Klais / Fisk organ at Saint Peter’s Church, New York City

Klais–Fisk organ, Saint Peter’s Church, New York City

In Midtown Manhattan, at the corner of Lexington Avenue and 54th Street, stands a comparatively humble yet eye-catching edifice. Dwarfed by the iconic tower soaring overhead, Saint Peter’s Church appears grounded and approachable. From street level, the sanctuary, clad in Caledonia granite, rises to sixty feet, but the sanctuary floor lies twenty-five feet below, making for an impressive interior height of eighty-five feet. A skylight bisects the building diagonally from southwest to northeast, providing dynamic natural light and giving passersby the opportunity to see into the sanctuary. Completed in 1977, both church and skyscraper were conceived by architects Hugh Stubbins and W. Easley Hamner as a single redevelopment project, Citicorp Center.

Saint Peter’s interior, designed by Lella and Massimo Vignelli, is said to be one of the finest examples of late mid-century modernism. For the Vignellis, it was important that the space be flexible in order to serve the established purposes of Lutheran liturgy and much more. Their vision allows the sanctuary to serve as a house of worship as naturally as a place for concerts, lectures, performances, meetings, and community gatherings. Johannes Klais Orgelbau in Bonn, Germany, was commissioned to build a two-manual, 32-stop mechanical-action organ for the new sanctuary. Klais worked in tandem with the Vignellis on the case and console designs, resulting in an organ uniquely integrated into its architectural setting.

On January 4, 2021, Saint Peter’s suffered a severe trauma in the form of flood damage from the rupture of a municipal water main. Hundreds of thousands of gallons of water surged into the building, causing major damage to the below-ground sanctuary and the basement-level black box theater, community spaces, and administrative offices underneath. A layer of fine muddy silt covered every surface. Mitigation efforts, including rapid dehumidification to prevent a mold outbreak, stressed all wooden furnishings, in particular the pipe organ.

Pastor Jared R. Stahler and Cantor Bálint Karosi received expert guidance with regard to their predicament, and on January 26, twenty-two days after the flood, a crew from the Organ Clearing House arrived to begin dismantling and packing the Klais for shipping. On February 5, the organ parts arrived at the Gloucester workshop of C. B. Fisk, Inc., for evaluation and, eventually, reassembly. The initial plan called for a thorough restoration of the instrument, and a strategy was developed to accomplish that. But after the organ had been standing in the Fisk erecting room for some months, giving all parties opportunity to inspect and fully grasp the organ’s condition, creative minds got to pondering. A gradual evolution in the collective mindset followed­—from that of simple restoration to one of reimagination.

At its installation in 1977, the Klais instrument was an important addition to the emergent mechanical-action organ scene in the United States. A mere sixteen years had passed since the 1961 debut of Charles Fisk’s landmark tracker at Mount Calvary Church in Baltimore. Historically informed musical instrument building and attention to early performance practice were leading edge. Now, nearly a half-century later, the tracker movement has matured; instrument builders are more and more conscious of ways to be inclusive of multiple traditions without sacrificing the central attributes of the historically informed philosophy. The Saint Peter’s flood, though unexpected and deeply disruptive, offered a compelling opportunity for artistic renascence of the Klais.

Keen to authentically perform the sacred music of Johann Sebastian Bach and his contemporaries in a worship setting, Dr. Karosi founded the Bach Collegium at Saint Peter’s in 2017. As a professional vocal and instrumental ensemble, it offers worshippers faithful re-creations of eighteenth-century Lutheran church music. Bach spent his professional career in the central German region of Thuringia, which, together with neighboring Saxony, were home to some exceptional organbuilding in the eighteenth century. Dr. Karosi, who knows these organs well, proposed adding some authentic Thuringian voices to the Klais, and he put forth a detailed plan. To accomplish his objectives, selected stops would need to be repurposed, others relocated, and a few removed. At the Fisk workshop, studies were made to determine what would be feasible in terms of windchest modifications, and pipe scaling practices of the eighteenth-century central German builders were examined in detail.

