Cover feature

The Organ Historical Society’s Annual Convention, August 11–14, 2014

The Organ Historical Society’s 59th Annual Convention took place in central New York with the historic Genesee Grande Hotel, Syracuse, as convention headquarters, though some of us stayed at the equally pleasant Park View Hotel three or four blocks away, owing to a lack of accommodation at the main hotel. One might not normally bother with such details, but I would like to begin by mentioning that Birnie’s Bus Service of Rome, New York, provided the OHS with the best bus service I think I have ever experienced on any convention. I also have to say that after the Vermont convention of last year, perhaps the best OHS convention ever, I was not expecting the Syracuse convention to be nearly as good. But in the event, I was very presently surprised to find that, if a little shorter than last year’s, it was in many ways equally fine. Enormous credit for this is due to Ryan J. Boyle, the chair of the convention, and his committee, as well as the Richmond staff and the Board of Directors of the OHS.

Sunday, August 10, and Monday, August 11

On Sunday, August 10, there was a pre-convention tour of New York State wineries, and on Monday morning there were further wine events, tours, and museum visits. The pre-convention events included a recital by Jillian Gardner, a student of James David Christie at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. Gardner’s recital took place in the Lodi Historical Society on E. & G. G. Hook Opus 140, a two-manual organ built in 1852.

The convention proper, however, began at 8 p.m. on Monday evening with Hector Olivera’s recital on the 1952 Walter Holtkamp, Sr., III/61 organ, Job number 1659, in Hendricks Chapel, Syracuse University. This organ incorporates much of the action and pipework from the previous Aeolian organ, Opus 1771 of 1930. The instrument was designed in consultation with the redoubtable Arthur Poister (1898–1980), who served as music director of Hendricks Chapel from 1948 to 1965. Mr. Olivera is, of course, a great showman in the tradition of Virgil Fox and, ably assisted at the console by his frog Harry, gave us a very entertaining recital. His performance of the Aria from Bach’s Suite in D Major, BWV 1068, reminded me a great deal of Virgil’s. Among other things, he gave us some very interesting stereophonic cuckoo effects in the Allegro from Handel’s Organ Concerto No. 13 (“The Cuckoo and the Nightingale”), and ended with an improvisation on a submitted theme, which turned out to be the hymn tune Lasst uns erfreuen, finishing with a skillfully improvised fugue. 

Tuesday, August 12

Tuesday, August 12, began with a short bus trip to Temple Concord in Syracuse. This is one of the oldest Reform synagogues in the United States; its present building dates from 1911. 

Joby Bell treated us to a recital on the IV/44 Tellers organ, Opus 998 of 1965. The Tellers Organ Company, successors to A. B. Felgemaker & Co. of Erie, Pennsylvania, was of course a relatively local company in this part of the country. I had never heard any of their instruments from the 1960s before and was quite impressed with the sound of this organ. It has a neo-baroque specification, but is a warm sound with no tendency toward screechiness in the voicing, such as one finds in many instruments of the period. That such an instrument could sound so fine in a relatively unfavorable acoustic is a great tribute to the Tellers firm. The organ proved an excellent medium for Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in E-flat (“St. Anne”) while Jean-Yves Daniel-Lesur’s haunting In Paradisum gave Joby Bell the opportunity to show off the contrasting flutes of the Antiphonal and Echo divisions. The recital ended with a fine performance Sowerby’s Pageant.

We proceeded then to St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Syracuse where Silviya Mateva, one of last year’s OHS Biggs Fellows, treated us to a recital on the church’s 1951 Casavant organ. This organ, which replaced an earlier one by Morey of Utica, was an old-style Stephen Stoot Casavant, built at the time when the firm had hardly begun to take note of the neo-classical movement. Its rich tone suited it extremely well to the Elegy of William Grant Still, and Ms. Mateva made good use of the Swell Cornet as a solo stop in Bach’s Chorale Prelude on ‘Allein Gott in der Höh sei ehr,’ BWV 662. Lionel Rogg’s Partita on ‘Nun freut euch’ also came off very well despite being a modern piece in neo-baroque style. I did feel, however, that the organ was a little heavy for the Buxtehude Präludium und Fuge D-Dur, BuxWV 139, and though it was very well played, I rather wished she could have chosen a piece more suited to this particular instrument.

After lunch at the Franciscan Church of the Assumption, where we were able to inspect the historic plumbing in the restrooms, we took the buses to St. Cecilia’s Catholic Church in Solvay, New York. The City of Solvay developed largely around Ernest Solvay’s ammonia-soda process for the production of sodium carbonate. The Solvay plant closed in 1986, leaving the city both economically depressed and environmentally compromised, but following massive redevelopment, things have greatly improved in recent years. I was particularly looking forward to hearing the organ at St. Cecilia’s, a II/15 tracker by J. H. Willcox & Co. of Boston, Opus 23 of 1872. Since in the 1980s, I belonged to Trinity Episcopal Church in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, which originally possessed an 1872 Willcox with a practically identical stoplist; this organ had been electrified by Durner c. 1920 and replaced by Aeolian-Skinner Opus 1240 in 1955. 

I was therefore looking forward to hearing what an original Willcox sounded like, as there are very few of them still around. Organist and organ-builder J. H. Willcox was one of several members of the E. & G. G. Hook firm that left and started their own companies shortly after Frank Hastings took over from the Hook brothers. After a couple of years, J. H. Willcox & Co. morphed into Hutchings, Plaisted & Co., and then into Hutchings & Co. I was by no means disappointed in my expectations, since the Willcox organ turned out to be one of the outstanding organs of the convention, and Christopher Marks gave an excellent recital on it. The organ has some exquisite strings and flutes, a bright, sparkling Great chorus and a surprisingly impressive full Swell. Among other things, the recital included some interesting pieces by American composers. Among these were the Miniature Suite of James H. Rogers (1857–1940) and the Variations on an American Air (Stephen Foster’s “Old Folks at Home”) by I. V. Flagler (1844–1909), of whom there will be more to say more anon. The recital concluded with the first ever performance of Romance and Tarantella by Kurt Knecht (b. 1971), commissioned for this convention by Christopher Marks.

Later in the afternoon, we went to Westminster Presbyterian Church in Syracuse to visit another delightful tracker organ, a II/21 instrument William A. Johnson of Westfield, Massachusetts, Opus 43 of 1855, enlarged by Johnson & Son c. 1865. The recital was given by Robert Kerner, one of the principals of the organbuilding firm of Kerner & Merchant, and again we were by no means disappointed. Though more refined and less brilliant than the Willcox, the Johnson organ proved to be an excellent medium for both classical and romantic music, including Sweelinck, Buxtehude, Bach, Franck, and Boëllmann. Kerner included some movements from Franck’s L’ Organiste, and I thought the beautiful flute stops of the Johnson organ were particularly effective in these. We heard again the Prière à Notre-Dame from Boëllmann’s Suite Gothique, also included in Hector Olivera’s recital at Hendricks Chapel the previous evening, and I have to say I much preferred hearing Mr. Kerner play it on the Johnson.

Later in the afternoon we took the buses to Plymouth Congregational Church in Syracuse, which is the home of one of the finest four-manual Möller organs I have ever heard, Opus 5827 of 1930, with some tasteful additions made by Kerner & Merchant in 2012. The organist was Bryan Anderson, a four-year student at the Curtis Institute who is surely going to be one of the outstanding organists of his day. Brilliant, yet quiet and unassuming, he played the recital entirely without music. The main work in his program was Karg-Elert’s Homage to Handel, a series of 54 variations on a ground bass. Besides being highly virtuosic, this is a wonderful piece to demonstrate an organ, since in the course of its 54 variations it uses just about every registration conceivable. 

Following cocktails and dinner at the Drumlins Country Club, we finished Tuesday’s program with a recital given by the Syracuse University Organist (now on the University of Michigan faculty), Kola Owolabi, with Gabriel DiMartino, trumpet. This was performed on another three-manual Walter Holtkamp, Sr., organ, Job number 1649 of 1950, in the Setnor Auditorium, Crouse College, Syracuse University. It incorporates pipework from previous instruments by Roosevelt and Aeolian. It was a ground-breaking instrument at the time it was completed. Crouse College was originally the women’s department of Syracuse University; then it became the performing arts center, and now—the artists and dramatists having moved to other buildings—it is occupied exclusively by the music department. The concert included Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in G Major, BWV 541, as well as Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition transcribed for organ and trumpet by Vincent DiMartino, Gabriel DiMartino, and Kola Owolabi. In the middle of the recital, we also heard Owolabi play J. G. Walther’s Partita on ‘Meinen Jesum lass ich nicht’ on the other organ in Setnor Auditorium, a I/4 tracker with pull-down pedal by the Strasbourg firm of Schwenkedel, Opus 123 of 1968. It is a very pretty little instrument of its kind. And so to bed . . .

Wednesday, August 13

The Wednesday program required us to get up a little earlier than normal for a day trip to Ithaca, New York. On the way we stopped at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Cortland, New York, where John Ronald Daniels gave us a recital on the church’s II/21 Morey & Barnes tracker, Opus 165, which was first used on Christmas Day of 1895. The organ is feisty, bright, and forthright. In some of its moods it reminded me of the work of Father Willis in England. It had previously been visited 34 years ago on the 1980 OHS convention. 

Following some several solo organ pieces by Théodore Salomé, Daniels was joined by the Clinton String Quartet in Salomé’s exceptionally beautiful Berceuse, op. 59, no. 5 (1894). This piece was written for a concert organized by Guilmant, but not performed, and has rarely if ever been performed since until now. Following it came Rheinberger’s well-known Cantilène from Sonata 11, which furnished an opportunity to show off the organ’s uncommonly fine Oboe. The Trumpet was similarly showcased in David N. Johnson’s Trumpet Tune in E. The recital ended with Lefébure-Wély’s wonderfully tasteless Boléro de concert. I shall probably not be around to see it, but it is very much my hope that this fine Morey & Barnes organ will still be there to be enjoyed by future OHS members in another 34 years’ time.

