Westfield Center to present conference April 12-14 in Houston

Paul Fritts & Co., Tacoma,
Washington
St. Philip Presbyterian Church, Houston, Texas

From the organist
Nearly a decade ago, St. Philip Presbyterian Church began planning a major renovation of its facilities. In addition to a new educational building, plans were made to gut the sanctuary and make it a more vibrant and flexible space. By 2004 a new organ was on the horizon as well, thanks to an old electric-action instrument whose shortcomings had become obvious, an enthusiastic committee, and an expert consultant. In 2005 we bid good-bye to the old sanctuary and organ and signed a letter of intent with Paul Fritts for his Opus 29, a three-manual and pedal mechanical-action instrument of 48 stops, which was delivered and installed in the renovated sanctuary in early 2010.
And we couldn’t be happier! The new organ and sanctuary are a perfect match, with the instrument speaking directly into the room from its lofty position in a new gallery. Significant changes had to be made to the former choir loft to support the new organ, with the new gallery extending forward into the sanctuary to accommodate both choir and organ. Fortunately, we were blessed with a building whose basic shape—tall, long, and slender—presented a potentially ideal acoustical environment for organ and choral music. The transformation has been stark: a room that formerly had abundant absorptive and soft surfaces now has several seconds of reverberation. It’s also become a much more appealing visual space: the modernist light-filled sanctuary now boasts handsome millwork, beautiful stained glass, a tile mosaic front wall, and in the rear gallery, a stunning new organ.
Our selection of Paul Fritts & Co. as builders reflects St. Philip’s longstanding commitment to excellence in its music program and the amazing foresight and generosity of its members. Now just a little over a year old, the Fritts organ has generated a great deal of local and even international enthusiasm, and we’re delighted to be sharing it with a wide community of music lovers. I’m especially pleased that organ students from the University of Houston are able to use Fritts Opus 29 for weekly practice and degree recitals, since a splendid instrument like this has so much to teach us.
—Matthew Dirst
Organist
St. Philip Presbyterian Church

From the organ consultant
Long before I became the consultant for a new organ at St. Philip Presbyterian Church in 2004, Matthew Dirst set the groundwork for the project. For many years he had developed a solid relationship of trust, goodwill, and mutual respect between himself and the musicians, clergy, and congregants of St. Philip. It is certainly safe to say that without that special relationship, this project would never have happened. Soon before I came on board, an organ committee had been formed and fundraising had begun. I quickly learned that music was very important to the people of St. Philip. The committee made clear that they wanted an instrument that could lead in worship, accompany the choir, and make possible the performance of great organ music—especially music played by their world-famous organist! But something else came through from our initial meetings. The committee wanted an instrument of high quality that would stand the test of time, and of real beauty that would lead people to a fuller spiritual life.
The committee considered several builders. Committee members took their responsibilities seriously, and some of them made trips well outside the state of Texas to hear recent installations. As soon as they heard the Fritts organ at the University of Notre Dame, they knew what builder they wanted for St. Philip. The size of organ was never the driving force, and in fact the church initially contracted for a smaller (and less expensive) two-manual instrument. I know Matthew Dirst would have been content with it. But additional funds became available, and the size and scope of the instrument increased accordingly.
Besides the desire for a quality instrument that could lead in worship and be featured in concerts, the people of St. Philip Church wanted an instrument that could be used for educational purposes. The organ majors of the University of Houston now practice on this instrument almost every day, take weekly lessons at the church, and present degree recitals on it every semester. Last year, the church began an internship program, which lends support to one lucky UH graduate student in organ. In its role as music educator, the instrument will be featured in numerous conferences and workshops in the years to come, including a national conference sponsored by the Westfield Center for Early Keyboard Studies to be held April 12–15, 2012, and the AGO national convention, scheduled for the summer of 2016. We are most grateful!
My congratulations go first to Matthew Dirst, Associate Professor of Musicology at the University of Houston and organist of St. Philip Church, for his many years of strong leadership and impeccable musicianship. He really deserves such an instrument! I also want to thank the St. Philip Organ Committee—especially its remarkable chairperson, Elizabeth Duerr—for years of hard work and unwavering commitment to excellence. And, finally, thanks go to Paul Fritts and his entire team for the construction and installation of an instrument of real quality—one that I know will inspire the congregants of St. Philip and the citizens of Houston for many years to come.
—Robert Bates
Professor of Organ
University of Houston
Organ Consultant
St. Philip Presbyterian Church

