David Pickering at Kansas State

Quimby Pipe Organs, Inc., Warrensburg, Missouri; Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas

Introduction

Austin Organs, Inc., Opus 2352 (1961), housed in All Faiths Chapel on the Kansas State University campus, was one of the earliest American Classic performance organs to appear at an academic institution in the region and certainly the first that was larger than thirty ranks. This organ, designed by James B. Jamison, tonal architect at Austin Organs, Inc., from 1933 to his death in 1957, reflects the builder’s tonal ideals of the 1950s, which differed in some ways from those of the American Classic movement. Jamison’s contributions to the profession have been largely overlooked. His dedication to his ideals and Kansas State University’s organ project have left a lasting impression that was a labor of love. The story that unfolds contains details about Jamison’s life that appear in print for the first time and lend credence to the thought that Opus 2352 may very well be his last will and testament to the organ world.

History of All Faiths Chapel

In early 1947 plans were announced to build All Faiths Chapel with an accompanying chime tower as a memorial to the 5,000 Kansas State University students and alumni who had served in World War II. The new chapel design was to feature two wings, the smaller of which would contain about 68 seats and be used as a meditation chapel. Funds for the construction of this space were provided by the Danforth Foundation of St. Louis, Missouri. Groundbreaking services for the meditation chapel were held in October 1947, and the chapel was dedicated two years later on October 9, 1949, and named Danforth Chapel.

The initial seating arrangements for All Faiths Chapel were for 545 people, 465 of which would be seated on the main floor and 80 in a balcony. Fundraising efforts for All Faiths Chapel progressed at a slow rate: $118,813 was raised by December 1949, and by late 1952 $157,000 was available for the chapel. It was decided that a more contemporary architectural design would replace the original design, which, according to chairman Arthur Peine, had “priced itself out of the market.” The All Faiths Chapel addition was designed by Charles W. Shaver, a church architect and trustee of the Kansas State University Foundation, and Theodore Chadwick, professor of architecture at Kansas State University.

Early history of the All Faiths Chapel organ

A pipe organ for the new chapel was included in the early plans and must have surely been a dream for the new assistant professor of music Robert Hays who was hired as the organ faculty member at Kansas State University in 1946. Hays was insistent from the beginning that Austin should build the new organ in All Faiths Chapel. Furthermore, he insisted that James Jamison design the organ and that Richard Piper, newly appointed tonal director at Austin, voice the organ. The first known letter between Kansas State University and James Jamison is dated September 19, 1952, from music department chair Luther Leavengood extending an invitation for Jamison to view the plans for All Faiths Chapel and to submit a design.¹ Leavengood also revealed that the proposed expenditure for the organ was $28,000–30,000.²

After about seven months of correspondence between Kansas State University and Jamison, Dean Roy Seaton wrote to Jamison to tell him that only $31,000 was available for the organ, $7,000 less than he had proposed to the university during the previous seven-month interim.³ While the $7,000 in and of itself wasn’t an insurmountable sum, construction bids had not yet been awarded for All Faiths Chapel, and therefore Dean Seaton warned that “an excessive cost plus the $7,000 might force a revision of our plans—a lesser organ, cheaper seats, etc., or postponement until more money could be raised. We do want you to understand, however, that you are our chosen builder. . . . We should also like to send to you the completed plans for scrutiny before they are let out for bids.”⁴

Jamison first visited Kansas State University about a year later in late 1953 or early 1954, and in a letter dated January 28, 1954, he presented Hays with the first stoplist proposal for the All Faiths Chapel organ, which was influenced by Austin’s recent, successful installation at Zion Reformed Church in Lodi, California.⁵ This stoplist was modeled after Jamison’s “Minimum All-Purpose American Organ,” defined by Jamison as “the smallest organ that will adequately play any classic organ literature properly, accompany a dignified church service, congregational singing, mixed or boy choirs, [and] facilitate transcription and improvisation.”⁶ Jamison also made the following comments about the stoplist:

Do not worry about the apparent light Pedal. It is not, really, at all. The 16′ Spitzprincipal is a Violone in its low octave and is a true independent pedal register except in full organ . .  . The Clarinet on the Pedal is a surprise—most useful. The 16′ Dolce plus 16′ Gedeckt approximate a Bourdon—and are far more musical—because the Dolce yields definition.

I have long championed the augmented Pedal Diapason which we scale very expertly . . . It ‘tells’ in fine fashion and is 97½% as effective as three straight ranks. You will just have to believe me—for it is so. It saves more than enough for the two-rank Pedal mixture!

I ask that you and the school authorities give this proposition careful and deliberate thought. Perhaps it may prove possible to raise the $38,086 it costs, delivered and installed.⁷

Robert Baker, well-known American church musician (then of First Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn) and organ recitalist, wrote to Hays, “I’m delighted about the news of your getting a new organ—and you will be delighted with what Jamison and Austin do—the Lodi instrument is all he says, and more! One of the best I’ve ever touched. I’ve written a glowing letter to your Mr. Peine and meant every word. Jamison is the smartest man in the field, and I’m trying to get him to write a book.”⁸ Thank heavens Baker did this since Jamison was able to crystallize his final ideas on organ design in the book Organ Design and Appraisal, which was published shortly after his death.

Groundbreaking for All Faiths Chapel occurred a few months later in the spring of 1954. Jamison visited the Kansas State University campus a second time in November 1955 and prefaced his visit with these words, “I am delighted to learn that the chapel project is on the move and the organ will follow . . . this time I hope we can cinch it. In a way, the delay has not hurt the quality the college will get for we have not stood still but have emphatically improved our work.”⁹

However, just a few months later (March 22, 1956), Jamison wrote a letter to Basil Austin with shocking news:

I have some bad news. X-ray pictures show I have the dread disease and shall be operated on in about three weeks. The doc says I have an 80% or better chance—as things have been caught fairly early . . . he told me just an hour ago. I suspected it and was mentally as prepared as one can be. I intend to go through with it as courageously as I can and hope he is right in saying I may again be as well as ever. However, I have had my full share and have no complaint. I am glad I have lived to see the firm do so well and on the way to supremacy—as it most certainly is.¹⁰

Five days later, Jamison wrote Basil Austin again commenting about some of Austin’s most recent work in California:

The first violence of the shock is wearing off a bit and I feel OK and want to work—and keep from thinking about my trouble. . . . I had word this week from Gray Company that my book is now being put in print—which means—I hope—that it may be out this year. All these [organ] design principles will be clearly stated in it. Let me assure you they will each bear thought. Good stops are not enough—they have to be properly arranged. Then you can bring off effects unheard of in clumsier schemes.  Well—it is 6:45 AM. I had breakfast half an hour ago—and already have written a lot. I have so much to say.¹¹

