Philadelphia Joins the Ranks—Dobson Opus 76

John Obetz and The Auditorium Organ were heard by an audience of thousands for the 26 years this weekly organ recital was broadcast nationwide. His bachelor’s and master’s degrees were awarded by Northwestern University, and he earned the doctorate in sacred music from Union Theological Seminary, New York City. His impressive concert career has included performances throughout the United States and Europe, including such venues as Westminster Abbey, the Duomo in Florence, the Kennedy Center, and many performances with symphony orchestras. His CD recordings are available on the RBW label. He served on the faculty of the Conservatory of Music at the University of Missouri, Kansas City for more than 30 years. Additionally, he has been an ardent and active member of The American Guild of Organists, serving for more than 30 years in a variety of leadership roles.

The latest in a series of new concert hall organs was recently inaugurated to great fanfare in Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center. Finally able to show off the completed organ in Verizon Hall, Philadelphians were justifiably proud of their newest musical accomplishment, after only being able to see—not hear—its façade these past five years. The instrument was built by Dobson Pipe Organ Builders, Ltd. of Lake City, Iowa. As is the case with so many huge organ projects, this one took a long time, some eight years to complete. While the project was initiated back in 1998, only the façade could be completed in time for the opening of the new hall in December, 2001. (Verizon is the name of the Kimmel Center’s concert hall, the Perelman Theater being its other, smaller space.) Almost five more years were then required to complete it and find time within the hall’s busy schedule to allow for the remainder of the installation, voicing, finishing, and tuning. Some 52,000 hours of labor were invested in its creation, plus another 10,000 hours for installation and voicing. Reportedly the largest concert hall organ of this generation, it’s a giant at 125 ranks, 6,938 pipes, two consoles, 300 levels of memory, four blowers, weighing 32 tons, and occupying a space 24' deep, 36' wide, and 55' tall. The centrally placed instrument dominates the hall visually. Its 32' façade, tilted slightly forward to accommodate the angles of the balconies, is placed high in the room, behind and above the stage, and is surrounded by seats that can function as either audience seating or choir loft. The attached tracker-action console is placed slightly under the façade, with openings in the overhead chamber floor to help the organist hear better. A TV monitor above the music rack helps visual communication with the stage. The second, movable console is of elegant, terraced design, and was prominently placed on the stage for the entire weekend, the one exception being for Saint-Saëns’ Third Symphony when the crowded stage required use of the attached console. Of special interest is the stage console’s bench, which looks a little like a teeter-totter. Its seat is balanced on a central pillar with cut-away sides, allowing the audience an unusually good view of feet and pedals.
Philadelphia is a city known for other outstanding instruments (Wanamaker, Girard College, etc.) and is enthusiastic about its newest acquisition, known as the Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ. Fans turned out in droves for the festive weekend—I attended eight performances in three days. All orchestra performances were sold out months in advance, and Saturday’s five-hour recital marathon attracted more than 2,000 enthusiastic listeners. Promotional material abounded—TV, kiosks, newspapers, magazines, bus panels, etc. The city was eager to hear its new organ.

Design and acoustics

Dobson states that his goal was to build an instrument that would meet the following four requirements:
• Have a dynamic range that exceeds that of the orchestra. It is not enough to depend on a chorus of high pressure reeds to provide the dynamic strength required to balance the orchestra. Every stop in every division must contribute to a grand crescendo.
• Possess a great variety of tone color. While transparent tone is characteristic of instruments of former ages, such tone is not appropriate for 19th-century literature. Bold, massed foundation stops and strong unison up
perwork should provide brightness without the appearance of parallel fifths found in mixtures. • Unyielding bass. While the orchestra possesses an incredible range of pitch and sonority, it cannot supply sustained tones of very low pitch. Thus the new organ has a wide range of 16' and 32' tone.
• An immediacy comparable to the orchestral instruments. The organ is placed in a case that assists in the projection of sound. This marriage of classical layout with romantic tonal concepts greatly aids the organ’s presence in the hall.
I sat in many different locations during the weekend, and the organ had a wonderful sense of presence everywhere, never seeming buried or remote. While the acoustics of the room are not as reverberant as organists would normally choose, the space nevertheless allows the organ tone to bloom and expand. It never seemed to be an overly “dry” room to me, as some have complained, but I noticed that the adjustable reverberation chamber doors, ARTEC’s signature acoustical design, were variously opened—much like an organ’s swell shades—and were never completely closed the entire weekend. However, even when completely open there were not two seconds of reverberation.

Olivier Latry performs with the Philadelphia Orchestra

I heard the concert Friday evening, May 12, featuring Olivier Latry as organ soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Christoph Eschenbach conducting. Latry is one of three organists at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. The Philadelphia Orchestra and the Kimmel Center had jointly commissioned Gerald Levinson, a composer now teaching at Swarthmore College, to write a new piece for the occasion. Toward Light is a bombastic piece, featuring blocks of orchestral and organ sounds, sometimes separate, sometimes combined. Exotic percussion instruments were occasionally heard, as was the large 20-bell zimbelstern placed atop and to the left of the façade. Various choruses of the orchestra and organ bantered back and forth, but the organization of the piece, if there was one, escaped these ears.
Samuel Barber’s popular Toccata Festiva was a welcome contrast. Barber, one of the Curtis Institute’s most prominent graduates, composed the piece for the 1960 inauguration of the Aeolian-Skinner organ in the Academy of Music. This night the organ and orchestra blended and balanced extremely well, and the long pedal cadenza absolutely mesmerized the audience. (Composers take note: if you want to captivate an audience, write an extended solo passage for the organ’s pedals. It’s magic!) Latry’s console manner is incredibly quiet; he sat almost motionless even during the complex pedal solo, and there were no exaggerated body movements or contortions as were displayed by some of the next day’s recitalists.
For the Toccata and the remainder of the concert, the acoustical canopy above the stage was lowered like an alien space ship to about mid-way, and while it didn’t block the organ façade from my seat on the first floor, those in the upper tiers had their view somewhat obscured. I didn’t notice that it diminished the organ sound, but apparently it was intended to do just that, and also help the orchestra musicians better hear themselves.
Next was Francis Poulenc’s Concerto in G minor for Organ, Strings, and Timpani, clearly a favorite of organists, orchestras, and audience. Here the organ’s extensive tonal palette came to the fore, as well as its wide dynamic range, allowing it to sometimes fade away into the vapors. At these moments one became aware of the extremely quiet ambiance of the room, never hearing any extraneous or mechanical noises. Intermission permitted time to visually explore the hall. Its shape is inspired by the body of a cello, and, with the exception of upholstered seats, virtually every surface—walls, ceilings, floors, and aisles—is wood, mostly very red mahogany—a red that took some getting used to. The second half of the program was devoted to Camille Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No. 3 in C minor (“Organ”). For this performance Latry sat silently at the tracker console during the long first movement, and when the organ finally made its entrance one knew instantly why concert halls need organs—authentic, artistically designed and finished pipe organs. Here the warmth and quiet elegance of the Dobson instrument stirred the heart, and when the great C major chord announced the finale those hearts were sent into near cardiac arrest.
After the concert, the audience was invited to stay for an organ “postlude,” and some 1500 remained while Mr. Latry returned to the stage console for Franck’s Chorale No. 3, Widor’s Andante Sostenuto from the Gothic Symphony, and the Vierne Carillon de Westminster. Standing ovations honored Mr. Latry, members of the Dobson firm, and the new organ. Clearly the audience loved all they saw and heard.