On our arrival in Utica we split into two groups, and the group I was in went first to Trinity Lutheran Church for a short recital by Annie Laver on John Brombaugh’s Opus 2 of 1966, a small one-manual-and-pedal instrument of nine ranks. The recital included works by Buxtehude, Böhm, and Reincken. Following lunch at First Presbyterian Church (whose fine IV/84 instrument by Russell & Co., Opus 47 of 2006, we were unfortunately unable to hear owing to construction work in the church) we went to the First Unitarian Society of Ithaca, New York, which is the home of Hellmuth Wolff & Associés Opus 16 of 1975. This is a II/26 tracker, and it has a sister organ in Wolff’s Opus 6, formerly in the Anabel Taylor Chapel of Cornell University in Ithaca, and now at Binghamton University (SUNY). Jonathan Biggers, who played the recital at the Unitarian Church in Ithaca, is professor of organ at Binghamton, so he gets to play the other Wolff organ there. He gave an excellent recital of Bach, Böhm, and Bruhns (the G major), and the organ sounded exceedingly fine, though perhaps a little loud for the room.

After lunch we moved to the Uris Hall Auditorium for the OHS Annual Meeting, after which we divided into three groups, which perambulated the Cornell campus for the rest of the afternoon. My group went first to the Sage Chapel of Cornell University for a recital given by Gregory Crowell on the I/7 Vicedomini organ built in Italy in 1748. As well as seven speaking stops, this instrument has an Ussignoli (Nightingale) stop and a double-acting Sforzando marked “Tiratutti.” Appropriately, Mr. Crowell’s recital consisted mostly of early Italian music, though an exception was James Woodman’s Gagliardo, which gave us an opportunity to hear the Ussignoli. Another piece, Bernardo Storace’s Ciaccona, enabled us to hear the 8-ft. Voce Umana (Principal Celeste).

Our group next went to Barnes Hall Auditorium for a lecture by Cornell music professor and university organist, Annette Richards, on “The Genesis of the Cornell Baroque Organ,” describing how the Wolff organ in the Anabel Taylor Chapel was replaced by a replica Schnitger organ built in collaboration with GOArt at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. This collaborative effort was overseen by Munetaka Yokota, and involved a cooperative enterprise between workers from GOArt, Parsons Pipe Organs, and CCSN Woodworking of Ithaca, the latter being responsible for the case. The Schnitger organ chosen for replication was that of the Court Chapel at Charlottenburg, built in 1706 and unfortunately destroyed in World War II, though not before every aspect of it had been painstakingly catalogued by Karl Schucker. The case was based on the instrument at Claustahl-Zellerfeld and the mechanism on several North German Schnitger organs. However, the tonal design of the Charlottenburg organ that has been duplicated was most unusual in being, unlike other Schnitger organs, designed primarily for the performance of music of the Galant style. The room where the lecture was held also contains a GOArt pipe organ, a I/5 with divided keyboard built in 2003, but we unfortunately did not get to hear this.

After the lecture we went to the Anabel Taylor Chapel to hear a recital on the II/42 GOArt Schnitger replica organ of 2009–10 that Professor Richards had been discussing. The recital was given by another Cornell music professor, David Yearsley, who appropriately included mostly repertoire from the Galant style. The organ case dominates the Anabel Taylor Chapel, and I was afraid that the sound might prove overwhelming. I was pleasantly surprised, however, to discover that the volume was just right for the room, and that it was indeed a magnificent instrument of its kind. 

Following a cash bar and dinner at the Celebrations Banquet Hall in Ithaca, we returned to Sage Chapel for the evening recital given by Christopher Houlihan on the celebrated III/68 Aeolian-Skinner organ, Opus 1009 of 1940, which incorporates quite a bit of pipework from the previous organ, Ernest M. Skinner Company Opus 175 of 1909. This was a landmark organ in its day. The recital included three works by J. S. Bach, together with the Grande pièce symphonique of Franck. Although the latter is probably my least favorite of Franck’s twelve major organ works—I find it a little long and rambling—Houlihan gave a magnificent performance of it. At the end of the recital we were treated to the Scherzo from Vierne’s Symphony No. 2 as an encore, and I also thought this came off very well on the organ. Houlihan played the three Bach pieces, including the Passacaglia in C Minor BWV 582, extremely well, but here I thought the Aeolian-Skinner basses a little ponderous for Bach—certainly in comparison with the GOArt organ we had just heard. Organ design has come a long way since 1940! And so back to Syracuse . . .

Thursday, August 14

The doyen of Syracuse organists is Cornell University Organist Emeritus Will Headlee, a familiar figure at OHS conventions. Thursday, August 14, began with a recital given by Professor Headlee on the Ernest White Möller organ at the Episcopal Church of the Saviour, Syracuse, New York. This was M. P. Möller Opus 9734, an instrument of three manuals and five divisions, built in 1962. The recital was titled, “Homage to Ernest White 1901–1980,” and I was expecting something rather screechy-sounding. Once again I was pleasantly surprised for, as Professor Headlee explained, the church asked for an organ in the English Cathedral tradition and this is exactly what Ernest White gave them. Two manual doubles and independent, pure-tuned mutations on the Pedal division add to the instrument’s rich effect. Indeed, I thought it in many ways more useful as an eclectic organ than the Aeolian-Skinner in Sage Chapel, being equally at home, for example, in works by Bach and Karg-Elert.

Following this we all piled in the buses for a visit to St. Michael’s Lutheran Church in Camillus, New York, home of a II/21 Schlicker of 1965. Allison Evans Henry gave a recital of Bach, Howells, Vierne, and from the Syracuse Collection, Homage to Persichetti by Janet M. Correll (b. 1942). We also heard a charming arrangement for Vivaldi’s Concerto in D Major, arranged for organ and classical guitar. The solo guitarist was Timothy Schmidt. This was a very nice little organ, and indeed I don’t think a small church looking for value for money in 1965 could have done any better than to buy a Schlicker organ such as this. We then split into groups again, and my group went first to Cazenovia College for an extremely pleasant luncheon. For anyone who is looking for a college for their undergraduate degree and who is especially fond of ice cream, of which they had a splendid selection, Cazenovia College ought to be near the top of the list. 

In the afternoon we went first to the First Presbyterian Church in Cazenovia, home of C. B. Fisk Opus 70, a II/32 tracker of 1976. The organ contains some pipework from the previous instrument by J. G. Marklove. Christopher J. Howerter treated us to a program of de Grigny, Bach, Buxtehude, and Canadian composer Sir Ernest Campbell MacMillan’s Cortège académique. We also heard our Convention Chair, Ryan J. Boyle, singing bass, and alto Abby Witmer, accompanied by the organ in Dudley Buck’s “The Lord is My Light.” This is an excellent organ all round; one of Charles Fisk’s best, I would say. 

We went then to the May Memorial Unitarian-Universalist Society of Syracuse where we heard a recital given by Glenn Kime on the II/28 Holtkamp organ, Job Number 1797 of 1965. The repertoire consisted of Pachelbel’s Praeludium in D Minor, three Bach chorale preludes, the last movement of Mendelssohn’s Sonata No. 1, and two movements from Spirits and Places by Ernst Bacon. These were very pleasant and most unusual, and we were honored to have the composer’s widow in the audience. In spite of it having no swellbox, I thought that this was the most versatile and attractive of all the Holtkamp instruments we heard during the convention. 

Following dinner in the Armory Square neighborhood of Syracuse, we walked to the Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception for the last, and one might say culminating, recital of the OHS convention. Immaculate Conception’s organ is a three-manual built by Frank Roosevelt of New York City, Opus 520 of 1892, rebuilt and tastefully augmented by Schantz in 1980. Schantz’s head voicer, Bob Maye, did excellent work matching the new work to the old, and the organ now has three manuals and pedals and 60 ranks. Our recitalist was the internationally acclaimed Diane Meredith Belcher, who played an excellent program commencing with the Passacaglia on a theme by Dunstable by John Weaver, who was present in the audience and indeed as an OHS member had attended the whole of the convention. This was followed by the Lullaby from the Second Suite of Calvin Hampton, Gigout’s Pièce jubilaire en forme de prélude et fugue, Étoile du soir from the third suite of Vierne’s Pièces de fantaisie, and Rheinberger’s magnificent Sonata No. 8 in E Minor. Altogether a wonderful end to a wonderful OHS convention.

Friday, August 15 

On Friday morning, my wife and I departed Syracuse and wended our weary way through Ontario and back to the Midwest. The lucky few got to stay another day for the optional post-convention tour. This included visits to Johnson & Son Opus 510 of 1878 at First Baptist Church, Meridian, New York, to Skinner Organ Company Opus 644 of 1927 at St. James Episcopal Church, Skaneateles, New York, a Steere & Turner of c. 1891 at Willard Memorial Chapel, Auburn, New York, and St. Mary of the Assumption Roman Catholic Church in Auburn, New York, which has both an 1890 Carl Barckhoff Church Organ Co. organ and another one of 1872 by Garret House. Recitals were given by Carol Britt, Rosalind Mohnsen, Matthias Schmelmer, and Nicholas Bideler. For an even more select few who had been able to register early, there was also a lunch cruise aboard the Judge Ben Wiles
motor launch. 

Hans Davidsson is general artistic and research director of the Göteborg Organ Art Center, GOArt, as well as artistic director of the Göteborg International Organ Academy. In 2001, he was appointed professor of organ at the Eastman School Music and project director of the Eastman Rochester Organ Initiative (EROI). In 2006, he was appointed visiting professor at the Bremen Hochschule für Künste, Fachbereich für Musik.

