minute, and we found it particularly beautiful in the early morning winter light during our January tonal finishing.
Kegg consoles are known for their luxurious comfort and ease of use. Whenever practicable, they are easily movable on integral casters. At Zion, space in the gallery is at a premium and there is really only one choice for console location. We chose to make it stationary, and actually narrowed our standard geometry slightly, without sacrificing anything, to make the new console fit precisely where the previous one had been.
Many parishioners turned out to help unload the moving van and carry all the pipes, pieces and parts into the church. In a scenario familiar to every pipe organ installation team, we watched as their joy in finally receiving their long-awaited new organ slowly faded to concern, then changed to all-out panic as every square inch of their spiritual home was covered with at least one layer of organ. By Sunday morning, 90% of those organ parts had been moved at least twice more, once up into the gallery, then up once more into place on the organ platforms. Ten days after the van pulled up in front of the church, everything was in place, working, and ready for tonal finishing.
The organ was dedicated during the morning liturgy on February 21, 2010, with a concert that afternoon played by Dr. David Heller of Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas, who also served as consultant to the church.
As music director, Virginia Giese is putting the new organ through its paces, both in excellent support of the parish liturgies, and reaching out to the larger community through performance opportunities. An extensive concert series has already begun, featuring Kathrine Handford, Ken Cowan, Michael Burkhardt, Paul Jacobs, and Chelsea Chen, among several others. Details of these and other concerts on Kegg organs can be found at <www.keggorgan.com&gt;.
We laud Pastor Gjerde and the people of Zion for making this strong investment in the enduring importance of sacred music in our increasingly secular world, and we are grateful for having had this opportunity to practice our art.
—Fredrick Bahr

Kegg Pipe Organ Builders
Charles Kegg, President*
Fredrick Bahr, Tonal Director*
Philip Brown
Michael Carden
Joyce Harper*
Philip Laakso
Thomas Mierau*
Bruce Schutrum
*members, American Institute of Organbuilders

From the consultant and artist
When a church makes the decision to purchase a new organ, it provides a golden opportunity to look at the situation from a new perspective. From the start, this congregation asked all of the right questions: What are our priorities? What are our expectations for this instrument in our worship services? The selection of Charles Kegg was a big decision for this congregation, which has a rich history of traditional Lutheran worship supported by a superb choral program. Rather than continue down a well-worn trail in tonal design, the decision was made to follow a slightly different path—and the end result was an instrument that provides a unique balance between “tradition” while embracing some ideas that were outside the box of neo-classic organ design.
One glance at the stoplist will make apparent the importance both the builder and the consultant placed on foundation tone. The rich abundance of 8′ stops provides a wide palette of choice for the organist when accompanying voices (solo, choral, and congregational), giving the instrument a great sense of breadth without sacrificing clarity. Each of the manual divisions has a distinctive Principal chorus with a strong foundation that is balanced by evenly voiced upperwork. Of special note here is the inclusion of a Principal-scale 13⁄5′ stop on the Great, a color that enhances that division’s plenum and is so useful in German music of the 17th and 18th centuries. The inclusion of an 8′ Principal on the Positiv division is a nod to the builders of 18th-century middle Germany and the music of J. S. Bach. Not only is this division a perfect foil to the Great division, it is also one of the few contemporary instruments I have played in which the Positiv Principal chorus balances superbly with the Pedal Principal chorus at 16′ – 8′ – 4′ pitch—and without coupling it to another keyboard!
Another glance at the stoplist will point out the generous number of flute stops throughout the entire instrument. Each one has a different character, providing the player with a wonderful array of color at a variety of pitch levels. The flutes are complemented by two different sets of strings on the Great and Swell, as well as a Gemshorn at 16′ and 8′—all of which can produce some superb effects in both service repertoire as well as concert literature.
The number of reed choices for an instrument of this size is a delight. In the Swell division, one finds the typical work-horse chorus reeds (Trompette 8′, Clairon 4′), but they are complemented with a Bassoon 16′/Oboe 8′ unit that is of a smooth, darker color that opens up many possibilities not only for vocal accompaniment, but for the repertoire as well. A Vox Humana might be considered by some as non-essential or even a luxury—but in this case, its inclusion makes complete sense not only for the literature, but for the added variety it can provide as a solo stop. The Cromorne, located on both the Great and Positiv divisions, possesses a beautiful, piquant quality that is superb for solo lines. And finally, the reed stop that gathers the most attention (both visually and tonally) is the Festival Trumpet, mounted on the rail of the gallery.
As a church musician, I look for flexibility in an instrument to provide me with as many tonal options as possible, particularly in the area of choral accompanying. One of the distinctive features of this instrument is that seven of the stops in the Great division are under expression, including the 8′ Trumpet. The possibilities are endless with regard to accompaniment, and this use of a partially enclosed Great provides the perfect counterweight to the Positiv division, which is unenclosed.
As a performer and a church musician, I also look for ease in performance when I sit down to play a service or a recital. The layout design of the console of this new instrument is a dream for the player; everything is where it’s supposed to be located—from the order of the drawknobs and pistons to the location of the sequencer. This is one of the most user-friendly consoles you will ever find, which further enhances the experience for the player.
It goes without saying that the visual aspects of this instrument are matched by the aural experience one has in both playing and listening to the organ out in the room. At the dedication recital, I stated to the audience that if I could only work with this one single instrument for the rest of my professional life, I would be completely happy. I still stand by that statement today! Zion Lutheran Church and the city of Wausau can take great pride in their new instrument, which will lead future generations in worship and stand as a symbol of excellence and craftsmanship in North Central Wisconsin.
—Dr. David A. Heller
Trinity University
San Antonio, Texas

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Kegg Pipe Organ Builders,
Hartville, Ohio
Church of St. Gabriel the Archangel, Saddle River, New Jersey