A five-organist recital

Saturday afternoon offered an opportunity to hear the organ as a recital instrument, featuring five organists, mostly with ties to the Curtis Institute, and, I suspect, mostly more experienced with electric action consoles. All five used the stage console, perhaps because of limited rehearsal time (the tracker console would initially require more time for registration), but because it also brought the performer and audience much closer together. Communication between the two was ideal, even with some of the 2,000-plus audience hanging over the railings of the upper tiers. Michael Barone served as host for the marathon event, offering friendly, conversational introductions of performers and music. Incidentally, Mr. Barone, known for his weekly radio program Pipedreams, has been engaged by the Kimmel Center to serve as advisor on various organ-related matters including artists, repertoire, education, and marketing. His expertise and involvement should help make certain the organ will continue to be frequently heard in concert and recital.
Marvin Mills was an engaging first performer, opening the afternoon with a varied program drawn from the 19th and early 20th centuries, beginning with Dupré and concluding with Reger. Mills is a deft and expressive performer, and his verbal program notes helped the audience better understand both music and organ. For this first hour I sat in a center lower box, considered by many to be the best place to hear the organ.
For the next performer, Alan Morison, I moved to the third tier and found that the organ sounded equally present and clear. Morrison performed more 19th- and 20th-century music—Langlais, Widor and Jongen. His performances were expansive, never rushed, and he revealed an excellent sense of timing and vocality.
Cameron Carpenter was the third performer, and for this hour I moved to the front and side of the third tier, finding the organ sound in no way diminished. His was a frantic, frenetic attack on music of Mahler, Bach, Chopin, and Vierne. All were his own transcriptions, even the Vierne, and while some in the audience were clearly thrilled with his histrionics and skill at maneuvering about the console—his technique is formidable—the central purpose of a recital, making music, never happened. It was all show biz.
Diane Meredith Belcher was the only female organist heard all weekend long! She began the fourth hour with two Bach transcriptions: the Sinfonia from Cantata No. 29 and her own arrangement of the Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, the latter suggesting a seventh Bach trio sonata—one that demands an extraordinary pedal technique. Belcher was clearly up to the task. Here for the first time we got to hear a baroque organo pleno, and from my vantage in the second tier it was precise and clean, allowing the counterpoint to be heard with clarity. Bringing us back once again to the 19th century, she closed her program with César Franck’s Grand pièce symphonique.
Gordon Turk closed the afternoon events with more music of Bach, Widor, Dello Joio, and his own “Siciliano.” For this final hour I returned to the first floor box, and decided that the organ really sounded equally well everywhere I sat. If there’s a bad seat in the house I didn’t find it.
Reflecting on the five hours of programming, I couldn’t help but wonder why the vast majority of music was drawn from the 19th century. There were no Bach preludes and fugues, no chorale preludes, no classic French music, no Buxtehude or Böhm, and only a slight nod to the 20th century. Maybe it suggests that concert halls, churches, and AGO meetings attract different audiences. Maybe it suggests that for the organ to once again become a popular medium, audiences need to be wooed with more dramatic, more accessible, less profound fare. I don’t know the answer, but the audience this afternoon was clearly enthralled, giving standing ovations to each performer, and to the organ.

Pop style and accompaniment

Sunday afternoon showcased the organ in two other roles—first taking on a theatre organ personality, and then accompanying a choir. As a prelude to the afternoon, David Hayes conducted New York’s Mannes College of Music Orchestra, Michael Stairs, organist, in a breezy work by native son David Raksin (1912–2004). Raksin, known best as a composer of over 170 film scores, had written A Song after Sundown some 25 years ago for a San Francisco AGO event, one that featured the late Keith Chapman. (Chapman, before his premature death, was the Wanamaker organist.) Parts were subsequently lost, but the piece was reconstructed for this occasion. While certainly not a concerto, the organ did have several colorful solos, letting it demonstrate its beautiful harmonic flutes and lush strings in a bluesy kind of way, and showing that it could fit in very well with a “dance band” kind of orchestra, complete with vibes, brushed snare drums, etc.
Next was Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis. Here the organ functioned in a more traditional role, undergirding the bass lines, doubling many of the choral and orchestral parts, and generally filling out the ensemble in a way frequently called for in large 19th-century works. When the huge, robust pedal stops were deployed their presence was clearly evident, and when they dropped out the bass line seemed wanting, thin, even anemic. Again, one was impressed with the presence of the organ in the room. It never was forced to scream out from behind a proscenium arch or from a buried chamber. It was right there, part of the orchestra. The choir also enjoyed a fine vantage point, standing in three rows just behind and above the stage, and surrounded with the organ. The sound these 54 singers were able to produce was incredibly powerful, filling the space with drama and emotion.

Organ and brass

The weekend closed with a concert Sunday evening for organ and brass. Eight members of the Philadelphia Orchestra’s brass section—four trumpets and four trombones—were joined by organist William Neil, who is organist and harpsichordist with the National Symphony in Washington, D.C. It was outstanding brass playing with beautiful tone, never overblown, and perfectly in tune. The thoughtfully designed program included well-known pieces from the 17th through the 20th centuries as well as several new works not yet in the popular repertoire. We heard various instrumental combinations—solos, duets, quartets, etc., and once again one became aware of the versatility of this new organ. It blended extremely well with the brass, never overpowering, and when combined with those eight performers it brought the weekend to a thrilling close. The performers were honored with yet another standing ovation.

Next season

I was particularly heartened to learn that some 50 performances during the next season will be using the organ. Visiting orchestras are being encouraged to feature the organ, complete with mini-recital postludes, and there is a great variety of other offerings as well. A “Family Concert” will feature Peter Richard Conte (present Wanamaker organist) and the Mum Puppettheatre Company. Tom Trenney will improvise along with some well-known silent films, and to assist with fund raising, there’s even a “Pay-to-Play” event when organists can play the organ—for a fee.
And so the list of new concert hall organs continues to grow. Plans are in the works for new installations in Atlanta, Georgia; Kansas City, Missouri; Nashville, Tennessee; Orange County and San Luis Obispo, California. Maybe at last a larger American public will begin to hear works heretofore rarely programmed. Let’s hope that Michael Barone’s list of some 200 works for organ and orchestra will start to influence regular programming throughout the country. The current scene is certainly encouraging, and Philadelphia is a shining example.

Three Decades of Building Organs in Lake City, Iowa

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

<www.dobsonorgan.com&gt;.

Dobson Pipe Organ Builders, Ltd.

