Létourneau Pipe Organs Opus 136

Orgues Létourneau, St-Hyacinthe, Québec, Canada; Market Square Presbyterian Church, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

From the builder

Market Square Presbyterian Church has long been a landmark in Pennsylvania’s capital city. The congregation was founded in 1794 and has occupied its current sanctuary since 1860. The church today is simultaneously traditional and modern, with worship services that balance thought-provoking sermons and inspiring music. Market Square Church also puts an emphasis on service, with ministries to support homeless and transient persons in downtown Harrisburg, as well as refugees and immigrants. The congregation is actively involved in a variety of social justice endeavors, supports environmental initiatives, provides hospitality to local groups, and offers a broad embrace to the LGBTQ+ community. It has been our experience that all are admirably welcome at Market Square Church.

Our first of many visits to Market Square Church was at the invitation of the church’s new minister of music, the tireless Tyler Canonico. Our broad mandate was to survey the church’s pipe organ and to present options on what could be done.

M. P. Möller’s Opus 11805 of three manuals and 83 ranks was completed in 1991, incorporating much of the church’s previous Aeolian-Skinner pipe organ from 1947 (Opus 1048). The Aeolian-Skinner had been hidden within chambers, but the Möller displayed zinc and spotted metal façade pipes in a case housing its Grand Orgue division across the back of the loft. A new Positif division was divided between two cases on the gallery rail. The organ additionally had two sizable and independently expressive Récit divisions in opposing chambers; both Récits played awkwardly from the upper manual at the console.

During that first visit, we concluded a top-to-bottom reconstruction of the organ was needed. In addition to desirable tonal improvements, the three-manual console was worn beyond redemption, and the instrument’s switching system was obsolete. The crude casework needed to be replaced with something more appropriate, but more pressing, the two organ chambers’ flimsy hardboard walls and ceilings required substantial improvement.

Our subsequent proposal recommended reusing the Möller and Aeolian-Skinner materials where possible as a measure of good stewardship. This included most of the pipework, the electro-pneumatic windchests, and some wind reservoirs. From a tonal perspective, we wanted to consolidate the instrument within the limits of what the windchests could accommodate. While a new Great and part of the Pedal would reside in a central organ case, the Möller’s Récit divisions could be brought together into a proper Swell in the east chamber. A tertiary Choir division would offer complementary colors in the west chamber, and through refashioning one of the Aeolian-Skinner windchests, a new ten-rank String division could reside under the Choir division. A small Positive division would reuse one of the chests previously on the gallery rail but would sit in front of the Choir behind the loft’s west ceiling grille.

The project we proposed was significant but at no time did we get the sense that our far-reaching ideas were unsettling to the organ study committee. The committee seemed ready for a challenge, as did the broader church in later meetings. Indeed, our discussions about renewing the pipe organ grew into a broader review of the church’s sanctuary and its acoustic, as well as the organ loft and the limitations it presented for the choir. Acoustician Dan Clayton soon joined the team, ensuring the acoustic would be improved for music without harming the spoken word. This global project at Market Square Church was spearheaded by David and Gwen Lehman over a two-year period. Their assiduous work resulted in new hardwood flooring for the sanctuary, comfortable new pews, a reconfigured choir loft, and refurbished organ chambers. Throughout the project, the organ study committee’s and the Lehmans’ efforts were supported time and time again by the church’s director of music emerita, Ellen Hunt, and the church’s senior pastor, the Reverend Tom Sweet.

The Möller pipe organ was removed and packed for shipment to our workshops in January 2020 by a team from Létourneau, along with John Carmichael of Patrick J. Murphy & Associates. Once in our workshop, our pipe makers took a complete inventory of the Möller and Aeolian-Skinner pipework, making repairs as necessary. Fellow organbuilder Randall Dyer had also helpfully provided valuable scaling information and related documentation on Opus 11805 from his M. P. Möller archive.

Several stops were rescaled as part of the project, including the Great 8′ Harmonic Flute, the Great five-rank Cornet, the Swell 8′ Viole de gambe, and the Swell 8′ Voix Celeste to better obtain these stops’ characteristic colors. Other ranks were repurposed: a Möller 8′ Flûte céleste rank now serves as the Pedal 51⁄3′ Quint while the 13⁄5′ Tierce from the Möller Positif is now the Pedal 2′ Open Flute with the addition of new bass pipes. Of the new organ’s 83 ranks, some 21 ranks came from Aeolian-Skinner’s Boston workshops and another 46 ranks were made in Hagerstown, with the final 16 ranks having been built in St-Hyacinthe.

The Aeolian-Skinner and Möller electro-pneumatic windchests were restored to like-new condition in our workshops, with new unit chests built as needed. Designed by Claude Demers, the new organ case was built by our cabinetmakers from solid maple with walnut accents. The façade displays tin pipework from the Great 8′ Open Diapason, the Pedal 8′ Principal, and most prominently, the 8′ Trompette en chamade. The pipe shades were designed in a greatly simplified Gothic style and were machined on our CNC machine.

One of the project’s surprises occurred while examining the bass of the Pedal 16′ Contrabass in our woodshop. These twelve pipes were built in pine by Aeolian-Skinner to a lean scale and voiced with large beards. Without an organ built around them, their full length was revealed to show the pipe bodies were not quite true. The pipes had been deliberately built with “bellies,” meaning the middle of the pipe body is fractionally larger than the ends. Seen more frequently in metal string pipes, the theory is the bellied construction encourages prompt speech. This discovery presented an opportunity to document these pipes and how they were constructed.