The new organ for the Church of St. Gabriel the Archangel in Saddle River, New Jersey presented us with an unusual combination of challenges and opportunities. Our first inspection of the modern, stylized Georgian church revealed a main space more than twice as wide as it is tall, lower side aisles adding even more width, and a deep choir gallery tucked less than 12 feet below the ceiling. Despite these discouraging proportions, nice architectural details in the sanctuary and side altars combine with large clerestory windows and an elegant black and white marble floor to give a feeling of lightness and air. Hard surfaces abound, yielding an acoustic that is at once reverberant yet intimate.
The gallery, however, seemed entirely incongruous. The existing organ case was placed far forward in the center (not a bad location in and of itself), leaving the choir divided on either side, even closer to the ceiling on built-up terraces. The entire gallery was carpeted, with at least the back third of the space relegated to catch-all storage, and the console was in the far right front corner with no chance of the organist hearing any sort of balance.
The music program was already excellent, firmly committed to a traditional approach to music and liturgy. Musicians Joseph Scorese and Richard D’Amore had the choirs singing a broad range of repertoire—plainsong and Palestrina as easily as Rutter and Cherwien. But they constantly had to fight their surroundings in the gallery just to get their music into the glorious acoustical environment on the other side of the rail.
The challenges seemed nearly overwhelming, and after considering several different layouts, we concluded that many of the rules of organbuilding simply would not work in this situation. In breaking the rules, however, we were determined do so conscientiously, and let our creativity enhance rather than detract from the final result.
Visually, it was imperative that the new organ should somehow connect the music-making space with the worshiping space. We also wanted to emphasize verticality as much as possible to make the low gallery appear taller. We wanted the organ to be a visual indicator of the excellence in church music supported by this congregation. And as our first organ in the Northeast, we wanted any organist’s first sight of it to entice him into further exploration.
It was immediately apparent that the new organ case would need to come forward of the rail and extend down into the main space as far as practical. The gallery rail is curved, with the ends being farther forward than the center. Since a central location would only perpetuate the choir’s difficulties, we settled on matching cases at the front corner of each side. The bulk of these cases sit on the gallery floor and are painted white to minimize their visual impact. The stained solid cherry front cases are cantilevered out from them and hang down over the gallery rail without actually touching it. Pipe shades of basswood, hand carved by Spirit Williams of Wood Sculpture by Spirit, develop a vine and leaf motif, and also include figures of St. Gabriel on one side and St. Mary on the other.
Portions of the organ whose first priority is leading congregational singing are placed in these cases. The remaining portions of the organ, whose primary duties are accompanimental, are placed in a wide, shallow case behind the choir toward the rear of the gallery. The built-up terraces have been removed and the entire gallery has a new flat hardwood floor. The two back corners have been enclosed to provide storage and to bring a reflective surface a little closer to the choir.
Virtually all committees assigned the task of commissioning a new pipe organ for a worship space arrive at the same order of priorities: 1) Lead the congregation in singing; 2) Accompany a wide range of solos and ensembles; 3) Play service music; 4) Play recitals of solo organ literature. A strong case has been made by many organbuilders that an organ well-designed to play the organ literature can certainly lead a singing congregation. And as long as service music is selected from the great literature, it can handle that as well. And with a mezzo-forte stop or two behind swell shades: voilà, it can accompany! Naturally the bigger the organ, the more of those stops it is likely to have.
We would not disagree with that line of reasoning. But we believe that there is a vast difference between an organ that can accompany and one that excels at it and makes it fun, encouraging creativity. We often choose to take accompaniment as the starting point, and then develop those resources to enable the instrument to fulfill its other duties as well.
A hallmark of Kegg organs is their unique blend of accessibility and surprise. Organists and consultants alike have often commented that every stop is where they expect it to be and delivers what the stopknob promises. But there is a quality in the sound of the predictable that quickly invites creative experimentation. The fact that even many rule-breaking combinations coalesce into new and beautiful sounds is no accident, but rather the result of a complex series of deliberate choices in scaling, placement, pipe treatments, and tonal finishing.
Our normal practice is to shape the Great 8′ Principal to engage the room in a particular way, then use it as a foundation on which to build out and up to create the various core ensembles that define the instrument. In this organ, that function is taken by a combination of 8′ stops commonly called the “French Quartet”: principal, string, capped or semi-capped flute, and open or harmonic flute. Each contributes an essential component to the composite sound. The Principal provides the basic diapason color; the Violone gives point and lets it sing; the Rohrflute adds breadth and weight; finally, the Harmonic Flute imparts intensity and carrying power. St. Gabriel’s extraordinarily fine acoustic allowed us to approach each of these four component stops with a luxurious gentleness that would be impossible in almost any other situation.
A side-by-side comparison of identical notes in the Great Principal 8′ and Octave 4′ reveals that the Octave is equal to or even stronger than the Principal in some ranges. There are two reasons for this. First is that the Octave is intended to sit atop the combined French Quartet in all but the very leanest plenum combinations. Secondly, space and budget considerations resulted in a Fifteenth 2′ extended from the Octave 4′. We have kept the 4′ brighter than normal so that the 8′–4′ combination is extraordinarily satisfying and does not beg for a 2′ line to keep it clear. We have also given extra attention to the 2′ partial of the Mixture IV and installed a cut-out for the borrowed Fifteenth so it does not play when the Mixture is drawn.
The Twelfth 22⁄3′ was a preparation in the original contract. When funds became available to include it, we weighed carefully whether it was appropriate to add it while the Fifteenth remained borrowed. Given the steps we had taken to minimize the need for a Fifteenth, we concluded that the Twelfth was absolutely essential in building the rich but gentle texture of plenum we envisioned for this room.
Organ flute stops come in a wide variety of construction and tonal color on a continuum from fully capped through harmonic or even double harmonic. Experience has shown that a pair of flutes blend together best when the lower one is closer to the capped end of the spectrum and the upper one is closer to the open end. This results in the common pairings of Rohrflute 8′–Spitzflute 4′, Gedeckt 8′–Koppelflute 4′, or Open Flute 8′–Harmonic Flute 4′, etc. Our normal practice follows that pattern. In the Saddle River organ, the Great Rohrflute and Harmonic Flute both needed to be present at 8′ as essential components of the Quartet discussed above. Budget constraints would not allow an independent 4′ flute, so we assumed on paper that the ubiquitous Flutes 8′ & 4′ registration would best be fulfilled by the Rohrflute playing at both pitches. As a pleasant surprise in the voicing process, we discovered that the Rohrflute at 4′ would sit very nicely atop the Harmonic Flute 8′, breaking the rules, but becoming the default Flutes 8′ & 4′ combination for the Great.
The Flauto Dolce and Flute Celeste are treated in our normal manner: clear but nearly weightless in the bass, ultra-transparent in the tenor, becoming milkier and more opaque as the volume diminishes in the treble. The Flauto Dolce in particular is carefully regulated for evenness and prompt speech, making it valuable as an accompaniment stop without the Flute Celeste.
The Clarinet is smooth, dark and woody in the bass and tenor, brightening slightly as it ascends.
The Swell chorus is conceived in a typically American manner: the Bourdon and Salicional together act as the 8′ foundation, with a 4′ Principal and 2′ Mixture filling out the upperwork. Each component is then extended up or down, exponentially increasing the registrational choices. The Bourdon extends down to become the Swell double and the soft Pedal 16′. Its primary focus is as a Pedal stop for notes 1–24; from 25 up it concentrates on blending rather than individual color, but still stays just lively enough for scherzo registrations. The Principal extends down into a Diapason of similar scale and volume to the Great, but with slotted color. The Salicional is not just a unison for the Voix Celeste, but very much a partner in ensemble building. Its 4′ Salicet extension finds a perfect use in mezzo-forte accompaniments. The Mixture also plays an octave higher as the Scharf to provide the crown to the Great Mixture when the two choruses are coupled.
The Sylvan Flute developed as a chameleon, with distinct functions in different ranges. In the bass, it acts to color and define the 8′ Bourdon, which is purposely amorphous for use in the pedal. Its tenor range is slightly hollow, vaguely reminiscent of panpipes, hence the name. In the midrange it takes on an open 4′ flute quality, tending toward the sound of a narrow-scale harmonic flute. And finally, its treble provides a silvery top to 8-4-2 combinations, and is bright and sparkly for a skip-pitch effect with the Bourdon 8′.
The Nazard is deliberately very mild so that when it combines with the Bourdon 8′ it suggests that lovely color associated with narrow-scale wood Gedeckts. Added to full 8′s and 4′s, it thickens and imparts a slightly reedy quality in preparation for adding the Oboe. The Tierce, while still able to blend, is spicier than the Nazard and definitely takes the driver’s seat in the full Cornet.
The Bassoon-Oboe is specially designed to blend into the Swell flues to create the Full Swell effect at a dynamic level appropriate to the choir standing directly in front of it. The Oboe midrange and treble accelerate only slightly in volume, but much more so in color and point, allowing it to stand out as a solo stop in normal melody range. The Trumpet-Clarion is strong and bright, giving the fire expected from the Récit in French literature. We chose to place it in the Enclosed Great expression box in order to increase the flexibility of the dynamic range. And finally, the Vox Humana adds its unmistakable sonority, exceptionally rich and buttery in this organ since it does not have the benefit of distance to mellow it.
The Pedal Octave and Subbass are located in the forward case opposite the Great. The lower panels of this case are of double-thickness MDF to provide solid projection of the bass frequencies. We used this same double-panel technique on the back of the Swell and Enclosed Great box to reinforce the sound of the Pedal Open Wood installed behind it. The mouths of these pipes speak toward the back wall of the church, using it as a sort of sub-woofer to fill the room with a solid foundation for the whole organ.
The Pedal case also houses Gabriel’s Trumpet. Although of limited compass (tenor C through high F), this large-scale reed stop on 8 inches pressure provides a rich, powerful Tuba quality in the tenor range, perfect for delineating hymn melodies against the full resources of the rest of the organ. As it rises in pitch, it becomes more brilliant and comes into its own with trumpet tunes and wedding processionals.
It is our hope that everyone who hears this organ, whether that be a parishioner whose worship is enhanced by its music, or the most accomplished organist listening intently with discerning ears, will feel a sense of the joy and wonder from which it was created.
—Fredrick Bahr, tonal director

