Quimby Pipe Organs Opus 76

Quimby Pipe Organs, Warrensburg, Missouri

Dunwoody United Methodist Church, Dunwoody, Georgia

Quimby Pipe Organs Opus 76, recently installed at Dunwoody United Methodist Church, comprises 100 ranks distributed over five manual divisions, playable from a four-manual and pedal console. The completion of this instrument represents the culmination of an idea and process that began in 2007. After many attempts to make an organ project “go,” either as a stand-alone project, or paired with other proposed major capital work on campus, it wasn’t until the need for a major renovation of the sanctuary occurred that a new organ, installed in a different location, became a necessity and, eventually, a reality.

This was a particularly challenging and yet ultimately rewarding sanctuary and chancel renovation project, the genesis of which was to adapt the space so that the church’s contemporary worship service could relocate from a social hall to meet in the sanctuary, where a traditional service and music program were making good use of the traditionally styled space and generous acoustics. The emergent projects goals were many, among which: 1) to relocate the choir and organ from the rear gallery to the chancel; 2) to somehow create organ chambers in a space where they didn’t exist and where there didn’t appear to be room for them; 3) to acoustically deaden and otherwise transform the room for the successful accommodation of the contemporary worship service; 4) but to do this without permanently changing the acoustics of the space for traditional worship.

The spacious sanctuary, which had been constructed new in the year 2000, had excellent acoustics, and even though the former organ, which had been relocated from a much smaller sanctuary, was undersized for the room, the acoustics of the space enabled the organ to remain in use for nearly twenty years following its temporary location. It was well constructed and a good example of its type; it simply didn’t go far enough in its scope to support the music program.  As director of music Sonny Walden and organist Mary Ruth Solem will immediately tell you, it not only wasn’t loud enough, it also wasn’t soft enough, and there were too few opportunities for smoothly graded dynamic levels in between the two.

The renovation solution was costly, but effective. Space for organ chambers was created, encroaching on unused above-ceiling space outside the existing chancel, the footprint of the original chancel, and a mechanical mezzanine behind the chancel. A choir loft with built-in risers was constructed in front of the new organ chambers. For contemporary worship, retractable acoustical banners lower down from the attic, covering the choir loft, Chancel organ, Antiphonal organ, and all windows at the push of the button. The result is a space acoustically and visually suitable for amplified music, electronic projection, and colored LED lighting effects; it has had a net-zero impact on the intrinsic acoustical quality of the space.

From an early point in the dialogue, the church voiced an interest in exploring the possible use of high-quality vintage American pipework for incorporation into a new instrument. Given our experience in working with vintage pipework for new organ projects that are not restoration-focused, we enthusiastically agreed, and began the search for an instrument that would fit the bill—something that would allow artistic latitude and freedom in the creation of a new, unified identity, but which would also contribute a unique tonal provenance and material advantage to the project.

What we eventually found, in fact, were two organs, which the church ultimately bought and placed into storage until the project could be realized. The first, Ernest M. Skinner Co. Opus 195 (four manuals, 66 ranks), dating from 1913, was originally installed in Grace Chapin Hall at Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts, where it was used until it was vandalized in 1959. As the story goes, which is now almost as apocryphal as it is difficult to document, an organ student, following his end of semester juries, entered the organ chamber, and destroyed nearly everything he could access. From that time until the organ was removed in 2011, the organ was mothballed at Williams College and never played again. A careful cataloguing of the surviving pipes following the organ’s removal from the college revealed a surprising picture: perhaps a third of the organ’s ranks either missing or damaged beyond any cost effective repair; another third showing some damage but imminently repairable under skilled hands; and a final third, perhaps, completely untouched and as good as the day the organ was installed.   

Surviving examples of pipes from the Great Diapason chorus, which was nearly entirely destroyed, exist from all pitch levels of that ensemble—from a 16′ Double Open Diapason through a three-rank chorus mixture—and provide an interesting insight into Skinner’s tonal work for a large organ in the early 1910s. These are scaled and voiced to be heroic while also harmonically developed and bright—not at all dull. The ensemble has much more in common with highly developed diapason chorus work at the culmination of the nineteenth-century American building tradition—before organ ensembles devolved into a tonal center around the unison pitch, with little-to-no upperwork—than it does the Skinner sound we have come to know and appreciate from the 1920s. It stands in complete contrast to his work from later periods, and it is a shame that this chorus work was destroyed.

In addition to the usual very fine diapasons, flutes, strings, and reeds, Opus 195 is the first Skinner organ to have one of the now-famous Skinner French Horns, and also is where the Skinner Corno di Bassetto first made its appearance. A review of the tonal specification for the new organ demonstrates that this defunct organ, constructed by one of the foremost early twentieth-century American organbuilders, has made a significant contribution to the new organ at Dunwoody, including the very fine Pedal 32′ Contra Bourdon, which produces some of the deepest tones in the instrument, and the Solo 8′ Tuba, which is the loudest stop in the organ.

The second organ procured for use in the new instrument was constructed in 1939 by Casavant Frères, Ltd. (three manuals, 42 ranks) for the now defunct Chapel of the Immaculate Conception Seminary in Darlington, New Jersey. Like most Casavant organs dating from the 1930s, this organ was constructed and voiced according to English Romantic ideals, brought to Casavant by tonal director Stephen Stoot, and included diapason chorus work of remarkably heavy construction, superbly constructed wood flutes, and English-style reeds. Our own assessment is that the flues were never voiced up to scale, and, as we found them, were rather lackluster and dull as individual voices. The reeds seem to have suffered an unfortunate fate following a haphazard revoicing prior to the closing of the seminary. After the seminary was closed in the early 1980s, the organ was repeatedly flooded due to serious roof leaks over the organ cases. Nevertheless, in terms of substantial, beautifully constructed pipework, suitable for revoicing, Casavant Opus 1600 presented a wealth of material. Most of the water damage was sustained by the 32′ Contra Posaune, which because of its miters, held the water in the miter knuckles, where, completely undetectable from the outside, the zinc corroded from the inside out. These pipes have been substantially reconstructed and revoiced and form the bass of the Pedal 32′ Contra Trombone at Dunwoody.

It may seem strange to conceptualize the combination of pipework from two very different instruments, constructed nearly thirty years apart, and with widely divergent tonal ideals in mind, in an attempt to create any kind of instrument that has a cohesive tonal identity. And it’s true that this is probably not a good idea, at least if it is approached with a restoration-conservation mindset, where the ranks from each respective organ are to retain their original voices, balance, and relationship to one another. That approach is on its own extremely valid, and certainly equally satisfying, and should certainly have been undertaken if, say, this were a project where the Skinner pipework (were it all intact) and mechanics were to be restored as an entity and installed in an environment that demanded a 1913 organ sound. However, because of the vandalism the 1913 Skinner all but disappeared in the 1950s, and the 1939 Casavant, with beautifully and substantially constructed pipes, was, as we found it, unevenly and under voiced, possessing a disappointing ensemble. Neither organ, as we encountered them, was playable or usable, and neither organ stood much prospect of restoration and reuse elsewhere. More importantly, we were not tasked with a restoration project by the church, but rather, to create something new using to advantage the accumulated material at hand.

Looking beyond this, however, it’s helpful to place the 1913 Skinner and 1939 Casavant organs, while different, both as a part of an organbuilding continuum that continued uninterrupted in development and refinement from its fifteenth-century origins right up until the middle twentieth century. Organs from later in this continuum are markedly different from earlier instruments, but each builder in this centuries-long procession built upon what had been given by the previous generation, at least until this succession was interrupted by the Organ Reform Movement. For the first time in organbuilding history, the work of the immediate past was swept away, intentionally and deliberately, in an effort to recapture ideals—sometimes real, and sometimes supposed—that marked organbuilding in an earlier age.

While it’s certainly true that the Organ Reform Movement has left a mostly-positive legacy (and some noteworthy landmarks of twentieth-century organbuilding) on the contemporary American organbuilding landscape—even though most contemporary organbuilders have moved beyond the strictures of its dictums—at QPO, we like to regard our own work as very much a return to the continuum and succession that existed prior to World War II. What would it be like, we ask ourselves, if organbuilding had continued uninterrupted, and the work of each new generation an expansion of what had gone before, rather than a violent reaction against it? We like to think that Opus 76 at Dunwoody United Methodist, along with a number of other recent projects, has given us a chance to explore this in detail.

As to the ensemble, Opus 76 has the hallmark of any QPO ensemble from the past twenty-five years or so: highly characteristic, individually beautiful colors or voices that are simultaneously extremely effective and flexible ensemble players. These individualist voices are each strong, characteristic examples of their class and type, and are the sort of voice you want to hear played alone—full of intrinsic beauty and interest. However, beautiful, characteristic voices alone are not enough, for we’ve all heard and played organs where the colors individually are beautiful, but combine intractably into loose ensembles, mixing like oil and water, where the ear can pick apart all the constituent parts. On the other hand, we’ve all heard and played organs where decent or even very good ensembles are given, but a review, one by one, of the individual voices reveals bland, uninteresting color and voicing. One of the measures of any great organ—whatever the period, style, or timbre—is that the individual voices pass this litmus test: to be highly characteristic, colorful, and intrinsically beautiful, and yet nevertheless combine with others to form a wide array of flexible and dynamic ensembles of all types.

In Opus 76, there are, in fact, individual voices that may be recognizable as early “Skinner,” pre-WWII “Casavant,” or even modern “Quimby,” but in each and every case, the emphasis in terms of voicing has not been to maintain the original voice, but to expand upon it, changing it as required so that a new identity is revealed: an organ that speaks with one voice, a cohesive ensemble, and a truly musical instrument.

A review of the accompanying tonal specification will reveal where Skinner or Casavant ranks were used in the new disposition, but the basic concept is as follows. The choruswork for Great, Swell, and Choir-Positive is all Casavant, which has been revoiced and in some cases rescaled to achieve the bold, colorful, heroic-yet-transparent, and clear organ ensemble we strive for. Skinner diapasons from the Swell of 195 were repurposed in the Antiphonal organ chorus. Throughout the organ, colorful flutes and strings were used from both organs. The Casavant Swell reed chorus has been revoiced and resides in the Great. The Skinner reed chorus, at least in part, after substantial reconstruction and revoicing, is in the Swell. The Casavant 32′ Contra Posaune, 16′ Trombone, and 8′ Tromba have been combined to provide a reed that plays at 32′, 16′, 8′, and 4′ in the Pedal and at 8′ in the Solo. One rank of the pipes from the church’s former instrument, along with the Zimbelstern and Chimes, was reused in the new organ: a very fine 8′ Trompette-en-Chamade, now installed vertically, in the Antiphonal organ, and called “8′ Harmonic Trumpet.”

Because of its favorable placement and lack of enclosure, the Antiphonal diapason chorus functions more like a Grand Choeur, rather than a secondary, lesser Great. It is a spectacular effect, at once foundational, colorful, and heroic that must be experienced to be fully appreciated.

Most all of the mechanics and internal structure of the organ, including the windchests, façade pipes, console, and winding system, are completely new. Manual windchests for all straight manual ranks are electro-pneumatic slider windchests, constructed according to the Quimby-Blackinton design, with square drop pallets that allow for copious winding of heroically voiced pipes on a common channel. Also importantly, the chests are constructed without slider seals, which means that the organ won’t have to be de-piped and disassembled to replace the slider seals in a few decades, when they are bound to fail.

Our standard electro-pneumatic unit-action windchests have been used for most pedal ranks and manual unit ranks; the exception here exists in a few instances, where 1913 Skinner unit action windchests were restored for reuse with original ranks, such as the Solo 8′ Tuba and the Pedal 32′ Contra Bourdon and 4′ Solo Flute.

The winding system includes a 10-H.P. vintage Spencer blower, which provides 6-inch wind pressure for most manual and pedal flues, and 10-inch wind pressure for all reeds and Solo flues. The Solo 8′ Tuba is on 20-inch wind pressure, with its own step-up blower. New cone-valve reservoirs, according to our custom design, which is an adaptation of the Skinner reservoir, have been constructed for regulation of wind in the Chancel organ. The Antiphonal organ makes use of a blower and static wind system that was retained from the previous organ.

All manual divisions, except the Antiphonal, are individually enclosed by 2-inch-thick expression shutters and solid wood walls, which enable the heroically voiced ensembles to be brought down to a surprising diminuendo, and the soft voices to fade to nearly a whisper. A new four-manual and pedal console was constructed to a custom design and finished to match the renovated interior of the church, with solid oak exterior cabinetry and solid walnut interior.

During the first choral rehearsal with the new organ, director of music Sonny Walden told Mary Ruth Solem, “I know I’ve never said this before in this room, but the organ is too soft. Isn’t it wonderful to be able to say that?!” And he burst out into joyful laughter. Later, as she has continued to rehearse and perform with Opus 76, Mary Ruth said, “I am starting a long friendship with this instrument!  It’s beautiful, and I am immensely grateful . . . . This is a rare gem.”

We hope that the assessment will over time continue to be as equally enthusiastic and kind, as Opus 76 finds its place in the heart of traditional worship at Dunwoody United Methodist Church, and also in the greater organ world beyond. For our own part, at QPO we have found that working with the vintage fabric, as represented by the many ranks of pipes, originally constructed and voiced by some of the most reputable of our organbuilding forebears, has taught us many lessons, and will continue to yield an impact on the development of our organs into the future.

Because the organ is substantially new mechanically, and because the sound of the new organ is completely unlike a 1910s Skinner or a 1930s Casavant, we have given this instrument an opus number in our body of work. To be sure, the completed instrument does, in certain instances, reveal its parentage, but the overall ensemble has as much in common with all-new organs constructed by Quimby Pipe Organs as it does either Casavant or Skinner. This is no mere restoration of an artifact or the assemblage of collected parts; rather, this organ has been conceptualized to be musically communicative, inspiring, and above all, to support the music ministry and worship cycles of Dunwoody United Methodist Church in the broadest, most flexible way possible; an instrument that offers options, rather than limitations. In this regard, Opus 76 is an original creation—a testimony of our own time; one that we hope will remain timelessly relevant for generations to come.

—T. Daniel Hancock, A.I.A., President

Quimby Pipe Organs, Inc.

GREAT (Manual II, enclosed, 17 ranks, flues 6″ w. p., reeds 10″ w. p.)

16′ Violone (a & b) 73 pipes

16′ Bourdon (Ped)

8′ Open Diapason (b) 61 pipes

8′ Harmonic Flute (a) 49 pipes, 1–12 fr 8′ Stopped Diapason

8′ Stopped Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Violoncello (ext 16′)

51⁄3′ Quint (MC) (b) 37 pipes

4′ Octave (b) 61 pipes

4′ Wald Flute (a) 61 pipes

2-2⁄3′ Twelfth (b) 61 pipes

2′ Fifteenth (b) 61 pipes

1-3⁄5′ Seventeenth (b) 61 pipes

1-1⁄3′ Mixture IV (b) 244 pipes

16′ Double Trumpet (b) 61 pipes

8′ Trumpet (b) 61 pipes

4′ Clarion (b) 61 pipes

8′ Tuba (Solo)

8′ Harmonic Trumpet (Ant)

Chimes (d) 25 tubes

Tremolo

Great to Great 16

Great Unison Off

Great to Great 4

SWELL (Manual III, enclosed, 24 ranks, flues 6″ w. p., reeds 10″ w. p.)