A little less than three weeks later, All Faiths Chapel was dedicated on April 15, 1956. Still, no significant progress had been made in raising the extra money needed for the organ. Jamison wrote to Basil Austin in January 1957, “I asked Robert Hays to phone Piper while [he is] at Topeka and see if he could run over (50 miles) to Manhattan and size up the [chapel], etc. The college deal burns hot and cold and right now seems to be warm.”¹² About three weeks later, Jamison received the news that he would not survive the cancer that had overtaken his body. He wrote Basil Austin, “. . . my check at the hospital yesterday was unfavorable and they have discontinued medicine and told me to [sit] still and fold my hands. I have lost a great deal of weight and am terribly weak.”¹³ He also mentioned the All Faiths Chapel organ project:

I have a recent letter from the Kansas State University Foundation asking for a complete scheme and price and terms . . . am writing it out this afternoon. At least this prospect is not dead. I never seem to hit the hot ones with real money. Do see to it that Piper goes there when the contract is signed and gets a complete and accurate idea of what to do in scaling, etc. as well as a physical disposition of chests. It’s a great opportunity and ought not to be muffed. They have $19,000 in cash now.¹⁴

Unfortunately, Jamison would not live to see the All Faiths Chapel organ completed, and the scheme that he wrote out that afternoon supposedly did not survive. I feel, however, that a statement from Robert Hays in a letter to James McCain indicates otherwise: “Mr. Jamison devotes a large portion of his book to a discussion of what he calls a minimum, all-purpose American organ. He gives three specifications for this organ, one of which is the identical organ he designed for our chapel.”¹⁵ The May 1, 1960, issue of The Diapason also sports this almost identical stoplist when the official announcement of Austin’s building of the All Faiths Chapel organ was announced to the public.¹⁶

A month after his letter to Basil Austin, Jamison received a letter from Kenneth Heywood, director of endowment and development at Kansas State University, indicating that a new organ for All Faiths Chapel could not be procured until necessary funds were raised.¹⁷ A little less than three months later, on May 29, 1957, James Jamison passed away. He was seventy-four years old.

Project resurgence

Nothing is known about what happened regarding the All Faiths Chapel organ project for the next eighteen months or so until the next wave of correspondence reveals that Kansas State University President James McCain had become aware of the fact that European mechanical-action organs were cheaper than American electro-pneumatic-action organs. In a letter to McCain, Hays reiterated his respect for Austin and Jamison’s vision:

I have always had the greatest respect for Jamison’s knowledge and ability, as I have had the greatest faith in his integrity. . . . Installing an organ in our chapel was a thing Jamison very much wanted to accomplish . . . I think, with respect to future generations of students and teachers as well as the entire community, that the benefits of Jamison’s plans in our behalf should not be abandoned without serious consideration.¹⁸

However, it appears that the discussion was not moving quickly enough for McCain, who wrote the following to Luther Leavengood and Kenneth Heywood four months later:

I continue to come across references to the purchase of German organs for chapels similar to ours . . . Unless I am furnished evidence to the contrary, I shall assume that with the money now available we could purchase an organ for our chapel which would be as satisfactory as the $45,000 or $50,000 chapel organ that we originally planned to install in the chapel.¹⁹

Six days later, Luther Leavengood began writing universities and churches that had mechanical organs built by Kuhn, Beckerath, and Flentrop. In a letter to an organist that played at a church with a mechanical-action organ, Hays mused, “There are many reasons that I am convinced a foreign organ is not for us and I am prepared to argue for my viewpoint, but the comparison in cost is the point on which I have no information and for which we ask your help.”²⁰

Shortly thereafter, Austin President Frederic Austin delivered bad news to Kenneth Heywood that manufacturing costs had risen 25% since 1957, making it even more difficult for Hays to convince university officials who were not organists that Austin should be selected as the builder of the All Faiths Chapel organ. Hays summarized the results of his study of mechanical-action organs versus American electro-pneumatic-action organs shortly thereafter, with the argument that Jamison and the All Faiths Chapel architects had worked together to design an organ that would be appropriate for the chapel itself and that “no organ can be purchased and then ‘moved in’ as one might buy a piano.”²¹ However, President McCain remained undeterred, “I am by no means yet convinced that with the money now available we cannot purchase a foreign make organ with as good results as we would get from one American organ to which we appear to be rather arbitrarily committed. If this is the case, it would certainly be tragic to defer action on securing an organ for perhaps 15, 20, or even more years.”²²

It truly appeared that the dream Hays and Jamison had formed over five years previously would be doomed to failure. However, the vision for an organ in All Faiths Chapel was kept alive by Marion Pelton, one of Hays’s colleagues in the keyboard area who was herself an organist. Pelton had taught at Kansas State University since 1928 and had an interest in early music fueled by a two-year residency at Columbia Teacher’s College in New York City (1955–1957) where she was exposed to much early music. In May 1959 she began sponsoring Pro Musica Antiqua concerts that featured early music. Pelton relates:

. . . the very first one of these programs, they didn’t have the organ [in All Faiths Chapel] . . . I wanted an organ so badly. . . .
The paper gave me a lot of publicity and I had pictures of the early organs that I had visited over in Europe on these huge white cardboard things. We also had a tea. The idea then was I was trying to raise money for an organ for the chapel. Well, I think I raised about $400 . . . It was just terribly disappointing.”²³

However, Mrs. Gabe Sellers, a resident of Manhattan, had a brother, Ernest Nicolay, a Kansas State University graduate who was vice-president and director of the Frito Company in Detroit, Michigan. The very next day, Sellers and her brother Ernest went to visit their mother in Michigan, and Ernest remarked, “Do you know of someplace to give some money to Kansas State University? I have to pay so much tax on so much money and I would be very glad to make them a big gift.”²⁴ His sister, Mrs. Sellers, remarked that she had just been at a concert the day before where they were trying to raise money for an organ.²⁵ Nicolay’s gift was substantial enough that Kenneth Heywood wrote Frederic Austin indicating, “A very substantial contribution has been promised by one of our alumni which, when received, will bring the figure to the point where we can feel justified in obligating ourselves.”²⁶ Hays also wrote to McCain:

Since [Jamison] was willing to include this design [for the All Faiths Chapel organ] in this book as an example of his mature thought, it is my opinion that every effort should be made to place in our chapel the organ he designed for it and which Austin will build to his specifications.

Just as we would get top quality design from Jamison, we would also get top quality construction and long-lasting dependability from the Austin Company. We have had expert opinion on this point, and the longevity and mechanical dependability of the present Austin in the University Auditorium bears out that opinion.²⁷

Finally, in November of 1959, the All Faiths Chapel organ contract between Austin Organs and Kansas State University was finalized. Hays wrote Frederic Austin, “Years ago, when I was impatient and despairing of the outcome of our negotiations with your company, JBJ said to me, ‘These things take a long time; I’ve been through it hundreds of times; do not be impatient and don’t worry, it will come out all right.’ How I wish that he could be here to know that it has ‘come out all right!’”²⁸ Due to what was a slightly reduced budget, the final stoplist had to be altered slightly, much to Hays’s chagrin. Thankfully, the revisions to the stoplist were minor (the Great II Rauschquint was divided into separate 22⁄3′ and 2′ Principal stops), the 8′ Geigen was deleted from the Positiv, and the Pedal Trompette 4′ Pedal Extension (labeled Clarion) and the Swell Trompette borrow were deleted and replaced with a 4′ Krummhorn borrow from the Positiv).

