Fire in Chicago's Holy Name Cathedral damages Flentrop organ

Key for the cover illustration
1. Original factory building, 158 Woodland Street. Occupied from 1899–1937.
2. Opus 2, Sweetest Heart of Mary Church, Detroit, 2 manuals, 20 stops. Still in regular service.
3. Opus 500, Panama-Pacific Exhibition, San Francisco, 4 manuals, 121 stops. Damaged in a 1989 earthquake, it remains in storage awaiting completion of restoration and installation.
4. Opus 2536, Trinity College Chapel, Hartford, 3 manuals, 62 stops.
5. Opus 2719, Our Lady of Czestochowa, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, 4 manuals, 65 stops.
6. Opus 453, The Organ Pavilion, Balboa Park, San Diego, 4 manuals, 62 stops.
7. Opus 323, City Hall Auditorium, Portland, Maine, 5 manuals, 124 stops.
8. Opus 2768, St. Mary’s College, Moraga, California, 4 manuals, 68 stops.
9. Opus 2782, Fountain Street Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 4 manuals, 139 stops.
10. The “new” factory building (1937), as expanded several times.
Center: The Austin Universal Airchest logo, including the crest with the motto: Scientia Artem Adjuvat. The motto and crest are said to have been the design of former Austin employee Robert Hope-Jones.
Background: The background is a blueprint, Opus 2786, Assumption Church, Westport, Connecticut.

The first Austin milestone:

1893—the first instrument

The Austin story begins like so many tales of European emigration. It was in the year 1889 that young John T. Austin sailed for the shores of the new world with a man he met who was visiting England (the Austin family native soil) and was returning to California. The Austin family was considerably well off: Jonathan Austin (the father) was a “gentleman farmer,” whose hobby was tinkering with organs and organbuilding. During the voyage, all of John’s money was liberated from his person before arriving in New York, presumably the result of the kindness of his traveling companion!

Penniless, he used his extraordinary wits to find his way to Michigan, and was immediately hired by the Farrand & Votey firm in Detroit. In a few years’ time, he had become plant superintendent, and in his free time he developed a concept for a new type of windchest. After building and servicing bar and slider (tracker organ) windchests, and certainly seeing many of the new electro-pneumatic actions coming on the scene, he was convinced that there must be a better way. The folks at Farrand & Votey were not interested, so in 1893 he built and sold a new organ that he built at the Clough & Warren (reed organ) plant.

His concept was innovative, because you could simply walk right into the windchest (he called it an airbox) and service the complete mechanism. Inside the airbox of many of these early instruments were also the motor for the bellows and the electric (direct current) generator. He started selling these new instruments with alacrity. It is an often-held belief that Austin organs have tracker-like lifespan, and this is evidenced by the fact that several of these early instruments, Opus 2 from 1894 for example, continue to play well year after year.

A discussion of the Austin mechanism would easily consume an entire volume, but in digest form, the organ utilizes one manual motor (primary note action) for each note, or key, in a division, and one stop action motor for each stop on a main windchest. The valves under each pipe are not leather pouches, such as one might find in a Skinner, Möller, or other electro-pneumatic instrument, but in an Austin, they are simply mechanical valves connected by wooden trackers (yes, trackers!) to the manual motor for each particular note. This mechanism is reliable and inherently self-adjusting. Springs and felt guides allow wild changes in humidity and temperature with no degradation in performance. The whole concept is, in a word, brilliant!

In 1899, perhaps the apex of the American Industrial Revolution, John T. Austin was just 30 years old when he moved into the facility on Woodland Street in Hartford, Connecticut. Legend has it that that the crew (including JTA) was installing the organ at the Fourth Congregational Church (Opus 22, now the Liberty Christian Center) when the factory in Detroit burned to the ground. Actually, John T. Austin was in Woodstock, Ontario, supervising the construction of the first and only Austin organ constructed by the Karn-Warren Company. The date of the fire was February 2, 1899 (the feast of Candlemas!). On March 31 of that year, the Austin Organ Company was incorporated in the state of Maine. The company actually signed a contract for a new organ on March 1 of that year and rented factory space in Boston—just down the street from the first, soon-to-be Skinner organ factory. The following August, the board of directors authorized the acquisition of the Hartford facility.

The business moved along quickly. It would be safe to say that most instruments of this period were of moderate size; literally dozens of three and four-manual instruments were delivered between 1900 and 1915. This was the point in Austin’s history when some rather significant and interesting instruments were installed. For example: Opus 323, The Kotzschmar Memorial Organ (www.foko.org) was built for the City Hall in Portland, Maine. It was one of the first municipal organs installed in the country. The organ has been played and maintained with loving care. A handsome, new five-manual drawknob console was built for the organ by the Austin firm in 2000.

This organ was followed a few years later by Opus 453, the Spreckels Organ in Balboa Park, San Diego, on New Year’s Eve, 1914. The largest and most renowned outdoor organ, it was the gift of businessmen John D. Spreckels and his brother Adolph B. Spreckels. The organ continues to be heard in regular concerts and events. Dr. Carol Williams retains the position as Municipal Organist, performing regularly to hundreds (www.sosorgan.com). This organ was originally built for the Panama-California Exposition, before being re-gifted to the city.

Meanwhile, up the coast in San Francisco, the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco would open just two months later and run concurrently with the San Diego event. Austin was chosen from a list of about 31 builders to construct the organ for this exposition, and was given a stiff timeline: six months! It was completed the very morning that the exposition opened. When the exposition was concluded, the organ was moved to the Civic Auditorium. The city’s new municipal organist, Edwin Lemare, specified scores of tonal and mechanical changes that he required the Austin Company to complete upon re-installation. Of primary concern was the fact that the organ was being moved from a space that seated 3,000 to an auditorium with a capacity of over 10,000. The organ had many years of fame, but fell to near-obscurity in the late 1950s. In 1963, the Austin firm built a stunning black lacquer drawknob console. It saw a bit more use, but the horrific 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake rendered the organ silent. The organ sustained some damage due to falling debris. Funds were eventually allocated to repair and re-install the organ. The organ was returned to Hartford, and much work had been completed, but a few months into the project, a directive from the city ordered the organ to be returned to San Francisco. It remains in storage beneath the city, much like that final scene of Indiana Jones’s Raiders of the Lost Ark!

Opus 558 would be the company’s first five-manual instrument, built for the Medinah Temple (Masonic Lodge) in Chicago. This organ also had a sister stopkey console of four manuals. During this period, the company production averaged over 60 new pipe organs a year! The next major instrument would be for the Eastman Theater (for the Eastman School of Music); Opus 1010 was a unique theatre organ—the largest ever—of 229 stops! It was, sadly, removed in the 1970s. There were additional notable instruments during this time: the University of Colorado received a four-manual, 119-stop instrument in 1922. The Cincinnati Music Hall awarded a contract for Opus 1109, an 87-stop instrument that utilized much of the existing Hook & Hastings pipework. Opus 1416, a four-manual instrument of 200 stops, was built for the Sesquicentennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The final large concert hall organ of this period, Opus 1627, four manuals and 102 stops, was built for Hartford’s own Horace Bushnell Memorial Hall in 1929.

By the mid-1920s, Austin Organ Company was producing over 80 new pipe organs annually. This trend continued until the crash of 1929 and ensuing depression era. The company soldiered on, a bit weakened because of the lack of new business, tremendous overhead (the factory was expanded over three times from its original footprint), and company financing of new instruments to churches, from which payments only dribbled in. In July 1935, The Diapason published the announcement that the Austin Organ Company would close its doors. Non-specific Austin assets and raw materials were sold, and remaining contracts were completed (the final A.O.C. contract was number 1885). A few folks remained to complete warranty work and move the Austin tools and machines into storage. At this time, young Frederic Basil Austin and long-time employee Harold Dubrule kept the fires burning by completing some small rebuilds and service jobs. It was this association that inspired John T. Austin’s nephew to consider purchasing the company, a process that was completed in 1937.

The second Austin milestone: 1937—reorganization and move into a new facility

The “new” Austin Organs, Incorporated opened its doors in February of 1937. The transition from the old management to the new Austin was as seamless as could be expected. They were able to return most employees to their workstations, however, in a scaled-down facility located directly behind the behemoth structure that had been home to the company for the previous 36 years. For the first few years, the company leased the property from G. F. Heublein & Bro. Distributors—liquor distributors for much of the East Coast, famous for their pre-mixed “Club Cocktails.” A wooden guard mounted to an ancient band saw that is still in service in the Austin mill is actually a trespassing warning sign from the pre-1937 Heublein days. Within a few years, the property was purchased by the Austin corporation, and over the next three decades the buildings were expanded several times.

The original factory was rather foursquare—four stories, small footprint. Then a separate wood frame structure was built that served as an erecting room, then a fire, then the mill and new brick erecting room, additions to the main building that became pneumatic departments, more voicing rooms, console and cabinet shop, etc. The design department and metal pipe shop grew along the railroad tracks, requiring the private rail siding to be moved. In the late 1960s, the final addition was the large shipping/receiving and casting room. This expansion required a somewhat more adventurous move: purchase of land from the N.Y./N.H. & Hartford Railroad. Somehow, it was pulled off; the centerline of the main rail appears to have been moved slightly north, and the siding was completely eliminated. The sprawl of the factory now reached nearly 50,000 square feet. Sometimes it was not enough, but it is as efficient as any multi-story manufacturing space can be.

A charming, vintage Otis elevator allows safe and uncomplicated material transport between floors. Systems throughout the factory are up to date, and have been carefully maintained by conscientious staff and the foresight of F. B. Austin’s son, Donald. Assuming the role of president in 1973, Don was a formidable figure in the organ industry. He was a very private person, well respected by his colleagues and employees. Aside from his devotion to the company and care of the physical plant, he maintained the Austin tradition of assiduous design trends.

The well-regarded voicer, David Broome, who retired as tonal director at Austin in 1998, describes the “Austin sound” as never one of extremes. Austin has, as he expresses it, not traditionally been a leader in any new tonal movement in organbuilding. That being said, the company has always built a well-balanced chorus. Even instruments from the 1930s, when so many of our hallowed builders (now gone) built the most tubby-sounding diapason choruses, one can hear the gentle articulation and effects of moderately scaled Austin pipework. We can argue about the sound of the vintage Austin trumpets and oboes, etc., but we never find reeds like them—they not only remain in tune, but have good, steady tonal color as well. The construction of reed pipes was just one of the more than four dozen patents that the Austin Company was granted through the years.

The company motto—Scientia Artem Adjuvat—was not just a clever marketing concept for the Austin family; it was a way of life. Many of the machines in the factory that are used for Austin were made right here. So, we have the machines that repair the machines, right here in the factory! The now famous seven-headed monster that is used to build pedal and stop action blocks was originally built in the front building, and moved here in 1937. It has been improved several times, most recently this year when we added new bushings and guides to allow the belts to travel and run their saws and drills efficiently. (Rafael Ramos, who has been mill foreman since the 1980s, states that it now runs faster and smoother than ever before.)

In 1999, Don Austin retired from active participation in the daily operation of the company. He appointed his daughter Kimberlee as president. He continued as CEO until his death in the fall of 2004. In early 2005, Kimberlee Austin resigned her position with the company.

On an otherwise pleasant Monday in March of 2005, I received a phone call from Trinity College Organist John Rose. He told me that as of that afternoon, the Austin Company would be closing its doors. I was shocked. It felt as though my slightly peculiar but lovable old uncle had passed away. (We were at that time competitors, of course.) We wondered how in the world this could happen. Austin was always so . . . solid. The truth of the matter was that, in fact, the company did not “close”, but just temporarily ceased manufacturing new organs. There was no bankruptcy, no liquidation of tooling or assets. Don Austin’s wife, Marilyn, retained the services of business consultants; the result of their consultation was basically a public offering in the form of a letter sent to nearly every organbuilder or supplier in the country, while Marilyn and a few employees kept the phones answered and made small parts for existing instruments.

The third Austin milestone:
2007—a new direction

In the late 1960s, Richard Taylor, a former Aeolian-Skinner employee and New England Conservatory graduate, arrived at Austin Organs to assume the position of the soon-to-retire Les Barrows, who had been purchasing manager for 59 years. After a couple of years working in the plant and in the service department, the day finally arrived when he would occupy a small desk in the corner of the factory offices on the second floor. At the rather generous rate of $2.00 an hour, he was fairly pleased with his position. In the early 1970s, there was a brief drop in organ sales, and Don Austin decided to cut back in every department. He decided that there was no need for a purchasing manager. So, Mr. Taylor moved on to other industries, among them, purchasing manager–military operations for Colt Firearms. By the late 1980s, he had returned to organbuilding, as superintendent at the former Berkshire Organ Company in Western Massachusetts.

As for me, I have studied engineering in Springfield, Massachusetts, music at Westminster Choir College, and Emergency Medicine at Northeastern University. I had attended two seminaries, and for a short time was a novice in a small Franciscan religious order. Leaving all that behind, I applied science to music, and was working with Berkshire Organs in its final years, where I discovered the absolute wonder of the technology that transmits music from the organist, through the console, windchests and eventually evokes sound from the pipework.

Following the demise of Berkshire Organs in 1989, we formed American Classic Organ Company. While remaining a modest-sized operation, we completed several new instruments and built a respectable service business. We located the workshops in sleepy Chester, Connecticut in 2000.

We came into the Austin picture during the summer of 2005. Through a series of events, we received a letter proposing financial investment or purchase. After several weeks of soul-searching and discussions, we were able to come to an agreement. In January 2006, we purchased the assets and liabilities of the company. Almost immediately a dozen employees returned to their benches, sales representatives arrived back at the door, and the company has begun to rebuild. Several new people have since been added to the roster of Austin employees. The new management aims to build team spirit, stay nimble, and remain rational in the face of terror!

