Organ builder Hellmuth Wolff dead at age 76

Organist, conductor, and composer Massimo Nosetti died November 12, 2013, of cancer. He was 53. Born in Alessandria, Italy, he was titular organist of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist and the Sanctuary of St. Rita in Turin. He taught organ and composition at the conservatory in Cuneo, and led numerous masterclasses in romantic and post-romantic organ literature, especially in Japan, Korea, and the U.S. He conducted both orchestral and choral groups, including Cantus Firmus, the choral group he founded. Nosetti was also a composer, primarily of organ and choral works. A member of the diocesan sacred music commission, Nosetti was active in the Associazione Italiana Santa Cecilia, of which he served as vice president from 1999–2004.

Robert “Bob” Sinclair died August 18, 2013, at the age of 69. Born and raised in Winnsboro, South Carolina, he graduated from Mars Hill College, North Carolina, with a bachelor’s degree in music. He also attended Virginia Commonwealth University and Westminster Choir College, pursuing choral studies. In 1975, he became organist and director of music and fine arts for Greene Memorial United Methodist Church, Roanoke, Virginia, and cofounded the Southwest Virginia Opera Society, later known as Opera Roanoke. He also served as organist and director of music at Unity of Roanoke Valley, St. Thomas Anglican Church, and Williamson Road Church of the Brethren. He served various leadership roles for the Roanoke Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and the Thursday Morning Music Club. Robert “Bob” Sinclair  is survived by his sister, his former wife, three children, a daughter-in-law, and four grandchildren.

As we go to press we have learned of the passing of Marianne Webb, 77, of Carbondale, Illinois, on December 7, 2013 in Marion, Illinois. Webb had a lengthy and distinguished career as a recitalist and professor of music at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. The February issue of The Diapason will contain more detailed information.

Hellmuth Wolff, Canadian organ builder, died November 20, 2013, after a brief illness. He was 76 years old. Born September 3, 1937, in Zurich, Switzerland, he apprenticed with Metzler & Söhne of Dietikon, Switzerland, before working for Rieger Orgelbau of Schwarzach, Austria, and C. B. Fisk of Gloucester, Massachusetts. In 1963, he immigrated to Canada to work with Casavant Frères, Limitée, designing organs for their new mechanical action division. After working with Karl Wilhelm, he established his own firm in 1968 in Laval, Québec. The firm’s website (www.orgelwolff.com) lists 50 opus numbers of instruments of all sizes, with installations throughout Canada, the United States, and in Switzerland. Hellmuth Wolff is survived by his wife Claudette, son Martin, and daughter Maya and her family. 

Organbuilding in the United States and Canada is a thriving art practiced in hundreds of shops throughout the continent. Emerging from decades of stylistic extremes, organbuilders are combining a wealth of knowledge from the past with new technologies to meet contemporary design challenges. North American builders, compelled by a unique spirit of cooperation and openness, are successfully raising the artistic standards of this time-honored craft. (American Institute of Organbuilders, descriptive statement.)

The organ has occupied a prominent place in the musical culture of Canada since the days of the first European settlement, chiefly because of its close connection with church music and the ambitions of many congregations. The first organs, brought from France, were installed in Québec City around 1660. An anecdotal report mentions the acquisition by a Halifax church of a Spanish instrument that had been seized on board a ship in 1765.1 Following a period in which organs continued to be imported from England and France, organbuilding began as early as 1723 and flourished mainly in Québec and Ontario from the mid-19th century onward.2 By the second half of the 19th century, organ building had become a relatively important industry in Eastern Canada, where companies had acquired sufficient expertise to compete in the international market, including the United States.3

The development of organbuilding in Canada proceeded through several phases, beginning with early builders.4  The first known organbuilder was Richard Coates, who arrived in Canada from England in 1817; he supplied mainly barrel organs to several small churches in Ontario. Joseph Casavant, the first Canadian-born builder, installed his first instrument in the Montréal region in 1840; he transmitted his skills to his sons, who later established the company that achieved world-wide recognition. The arrival from the United States of Samuel Russell Warren in 1836 marked the introduction of professional-calibre organbuilding into the country. His family firm had produced about 350 pipe organs by 1869; it was sold in 1896 to D. W. Karn (see below). Other prominent organ builders included Napoléon Déry (active 1874-1889), Eusèbe Brodeur (a successor to Joseph Casavant in 1866), and Louis Mitchell (active 1861-1893) in Québec, and Edward Lye (active 1864-1919) in Ontario.

The years 1880-1950 were marked by unprecedented growth in organbuilding, beginning with the establishment of Casavant Frères in 1879 in Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec. The Canadian Pipe Organ Company/Compagnie d'orgues canadiennes was established in 1910 by some former Casavant staff, also in Saint-Hyacinthe (when the firm closed in 1931 its equipment was acquired by Casavant). Prominent Ontario builders included the firms of Richard S. Williams (founded 1854 in Toronto), Denis W. Karn (commenced 1897 in Woodstock), C. Franklin Legge (founded 1915 in Toronto, joined by William F. Legge 1919, who later established his own company in Woodstock around 1948), and the Woodstock Pipe Organ Builders (an organization of skilled craftsmen in that Ontario town, 1922-1948). Several smaller, independent builders were active for a time in Ontario, the Maritime provinces, and Manitoba (late 1880s). British Columbia, on the other hand, seems to have had no indigenous organbuilders, for instruments were imported from the United States or from England on ships that sailed around Cape Horn; one of the earliest arrived in Victoria from England by this route in 1861.

In the early 1950s some organbuilders, encouraged by younger organists who had played European instruments, as well as the increasing availability of sound recordings of these organs, turned to classical principles of organbuilding to counter what they perceived as the colorless sound palettes of Canadian organs of the 1930s. The return to earlier tonal aesthetics, inspired by the so-called 17th-century "Baroque organ," found expression in the construction of bright-toned, tracker-action instruments. The "new orthodoxy" was enthusiastically assimilated by Casavant Frères and by a number of independent builders in the same region, some of whom had received their training in Europe. Karl Wilhelm, Hellmuth Wolff, André Guilbault and Guy Thérien, Fernand Létourneau, Gabriel Kney, and Gerhard Brunzema were prominent in this movement, and many of them are still in business. Their accomplishments, along with the activities of other known organbuilders of the 1990s, will be described in chronological order, according to their founding dates, in the remainder of this article.5

Casavant Frères, Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec (1879)

Casavant is the oldest continuing name in organbuilding in North America. Joseph Casavant (1807-1874), the father of the founders of the company, began his organbuilding career while still a Latin student at a Québec religious college, where he completed an unfinished organ from France with the help of a classic treatise on organbuilding. By the time he retired in 1866, after 26 years in business in Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec, he had installed organs in 17 churches in Québec and Ontario, but none of them survive. His sons, Joseph-Claver Casavant (1855-1933) and Samuel-Marie Casavant (1850-1929), worked for Eusèbe Brodeur, their father's successor, for a few years. They opened their own factory in Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec, in 1879, following an extended tour of western Europe inspecting organs and visiting workshops; Claver had apprenticed briefly with a Versailles builder before the tour. In the early years the Casavant brothers were conservative in their tonal design, emulating the ensemble sound of the kind they had heard in old-world instruments that they had examined during their European tour. But from the outset the brothers were innovators, beginning with improvements in the electric operation of their organs in the 1890s. As their reputation spread beyond the cities and towns of their province, production increased steadily.

The company experienced difficult times in the 1930s due to economic conditions, much standardization, and repetitive tonal design. Production was curtailed during the years of World War II due to a shortage of materials, and the company manufactured many unit organs during this period. Later, new initiatives were undertaken by several imaginative artistic directors who served with the firm between 1958 and 1965: Lawrence Phelps from Aeolian-Skinner in the U.S.A.; and European-trained Gerhard Brunzema, Karl Wilhelm, and Hellmuth Wolff.