Kegg Pipe Organ Builders
Fredrick Bahr
Philip Brown
Michael Carden
Joyce Harper
Charles Kegg
Philip Laakso
Thomas Mierau
Bruce Schutrum

Photo credit: Richard D’Amore, Fredrick Bahr, Charles Kegg

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Kegg Pipe Organ Builders
Church of St. Gabriel the Archangel
Saddle River, New Jersey

GREAT (Manual I)
11 stops, 14 ranks, 878 pipes
1. Violone 16′ 73 pipes
2. Principal 8′ 61 pipes
Violone 8′ From #1
3. Rohrflute* 8′ 73 pipes
4. Harmonic Flute* 8′ 49 pipes
1–12 from #3
5. Flauto Dolce* 8′ 61 pipes
6. Flute Celeste* TC 8′ 49 pipes
7. Octave 4′ 73 pipes
Flute* 4′ From #3
8. Twelfth 22⁄3′ 61 pipes
Fifteenth 2′ From #7
9. Mixture (11⁄3′) IV 244 pipes
(cancels 15th)
10. Trumpet* 8′ 73 pipes
11. Clarinet* 8′ 61 pipes
Tremulant
Chimes Deagan, 25 bells
Great Unison Off
Great 4
Zimbelstern 5 handbells
* Enclosed

SWELL (Manual II)
10 stops, 13 ranks, 853 pipes
12. Bourdon 16′ 73 pipes
13. Diapason 8′ 73 pipes
Bourdon 8′ From #12
14. Salicional 8′ 73 pipes
15. Voix Celeste 8′ 61 pipes
Octave 4′ From #13
Salicet 4′ From #14
16. Sylvan Flute 4′ 73 pipes
17. Nazard 22⁄3′ 61 pipes
Flute 2′ From #16
18. Tierce 13⁄5′ 61 pipes
Larigot 11⁄3′ From #17
19. Mixture (2′) IV 244 pipes
Scharf (1′) IV From #19
cancels Mixture when drawn
20. Bassoon 16′ 73 pipes
Trumpet 8′ From #10
Oboe 8′ From #20
21. Vox Humana 8′ 61 pipes
Clarion 4′ From #10
Tremulant
Swell 16
Swell Unison Off
Swell 4

SOLO (Manual III)
1 stop, 1 rank, 42 pipes
Solo Diapason III 8′ From #2-7-25
Harmonic Flute 8′ From #4
Salicional 8′ From #14
Voix Celeste 8′ From #15
Flute Celestes II 8′ From #5 & 6
Cornet V #12-16-17-18
22. Gabriel’s Trumpet TC 8′ 42 pipes
Trumpet 8′ From #10
Oboe 8′ From #20
Clarinet 8′ From #11
Tremulant
Chimes
Solo 16
Solo Unison Off
Solo 4

PEDAL
3 stops, 3 ranks, 132 pipes
Resultant 32′ Derived
23. Open Wood 16′ 32 pipes
24. Subbass 16′ 44 pipes
Violone 16′ From #1
Bourdon 16′ From #12
25. Octave 8′ 44 pipes
Subbass 8′ From #24
Violone 8′ From #1
Bourdon 8′ From #12
Super Octave 4′ From #25
Cantus Flute 4′ From #4
Harmonics 32′ Derived
Trumpet 16′ 12 pipes and
from #10
Bassoon 16′ From #20
Trumpet 8′ From #10
Clarion 4′ From #10
Clarinet 4′ From #11

Tonal Resources
25 stops, 31 ranks, 1905 pipes

Inter-manual Couplers
Great to Pedal 8, 4
Swell to Pedal 8, 4
Solo to Pedal 8, 4
Swell to Great 16, 8, 4
Solo to Great 8
Swell to Solo 8
Great to Solo 8

Kegg Pipe Organ Builders
1184 Woodland St. SW
Hartville, Ohio 44632
330/966-2499
[email protected]
www.keggorgan.com

 

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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.

Cover feature

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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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Martin Ott Pipe Organ Company, Inc., St. Louis, Missouri
St. Mark’s Lutheran Church,
Aurora, Illinois