William Ayers, 1994, voicer, pipemaker

Mitch Clark, 2004, technical designer

Lynn A. Dobson, 1974, president and artistic director

Lyndon Evans, 1988, cabinetmaker

Randy Hausman, 1988, cabinetmaker

Dean Heim, 1988, shop foreman, general organbuilding

Scott Hicks, 1997, general organbuilding

Donny Hobbs, 2003, general organbuilding, voicing

Antal Kozma, 2001, technical designer

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

Gerrid D. Otto, 1998, windchests, general organbuilding

John Ourensma, 1999, voicer, pipemaker

John A. Panning, 1984, tonal director, voicer

Kirk P. Russell, 1990, business manager

Robert Savage, 1989, leatherwork, electrical, general organbuilding

Meridith Sperling, 1985, windchests, general organbuilding

Jon H. Thieszen, 1975, technical designer

Sally J. Winter, 1983, accounting and secretarial

Dean C. Zenor, 1990, key action, administrative

Rudolf von Beckerath Orgelbau, Hamburg, Germany
Maurine Jackson Smith Memorial Organ, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Doc Rando Recital Hall

The public perception of Las Vegas is hardly one that conjures up visions of fine pipe organs. Some people who visit Las Vegas for the first time are amazed to find schools, lovely houses, and churches. At one time, Las Vegas boasted more churches per capita than any other city in the country. A recent survey counted a total of 33 pipe organs currently in Las Vegas churches, LDS chapels, and residences. Most of the church instruments tend to be relatively small. The big boom in the growth of the city (now approaching two million residents) paralleled the arrival of the mega-church, improved electronic organs, and more informal styles of worship that do not usually include the installation of organs of any kind.
It may come as a surprise that the Maurine Jackson Smith Memorial Organ, installed at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) in the Beam Music Center’s new Dr. Arturo Rando-Grillot Recital Hall, though modest in size (38 stops, 53 ranks, three manuals and pedal), is the largest pipe organ in Nevada. The hall seats 300 and is acoustically supportive of the organ.
Maurine Jackson Smith was an accomplished organist in Las Vegas and conscientiously served as a long-time church musician in several local wards of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. After raising her family, Mrs. Smith entered the University of Nevada, Las Vegas to obtain her bachelor’s degree with a major in history, graduating magna cum laude. Mrs. Smith died on October 1, 1999, after a protracted and valiant fight against cancer. The UNLV organ was given in her memory to the university and the community by her family, the Edward D. Smith family. Through this magnificent gift, her lovely spirit and devotion to excellence continue to perpetuate her memory and to inspire.
When the promise of funding for the building of an organ at UNLV was made, the choice of an organbuilder was begun by a search committee, appointed by then chair of the music department, Dr. Paul Kreider. The committee included Dr. Isabelle Emerson, Ethelyn Petersen, and Dr. Paul S. Hesselink. Dr. Kreider served in an ex-officio capacity. At its first meeting in March 2000, the committee decided that the organ must be a quality mechanical-action instrument of three manuals and pedal. Subsequently, the committee considered 18 organbuilders from Germany, Italy, England, Denmark, Canada and the United States. After visiting instruments by many of these builders, the committee chose Rudolf von Beckerath Orgelbau of Hamburg, Germany to be the builder. Two members of the committee were invited to visit the workshop in Hamburg and to see and play several instruments nearby, recently completed by the company. The Beckerath instrument initially visited by the committee had been designed and voiced by Herr von Beckerath (died 1976), so there were concerns that the qualities admired in that instrument be evident in the current work of the firm.
The project was expedited by the willingness of the donor to assume responsibility for contracting and its attendant technical logistics for the building and installation of the instrument. All aspects of the contract were turned over to his business manager, who was fluent in German. Procedural red tape, which is often part of the baggage of working with a state-supported university system, was avoided. In effect, Mr. Smith contracted for the organ to be built, was granted permission to have it installed at the university, and after installation, donated the instrument to the university. The committee stayed in close contact with the von Beckerath company throughout the process; all business arrangements were conducted with Holger Redlich, manager of the firm.
The building of the organ, from the time of signing the contract to completion, took about four and a half years. The case, pipes, windchests, and mechanism were constructed piece by piece in the Hamburg factory by 14 artisans over a period of about ten months and then securely packed into three semi-trailer-sized waterproof, sealed containers. These containers were loaded on a ship in the Hamburg harbor and made the five-week sea voyage to Los Angeles. After a customs inspection, the containers were loaded on flatbed trucks and driven to Las Vegas. They arrived in Las Vegas mid-June 2004. Voicing of the instrument was done by Rolf Miehl, tonal director of the company.
The organ is approximately 25 feet high, 20 feet wide and 8 feet deep. The organ case is constructed from blond ash wood and has color accents of deep red that contrast with the silver color of the façade pipes; the university colors are red and gray. The rather plain lines of the modern hall immediately focus on the imposing organ case. People visiting for the first time are routinely heard to exclaim, “Wow!”
The organ has a sophisticated sequencer and combination action making possible 4,000 settings. This feature is especially helpful in teaching, as each student can be assigned 100 or more pistons; students can preserve the registrations chosen for the works they are studying, so that time is not wasted in resetting pistons during practice times or lessons. The stops are numbered for ease in writing down registrations.
The terraced French-style console has naturals covered in granadilla wood, and sharps covered in bone. The oversized music rack is adjustable both forward and vertically. An on/off foot piston prevents accidental use of the crescendo pedal when in the off mode. Other foot pistons provide for Plenum, Mixtures Off, Reeds Off, and Sforzando settings and the usual coupler reversibles. The sequencer can be accessed (forward and backward) from the middle (below the Positiv keyboard), from the left and right sides of the console, and a forward foot piston is conveniently located next to the crescendo pedal for forward motion through the sequencer. Ten lighted pistons (from 0–9) are located under the Positiv keyboard and function as normal general pistons within the set of ten in use. A digital read-out above the Swell manual indicates which one of the 4000 pistons is in play; a second digital read-out displays the position of the crescendo pedal (1–60), and a third digital display informs the performer of the position of the swell shades (1–9), since they cannot be seen from the organ console. Both the Swell and Positiv tremulants are adjustable from the console.
Even though the organ was to fill the role of a concert instrument for the community, it was to be above all a teaching instrument at the university. The committee felt that the instrument needed to be “eclectic” in the best sense of the word, so that it could handle a wide variety of styles of the organ literature. It was paramount that Baroque literature could be performed with success, but it was also important that French Classic, Romantic, and modern literature fare equally as well. To give added flexibility to the performance of the full gamut of the literature, several non-unison couplers were included in the disposition.
Fittingly, the new instrument was heard for the first time in a Smith family celebration on October 1, 2004, marking to the day the fifth anniversary of Mrs. Smith’s death. Two hundred invited guests heard tributes to Maurine Jackson Smith by members of her family; one of Mrs. Smith’s favorite hymns was sung by everyone; organ selections were performed by her daughter, a niece, and a great-niece who had studied with her, and by close friends. A 75-voice choir from the stake center where Mrs. Smith had played and accompanied for many years presented a favorite anthem with four-hand organ accompaniment. Rolf Miehl and Holger Redlich of the von Beckerath firm were present to honor the family by presenting a key to the console of the organ and an exquisitely embossed and mounted pipe, accepted on behalf of the family by Mrs. Smith’s daughter, Melanie Larkin. An elegant reception provided by the university followed. The formal public inauguration on October 4 and 5 featured Daniel Zaretsky, organist of the St. Petersburg (Russia) Philharmony, in two recitals. The first recital presented a variety of works from the standard organ repertoire, and the second presented relatively unknown organ works by Russian composers.
The Southern Nevada chapter of the American Guild of Organists and the Music Department of UNLV have brought guest artists to perform recitals in Doc Rando Hall. Students and local organists have also presented recitals, and the members of the AGO chapter have presented annual Advent-Christmas recitals in early December the past three years. In January 2006, the Region IX Convention was held in Las Vegas with the von Beckerath organ being the focal instrument. This “conclave” was an unqualified success, and the versatility of the organ was demonstrated—it successfully met the challenges of an all-Emma Lou Diemer program, played by the composer; an all-Langlais program, played by Ann Labounsky; a lecture-recital on the organ works of Mozart; a violin-organ recital presented by the Murray-Lohuis Duo; a “Pipedreams Live” program (“Around Bach: Music by Sons and Students, and in the Bach Spirit”) with host Michael Barone featuring eight guest organists from many areas of region IX; and a stunning recital presented by Chelsea Chen.
—Paul S. Hesselink
Adjunct Faculty, Organ
Department of Music
University of Nevada Las Vegas

