Frederick Swann plays anniversary recital on 110-rank Möller at Shreveport's First United Methodist

Looking Back

Ninety years ago, The Diapason published its first edition. The December 1909 issue reported that--

Wilhelm Middleschulte played the dedication recital on a new Hann-Wangerin-Weickhardt organ at First Baptist Church, Milwaukee, WI.

The Auditorium Theatre in Chicago denied rumors that the Frank Roosevelt organ was to be torn out in the process of remodeling the building.

Hook & Hastings, in issuing a new catalogue, was described as the oldest organbuilding firm in the United States, having begun in 1827.

William E. Curtis described the Salt Lake City Tabernacle organ. Chief organist was John J. McClellan.

Seventy-five years ago, the December 1924 issue of The Diapason reported that--

The Aeolian Organ Company won the contract for a six-manual organ for Kindt Concertorium Theatre in Davenport, Iowa.

M.P. Möller won the contract for a 4-manual, 95-stop organ for the newly built Washington Auditorium in the nation’s capitol.

Marcel Dupré began his third American tour with a recital at the Wanamaker Organ in Philadelphia.

Palmer Christian appeared with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

Clarence Eddy completed a west coast tour.

Albert Riemenschneider would play all 10 of Widor’s organ symphonies in five series that season.

Ralph Kinder celebrated his 25th anniversary at Church of the Holy Trinity, Philadelphia.

The Eastman School of Music advertised its “Course for Motion Picture Organists.”

Women organists in Boston formed the Women Organ Players’ Club of Boston, with Miss Edith Lang as president.

Advertisers included Skinner, Bennett, Weickhardt-Schaefer, Barton, Votteler-Holtkamp-Sparling, Hinners, Sommerhof, Midmer-Losh, Pilcher, Kimball, Gevena, Hall, Odell, Hook & Hasting, and Wangerin, among others.

Fifty years ago, the December 1949 issue of The Diapason reported--

The Diapason celebrated 40 years from its humble beginning.

Clarence Dickinson celebrated his 40th anniversary as organist and choirmaster at Brick Presbyterian Church in New York City.

Edward Eigenschenk celebrated his 20th anniversary at Second Presbyterian Church in Chicago.

David Craighead’s recital at Rockefeller Chapel of the University of Chicago received a favorable review.

Fernando Germani played a recital at Thorne Hall of Northwestern University.

Robert Noehren wrote about his summer study of historic organs in Holland, Switzerland, France, and North Germany.

The Buffalo AGO Chapter celebrated its 30th anniversary.

Advertisers included Aeolian-Skinner, Reisner, Estey, Kilgen, La Marche, Möller, Wurlitzer, Arkansas Organ Co., Hillgreen, Lane & Co., and Frazee, among others.

Twenty-five years ago, the December 1974 issue of The Diapason reported--

Thomas Matthews retired as Dean of the Evergreen Conference in Colorado.

Feature articles included “Lynnwood Farnam--Master Organist of the Century,” by Jeanne Rizzo; “Herbert Howells’ ‘Lambert’s Clavichord’,” by Larry Palmer; and “The Organ Concerto Arrangements of Johann Gottfried Walther,” by Sarah E. Hanks.

Appointments included: Peter Crisafulli to St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Evanston, IL; Huw Lewis to St. John’s Episcopal Church, Detroit, MI; Dale G. Rider to Christ Church Episcopal, St. Joseph, MO.

Lawrence I. Phelps & Associates completed the installation of a new organ at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Ft. Collins, CO.

Ten years ago, the December 1989 issue of The Diapason reported--

Appointments included: Charles Callahan to the faculty at Rollins College, Winter Park, FL; SharonRose Dryer to the faculty of Nazareth College, Rochester, NY; Donald Joyce appointed Interim Music Director at St. John’s in the Village, NYC; Pamela Ruiter-Feenstra to Bethany College, Lindsborg, KS; Max Yount to St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Beloit, WI.

Feature articles included: “Computer Assisted Design: Three Challenges for the Future,” by Herbert L. Huestis; and “Charles-Valentin Alkan, part 2,” by John Wells.

Situated on a hill overlooking the city of Lewiston, Maine, the Gothic Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul is visible from a great distance in any direction. Its grand architecture beckons visitors from all over. The interior of the basilica is as sumptuous as its exterior. And among the many treasures of the edifice are the organs.

Lewiston was founded in 1795 along the Androscoggin River. Its industry was supported by cotton mills for many years. By the 1850s the Bates Mill, named for Benjamin E. Bates, for whom Bates College is also named, became the largest employer in Lewiston, remaining so for a century. In the late 1850s, French Canadians began to migrate to Lewiston for job opportunities. A section of Lewiston became known as “Little Canada,” and the city has celebrated its French Canadian character to this day.

Various Protestant congregations were formed, but it would be 1857 before the first Catholic parish, Saint Joseph, was founded. The parish, which was English speaking and serving primarily Irish immigrants, laid the cornerstone for a church along Main Street on June 13, 1864, and finished construction in 1867. The architect was Patrick C. Keely.

The Catholic Bishop of Portland assigned the Reverend Louis Mutsaers to minister to the French-speaking Catholics of Saint Joseph Church. With more than 1,000 souls in the French-speaking Catholic community, Saint Peter Church was founded in 1870, the first French ethnic parish in the diocese. Father Edouard Létourneau of Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec, was named first pastor. The fledgling congregation moved to Saint John Chapel, the second floor of a house on Lincoln Street, coincidentally the first home of Saint Joseph Church. The first Mass, a wedding, was said on July 2, 1870. The Reverend Pierre Hévey became pastor the following year.

The first church

Father Hévey constructed a Gothic church building on Ayers Hill, on Bartlett Street between Ash and College Streets. The cornerstone was laid July 7, 1872, and the edifice was dedicated on May 4, 1873. The substantial building was 116 feet long, 32 feet wide, and crowned by a 160-foot bell tower. The total cost of the building, including land and furnishings, was approximately $100,000. The dedication Mass, attended by 2,000 and presided over by the Bishop of Portland, also witnessed the confirmation of 215 children. The parish school was opened in 1878, and a cemetery was developed. The Sisters of Charity of Saint-Hyacinthe would also establish a hospital, an orphan asylum, and a home for the aged, in addition to teaching in the school. A five-story brick school building accommodating 700 students was opened in 1883 at Lincoln and Chestnut Streets. A second school, for boys, was opened on Bates Street in 1887. By the close of the century, there were 1,721 students in the parish schools.

When Father Hévey left the parish in 1881, administration was turned over to the Dominican Fathers of Lille, France. About this time, Saint Peter became known as Saints Peter and Paul Church. By the late 1890s, church membership neared 10,000 persons, and galleries were added to the church nave, and the building’s basement was enlarged. A brick monastery was built for the Dominicans on Bartlett Street, a building that still stands behind the basilica today. The Dominicans would live here until they returned the parish to the diocese in 1987.

In 1902, Saint Louis Church was founded in Auburn, across the river, but this did little to lessen overcrowding at Saints Peter and Paul Church. In 1904, Father Alexandre Louis Mothon, OP, then pastor of the parish, retained Belgian-native Noël Coumont of Lewiston to design a neo-Gothic edifice to be built of Maine granite at an estimated cost of $250,000. Portland diocesan authorities were duly impressed with Coumont’s work and named him diocesan architect.

Building the present church

The final Mass in the old church was celebrated on February 5, 1905, after which the building was dismantled and demolished. A temporary wooden structure seating 1,200 persons was erected. Adjacent property was acquired, and construction of the lower church was commenced on February 22, 1906. Despite the collapse of a wall on November 9, the lower church was in use for Midnight Mass at Christmas, December 25, 1906. Father Mouthon had resigned and was replaced by the Reverend Antonin Dellaire, OP.

The parish would not complete the upper church for another three decades. In the interim, the diocese created three other parishes in Lewiston: Saint Mary, founded in 1907 in “Little Canada” with 820 families; Holy Family, founded in 1923; and Holy Cross, founded that same year with 575 families.

The diocese granted the Reverend Mannès Marchand, OP, pastor, permission to complete the upper church in 1933. A bid of $361,510 was accepted in April of the following year. Timothy G. O’Connell of Boston had become architect. Construction began in May, and the project would require some 516 boxcars of granite. Slate, copper, and limestone support the roofs.

The exterior was completed in 1935, crowned by twin steeples rising 168 feet with eight spires of granite and concrete. Two fairs would be held in the unfinished interior to raise funds for its completion. The interior was finished on July 18, 1936. The Most Reverend Joseph E. McCarthy, DD, dedicated Saints Peter and Paul Church on October 23, 1938. An all-male choir, recently formed, provided music for the occasion. The total construction price was estimated at $625,000. Five bells, cast for the previous church in 1884 by the McShane foundry of Baltimore, Maryland, were retained for the new towers. In 1948, the magnificent stained glass windows of the nave were installed to the designs of Boston’s Terence O’Duggan, at a cost of $40,000. The building measures 330 feet long, 135 feet wide, and the ceiling rises 64 feet. The pews seat 1,800 persons.