When the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester opened its doors in downtown Rochester, New York in 1921, its benefactor George Eastman made sure that the first class of organ students had facilities that were state of the art, and a superb faculty. In the early twentieth century, Eastman’s truly American vision of the pinnacle of the organ art even allowed that first class of students to choose whether to study “theatre organ” or “legitimate organ” playing. To meet twenty-first-century needs for organ education with the same energy, vision and commitment, Eastman has embarked on a program called the Eastman Rochester Organ Initiative, or EROI. EROI’s main goal has been to update and expand Eastman’s collection of instruments for the whole range of the organ repertoire, making it a global organ facility. EROI’s first major step was to install the largest Italian Baroque organ in North America in the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester in 2005. Its next project will be to restore the Skinner Organ Company’s Opus 325 at Eastman’s Kilbourn Hall to its original 1921 condition. The current phase, the Craighead-Saunders Organ, will be inaugurated in Christ Church (Episcopal) across from the Eastman School of Music on October 16 at EROI’s seventh annual organ festival.
The Craighead-Saunders Organ is a new two-manual, 33-stop instrument named after David Craighead and Russell Saunders, two renowned professors of organ at the Eastman School of Music. They will both be celebrated by faculty, students and alumni at the opening symposium of this year’s festival, including the presentation of a new biography of Russell Saunders by Martha H. Sobaje.
The Craighead-Saunders Organ is a scientific reconstruction of an organ from 1776 built by Adam Gottlob Casparini for the Holy Ghost Church in Vilnius, Lithuania, and represents a Baltic-North European building style from the height of Enlightenment-era Europe. The finished instrument is the result of a six-year interdisciplinary research project between GOArt (the Göteborg Organ Art Center) and the Eastman School of Music on the processes of eighteenth-century organ building. GOArt is an interdisciplinary research center at Gothenburg University in Sweden, devoted to the study of the organ and related keyboard instruments and their music. A basic idea shaping GOArt’s research environment is to study the organ not just as a musical instrument, but also as a visual object, cultural artifact, and technological construction, and to communicate its research results to students, scholars and builders. In this latest project, GOArt worked in collaboration with a reference group that included leading American organbuilders as well as key members of Eastman’s faculty. This reference group made decisions for the project by consensus through the entire design and building process.
The result is a new and fresh instrument that challenges us to listen to, look at, and interact with an aesthetic that hasn’t been experienced this way anywhere since the end of the eighteenth century. The instrument’s soundscape is made up of over 1800 carefully reconstructed pipes that have been voiced by Munetaka Yokota based on strict principles that follow the original instrument’s design and documentation. Its case, built following eighteenth-century methods, creates an object like a Baroque theater set, painted in egg tempera and gilded and hand-burnished by German experts and a small army of volunteers. The colorful instrument and its generously proportioned new timber-frame balcony will provide an opportunity to explore eighteenth-century vocal and ensemble music using a large organ as the main continuo instrument. The tonal resources will make it possible to explore traditional continuo registration practice in this repertoire for the first time in a century.
The Craighead-Saunders Organ’s potential to offer new perspectives on the music of J. S. Bach and his sons and pupils has inspired the two-day symposium at the heart of this year’s EROI Festival, entitled “J. S. Bach and the Organ.” This symposium, co-sponsored by the Westfield Center, brings together leading Bach scholars and performers from around the world. Highlights will include the 2008 Glenn E. Watkins Lecture delivered by Christoph Wolff, as well as a concert of Bach’s cantatas performed by members of the Christ Church Schola Cantorum and the Boston Early Music Festival Chamber Players.
On Saturday the festival continues with a final symposium, “Reconstruction as a Model for Research and Creation,” co-sponsored by the Organ Historical Society. A natural continuation of the EROI Festival in 2007 (“New Dimensions in Organ Documentation and Conservation”), lectures and panel discussions will address the complementary process of documenting the original Casparini organ and creating the reconstruction in Rochester.

Rochester participates in the AGO Organ Spectacular
The 2008 EROI festival will help celebrate the American Guild of Organists’ International Day of the Organ here in Rochester. A Sunday afternoon program co-sponsored by the Rochester AGO chapter, “Organ Spectacular—An International Organ Celebration,” will give alumni and registered participants the opportunity to experience the wide range of Rochester’s growing organ landscape. This year, two new organs in Rochester will have their inaugurations during the festival. Paul Fritts has just completed his Opus 26 for Sacred Heart Cathedral, and George Taylor and John Boody the new Tannenberg-style organ, Opus 57, in Pittsford First Presbyterian Church. Throughout the day, other participating venues and area churches will offer open houses, mini-concerts, and/or organ demonstrations by resident organists and Eastman students. This will take place in cooperation with the Rochester AGO chapter. For more information and a list of events and locations, contact Nicole Marane, event coordinator ([email protected]), or visit the EROI (www.rochester.edu/EROI) or Rochester AGO (www.agorochester.org) websites.
The inaugural festival for the Craighead-Saunders Organ at Christ Church will take place October 16–20 in conjunction with the University of Rochester’s Meliora Weekend and the Eastman School of Music’s Eastman Weekend. Registration materials are available online on the EROI website. For more information on the Craighead-Saunders Organ and recent photos, visit <www.esm.rochester.edu/EROI/c-s.php&gt;.

Spellings and capitalizations are all according to the original stop labels from the 1776 Casparini organ and the order is given according to the use of these capitalizations.

CLAVIATURA PRIMA
BOURDUN. á 16.
PRINCIPAL. á 8.
HOHLFLAUT. á 8.
QVINTATHON. á 8.
Octava Principal. á 4.
Flaut Travers. á 4.
Super Octava. á 2.
Flasch Flot. á 2.
Qvinta. á 5.
Tertia. á 1 3/5
Mixtura. á 5. Choris.
Trompet. á 8.

Claviatura Secunda
PRINCIPAL. á 4.
IULA. á 8.
Principal Amalel. á 8.
Unda Maris. á 8.
Flaut Major. á 8.
Flaut Minor. á 4.
Spiel Flet. á 4.
Octava. á 2.
Wald Flot. á 2.
Mixtura. á 4. Choris.
Vox Humana. á 8.
Dulcian. á 16.*

PEDAL
Principal Bass. á 16.
Violon Bass. á 16.
Full Bass. á 12.
Octava Bass. á 8.
Flaut & Quint Bass. á 8.
Super Octava Bass. á 4.
Posaun Bass. á 16.
Trompet Bass. á 8.

*This position was never occupied on the original windchest.
There is no information preserved about the type and pitch of the reed stop once planned for this position. The Craighead-Saunders Organ has a Dulcian 16?.

Accessories
Ventil ad Claviaturam Primam.
Ventil ad Claviaturam Secundum.
Ventil Pedall.
2 Tremulants
BEBNY. (Drum)
Vox Campanarum (Glockenspiel)
Gwiazdy. (Cymbelstern)
Kalilujactgo. (Calcant)
Shove Coupler (Claviatura Secunda to Claviatura Prima)
Pedal to Claviaturam Primam Coupler
Compass: Manuals: C–d3; Pedal: C–d1

Taylor & Boody Organbuilders, Staunton, Virginia

Goshen College, Goshen, Indiana

About the organ.

Designing an organ for Rieth Hall at Goshen College was a
pleasure. The opportunity to place the organ in the traditional location, high
in the rear gallery, was ideal both visually and aurally. The form and
proportions of the hall, with its austere yet warm and inviting interior,
called the organbuilder to respond with similar clarity and restraint. The
ample height of the room suggested a plain, vertical configuration of the
instrument, on which natural light from the clerestory windows would fall
gently. Everything about the hall spoke of its solid construction and honesty
of materials, qualities that we strive to reflect in our organs. Likewise the
acoustical properties of the hall, so warm and reverberant and at the same time
intimate and clear, allowed the organ’s tone to develop freely without
being forced. The result is an endearing musical instrument that is
aesthetically inseparable from the space in which it stands.

Initial inspiration for the Goshen case came from the organ
built by David Tannenberg in 1774 for Trinity Lutheran Church in Lancaster,
Pennsylvania. While only the case and façade pipes of that lovely
instrument have survived, they constitute the finest example we have in our
country of south German case architecture from the 18th century.
Tannenberg’s use of the double impost, with its Oberwerk division
gracefully placed as a reflection of the Hauptwerk below, was typical of organs
in his native Saxony and Thuringia. Other exterior influences from that time
and place include the two swags that bracket the center tower, and the broad
lower case that supports the full width of the impost and omits the spandrels
common to earlier styles. Apart from its simple springboard moldings, the
Goshen case is relatively flat and plain by comparison with its historical
counterparts. Its only bold three-dimensional element is the polygonal center
tower. The small pointed towers in Tannenberg’s design are here merely
implied by the V-shaped arrangement of foot lengths in the tenor fields. The
use of six auxiliary panels to raise the smaller pipe feet above the impost
moldings adds interest to the design. The considerable height of the lower case
was determined by the need for a passageway over the 2-foot concrete riser
behind the organ. This height gave space between the console and impost for the
eventual inclusion of a small Brustwerk with several stops for continuo
accompaniment. Cabinets for music storage are built into the back on both sides
of the lower case.

Another aspect of the design reminiscent of 18th-century
south German traditions is the position of the windchests in relation to the
action. The two windchests of the Hauptwerk are spaced apart from the center of
the case by the width of the keyboards. This leaves room for trackers of the
Oberwerk to reach their rollerboard without blocking access to the Hauptwerk
action and its pallets. It also provides optimum space for 8’ bass pipes
at the sides and leaves room for tuning the tenor pipes of the Hauptwerk with
only minimal obstruction by the Oberwerk rollerboard. The windchests for the
Pedal are located behind the case at the level of the impost, a placement that
Tannenberg could also have used.

Both the playing action and stop action are mechanical. The
manual keys are hinged at the tail and suspended from their trackers. There are
no thumper rails to hold the keys down, so they are free to overshoot slightly
when released, as is the case in traditional suspended actions. Trackers,
squares and rollers are all made of wood. There is no felt in the action. Keys
are guided by pins at the sides. Together these details combine to give a
feeling of buoyancy and liveliness reminiscent of antique instruments. The aim
is not so much to provide a light action as to arrive at one having the mass
and friction appropriate to the size and character of the organ. Such an action
may need occasional minor adjustment of key levels with changes in humidity,
but this is a small price to pay for the advantages gained over more sterile
modern alternatives. 