Most present-day Casavant organs exhibit a conventional design that retains both symphonic and modern elements in subtle synthesis. Casavant organs are recognized for their special tonal qualities and the way the individual stops are blended together into a chorus at all dynamic levels. Time-tested actions include tracker, electrically operated slider windchests, and electro-pneumatic (since 1892; tubular-pneumatic was last used in the mid-1940s). The company workshop has eight departments: metalworking, woodworking, mechanism, consoles, painting, racking, voicing, and assembly. Virtually all components are made in the workshop, including all flue and reed pipes (to 32-foot-length), reed shallots, windchests, consoles, keyboards and pedalboards, and casework, although specialized wood carving and gilding are done by outside artisans. A few electrical components, such as blowers, power-supply units, electromagnets, solid-state combination and coupling systems, and hardware, are purchased from world-wide suppliers. All visual designs are coordinated with their intended surroundings; there are no stock designs. Organs are completely assembled for rigorous testing and playing in preparation for on-time delivery.

The company resumed the construction of tracker-action instruments in 1961 after a lapse of about 55 years, producing 216 such organs since that date. By the end of 1998 the total output amounted to 3,775 organs of all sizes, and many of these have received enthusiastic testimonials from renowned recitalists over the years. Although sales were limited mainly to North America until World War II, Casavant organs now have been installed in churches, concert halls, and teaching institutions on five continents. The firm's largest instrument is a five-manual, 129-stop organ with two consoles installed in Broadway Baptist Church, Fort Worth, Texas, in 1996. The great majority of the very large instruments have been installed in locations in the United States; the exception is the four-manual, 75-stop organ in Jack Singer Concert Hall, Calgary Centre for the Performing Arts, in 1987. The company also engages in renovation projects and additions to existing organs.

The key personnel include Pierre Dionne, President and Chief Operating Officer (from 1978), formerly Dean of Administration at the Business School of the University of Montréal; Stanley Scheer, Vice-President (1984), formerly Professor of Music and Head of the Department of Fine Arts at Pfeiffer University, Misenheimer, North Carolina, holds a Master of Music degree in organ performance from Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey; Jean-Louis Coignet, Tonal Director (1981), a professionally trained physiologist with a doctorate from the Sorbonne, contributor to music journals, the most knowledgeable authority on the work of Cavaillé-Coll today, was formerly organ expert for the City of Paris; Jacquelin Rochette, Associate Tonal Director (1984), formerly Music Director of Chalmers-Wesley United Church, Québec City, holds a Master's degree in organ performance from Laval University, performs regularly on CBC radio, and has recorded works by several French composers for organ; Denis Blain, Technical Director (1986), with many years of practical experience in virtually all aspects of organbuilding, is in charge of research and development; Pierre Drouin, Chief Engineer, holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Laval University, introduced computer-assisted drafting, and supervises the design and layout of each organ. In 1998 the company had 85 full-time employees, many with more than 30 years of service with the company. All levels of management and production personnel function as a team.

Keates-Geissler Pipe Organs, Guelph, Ontario (1945)

The company was established in 1945 in London, Ontario, by Bert Keates (he came from England in his infancy) and relocated to Lucan, Ontario, in 1950. When it was incorporated in 1951 the assets of the Woodstock Pipe Organ Builders (formerly Karn-Warren) were purchased. The company moved to Acton, Ontario, in 1961, a more central location in the province. In 1969 the growing firm took over the business of the J. C. Hallman Company, a manufacturer of electronic instruments and pipe organs, when it discontinued making pipe organs (but not parts for them). For several years some organs were manufactured under the name of Keates-Hallman Pipe Organs.6 The company moved to Guelph, Ontario, in 1994.

Dieter Geissler was born in Dittelsdorf, Saxony, Germany, where he began his trade as a cabinetmaker. At the age of 14 he commenced his apprenticeship with Schuster & Sohn, Zitau, where he remained from 1946 to 1950. In 1951 he moved to Lübeck, West Germany, where he worked as a voicer with E. Kemper & Sohn for five years. In 1956 he moved to Canada to join Keates's staff. When Keates retired at the end of 1971 Dieter Geissler became president of the firm, which he purchased in 1972, and adopted the present company name in 1982. His son, Jens Geissler, joined the company in 1978.

Keates-Geissler organs are offered in all types of action and are custom built to any required size. Altogether, 147 new organs7 have been installed at locations in Canada, the United States (about 15), and Barbados, West Indies. The output includes a number of four- and five-manual instruments; the largest is a five-manual, 231-stop organ, installed in the First Baptist Church, Jackson, Mississippi, in 1992 (a compilation of its original 1939 E. M. Skinner instrument, a 1929 five-manual Casavant organ removed by Keates-Geissler in 1986 from the Royal York Hotel, Toronto, and some additional structures by the company). The firm has undertaken a substantial number of renovation, rebuilding, and reinstallation projects over the years, about 1,500 altogether, about 75 of these in the United States.

All wooden pipes are made in the factory, but metal pipes are made by Giesecke or Laukhuff in Germany to the company's scaling specifications; preliminary voicing is done in the factory before final voicing on-site. The windchests of electro-pneumatic instruments feature Pitman-chest action that includes some unique features to overcome the effects of extremes in temperature and humidity; the company is the only such manufacturer in Ontario and one of a few in Canada. Expandable electronic switching systems are designed and made in the factory from readily available components to facilitate replacement. Solid-state switching and multiple-memory combination actions are also manufactured. Console shells are handcrafted from solid wood in the factory; tracker touch is an available option. Keyboards are custom made to the company's specifications by Laukhuff, Germany, and blowers are acquired mainly from the same company. The company had four full-time employees in 1998; other part-time workers are hired as needed.  

Guilbault-Thérien, Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec (1946)

This company originated with the Providence Organ Company, established in Saint-Hyacinthe in 1946. The partners, André Guilbault, whose father Maurice Guilbault had worked for Casavant, and Guy Thérien, a voicer from Casavant, joined forces in 1968 when the elder Guilbault retired. The present company name was adopted in 1979. When André Guilbault retired in 1992, Alain Guilbault (no relation) acquired an interest in the company.

At the outset the company manufactured electro-pneumatic instruments, but built its first mechanical-action instrument (Opus #1 in a new series), a two-manual, 7-stop organ, in 1970, immediately followed by several small one- and two-manual instruments. From 1974 onward the typical instruments were medium-size, two-manual organs. Larger instruments of three or four manuals began to appear with greater frequency after 1983, the largest being a four-manual, 45-stop organ installed in Grace Church, White Plains, New York, in 1989, the only installation in the United States to that time. While the tonal layout of the organs is mainly inspired by European sources, mainly French, the swell divisions of the larger instruments are sufficiently versatile to handle symphonic literature.

The output of new organs was about 55 to 1998, mainly in Québec and Ontario. The company's work has also involved the restoration and reconstruction of a similar number of Québec organs, mainly by Casavant, but including some of historical significance that are over a hundred years old by such early builders as Napoléon Déry and Louis Mitchell. 