There was considerable posturing to making Saints Peter and Paul the cathedral of the diocese, supplanting Portland’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, founded in 1856 with its church built between 1866 and 1869 to the designs of Patrick C. Keely. Postcards of the Lewiston church were printed and sold, designating it a “cathedral.” However, the move of the seat of the bishop from Portland to Lewiston never occurred.

The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 14 (Bastille Day), 1983. The second-largest Catholic church in New England, Saints Peter and Paul is exceeded only by Saint Joseph Cathedral of Hartford, Connecticut. In the past two decades, the building has been restored, a heroic multi-million dollar project. The first part of the project, the exterior, took nine years to complete. The interior restoration of the upper church was completed in 2002.

The church’s music history is remarkable. In 1872, a reed organ was acquired, and a Mrs. Martel became organist. Mr. Alcibiad Beique succeeded her. Considered an accomplished organist as he had studied in Belgium, Beique would play the opening program/Mass on the church’s first pipe organ, described below. Beique would leave Lewiston to become organist for the church of Notre Dame in Montréal, Canada. Mr. F. Desanniers next served the parish, though he died about a year after beginning service, having consumed poison thinking it was medicine. Henry F. Roy then served Saints Peter and Paul, remaining until 1925. George C. Giboin then served from 1925 until his death in 1945. From 1945 until 1966, Bernard Piché was organist, while Roland Pineau directed the choirs. Piché was of considerable repute, and was managed as a recitalist by the Colbert-Laberge management group. Pineau continued as organist and choir director until 1973. Luciene Bédard also served as organist, beginning in 1942 and continuing for 54 years. Ida Rocheleau provided music from 1973 until 1982. Kathy Brooks was named music director in 1990. Scott Vaillancourt became music director in 2003 and continues today.

In addition to choral groups for children and adults, the parish sponsored a boys’ band (Fanfare Ste. Cécile) from 1898 until 1947. An extensive boys’ choir for grades 5 through 8 (Les Petits Chanteurs de Lewiston) was established in 1945 and performed operettas and other works in Lewiston and throughout New England until it was disbanded in 1964.

The pipe organs

The first pipe organ for the parish was 1880 Hook & Hastings Opus 1011, a two-manual, 24-rank instrument located in the 1873 church. The case of ash measured 25 feet high, 13 feet wide, nine feet deep. The organ cost $3,500 and was dedicated on Thanksgiving Day, November 25.

The organ was removed from the building prior to demolition and reinstalled in the new lower church in 1906. It was rebuilt and enlarged by Casavant Frères of Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec, Canada, in 1916, as their Opus 665, retaining the Hook & Hastings case and much of the pipework.

In 2004, Casavant Opus 665 was sold to the Church of the Resurrection (Episcopal), New York City, where it was moved and rebuilt by the Organ Clearing House. A series of dedicatory recitals were held for this organ in its new home in 2011.

The upper church Casavant organs together make up the largest church organ in Maine. There are 4,695 pipes in five divisions in the rear gallery, 737 in three divisions in the sanctuary. A four-manual, drawknob console controls the entire organ from the rear gallery; a two-manual console in the sanctuary, which does not function at this time, controls the sanctuary divisions. The organ was designed by Charles-Marie Courboin of Saint Patrick Cathedral, New York City. The contract specification was dated April 4, 1937. Manual compass is 61 notes (C–C); pedal compass (concave, radiating pedalboard) is 32 notes (C–G). The instrument cost $28,000 for the gallery organ, $10,000 for the sanctuary organ. A fifteen-horsepower blower was provided for the gallery organ, and a one-horsepower blower for the sanctuary organ.

Courboin, who travelled to Saint-Hyacinthe to inspect the organ in the factory, played the opening recital on the completed organ, October 4, 1938. An estimated 2,000 persons filled the nave of the church, the first public event to occur in the upper church. The following was his program (a local choral group, Orpheon, also presented three works):

Part I

Concert Overture R. Maitland

Aria No. 3, Suite in D
Johann Sebastian Bach

Sketch No. 3 Schumann

Cantabile Cesar Franck 

Pastorale 2d Symphony
Charles-Marie Widor

Passacaglia and Fugue, C minor
J. S. Bach

Part II

Ave Maria Schubert-Courboin

Choral Prelude J. S. Bach

Choral No. 3 Cesar Franck 

The Lost Chord Sullivan-Courboin

March Heroique Saint-Saens

Casavant crafted the extensive woodworking lining the church nave, including an ornate screen in the sanctuary and the extensive wood supporting the organ and choir gallery, the transept galleries, and the narthex. The project utilizing Maine native red cedar and oak took a year and a half to complete.

Over the years, various renowned organists have concertized on the upper church organs. For instance, the Lewiston-Auburn Chapter of the American Guild of Organists sponsored Marcel Dupré in recital on Monday evening, October 4, 1948, along with three selections presented by the Saint Paul Choral Society. (Admission was $1.20, tax included, students $0.75.) The program for the organ’s tenth anniversary included works by Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frederick Handel, Eric DeLamarter, César Franck, Mr. Dupré, as well as an improvisation on submitted themes—Yankee Doodle and Turkeys in the Tree Top.

The fiftieth anniversary of the Casavant organs was celebrated with a concert on October 4, 1988, given by Brian Franck, organist, with l’Orpheon, conducted by Alexis Cote and accompanied by Luciene Bédard. Alan Laufman of the Organ Historical Society presented Historic Organ Citation #100 for the upper church organs. The upper church organs were heard in recitals during the national convention of the Organ Historical Society on August 19, 1992.

The gallery Casavant has experienced only three tonal alterations since installation. During Mr. Pinché’s tenure, the Grand Orgue 16′ Bombarde was replaced by an 8′ Bourdon. The Solo 16′ Tuba Magna was replaced by a 4′ Orchestral Flute. And the Récit 8′ Trompette was replaced by an 8′ open flute. The 8′ Trompette rank was used for many years in the Casavant in the lower church. It is now in storage, awaiting restoration and reinstallation, or perhaps replacement with a copy, if necessary.

Saints Peter and Paul experienced its largest membership in the 1950s, with more than 15,000 souls on the records. Twenty years later, membership was less than half that number. In 1986, the Dominicans turned administration of the parish back to the diocese. In June of 1996, Saints Peter and Paul was “twinned” with nearby Saint Patrick Catholic Church.

On October 4, 2004, the Vatican raised Saints Peter and Paul Church to the dignity of a minor basilica. The basilica was inaugurated on May 22, 2005, by the Most Reverend Richard Malone, Bishop of Portland. In 2008, the basilica became part of the newly-formed Prince of Peace Parish, which in due time has included all the Catholic parishes of Lewiston. The parish today includes the basilica, Holy Cross, Holy Family, as well as cluster parishes: Holy Trinity, Lisbon Falls, Our Lady of the Rosary, Sabattus, and Saint Francis Mission, Greene (in the summer only). Holy Cross Church has a Casavant organ of two manuals, 25 ranks, installed in 1967.

Saint Mary Church would close in 2000 and become the home of the Franco-American Heritage Center. The Gothic edifice of stone was completed in 1927 to the designs of the same architect as Saints Peter and Paul. It is now used as a performing arts and cultural center, preserving much of the feel of the old church, including its stained glass windows. A photograph at the center’s website reveals that at least the twin cases of the church’s Frazee organ are still present. The organ itself is in storage at the center, awaiting funding for reinstallation.

Saint Joseph Catholic Church was closed October 13, 2009, and sits empty. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Now owned by Central Maine Healthcare, the redbrick Gothic building has been threatened with demolition, though these plans are on hold as of this writing. The building once housed a two-manual Henry Erben organ from 1870, long since replaced by an electronic substitute.

Saint Patrick Catholic Church, facing Kennedy Park along Bates Street at Walnut Street, was founded in 1886. The parish, under the leadership of Monsignor Thomas Wallace, built a grand Gothic church, completed in 1890. Monsignor Wallace was buried in the church crypt. On October 27, 2009, Saint Patrick closed its doors. Its 1893 two-manual Hook & Hastings organ, Opus 1580 (electrified about 1960 by Rostron Kershaw, with minor tonal changes), was removed for relocation to Holy Family Catholic Church of Lewiston, a project partially completed by the Faucher Organ Company of Biddeford, Maine. Completion awaits sufficient funding. This is the first pipe organ for Holy Family Church.

Despite losing its claim as an industrial center in the state, Lewiston today remains the second largest city in Maine, behind Portland. Auburn is located across the Androscoggin River from Lewiston, and the two communities are often considered a single entity. The Lewiston community has experienced a renaissance in recent years.