Among the projects completed this year have been dozens of action orders for existing Austin organs (often delivered ahead of schedule). We designed, built and delivered a mahogany four-manual drawknob console in 62 days. It was constructed on the traditional Austin steel-frame system. We completed a major project on an instrument in Lansing, Michigan, which required a new console, utilizing the existing (stripped and refinished) casework, re-actioning, and some tonal additions. A new instrument, Opus 2790, will be installed this coming Easter. This contract was negotiated within a few weeks of restructuring. Several interesting projects are pending for 2007. The metal pipe shop has completed new pipework for the new organ on the floor right now (Opus 2790) and other Austin projects. We have also recently completed extensive repairs and historic renovation on several sets of vintage Aeolian-Skinner pipework at the Mormon Tabernacle. We continue to cast our own pipe metal, and manufacture both flue and reed pipes.

The company is celebrating the milestones of 114 years since the first Austin organ was built, and 70 years since reorganization and move into the current factory. We are on solid footing and in good shape to complete projects large and small, with confident vision of significant growth and expansion.
In quiet moments around the factory, you can hear the faint, yet distinct footsteps of John, Basil, F.B., and Don Austin, as their spirits permeate every process and instrument. The memories of so many gifted and wonderful people who have literally spent their lives here continue to affect our days. They are all a constant reminder of our commitment and challenge to continue Austin’s heritage in American organbuilding. We are humbled to bring new life into this venerable institution, and the many calls and notes we receive encourage us to move forward to celebrate whatever might be the “next milestone.”

—Michael Brian Fazio

David C. Kelzenberg studied music performance and music theory at Quincy University and the University of Iowa. He has an interest in and has performed on all keyboard instruments, including organ, harpsichord, clavichord, and piano, and has made a special study of the history of early keyboard performance practice in the 20th and 21st centuries. He has taught music theory, French horn, trumpet, organ, and piano. His organ teachers have included Richard Haas, Rudolf Zuiderveld, and Gerhard Krapf. He is co-owner of the international Internet mailing list PIPORG-L (devoted to the organ), and founder and co-owner of HPSCHD-L (devoted to stringed early keyboard instruments such as the harpsichord and clavichord). He serves on the board of directors of the Midwestern Historical Keyboard Society, the Cedar Rapids Area Theatre Organ Society, and the Iowa City Early Keyboard Society.

Mother Nature showed her dark side during the month of June, with repeated thunderstorms dumping rain and more rain on the Midwest. Rivers, lakes, and reservoirs rose, eventually spilling over dams, levees, and banks, flooding some areas in unprecedented amounts.
Eastern Iowa was particularly hard hit, as cities along major rivers and tributaries were inundated by floodwaters. The massive Coralville Dam, built by the Army Corps of Engineers in the 1950s, was designed to control the Iowa River upstream of the towns of Iowa City and Coralville, while creating a huge water reservoir—a man-made lake designed for recreation, boating, swimming, and fishing. For only the second time in its history, the reservoir’s capacity was exceeded, with water flowing freely over the emergency spillway of the massive dam and overrunning everything in its downstream path.
Both Iowa City and Coralville were impacted by the swiftly rising water. In Iowa City, the University of Iowa had built numerous buildings along the banks of the river, under the mistaken assumption that the Coralville Dam, some 10 miles upstream, would prevent future flooding of the Iowa River. Among the buildings constructed adjacent to the river is the Voxman Music Building, home to the university’s School of Music. Named for the renowned educator and long-time School of Music director Himie Voxman, the Voxman Music Building has housed the university’s School of Music since its construction in 1970. Along with other nearby buildings such as Hancher Auditorium, Clapp Recital Hall, the Theatre Building, the University of Iowa Museum of Art, and two art buildings, Voxman was built immediately adjacent to the scenic and usually tranquil Iowa River, a mistake that would come to haunt the university in 2008.
When it was apparent that a flood was coming, Iowa City and Coralville residents turned out in a massive sand-bagging effort. Walls of sandbags were erected along the riverbank and around low-lying buildings. But the rain kept coming, and so did the floodwaters. By the time the water stopped rising, every important university building along the river—the entire Fine Arts Complex, the Main Library, the Iowa Memorial Union, several other academic buildings, the university’s largest dormitory, and its power generating plant, not to mention numerous homes and businesses in both communities, were flooded.
Some of the victims of this devastating flood were organs. In the Voxman Music Building, two large studio organs and several practice instruments were flooded with mucky river water to a depth of about 18 inches for over a week. The most serious loss was to the university’s 1987 North German-style organ by Taylor & Boody, Op. 13, which has been widely acclaimed as a masterwork. In the other teaching studio, a large two-manual tracker instrument by Schlicker was also severely damaged. In addition, three practice instruments, by Casavant, Brombaugh, and Holtkamp, suffered a similar fate. Fortunately, the water never reached the level of the pipes, but many parts such as blowers, winding systems, pedalboards, and actions were essentially destroyed.
According to Delbert Disselhorst, longtime chair of UI’s organ department, the effect of the flooding has been devastating to the department. “All of these organs will be removed from the building and returned to organ builders for rebuilding. We estimate that the building itself will not reopen until the fall of 2009. However, it may be another year or more before the organs are back in place and ready to resume their teaching and recital duties.” Gregory Hand, new professor of organ at Iowa, added a note of optimism. “The organs, despite everyone’s best efforts, sat in 18 inches of dirty water for some nine days. However, everyone at the university has been extremely helpful towards the organ department, and there has never been any question whether the organs would be fixed.”
Carroll Hanson, the curator of organs for the university, explained further. “The damaged organs included the university’s original teaching instrument, a Holtkamp ‘Martini’, which is believed to be the last instrument built by Walter Holtkamp, Sr., in 1961. Also damaged were tracker practice instruments by Casavant and John Brombaugh. The large Schlicker studio organ, a two-manual tracker of about 25 stops, suffered severe damage to its winding system and mechanicals.”
The most severe loss was the Taylor & Boody recital instrument, which has served as a focal point for teaching and recitals. Many students and guest artists have enjoyed its remarkable qualities since its installation. This instrument and the Brombaugh practice instrument will be returned to the Taylor & Boody shop in Virginia for restoration. Work on the large Schlicker instrument and the Holtkamp Martini will be undertaken by Gene Bedient’s shop in Lincoln, Nebraska. The Casavant practice instrument will be returned to Casavant in St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, Canada, for restoration.
Fortunately, the Casavant recital instrument in Clapp Recital Hall was not damaged by the flood. This large concert instrument, reportedly the first large tracker instrument to be installed in a major American teaching institution in the 20th century, was installed in the new Clapp Recital Hall in 1971 under the supervision of the “father” of organ instruction at Iowa, the late Gerhard Krapf. But, while the organ sits high in the hall and remained above the flood-waters, the hall itself was inundated, and will require major renovation. Another survivor of the devastation, a small portable continuo organ by Taylor & Boody, was moved to the second floor before the waters rose, and was untouched by the floodwaters.
Other instruments at the university were also compromised by the flooding. Some pianos and a harpsichord were removed from the path of the rising waters, while others were not as fortunate. Steve Carver, piano maintenance coordinator for the university, recalls details of their efforts to save the instruments. “We moved pianos all week until Friday the 13th (of June). We were initially told we could work through Friday but the river came up much faster than expected, so the building was locked down early Friday morning. We will lose about 25 upright pianos, a mixture of Steinway and Everetts. We left nine Steinway grands on the first floor to finish on June 13, but were unable to access the building to complete the move. These will at the least require all new legs and lyres (about $2000 per piano), but may well be totaled too.
“I am more concerned about what the exposure to high humidity after standing in 18 inches of water will do to the soundboards, etc. of the instruments. We were able to move about 20 more Steinways upstairs. But even these may suffer from lack of proper ventilation this summer and fall. I have been recently told that all 50 grands and uprights on the second floor will have to be relocated before winter.
“We removed the Italian harpsichord (built by the Zuckermann shop) from the building on June 12 and were planning to do likewise to the remaining two (a French double by David Rubio and a Flemish single by Edward Kottick) on June 13. As we were locked out of the building, these two stood in 18 inches of water for about nine days. I cannot comment on their condition other than to say there is a good chance they will be severely damaged. I have grave concerns in the long term how this flood will impact our inventory.”
This is a crushing blow to the UI School of Music. However, their resolve to work through these problems remains strong. Teaching will continue for the current academic year in facilities provided elsewhere in town. Local churches in particular have opened their space for teaching. It is anticipated that the Voxman Music Building, Hancher Auditorium, and Clapp Recital Hall will reopen in time for the 2009–2010 academic year, although it is unclear whether the organs will be back in place by then. But return they will, hopefully in better shape than ever and with provisions in place to prevent repeating this sort of tragedy. The harpsichords and pianos will also be restored, and music instruction will continue at the high level for which the University of Iowa has become known.
Meanwhile, in nearby Cedar Rapids, it was the Red Cedar River that caused problems, and if anything, the flood was even more devastating here than in Iowa City and Coralville. Organs were severely damaged in Cedar Rapids as well, although it was organs of a different type entirely.
The Red Cedar River runs through the heart of Cedar Rapids. Much of the city’s history is tied to industry lining the river, and downtown Cedar Rapids is bisected by this body of water. In the middle of the river in the heart of the city, Mays Island has stood for hundreds of years. A prominent landmark, Mays Island is home to the city’s municipal government, making Cedar Rapids one of just a few cities whose seat of government is located on an island. Also on the island are the courthouse and Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum, home of a famous large stained glass window designed by artist Grant Wood. At the height of the flood, Mays Island was completely invisible, with only the tall buildings standing above the water to show where it once was.
Cedar Rapids knew a flood was coming, and her citizens prepared accordingly. As in Iowa City and Coralville, volunteers turned out in a monumental sand-bagging effort. What no one could have anticipated was the magnitude of the flood of 2008. The water rose, up and up, and UP, and when it peaked it had completely inundated Mays Island, downtown Cedar Rapids, and many residential neighborhoods near the river. Hundreds, if not thousands, of homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed. Countless people were left homeless, and the government offices of Cedar Rapids and many of its downtown and neighborhood businesses were compromised. Amid the devastation, overshadowed by the tragedies of people left homeless, businesses destroyed, and historic buildings damaged, two significant cultural icons were also devastated by the raging waters. These were architectural treasures: two historical theatres dating back to 1928, and musical treasures—the theatre pipe organs that they housed. While these instruments represent a tragic loss, things could have been worse.
In 1929, the city was proud to acquire a new municipal organ, a 4-manual, 56-rank instrument built by the Ernest M. Skinner Company and installed in Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum on Mays Island. If that important instrument were still installed in that arena, it would have been completely destroyed during this flood. Fortunately, it was spared this fate. In the 1950s, the instrument was moved to Sinclair Auditorium on the campus of Coe College, some 10 blocks above the high water line. As a result, it suffered no damage during the flood.
Unfortunately, Cedar Rapids’ two historic theatre organs did not fare as well.
The beautiful Paramount Theatre, built in 1928, stands at the corner of Third Avenue and Second Street in the heart of downtown. Built in the grand style, this 2,000-seat movie palace was completely restored to its former glory just a few years ago to the tune of 7.8 million dollars. Its grand Hall of Mirrors, modeled after the great Palais de Versailles in France, ushered generations of moviegoers toward the opulent auditorium, where the sound of the 3/12 Mighty Wurlitzer beckoned. All of this glory came to an ignominious end during the first week of June, when the river crested its banks and inundated downtown Cedar Rapids.
A wall of water rushed through the Paramount Theatre building and into the auditorium. The heavy Wurlitzer console, raised on its lift to stage level in anticipation of the flood, was savagely tossed onto its back and onto the stage. The stage extension, built of heavy reinforced panels and extending over the orchestra pit, was knocked into complete disarray. In the end, some 8.5 feet of water covered the stage, organ console, and the entire auditorium. The lift and console were completely submerged for at least a week, and in the sub-basement, the organ’s blower was under at least 30 feet of water.
Fortunately, the organ chambers were not breached by the water, or the tragedy would have been far worse. The pipes, percussions, and windchests, as well as the original Wurlitzer relay, appear to have been spared. The blower was not reachable until one full month after the floodwaters receded. It is damaged, but still responding to a turn of its motor.
The most serious loss is the console itself, which was virtually destroyed. While it was found essentially intact after the waters receded, the waters had weakened wood and joints, and it literally fell apart as workers carefully attempted to remove it from the theatre. This is particularly tragic as this was an unusual Wurlitzer console, with unique decorative details, controlling an unusual instrument. Classified by Wurlitzer as a model Balaban 1A, the Paramount’s organ (Opus 1907) is the only extant instrument of this model still in essentially original condition, still in its original home. Only seven Balaban 1As were built by Wurlitzer, and this one has resided in the Paramount Theatre since opening night in 1928.
Like the theatre itself, the Wurlitzer organ is owned by the City of Cedar Rapids. It has been carefully maintained by, and at the expense of, the Cedar Rapids Area Theatre Organ Society (CRATOS) since that group was formed in 1969. CRATOS volunteers are working hard now to restore this organ to its former glory, but many questions remain about the structural integrity of the building, possible insurance coverage, and funding. The generous support of friends of the theatre organ will be needed to allow this special Wurlitzer organ to sing again. Obviously, the console will need to be completely rebuilt or replaced.
Meanwhile, at nearby Theatre Cedar Rapids (originally the RKO Iowa Theatre), Cedar Rapids’ other historic theatre organ suffered a similar fate. Theatre Cedar Rapids is home to the celebrated “Rhinestone” Barton theatre organ (opus 510), so named because of its spectacularly decorated console. This is another unique instrument, the largest of several Bartons that were actually built by the Wangerin Company of Milwaukee, and like its Wurlitzer neighbor an original installation from the year 1928. As far as is known, this is the only organ ever delivered with a console covered in black velvet, brilliant rhinestones, and sparkling glitter. This organ was historian and restoration expert David Junchen’s favorite Barton organ, and anyone who has heard or played it in its original home in Cedar Rapids can understand why.
The news from Theatre Cedar Rapids is somewhat brighter than that from the Paramount. At First Avenue and Third Street, TCR is a bit further from the river, and there was no wall of water crashing into the building. But creep in it did, and although the console had also been raised to stage level in anticipation of the flooding, the water rose to about the level of its solo (top) manual, where it remained for several days. The console damage was disastrous. Fortunately, the blower and relay for this instrument are located at chamber level, so only the console and its Barton four-post lift were damaged by the floodwaters.
The Barton organ is owned and maintained by a small non-profit corporation, Cedar Rapids Barton, Incorporated (CRBI). The organ was not insured, and funds for its restoration will need to come from generous donors and grants. Already a grant has been provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities, which has been used for the removal of the Barton console from the theatre and into safe storage where the damage is being assessed. However, significant funds are still needed to support the restoration or replacement of the organ’s console and other work needed to bring the Rhinestone Barton back to life.
With all of the personal tragedies the people of Cedar Rapids and Eastern Iowa have suffered as a consequence of this devastating flood, the restoration of these two historic theatre organs may seem an insignificant goal. Yet the people have demonstrated a strong will to restore their beloved theatres, which they consider important cultural landmarks for their city. Many of these same people have spoken out in support of restoring the organs, which they consider the “voice” of these theatres, providing much needed moral if not financial support. And it is the firm goal of CRATOS and CRBI working together to do whatever it takes to bring these unique historical instruments back to their former glory.
It will take time for these transformations to take place. And, it will take the generous financial support of many of our friends in the organ community and the music world. At the recent annual convention of the American Theatre Organ Society in Indianapolis, many people contributed to the cause of these two organs. But this is only the beginning. An online fundraising appeal is underway.
How can you help? If you would like to support the ongoing restoration and upkeep of the Cedar Rapids theatre organs, please consider making a contribution to the cause. You can do so online by visiting <www.cr-atos.com&gt;, where you may make an online contribution and view many photos and news stories on the flood damage to the organs. You may also purchase a copy of “Back in the Black,” Scott Foppiano’s spectacular CD recorded on the Rhinestone Barton, proceeds from which will support the organ fund. Or, you can send a check (made payable to CRATOS) to CRATOS, PO Box 611, Cedar Rapids, IA 52406. You can designate your donation for the Wurlitzer, the Barton, or both. The people of Cedar Rapids thank you for your support and encouragement during these difficult times.