From the builder
In August 2001, our firm received a short e-mail inquiry from Dr. Paul Hesselink, member of the UNLV organ search committee, asking whether our firm was still contracting for the building of organs in the United States. Since about 1986, our company had been very successful in contracting for organs in Japan, and our company had also been engaged in restoring several Arp Schnitger instruments in Germany, as well as restoring an organ in Brazil. Because of this work, several potential U.S. customers decided to contract with other organbuilders because the waiting and delivery time would have been too long.
Certainly, we were interested in building organs in the U.S. Upon receiving our response, the Las Vegas committee asked us to prepare a proposal and cost estimate for the UNLV project. Because we knew that the committee already had in hand several proposals from other builders, and that the committee was nearing the final stages of making a decision on a builder, we worked day and night, and in two days sent a proposal to the committee. [It was fortuitous that the Beckerath proposal and cost estimate were received the day before the committee was making a trip to Southern California to see and play several instruments by builders being considered; the committee made an impromptu visit to the von Beckerath organ in the recital hall at Pomona College.—Paul Hesselink] On September 13 we received a number of questions and concerns from the UNLV committee regarding our proposal, to which we responded immediately, and on September 21 they notified us that the committee was pleased with our proposal and had decided to choose Rudolf von Beckerath Orgelbau, GmbH as the builder of the new instrument.
We made our first visit to Las Vegas the end of September 2001. We had heard much about Las Vegas and were excited to be visiting. On this trip, we were pleased to meet the donor of the funds to build the organ, Mr. Edward Smith; we also met with the architect who designed the recital hall. We showed them our proposed façade drawing. When we began designing the organ we wanted to provide a special Hamburg façade, modified to fit into the hall. The “Hamburger façade,” typical for North German organs in the 17th and 18th centuries, is a timeless architectural design, and in our modern interpretation is successful and perfect for the hall.
During this first visit we gathered on the stage of the almost-completed hall and discussed placement of the instrument, its height, width and depth and how much space on the stage could be allowed for the instrument, considering the other uses of the recital hall. Temperature and humidity requirements were evaluated, and we had a long discussion about acoustical properties of the room. We were confident about the acoustical setting because of our long and varied experience with churches and concert halls. Concerns about weight were important because we estimated that the proposed organ would weigh around eight tons.
The tonal conception of the UNLV organ was generated from the need to provide both a teaching and concert instrument. The distribution of the 38 stops, 53 ranks and 2,802 pipes into Great, Positiv, Swell and Pedal divisions was planned to give each stop its own individual and beautiful sound. Each division has its own distinctive character. Beckerath, in building all of its instruments, employs thoroughly researched and established scaling practices, uses careful methods of construction, and takes meticulous care in the voicing of each stop. Thus, the company has established a world-renowned reputation for producing organs in which individual stops function and blend impeccably in ensemble but that also produce beautiful solo sounds. These qualities provide the player with an optimum number of varied and creative registration possibilities. This makes possible artistic performance of the historic organ literature and gives the organist many choices for effective interpretation of organ compositions from the Romantic and modern literature.
Between the signing of the contract for the UNLV project in January 2001 and beginning construction of the instrument in 2003, several additional visits were made to Las Vegas to clear up questions that arose. We needed to make sure that the power supply would be compatible with the electronic components in the stop, coupler, sequencer and memory level functions. The technical plans and drawings required three months of work.
By mid-2003, 14 team members of the firm began the actual construction of the organ in our Hamburg factory. More than 7,000 man-hours would be needed to build all the thousands of parts for the organ. The builders of the case, the mechanical tracker system, the windchests, the wind channels, and the pipe makers—all of them gave their best workmanship. After the June 2004 arrival of the organ in Las Vegas, three months were needed for assembly and technical installation, and after an intensive six-week period for the voicing, the instrument was completed.
The first public hearing of the instrument on October 1, 2004, was a very exciting moment for all of us. Our finished organ was a confirmation for us to continue our path in the future as our firm has done since its beginnings: maintain the traditions of the past but let that tradition be alive in a changed shape for today and for the future. We are proud that the sound of our Beckerath organ imparts pleasure and joy to students, to performers and to listeners from the community who will hear this organ for many years to come.
—Rolf Miehl
General Organbuilding Director
Rudolf von Beckerath Orgelbau

GREAT (C to a''') 58 notes
16' Bordon
8' Principal
8' Rohrflöte
4' Octave
4' Spitzflöte
22⁄3' Quinte
2' Offenflöte
11⁄3' Mixtur V
8' Trompete
Positiv to Great
Swell to Great
Swell to Great 4'
Swell to Great 16'

POSITIV (C to a''') 58 notes
8' Holzgedackt
4' Rohrflöte
4' Principal
22⁄3'-13⁄5' Sesquialtera II
2' Waldflöte
11⁄3' Larigot
1' Scharf IV
8' Dulcian
Tremulant
Swell to Positiv

SWELL (C to a''') 58 notes
16' Flûte allemande
8' Violprincipal
8' Salicional
8' Bordon
8' Voix célèste
4' Fugara
4' Flûte octaviante
22⁄3' Nasard
2' Octavin
13⁄5' Tierce
2' Plein jeu V
16' Basson
8' Trompette harmonique
8' Hautbois
Tremulant
Swell to Swell 4'
Swell to Swell 16'