The new organ—Létourneau’s Opus 136—made its way to Harrisburg in the spring of 2021, with the installation by our team continuing into the summer. The onsite flue voicing was fully underway by September, and the work was painstakingly executed by Samantha Koch and Christopher Bono, with help at various points from Megan Farrell (of Patrick J. Murphy & Associates) and John Johnson. The final phase of the voicing, Opus 136’s twelve ranks of reeds were voiced by Michel Godbout. The voicing process was assisted by a remote keyboard placed in the center of the sanctuary’s third pew. Connected wirelessly to the Solid State Organ Systems’ switching network, the keyboard allowed us to carefully evaluate sounds from another reference point beyond the console, usefully confirming or correcting voicing decisions made from the loft.

Though completed in late October 2021, Opus 136’s first solo concert took place on February 25, 2022, with virtuoso Ken Cowan at the console. In response to works by Widor, Litaize, and Bach—as well as transcriptions of works by Saint-Saëns and Wagner—the capacity crowd’s responses were nothing short of ecstatic. Mr. Cowan also brilliantly introduced a work commissioned for the evening, the Michelangelo Fantasy by Dr. Scott H. Eggert.

— Orgues Létourneau

From the minister of music

Blessed by but not captive to a rich history, Market Square Presbyterian Church continues to serve its congregants and its community through worship and music. The major renovations of our pipe organ and sanctuary reaffirm our congregation’s commitment to the present and future of this church as a beacon of hope on the square.

When I interviewed for the post of minister of music, the Rev. Thomas Sweet told me of the church’s need to launch an organ project. After my arrival in July 2017, I soon found myself presenting to various committees the many failings of the church’s M. P. Möller organ. Co-chaired by Ellen Hunt (minister of music emerita) and me, our organ study committee interviewed several organbuilders, and we concluded that Létourneau was the best company for our project. After working with Létourneau to refine their proposal, the contract for the instrument was unanimously approved by the church’s board of trustees and session in January of 2018.

Létourneau Opus 136 reuses the best of the Aeolian-Skinner and Möller pipework to reorient the organ towards accompanying duties, leading hymn singing, and the performance of solo repertoire. Each stop was reworked and revoiced by Létourneau for remarkably cohesive choruses while assuring each stop’s musicality. On Létourneau’s recommendation, Market Square Church rebuilt the organ chambers with harder, denser surfaces to better reflect sound. Now, the full spectrum from the organ’s expressive divisions is projected into the sanctuary, especially in the bass and middle registers. With the old Positif cases removed from the loft rail, the rail itself was reconstructed to resemble the original from 1860, with minor differences to accommodate acoustical considerations and building codes.

The sanctuary renovation was occasioned by a desire to improve its acoustic for choral singing, hymnody, and the pipe organ while preserving the fine acoustic for the spoken word. This was achieved by installing a hardwood floor, with minimal carpeting in the aisles. The church took advantage of this opportunity to refresh the sanctuary with a new color scheme for the walls and ceiling, new pews with acoustically neutral cushions, and a new sound system.

Market Square Church has, from its earliest days, been located in the heart of Harrisburg, and it serves its members’ needs as well as those of the surrounding community. The church’s music ministry has been integral in this effort as a means of making God, beauty, and our shared humanity accessible to everyone, member or not. Generously underwritten by the Nedra J. Schilling Foundation, the organ project was conceived and approved under this principle as a gift to members and the community at large, now and for the future.

The members of Market Square Church as well as Harrisburg’s broader musical community have been delighted as we continue to explore the capabilities of our Létourneau pipe organ. I remain thankful to all who gave generously—especially during the pandemic—and I am grateful to the amazing team at Létourneau who delivered such an astonishing musical instrument!

—Tyler A. Canonico, Minister of Music

GREAT – Manual II – 95 mm pressure

16′ Violoncello 12 pipes extension of 8′ Violoncello

8′ Open Diapason 61 pipes new, 70% tin

8′ Harmonic Flute 61 pipes Möller and new pipework

8′ Violoncello 61 pipes Möller pipework

8′ Chimney Flute 61 pipes 1–12 Möller, 13–61 Aeolian-Skinner pipework

4′ Principal 61 pipes Möller pipework

4′ Open Flute 61 pipes Möller pipework

2′ Fifteenth 61 pipes Möller pipework

2′ Mixture V 305 pipes Möller and new pipework

1′ Sharp Mixture IV 244 pipes Möller and new pipework

8′ Grand Cornet V 220 pipes c13 through g56, rescaled Möller pipework

16′ Double Trumpet 61 pipes 1–12 Möller, 13–61 Aeolian-Skinner pipework

8′ Trumpet 61 pipes Möller pipework

4′ Clarion 61 pipes Möller pipework

Great 16′

Great Unison Off

Great 4′

8′ Trompette en chamade 66 pipes new, 70% tin (140 mm pressure)