Ron Rarick worked in various capacities for the Reuter Organ Co., and then took the doctorate in history of art with a minor in history of musical instruments. He is Assistant Professor of Art at Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana

Easy to overlook, at the bottom of a small display case in the basement archives of the Church of the Brethren in Elgin, Illinois, is a faded inscription on a small piece of wood. This voice from the past bears witness that In the forenoon of September 23, 1698, I Johan Christoph Harttman, organ maker of Nürttingen, firmly closed this small wind chest. May God grant that many beautiful and spiritual psalms and songs be played and struck on this work to His name's honor.1

Only a few steps away, in an adjoining room, stands the three-rank instrument from which this fragment was taken. While the closing of a windchest is not the completion of an organ, it nevertheless seems right that September 23, 1998, be regarded as the three hundredth anniversary of this, one of the oldest organs now to be found in North America.

Hartmann is not a famous builder but there are some scraps of information regarding his career.2 Based at Nürtingen some twenty kilometers southeast of Stuttgart in the former duchy of Württemberg, he made an eight-stop organ for the Dominican church of St. Paul at nearby Esslingen in 1688, and did repair work at Gerlingen about 1700.3 Both towns are just outside Stuttgart. These two references, combined with the instrument at Elgin, give us a known career covering a scant dozen years and modest territory. From the region of Württemberg came not only the cabinet organ at Elgin but also the person who brought it to America.

Henry J. Kurtz was born at Binningheim on July 22, 1796, when the organ was nearing its first century mark. The Kurtz family was Lutheran, the father a schoolteacher.4 In 1817, the young Henry (and the organ5) arrived in Northampton County, Pennsylvania. He was first a schoolteacher and in 1819 became a Lutheran pastor, ultimately serving the congregation in Pittsburgh (1823-27). Influenced by the utopian communitarianism of Robert Owen and George Rapp, he worked toward the founding of a "German Christian Industrial Community," to be named Concordia, near New Philadelphia, Ohio. This effort failed, but he found something of the idealistic Christian community he was seeking among the German Baptists, who called themselves Brethren, and was baptized into their fellowship on April 6, 1828. Rising in prominence within his newly chosen faith, he entered into its ministry in 1830 and was ordained an Elder in 1844. Throughout this time and beyond, Kurtz was convinced of the need to reach people through the printed page. In the 1820s he published Die Kleine Leider Sammlung, a small-format hymnbook "for the convenience of travellers," and he entered the English market (especially for the Brethren west of the Appalachians) with A Choice Selection of Hymns in 1830.6 Aside from musical publishing, in 1851 he established the Gospel Visitor (forerunner of the modern Brethren magazine The Messenger) and completed The Brethren's Encyclopedia in 1867. He also advocated expanding the role of the institutional church in the form of Sunday schools, academies, and missions.

While historian Donald Durnbaugh has referred to Kurtz as "the most influential figure in nineteenth-century Brethrenism,"7 the Brethren of that time, suspicious of things worldly, were not only dubious of the need for denominational schools and periodicals, but also took a dim view of instrumental music in general and rejected its use in church. This put Kurtz, a former Lutheran with a pipe organ, in an awkward position.8 It was not in his best interest to play the organ conspicuously, and so it became a very private affair for him.

What little is known about his use of the instrument was noted by his intimates, and only after his death. These recollections do provide a glimpse of how a private chamber organ--certainly a rarity--might have been used in the nineteenth-century American midwest. Eliza A. Good, his granddaughter, recalled that "sometimes he played on the organ and enjoyed teaching me some little songs on Sunday afternoons after Sunday school."9 It was in a corner of the room Elder Kurtz used for his study, and it shared the space with plebian furnishings: dresser, table, rocking chair, bed, woodstove.10 Another memory was that of Henry Holsinger, a former printing apprentice to Kurtz.

Brother Kurtz was quite a musician, vocal and instrumental, and had an organ in the house, but rarely used it. I shall long remember one occasion on which I heard him perform and sing one of his favorites. I went to the house, where the editorial sanctum was, on business connected with the office. After entering the hall, I heard music, and, finding the door ajar, I stopped and listened till the hymn was completed, much delighted with the strains. When I complemented him on his success, he explained that he had been tired of reading and writing, and had sought recreation and solace in the music. I prevailed on him to play and sing another piece for my gratification, which is the only occasion I remember that I was with him when the inspiration was upon him.11

After Henry Kurtz' death in 1874, the instrument remained in the family. In the 1890s it was in his son Jacob's home, where Charles Ellis saw and heard it, declaring its music "scarce inferior to that of many modern instruments of greater pretensions."12 As the Brethren began to accept instrumental music in the twentieth century, this organ eventually made its way into Bethel Church at Poland, Ohio (near Youngstown), where Levi P. Good, a great-grandson of Kurtz, pumped it as a boy. The church was forced to relocate and the organ next went to the home of another granddaughter of Henry Kurtz, Mrs. Silas (Ella) Huffman, who in turn left it to her son Dur Huffman. After his death the organ became the property of Mr. Good, who had grown up to become a successful farm implements dealer. In 1952 Good built a new house which could not accommodate the organ, which was removed to his barn.13

This nadir, thankfully, was short-lived. Levi Good may not have been concerned with the history of organ-building, but the organ had been part of his childhood and he had a sense of the instrument's connection with his illustrious ancestor and thereby with the formative history of the Church of the Brethren in America. With the encouragement of Brethren historian Law-rence Shultz, he contacted the offices of its General Board, and arrangements were made for its relocation. On August 6, 1957, the organ, in pieces, arrived in Elgin.14

Having been moved from Germany to Pennsylvania to Ohio to Illinois, this organ was still not done with its westward migration. In 1958, it was displayed at the church's annual conference, in Des Moines, Iowa. It was far from playable, however, and church staff desired its repair. Arrangements were made with an Illinois organ builder in 1961,15 but a few years later the work was not done and he had relocated to California, taking the Hartmann organ with him. Inquiries from Elgin and promises from McFarland were exchanged for several years until finally, in late summer 1969, representatives of the Brethren collected the organ--still in pieces--and shipped it back to Illinois. While a few repairs had been made to the wood pipes and windchest using unauthentic materials and techniques, it is to the credit of the Brethren that they resisted the opportunity for modernization (such as an electric blower) and pursued a "restoration only" policy.

The return of the organ after an absence of eight years caused a ripple in the local media as the Elgin Daily Courier News carried a photo of the empty case with a hopeful caption "Young at 272; never too old for a face lift."16 This brave attitude, however, could not mask the disappointment at the General Board that after twelve years, virtually no progress had been made. In addition, the Brethren were now understandably wary about the choice of a restorer. Another problem was that the work would have to be outside the Board's operating budget; earmarked donations were sought in 1970, but with meager results.

This was the situation in May 1972 when I, then a student at the University of Kansas, visited Elgin, where my grandfather had once been pastor of the Church of the Brethren. I was introduced to Gwendolyn Bobb, Administrative Assistant to the General Board. She was particularly keen about the organ, and when she discovered my abiding interest in organ construction, she showed me the pieces and expressed her frustration with the status of the project. I suggested a few reputable names, including that of John Brombaugh, whose shop near Middletown, Ohio, I had visited the previous December. As a journeyman with Von Beckerath, he had worked on Schnitger organs, and although in 1972 he was still in his early years as a master builder in America, he had restored the Tannenberg in Madison, Virginia, as well as serviced the eighteenth-century cabinet organ in the Toledo art museum. At that time, he was certainly one of the most highly qualified craftsmen in America to whom the organ might be entrusted. As it happened, the Brethren annual conference was in Cincinnati that summer and Miss Bobb was able to visit the nearby Brombaugh shop. Having met him and his associates, she knew her search for a fine artisan was over. Unfortunately, the search for funds was not, and three more years were to pass until work could begin.

John Brombaugh first saw the instrument briefly in June 1975 and gave a preliminary estimate for restoration (which had to be revised upwards following a later, more detailed inspection). By the first week of November the instrument was in Middletown, and as it is a small organ, the work was complete in short order. An invoice details the work: releather bellows; design and build foot pump mechanism (to replace a lost original); repair casework, stain and wax same; replace back panel; mount principal in façade with appropriate cherry casework (new pipe stiles); design and make pipe shades; repair all pipes, gild façade pipes; revoice, tune all pipes (Kirnberger III); new tuners for flute 4'; refurbish action; restore wind chest. In January 1976 Brombaugh had been paid and the organ was back in Elgin, in a condition surely better than any time in over a century.

There was to be one more trip for this much-travelled little organ. The 1976 annual conference was to be held in Wichita, and the General Board wanted to feature its historic treasure. With Brombaugh's consent and advice, it was trucked to the distant convention center. Circumstances had conspired to elect me, by then working in the organ business in Kansas, to re-tune the organ for its presentation. I did this in the only quiet time available on the incongruously vast modern stage: after midnight. On the evening of July 29, played by Wilber Brumbaugh (a Brethren staff member and by curious coincidence a distant relative of John Brombaugh), the organ was dedicated with an oral presentation, solo literature, and singing, with approximately four thousand in attendance. Johann Christoph Hartmann of Nürtingen would have been astounded.

Returned to Elgin once more, the organ has enjoyed a relatively quiet retirement, but there have been moments of glory. The organ came to the attention of the Organ Historical Society17 and was featured in a program of the Chicago/Midwest chapter on September 13, 1981. Peter Crisafulli performed Stanley, Pachelbel, Bach, and Buxtehude. On August 21, 1984, the OHS national convention was in the Chicago area and Elizabeth Towne Schmitt played works by Naumann, Boëllmann, and Goemanne.18

The instrument has a cherry case which is presumed to be of American manufacture; the original German case was likely oak.19 It stands two meters high, 1.15 meters wide, and 55 centimeters deep excluding pump levers. Any original pipe shades were gone without a trace and budget restraints during restoration precluded carving. Illusionistically painted pipe shades were created by the Brombaugh staff with an eye to those of Arp Schnitger's 1685-88 Steinkirchen organ. The Elgin organ's compass is four octaves CC-c'', with the omission of CC# for a total of 48 pipes per rank. The ranks are an 8' stopped wood, 4' open wood, and 2' metal principal,20 the latter of which has notes 1-27 and 29 tubed off to the façade with the remaining 20 pipes (28 and 30-48) standing chromatically just behind the façade. The photograph reveals the use of diamond- and spiral-pattern embossing on selected façade pipes. It was common in the north European Baroque to alternate embossed and cylindrical pipes, but always in symmetrical patterns. This display could be rendered symmetrical if FF and BB were embossed. It is reasonable to suppose these pipes are not original since they break the design rhythm. Their construction, however, is consistent with the other pipes and therefore they may have been early replacements, perhaps in the organ's first century before being acquired by Kurtz. The principal is of a darkened high-tin alloy which contrasts with the mouth gilding applied in the 1975 restoration. This Principal is cut up 1:4 and moderately nicked. John Brombaugh recalls that the languids seemed to be set too high for prompt speech, but an experimental adjustment on a few pipes did not get good results and the voicing was thus left essentially unchanged during restoration. The sound of the principal is quite bold, especially in a small room. In Table 1, diameters are approximate due to out-of-round pipes, and the cone tuning forced the use of outside dimensions.

