Reuter Pipe Organ Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Springfield IL

Editor’s note: The Diapason offers here a feature at our digital edition—three sound clips. Any subscriber can access this by logging into our website (thediapason.com), click on Magazine, then this issue, View Digital Edition, scroll to this page, and click on each <soundclip> in the text.

Part 2 of this article is found here.

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

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

The organ’s first career

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

Since its founding in 1975 Radio France has remained the sole public radio broadcaster in France. The sprawling premises in the 16th arrondissement, occupied by the station from its inception, have been enhanced by a new 1,461-seat concert hall. However, in the design by the Parisian architectural bureau AS Architecture-Studio with acoustic consulting by the renowned firm of Nagata Acoustics from Japan, no organ was foreseen at the outset.

Photo caption: John C. Hughes conducts at the Cathedral Church of Saint Paul, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.

Many church choirs perform with organ accompaniment; however, they typically rehearse with a different instrument (piano) in a different space (choir room). Although this situation may be necessary due to scheduling conflicts in the sanctuary, the limitations of the piano and the challenges of changing acoustics bear significant musical costs. These factors not only hinder each performance, but they also impede the long-term development of a choral program.