Several compact discs featuring performances by Québec organists on instruments manufactured by the company, or on reconstructed historical Casavant instruments, have been released in the past decade.8

Principal Pipe Organ Company, Woodstock, Ontario (1961)

The company was established by Chris Houthuyzen in Woodstock, Ontario, a town with a continuing tradition of organbuilding. The founder served his apprenticeship and received further training in The Netherlands before coming to Canada. Small to medium-sized instruments, employing electro-pneumatic action, are the company's specialty, with a contemporary emphasis on the guiding principles of Dutch organbuilding. A total of 119 installations have been completed over the years; the largest was a four-manual, 58-rank instrument. Wooden pipes are made in the shop, but most metal pipes come from suppliers in the United States; their scaling is dictated by the acoustics and intended use of the organ. Chests, reservoirs, ducting, consoles, and casework are manufactured on the premises. Much of the company's work involves rebuilding and maintaining organs, as well as the installation and servicing of church bells, including cast and electronic carillons on behalf of the Verdin Company, Cincinnati, Ohio. The company had three employees in 1998.

Gabriel Kney, London, Ontario (1962-1996)

Gabriel Kney was born in Speyer, Germany; his father was a master cabinetmaker and amateur bassoonist, and his mother was a singer. He served his apprenticeship in organbuilding with Paul Sattel in Speyer (1945-1951), where he assisted in the restoration of historic, sometimes war-damaged, instruments, along with new organ construction. Since the era was a time of transition from the "Romantic" style of organbuilding to the concepts of Orgelbewegung, this trend provided him with the opportunity to learn about and participate in the building of organs of both concepts. Concurrently he was a student of organ literature, liturgical music, harmony, and improvisation at The Institute of Church Music in the same city.

He emigrated to Canada in 1951 and joined the Keates Organ Company in Lucan, Ontario, as an organbuilder and voicer. In 1955 he was co-founder, with John Bright, of the Kney and Bright Organ Company in London, Ontario, with the intention of specializing in tracker instruments. The timing was premature, for only a few musicians and teaching institutions found such instruments of interest; with the exception of two teaching organs of tracker design supplied to a college in the United States, most of the early organs were requested to have electric key action. In 1962 Gabriel Kney established his own company in London, Ontario, where, with enlarged facilities and a staff of six to eight, he specialized in mechanical-action instruments. Organs from the period between 1962 and 1966 were designed in the historic manner of Werkprinzip, with organ pipes enclosed in a free-standing casework and separated into tonal sections. The tonal design of smaller instruments followed 18th-century North European practices, with some tuned in unequal temperaments of the period.

Altogether, his shops produced 128 organs since 1955; the largest in Canada being the four-manual, 71-stop, tracker-action instrument with two consoles in Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto. Since the early 1970s almost three-quarters of the installations were in locations in the United States, several of these in large universities. Occasionally maintenance and historic instrument restoration projects were undertaken.

Wooden pipes were made in the shop, with the exception of very large pipes made to specifications by suppliers in the United States, England, or Germany. Metal pipes also were made to order by independent pipemakers in Germany or Holland. Some console components, such as keyboards, were obtained from suppliers in the United States, England, or Germany. Electric switching devices came from the United States in earlier years, later from England. Blowers were imported from Laukhuff in Germany, Meidinger in Switzerland, or White in the United States. All casework and chest construction was done in the shop.

In 1996 Gabriel Kney retired from active organbuilding and closed his company. Since then he has acted as a consultant to churches seeking advice on organ purchase, restoration, and tonal redesign, and sometimes to other organbuilders.

Karl Wilhelm, Mont Saint-Hilaire, Québec (1966)

Karl Wilhelm was born in Lichtenthal, Rumania, and grew up in Weikersheim, Germany. At the age of 16 he entered apprenticeship with A. Laukhuff, Weikersheim (1952-1956), followed by working experience with W. E. Renkewitz, Nehren/Tübingen (1956-1957), and Metzler & Söhne, Dietikon, Switzerland (1957-1960). After moving to Canada, in 1960 he joined Casavant Frères, where he established the department and trained several employees for the production of modern mechanical organs; while there he was responsible for the design and manufacture of 26 organs. In 1966 he established his own firm, first in Saint-Hyacinthe, then moved to new facilities in Mont Saint-Hilaire, near Montréal, Québec, in 1974. For a while he was assisted by Hellmuth Wolff, now an independent builder (see below).

Karl Wilhelm specializes in building mechanical organs of all sizes, 147 to date, of which 69 are located in the United States and two in Seoul, Korea. Of the total output, 43 are one-manual instruments, 93 are two-manual instruments of medium size, and 11 are three-manual instruments--the largest is a 50-stop instrument in St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Toronto, installed in 1983. Two have detached consoles, and four have combination actions with electric stop-action; all instruments have mechanical key action. The design and layout of instruments adhere to the principles of the classical tradition of German and French organbuilding. Three-manual instruments feature a large swell division, suitable for the performance of Anglican Church music and the Romantic repertoire.

All wooden pipes are made on the premises, along with almost one-half of the metal pipes that are handmade of a tin-lead alloy; other metal pipes are imported from Germany. Scaling and voicing are done in the classical open-toe manner for natural speech and mellow blend. Windchests and bellows, consoles and action, and cases are manufactured in a 9,000 sq. ft. workshop. Organs may have cases of contemporary design, or perhaps are more ornate with moldings and hand-carved pipe shades that are compatible with the architecture of the location. Blowers are acquired from Laukhuff, Germany; miscellaneous parts come from other suppliers. The firm does not engage in rebuilding or renovation but services and tunes its own instruments throughout North America. In 1998 the firm had five employees, all trained by Karl Wilhelm.

Wolff & Associés, Laval, Québec (1968)

Hellmuth Wolff was born in Zurich, Switzerland. While a teenager he apprenticed with Metzler & Söhne, Dietikon, Switzerland (1953-1957); in his spare time he built his first organ, a four-stop positiv instrument. He received additional training with G. A. C. de Graff, Amsterdam (1958-1960) and with Rieger Orgelbau, Schwarzach, Austria (1960-1962). In the United States (1962-1963) he worked with Otto Hofmann, in Austin, Texas, and Charles Fisk, in Gloucester, Massachusetts. After moving to Canada he worked with Casavant Frères (1963-1965) in its newly established tracker-action department, and then with Karl Wilhelm (1966-1968), with whom he had worked at Casavant. In the interval 1965-1966 he returned briefly to Europe to work as a designer and voicer with Manufacture d'orgues Genève, in Geneva. Besides playing the piano and singing in choirs wherever he went, he completed his musical training by taking organ lessons with Win Dalm in Amsterdam and later with Bernard Lagacé in Montréal.

In 1968 he opened his own business in Laval, Québec, with one employee; his present associate, James Louder, started his apprenticeship with Hellmuth Wolff in 1974, after training in classical guitar and English. The first large project undertaken in that year was the construction of a three-manual, 26-stop instrument at the Church of St. John the Evangelist, New York City; this was one of the city's first modern tracker-action organs and it incorporated features not yet seen in North America. In 1977 the company moved to a new shop; the firm became incorporated in 1981, and James Louder became a partner in 1988.

Hellmuth Wolff has been part of the Organ Reform in North America since the movement came to this continent in the early 1960s. He specializes in mechanical-action instruments, large and small, whose design is inspired by French or German classical traditions, although other styles are represented that are designed to accommodate a wide range of organ literature. A total of 42 organs have been manufactured; about one-half of these were installed in locations in the United States. While a few small residence or practice instruments have been built, the majority are two-manual organs, in addition to eight three-manual organs, and one four-manual, 50-stop/70-rank instrument installed in Christ Church Cathedral, Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1989.9 Other related activities include rebuilding, restoration, and maintenance work, chiefly in the Montréal area.

Wooden pipes are made on the premises, while metal pipes are acquired from several pipemakers in Canada, U.S.A., and Europe; some reeds are made there, also. Windchests, consoles, and cases are also manufactured on site. Blowers are acquired from Meidinger and Laukhuff in Germany. Several installations feature both mechanical stop-action and capture systems; the first was built in 1977 for the Eighth Church of Christ, Scientist, in New York City; it was probably the first such system in North America. Both sequencers and traditional multilevel capture systems are used. There were eight employees in 1998.