16′ Spitz Flute (b) 73 pipes

8′ Open Diapason (b) 61 pipes

8′ Chimney Flute 61 pipes

8′ Spitz Flute (ext 16′)

8′ Gamba (b) 61 pipes

8′ Voix Celeste (b) 61 pipes

8′ Flauto Dolce (b) 61 pipes

8′ Flute Celeste (TC) (b) 49 pipes

4′ Octave (b) 61 pipes

4′ Night Horn 61 pipes

4′ Salicet 61 pipes

2-2⁄3′ Nazard 61 pipes

2′ Fifteenth 61 pipes

2′ Flautina 61 pipes

1-3⁄5′ Tierce 61 pipes

2-2⁄3′ Mixture IV–V 281 pipes

16′ Contra Trumpet 61 pipes

16′ Contra Oboe (a & b) 73 pipes

8′ Trumpet (a) 61 pipes

8′ Oboe (ext 16′)

8′ Vox Humana (a) 61 pipes

4′ Clarion (a) 61 pipes

Tremolo

Swell to Swell 16

Swell Unison Off

Swell to Swell 4

CHOIR-POSITIVE (Manual I, enclosed, 20 ranks, 6″ w. p.)

16′ Contra Dulciana (a & c) 73 pipes

8′ Geigen Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Claribel Flute (b) 61 pipes

8′ Gedeckt (c)  61 pipes

8′ Erzähler (b)  61 pipes

8′ Erzähler Celeste (GG) (b) 54 pipes

8′ Dulciana (ext 16′)

8′ Unda Maris (TC) (c) 49 pipes

4′ Geigen Octave (b) 61 pipes

4′ Traverse Flute (b) 61 pipes

2-2⁄3′ Nazard (b) 61 pipes

2′ Harmonic Piccolo (a) 61 pipes

1-3⁄5′ Tierce (a) 61 pipes

1-1⁄7′ Septieme (a) 61 pipes

1-1⁄3′ Larigot 61 pipes

1′ Sifflute 61 pipes

1-1⁄3′ Mixture III–IV 190 pipes

8′ Clarinet (b) 61 pipes Tremolo

8′ Tuba (Solo)

8′ Harmonic Trumpet (Ant)       

8′ French Horn (Solo)    

8′ English Horn (Solo)    

Chimes (Great)      

Choir to Choir 16

Choir Unison Off

Choir to Choir 4

SOLO (Manual IV, enclosed, 12 ranks, 6″ w. p., Tuba 20″ w. p.)

8′ Stentorphone 49 pipes, 1–12 fr Pedal 16′ Diapason

8′ Doppel Flute 49 pipes, 1–12 fr Pedal 32′ Bourdon

8′ Gross Gamba (a) 61 pipes

8′ Gross Gamba Celeste (a) 61 pipes

8′ Dulcet II (a) 122 pipes

4′ Orchestral Flute 61 pipes

4′ Violin 61 pipes

8′ French Horn (b) 61 pipes

8′ English Horn (c) 61 pipes

8′ Orchestral Oboe (c) 61 pipes

Tremolo

16′ Ophicleide (ext 8′, 1–12 Ped Tbone)

8′ Tuba (a)   73 pipes

8′ Harmonic Trumpet (Ant)    

8′ Tromba (Ped)

4′ Tuba Clarion (ext 8′)

Solo to Solo 16

Solo Unison Off

Solo to Solo 4

PEDAL (unenclosed, 10 ranks, flues 6″ w. p., reeds 10″ w. p.)

32′ Contra Bourdon (a) 73 pipes

16′ Open Metal Diapason 56 pipes

16′ Bourdon (ext 32′)

16′ Violone (Great)

16′ Spitz Flute (Swell)

16′ Contra Dulciana (Ch-Pos)

10-2⁄3′ Gross Quint (ext 16′ Open Diap)

8′ Octave (ext 16′)    

8′ Bourdon (ext 32′)

8′ Violoncello (Great)

8′ Spitz Flute (Swell)

6-2⁄5′ Gross Tierce (a) 44 pipes

5-1⁄3′ Quint (ext 16′ Open Diap)

4-4⁄7′ Septieme (b) 32 pipes

4′ Super Octave (ext 16′)

4′ Solo Flute (a) 32 pipes

3-1⁄5′ Tierce (ext 62⁄5′ Gross Tierce)

2-2⁄3′ Mixture IV 124 pipes

32′ Contra Trombone (b) 85 pipes (enclosed with Great)

16′ Trombone (ext 32′)

16′ Double Trumpet (Great)

16′ Contra Trumpet (Swell)

16′ Contra Oboe (Swell)

8′ Tromba (ext 32′)

8′ Trumpet (Swell)  

8′ Oboe (Swell)

4′ Tromba Clarion (ext 32′)

4′ Oboe (Swell)

8′ Tuba (Solo)

ANTIPHONAL (Manual IV, unenclosed in rear gallery, 15 ranks, 6″ w. p., Harmonic Trumpet 10″ w. p.)

8′ Open Diapason (a) 49 pipes, 1–12 fr Ant. Pedal 8′ Octave

8′ Concert Flute (a) 49 pipes, 1–12 fr 8′ Bourdon

8′ Bourdon (c) 61 pipes

8′ Gamba 61 pipes

8′ Voix Celeste (TC) 49 pipes

4′ Octave (a)   61 pipes

4′ Harmonic Flute (c)   61 pipes

2′ Fifteenth (a) 61 pipes

2′ Mixture III–V 244 pipes

8′ Trumpet     73 pipes

8′ Harmonic Trumpet (d) 61 pipes

Zimbelstern (d)

Antiphonal to Antiphonal 16

Antiphonal Unison Off

Antiphonal to Antiphonal 4

ANTIPHONAL PEDAL (unenclosed in gallery, 2 ranks, 6″ w. p.)

16′ Bourdon 44 pipes

8′ Octave (c) 44 pipes

8′ Bourdon (ext 16′)

4′ Super Octave (ext 8′)

16′ Posaune (ext Ant 8′ Trumpet)

8′ Trumpet (Ant)

8′ Harmonic Trumpet (Ant)    

ORIGIN KEY

(a) ranks from 1913 Ernest M. Skinner Company Opus 195, formerly in Grace Chapin Hall, Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts.

(b) ranks from 1939 Casavant Frères Opus 1600, formerly in Immaculate Conception Seminary Chapel, Darlington, New Jersey.

(c) vintage Skinner ranks from QPO inventory.

(d) ranks and tuned percussions from 1972 Schantz Opus 1125, formerly in Dunwoody United Methodist Church, Dunwoody, Georgia.

All other ranks are either new by Quimby Pipe Organs, Inc., or from QPO inventory.

CONSOLE ACCESSORIES

INTER-MANUAL COUPLERS

Great to Pedal 8′, 4′

Swell to Pedal 8′, 4′

Choir-Positive to Pedal 8′, 4′

Solo to Pedal 8′, 4′

Antiphonal on Pedal 8′, 4′

Swell to Great16′, 8′, 4′

Choir-Positive to Great 16′, 8′, 4′

Solo on Great

Antiphonal on Great

Swell to Choir-Positive 16′, 8′, 4′

Solo on Choir-Positive

Great to Choir-Positive 8′

Pedal to Choir-Positive 8′

Manual Transfer

COMBINATION ACTION

General pistons 1–20 (thumb) and 1–10 (toe)

Great divisional pistons 1–8

Swell divisional pistons 1–8

Choir-Positive divisional pistons 1–8

Solo divisional pistons 1–8

Antiphonal divisional pistons 1–5

Pedal divisional pistons 1–5 (thumb), 1–8 (toe)

General Cancel Piston

Set Piston

Memory Level Up and Down pistons

Previous and Next pistons (5 each, thumb) and toe studs (1 each)

Transposer Up and Down pistons

General Crescendo pedal 60 positions, three adjustable and one standard

REVERSIBLES

Great to Pedal piston & toe paddle

Swell to Pedal piston & toe paddle

Choir-Positive to Pedal piston & toe paddle

Solo to Pedal piston & toe paddle

Swell to Great piston

Choir-Positive to Great piston

Swell to Choir piston

Antiphonal on Great piston

Antiphonal on Swell piston

Antiphonal on Choir piston

Antiphonal on Solo piston

Antiphonal on Pedal toe paddle

Pedal on Divisionals piston

32′ Contra Bourdon piston & toe paddle

32′ Contra Trombone piston & toe paddle

Sforzando I and II pistons & toe studs

Manual Transfer—piston & indicator light

Crescendo on Solo Expression piston & indicator light

EXPRESSION & CRESCENDO

Great Expression Pedal

Swell Expression Pedal

Choir-Positive & Solo Expression Pedal

Solo Expression & Crescendo Pedal

SUMMARY

Great 17

Swell 24

Choir-Positive 20

Solo 12

Antiphonal 15

Antiphonal Pedal   2

Pedal 10

Total 100 ranks

Photo credits, including cover (except where noted): Sandra Jausch, Vitamamans-Pictures

Quimby Pipe Organs, Inc., Warrensburg, Missouri

Fifty Years and Counting

Fate, luck, and surprising interactions with others fascinated with the pipe organ were the impetus for the founding of Quimby Pipe Organs, Incorporated, in August 1970. The same scenarios have continued over the years until the company reached its fiftieth birthday this past August 2020.  

I was exposed to pipe organs when I was a fourth grader, while my father was accomplishing his residence work on his doctorate in agriculture economics at Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma. I was encouraged by my mother to join the boys’ choir at First United Methodist Church, Stillwater, where Mrs. Ben W. Martin was minister of music. One trip looking into the pipe organ chambers of the 1929 Hillgreen, Lane & Company Opus 959 was all that was necessary to start a dream. This experience paved the way or caused the orange shellac to start to flow as is often quoted. It is said that everyone who is an organbuilder and who passionately loves the pipe organ has orange shellac flowing in their veins.  

To me it seemed obvious that an organbuilder should know how to play the instrument and have an understanding of the repertoire. I studied organ under Professors Dr. Frederick W. Homan and Dr. William E. McCandless at the University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg, where I completed bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music.  

Today I play the instrument for my own enjoyment and occasionally substitute. I did play for the First United Methodist Church, Warrensburg, for forty years, thankfully with a readily available substitute when I was required to be out of town working on pipe organ projects.  

Early influences

My formative years in pipe organ building were significantly influenced by Colin A. Campbell, a service representative for M. P. Möller, and Charles McManis, the legendary pipe organ builder in Kansas City, Kansas.

I started my adventures in organbuilding as a key holder with Mr. Campbell and subsequently was taught to tune before the age of fancy digital tuning devices. Of interest to pipe organ historians, I still have Mr. Campbell’s Peterson tuner, with tubes and only two pitch selections—he modified this function himself for fine tuning the pitch adjustment. Additionally, I learned to leather pouches and primary actions, restore reservoirs, loom cables for windchests and console connections, and to accomplish basic voicing techniques to correct speech problems, basic reed cleaning and regulation, and the basics of cutting up flue pipes, adjusting languids, and the proper use of toe cones. Considerable time was spent in learning how to quickly ascertain technical issues with tuning or on an emergency visit. Mr. Campbell was extremely fastidious regarding the quality of the work accomplished. Since cleanliness and precise order were virtuous in his eyes, he had no patience for instruments that were designed in such a way as to make tuning and maintenance difficult.

In the way that Mr. Campbell influenced my mind as a service technician, Charles McManis also influenced my mind regarding tonal design and flue voicing. He never abandoned voicing techniques such as nicking that were considered an abomination by builders of the Organ Reform Movement. He was never an advocate of voicing flue pipes resulting in a fluty timbre especially in principal chorus ranks. See his book, Wanted: One Crate of Lions—The Life and Legacy of Charles W. McManis, Organbuilder, OHS Press, 2008. In the course of completing my degrees I became intimately acquainted with his Opus 60, 1959, a two-manual electro-pneumatic instrument located in Hart Recital Hall, University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg, Missouri. Two other instruments of his design left a lasting impression on me as well—his two-manual organ installed in South Street Christian Church, Springfield, Missouri, and his three-manual organ installed in Saint John’s United Methodist Church, Kansas City, Missouri.

1970s

This decade was a time of steady growth for QPO with one employee and the active participation of my wife Nancy Elizabeth, since deceased. In 1972, First Christian Church, Warrensburg—upon the recommendation of the UCM organ faculty and Dr. Conan Castle, director of choral activities at UCM and director of music at First Christian—selected QPO to build its Opus 1, a two-manual, 21-rank instrument, on which Charles McManis provided input. Opus 1 retained four ranks from their 13-rank Kilgen (1919), along with the case. The instrument was dedicated in September 1973. Coming up in 2023, Ken Cowan will perform the fiftieth anniversary recital.

Additional work accomplished in the 1970s included the restoration of a splendid two-manual, 14-rank mechanical-action (tracker) instrument by an unknown builder; the relocation of a two-manual, 15-rank Pfeffer tracker; the restoration of a one-manual, 10-rank Kilgen tracker; and the relocation of Möller Opus 5818. Two other two-manual instruments were also built during this decade.

1980s

The 1980s proved to be quite beneficial to the growth of QPO. In 1982 we were appointed curators of the Auditorium Organ, the four-manual, 110-rank Aeolian-Skinner Opus 1309, located in Independence, Missouri, where Dr. John Obetz was the principal organist. This appointment was the launching pad for future work because of the credibility that it gave to a young firm.

From 1985 to 1987 the Auditorium Organ went through an extensive rebuild where the leather throughout the instrument had prematurely failed. The console was also failing due to the extraordinary amount of use that it endured. At this time, it was decided to completely revoice the instrument. The revoicing work was accomplished by John Hendriksen, former head voicer of Aeolian-Skinner, and Thomas H. Anderson, former head of the Aeolian-Skinner pipe shop, who built four new ranks. This project resulted in a long-standing relationship with both John and Tommy. John was not only an excellent flue voicer but was also an artist at knowing the potential of vintage pipework. He was able to change their character by scale changes, changing cut ups, or adding nicking. Through Tommy’s guidance, old pipework could take on a completely new purpose and look.

One of our most pivotal occurrences was being selected as the builder at First United Methodist Church, Fort Smith, Arkansas. Ms. Nancy Vernon, chair of the organ committee, after extensively researching our work, believed in QPO and felt that our young firm would provide them with the best instrument. 

In addition to these, fifteen new instruments along with six rebuilds were completed during this decade.

1990s

The 1990s proved to be a pivotal decade. In 1991, I convinced Eric Johnson, who apprenticed with L. W. Blackinton and Associates, to join QPO. Eric brought with him the Blackinton slider chest design, which incorporated a different pallet design, along with other features that eliminated the need for slider seals. These windchests exceeded my expectations and allowed our pipework to be voiced to its full potential by eliminating the explosive attack experienced when using individual pipe valves.

In 1997, Eric, Michael Brittenback, organist of St. Margaret’s Church, Thomas Brown, and myself, embarked on a journey to Europe, led by Jonathan Ambrosino, to study notable English organs of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, along with the works of Aristide Cavaillé-Coll. This fact-finding mission was in advance of building our Opus 50 (IV/71) at Saint Margaret’s Episcopal Church, Palm Desert, California, which was designed by Mr. Ambrosino. Also, on that same trip we were fortunate to have Stephen Bicknell and Jean-Louis Coignet offer their expertise. Todd Wilson recorded his CD Frank Bridge and Friends on the instrument at Saint Margaret’s (available on the web).