PEDAL (C to g) 32 notes
16' Principal
16' Subbass
8' Octavbass
8' Spielflöte
4' Choralbass
22⁄3' Hintersatz IV
16' Posaune
Positiv to Pedal
Great to Pedal
Swell to Pedal
Swell to Pedal 4'

Robert P. Rapp has combined careers in medicine and music, earning his M.D. degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston in 1956. After serving in the U.S. Air Force, he went into private practice in Austin, Texas. Dr. Rapp has been active in the American Guild of Organists since age 14, serving as dean of the Austin chapter 1979–81. He studied organ in Galveston 1937–46 with Norman Niles and Georgia Anne Rahe, with Lee Norrell in San Antonio (1946–47), Anthony Rahe in Houston (1949–50), Walter Haacke in Wiesbaden, Germany (1958–60), and Jerald Hamilton at the University of Texas (1961–62). He has held church organist positions at St. Mary’s Cathedral, Galveston; St. Joseph’s German Church, Galveston; the Shrine of the Little Flower, San Antonio; First Baptist Church, Galveston; St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, Austin; and Good Shepherd Episcopal Church, Austin. Dr. Rapp acted on behalf of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Amarillo, Texas, beginning in 1996, to purchase the Aeolian-Skinner organ from the University of Texas, and worked closely with the UT Dean of Fine Arts, Dr. David Deming.

“The largest pre-war (World War II) Aeolian-Skinner built by G. Donald Harrison remaining almost entirely as built has been acquired by St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Amarillo, Texas.” Thus starts the article in The Tracker (Journal of the Organ Historical Society), volume 41, number 3, 1997.
In 1938, Dr. Ezra William Doty, at the age of 31, was hired to be the first dean of the College of Fine Arts at the University of Texas in Austin. At the time there was no faculty, no curriculum, no building, and a $64,000 budget for assembling all of these. In 1940, a new Music Building was built—the only air-conditioned building on the campus—and by 1942 Dean Doty had assembled an art, music, and drama faculty that combined professional expertise with academic credentials.
The October 1, 1941 issue of The Diapason reports that Aeolian-Skinner was awarded the contract to build a new instrument for the Music Building in the summer of that year at a price of $35,000.1 Their Opus 1024 quickly became the “crown jewel” of the school. Dr. Palmer Christian, professor of organ at the University of Michigan and with whom Dean Doty had studied, played the dedication on November 10, 1942.
In various issues of The American Organist in 1944, there are detailed accounts of the recital hall and the organ, along with much information long forgotten. Dr. Christian is quoted:

The new Aeolian-Skinner is an excellent job, one of the best yet. The clarified ensemble does not sound like a horrified ensemble—there is orchestral color. The Orchestral Oboe is excellent. The floating Positiv is a fine achievement, likewise the floating String Organ. Full organ is perfectly tempered to the size of the room—106 stops in a room seating 504—and the climaxes do not blow one out of the seats.2

Opus 1024 was described in the University of Texas campus newspaper The Daily Texan as being