Zimbelstern I 6 bells

Zimbelstern II 8 bells

Nachtigal

Chimes from Choir

SWELL (enclosed) – Manual III – 125 mm pressure

8′ Open Diapason 61 pipes Aeolian-Skinner pipework

8′ Flûte traversière 61 pipes Aeolian-Skinner pipework

8′ Viole de gambe 61 pipes rescaled Möller pipework

8′ Voix Celeste 61 pipes rescaled Möller pipework with new bass

8′ Lieblich Gedackt 61 pipes Möller pipework

4′ Principal 61 pipes Aeolian-Skinner pipework

4′ Flûte octaviante 61 pipes Möller pipework

2′ Octavin 61 pipes Möller pipework

2′ Mixture III–V 259 pipes Möller pipework with new

16′ Fagotto 61 pipes 1–24 Aeolian-Skinner, 25–61 Möller pipework

8′ Trumpet 66 pipes new, 56% tin

8′ Oboe 61 pipes Aeolian-Skinner pipework

8′ Vox Humana 61 pipes Aeolian-Skinner pipework

4′ Clarion 78 pipes new, 56% tin

Tremulant

Swell 16′

Swell Unison Off

Swell 4′

16′ Trompette en chamade (TC) from Great

8′ Trompette en chamade from Great

STRING (enclosed) – floating – 285 mm pressure

16′ Contre Viole 61 pipes new, zinc and 56% tin

8′ Viole d’orchestre 61 pipes new, zinc and 56% tin

8′ Viole Celeste 61 pipes new, zinc and 56% tin

8′ Dulciana 61 pipes Aeolian-Skinner pipework

8′ Unda maris 61 pipes Aeolian-Skinner pipework

4′ Viole octaviante 61 pipes new, zinc and 56% tin

4′ Dulcet 61 pipes new, zinc and 56% tin

31⁄5′ Chœur des violes III 183 pipes new, 56% tin

Tremulant

Echo Chimes from Positive

Harp from Choir

CHOIR (enclosed) – Manual I – 110 mm pressure

16′ Bourdon 12 pipes extension of 8′ Bourdon (Möller pipework)

8′ Geigen Diapason 61 pipes Möller pipework

8′ Bourdon 61 pipes Aeolian-Skinner pipework

4′ Gemshorn 61 pipes Möller pipework

2-2⁄3′ Nazard 61 pipes Möller pipework

2′ Flageolet 61 pipes Möller pipework

1-3⁄5′ Tierce 61 pipes Möller pipework

8′ Clarinet 61 pipes Möller pipework

Tremulant

8′ Tuba 61 pipes Möller pipework (350 mm pressure)

Choir 16′

Choir Unison Off

Choir 4′

8′ Trompette en chamade from Great

Chimes digital Walker Technical Co.

Harp digital Walker Technical Co.

Glockenspiel digital Walker Technical Co.

POSITIVE – Manual IV – 85 mm pressure

8′ Stopped Diapason 61 pipes Möller pipework

4′ Koppelflöte 61 pipes Möller pipework

2′ Fifteenth 61 pipes Möller pipework

1-1⁄3′ Larigot 61 pipes Möller pipework

1-1⁄3′ Tierce Mixture V 305 pipes Möller and new pipework

8′ Cremona 61 pipes new, 56% tin

Tremulant

Positive 16′

Positive Unison Off

Positive 4′

16′ Tuba (TC) from Choir

8′ Tuba from Choir

16′ Trompette en chamade (TC) from Great

8′ Trompette en chamade from Great

Echo Chimes digital Walker Technical Co.

Glockenspiel from Choir

PEDAL – 142 mm and 120 mm pressure

32′ Contra Geigen digital Walker Technical Co.

32′ Contra Bourdon digital Walker Technical Co.

16′ Contrabass 32 pipes 1–12 Aeolian-Skinner, 13–32 Möller pipework

16′ Violoncello from Great

16′ Subbass 32 pipes Aeolian-Skinner pipework

16′ Viole d’orchestre from String

16′ Bourdon from Choir

8′ Principal 32 pipes new, 70% tin

8′ Spitzflöte 32 pipes Aeolian-Skinner pipework

8′ Violoncello from Great

8′ Bourdon from Choir

5-1⁄3′ Quint 32 pipes Möller pipework

4′ Choral Bass 32 pipes rescaled Möller pipework

4′ Spitzflöte 12 pipes extension of 8′ Spitzflöte

2′ Open Flute 32 pipes rescaled Möller pipework

2-2⁄3′ Mixture IV 128 pipes Möller pipework

32′ Contra Bombarde digital Walker Technical Co.

32′ Contra Fagotto 12 pipes extension of Swell 16′ Fagotto

16′ Bombarde 32 pipes Aeolian-Skinner pipework (150 mm w.p.)

16′ Fagotto from Swell

8′ Bombarde 12 pipes extension of 16′ Bombarde

4′ Bombarde 12 pipes extension of 8′ Bombarde

8′ Tuba from Choir

8′ Trompette en chamade from Great

Chimes from Choir

Echo Chimes from Positive

Orage Walker Technical Co.

Intermanual Couplers

Great to Pedal Great 4′ to Pedal

Swell to Pedal Swell 4′ to Pedal

Choir to Pedal Choir 4′ to Pedal

Positive to Pedal Positive 4′ to Pedal

String to Pedal String 4′ to Pedal

Swell 16′ to Great Swell to Great Swell 4′ to Great

Choir 16′ to Great Choir to Great Choir 4′ to Great

Positive 16′ to Great Positive to Great Positive 4′ to Great

String 16′ to Great String to Great String 4′ to Great

Swell 16′ to Choir Swell to Choir Swell 4′ to Choir

Positive 16′ to Choir Positive to Choir Positive 4′ to Choir

String 16′ to Choir String to Choir String 4′ to Choir

String 16′ to Swell String to Swell String 4′ to Swell

Positive 16′ to Swell Positive to Swell Positive 4′ to Swell

Choir to Swell

Great to Positive

Swell to Positive

Choir to Positive

String to Positive

Mixture Compositions

Great Mixture V

c1 to b12 15 19 22 26 29

c13 to b24 12 15 19 22 26

c25 to b36 8 12 15 19 22

c37 to g44 1 8 12 15 19

g#44 to c61 1 5 8 12 15

Great Sharp Mixture IV

c1 to b12 22 26 29 33

c13 to a22 19 22 26 29

a#23 to g#33 15 19 22 26

a34 to f42 12 15 19 22

f#43 to d#52 8 12 15 19

e53 to c61 1 8 12 15

Swell Mixture III–IV

c1 to e17 15 19 22

f18 to e29 12 15 19 22

f30 to e41 8 12 15 19 22

f42 to c49 1 8 12 15 19

c#50 to c61 1 5 8 12 15

Positive Tierce Mixture V

c1 to c#14 19 22 24 26 29

d15 to e29 15 19 22 24 26

f30 to g44 12 15 17 19 22

g#44 to d51 8 12 15 17 19

d#52 to c61 1 8 10 12 15

String Choeur des violes III

c1 to c49 10 12 15

c#50 to f54 8 10 12

f#55 to g#57 5 8 10

a58 to c61 3 5 8

Pedal Mixture IV

c1 to g32 19 22 26 29

 