The organ is winded at 50 mm water column and the Brombaugh restoration provided both a hand pumping lever in back and an iron foot pumping lever in front. Key action is of the sticker type, with pallets directly beneath the keys. From there, wind is channelled to pipe holes in a pattern of considerable irregularity. There are a few short runs of chromatic sequence, but mostly in reverse to the keyboard (basses to right). It certainly does not resemble the logical appearance of chromatic, diatonic, or major-third layouts common today. Navigating these ranks when setting temperament and tuning is, to put it mildly, a challenge.

Sensibly enough, the 8' Gedackt basses are in back (although not entirely in chromatic order). Only CC is mitered. Because of various attempts at restoration before 1975, the wood pipes sport a variety of materials and techniques, but are reasonably original. The mouths are cut up very slightly under 1:3 and level. (See Table 2.)

The stops are not named, but the 4' open wood has been referred to as a Hohlpfeife. Its wooden construction imparts a flutiness, while its moderate scale and 1:4 cut-up give it somewhat a principal quality to bridge the gap between the stopped 8' and the metal 2'. Each pipe is tuned with a metal flap at the top, and pipes 1-4 are mitered. This rank is placed between the Gedackt and the façade, with basses clustered to the player's left. The pipes' sectional proportions are roughly 3:2 throughout. (See Table 3.)

Late seventeenth-century German working parts in an early nineteenth-century American case with late twentieth-century repairs do not add up to an instrument of pristine museum quality. And yet, its intact musical nature and high-quality restoration allow it to present music now as was originally heard in the Hartmann shop in the autumn of 1698. This, as well as its connections to an important figure in early American music publishing and religious life, place it, as it enters its fourth century, among the most significant historical organs in America.

Pipedreams Organ Tour, April 21-May 3, 2002, Part 1

Mary Ann Dodd is Colgate University Organist Emerita. Her lectures and performances have often featured the music of contemporary American composers. She is presently at work on a book about the life and times of organist Leonard Raver.

"Travel back in time. Open that church door and peer inside. Hear the incredible, vital voice of instruments you have only read about . . . climb the winding stairs to view the organ up close. If you wish, lay your hands on its keyboards and let its time-honored voice sing just for you. Prepare to be enchanted . . ." Who could possibly resist such an enticing invitation? Certainly not I, nor--apparently--the forty-three others who lost no time in signing up for this extraordinary travel opportunity sponsored by Minnesota Public Radio and hosted by Pipedreams' own J. Michael Barone.

For this septuagenarian, who had never before ventured across the "Big Pond," this was, indeed, a once-in-a-lifetime adventure. Our itinerary was an ambitious one. We would be visiting at least forty organs in eleven days--an interesting mix of old and new instruments in a variety of venues including castles, palaces, museums, cathedrals and village churches.

It was my intention to keep some kind of travel diary and to write an article about the trip when I returned. As luck would have it, my life took some unexpected turns about that time, and many months passed before I was able to turn my attention to this self-appointed task. More than a year would have passed by the time the article reached the hands of readers. I thought long and hard about it. Perhaps I should abandon the project. In the end, I couldn't. It was a trip that deserves to be documented and shared. By now, many details, once vivid, have faded, and I apologize for the errors and omissions that are bound to occur. This is not intended to be a scholarly report in any sense. It is not about facts and figures and stop lists. The memory of this remarkable journey has been simmering away on the back burners of my mind, and I want to try to capture its essence and share some impressions with you. Here, then, is the Pipedreams Organ Tour, 2002, in retrospect.

Day 1

Early Monday morning, as we arrived from various points of embarkation, our group began to assemble in the boarding area of Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport. Weary and jet-lagged, we were a motley crew indeed. Our ever-genial host, Michael Barone, greeted each of us warmly and presented us with a thirty-page booklet that he had prepared. In addition to a detailed itinerary, it contained a fine introductory essay, photographs, maps, stop lists, website links and other pertinent and helpful information. It would become our vade-mecum for the next eleven days. In a matter of mere minutes, a group of strangers were rapidly becoming "family," and the final leg of our journey to Berlin was about to begin.

The flight from Amsterdam to Berlin is a relatively short one, and before long, we found ourselves deplaning. Tegel airport--as one might expect--is large, bustling and modern. Had our ears not been surrounded by myriad voices all speaking in German, it might have been the airport of any great city. We were warmly welcomed by our German tour guide, Sonja Ritter, and our bus driver, Manuela Huwe. Eventually, our luggage was duly accounted for and stowed, and we climbed aboard our large and comfortable modern tour bus. The adventure had begun!

Our itinerary promised a brief "panoramic tour" of the city, and it did not disappoint. It was a beautiful, warm and sunny day--the first sunshine Berlin had seen in this month of April! As we drove through the city, flowering trees were everywhere. Everyone in Berlin seemed to be outside enjoying the sunshine. Crowded sidewalk cafes and mounted policemen on horseback were reminiscent of the isle of Manhattan on a warm day in spring.

Our only stop in Berlin that first day was at the Breitscheidplatz for a brief lunch break. The plaza, a popular tourist attraction, is dominated by the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, which was built at the end of the nineteenth century. Bombed by the British in 1943, the ruined church tower is all that remains. It has been preserved as a memorial, and a new, modern church of blue-stained glass now stands beside it. Some in our group chose to explore the church. Others wandered off in search of lunch and souvenirs, and some seized the opportunity to acquire some euros at a nearby bank. Too sleep-deprived and exhausted to move, I chose to sit on a bench in the warm sun and reflect on my first impressions of this great city. Berlin exudes an almost overwhelming aura of energy, vitality and transformation--a modern-day phoenix rising from the ashes. It is a city of starkly dramatic contrasts between old and new--building for the future, while preserving and learning from its past.

Once again aboard our bus, we headed for Potsdam, some eighteen miles to the south and west. If Berlin was colorful and bright, Potsdam seemed gray and somber. Older, smaller, less urban and "touristy," we were now in what had once been East Germany before the reunification in 1990. Potsdam was bombed by the British in 1945, and even today--more than a half-century later--the signs are still visible. Large, ugly, institutional-looking apartment buildings bear witness to the recent Communist occupation. But Potsdam, like Berlin, is also a city of contrasts. Palaces, formal gardens and landscaped parks speak eloquently of the wealth and splendor of the past.

Sanssouci Park

Our first stop was Sanssouci Park, the home of Frederick the Great's eighteenth-century summer palace. Neither words, nor even photographs, can begin to do justice to this incredible monument to royal self-indulgence. Wilhelm Frederick II, the philosopher king, had a passion for things French, and spoke only that language. An accomplished pupil of Quantz, he was famous for his daily chamber music concerts and midnight suppers, at which he surrounded himself with an elite circle of intellectuals and artists, among them such luminaries as Voltaire. It was for Frederick that Bach wrote The Musical Offering after visiting the king in Potsdam in 1747. The lavish, single-story palace, with its yellow, rococo façade, sits high atop what had once been only a desolate hill. The palace is not open on Monday, but we were able to walk about and take in the panoramic view of the park below. Walking across the vast plaza and past the fountains, we made the long descent down the broad and elegant staircase, past six tiers of terraced vineyards with their glassed-in alcoves designed to protect the orange and fig trees. Having reached the great fountain at the bottom, one is able to turn and look back up the hill toward the palace. It is a truly extraordinary sight, now etched indelibly in my memory.

From there, a leisurely stroll took us through more of the park with its beautifully landscaped gardens, temples, statues, pavilions and grottos. Approaching the edge of the park, we arrived at the lovely Friedenskirche (Peace Church), a picturesque Italianate structure modeled after an early Christian basilica and complete with campanile. Built by Frederick IV, the nineteenth-century, "romantic" Prussian king, the church was completed in 1848, the same year that the organ was dedicated.

The original 18-stop instrument, built by Gottlieb Heise, employed casework designed to encircle the rose window. Over the years, additions and alterations were made by various builders. A major rebuilding and dramatic enlargement by Sauer, in 1909, resulted in a new façade which covered the rose window. During the twentieth century, the revisions continued, resulting in the replacement of many Romantic registers by Baroque stops. Plans are now underway, and funds being raised, for a major rebuilding project which will return the organ to something like its original nineteenth-century state. The acoustics are fine, and in spite of its checkered past, the organ gave a decent accounting of itself under the capable hands of Director of Church Music, Matthias Jacob, who welcomed us warmly and played a mini-recital of Bach, Reger and Franck.

Schuke Orgelbau

Back on the bus once more, we headed for the Schuke Orgelbau, the last stop of the day before checking into our hotel. The Schuke organ factory is located in the heart of the old Dutch Quarter. It was here, after the Thirty Years' War, that Frederick I, the "Soldier King," commissioned the building of 134 red brick, gabled houses in the Dutch style, meant to attract workers from Holland to help with Potsdam's building boom at the beginning of the eighteenth century. The Schuke company was founded in 1820 by Gottlieb Heise, builder of the original Friedens-kirche organ. Since 1894, it has been under the Schuke name and has survived two world wars as well as the enforced nationalization which took place between 1972 and 1990. Not a small shop by any means, Schuke employs twenty-eight craftsmen, including a physicist and a design engineer. With an international clientele, the company designs, builds, restores, reconstructs and maintains organs of every size in every venue.

East Germans seem to be early risers. A working day at the Schuke company begins at 6:30 and ends at 2:30. By the time we arrived, most of the workers had already left or were leaving for the day. The quaint, picturesque setting imbued the whole enterprise with an ambience of charm and informality. Our tour guide was a young physicist from the University of Potsdam. We wandered up and down and through many small rooms which occupied several adjoining buildings, all accessible through a small, cobblestone courtyard. For some in our group, it was their first visit to an organ shop, and there were many questions, some of which were difficult for our guide to field because of the language barrier. Fortunately, our group included the American organ builder, Roland Rutz, who was able to greatly facilitate the communication problem.

A church, a palace, a royal chapel, and an organ factory--not bad for an afternoon's work! By now, we were beyond exhaustion and more than ready to head for our small hotel, which was located in a quiet, residential Potsdam neighborhood. We would be on our own for the remainder of the evening. It was still early, and a few of the more adventurous in the group headed back to Berlin via public transportation. After being reunited with our luggage, and having stretched our legs a bit, most of us were quite content to settle on a leisurely meal right there in our hotel.

Day 2

The restorative powers of a good night's sleep had worked their wonders, and after an early breakfast, we gathered in the lobby eager to board our bus for what promised to be a very full day in Berlin. The fact that the day had dawned cold and rainy had not dampened our spirits. Our driver, Manuela, drove us back to Berlin by a different route, more residential than that by which we had come before. Lakes, streams and lovely forested areas abounded. Green was the color of the day, and signs of spring were everywhere. Berliners evidently love their gardens, yet their lawns seem to fend for themselves and lack the "manicured" look one expects to find in similar neighborhoods back in the States. I found the effect charming and thought again of Berlin as a city of contrasts--in this case, the rather dramatic juxtaposition of urban and rural.

Church of the Holy Cross

Our destination on this rather dark and gloomy Tuesday morning was the Kreuzberg district of Berlin and the Church of the Holy Cross. The bus let us out on the Blücherplatz, and we made our way on foot to the church. The Church of the Holy Cross is one of the largest and most prominent in Berlin. Built between 1885 and 1888, it suffered severe damage in WW II, and the interior was completely destroyed. Although a rather limited reconstruction in the 1960s had made the church habitable again, many problems still remained, and it had become a financial liability to the community, rather than an asset. As a result of many years of creative and foresightful cooperative planning in the 1980s, the church has undergone a major reconstruction and revitalization. After several years, the project was finally completed, and the building was inaugurated in 1995. Recognized as an historic monument, its exterior remains virtually unchanged. Inside is another story altogether. While preserving the integrity of the main room (the worship space), this very large interior has been miraculously transformed into an ecologically sound, multi-use facility, which serves the entire community. Side galleries, open stairways, windows and skylights, stone, glass and steel: all of these elements have been combined into a harmonious blend of old and new. Michael Barone has referred to it as "creative contemporary recycling at every level." Wherever one happens to be in this vast space, the effect is visually thrilling.

But enough about the building. We had come to see, hear and play the organ--an organ no less extraordinary than the building it occupies. The organ is E. & G. G. Hook, Opus 553, II/39, built in 1870 for the First Unitarian Church of Woburn, Massachusetts. In 1991, the organ was threatened with destruction when the congregation ceased to function there, and the building was designated for other uses. The Organ Clearing House came to the rescue and removed the instrument, but a local buyer could not be found at that time. Fortunately, the organ specialist, Uwe Pape, was able to arrange the purchase of the instrument by the Kreuzberg chapter of the Evangelical Church. This was followed by a period of uncertainty while the organ waited in storage. Finally, the Church of the Holy Cross was designated as its new home, and after careful planning, the installation and revoicing was accomplished in 2000-01 by the Eule company. The organ was in good condition and, except for some releathering and the repairing of some cracks in the windchests, it remains unaltered. In its original Woburn incarnation, the organ had been buried in a narrow chamber and forced to speak into an acoustically dead room. Here, a beautiful, new, free-standing organ case has been designed by two of the architects who were involved in the recent renovation. The organ is now visually "at home" in its new surroundings and speaks, for the first time, into a good acoustic. Perhaps even more importantly, Berlin now possesses a fine example of nineteenth-century organ building. Kantor Gunter Kennel greeted us warmly, introduced us to the organ, answered questions and played for us. Afterwards there was ample opportunity for those who wished to try the instrument themselves.

Charlottenburg Palace

Back on the bus again, our next stop was Charlottenburg Palace, the largest palace in Berlin. Located on the Spree River and once approachable by boat, it was built between 1695 and 1699 as a rural summer home for Sophie-Charlotte, wife of the future King Frederick I of Prussia. Over the years, it was added to in stages and finally completed by Frederick the Great with the addition of an east wing in 1746. Severely damaged by Allied bombing in 1943, the palace has been meticulously restored and is now a major tourist attraction.