Ever since that trip, whenever possible, our instruments have an 8′ Diapason in each manual division with developed diapason and reed choruses. This was a radical shift in tonal design from the terraced diapason choruses of McManis. Our thoughts about solo and chorus reeds also evolved significantly. During this trip, Eric and I confirmed the significance of appropriate metal thicknesses for flues and reeds also. Years before I had noticed, quite by accident, how foundational timbre and balance in the overtone series was affected just by holding the body of the pipe. The English and French organs that we studied confirmed the need for heavier metal thicknesses. When I examined a spotted metal 8′ Diapason pipe built by T. C. Lewis, which showed no evidence of collapse, it prompted me to have the metal analyzed, which confirmed the addition of antimony and other trace elements in the metal.

During the 1990s we completed four four-manual, five three-manual, and thirteen two-manual instruments, along with over thirty rebuilds.

2000s

The first decade of the twenty-first century opened with the decision to expand our pipe shop and make and voice our own reeds whenever possible. This change made it possible to differentiate our reeds from that of other builders. Our head reed voicer, Eric Johnson, developed the chorus and solo reeds that we have become noted for their timbre and excellent tuning stability. The first instrument built with our new tonal philosophy was the three-manual, 55-rank organ located in Gano Chapel of William Jewell College, Liberty, Missouri. This organ was especially important to me as I was allowed complete freedom in the design of the instrument to express my own thoughts and creativity. This instrument still holds a special place in my mind, even with the passage of time.

In 2005, QPO was entrusted with the rebuild of the four-manual, 143-rank Aeolian Skinner Opus 150A located in the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, New York City, following the fire of 2001. The instrument was removed in 2005 and then returned in the early summer of 2008. Its first public use following the fire was on November 30 of the same year. The work was primarily a restoration except for a new replica four-manual console built to AGO standards, solid-state conversion, and the addition of two ranks. All Ernest Skinner windchests from his 1910 Opus 150 remain, with the exception of two unit chests. This job remains the single most demanding and rewarding job to date.

Other notable new instruments include: First Baptist Church, Jackson, Mississippi (V/155); Dauphin Way United Methodist Church, Mobile, Alabama (IV/71); Canyon Creek Presbyterian Church, Richardson, Texas (III/58); Kirkwood Baptist Church, Kirkwood, Missouri (III/43); and First Christian Church, Jefferson City, Missouri (III/46).

2010s

All of the instruments built in the 2010s have proven to be emotionally satisfying to their owners and consultants, when involved. The most challenging projects in this decade were Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago, Illinois (V/143), and Dunwoody United Methodist Church, Dunwoody, Georgia (IV/100). 

When Eric Johnson and I first visited Fourth Presbyterian, we were astonished that the 1970 Aeolian-Skinner Opus 1516 was not able to effectively accompany congregational singing, even with a substantial Antiphonal division. Not much was heard past the fourth pew other than mixtures and the 32′ reed. The same issues accompanied its predecessor, the 1913 Ernest M. Skinner Opus 210. Leo Sowerby described the E. M. Skinner as a fantastic instrument for accompanying and softer effects, but devoid of a satisfactory ensemble. 

We were fortunate to develop a specification, with the assistance of Dr. John Sherer, that could lead congregational singing without being offensive, and, at the same time, perform the vast majority of pipe organ repertoire. The existing tone openings included one that spoke directly into the chancel and another, added by Goulding & Wood Pipe Organ Builders in their 1994 rebuild of the instrument, that spoke directly into the nave. The nave opening proved to be inadequate for optimal tonal egress, so we were able to create a larger opening by removing the solid decorative panels at the top of the case and replacing them with acoustically porous panels on which the original artwork was duplicated. We also designed and built a Positive division in a matching case in the balcony, opposite the main organ. By doing this, we achieved the satisfactory results we had hoped for. Dr. Sherer used the organ of Woolsey Hall, Yale University, as the demarcation point. Dr. Jan Kraybill’s recording, Live in Concert—The Quimby Pipe Organ of Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago (found at https://quimbypipeorgans.com/quimby-sound/) provides an excellent presentation. 

Dunwoody United Methodist Church did not want a new instrument, but the merger of two instruments from the past. Their desire was to create a new Romantic pipe organ. The instruments selected were 1912 Ernest M. Skinner Opus 195 and 1938 Casavant Opus 1600. The results exceeded my fondest expectations: that no one would be able to determine where repurposed original ranks were assigned in the new tonal specification. The hard surface chancel was a superb sounding board along with the high vaulted ceiling, making the acoustics of the room the best stop on the organ.

Other new instruments from this timeframe include the following: The Church of Saints Andrew and Matthew, Wilmington, Delaware (III/45); Central United Methodist Church, Concord, North Carolina (III/38); All Saints Episcopal Church, Southern Shores, North Carolina (II/18); Saint John’s Episcopal Church, Lafayette, Indiana (III/29); and First United Methodist Church, Athens, Georgia (IV/68).

Looking ahead

Despite Covid-19, the sixth decade for QPO looks to be very exciting. Work in progress includes the rebuild of Skinner Organ Company Opus 323 for Church of the Messiah, Rhinebeck, New York; tonal rebuild of the Schantz organ located in Trinity Episcopal Church, Indianapolis, Indiana; relocation and rebuilding of the IV/50 Skinner Opus 265, with Pedal 32′ Open Wood and Bombarde for Saint Bernard’s Catholic Parish, Madison, Wisconsin; a new IV/55 organ for First Presbyterian Church, Charlotte, North Carolina; and rebuild and enlargement of Austin Opus 1162 located in Hendricks Hall, University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg, Missouri.

To ensure our work continuing well into the future, we have instituted a succession plan, prepared for us by Stinson Attorneys of Kansas City, Missouri. Present associates of QPO are as follows: Melody Burns, Nancy Dyer, Chris Emerson, Charles Ford, Eric Johnson, Kevin Kissinger, Bryce Munson, Michael Quimby, Brian Seever, Dan Sliger, Anthony Soun, Mahoney Soun, Chirt Touch, and Bailey Tucker.

—Michael Quimby

The photos on the cover page, left to right, top to bottom: 

˜The Cathedral of Saint Paul, Saint Paul, Minnesota

Saint John’s Episcopal Church, Lafayette, Indiana

Saint Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral, San Diego, California

Photo caption: The Episcopal Church of Saints Andrew and Matthew, Wilmington, Delaware

Stephen L. Pinel

Stephen L. Pinel holds two degrees from Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey, and did graduate study in historical musicology at New York University. A church musician for forty-five years, he retired from full-time work in the fall of 2017, but immediately accepted another appointment as organist and choirmaster at All Saints Church, Bay Head, New Jersey. He held a Langley Fellowship at New York University, is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda Music Honor Society, an honorary member of the Organ Historical Society, and a past chair of the St. Wilfrid Club of New York City. He is the author of several books and regularly contributes articles on organ history both here and abroad.

In 1984, William T. Van Pelt, then the executive director of the Organ Historical Society, wrote in The Tracker: Concomitant to the popularity of photography at the end of the nineteenth century was the blossoming of picture postcards that fortuitously embraced organs and church interiors among a wide range of subjects. Cards provide the examples we need to study architectonics and the visual evolution of organs, as well as traits of contemporary builders and their instruments. In some cases, a card represents the only remaining record of an organ’s existence.²

An accomplished photographer, Van Pelt had an uncanny awareness of the pipe organ as an entity of visual art. Like fine furniture, painting, sculpture, or any other form of high art, organ cases designed by organbuilders are distinctive and have identifiable characteristics. Cognizant of their usefulness for study, Van Pelt challenged the members of the OHS to search local antique and book stores for postcards showing vintage pipe organs. By the time his article was prepared for publication, ten society members had submitted more than a hundred cards. Sixteen were chosen to illustrate the article.³ In the thirty-five years since his article appeared, hundreds of organ postcards have surfaced, showing a wide variety of instruments by dozens of American organbuilders.

For context, some fundamentals of postcards may be informative. Cards are usually printed on thick paper or thin cardboard and measure approximately 3½ by 5½ inches. An image appears on the front, while the back is bifurcated—a message is written on the left with the address on the right. When mailed, postcards usually have a lesser rate than first-class postage, so they are slightly less expensive to send. Cards are often used to convey short messages, share memories of distinctive locations, or advertise events. Postcards differ from postal cards—the latter refers to those “special” cards issued by the postal service with the “stamp” already in place. Only the post office can issue postal cards. During the first four decades of the twentieth century, postcards cost a penny to mail, and were often called “penny postcards.”

While a few postcards were issued during the nineteenth century, it was not until the United States Congress passed the Private Mailing Card Act of May 19, 1898, that private individuals, companies, vacation destinations, and ecclesiastical organizations were permitted to print and distribute postcards. Previously, the United States Post Office held the monopoly. The heyday of the postcard was between 1900 and 1945, and one has only to type “postcard” into eBay.com to locate tens of thousands of cards, covering every imaginable topic the world over. Postcards are inexpensive, highly collectable, and an entire subculture has evolved around them at “swap meets” and shows of ephemera. The research value of old cards is that the subject matter may have changed or disappeared,⁴ and the images they display are often not found elsewhere. Stated directly, postcards are primary source documents.

There were several types of postcards. The earliest, published during the period 1900 to 1910, had a small black and white image on the front, surrounded by a white border. The address was written on the back, and if a message was included, it had to be written on the front of the card beside the image. In March 1907, the “divided back” was unveiled. This allowed for the message and the address to be written on the back, but freed the entire front of the card for the image. By 1910, postcards began to be published in color and were immediately mass-produced in huge quantities. About 1930, “linen” post cards first appeared. Those were printed on card stock with high-rag content, but the pressing of a machine gave the impression that the image was printed on linen. The most desirable cards dating from the first decades of the twentieth century were actual photographs, published on photographic paper. Those cards frequently carry high-quality images in keen focus and are eagerly sought by collectors. The final type, called the “chrome” postcard, came into circulation about 1950. They are published from a color photograph and have a shiny, glossy finish. Chrome cards are the type most often found today in souvenir shops.⁵

There are many ways to identify and date postcards. Some images are fully identified on the card itself. Other clues may be deduced from the postmark, since a card was often mailed from its place of origin and a date usually accompanies the postmark. Obviously, the card must pre-date the postmark. Moreover, the image may offer clues to identify the card. Many of the pipe organs pictured on postcards during the first decades of the twentieth century were new when the cards were issued. Organs were expensive, and some organ cards were produced immediately after a new instrument was installed. A few cards actually declare: “Our new pipe organ!” Finally, the style of the stamp may help to narrow the date if the postmark is either faint or incomplete. The post office redesigned stamps every few years. The older cards usually have a one-cent “Franklin,” while by the second decade of the twentieth century it was a one-cent “Washington.”

American organbuilders soon realized the reward of using postcards for promotion. The Estey Organ Co. in Brattleboro, Vermont, the Votteler-Hettche Organ Co. in Cleveland, Ohio, and the Wicks Organ Co. in Highland, Illinois (among others), distributed organ postcards. They were an inexpensive way to advertise recent installations and simultaneously impressed prospective customers. Estey was especially prolific with this method of marketing: several dozen organ cards issued by the firm have been gathered over the years. Sometimes those cards represent an important historical record because the organs they illustrate are now lost to history.

Some postcard organs are well known. This card (Illustration 1) was mailed from New York City to West Stockbridge, Massachusetts, on April 20, 1929, and shows the interior of the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine at 110th Street in New York City. The organ, Ernest M. Skinner Company Opus 150, completed in 1910, is a huge, four-manual instrument of some 150 ranks⁶ and was dedicated by Clarence Dickinson (1873–1969) in April 1911. Since the card was issued, the organ has been renovated several times, notably under the direction of Ernest M. Skinner & Son in 1939, and by G. Donald Harrison (1889–1956) in 1953.⁷ The organ was restored in 2008 by Quimby Pipe Organs, Inc., of Warrensburg, Missouri.⁸ This spectacular vista, photographed from high in the cathedral, looks down at the chancel and choir. It shows the Skinner organ located on opposite sides of the chancel at the triforium level and provides a vivid impression of the enormity of the space.

Another famous postcard organ (Illustration 2) is the Newberry Memorial Organ in Woolsey Hall at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. A large, four-manual instrument built by the Hutchings-Votey Organ Co. of Boston, the organ was opened on June 20, 1903, by a triumvirate of prominent organists: Henry Benjamin Jepson, Yale University; Wallace Goodrich, Trinity Episcopal Church, Boston; and Gaston M. Dethier, St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, New York City.⁹ The organ had an early type of electro-pneumatic action designed by Hutchings employee Harry F. Van Wart. The success of the instrument earned its maker, Geo. S. Hutchings (1835–1913), an honorary Master of Arts degree from the university. The card was mailed from New Haven to Springfield Gardens, Long Island, New York, on September 10, 1910, only seven years after the organ was built. In 1915, the organ was greatly enlarged and renovated by the J. W. Steere & Son Organ Co. of Springfield, Massachusetts,¹⁰ and again in 1928 by the Skinner Organ Company.¹¹ This circa 1908 postcard shows the original organ case before it was reworked in 1928.¹²

A few postcard organs (Illustration 3) had grandiose cases! This elegant example was mailed from Richmond, Virginia, to Lena, Indiana, on November 7, 1909, and shows a major, three-manual organ in the Catholic Cathedral of the Sacred Heart. It was built by John Brown (1851–1912) of Wilmington, Delaware, who opened his organ shop in 1887.¹³ Brown, an Englishman by birth, was in business for some twenty-five years and built many organs for congregations in the middle-Atlantic and southern United States. Located in the cathedral’s gallery with an opulent fan of radiating trumpet pipes, the case is reminiscent of the 1869 Geo. Jardine & Son organ at St. George’s Episcopal Church, Stuyvesant Square, New York City. Completed in August 1906, the Brown organ is described in detail in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, but its tubular-pneumatic playing action proved problematic.¹⁴ Only six years later, the organ was rebuilt by M. P. Möller as their Opus 1334, 1912, and the action was converted to electro-pneumatic. Later still, the organ was rebuilt again by the Tellers Organ Co. of Erie, Pennsylvania, and today, almost nothing of the original 1906 organ remains except for the front pipes. Noted historian Donald R. Traser wrote in 2002 that the organ was considered by Mr. Brown to be his masterpiece!¹⁵ 

Some postcards show organs installed decades before. This card (Illustration 4), sent from South Hadley to Charlemont, both in Massachusetts, was mailed on October 6, 1910. It shows the interior of the Old South Church in Boston. Visible in the gallery is an 1822, two-manual organ by Thomas Elliot (1759?–1832), built in London. Henry Corrie (1786–1858), an English organbuilder, accompanied the instrument “across the pond” to superintend its installation.¹⁶ Following its opening on November 22, 1822, Corrie remained in Boston. After working briefly for Thomas Appleton (1785–1872), he settled in Philadelphia and became the leading maker of organs in that city between 1826 and 1850.¹⁷ The Old South organ was rebuilt by E. & G. G. Hook as their Opus 246, 1859, and the projecting keydesk, shown in the card, is the product of their renovation.¹⁸ An organ from the 1820s would have had a recessed keydesk with stopknobs arranged in vertical columns at the sides. The “new” Old South Church on Boylston Street had a three-manual organ by Hutchings, Plaisted & Co., Opus 58, 1875, and later still, a four-manual organ by Ernest M. Skinner Company, Opus 231, 1915. In 1876, the 1822 Elliot organ was moved second-hand to St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Milford, Massachusetts, where it survived until it was broken up for parts about 1955.¹⁹

A circa 1910 card shows a handsome 1872 instrument (Illustration 5) in the front of the Washington Street Methodist Episcopal Church in Petersburg, Virginia.²⁰ The maker of the organ is unconfirmed, yet it appears to be the work of Geo. Stevens (1803–1894) of East Cambridge, Massachusetts. The case bears astonishing resemblance to the 1871 Stevens organ in the First Congregational Church, Rindge, New Hampshire.²¹ Stevens had worked for William Goodrich (1777–1833) and following the latter’s death, set up shop in partnership with William Gayetty (d. 1839). Stevens’s organs were characterized by fine workmanship and stately cases. Stevens built another organ for a Virginia client in 1861: a two-manual instrument for the Broad Street Methodist Episcopal Church in Richmond, installed just as the Civil War began.²² The Petersburg organ remained until it was replaced with a two-manual organ by the Estey Organ Co., Opus 1205, 1913, of Brattleboro, Vermont.