From the organbuilder
Many decisions contribute to the building of an organ, and these decisions become more significant when virtually every part is designed and built in the builder’s workshop. This distinction, achieved by our firm in 1984 when the pipe shop was established, enables creativity to flourish—we can build anything we want.
Organbuilders have been practicing their art for centuries, often with extravagant support. Today we can visit existing organs from most periods and national styles and still experience them firsthand. These visits become more challenging since we must also account for things outside the original builder’s intention. We are experiencing instruments through the veil of rebuilds and restorations over the centuries, some not so sensitive. We must also develop a good understanding of the acoustical environment these organs are speaking in, often a far cry from the typical modern American space. We can both experience how these organs sound and behave today, and also imagine how they once were.
Over the course of many study trips, I have noticed things common to instruments I consider magical. Interestingly, these outstanding instruments are not limited to any national style or time period. When comparing the experiences, I find a substantial convergence in areas of sound. The sounds of the pipes are complex and yet they have an unusual combination of qualities often difficult to achieve but deliberately sought after: their harmonic content is both refined and colorful, and it is balanced with a generous amount of fundamental. The speech is quick and elegant. These qualities are especially challenging, since customary ways of refining speech generally kill the unique harmonic content we hear in the old pipes. Interestingly, we find these sonic qualities in other fine instruments: violins, harpsichords, pianos, and many others. There seems to be a connection to the human voice—richness is present, combined with clarity—and all of this is accomplished, in the case of the organs, without excessive intensity, through the use of relatively low wind pressure. The organs somehow function on a human scale in spite of being grand both in appearance and sound. The pipes have open feet and flueways and relatively high cutups, but are mostly controlled in their sound production by the organ’s wind pressure, the main determinant of the organ’s overall intensity. These things contribute to what has been aptly called a relaxed intensity—the pipes sing robustly without shouting. Many other aspects fall into place when stops are working this way. The blend between them is enhanced and many more stop combinations work together. The organs carry a space remarkably well without having to be loud. They lead rather than direct a congregation. This rather strict approach surprisingly enables an organ to be more eclectic or universal in its capabilities. And, most importantly, they are supremely musical.
These thoughts were on our minds as we considered the design and construction of the new St. Philip Presbyterian Church organ. Many ideas garnered from the study trips expand the design, construction, and voicing, along with the collective experience of our seven craftsmen. The case appearance, in keeping with the spare nature of the church architecture, is an original design and incorporates ideas found in revered cases to make it more interesting. The treble flats curve inward and alternate direction in ancient Dutch fashion, and the proportions of the bass and tenor flats follow well-established trends. Straightforward moldings properly adorn the case and each vertical stile is framed with decorative insets. The carvings are contemporary creations inspired by Renaissance-era Italian organ pipe shades. All is painted a glossy white with gold leaf highlights. The result in the church is both a striking appearance and a comfortable feeling that it belongs.
Tonally the organ is more strict and at its core Germanic. Arp Schnitger’s work forms the basis of our recipe, and for good reason. The level of sophistication in the pipe-making and voicing is a true inspiration. Congregational support is of paramount importance and was at the forefront of our thinking when envisioning the St. Philip tonal design.
There is an abundance of reed stops, and these pipes follow the same principles as the flue pipes. They are made to produce a strong fundamental tone combined with color and refinement. The resonators are cut long to facilitate this, and a welcome consequence is tuning stability.
Eclecticism within this structure can flourish. For the St. Philip instrument we have included many stops and features that broaden the scope. A Swell is present with shades on three sides, along with the required string stops plus the Hautbois (a strict Cavaillé-Coll copy) stop. A string stop is also present on the Great, and there is a wide variety of flutes throughout the organ.
We have also added an electric stop action piggybacked to the mechanical stop action. We do this since there is a vastly different life span between the two systems. Any electric computer system will fail within a relatively short time compared to a well-made mechanical system that can function for centuries. We can avoid this dilemma if the electronic components are included in a non-intrusive way and are easy to replace when it becomes necessary. In the meantime, the organ will not be seriously disabled by failures of these electrical components, since the mechanical system will continue to work. As is usual with modern electrical preset systems, there are the usual features, including hundreds of memory levels and a sequencer.
The wind system is substantial, with four large bellows fitted with all the levers and check valves necessary to foot-pump the organ. When this novelty is utilized and the audience is informed, the performance takes on new meaning. There is a connection to the organ’s legacy—the organ is functioning on a human scale.
All of the four divisions speak directly through the façade—that is, no divisions speak through other divisions, contributing to an easy balance among them. The manual divisions are positioned center case, with Positive at the bottom, Great above, and Swell at the top. The Pedal is divided on each side.
The people of St. Philip Presbyterian are to be much admired for their unyielding support throughout the process leading up to the dedication of the organ in the spring of 2010. I am also humbled by my talented staff who work skillfully and with dedication. We strive to build lasting instruments—instruments that are both durable and very much cherished by those who play them and those who listen. Projects like this have the added benefit of the involvement of a wide group of people, a group too numerous to individually name here. I thank the St. Philip family for their support on many levels throughout the process, and I thank my wonderful crew for their continued excellence and support.
—Paul Fritts
Paul Fritts & Co. Organ Builders