Wind is supplied by two single-fold wedge bellows (3’ x
6’) fed by a blower located in a small room below the organ. Natural
fluctuations of the wind pressure in response to the playing contribute to the
lively, singing quality of the organ’s sound. A wind stabilizer can be
engaged when unusually heavy demands on the wind system call for damping of
these fluctuations. The organ’s single tremulant is made in the old-fashioned
beater form. On seeing a tremulant puffing away in one of our organs, a
Japanese friend remarked that the organ was laughing! It is useful to think of
an organ’s wind as its breath and the bellows as lungs, for the
instrument’s appeal is closely tied to our perception of its lifelike
qualities. 

The tonal character of an organ is rarely revealed by its
stoplist. This is particularly true in an instrument of only twenty-four stops.
Once the builder accepts the constraints of a given style and the essential
registers have been chosen, there is usually little room or money left to
include stops that would make a modest design appear unique on paper.
Fortunately for the art, the musicality of the organ is not bound by its
stoplist; rather, it is determined by a host of other complex factors. These
can be partially defined in the technical data of pipe scaling and
construction, general design parameters, materials and the like, but in reality
much more rests on the elusive criteria of experience, skill and taste of the
builder. Taken together this means that each new organ, albeit small, presents
fresh opportunities for artistic expression. It is important that all the pipes
speak promptly, be they reeds or flues, except in the case of strings, which
gain charm from their halting speech. It is less important that the pipes
produce precisely the same vowel sounds from note to note, for here variety
adds refreshing character and interest to the organ.

At Goshen we chose to voice the 8’ Principal to be
somewhat brighter and richer in overtones than has been our wont. This was
achieved by giving the pipes lower cutups than was customary in German and
Dutch organs of the 17th century and before. The five distinctly different
8’ flue stops on the manuals deserve special mention. Although all
followed scaling patterns we have used frequently in the past, when voiced they
proved to be unusually satisfying, particularly in combination with each other.
Whenever the 16’ Bordun is used with them a magical new dimension is added
to the sound. If, for example, one draws the Bordun with the Viol da Gamba, the
effect is that of a quiet 16’ Principal. Used with the Spillpfeife the
Bordun reverts to its role as a flute. In an organ of this size it is crucial
that every stop work as well as possible with every other. Following south
German practice, both 8’ and 4’ flutes on the Hauptwerk are made in
the same form. This duplication of flutes within the same family was not the
custom in the north, where lower pitched flutes were usually stopped and those
above them progressively more open. The Oberwerk configuration at Goshen with
its two stopped 8’ registers and partially open 4’ Rohrflöte is
typical of the northern tradition. We look forward to the day that the 16’
Violonbass with its cello-like speech can be added to the Pedal.
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> 

The distinctive musical effect of the Goshen organ is
strongly colored by the use of the recently released Bach-Lehman temperament
described in the accompanying article. Because the completion of the organ in
February coincided with the publication in Early Music of Bradley
Lehman’s treatise on J. S. Bach’s temperament, we chose to tune the
organ according to his plan. Here was the ideal opportunity to try the
temperament on an organ built in Germanic style and at the same time to honor
Dr. Lehman as a distinguished Goshen alumnus for his work in this field. The
experiment has been a fascinating one. It has provided a place to hear
Bach’s organ music as we have not heard it before. We are honored to have
played a part in translating the dry mathematical numbers of this temperament
into the vibrant sound of the organ. 

With few exceptions the many parts of the organ were
constructed from raw materials in our Virginia workshop. Through the skills of
each craftsman the design moved from an idea to paper and then through raw wood
and metal into a large and impressive object. Note by note the tonal picture
has been filled in by voicing and tuning until in the end we experience a new
instrument with an identity all its own. We hope that it will give pleasure to
those who play and hear it far into the future.

--George Taylor

The organ project at Goshen College

“Dienlich, Ordentlich, Schicklich, Dauerlich”

In 1999 we were asked by the organ consultant for Goshen
College, Roseann Penner Kaufman, to make a proposal for the new Goshen College
Music Center. As with any new project, I went to Goshen full of excitement at
the promise of participating in what was to be a spectacular project. My
enthusiasm was short-lived when I saw the design for the recital hall. It was a
standard fan-shaped, sloped-floor, small college recital hall, with theatre
seats and carpet in the aisles. The space for the organ was planned in a niche
at the back of the stage. The design would have been fine for small chamber
recitals, but it was not a proper home for an organ. The prospects for the
organ looked bleak. We would not have felt productive or inspired. We always
say that the room is more than half the organ. I took a deep breath and told
the Goshen committee what I thought of the plan. The committee listened and
asked us to offer suggestions on how the recital hall might be designed to work
best with the musical programs envisioned for this space.

I returned to Staunton eager to develop a plan. One of the
first things I did was to research the Mennonite Quarterly Review for articles
describing historical Anabaptist worship spaces. I hoped that the essence of
these rooms would lead me to an aesthetic that would tie the new hall to the
old tradition, which would, in turn, also be good for music, especially the
organ. My research acquainted me with four German words used to express the
qualities of the historical spaces: dienlich, ordentlich, schicklich and
dauerlich--serviceable, orderly, fitting and lasting. I also found prints
of the interiors of some of these churches. Rectangular in shape with open
truss timber roof framing, clear glass windows, galleries on several sides,
rough stone floors, moveable chairs, unadorned, honest and powerful, these
spaces had all the qualities that I was looking for. They also had enduring
musical-acoustical qualities and so many are used today for concerts.

The simple sketch that I made went first to the Goshen organ
committee who, led by Doyle Preheim and Chris Thogersen, embraced the plan.
Then the concept went to Rick Talaske and his team of acousticians. They
transformed the plan into practical geometry and surface treatments to make the
space an acoustical success. Mathes Brierre Architects took the acoustical plan
and translated it into a visual design that evokes the warehouse or
brewery-turned-church concept of the early Dutch Mennonite spaces. Schmidt
Associates worked through the technical details with Casteel Construction to
conceive the simple pre-cast concrete panels and graceful curved steel arches
that make the hall appealing in its architecture, superior in acoustical
performance and straightforward and durable in construction. There was creative
and sensitive work done by a Goshen group concerned with decor and furnishings.
The result is successful beyond our expectations. The collaboration of all the
partners made the project exceed the ability of any one of us.

Once the hall was underway, we scheduled a meeting at St.
Thomas Fifth Avenue in New York with a group from Goshen and Calvin and Janet
High from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. We had a great day in New York showing
everyone our organ in the gallery of St. Thomas. The Highs’ enthusiasm
for the St. Thomas organ and the Goshen Music Center paved the way for their
generous gift that underwrote the cost of the organ.

We realized that the floor area of Rieth Hall was small in
relation to the height. We saw that if there could be the addition of one more
bay to the length there would be significant improvement in the proportions of
the space and at least 50 more seats could be added. Again, the Goshen design
group supported our suggestion. At a time in the project when the building
committee was attempting to control costs and squeeze performance out of every
dime, they found the funds for this most important late addition.
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> 

I predicted at the time we were creating the designs for
Rieth Hall, that the unique qualities of this space would have something to say
to the Goshen students about music and worship. This prediction has been
realized. First, there is genuine enthusiasm for a cappella singing in Rieth
Hall, encouraging this wonderful Mennonite tradition. Second, there has been a
spontaneous seizing of the space by the students for their own student-directed
Sunday worship. In this age of searching for the right path in worship and
liturgy, of debating the influence and appropriateness of mass media and
popular music for worship, we have built something at Goshen College that
reaches across the span of time to those Mennonite roots. Led by the seemingly
old-fashioned qualities of dienlich, ordentlich, schicklich and dauerlich, we
have made a  music space and organ
that inspire and excite us to make music and to celebrate and serve our God and
Creator.

Wood and the Goshen organ

The traditional pipe organ is a wooden machine. Early on in
our careers as organ builders we realized that getting control over our
materials in both an aesthetic and technical sense was essential to our success
as organ makers. Our first path was to make friends with our neighborhood
sawmillers. One of these was an octogenarian whose experience reached back to
horse logging and steam power. He taught us the value of long, slow, air-drying
of lumber. He also knew the old traditions of sawing, how to take the tension
out of a log, how to saw through the middle of the log and keep the boards in
order so that the cabinetmaker could match the grain. He remembered the methods
of quarter sawing that impart the most dimensional stability to the boards and
in oak bring out the beautiful fleck of the medullary rays. We have built our
own sawmill based on a portable band saw. For quarter sawing, we have built a
double-ended chain saw that can split logs up to 60 inches in diameter. The
half logs (or quarters in extremely large timber) are then aligned on our band
saw and sawn in a radial fashion into boards. This lumber is then air-dried for
a number of years. At the end, we put the wood in our dry kiln and gently warm
it up to stabilize the moisture content at 8% to 10%.

Oak is the traditional wood of Northern European organ
building so it was natural for us to choose white oak for the Goshen organ. We
have long admired the Dutch and German organs dating back to the 16th century.
The earliest organs show only the natural patina of age and no finish; the
concept of finishing wood as in varnishing or oiling came well into the 18th
century. We followed this earlier practice for the Goshen organ. The oak has
been hand-planed to a smooth polish, much smoother than can ordinarily be
produced with sanding. The hand-planed wood will resist dirt. We feel there are
also musical benefits from using wood in its natural state. The case and
carvings together with all the interior parts transmit sound energy and reflect
and focus the sound of the pipes. Also, the open pores and surface
imperfections of the natural wood have an effect on the sound reflection.

Another aspect of wood use in historic organs is how
efficiently the old builders utilized their wood. Before the age of machinery,
cutting, transporting and converting timber to sawn, dried lumber ready for use
was costly. The best wood was always used for the keyboards, playing action,
wind chests and pipes. The next selection went to the most visible parts of the
case, especially the front of the organ. The rest was used for carvings, heavy
structural members, walkways, bellows framework and back panels. Some of this
wood shows knots, cracks and other defects that might offend our modern sense
of perfection. However, in addition to demonstrating good wood utilization, the
varying density and differences in surface texture of these so-called defects
may indeed benefit the music. How we perceive the sound of an organ is a very
complex and subtle equation. This is one of the wonderful aspects of the real
pipe organ that differentiates it from the sterile sound of the electronic
substitute. We feel it is good stewardship to apply the hierarchy of selection
as practiced by the old masters. We try to use all the wood, through careful
selection, with thoughtful conservation of a vanishing resource.