Hellmuth Wolff, along with his associate, James Louder, have contributed to symposiums and written publications on organs and organbuilding.10 Fourteen compact discs, featuring performances by Canadian and American artists on Wolff instruments, have been released, and three others are in preparation.11

Brunzema Organs, Fergus, Ontario (1979-1992)

Gerhard Brunzema was born in Emden, Germany, and grew up in Menden on the Ruhr river, a northern part of the country where there was an abundance of historic organs. After World War II he apprenticed with Paul Ott in Göttingen and worked with him as a journeyman organbuilder (1948-1952). He received extensive technical training, including acoustics, at the Brunswick State Institute for Physics and Technology (1953-1954), and received a Master's degree in organbuilding in 1955. In 1953 he joined the prominent European organbuilder Jürgen Ahrend in the construction and restoration of organs, some in Holland and Germany of great historical significance; this association continued for 18 years. After emigrating to Canada he joined Casavant Frères in 1972 and served as artistic director until 1979; during that time he was responsible for the design of several notable organs in Canada, the United States, Japan, and Australia, along with the restoration of a number of historic Casavant instruments in Ontario and Québec. His experience at Casavant gave him the opportunity to work with very large organs, an experience that was lacking in Germany.

In 1979 he established his own business in Fergus, Ontario. Throughout his career he specialized mainly in small, one-manual, four-stop, continuo organs (25 in all); most of his nine two-manual instruments--the largest was 25 stops--were made between 1985 and 1987. In 1990 he was joined by his son, Friedrich, who had completed his apprenticeship in Europe. Until the time of his death in 1992, Gerhard Brunzema's total output amounted to 41 instruments; of these, 20 were installed in Canadian locations (mainly in eastern provinces), 17 in the United States, one in the Philippines, one in South Korea, and two in European countries. The tonal design of his instruments was strongly influenced by Schnitger organs that he had studied and restored while in Europe. He believed that basic organ design cannot be learned through restoration work, because such instruments were conceived by others; nevertheless, in restorations the intentions of the original builders should be respected. As for new instruments, his philosophy was that "An organbuilder should choose a style and stay with it, so that he not only continues to develop his own skills, but also continues to help improve the skills of the people working for him. . . . Become a master of one thing, get over the initial difficulties very quickly, and then polish your knowledge, the details of which will finally add up to a very good result."12

Koppejan Pipe Organs, Chilliwack, British Columbia (1979)

Adrian Koppejan was born in Veenendaal, Holland, and apprenticed with his father, who was an organbuilder there. He worked with Friedrich Weigle in Echterdingen by Stuttgart, Germany (1963-1966), with Pels & Van Leeuwen in Alkmaar, Holland (1968-1972) as shop foreman of the mechanical organ department, and with his father's company, Koppejan Pipe Organs, in Ederveen, Holland (1968-1972). He moved to Canada in 1974 and established his own company five years later.

Adrian Koppejan strives for a clear, warm, but not loud sound in his instruments, a preference inspired by classical organs of North Germany. This sound palette is reflected in the instruments in which he specializes: small and medium-size tracker instruments; he has built five electromechanical organs, as well. His output to date consists of 19 organs; these have been installed in churches and private residences in British Columbia, Alberta, and Washington state. His largest organ is a three-manual, 31-stop, electromechanical instrument, with a MIDI system, installed in the Good Shepherd Church, White Rock, B.C., in 1995. An instrument of similar size was constructed in 1998. Rebuilding, restoration, maintenance, and tuning are also part of regular activities.

Wooden pipes are mostly acquired from Laukhuff, Germany; metal pipes come from Stinkens in Holland and Laukhuff in Germany. Keyboards are made in Germany by Laukhuff or Heuss. Winding mechanisms, consoles, solid oak cabinets, and casework are manufactured in the shop. Blowers are supplied by Laukhuff, and electrical control systems come from Peterson in the U.S.A. There were two part-time employees in 1998 as Adrian Koppejan reduced the scope of his operations in anticipation of retirement.

Orgues Létourneau,  Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec (1979)

Fernand Létourneau was born in Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec, where he worked for while as a carpenter before entering employment with Casavant Frères in 1965; there he apprenticed with his uncle, Jean-Paul Létourneau, who was head reed voicer. He remained with the company for 14 years, where he was head voicer from 1975 to 1978, when he decided to set up his own independent company. First, with the help of a Canada Council grant, he embarked on an organ tour of Europe to study the voicing of old masters. Upon his return to Canada in 1978 he began building organs in Sainte-Rosalie, Québec, and became incorporated in 1979. His first organ, a two-manual, 6-stop instrument, was started in the basement of the family house and then displayed in the shop of a cabinetmaker; it was later acquired by the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec, Hull, where dozens of students have learned to play the organ on this small instrument. In 1984 he moved back to Saint-Hyacinthe, where three other organbuilders were already established. The factory's first building was formerly a municipal water-filter plant; the partially underground space provided a room 35 feet in height, ideal for erecting organs. A second industrial building was acquired recently to supplement the original premises.

A total of 55 organs of various sizes have been built to 1998; 13 others are in progress. The great majority have mechanical action, utilizing classical principles used in European instruments, and with the flexibility provided by ranks inspired by Dom Bédos, Schnitger, and Cavaillé-Coll. The largest will be a four-manual, 101-stop, mechanical-action instrument intended for the Francis Winspear Centre, Edmonton, Alberta. International distribution has been common from the outset, beginning with three early instruments that were installed in Australian locations in the early 1980s (the builder had become known on account of his activities as a voicer of Casavant instruments in that country). Others have been placed in New Zealand, Austria, England (Pembroke College, Oxford, 1995; an instrument is under construction for the Tower of London for completion in late 1999), the United States (over one-third of the total production), and Canada (chiefly eastern provinces, a few in the west). The company now has permanent representatives in the United States, England, and New Zealand. Fernand Létourneau prefers to build instruments of eclectic tonal design that are suitable for the performance of a wide range of organ literature. Historic restorations have also been undertaken.

All organ components, with the exception of electronics, are made in the factory, including wooden and metal pipes to 32-foot length, keyboards, consoles, and casework. Blowers are acquired from Laukhuff, Germany. Middle-size organs are equipped with electronic sequencers, card readers, and similar devices. The company is constantly engaged in rebuilding and restoring instruments of different vintages to original condition, about 50 to date, several of which have been designated as historical or heritage instruments. In 1998 there were 45 full-time staff in the Létourneau "family," of which a number are related to one another as father-son/daughter, uncle, brother, cousin, and husband-wife.  

A Remembrance

Herbert L. Huestis is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, where he studied organ with David Craighead 40 years ago. After a stint as a full-time church organist, he studied psychology and education at the University of Idaho, obtaining his Ph.D. in 1971. He spent time as a school psychologist, and was subsequently lured back into the organ world and took up pipe organ maintenance with his wife Marianne and son Warren. Now retired, he spends time tuning pianos and reconditioning harpsichords.

News of organbuilder Hellmuth Wolff’s passing on November 20, 2013, was not unexpected, but still came as a surprise and shock. He was 76 years old. Hellmuth had sent a message to let us know that he was afflicted with an asbestos-related lung condition. Twenty years ago, on one of his visits to Vancouver, I had noted that he was not much of a hiker. His respiratory difficulties had been evident for years, but it was a shock to hear that his condition was asbestos-related. Blower boxes? That seemed to be the only source in an organ. However, he may have been installing organs in auditoriums and churches where asbestos would have been disturbed in the bad old days. One can only speculate.