Installation and dedication

The All Faiths Chapel organ was installed by Austin staff member Zoltan Zsitvay, who arrived in Manhattan on August 16, 1961.³⁰ David Broome arrived on August 21 to begin the tonal finishing.³¹ The first public use of the organ was only five days after Broome’s arrival on August 26 for the wedding of Sara Umberger, granddaughter of Harry Umberger, long-time dean of the Kansas State University School of Architecture. David Broome relates:

We talked with her briefly after the wedding rehearsal the day before. She told us she had set the wedding date late in August, hoping that the organ would be finished by then. She seemed so disappointed that the organ wasn’t ready; so we decided to voice the rest of the flue pipes so it could be used. Broome and his associate worked late that night and began early the next morning with their ‘wedding gift from the Austin Organ Company.’ By 3:00 they’d finished it and could show the organist for the wedding, Mrs. Beth Rodgers, what parts of the instrument she could use.³³

Robert Hays played the first formal recital on the instrument Sunday, October 8, 1961. Organist Robert Baker, director of the School of Sacred Music at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, a close friend of Jamison’s and classmate of Robert Hays, played the dedicatory recital Sunday, November 19, 1961. The Manhattan Mercury reported, “an overflow crowd of approximately 1,000 people heard Robert Baker, noted organ recitalist, demonstrate K-State’s new $50,000 pipe organ.” Baker declared that the organ was, “beautifully designed; beautifully placed; beautifully executed.” Baker further commented, “I have played a great many organs, but seldom can I remember an organ of its size as beautifully designed, as beautifully placed, and as beautifully executed.”³⁴ He summed the instrument up as “satisfactory and thrilling.”³⁵ Despite the pageantry and celebration associated with the completion of the All Faiths Chapel organ, Austin personnel at the time must certainly have felt a pang in their hearts for Jamison and his vision for this organ. Perhaps Richard Piper summarizes it best, “For obvious reasons the builder regards the tonal work somewhat as a memorial to Mr. Jamison whom they hold in such high esteem. They sincerely believe the instrument successfully fulfills his great expectations and that were he here today, he would give his unqualified approval to the tonal interpretation.”³⁶

Austin Opus 2352 today

When I arrived at Kansas State University twelve years ago, the switching system of Austin Opus 2352 had recently undergone conversion to Solid State Logic but sounded tonally fatigued. Quimby Pipe Organs of Warrensburg, Missouri, became curators for the organ in the fall of 2010. I was encouraged that Eric Johnson, head voicer for Quimby, felt as I did, that some wonderful results would occur under the right hands and ears if this organ was restored.

After nearly fifty years of regular and sometimes heavy use, the organ was on the verge of needing significant maintenance: note and stop action releathering, pipe cleaning, stenciling, and tonal regulation, new tuning slides (particularly for exposed pipework), wind reservoir repair, and reed cleaning. Funding for the entire project was a significant hurdle to overcome. To help initiate some momentum with the university administration regarding the organ and to provide external validation about the value of this organ to the community, region, and nation, I applied for a Historic Organ Citation from the Organ Historical Society, an award that was granted November 4, 2011, at a fiftieth-anniversary concert featuring the premiere of Daniel E. Gawthrop’s Symphony No. 2: “The Austin.” The plan worked. University administration awarded funds to cover the releathering and reed cleaning aspects of the project that were completed by Quimby in 2014. The remaining aspects of the project were completed by Quimby in 2022, thanks to the support of the Kansas State University Foundation that helped elicit the support of donors who funded the remainder of this project.

Jamison’s thoughts about the disposition and voicing of Austin organs were truly cosmopolitan, perhaps more so than his contemporaries. Even though the All Faiths Chapel organ is only forty ranks, no tonal effect is duplicated. Looking at the Great division, Jamison received inspiration from English organs for the principal chorus. The 8′ Diapason is the largest scale of all members of the chorus, a departure from what others were doing at the time. The 8′ Spitzflöte is a beautiful stop alone or creates a subtle addition to the 8′ Bourdon, perfect for mezzo-piano passages. The 4′ Quintadena, enthusiastically endorsed by Jamison, has now fallen out of favor in some circles but is nevertheless another contrasting color. This division is, in the true sense of American Classicism, reedless.

The basis for the Swell division chorus is an 8′ Hohlflöte, a lovely stop of wood and an unusual inclusion for the time, yet offers a beautiful contrast to the other flute stops. The Nasard and Tierce ranks only go to tenor C, reinforcing Jamison’s idea that they “are justified by their lesser cost and by the fact that rarely are such mutations used below Tenor C.”³⁷ The Swell 8′ Trompette is “of medium scale and blown to optimum timbre . . . darker than that of the [Positiv] Bombarde.”³⁸ The Clarinet is, in Jamison’s words, “not too suave. At 16′ serving as the Trumpet chorus double, it must be very rich harmonically to be right.”³⁹ The 16′ Bass Clarinet is also available as a borrow in the Pedal and serves as a wonderful Pedal reed for Baroque literature.

The enclosed Positiv division follows, in Jamison’s words, “the sensible trend to convert the customary Choir section into a Choir-Positiv.”⁴⁰ The 8′ Bombarde, the major manual reed, is in this division and was a design element far ahead of its time. Jamison notes the following about this stop’s characteristics:

What color shall it be, and what power? Is it possible to have it right in both qualities if we extend it upward from a balanced Pedal reed? Yes, it is, and the great money saving will not be unwelcome. The requirement is that it be of the same general timbre as the rest of the full organ up to that point. What we seek in employing it as a super chorus reed, as well as the rarely provided solo antiphonal voice, is a final splash of brilliance and power that will extend forte to fortissimo without changing the general color except by brightening it.

This double dictates less power than a genuine English Tuba would have. The ratio sought is one that will add something like 25% to what has gone before; that last final surge of crescendo that marks the true climax. . . .

If this extension of the pedal register has this fortunate manual effect, how does the voice fit into the Pedal field and function? The answer is—in the best possible way. For the correct register is the French Bombarde, playable at 16′, 8′, and 4′ on Pedal and at 8′ on Choir. Thus it is in, but not of, that section. There is nothing so dramatically and forcefully effective as this type of tone for forte-fortissimo Pedal.

In an organ such as we plan, which will prove to need 33 to 35 registers, it should always be enclosed, making it much more useful and applicable to various demands. The Bombarde is so superior to the more fundamental Trombone that there can be no hesitation in choosing between them. Added to the Pedal fluework, it imparts a drama and a decisive edge that a weightier reed cannot equal, again demonstrating the ‘rich bass’ principle. Played solo against full manual flues it realizes an effect the English organ cannot manage—a magnificence of intensity rather than substance.⁴¹

Jamison’s aforementioned effects of this stop are completely realized on the All Faiths Chapel organ. Its enclosure truly lends an amazing degree of flexibility that greatly enhances its use in an organ of moderate size such as this, in addition to its ability to be unison, sub- and super-coupled to the Great and unison and super-coupled to the Pedal.