--John Boody

Acoustic design of Rieth Recital Hall at Goshen College

In 1998, the design team of design architect Mathes Group
(now Mathes Brierre Architects), architect of record Schmidt Associates and
acoustician The Talaske Group (now Talaske) began preliminary work on a new
music education and performance building for Goshen College’s campus.
This project was the College’s greatest building investment to date and
they were determined to do things right . . . with a very modest budget. The
Recital Hall (now Rieth Recital Hall) was slated to house a new tracker organ
of exceptional quality. As acousticians, we offered some general planning
recommendations--not the least of which was a 50-foot ceiling
height--and recommended that the organ builder be hired as soon as
possible.

Enter John Boody of Taylor & Boody, organ builders from
Virginia. John energized the subsequent meetings with some profound advice that
proved to set the final direction for the space. He moved our thinking from a
“fixed” seating configuration to a flexible arrangement based on a
flat floor where seats can face either end of the room. This unique concept
facilitated the accommodation of a conventional “recital hall” or
assembly arrangement with musicians or presenters on a small stage. The cleverness
of the concept is the seats can be turned to face the opposite direction in the
room, offering a classic organ recital arrangement. Furthermore, John
recommended that the proportions of the room would be better served if
lengthened by adding another bay of structure. These fundamental planning ideas
changed the direction of the design in perpetuity.

We embraced these new directions yes">  and identified the many other room acoustics design features
that would support the client’s needs. The 50-foot ceiling height remained,
and we worked with the architects and construction manager to render the room
as a sound-reflective concrete enclosure, embellished with wood. The goal was
to maintain the warmth of sound created by the organ. Within the “theatre
planning” process, we guided and exploited naturally occurring
opportunities for introducing sound diffusing shaping to reflect low- and
mid-pitched sound in all directions--by introducing one side balcony and a
rear balcony, recesses from circulation paths and recesses created by
deeply-set windows. We recommended deliberate articulation of the walls to
diffuse mid- and high-pitched sound. Wood surfaces were detailed to minimize
absorption of low-pitched sound. Retractable velour curtains and banners were
recommended in abundance and specified by Bob Davis, theatre consultant.
Architecturally, curtain and banner pockets were created so the sound-absorbing
materials could be retracted completely on demand. These features make possible
a broad “swing” of the sound of the room from very reverberant for
choral and organ performance to articulate for assembly events or amplified
music performance. Fundamental to the acoustic design was the need for silence.
This was accomplished by structural discontinuities in the building (acoustic
isolation joints) and the proper placement and design of heating and air
conditioning systems.

Within their mission statement, Goshen College states:
“Musical expression is a human manifestation of the divine impulse and,
as such, serves as a window into the individual soul, a bridge between human
beings and a means of corporate religious experience.” In light of the
students adopting the Rieth Recital Hall for their weekly convocations and the
many other uses, we are pleased to say the happy story continues!

--Rick Talaske

Bach temperament

This organ is the first since the 18th century to use Johann
Sebastian Bach’s tuning, as notated by him in 1722 on the title page of
the Well-Tempered Clavier. This tuning method is a 2004 discovery by Bradley
Lehman. The article about this discovery is published in the February and May
2005 issues of Early Music (Oxford University Press), and further details are
at <www.larips.com&gt;.

The layout, dividing the Pythagorean comma, is:

F-C-G-D-A-E = 1/6 comma narrow 5ths;

E-B-F#-C# = pure 5ths;

C#-G#-D#-A# = 1/12 comma narrow 5ths;

A#-F = a residual wide 1/12 comma 5th.

In this tuning, every major scale and minor scale sounds
different from every other, due to the subtle differences of size among the
tones and semitones. This allows music to project a different mood or character
in each melodic and harmonic context, with a pleasing range of expressive
variety as it goes along. It builds drama into musical modulations.
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> 

The result sounds almost like equal temperament, and it similarly
allows all keys to be used without problem, but it has much more personality
and color. In scales and triads it sounds plain and gentle around C major (most
like regular 1/6 comma temperament), mellower and warmer in the flat keys such
as A-flat major (most like equal temperament), and especially bright and
exciting in the sharp keys around E major (like Pythagorean tuning, with pure
fifths). Everything is smoothly blended from these three competing systems,
emerging with an emphasis on melodic suavity.

The following chart shows the relative size of each major
third, resulting from each series of the intervening four fifths. This system
of analysis is from the 1770s, published in the theoretical work of G. A. Sorge
who was a former colleague of Bach’s. The intervals having higher numbers
sound spicier, more restless. In this measurement, a value of 11 would indicate
a major third that is one syntonic comma too sharp (a “Pythagorean major
third,” having been generated by four pure fifths).
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  A pure major third would be represented
here as 0.

Bb-D    6
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             D-F#
    7
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             F#-A#
8

Eb-G    7
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             G-B
      5
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             B-D#
   9

Ab-C    8
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             C-E
       3
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             E-G#
   10

Db-F     9
             F-A
       3
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             A-C#
   9

Equal temperament, as opposed to the variety shown here, has
a constant size of 7 in all twelve of the major thirds.

In functional harmony, the Bach tuning sets up especially
interesting contrasts within minor-key music. The key of A minor has the
plainest tonic juxtaposed with the most restless dominant. F minor, a major
third away, has the opposite relationship: troubled tonic, calm dominant. And
C# minor has the average character between these behaviors, where the tonic and
dominant are both moderately energetic. 

In major-key music, the tonics and dominants have characters
similar to one another. The sizes of major thirds change by only 1, 2, or 3
units from each key to its neighbors, moving by the circle of fifths (through
typical subdominant/tonic/dominant progressions). Any change of Affekt is
therefore gradual and subtle, as if we never really leave the home key
altogether but it feels a little more or less tense as we go along.

In any music that modulates more quickly by bypassing such a
normal circle-of-fifths cycle, the contrasts are momentarily startling. That
is, the music’s dramatic harmonic gestures become immediately noticeable,
where the major thirds have changed size suddenly from one harmony to the next.
This comes up for example in the Fantasia in G Minor (BWV 542), Gelobet seist
du, Jesu Christ (BWV 722), and the fourth Duetto (BWV 805), and especially in
music by the Bach sons.

This system turns out to be an excellent tuning solution to
play all music, both before and after Bach’s. It is moderate enough for
complete enharmonic freedom, but also unequal enough to sound directional and
exciting in the tensions and resolutions of tonal music.

A recording will be ready for release this summer, including
music by Bach, Fischer, Brahms, et al.

--Bradley Lehman

A brief history of the organ in the Mennonite Church

Some people might find it unusual to find such a remarkable
organ in a Mennonite college. Aren’t the Mennonites those folks with the
buggies and suspenders? It is true that some Mennonite congregations still take
literally founder Menno Simons’ caution against the organ as a
“worldly” invention, but most, especially in the last fifty years,
have embraced it as a vital contributor to the musical and worship life of the
community. 

The Mennonite Church has its beginnings in the 16th-century
Protestant Reformation. Because of persecution, most of the early worship
services were held secretly, in homes or out-of-the-way places. Mennonites also
believed that the true church existed in small, simple gatherings; therefore,
it was uncommon for early Mennonites to even set aside a separate building for
worship. 

Two hundred years after the beginning of the movement,
churches in Germany and the Netherlands had grown to the point of meeting in
dedicated buildings, and by the 1760s several in urban areas had installed pipe
organs. It was another two hundred years, however, before organs became common
in the Mennonite conference that supported Goshen College. Even now, the organ
is not necessarily assumed to support congregational singing, but contributes
other service music. Organ study is now offered at all of the Mennonite Church
USA-affiliated colleges, and the new Taylor & Boody organ at Goshen will
certainly have a profound impact on the future of worship and organ study
throughout the denomination.

--Roseann Penner Kaufman

Roseann Penner Kaufman, DMA, is adjunct instructor in organ
at Bethel College, N. Newton, Kansas, a four-year liberal arts college
affiliated with the Mennonite Church USA. She also serves as director of music
for Rainbow Mennonite Church in Kansas City, Kansas. Dr. Kaufman served as the
consultant to Goshen College for their organ project.

Specifications for Opus 41

Hauptwerk

16' Bordun (C-D# wood, rest metal*)

8' Principal (77% tin)

8' Spillpfeife

8' Viol da Gamba (77% tin)

4' Octave

4' Spitzflöte

3' Quinte

3' Nasat

2' Superoctave

IV-V Mixtur

8' Trompet

Oberwerk

8' Gedackt (99% lead)

8' Quintadena

4' Principal (77% tin)

4' Rohrflöte

2' Waldflöte

II Sesquialtera

IV Scharff

8' Dulcian

Pedal

16' Subbass (wood)

(16' Violonbass) space prepared

8' Octave

4' Octave

16' Posaune (C-B wood, rest 99% lead)

8' Trompet (99% lead)

Couplers

Oberwerk / Hauptwerk

Hauptwerk / Pedal

Oberwerk / Pedal

Tremulant to entire organ

Mechanical key and stop action

Compass: manual 56 notes C-g''', pedal 30 notes C-f'

Lehman-Bach temperament

Interior metal pipes of hammered alloys

*All unmarked metal alloys of 28% tin, 72% lead

Case of solid white oak

Windchests of solid oak, pine & poplar

Number of pipes: 1604

Wind pressure: 75mm

Wind stabilizer

The builders

George K. Taylor

John H. Boody

Bruce Shull

Emerson Willard

Christopher A. Bono

Kelley Blanton

Chris A. Peterson

Sarah Grove-Humphries

Robbie Lawson

Jeffrey M. Peterson

Larry J. Damico

Holly Regi

Thomas M. Karaffa

Bob Harris

Katie Masincup

Ryan M. Albashian

Kristin E. Boo

Paul Fritts & Co., Tacoma,
Washington
St. Philip Presbyterian Church, Houston, Texas