83 total stops, 83 ranks, 4,683 pipes

 

Builder’s website: www.letourneauorgans.com

 

Church’s website: www.marketsquarechurch.org

 

Photo credits:

Cover and page 22: Ollie Silver

Trompette-en-chamade and console: Don Giles

Remaining photos: Orgues Létourneau

A. Thompson-Allen Company, New Haven, Connecticut; Saint Peter’s Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia’s Society Hill

Society Hill is Center City Philadelphia’s oldest residential neighborhood, a one-quarter square-mile area that was first settled in the 1680s. It took its name from the Free Society of Traders, an association of merchants and landowners chosen by William Penn to shape the future of that growing city. During the nineteenth century, as Philadelphia’s population expanded westward away from the Delaware River, the area became rundown and disreputable, and by the end of the Second World War was one of that city’s worst slums. A successful urban renewal program begun in the 1950s largely returned Society Hill to its former character. Today it is known for its expanse of eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century row houses, traversed by narrow cobblestone streets lined with brick sidewalks and punctuated by street lamps after a design by Benjamin Franklin.

Saint Peter’s Church

Saint Peter’s Episcopal Church, at the corner of Third and Pine Streets, was originally intended as a “chapel of ease” for nearby Christ Church and was built to accommodate the burgeoning congregation of that parish. On land donated by two of William Penn’s sons, architect-builder Robert Smith (1722–1777) designed a church based upon Christopher Wren’s “auditory” style. With this plan, sightlines and speech clarity are of primary importance, especially for a worship service focused upon Scripture and preaching. The first services in the church were held on September 4, 1761.

It is an edifice of breathtaking elegance in its simplicity. To stand within its sun-drenched walls, absorbing the ambience of centuries, is to experience a whiff of eighteenth-century Philadelphia. Many civic luminaries have been members of Saint Peter’s. Mayor Samuel Powel, who lived just down Third Street, often shared his family’s pew with George and Martha Washington. 

Saint Peter’s is one of two churches of its type surviving in America, the other located in Cooper River, South Carolina, built in 1763. In these churches, the pulpit and lectern are at the opposite end of the main aisle from the altar, which is placed against the east wall, beneath a large Palladian window. Most of the tall box pews have seating on three sides. Following the readings and sermon, the congregation turns and faces the altar for the rest of the service. 

In 1832 Saint Peter’s and Christ Church parted ways and became separate parishes. Ten years later, the vestry commissioned William Strickland to build a new tower to accommodate a chime of eight bells given by Benjamin Chew Wilcocks. The soaring 210-foot tower and steeple are conspicuously out of scale with Robert Smith’s church, perhaps to allow the bells to be heard at a greater distance, or possibly to reflect the congregation’s desire to establish a strong visual presence in its neighborhood.

Earlier instruments

The first permanent organ for Saint Peter’s was constructed by Philip Feyring (1730–1767), who died the year it was completed. His two-manual instrument consumed almost half of the north gallery and caused regular complaints from those seated nearby that it was too loud. In 1774 the vestry voted to remove the organ and put it into storage until it could be sold. Fortunately, nothing happened for fifteen years, and then in 1789 Feyring’s organ was moved to a newly constructed organ loft above the altar, where it continues to cover most of the Palladian window behind it.  

This instrument served Saint Peter’s for more than fifty years and in 1815 was either rebuilt or replaced (vestry records are sometimes incomplete). Little is known about this second instrument apart from its short career in the church. In 1829 London-trained organ-builder Henry Corrie furnished a new instrument using some of the pipes from the 1815 organ. Corrie’s work served for twenty-seven years, but in 1855 local builder John C. B. Standbridge reported that it was beyond repair. The following year he signed a contract for a new instrument, dedicated in 1857.  

Hilborne Roosevelt rebuilt the Standbridge organ in 1886 and added a third manual to the console. Within two years, however, the vestry began to consider replacing the “double quartet” that stood with the organ in the loft, with a men-and-boys choir on the main floor of the church. Charles S. Haskell, a former employee of the Roosevelt firm, electrified the organ in 1892 and provided a four-manual console placed among the new choir stalls on the main floor. Additions in 1911 included a small Echo Organ, located within the walls of the original tower immediately behind the pulpit door, and a Choir Organ, placed unfortunately beneath an iron grate under the choir stalls in a basement chamber.

The Choir Organ suffered from constant dampness and regular water seepage, especially following a heavy rainfall. Eight years after the Choir Organ was installed, Haskell had to remove portions of that division for repairs. A contract dispute between Haskell and the vestry ensued in 1921, with the builder refusing to return the parts taken from the church. About 1928 the Choir Organ was completely removed, and its chamber abandoned.  

The Skinner organ

Weary of their troublesome instrument, parts of which were very old, the vestry contracted with the Skinner Organ Company to build an entirely new instrument, their Opus 862, finished in November 1931. It is a three-manual, 49-stop organ placed entirely within the organ case, which was enlarged (probably in the 1892 rebuilding) by bringing the façade forward to the edge of the organ loft. Nothing except Feyring’s case remains of the earlier instruments, and there is credible speculation that even it was made by David Tannenberg of nearby Lititz, Pennsylvania.  

As the Skinner organ approached fifty years old, its pneumatic leatherwork began to fail. Saint Peter’s vestry was committed to keeping the organ in good order, and much of the instrument was releathered as necessary to keep the organ playing reliably. At ninety-one years, the Skinner organ holds the record for the longest tenure of all of Saint Peter’s instruments. The current work is the first comprehensive restoration of this organ.  

