I am a “certified organ nut” by virtue of being dubbed so by none other than the illustrious Dr. Bob, Ph.D., an old and true friend. Others have echoed this appellation, and still others merely shake their heads in wonder. Of course, I humbly accept the dubious honor and eagerly don certifiable organ nutitude. To prarphrase the late President John F. Kennedy: “Ich bin eine bestätigte Orgelnuß.” (I do hope that translates correctly. None of my light-hearted German friends is close by to help. Dr. Bob has a German surname but doesn’t have a Tuetonic clue, so I’ll let it stand.)
Why BachsFugue? Bach: the great Johann Sebastian is and has been my favorite for many, many years. We were muscially introduced via the LPs of my youth. The most important influence from recordings came through the excellent renditions of the late Glenn Gould and E. Power Biggs—namely, the Well-Tempered Clavier Book I from the former, to the (for me) awesome performances on the Flentrop tracker at Harvard by the latter. None of my musical knowledge from teachers, church, or my older sister had brought me to this point. I do thank my late piano instructor for giving a poor boy a chance to learn a modicum of piano and inculcating in me a love of good music. She practically gave the lessons away to my sister and myself; our family was not able to afford the cost of regular lessons.
Now church was another matter. Our parish wasn’t fortunate enough to have a pipe organ. The building was built in 1939 and the facility wasn’t designed for a real organ. We had an early Orgatron and after that a miserable Conn. The tonal compliment from those buzzing reeds (in the Orgatron) and electronic tube oscillators was hardly organ-like. The only pipe organ I’d heard in my first 18 years was the Felgemaker organ from 1897 that was in my piano teacher’s church. It didn’t make any lasting impression upon me. I also had the amusing fantasy of cotton balls blowing out of the tops of the façade pipes. That lets you in on the degree of sophistication I held in those juvenile days.
Once I started my undergraduate career at university, attended chapel, and was able to hear the organ repertoire from both professors and students on a Reuter organ, circa 1954, my awe and amazement grew with the realization that the organ is truly the “King of Instruments”. (By the way, the chapel—Weaver Chapel—is a wonderful place to hear the organ. Although the walls are mainly brick, the floor and other surfaces are acoustically reflective.) About the same time my love for the pipe organ was developing, a little Universalist church in my hometown was being razed. All of the furnishings, including a 1910, seven-rank M. P. Möller with tracker action, were being auctioned. My father and my sister’s father-in-law went to the auction with $235 (1966 USD) that my sister had managed to save from playing the organ at church. (She had been the last organist for the Universalist Church years before. At the time she was the organist in the mid 1950s, there were two members and one minister at the church. I think she earned about $2.50 per Sunday.) Her two dads pulled through and won the auction. The big rub was that we needed to get it out of the building in two days! I learned a lot in those two days. We were able to dismantle the organ and move it. The organ for many years was housed in “The Organ House” built by my sister’s father-in-law on his farm. In 1995, after his death, the organ needed to be removed. Unfortunately only the pipes were saved. Of those I have a few of the eight-foot Open Diapason façade pipes and the complete 61-note rank of eight-foot Stopped Diapason pipes. There was really nothing remarkable about the instrument except that it was the first real organ that I played, and I learned much about tracker action and slider chests as well as some basic appreciation of three of the four stop families of the instrument.
M. P. Möller Organ • 1910 Church of the Good Shepherd Universalist Church Springfield, Ohio |
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Great Open Diapason 8' (some façade pipes) Dulciana 8' Melodia 8' Swell Stopped Diapason 8' Salicional 8' (some mitered) Flute Harmonique 4' Tremulant Swell Shades (mechanical, balanced) Pedal (one rank) Bourdon 16' Lieblich Gedackt 16' Couplers (mechanical) Great to Pedal 8' Swell to Pedal 8' Swell to Great 8' Swell to Great 4' Manual tracker action with slider chests Pedal tubular pneumatic action |
As soon as I graduated and began my teaching career (1967) I could think of nothing but buying some kind of appliance to have at home to play. It came down to nothing or a Hammond. I bought the so-called “Concert Model” RT-3. At least it had a full AGO pedal board with richer pedal tones than what one normally thinks of when discussing Hammonds.
I took six weeks of formal organ lessons in the summer of 1968. Those lessons, what my sister taught me, along with my own sense of good music got me the chance to be the organist for a small Lutheran parish near my hometown. That lasted about five years. I still loved the organ, but a little Allen with no reeds and a diminutive, albeit 32-note pedalboard was no challenge and not much fun to play. I decided that I wanted to sing in the choir instead. I had joined the founding congregation of Wittenberg University (my college) and sang there till 1985. That parish had a wonderful neo-baroque instrument from the Holtkamp Organ Company out of Cleveland, Ohio. I got to play it as a substitute several times. Oh how I love to play the organ!
When vitiating liturgical standards made me realize I needed to make a change, I moved with the organist and several of the choristers about a half-mile down the street to the Episcopal Church where I am today. I still sing in the choir and occasionally get to play the organ. It’s a 1917 E. M. Skinner box. (That’s a joke from the old ed-psych days in college.) The instrument is a six-division, four-manual and pedal behemoth with only a few good ranks. One stop that I will praise is a two-rank eight-foot Kleine Erzähler (renamed at one time to a Flûte-à-Pointe II). It is my understanding that Skinner developed this stop. This surprises me as the rest of the stops are rather tubby. The Great eight-foot Second Diapason shouldn’t be allowed to gather wind! And the Solo Tuba Mirabilis is miserabilis.
An interesting note is that T. Tertius Noble was the organist for the dedicatory recital of this opus.
Our parish recently undertook a major restoration of the pipework and added many ranks from the G. Donald Harrison era at Skinner. I have not had the chance to scope out this “new” pipework. Even in light of my dark view of the Christ Church Skinner instrument, I still count it a distinct privilege to have been able to play it. One thing I have learned about console layout is that there seems to be no good reason for more than three manuals. If a particular work needs a fourth manual, a good assistant to push the combination action buttons or pull stop knobs can be more than adequate to fulfill the rare need for the extra keyboard. Those extra manuals tend to raise the music desk way too high for someone who wears bifocals. That’s my two-cents worth on organ consoles.
I almost forgot to tell you my name; it’s Cole.