The seventy-fifth anniversary of the Casavant organs in the upper church was celebrated throughout 2013. The parish sponsors a summer recital series, and that year’s performers included: Karel Paukert; Chris Ganza with Karen Pierce (vocalist); Albert Melton; Randall Mullin; Jacques Boucher with Anne Robert (violinist); Ray Cornils; Julie Huang; Harold Stover; Sean Fleming; and the author. The final program of this series occurred on September 27, featuring Kevin Birch, organist, the Androscoggin Chorale, John Corrie, conductor, and the Men’s Choir of the Basilica, Scott Vaillancourt, director. The program included: Prelude and Fugue in E-flat, BWV 552i, Johann Sebastian Bach; Andante Sostenuto, Symphonie IV, Charles-Marie Widor; Cloches, Marcel Fournier; Carillon de Westminster, Louis Vierne; Sonata I, Alexandre Guilmant, and the Mass for Two Choirs and Two Organs, Widor. Some restorative repairs have been made to the Casavant organs by the Faucher Organ Company of Biddeford, Maine. Ongoing efforts are made to raise funds to complete the project and bring this world-class organ back to its original glory. 

Sources

A Rich Past—A Challenging Future: A Tribute to Ss. Peter and Paul Parish, Saints Peter and Paul Parish, Lewiston, Maine, 1996.

Organ Handbook 1992, Alan M. Laufman, editor, The Organ Historical Society, Richmond, Virginia, 1992, pp. 60–63.

“The Organs of the Church of Ss. Peter & Paul Lewiston, Maine,” Brian Franck and Alan Laufman, The Tracker, vol. 36, no. 2, 1992, pp. 8–13.

Newspaper clippings, Casavant contract information from the basilica archives.

Photography by Stephen Schnurr, except as noted.

Three Decades of Building Organs in Lake City, Iowa

John A. Panning is tonal director of Dobson Pipe Organ Builders. A native of Wisconsin, he worked for two years with Hammes-Foxe Organs, Inc. in the Milwaukee area prior to joining Dobson in 1984. In these twenty years, he has been involved in every facet of pipe organ design, construction and maintenance. Mr. Panning has served two terms as Secretary of the American Institute of Organbuilders, and is currently a member of the AIO Journal committee. He was a member of the National Council of the Organ Historical Society from 1985–1991, and has served on two OHS convention committees. He has been North American Editor of Publications for the International Society of Organbuilders since 1991.

Thirty years ago this month, Lynn Dobson opened an organ building workshop in Lake City. Three decades later, clients from near and far have made the journey to this small western Iowa town.

Lynn A. Dobson, founder of the Dobson Pipe Organ Builders, was born in Carroll, Iowa, in 1949, and grew up on a farm in nearby Lanesboro. In 1966, he received a scholarship from the Hill Foundation to attend the Minneapolis School of Art summer session for gifted students. He graduated from Wayne State College in Wayne, Nebraska, in 1971 with majors in art and industrial education. During his college years, he built a twelve-stop mechanical-action organ in a shed on the family farm; this organ, Op. 1 (II/15), was eventually sold to Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Sioux City, Iowa, where it still serves today. Upon graduation, Dobson taught high school art in Plattsmouth, Nebraska. However, the desire to be involved with organ building persisted, and in 1974 he left teaching to work for the Hendrickson Organ Company of St. Peter, Minnesota. In November 1974, he established his own firm, opening a small shop at 120 West Main Street in Lake City, Iowa.

What follows is a chronicle of the more important dates in the company’s history, a big-picture overview of three decades of art and craft as practiced by an increasingly prominent Midwestern American organ builder.

1975 ~ The young company’s first contract comes from one of Dobson’s former teachers, Antony Garlick, a music professor and composer at Wayne State College. The ten-stop residence organ incorporates both new and revoiced pipework. When Garlick moved in 1986, he sold the organ to Mary Brooks of Doylestown, Pennsylvania. In 1998, she in turn sold it to The Church of the Holy Spirit in Harleysville, Pennsylvania, and Dobson was once again called upon to move the organ, making several additions to suit its new, larger home. In his first year of business, Dobson is accepted as a member of the American Institute of Organbuilders (AIO).

1976 ~ Olivet Congregational Church, St. Paul, Minnesota, signs a contract for Op. 4 (II/33). The organ’s donor gave his gift to the church on the condition that it help launch the business of a promising young organ builder. At this time Lynn Dobson was assisted by his father Elmer Dobson, Jon Thieszen, who first began as summer help during college and would later become the company’s technical designer, and voicer Robert Sperling, a former co-worker at Hendrickson. The resulting instrument is a monumental achievement for so young a firm.

1979 ~ The company moves to its current location at 200 North Illinois Street, completely renovating the historic building and adding an erecting room with a 30¢ ceiling. In addition to instruments built for area churches, Dobson receives commissions from two Minnesota colleges as the decade closes. The first is a small studio organ for St. Olaf College (Op. 8, II/7; 1978). The second Minnesota institution, Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato, commissions an organ for its chapel (Op. 10, II/21; 1979), located in the school’s historic Old Main building. Op. 10 enjoys wide attention in organ journals. In 1996 it undergoes some tonal additions (increasing its size to 24 ranks) and receives a dramatic revision to its case to better suit its second home, Bethany’s new Trinity Chapel.

1980 ~ The decade opens with larger and more diverse projects, including one less than a block from the original Main Street shop: Lake City Union Church purchases a two-manual instrument (Op. 13, II/29; 1980). Dobson is engaged by Westminster Presbyterian Church of Des Moines, Iowa, to complete the organ (Op. 14, II/38; 1981) left unfinished by Lawrence Phelps Associates after that firm’s insolvency. Nearby Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, contracts for a practice organ (Op. 16, II/3; 1981) and a teaching studio organ (Op. 21, II/18; 1982). The capabilities of the shop were enlarged during this period by several new employees, among them Tom Kult, a skilled cabinetmaker who later becomes shop foreman; David Storey, an organ builder who had previously worked for Jim McFarland in Pennsylvania; and Lake City native Sally Winter, secretary. Robert Sperling becomes full-time voicer. The firm is accepted for membership in the International Society of Organbuilders and is invited to join the Associated Pipe Organ Builders of America (APOBA); Lynn Dobson is elected to the AIO Board of Directors.

1983 ~ The completion of large two-manual organs for the Church of St. Michael in Stillwater, Minnesota (Op. 23, II/34; 1983) and First Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, Kansas (Op. 24, II/43; 1983) are harbingers of Dobson’s expansion into the rest of the country. Op. 24 is the largest organ built by the firm to date, and is the first organ in the United States to employ a “dual” stop action, one that can be operated mechanically by the organist as well as electrically through a solid-state combination action.

1984 ~ John Panning, an organ builder from Wisconsin, joins the crew this year; he is later appointed the firm’s tonal director. The shop is remodeled and enlarged at this time to accommodate the fabrication of mechanical key action parts and console chassis. In November, the firm celebrates its 10th anniversary with an open house and a recital by Guy Bovet on Op. 13 at Lake City Union Church; hundreds of clients and friends of the company attend.

1985 ~ Op. 28 (II/30; 1985), for The Church of the Holy Comforter in Burlington, North Carolina, is the first of many Dobson instruments to be located outside of the Midwest. From 1985 to 1990, the firm builds twenty new organs in Pennsylvania, New York, North Carolina and Virginia, in addition to five Midwestern states. Eight are for universities and colleges, of which five are institutions affiliated with church bodies: Bethel College, North Newton, Kansas (Op. 27, II/19; 1985), St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota (Op. 29, II/30; 1985), Augsburg College, Minneapolis, Minnesota (Op. 42, III/44; 1988), Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan (Op. 44, III/49; 1989), and Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa (Op. 46, II/15; 1989). Op. 42 and 44 are both for new college chapels designed in cooperation with Dobson. New shop personnel by the end of this decade include Meridith Sperling (pipe racking, general organ building), Lyndon Evans and Randy Hausman (cabinetmakers), Dean Heim (general organ building, and later shop foreman), Art Middleton (key action and consoles) and Bob Savage (leatherwork and electrical). Dobson hosts the annual spring meeting of APOBA, during which the firm is elected president.

1989 ~ The first AIO Midyear Seminar is held at the Dobson shop. Twenty organ builders from across the country participate in lectures on case design and construction, cost accounting, shop administration and equipment. By this time the firm is well known for its artistic and innovative organ case design.

1990 ~ Gradual evolution of the firm’s tonal style continues. Although specialized instruments such as the organ in Italian style for Indiana University (Op. 35, II/26; 1987) have been built, most are of eclectic design. Earlier instruments explored the neo-classic aesthetic; new projects blend both classical and romantic influences. Op. 44 (1989) at Calvin College includes a 16¢ Open Wood in the Pedal, two enclosed divisions and a rich, smooth tonal palette. Joining the firm this year are Kirk Russell (business manager) and Dean Zenor, an organ builder from Connecticut.