From the organist
Nearly a decade ago, St. Philip Presbyterian Church began planning a major renovation of its facilities. In addition to a new educational building, plans were made to gut the sanctuary and make it a more vibrant and flexible space. By 2004 a new organ was on the horizon as well, thanks to an old electric-action instrument whose shortcomings had become obvious, an enthusiastic committee, and an expert consultant. In 2005 we bid good-bye to the old sanctuary and organ and signed a letter of intent with Paul Fritts for his Opus 29, a three-manual and pedal mechanical-action instrument of 48 stops, which was delivered and installed in the renovated sanctuary in early 2010.
And we couldn’t be happier! The new organ and sanctuary are a perfect match, with the instrument speaking directly into the room from its lofty position in a new gallery. Significant changes had to be made to the former choir loft to support the new organ, with the new gallery extending forward into the sanctuary to accommodate both choir and organ. Fortunately, we were blessed with a building whose basic shape—tall, long, and slender—presented a potentially ideal acoustical environment for organ and choral music. The transformation has been stark: a room that formerly had abundant absorptive and soft surfaces now has several seconds of reverberation. It’s also become a much more appealing visual space: the modernist light-filled sanctuary now boasts handsome millwork, beautiful stained glass, a tile mosaic front wall, and in the rear gallery, a stunning new organ.
Our selection of Paul Fritts & Co. as builders reflects St. Philip’s longstanding commitment to excellence in its music program and the amazing foresight and generosity of its members. Now just a little over a year old, the Fritts organ has generated a great deal of local and even international enthusiasm, and we’re delighted to be sharing it with a wide community of music lovers. I’m especially pleased that organ students from the University of Houston are able to use Fritts Opus 29 for weekly practice and degree recitals, since a splendid instrument like this has so much to teach us.
—Matthew Dirst
Organist
St. Philip Presbyterian Church

From the organ consultant
Long before I became the consultant for a new organ at St. Philip Presbyterian Church in 2004, Matthew Dirst set the groundwork for the project. For many years he had developed a solid relationship of trust, goodwill, and mutual respect between himself and the musicians, clergy, and congregants of St. Philip. It is certainly safe to say that without that special relationship, this project would never have happened. Soon before I came on board, an organ committee had been formed and fundraising had begun. I quickly learned that music was very important to the people of St. Philip. The committee made clear that they wanted an instrument that could lead in worship, accompany the choir, and make possible the performance of great organ music—especially music played by their world-famous organist! But something else came through from our initial meetings. The committee wanted an instrument of high quality that would stand the test of time, and of real beauty that would lead people to a fuller spiritual life.
The committee considered several builders. Committee members took their responsibilities seriously, and some of them made trips well outside the state of Texas to hear recent installations. As soon as they heard the Fritts organ at the University of Notre Dame, they knew what builder they wanted for St. Philip. The size of organ was never the driving force, and in fact the church initially contracted for a smaller (and less expensive) two-manual instrument. I know Matthew Dirst would have been content with it. But additional funds became available, and the size and scope of the instrument increased accordingly.
Besides the desire for a quality instrument that could lead in worship and be featured in concerts, the people of St. Philip Church wanted an instrument that could be used for educational purposes. The organ majors of the University of Houston now practice on this instrument almost every day, take weekly lessons at the church, and present degree recitals on it every semester. Last year, the church began an internship program, which lends support to one lucky UH graduate student in organ. In its role as music educator, the instrument will be featured in numerous conferences and workshops in the years to come, including a national conference sponsored by the Westfield Center for Early Keyboard Studies to be held April 12–15, 2012, and the AGO national convention, scheduled for the summer of 2016. We are most grateful!
My congratulations go first to Matthew Dirst, Associate Professor of Musicology at the University of Houston and organist of St. Philip Church, for his many years of strong leadership and impeccable musicianship. He really deserves such an instrument! I also want to thank the St. Philip Organ Committee—especially its remarkable chairperson, Elizabeth Duerr—for years of hard work and unwavering commitment to excellence. And, finally, thanks go to Paul Fritts and his entire team for the construction and installation of an instrument of real quality—one that I know will inspire the congregants of St. Philip and the citizens of Houston for many years to come.
—Robert Bates
Professor of Organ
University of Houston
Organ Consultant
St. Philip Presbyterian Church

From the organbuilder
Many decisions contribute to the building of an organ, and these decisions become more significant when virtually every part is designed and built in the builder’s workshop. This distinction, achieved by our firm in 1984 when the pipe shop was established, enables creativity to flourish—we can build anything we want.
Organbuilders have been practicing their art for centuries, often with extravagant support. Today we can visit existing organs from most periods and national styles and still experience them firsthand. These visits become more challenging since we must also account for things outside the original builder’s intention. We are experiencing instruments through the veil of rebuilds and restorations over the centuries, some not so sensitive. We must also develop a good understanding of the acoustical environment these organs are speaking in, often a far cry from the typical modern American space. We can both experience how these organs sound and behave today, and also imagine how they once were.
Over the course of many study trips, I have noticed things common to instruments I consider magical. Interestingly, these outstanding instruments are not limited to any national style or time period. When comparing the experiences, I find a substantial convergence in areas of sound. The sounds of the pipes are complex and yet they have an unusual combination of qualities often difficult to achieve but deliberately sought after: their harmonic content is both refined and colorful, and it is balanced with a generous amount of fundamental. The speech is quick and elegant. These qualities are especially challenging, since customary ways of refining speech generally kill the unique harmonic content we hear in the old pipes. Interestingly, we find these sonic qualities in other fine instruments: violins, harpsichords, pianos, and many others. There seems to be a connection to the human voice—richness is present, combined with clarity—and all of this is accomplished, in the case of the organs, without excessive intensity, through the use of relatively low wind pressure. The organs somehow function on a human scale in spite of being grand both in appearance and sound. The pipes have open feet and flueways and relatively high cutups, but are mostly controlled in their sound production by the organ’s wind pressure, the main determinant of the organ’s overall intensity. These things contribute to what has been aptly called a relaxed intensity—the pipes sing robustly without shouting. Many other aspects fall into place when stops are working this way. The blend between them is enhanced and many more stop combinations work together. The organs carry a space remarkably well without having to be loud. They lead rather than direct a congregation. This rather strict approach surprisingly enables an organ to be more eclectic or universal in its capabilities. And, most importantly, they are supremely musical.
These thoughts were on our minds as we considered the design and construction of the new St. Philip Presbyterian Church organ. Many ideas garnered from the study trips expand the design, construction, and voicing, along with the collective experience of our seven craftsmen. The case appearance, in keeping with the spare nature of the church architecture, is an original design and incorporates ideas found in revered cases to make it more interesting. The treble flats curve inward and alternate direction in ancient Dutch fashion, and the proportions of the bass and tenor flats follow well-established trends. Straightforward moldings properly adorn the case and each vertical stile is framed with decorative insets. The carvings are contemporary creations inspired by Renaissance-era Italian organ pipe shades. All is painted a glossy white with gold leaf highlights. The result in the church is both a striking appearance and a comfortable feeling that it belongs.
Tonally the organ is more strict and at its core Germanic. Arp Schnitger’s work forms the basis of our recipe, and for good reason. The level of sophistication in the pipe-making and voicing is a true inspiration. Congregational support is of paramount importance and was at the forefront of our thinking when envisioning the St. Philip tonal design.
There is an abundance of reed stops, and these pipes follow the same principles as the flue pipes. They are made to produce a strong fundamental tone combined with color and refinement. The resonators are cut long to facilitate this, and a welcome consequence is tuning stability.
Eclecticism within this structure can flourish. For the St. Philip instrument we have included many stops and features that broaden the scope. A Swell is present with shades on three sides, along with the required string stops plus the Hautbois (a strict Cavaillé-Coll copy) stop. A string stop is also present on the Great, and there is a wide variety of flutes throughout the organ.
We have also added an electric stop action piggybacked to the mechanical stop action. We do this since there is a vastly different life span between the two systems. Any electric computer system will fail within a relatively short time compared to a well-made mechanical system that can function for centuries. We can avoid this dilemma if the electronic components are included in a non-intrusive way and are easy to replace when it becomes necessary. In the meantime, the organ will not be seriously disabled by failures of these electrical components, since the mechanical system will continue to work. As is usual with modern electrical preset systems, there are the usual features, including hundreds of memory levels and a sequencer.
The wind system is substantial, with four large bellows fitted with all the levers and check valves necessary to foot-pump the organ. When this novelty is utilized and the audience is informed, the performance takes on new meaning. There is a connection to the organ’s legacy—the organ is functioning on a human scale.
All of the four divisions speak directly through the façade—that is, no divisions speak through other divisions, contributing to an easy balance among them. The manual divisions are positioned center case, with Positive at the bottom, Great above, and Swell at the top. The Pedal is divided on each side.
The people of St. Philip Presbyterian are to be much admired for their unyielding support throughout the process leading up to the dedication of the organ in the spring of 2010. I am also humbled by my talented staff who work skillfully and with dedication. We strive to build lasting instruments—instruments that are both durable and very much cherished by those who play them and those who listen. Projects like this have the added benefit of the involvement of a wide group of people, a group too numerous to individually name here. I thank the St. Philip family for their support on many levels throughout the process, and I thank my wonderful crew for their continued excellence and support.
—Paul Fritts
Paul Fritts & Co. Organ Builders

St. Philip Presbyterian Church
Paul Fritts & Co. Organ Builders
Opus 29, 2009

GREAT
16′ Principal*
8′ Octave
8′ Rohrflöte
8′ Salicional
4′ Octave
4′ Spitzflöte
22⁄3′ Quint
2′ Octave
13⁄5′ Terz
IV–VI Mixture
V Cornet (mounted)
16′ Trompet
8′ Trompet
4′ Trompet
8′ Baarpfeife

SWELL
8′ Principal
8′ Bourdon
8′ Violdigamba
8′ Voix celeste
4′ Octave
4′ Koppelflöte
22⁄3′ Nasat
2′ Blockflöte
13⁄5′ Tierce
IV–V Mixture
16′ Fagott
8′ Trompet
8′ Hautbois

POSITIVE
8′ Principal
8′ Gedackt
8′ Quintadena
4′ Octave
4′ Rohrflöte
2′ Octave
11⁄3′ Larigot
II Sesquialtera
IV–V Scharff
8′ Dulcian

PEDAL
16′ Principal
16′ Subbaß
8′ Octave
8′ Bourdon*
4′ Octave
VI–VIII Mixture
32′ Posaune*
16′ Posaune
8′ Trompet
4′ Trompet

*Some pipes transmitted from other stops

Couplers
Swell to Great
Positive to Great
Swell to Positive
Great to Pedal
Swell to Pedal
Positive to Pedal

Compass: Manual, 58 notes; Pedal, 30 notes

Other:
Polished tin front pipes
Solid wood casework with carved pipe shades
Suspended, direct mechanical key action
Mechanical stop action with electric pre-set system
Tremulant
Multiple wedge bellows with foot pumping levers
Wind Stabilizer

70 ranks, 48 stops, 3,488 pipes

Photo credit: Paul Fritts

J.H. & C.S. Odell Opus 645

United Methodist Church of Westport and Weston,

Westport, Connecticut

From the builder

I first looked over the 1968 Angell pipe organ at the United Methodist Church of Westport and Weston in the winter of 2005, having been recommended to the church by our friend K. Bryan Kirk. What we found in Westport was an organ with many pipes that were well made, but in some cases unusually constructed and, by our standards, only roughly voiced. The flue pipes were made mostly with a high content of tin. We suspect Tim Koelewijn was the original pipemaker. Just about everything else in the organ had been made by domestic and foreign supply houses. Overall, quality varied widely. Some things were very neatly done.