Yet another card shows the sumptuous interior of Trinity Church, Episcopal, in Watertown, New York, with its elaborate Gothic tracery. The organ (Illustration 6) is Johnson & Son Opus 856, 1898, a three-manual organ with thirty registers built in Westfield, Massachusetts.²³ Visible in the image is a reversed console with the organ installed in a right-hand chamber beside the chancel. The installation was completed on March 29 and the organ was first used on Easter Day, 1898. It was later replaced by Skinner Organ Company Opus 457, 1924, and was moved second-hand to the Adirondack Community Church in Lake Placid, New York, where it was installed by Buhl & Blashfield, a Utica, New York, firm.²⁴ Johnson & Son organs were of superb quality and were among the finer organs built in nineteenth-century America.

Three postcard organs were promotional materials issued by well-known American firms. The first (Illustration 7) was built by the Wicks Organ Co., Opus 8, 1909, for the German Ev. St. Petri Church, Okawville, Illinois. The second (Illustration 8) was the work of Votteler-Hettche of Cleveland, Ohio, and was installed in the First Methodist Episcopal Church, Petoskey, Michigan. The third instrument (Illustration 9) was built by the Estey Organ Co., Opus 505, 1907, a two-manual organ for the First Congregational Church, Chelsea, Massachusetts.

University organs are also occasionally represented. This card shows the interior of the auditorium at Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana. The organ (Illustration 10), built in 1907 by W. W. Kimball of Chicago, Illinois, was a gift of the alumni and was a large two-manual instrument with tubular-pneumatic action. The card was mailed from Valparaiso to Bridgeport, Connecticut, on October 5, 1911, and the message reads in part: “We attend chapel exercises in this place at 8:30 every morning. I have only missed two mornings as yet. We are nicely settled and like it very much.” The large piano on the stage looks like the work of Steinway & Sons! The Kimball organ was rebuilt by Hillgreen-Lane & Co. of Alliance, Ohio, in 1947 and was unfortunately destroyed with the building by fire on November 27, 1956.²⁵

Occasionally, a postcard showing an organ was distributed for parochial purposes. This handsome card (Illustration 11) from the First Reformed Church in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, reminded recipients that a “Sunday School Rally Service” was to be held on Sunday, October 7, 1906, at 2 p.m. The organ in the image was dedicated by the noted blind organist, David D. Wood of Philadelphia, on Thursday evening, October 22, 1891.²⁶ It was built by John W. Otto (1846–1892) of Baltimore, had two manuals and pedals, and cost $1,600.27. Otto was the brother of Louise Pomplitz (1836–1924), and at one time worked for the better-known firm, the Pomplitz Church Organ Co.

A postcard mailed from Port Huron, Michigan, to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on October 2, 1913, is a fine example of a photographic card. The organ (Illustration 12), built by Hillgreen, Lane & Co., Opus 24, 1901, is an early instrument from the firm. The company was the partnership of Alfred Hillgreen (1859–1923), a Swedish immigrant, and Charles Alva Lane (1854–1933). Ultimately, three generations of the Hillgreen family built organs in Alliance, Ohio, between 1898 and 1973. The case shown here is unusually elegant and looks splendid in this turn-of-the century edifice. Note, in addition to the Methodist communion rail, that the choir has seating for almost fifty singers. That is a luxury not many of us enjoy today. The organ had two manuals with “pneumatic couplers”²⁸ and was opened in recital by a Mr. N. Crawthorne and other artists on Friday evening, July 26, 1901.²⁹

Another photographic card shows an organ (Illustration 13) in the Presbyterian Church of Pawnee City, Nebraska. Built in 1908 by the Hinners Organ Co. of Pekin, Illinois, the Hinners list states that the organ had nine registers. The Hinners Co. was known for its catalog organs. A congregation could order an organ through the mail, and the purchase included a set of directions so a member of the congregation could set up the organ! Many Hinners organs were located in rural locations in the Northern Plains, particularly in Nebraska and the Dakotas.³⁰ 

A third photographic postcard mailed from King Ferry, New York, on November 24, 1916, shows an organ (Illustration 14) in the Presbyterian Church built by Clarence E. Morey (1872–1935) of Utica, New York. The small, two-manual organ, his Opus 247, 1907, is recessed into an alcove at the front of the room, behind a raised pulpit platform. Visible in the cleanly focused image are only six stopknobs. Morey worked in Utica until his death in 1935³¹ and built several hundred small organs for the rural churches of Upstate New York. His organs were well built, durable, and many still serve their congregations today after a century of use.³²

Plenty of postcard organs are unidentified. Three interesting cards (Illustrations 15, 16, and 17) were never mailed and have no postmark or stamp. There is no indentifying information. If any reader of The Diapason recognizes any of those organs, the editor would be pleased to receive a letter with the details. Currently the largest collection of organ postcards is held by the Library and Archives of the Organ Historical Society at Stoneleigh in Villanova, Pennsylvania. The archivist there, Dr. Bynum Petty, would be pleased to receive donations of new cards.

Modern scholars and historians have had a tendency to dismiss postcards as trivial, but they remain a significant—and largely untapped—source of information for the study of early twentieth-century American pipe organs. For the evolution of case designs, they are essential. It is only by placing these images side by side that perceptive historians can note the common traits and the progression of style. The next time you pass a shoebox of old postcards in an antique or book store, take a moment to thumb through them. You might find the unique image of an old American pipe organ that is long gone.

Notes

1. Deltiology is the formal word for the collecting and study of postcards. Its etymology is two Greek words: deltion, a small writing tablet, and logy, to hew or to study. The word was first recognized by Merriam-Webster about 1965.

2. William T. Van Pelt, “Post Card Organs,” The Tracker, vol. 28, no. 3 (1984): 21–26.

3. Ibid. 

4. Maurice Rickards, The Encyclopedia of Ephemera: A Guide to the Fragmentary Documents of Everyday Life for the Collector, Curator, and Historian, s.v. “Postcards” (New York: Routledge, [c. 2001]): 249–50.

5. Ibid.

6. “Notes About Town. The new organ of the cathedral . . .,” The New York Age, vol. 24, no. 15 (January 12, 1911): 4.

7. The Great Organ at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine—Description, History, Condition—A Plan for Restoration ([New York, New York:], Cathedral of St. John the Divine, [1992]). 

8. Michael Quimby, John L. Speller, Douglass Hunt, and Eric Johnson, “Cover Feature. Resurgence of a Landmark Instrument. The Restoration of the Great Organ in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York City,” The American Organist, vol. 43, no. 11 (November 2009): 40–43.

9. Edward W. Flint, The Newberry Memorial Organ at Yale University: A Study in the History of American Organ Building (New Haven: Yale University Press; and London: Oxford University Press, 1930), 19; hereafter, Flint; and Joseph F. Dzeda, “Cover Feature. Newberry Organ Restoration Nears Completion,” The Diapason, vol. 107, no. 11 (November 2016): 26–28.

10. “Firm Rebuilding Big Yale Organ,” The Springfield (Massachusetts) Union, vol. 52, no. 307 (November 6, 1915): 3.

11. “Skinner Organ for Woolsey Hall, Yale University, New Haven, Conn.,” Stop, Open and Reed, vol. 5, no. 1 (September 1929): 18–19.

12. Flint, frontispiece.

13. “A Busy Organ-Tuner,” Wilmington (Delaware) Daily Republican, vol. 18, no. 95 (April 9, 1887): 1.

14. “Organ Specially Designed,” The (Richmond, Virginia) Times-Dispatch, No. 17,361 (October 28, 1906): 6; and “View in New Cathedral Showing Great Organ,” TD, No. 17,545 (April 29, 1907): 8.

15. Donald R. Traser, The Organ in Richmond: A History of the Organs, Organists, and Organ Music in Richmond, Virginia, from 1816 to 2001 (Richmond, Virginia: Richmond Chapter, American Guild of Organists. 2001): 92–94.

16. Hamilton Andrews Hill, History of the Old South Church (Third Church) Boston, 1669–1884 (Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1890): 446–81.

17. Stephen L. Pinel, “Late from London: Henry Corrie, Organbuilder, and His Family,” The Tracker, vol. 40, no. 4 (1996): 11–23.

18. “Old South Church Organ,” Boston (Massachusetts) Evening Transcript, vol. 30, no. 8,839 (March 26, 1859): 1; and “New Organ at the Old South Church,” (Boston) Daily Evening Traveller [sic], vol. 3, no. 180 (May 2, 1859): 2.

19. “Letters to the Editor,” The Tracker, vol. 14, no. 2 (Winter 1970): 17. 

20. “New Organ Arrived,” The Petersburg (Virginia) Index, vol. 14, no. 31 (October 8, 1872): 5.

21. Organ Historical Society, Organ Handbook (1974): 44–45.

22. “Broad Street M. E. Church,” (Richmond, Virginia) Daily Dispatch, vol. 19, no. 57 (March 19, 1861): 2.

23. John Van Varick Elsworth, The Johnson Organs: The Story of One of Our Famous American Organ Builders (Harrisville, New Hampshire: The Boston Organ Club Chapter of the Organ Historical Society, 1984): 151.

24. Scot L. Huntington, Barbara Owen, Stephen L. Pinel, and Martin R. Walsh, Johnson Organs 1844–1898: A Documentary Issued on the 200th Anniversary of his Birth (Cranbury, New Jersey: The Princeton Academy of the Arts, Culture, and Society, 2015): 150.

25. Organ Historical Society, Organ Handbook (2002): 101.

26. “Organ Recital,” Carlisle (Pennsylvania) Daily Herald, vol. 6, no. 29 (October 23, 1891): 1.

27. “The Organ Accepted,” Carlisle (Pennsylvania) Weekly Herald, vol. 91, no. 42 (October 15, 1891): 3. 

28. “The McCormick Memorial: Fine New Organ First Heard in a Recital Friday Evening,” Port Huron (Michigan) Daily Times, vol. 30 (July 27, 1901): 5.

29. “First Recital on the Organ: Affair at the Methodist Church Last Night was a Great Success,” The (Port Huron, Michigan) Daily Herald, No. 305 (July 27, 1901): 3.

30. Allison Alcorn-Oppedahl, “A History of the Hinners Organ Company of Pekin, Illinois,” The Tracker, vol. 44, no. 3 (2000): 13–25. 

31. “Death Claims C. E. Morey, 63, Organbuilder,” Utica (New York) Observer Dispatch, vol. 14, no. 51 (June 21, 1935): 23; and “C. E. Morey, 63, Succumbs Here,” Utica Daily Press, vol. 54, no. 87 (June 21, 1935): 4.

32. T. L. Finch, “Organ Building in Upstate New York in the Nineteenth Century,” The Bicentennial Tracker (1976): 68–69.

 

Photo: Illustration 1: the interior of the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, New York City, and Ernest M. Skinner Company Opus 150, completed in 1910 (All cards that accompany this article are from the author’s collection)

Stephen Schnurr

Stephen Schnurr is editorial director and publisher for The Diapason; director of music for Saint Paul Catholic Church, Valparaiso, Indiana; and adjunct instructor of organ at Valparaiso University.

Editor’s note: the information in this article was delivered as a lecture for the Ernest M. Skinner Sesquicentennial Conference on April 25, 2016, in Evanston, Illinois. The conference was sponsored by the Chicago, North Shore, and Fox Valley Chapters of the American Guild of Organists, the Chicago-Midwest Chapter of the Organ Historical Society, the Music Institute of Chicago, and The Diapason.

Ernest M. Skinner was a busy organbuilder from the time he first organized his own firm in 1901 in South Boston, Massachusetts. Most of the first 100 instruments were built for East Coast clients, though occasionally an organ would make its way further afield. In the Midwest United States, within a few years, Skinner organs would be sent to locations in Ohio, Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Indiana; however, it would take more than a decade before the first contract for a Skinner organ was inked for a destination in Illinois.

By the turn of the twentieth century, Chicago had fully recovered from the devastating fire of October 8–10, 1871. The city hosted the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, centered where one now finds Jackson Park. Everything was new in Chicago, with resplendent churches, large fraternal lodges, educational institutions, and residences that drove a healthy, modern market for acquiring pipe organs of all sizes in the most up-to-date designs.

Breaking into the Chicago organ purchasing market must have become a priority for Skinner, for in 1913 a sudden flurry of four contracts was signed in quick succession in Chicago and Evanston for opuses 207, 208, 210, and 211. This breakthrough for the Skinner firm likely came with the assistance of the young and rising-star organist, Palmer Christian. Born in 1885 in nearby Kankakee, Illinois, Christian studied at Chicago’s American Conservatory of Music with Clarence Dickinson before traveling abroad to study with Karl Straube in Leipzig and Alexandre Guilmant in Paris. Upon his return to the United States in 1911, Palmer became organist of Kenwood Evangelical Church in the fashionable Chicago South Side neighborhood of Kenwood.

Kenwood Evangelical Church, Chicago

The city block bounded by 46th and 47th Streets and Greenwood and Ellis Avenues contains three monumental churches of significant architectural quality, all constructed between 1887 and 1926: the former Saint James United Methodist Church (46th Street and Ellis Avenue), Kenwood United Church of Christ (46th Street and Greenwood Avenue, just across the alleyway from Saint James), and Saint Ambrose Catholic Church (47th Street and Ellis Avenue). When these buildings were erected, Kenwood was a neighborhood of high society, as the likes of John G. Shedd of Marshall Field & Company fame belonged to Kenwood Evangelical Church. The Swift family of the meatpacking industry and the Harris family of banking belonged to Saint James Methodist Episcopal Church.

Kenwood Evangelical Church was organized on November 17, 1885, having grown from a Sunday school formed earlier that year. On November 26, 1887, the cornerstone of the present church was laid. The Romanesque Revival building was designed by William W. Boyington in association with H. B. Wheelock and dedicated November 18, 1888. (Boyington designed many important Chicago landmarks, most of which, like the old Chicago Board of Trade Building, are gone. His 1869 Chicago Water Tower and Pumping Station remain.) The edifice and the lot cost $65,423.92. The church is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1888, Steere & Turner of Massachusetts installed its Opus 263, a two-manual, twenty-three-rank, mechanical-action organ costing $3,250. Portions of the gumwood case and the façade, including pipes from the Great 8′ Open Diapason, were retained to hide the new Skinner organ.