—Joseph F. Dzeda

The restoration of Opus 862

The mechanism and pipework were found to be mostly complete. The original “vertical selector” electro-pneumatic console was long gone and had been replaced, first by an Austin tab console in the 1970s, and then by a solid-state console by David Harris in 1985. Richard Houghten updated and rebuilt this console in 2017, and it remains as such. All of the components of the 1931 chassis remain and have been fully restored.  

Opus 862 underwent tonal changes characteristic of their time. The 4′ Flute on the Great was replaced by a high-pitched mixture, and the Great 8′ Tromba, enclosed in the Choir expression box, was revoiced as a bright Trumpet. The Choir Nazard was replaced by a 4′ Principal. The Class A Deagan Cathedral Chimes were removed, along with their electric action, from the Swell box, and the Harp/Celesta was removed from the Choir box in preparation for tonal additions that were never realized.  

The pipework was mostly complete and has been restored to the original specifications except for one missing stop, the Swell Aeoline. This stop was a 75-scale string, also sometimes called Echo Gamba or Dulcet. These are very rare. We did replace it with a 75-scale Dulcet from an earlier Skinner. Also missing were the Harp and Chimes. These have been replaced with identical items from Opus 659.

The blower has been fully restored by Joseph Sloane, converting the original motor from two-phase to three-phase. The reeds have been restored by Chris Broome of Broome & Co., LLC, to the original specifications. The original reed tongues were gone and had been replaced with thinner tongues and reduced loading. Chris Broome has replaced these using the thickness and loading schedules as listed in the Skinner records. The goal of the restoration has been to restore the organ to “as built” condition throughout.

From the Skinner documents we have acquired, it is clear that Opus 862 was overseen and designed by Ernest Skinner personally. For point of reference, we are going to compare Opus 862 with Opus 836, Saint Peter’s Episcopal Church in Morristown, New Jersey. We are including the original voicer’s charts for both organs. Opus 836, again from factory documents, was clearly overseen by G. Donald Harrison. The two organs are similar in many ways. The strings and flutes are identical for the most part, but the chorus reeds and principal choruses are quite different. As indicated in the reed voicer’s charts, the Swell chorus reeds are “Skinner” in 862, and the Swell chorus reeds are “English” in 836. The “Skinner” reeds are harmonic at 2′ F-sharp and the “English” reeds are harmonic at 1′ F#, and the harmonic pipes are spotted metal. The “Skinner” reeds have different shallots and loading producing a rounder, fuller, and refined tone. The “English” reeds are brighter with more “clang” and are reproductions of Willis reeds. The specifications of the “English” reeds were part of the exchange established between Skinner and Henry Willis III during their quid pro quo arrangement of exchanging Skinner’s mechanical innovations with Willis’s pipe construction and reed voicing details. Both of these reed choruses are beautiful in their own way, but the differences are very obvious.

The same can be said for the principal choruses. If you compare the two flue voicer’s charts, you will notice that there are no 1/4 mouths in 862. The upper work is more restrained in 862, and conversely more pronounced in 836. The biggest and most noticeable difference is that if you run up the scale on any of the Diapason stops, 862 gently fades, while 836 is pushed to the limit. I believe that this is due to the Willis influence as carried out by Harrison. It is interesting to note that Harrison abandoned both of these tonal set ups after 1932. These are both beautiful Skinner organs from the same period but realized differently by Skinner and Harrison.

—Nicholas Thompson-Allen

Frederick Lee Richards’s 1992 paper, Old St. Peter’s Protestant Episcopal Church, Philadelphia: An Architectural History and Inventory (1758-1991), provided much of the historical information cited above.

Builder’s website: www.thompson-allen.com

Church’s website: www.stpetersphila.org

Photo credit: David Ottenstein Photography (©2022 David Ottenstein)

 

GREAT (5″ wind pressure)

16′ Bourdon (Pedal) 17 pipes

8′ First Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Second Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Principal Flute 61 pipes

8′ Erzähler 61 pipes

4′ Principal 61 pipes

4′ Flute 61 pipes

II Grave Mixture (2-2⁄3′ – 2′) 122 pipes

Enclosed in Choir box 10″ w.p.

8′ Tromba 61 pipes

8′ French Horn 61 pipes

Chimes (in Swell box) 20 tubes

SWELL (Enclosed) (71⁄2″ wind pressure)

16′ Echo Lieblich 73 pipes

8′ Diapason 73 pipes

8′ Rohrflöte 73 pipes

8′ Salicional 73 pipes

8′ Voix Celeste (CC) 73 pipes

8′ Aeoline 73 pipes

4′ Octave 73 pipes

4′ Flute Triangulaire 73 pipes

2′ Flautino 61 pipes

III Mixture (C-14) 183 pipes

16′ Waldhorn 73 pipes

8′ Cornopean 73 pipes

8′ Oboe 73 pipes

8′ Vox Humana 73 pipes

Tremolo

CHOIR (Enclosed) (6″ wind pressure)

16′ Contra Gamba 61 pipes

8′ Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Concert Flute 61 pipes

8′ Gamba 61 pipes

8′ Dulciana 61 pipes

8′ Unda Maris (TC) 49 pipes

4′ Flute 61 pipes

2-2⁄3′ Nazard 61 pipes

8′ Clarinet 61 pipes

8′ English Horn 61 pipes

Harp (TC) 49 bars

Celesta (CC) 12 bars

Tremolo

PEDAL (6″ wind pressure)

32′ Resultant

16′ Diapason (bearded) 32 pipes

16′ Bourdon 32 pipes

16′ Echo Lieblich (Swell)

16′ Contra Gamba (Choir)

8′ Octave (ext Diapason) 12 pipes

8′ Gedeckt (ext Bourdon) 12 pipes

8′ Still Gedeckt (Swell)

8′ Cello (Choir)

32′ Fagotto 12 pipes (10″ w.p., ext Sw Waldhorn)

16′ Trombone 12 pipes (10″ w.p., ext Gt Tromba)

16′ Waldhorn (Swell)

Chimes

49 stops, 38 ranks, 2,457 pipes

A. E. Schlueter Pipe Organ Company, Lithonia, Georgia; 50th Anniversary

We are privileged to be celebrating our 50th anniversary and are thankful for the organ work that has been entrusted to the company. This past December we held our Christmas luncheon with many of our staff, supporters, and friends, and offered a prayer of thanksgiving for our success and all who have sustained us. It is humbling to be celebrating this milestone in work that supports worship.