Nevertheless, when the news came, it hit hard. Hellmuth had been a friend for a long time and since the days when I had made a reputation as “The Reed Doctor,” he mentored me on the intricacies of voicing of tongue and shallot, much to my benefit. He was indeed a master of voicing, and to the best of my knowledge, his reputation as one of the finest organbuilders rested entirely on the elegance of the organ pipes, cases, and playing actions in all 50 organs of his making.

Hellmuth Wolff, born in Zurich, Switzerland, September 3, 1937, brought to Canada a strong sensibility of the historical traditions of organ building. While his instruments have modern attributes, they reflect exacting organ building according to authentic principles and practices. He was one of the key players in the revival movement of organ building in North America. He played the piano and received organ lessons from Bernard Lagacé in Montréal.  

He apprenticed with Metzler Orgelbau in Switzerland, then worked for Rieger Orgelbau of Schwarzach, Vorarlberg, Austria, Charles Fisk of Gloucester, Massachusetts, and Otto Hofmann in Austin, Texas, before emigrating to Canada in 1963 to be a designer in the new mechanical action department of Casavant Frères of St-Hyacinthe, Québec. 

He worked briefly with Karl Wilhelm before establishing his own firm in 1968 in Laval, Québec. By 1997, he had built 40 organs, ranging in size from one stop to 50 stops. Wolff’s largest organ is of 61 stops, 85 ranks, which he installed in Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria, British Columbia, in 2005. 

Our professional relationship was that of teacher and student, and our personal relationship was a long-distance friendship. He never gave up trying to teach me French, and though I had written my Ph.D. language exams in French on economic history, one does not learn a language by barely passing an exam, even though the reader can imagine my elation at passing on the first try. Hellmuth sent me Québéçois jokes from the newspaper, which I would figure out after several readings. He never gave up.

Hellmuth was involved in a proposal for a Vancouver church, which brought him to the left coast many times, and to our home. Our daughter Amy-Claire finished her baccalaureate degree at Concordia and found employment when needed, with Hellmuth and Guy Thérien. As an ‘organ helper’ she learned how to lie to the nuns if she had to play hooky and managed to holler in French to her technician supervisor that she had spilled glue on a reservoir. Necessity is the mother of invention; Hellmuth had her make paintings for the door panels of his house organ. She worked on and off at the shop, on everything from high-art painting of organ panels to leathering bellows. One time when I called her, she was sorting trackers.

It was always a pleasure to see Hellmuth and his wife Claudette. They had a lovely old Steinway grand piano that had seen better days. On one visit I tuned it so Bach inventions would sound right, and learned later that he had had it rebuilt. 

I inspired him once and he inspired me many, many times.

Hellmuth always had a sparkle in his eye. It seemed to inspire his organ building team, and it certainly impressed me when I would visit his shop to assist in the voicing of reeds. It was usually summer time, and he would put me out in front, by the large door to his shop, open to the street, first in line when the postman and other callers came looking for him. I tried to learn a new word in French every day. They were not enough, but they helped!

That Vancouver client had contacted a number of organ builders, and the kink in the project was a single donor, who really did not want to see a change in the old organ, at least in appearance. Any organ builder knows that story, and the project eventually devolved into a ‘rebuild’ project by my staff, when it had been earnestly hoped that a Wolff organ would be the result. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, we all made the best of it, leaving the Wolff shop preciously short of work, right then.

You might say this resulted in an experiment, carried out with the blessings of organist, technicians, and organ builder. We enclosed two divisions of the electro-pneumatic organ in organ cases from Hellmuth’s shop, and put to rest, at least in our minds, the notion that thick cases make for more expressive pipe divisions. Thin, resonant panels, tracker-organ style, made an extremely expressive result. The organ has tremendous expressive volume from low to high dynamic. Partner James Louder assisted us with planning for construction and installation, and the result was nothing short of fantastic. 

And a lull in work at the Wolff shop was avoided. It takes much humility and resilience to go for that kind of solution to an economic slump—and a long-term friendship between fellow organ builders.

Working on reed tongues with Hellmuth was tremendously inspiring. He would hold each tongue up to the light, check for flat spots, and meticulously curve for the smoothest upturn. He would work with me side by side, then leave me on my own, when I had a sense of what I was doing. Opus 47, the largest organ he made, for Christ Church Cathedral in Victoria, had a wide variety of national reed styles, and offered me the chance to work with a master of reed voicing for which I have always been enormously grateful. He worked side by side with all his employees, which I observed to be the most productive management style possible. My daughter Amy was once again involved in the project—this time, participating in the production of the maquette (scale model), which was an integral part of his organ-building process. 

We would get together for conferences and fell into the habit of chumming with Martin Pasi, always a pleasant experience. 

My visits to the shop came right at the end of Hellmuth’s partnership with James Louder. I liked James very much and was sad to see him depart after 26 years. This happened at the time of my retirement and to my delight James bought my reed-voicing jack, which Martin Pasi had made for me years before. I was always in love with that little one-stop organ, and it had seen many successful jobs come and go. Somehow, I always thought of that voicing jack as a peace offering between two long-term partners in organ building. James wrote a very touching tribute to Hellmuth, which I have quoted, and which appears at the end of this remembrance. 

Hellmuth’s friendship had a domestic quality that I loved very much. He would tell me stories of how he met Claudette Begin at a concert, where she was handing out programs. It was a real romance and made a great story. He and Claudette were very inclusive and treated me like a member of the family, when I visited Laval, and my wife Marianne and I included them in our family when they were in Vancouver. We shall miss Hellmuth very much, and remember him with great fondness, and wish Claudette, Martin, Maya, and his extended family the best possible future in his absence. 

I can only echo the kind tribute from James Louder, who said:

Hellmuth was dearly loved and deeply respected by innumerable lovers of the organ . . . who will mourn his death but will long celebrate his art. Hellmuth’s true monument will be his work, fifty of the finest organs built in our time . . . Thank you for everything, my dear Hellmuth, and farewell.

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

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

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

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

Blair Batty & Associates, Simcoe, Ontario (1985)

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

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

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

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

Gober Organs, Toronto, Ontario (1985)

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

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

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

Pole & Kingham, Chatham, Ontario (1985)

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

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

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

Juget-Sinclair, Montréal, Québec (1994)

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

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

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

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

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

D. Leslie Smith, Fergus, Ontario (1996)

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

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

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

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

The Future of Organbuilding

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

REFERENCES

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

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

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

                        16.              Ibid., 14.

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

Give it your life

For many people, a job is just a job. I’ve seen film clips of people working in industrial-scale meat packing facilities, flailing away at a relentless marching army of animal carcasses, videos that often accompany news stories about occupational injuries. Near where we live in Maine, there is a long tradition of monotonous food processing in the seafood business. If it was your job to shuck clams in a busy cannery, you were likely to put a knife through your palm at least once in your career.

Forty years ago, I had a landlord in Ohio who worked in the nearby Ford factory. Paul was an ebullient, fun-loving guy whose job was a means to an end. His skilled position came with a high hourly wage that enabled his muscle-car hobby. He played an aggressive game of poker and approached his fun at full throttle. He seemed proud to be the only one in his circle of friends who had flipped a car end-over-end in his driveway. His son had paid a high price for that lifestyle, confined to a wheelchair as the result of a teen-age sledding accident that involved adult beverages used childishly. That Ford factory was not the pride of Paul’s life. He did not consider his work there as his life’s mission. It simply allowed him to support his family and have fun.

My father was an Episcopal priest. Because of his service on Guam in World War II, he was not ordained until he was nearly thirty, but he was a priest every day of his life until his death a few weeks short of his eighty-ninth birthday. That was his calling, and he was faithful to it through his last breath.