We took the guided tour and enjoyed viewing the many priceless paintings, tapestries and furnishings, including the famous porcelain collection of Frederick I. But the major attraction for us on this gloomy Tuesday was the royal chapel and its organ. Having completed the formal tour, we were escorted into the small chapel. Once free of the museum-like context of viewing roped-off treasures, we seemed to have quietly slipped into another dimension where we found ourselves at once immersed in sumptuous, eighteenth-century splendor. To actually experience this architectural detail at close range and in three dimensions was both wonderful, and at the same time, a bit overwhelming.

The original instrument had been a 1706 Schnitger of two manuals, twenty-six ranks. Even though the organ had been removed and stored for safekeeping in the cellar in 1943, it was totally destroyed by fire bombs the following year. Fortunately, Alexander and Karl Schuke had been planning a thorough restoration and had carefully documented and photographed the instrument in its every detail. The restoration by Karl Schuke was completed in 1970. In the center of one of the long sidewalls, high above the floor of the chapel, Haupt-werk and Pedal divisions and console are housed within a chamber, which sits behind the arched opening into the room. The Rückpositiv, in an elaborately carved and ornamented frame, projects into the room. In spite of this rather "quirky" physical design, the organ has a pleasant sound and a clear presence that fills the room nicely. Professor Klaus Eichhorn was on hand to greet us and play works by Sweelinck, Scheidemann and Weckman. Although time was short, several in our group seized the opportunity to try the instrument. The organ loft is very small and able to accommodate only a few people at a time. I was content to remain below, absorbing the sights and sounds of another age in this royal chapel where kings had worshipped. I must say that exiting the palace and finding ourselves abruptly back in the twenty-first century was a bit of a jolt.

Berlin Konzerthaus

Back on the bus once more, we headed for the Gendarmenmarkt, the largest plaza in Berlin, and thought by many to be the most beautiful square in all of Europe. "Take-out" sandwiches sufficed for our lunch break and helped to keep us on schedule, as we were expected shortly at the Konzerthaus for an organ demonstration.

Dominating the large plaza, the Berlin Konzerthaus is an imposing structure. Flanked by the German cathedral (the Berlin Dom) on one side and the French cathedral on the other, it stands today as an outstanding example of European concert hall reconstruction. Originally designed in 1801 as the State Theater, it has survived many disasters and reconstructions over the past two hundred years. Severely damaged in WW II, it was first made structurally safe, and then, starting in 1979, systematically restored to its original design. In 1984 it reopened as the Berlin Konzerthaus, now home to the Berlin Symphonic Orchestra.

The organ, IV/74, built by the Jehmlich firm of Dresden, is of modern, eclectic design. Mounted high on the wall above the orchestra, the case has been beautifully integrated into the overall architectural scheme, which reflects the classical elements and lavish details of an earlier age. In addition to the attached, mechanical-action console, there is a second, movable console with electric key action, which sits on the concert stage. Organist Joachim Dalitz greeted us and gave us a brief demonstration and mini-recital while we were free to wander about if we wished. Somehow, for me, the visual aspect of the instrument in this grand concert venue seemed to promise far more in terms of sound than it actually delivered. There was absolutely nothing one could point to that was "wrong" or unpleasant in any way. But to my ears, something ineffable was missing. But there was no time now for further reflection, and we would be back again that evening for an orchestra concert. In the meantime, it was out on to the plaza again, and time to make our way across to the Berlin Dom.

Berlin Dom

This magnificent domed building, inspired by the Italian Renaissance, was built by Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1905, replacing the original eighteenth-century cathedral which he had demolished in spite of the sharp criticism of some of his contemporaries. The Berlin Dom is home to what was once the largest organ in all of Germany and the largest instrument ever built by Wilhelm Sauer. The organ, IV/113, was inaugurated at the same time as the Cathedral church itself in 1905. Sauer (1831-1916) established his own organbuilding shop in 1855. Having traveled widely, and having absorbed the ideas of such distinguished builders as E.F. Walcker and Cavaillé-Coll, he became one of the most famous builders in all of Europe. Most of the nineteenth-century instruments in Berlin were built by him, and the Berlin Dom instrument is considered by many to be his crowning achievement. Over the course of the century, many changes were made, reflecting the current trends in organ design as well as the devastation of two world wars. In 1917, the tin façade pipes were donated to the "war effort" and later replaced in 1927. In 1932, at the instigation of cathedral organist Fritz Heitmann, several neo-baroque changes were made in the Positiv. In 1942, a plan was proposed by the Rudolf von Beckerath firm for an extensive, neo-baroque rebuild which, because of the war, was never seriously considered. When the Cathedral dome was de-stroyed in a 1944 bombing raid, the organ miraculously survived unscathed, only to be subsequently damaged by theft and vandalism and exposure to the elements, as the dome remained open and was not repaired until 1953. Since then, some twenty years later a serious and thorough restoration of both cathedral and organ was undertaken and finally completed in 1996. The earlier neo-baroque tonal modifications have been removed, and once again the instrument speaks in the warm, romantic orchestral sounds intended by its builder.

The Dom is a major tourist attraction, and on the day that we were there, it was crowded with people. We were ushered up to one of the side galleries where we heard a short, regularly scheduled recital played by the young organist, Thomas Sauer. Unfortunately, I think we were in a very poor location for hearing the organ. Although we did not have programs, I recall the selections as being surprisingly eclectic for such a Romantic instrument. The program certainly demonstrated the organ's versatility in handling a great diversity of styles--perhaps not always with authenticity--but the musicianship was never in doubt. Due in part, perhaps, to my mounting fatigue and our less-than-satisfactory seats, I found my attention wandering a bit during the recital. A rather strange phenomenon seemed to be occurring. The sound of the organ and the lavish, visual grandeur with which we were surrounded were being upstaged by this extraordinarily magnificent space. In spite of the cold, drizzly day, the vast interior seemed to be bathed in sunlight, and I felt em-braced by the atmosphere in a magical, timeless, and almost tangible, way. With the familiar and rousing strains of the "Finale" from the Vierne First Symphony, the spell was broken, and we were once again on our way.

"Good Tidings" Church

We would return later to the Gendarmenmarkt for dinner and a concert, but for now our destination was the Karlshorst District of Berlin and the Evangelical Church, "Good Tidings," where we would hear and play a 1755 Migendt organ, II/22. This well-traveled little instrument has a quite remarkable history. The organ was originally commissioned by Princess Anna Amalia, sister of King Frederick the Great. It was for this instrument that C.P.E. Bach wrote his Six Sonatas and dedicated them to the princess. After Anna's death in 1787, the organ was moved to a church in the Berlin suburb of Wendisch-Buch where it remained undiscovered until 1934. Plans were made for it to become a second organ at the Nikolai Church, and in 1936 it was disassembled. During the ensuing confusion of WW II, it was moved about again and miraculously preserved from harm. In 1960 it was restored by Schuke and installed in the "Good Tidings" church. This modest and charming neighborhood church provided a welcome contrast after our earlier exposure to the grandeur of palaces, concert halls and cathedrals. We learned that Roland Münch, the man who had been curator of this historic instrument since 1969, had only recently died. In his absence, we were greeted warmly by Herr Knappe and his wife, who seemed to be members of the parish. His knowledge of the instrument and the pride and joy he took in demonstrating it more than compensated for any lack of virtuosity on his part. In spite of some language difficulty, we felt welcomed and at home. No vastness here to be sure, but instead, a warm, vibrant sound that seemed to permeate every nook and cranny of the small sanctuary in a vital, but not in the least aggressive way. After the demonstration, our three most serious players each took a turn along with Michael, and for the first time--but not the last--there was some hearty hymn singing.

Back at the Gendarmenmarkt, there was time for a leisurely stroll before heading to the Opernpalais restaurant for a dinner. We were divided into small groups at several tables for a pleasant and relaxing meal in quiet and elegant surroundings. Concert tickets were distributed and, having got our "second wind," we made our way back to the Konzerthaus for a symphonic concert of Schubert, Schumann and Mozart.

It was hard to believe that this was the same venue we had visited only hours earlier. The very presence of this large and enthusiastic crowd of serious music lovers seemed to breathe warmth and life into what had seemed to me earlier to be a rather cold and austere building. And indeed, why not? It was for this that the building was intended. Magic was afoot here. The musical "chemistry" generated by conductor, performers and audience had, at least for me, succeeded in invoking the spirit of "Music Past." This was indeed where Mozart had come to attend the premiere of Weber's Freischütz overture and where Wagner had conducted The Flying Dutchman. No longer just a group of American organ buffs, for one magical evening, we were Berliners, intensely proud of our musical heritage and of our concert house, which had literally risen like a glorious phoenix from its ashes. There was an intensity about this musical evening which I will not soon forget.

In spite of the lateness of the hour, our coach had not turned into a pumpkin, and we headed back to Potsdam for one last night, mulling over the days events and welcoming the opportunity to get a glimpse of Berlin at night.

Day Three

Wednesday began with a very early wake-up call. We had to have not only ourselves, but also our luggage collected, be breakfasted and at the entrance for a 7:30 departure. It was a tall order indeed. Even though the day was dark and drizzly and chillier than the day before, everyone seemed eager for the next leg of the journey.

It felt good to leave the city behind us, and it was interesting to see something of the rural countryside. We passed by vineyards and fields of white asparagus, the Hartz Mountains always visible in the background. Sonja's commentary enhanced our enjoyment of the ride, and she also took advantage of the travel time to provide us with some interesting historical background about our first stop of the day. As Sonja would succinctly put it in her very precise English, "Destination: Wittenberg."

Wittenberg

The small medieval city of Wittenberg was founded on the northern bank of the Elbe River in the twelth century. We were headed for the Schlosskirche (Castle Church). Both castle and church were built during the reign of Frederick the Wise between 1490 and 1511, and we were about to step through yet another window into the past. We began with a walking tour of the castle. Five hundred years embraces a lot of history as well as a lot of destruction and painstaking restoration. Of the original castle, only the exterior remains. History can be read about, and architectural details can be photographed and described. But one is never quite prepared for the experience of being there in that space and imagining what it might have been like to live within these walls so long ago.

From there we proceeded into the church. It was on the original doors of this church that Luther had posted his 95 Theses in 1517. But we had come to hear the Ladegast organ. Friederich Ladegast (1818-1905) was an important nineteenth-century builder whose shop produced more than 200 organs. Influenced by the ideas of both Andreas Silbermann and Cavaillé-Coll, he developed a sound that was a unique blend of the Baroque and the Romantic.

The original Castle Church instrument was an 1864 Ladegast of three manuals and 39 stops. In 1935 it was rebuilt by Sauer. The alterations (typical of the time) were substantial and included electrifying the action and adding a Schwellwerk. Then, in 1994, the Eule firm took on the enormous task of returning it to its original mechanical and tonal condition, although it was decided to retain the 1930s Swell. Today the organ boasts four divisions and fifty-seven stops. It was demonstrated for us on this day by organist/cantor Anne-Dore Baumgarten, who is also professor of church music at the Wittenberg seminary. Afterwards, all who wished were invited to climb the gallery stairs and play. All too soon it was time to move on, but we could not leave this historic cradle of Lutheranism without at least one rousing stanza of "A Mighty Fortress."

Out on the ancient cobbled streets, we made our way to St. Mary's, the Stadtkirche (City Church) of Wittenberg. It was here that Martin Luther preached, and here that he was married and buried. Although it is the oldest church in Wittenberg (begun in the thirteenth century), its organ, completed in 1983, is a contemporary mechanical-action instrument by Sauer of three manuals and fifty-three stops. Herr Lamberti was on hand to greet us and to demonstrate the instrument with works by Bach and Mendelssohn.

With a full day still ahead of us, we scrambled back aboard the bus and continued on our way as we consumed the "Bach's lunches" with which we had been provided. This time our destination was the historic town of Halle.

Halle

Located on the River Saale, an important tributary of the Elbe, Halle was first mentioned in the tenth century, although it is located on what appears to be the site of ancient Bronze Age and Ice Age settlements. During the Middle Ages, the river provided fish, drinking water and transport for the town's most important resource, salt. Today, Halle is a major industrial center as well as the largest city in the District of Saxony-Anhalt with a population of more than a quarter of a million people. We were headed for the famous Marktplatz at city center with its Handel Monument and the famous "Five Towers" which dominate the landscape. Our first stop would be the historic Marktkirche where Handel had been baptized and received his first communion. Here he had his first organ lessons with his teacher Zachow and played his first services as Zachow's substitute .

The church originally possessed a sixteenth-century instrument by Esauas and David Beck, which was praised by Michael Praetorius in his Syntagma Musicum. The Beck orgorgan no longer exists and in 1984, the Schuke company built a modern instrument of three manuals and fifty-six stops. Of special interest to us was the small Reichel organ of one manual and six stops. Played from the back of its beautifully carved case, it had been added to the cathedral in 1664 in order to expand the musical possibilities. Over the years, the organ has unfortunately been "tampered with," and in 1972, the Schuke firm restored it to the original mean-tone temperament and brought it back to its original specification. Students of Konrad Brandt demonstrated both instruments for us briefly, and then it was on to the Halle Cathedral for a demonstration by Konrad Brandt of the 1851 instrument by Wäldner. It was here at the Cathedral that Handel had been appointed probationary organist for one year before he resigned and left for Hamburg. Following that, we took a guided tour of the Handel museum before boarding our bus once more. Destination: Merseburg Cathedral.

Merseburg Cathedral

The history of Merseburg can be traced back as far as the ninth century. The cornerstone of the Cathedral was laid in the year 1015 and since then, the edifice has been rebuilt several times. The history of the Cathedral is a complicated one, even for this time and place. But of particular interest to us was the 1855 Ladegast, IV/80, which sits high in the rear gallery of this immense and ancient building. It was for the inauguration of this instrument that Liszt composed his largest organ work, the Fantasia and Fugue on "Ad nos." Unfortunately, the work was not finished in time, and so the cathedral organist, a pupil of Liszt, played instead the Prelude and Fugue on B-A-C-H. In 1961, the organ was "baroqued," a fate which befell so many fine examples of nineteenth-century German organ building. After the pendulum had swung back, a provisional restoration was completed in 1995. Now a more thorough and complete restoration is in progress to be completed by 2003.