Acoustician Dana Kirkegaard advised on acoustical matters, including updates to the sanctuary’s amplification and recording systems. Preservation architect Angela Wolf Scott joined the team to guide all aspects of the sanctuary restoration, ensuring that the Vignellis’ original designs would be respected in every detail, including all visual aspects of the organ console, bench, and case. Given the integrated design of every element of the sanctuary, a new audio-visual control board as well as speaker cabinets made to look like the originals but containing state-of-the-art interior components and electronics were constructed at the Fisk shop of wood and finish to match the organ.

By June 2022, a revamped organ stoplist had been generated. Three entirely new 8′ registers—Principal, Grossgedackt, and Quintadehn—all in eighteenth-century Thuringian style, were added to the Great division. The Klais façade 8′ Principal was retained and renamed 8′ Prestant. The original Great 8′ Rohrgedackt was moved to the Pedal and rechristened 8′ Gedackt. A new 8′ Rohrflöte, scaled and voiced in nineteenth-century style, replaced the original 8′ Gedackt in the Swell. The two 4′ flutes traded places, with the Rohrflöte relocating to the Great and the wooden Traversflöte moving to the Swell. The latter, in order to fit on the Swell chest, received new metal pipes from CC–F0. Other space-management revisions included saying farewell to the Great 11⁄3′ Larigot and the Swell 2′ Principal. In the Pedal, the wooden 16′ Subbass received a new CC pipe, increasing its scale by one note, and higher cut-ups.

Due to the fact that the Klais 8′ and 4′ principals had been previously revoiced (work that included raising the wind pressure in the Great from 2.75 inches to 3.35 inches, and raising cut-ups), overarching decisions with regard to pitch and wind pressures were necessary. Having had the opportunity to hear the Klais in situ before the flood, our remembered impressions, together with Dr. Karosi’s input, guided our decision making. With regard to wind pressures, the Great was left as we found it, the Swell was increased from 2.55 inches to 3 inches, and the upper Pedal chest pressure was raised from 2.95 inches to 3.35 inches to match that of the lower Pedal. The temperament was changed from equal to Kellner. The pitch of the organ as we received it was curiously high, with pipes on the voicing jack registering between A 446–447. In order to lower it to something within reason, we were obliged to fit slide tuners to all cone-tuned flue pipes. Reed remedies were more complicated.

In contrast to the tonal breadth of the renamed 8′ Prestant, the new Thuringian Principal, of high tin content and with delicate nicking, offers an array of concentrated overtones, suitably prompt speech, and a pleasing textural quality. The Grossgedackt, constructed of hammered lead, exhibits purity, roundness, transparency, and calm. The Quintadehn, a fine example of the colorful Thuringian models, is replete with subtle harmonics, articulate speech, and an attractive buoyancy. Together, these recreated antique voices show an ability to blend with ease in various combinations. What’s more, while offering the listener a fascinating window into the organ soundscape familiar to J. S. Bach, these stops integrate well within the instrument’s overall tonal design. Without question, they enhance the organ’s potential for musical expression.

With the reeds, there were three intertwining factors to be addressed: wind pressure, pitch, and tongue curvature. The Great 8′ Trompete was given new heavier tongues throughout; from CC–B0 resonator slots were soldered shut; and from c1 up resonators were lengthened. The Swell 16′ Dulcian (small scale wood) required a new longer C0 resonator and the moving up of resonators by one note from that point. The Pedal 8′ Holztrompete (conical wood) needed a new longer CC resonator and the bumping up of the remainder by one note. The Swell 8′ Cromorne was the beneficiary of extra-long slide tuners and tongue weighting. The Pedal 4′ Schalmey, a stop with a troubled history, was replaced with a mid-1970s era Fisk Cremona at 8′ pitch. All tongue curvatures were revised to accommodate the higher wind pressures; the utterly transformative nature of this tongue work cannot be overstated. The once excessively bright Great Trompete became rounder and more foundational thanks to its heavier tongues and proper curvature. The Swell Dulcian filled out and became milder, and, though still endowed with a measure of characteristic quirkiness, is now an effective underpinning for a 16′ chorus registration. The Cromorne, once bold and sassy, now speaks as a controlled yet charming clarinet, offering versatility as both a solo and chorus register. The Pedal Posaune and Holztrompete, the only reeds on their original pressure, with tongue refinements took on more of an old-style Germanic character. The “new” Pedal Cremona is an effective 8′ solo stop, very useful for cantus firmi in the feet.