From the builder
When a church expresses interest in a new pipe organ for their sanctuary, the organ builder will visit the client’s building and pay careful attention to the acoustical and visual environment so that the new instrument will fit both the building’s architecture and the congregation’s musical needs. Our design philosophy has always been to match the organ to the room; it is tailored tonally and visually to the space. We cannot overstate the importance of the acoustics of the building in organ design. A properly designed room yields an environment that enhances the sound of the organ—allowing stops to blend when needed yet allowing solo stops to speak above the accompaniment. The most successful design produces an instrument that complements the architecture and has just the right balance of sound.
In designing our instrument for St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Aurora, Illinois, we faced challenges from multiple unknowns: the church was not yet built.There were detailed plans from architect Richard Kalb, of Cone, Kalb & Wonderlick, Architects, Chicago, Illinois, and preliminary proposed surface response analysis from liturgical acoustician Scott Riedel, of Scott R. Riedel & Associates, Ltd., but some site-specific challenges could not be properly resolved until the building was completed. It is not uncommon for contractors to fall behind schedule during construction due to the nature of the work, and consequently the organ builder must be flexible and willing to alter the organ’s design if necessary.
We were first approached for this project by organist Rosalie Cassiday, of Aurora, who served as advisor to the organ committee. She and the organ committee had visited our Opus 89 at Marmion Abbey, also in Aurora. The abbey hosts an annual Bach concert that draws a full house. It should be noted that the Marmion Abbey organ is smaller than the one designed for St. Mark’s Church. But after hearing the instrument at the abbey, Ms. Cassiday and the organ committee were very enthusiastic about our visual and tonal proposal for St. Mark’s.
Working from the architect’s plans, we designed an organ case that would be proportional to the room. The sanctuary at St. Mark’s has primarily a linear design, which led us to introduce curves as a contrasting feature in the organ’s design. For the quarter-sawn cherry pipe shades, we designed a vine that divides into three branches and winds throughout the organ. Pipes were omitted from the façade and placed inside so that the vine appears to grow from the impost toe-boards through the three towers of the organ. Mr. Kalb adapted this motif and incorporated it into the liturgical furniture. During the design phase of the pipe shades, each leaf was individually drawn in AutoCAD so that no two leaves are alike. The file was then converted to CNC code and cut by a CNC router. The organ case is built of red oak with a clear finish. The curves of the three towers were created by gluing thin planks of solid oak around a form.
The Ott organ was delivered in early October on a Sunday after the church service, and the congregation helped carry in the organ in parts into the newly constructed nave.
One of the unforeseen challenges we faced during the organ installation was the HVAC system, which needed some fine-tuning. At start-up, HVAC system components were too loud and introduced intrusive ambient noise. Happily, this was corrected, with input from acoustical consultant Scott Riedel. After the noise difficulties were solved, we were able to focus on voicing the instrument.
A well-made organ is comfortable to play, pleasing to the ear even after lengthy practice time, and encourages the organist to grow in technique and artistry. An organist will not want to practice if the instrument is awkward to play and the stoplist does not support the vast majority of organ literature. Few organists have the time to seek out a variety of instruments upon which to practice, so they need an instrument that is artistically beautiful and stylistically practical. Literature is not the only important factor in tonal design. Today, we are seeing a resurgence in the art of improvisation. A well-made organ will encourage the organist to try new ideas and sounds in improvisation. Practicing upon a limited instrument or a poorly constructed one will limit the organist’s imagination and prevent the growth of improvisation skills.
The stoplist can adequately support a wide variety of organ literature and provide fertile ground for improvisation. Many times the same stop can be used in a chorus or as a solo voice. For example, the 4′ Harmonische Flöte could be played down an octave as a solo flute voice or used with 8′ stops for accompaniment. Our instruments reflect the varied cultural background of our American musical heritage, which is a consortium of multiple ethnicities and traditions.
We were indeed fortunate to have good working relationships with architect Richard Kalb, acoustician Scott Riedel, and music director Kristin Young. Moreover, Senior Pastor Wayne Miller, who is now Bishop of the ELCA, Metropolitan Chicago Synod, was very supportive of the pipe organ selection and design process and made the instrument a priority of the St. Mark’s building project, not an afterthought.
Martin Ott

From the consultant
When Kristin Young, director of music, asked me to be a consultant to the organ committee in selecting a new pipe organ, I was pleased to accept. This vibrant and growing parish needed a new worship space and wisely planned for a new and larger pipe organ from the beginning of their building project. The organ would need to: 1) be an assertive and warm leader of congregational singing; 2) accompany choral and instrumental ensembles with sensitivity and flair; and 3) possess the beauty and brilliance to play a wide variety of organ repertoire.
The committee considered several builders in the United States and Canada. We visited churches in Wisconsin and Illinois, and the committee decided on mechanical action for its beauty of sound, ease of playing, and long life of the instrument. The Martin Ott Pipe Organ Company of St. Louis was chosen to build an organ of three divisions with two manuals and 32 ranks.
The new organ is a delight to both the ear and the eye. The rich and warm principals, gentle yet lively flutes, colorful solo stops, and fiery reeds create an ensemble of surpassing beauty. When the pedal reeds are added to the plenum, the effect is electrifying; heads turn in the congregation. The organ case is striking and elegant and brings visual pleasure to the listener.
As an organist, it is rewarding to hear and feel the beautiful sounds of this instrument. The console is easy to play, and 30 minutes easily stretches into an hour or more. Congratulations are due to the people of St. Mark’s and also the builder, Martin Ott.
—Rosalie Cassiday

From the pastor
“Through the grapevine”

As a parish pastor and as a former professional musician, it has always been one of my deepest hopes that I might have a chance to provide a home for a fine pipe organ. But the practicalities of congregational life in our post-modern North American environment work relentlessly to make that hope a dim and remote possibility. For those of us working to energize and renew traditional mainstream Christian life, there has been, for many years now, tremendous pressure to abandon traditional musical and liturgical styles in favor of something that feels more immediate and accessible to popular culture.
But in 1994, God was kind enough to call me to serve a congregation in Aurora, Illinois, that was not particularly attached to the idea of cutting itself off at the root from tradition. To the contrary, in fact, we found that our growth (doubling in attendance from 250 to 500 in ten years) came largely from those who were seeking the depth and breadth they experienced in a warm but distinctly liturgical worship experience.
This appreciation for “rootedness” led us to an organic understanding of the church and its ministry, which seemed to us to be eloquently expressed in Christ’s image of his relationship to the disciples as a living grapevine. The grapevine, in fact, has provided the metaphor for St. Mark’s entire organizational structure. And it has indeed proven to be fruitful. It should not be surprising then, that in 2003, as we designed and planned a new 600-seat worship space, the energy of the congregation returned to a valuing of both life and rootedness, and there was never a serious question that a fine pipe organ would be an essential element in the vision.
When our organ search team was finished with its exploration of fine organs and Orgelbaumeisters, the contract was awarded to Martin Ott of St. Louis, and Martin graciously invited our staff and me, as well as our architect, into a collaborative design process. This process led to the creation of Opus 106. The creation of the instrument was itself an expression of the ideals of life, growth, transformation, and adaptation that we have tried to capture visually in the grapevine patterns of the screening and in the organic shape of the triune casework. But for all its visual beauty, the true depth and wonder of the power of life embodied in this extraordinary instrument can only be experienced in listening to it speak, and proclaim its profound witness as it leads the people of St. Mark’s in prayer and song.
I have now moved on to become a synodical bishop in our church, a leave-taking that involved no small amount of grief and loss. But I have moved on with a great dream fulfilled and a new world of friendship and collegiality with Martin and his staff. These things now are also deeply rooted in my heart as we grow each day toward the promise of resurrection.
Bishop Wayne N. Miller
Metropolitan Chicago Synod, ELCA

Martin Ott Pipe Organ Company
St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, Aurora, Illinois
26 stops, 32 ranks

GREAT
16′ Lieblich 61 pipes cherry
8′ Prinzipal 61 pipes 75% tin
8′ Rohrflöte 61 pipes 60% tin
4′ Oktave 61 pipes 75% tin
4′ Nachthorn 61 pipes 40% tin
2′ Oktaveflöte 61 pipes 40% tin
11⁄3′ Mixture IV 244 pipes 75% tin
8′ Trompete 61 pipes 75% tin
Tremulant
Sw to Gt