The A. E. Schlueter Pipe Organ Company was founded by Arthur (“Art”) E. Schlueter, Jr. In his youth Art met an English organ builder who befriended him and introduced him to church organs, theatre organs, and taught him how to rebuild the bellows on a pump organ at his church. He later took Art on as a part-time employee during his high school years, where he continued learning pipe organ maintenance and tuning.

After his high school graduation Art pursued a college education by obtaining degrees in education and education administration. He later moved to Atlanta, Georgia, to work in accreditation for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). Art continued organ tuning and repairs on the side (once an organ man, always an organ man). Having recognized that pipe organs were his real passion and required his full attention, Art changed his role at SACS to part-time consulting and eventually left SACS to work in the pipe organ field full time.

Founding of the company

Our company history began in 1973 when Art applied for an official business license as an organbuilder. The motto of the company was established as “Soli Deo Gloria” and incorporated into the company logo. This admonition has continued to remind us of the importance of our work and is engraved on all of our consoles.

In the early years of the firm, in addition to our tuning and maintenance work, we provided representation and installation services for a major pipe organ manufacturer. Our company quickly grew to maintain organs for more than 100 clients. Pivotally, during this early period, the firm started to undertake rebuilding and expansion of extant instruments under its own name. Being a rebuilder and maintenance company had the importance of exposing the firm to organbuilding across a broad spectrum of styles­—tonally, mechanically, and temporally. It could truthfully be said that the greatest impact on who we became as an organbuilder was the foundation provided by those who came before us. With great pride we consider that such renowned firms as Skinner Organ Company, Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company, M. P. Möller, Hook & Hastings, Geo. Kilgen & Son, and Henry Pilcher’s Sons were, and are, our teachers.

The initial business location was in the basement of Art’s Atlanta home. From these humble beginnings, the business gradually outgrew successive temporary and rented buildings until 1988, when the current complex was begun. It has been expanded three times to its current 22,000 square feet of space. The facilities of our firm include a modern woodworking shop, a voicing room, a drafting and engineering room, and a spacious warehouse area that houses the computer numeric controlled (CNC) machine, storage, and erecting room.

As the company grew, all of Art’s five children had the opportunity to work in the business. From age five, the oldest of Art’s children, Arthur E. Schlueter III (“Arthur”), had been offered the opportunity to hold notes while tuning and go out on service calls. Arthur recalled: “As a family business, the pipe organ was part of our lives. Where most people had a formal dining room, this room housed a pipe organ. Where most people had a family room, we had a two-manual pipe organ console, and a basement with a pipe organ blower and relays.” Much as his father had worked on pipe organs during high school, so it was the same for Arthur. While Art’s other children went on to other vocations, Arthur considered this as his career, but it was important to him to leave the business for college and reinforce that it was the right decision. While pursuing a bachelor’s degree in marketing, he continued to keep a hand in music with organ and piano lessons and classes in music and music theory. As he states, after having been away from the company, “when I graduated in 1990 there was clarity that my place was at the family firm and that there was a very strong vocation not only to work on pipe organs but to build them under the family name.”

Building Schlueter pipe organs

This came to fruition when, not long after joining the firm, Art and Arthur made the decision to cease representation for others and to begin building pipe organs under the A. E. Schlueter name. It was important to decide who we were and how we would define our business. What developed was a philosophy to “build instruments that have warmth not at the expense of clarity, and clarity not at the expense of warmth, and to serve God in our efforts.” This philosophy encapsulated our tonal vision while reminding us who we serve in our work.

In addition to building new pipe organs, our business builds custom replacement organ consoles and has provided additions for a large number of extant pipe organs. The consoles built by our firm have included traditional drawknob, terraced drawknob, tablet, and horseshoe styles. This custom work ranged from one manual to five manuals in size.

As a major rebuilder, our firm has rebuilt numerous instruments built by companies long since passed and many by firms currently in business. The same quality and ethics we use in organbuilding are employed in organ rebuilding. Traditional materials and methods assure that the intent of the original builder is maintained. When tasked by our clients, our firm can be sensitive to preserving instruments as originally installed without any alteration. With discernment, we are also willing to consult on changes that can expand the tonal capabilities of the organ.

Some of our historically sympathetic rebuilding projects have included restoration of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century mechanical-action instruments. The ongoing restoration of the four-manual, 74-rank Möller/Holtkamp and three-manual, 36-rank Möller/Holtkamp organs at the United States Air Force Academy Protestant and Catholic chapels is being carefully documented, and both organs are being restored without any major changes or alterations.

The instruments built by our company will have a lifespan beyond our own, and this guides our emphasis on quality and long-term durability of our components and methods. In addition to the visual and aural beauty of the pipe organ, we maintain that there is beauty in the choices of joinery and the materials such as wood, metal, glues, screws, springs, and leather. Because we started as a service company, we have extensive experience in rebuilding and maintaining instruments from differing builders, periods, and building styles. This has given us the distinct advantage of knowing what materials and engineering used in organbuilding have worked well and what to avoid in our own organbuilding and rebuilding, which allows us to choose the best materials and methods.