The Pedal division’s flexibility belies its size. Jamison discusses the design of the 16′-8′-4′ Diapason chorus:

The 56 pipe unit set . . . can all be regulated to approximate fairly closely the octave-by-octave power balances of three normal independent sets. The general character is crisp, rather than full, consistent with the bright-bass full-tip (pedal-manual) timbre progression. The power is similar to that of the Great [8′ Open Diapason], which is the really important item, but the quality is firmer. When both Great and Pedal flue choruses are drawn, we have on the Great an impressive aggregation of various unisons and fifths, moving here and there; and below, on the Pedal, is our unit stop at 16′-8′-4′ plus Mixture (another group of unisons and off-unisons) moving contrariwise to or in conjunction with the manual work; we are supposed to be able to tell, in this grand, forte mêlée, if the Pedal is unified, independent, or half and half—or if the 4′ is a scale larger and louder than the 8′—though which 8′ and which 4′ is not certain—or if the extended Pedal 8′ is two scales smaller than the Pedal 16′!⁴²

Jamison also utilized this same idea for the 16′-8′-4′ Pedal stopped flute rank, and its effects are equally effective. The 16′-8′ Spitzflöte unit borrowed from the Great fills in the mezzo-forte gap in the Pedal beautifully. The bottom octave of the 16′ Spitzflöte is a string that provides the additional harmonic foundation to the bass line that is missing in the 16′ Lieblich Gedeckt. When one factors in the division’s other stops (two-rank Pedal mixture and reeds), it has more than enough to stand on its own!

In summary, my twelve-year working relationship with this organ encompassing both teaching and performance has reinforced my beliefs that Jamison’s “Minimum All-Purpose American Organ” is exactly what it claims to be. Quimby Pipe Organs and its staff are convinced of this organ’s design and role in the organ world and have done all they can to retain its integrity and quality. Their work has been top-notch. When the organ was new, Richard Piper mused, “It is truly said that time is the only yardstick by which beauty can be measured. Austin believes this organ will endure.”43 It has endured nobly for over sixty years and given the care and further use it will receive, I have full confidence that its music and legacy will endure for many years yet to come.

—David C. Pickering, DMA, AAGO

Professor of Music, Kansas State University

Notes

1. Letter from Luther Leavengood to James Jamison, September 19, 1952.

2. Ibid.

3. Letter from Roy Seaton to James Jamison, May 8, 1953.

4. Ibid.

5. Letter from James Jamison to Robert Hays, January 28, 1954.

6. James B. Jamison, Organ Design and Appraisal (New York: H.W. Gray, 1959), 93.

7. Letter from James Jamison to Robert Hays, January 28, 1954.

8. Letter from Robert Baker to Robert Hays, July 19, 1953

9. Letter from James Jamison to Robert Hays, July 29, 1955.

10. Letter from James Jamison to Basil Austin, March 22, 1956.

11. Ibid., March 27, 1956.

12. Letter from James Jamison to Basil Austin, January 18, 1957.

13. Ibid., February 9, 1957.

14. Ibid.

15. Letter from Robert Hays to James McCain, October 13, 1959.

16. “College in Kansas Orders New Austin,” The Diapason, May 1, 1960, p. 7.

17. Letter from Kenneth Heywood to James Jamison, March 9, 1957.

18. Letter from Robert Hays to James McCain, January 14, 1959.

19. Letter from James McCain to Luther Leavengood and Kenneth Heywood, April 2, 1959.

20. Letter from Robert Hays to Betty Louise Lumby, April 15, 1959.

21. Letter from Robert Hays to James McCain, May 26, 1959.

22. Letter from James McCain to Robert Hays, May 29, 1959.

23. Byron Jensen, College Music on the Konza Prairie: A History of Kansas State’s Department of Music from 1863 to 1990 (Ed.D. diss., Kansas State University, 1990), 409.

24. Ibid., 409–410.

25. Ibid, 410.

26. Letter from Kenneth Heywood to Frederic Austin, June 5, 1959.

27. Letter from Robert Hays to James McCain, October 13, 1959.

28. Letter from Robert Hays to Frederic Austin, November 30, 1959.

29. Zsitvay was a distinguished member of the Hungarian National Track and Field Team, winning the University World Championships in the Pole Vault in Paris in 1946.

30. Letter from Donald Austin to Robert Hays, August 3, 1961.

31. Ibid.

32. “Memorial Organ,” K-Stater, October 1961, 7.

33. Ibid.

34. “Expert Praises K-State Organ,” Manhattan Mercury, November 20, 1961.

35. Ibid.

36. Richard Piper, “Stoplists,” The American Organist (May 1962), 23.

37. Jamison, 134

38. Ibid., 115.

39. Ibid.

40. Ibid., 151.

41. Ibid., 105–106.

42. Ibid., 121.

43. Richard Piper, “Stoplists,” The American Organist (May 1962), 23.

 

Quimby website: quimbypipeorgans.com

University website: www.k-state.edu/mtd/music

Photo credit: Tom Theis

 

GREAT

16′ Contraspitzflöte (ext 8′) 12 pipes

8′ Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Bourdon 61 pipes

8′ Spitzflöte 61 pipes

4′ Octave 61 pipes

4′ Quintadena 61 pipes

2-2⁄3′ Octave Quint 61 pipes

2′ Super Octave 61 pipes

1-1⁄3′ Fourniture IV 244 pipes

SWELL

8′ Hohlflöte 68 pipes

8′ Viola 68 pipes

8′ Voix Celeste (TC) 56 pipes

4′ Prestant 68 pipes

4′ Rohrflöte 68 pipes

2-2⁄3′ Nasard  (TC) 49 pipes

2′ Flageolet 61 pipes

1-3⁄5′ Tierce (TC) 49 pipes

2′ Mixture III 183 pipes

16′ Bass Clarinet (ext 8′) 12 pipes

8′ Trompette 68 pipes

8′ Clarinet 68 pipes

4′ Hautbois 68 pipes

Tremulant

POSITIV

8′ Nason Flute 68 pipes

8′ Dolce 68 pipes

8′ Dolce Celeste (TC) 56 pipes

4′ Nachthorn 68 pipes

2′ Oktave 61 pipes

1-1⁄3′ Larigot 61 pipes

1′ Zimbel III 183 pipes

8′ Krummhorn 68 pipes

Tremulant

8′ Bombarde (Pedal)

PEDAL

16′ Diapason 56 pipes

16′ Spitzflöte (Gt)

16′ Lieblich Gedeckt 56 pipes

8′ Octave (ext 16′)

8′ Spitzflöte (Gt)

8′ Lieblich Flöte (ext 16′)

4′ Fifteenth (ext 16′)

4′ Flöte (ext 16′)

2-2⁄3′ Mixture II 64 pipes

16′ Bombarde 80 pipes

16′ Bass Clarinet (Sw)

8′ Trompette (ext 16′)

4′ Krummhorn (Pos)

Normal assortment of couplers

32 voices, 40 ranks, 2,458 pipes

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

A. Thompson-Allen Company, New Haven, Connecticut; Derry Presbyterian Church, Hershey, Pennsylvania

Editor's note: Click on the link above to view the front cover of the April 1951 issue of The Diapason and announcement of Opus 1132 for the Church of the Redeemer, New Haven, Connecticut.