At the moment, the only playable instrument in the Cathedral was a small Ladegast organ of one manual and ten stops which is being used as a substitute until the restoration project is complete. It sits quite unpretentiously down on the main floor to the side of one of the transepts. Built in 1850, it is the oldest extant Ladegast instrument. It was demonstrated for us by the organist, Michael Schönheit, who played a short program of amazing variety: Bach, Mendelssohn, Rheinberger and Brahms. Herr Schönheit's busy schedule did not permit him to linger, but since this was our last scheduled stop for the day, arrangements were made for us to stay and try the little organ. It had been a very long day--a castle, a museum and five organs. By now we were all, without exception, hungry, exhausted and chilled to the bone.

And then something quite extraordinary happened. I no longer recall who was the first to play as we gathered around the organ, but I can only describe it as a kind of magical, musical chain reaction. We were somehow enchanted by the musical sounds emanating into that huge space from this tiny organ. People came forward to play who, up until now, had only watched and listened. It was surely the most awkward console we had encountered to date--hardly "user friendly" for those of us accustomed to AGO standards. Shyness and self-consciousness were abandoned with much encouragement all around. Some only played a hymn. Some did not read music, and played by ear. Of all the things we had seen and heard on that eventful day, one moment is etched most vividly in my memory. It was nearly time to leave, and the very last to play was the eldest gentleman of our little group. There we stood, huddled together for warmth in the corner of that dark and vast space, united by the sound of this remarkable little instrument, raising our voices in a chorus of "Church in the Wildwood."

And then it was back to the warmth of our bus and on to Leipzig which would be our home for the next two nights. The light was fading and our mood was rather subdued as we rode past rural farms and open fields, reflecting on the day's events and looking forward to a warm meal and a good night's sleep. Although it was nearly dark by the time we arrived in Leipzig, our driver, Manuela, took us past St. Thomas-kirche. Just enough light remained to afford us a glimpse of this famous church where Bach had spent the last twenty-seven years of his life--an enticing foretaste of what lay in store for us tomorrow.

This article will be continued.

Joel Kuznik has served as a college organist and professor, a church musician, a pastor, and as a business executive on Fifth Avenue, Wall Street, and at MetLife. After several years of retirement from business, he revived writing for professional journals, something he had done since his college days. After attending the Bachfest 2003 in Leipzig, he again began writing articles and reviews. With over 60 pieces in print ranging from reviews of concerts and festivals, travelogues, books on church music, concert hall organs, CDs and DVDs, he was recognized and named to the Music Critics Association of North America (MCANA) in May 2005. He is also a member of the American Bach Society and serves on the board of the Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity in New York City, where he has lived for 32 years. His organ teachers were Austin C. Lovelace, Frederick Swann, Ronald Arnatt, David Craighead, Jean Langlais, Marie-Madeleine Duruflé-Chevalier, and Anton Heiller. As a member of the AGO, he has served as dean of the Ft. Wayne chapter, on the executive board of the New York City chapter, and on the national financial board. He holds a BA summa cum laude from Concordia Sr. College (formerly at Ft. Wayne), a Min.Div and STM from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, and an MM from the Eastman School of Music.

Mention Saxony to most organists, and they immediately think of the 18th century, Gottfried Silbermann and his catalogue of 31 extraordinary instruments, which are still being played.1 An amazing testimony! But today one hears more and more of Kristian Wegscheider, widely admired for his dynamic restorations of Silbermann organs as well as those of Hildebrandt, Schnitger and Ladegast—and whose reputation as a builder is so respected that he was considered for the new organs at St. Thomas, Leipzig and the Frauenkirche in Dresden.
Steven Dieck, president of C. B. Fisk, Inc., credits Wegscheider with being “very helpful in discovering the ‘secrets’ of Gottfried Silbermann and continues to be, not only for us, but also for any other organbuilder. There is no disputing that Kristian and his shop are the experts on the work of Gottfried Silbermann.”
Stefan Engels of Leipzig’s University of Music & Theatre notes that “Kristian Wegscheider is one of the leading organ builders of our time when it comes to the restoration of historic instruments from the 17th and 18th centuries. His knowledge of style, his talent for research, and his ability to relate to the distinct sounds of old organs is unique. It is a joy to experience this artist and his superb work.”
And, as Steve Dieck points out, Wegscheider has an international involvement and impact. “Once East Germany opened itself to the rest of the world, Kristian’s company became a member of the International Society of Organbuilders. Shortly after that, he helped to organize one of the ISO’s biennial congresses held in Dresden. He is currently second vice president of the ISO and again helped to organize the congress in September 2008, which began in Gdansk, Poland and worked its way by train and boat to Stralsund, Germany, where members of ISO visited significant organs.”2
“He continues to share his vast knowledge of the works of Gottfried Silbermann with his many organbuilding colleagues around the world. He has visited the U.S. many times, and was invited to collaborate with Fritz Noack in making a ‘Hildebrandt’ style organ for Christ the King Lutheran Church in Houston, Texas.”
And those who have been fortunate to hear Wegscheider’s restorations or new instruments would add, “This is a builder about whom Americans need to know more.”

Background
Kristian Wegscheider was born in 1954 in Ahrenshoop, a small resort town on the Baltic Coast of Northern Germany. After stints in the army and a year with a furniture-maker, he began his apprenticeship with the esteemed Jehmlich Dresden organbuilding firm, which dates back to 1808 and is associated with the restorations of the magnificent Silbermann cathedral organs in Dresden and Freiberg.
Kristian immediately took an immense interest in historic organs and worked on restorations in Berlin and Leipzig. He became head of Jehmlich’s restoration department and supervised restorations of the 1714 Silbermann in Freiberg’s Cathedral and the 1868 Lütkemüller organ at the Güstrower Cathedral.

Orgelwerkstatt Wegscheider Dresden
As Wegscheider writes for his firm’s website,3 the creation of his organ workshop in Dresden in 1989 coincided with the fall of the Wall and became possible with the parallel vehement political and social changes. These were indeed complicated times in the GDR, and the emergence of a new private company was no simple venture.
At the time it was not unusual in the GDR for restorations and even the repair of organs to be delayed up to 20 years. In 1987, that gave Wegscheider an idea, often treated perfunctorily and bureaucratically, to create his own workshop specializing in restorations and repair. He overcame numerous hurdles—among other things, getting a trade license and acquiring the space for engaging in a trade, and one couldn’t get one without the other.
In order to bridge the gap, Wegscheider worked for almost a year in the restoration workshop of the Museum of Musical Instruments at the University of Leipzig. With the assistance of friends and with some luck, however, the initial problems were overcome. That was all quickly forgotten, once work began in the spring of 1989 with the reconditioning of an old carpenter’s shop in Dresden’s Neustadt (“new city”).4 His first two coworkers were the organ builder and pipemaker Hartmut Schütz, who had also trained with Jehmlich, and his long-time friend and a carpenter, Matthias Weisbach. Requirements were completed in December of 1990, and Wegscheider was able to receive his certification as a master craftsman (“Meisterbrief”).
The workshop officially began operating June 1, 1989, and in September there was a big celebration with friends and colleagues. For this historic event, a narrow-gauge steam train was rented, and the area in front of the shop was transformed into an open-air theatre. When the borders opened that fall, a group of five made a week-long “discovery journey” into the “West” finally to hear and investigate for themselves organs they had often read and heard about, an adventure that just weeks before had seemed impossible.
During this week, the team was able to examine the old instruments of East Frisia (Ostfriesland, a costal region along the North Sea bordering the Netherlands to the west),5 which for them was like an “organbuilder’s paradise.” There they also inspected the shop of the famous Jürgen Ahrend, contacted the North German Organ Academy, and had discussions with organ experts, musicologists and organists. This all became invaluable in forming their own firm and served as the basis for artistic work. Additional “educational journeys” became a regular experience and took them to South Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and France. How exhilarating this must have been—the new freedom to explore and discover!

Wegscheider: first projects
The first project was a new instrument for the Allstedt Castle Chapel in Mansfeld. The small organ was to complement the Baroque room and conform to old established models of classical organbuilding. The shop was to do something that had never been done in East Germany before—to make an instrument completely from wood, tin, lead, leather and brass without using plywood, aluminum, nitrate lacquer, plastic and prefabricated mechanisms.
Also, this instrument would reflect Wegscheider’s long-held interest in providing two temperaments that can be played interchangeably: meantone for Renaissance music and well-tempered for Baroque. The idea originated in Charles Fisk’s dual-temperament organ at California’s Stanford University (1984),6 but this was to be the first such instrument in Europe, with Wegscheider working to improve the result both technically and musically.7
This new organ for Allstedt was followed by a number of restorations in the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg and Thuringia, while at the same there developed partnership work in Saxony. Much of the work, now with seven co-workers, involved restoring damaged organs, some long unplayable due to water damage or wood worms. Other builders had refused to work on them or recommended replacements, but to Wegscheider these instruments were too valuable to be discarded. Congregations, in turn, were grateful for the efforts of their municipalities to preserve these organs.
Expansion
By 1993 it was clear that the company needed new, larger facilities. The company had expanded to ten employees, with only 400 square meters of workspace and with insufficient height to assemble instruments. Finally a carpenter’s workshop was found in Dresden–Hellerau in the old village center of Rähnitz. During the move, the firm continued to work on a restoration of the Silbermann for the Bremen Cathedral (I/8, 1734)8 and an identical copy of it for the Silbermann Museum in Frauenstein, so that the dedication of the new workshop in July 1994 could take place in a concert using both organs with the Dresden Baroque Orchestra.
After all this excitement, work continued routinely, but always with interesting projects. One was the extensive renovation of the Schulze organ, with the reconstruction of a 32′ Posaune in Markneukirchen, a town in Saxony known as a center for making musical instruments as well as its Museum of Musical Instruments. Another instance was building a new 20-rank organ inside an historic case in Steinwedel near Hannover, which demonstrated what a builder like Wegscheider with experience in historical models could do.

Langhennersdorf, Nikolaikirche
But the high point of this period was completing the renovation of the organ at St. Nicholas Church in Langhennersdorf, a beautiful village near Freiberg. This Opus 1 by Silbermann’s apprentice Zacharias Hildebrandt (1722) as his Meisterstück (masterpiece) was built to certify him as an organbuilder. It is a revelation to hear—exciting, vibrant, present, colorful, and commanding.
But all this came after some blood, sweat and tears. Begun in 1989–90 during the turbulent reunification of Germany, this was Wegscheider’s first big contract and was threatened by obstacles beyond his control. However, he remained determined and continued working piece by piece as the church, which was committed to the challenge, raised funds. What exuberance there must have been at rededication on Reformation Day, 1996!

Langhennersdorf Nikolaikirche9
1722 Zacharias Hildebrandt (II+P/21)
1989–1996 Kristian Wegscheider

Hauptwerk
8′ Principal
8′ Rohrflöte
8′ Quintadena
4′ Praestant
4′ Spitzflöte
3′ Quinta
2′ Octava
III Mixtur
II Cymbeln
III Cornett (from c1)

Oberwerk
8′ Gedackt
4′ Rohrflöte
3′ Nasat
2′ Principal
2′ Waldflöte
1′ Sifflöte
11⁄3′ Quinte
II Cymbeln

Pedal
16′ Sub-Baß
16′ Posanenbaß
8′ Trompete

Tremulant
Shove coupler II/I
Pedal coupler I/P
Manual compass C, D–c3
Pedal compass C, D–c1

Choir pitch: a = 468 Hz
Modified meantone

Dresden-Loschwitz church
The lessons learned in Langhennersdorf would prove helpful in designing the 1997 organ for a church in the outlying regions of Dresden-Loschwitz. The organ was conceived as a large one-manual and pedal instrument that would combine the typical stops of Silbermann with other 18th-century Saxon builders in one division, but some stops are also playable on a second manual. The building, virtually destroyed in the 1945 Blitz by an errant bomb, has been restored with spectacular but simple beauty. The church—with its historic altar rescued and restored from the Sophienkirche, where Bach played two recitals (1825 and 1731), and where his son Wilhelm Friedemann was organist (1733–1746)—has its organ sitting center stage in the second gallery.
The impact of this small instrument is remarkable and a joy to hear. Just a day after playing and listening to the impressive Silbermann-Hildebrandt (III/47, 1755) at Dresden’s Hofkirche and the imposing new Kern at the Frauenkirche (IV/67, 2006), the sound of this little organ in the suburb of Dresden-Loschwitz moved 45 American organists last September to spontaneous smiles of delight and satisfaction. The stunning immediacy of the sound combined with the brilliance of the ensemble and the colors of individual stops was a joy to hear.
And then listening to Wegscheider himself—on how Silbermann swept into this part of Germany with the fresh bold sounds of France and dominated organbuilding, on the speech and design of his pipework, and clarifying differences of temperament in the area—was an informative revelation. The man has a large presence, an expansive expression of speech, and in his eyes the gleam of an inspired creator, all reflected in his restorations and new designs.