As mentioned above, in 1911 Palmer Christian was appointed organist to Kenwood Church. He soon led efforts to replace the Steere & Turner organ, and he specifically worked to have the contract awarded to the Ernest M. Skinner Company. This was to be the first Skinner contract in Illinois.

A specification was drawn for a three-manual organ in January 1913, and the contract was announced in the March issue of The Diapason. This was to be Opus 207, followed closely by three other Chicago-area contracts: Opus 208, First Church of Christ, Scientist, Evanston; Opus 210, Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago; and Opus 211, Hyde Park Baptist Church, Chicago.

Several changes would be made to the specification by the time the organ was installed the following year. On May 22, Christian wrote authorizing addition of the Great 8′ Philomela, extended from the Pedal 16′ Diapason, for an additional $150. Already, Christian and Skinner were at odds on just when the organ would be finished: 

Regarding the matter of time, I have only this to say, that, inasmuch as our church was the first to get you out here—and, if I must say it, this was entirely due to my “plugging” for you—we most certainly hope that you can make a special effort in our case, if need be, to be ready according to schedule.

On July 14, 1913, the church treasurer, John B. Lord, wrote to Skinner, authorizing several changes to the specification: elimination of the Choir 8′ English Horn and casework; addition of the Choir two-rank 8′ Dulcet; 8′ Posaune, 8′ Salicional, and 4′ Octave borrows from the Swell to the Great; addition of Chimes for $500; and a six-rank Echo division on a fourth manual for $1,800. The church could now claim it was to have a four-manual organ, not three, as another Chicago church had since signed a contract for a four-manual Skinner organ, Fourth Presbyterian Church.

Christian wrote Skinner on December 19, 1913, reminding him that he wanted Swell and Choir Unison Off couplers, five pistons for each manual except Echo (there were no General pistons), Swell to Pedal reversible, and a Choir to Pedal 4′ coupler. The old organ had been removed from the church, and Christian was complaining about the delay in completing the new organ, noting he had lost $100 in wedding fees, as there was no organ to play for the ceremonies. He asked if Skinner would be able to keep a February 1, 1914, completion date, as he wanted his former teacher Clarence Dickinson to play the dedicatory recital soon thereafter when he was in Chicago.

Dickinson did not play the dedicatory recital during this visit. The May 1, 1914, issue of The Diapason notes that Christian himself played the opening recital on April 16. Apparently, Mr. Skinner was present for the program. This was the first Skinner organ to be completed in Illinois, but not for long.

The Great, Swell, Choir, and Pedal divisions are housed behind the old Steere façade above the pulpit and choir loft at the front of the nave. The Echo division and Chimes are in a room located off the second-floor rear balcony. The console sits in the choir loft at the far right. The manual compass is 61 notes (C–C); pedal compass is 32 notes (C–G). (Opus 208 would have a 30-note pedalboard.) The unaltered organ has been unplayable for several decades.

The congregation is now known as Kenwood United Church of Christ. The church has experienced a renewal in numbers over the last several decades, mostly due to the leadership of Reverend Dr. Leroy Sanders.

First Church of Christ, Scientist, Evanston

Evanston’s First Church of Christ, Scientist, was founded in January 1895. The first worship site was probably a residence located on the present property, which was converted for use as a church. This building burned in 1897, and the members of the congregation set about building a new church costing $25,000.

Construction for the present church seating 900 commenced in 1912 and was completed the following year. It is an excellent example of Neo-Classical architecture that has been revered by Christian Scientists everywhere and by the denomination’s founder, Mary Baker Eddy. Mrs. Eddy became interested in this style of architecture while attending the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. Many of the exhibition buildings reflected this influence, including the Parliament of World Religions. First Church of Christ, Scientist, Chicago, now home to Grant Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Church, was among the first buildings of this type. The architect of First Church, Evanston, Solon Spencer Beman, also served as architect for First, Second, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Churches of Christ, Scientist, Chicago. He designed the mansion of the W. W. Kimball family on South Prairie Avenue, Chicago, as well as the entire “town” of Pullman on the South Side of Chicago. Beman became a personal friend of Mrs. Eddy, became a Christian Scientist, and served as a consulting architect for construction of the Mother Church Extension in Boston. First Church, Evanston, was Beman’s final commission, as he died the following year at the age of sixty-one. The church reportedly cost $100,000 to build.

The first organ that the congregation owned was apparently a reed organ built by Leonard Peloubet & Co. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1902, Lyon & Healy of Chicago built their Opus 105 (factory number 1357) for the congregation. This two-manual organ had mechanical key and stop action. When the present building was constructed, the Lyon & Healy was retained and installed in the Sunday school room of the lower level. In the 1990s, the then small congregation, unable to retain the organ, turned it over to the Organ Clearing House for eventual sale.

The organ in the new church auditorium, built by the Ernest M. Skinner Company, was completed on June 1, 1914, as Opus 208. The contract was signed in 1913. It is the oldest functioning Skinner organ in the state of Illinois. The Diapason announced the organ in July 1914:

The organ chamber is at the rear of the readers’ platform, and the tone comes into the auditorium through open ornamental lattice work, which conceals the pipes. The console is at the north (right) end of the platform, at the left of the readers.

Within the organ, the Great is centrally located with the Swell behind. The Choir and three Great additions are to the right. Interestingly, the pedal compass is 30 notes (C–F). During construction, the 4′ Octave was added to the Swell division, on its own chest with channel jumpers. Wind pressure was six inches throughout. The late Roy Kehl of Evanston has noted that Opus 208 was nearly identical to Opus 204, installed in Synod Hall of the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, New York, New York.

At a later date, three ranks were added to the Great. Additional tilting tablets above the Swell manual were added for these stops, which were not controlled by the combination action. This work is believed to have been carried out by La Marche of Chicago.

The congregation was served by several excellent organists. Rossetter Gleason Cole was appointed organist in 1909 and served through 1929. Cole was born in 1866. After study at the University of Michigan and in Berlin, he returned to the United States, settling in the Chicago area in 1902. For over fifty years, he served on the faculty of the Cosmopolitan Music School, and for a time served as dean of the school. He was twice dean of the Illinois (now Chicago) Chapter of the American Guild of Organists (1913–1914 and 1928–1930). On January 1, 1930, he became organist to Second Church of Christ, Scientist, Chicago. During his lifetime, over ninety of his compositions were published in many different forms. He died in 1952, at Hilltop, near Lake Bluff, Illinois.

One of the oldest community music schools in the state, the Music Institute of Chicago was founded in 1931 and has campuses in Downers Grove, Evanston, Highland Park, Lake Forest, Lincolnshire, Northbrook, and Winnetka. In 2001, Music Institute purchased its second Evanston campus, the former First Church of Christ, Scientist. First Church had recently merged with Second Church of Christ, Scientist, Evanston, moving to that congregation’s worship space.

First Church vacated its building in 2001, and renovations for the Music Institute began the following year. The building is registered on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2003, when renovations were complete, the prestigious Richard H. Driehaus Award was presented to the Music Institute for its creative reuse of this historic building. For the organ’s ninetieth birthday celebration, the Organ Historical Society presented its Historic Organ Citation #312 on June 13, 2004, during a recital by James Russell Brown.

Between 2005 and 2007, the organ received a historic restoration by J. L. Weiler, Inc., of Chicago. At the conclusion of this project, the organ was reinaugurated in recital by Thomas Murray on September 28, 2007.

Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago

The Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago is the merger of North Presbyterian Church (founded in 1848) and Westminster Presbyterian Church (founded in 1855); Fourth Church was formally organized February 12, 1871, thus celebrating its sesquicentennial in 2021. According to the church’s website: “The name ‘Fourth’ was selected not because it was the fourth Presbyterian church to be founded in Chicago, but because Fourth was the lowest number then not in use.”

Fourth Church refurbished the North Church building at the southeast corner of Wabash and Grand Avenues and dedicated it on October 8, 1871. Within a day, the church burned in the Great Fire of Chicago. North Church housed 1865 Pilcher Bros. & Chant Opus 65, which burned with the church.

The congregation built a new stone building at the northwest corner of Rush and Superior Streets and dedicated it in February of 1874. This building housed Johnson & Son Opus 436, a three-manual organ.

The cornerstone of the present building was laid on September 17, 1912. The English and French Gothic edifice was designed by Ralph Adams Cram, while the accompanying buildings were built to the designs of Chicago’s Howard Van Doren Shaw. This part of what is now North Michigan Avenue was then known as Lincoln Parkway.

The building was dedicated in May 1914. In the ensuing years, the sanctuary was adorned with stained glass windows by Charles J. Connick. At its dedication, it also featured a new, four-manual organ built by the Ernest M. Skinner Company, Opus 210. In the church archives, there is a letter from Ernest M. Skinner to Mrs. Emmons Blaine, 101 Erie Street, Chicago, dated February 13, 1913. Mrs. Blaine was the donor of the organ. Apparently, Skinner had come to the church during its construction, met with Mrs. Blaine, took measurements, and drew a preliminary specification for an organ while at her house. There must have been disappointment with what was perceived to be the size of the organ that could fit into the small main chamber. In the end, the chamber’s exceptionally large height allowed Skinner to stack the organ, providing a much larger instrument to be built. Skinner probably overdid it in this letter by stating:

When I say I am pleased with the result, I mean that the tone will have a perfect outlet, that the organ is not crowded in any way, that it is roomy and convenient of access for the tuners, and that it is a very large complete instrument, second to none in this country; that while there are several stops appearing in the Cathedral organ in New York that I did not put here, I did get in one or two stops that are not in the Cathedral organ, because they were not in existence when that was built. I have invented a new stop through my study over this case.

I wanted to put in a Flute Celeste of which I am very fond. It takes up considerable room, and I set about finding a way to take less. I wanted to make the stop softer than usual, so I had some pipes made to small scale from the model of my Erzahler. The result is a most beautiful combination. I think the most beautiful soft effect I have heard.

It is easy to make a soft tone. It is not easy to make a soft tone and fill it with significance. The sheer beauty of this stop gives me a very great asset and adds another to my list of original stops. I call it “Kleine Erzahler,” which means “little story tellers.” Erzahler means story-teller, it is a german [sic] word and is a stop I designed seven or eight years ago. The stop is so talkative, I have always said it named itself. This new one is a smaller scale of the same family and it takes two pipes to each note, and so becomes plural. They speak with a vibration, as a Violin. I feel very happy over it . . . .

I say without reservation, I am better pleased with this specifications [sic] than any other I have drawn. It is a fine church organ and besides has a wealth of orchestral color and it does not contain a stop of doubtful value. I have always hoped I should land in Chicago with a big one.

While Palmer Christian may have given Ernest Skinner his first organ in Chicago, and even a four-manual organ, it was Mrs. Blane who gave Skinner his first four-manual organ in Chicago that would definitively sow the seeds for more large contracts.

The first mention of Opus 210 in The Diapason occurred in the February 1, 1913, issue on the front page:

Ernest M. Skinner has been commissioned by the Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago to build for it a four-manual organ which will be one of the largest and most noteworthy instruments in the country. The organ is to be installed in the new edifice under construction by that church on the north side of the city. This will be probably the largest Presbyterian church in Chicago and the music here, which has always been of the best, is to continue so when the new building is occupied . . . . Expense is not to be spared, and Mr. Skinner is to incorporate every feature that could be of advantage when the size of the building is considered . . . . Mr. Skinner closed the deal when in Chicago about the middle of January. There was no competition for the contract.

The article also mentioned J. Lawrence Erb had been hired as the new organist for the church. The May issue provided the organ’s specification.

The June 1, 1914, issue of The Diapason noted the organ was played at the opening of the church on May 10, and that afternoon a recital was given by Eric DeLamarter, who by then had become the church’s new organist. The article noted the work on the organ had yet to be finished, and Mr. Skinner had made several visits to Chicago during installation. Voicing was done at night, “when the noises of the city were nearly enough stilled to permit them to get in their artistic touches.” Walter Binkemeyer and T. Cecil Lewis were assisting with voicing.

In 1946, Aeolian-Skinner would make some tonal revisions to the organ, adding six ranks. This project was paid for again by Mrs. Blaine. In 1971, the organ was rebuilt/replaced by the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Co. with its Opus 1516, among the last organs completed by the firm, with four manuals, 125 ranks. Goulding & Wood of Indianapolis, Indiana, renovated the organ in 1994 with slight alterations. In 2015, Quimby Pipe Organs completed for this church its Opus 71, the largest organ in Chicago, with five manuals, 142 ranks.

Hyde Park Baptist Church, Chicago

On May 9, 1874, the First Baptist Church of Hyde Park was founded. Hyde Park was a township annexed by Chicago in 1889. With the opening of the University of Chicago nearby on October 1, 1892, the congregation grew rapidly in membership. One of the congregation’s new members was Dr. William R. Harper, president of the new university. Under Harper’s influence, the church began discussions about a new plant in 1893. A new chapel-sized building was finished on the present property in 1896.

In November 1897, ideas about completion of the main church and the acquisition of a pipe organ took form. In 1901 the congregation received a generous gift in the amount of $15,000 from John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who was instrumental in the building of the nearby University of Chicago. Architect James Gamble was commissioned to design the church of Romanesque influence, seating some six hundred persons. In 1904, the congregation changed its name to Hyde Park Baptist Church. The new church was dedicated on January 7, 1906. The exterior is of red sandstone with limestone trim. Original plans called for construction entirely of stone, but this proved too costly. The interior is constructed of limestone, brick, and dark oak, crowned with massive cross beams. A brochure printed by the church notes that “the peaked ceiling is as high as the center aisle is long (some 76 feet).” A small pipe organ acquired a few years earlier at a cost of $1,000 was moved from the chapel to the new church, but it proved inadequate.

In 1914, a new organ was installed by the Ernest M. Skinner Company. The contract was dated January 31, 1913, at a cost of $8,000.00. By April 30, it was decided by mail to move the Swell 8′ French Horn preparation (knob only) to the Choir. It was stipulated: “Both kinds of Vox Humana pipes to be sent for the church to decide which it wants.”

Construction of the organ commenced in May 1914, and it was dedicated on October 22 of that year. This project corresponded with a general decoration of the church interior, designed by James R. M. Morrison. The three-manual, electro-pneumatic action organ, Opus 211, consisted of thirty-one stops, twenty-one ranks, with a total of 1,281 pipes. The console had a manual compass of 61 notes (C–C) and a pedal compass of 30 notes (C–F). The organ was powered by a 71⁄2-horsepower Spencer Orgoblo turbine. Several years later, a set of chimes was added in memory of T. B. Merrill.

This organ was rebuilt by M. P. Möller of Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1956, and is now a thirty-rank organ. The project retained seven ranks of Skinner pipework as well as most of the chests. A new three-manual, drawknob console with 32-note pedalboard was installed. The existing blower was reused. In 1965, the congregation again changed its name, becoming the Hyde Park Union Church, reflecting its affiliation with both the American Baptist Church and the United Church of Christ.

§

The year 1914 became an important and busy year for Skinner in Chicago. Opus 207 (Kenwood Evangelical) and Opus 210 (Fourth Presbyterian) had their first recitals within a month of each other (April 16 and May 10, respectively), and the First Church of Christ, Scientist, Evanston, organ (Opus 208) was finished the following month (June 1). Dedication for Opus 211 at Hyde Park Baptist was not that far behind (October 22). Once these instruments became known to organists of the region, the Skinner and Aeolian-Skinner firms would proceed to build dozens of additional organs for the area, continuing through to the end of the company’s work.