Though by our standards not altogether under-scaled, the organ did suffer in just about every other way from the prevailing trends of the era when it was built. Wind pressures were low: less than two inches in the Great and three in the Swell. Looking at the original stoplist, we noted that none of the choruses in the organ were complete, though the organ did boast two Célestes and a triple-overblowing Zauberflöte. The reed complement for the organ consisted of a double-blocked French style 8’ Trompette (extended to 16’ in the Pedal) and a 4’ Rohr Shalmei.

The windchest mechanism was a problematic plunger-type solenoid system that had been giving trouble for years. The console was a veneered plywood supply house unit already years beyond its life expectancy. The open contact switching system was dispersed throughout the organ; some of its components had already failed. The wind supply for the entire Great division was provided by a single 18≤ by 24≤ reservoir whose internal volume was largely dedicated to its curtain valve.
After an initial tuning of the organ, the church’s new music director and organist, Todd Simmons, pressed me as to what could be done to make the organ better. I pointed out that the organ had mechanical and tonal issues, to be sure, but there was something to work with here, some raw material, which with proper attention could be the basis for a good pipe organ. In my wife Holly’s words, the existing pipework possessed “unrealized potential.”

Weeks later we met with the trustees to present our findings, expecting that at some point in the future funds could be raised to finance the organ project. One can imagine my surprise when Mr. Simmons called me a few weeks later to say that a single anonymous donor had stepped forward. How soon could we start? Thus we found ourselves sweating in the summer heat on a stretch of days the following July, packing and removing the pipes that would become the basis for our Opus 645.
In the design process we developed a new specification with input from K. Bryan Kirk. We instinctively sought first to meet the essential requirements of a liturgical instrument, something we believe to be utterly crucial, especially in the case of smaller pipe organs. Given the limited space for the organ, we felt a two-manual scheme with few frills would be best. We resisted a request for digital augmentation, instead focusing on a design that would be pipe only.

Certain early decisions seemed obvious. Given the dry acoustic of the church, the baseline scale of the Great chorus needed to be increased. This chorus was also completed with the addition of appropriately scaled new pipework from 22⁄3’ pitch upward. The cutup schedule of the existing Great capped flute was raised, arched, and the stop entirely revoiced. A new independent 4’ Harmonic Flute (based on the unique and very successful scale found in our historic Opus 178 at St. Charles Borromeo in Brooklyn) was constructed and voiced. Over the course of the project nearly every zinc pipe in the organ made its way through our pipe shop: frozen metal caps were freed, tuning inserts and toes replaced, seams and scrolls repaired. Being left in a raw state, many of the zinc pipes had an unsightly powdery white oxidation. We removed this, and gave all zinc basses a sealing coat of varnish to protect them.
The wind pressure of all manual divisions was raised to a more moderate four inches. Holly, then pregnant with our son Caleb, did her usual superb job of revoicing all the other existing and new flue pipework, managing to do so before reaching her final trimester. During this past winter we joked more than once: which would be given birth first, our son Caleb or the organ for Westport?

Where, before, the Great division of the organ had seven ranks, it had now eleven. To provide for this expanded division adequately, we built a new, larger reservoir. The rest of the organ’s wind system was rebuilt and reengineered as the new design required.

In dealing with the Swell division, again certain decisions seemed obvious. The 4’ Rohr Shalmei, only marginally useful, was replaced with an 8’ Oboe, expertly voiced by Sam Hughes. Proceeding as she did in the Great, Holly revoiced all of the existing Swell flues and voiced the new pipework for the Swell flute chorus, which was completed to 13⁄5’ pitch. The existing Trompette was kept, though carefully cleaned up and regulated in a cooperative effort between Sam and Holly.

In our recently expanded East Hampton shop I concentrated on the construction of the console, while our shop foreman John Williams constructed new windchests whose design was first developed for our organ at St. Ann’s in Bridgehampton. The unusually short feet of the 8’ old flute basses made for some interesting pipesetting. New offset chests were provided for everything save the original Pedal Subbass, a mammoth mahogany affair that only needed rebuilding.

The new console was based on our current terrace-jamb design with several embellishments. Improvements on the existing design include a slightly deeper cabinet with an added horizontal stile, raised panel work, additional applied moldings, hand-carved brackets, a two-piece knee panel and solid walnut music desk, the latter being picture-framed with the same quarter-sawn white oak used for the carcass and façade.

The console features an integrated solid-state capture and control system with fully programmable features, MIDI interface, and our standard complement of rear-fulcrum keyboards with basswood levers. The oblique drawknob heads are a reproduction of our 19th-century design. Respected organists who have played it have described our console at Westport as “elegant and comfortable.”
My design of the façade was in part born of necessity. Since both the manual and pedal principal stops were being rescaled, new bass pipes would be required. We naturally needed to make the most of the existing chamber space, and one of the simplest ways to do that was by moving the basses of these stops out into a façade.

Every pipe in the façade is functional. The bass notes of the Great and Pedal principals are polished aluminum, made to our specifications by Matters, Inc. of Hermosa, South Dakota. The pipes are arranged in three towers and two flats and the overall height of the case tops out at 15 feet, mounted roughly 10 feet above the sanctuary floor. The style of the casework is deliberately simple, so as to be in harmony with the appointments of the church sanctuary.

The façade performs a very important function in giving one a visual focal point. It declares the organ present, and urges one to consider it rather than wonder from where behind the grille cloth the organ might be. Its cruciform arrangement also reflects elements of sacred numerology: three towers with three pipes each for the Trinity, ten pipes located within the inner flats for the Commandments.

The sanctuary space in Westport could be described as a postwar-modernist take on the “Akron Plan,” less the adjoining Fellowship Hall. Four sets of pews radiate from the altar and pulpit up front, with organ and choir off to the left. The space over the altar is open with a ceiling height of approximately 35 feet. This intersects with a lower A-frame suspended transversely over the pews. From there the ceiling slopes downward to the rear of the pews to meet a northeasterly facing wall that is mostly glass. The floor is a simple concrete aggregate. Thankfully, carpet was absent. More simply described, it is a space with a great deal of cubic volume, but not overly reverberant.

Throughout the process we gave a great deal of thought to what levels of power would be appropriate for the various tonal resources of the organ. Our concerns about sufficient tonal egress from the chambers were put to rest when we experienced how well the organ spoke into the room. In the tonal finishing process we were pleased to discover how our scaling and voicing decisions suited the space. With a well-balanced variety of 8’ tone available, the organ easily leads congregational singing in a variety of settings.

Overall, we are very happy with what we have achieved in Westport. I would be remiss not to mention others who have contributed to this project: my wife and business partner Holly Odell was responsible for revoicing all existing pipework and voicing of new pipework. John Williams built nearly all the windchests and was responsible for all pipesetting. John and I collaborated on the wind reservoirs and organ case elements. In addition to overall mechanical design and layout, I milled, built and finished the console and casework as well as handling most other finishing duties. Working out of our pipe shop, Stewart Skates handled all pipe repairs. Luc Ladurantaye of Lac Saguay, Quebec, built the new metal pipes to our specifications. Gordon Auchincloss assisted in the wiring and final assembly of the console, and Thomas White assisted in windchest construction and wiring. John Williams, Thomas White, and myself handled the installation. Tonal finishing duties were divided between Holly and myself, with occasional assistance from Richard Hamar and Fred Heffner.

—Edward Odell



From the music director

In my third year as choir director and first year as organist of the United Methodist Church of Westport and Weston, I was introduced to Edward Odell by K. Bryan Kirk, as we were in search of someone local to assume the maintenance of our Angell pipe organ. While I was not dissatisfied with the firm maintaining our organ at that time, I knew it was only a matter of time before a major overhaul was needed, and no one had ever made a complete inspection and report on our instrument. Given the current condition of our organ, I felt comforted in knowing someone local could resuscitate it at a moment’s notice.

After a thorough tuning and evaluation of the organ, I was encouraged by Mr. Odell’s report that although there were serious electrical and tonal issues present, the pipes themselves were well made and could be repaired and voiced (apparently for the first time ever) if we had the means to fund an organ project. Having just completed a fund-raising campaign for a new grand piano, our church did not have extra money to start an organ building fund-raiser, and we felt uncomfortable asking the congregation to dig into their wallets again so soon. This was discouraging as we knew that time was close at hand; in recent years our organ had become increasingly undependable.