Substantial upgrades were made to the organ’s key action. The ravages of time and of the flooding/drying cycle had taken their toll. Also, there was a desire to bring the key action up to modern Fisk standards of performance, reliability, and serviceability. The original Klais wooden trackers, which had become brittle and warped, were replaced with impervious carbon fiber trackers. The manual rollerboards were rebuilt using current standard Fisk materials, including replacement of the worn felt-bushed bearings with precise, self-lubricating UHMW (Ultra-High Molecular Weight) polyethylene bearings. The coupler mechanisms were removed from inside the console, where they were nearly impossible to service and maintain. A newly designed CNC-machined aluminum coupler stack was built and placed inside the base of the organ. In this new location, the couplers are more direct, stable, and efficient, plus they are much easier to adjust and maintain. The keyboards were replaced—with motion ratios engineered to complement the new coupler mechanism—and a new Fisk pedalboard was built.

The Saint Peter’s organ stands as a shining example of how a deeply considered, disciplined, and sympathetic approach to restoration can yield a musical instrument of the highest artistic integrity. In this particular case, an opportunity resulting from truly unfortunate circumstances gave rise to a transformational effort on the part of the organbuilders at C. B. Fisk. We are grateful to Pastor Stahler and Dr. Karosi for approaching us to do this work. And finally, to the parishioners of Saint Peter’s and to the greater New York City audiences, we wish you “good listening.”

­—David Pike,

Executive Vice President, C. B. Fisk

A note of gratitude from Saint Peter’s Church

With the entire Saint Peter’s community, we are immensely thankful for all who responded in the wake of the January 4, 2021, flood, particularly C. B. Fisk, Inc. Extraordinary skill, dedication, and sensitivity helped us turn an unexpected tragedy into an opportunity most congregations spend years planning.

David Pike’s thoughtful collaboration with Bálint Karosi on the instrument’s tonal reimagination brought a level of creativity—two 8′ principals on a medium-sized instrument!—few builders would even consider. Nami Hamada’s voicing of new and old flue pipes is extraordinary. Michael Kraft and Carl Klein magically transformed Klais’s neo-Baroque reeds. The entire team worked tirelessly: from installing new piston arrangements and Bluetooth page-turning capability, to replacing electronic couplers with mechanical couplers, to addressing fissures on windchests, to constructing a new windline for the Great—all while preserving the architectural details of the instrument so deeply integral to Saint Peter’s iconic sanctuary.

We are also thankful to the performers, participants, sponsors, and donors committed to our ongoing inauguration. The events of November 4–5, 2023, included Guy Bovet’s Peep the Piper, an organ half-marathon featuring four celebrated young organists (Amelie Held, Mi Zhou, Daniel Jacky, and Jonghee Yoon), a masterful solo recital by Nathan Laube, Nicole Keller’s inspired playing of three organ concerti—including a new organ concerto by Bálint Karosi, In Memoriam György Ligeti—with Saint Peter’s Chamber Orchestra, and a presentation of Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem featuring Colin Fowler and Saint Peter’s Choir and Chamber Ensemble. February 13, 2024, features Felix Hell in what is very much a homecoming performance, and on June 4, 2024, Cantor Karosi plays a solo recital. These programs aim to showcase the tonal changes carried out by C. B. Fisk, both individually and as a whole, as well as the instrument’s versatility in a variety of contexts and pairings, including as one of the only remaining places in New York City where organ and orchestra can perform in a concert hall setting.