St. Philip Presbyterian Church
Paul Fritts & Co. Organ Builders
Opus 29, 2009

GREAT
16′ Principal*
8′ Octave
8′ Rohrflöte
8′ Salicional
4′ Octave
4′ Spitzflöte
22⁄3′ Quint
2′ Octave
13⁄5′ Terz
IV–VI Mixture
V Cornet (mounted)
16′ Trompet
8′ Trompet
4′ Trompet
8′ Baarpfeife

SWELL
8′ Principal
8′ Bourdon
8′ Violdigamba
8′ Voix celeste
4′ Octave
4′ Koppelflöte
22⁄3′ Nasat
2′ Blockflöte
13⁄5′ Tierce
IV–V Mixture
16′ Fagott
8′ Trompet
8′ Hautbois

POSITIVE
8′ Principal
8′ Gedackt
8′ Quintadena
4′ Octave
4′ Rohrflöte
2′ Octave
11⁄3′ Larigot
II Sesquialtera
IV–V Scharff
8′ Dulcian

PEDAL
16′ Principal
16′ Subbaß
8′ Octave
8′ Bourdon*
4′ Octave
VI–VIII Mixture
32′ Posaune*
16′ Posaune
8′ Trompet
4′ Trompet

*Some pipes transmitted from other stops

Couplers
Swell to Great
Positive to Great
Swell to Positive
Great to Pedal
Swell to Pedal
Positive to Pedal

Compass: Manual, 58 notes; Pedal, 30 notes

Other:
Polished tin front pipes
Solid wood casework with carved pipe shades
Suspended, direct mechanical key action
Mechanical stop action with electric pre-set system
Tremulant
Multiple wedge bellows with foot pumping levers
Wind Stabilizer

70 ranks, 48 stops, 3,488 pipes

Photo credit: Paul Fritts

An important project is happening in Göteborg, Sweden. In August, 1998, along with about 100 organists from all over the world, I attended the International Organ Academy of GoArt: Göteborg Organ Art Center, at Göteborg University, Sweden. This has become a major center of research, organ-building, teaching and performing. A recent visit there last year was the occasion to observe progress on the building of a four-manual, 54-stop, mean-tone organ after the style of the late-17th century in North Germany. The organ will be unveiled at the biennial International Organ Academy in Göteborg, August 5-18, 2000. For the background and purposes of GoArt, see the article by Pamela Ruiter-Feenstra (The American Organist, July, 1996) and their Web-page (URL: www.hum.gu.se/goart/organac.htm); here I will summarize briefly.

