Organ and Church Music at The University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas;
The twenty-fifth year of the Bales Organ Recital Hall and Hellmuth Wolff Opus 40
The Bales Organ Recital Hall and Hellmuth Wolff Opus 40
Organ study at the University of Kansas began in 1875. In 1898 the “Department of Organ Playing and Church Music” was founded. Since that time the organ and church music program at KU has grown to be one of the largest and most active programs in the country. It now boasts twenty-five organ and church music majors studying across a variety of different undergraduate and graduate programs.
This isn’t the article we had intended to publish in this issue of The Diapason. As with so many other things this year, the completion of a pipe organ we had anticipated sharing here has been delayed by complications arising from the coronavirus pandemic. We will provide details about our 75-rank instrument for First United Methodist Church in Lubbock, Texas—the rendering of which is featured on the cover—in a later issue.
Buzard Pipe Organ Builders, Champaign, Illinois; Pilgrim Lutheran Church, Carmel, Indiana, Opus 45, 2017; Central United Methodist Church, Fayetteville, Arkansas, Opus 46, 2018–2019
Opus 45
“What have you done here!?,” asked Todd Wilson as he leapt off the organ bench to greet me the day before Opus 45’s dedication. Hoping this was a friendly question, I asked to what exactly he was referring. “This organ just about plays itself!” Yes, it was a very friendly question and a complimentary one—even better.
Having tuned and maintained the organ for about ten years, we had a good idea of what was needed to get the organ back into first class condition. There were a number of dead notes, and the organ would not stay in tune. The organ had survived remarkably well, having very little work done to it since 1928 when it was installed as Skinner Organ Company Opus 736.
Marceau Pipe Organ Builders, Inc., Seattle, Washington
Community United Methodist, Church, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
Marceau Pipe Organbuilders, Inc., has completed its Opus 36 for Community United Methodist Church of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. The organ is significantly influenced by its rather extensive history of over 100 years, incorporating vintage sounds blended with new windchests and a modern digital electrical system.
Few pipe organs in history have received as much attention as has the iconic Fratelli Ruffatti instrument dedicated in May 1982 in the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California. For many years it was seen and heard weekly by millions of people via television throughout the United States and in over 130 foreign countries on The Hour of Power with Dr. Robert Schuller. In addition to recordings, tens of thousands experienced it live for over three decades in religious services, solo recitals, and a variety of musical presentations.
The organ at First Presbyterian Church, Knoxville, Tennessee, represented in 1963 the ideals of the modernist side of the Organ Reform movement then in vogue. Like Modernism itself, asserting a dynamic of utter clarity of structure and form, Casavant Opus 2756 spoke boldly and brightly into the nave with nothing to hinder its clear tonal egress.
Bruton Parish Church is immediately recognizable as an important and large edifice among eighty-eight original and intact eighteenth-century structures in Colonial Williamsburg where hundreds of other early houses, shops, and public buildings have been reconstructed. Founded in 1674, the name of the parish comes from the town of Bruton, in the English county of Somerset, which was the ancestral home of several leading Colonial figures. Construction of the present building began in 1712 to a design of Governor Alexander Spotswood and was completed three years later.
Dunwoody United Methodist Church, Dunwoody, Georgia
Quimby Pipe Organs Opus 76, recently installed at Dunwoody United Methodist Church, comprises 100 ranks distributed over five manual divisions, playable from a four-manual and pedal console. The completion of this instrument represents the culmination of an idea and process that began in 2007.
Austin Organs, Inc., Hartford, Connecticut, Opus 1406
From the Minister of Music and Consultant
When I was appointed Minister of Music in 2008, the organ was to be on the docket for a long-anticipated restoration early in my tenure. Upon learning about the vision for this instrument that was started under Dr. Robin Dinda, FAGO, in the early 1990s, two things were clear: the Young Memorial Console built by Austin in 1996 prepared the organ for significant expansion, and a new floating Solo division was to be part of this vision.
Kegg Pipe Organ Builders, Hartville, Ohio; Main Street United Methodist Church, Abbeville, South Carolina
Working in the South has its advantages. The climate can be most pleasant, but the main attraction is its people. Southern hospitality is real, and the folks at Main Street United Methodist Church certainly showed this to us in great measure.
Westport Presbyterian Church, Kansas City, Missouri
On December 29, 2011, a blazing fire engulfed and destroyed Westport Presbyterian Church. Located in historic Westport—the one-time outfitting station for traders, trappers, and pioneers heading west on the Santa Fe and Oregon trails—the Romanesque Revival church built in 1905 was home to a congregation that had worshipped in the community since 1835.
Times have changed, and over recent decades there’s been added concentration on the complete reconditioning of pipe organs. As many will note, rather than only new instruments, front cover articles now occasionally feature older organs that have been completely reconditioned. Granted, they’re usually high profile, large projects; it’s always great to know these important organs have been saved.
Mikell Chapel, Cathedral of Saint Philip, Atlanta, Georgia
A small instrument in a busy Episcopal cathedral chapel carries a heavy load of musical responsibility. In one day it may have to serve a small family funeral, a wedding filled to capacity, a rehearsal, and a service. In Mikell Chapel there is daily Morning Prayer and on Sunday two morning Eucharists and a Spanish language Eucharist. It is the main practice organ and often used in small musical programs and student recitals.
American Organ Institute, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma
A revolution in Norman: how a visionary idea is transforming the organ industry
Many in the organ community have likely heard about the American Organ Institute (AOI) at the University of Oklahoma in Norman. Fewer have had the opportunity to experience the institute first-hand. For many years, I have had the privilege of knowing the faculty and staff of the AOI personally and professionally and am grateful for the chance to share some thoughts about this visionary program.
It was an organbuilder’s dream assignment, and a formidable challenge: a monumental instrument in a grand church renowned for elegant music and liturgy—as well as architecture—with the generous acoustics most church musicians only dream of. Because of its high visibility, it was sure to draw high-intensity attention from organists—and others—with widely varied experiences, tastes, and expectations.