To provide the highest quality, all of the major components and assemblies used in the building of instruments, organ additions, consoles, and organ cases are built in our facility. Our firm has invested in the future with the implementation of computer assisted design (CAD) and CNC machines. This technology allows the visualization of the instrument and its components prior to building, with accuracy measured in thousandths of an inch. The ability to maintain these tolerances is unparalleled in organbuilding history.

What is a Schlueter pipe organ?

First, we would say that each organ has its own identity. If you hear one of our instruments, it will be unique; we strongly believe it should be designed to serve the worship needs and the acoustic that it lives in. Every instrument needs not to be a rote expansion of the last instrument built, but an informed design based upon dialogue with our clients and personal experience of their worship. There are threads that are common to our work—while not a definitive blueprint, a good study example would be the three-manual, 51-rank instrument built for Bethel United Methodist Church in Charleston, South Carolina. This organ was very formative to all of the organs that have come after it and included the building blocks of the instruments that came before it. (The organ was featured on the cover of the April 2005 issue of The Diapason. To view the stoplist: https://pipe-organ.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Bethel-UMC-reprint-web.pdf)

As we started this commission, it began with multiple site visits and, importantly, attendance in their worship services. There are and always will be the subtle and not-so-subtle differences in churches’ worship styles and acoustics with buildings full of congregants. As a builder we feel that it is incumbent upon us to experience the worship with our own eyes and ears and then really listen to how our client will use the organ and its role in their worship. This is the only way to refine a stoplist and scale sheets into a cogent amalgam that will allow us to design, voice, and tonally finish an instrument that truly serves the vision of the church we are working for. We have always tried to remember that the ears we are given aren’t only for listening to pipes but also the needs, aspirations, and wishes of those who commission our work.

With shared worship and dialogue with the client, we developed an eclectic specification with roots in American Classicism and Romanticism. Of utmost concern in our tonal design was support for the choir and congregation. To this end, all divisions of the organ were designed around an 8-foot chorus structure. There are independent principal and flute choruses in each division that, while separate, are relatable and act as a foil one to another. The upperwork in the organ is designed to fold within and reinforce the chorus and not to sit above it. We very much wanted the chorus registration to be a hand-in-glove fit. This would be an instrument that would fully support the choral and congregational worship needs and also have the resources to support music from a wide breadth of periods and national styles.

The pipework makes use of varied scales, a mix of shapes (open, slotted, tapered, harmonic, stoppered, chimneyed), and materials to influence the color and weight differences in the organ flue stops. We were also careful in the placement of ranks in the chamber so that they had the best advantage for speech. The wind pressures on this instrument vary in range from four to eighteen inches.

As with most of the instruments we have built, we consider the strings and their companion celestes important for their sheer beauty and emotive quotient. (And yes, there should be more than one set!) This organ has sets of string ranks divided between the Swell and Choir divisions that can be compounded via couplers to build a string organ. Along with the color reeds, these stops support the romantic sound qualities that were designed into this instrument.

Along with the independent Pedal registers necessary to support a contrapuntal inner voice, we included a number of manual-to-pedal duplexes to bolster and weight the Pedal division.

In addition to the ensemble and woodwind class reeds in the Swell and Choir, there are a number of high-pressure solo reeds (8′ French Horn, 16′/8′ Tromba Heroique, and 8′ English Tuba). They are located in the Choir expression box to allow control of these powerful sounds. As it relates to the pipework, the expression fronts are carried the full width and height of the expression boxes and can fully open to ninety degrees. Our expression boxes are built extra thick and feature overlapping felted edges with forty stages of expression. This treatment allows a minimum of tonal occlusion of a division’s resources when fully open and full containment and taming of the resources when closed. Even the commanding solo reeds can be used as ensemble voices when the box is closed.

In studying the previous instrument, we found that through divisional shifting of resources, along with revoicing, repitching, and/or rescaling, some of the pipework could and should be retained. This is an important consideration that we give gravity to in all of our work. We considered the gifts that were required to build an instrument in this church in the first place. The generous people who gave these gifts should have every hope and wish that their gifts continue to be honored. We cannot say it enough, a consideration for stewardship is important in instrument building.

We have long believed that our work truly is a partnership between our company and the churches we work with. Over the years we have been gifted hundreds of ranks of pipework from churches that have merged, closed, or that have had changes in worship style. To attempt to exemplify “Soli Deo Gloria,” the Schlueter family has always added additional stops to every organ we have built, and many that we have rebuilt. As a way of thanks and in the form of a tithe, these additions have allowed the resources of our clients to be amplified and the organs to have a richer and more replete stoplist. We pray that in future years our gifts act as an endorsement of the importance of the organ in worship, and we hope that our instruments will plant the seeds of worship through music. In the case of the Bethel organ, these gifted additions included the 8′ French Horn, 16′ Double Diapason, 8′ Vox Humana, 4′ Orchestral Flute, and a secondary set of strings and celestes.

We build many different styles of consoles dependent upon our clients’ preferences and needs. The pipe organ at Bethel is controlled with a three-manual, English-style drawknob console with a full coupler and piston complement that adheres to American Guild of Organists standards. We are sensitive to the ergonomics in design to make the console comfortable for the performer.

As believers in the use of technology in the modern pipe organ, we designed this console with features such as multiple-level memory, transposer, Great/Choir manual transfer, piston sequencer, programmable crescendo and sforzando, record/playback capability, and MIDI.