The Göteborg Organ Art Center is the brainchild of Hans Davidsson, a GU music faculty member and brilliant young organist and musicologist, working under the inspiration of Jacques Van Oortmersson and Harald Vogel. It was begun in January 1995 as an inter-disciplinary center for organ research and performance bringing together the strengths of the Göteborg University Musicology Department and the School of Music. It is now an independent center in the GU administrative structure. An international panel of musicians advises GoArt, including Jean Boyer, Pieter Dirksen, Frederick K. Gable, Ludger Lohmann, André Marçon, Kimberly Marshall, Hans van Nieuwkoop, Jacques Van Oortmersson, William Porter, Pamela Ruiter-Feenstra, Kerala Snyder, Axel Unnerbäck, Joris Verdin, and Harald Vogel.

GoArt's stated objective is to cover the entire spectrum of the art of the organ by linking the efforts of musicologists, performers, and organ builders, in order to study historic instruments, documents, music and performance practice issues. This blurring of traditional lines has led to a center that is bursting with energy and creativity and whose impact on the organ world is already keenly felt.

This multi-disciplinary approach has produced a number of tangible outcomes:

* the establishment of archives containing musical sources on micro-film, photographs and other media;

* education and research, with the emphasis on historically informed and discerning music-making;

* a wide-ranging collection of instruments, drawing inspiration from the many golden ages of organ playing;

* in-depth studies of the relationships between organ art and history, aesthetics, ideology and liturgy;

* dedicated well-rounded artistic training aimed at producing musicians who are able to balance intuition with intellect;

* the reconstruction of instruments on scientific principles which will serve as primary sources of information about performance practice.

The current six-year long project is entitled "Changing Processes in North European Organ Art: 1600-1970 - Integrated Studies on Performance Practice and Instrument Construction." This integration of performance, literature, and musicological research is linked together by the instruments--the hallmark of GoArt--valued as an indispensable research tool in the organ performance. This collection of organs in various styles includes a mean-tone organ by John Brombaugh in the Haga Church (2 manuals and pedal; 21 stops); a 19th-century French style organ built by the Dutch builder Verschueren (3 manuals and pedal; 43 stops, featured in the 1998 GoArt Organ Academy) housed in the recital hall of the School of Music; a "Father" Henry Willis organ built in 1871 housed and in the Örgryte Church (3 manuals and pedal, 31 stops); an instrument inspired by the Swedish Baroque style built by Gustavsson (2 manuals and pedal; 16 stops); and a pedal clavichord reconstructed by Joel Speerstra after the Gerstenberg instrument in Leipzig. (This is used to explore the connections between clavichord and organ techniques.)

Housed in the Örgryte Church, the organ currently in production is the aforementioned North German style mean-tone organ, using the work of Arp Schnitger as a primary model but also incoporating aspects by earlier builders such as Scherer and Fritzsche. Visually, it uses as a model the now defunct Schnitger organ of the Lübeck Dom. Tonally, the new organ is inspired by the organ of St. Jakobi, Hamburg, but also incorporates aspects of the organs of the Aa-Kerk, Groningen and St. Cosmae, Stade.

Some of the most sophisticated research into historic organ-building methods is being carried out and put into practice jointly by scientists of the Chalmers Institute of Technology in Göteborg and Master Organbuilders at GoArt (Hans Van Eeken, head draftsman; Mats Arvidsson, responsible for construction of the organ, excluding organ pipes; and Munetaka Yakoto, research and organ pipe production). The collaboration among these scientists and artisans has yielded new thoughts and discoveries in air-flow, acoustics of the room and the organ chamber, and materials and pipe construction.

One of the most interesting achievements of this project has been the retrieval of pipe making methods that were used until the time of the Industrial Revolution. The scientists at the Chalmers Institute were able to ascertain the formula for many metal alloys used by Schnitger and others. Organologists explored church records and the annals of builders of the time in order to re-construct the method of casting pipe metal on sand. This affects the cooling process of the pipe metal, thereby affecting the molecular structure, and ultimately the quality of the metal and the sound. Quite possibly this is the first time these techniques have been used since the early 18th century, and the people at GoArt are convinced that this old technique is, in part, responsible for the special sound quality of historic organs. More information on the North German organ, including the stop-list and a description of the church in which it is housed can be found on the GoArt web site: http://www.hum.gu.se/goart/w3b.htm#ngorp.