Kenwood Evangelical Church, Chicago

Specification of 1914 Ernest M. Skinner Organ Company Opus 207

GREAT (Manual II, 6″ wind pressure)

16′ Bourdon 61 pipes

8′ First Diapason (scale 42) 61 pipes

8′ Second Diapason (scale 45) 61 pipes

8′ Philomela 73 pipes

8′ Waldflote 61 pipes

8′ Salicional (fr Sw 8′ Salicional)

8′ Erzahler (“com”) 61 pipes

4′ Octave (fr Sw 4′ Octave)

4′ Flute (“Har #2”) 61 pipes

8′ Posaune (fr Sw 8′ Posaune)

Chimes (fr Echo)

SWELL (Manual III, enclosed, 7-1/2″ wind pressure)

16′ Bourdon (“#2”) 73 pipes

8′ Diapason (scale 44) 73 pipes

8′ Gedackt (“com”) 73 pipes

8′ Salicional (scale 64) 73 pipes

8′ Voix Celestes (scale 64) 73 pipes

8′ Aeoline (scale 60) 73 pipes

8′ Unda Maris (TC, scale 60) 61 pipes

4′ Octave 61 pipes

4′ Flute (“#2”) 61 pipes

2′ Piccolo (“com”) 61 pipes

[III] Mixture (“1 break”) 183 pipes

16′ Contra Posaune (“cc 4-1⁄2”) 73 pipes

8′ Posaune (“cc 4-1⁄2”) 73 pipes

8′ Oboe (“com”) 73 pipes

8′ Vox Humana (“com”) 73 pipes

Tremolo

CHOIR (Manual I, enclosed, 6″ wind pressure)

8′ Diapason (scale 50) 61 pipes

8′ Concert Flute 61 pipes

8′ Dulciana (scale 56) 61 pipes

8′ Dulcet 122 pipes

4′ Flauto Traverso (“#2”) 61 pipes

8′ Clarinet (“com”) 61 pipes

8′ French Horn (“com”) 61 pipes

8′ Orchestral Oboe (“com”) 61 pipes

Tremolo

Celesta

ECHO (Manual IV, enclosed, 5″ wind pressure)

8′ Rohrflöte 73 pipes

8′ Quintadena 61 pipes

8′ Unda Maris (2nd rank TC) 110 pipes

4′ Flute 61 pipes

8′ Vox Humana 61 pipes

Tremolo

Cathedral Chimes 25 tubes

PEDAL

16′ Diapason (ext Gt 8′ Philomela)

16′ First Bourdon (Gt)

16′ Second Bourdon (Sw)

16′ Echo Bourdon (ext Echo 8′ Rohrfl)

10-2⁄3′ Quinte (fr Gt 16′ Bourdon)

8′ Octave (fr Gt 8′ Philomela)

8′ Gedackt (fr Gt 16′ Bourdon)

16′ Ophicleide (fr Sw 16′ Contra Pos)

COUPLERS

Great to Pedal

Swell to Pedal

Swell to Pedal 4

Choir to Pedal

Choir to Pedal 4

Echo to Pedal

Swell to Great

Choir to Great

Echo to Great

Swell to Choir

Great to Great 4

Swell to Great 16

Swell to Great 4

Choir to Choir 16

Choir to Choir 4

Swell to Swell 16

Swell to Swell 4

ACCESSORIES

5 Great Pistons (thumb)

5 Swell Pistons (thumb and toe)

5 Choir Pistons (thumb)

3 Echo Pistons (thumb)

5 Pedal Pistons (toe)

Combination Setter (thumb)

Pedal to Great Combination On/Off (thumb)

Pedal to Swell Combination On/Off (thumb)

Pedal to Choir Combination On/Off (thumb)

Pedal to Echo Combination On/Off (thumb)

Great Unison On/Off (thumb, left key cheek)

Swell Unison On/Off (thumb, left key cheek)

Choir Unison On/Off (thumb, left key cheek)

Balanced Swell expression shoe

Balanced Choir expression shoe

Balanced Crescendo shoe

Sforzando Reversible (toe, hitch-down)

 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, Evanston

Specification of 1914 Ernest M. Skinner Company Opus 208:

GREAT (Manual II)

16′ Bourdon (49 stopped wood, 12 open metal trebles) 61 pipes

8′ Diapason (leathered lips, metal) 68 pipes

8′ Philomela (wood) 80 pipes

8′ Erzähler (metal) 68 pipes

8′ Gedackt (fr Sw 8′ Gedackt)

8′ Dulciana (fr Sw 8′ Aeoline)

4′ Flute (fr Sw 4′ Flute)

8′ Cornopean (fr Sw 8′ Cornopean)

4′ Octave (addition, metal) 61 pipes

2-2⁄3′ Twelfth (addition, metal) 61 pipes

2′ Fifteenth (addition, metal) 61 pipes

SWELL (Manual III, enclosed)

16′ Bourdon (wood) 68 pipes

8′ Diapason (metal) 68 pipes

8′ Gedackt (wood) 68 pipes

8′ Salicional (metal) 68 pipes

8′ Voix Celestes (metal) 68 pipes

8′ Aeoline (metal) 68 pipes

8′ Unda Maris (TC, metal) 56 pipes

4′ Octave (metal) 68 pipes

4′ Flute (metal) 68 pipes

2′ Flautino (metal) 61 pipes

16′ Posaune (metal) 68 pipes

8′ Cornopean (metal) 68 pipes

8′ Flügel Horn (metal) 68 pipes

8′ Vox Humana (metal) 68 pipes

Tremolo

CHOIR (Manual I, enclosed)

8′ Geigen Principal (metal) 61 pipes

8′ Concert Flute (12 stopped wood basses, 25 open wood, 24 open metal trebles) 61 pipes

4′ Flute (metal) 61 pipes

8′ Clarinet (metal) 61 pipes

Tremolo

PEDAL

16′ Diapason (ext Gt 8′ Philomela)

16′ First Bourdon (Gt)

16′ Second Bourdon (Sw)

8′ Octave (fr Gt 8′ Philomela)

8′ Still Gedackt (fr Sw 16′ Bourdon)

16′ Posaune (Sw)

COUPLERS

Great to Pedal

Swell to Pedal

Swell to Pedal 4

Choir to Pedal

Great to Great 4

Swell to Great

Choir to Great

Swell to Choir

Swell to Great 16

Swell to Great 4

Choir to Great 16

Swell to Swell 16

Swell to Swell 4

ACCESSORIES

4 Great Pistons (thumb)

5 Swell Pistons (thumb)

4 Choir Pistons (thumb)

4 Pedal Pistons (toe)

Great to Pedal Reversible (toe)

Pedals to Great Combinations on/off (thumb)

Pedals to Swell Combinations on/off (thumb)

Pedals to Choir Combinations on/off (thumb)

Combination Setter (thumb)

Balanced Swell Expression Shoe

Balanced Choir Expression Shoe

Balanced Crescendo Shoe

Sforzando Reversible (toe)

 

Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago

Specification of 1914 Ernest M. Skinner Company Opus 210:

GREAT (Manual II, 6″ wind pressure, 16′ Diapason on 5″)

16′ Diapason 73 pipes

16′ Bourdon 61 pipes

8′ First Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Second Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Third Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Philomela 73 pipes

8′ Waldflöte 61 pipes

8′ Erzähler 61 pipes

4′ Octave 61 pipes

4′ Flute 61 pipes

2′ Fifteenth 61 pipes

16′ Ophicleide (10′′ wind pressure) 97 pipes

8′ Tromba (ext 16′ Ophicleide)

4′ Clarion (ext 16′ Ophicleide)

SWELL (Manual III, 7-1/2″ wind pressure, enclosed)

16′ Bourdon 73 pipes

16′ Dulciana 73 pipes

8′ Diapason 73 pipes

8′ Clarabella 73 pipes

8′ Gedeckt 73 pipes

8′ Spitzflöte 73 pipes

8′ Salicional 73 pipes

8′ Voix Celestes 73 pipes

8′ Aeoline 73 pipes

8′ Unda Maris (TC) 61 pipes

4′ Octave 73 pipes

4′ Flute 73 pipes

2′ Flautino 61 pipes

III Mixture (12-15-17) 183 pipes

16′ Contra Posaune 73 pipes

8′ Cornopean 73 pipes

8′ Oboe 73 pipes

8′ Vox Humana 73 pipes

4′ Clarion 73 pipes

Tremolo

CHOIR (Manual I, enclosed, 6″ wind pressure)

16′ Gamba 73 pipes

8′ Geigen Principal 73 pipes

8′ Concert Flute 73 pipes

8′ Quintadena 73 pipes

8′ Kleine Erzähler (2nd rank TC) 110 pipes

8′ Dulcet II 122 pipes

4′ Flute 73 pipes

2′ Piccolo 61 pipes

16′ English Horn 73 pipes

16′ Fagotto (So) 

8′ Clarinet 73 pipes

8′ Orchestral Oboe (So)

8′ Flügel Horn (So)

Tremolo

Celesta (61 bars)

SOLO (Manual IV, enclosed, 10″ wind pressure)

8′ Philomela (Gt)

8′ Gamba 73 pipes

8′ Gamba Celeste 73 pipes

16′ Fagotto 73 pipes

8′ Tuba Mirabilis (15′′ wind pressure) 73 pipes

8′ French Horn 73 pipes

8′ Flügel Horn 73 pipes

8′ Orchestral Oboe 73 pipes

Tremolo

ECHO (6″ wind pressure, enclosed)

8′ Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Gedeckt 61 pipes

4′ Flute 61 pipes

8′ Vox Humana 61 pipes

Tremolo (by Solo Tremolo knob)

PEDAL (5″ and 6″ wind pressure)

32′ Contra Violone 56 pipes

16′ Diapason (ext Gt 8′ Philomela)

16′ Violone (ext 32′)

16′ First Bourdon (Gt)

16′ Second Bourdon (Sw)

16′ Gamba (Ch)

16′ Dulciana (Sw)

8′ Octave (fr Gt 8′ Philomela)

8′ Gedeckt (fr Gt 16′ First Bourdon)

8′ Still Gedeckt (fr Sw 16′ Bourdon)

8′ Cello (So)

32′ Bombarde (ext Gt 16′ Ophicleide)

16′ Ophicleide (fr Gt 16′ Ophicleide)

16′ Posaune (Sw)

8′ Tromba (fr Gt 16′ Ophicleide)

4′ Tromba (fr Gt 16′ Ophicleide)

COUPLERS

Great to Pedal

Swell to Pedal

Swell to Pedal 4

Choir to Pedal

Choir to Pedal 4

Solo to Pedal

Swell to Great

Choir to Great

Solo to Great

Swell to Choir

Choir Sub

Choir Super 

Swell Sub *

Swell Super *

Solo Sub *

Solo Super *

Echo to Solo

* “transferred to Great with Swell to Great”

ACCESSORIES

3 Full pistons (draw manual and pedal combinations 5, 6, and 7, does not affect couplers)

7 Great pistons (thumb)

7 Swell pistons (thumb and toe)

7 Choir pistons (thumb)

7 Solo and Echo pistons (thumb)

7 Pedal pistons (toe)

Pedal to Swell Combinations on/off

Pedal to Great Combinations on/off (Great and Pedal combinations effect the other)

Pedal to Choir Combinations on/off

Pedal to Solo Combinations on/off

Combination adjuster (thumb)

Great to Pedal reversible (toe)

Balanced Swell expression shoe

Balanced Choir and Solo expression shoe

Balanced Crescendo shoe

Sforzando reversible (toe, hitch-down)

 

Hyde Park Baptist Church, Chicago

Specification of 1914 Ernest M. Skinner Company Opus 211:

GREAT (Manual II)

16′ Bourdon 61 pipes

8′ Diapason (17 basses in façade) 61 pipes

8′ Philomela 73 pipes

8′ Erzähler 61 pipes

8′ Gedackt (Sw)

8 Dulciana (Sw)

4 Flute (Sw)

8 Cornopean (Sw)

SWELL (Manual III, enclosed)

16′ Bourdon 61 pipes

8′ Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Gedackt 61 pipes

8′ Salicional 61 pipes

8′ Voix Celeste 61 pipes

8′ Dulciana 61 pipes

8′ Unda Maris (TC) 49 pipes

4′ Violin (knob only)

4′ Flute 61 pipes

2′ Piccolo 61 pipes

8′ Cornopean 61 pipes

8′ Flügel Horn 61 pipes

8′ Vox Humana 61 pipes

Tremolo

CHOIR (Manual I, enclosed)

8′ Geigen Principal 61 pipes

8′ Concert Flute 61 pipes

4′ Flauto Traverso 61 pipes

8′ Clarinet 61 pipes

8′ Orchestral Oboe 61 pipes

8′ French Horn (“knob only”)

Tremolo

PEDAL

16′ Diapason (ext Gt 8′ Philomela)

16′ First Bourdon (Gt)

16′ Second Bourdon (Sw)

8′ Octave (fr Gt 8′ Philomela)

8′ Gedackt (fr Gt 16′ Bourdon)

8′ Still Gedackt (fr Sw 16′ Bourdon)

COUPLERS

Great to Pedal

Swell to Pedal

Choir to Pedal

Swell to Great

Choir to Great

Swell to Choir

Great 4

Choir to Great 16

Choir to Great 4

Swell to Great 16

Swell to Great 4

Choir 4

Choir 16

Swell 4

Swell 16

ACCESSORIES

3 General Pistons (toe)

5 Great Pistons and Cancel (thumb)

5 Swell Pistons and Cancel (thumb)

5 Choir Pistons and Cancel (thumb)

5 Pedal Pistons (thumb)

Pedal to Great Combinations on/off (thumb)

Pedal to Swell Combinations on/off (thumb)

Pedal to Choir Combinations on/off (thumb)

Great to Pedal Reversible (thumb and toe)

Swell to Pedal Reversible (toe)

Choir to Pedal Reversible (toe)

Balanced Swell Expression Shoe

Balanced Choir Expression Shoe

Balanced Crescendo Shoe (with indicator)

Sforzando Reversible (toe)

Neal Campbell

Neal Campbell is the organist of Trinity Episcopal Church in Vero Beach, Florida. He previously held full-time positions in Connecticut, Virginia (including ten years on the adjunct faculty of the University of Richmond), and New Jersey. He holds graduate and undergraduate degrees from the Manhattan School of Music, including the Doctor of Musical Arts degree, for which he wrote his dissertation on the life and work of New York organist-composer Harold Friedell. He has studied, played, and recorded on many of the organs discussed in this article.

Editor’s note: the first part of this series appeared in the February 2022 issue of The Diapason, pages 12–17.

Introduction

Based on correspondence in Barbara Owen’s and Charles Callahan’s books, we learned in the previous issue that it was Alexander Schreiner who, as the Tabernacle organ was nearing completion, asked G. Donald Harrison to have his name appear on the console in addition to the standard company nameplate. Harrison obliged by providing an ivory plate with a facsimile of his signature along with the opus number and date. In the ensuing years until his death in 1956 Harrison continued the practice of signing some organs built by Aeolian-Skinner with which he was personally involved.

Before identifying and commenting on those signature organs, a list which continues this month, I showed the progression of Harrison’s tonal ideas in the years leading up to the Tabernacle organ, based on his own words in letters to various of his associates and friends contained in Callahan’s books. In particular, GDH related that the organ for the Groton School was a turning point in the development of his tonal theories, and he considered it the smaller companion to the Tabernacle design. Also cited are several examples of both Harrison’s and Schreiner’s assessments of the Tabernacle organ in the years immediately following its completion.