To learn more about the instrument and celebratory events, visit 
future.saintpeters.org/organ.

—Pastor Jared R. Stahler and

Cantor Bálint Karosi

 

Builder’s website: cbfisk.com

Church website: saintpeters.org

Cover photo: Marco Anelli

 

GREAT (manual I)

16′ Pommer 58 pipes

8′ Prestant 58 pipes

8′ Principal*** 58 pipes

8′ Grossgedackt*** 58 pipes

8′ Quintadehn*** 58 pipes

4′ Octave 58 pipes

4 Rohrflöte† 58 pipes

2-2⁄3′ Quinte 58 pipes

2′ Superoctave 58 pipes

1-3⁄5′ Terz 58 pipes

1-1⁄3′ Mixtur V 290 pipes

8′ Trompete** 58 pipes

Tremulant

SWELL (manual II)

8′ Gamba 58 pipes

8′ Schwebung (G# on) 50 pipes

8′ Rohrflöte* 58 pipes

4′ Principal 58 pipes

4′ Traversflöte*‡ 58 pipes

2′ Waldflöte 58 pipes

2-2⁄3′ Cornet II‡ 116 pipes

1′ Scharff IV 232 pipes

16′ Dulcian 58 pipes

8′ Cromorne 58 pipes

Tremulant

PEDAL

16′ Principal 32 pipes

16′ Subbass 32 pipes

8′ Octave 32 pipes

8′ Gedackt 32 pipes

4′ Superoctave 32 pipes

2-2⁄3′ Hintersatz IV 128 pipes

16′ Posaune 32 pipes

8′ Holztrompete** 32 pipes

8′ Cremona§ 32 pipes

MECHANICALS & ACCESSORIES

300 levels Solid State Organ Systems***

Mechanical balanced Swell Pedal

 

by thumb and toe

Sw/Gt, Gt/Ped, Sw/Ped

Generals 1–12

Divisionals 1–6

Sequencer Next***

Sequencer Prev***

Page turning reversible pistons with Bluetooth capability ***

 

by toe

Cymbelstern: 8 tuned brass bells in memory of Katherine and Harry Busch

Birdsong: reservoir and 7 pipes

 

2023

Console and keyboards

Carbon-fiber action

Kellner Temperament A=440

Wind (in mm) raised to 85/Gt, 75/Sw, 85/Ped

 

*** new

** new tongues

* bottom new

† previously on Swell

‡ previously on Great

§ from Fisk Opus 68

Bálint Karosi demonstrates Taylor & Boody Organbuilders Opus 83 organ at Ancilla Domini Chapel, Mother House of the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ, Unites States Province, Plymouth, Indiana. He narrates and demonstrates every stop on the organ, and also performs Matthias Weckmann’s Magnificat Secundi Toni.

The new organ comprises 36 stops, 52 ranks, 2,486 pipes across two manuals and pedal.

The case of the organ is modeled after 17th- and 18th-century Dutch instruments. It is constructed of white oak and stands 34 feet tall to the top of the center spire. All of the case decoration is reflective of the sanctuary, and especially ornate high altar.  

The façade contains pipes from the Hauptwerk 16′ Principal, down to low F-sharp, as well as the Oberwerk 8′ Principal. Behind it, at impost level, sit the two large windchests of the Hauptwerk division. Located above that, in the center, are the Oberwerk windchests. The Pedal is housed in a separate, two-tiered open case that stands behind the main case.