But all of this research could be mere mental gymnastics were it not brought to life by a vital and informed faculty in performance best displayed at the biennial GoArt conferences. In order to promote the next International Organ Academy, allow me to recall a few events from 1998.

This two-week course had several themes: one week devoted to "Aristide Cavaillé-Coll and the French Symphonic Organ," another to "The North German Organ" with special emphasis on the chorale fantasia, and an extended weekend symposium on "The Organ and Liturgy." The schedule was grueling yet rewarding, especially if you were willing to participate fully. Sessions began usually at 9 am and carried through until the late evening. It was not possible to attend everything, but a mere perusal of the program tells one of the richness of our legacy. Four primary kinds of meetings call the academy together (98% of which are done in English): master-classes, lectures, workshops, and recitals. Among some of the more engaging pedagogical experiences of the last academy were a session on Froberger by Ludger Lohmann of Stuttgart, a class on Alain by Jacques Van Oortmerssen (Amsterdam), an exploration of Franck's chorales by Jean Boyer (Lyon), and a class on Italian Baroque music by André Marçon (Bern).

The workshops were a cross between master-class and lecture and allowed listeners to focus on specific aspects of research as it relates to performance practice. Kimberly Marshall devoted two of her sessions to the genesis of early liturgical music for the organ and the music of Jeanne Demessieux. Pamela Ruiter-Feenstra unveiled some of her latest discoveries in the pedagogy of improvisation in the late 18th century. André Marçon led a detailed analysis of Frescobaldi's "Fiori Musicali" and alternatim practice in Baroque Italy. William Porter gave an insightful workshop on "Generating Principles of the Late 17th-century North German 'Praeludium'."

The lectures are too numerous to list but were nonetheless provocative and memorable. Jesse Eschbach, on the verge of the publication of his new book on Cavaillé-Coll, discussed the organ builder's thoughts on modernizing Classical and Post-Classical organs. Jean Ferrard discussed Cavaillé-Coll's relationships with Lemmens, Loret and Franck. Pieter Dirksen (a brilliant young musicologist who has recently published a book on the keyboard works of Sweelinck) spoke about Lübeck and Bruhns and the final stages of the North German chorale fantasia. Kerala Snyder explored Bach and the Lutheran liturgy and the unlikely topic of the connections between the French tradition and Buxtehude. Fenner Douglas gave a withering and yet very accurate appraisal of the neo-classic renovations that happened to historic French organs in the 1950s-70s.

And now to the heart of the matter--performance. Were it not for this aspect, GoArt may be little more than a meeting for musicologists. But in these two weeks, I heard fine organ playing on beautiful instruments.

In the Haga Church (Brombaugh mean-tone organ) André Marçon opened the academy with a moving performance featuring music of the Italian baroque. While the instrument is built in the North German style, the transparent colors of the principals admirably revealed the subtle singing quality of this repertoire. Marçon is steeped in this period, and displays his acumen beautifully through intelligent, colorful and expressive articulation and phrasing.

One of the great moments of the entire Academy was to hear William Porter on the same instrument, this time playing music of 17th-century North Germany. Two variation sets of Scheidt ("Vater Unser" and "Io son ferito lasso") were among the highlights of this program. Porter's playing of this music is rivaled by few others. Gauging each tempo correctly, using old fingering practices to expressive ends, discovering the beauty of the simplest of registrations, and knowing the architecture of this music are among the reasons why his playing is so remarkable. The program closed with a riveting performance of the Bruhns "Praeludium in G," but not before he improvised a chorale fantasy on "Gelobet sei Gott" that made one think it was Buxtehude at the organ!