SWELL
8′ Viola 61 pipes 75% tin
8′ Viola Celeste tc 49 pipes 75% tin
8′ Gedackt 61 pipes 40% tin
4′ Prinzipal 61 pipes 75% tin
4′ Harmonische Flöte 61 pipes 40% tin
Kornett II 122 pipes 40% tin
2′ Oktave 61 pipes 75% tin
11⁄3′ Larigot 61 pipes 40% tin
2′ Plein Jeu III 183 pipes 75% tin
16′ Bombarde 61 pipes 75% tin
8′ Trompete 61 pipes 75% tin
8′ Oboe 61 pipes 75% tin
Tremulant

PEDAL
16′ Subbass 32 pipes spruce
8′ Oktavbass 32 pipes 75% tin
8′ Pommer 32 pipes 40% tin
4′ Choralbass 32 pipes 75% tin
16′ Posaune 32 pipes 75% tin
8′ Trompete 1–12 Gt 20 pipes 75% tin
Gt to Ped
Sw to Ped

Mechanical key action
Electric stop action, incorporating a combination action with 32 levels

Photo credit: Thorsten Ott

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A. E. Schlueter Pipe Organ
Company, Lithonia, Georgia
New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, Washington, D.C.
The rich history of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church is intertwined with the history of the United States, as it has played an important role during many crucial junctures of our history. The church traces its heritage to Scottish artisans who worshiped on the grounds of the White House as it was being constructed in the 1790s. As a regular worshipper during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln rented his own pew. From the early twentieth century it became customary for presidents to attend services on Lincoln Day and sit in Lincoln’s pew. Eighteen sitting presidents have worshipped at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, and the cornerstone of the present church was set by President Truman.
Reverend Dr. Peter Marshall preached many famous sermons to a large national audience during World War II. During the annual Lincoln Day service in 1954, the Reverend George Docherty preached a sermon entitled “One Nation Under God,” calling for the addition of the phrase “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. The congregation that day included President Eisenhower, who, with his friends in Congress were prompted to add the phrase to the Pledge of Allegiance. Dr. Martin Luther King preached from their pulpit during the 1960s civil rights struggle. This church has long had social justice and responsibility at its very core, which cannot be adequately summarized in just a few lines.
I want to thank the church leadership, musicians, and members of the organ committee for their unwavering support of the Schlueter firm and me. So often when I had an idea, or desired to consider a change, the response invariably was “You are the organbuilder—we trust you. Do what you think is right.” Their measured dialogue, input, and trust were vital in the creation of this instrument and allowed our best work to flourish. I would also like to thank Texas organbuilder Mac Range, who served as a consulting resource between the church and organ company.
During my first visit with the church, I met with Pastor Roger Gench, director of music Dr. Stan Engebretson, and organ committee chairman Douglas Porter. I have to confess that at this meeting (being unfamiliar with the church and its instrument) my first inclination was to see if it would be possible to preserve the extant Skinner. However, after study of the organ, it became clear that the instrument was Aeolian-Skinner largely in name only, with the additional work of at least five other organbuilders. The church was considering the correct course in pursuing a new instrument.
The original organ built by John Brown in 1874 was rebuilt into a new instrument by the E. M. Skinner firm in the 1920s. Then in the 1950s the organ was enlarged and moved to the present church by Aeolian-Skinner. In the ensuing years there were various other additions to the organ and a replacement console. The organ chassis was a collection of E. M. Skinner, Aeolian-Skinner, and supply house actions—parts and pipes that were very much showing their age and were at the point of requiring rebuilding or replacement.
The placement of the former organ was in a rear gallery location. Often this location can be a benefit; however, in this church architecture it was a significant detriment. The organ was laid out with the Choir division in a pit below the rear choir gallery. The Swell division was stacked above the Choir division, with a Great division in front of this and a contemporary Positiv division flown over the Great chests and directly in front of the Swell chamber. The result was tone trap upon tone trap. The significant overhang of the balconies relative to the main sanctuary floor created even more sound traps. Add to that pew cushions on the main floor and the gallery. The result was that the organ started out bottled-up and fighting to speak from its location, and the sound that did get out was eaten up in the room and did not provide adequate support for congregational accompaniment.
Prior to our involvement, the church sought out the opinions of a variety of organists. The venerable organist, composer, and former Washingtonian, Dr. Douglas Major, served as an adviser and consultant to the project. He recommended that the organ and choir should be relocated to the front of the church. This simple act of forthrightly suggesting an alternate location for the organ and choir cannot be understated. His vision and recommendation are to be applauded, and as a builder, I consider the placement suggestion the single most important contribution to the success of this instrument.
In designing a major new element for the church chancel, we committed to the careful inclusion of elements from the church architecture. It was especially important to balance the visual beauty of the organ case with the Celtic Cross, retaining it as the central visual element in the room. We paired brushed zinc façade pipes with Lyptus® wood for the organ case. The choice of this wood species was influenced by the history of the church and its continuing social consciousness, including responsibility to the environment. As a sustainable, plantation-grown lumber, Lyptus® provides a beautifully grained wood that finishes well and complements the older walnut that is in the church furnishings, without adding to the deforestation of a native species.
It was interesting to see the expression of many of the church members the first time they saw the organ case. Incorporated into the organ casement is Isaiah 6:3, “Holy Holy Holy Is The Lord of Hosts The Whole Earth Is Full of God’s Glory,” and 1 John 4:7, “Beloved Let Us Love One Another For Everyone Who Loves Is Born of God And Knows God.” These scriptures, carved in mahogany panels that were gilded and polychromed, became visual reminders of our responsibilities in faith as organbuilders and servants of the church.
In designing a new specification that would incorporate some of the existing organ resources, a detailed study of the organ stops was conducted. It became evident that there had been a large degree of re-use and re-tasking of pipework during many different eras. There were opus numbers on pipework that were not attributable to either Skinner company or John Brown, but that did have marks from the E. M. and Aeolian-Skinner voicers and had been relabeled with inked opus numbers. Some of the pipework had been re-tasked multiple times. A good example was a 13⁄5′ Tierce in the Swell that had been a Great 4′ stop, prior to being a Swell 2′ stop, before becoming a 13⁄5′ Tierce. With rebuilding upon rebuilding, and stop reassignment and repitching, the organ had collected eight harmonic flutes of various pitches and significant scaling problems as they related to other organ stops. Scaling and voicing issues were scattered throughout the instrument among all stop families. Other peculiarities could be found in the Gemshorn, Erzahler, and Flauto Dolce. All of these stops, while differing in nomenclature, shared the exact same scaling, halving ratio, and mouth width. The Salicional and Voix Celeste in the Swell had been deslotted in a former life and various replacement pipes added to these ranks. The majority of reeds in the organ used French shallots, and these reeds provided a very brittle timbre in the church acoustic.
The organ did have many individual beautiful sounds, but they did not coalesce into a unified ensemble. Additional “diamonds in the rough” included the 8′ Clarinet and the 8′ Vox Humana, which dated from the John Brown organ and had been originally retained by