The specification provides a variety of 16- and 8-foot stops in each division, as well as complete choruses and a plethora of flutes and mutations. The Oberwerk’s high-tin 8′ Principal in façade is modeled after 18th-century examples, and its instrumental speech is the perfect foil to the Hauptwerk’s hammered lead 8′ Octave, whose dark, vocale sounds recall an earlier era. The Hauptwerk is lent gravitas by its full-compass 16′ Principal. The 8′ Holzflöte of the Oberwerk is a tapered wooden stop that sings from its position high atop the organ. 
For information: 
https://www.taylorandboody.com/ https://www.taylorandboody.com/opus_pages/opus_83/organ_photo_gallery.html

The organ is featured on the cover of the January 2024 issue of The Diapason:
https://www.thediapason.com/content/cover-feature-klais-fisk-organ-saint-peters-church-new-york-city

Dr. Bálint Karosi has been Cantor and Director of Music at Saint Peter’s Church in Midtown Manhattan since 2015. After winning the 2008 Bach Prize in Leipzig, he has been in demand as a recitalist and clinician worldwide, known for the interpretation of Bach’s music and his Baroque-style improvisations. His recording portfolio includes three albums by Hungaroton, including his original orchestral works, and thirteen albums of the complete works for organ by J. S. Bach. In August 2023, he joined the faculty of the Organ Department at the University of Michigan, where he teaches organ literature, church music and improvisation. 

For information: https://karosi.org/

Bálint Karosi plays Concerto in C Major, BWV 594, after Vivaldi, by J. S. Bach, on The Craighead-Saunders Organ at Christ Church, Rochester, New York, which was designed according to the specifications of an instrument built by Adam Gottlob Casparini in 1776 for the Church of the Dominicans in Vilnius, Lithuania.

An international reference group of organ builders was formed for this project including five of the foremost American builders working in this style: Steven Dieck, Paul Fritts, Bruce Fowkes, Martin Pasi, and George Taylor; the organ builders and instrument researchers at the Göteborg Organ Art Center in Sweden led by Mats Arvidsson, Joel Speerstra, and Munetaka Yokota; Eastman faculty including Hans Davidsson, David Higgs, Stephen Kennedy, William Porter, and Kerala J Snyder; and the consultant, Harald Vogel. 

Dr. Karosi is the recipient numerous first prizes in organ competitions; the J. S. Bach competition in Leipzig, the International Organ Competition in Miami, and the Dublin International Organ competition that he won at age 22. He currently serves as Cantor at Saint Peter’s Church in New York City, where he is artistic director of the Saint Peter’s Bach Collegium, which he founded in 2015 for annual performances of J. S. Bach’s Passions, cantatas, and to commission and premier new sacred repertoire. From 2007 to 2015, Dr. Karosi served as Minister of Music at the First Lutheran Church of Boston, where he established a Bach Cantata Vespers, raised funds for the completion of the Richards Fowkes Opus 10 pipe organ, and he founded the church’s successful annual Boston Bach Birthday in 2008, which has since developed into the most popular organ-related event in Boston.

See his artist spotlight: https://www.thediapason.com/artists/balint-karosi

For information: www.karosi.org

Bálint Karosi is represented in North America exclusively by Phillip Truckenbrod Concert Artists, LLC. 
www.concertartists.com 

John Bishop

Industrial hygiene

Photo caption: Boardwalk Hall showing the locations of organ chambers and the adjacent Trump Hotel: 1, Right Stage chamber: Great, Solo, Solo-Great, Grand Great, Pedal Right; 2, Right Forward chamber: String II, Brass Chorus; 3, Right Center chamber: Gallery I, Gallery II; 4, Right Upper chamber: Echo; 5, Left Upper chamber: Fanfare, String III; 6, Left Center chamber: Gallery III, Gallery IV; 7, Left Forward chamber: Choir; 8, Left Stage chamber: Swell, Swell-Choir, Unenclosed Choir, String I, Grand Choir, Pedal Left. (photo credit: Historic Organ Restoration Committee)

In this year of Covid, we have stepped up our personal hygiene. We are wearing masks, avoiding crowds, and not touching public surfaces. We are reciting the alphabet or the Lord’s Prayer while washing our hands. In an earlier column, I suggested the famous hand-washing lines from Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking scene, “Out, damned spot! Out, I say!” If you recite it with feeling, you can easily get twenty seconds from it. A meme suggested, “I’ve used so much hand sanitizer that the answers to my eighth-grade social studies test appeared on my wrist.”