Dresden-Loschwitz:
Loschwitz Church10
1997 Wegscheider II+P/20

Manual I
16′ Bordun
8′ Principal
8′ Gedackt
8′ Flauto traverso
8′ Viola di Gamba
4′ Octave
4′ Rohrflöte
4′ Flauto amabile
3′ Nasat
2′ Octave
2′ Flöte
13⁄5′ Tertia
1′ Flageolet
III Cornett (from g)
III Mixtur

Manual II (stops from I)
16′ Bordun
8′ Gedackt
8′ Flauto traverso
8′ Viola di Gamba
4′ Rohrflöte
4′ Flauto amabile
3′ Nasat
2′ Flöte
13⁄5′ Tertia

Pedal
16′ Bordun
8′ Octavbaß
8′ Violonbaß
4′ Octavbaß
16′ Posaune

Tremulant
Manual shove coupler
Pedal couplers I/P, II/P

Manual compass C–e3
Pedal compass C–e
Pitch: a = 440 Hz
Tuning: modified Valotti
Wind pressure: 70 mm

Houston, Christ the King Lutheran Church
Wegscheider has been involved in several “Bach organs.” The first was in collaboration with the Noack Organ Company at Christ Lutheran Church in Houston, where he served as co-designer.

Christ the King Lutheran Church, Houston
Builder: Noack Organ Company, 1995
Co-designer: Kristian Wegscheider II+P/30

Hauptwerk
16′ Bordun
8′ Principal
8′ Viola di Gamba
8′ Rohrflöte
4′ Octava
4′ Spitzflöte
22⁄3′ Quinta
2′ Octava
III Mixtur
II Cimbel
IIII Cornet
8′ Trompete
8′ Vox Humana

Oberwerk
8′ Gedackt
8′ Quintadena
4′ Principal
4′ Rohrflöte
22⁄3′ Nasat
2′ Octava
2′ Waldflöte
13⁄5′ Terz
11⁄3′ Quinta
1′ Sifflet
8′ Krummhorn

Pedal
16′ Principal Bass
16′ Subbass
8′ Octaven Bass
4′ Octava
16′ Posaunen
8′ Trompete

The organ at Christ the King Church follows the example of Hildebrandt, thus adding a Bach organ of a new dimension on the North American continent.
Fritz Noack and the Noack Organ Company were selected to design and build the organ. Noack is an American builder born and trained in Germany and uniquely situated to bridge the Saxon past and the Texan present. Kristian Wegscheider of Dresden, restorer of important Silbermann organs, accepted appointment as a design consultant; Reinhard Schaebitz of Dresden, voicer in the restorations, assisted in the voicing; and most of the metal pipes were built near Dresden in the workshop of Günter Lau. The result is a wonderful instrument which not surprisingly, but quite remarkably, evokes the look, feel, and sound of an 18th-century Saxon organ. One can imagine Bach’s walking in, sitting down without missing a beat and, as was his custom, pulling all of the stops to see whether or not the instrument has “good lungs.”
This Bach Organ possesses attributes commonly found in organs built today in historical style—tracker action; mechanical stop action; keys suspended below the pipe chests; a flexible wind supply provided by bellows; flat rather than radiating pedalboard; narrower, shorter manual keys; no pistons or combinations; and tuning in a historic temperament. The Saxon style imposes a series of additional design characteristics. The entire organ is housed in one case, rather than in compartments for each division according to the Werkprinzip; the case design and beautifully executed carvings employ 18th-century Saxon conventions; and the case is built of pine and painted (blue-green, red, and gold leaf). The Oberwerk to Hauptwerk coupler is activated by shoving the Oberwerk manual forward, and the Oberwerk does not couple to the Pedal. The pipe scalings are taken from Hildebrandt’s, and the principal pipes have a high tin content rather than lead.11

Stuttgart, Musikhochschule
Another “Bach organ” was built by Wegscheider for the Musikhochschule in Stuttgart, which has a large collection of historic prototypes. One can see an overview at <http://www.mh-stuttgart.de/studium/orgel/ueberblick/&gt;.

Stuttgart: State University of Music and Performing Arts
2006 Wegscheider
II+P/21

Hauptwerk
8′ Principal
8′ Rohrflöte
8′ Viola di Gamba
8′ Quintadena
4′ Octave
3′ Quinte
2′ Octave
2′ Terz (from 2′) [listed as 2′ but actually 13⁄5′]
III Mixtur
8′ Trompete

Positiv
8′ Gedackt
4′ Spitzflöte
4′ Flauto dolce
2′ Gemshorn
II Cymbal
8′ Vox Humana

Pedal
16′ Subbass
8′ Principalbass
4′ Octave
16′ Posaunebass
8′ Trompettenbass
Manual compass: C, D–d3
Pedal compass: C, D–f
Pitch: a1 = 466 Hz
Tuning: Modified Pythagorean

In the winter 2005–06 issue of Spektrum, Prof. Jürgen Essl writes:

In the fall of 2006 organ music of Bach will ring out. Then the long-anticipated “Bach organ” will supplement the university’s instrument collection. The Dresden organ builder, Kristian Wegscheider, received the commission to build an organ of 21 stops on two manuals and pedal according to 18th-century Thuringian and Saxon models. It is intended to be the ideal instrument for presenting Bach’s organ music with its choice of stops, its style of construction, its keyboard range, its speech and intonation.
Kristian Wegscheider is an undisputed expert in this area, and it would be hard to find a more first-class organ. Naturally there is no absolute “Bach Organ.” Johann Sebastian Bach, as is well known, played on many organs and was frequently active as consultant and examiner. The composition of the organ is therefore also no copy of an existing historical instrument, but an approximation of the Bach sound world in a variety of ways. The new organ is based on Bach’s expert opinion of existing instruments of similar 18th-century size, e.g., (Gottfried) Silbermann and Trost, on the compositional characteristics of his organ music, the restoration experience of the organbuilder and last but not least on the size of the room.12

Essl added in an e-mail to the author, “Indeed there were a large number of special problems for which Kristian had a good solution and fought hard to get the right results.”

Freiberg, Petrikirche
Another recent collaboration, this time with Jehmlich, was the restoration of Silbermann’s largest two-manual organ, at the Petrikirche in Freiberg, completed and rededicated in July 2007.13 It is an instrument with pizazz, brilliance, and clarity, while individual stops retain character and color. It also happens that the best CD that effectively reflects Wegscheider’s work is a recent release of a recording at the Petrikirche on the Syrius label, Johann Sebastian Bach, Vol. 4, with works from the early Weimar period played with verve, imagination, and excitement by Helga Schauerte (Syrius 141433, €22.00; <[email protected]>; the Organ Historical Society carries other recordings by Schauerte).

Freiberg: Petrikirche
1735 Silbermann
1959, 1993/94 Jehmlich Brothers
2006–07 Wegscheider, together with Jehmlich Orgelbau
II+P/32

Hauptwerk
16′ Principal
8′ Octav Principal
8′ Viol di Gamba
8′ Rohr-Flöte
4′ Octava
4′ Spitz-Flöte
3′ Qvinta
2′ Octava
2′ Tertia (from 2′) [listed as 2′ but actually 13⁄5′]
IV Cornet (from c1)
IV Mixtur
III Cymbel
8′ Trompette
16′ Fachott

Oberwerk
16′ Qvinta dena
8′ Principal
8′ Gedackts
8′ Qvinta dena
4′ Octava
4′ Rohr-Flöte
3′ Nassat
2′ Octava
11⁄3′ Qvinta
1′ Sufflöt
Sechst Qvint Altra (4⁄5′, 13⁄5′ from c1)
III Mixtur
8′ Vox humana

Pedal
32′ Groß-Untersatz
16′ Principal Bass
8′ Octaven Bass
16′ Posaune
8′ Trompete
Tremulant
Manual compass: C, D–c3
Pedal compass: C, D–c1
Manual coupler II/I
Pedal coupler P/I
Tuning: 462.5 Hz
Temperament: Neidhardt II
(for a small city), 1732

In summary, restorations include organs by:
Gottfried Silbermann
Niederschöna, 1715/1993, I/14
Bremen Cathedral, 1734/1994, I/8
Jacobikirche, Freiberg, 1717/1995/2006, II/20
Reinhardtsgrimma, 1731/1997, II/20
Tiefenau, 1725/1997, I/9
Dresden Cathedral, 1755/2002, III/47, jointly with Jehmlich Orgelbau
Petrikirche, Freiberg, 1735/2007, II/32, jointly with Jehmlich Orgelbau

Zacharias Hildebrandt
Langhennersdorf, 1722/1996, II/21

Friedrich Ladegast
Biederitz, 1868/1997, II/12
Hohenmölsen, 1851/1998, II/24
Merseburg Cathedral, 1855/1866/2003, IV, 84, joint with Eule/Bautzen and Scheffler, Frankfurt/Oder
Pomssen Wehrkirche, 1671/2000/2007, 1/13

Wegscheider’s firm has built to date thirty new organs including:
Silbermann Museum, Frauenstein, copy of Bremen positive, 1994, I/8
Güstrow Cathedral, 1996, I/15 registers with bass drums, bells, cymbelstern, 2 cuckoos, drum, nightingale
Dresden–Loschwitz, 1996, II/20
Bremen Cathedral, 2002, I/8
Cologne–Michaelshoven, 2003, II/ 28 (in the style of Silbermann/Hildebrandt)
Stuttgart, Musikhochschule, 2006/2007, II/21, Bach Organ
Sacrow-Potsdam, Heilandskirche, 2008/ 2009, II/17 registers
Current work includes:
Fritzsche-Treutmann-Organ in Harbke (restoration in cooperation with Dutschke-Orgelbau), completed 12/07 and dedicated 5/08
Altarpositiv, Kreuzkirche in Dresden, dedicated 5/08
Stellwagen Organ in Stralsund St. Marien (1659).

Grant Smalley Pipe Organs, Victoria, British Columbia (1984)

Born in Sidney, near Victoria B.C., Grant Smalley has worked as an organbuilder since 1966. He was associated with Gabriel Kney from 1968 to 1979, primarily building tracker-action organs and installing them throughout Canada and the U.S.A. During the last eight of those years he assumed Kney's tuning and maintenance business in addition to his organbuilding duties. He returned to Victoria in 1980 and established his own business four years later, buying out the organ maintenance service of Hugo Spilker, who had done restorations in the area. His associate, Douglas Adams, received formal training in instrumentation and systems technology, and manufacturing engineering technology; in addition to assisting in the construction of the new shop, he is responsible for electrical design, construction, and mechanical work. Beverly Smalley, the wife of Grant Smalley, handles the business and financial operations. All three are active participants in community choral groups.

Grant Smalley has built several small organs: a four-stop positiv organ, mechanical action (1985); a four-stop, portable, continuo organ with 56-note transposing keyboard, mechanical action (1989); and two continuo organs of 31/2 and 41/2 ranks, both with mechanical action (1995, 1997). The major activity, however, is organ restoration, along with regular tuning and routine maintenance work: about 50 organs throughout Vancouver Island and Greater Vancouver. A number of heritage organs in Victoria, including several instruments built by Casavant Frères in the early 1900s, and others by English and American makers, have received extensive overhauls in recent years.

Wooden pipes, most windchests, consoles, and casework are built in the shop; metal pipes are ordered to specifications and voiced there. Other components acquired from suppliers include keyboards, drawknobs, switching systems, and blowers.

Blair Batty & Associates, Simcoe, Ontario (1985)

Blair Batty was born in Simcoe, and as a teenage organ player he acquired an interest in the mechanical workings of organs. His organbuilding career began with the Keates Organ Company, Acton, Ontario, where he learned windchest construction, wiring, tuning, and installation procedures. In 1976 he moved to Europe, where he learned the craft of metal pipemaking with Jacques Stin-

kens, Zeist, Holland, and the art of reed manufacturing with Carl Giesecke & Sohn, Göttingen, West Germany. During that period he travelled extensively throughout Europe to study examples of French, German, and Dutch organbuilding. In 1977 he went to Gloucester, Massachusetts, to join C. B. Fisk as a pipemaker and draftsman, then in 1979 he was invited to head the pipe shop of the Noack Organ Company, Georgetown, Massachusetts. In 1981 he returned to Canada to work for Brunzema Organs, Fergus, Ontario, then returned to Simcoe in 1985 to establish his own firm. Since then he has visited England on several occasions to study the instruments of Willis and Hill.

The company has built three new organs. One is a two-manual, 27-stop instrument of eclectic design incorporating Schnitger-inspired choruses, a French-character trumpet, and Dutch/French-style Swell mutations, with console-equipped MIDI (1991). Another is a two-manual, 19-stop instrument of British-inspired design in which the basic choruses follow William Hill, but includes a Schnitger-style trumpet, a cornet and mutations of classical French design, and string stops scaled and voiced on Cavaillé-Coll principles (1993). A four-rank box organ was built for a private customer.

The company specializes in restoring and rebuilding older organs, employing the techniques and materials of the original builder as far as possible, and provides tuning and maintenance service to about 100 churches annually throughout southwestern Ontario. Most of the components of organs are produced in the factory: Pitman and slider windchests, bellows, rollerboards, tremulants, keyboards and pedalboards, and consoles. Pipes, both wooden and metal (including reeds), are generally made on the premises; the metal pipeshop and foundry section has a 12-foot, polished granite casting table, one of the few in Canada. Blowers and electrical combination and switching actions are acquired from external suppliers. The firm also provides services, parts, and pipes to other builders and tuners. A large reference library of historical and current organ design data, including pipe scalings of hundreds of historic organs, is maintained. A computer-assisted design (CAD) system is used. The firm had three full-time employees and several part-time helpers in 1998.

Gober Organs, Toronto, Ontario (1985)

Halbert Gober was born in Austin, Texas, and began his organbuilding career with Otto Hofmann (1969-1972), an organbuilder in Austin known as an early proponent of the tracker revival. Following university studies in liberal arts and architecture, he lived in Germany from 1972 to 1980. During the first four years he studied music, architecture, and organbuilding; in the remaining years he was employed with various organbuilders, including Rensch in Lauffen-am-Neckar (1972); Jann (1977-1980), where he completed his formal apprenticeship in 1979; and Felsberg in Chur, Switzerland. Following his move to Canada in 1981 he was employed as a voicer with Karl Wilhelm until 1985, before opening his own shop in the Montréal area in that year. From there he served as a freelance voicer and pipemaker for several organbuilders in North America and Europe.