Following the list of signature organs in this issue, I also comment on some organs built prior to the Tabernacle organ containing GDH’s signature plate and, assuming the Tabernacle organ to be the first organ GDH signed, I offer details as to their relative importance in the company trajectory. There follows commentary about significant Aeolian-Skinner organs of the era that do not contain Harrison’s signature, and then some brief commentary on the organs built in the era of Joseph S. Whiteford and the company’s final years.

In enumerating and commenting on the signature organs, the list and details are complete and accurate so far as I know. I have played many of the organs, but not all. I imagine there are signature organs of which I am unaware. For example, since beginning work on this article I learned via a Facebook page devoted to G. Donald Harrison and the American Classic Organ that the organ in the Worcester Art Museum bears a GDH signature plate. There likely are others, and I would be glad to hear from those with knowledge of them, preferably with documentation, and from those with additional commentary to what I provide here. Communications may be sent through the editor. Who knows, there may be an addenda or part 3 in the future!

Opus 1149: New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, Washington, D.C., 1948.

The first organ for this congregation was built by Hutchings, Plaisted, & Co. in 1873 for the original church. This was later rebuilt by John Brown and later still by Ernest M. Skinner & Son of Methuen. In 1948, the church signed a contract with Aeolian-Skinner for additions to the existing instrument, and in 1951 another contract was signed as Opus 1149-A for a rebuilding and re-installation in the present church.²⁹

This organ, now gone, was a very beautiful example of Aeolian-Skinner’s sound, even though it was of modest content and pedigree. My teacher, William Watkins, was the organist of the church at the time each contract was completed, and he and Joseph S. Whiteford did the work together on a very modest budget. Whiteford was a native Washingtonian, and he and Watkins were good friends; this was at about the time Whiteford became Harrison’s assistant at Aeolian-Skinner.

At the time, the church was famous for the preaching ministry of the Reverend Dr. Peter Marshall, who was also the chaplain of the United States Senate. Watkins at that time was a prominent concert organist, and he provided a serious program of organ music at services. The church maintained a choir of 100 singers directed by Charles Dana Beaschler. Watkins told me that he simply asked Harrison to sign the organ when they moved into the new church. At the time Watkins was probably the best-known organist in the country aside from Virgil Fox, his teacher. The organ as it turned out was entirely worthy of the Aeolian-Skinner legacy, but GDH had nothing to do with it personally. He complied with the request solely on the strength of his associations with Whiteford and Watkins. So, if it happened here, it likely happened in other places—an important clue when considering criteria that may have influenced Harrison’s decision to sign an organ.

By the time I knew the organ as a substitute in the early 1970s the signature plate had disappeared, though the screw holes where it had been were clearly visible. When the church eventually obtained a new console and made some additions during the tenure of Wesley Parrott, a replacement signature plate was made and affixed to the new console.

Opus 1150: Annie Merner Chapel of MacMurray College, Jacksonville, Illinois, 1952.

Robert Glasgow taught here before he went to the University of Michigan, and the organ was installed early in his tenure. He praised the organ in his address to the American Classic Organ Symposium in 1988. The college closed in May 2020, and the fate of the organ is still being determined.

Opus 1173: First Presbyterian Church, Kilgore, Texas, 1949.

This organ was a rebuild of a 1935 M. P. Möller, and it retained much of the pipework and structure, as well as three complete stops from the previous Henry Pilcher’s Sons organ. Nevertheless, it became one of the company’s most successful and best-known organs.

It was used for examples supporting GDH’s narration in Volume I of King of Instruments, and in Volume II played by Roy Perry, the organist of the church for forty years and one of Aeolian-Skinner’s most successful representatives and finishers. Two tracks were also played by William Watkins on Volume II, although he was identified ignominiously as the “staff organist,” owing to union regulations at the time. Volume X featured Opus 1173 in a complete issue entitled “Music for the Church,” featuring works for choir and organ. The only organ piece on the album was Bruce Simonds’s Prelude on Iam sol recedit igneus played by Roy Perry, who also played all of the choral accompaniments.

The cover photo of the new Trompette-en-Chamade for Opus 1173 was used for the first time on Volume X and continued to be featured in company brochures and other volumes of the King of Instruments series, becoming something of an Aeolian-Skinner icon. The company claimed that the stop was the first such built in America.

Opus 1174: First Baptist Church, Longview, Texas, 1951.

This organ provides an interesting contrast to its slightly older sister organ in Kilgore in that it was a completely new organ designed by Harrison for the new church, has not been altered or added to, and was placed in a strikingly modern, large edifice designed with the organ’s success in mind at the outset. The nave of the church is 92 feet high at the peak of the ceiling, and it seats 1,700 persons. The church’s pastor, the Reverend Dr. W. Morris Ford, was the driving force in both the building of the new church and the organ, and for many years thereafter musical events of significant proportions were included in the church’s program. The leading organists of the day, including Virgil Fox and Catharine Crozier, played there. An article about this organ appeared in the June 1954 issue of The American Organist stating:

Catharine Crozier made tape-recordings during the 1952 Christmas holidays for two L.P. discs [on the Kendall label]; Harold Gleason says Longview beats anything he has heard in Europe.

Opus 150-A: Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, New York City, 1953.

This organ is justly famous and needs little introduction, except to note that it used significant portions of the original instrument, one of Ernest Skinner’s early successes, especially structural components and orchestral stops. The organ has many unique attributes, and its success draws in large part from Harrison’s experience prior to his coming to the United States, when he worked closely with Willis on the organ in Liverpool Cathedral, a building approaching the size of St. John the Divine. For example, letters by GDH tell that in some stops the pipes for the individual notes are doubled, even tripled in the treble ranks, and that for the first time in many years Aeolian-Skinner built and voiced completely new Tuba stops for the organ.

An amusing story from the canon of oral tradition tells of Norman Coke-Jephcott, organist of the cathedral during the planning stages, and GDH visiting after dinner at Coke-Jephcott’s club in the presence of others, when Harrison asked “Cokie” if he had given any thought to what they might name the newly designed special trumpet stop at the west end of the cathedral. Cokie said that he really had not, so Harrison asked him how he planned to use it. Cokie said, “Well . . ., I suppose for state occasions.”

That is how this famous stop, voiced by Oscar Pearson on fifty inches of wind pressure, came to be called the State Trumpet. It was a major departure from the two previous horizontal reeds Aeolian-Skinner built for Opus 1173 and Opus 1208, which were essentially standard Trompette Harmonique designs voiced on moderate pressure, but mounted horizontally.

The cathedral organ is featured on Volume I of the King of Instruments in examples played by Joseph Whiteford to accompany Harrison’s narration. The instrument is again featured on Volume VI in a program played by Alec Wyton, who had recently been appointed organist of the cathedral, and on Volume VIII, played by his predecessor, Norman Coke-Jephcott.

Opus 825-A: St. Paul’s School, Concord, New Hampshire, 1953.

Opus 1196: Covenant Presbyterian Church, Charlotte, North Carolina, 1949.

This was a completely new four-manual organ for the new church building of this flagship congregation of the denomination. Richard Peek was the organist at the time, and he and his wife, Betty, directed the music here for over forty years.

Opus 1200: New England Conservatory, Boston, Massachusetts, 1949.

Originally displayed at the 1950 American Guild of Organists convention in Boston, this experimental organ saw many years of use in a studio at the conservatory. The console has three plates on it, and students recall that in addition to the company nameplate and the GDH signature plate, there was a plate identifying its use at the convention. The organ is now owned privately.

Opus 1201: St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Mount Kisco, New York, 1952.

A new three-manual organ of classic design was installed in casework designed by Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue, architect of the church, which contained the former instrument. The organ featured a divided Swell division, such as was first used in one of Ernest White’s studio organs at St. Mary the Virgin in New York City, and later at Christ Church, Bronxville, New York, Opus 1082. The Positiv division is suspended from the ceiling at the entrance to the side chapel, across the chancel from the main organ. Edgar Hilliar, organist of the church from 1948 until 1984, directed much of the design, and he recorded a complete program for Volume IV of the King of Instruments series.

Opus 1208: St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, New York City, 1951.

At the time the organ was installed, St. Philip’s was one of the largest Episcopal churches in the country and was a significant religious and political presence among the many churches in Harlem. The organ was a rebuild of the former 1943 Hillgreen-Lane organ of three manuals, reusing the console. It featured the company’s second Trompette-en-Chamade, which is similar in appearance to the one for Opus 1173 in Kilgore, Texas, except St. Philip’s is at the west end of the church.

Opus 1216: First Methodist Church, Tacoma, Washington, 1953.

Since relocated to First Baptist Church, Seattle, Washington.

Opus 1235: St. John Lutheran Church, Forest Park, Illinois, 1954. 

Photographs of the stopjambs of this organ were used as the cover of company brochures in the 1960s. The Positiv was prepared for at the time and later added by Berghaus Organ Company to a design somewhat different than the original.

Opus 968-B: Bruton Parish Church, Williamsburg, Virginia, 1955.

This was a large, four-manual organ of over 100 ranks with obvious Harrison attributes. The instrument also included an English organ from 1785 built by Samuel Green that had been donated to the church, made playable as a division of the organ. The unenclosed divisions were placed in a shallow gallery surrounding the Green organ over the altar, while the enclosed divisions were in attic chambers, including an Antiphonal division in the tower. The organ was an anachronism in the Colonial-era church, but it was very effective and saw much varied use in recitals several times a week for the many tourists who flocked to Williamsburg. The organ was replaced in 2019 by Dobson Pipe Organ Builders Opus 96.

Opus 1257: Winthrop College, Rock Hill, South Carolina, 1955.

Opus 1265: The Temple, Atlanta, Georgia, 1954.

Emilie Spivey, the organist of The Temple, commissioned Harrison to rebuild the 1931 Henry Pilcher’s Sons organ that had been installed in the new edifice. The new organ retained twenty-two ranks from the Pilcher. Virgil Fox was the consultant.

Opus 1275: Cathedral Church of All Saints, Albany, New York, 1953.

This is a rebuild of a 1904 Austin Organ Company instrument, retaining the console and some of the chests and pipework. There is a signature plate indicating that Harrison was responsible for the Great and Positiv divisions, and another indicating that Whiteford finished the Swell and Choir.

Opus 724-A: St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1956.

Significant structural portions and the three-manual console were retained from the previous organ, but little of the previous pipework was used in this rebuild, which was in the factory simultaneous with Opus 205-A for St. Thomas Church in New York City. Inasmuch as Harrison died while finishing the organ in St. Thomas, this organ may justly be identified as the last organ personally finished by G. Donald Harrison. Designed and installed during the tenure of Thomas Dunn, certain aspects of the unusual design and stop nomenclature have been attributed to him. The original Aeolian-Skinner nameplate and GDH signature plate were stolen, and the present console contains replacements.

Over the years, during the long tenure of Richard Alexander, additions to the organ included a new four-manual console built by Austin and several vintage Skinner stops, which were placed in the large ceiling chamber toward the front of the nave where most of the original Skinner organ had been located. A new Grand Choeur division built by Schoenstein was also added.

Opus 205-A: St. Thomas Church, New York, New York, 1956.

Much has been written about this famous organ, and it has become the fodder of legend, beginning with the fact that G. Donald Harrison died on the evening of June 14, 1956, after spending a day of tonal finishing on the organ as it neared completion, working against the clock to have it ready for the American Guild of Organists national convention a few weeks later. There was a subway strike in New York at the time, and GDH could not get a taxi, so he walked several blocks in extreme heat to the apartment he and his wife maintained on Third Avenue. Upon arriving home he felt poorly, but after dinner he relaxed and felt better. As he was watching Victor Borge on the television, he threw his head back roaring in laughter—and died of a sudden heart attack.

Many alterations were made to the organ over the years beginning in the late 1960s when the organ was barely a decade old. Toward the end of Gerre Hancock’s tenure he retrofitted nameplates on the right stop jamb documenting the provenance of the organ: The Ernest M. Skinner Co., Boston; Aeolian-Skinner; and Gilbert Adams. He also placed a GDH signature plate under the bottom manual near the General Cancel button.

Marcel Dupré made two stereo recordings for the Mercury Living Presence series of LPs in 1958, which assured the organ of a place in the annals of Aeolian-Skinner history. Private recordings of rehearsals and concerts by Marie-Madeleine Duruflé, Alexander Boggs Ryan, and Garnell Copeland made on the organ before the long series of alterations have recently been remastered and made available as CDs, the latter two of which are found on the Aeolian-Skinner Legacy series of recordings obtainable through the East Texas Pipe Organ Festival.

Signature organs prior to Opus 1075

Several organs built prior to the Salt Lake Tabernacle Opus 1075 also have a Harrison signature plate affixed to the console. Assuming that the Tabernacle organ was the first that Harrison signed as Barbara Owen states (see endnote #1), the exact circumstances of the placements of signatures on these pre-existing organs are subjects of further conjecture and add another layer of mystique to a subject that is inherently somewhat esoteric and imprecise.

The trajectory of Harrison’s organs culminating in the Tabernacle organ design has already been traced. That some of these organs were later given Harrison’s signature is entirely logical, as they contain many design precedents found in the Tabernacle organ that led Alexander Schreiner to ask Harrison to sign it in the first place. In that Harrison and Aeolian-Skinner later made alterations to some of these organs, it is likely that GDH himself directed his signature plate to be affixed at that time. In others the provenance is less obvious, and the exact logistics regarding their placement may be details consigned to the ages. I have attempted only to document what I know to have been in place at the time of this writing or at some point in the past. It is not difficult to fabricate these signature plates, and in several instances where the original nameplates have been stolen or broken, replacement replicas have been made available with relative ease.

Nora Williams told the story of someone in the console engraving department who would routinely make keychain fobs out of Harrison signature plates to hand out to workers and friends! So, the mystique continues.

Opus 909-A: All Saints Episcopal Church, Worcester, Massachusetts, 1933, 1940–1949.

The organ was recorded for Volume XI of the King of Instruments series played by Henry Hokans, the organist of the church at the time.

Opus 910-A: Grace Episcopal Cathedral, San Francisco, California, 1933, 1952.

Richard Purvis played a program of his compositions for Volume V of King of Instruments, although he was identified simply as “staff organist.”

Opus 927: Trinity Church on the Green, New Haven, Connecticut, 1935, 1949.

Opus 932-A: Calvary Episcopal Church, Memphis, Tennessee, 1935, 1952.

Harrison’s professional correspondence mentions his traveling to Memphis to work on the organ. Adolf Steuterman was the long-time organist of Calvary Church, a respected musician in that city, and was friendly with GDH.

Opus 936: St. John’s Chapel, Groton School, Groton, Massachusetts, 1935, 1945–1962.

The organ was featured for Volume VII of King of Instruments, played by Marilyn Mason.

Opus 940: Episcopal Church of the Advent, Boston, Massachusetts, 1935, 1964.

Opus 1024: University of Texas at Austin, Recital Hall, Austin, Texas, 1941.

This was a large, four-manual organ for the recital hall in the new music building, containing the usual four manual divisions, plus a Positiv, Bombarde, and floating String organ. A new console was provided in 1965 as Opus 1024-A, which does not contain a Harrison signature plate. The organ has since been installed in a new church building for St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Amarillo, Texas, which has been widely documented on video, and a signature plate is not on it.