1992 ~ Two instruments built this year demonstrate the firm’s range. Op. 55 (II/32) for St. John Lutheran Church in Storm Lake, Iowa, features Kirnberger III tuning, dual wind systems (a wedge bellows for flexible wind, a parallel-rise bellows and wind stabilizers for steady wind) and a freestanding case with attached console at the rear of the church. The chancel location and Anglican church music emphasis of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Kalamazoo, Michigan, result in Op. 57’s (II/42) more romantic tonal design. Op. 56 (II/17), for Trinity Lutheran Church, Manhattan Beach, California, is the first Dobson installation on the West Coast. The firm is incorporated as Dobson Pipe Organ Builders, Ltd., a new 4,500 sq. ft. wood shop is built, and a pipe shop is set up. The company becomes a prize sponsor for the National Improvisation Competition of the American Guild of Organists.

1993 ~ Op. 60 (III/49) for First United Methodist Church, Mesa, Arizona, the firm’s seventh three-manual instrument, features a Solo as the third manual rather than a more customary Positive or Choir. Voiced on 6≤ wind pressure with mechanical action, this division includes an 8¢ Harmonic Flute, 4¢ Flute Octaviante, Cornet V, and 8¢ Bombarde, all under expression except for the Cornet, which is mounted outside the Solo enclosure.

1995 ~ The mid-’90s see an even wider variety of projects, ranging from Op. 62 (II/11; 1994), a residence organ for Rich Wanner in Berkeley, California, to the 1996 renovation of the important four-manual 1959 Schlicker organ at Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, Indiana, and its enlargement to 102 ranks. Other notable organs delivered are Op. 65 (II/36; 1995) for the University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, Op. 67 (II/32; 1996) for Wartburg College, Waverly, Iowa, and Op. 69 (II/31; 1997) for Pakachoag Church, Auburn, Massachusetts. Voicer and pipemaker William Ayers joins the firm during these years.

1998 ~ The organ for St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, (Op. 70, II/45) unabashedly combines classical and romantic tonal elements in a fresh and original way. This same line is followed in the large three-manual instrument for West Market Street Methodist Church in Greensboro, North Carolina (Op. 71, III/58; 1999), voiced in collaboration with Los Angeles organ builder Manuel Rosales. A somewhat more classical course is taken with the instrument at St. Joseph Abbey in St. Benedict, Louisiana (Op. 73, III/38; 2000), which is greatly enhanced by the Abbey church’s five seconds of reverberation. Joining the firm by the end of the decade are Scott Hicks (general organ building), Gerrid Otto (windchests, general organ building), John Ourensma (voicing, pipemaking) and Randall Pepe (wood pipemaking and general organ building).

2000 ~ The firm’s work at the beginning of a new century includes the monumental instrument for the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, California (Op. 75, IV/105; 2003) and the company’s first contract for a major concert hall, Verizon Hall in Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts (Op. 76, IV/125; 2006), the new home of the Philadelphia Orchestra. These high-profile projects bring Dobson into collegial working relationships with world-famous architects: José Rafael Moneo for the cathedral project and Rafael Viñoly for the concert hall.

2003 ~ Not to be lost among the contracts for immense organs are instruments of more normal size delivered to churches and universities in Delaware, Illinois, and Minnesota. Op. 78 (III/42) for St. John’s Methodist Church in Augusta is Dobson’s first instrument in Georgia, housed in an elegant cherrywood case with carved pipeshades. Joining the firm during the first years of the century are Antal Kozma (technical design) and Donny Hobbs (general organ building, voicing, pipemaking).

2004 ~ Op. 80 (II/26), for St. Paul’s Church, Rock Creek Parish, Washington, D.C., was set up and played in Lake City during a 30th anniversary open house. To further celebrate, a festive reception for friends of the company was held during the Los Angeles AGO convention following Martin Jean’s recital on Op. 75 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. The second phase of the installation of Op. 76 (IV/125) in Verizon Hall takes place during the summer, while Op. 79 (II/23), for Shepherd of the Bay Lutheran Church, Ellison Bay, Wisconsin, is installed in the fall. Ongoing design work includes a significant concert hall instrument for the new Atlanta Symphony Center, designed by famed architect Santiago Calatrava of Zürich. Instruments for the Chapel of the Cross in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, give the shop a small respite between these large projects.

Since 1994, the daily operation of the shop has been under the direction of a management team consisting of Lynn Dobson (president and artistic director), John Panning (tonal director), Jon Thieszen (technical designer), Dean Heim (shop foreman), Dean Zenor (project manager) and Kirk Russell (business manager).

News, specifications of every organ, and many photographs can be found on Dobson’s website at

<www.dobsonorgan.com&gt;.

Dobson Pipe Organ Builders, Ltd.

William Ayers, 1994, voicer, pipemaker

Mitch Clark, 2004, technical designer

Lynn A. Dobson, 1974, president and artistic director

Lyndon Evans, 1988, cabinetmaker

Randy Hausman, 1988, cabinetmaker

Dean Heim, 1988, shop foreman, general organbuilding

Scott Hicks, 1997, general organbuilding

Donny Hobbs, 2003, general organbuilding, voicing

Antal Kozma, 2001, technical designer

Arthur Middleton, 1987, machinist, key action, wood pipes

Gerrid D. Otto, 1998, windchests, general organbuilding

John Ourensma, 1999, voicer, pipemaker

John A. Panning, 1984, tonal director, voicer

Kirk P. Russell, 1990, business manager

Robert Savage, 1989, leatherwork, electrical, general organbuilding

Meridith Sperling, 1985, windchests, general organbuilding

Jon H. Thieszen, 1975, technical designer

Sally J. Winter, 1983, accounting and secretarial

Dean C. Zenor, 1990, key action, administrative

Janet Anuta Dalquist holds degrees from Macalester College, McCormick Theological Seminary, and the University of Michigan. She began playing for church services at the age of 12, served as a substitute organist in various churches from 1956–1988, and in 1989 was appointed organist at Portage Lake United Church (UPUSA/UCC), Houghton, Michigan. She is a co-founder of the Organists of the Keweenaw and holds memberships in the AGO, PAM, ALCM, OHS and the Hymn Society. As a professional academic librarian, she served as director of the Suomi College (now Finlandia University) library from 1968 to 1984 and as collection manager of the J. Robert Van Pelt Library at Michigan Technological University in Houghton from 1984 to 1994.

Trinity Episcopal Church
205 East Montezuma, Houghton, MI 49931; 906/482-2010.
Austin, 1913, 3M, 26 ranks; new console, 1958; rebuilt with new console, 1976; rebuilt, Roscoe Wheeler, Iron Mountain, MI, 1987; repaired, including reinstallation of the Echo organ, Lauck, 2004.
Placement: chancel, right side, in well facing the opposite side

GREAT
8' Open Diapason Rank 1
8' Clarabella Rank 2
8' Dulciana Choir
4' Octave Rank 3
4' Stopped Flute Choir
2' Fifteenth (ext of Rank 1)
III Mixture Ranks 4-5-6
Great 16
Great 4
Great Unison Off
Swell to Great 16, 8, 4
Choir to Great 16, 8, 4
Echo on Great
Echo on Great Off
Chimes (Echo) 25 bars

SWELL
16' Bourdon Rank 12
8' Rohrflute Rank 13
8' Viole d’Orchestre Rank 14
4' Geigen Principal Rank 15
4' Flute Harmonique Rank 16
22⁄3' Nazard Rank 17
2' Flautino Rank 18
8' Cornopean Rank 19
8' Oboe Rank 20
Tremolo
Swell 16, 4
Swell Unison Off

CHOIR
8' Violin Cello Rank 7
8' Spitzflute Rank 8
8' Dulciana Rank 9
4' Flute Rank 10
8' Clarinet Rank 11
Tremolo
Choir 16, 4
Choir Unison Off
Swell to Choir 16, 8, 4

ECHO
8' Chimney Flute Rank 21
8' Viole Aetheria Rank 22
8' Vox Angelica Rank 23
4' Fern Flute Rank 24
8' Cor Anglais Rank 25
8' Vox Humana Rank 26
Tremolo
Chimes 25 Bars
16' Pedal Bourdon (ext of Rank 21)

PEDAL
32' Resultant Bass Wired
16' Open Diapason (ext of Rank 1)
16' Bourdon Rank 27
16' Contra Dulciana (ext of Rank 9)
16' Gedeckt Swell
8' Flute (ext of Rank 27)
16' Echo Bourdon (ext of Rank 21)
Great to Pedal 8, 4
Swell to Pedal 8, 4
Choir to Pedal 8, 4