Over forty-five years of working on pipe organs, I have used the words “industrial hygiene” to describe how a congregation keeps its buildings. A few years ago, I visited a church in the Pacific Northwest where the rector told me that when he started his ministry there, every nook and cranny was stuffed with junk. He spent a lonely late evening walking through the building, looking into closets, desk drawers, kitchen cabinets, and mechanical spaces, determined to remove anything unneeded to reclaim usable space in the valuable building.

With the support of the vestry and lots of volunteer labor from the members, dumpsters were loaded with the detritus of years of neglect, cabinets were scrubbed, and closets were painted. New ministries were developed, and by the time I visited the place, the building was neat and clean and bustling with all sorts of activity.

This topic comes up in these pages occasionally, typically inspired by the current flow of work of the Organ Clearing House. Loyal readers will recall the organist who called in a panic on a Saturday as a wedding was about to start and the organ wouldn’t. I bolted to the church, walked through the throng of limo drivers, bagpipers, bridesmaids, and groomsmen to the cellar stairs under the organ and found a card table sucked up against the blower intake.

I served a large church in a suburb of Boston as director of music. When I went to the church to audition for the position, I noticed that the stalls in the men’s room were wobbly. They were still wobbly when I left the position seventeen years later. Two years ago, we installed an organ in a small church in rural New Jersey. The building was about thirty years old, attractive and simple, but I was most impressed by the beautifully furnished and equipped restrooms. After decades of experience with crumbling facilities in aging buildings, this made the job much more pleasant. When I commented on this to the pastor, he told me that he was disappointed in the condition of the restrooms when he arrived and thought the good people of the church deserved better. That is a nice way for the church to welcome you.

In one church, we had to climb an iron ladder and walk across the attic to reach the door of the organ chamber. The life-sized plywood cut-outs that formed the Nativity scene for the front lawn were in the attic, and there was the manger, the size of a baby’s crib, laden with a hay bale with a wisp of smoke curling toward the ceiling as its innards decomposed. I lugged it down the ladder to the hallway, went to the office to report it to the secretary, and left the building for lunch. When I came back an hour later, the hay bale had been dutifully returned to the attic. I am pretty sure there would have been a fire if I did not drag it down again, this time outside to the driveway.

Going for the first time to a church with a large organ, I went to the basement to inspect the blower. There was a big old Spencer Orgoblo safely ensconced in a fireproof enclosure that was chock full of junk: a four by eight plywood sign announcing the 1968 church fair, some baby carriages that I supposed failed to sell in 1968, boxes of books, and a hanger rack festooned with abandoned choir robes. Another organ is out of tune, and by the sound of it, we figure there is something wrong with the wind pressure. Yup, a stack of folding chairs lying on the reservoir. That will do it.

Protection

An extension of the importance of good building hygiene is the care of the organ when contactors will be raising dust around the instrument. If you get wind that the people of your church are thinking of any sort of renovation inside the sanctuary, it is important to be sure that the well being of the pipe organ is part of the plan. Your organ technician should be involved, consulting with contractors to establish the extent of protection. Common precautions include:

• putting Ziploc® baggies over the tops of reed resonators, or if the planned work is extensive and extra messy, removing the reeds from the organ and packing them in crates;

• disconnect any expression actions so the shutters can be fastened in the closed position;

• cover any exposed divisions with at least two layers of plastic (so the dirty outer layer can be removed without dumping debris onto the pipes);

• cover an organ case with at least two layers of plastic, taping the seams to be airtight;

• build a sturdy framed box over a detached console, because you know those painters are going to stand on top of it no matter what you say. Remove the pedalboard and bench to safety;

• disconnect power to the blower so it cannot be turned on inadvertently and suck all that nice dust into the organ’s internal mechanisms. Cover the blower air intake with plastic taped firmly in place;

• inspect every area that contains organ components and take appropriate measures;

• be sure not to allow contractors to remove any of this equipment. They will protest that they will be careful, but they will not know the degrees of sensitivity of the instrument. All work relating to protecting the organ should be accomplished by a professional pipe organ company.