Not long after we began exploring these issues, it happened one Sunday morning that the entire organ pedalboard suddenly made itself unusable. Having little alternative, I decided to play that morning’s service on the piano. This coming just a few weeks after Mr. Odell’s presentation to our trustees, there was (understandably) a certain degree of panic, since we were totally unprepared financially to fund an organ project this soon. Even though our organ was one of the longest surviving Angell pipe organs in the area, we had hoped (and expected) it to last longer. It was more and more apparent that something had to be done soon. Before we even had a chance to strategize, I received a call the next day from the pastor informing me that a donor wishing to remain anonymous had left a very large check on his desk with the intention of funding the organ project.

As has been elsewhere stated, our previous instrument suffered from a lack of tonal finishing and the pipes themselves had never been voiced properly. The pipes being of relatively small scale, we were used to a thin, shallow sound that did not possess enough power to adequately fill our worship space, even when I registered full organ. At the start of the project, I had doubts as to whether any new organ would be strong enough, given the room’s difficult acoustics and the location of the organ chambers. Mr. Odell assured us that once the new organ was installed, we would be amazed at the difference.
One of the most impressive enhancements with the new organ, aside from the exquisite façade, is the quality of sound as well as the power behind it. We now have an instrument that adequately leads our congregation in singing, as well as providing full, but subtle, accompaniment for the choir anthems. I can honestly say that at every step of the way, Mr. Odell and his firm have not only met but exceeded my expectations with our new organ and have gone above and beyond the call of duty to deliver an instrument that is even better than the original proposal stated.

It is a testament to his excellent work that not only do the trained musicians in the congregation appreciate this new pipe organ, even the untrained listeners have noticed a huge improvement over the previous instrument. One member (who at one time happened to be unsupportive of the project) admits that now she could not imagine our service without a pipe organ. The church is well pleased, as am I, and we celebrate at every Sunday service this work of art courtesy of the firm of J.H. & C.S. Odell.

—Todd Simmons, organist and music director, United Methodist Church of Westport and Weston



From the consultant

When I began teaching in 1988 at a music school in Westport, Connecticut, I was naturally curious about local pipe organs. Over the years, I became more familiar with the organ at a nearby church: the United Methodist Church of Westport and Weston. The instrument was in poor mechanical condition: it exhibited a failing combination action, frequent ciphers, tuning instability and other frustrations, even though periodic maintenance was given. Being a product of its time, it was very thin in sound, had little bass response (as did the room) and few solo colors. Most importantly, there was no sense of real ensemble, even when the tutti was drawn. The instrument was also limited in its dynamic range for choral accompaniment and congregational singing, and was weak when trying to blend with other instruments. Overall, the organ did not make a strong impact.

A few years later a new organist and choir director was hired, Todd Simmons, one of my teaching colleagues from the music school. As the organ continued to deteriorate, he and the church became even more disappointed with the organ’s unreliability and marginal tonal resources. Knowing I had done other consulting work, Todd asked me to work with him and the church regarding the organ. Realizing the inherent problems, both musical and mechanical, we began an in-depth study of what could be done to either rebuild or replace the organ with something that would not only offer more tonal possibilities but also fill the room and excite the strong congregational singing potential we knew was there.

As we talked, it was apparent that virtually a new organ would be the best option, although much of the existing pipework could be retained if it were rescaled, revoiced and placed on a new, reliable chassis. The organ needed to be reliable and have a wider dynamic range, more tonal colors and a strong sense of presence in the room. It had to strongly lead and accompany congregational singing and sensitively render choral, solo and instrumental accompaniment.

From the outset, one of my pervading concerns was the church’s acoustic, which, while fine for chamber music, was a bit dry for organ and choral music and congregational singing. Having noted the difference in the acoustic when the room was more fully occupied, I knew the challenge of filling the room efficiently would be a mandate for the builder.

Our task began to take shape. Meetings were held and candidate builders were vetted. As work continued, a stop-list began to emerge, while we kept in mind budget and space limitations. One of my thoughts was to ask for a façade, as the previous organ had nothing visible but for a console in a lowered pit in the choir area. I reasoned that a façade would reinforce the impression that the church was getting something new, better and different. We agreed from the beginning that the organ should remain an all-pipe instrument.

After naming a few candidates, one firm was clearly the most interested, experienced and willing to work with us and on this organ. Having known the Odells and their fine lineage of historic instruments as well as their excellent work on new organs and various projects over many years, I was happy to welcome their presence.

The church had Edward and Holly Odell give the organ a full tuning and submit a proposal for either rebuilding or a new organ. As the Odells looked through the organ, they determined that a new console, chassis and electrical system would be required, and that it would be possible to rebuild one small windchest, but otherwise new windchests would be required throughout. By adding a façade for visual interest, some new pipework and retaining about half the existing pipework (though carefully rescaled and revoiced), the organ could take on a new character that would be far more flexible and of greater quality than its predecessor. This concept, coupled with their thorough proposal, helped to land them the contract.

As the new organ design was developed, the specification was refined. Among the ideas we discussed was the clever suggestion to borrow the Great 4’ Octave as an 8’ Second Principal stop on the Great, creating a secondary 8’ Principal for smaller combinations. The stop could also be used to fill out foundation tone when needed. As we continued to explore various tonal issues, it was noted that the old organ had no soft reed color or solo flute color. Among other things, Odell suggested adding an 8’ Oboe and building a new Harmonic Flute, patterned after historic Odell examples, but carefully adapted for the flute scales at Westport.

My early recommendations had included new 22⁄3’ and 2’ principal stops to replace the existing flute-scaled 2’ in the Great. The Odells suggested going further to install a new Mixture to create a full Principal chorus, giving the organ a sense of ensemble, a true plenum, something it never had.
Having listened to the result, I can state these stops create a truly full-sounding principal chorus, finally integrating the instrument into the room. The organ as conceived by the Odells has made a huge difference for hymn and repertoire playing and can now “ring the room” more effectively.

The Great also contains the revoiced 8’ Bourdon, now sounding more like a continuo stop, suitable in choral music or to accompany the Swell’s cornet decomposée. The Gemshorn and its Celeste were retained for flexibility in accompanying and providing more soft colors.

The Swell received “the Odell treatment,” in that all the pipework was revoiced. The flues, strings and mutations were all transformed by voicer Holly Odell, and the reeds were reworked to make a dramatic difference. The strings and 8’ Rohrflute now have more presence and can fully support the choir, as well as contribute to the ensemble. The Swell cornet decomposée is now nicely balanced, and the flutes have a more piquant character.

The new 8’ Oboe offers a nice color for softer choral accompaniment and foundation combinations, as well as providing a new solo stop. The existing 8’ Trompette, originally extended to 16’ for the Pedal, was also cleaned, revoiced and regulated into a stop that now serves a dual-purpose chorus/solo reed. The 16’ octave, now reconditioned, adds more gravitas to the Pedal and the full ensemble.
The full ensemble now fills the church worship space with a richer, warmer and well-blended tone. The softer sounds are more usable and possess a wider dynamic range, so the possibilities for choral, vocal and instrumental accompaniment are greatly enhanced.

As a concerned observer, I paid close attention to the project throughout the building process. The Odells always welcomed my inquiries and kept all parties informed with frequent photographs from their shop. Once the installation commenced, it was exciting to see how beautifully designed and well made all components of the organ were, both inside and out. During the tonal finishing, it was gratifying to witness the attention to detail in balancing each stop and the various ensembles. Further, it was refreshing to hear from the builder that materials and workmanship were never an issue; they simply insisted that in every aspect things be done thoroughly, with the highest level of attention to detail.

The organ is now in regular use and a series of dedication concerts have been planned. My thanks go to Edward and Holly Odell, their associates, to Todd Simmons and the United Methodist Church of Westport and Weston, Connecticut, and the donor for having me work with them in a collaborative effort to complete this important project to enrich the worship and outreach of this vibrant congregation.

—K. Bryan Kirk, advisor/consultant

J.H. & C.S. Odell Opus 645

United Methodist Church of Westport and Weston, Westport, Connecticut

Great (Wind pressure 4")

8’ Principal CC–AA en façade, otherwise 70% tin, 61 pipes

8’ Second Principal 1–12 from Principal 8’, 13–49 from Octave 4’

8’ Bourdon 70% tin, arched cutup, 61 pipes

8’ Harmonic Flute 1–12 from Bourdon 8’, 13–61 from Harmonic Flute 4’

8’ Gemshorn 70% tin, 2/3 taper, 61 pipes

8’ Gemshorn Céleste 70% tin, 2/3 taper, 49 pipes

4’ Octave 70% tin, 61 pipes

4’ Harmonic Flute 55% spotted metal, special Odell scale, harmonic at
middle C, 61 pipes

22⁄3’ Quint 55% spotted metal, 61 pipes

2’ Super Octave 55% spotted metal, 61 pipes

III Mixture 55% spotted metal, 19-22-26, 183 pipes

Chimes. 25 tubes


Swell (Expressive, in existing chamber, wind pressure 4")

16’ Rohr Gedeckt wood, 13–61 from Rohr Flute 8’, 12 pipes

8’ Rohr Flute 70% tin, chimneyed, 61 pipes

8’ Gamba 70% tin, bearded, 61 pipes

8’ Gamba Céleste 70% tin, bearded, 49 pipes

4’ Spitz Principal 70% tin, 2/3 taper, 61 pipes

4’ Flute 55% spotted metal, 2/3 taper, 61 pipes
22⁄3’ Nazard 70% tin, capped and chimneyed to middle C, 61 pipes

2’ Block Flute 70% tin, 61 pipes

13⁄5’ Tierce 55% spotted metal, 2/3 taper, 61 pipes

8’ Trompette double blocked, French shallots, 56 reeds, 61 pipes

8’ Oboe dual taper resonators, English shallots, 49 reeds, 61 pipes

Tremulant


Pedal

16’ Subbass wood, 32 pipes

16’ Rohr Gedeckt from Swell

8’ Octave CC–GG# en façade, otherwise 70% tin, 32 pipes

8’ Bourdon extension, Subbass, 12 pipes

8’ Rohr Flute from Swell

4’ Choralbass extension, Octave 8’, 12 pipes

4’ Flute from Swell

16’ Trompette extension to Swell Trompette, 12 pipes

8’ Trompette from Swell

8’ Oboe from Swell

4’ Clarion from Swell