Programmable thumb pistons under each manual
Toe pistons: 10 General; 5 Pedal with some reversibles
Crescendo pedal
Swell expression
Choir expression
Choir and Great are on same wind chest

The forming of the Houghton Episcopal congregation began in 1860. The parish was officially founded in 1861 when the congregation entered into an agreement with members of the Congregational denomination to jointly construct a building in Hancock. Disagreement followed as to which denomination the building would be dedicated. The Episcopalians, who comprised the majority of the joint church board, floated the building across Portage Lake to Houghton to the site of the present church. Construction on the present church began in 1907 and was completed in 1910 when it was dedicated.
The Austin organ was installed in 1912 with the dedicatory service played by Edwin Arthur Kraft of Trinity Cathedral, Cleveland, Ohio. The Echo organ was dedicated in 1924 with a recital played by Joseph Kershaw. During a building renovation in the 1970s the wind lines and electrical work to the Echo organ were dismantled. In 2001 Father Ted Durst initiated refurbishing during which time the Echo organ was again connected to the main organ. A re-dedicatory recital was played in 2002 by Deward Rahm of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Chicago, Illinois. (Sources: Centennial History; recital service bulletin)

•

Lake Linden and Hubbell

Heritage Center (former First Congregational Church), Lake Linden, MI. Property of Houghton County Historical Museum Society.
Garret House, Buffalo, New York, 1873–4, 2M/23 stops, tracker, installed 1887; cleaned, Dana Hull, 2001; cleaned and restored, blower replaced 2002, Helmut Schick, Ann Arbor, MI
Placement: left front of sanctuary, bench faces away from audience

GREAT
8' Open Diapason
8' Viol d’Amour (TC)
8' Stopped Diapason Bass
8' Melodia
4' Flute
4' Principal
2' Fifteenth
Tremolo

SWELL (enclosed)
8' Open Diapason
8' Clarabella (TC)
8' Stopped Diapason Bass
8' Stopped Diapason Treble
4' Violina
8' Hautboy (TC)

PEDAL
16' Bourdon

Couplers
Swell to Great
Great to Pedal
Swell to Pedal

Tracker (mechanical) action; parts and case are all hand-crafted
580 pipes, 12 ranks, 2 manuals, 25 pedals
Hitch-down Swell pedal
May be hand-winded (pumped)

The organ was built in 1873–74 in Buffalo, New York, shipped to Lake Linden, and then transported in 1874 to the Congregational Church in Calumet, which served the wealthy class during the copper boom era. It was replaced there by a larger instrument (Hook & Hastings of Boston) and returned, as a gift from the Calumet church, to the Lake Linden church.
The Lake Linden church was built in 1896 at the cost of $8,325. A museum piece in itself, the building was designed by Holabird & Roche of Chicago in the Victorian Stick style on a non-coursed mine-rock foundation. It was dedicated February 27, 1887, with the dedicatory service being played by Professor Roney, organist of the Michigan Grand Commander of the Knights Templar.
In the summer of 1887 a fire destroyed almost all of Lake Linden, but the frame Congregational Church survived. It housed eight families for several months until new homes were found. The congregation ceased as a church in 1979, and ownership was taken over by the Houghton County Historical Museum. Grants have helped to renovate plumbing, roofing, electrical wiring, heating, and repainting of the outside of the building.
Dana Hull, Ann Arbor, representative of the Organ Historical Society, and Helmut Schick of the University of Michigan cleaned and restored the organ during 2001 and 2002. A new blower replaced the original. (Sources: Taylor; The Daily Mining Gazette)
“Beautifully made, much detail and care; shows growth and refinement in an organ shipped to the hinterlands; finials, medallions in the casework, nice lines in the presentation; some expensive wood here and there, very well cut and finished; excellent pipework.” (Source: e-mail from David Short quoting Dana Hull and Helmut Schick, 10-04-01)

St. Cecilia Roman Catholic Church
Guck Street, Hubbell, MI 49934; 906/296-6971.
A. B. Felgemaker, Erie, Pennsylvania, c1900, 2M, 12 ranks, tracker
Placement: gallery, rear of sanctuary

GREAT
8' Open Diapason
8' Flute
8' Dulciana
4' Octave
2' Super Octave
16' Bourdon
Bellows Signal

SWELL
8' Stopped Diapason
8' Viola
8' Aolina
4' Flute Harmonique
8' Oboe

PEDAL
16' Bourdon

Couplers
Swell to Great
Swell to Pedal
Great to Pedal
Tremolo

St. Cecilia Church, organized in 1893 to provide for German, French, and Irish immigrants, was an offshoot of St. Joseph’s Church in Lake Linden. The frame building was dedicated in 1893. It features a stained glass window of St. Cecilia, the patron saint of church music, playing an organ. (Source: e-mail from David Short, 2-14-06)

St. John’s Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod)
311 Guck Road, Torch Lake Township, Hubbell, MI; 906/296-1022.
Verlinden, 1M, 5 ranks, 1968, Roscoe Wheeler, Iron Mountain, Michigan; 2' flute added, Verlinden, 1977; rebuilt 2006, B. K. Kellogg & Associates*

Stoplist (257 pipes)
8' Open Diapason
8' Flute
8' String
4' Flute
2' Flute
4' Coupler
16' Coupler
Tremulant
*Rebuilding 2006 (354 pipes)

8' Principal
8' Holz Gedackt
8' Traverse Flute
8' Dulciana
8' Unda Maris TC
4' Octave
4' Traverse Flute
2' Octave
16' Coupler
4' Coupler
Tremulant

Crescendo pedal
No pedal organ
No presets

The church was formed on May 15, 1893 by twelve men who gave the congregation the name “Saint Johannes Congregation.” The white frame building was dedicated August 13, 1893. The organ was installed by Verlinden in 1968. The open pipes of this unique instrument are mounted in the rear gallery of the sanctuary. The rope for the steeple bell descends amidst the pipes. The console is placed at one end of the gallery. The first part of the dedication service in November 1968 was played on the existing electronic instrument. During the service the pastor, Frank J. Schulz, demonstrated the newly installed pipe organ, and the remainder of the service was played on that instrument. A 2' flute rank was added in 1977 as a memorial to the longtime organist.
The organ was rebuilt during 2006. Relay switches, console stop controls, key contacting systems and wiring were replaced, and the leather on the wind regulator, the tremulant and the wooden pipe stoppers renewed. Interior actions were reconditioned as needed and one rank of pipes was added. Cost was $16,000. (Source: e-mail from organist June Peterson, 2-4-06)

St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church
701 Calumet Street, Lake Linden, MI 49945; 906/296-6851.
Casavant Frères Opus 41, 1916, tubular pneumatic; overhauled by Pipe Organ Craftsmen, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1957; converted to electro-pneumatic, Verlinden, 1982; dismantled and cleaned, new console, J. A. Hebert & Son Associates, Troy, Michigan, 1995; enlarged to meet original specifications by Lauck Pipe Organ Company, Otsego, Michigan, 2001*. 2M/23 stops, 25 ranks, electro-pneumatic.
Placement: rear gallery, right side of console to front of church

GRAND-ORGUE
8' Montre 65 pipes
8' Melodia 65 pipes
8' Dulciana 65 pipes
4' Prestant 61 pipes
22⁄3' Quint* 61 pipes
2' Doublette* 61 pipes
III Fourniture* 183 pipes
8' Trompette* 61 pipes
4' Grand-Orgue to Grand-Orgue

RÉCIT (enclosed)
8' Principal 65 pipes
8' Bourdon 65 pipes
8' Viola di Gamba 65 pipes
8' Voix Céleste 53 pipes
4' Flute Harmonique 65 pipes
2' Octavin* 61 pipes
II Sesquialtera TC* 98 pipes
8' Hautbois 65 pipes
4' Chalumeau* 61 pipes
Tremulant
4' Récit to Récit

PÉDALE
16' Bourdon 30 pipes
16' Gedeckt 30 pipes
8' Flute Bouchée 12 pipes
4' Prestant* 32 pipes
16' Bombarde*(ext G-O) 12 pipes
4' Chalumeau Recit

Tirasses
8' Grand-Orgue/Pédale
4' Grand-Orgue/Pédale
8' Récit/Pédale
4' Récit/Pédale
16' Récit/Grand Orgue
8' Récit/Grand Orgue
4' Récit/Grand-Orgue

*Added stops 2001
23 stops, 25 ranks, 1340 pipes

Combination pistons:
6 thumb pistons, Swell
8 thumb pistons, Great
6 thumb pistons, Pedal
8 general pistons (thumb/toe)
8 memory levels - Peterson