My wife Wendy is a literary agent who helps writers prepare their manuscripts and sell them to publishing companies. Her work brings richness to my life as I am exposed to her clients, sharing meals with them, and learning about their passions. A university professor who is passionate about Civil War history is just as devoted to his trade as any musician or instrument builder I have known. He puts down his fork, and with arms waving, describes a slavery document he has discovered, demonstrating its significance to concurrent events. When two or more are gathered, it is comparable to the table full of organbuilders talking earnestly into the night about mixture compositions or the best brass for reed tongues.

Some of the writers I have met are not devoted for life to a particular study but to the art of storytelling, whether fiction or non-fiction. One of Wendy’s clients, environmental journalist Katherine Miles, has written books about an Irish famine ship, celebrated because not a single immigrant died on board in ten years of constant voyages; about Super Storm Sandy and the inadequacies of weather forecasting in the United States; and about earthquakes. Did you know there is a nuclear power plant, built on a geological fault line, twenty-four miles north of Manhattan? What could happen? Google “Explosion at Indian Point Power Plant” and you will find newspaper stories with headlines like, “Explosion closes Indian Point nuclear power plant near New York City; no danger of radiation leak.” (New York Post, November 8, 2010). Kate’s next book is in the mill right now. Bet you’re interested to know what it is about.

A modern Renaissance

I am thinking today about people who are passionate about their work because two colleagues, seniors in the field of organbuilding, are traveling together in Morocco, posting photos on Facebook as they go. Gene Bedient and John Brombaugh, two berets in a land of fezzes, are seen at an olive market, in the Medinah of Marrakech, at the Grand Mosque in Casablanca, and returning from an evening at Rick’s Café. One photo shows John Brombaugh with a monkey on his back. I commented, “I’ve had jobs like that.”

John apprenticed with Charles Fisk and Fritz Noack and worked as a journeyman for Rudolf von Beckerath. In 1971, he received a grant from the Ford Foundation to study historic European organs. He founded his fabled firm, John Brombaugh & Company, in 1968 in Germantown, Ohio. In 1977, the firm was reorganized as John Brombaugh & Associates, Inc., and moved to Eugene, Oregon, where he continued building trend-setting instruments until his retirement in 2005.

Gene Bedient founded the Bedient Organ Company in 1969. When he retired in 2010, it was reorganized as the Bedient Pipe Organ Company of Lincoln, Nebraska, LLC, and continues to produce fine instruments with some of Gene’s former employees at the helm.

The Noack Organ Company, founded in 1960, and C. B. Fisk, Inc., founded in 1961, were among the first of a wave of new firms founded by young men passionate about the pipe organ, especially as it was built in Northern Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Along with Brombaugh and Bedient, other firms that followed included Hellmuth Wolff (1968), Karl Wilhelm (1966), and Bozeman-Gibson (1971).

Some of the earliest work on tracker-action organs in the United States was accomplished by the Andover Organ Company, founded in 1948 at the very cusp of “The Movement,” operated and owned for several years by Charles Fisk, and continuing seventy years later as prominent builders and restorers of pipe organs. Fisk founded his eponymous firm in nearby Gloucester, Massachusetts, close to his family’s summer home, and Noack came from Germany to work with Fisk, so the early location of the Andover Organ Company can be traced as a principal reason why so much mid-twentieth-century activity in the pipe organ world was centered in Boston. The proximity of the New England Conservatory of Music added to the excitement with its vibrant community of young organists arriving in town every year.

Here are a few more regional tidbits. E. Power Biggs lived on Highland Avenue in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he became organist of Christ Church (Episcopal) in Harvard Square in 1932. He was famously fired from that position because the rector felt that his concert career was detracting from his work at the church. On January 2, 1935, Charles Fisk, a boy chorister there at the time, noted in his diary “I went to choir practice, Mr. Bigs [sic] wasn’t there.”¹ As an apprentice with Walter Holtkamp, Fisk worked on the 1956 installation of the organ at St. John’s Chapel of the Episcopal Theological School (my father’s alma mater and the site of my first organ lessons). Melville Smith, the director of the neighboring Longy School of Music and organist for the seminary, was an early proponent of the resurgence of tracker organs.  

There must have been a moment when Smith, Biggs, Holtkamp, and Fisk were together in that cramped loft, discussing one of the first modern Rückpositiv divisions. It would have been around that time when Biggs commissioned the now-revered organ by Flentrop for installation at the Busch-Reisinger Museum (now Busch Hall), as the organ was installed in 1957. C. B. Fisk was founded just four years later.

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If you made a list of every American organbuilding firm founded in the United States between 1960 and 1975, and a list of all the people who worked for them and tried to draw lines to connect all the relationships, it would look like the Etch A Sketch^® you got for Christmas in 1966 after you tried to color in the whole screen. Take it back a step: Charles Fisk apprenticed with Walter Holtkamp in the mid 1950s, John Brombaugh worked with both Noack and Fisk before starting his firm, George Bozeman worked with Otto Hoffman in Texas, then with Noack. Fritz Noack once said he figured that most organ guys in the United States whose first name is John worked for him at one time. That list would include Brombaugh, Boody, Dower, and Farmer (but not me!).

A new wave of firms emerged during the 1970s, including Taylor & Boody (who both worked with Brombaugh) and Richards-Fowkes (who both worked with Brombaugh), you get the picture.

Because of a few posts on Facebook, I am painting a picture of a dramatic movement within the worlds of arts and humanities. While it is hard to pin down exactly who started it, E. Power Biggs is a good guess. Between 1942 and 1958, Biggs hosted a weekly radio program on the CBS Radio Network, using the experimental, trendsetting Aeolian-Skinner organ at Busch Hall, the organ replaced by the new Flentrop in 1958. The radio broadcasts were abruptly cancelled shortly after the installation of the Flentop organ. His revered recording, Bach: Organ Favorites was released in 1961, the same year as the founding of C. B. Fisk.

Unlike the chairperson of the fund-raising dinner whose life is ruined for leaving someone off the list of people to thank, I know very well that I am unable to name everyone who has been important to this movement. But as I look at the photo of John Brombaugh with a monkey on his back, I reflect on how that grand generation of inquisitive masters has passed the baton to their successors.

Charles Fisk died of cancer in 1983 at the age of fifty-eight. As someone who is just turning sixty-two, I admire Charlie’s profound contribution to the world of the organ, and the wider world in general. His company’s website (www.cbfisk.com) includes a beautifully written biography of Charlie and of his philosophies. The bottom of that page bears a quote from him: “The organ is a machine, whose machine-made sounds will always be without interest unless they can appear to be coming from a living organism. The organ has to seem to be alive.” That philosophy stands as mantra for that generation of organbuilders and all who follow them. One might say, a mantra for a Montre.

John Brombaugh, Karl Wilhelm, Fritz Noack, and George Bozeman are in their eighties. Gene Bedient, John Boody, George Taylor, and Manuel Rosales are in their seventies. Collectively, these masters and their peers are responsible for the creation of hundreds of individual instruments. But there is so much more. Along with luminary performers like Gustav Leonhardt, Nikolas Harnoncourt, Ton Koopman, and John Eliot Gardiner, they changed the world of music. Through their intensive studies of instruments built by earlier masters, they brought a new vitality to our instrument, and inspired generations of musicians to explore the symbiotic relationships between historic repertory, the people who played it, and the instruments they played it on.