The organ’s first career

In 1951 New Haven’s Church of the Redeemer, founded in 1838, moved into a neo-colonial structure designed by prominent local architect Douglas Orr. The new church was located in the city’s East Rock neighborhood and quickly took its place among Orr’s other distinguished buildings that remain popular to the present day.

The church’s organist-choirmaster, Hope Leroy Baumgartner (1891–1969), was assigned the task of designing a suitable organ for the new sanctuary. A student of Horatio Parker and Harry Benjamin Jepson, Baumgartner was awarded a Bachelor of Music degree from the Yale School of Music in 1916. In 1919 he was appointed to the faculty as an associate professor where he taught composition and music theory with distinction until his retirement in 1960.

As a teacher, Baumgartner was famous for his attention to detail, so it is no surprise that he took an intense interest in the designing of Church of the Redeemer’s new organ, to be built by the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company as their Opus 1132. The April 1951 issue of The Diapason carries a front-page article describing the completion of the new organ, noting:

The organ was designed by H. Leroy Baumgartner, organist and choirmaster of the church, associate professor of the theory of music at Yale University and noted composer. Professor Baumgartner spent several years developing the scheme for this instrument and provided detailed instructions for its construction, which included drawings specifying the placement of the controls at the console. A feature of the organ will be an unusually large number of mechanical controls, some of which were designed by Professor Baumgartner.

Baumgartner was especially known for accompanying oratorios as part of his music program, and he wanted an instrument that would facilitate complex registrational changes. Not only did he specify several highly unusual console controls, but he also had some idiosyncratic ideas about the design of the stoplist.

The founder of our company, Aubrey Thompson-Allen, was assistant to G. Donald Harrison while Opus 1132 was being negotiated. Harrison had become exasperated with Baumgartner’s incessant micromanaging of the details of the organ’s stoplist and console controls, ultimately placing a large stack of correspondence in Aubrey’s hands and asking him to go to New Haven to see if the contract somehow might be finalized and signed. Ultimately it was, and an order was given for an instrument of fifty-one speaking stops controlled by a three-manual console, with a floating Positive division that could be played from the Great or Choir manuals.

In an effort to wring the greatest number of stops from the complement of pipes, a number of compromises had to be made. To cite only one example, the 8′ Rohr Bordun in the Swell served also as the unison flute for the Great, Choir, and Pedal divisions, which had none of their own. To save expense, the design of the organ omitted the use of chest relays, with the result that this flute would not “travel” with any of the couplers and had to be drawn separately on any manual to which the Swell might be coupled.

For more than sixty-five years, Opus 1132 provided reliable and beautiful music under the hands of several musicians. Each of them learned to accommodate the organ’s peculiarities, including an amazingly complicated setterboard that controlled the combination pistons. The members of the Church of the Redeemer cherished their Aeolian-Skinner organ and maintained excellent stewardship of it, including a basic releathering of the chassis and the installation of a multi-level combination action in 2007, even as the congregation was beginning to contemplate its own future.

By 2018 the membership had dwindled to about 170 dedicated people, and they found it increasingly difficult to keep their large physical plant maintained to the standards they had set for themselves. After exploring possible mergers with other Congregational churches in the area, the members voted to close the church and sell the property, ending Redeemer’s 180-year history of service to New Haven. Consistent with the congregation’s strong commitment to its core values, more than $2.2 million was donated to other churches and entities having similar values and missions, including almost $800,000 set aside as the Church of the Redeemer Community Legacy Fund at the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven.

Unable to find a buyer willing to continue the building’s use as a church, after two years the congregation sold the property to a developer for conversion to apartments, with the stipulation that the external appearance of the church and its parish house would be preserved as a neighborhood landmark. The organ was offered for sale, and while several church delegations were enthusiastic about the instrument, none of them could undertake the project. As the deadline for interior demolition approached, the organ’s fate looked increasingly uncertain. Those who knew and loved Opus 1132 became anxious for the organ’s future.

In late September 2019, a committee from Derry Presbyterian Church in Hershey, Pennsylvania, which had been searching for an Aeolian-Skinner organ, heard about Opus 1132’s availability, and on October 4 visited Church of the Redeemer. Yale Institute of Sacred Music student Jerrick Cavagnaro engagingly demonstrated the instrument for the committee, and it was love at first sight. They were impressed by the organ’s musical qualities and excellent state of preservation, and in short order, contracts were drawn up and signed. On November 3 a farewell concert was played by several prominent local musicians, with members of the Derry Presbyterian Church present to formally receive the instrument. Removal of the organ began immediately afterwards, just as construction equipment started to appear on the property.

—Joseph F. Dzeda

Restoration and relocation of Opus 1132

The restoration of this fine Aeolian-Skinner was perfectly straightforward for us as we have restored a number of Skinner and Aeolian-Skinner organs over the last fifty years. After we removed the organ from Church of the Redeemer we proceeded to complete the restoration. We had releathered the organ ten years earlier, but this did not include restoration of the pipework and new gaskets for all the chests and windlines.

The flue pipes were cleaned, repaired, and fitted with new stainless slide tuners. The wood flutes were cleaned and shellacked, with the stoppers releathered. Then each stop was placed on my voicing machine to be regulated for power and speech. The wind pressures were reset to the factory records. All the pitman and unit chests had been fully rebuilt and were in perfect condition. Anything that was not done during the previous work was now completed, including new gaskets for all the pitman and unit chests and assorted windline flanges.

The original console and all relays and wiring were replaced. The old console was painted and was unsuitable to go with the other woodwork in the church. A new oak console with Peterson solid-state was built by Organ Supply Industries and was matched to the existing furniture in the new location. We made every attempt to replicate the appearance of an Aeolian-Skinner console, especially with knob, coupler, and piston layout.

We wanted to restore the organ tonally to the way that G. Donald Harrison had originally designed it. In the final specification the organ did not contain unison flutes on the Great, Choir, and Pedal. The unit Swell 16′ Rohr Bordun had to do the job on all manuals and pedal. GDH was dead set against this, and he eventually put the project in Aubrey Thompson-Allen’s (assistant to GDH) hands.

We have endeavored to complete the specification with the addition of:

• A new Skinner-style Choir 8′ Concert Flute.

• A repurposed 1930 Skinner Great 8′ Flute Harmonique.

• A repurposed Pedal 16′–8′ Bourdon, retained from the Hershey church’s former Reuter organ.

In its previous home the Pedal Bombarde was buried in a tone pocket in the Choir organ and was ineffective. We have relocated it, unenclosed, with the Pedal division just behind and slightly above the Great division. It is a fine “English Trombone” and is very successful in its new location. This and all of the other reeds in the organ have been beautifully restored by Broome and Company.