St. Joseph Church was founded and the first building dedicated in 1871. In 1902 a new structure was built on the same site. The Casavant Frères organ was installed in the rear gallery in 1916 with the dedicatory recital played by the Rev. Father Dobblestein, O.Praem., thought to be from DePere, Wisconsin. The pipework is believed to have been made in Canada and the workmen from South Haven, Michigan. During the late 1990s, through the efforts of director of music and organist David Short and Father Eric Olson, the organ was cleaned and the console replaced. In 2001 twelve ranks were added by the Lauck Organ Company, Otsego, Michigan. (Source: church brochure)

Lake Linden United Methodist Church
53237 N. Avenue, Lake Linden, MI.
Lancashire-Marshall, Moline, Illinois, 1893, $2100, 2M/19 ranks, tracker, pneumatic assist pedal; Hugh Stahl, 1950
Placement: center front of chancel, keydesk back of pulpit facing the case

GREAT (58 notes)
8' Open Diapason
8' Dulciana
8' Melodia
4' Octave
4' Flute Harmonique
22⁄3' Twelfth
2' Fifteenth
16' Trompette
Tremolo
Pedal Check
Bellows Signal

SWELL (enclosed)
16' Lieblich Gedact
16' Bourdon Bass
8' Open Diapason
8' Stopped Diapason
8' Aeoline
8' Salicional
4' Flauto Traverso
4' Fugara
2' Flautino
8' Oboe

PEDAL (27 notes) (pneumatic)
16' Bourdon
8' Flute

Couplers
Swell to Great
Swell to Pedal
Great to Pedal

5 pedal presets, loud to soft
Original cost: $2100
Additi
onal work done by Hugh Stahl
The Methodist Church was formed shortly after 1868, the year that two Methodist missionaries had been assigned to organize a Sunday School in the Lake Linden area. The present sanctuary was built and dedicated in 1886.
The organ was installed in 1893 and considered something of a “wonder.” At one point, an organist traveled to Lake Linden from Houghton and stayed the day so as to play both morning and evening services. The organ was originally winded by hand, and the blower was installed after World War I, much earlier than work done by Stahl. It is thought he may have worked on the pneumatics in the two pedal ranks, possibly doing needed repairs, and affixed the company tab to the keydesk at that time. Roscoe Wheeler of Iron Mountain, Michigan, did maintenance on the organ for many years prior to James Lauck taking over in 2001. (Source: e-mail from David Short, 2-14-06)

St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church
71 Michigan Ave., Rockland, MI.
Garret House, 1859. On board inside case: “1859 - Irish Hollow - Ontonagon - Lake Superior - Michigan”
The oldest pipe organ in Michigan, by 12 years. Thought by Dana Hull and Helmut Schick of Ann Arbor to be one of the first organs built by Garret House, possibly made from a template instrument, roughcut, less refined than the Lake Linden instrument. The congregation is still active. This organ must be restored.
(Source: Short)

Bibliography

Books, Pamphlets, Magazines
Butler, Ruth Gibson. Centennial History, 1860–1960. With photos from Mr. and Mrs. George Pruner. Hancock, MI: Trinity Episcopal Church [1960]
Fisher, James and Good, R. Allen. 100th Anniversary of the First Congregational Church, 1862–1962. Hancock, MI [1962]
Holmio, Armas K. E. History of the Finns in Michigan. Translated by Ellen M. Ryynanen. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2001.
Lankton, Larry. Beyond the Boundaries: Life and Landscape at the Lake Superior Copper Mines, 1840–1875. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
Monette, Clarence J. Churches of Hancock (Hancock, Michigan Remembered, vol. II; Twenty-fifth of a Local History Series). Lake Linden, MI: Welden H. Curtin, c1985.
Murdoch, Angus. Boom Copper: the Story of the First U.S. Mining Boom. New York: Macmillan, 1943. Nordberg, Erick. “From the Archives: Just like the Montreal Forum.” Michigan Tech Alumnus (April 2000), Houghton, MI: Michigan Technological University.
“Restoring the tracker organ—15th century design for the 21st century.” Newsletter (Fall 2001), Lake Linden, MI: Houghton County Historical Society.
Reynolds, Terry S. Grace of Houghton: A History of Grace United Methodist Church, Houghton, Michigan, first edition. Houghton, MI: Grace United Methodist Church, 2004.
Thurner, Arthur W. Strangers and Sojourners: a History of Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1994.

Brochures and Bulletins
Blessing and rededication of the organ. [Service bulletin, April 22, 2001.] St. Joseph Church, Lake Linden, MI.
[Brochure with photos (c1984) by Eric Munch]. St. Paul the Apostle Church, Calumet, MI. [n.d.]
Celebrating 140 Years: 1861–2001. First United Methodist Church, Hancock, MI.
Brochure about Estey Organ Museum. Brattleboro, VT, February 2006.
Historic Churches of Calumet. Research and technical assistance by Ed Yarbrough and the Keweenaw National Historic Park. Calumet Heritage Celebration 2001 Committee.
Keweenaw Family Resource Center: Benefit organ recital [Service Bulletin, October 13, 2002]. Trinity Episcopal Church. Houghton, MI.
Organ dedicatory service & recital [Service Bulletin, March 29, 1998]. Sts. Peter & Paul Lutheran Church, Hancock, MI: 1998.
Stetter, Charles. How Our New Pipe Organ Came About [Service Bulletin, November 5, 1970. Organ Dedication]. Mimeographed copy of original kept in the organ chamber. Calumet Congregational Church.
The History of the First Congregational Church of Lake Linden: now the Houghton Country Heritage Center. Program production by Andrew McInnes. Houghton County Heritage Center [Lake Linden, MI: n.d.].
Work to be done on the pipe organ of St. Joseph Church. [Brochure with photos] St. Joseph Church, Lake Linden, MI, n.d.]

Newspaper Articles
“Arts, Culture & Heritage.” The Daily Mining Gazette (Houghton, MI), July 31, 1994.
Burack, Susan. “The Organs of Lake Linden: carrying the tune of tradition.” The Daily Mining Gazette (Houghton, MI), July 31, 1994.
“Church marks 110 years.” The Daily Mining Gazette (Houghton, MI), August 8, 2003.
“First Presbyterian Church of Houghton buys Maxcy organ.” The Daily Mining Gazette (Houghton, MI) [1930–33?] [photocopy].
Fisher, Nancy Beth. “Saving the music; restoring the 1874 Garret House organ.” The Marquette Monthly: arts & humanities (Marquette, MI), August, 2001. “Museum gets grant for organ.” The Marquette Monthly: arts & humanities (Marquette, MI), July, 2001.
Taylor, Richard. “Renowned organist to dedicate restored organ in Lake Linden.” The Marquette Monthly: arts & humanities (Marquette, MI), August 2003.

E-mail Notes and Personal Sources
Arten, Kathleen. Organist, Community Church, Calumet, MI.
Halkola, David and Viola. Members, Gloria Dei Lutheran Church.
Hokenson, Ron. Pastor, Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, 1960s.
List, Jan. Organist, St. Paul MSL Church, Laurium, MI.
Peterson, June. 2 February 2006. Organist, St. John’s Lutheran Church, Hubbell, MI.
Photo St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Dawson City, Yukon, 1995, taken by author.
Seaton, Lois Isaac. Member of Gloria Dei Lutheran Church.
Short, David. Numerous e-mail notes and conversations. Director of Music and Organist, St. Joseph’s RC Church, Lake Linden, MI.
Waisanen, Carol. 13 February 2006. Organist, First United Methodist Church, Hancock, MI.
[Correspondence from Fabry, Inc. with Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, 9 July 2001]

10 years ago in the March 2000 issue of The Diapason
Cover: T. R. Rench & Company, Trinity United Methodist Church, Racine, Wisconsin
Third International Organ Competition sponsored by the City of Paris announced winners
Patrick Allen appointed organist and master of the choristers, Grace Church, New York City
Robert Jones appointed organist and choir director, St. Luke’s Anglican Church, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Norm Kinnaugh appointed to the drafting/engineering department, Reuter Organ Company
Robert Names awarded the Medal of Honor and Diploma for Achievement by the Albert Schweitzer Society in Brussels, Belgium
Keith S. Toth received a Golden Ear Award from The Absolute Sound Journal for his CD Paris on Park Avenue
Andrew Pennells, managing director of J. W. Walker & Sons, died at age 37
“Johann Sebastian Bach and Die Kunst der Fuga,” by Herbert Anton Kellner
“Musical Rhetoric in Three Praeludia of Dietrich Buxtehude,” by Leon W. Couch III
New Organs: Glatter-Götz/Rosales, Nichols & Simpson

25 years ago, March 1985
Cover: J. S. Bach, 300th birthday
Douglas Butler appointed organist-choirmaster, St. Boniface Catholic Church, San Francisco, California
Mary Preston appointed director of music and organist, Walnut Hill United Methodist Church, Dallas, Texas
Valentin Radu under the management of Artist Recitals Talent Agency
Obituaries: Robert D. MacWilliams, Rachel (nee Boldt) MacKay, and Grace Muszynski
“Symposium: The Organ Chorales of Bach, Arizona State University,” by Margaret R. Evans
“The Advent & Christmas Chorales of the Orgelbüchlein: Their Histories and Settings,” by Paul B. Boehnke
“The University of Michigan 24th Annual Conference on Organ Music,” by James Hammann
New Organs: Hendrickson Organ Co., Lewis & Hitchcock, Inc.