The French symphonic organ was a featured instrument at this year's academy. Generous in scaling and voicing, even though the Verschueren organ is housed in a recital hall of limited acoustic, the organ is nonetheless colorful and brilliant without being overwhelming to the listener. The sounds of the montres and strings were particularly convincing. Jean Boyer's performance of Messiaen's La Nativité was one of the memorable moments of these two weeks. Boyer is an extremely intelligent man (as he displayed to us in his teaching and lecturing), and this intelligence is wedded to a musical soul. Ludger Lohman gave a stellar performance of the Vierne Fifth Symphony and Kimberly Marshall gave a wonderful overview of some of the great works of Demessieux. I regret missing a performance by Hans-Ola Ericsson of Livre du Saint Sacrament of Messiaen (the recital BEGAN at 11pm!!) but reports from reliable sources the next day glowed with unanimous approval. Apparently the audience was spellbound for the 21/2 hours of this event.

Director of GoArt, Hans Davidsson, apparently possesses all of the important gifts of the complete artist/teacher: intellect, creativity, vision and musicality. These were demonstrated throughout the conference but particularly as he was featured in a recital of the Third Part of Bach's Clavierübung, in the Bethlehem Church. This performance revealed a deep understanding not only of this great music, but also of the theology that lay behind it. It was a profoundly moving event.

Curiously, the recitals that seemed to encourage the most discussion afterwards were not organ recitals at all. Joris Verdin, harmonium player and organist from Belgium, completely amazed everyone by his subtle and expressive playing on the GoArt French harmonium. While this instrument was well-known and used by French organists in the 19th century it has since fallen out of use, especially in the United States where the harmonium uses a different wind system than the European version. The subtle nuances that he was able to achieve with this instrument were nothing short of miraculous and brought to life music which sounds little more than hum-drum on the organ. Equally noteworthy was an evening spent in the Gunnebo Castle in nearby Molndal. It was a marriage of sensations: there the audience sat in an 18th-century home listening to a music of the period played on a replica of an 18th-century double clavichord. The featured performers, Joel Speerstra and Ulrika Davidsson, played music of late 18th-century Germany while Pamela Ruiter-Feenstra improvised a charming sonata in late 18th-century style using the principles she had discussed only days before in her lecture. Here was a real unity of architecture, sound, music and knowledge that exemplified what GoArt is able to achieve.

GoArt is currently engaged in a number of publications, perhaps the most significant being a massive tome called The Organ as a Mirror of Its Time, edited by Kerala Snyder. This book, which will be available in the Fall 2000, traces the significance of the organ in western culture, particularly as building styles were affected by and helped shape liturgical practice, improvisation, and the secular music aesthetic. The specific foci include the organs of the North German Masters, Swedish organ-building practices and the French and German organs in the 19th century. Chapters on the organ reform movement and the latter-day performance practice movement are also included. Among the contributors are the current GoArt planning board and faculty.

Information on the upcoming GoArt International Organ Academy (August 5-18, 2000) may be found at http://www.hum.gu.se/goart/w-100b.htm. The focus will, of course, be the North German Baroque Organ and the conference will unveil the new instrument currently being finished. Performers and clinicians will include Harald Vogel, Daniel Roth, Ludger Lohmann, David Yearsley, Rudolf Kelber, Yuko Hayashi, Lynn Edwards, Pieter Dirksen, Paul Peeters, William Porter and many others. Contact information: Organ Academy, School of Music, Box 210, SE-405 30 Göteborg, Sweden; ph +46-31-773 52 11 or -773 52 06; fax +46-31-773 52 00; e-mail [email protected]

http://www.hum.gu.se/goart/w-109.htm#fee

In a time when the organ seems to be on the periphery of musical performance, and as awareness of the instrument even among the musically informed is at an all-time low, the Göteborg Organ Art Center has positioned itself to be a catalyst in the midst of this crisis. Their solution does not provide a single-style agenda, nor a bag-full of tricks meant simply to "thrill" audiences. Rather, its broad base reminds us of the richness of the legacy that has been given us and calls our attention again to the depth and breadth of the largest of all instrumental repertoires.

Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

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

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

The Westfield Center

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

The new Wolff organ

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

The conference

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

Recitals

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

Keynote addresses

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

Improvisation jam session

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