Relocating the organ designed for a completely different organ chamber presented many challenges, especially as Opus 1132 is much larger than the former organ. The entire organ was reconfigured and assembled in our erecting room. The organ had originally been installed either side of the chancel with the Choir, Positive, and Pedal on one side and the Swell and Great on the other. There were always pitch issues with the Great and Positive being in different locations, and it could be perilous to combine them!

The new chamber has the Swell and Choir in identical swell boxes on either side of the chamber, with vertical shutters on the front and diagonally on the sides, with the shades angled to project the sound out into the church. The Great and Positive, which are on chromatic chests, are installed next to each other with the treble end facing the chamber opening and passage boards between the chests for tuning access. This has eliminated the pitch differences that had existed. The entire organ is on one level except for the Great and Pedal zinc basses that had been in the façades of the Redeemer organ. These were cut to speaking length and placed on new chests above the Great and Positive. Aeolian-Skinner often did this when space was at a premium.

The Pedal organ has been placed at the back of the main chamber starting with the 16′ Contra Bass and continuing forward with the 16′ Bourdon and then the 16′ Bombarde. The mouths are at different heights to ensure adequate speaking room, and every effort has been made to have all of the windchests accessible for maintenance.

The entire wind trunk system is made up of either new galvanized metal or the original windlines unsoldered and reconfigured as needed. All of the Aeolian-Skinner flanges were retained.

The original Spencer blower was retained and restored by Joseph Sloane. The hubs and turbine fans had been badly damaged when the fans were removed to service the motor in the past. New fans and hubs had to be manufactured and installed, and the old single-phase induction motor was replaced with a new three-phase motor. We have found the single-phase motors to be unreliable after 70–100 years and warrant replacement for safety and reliability. Also, the blower never had a static reservoir, instead having a small Spencer pressure regulator. Not only did this have inadequate capacity, but it also allowed wind noise into the chamber through the windlines, caused by fan turbulence. We have installed a vintage Skinner reservoir over the blower to overcome these issues. Now up in the chamber the organ is silent with the wind on.

This very rewarding project was completed by the following members of the ATA Company:

• Kurt Bocco—reservoirs, wind trunks and installation.

• Joseph Dzeda—wiring and keeping the company in order during our many weeks away.

• Joe Linger—all windchests and installation.

• Sam Linger—all windchests and installation.

• Nick Thompson-Allen—pipe restoration and voicing and installation and tuning.

• Nate Ventrella—wiring and installation.

• Zack Ventrella—layout, console and wiring, installation, and tuning.

Also, we thank:

• Chris Broome—all reed pipe restoration.

• Joseph Sloane—blower restoration and installation.

• Bryan Timm and Organ Supply Industries—new console, new Peterson solid-state, new chests for the Great and Pedal basses and the two added stops, and the new pipes for the Concert Flute.

And finally:

• Grant Wareham—organist and liaison with the church, whose help and patience have been greatly appreciated.

—Nicholas Thompson-Allen

The musician’s perspective

Opus 1132 is a wonderful instrument. It is ideal for all types of choral accompanying, fills the room well for congregational singing, and can tackle almost any type of organ repertoire.

All five divisions are exceedingly useful and come together for an excellent chorus. The Swell gives everything I would expect from an Aeolian-Skinner Swell division, and the 16′ Clarinet doubles beautifully as a color reed. I’ve also found that removing the mixture and super-coupling the division into the chorus works very well for a “chorus-crowning” brilliance.

The addition of the Harmonic Flute gives added strength to an already-strong Great division. Similar in scale to the Principal Flute on the Newberry Memorial Organ at Woolsey Hall, it serves as a subtle third diapason from midrange down and scintillates impeccably in the soprano range. The rich, warm Montre and firm Diapason complement each other perfectly. The 2′ and Quint can serve as an alternate mixture before adding the Fourniture to crown the chorus.

A pair of Erzhälers on the Choir give the signature light Skinner string shimmer and are exceedingly useful for quiet moments either in repertoire or in services. The Koppelflöte and new Concert Flute make a beautiful pair and blend nicely with the Viola. The English Horn is predictably delectable. With a non-mounted cornet and a sparkling Cymbal, the Positive rounds out the organ nicely.

The Bombarde is at its best in the Pedal—it’s an excellent, present reed at both 8′ and 16′ pitch. The addition of the 16′ Bourdon, from the Reuter instrument (Opus 1499) previously installed in the space, rounds out the bass end of the Pedal division beautifully. Adding the 102⁄3′ Quint stop produces a strong 32′ resultant and anchors the organ perfectly.

It was truly a pleasure to work with Nick Thompson-Allen, Joe Dzeda, Zack and Nate Ventrella, Joe and Sam Linger, Kurt Bocco, and everyone at Thompson-Allen, who all worked very hard throughout this project. Through all the challenges this project threw them (including the physical puzzle of putting the pipework in the existing chamber, complex wiring, and pandemic-related delays), they displayed the utmost of professionalism. My thanks as well to Bryan Timm of OSI for the console, which is so close to Aeolian-Skinner specifications, I often forget it is, in fact, brand-new. I feel very lucky to preside over this fine organ.

—Grant Wareham

Total speaking stops: 59

Total ranks: 45

Total pipes: 2,794

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

Church’s website: www.derrypres.org

Cover photo by Robert J. Polett, Photographer

 

View a PDF of Opus 1132’s first front cover in The Diapason, April 1951, at the website. Click on the cover feature for the March 2022 issue.

GREAT (3¾″ pressure)

16′ Rohr Bordun (Swell)

8′ Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Montre 61 pipes

8′ Flute Harmonique (1) 61 pipes

8′ Rohr Bordun (Swell)

4′ Octave 61 pipes

2-2⁄3′ Quinte 61 pipes

2′ Super Octave 61 pipes

IV Fourniture 244 pipes

8′ Bombarde (Pedal) 17 pipes

Chimes (in Choir) (2) 20 notes

SWELL (4″ pressure)

16′ Rohr Bordun 68 pipes

8′ Spitz Principal 68 pipes

8′ Rohr Bordun (ext 16′) 12 pipes

8′ Viole de Gambe 68 pipes

8′ Viole Celeste (CC) 68 pipes

4′ Prestant 68 pipes

4′ Holzflöte (3) 68 pipes

2′ Spitzflöte 61 pipes

III Plein Jeu 183 pipes

16′ Bass Clarinet 68 pipes

8′ Trompette 68 pipes

8′ Oboe 68 pipes

8′ Vox Humana (4) 68 pipes

4′ Clarion 68 pipes

Tremulant

POSITIVE (3″ pressure)

8′ Singend Gedeckt 61 pipes

4′ Nachthorn 61 pipes

2-2⁄3′ Nasat 61 pipes

2′ Blockflöte 61 pipes

1-3⁄5′ Terz 61 pipes

1-1⁄3′ Larigot 61 pipes

III Cymbel 183 pipes

CHOIR (4″ pressure)

16′ Erzähler 61 pipes

8′ Viola 68 pipes

8′ Concert Flute (5) 68 pipes

8′ Erzähler (ext 16′) 12 pipes

8′ Kleine Erzähler (TC) 49 pipes

4′ Koppelflöte 68 pipes

4′ Erzähler (ext 16′) 12 pipes

8′ English Horn 68 pipes

Tremulant

8′ Bombarde (Pedal)