50 years ago, March 1960
André Marchal to play and teach at Northwestern University’s tenth annual midwinter conference on church music
Catharine Crozier plays winter recital series at Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida
Frederick Swann plays dedication recital of Aeolian-Skinner organ at Epworth Methodist Church, Norfolk, Virginia
People: Ronald Arnatt, Feike Asma, Richard Ellsasser, Bertha Hagarty, Ralph Kneeream, Gerald Knight, Marilyn Mason, Russell Hancock Miles, Ashley Miller, Robert Requa, William Teague, Everett Titcomb
Aeolian-Skinner to build 98-rank organ for Philharmonic Hall at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New York City; specification drawn up by Charlotte Garden, Robert Baker, and Searle Wright
Aeolian-Skinner installed 110-rank organ in the Auditorium of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Independence, Missouri, designed by G. Donald Harrison and Harold Gleason
Completion of two new Aeolian-Skinner organs at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Shreveport, Louisiana
1804 Tannenberg organ restored at York, Pennsylvania Historical Socity
Illinois Wesleyan University to replace its Hinners organ with a new three-manual Schantz
Organs: Austin, Casavant, Delaware, Hillgreen, Lane and Co., Holloway, Holtkamp, Möller, Pels, Reuter, Wicks

75 years ago, March 1935
People: Paul Allen Beymer, E. Power Biggs, William C. Carl, Ralph Downes, Marcel Dupré, Edward Eigenschenk, Virgil Fox, Porter Heaps, Bernard R. LaBerge, Charlotte Lockwood, Hugh McAmis, Renee Nizan, Mario Salvador, Melville Smith, Parvin Titus, Clarence Watters, Ernest White, David McK. Williams, Nesta Williams, Pietro Yon
Organs: Aeolian-Skinner, Austin, Frazee, Kilgen, Kimball, Möller, Pilcher

Marijim Thoene received a D.M.A. in organ performance/church music from the University of Michigan in 1984. She is an active recitalist and director of music at St. John Lutheran Church in Dundee, Michigan. Her two CDs, Mystics and Spirits and Wind Song, are available from Raven Recordings. She is a frequent presenter at medieval conferences on the topic of the image of the pipe organ in medieval manuscripts.

Introduction
Joe Hoppe has been organist and director of music for over 40 years at St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church in New Orleans, Louisiana, located in the business district at 734 Camp Street. This historic church, completed in 1840, is in the Gothic style with a vaulted ceiling, massive hand-carved doors, and towering stained glass windows. Here the Roman Mass continues to be celebrated in Latin, and here Joe Hoppe developed one of the finest music programs in the Archdiocese of New Orleans. He built a fine choir of volunteers, conducted choral masterworks with full orchestra, maintained the pipe organ, and in 2009 realized his dream of presenting the church with a new pipe organ, a magnificent instrument built by Patrick J. Murphy and Associates, Opus 53. Joe Hoppe retired from St. Patrick’s in March 2010. This interview is intended to celebrate his remarkable contributions to the musical life of St. Patrick’s Church, the community of New Orleans, and the lives of many international visitors, and to let you see some of the behind-the-scenes work of his remarkable tenure at St. Patrick’s. His music has touched the ears and hearts of thousands.
Joe was born on February 13, 1938 in New Orleans. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in philosophy, from Notre Dame Seminary in June 1961. In 1964 he completed three and a half years of postgraduate studies in theology, where he studied the theory and practice of Gregorian chant with Father Robert Stahl, S.M., and sang in the Notre Dame Seminary Schola Cantorum, which participated in joint concerts with the Saint Louis Cathedral Choir under the direction of Elise Cambon and Father Stahl.
In August 1968 Msgr. John P. Reynolds hired him as the organist for St. Patrick’s Church, where, as Joe said, “There was no choir or cantor. I was the music program!” Over time he recruited singers, and had a choir of over 40 voices. In September 1990 he was accepted into the master’s program at the University of New Orleans, where he studied organ with H. Gerald Aultman and choral conducting with Raymond Sprague. In May 1993 he was awarded a Master of Music degree, which coincided with the 25th anniversary of his employment at St. Patrick’s. In September 2008 he was honored at a banquet at the New Orleans Country Club and awarded a Waterford crystal cross for 40 years of devoted and dedicated service to St. Patrick’s Church. Also at this banquet, James Hammann, chair of the music department at the University of New Orleans, presented him with a “Distinguished Alumnus Certificate from the University of New Orleans Department of Music for Forty Years of Distinguished Service as Organist at St. Patrick’s Church, New Orleans, Louisiana.”
Here is Joe Hoppe who, when asked by a bride how long it takes to learn to play the organ, answered, with a twinkle in his eye, “Oh, a couple of weeks!”

Marijim Thoene: My favorite photo of you is as a young cleric. Knowing of your remarkable education, I’m not surprised that you should make that choice. When was this photo taken?
Joe Hoppe: In 1967 I was assigned as an assistant to the pastor (now referred to as Parochial Vicar) at St. Angela Merici Parish, and that is the photo that was printed on the weekly bulletin to introduce me to the parishioners.

M.T.: You have all the qualities I think a man of the cloth should have—compassion, a fine education, integrity, reverence, a sense of humor. Are you glad that you chose to serve the church as a musician rather than as a priest, that you chose to follow “a road less traveled ?”
J.H.: Yes. After two years in the active ministry, I came to the realization that for personal and spiritual reasons, I had to make a change in my life. After much prayer and consideration and consultation with my spiritual director, together we came to the conclusion that I should request an indefinite leave of absence from the archbishop. I made the request, and it was granted in February 1968. In August of that year, Msgr. John P. Reynolds, who was well aware of my situation and status, hired me as music director and organist for St. Patrick’s Church.

M.T.: What led you to playing the organ and directing choirs?
J.H.: When I was 13, Sister Mary Celia, SSND (School Sisters of Notre Dame), was the organist at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church and music teacher in the grammar school. I was studying piano with her, and she suggested that I should learn to play the organ. My parents gave their consent, and she began to give me organ lessons on the 11-rank, two-manual Tellers-Kent pipe organ, dated 1920, in the church. This was back in the days when Novenas and such things as evening May Devotions were very popular. As soon as I had learned the very basics of the instrument, she had me learn one hymn at a time, and as I learned each one, she would have me play it during the service. Then she had me learn the accompaniment to the Latin Masses that the school children sang at the 8:00 am High Mass every morning of the week, and she would let me play for these Masses. This was while I was still in grammar school. When I was in high school, I joined the church’s adult choir and sang with them.
When I was employed at St. Patrick’s in 1968, there was no choir. I was hired only to play the organ, and once in a while maybe sing for a morning High Mass. Between 1968 and 1987 I would invite musician friends to perform at the church for big feast days such as Christmas Midnight Mass or on Easter Sunday morning, but there was no organized music program. In 1987 I formed a male choir to sing an all-Gregorian High Mass on Passion Sunday of that year. Then in May I formed a female choir to sing a High Mass in honor of Mary. In September of that year, these two groups combined to form what became known as St. Patrick’s Concert Choir. This continued until March 7, 2010, when it was disbanded.
M.T.: To hear the Roman Rite sung in Latin is becoming a rare experience, yet you have kept this tradition alive at St. Patrick’s Church. When did you learn Latin and how were you able to maintain a volunteer choir that could sang the Latin Mass so beautifully?
J.H.: When the liturgical changes went into effect after Vatican II (1962), the pastor at St. Patrick’s Church was granted permission to continue the Tridentine Latin Mass because the Stella Maris Center (the Catholic Maritime Organization for Foreign Seamen) was directly across Camp Street from St. Patrick’s; the reasoning was that the foreign seamen would not understand the English language being used in the new liturgy, but would be more at ease and understand the Latin.
At present there are at least two additional churches in New Orleans that celebrate with the Latin liturgy.