eight organs in one: there is the Positiv, an authentic 17th-century instrument, and a Great organ which is designed in 18th-century tonal style. The usual Swell, Choir, Solo and Pedal organs are included, but these have a choice collection of orchestral solo stops. The other organs included in the one instrument are the Bombarde, which contains heavy reed stops, and a floating String division, both of which may be drawn on any of the four manuals or pedal. The console has four keyboards of 61 notes each and a pedal board with 32 notes. The round and square pipes are made of tin, lead, zinc, and wood.3
Thus began the life of this magnificent, state-of-the-art instrument, containing 6,173 pipes, 103 ranks, 106 stops and 84 voices, with 45 couplers and 70 combination pistons. It quickly became the landmark organ for Aeolian-Skinner. Organists and organ committees from afar came to play, listen, and gain insight into organ planning, construction, and choices of specifications.
As Opus 1024’s fame grew, so did Aeolian-Skinner’s reputation as the maker of highly esteemed organs. Opus 1024 stands out with its famous Aeolian-Skinner kin in Texas as a masterwork of American organ building. G. Donald Harrison last visited Opus 1024 on July 26, 1954. In his letter to Henry Willis (in London), he remarked that the temperature was an astounding 113 degrees!
The music library at the University of Texas verifies that 130 individual organists had performed 293 programs on Opus 1024 over the years 1942–1981. Among the famous organists presented were Catharine Crozier, Alexander Schreiner, Arthur Poister, David Craighead, Marcel Dupré, Carl Weinrich, Virgil Fox, Flor Peeters, Claire Coci, Fernando Germani, Marilyn Mason, Jean Langlais, E. Power Biggs, Robert Noehren, Jeanne Demessieux, George Markey, Vernon de Tar, Jack Ossewarde, John Weaver, Jerald Hamilton, Robert Baker, William Teague, Heinz Wunderlich, William Whitehead, Pierre Cochereau, André Marchal, John Rose, Peter Hurford, Gillian Weir, and Michael Murray.4
In 1965, after countless hours of heavy use for over 23 years by students and visiting artists, it became obvious that renovation was required. Aeolian-Skinner provided a new console, a new combination action, some mechanical repairs and revoicing of reeds, and some revoicing of flues at a total cost of $65,000.5
Following this, the organ was once again heard by the public. These performances were popular (and free), giving the listening public an opportunity to enjoy classical pipe organ music constantly, and continued until 1975. (Michael Murray was the last noted recitalist to perform in the series.) In 1979, Opus 1024 ceased to be used for degree performances. The churches about the campus were used instead. In 1981, the last public hearing of the organ was played by American Guild of Organists members, with Dean Doty in attendance.
In 1983 a new music building was completed (Bates Recital Hall), and a large tracker organ was installed there. The old Music Building recital hall was used for lecture space by the Architecture Department. Various music programs were given there, but the organ sat silent on stage, console locked, with façade pipes still visible.
So ends one chapter of Opus 1024; now begins the next. On February 11, 1996, an accidental fire destroyed St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Amarillo, Texas. It was at this time that it was brought to the attention of Margaret Lacy, the organist of St. Andrew’s, that perhaps the UT organ could be purchased and become a part of the new sanctuary.
After many inquiries and contacts with the UT regents and staff, in 1997 Opus 1024 was rescued from its “retired” status and bought by St. Andrew’s Church. The church chose Schoenstein & Co. to rebuild the organ because of the company’s Aeolian-Skinner connection (Louis Schoenstein worked for
E. M. Skinner, and Lawrence Schoenstein was the West Coast representative for Aeolian-Skinner).
From the very beginning of the construction of the new St. Andrew’s sanctuary, acoustics and placement for the instrument were of utmost importance. Space for the organ was prepared, similar in size to the organ chamber as it existed in the recital hall in Austin, but with better tonal egress. Thanks to the joint efforts of Margaret Lacy and the church’s forward-looking leaders, Jack Bethards, president and tonal director of Schoenstein & Co., Ewart “Red” Wetherill, acoustical consultant, and the Overland Partners, architects, of San Antonio, Texas, Opus 1024 was on its way to having a truly favorable environment to enhance its American Classic tones, which G. Donald Harrison had labored so hard to achieve.
In its Austin home, the only drawback the organ had was that the hall was without reverberation (planned that way by “experts”), so that G. Donald Harrison was never pleased with its placement. In fact, a news article in The Daily Texan of November 11, 1942 quotes a comment gleaned from audience criticism: “the auditorium is too completely lacking in echo.” Now, in Amarillo, it would have the luxury of 3–4 seconds of reverberation, thus giving all the qualities of sound that its original designer had hoped for.
Schoenstein & Co. meticulously made sure that the 1942 Harrison installation was true to the maker’s original tonal ideas. Any changes made in configuration were to the betterment of the pipe locations, with correct speech being maintained. These were as follows:
1) The huge pipes of the 32′ Contra Bourdon were put on the third level above the enclosed boxes for the Choir, Swell, String and Solo divisions, thereby giving them direct speech into the nave rather than being placed in a far left alcove as in Austin;
2) The 32′ Kontra Posaune pipes were likewise placed directly in front of the exposed chests (Pedal, Great, and Positiv divisions), giving them a similar clarity rather than being muffled as in the original layout;
3) The Solo Tuba 8′ did not fit properly on the Solo chest, and was placed unenclosed also in front of the exposed chests described above, thereby giving it direct egress (Research in Aeolian-Skinner records fails to reveal why the Tuba had been placed on a toe board that was too small. It may have been a last minute change, an error, or one of the 1964 changes.);
4) On the Solo chest in the Tuba position Schoenstein added their beautiful Symphonic Flute 8′, thus providing an open solo flute to complement the stopped one;
5) There were two complete changes. The Great mixture, Fourniture III–V, was of extremely large scale in the trebles and at full volume would have been too loud for its new home. Therefore 285 new pipes were made and the original pipes were carefully wrapped and boxed and are in the storage area of the new sanctuary. The same was true of the treble pipes of the Great Quint, which were replaced.
The organ has two additions other than the Symphonic Flute: a Cymbelstern and a medium-volume, medium-scale Pedal 16′ Bourdon. The original stopped Subbass of huge scale was too large in the responsive acoustics of the church and could be used only in large combinations. Its name was changed to Major Bass.
All this makes the organ absolutely complete, lacking nothing for any organist or literature being played. There should be no complaints from any source as to these enhancing changes to an instrument so well respected.
In August 2002, the new sanctuary was completed, and in September 2004 the installation of Opus 1024 began. The huge van arrived containing the vast cargo of the instrument. This included all eleven chests, along with the Vibraharp mechanism, the 62-year-old sugar pine wood for the structure and expression boxes (Choir, Swell, Solo, String, and Bombarde divisions), the reservoirs, tremulants, expression motors, and other parts that had been completely restored to their original pristine condition by Schoenstein over the prior three years.
Work was under the direction of vice president and plant superintendent, Louis Patterson. Tonal finishing was by Jack Bethards with Mark Hotzenpiller and Steuart Goodwin with Wendell Bolltyme. Other key Schoenstein personnel were David Beck, Peter Botto, Chris Hansford, Oliver Jaggi, Joe Lamberana, George Morten, Robert R. Rhoads and Chet Spencer. To provide mobility and multiple memories, the console was equipped with a Peterson ICS control system (replacing the original combination action and relay) and Harris stop knob actions.
Over the next several months, the people of St. Andrew’s marveled at the installation process, and eagerly awaited the day that they could hear Opus 1024. That day came in November 2004, when 25 ranks of the Swell and Choir were playing. Margaret Lacy played it for the first time and was just amazed. She said, “It was a glorious sound, and with over three seconds of reverberation time. Opus 1024 had been given a vibrant and thrilling new voice.” (Seventy-eight ranks were yet to be heard!) In February 2005 the installation was completed. All 103 ranks were in and playing. The Aeolian-Skinner was brought back to life.
The Amarillo Globe-News reported the event of the organ’s arrival as “An Unusual Organ Transplant.”6 There can never be a happier group than those people living in the city of Amarillo who weekly (and quite often daily) get to enjoy the tones of one of the most spectacular organs ever produced by the Aeolian-Skinner company.
The list of organists who have played Opus 1024 in its new home keeps growing, with each performer declaring what a thrill it is to play. The transition from Austin to Amarillo made all the difference and extended the playing life of Opus 1024.
The exciting inaugural event occurred in June 2005 with Thomas Murray performing solo and in conjunction with the Amarillo Symphony Orchestra (playing Handel’s Concerto in F and Poulenc’s Concerto in G). The future of the organ is nothing but exciting as Margaret Lacy continues to bring the brightest and best musicians to come and enjoy the renovated and renewed powerful and beautiful tones of Opus 1024, first heard 63 years ago.
Thus the organ has reached its final destination and fulfilled the dreams of not only its designer, but the dreams of a vast number of organists and non-organists in the west Texas city of Amarillo. It is waiting for any and all who desire to hear what a “vintage” Aeolian-Skinner can sound like in the electronic age. Nothing can compare to what you will experience when you sit in St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church on South Georgia Street.

St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church
Amarillo, Texas
Aeolian-Skinner Organ Co., Opus 1024
84 voices, 103 ranks

GREAT (3″ wp)
16′ Double Open Diapason*
16′ Quintaten
8′ Diapason
8′ Principal
8′ Bourdon
4′ Octave
4′ Rohrflöte
22⁄3′ Quint
2′ Super Octave
13⁄5′ Tierce
III–V Fourniture
III Cymbel
Vibra-Harp (Choir)
Harp (Choir)
Chimes (Solo)
Harp-Celesta (Choir)
Bombarde on Great
String on Great
* Rank to be added when casework is completed.

SWELL (3¾″ wp)
16′ Rohrgedeckt
16′ Contra Salicional
8′ Geigen Prinzipal
8′ Stopped Flute
8′ Flauto Dolce
8′ Flute Celeste
8′ Salicional
8′ Voix Céleste
4′ Oktave Geigen
4′ Flauto Traverso
22⁄3′ Nazard
2′ Flautina
13⁄5′ Tierce
IV Plein-Jeu
16′ Fagotto
8′ Trompette
8′ Oboe
8′ Vox Humana
4′ Clarion
Vibra-Harp (Choir)
Harp (Choir)
Harp-Celesta (Choir)
Tremulant
Bombarde on Swell
String on Swell
Swell 16′
Swell Unison Off
Swell 4′

CHOIR (3¾″ wp)
16′ Contra Viola
8′ English Diapason
8′ Concert Flute
8′ Viola
8′ Viole Sourdine
8′ Viole Celeste
8′ Dulciana
8′ Unda-Maris
4′ Fugara
4′ Harmonic Flute
2′ Zauberflöte
16′ Bassoon
8′ Clarinet
8′ Cor Anglais
Vibra-Harp
Harp
Chimes (Solo)
Harp-Celesta (Toe lever with indica- tor for dampers)
Tremulant
Bombarde on Choir
String on Choir
Choir 16′
Choir Unison Off
Choir 4′