PEDAL (5″ pressure)

32′ Resultant (16′ Bourdon, 10-2⁄3′ Rohr Bordun)

16′ Contra Bass 32 pipes

16′ Bourdon (6) 32 pipes

16′ Rohr Bordun (Swell)

16′ Erzähler (Choir)

10-2⁄3′ Quint (from Bourdon)

8′ Principal 32 pipes

8′ Gedeckt (ext Bourdon) 12 pipes

8′ Rohr Bordun (Swell)

8′ Erzähler (Choir)

5-1⁄3′ Quint 32 pipes

4′ Super Octave (ext Princ) 12 pipes

4′ Rohr Bordun (Swell)

16′ Bombarde 32 pipes

16′ Bass Clarinet (Swell)

8′ Bombarde 12 pipes

4′ Bombarde 12 pipes

Chimes (Great)

Notes

(1) 1–12 Organ Supply Industries, 13–61 Skinner Organ Co. 1930, chest by Organ Supply Industries

(2) Old Chimes and action reused by Aeolian-Skinner in 1951

(3) Old Hall Organ Company pipes reused by Aeolian-Skinner in 1951

(4) Skinner & Son pipework, installed in chest preparation, 2007

(5) Pipes and chest by Organ Supply Industries, to Skinner scales

(6) Pedal Bourdon from previous organ by Reuter

 

2007 - Releathering, multi-level combination action, and addition of Skinner & Son Vox Humana

2020 - Relocation, completion of chassis and pipework restoration, additional stops as noted. Console by Organ Supply Industries, reed pipes restored by Broome and Company, LLC, Spencer Turbine blower restored by Joseph Sloane

Quimby Pipe Organs, Inc., Warrensburg, Missouri; First United Methodist Church, Athens, Georgia

First United Methodist Church of Athens, Georgia, is home to the newest instrument by Quimby Pipe Organs, Inc., of Warrensburg, Missouri. The four-manual, 68-rank pipe organ, Opus 77, was created through the collaboration of Michael Quimby, president and tonal director, and T. Daniel Hancock, former president and designer, Quimby Pipe Organs; James F. Mellichamp, president and professor of music, Piedmont College, Athens, Georgia, consultant; Stephen Mitchell, director of music; and Janis Maxwell, organist.

The instrument is designed primarily to fulfill its first job of leading worship and then to serve a variety of musical functions. The tonal design is not intended to copy any one particular school or period of organbuilding; however, Michael Quimby does draw his inspiration from the great builders of the past, such as Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, Father Willis, Ernest M. Skinner, and the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company, as well as renowned English organbuilder T. C. Lewis, among many others. His goal is to build an instrument with its own identity and character that will embrace the needs of the client and to provide an instrument that not only serves as a recital instrument but can also be used in the wide variety of musical genres found in the worship practices of the twenty-first century.

The tonal concept of this instrument was carefully conceived and notably avoids the redundancies that are often found in large organs. Each stop is designed and voiced to provide sounds that not only work well within the ensemble but are also intriguing and beautiful on their own, making the organ tonally diverse, while at the same time cohesive and easy to register.

The instrument is unusual in a number of ways. First, it has four enclosed divisions. Second, the 32′ and 16′ Pedal reed stops and all other manual 16′ reeds are full length. Third, the instrument contains certain features of the symphonic style of organ that were sought after in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Michael Quimby and his team have striven to play a leading role in reviving and developing this style of building over the last two decades. Fourth, departing from the symphonic tradition, each division of the instrument, excluding the Solo, contains a completely developed Diapason chorus. This has proven to increase the versatility of the instrument in classical, romantic, and symphonic styles of music. One thing that sets these Diapason chorus ranks apart is the unusual use of substantial metal thicknesses incorporating antimony and trace elements for stability. Over the last twenty-five years Quimby Pipe Organs has discovered that using thicker metal allows the pipework to be voiced to its full potential—for stability in pipe speech and achieving the optimum in harmonic development.

Another feature is the chorus of trumpets and orchestral reeds, including the Tuba, French Horn, Oboe, English Horn, and Corno di Bassetto, all voiced by head reed voicer, Eric Johnson. Of particular interest are two contrasting solo reeds, the Tuba in the Solo division and the Hooded Trumpet in the Antiphonal division, voiced on twenty inches wind pressure and ten inches wind pressure, respectively. Over his many years of study Eric has developed a technique and sound that sets him apart as one of the premier reed voicers in the world today.

Mechanically, Quimby instruments feature the use of our version of the Blackinton slider windchest, distinguished by a pneumatic pallet design and absence of slider seals, allowing for the flue pipes in each division to speak without the “explosive attack” experienced by individual valves since each note shares a common note channel with the other ranks. The reed ranks, Solo, Pedal, and offset pipes are on electro-pneumatic, pouch-style windchests.

As with most instruments, the console is seen as the crown jewel of the installation. Made of solid mahogany, in the Aeolian-Skinner style, with walnut drawknob jambs, coupler rails, and accents, the console incorporates the Virtuoso control system, provided by Integrated Organ Technologies of Alpharetta, Georgia. The solid mahogany case, designed by T. Daniel Hancock, and built by Southern Elegance Custom Cabinetry of Crawford, Georgia, incorporates design features from both the existing grillwork and the sanctuary, achieving an aesthetically elegant display. Located in the twin chancel façades are notes 1–21 of the Great 16′ Double Open Diapason and notes 1–12 of the Pedal 8′ Octave.

It is with great gratitude that Quimby Pipe Organs wishes to thank all of those at First Methodist who made their stay in Athens an enjoyable one: Chuck Hodges, senior pastor; Dave Walton, business administrator; Bob Winstead, executive director of administration and project manager; Steven Mitchell, director of music; Janis Maxwell, director of youth music; Ron Young, facilities manager; and all those in the congregation who showed the love of Christ by supplying treats and meals throughout the installation.

On Sunday, August 1, Joe Russell, a student of both Alan Morrison of the Curtis Institute of Music and Ken Cowan of Rice University, began his tenure as associate director of music ministries and organist. Bradley Welch played the inaugural recital on Sunday, August 29, after a one-year delay due to Covid restrictions. The recital was live-streamed and is available on the church’s website: athensfirstumc.org/.

Current associates of Quimby Pipe Organs, Inc., who took part in the construction and installation of this instrument include Michael Quimby, Eric Johnson, Chris Emerson, Dan Sliger, Brian Seever, Chuck Ford, Chirt Touch, Anthony Soun, Bailey Tucker, Mahoney Soun, Joseph Nielsen, Kevin Kissinger, Ruth Anne Parrott, Dwight Parrott, Joe Lambarena, and Jim Schmidt.

—Chris Emerson, Administrative Assistant, and Daniel Sliger, Project Lead

 

Builder’s website: quimbypipeorgans.com/

Church’s website: athensfirstumc.org/

 

Cover photo: Chris Emerson

Other photos: Chris Emerson and Daniel Sliger

 

Quimby Pipe Organs, Inc.