This work is expensive, time consuming, and can be inconvenient. In September of 2020, the Organ Clearing House covered a large, new freestanding mechanical-action organ to protect it while the sanctuary was painted. The painting was to be completed so the organ could be recommissioned in time for Christmas. It was completed in mid-December, but because of Covid-related travel restrictions, it would not be possible for the organ to be playable until early February. It was an immense disappointment for all involved, especially considering that this would be only the second Christmas for the new organ. But the valuable and mighty, yet delicate instrument was preserved safely from invasion. Had the organ not been protected, the long-term effects could hardly be calculated. Reed pipes would no longer tune or speak reliably. Adjustment of the action would be compromised. The console cabinet would certainly have been damaged (it is an awful sight to see a drawknob snapped off), and the sound of the flue pipes would have been dulled by accumulation of dust in their mouths. If dust had made its way into the wind system, abrasive dust would speed the deterioration and corrosion of sensitive action parts.

This summer, the Organ Clearing House will clean an organ that was not protected when the ceiling and walls of the nave were sanded and painted, the floor was sanded and refinished, and carpet runners on three aisles were torn up and replaced. Our project will include removing and cleaning all the pipes, vacuuming and polishing the case, dismantling the keydesk to remove abrasive dust from keyboard bushings, cleaning windchests, and “flushing” out the wind system. The façade pipes have elaborate stenciling, recently restored, thus requiring special handling. This work will be exponentially more expensive than covering and protecting the organ before the start of building renovation. And while we have techniques and protocols for handling organ pipes and components with care, partially dismantling the organ will upset its stability so that it will take time after reassembly for the organ to settle down tonally and mechanically.

Water works.

In early January, a water main broke on Lexington Avenue in New York City, and a neighboring church was flooded. Lower-level offices and meeting spaces showed high-water marks on walls and furnishings. Music libraries and filing cabinets were submerged, along with all the trappings and equipment you would expect to find in a busy Midtown church. Only an inch or so of water stood on the floor of the sanctuary, so the free-standing pipe organ was not directly affected, but the amount of moisture introduced inside would necessitate a vigorous, invasive cleaning process. The only way to protect the organ from the remediation was to remove it from the building, and because of the importance of getting the cleaning under way as soon as possible, the organ would be removed immediately. The speed at which that decision was made was a tribute to the commitment of the parish to its organ that is now safely in storage with no schedule established for its return.

Thar she blows . . . .

Atlantic City, New Jersey, is on the southern Jersey shore in an area of rich farmland and state forests. It is about fifty miles north of Cape May, the southern tip of New Jersey that juts out into Delaware Bay, and 125 miles south of New York City. The state’s coastline is famous for beaches, summer bungalows and mansions, shellfish (especially crabs), and boating, but only Atlantic City is a mecca for gamblers. The city is home to nine full-fledged casinos, gaudy complexes with huge hotels and restaurants, high-end shopping, performance spaces, and, of course, acres of gambling floors with armies of one-armed bandits, blackjack, craps, and roulette tables, and (no doubt) secret back rooms where bad things happen.

The city’s waterfront sports a famous boardwalk above the long beach where gamblers can celebrate their winnings, or more likely lament their losses. It is lined with ice cream and salt water taffy shops, al fresco dining, souvenir vendors, and all the hustle-bustle you would expect to find at a popular seaside resort. And there are two immense pipe organs, one of them simply as big as they come.