BOMBARDE (7″ wp)
16′ Bombarde
8′ Trompette Harmonique
4′ Clarion Harmonique
IV–VI Grand Choeur

SOLO (10″ wp)
8′ Symphonic Flute
8′ Doppelflöte
8′ Violoncello
8′ Violoncello Céleste
4′ Concert Flute
8′ French Horn
8′ Orchestral Oboe
Chimes
Tremulant
8′ Tuba (Unenclosed)
Bombarde on Solo
String on Solo
Solo 16′
Solo Unison Off
Solo 4′

POSITIV (2½″ wp)
8′ Nachthorn
4′ Koppelflöte
22⁄3′ Nasat
2′ Prinzipal
13⁄5′ Terz
1′ Sifflöte
III Zimbel
Cymbelstern

STRING (10″ wp)
16′ Contre Viole
8′ Viole de Gambe
8′ Gambe Celeste
8′ Viole d’Orchestre
8′ Viole Celeste
8′ Gemshorn
8′ Gemshorn Celeste
4′ Violina

PEDAL (5″ wp)
32′ Contra Bourdon (ext. Major Bass)
16′ Principal
16′ Major Bass
16′ Sub Bass
16′ Contra Salicional (Swell)
16′ Contre Viole (String)
16′ Lieblich Gedeckt (Swell)
8′ Principal
8′ Gedeckt Pommer
8′ Still Gedeckt (Swell)
8′ Salicional (Swell)
51⁄3′ Quint
4′ Super Octave
4′ Nachthorn
2′ Spitzflöte
V Mixture
32′ Kontra Posaune
16′ Posaune
16′ Bombarde (Bombarde)
16′ Bassoon (Choir)
8′ Trumpet
4′ Clarion
2′ Rohrschalmei
Chimes (Solo)
Bombarde on Pedal
String on Pedal

Couplers
Great to Pedal 8′
Swell to Pedal 8′
Swell to Pedal 4′
Choir to Pedal 8′
Choir to Pedal 4′
Solo to Pedal 8′
Solo to Pedal 4′
Positiv to Pedal 8′

Swell to Great 16′
Swell to Great 8′
Swell to Great 4′
Choir to Great 16′
Choir to Great 8′
Choir to Great 4′
Solo to Great 16′
Solo to Great 8′
Solo to Great 4′
Positiv to Great 8′

Swell to Choir 16′
Swell to Choir 8′
Swell to Choir 4′
Solo to Choir 8′
Positiv to Choir 8′
Pedal to Choir 8′

Great to Solo 8′
Swell to Solo 8′

Great/Choir Transfer

Console
Peterson ICS-4000, capture combination action: 100 memories and lock
16 General pistons (13 duplicated by toe studs)
10 Great pistons
10 Swell pistons
10 Choir pistons
10 Solo pistons
10 Pedal pistons
4 Coupler pistons
1 Set piston
1 General Cancel piston
Programmable piston range for each memory

Swell to Great reversible piston and toe stud
Positiv to Great reversible piston
Choir to Great reversible piston
Solo to Great reversible piston
Swell to Choir reversible piston
Positiv to Choir reversible piston
Solo to Choir reversible piston
Great to Solo reversible piston
Swell to Solo reversible piston
Great to Pedal reversible piston and toe stud
Swell to Pedal reversible piston and toe stud
Choir to Pedal reversible piston and toe stud
Positiv to Pedal reversible piston
Solo to Pedal reversible piston and toe stud
32′ Posaune reversible toe stud
32′ Bourdon reversible toe stud
All Swells to Swell reversible piston and toe lever with indicator
Manual 16s and Pedal 32s Off reversible piston and toe lever with indicator
Mixtures Off reversible piston and toe lever with indicator
Reeds Off reversible piston and toe lever with indicator
Cymbelstern reversible toe lever
Full Organ reversible piston and toe lever with indicator

Three balanced expression pedals
Crescendo pedal with indicator
Pedal on Solo combinations
Pedal on Swell combinations
Pedal on Great combinations
Pedal on Choir combinations

Peterson ICS-4000 relay system

John Bishop is executive director of the Organ Clearing House.

The hands of an artist
Wendy and I are just back from a vacation in Greece. Our daughter Meg has lived in Athens for three years, and we’ve visited several times. With her help, we’ve had a wonderful introduction to Greek history and culture. There are plenty of difficulties associated with living in Greece—the current economic crisis there is fueling labor strikes and deadly protests, and plenty of that was going on during our visit, just a few blocks from Meg’s apartment. But the deep history of the country is fascinating and moving. As you walk or drive around Athens you constantly rediscover the Parthenon perched high on the Acropolis. It seems there are hundreds of tiny streets that provide distant views of the majestic temple, and you can easily identify which rooftop terraces provide those views.
As you walk, you stumble across countless archeological sites hidden in quiet neighborhoods away from the bustle of the Acropolis. The city’s streets are lined with orange and lemon trees—sounds romantic and smells wonderful, until the fruit ripens and the sidewalks are littered with rotting lemons and oranges.
Greece is not a pipe organ country. There is a large organ by Klais in the Friends of Music Hall in Athens, but the dominance of the Greek Orthodox Church, which does not use musical instruments, means that there are very few organs there. Our vacation was a tour of the Cycladic Islands in the Aegean Sea, which form a political state whose capital is Spathi on the island of Serifos. The population of Greece is about eleven million—ten thousand are Roman Catholics, and most of them live on Serifos. There are dueling cathedrals (Orthodox and Catholic) on hilltops above the city, and sure enough, there’s a small pipe organ in the Catholic cathedral. We climbed hundreds of stairs from the port to the hilltop, and unbelievably we were not able to get into the organ loft.
It’s common in American churches to see a plaque honoring the succession of pastors. A few congregations around us in New England trace that history to the seventeenth century. Organists revere the plaque in the organ loft of the Church of St. Sulpice in Paris where organists are traced back to Nicolas Pescheur in 1601. (This has been easy to maintain as there have been only five organists there since 1863.)1 The plaque honoring clergy in the Cathedral of Serifos goes back to 343 AD. No kidding!
The island of Aegina is a touristy place near Athens, a good stopping point for boats traveling to the more distant Cycladies. It’s a major producer of pistachio nuts (we brought home a couple kilos) and home to some extraordinary archeological sites. The museum in Aegina Town includes decorated pottery from 2500 BC and shows a model of a bronze casting facility from about 1000 BC that was discovered nearby. I was captivated by the idea that such sophisticated techniques were developed so long ago (4500-year-old pottery kilns?), and as the Cycladic islands are volcanic, including a couple that are still active, I wondered what role volcanoes might have had in the development of crafts that depend on intense heat.
One of the most gifted Greek sculptors was Praxiteles. He lived from 400–330 BC, not all that old. But his work was far ahead of his time. As far as we know, he was the first to sculpt life-size female nudes from marble. There’s a legend that he had a romantic relationship with his primary model, Phryne, who came from Thespiae (origin of the term thespian) and was known as one of the most beautiful women of her time. She was the model for Praxiteles’ famous Aphrodite of Credos. Their relationship was explored by Camille Saint-Saëns in his comic opera Phryne. (How did he ever stumble on that subject?)
Praxiteles worked in Athens. His model came from Thespiae, about 150 kilometers away. He worked with marble from the Cycladic Island of Paros, more than 200 kilometers away by water. Think of the logistics of transporting a six-foot block of marble from Paros to Athens just to carve a statue of a pretty woman. It would be difficult enough now with power equipment and hydraulics. Praxiteles produced artworks of staggering beauty and unprecedented liveliness. I suppose his love for the beautiful Phryne brought out the best in him.