208 Marshall Street, P. O. Box 434

Warrensburg, MO 64093

GREAT–Manual II, unenclosed

16′ Double Open Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Open Diapason 61 pipes   

8′ Hohl Flute 61 pipes

8′ Violoncello 61 pipes

4′ Octave 61 pipes

4′ Stopped Flute 61 pipes

2-2⁄3′ Twelfth 61 pipes

2′ Fifteenth 61 pipes

1-3⁄5′ Seventeenth 61 pipes

1-1⁄3′ Mixture IV 244 pipes

16′ Double Trumpet (Swell)

8′ Trumpet 61 pipes

8′ Tuba (Solo)

8′ Tromba (Pedal)

8′ Hooded Trumpet (Antiphonal)

Chimes 25 tubes

Great to Great 16-UO-4

SWELL–Manual III, enclosed

16′ Contra Gamba 73 pipes

8′ Open Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Stopped Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Viola da Gamba (ext 16′ Contra Gamba)    

8′ Voix Celeste (CC) 61 pipes

4′ Octave 61 pipes

4′ Harmonic Flute 61 pipes

2′ Super Octave (from Mixture IV–V)

2′ Mixture IV–V 252 pipes

16′ Double Trumpet 61 pipes

8′ Trumpet 61 pipes

8′ Oboe 61 pipes

4′ Clarion 61 pipes

Tremolo

Swell to Swell 16-UO-4

CHOIR–Manual I, enclosed

16′ Gedeckt 73 pipes

8′ Geigen Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Chimney Flute (ext 16′ Gedeckt)

8′ Erzähler 61 pipes

8′ Erzähler Celeste (TC) 49 pipes

4′ Principal 61 pipes

4′ Night Horn 61 pipes

2-2⁄3′ Nazard 61 pipes

2′ Flageolet 61 pipes

1-3⁄5′ Tierce 61 pipes

1′ Mixture III–IV 191 pipes

16′ Contra Fagotto 73 pipes

8′ Fagotto (ext 16′ Contra Fagotto)

Tremolo

8′ Corno di Bassetto (Solo)

8′ Tuba (Solo)

8′ Hooded Trumpet (Antiphonal)

Choir to Choir 16-UO-4

SOLO–Manual IV, enclosed

8′ Harmonic Flute 61 pipes

8′ Gamba 61 pipes

8′ Gamba Celeste 61 pipes

8′ Corno di Bassetto 61 pipes

8′ English Horn (GG) 56 pipes

8′ French Horn 61 pipes

Tremolo

16′ Double Trumpet (Swell)

16′ Contra Fagotto (Choir)

8′ Fagotto (Choir)

8′ Tuba 61 pipes

8′ Tromba (Pedal)

8′ Hooded Trumpet (Antiphonal)

Solo to Solo 16-UO-4

Chimes (Great)

ANTIPHONAL–Manual IV, enclosed

8′ Open Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Lieblich Gedeckt 61 pipes

8′ Flauto Dolce 61 pipes

8′ Flute Celeste (TC) 49 pipes

4′ Octave 61 pipes

2′ Fifteenth 61 pipes

Tremolo

8′ Hooded Trumpet 61 pipes

8′ Tuba (Solo)

Antiphonal to Antiphonal 16-UO-4

PEDAL–10 ranks, unenclosed

32′ Double Open Wood Diapason (Resultant, 10-2⁄3′ stopped pipes and 16′ Open Wood) 12 pipes

32′ Contra Bourdon 56 pipes

16′ Open Wood Diapason 44 pipes

16′ Open Metal Diapason (Great)

16′ Bourdon (ext 32′ Contra Bourdon)

16′ Violone 44 pipes

16′ Gedeckt (Choir)

16′ Contra Gamba (Swell)

8′ Open Bass (ext 16′ Open Wood)

8′ Octave 44 pipes

8′ Bourdon (ext 32′ Contra Bourdon)

8′ Violone (ext 16′ Violone)

8′ Erzähler (Choir)

8′ Gedeckt (Choir)

4′ Super Octave (ext 8′ Octave)

4′ Solo Flute 32 pipes

2-2⁄3′ Grave Mixture II 64 pipes

1-1⁄3′ Sharp Mixture II 64 pipes

32′ Contra Trombone 85 pipes

32′ Harmonics VII (derived)

16′ Trombone (ext 32′ Contra Trombone)

16′ Double Trumpet (Swell)

16′ Contra Fagotto (Choir)

8′ Trombone (ext 32′ Contra Trombone)

8′ Trumpet (Swell)

8′ Fagotto (Choir)

8′ Oboe (Swell)

8′ Clarion (ext 32′ Contra Trombone)

8′ Fagotto (Choir)

8′ Tuba (Solo)

ANTIPHONAL PEDAL–1 rank, enclosed

16′ Bourdon 44 pipes

8′ Octave (Antiphonal 8′ Open Diap)

8′ Bourdon (ext 16′ Bourdon)

 

Couplers

Great to Pedal 8

Great to Pedal 4

Swell to Pedal 8

Swell to Pedal 4

Choir to Pedal 8

Choir to Pedal 4

Solo to Pedal 8

Solo to Pedal 4

Antiphonal on 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

Antiphonal on Great 8

Swell to Choir 16

Swell to Choir 8

Swell to Choir 4

Solo to Choir 16

Solo to Choir 8

Solo to Choir 4

Great to Choir 8

Pedal to Choir 8

Antiphonal on Choir 8

Solo to Swell 16

Solo to Swell 8

Solo to Swell 4

All Swells to Swell

Combination Action

Great Organ divisional pistons 1–8

Swell Organ divisional pistons 1–8

Choir Organ divisional pistons 1–8

Solo Organ divisional pistons 1–8

Antiphonal Organ divisional pistons 1–8

Pedal Organ divisional pistons 1–8 and 1–8 toe studs

General Pistons 1–12 (duplicated on toe studs) and 13–18 pistons only

Next Piston Sequencer: 3 pistons and 1 toe stud

Previous Piston Sequencer: 3 pistons and 1 toe stud

Set Piston

General Cancel Piston

Crescendo & Expression

General Crescendo pedal, 60 positions, three adjustable and one standard

Swell expression pedal

Choir expression pedal

Solo expression pedal

Antiphonal expression pedal

Reversibles

Great to Pedal - thumb and toe paddle

Swell to Pedal - thumb and toe paddle

Choir to Pedal - thumb and toe paddle

Solo to Pedal - thumb and toe paddle

Swell to Great - thumb and toe paddle

Choir to Great - thumb

Swell to Choir - thumb

32′ Contra Bourdon - thumb and toe paddle

32′ Contra Trombone - thumb and toe paddle

Sforzando - thumb and toe paddle

Manual Transfer - thumb and indicator light

Summary

Great Organ 14 ranks

Swell Organ 15

Choir Organ 14

Solo Organ 7

Antiphonal Organ 7

Pedal Organ 10

Antiphonal Pedal Organ 1

 

Total number of ranks 68

Total stops 97

Total pipes 3,867