E. M. Skinner and later Aeolian-Skinner. There was clearly an aural reason these stops made the passage of over one hundred years and through the hands of several organ companies. When we studied the construction of these and other stops, and worked with voicing samples in the church, there was no question that these select stops had to be retained, albeit in different roles and/or registers.
Certainly it was clear that less could be more. The organ had grown to over 72 ranks over the years, attempting to overcome issues with the organ placement, room acoustic, and pipe scaling. During the organ removal, we discovered that the organ actually started to sound significantly better after over one-third of the resources had been removed, leaving fewer pipes and chests to occlude the pipe speech. We also moved pipe samples from the rear chamber location to the proposed chancel location. This proved invaluable as we considered the specification design, pipework scaling, and wind pressures.
During the church’s study of our firm, there were several visits to the Schlueter organ (III/47) at First Presbyterian Church in Savannah, Georgia. This instrument, featured in the April 2006 issue of The Diapason, was patterned loosely around the formative specification designs of early American Classicism. We allowed the English influence of American Classicism to flourish in this specification, with a nod toward the romanticism of early American twentieth-century tonal design. While not desiring a direct copy, there was an overall approach to specification and voicing style in the Savannah instrument that was the type of sound that embodied the core of what the church wanted for choral and congregational accompaniment.
The initial specification tendered had 58 ranks over three manual divisions and pedal. Later this grew to 62 ranks with donations made by the Schlueter family. We provided these additions outside of the contract budget because, as artisans, there were several stops that we personally wanted to include in this organ, including a second set of strings in the Swell division, the Great mutation stops, and other changes and stop substitutions.
Each division was designed around an independent 8′ weighted principal chorus. The divisional choruses, while differing in color, are designed to compound one another as a unified whole. The enclosed divisions were designed to be foils to the Great division, to provide weightless accompaniment for choral work, support repertoire, or massed in support of Romantic or transcription repertoire. The strings, when taken as a whole compounded entity, allow the organ to feature a divided string organ division located between the Swell and Choir divisions to be companioned by means of couplers. Considering the stoplist design and room acoustic, we chose to employ reeds with English shallots and voicing practices. Built with Willis tuba shallots, the 16′/8′ Tromba on 16 inches of wind pressure serves as the solo reed. Being enclosed in the Choir expression box allows full dynamic control of this heroic reed.
The organ is built with a steel and wood structure encased by the organ façade and millwork. The lower level of the organ contains the Swell and Choir, while the Great and Pedal divisions of the organ are located in the upper level.
Our firm built electro-pneumatic slider chest actions of the Blackinton variety, with our electro-pneumatic primary design. This type of chest action has the ability to operate over a wide pressure range without repetition problems or pressure limitations. Electro-pneumatic unit chests were provided for all large bass pipes, offset chests, and reeds.
In addition to the frontal expression shades, we designed louvers for the sides of the organ case that open rearward into the corners of the balcony. This was to purposely focus some of the organ energy into the gallery. With the removal of the soft pew pads, this area is used to coalesce the organ sound and maintains the sonic energy in the upper portion of the room, giving an impression of a longer reverberation time than the room actually has. Additional enhancement to the room acoustic came from removal of carpet, which was replaced with natural cork.
The resources of the organ are controlled by a three-manual drawknob console. Built in the English style, the console sits on a rolling platform to allow mobility. The console exterior is built of Lyptus® with an interior of ebonized walnut and ebony. The console features modern conveniences for the performer, such as multiple memory levels, programmable crescendo and sforzando, transposer, MIDI, and the ability to record and play back performances.
With new pipework, existing pipework, and changes to room acoustics, it was decided early on that all of the pipework would be voiced at the church. New pipework was 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. A portable voicing machine was installed to the side of the chancel and all of the pipes were voiced prior to their installation in the chambers for final voicing and tonal finishing. Voicing an organ in this manner is quite literally a process of months, involving the movement of thousands of pipes, but was the only way to achieve the results we wanted. An organ of this scale and scope, with this amount of raw voicing work to be done onsite, required a large team. This effort was accomplished by Daniel Angerstein, Peter Duys, Lee Hendricks, Gerald Schultz, and Bud Taylor. It becomes a rote line from the articles of our work, but again I want to single out Dan for his contributions. Over the weeks and months of tonal work, he faithfully led our team’s tonal finishing efforts. He worked to patiently bring forth the voices as they had been planned and envisioned. Indeed, his fingerprints adjoin our own on this instrument.
The building and installation of a pipe organ is a monumental undertaking. The title “organbuilder” presumes long hours, travel, and the temporary suspension of personal lives. This year, in addition to rebuilding projects, A. E. Schlueter Pipe Organ Company built six new instruments. Our firm is so blessed to have the dedicated staff whom I proudly call my colleagues. I would particularly like to mention our management and road crew, including Arthur Schlueter Jr., Marc Conley, John Tanner, Shan Dalton, Marshall Foxworthy, Patrick Hodges, Jay Hodges, Wilson Luna, Rob Black, Pete Duys, and Bud Taylor for the untold hours of travel and work that they put into these projects. These are but part of the Schlueter Organ Company; a full roster of our staff and additional information on our firm and projects can be viewed at <www.pipe-organ.com&gt; or by writing A. E. Schlueter, P.O. Box 838, Lithonia, GA 30058.
I have heard the collective work of organbuilders described as “stained glass for the ears.” As I thought about this, I considered New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, which is known for its sacred and secular stained glass windows, chronicled in the book Stories in Stained Glass (1998, Foster, Boswell, Hunter). To paraphrase the foreword by George W. Bergquist: “Generations from now, when the stained glass windows will have acquired the patina of time, they will continue to demonstrate that visual beauty of their sort powerfully reinforcing preaching, testimony and prayer.” How beautifully phrased. It is our sincere wish that our work will be an aural complement to the visual one as our instrument acquires the “patina of time.”

—Arthur E. Schlueter III

Artistic and Tonal Director

A. E. Schlueter Pipe Organ Company

3 manuals, 62 pipe ranks

GREAT
16′ Violone (extension)
8′ Principal
8′ Violone
8′ Gemshorn (CH)
8′ Gemshorn Celeste (CH)
8′ Bourdon
8′ Harmonic Flute
4′ Octave
4′ Spire Flute
22⁄3′ Twelfth
2′ Super Octave
13⁄5′ Seventeenth
11⁄3′ Fourniture IV
2⁄3′ Scharf III
8′ Trumpet
8′ Tromba Heroique (CH)
Chimes (digital)
Tremulant

SWELL
16′ Lieblich Gedeckt (extension)
8′ Principal
8′ Rohr Flute
8′ Viola
8′ Viola Celeste
8′ Salicional
8′ Voix Celeste
4′ Principal
4′ Wald Flute
22⁄3′ Nazard
2′ Octavin
13⁄5′ Tierce
2′ Plein Jeu Mixture IV
16′ Contra Oboe (extension)
8′ Trumpet
8′ Oboe
8′ Vox Humana
4′ Clarion
Tremulant
Swell to Swell 16
Swell Unison Off
Swell to Swell 4