I do not intend this to be read as though the classically inspired tracker-action organ is the way, the truth, and the life. I like to think that the “organ wars” of the 1970s and 1980s are over. I am often asked which type of organ I prefer, and I always answer that I prefer good organs. My favorite organ is the best organ I have heard today. An important result of the narrowly named “tracker organ revival” is that the emphasis on excellent craftsmanship inspired new understanding of the work of geniuses like Ernest Skinner, who built organs in a comparatively huge factory with hundreds of workers but maintained a level of quality and history of innovation that allow his century-old organs to sing like Fisk’s ideal as a living organism. It has been nearly forty years since the Organ Clearing House first added a Skinner organ to the list of available instruments, joining the seemingly endless list of organs by Hook & Hastings, Hutchings, and Jardine.

That revived awareness has led to the heritage of firms like Schoenstein, Lively-Fulcher, and Nichols & Simpson who specialize in building high-quality electro-pneumatic organs with deep artistic content. Likewise, we are blessed with a generation of young organists who are comfortable playing on any style of instrument, placing the beauty of the music above bias regarding the medium. If an artist can revel in playing the music of Bach on an organ by Silbermann or Paul Fritts, so can an artist revel in playing her own transcription of a Wagner overture on an organ by Skinner or Schoenstein. The Skinner organ informs the performance of the transcription as fully as the Silbermann informs Bach.

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There is a historic building in our little village in Maine that has been home to a fine fresh seafood market on the left side of the ground floor. The symmetrical right side housed a leather shop until recently—the two businesses share a set of three central steps up from the sidewalk. A couple years ago, August Avantaggio, a local young man who is the son of the beloved, now deceased area surgeon, fulfilled his lifelong ambition of opening a butcher shop in the space next to the fish market. He was joined right away by two thirty-something guys who are as passionate about their work as any lifelong organbuilder is about our instrument. They source the meat they sell from local organic and free-range farmers, and they cut and package it expertly. I was in the store one afternoon (those who know me can easily guess that I am in there frequently) looking for something good for supper, and spent a few extra minutes watching Ryan take apart a side of beef. I asked him to narrate for me, and when he started with the Latin names of the various muscles, I knew I was talking with someone who cares about his work.

The Riverside Butcher Company is the antithesis of the punishing and cruel industrial meat packers I mentioned at the outset. They offer the finest products using the finest materials, and the apex of craftsmanship. You could almost be describing an organbuilding shop. Of course, things are a little a more expensive there. But one bite of that $7 per pound whole chicken, perfectly roasted, provides a symphony of sensations. It just is that much better. Last fall, Wendy and I hosted a reunion of her father’s extended family. They are all of German heritage and we thought a sausage cookout with a tub of sauerkraut would be a big hit. August pointed me to a website with hundreds of recipes for sausages, and I conferred with Ross to choose just the right ones. What fun it was to pick up fifty pounds of custom-made sausages and run the grill that evening.

There are lots of ways to criticize the impact Facebook has had on our culture, but when I see a photo of John Brombaugh with a monkey on his back, and another of Gene Bedient standing in a picturesque Moroccan square, I felt a fun connection to the band of people who are my colleagues in this unique compelling field. My work with the Organ Clearing House is special to me because it brings me into direct contact with so many of you—you who have elevated the art through life-long dedication.  

Building a single pipe organ is an expression of ambition and joy mixed with moments of confusion, questioning, anxiety, and uncertainty. Building a hundred pipe organs expands all that exponentially. Working together with a band of like-minded people, all working in parallel, produces more than just a lot of organs, more than a trade, more than a movement. It is an expression of the best of the humanities. And it comes at a time in our history when celebrating the best of humanity is heartwarming, reassuring, and necessary.  

Good work, friends. Keep it up, pass it on, and feed the monkey.

Notes

1. Craig Whitney, All the Stops, Public-Affairs, 2003, p. 86.

Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Herbert L. Huestis is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, where he studied organ with David Craighead 40 years ago. After a stint as a full-time church organist, he studied psychology and education at the University of Idaho, where be obtained his Ph.D. in 1971. He spent time as a school psychologist, and was subsequently lured back into the organ world and took up pipe organ maintenance with his wife Marianne and son Warren. Now retired, he spends more time tuning pianos and reconditioning harpsichords.

Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, and the Westfield Center, Orcas, Washington, presented an international conference entitled “Central/Southern European influences on Bach,” June 7–10, 2006. The conference celebrated the new cathedral organ by Hellmuth Wolff, Laval, Quebec, Canada, and honored organ virtuoso, historian and teacher, Harald Vogel, Osterholz-Scharmbeck, Germany.

The Westfield Center

The Westfield Center is a national resource for the advancement of keyboard music, serving professionals and the public since 1979. In pursuit of this goal, they host symposia to celebrate major instruments of our day, and have sponsored more than 30 conferences. This year they met in Victoria to honor the career of Harald Vogel, noted organist and scholar, and a new organ built by Hellmuth Wolff for Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria, British Columbia.

The new Wolff organ

I have dubbed this organ of 60 stops a “singing organ” because it stands nearly alone in its ability to bring to life the vocal effects and Italianate characteristics that infused the music of Bach and his predecessors. For Hellmuth Wolff, the creation of this organ was no small accomplishment. In fact, this masterpiece caps a career that is filled with instruments of artistic merit.
Delicate and well-balanced voicing is a hallmark of Wolff organs, and in this case the organ matches the room perfectly. Wolff has a reverence for historical organs and is able to build in various styles for his clients and the contemporary buildings they offer. The musical requirements of Christ Church, Victoria, and inclinations of the builder came together when a design was chosen that followed the work of builders such as Holzhey and Riepp, who were linked to French, German, and Italian organ building practices in the 18th century.
Hellmuth Wolff established his firm in 1968, after serving his apprenticeship in Switzerland with Metzler and continuing as a journeyman with Otto Hoffman in Texas and Charles Fisk in Massachusetts. In Canada, Wolff worked with Casavant Frères in the development of their mechanical-action workshop and subsequently worked in collaboration with Karl Wilhelm until he started his own workshop in Laval, Quebec. There, he heads an elite group of organbuilders who participated in the design and construction of this organ over a period of several years.
The organ comprises 61 stops, located in five divisions, including the pedal. Three manual divisions begin with 16' sub octaves, while the pedal has two stops at 32' pitch. There is an abundance of unison tone on every level, and the harmonics of the pipework are enhanced by both third- and fifth-sounding mixtures spread over four keyboards. Wolff was able to integrate character and variety into an extremely broad ensemble while at the same time emulating vibrant examples of organ style from times past. This sense of integration is perhaps the strongest aspect of Wolff’s art.
Spatial variety is a very strong characteristic of this organ. The wide case with Hauptwerk split on either side and Oberwerk in the center provided unique opportunities for registration at many volume levels by combining these two divisions into a large ensemble or playing them separately. The Rückpositiv lies well forward of the rest of the instrument and speaks directly to the listener, creating a clear, three-dimensional sound.
The variety of stops is compelling, both in flues and reeds. All are voiced with a sense of just the right volume so that interplay between stops is remarkably well balanced. Trumpets of all national styles are available on each keyboard and pedal, providing a tonal palette seen in few organs. Wolff has an intuitive sense of proportion in the placement of these reeds, so that volume and stylistic variation work very musically. He has taken great care in the selection of pipework to amplify his concept of the Holzhey organ style found in southern Germany in the late 18th century.

The conference

The conference topic, “South/Central Influences on J. S. Bach,” grew out of advances in musical scholarship and organology that have increased the understanding of influences of Pachelbel, Frescobaldi, Kerll and others on the music of Bach. The celebration of the work of Harald Vogel reaches to the beginnings of the Westfield Center, founded by two of his early students, Lynn Edwards Butler and Edward Pepe. This all culminates in the largest publication of the Westfield Center to date: Orphei Organi Antiqui: Essays in Honor of Harald Vogel. This Festschrift brings together 21 articles and essays that delineate the Vogel personality as well as performance practice, improvisation, congregational singing, organ restoration and organ culture. This work was edited by Cleveland Johnson, professor of music history and dean of the School of Music at DePauw University. Harald Vogel’s legacy as a teacher was outlined by Elizabeth Harrison, assistant professor of music at Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania. She gave an inside look at the North German Organ Academy, the founding of which she described as his most pivotal accomplishment.