The mark of quality for any pipe organ is found in the tonal finishing. With an organ project it is possible to be so close to your own work that you cannot judge it on its own merits. It becomes important to step back from your work before you can say it is time to “put down the brush.” This is particularly true of tonal finishing. The surety of vision and purpose that guides one’s work can also result in blinders preventing your best work from coming forward. To mitigate this, our firm completed the tonal finishing at Bethel over a period of time. Not only does it allow the ears to relax, but it also allows one to come back to a project more jaded and able to assess one’s work dispassionately. The tonal finishing on this organ occurred throughout the first year with multiple visits to the church as we traveled through the liturgical year and made different demands of the organ’s resources.

The completed organ has continued to serve the church well, as it has now reliably served in worship for several decades. Again, it is our measure of success that we have supported people’s faith as well as the outreach of the Piccolo Spoleto Music Festival.

The “fingerprints” of our commission to build the pipe organ at Bethel United Methodist Church are found in many of our recently completed projects as well as those currently under contract with our firm.

Recent projects

• Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky: the Aeolian-Skinner instrument representing two disparate time periods was recast as a new cohesive 115-rank organ in the American Eclectic style with an homage to its American Classic beginning.

• First Baptist Church, Hammond, Louisiana: new organ built after hurricane damage with some extant pipework.

• Druid Hills Presbyterian Church, Atlanta, Georgia: rebuilding of G. Donald Harrison Aeolian-Skinner organ with vintage Aeolian-Skinner additions to complete the original specification designed for the organ.

• First Baptist Church, Charleston, South Carolina: console rebuild with new relays, Positiv pipework, and other additions.

• Lucas Theatre, Savannah, Georgia: restoration and enlargement of Wurlitzer theater organ.

• Fox Theatre, Atlanta, Georgia: rebuild of four-manual “Mighty Mo” console and building of temporary console to be used during the rebuilding process.

• Episcopal Church of the Nativity, Dothan, Alabama: releathering and rebuilding of two-manual, 28-rank pipe organ by Angell Organ Company.

• Saint Jean Vianney Catholic Church, Baton Rouge, Louisiana: rebuilding and enlarging of Wicks organ.

Current projects

• All Saints Episcopal Church, Thomasville, Georgia: new three-manual console.

• First Baptist Church, Griffin, Georgia: new four-manual console.

• Holy Spirit Lutheran Church, Charleston, South Carolina: new three-manual console.

• United States Air Force Academy, Protestant Cadet Chapel, Colorado Springs, Colorado: rebuild of historic three-manual, 83-rank Möller/Holtkamp organ.

• United States Air Force Academy, Catholic Cadet Chapel, Colorado Springs, Colorado: rebuild of historic three-manual, 36-rank Möller/Holtkamp organ.

• North Point Methodist Church, Hong Kong: new organ division and façade.

• Peachtree Christian Church, Atlanta, Georgia: complete rebuilding with a new chassis of 1930 Henry Pilcher’s Sons organ installed in sanctuary chancel.

• Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Church, Brookhaven, Georgia: new four-manual, 62-rank pipe organ.

• Most Holy Trinity Catholic Chapel, West Point Military Academy, West Point, New York: new three-manual, 24-rank pipe organ.

• Fox Theatre, Atlanta, Georgia: phased rebuilding of “Mighty Mo” Möller theater organ (console previously rebuilt).

Closing thoughts

Our work involves collaborating with people, their stewardship and faith. As a builder I have been privileged to attend many dedicatory concerts as well as morning church services. I must confess that as much as I have enjoyed the organ in recital, often I have taken far greater pleasure hearing the organ in a worship setting. This is not said to diminish the music brought forth by those who have played the organ in concerts, rather that hearing the organ taking its part in worship is a validation of the years of planning and work that go into such an instrument. Having been part of building an instrument that serves in worship is the greatest gift an organbuilder can have. It is a culmination of pride, passion, and a legacy that we are leaving behind to future generations.

The title “organbuilder” presumes long hours, travel, and a temporary suspension of personal lives. I am fortunate to have a skilled, dedicated staff who help sculpt the wood, zinc, lead, copper, and brass into poetry. Organbuilding is not the result of any single individual but of a team. A simple thank you is not enough for the colleagues I have the good fortune to work with.

We thank those congregations who have believed in us and treated us like extended family while we completed these instruments. They have buoyed us with their support and prayers and genuinely have become our friends and extended congregations.

I would be remiss if I did not single out my father and business partner, Art, for his work on behalf of the pipe organ industry and his role as mentor to me. In the late 1980s, there were changes in the governance and laws pertaining to National Electric Codes (NEC) and article 650, which regulates pipe organ wiring. Some of the existing code and many of the proposed changes would have been very problematic to American organbuilding. With support from the American Institute of Organ Building (AIO) and the American Pipe Organ Builders Association (APOBA), Art worked as a liaison between the NEC and the pipe organ industry for over twenty-seven years. He served on the code-making NEC panel for more than twenty-five years. This has resulted in a new set of appropriate electrical codes for the pipe organ industry that were accepted and adopted by the NEC and that we continue to work with to this current day.

I grew up in the firm and have watched it evolve and change over the years from a service company to a builder of instruments. The company has been dutifully led by my father. It is hard to imagine that post college, I have worked with Dad for over thirty-four years, during which time our roles have changed and evolved, with me moving toward a more forward management role over the last two decades. During our tenure together, I have been given a tremendous amount of freedom to grow the firm and to provide the artistic guidance to the visual and tonal direction of the firm. Without Art’s support (and patience), the company and my career may well have taken a very different trajectory. A very sincere debt of gratitude is owed to him, the founder of this firm.

We would welcome the opportunity to consult with you on your organ project; please let us know how we can help you. You are invited to visit our website www.pipe-organ.com to contact us and to view photos and information on the many instruments we have completed over the years.

—Arthur E. Schlueter III

Visual and Tonal Direction

A. E. Schlueter Pipe Organ Company