CHOIR
16′ Gemshorn (extension)
8′ Weit Principal
8′ Holzgedeckt
8′ Gemshorn
8′ Gemshorn Celeste
8′ Flauto Dolce
8′ Flauto Dolce Celeste
4′ Principal
4′ Koppelflote
22⁄3′ Nasat
2′ Schweigel
13⁄5′ Terz
11⁄3′ Quint
2′ Choral Mixture III
8′ Clarinet
16′ Tromba Heroique (extension)
8′ Tromba Heroique
4′ Tromba Heroique (extension)
Zimbelstern
Harp (digital)
Tremulant
Choir to Choir 16
Choir Unison Off
Choir to Choir 4

PEDAL
32′ Violone (digital)
32′ Bourdon (digital)
16′ Principal
16′ Violone (GT)
16′ Gemshorn (CH)
16′ Bourdon
16′ Lieblich Gedeckt (SW)
102⁄3′ Quint
8′ Octave (extension)
8′ Violone (GT)
8′ Gemshorn (CH)
8′ Bourdon (extension)
8′ Gedeckt (SW)
4´ Choral Bass
4´ Cantus Flute (GT)
22⁄3′ Mixture V
32′ Contra Trombone (digital)
32′ Harmonics (wired cornet series)
16′ Trombone (CH)
16′ Contra Trumpet (GT)
16′ Contra Oboe (SW)
8′ Tromba (CH)
8′ Trumpet (GT)
4′ Clarion (GT)
4′ Cremona

Inter-manual couplers
Great to Pedal 8, 4
Swell to Pedal 8, 4
Choir to Pedal 8, 4
Swell to Great 16, 8, 4
Choir to Great 16, 8, 4
Swell to Choir 16, 8, 4
Cover photo: Dr. Stan Engebretson

Cover feature

A. E. Schlueter Pipe Organ Company, Lithonia, Georgia

Advent Lutheran Church, 

Melbourne, Florida

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A. E. Schlueter Pipe Organ Company, Lithonia, Georgia

Advent Lutheran Church, 

Melbourne, Florida

Advent Lutheran Church in Melbourne, Florida is a relatively young church, founded in 1982; services were first held in a realtor’s office. From these simple beginnings, this vibrant ministry has continued to grow in an unbounded manner. When the present sanctuary was built in 2003, they could not fund a pipe organ, but importantly made future provision for an instrument in their new sanctuary; the space provided for the pipe organ and the chamber was sealed closed in the front rock wall of the church.

In 2010, a pipe organ committee was formed. Their study included not only engineering and cost factors, but also the ability to pay for the organ without impacting the operating budget. In 2011, a special congregational meeting was held to approve the purchase of a pipe organ from the A.E. Schlueter Pipe Organ Company, with installation to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the church’s founding.

When I first visited Advent Lutheran with our Florida representative, Herbert M. Ridgely Jr., I found we were blessed with a sanctuary where consideration had been given toward good acoustics and favorable placement for the organ. The front wall of the chancel is a solid concrete wall that lofts from floor to ceiling and is faced with native limestone. Beginning eleven feet off the floor was a 20 x 20 opening into the organ chamber. The floor for the organ was a solid poured-concrete slab capable of holding the tens of thousands of pounds of weight required for even a modest-sized instrument.

There are two choir lofts on the right and left sides of the sanctuary. The traditional choir is housed on the left side. The opposing niche on the right side is a space occupied by the accouterments needed for contemporary worship.

With the side locations of the choir lofts, and a sanctuary with more width than depth, our concern was that some choristers or congregants would be “around the corner” from the straight-on frontal exposure of the organ as it speaks into the sanctuary. We wanted to avoid an instrument that emphasized one division over another dependent upon where you were seated.

To provide more uniformity of speech, we planned the removal of the sidewall sections to the left and right of the organ chamber. Adjacent to the side openings were angled wall surfaces that we knew would reflect and refract the sound from the side alcoves behind the chancel wall into the room. These openings were finished with open, ornamental, oak grilles. In the chamber interior we placed the Great and Positiv windchests off-axis from the direct center, so they would be able to speak from the sides as well as the front exposure. The Swell division of the organ is laid out in a side-by-side configuration across the rear of the organ chamber. This minimizes the depth of the enclosed division and allows it to be spatially projected forward in an unimpeded manner to acoustically sit beside the pipework of the Great and Positiv. The result of the additional chamber openings and divisional placement is that the full resources of the organ are evenly heard throughout the room without any significant divisional bias. 

A constant challenge in organ building is having enough space in width, depth, and height. In this instance the internal chamber had “too much of a good thing” in terms of height. The loft inside the organ chamber went well over 25 feet above the top of the frontal opening, creating a significant tone trap that had to be addressed. The solution was to continue the Swell expression box roof over the Great and Positiv. The roof section was built with heavy timbers and made exceedingly thick, which provided an upper surface that was designed to be a refractory angle of incidence across a broad frequency spectrum to focus the organ resources out of the chamber. The end result is an even, coalesced diffusion of sound both inter- and intra-divisionally.

The organ case is built from hand-selected rift-sawn red oak, with a light-colored natural finish to match the church’s interior furnishings. The individual vertical segments of the façade and case are divided into multiple pipe flats that follow the radius of the front wall curvature. In this manner, the façade “bows” rearward from the cross to emphasize it as the central theme in the chancel.

The pipe shades at the top of the pedal towers are evocative of the concrete lace that holds the stained glass within the windows of the church. The polished surfaces of the organ façade pipes play on light in such a way that the façade takes on natural soft, even hues, melding with the church interior. The pipework in the organ façade contains the independent 16 Principal, and bass registers of the 8 Principal and the 4 Choral Bass. 

We designed a terraced, drawknob console for this instrument. In addition to providing excellent sightlines for the organist to see both the choir and the congregation, its lowered profile makes it less dominant against the furnishings in the chancel. The console, including the built-in casters for mobility, is a diminutive 47½ inches tall. The console is built of red oak with a mahogany interior. The interior stop controls are turned of hardwoods with engraved inserts that were custom finished to match the bone and walnut keyboards. The keyboards are fitted with tracker touch.

Ever concerned with ease of registration and ergonomics, we were very careful in our design of the console interior. The drawknob and coupler controls are placed in the traditional locations with the Pedal and Swell stops on the left jambs, and the Great and Positiv on the right jambs. The stops are sequenced by pitch and family, with the primary division choruses aligned to be even to the manual into which they draw. The drawknobs feature oblique heads aligned on straight terraces, and angled inwards toward the performer, making the stops easy to see and draw because the stops on each terrace are within easy reach of the performer. 

For the combination system and relays, we used the new 8400 system from the Syndyne firm. All of the features that one comes to expect on a modern console control system are present—from multiple memories, to programmable crescendos, programmable sforzandos, blind checks, transposers, etc. The system allows centralized control for the combination system, playback/record, MIDI, and other functions, in a single integrated touch screen. One can save or import combination memories from and to an external USB drive, which provides infinite options to the performer. The screen and USB interface allows testing, configuration, and upgrades for the builder without the need for an external computer.