Recitals

One should note that there are two audiences who have interest in an event such as this, “those who were seen and those who were unseen.” For those who heard this amazing instrument and the recitalists who presented this organ literature in a vital way, this report may serve to crystallize the event itself. For those who were not able to attend, it is hoped that some idea of the freshness and originality of these players will be communicated.
It is invigorating to see how a group of players could present varied aspects of this unusual organ in such a concerted way. Harald Vogel praised the instrument as one of the finest of its type in the world, and each artist contributed a unique vision to the celebration of this organ. One had the feeling that all recitalists read from a similar script, with great attention paid to Southern influences on German music.
William Porter, professor of organ and harpsichord at the Eastman School of Music, presented the inaugural concert with a fresh idea that served the symposium very well. He designed his concert after the style that Bach himself used when he played, as described by Forkel, his biographer. This showcases the instrument rather than the repertoire. Porter has a strong reputation as an improviser, which led him in this direction for the concert. He maintained that “since the repertoire of the 17th and 18th centuries has its roots in improvisational practice,” he could take the opportunity to show off all the colors of the organ. Italian influences were immediately apparent, and Porter, like all of the recitalists, concentrated on variation and ciacona forms.
Michael Gormley, Christ Church Cathedral organist, and Erica Johnson, a student of Hans Davidsson, Eastman School of Music, continued the concert series with an exploration of the breadth of the instrument and a further presentation of Italianate aspects of the music and instrument. Johnson explored the concerto style and played with a lightness and delicacy that characterized subsequent recitals. Her theme for the recital was the dance—both in her playing style and aspects of the musical styles of Italy and Germany. She characterized this as a “pas de deux” where Italy led and Germany followed. Indeed, Italian influences on German music were the order of the day.
Harald Vogel continued these ideas with toccatas, canzonas, a spectacular battaglia and the famous Capriccio Cucu of Johann Kerll. His program reached a zenith with intense colors found in his interpretation of the second Biblical Sonata of Johann Kuhnau. In this organ he found a tonal palette with which to characterize the depression and madness of Saul as Kuhnau envisioned it. Beauty was everywhere, but more than that, the organ could communicate real emotion, passion and feeling, even fear and anxiety.
Edoardo Bellotti, who teaches organ, harpsichord, and continuo playing in Trossingen, Germany, and Bergamo, Italy, brought these recitals to a climax with a presentation of Frescobaldi, Pachelbel and Bach. By limiting his repertoire to three composers, he was able to explore the styles of variation, toccata and ciacona, building in the listener an expectation of both floridity and drive culminating in a rendition of Bach’s Passacaglia and Fugue full tilt, with no resorting to the usual registrational variation in the Passacaglia. His performance was so musically varied, and the organ so clear and delicate in its ensemble that he could play the whole piece in a continuous, driving plenum. He was so convincing in this performance that he gave immediate credence to statements that Harald Vogel had made, that organists are often the victims of “bad traditions,” which they must rethink in order to fully appreciate this music.
The final concert was a mix of vocal and organ works in which Michael Gormley, director of the CapriCCio Vocal Ensemble (of Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria) and Carole Terry, professor of organ at University of Washington, Seattle, stood the conference topic on its head and presented a concert entitled “Bach influences on Central/South Europe.” These included vocal works of Mozart, Bruckner, and Reger, among others. Dr. Terry made a final and climactic statement of what the organ could do with masterful renditions of the works of Max Reger. Reger’s music gave a final contrapuntal and harmonic lushness to the sound of this organ, whose 60 stops exhibited a monumental heroism. Again, it seemed that all of the recitalists had similar goals: to show the full effect of this magnificent new organ and to trace the beauty of the musical styles that made their way from Italy to Germany in the 17th and 18th centuries and beyond.
These musical influences were further elaborated in noontime recitals by Colin Tilney, harpsichordist, and Ulrika Davidsson, fortepianist. Tilney explored the Italianate forms and Davidsson followed J. S. Bach’s influence through C. P. E. Bach to Joseph Haydn.

Keynote addresses

The academic side of the symposium centered on the presentation of a Festschrift, Orphei Organi Antiqui by Cleveland Johnson, to Harald Vogel on the occasion of his 65th birthday. The publication (“Orpheus of the Historic Organ”) is a collection of 21 articles and essays. It features writings about Vogel as teacher, performer and scholar, and deals with keyboard literature, performance practice, improvisation, congregational singing, organ restoration and organ culture.
Harald Vogel took the opportunity in his keynote address to open up some very interesting concepts regarding organ culture. He examined “organ tradition” and outlined some rather subjective but important considerations. The most notable of these seemed to be the idea that somehow “traditions” were carried from Bach through the 19th and 20th centuries unbroken, when in fact, they are deeply flawed in terms of playing style, registration and type of instrument. He appealed to his listeners to look toward historical evidence to make decisions regarding playing style, rather than rely on old traditions that have been passed through many teachers and students, with all the attendant changes in organ culture, of each period of time and style of instrument.
Lynn Edwards Butler also presented a keynote address on the general topic of organ examinations, which harkened back to the celebration of the Paul Fritts organ at Arizona State University and the topic of “The Historical Organ” presented in 1993.
In a third keynote address, Keith Hill, the noted harpsichord maker, took a look at the psychological aspects of artistic performance in a topic called “The Craft of Musical Communication.” This is a difficult subject, and he was able to create the imagery to help his audience grasp important concepts involved in music making. He outlined various building blocks of artistic performance so that some analysis could be made of performers and their art. A certain objectivity was welcome in an area that is almost always purely subjective!
Masterclasses were provided by the artists, and of course there was the joy of discovering all the various aspects of the organ and its construction. Michael Gormley and the cathedral staff were most gracious, and the setting in the provincial capital of British Columbia was magnificent. From a meeting in the parliament buildings on the first day to high tea on the last, there was the constant infusion of Canadian culture and magnificent weather, found only on this enchanted isle on the west coast of North America. I suppose the only thing that can be said is “You should have been there!--Herbert L. Huestis

Improvisation jam session

For many of us the culmination of the symposium was the jam-session of the three improvisers by name of Vogel, Porter and Bellotti. The demonstration was divided into three parts, first the reeds, second the solo possibilities and then the different organo pleno possibilities.
Harold Vogel demonstrated the many different reed stops—there are six trumpets at 8' pitch, four reed stops at 16', and one 32' Posaune, besides softer reed stops, such as Hautbois, Krummhorn, Schalmey and Vox humana. The sound of the latter, a Voix Humaine after Dom Bédos, can easily be coloured by adding flutes at different pitches. Mr. Vogel’s improvisation was haute voltige—flying high, through all kinds of places unheard of—and concluded his flight with the glorious roar of the trumpets!
A good number of the organ’s solo possibilities where shown through William Porter’s delightful and poetic improvisations. The various flutes and strings—typical for organs of Southern Germany and Austria—and the mutations (there is a jeux de tierce in every keyboard division, except for the Swell) were shown in a single piece, wonderfully constructed by a great player.
One could have thought that demonstrating the mixtures might be a much more arduous task, but Edoardo Bellotti brought us to new heights with his magnificent demonstration.
Each organist was an inspired Orpheus, playing with great power and imagination—and each of them should have received an Olympic trophy!
—Hellmuth Wolff