Singing Latin
When I was in grammar school, beginning in the fifth grade, the whole student body was taught to sing Latin by rote. We sang a Missa Cantata (High Mass) every morning during the week at 8 am. The Children’s Mass was at 8:30 am Sunday, and all the students sang; on Saturday morning at 7 am individual classes were assigned on rotating schedule. During the summer months, individual classes were assigned to sing the 7 am Mass six days a week.
In 1953, when I was 15 years old, the nun who was the church organist—and also my first organ instructor—hired me to play for all the High Masses in June, July, and August. I was thrilled when at the end of the summer I was paid $150 for my services. The time I spent at Notre Dame was before the Vatican II changes went into effect. All the liturgies were in Latin. Even the philosophy courses had Latin textbooks.
When I started the choir at St. Patrick’s, it was with men who volunteered to sing a Latin Gregorian chant Mass for what in the old days was called Passion Sunday (two Sundays before Easter) 1987. In May I had volunteer women sing a two-part Mass. We called this a “Mary Mass” in honor of the Blessed Virgin. Then in September of that year I put the two groups together and St. Patrick’s Concert Choir was formed; some of these people assisted with the repair of the Möller.
All of the original members of the choir had sung Latin when they were in school, so Latin was not a problem. Most of these people knew how to pronounce Latin, but had a very limited knowledge of the meaning of what was being sung. As the years went along, there were very few members who had not been exposed to Latin, and the few who were not familiar with it were helped along by the older members of the group.

M.T.: Who were the greatest influences on your life as a musician and why?
J.H.: The two teachers who probably influenced me the most were Father Robert J. Stahl, S.M. (Society of Mary) and Elise Cambon. Father Stahl was in charge of the music program at Notre Dame Seminary for the six years that I was a student there. He conducted the Notre Dame Seminary Schola Cantorum, of which I was a member, and every day there was a 15-minute Gregorian chant rehearsal for the entire student body. Here I received my background in Gregorian chant. Eventually I was able to conduct the student body at High Mass when chant was sung. We sang two or three High Masses a week, and the entire student body was able to sing all of 18 Masses in the Kyriale and the Gregorian chant Propers of the Mass in the Liber Usualis. It was from Father Stahl that I received my foundation in chant, and learned much about choral conducting.
Dr. Elise Cambon, the organist at St. Louis Cathedral for 60 years, served on the faculty of Loyola Music School. I spent several semesters studying with her. She required hard work and dedication, and any success that I may have enjoyed as an organist must be attributed to her instruction and example.

M.T.: What have you enjoyed the most in your career as a musician?
J.H.: I have always enjoyed playing music, and playing for other people, either piano or organ. As long as I have been at St. Patrick’s, whenever I played a service, it was not unusual for me to play for thirty minutes before the service began. This was just as important for me as was playing for the service itself. I enjoyed improvising the long organ prelude and creating a prayerful and quiet time for anyone who was in church.
The most rewarding aspect of my tenure at St. Patrick’s has been conducting large works for choir and orchestra. Over the years I conducted Haydn’s Mass in Honor of John de Deo (also referred to as The Little Organ Mass) and the Lord Nelson Mass; Mozart’s Trinity Mass, Coronation Mass, Sparrow Mass, and D-minor Mass; Dvorak’s Mass in D; Charpentier’s Messe de Minuit pour Noël; Rheinberger’s Mass in C; Bach’s Cantatas #142 and #190; Saint-Saëns’ Christmas Oratorio; and Schubert’s Mass in G.
Every time I listen to a recording of one of these performances, I have difficulty believing that I was able to put something like this together and achieve such glorious results. It humbles me and makes me grateful that I have been blessed to be able to do this.

M.T.: I know the crowning glory of your tenure at St. Patrick’s Church is installation of the organ built by Patrick J. Murphy & Associates in 2009. However, before this, you yourself resuscitated the 1962 Möller instrument. Your efforts to rescue it in the 1980s are remarkable. Please tell us how you did this.
J.H.: In 1982, the 1962 Möller (#9614) became unplayable because of the deterioration of the pouch leather and reservoir leather in the organ mechanism. An estimate of the cost to make the needed repairs was in the neighborhood of $60,000. At this particular time, St. Patrick’s Church building was undergoing an extensive and expensive renovation (1977–1990), and the funds needed to repair the organ were not available. So the church purchased a small Allen organ to substitute for the Möller until the necessary repairs could be made.
In 1986 someone made a $3,000 donation to the church for organ repairs. This was the seed money that began the restoration of the Möller. I dismantled and rebuilt the 1962 Möller in the 1980s. At this time I had a piano tuning, repair, and rebuilding business. I specialized in the old-time mechanical player pianos. This work on player pianos required the use of leather, pneumatic cloth, and hot liquid hide glue, many of the same materials that are used in a pipe organ. So René Toups, some of the choir members, and I decided to undertake the organ repair project. I purchased several books on organ construction and repair and the project began.
While the ceiling plaster was being repaired, the workmen did not properly cover and protect the organ pipes. As a result, several large pieces of plaster fell onto the Great pipes and damaged about a dozen pipes. Since Möller was still in business at this time, I sent the pipes back to Möller for repair or replacement. Much of the dirt from this work was not only dropped on the exposed Great and Pedal pipes, but it also found its way into the Swell and Choir chambers. So all the pipes of the organ had to be removed and cleaned, and all the windchests had to be cleaned. This was very dirty work. Our crew removed all except the bottom octave of three 16-foot sets of pipes and cleaned each one individually. When the pipes were removed and cleaned and all the pipe chests vacuumed, I replaced all of the primary pouch leather, recovered all the pneumatics in the relay chest with new leather, and also releathered eleven of the thirteen reservoirs. We began this work in September 1987 and had the organ back together roughly tuned in time for Christmas Midnight Mass the same year. In January I hired a professional organ technician to tune the organ properly and do some voicing.

M.T.: Your final gift to St. Patrick’s is the splendid organ built by Patrick J. Murphy, Opus 53. What prompted you choose him as the builder? And how were you able to accomplish this?
J.H.: The pitch on the old Möller was about 20 cents flat. It had been this way for years. Any time that the organ was tuned, it was tuned at that pitch. Finally in 2007 after we began the orchestra Masses and all the instrumentalists complained about how difficult it was to tune their instruments to the organ, I decided that maybe it was time to bring it up to A = 440 Hz. I asked Jim Hammann if he would undertake this task for us, but it was a bigger job than Jim could handle at the time because of his involvement with the university. Since Jim could not undertake this task, he recommended Patrick J. Murphy. I engaged Patrick to tune the organ to 440. I was very impressed with his tuning ability and his overall knowledge about organs.
It had been over 20 years since I had completed the re-leathering work in 1987, and there were many indications that the Möller was going to need a rebuild in a very short time. After all these years, it was obvious that the leather I had installed was nearing the end of its usefulness.
Patrick Murphy was very impressed by the acoustics of the church, and expressed an interest in building a new organ for St. Patrick’s. By this time his company had already constructed or completely rebuilt 52 pipe organs throughout the country. I suggested that he draw up a proposal for an instrument that he thought would serve our needs and submit it to the pastor. The proposal was submitted in the summer of 2007, and several organists whose opinion I respect examined it. Everyone felt that the organ described in this proposal would be a wonderful instrument for St. Patrick’s Church. I presented the proposal to the Parish Council meeting in the fall of 2007, and the group was in favor of the new instrument. All we needed was the funds to pay for it. About a month later, Mrs. Betty Noe, a longtime choir member, informed me that she would underwrite the cost of the new instrument in memory of her late husband. By the end of December the contract was signed. In January 2009 the Möller was completely removed, 27 of the 29 ranks were reconditioned and used in the new organ, along with 23 new ranks, giving the new organ a total of 50 ranks. The week after Easter 2009, the new organ arrived and was installed in time to be used for the first Mass of a newly ordained priest in June.
The Patrick J. Murphy organ was officially dedicated and blessed by the pastor, Rev. Stanley P. Klores, S.T.D., on Sunday, September 14, 2009, during the celebration of a Solemn High Mass, celebrated in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite (the Tridentine Latin Mass). At this Mass the choir sang Dvorak’s Mass in D, with only organ accompaniment. Dr. James Hammann was the organist, and I conducted. I chose this Mass for the dedication of the organ because it was originally commissioned to be sung at the dedication of a chapel.

M.T.: Thomas Murray, University Organist and Professor of Music at Yale University, played the dedication concert of the Patrick J. Murphy organ on December 6, 2009 for a packed church. I was delighted to be invited to play the second recital on February 28, 2010. The instrument and sacred space of St. Patrick’s are perfect for the music of Bach, Franck, Langlais, Alain, and Hovhaness. One teenager commented that he thought Langlais’ Suite Médiévale sounded “Gothic” and suited the architecture of St. Patrick’s. High praise indeed!
You, Betty Noe and her children, Rev.Stanley Klores, S.T.D., and the builder, Patrick J. Murphy & Associates, are to be thanked for this pipe organ that will bring solace, joy, and hope to those who hear it. It is a marvel, and without you, it would not exist! We thank you, Joe Hoppe, for your determination, vision and legacy. Knowing you, you will continue to make wonderful things happen.