The organ chests are a combination of Blackinton-style electro-pneumatic slider chests and electro-pneumatic unit action chests for unit and duplex stops. 

The main manual chest winding system makes use of traditional spring-and-weight, ribbed regulators, and floating lid regulators that are fed from a large, central plenum. The enclosed reeds are provided with separate regulators to allow a pressure differential from the flue stops and permit independent tremulant control. All of the windchests are individually fitted with tunable concussion bellows for fine regulation. This allows stable winding that still maintains a presence of life.

Wind pressures on the organ are 3½′′ Great, 4′′ Swell flues, 5′′ Swell reeds, 2¾′′ Positiv, 3′′ Pedal and façade, and 8′′ for the Solo 8 Festival Trumpet. The tremolos are electro-mechanical to provide a quiet, gentle, even undulation when the tremulants are engaged.

Prior to designing a stoplist, I find, as an organbuilder, it is incumbent to worship with the congregation. This cannot be a one-time event, as a church’s liturgy as it moves through the year is a rich pageant that cannot be conveyed, but has to be personally experienced to put the worship service in your own eyes, and more importantly your own ears. Personally, I find it illuminating to look into the eyes of the congregants who have asked me to build an organ for them. It instills me with the gravity of the task at hand and becomes a constant that I draw on throughout my working with the church. 

As I designed the stoplist, I envisioned an instrument where all of the resources could be considered for use in every service. I wanted a large enough specification to provide a rich palette of color and weight. It was important to avoid any sounds that were strident or overwhelming, as they didn’t have a place or use in this setting with this congregation. The ideal stop design would emphasize reliance on chorus massing to bring about larger stop dynamics which build upon one another. The goal was to design a specification that would allow gentle, sculpted voicing. 

Because of the German origins of the Lutheran church, I knew there would have to be an inclusion of the “Werkprinzip” in the specification. However, I also felt strongly that a single nationalistic focus would have been too limiting for this congregation. Ultimately the design of the instrument included many tonal facets that allow the organ to be a faithful purveyor of music from many periods, styles, and nationalities, in a cohesive, eclectic manner. Those who are familiar with our collective body of work will find present the balance of clarity and warmth that we seek in all of our instruments.

As we designed the principals, flutes, and strings in this instrument, we employed differing construction and materials in conjunction with careful scaling. The varied use of wood, metal, open, semi-open, stoppered, cylindrical, conical, and other variations, allow each flue stop its own unique voice and timbre. 

The organ is centered around the clean, robust principal chorus of the Great division. The 16 Sub Principal of this division transitions from the façade into the slotted pipes of a Geigen Principal, which allows a thinner, defined register to ground the Great chorus. This stop is duplexed to provide an 8 foundation for the Positiv principal chorus, and allows doubling of the 8 line when coupled to the Great. The Great 8 Bourdon and 4 Nachthorn, in addition to being lovely solo voices, are valuable as thickening agents to the Great principal chorus, without overshadowing it. The enclosed Swell reeds are duplexed to the Great, which provides dynamic control of these stops by their enclosure.

The mixed media of wood, metal, stoppered, and open construction continues into the flutes of the Swell Cornet decomposé. These stops envelop one another and become almost svelte in their combined voice. The Swell Cornet is countered with a secondary principal-based Cornet in the Positiv division. In a departure from common practice, the individual Positiv mutations are placed on unit actions, which allow use of these stops at a variety of pitches and combinations. This becomes very useful for color and ornamentation and also facilitates the beginnings of building weightless mixture texture in the organ divisional ensembles by drawing these independent fifths.

For this instrument, we chose to employ strings of opposing qualities in the Positiv and Swell divisions. The Positiv 8 Erzahler has a gentle broadness with a subdued edge-tone. It can support the most quiet and contemplative of moments in the service, and yet has enough body that, when coupled with the 8 Holzgedeckt, provides the foundation for the Positiv principal chorus. In the Swell division, the gambas with their thinner scales, roller beards, and slotting have a keen and incisive, harmonically rich voice. These stops leave little doubt that they are strings and have a very distinctive edge-tone. The 8 Gamba when drawn with the 8 Rohr Gedeckt provides the foundational weight for the Swell principal chorus, and a compounded color that would be analogous to an independent 8 Violin Diapason. 

With their large dynamic, the majority of the reeds were placed in the Swell enclosure. The 8 Festival Trumpet is moderately scaled on relatively high wind pressure. With its thinner scaling and placed under expressive control, it can be registered into the full Great and Positiv choruses as a thinner ensemble reed when the expression box is closed. With the box open, it is an incisive, tightly drawn color that can bring a blaze to a solo line. The Swell reeds include a double tapered Oboe with lift lids and a large vowel cavity at 16 and 8 pitch, which balance against the éclat and fundamental of the large-scaled 8 Trompette. 

The unenclosed manual reed on the organ is the 8 Krummhorn in the Positiv division. It is built of brass with flared lift caps. By itself it is a very useful solo and/or ensemble stop, with the nose tone of a regal class of reed. It also effectively couples with the 8 Holzgedeckt to provide a stop eerily reminiscent of the woody voice of a fine clarinet.

The Pedal division is grounded with three independent 16 stops, including a large 16 Posaune. It is a very complete pedal, with the gravitas to support the full forte of this instrument. The Pedal stops were given a forward position to eliminate shading and to allow gentler voicing. The result is a buoyant and harmonically rich pedal, where the inner voice is ever present. In addition to the independent registers, there are a number of manual-to-pedal duplexes, which broaden the available weight and color choices. 

The organ tonal finishing was accomplished by a team consisting of Arthur Schlueter III, Pete Duys, John Tanner, Bud Taylor, and Marc Conley. The organ was first used for worship in December 2012 and was dedicated on January 20, 2013 by organist Peter B. Beardsley. 

Every organ project has those individuals without which the project could not have been possible. In addition to thanking every single member of the congregation, the church council, and the organ committee, I personally want to single out senior pastor Reverend David Jahn, organist Lori Jahn, executive assistant to the pastor Carol Stanton, and organ committee co-chairs Pat Fuller and Jack Clark, for their very direct, hands-on work with our firm throughout this project.

Organ building is not the work of one person, but is a plurality or culmination of talents. We are very fortunate to have so many talented craftsmen and craftswomen at our firm. Our staff includes Arthur Schlueter Jr., Arthur Schlueter III, Shan Dalton, Marc Conley, Patty Conley, Bud Taylor, Robert Black, Dallas Wood, Al Schroer, John Tanner, Pete Duys, Barbara Sedlacek, Patrick Hodges, Jay Hodges, Kelvin Cheatham, Jim Sowell, Bob Weaver, Ruth Lopez, Michael DeSimone, Bill Zeiler, Chad Sartin, Steven Bowen, Jeff Moore, and Herbert M. Ridgely Jr. 

If you would like more information on this instrument and our firm, I invite you to visit the Schlueter Pipe Organ Company website at www.pipe-organ.com, write to me at A. E. Schlueter Pipe Organ Company, P.O. Box 838, Lithonia, GA 30058, or feel free to reach me at [email protected]

—Arthur E. Schlueter III

 

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