He established his own shop in Toronto in 1991, where he commenced building tracker-action organs. Output to date amounts to six two-manual instruments of medium or small size; the most recent of these is a five-stop studio organ for the University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana. Rebuilds and tonal revision projects are also undertaken. His philosophy is to draw on the full heritage of historical organbuilding in the construction of cohesive and logical instruments, with equal priority to dependability and musicality.

Wooden pipes, along with metal pipes made of cast and hammered lead, are manufactured on the premises. Reed pipes, including shallots, are also made in the shop. Action parts are from Germany. There were three employees in 1998. 

Pole & Kingham, Chatham, Ontario (1985)

 Donald Pole and Ron Kingham founded their company in 1979 and then incorporated in 1985, when the construction of complete new organs commenced. Earlier, between 1966 and 1968, Ron Kingham had been an employee of John Bright, a co-founder with Gabriel Kney of the Kney & Bright Organ Company in 1955; he built a house organ under John Bright's supervision. In the first five years of their association, the partners' work was limited to tuning, repairs, cleaning, and general maintenance.

Since 1985 they have built and installed seven new electrical-action instruments (two incorporating some older parts), mostly of medium-size, all in Ontario churches; two other instruments were provided to churches in Michigan, U.S.A. While their instruments are designed to meet both liturgical and performance needs, recent organs have a Romantic bias, and the Symphonic era is recalled in a new, three-manual, 36-stop instrument (the largest to date), with its six-rank String Organ division, installed in Holy Trinity Anglican Church, in Chatham, Ontario, in 1997. Other services include restoration of both tracker- and pneumatic-action organs, rebuilding with solid-state switching, enlargement, and tonal additions, along with general maintenance and tuning.

Wooden pipes (Bourdon, Chimney Flute, Gedeckt, and Doppelflute--the latter scaled after a fine Karn stop), windchests and reservoirs, and consoles are made in the shop; metal pipes are obtained from suppliers in Canada, U.S.A., Germany, and Holland. Five employees worked with the partners in 1998.

Juget-Sinclair, Montréal, Québec (1994)

Denis Juget, a native of the Savoy region of France, received his diploma in fine cabinetmaking in Annency, Haute-Savoy, France, in 1979, then worked as an apprentice with leading organbuilders on both sides of the Atlantic, with whom he acquired skills in all phases of organbuilding: Lucien Simon, Lyon, France (1979-1983); Robert Chauvin, Dax, France (1983-

1985); Wolff & Associés, Laval, Québec, upon his arrival in Canada (1985-1991); Orgelbau Goll, Lucerne, Switzerland (1990-1991); Orgelbau Rohlf, Seitzental, Germany (1992-1994); and Karl Wilhelm, Mont Saint-Hilaire, Québec (1992-1994). Special assignments be-tween 1988 and 1990 involved the restoration, renovation, and voicing of several organs in Austria, Italy, and Spain. His organbuilding enterprise began in 1994 in Saint-Basile-le-Grand, Québec, in a backyard, two-story, former chicken coop, which was converted into a workshop. In the following year he completed a two-manual, 3-stop house organ for a private client.

Following studies in science at McGill University in Montréal, Stephen Sinclair worked first as an apprentice cabinetmaker, then as an apprentice organbuilder with Wolff & Associés (1989-1991). He received practical working experience in general organbuilding and reed-stop restoration with Manufacture d'orgues Franc-comptoise, Courtefontaine, France (1995, 1997); pipemaking with Georges Blaison, France (1996) and N. P. Mander, London, England (1997); and general organbuilding, design, voicing, maintenance, and tuning with Wolff & Associés (1992-1998). He joined Denis Juget as an equal associate in 1998.

The company divides its time between the restoration of historic instruments and the construction of small mechanical-action organs. Since 1995 five two-manual, 3-stop, house organs and one continuo organ have been manufactured; three of the house organs for clients in the United States. Works in progress include two similar house organs for destinations in Québec and Germany, and a two-manual, 10-stop practice organ for the University of Cincinnati, ready in 1999. The house organs incorporate a design by Denis Juget that enables them to be moved relatively easily without breaking down the action.

All parts are made in-house, including wooden and metal pipes, wind chests, bellows, rollerboards, keyboards and pedalboards, drawknobs, and casework (hand-planed in solid wood, using mortise-and-tenon construction). Blowers are purchased from Laukhuff, Germany. Several part-time workers assist in various stages of production and installation. Following relocation in late 1998 to an industrial space with 30-foot cathedral ceilings in Montréal, the associates intend to make the leap from building practice instruments to full-fledged church organs in the near future.

D. Leslie Smith, Fergus, Ontario (1996)

Leslie Smith grew up in southern Alberta, and acquired his interest in music at an early age through involvement in church choirs and piano lessons. He developed an early fascination with organ building and enrolled in organ performance studies at the University of Calgary after completing high school. Using practical skills acquired from his father, who was a carpenter and mechanic, he completed several kits for harpsichords and clavichords, and established an association with a local organ serviceman who introduced him to the techniques of maintaining and tuning electro-pneumatic instruments. In 1973 he moved to London, Ontario, to continue his organ studies at the University of Western Ontario. While in that city, he became acquainted with Gabriel Kney, in whose organbuilding shop he worked on a part-time basis for several years. In 1982 he joined Brunzema Organs in Fergus, Ontario, where he remained for 10 years as a journeyman organbuilder. After the death of Gerhard Brunzema in 1992 and the closing of his organbuilding operation, Leslie Smith worked as an independent contractor in pipemaking and voicing on a number of projects in Canada and the United States. His first organ, a two-manual, 11-stop studio organ was undertaken in 1982 as a part-time project while working with Gerhard Brunzema; it was completed in 1992.

In 1996 he established his new workshop on part of the former Brunzema premises. In the same year he produced his first commission, a one-manual, 6-stop, mechanical-action organ, for a cemetery chapel in Montréal. A similar organ, but without pedals, was supplied to a church in Kansas City, Missouri. Although eclectic and innovative in terms of tonal and visual design, Leslie Smith's approach is inspired by the work of mid-19th-century Canadian and American firms such as S. R. Warren of Montréal and Hook & Hastings of Boston, favoring generous scaling and higher pressures.

Wooden pipes for these two instruments were made in-house, but metal pipes were supplied by F. J. Rogers, Leeds, England. Blowers came from Laukhuff, Germany. Keyboards, and key and stop action were fabricated in the shop. Stops are divided into bass and treble, using a special form of drawstop mechanism developed by the builder. Cases are made from common hardwoods, using traditional construction techniques.

Maintenance work to organs of all makes and construction in Ontario and Québec comprises a significant part of his activity; in 1996 he was appointed curator of the largest pipe organ in Montréal, a four-manual, 86-stop Casavant instrument (installed in 1932, rebuilt in 1992 by another firm) at the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul, and will soon undertake complete rebuilding projects, as well.

The Future of Organbuilding

The status of organbuilding in the 21st century is not easy to predict, given the variety of factors involved. Generalizations about the number of future organ installations are risky; nevertheless, it is interesting to note that, within roughly the last three decades, while the annual production of instruments of all sizes peaked several times in the 1980s, the low periods of the 1970s were again matched in the years since 1994. Whether this recession will continue in the coming years is uncertain, but some recent trends provide clues to a possible future.13

The fact that few new organs have been installed in Canadian locations in recent years is not surprising, for the distinguishing characteristics of the "golden age" of the organ in the early years of the twentieth century--in terms of the erection of new church buildings, the proliferation of organbuilding firms that supplied both churches and motion picture theaters with instruments, and public enthusiasm for organ recitals played by local and touring recitalists--are not likely to be repeated, considering shifting cultural values along with the various musical and other forms of entertainment now available.

Although most organbuilders have confined their operations to meeting only local and regional needs, several Canadian firms have cultivated the international market with apparent success. The services of the Canadian Commercial Corporation, a crown corporation of the Government of Canada that assumes the role of prime contractor and subcontracts all of the contract back to the Canadian firm, are available for companies seeking worldwide clients.

As for the tonal design of new instruments, the uneasy hybrid designs of earlier years largely have been abandoned in preference to the rediscovered qualities of universally admired older instruments of the 17th and 18th centuries, without blindly copying them. Although instruments of neoclassical design, with their historically "authentic" stoplists, are not entirely suitable for the performance of all schools of organ music, they are probably more versatile than the earlier generation of organs for general liturgical and performance purposes. On the other hand, some organbuilders prefer an eclectic approach, a matter that is subject to ongoing debate.14 The recent strong demand for mechanical-action instruments may eventually stabilize, for reasons relating to architecture, economics, changing musical tastes, and a return to the Romantic idiom in repertoire. Purchasers may prefer some of the advantages of nonmechanical instruments, such as the consistent keyboard touch and flexible console location provided by electric action.15

Much of the earlier activity of new organ construction has been redirected to rebuilding and restoring older instruments, some of historical significance. Most Canadian organbuilders engage in this growing activity, which can provide churches with a cost-effective alternative to the purchase of a comparable new instrument. Routine maintenance work is also part of the service provided by many firms, large and small.

Pipe organs have always been expensive, so electronic instruments utilizing highly developed digital technology now provide an economic alternative for church congregations lacking the will or the means to acquire and maintain a pipe organ. The respective merits of pipe organs and electronic instruments have been debated since the latter were first introduced. Nevertheless, there is an obvious answer, based on musical criteria, to the question, Which is preferable: a poorly designed, badly maintained pipe organ, or a high quality electronic instrument? Electronic instruments have a place in locations where pipe organs are out of the question, whether for space or budgetary considerations. They have proved adequate for the liturgical requirements of many small or medium-size churches with limited budgets, and these instruments have provided competition for more costly pipe organs. The increasing acceptance of electronic instruments further diminishes the probability of a significant number of new pipe organ installations in the coming years. On the other hand, educational institutions (those that are not financially beleaguered, if any) and affluent congregations of some churches (not necessarily the largest) undoubtedly will continue to prefer pipe organs for musical, historical, or social reasons, and such instruments can be supplied only by the larger, well-established, organbuilding companies.

The role of the organist is of considerable importance in ensuring a future for organbuilding. If a church considering the purchase of a new organ already has a fully trained organist, this person, working with a musically educated and supportive committee, can influence the decision in favor of a pipe organ in preference to an electronic instrument, providing that a realistic fund-raising objective can be achieved. A church with an adequate pipe organ will seek a highly trained individual to play it, and such organists ordinarily prefer appointments to churches with pipe organs; once hired, their presence encourages the continuation of the pipe organ tradition.

Changes in the liturgical practices of some religious denominations may have a subtle, long-term effect on the future of organbuilding. The emergence in some congregations of youth-segregated services, with their unique liturgical practices that employ guitars or other instruments associated with folk music or religious rock groups, may produce a generation of worshippers unfamiliar with the organ, its musical heritage, and its literature. A broader associated issue is the question of the future of institutionalized religion and its possible decline due to the growth of science, education, and secularization, or its theological transformation into various manifestations of individualistic spiritual development. These possibilities undoubtedly will take many years, perhaps centuries, to resolve.      

Shifts in population characteristics introduce another factor into the question of the future of organbuilding. Some suburban churches located in stable neighborhoods now have congregations comprised largely of aging members living on limited incomes, not offset by significant numbers of younger, fully employed members. If the present job of organ maintenance is difficult for such congregations, even with skilled volunteer labor working under the supervision of a trained organ technician, the acquisition of a new instrument is beyond consideration; in fact, the amalgamation or dispersal of these congregations is the more likely scenario. The inevitable result would be the closing of some church buildings, along with the possible removal or relocation of existing pipe organs. The more affluent churches with a wider spread of ages among their members, and which encourage the full participation of younger members in their musical programs, are the only ones that will escape this fate, thus leaving open the possibility of the purchase of a new organ in the distant future. A related consideration, which provides a cause for optimism, is grounded in the speculation that recent declines in per capita real income may stimulate group activities at the expense of individual life styles, and that churches may again become a center of social as well as spiritual activities. In such contexts the pipe organ, as a cultural, religious, and artistic centerpiece, may serve as a source of pride and inspiration, and as a vehicle for the renewal of congregations.16

Over the longer term, increased public awareness, combined with both formal and informal educational opportunities, may contribute to the sustained vitality of the organ culture generally, including organbuilding. Radio broadcasts of organ recordings, instructive television programs, increased concert programming for organ and other instruments, and the development of audiences for subscription series of organ recitals, would increase knowledge of the organ among the general public. In the educational system, in-service sessions on the organ for school music teachers, the preparation of classroom learning materials for use in regular music instruction courses, and the participation of students in on-site inspection trips and demonstrations would provide practical contexts for raising awareness of the organ at a level that students can understand and enjoy.17 As for organists, competitions or commissions for hymn arrangements, sacred songs, or new compositions for the organ could be fostered on both the regional and national levels by the Royal Canadian College of Organists. These informational and educational programs would contribute to the development and maintenance of an appreciative audience for the organ throughout the coming decades. Such forms of revitalization would ensure the future of the King of Instruments well into the 21st century.

REFERENCES

                        13.              Some of the following material is adapted from the chapter, "The Future of the Organ," in Hartman, The Organ in Manitoba (note 5 above).

                        14.              See Quentin Regestein and Lois Regestein, "The 'Right' Organ," The Diapason, August 1998, 13-16; September 1998, 17-18. Radically opposing points of view debate the legitimacy of a "universal" hybrid organ, one that is perfect for everything.

                        15.              R. E. Colberd, "Pipe Organ Building: the Nineties and Beyond," The Diapason, July 1994, 12.

                        16.              Ibid., 14.

                        17.              For a description of a recent educational event for school children, see Valerie L. Hall, "Meet the King of Instruments: A Successful Workshop Model for Kids," Organ Canada, July 1998, 9.