However, in a letter to Brock Downward for his dissertation about Harrison, E. William Doty, professor emeritus and long-time organ teacher at the university, wrote that:

After the College of Fine Arts had been in existence for two years, the Board of Regents authorized the construction of a music building plus an organ to go in the recital hall . . . . Its acoustics were designed by C. C. Potwin of Electrical Research Corporation. He was recommended by Paul Boner, UT Professor of Physics, who was one of several consultants on the building and the organ. Ned Gammons of Christ Church, Houston, now at Groton School was another consultant whose ideas on design were incorporated . . . . In my judgement [sic] G. Donald Harrison was the greatest artist tonal designer of the first half of this century and we are very proud that he signed the University of Texas organ because in his judgement it was one of his best.³⁰

So, the mystique continues, but there is no doubt that this organ in its new home is a success and probably far exceeds its effectiveness in its original location according to those who knew it then, including Gerre Hancock who studied on it with Doty when he was a student at the university.

Opus 1036: Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts, 1942.

Conclusions

Beginning with the Groton organ in 1935, which Harrison himself identified as a turning point in his design of the Classic organ, it is a fairly straightforward task to identify further similar designs throughout the 1930s and 1940s leading up to the Tabernacle organ in 1945—and from thence to others in a similar trajectory, which GDH himself then signed, up until his death in 1956. Even so, if one were listening to a variety of the company’s instruments during this period, whether signed or not, there is no foolproof, obvious, definite distinction. Similarly, from a technical standpoint there are no absolute defining attributes or “smoking gun” signals that separate an organ that GDH signed from one he did not. They each bear a family resemblance in sight and sound, and some may be said to be more effective than others for any number of tangible and intangible reasons. It is, however, a given assumption that these signature organs are considered to be the best of the best that the company built.

In addition to tonal and technical attributes, however, there is another intangible aspect to the signature question that, from a purely scientific standpoint, is difficult to precisely define. Given the uniform tonal success of each of the signature organs along GDH’s developing Classic designs, I feel certain that, when all is said and done, Harrison’s reason for signing an organ also represented some very personal, quiet tribute of his own bestowing—some personal affinity GDH had for the way a particular job turned out, occasioned by its design and outcome together with perhaps some pleasant personal association with the incumbent, such as clearly was the case with Opus 1149 in Washington. Or perhaps there was the sense of a successful achievement that involved working with a collaborator on the job that reminded Harrison of his association with Schreiner and the outcome of the Tabernacle organ. There may have been some personal affinity that prompted Harrison to pronounce his own benediction on the job. And Philip Steinhaus’s letter to William Self at the outset of part 1 of this article confirms that the signature organs represent jobs with which Harrison was “deeply and personally involved.”

There certainly are wide varieties of styles to the signature organs, located in places humble and impressive, sizes small and large. Most of them are complete organs of GDH’s sole design that echo his aspirations for the Tabernacle organ, although there are obvious exceptions that contain significant portions of other builders’ work. Some signature organs are rather straightforward manifestations placed in ideal locations, and some are very unusual schemes or are the result of challenging layouts and unusual engineering solutions, such as Opus 1201 in Mount Kisco.

Some scholars and historians have posited that signature organs contain only pipework designed and finished by G. Donald Harrison. However, there are several examples that clearly suggest otherwise, such as the Washington and Kilgore organs cited previously, but also Opus 1265 at the Temple in Atlanta, Opus 1275 for the Cathedral in Albany, Opus 1208 in Harlem, Opus 1134 for Symphony Hall in Boston, and the various rebuilds of original Skinner organs that are indicated by the suffix letter “A” following the original opus number.

It is also very interesting to consider some important Aeolian-Skinner organs that were not signed by Harrison, including two of the company’s most famous: The Mother Church in Boston (Opus 1203 in 1949, the largest single organ produced by the company) and The Riverside Church in New York (Opus 1118, 1947–1955). Each is a very large, beautiful organ, in a prominent church in a major city, containing many singular attributes associated with Harrison and the American Classic Organ movement. Each possesses a sound that is unmistakable as being from Aeolian-Skinner of the era. However, each of these landmark organs was designed under the significant influence of others—in this case Lawrence Phelps and Virgil Fox, respectively. That is, their design inception was just the opposite of Opus 1075 for the Salt Lake Tabernacle where GDH was given a free hand and charged at the outset to build the organ as he saw fit. So it seems likely that GDH may not have been moved to sign organs so closely associated with others, even though they were still built by Aeolian-Skinner.

In neither case, though, can it be said that Harrison or the company in any way denigrated these organs or regarded them with less favor than the signature organs. The organ in The Mother Church was featured twice in the King of Instruments series of recordings (Volumes IX and XIII) and in reissues. GDH was quick to praise the sounds that Virgil Fox got from the Riverside organ when writing to Willis about it. When Harrison died suddenly in 1956, Virgil Fox immediately offered to play for his funeral—though in the end the small service at St. Mary’s Church in Hampton Bays, Long Island, had no music whatsoever.

The large organ formerly in the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Boston, Massachusetts, was not signed by Harrison, for the presumed same reason, that it was the result of the collaborative design of Ned Gammons of the Groton School and George Faxon, the organist of the church. Yet, the organ contains all of the hallmarks of the American Classic movement—lavishly so in fact, and it was featured in the first two volumes of King of Instruments. There appears to be no obvious hints of pettiness or retribution in Harrison’s decisions regarding jobs that he did not sign.

St. Mark’s Church in Philadelphia is yet another example of a large, prominent organ in a notable urban parish church with the same Harrison tonal attributes as contained in its contemporary sister organs in Advent in Boston and Groton, yet it was not signed by Harrison. We know that Harrison and/or Aeolian-Skinner later made significant alterations at both Advent and Groton, and it is easy to readily assume that GDH, or someone else, added the signature plates at that time. If that be the case, it is ironic that St. Mark’s, which has received no substantive alterations, does not bear Harrison’s signature, while the other two that have been altered do!

Harder to document are instances where there exists a beautiful example of Harrison’s work without the signature, and where it is known that GDH had difficult dealings in some aspect of the job with representatives of the church and/or the incumbent organist. I personally know of a couple of likely candidates for that scenario—but it is hard to substantiate, there is little to be gained by “outing” a church in this way, and in the end it is of little consequence, except that in the process these places are permanently deprived of the intangible benefit of Harrison’s privately bestowed, yet very obvious public stamp of approval for all to see as the years pass by.

For the researcher, and especially for the player, the presence of the Harrison signature plate on the console suggests an invitation to simply consider the organ on another level, to check the organ’s provenance and files, to try to see who was behind a given project, and attempt to discover the lines of continuity between Harrison and the project, further appreciating the music the organ produces in that light. In providing commentary on the signature organs, I have been able to dig deeper in some cases than others, and in no way do I present this monograph as the end of the story on this topic.

Aeolian-Skinner after Harrison

In the years after Harrison’s death, Joseph Whiteford continued the practice of placing his nameplate on many organs, but to my knowledge it was never in the form of his signature. Although I have not researched it carefully, it also appears that a larger percentage of the company’s total output during Whiteford’s tenure as tonal director received his nameplate. Of course, the total number of organs the company built continued to decrease as the 1960s led inexorably to the company’s sad denouement in 1972.

Much has been written, and even more spoken, about Aeolian-Skinner’s demise. Twenty-five years after the company closed, Michael Gariepy, who had been on the company’s technical staff, wrote:

There were four “coffin nails” which sealed the fate of Aeolian-Skinner—

1. The death of G. Donald Harrison;

2. The Southeast Expressway, which split the operation in two;

3. The departure of Joseph Whiteford from the company;

4. The move to Randolph; such were the disruptions caused by relocating the company that it took six months to return to “normal” operational efficiency.³¹

There is no doubt that Harrison’s prestige brought credit and contracts to the company, and his death is generally thought to have been the beginning of its end—and that may be so. But there is every indication, including Dun & Bradstreet reports, that Aeolian-Skinner was never in a favorable financial position following World War II and its attendant inflation. Joseph Whiteford clearly was not the typical career “organ man” that Harrison had been. There is no doubt that many of the old-timers in the company did not resonate to his patrician ways and may have lacked confidence in his leadership. But in the post-Harrison years Joseph Whiteford designed some impressive organs, including those for the symphony orchestras in New York, Philadelphia, Detroit, Milwaukee, and the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. And under his successor Donald Gillett’s direction, Aeolian-Skinner built the organ in the new Kennedy Center Concert Hall in Washington.

Many “Hail Mary” attempts were made to keep the company afloat in its closing days, and there were valiant attempts to adapt to the changing times and tastes, such as moving to a more economical and efficient factory outside of Boston and introducing tracker-action organs. Roy Perry told me that Martin Wick seriously pursued the idea of purchasing Aeolian-Skinner and moving it to Texas, with Roy as tonal director. Martin said he had no trouble building Chevrolets in one factory and Cadillacs in another! But his board did not go along with the idea. In the end it was all too little, too late.

Having played many organs designed by G. Donald Harrison, Joseph Whiteford, and Donald Gillett over my entire professional career, I feel that many of Aeolian-Skinner’s organs built since 1956 are very beautiful indeed and are landmarks easily on a par with some of those the company built under Harrison. It is prescient to read what Emerson Richards said about Joseph Whiteford when he wrote to Henry Willis shortly after Harrison’s death:

I think that he [Whiteford] has more ability than he is given credit for but he is impatient and for some reason does not inspire confidence—just why I cannot say.³²

In considering Aeolian-Skinner after Harrison’s death, Charles Callahan’s sage advice in the introductory material to his second book is still worthy of consideration:

The pendulum of taste and opinion is constantly in motion. Caught up in the enthusiasms of a particular moment in time, it is all too easy for anyone to belittle others’ achievements. Perhaps Joseph
Whiteford and his work are overdue for a fair assessment.³³

The author gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Charles Callahan, William Czelusniak, Allen Harris, Douglass Hunt, Allen Kinzey, and Larry Trupiano in the preparation of this article.

Notes

1. Barbara Owen, The Mormon Tabernacle Organ: An American Classic (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1990), 43.

29. Allen Kinsey and Sand Lawn, comp., E. M. Skinner/Aeolian-Skinner Opus List (Richmond, Virginia: Organ Historical Society, 1997), 152.

30. E. William Doty to Brock W. Downward, December 14, 1974. Downward diss., 97.

31. Michael Gariepy to Charles Callahan, February 9, 1996, Callahan, Aeolian-Skinner Remembered, 372.

32. Emerson Richards to Henry Willis III, July 12, 1956. Callahan, The American Classic Organ, 433.

33. Callahan, Aeolian-Skinner Remembered, xvi.

Bibliography

Alexander, Richard. “A Survey of the Pipe Organs Designed by G. Donald Harrison.” Master’s thesis, Yale University, School of Music, 1970.

Barnes, William Harrison. The Contemporary American Organ. 8th ed. Glen Rock, NJ: J. Fisher & Bro., 1964.

Berry, Ray, Seth Bingham, Charles M. Courboin, Everett Titcomb, Ernest White, William Self, Alec Wyton, George Faxon, Robert Baker. “G. Donald Harrison, 1889–1956: A Tribute to a Great Man.” The American Organist, vol. 39, no. 7 (July 1956): 230–231.

Bethards, Jack. “The Tabernacle Letters: The Story of the Salt Lake Organ in the Words of G. Donald Harrison and Alexander Schreiner.” The Diapason, vol. 81, nos. 6–8 (June 1990: 14–17; July 1990: 8–9; August 1990: 10–11).

______ . “The 1988 Renovation—A Builder’s Perspective.” The American Organist, vol. 22, no. 12 (Dec. 1988): 71–78. [re: the renovation of the Salt Lake Tabernacle organ].

Blanton, Joseph Edwin. The Organ in Church Design. Albany, TX: Venture Press, 1957.

Buhrman, T. Scott. “Arthur Hudson Marks.” The American Organist, vol. 22 (June 1939).

Callahan, Charles. The American Classic Organ: A History in Letters. Richmond, VA: The Organ Historical Society, 1990.

______ . Aeolian-Skinner Remembered: A History in Letters. Minneapolis: Randall Egan, 1996.

Cundick, Robert. “The 1988 Renovation—An Organist’s Perspective.” The American Organist, vol. 22, no. 12 (Dec. 1988): 79–80.

Downward, Brock W. “G. Donald Harrison and the American Classic Organ.” D.M.A. diss., Eastman School of Music, Rochester, NY, 1976.

Fesperman, John. Two Essays on Organ Design. Raleigh, NC: The Sunbury Press, 1975.

Harrison, G. Donald. “Organ,” in Harvard Dictionary of Music. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1944.

______ . “Slider Chests?” The Organ Institute Quarterly, 3 (Summer 1953).

______ , and Emerson L. Richards. “Chorus Reeds, French, English, and American.” The American Organist, vol. 24, nos. 4–7 (April 1941: 107–108; May 1941: 141–143; June 1941: 172–174; July 1941: 203–204).

Kehl, Roy. “The American Classic Symposium in Salt Lake City.” The Diapason, vol. 80, no. 5 (May 1989): 10–11.

King, John Hansen. “The King of Instruments.” The Diapason, vol. 94, no. 5, April 2003.

Kinsey, Allen, and Sand Lawn, comp. E. M. Skinner/Aeolian-Skinner Opus List. Richmond, VA: The Organ Historical Society, 1992, 1997.

Langord, Alan C. “Aeolian-Skinner: A Study in Artistic Leadership.” Bachelor’s thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1959.

Nies-Berger, Édouard. Albert Schweitzer As I Knew Him. Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press, 2003.

Owen, Barbara. The Mormon Tabernacle Organ: An American Classic. Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1990.

Richards, Emerson L. “Advent Organ in Boston.” The American Organist, vol. 19, no. 9 (September 1936): 304–307.

_______ . “An American Classic Organ Arrives.” The American Organist, vol. 26, no. 5 (May 1943): 104–108.

_______ . “Boston Symphony Hall’s Third Organ.” The American Organist, vol. 33, no. 1 (January 1950): 17–22.

_______ . “Curtis Institute’s New Organ.” The American Organist, vol. 25, no. 1 (January 1942): 10–14.

Schreiner, Alexander. “The Tabernacle Organ in Salt Lake City.” Organ Institute Quarterly, vol. 7, no. 1 (1957).

_______ . “100 Years of Organs in the Mormon Tabernacle.” The Diapason, vol. 58, no. 11 (November 1967): 19.

Zeuch, William E. “An Appreciation of the Work of G. Donald Harrison.” The American Organist, vol. 16, no. 9 (September 1933): 438–439.

About The American Organist magazine entries: for most of the twentieth century the official journal of the American Guild of Organists was The Diapason, independently owned, edited, and published in Chicago. Simultaneous with The Diapason was an organists’ journal titled The American Organist, published by T. Scott Buhrman in New York City. These two journals coexisted until 1967 when the AGO established its independent journal, initially titled MUSIC: The AGO/RCCO Magazine reflecting that it was the official journal of the American Guild of Organists and the Royal Canadian College of Organists. After Buhrman died in the 1960s his journal continued briefly, but it soon ceased operations. The AGO soon adopted the title The American Organist for their official magazine, but it is not in any way related to Buhrman’s magazine. In this bibliography the two 1988 entries referring to The American Organist refer to the magazine’s later iteration as the journal of the AGO.