Too many cooks
I wonder if there was anyone looking over Praxiteles’ shoulder saying, “Take a little more off the top,” or, “You’ve got the left earlobe too fat.”
We know that happened to Michelangelo as he released David from a huge block of Carrara marble. He was commissioned by the Overseers of the Office of Works of the Cathedral in Florence, and was in fact the third artist to receive the commission. The overseers were very concerned that the huge and wildly expensive block of marble (already named David) was neglected for twenty-five years, lying on its side exposed to the elements. The committee got its act back together, had the stone set upright so artists could see its potential, and went looking for someone to realize the project after the first two attempts failed. Leonardo da Vinci was interviewed, but the twenty-six-year-old Michelangelo got the gig.
Not only was he hired by a committee to produce the piece, but another committee including Leonardo and his colleague/competitor Botticelli was formed to choose the location. There is record of disagreement among the members of the committee before the site by the entrance to the Palazzo Vecchio on Piazza della Signoria was chosen. Apparently Leonardo didn’t get his way.2
So much for the image of the artist toiling in his studio, free to express his deepest emotions through an unlikely medium that he understands better than anyone. It’s a romantic image to be sure, but especially when there’s a lot of money involved and the artwork is for a public place, there are likely to be a lot of spoons in the soup.

I know that guy
Each month I receive several journals with photos of pipe organs on the front cover and I always try to guess the builder before I look inside. I’m often wrong, but there are a half-dozen North American organbuilders whose styles are so clearly recognizable to me that I get them right every time. As most organs are commissioned by committee, I admire those builders who can create and maintain recognizable styles.
I like to think of a pipe organ as an expression of the sensibilities of the builder. I love the process of organ design, when the concept of an instrument gets put on paper. When several companies are invited to submit proposals to a church for a new instrument, it’s interesting to see the various drawings—how each firm would meet the particular challenges of the building. And sometimes we get to see several different concepts by a single builder for a particular instrument.
Organbuilder Lynn Dobson has produced many wonderful pipe organ designs, and as his firm celebrates its thirty-fifth anniversary they have created an online exhibition of many of his drawings, including designs of many organs that were never built. When you scroll through this rich display, you can see projects in various stages of design, from simple back-of-a-napkin pencil sketches to elaborate scale models. Take a look at the designs for the important organ they built for the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia (Opus 76) and you’ll see a drawing and a model (two different designs) that are radically different from the organ that was actually built. You can find this exhibit at www.dobsonorgan.com/dwg/home.html.
Dobson’s exhibition reflects his exceptional talent for design, and it implies thousands of hours of committee work as each design was presented, discussed, criticized, and altered. From first-hand experience I know well the feelings that accompany the rejection of a design by a committee member. One such meeting was held in a newly decorated church parlor, and I wondered if anyone who was speaking up against my design had been involved in creating the cacophony of clash and kitsch, which was that room.
Maybe I flatter Lynn by mentioning him in the same breath with Michelangelo, and to be honest I think Michelangelo is the larger talent, but the idea that a great artwork can be both the expression of its creator and of those who pay for and “consume” it, is one of the most interesting facets of the organbuilder’s trade. And that a personal style can transcend the whims and pressures of dozens of committees reflects both artistic integrity and conviction.

Stop, look, and listen
Visual design is only part of the job. A pipe organ is both an architectural element and a musical instrument. Ideally, there’s some relationship between an organ’s appearance and its musical content—but sometimes a building’s architecture doesn’t allow it. It’s easy to picture the stark contemporary building owned by a congregation that would be best served by an organ of classic style. Sometimes an ornate classic case looks good in such building—it’s possible to make a case for the organ to serve as the only beautiful thing in the place! But organbuilders often place organs with classic influence in contemporary buildings.
As we’re talking about Dobson, take a look at their instrument for the Church of St. Peter Claver in West Hartford, Connecticut: www.dobsonorgan.com/html/instruments/op85_westhart ford.html. The stoplist is classical, even predictable, but the case is pure contemporary. And by the way, in this design Dobson has dealt with one of the most common problems. Pipe organs are about height, and contemporary American church buildings often have low ceilings. The organ in West Hartford implies a struggle between the organ and the ceiling.
We often hear of a pipe organ that was designed by the local organist, a source of pride for a congregation. This usually means that the organist wrote up the stoplist, likely subject to discussion with the builder. If an organbuilder has a recognizable visual style, he would certainly have a signature tonal style. So how does it work if the Request for Proposal from a church includes a stoplist? What if the organbuilder doesn’t agree with the concept implied by that stoplist?
One good reason for including a stoplist in an RFP is to solicit proposals that are easy to compare. Once several proposals are studied and a builder is chosen, then it’s time to work on final specifications. So it’s back to the committee. I know of one large organ built several years ago whose stoplist was the product of many hours of conversation in a small bar across the street from the church.

Who brought the camel?
So what good comes from artworks designed by committee? You know the old saying, “A camel is a horse that was designed by a committee.” If too many people, especially those who know little or nothing about organs, are involved in planning an organ, whose art is it? Or is it even art? An organbuilder can withdraw a proposal if he’s not happy with the concept the client insists on, but you can’t eat a withdrawn proposal. How many of us have produced projects we disagree with? If you have a story, send me a message at john@organclearing house.com.
Our current project was greatly influenced by the church’s organist, whose insight into what an organ console can be was an education for me. Adding a half-dozen clever and unusual controls increased the organ’s flexibility exponentially. The time we spent together planning the project before any screws were turned or leather was cut was a collegial creative process that I think enlightened us both.
We often think of the artist as independent. Of course, art of a personal scale is usually the purview of the artist. But I wonder if the celebrated portrait artist John Singer Sargent was ever told, “Just don’t make me look fat.” I bet he was, and more than once.
Monumental art, including pipe organs, is almost always a community effort. There is usually a central creative force, but when there is a committee involved to raise and spend money responsibly, they usually insist on a role in the planning. If organbuilders are competing for a project, they must decide how much they want the job and how much they are willing to compromise their vision of the ideal instrument.
It’s rare for a builder to be given a blank check and a free hand. It would be a special opportunity for a creative person—but also what a huge responsibility. Organbuilders, if this ever happens to you, make sure you build something the church can use.