Boardwalk Hall is perhaps best known as home to the Miss America Pageant—“There she is, Miss America . . . .” It is a capacious place with more than 10,000 seats built in 1929, large enough to have hosted the first-ever indoor college football game and indoor helicopter flight. It has been host to political national conventions (Lyndon Johnson was nominated as the Democratic candidate there), concerts, and even rodeos. And it is the home of the world’s largest musical instrument, the mystical, magisterial, mammoth Midmer-Losh organ with 449 ranks over seven manuals and a total of 33,112 pipes. You can see the bewildering stoplist in the November 2020 issue of The Diapason, pages 1, 14–20, and at boardwalkorgans.org.

Over the last several years, the Historic Organ Restoration Committee has undertaken the painstaking, mind-boggling restoration of the Boardwalk Hall organ and the large Kimball organ in the adjoining 3,000-seat Adrian Phillips Theater. The curatorial staff, assisted by volunteer organ builders, has been methodically moving from one chamber to the next, bringing the long dormant instrument back to life. Nathan Bryson, the organ’s curator, told me that 238 of 449 ranks (about 53%) are now in restored and playable condition.

The mammoth console is in a decorated cylindrical booth at the right of the stage. It towers over people standing next to it and looks like a D-cell battery from the other end of the room. The console booth has doors that close to protect the keyboards and hundreds of stop tablets. Nathan told me that the last time there was an indoor car race, there was a wreck and a chunk of a rubber tire slammed into the doors. Good thing they were closed. Indoor car racing? If we are used to worrying about protecting an organ from some contractor’s dust, how can you protect eight big organ chambers from an automobile race? Nathan explained that they close all the expression shutters (there must be thousands), and run fans inside the chambers blowing outwards to inhibit the influx of dust. It is all in a day’s work when you are caring for the largest organ in the world.

Nathan and his staff faced a challenge larger than indoor car racing and rodeos. On February 17 (Ash Wednesday), just after 9:00 a.m., the neighboring Trump Hotel, part of the Trump Casino complex, was demolished by implosion using 3,000 sticks of dynamite. Years ago, I maintained a small organ that was at the “street end” of a church directly across from the town’s library, the same organ with the card-table wedding. The town had built a sorry addition to the library in the 1950s that was to be demolished. I learned about the event through an emotional call from the organist. Shock waves from the blast had wrecked the organ’s tuning. It was not such a big deal, it was a small organ with everything easy to reach, but when I first read about the intention to demolish a high-rise hotel with over 900 rooms, I wondered about the safety of the organ.

Boardwalk Hall is immediately adjacent to the casino complex, the windows of the organ workshop look directly at the three-or-four-story casino, about two feet away. The hotel was on the other side of the casino. A year before the event, representatives of the demolition company toured the hall and the organ. Overseas shipping containers were stacked outside to protect the hall from falling rubble. To control dust during the implosion, windows and doors were sealed with plywood and plastic, HVAC ducts were sealed with plastic, and organ chamber doors were sealed with plastic, towels, and sandbags.

The Echo division in the Right Ceiling Chamber (#4) would be closest to the action. Lacking the funding to remove the division to safety, Nathan and his staff removed the 16′ Basson, an exceedingly rare stop built by Welte with free reeds and papier-mâché resonators, and they took sample pipes from the other ranks so that they could be reconstructed if damaged.

The staff had learned earlier about the presence of dust in the building when a high-pressure wind line burst off its flange and raised enough dust to set off the building’s fire alarms. As the time of the implosion approached, they set up a video camera to record the event in the hall. Officials cleared the building, and the hotel fell, cheered by the large crowd that had gathered. Videos of the event blanketed the internet. If you are interested in watching it, you’ll have no trouble finding it.

At 11:15 a.m., the staff received the “all clear” notice to reenter the building. When they viewed the video, they were able to see a slight wave of dust move across the hall, enough to worry an organ curator, but nothing like a rodeo or car race.

Congratulations to Nathan Bryson and his staff of four full-time and two part-time technician/restorers for bringing that mighty organ through disruptive events like no other. I encourage you to visit the website to read about the unique instrument, follow the progress of the restoration, and if you choose, click the “Donate Now” button on the home page. They still have 211 ranks to go, five times the size of what we would call a good-sized organ.