============================================================================= Volume 42 Number 10 May 2012 Whole No. 381 ========================================================================= Historic Organ Recital Prepared by Paul Roeder Saturday, May 26, 2012 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Organists: Carolyn Lamb Booth, Glen Frank, Gary Kirkeby, and Peter Crisafulli. United Methodist Church of Rouzerville 11977 Old Route 16th St. Waynesboro, Pennsylvania 17268 Lancashire-Marshall Organ Company 1890 - Two manuals and pedal - 12 ranks - slider chests mechanical key action and mechanical stop action. Bring your wallets filled with cash or checkbooks to contribute to the fund raiser for the restoration of this historical pipe organ. We thank our four recitalists for their time and talent and traveling a long distance to play for the fund raiser. CHAIRMAN: Gordon L. Biscomb, 305 Stevens Circle, Apt. 3A, Aberdeen, MD 21001 (410) 272-4987 VICE CHAIRPERSON: Paul S. Roeder, 15506 Page Court, Cumberland, MD 21502 (301) 268-6308 SECRETARY-TREASURER: Carolyn Lamb Booth, 9200 LaBelle Lane, Gaithersburg, MD 20879 (301) 869-6271 EDITOR: Kevin M. Clemens, 711 Court Square Way, Edgewood, MD 21040 (410) 679-2271 EDITORIAL ADVISOR: Carolyn Fix, 116 Battle Street, SW, Vienna, VA 22180 (703) 281-5046 Articles and news may be submitted to the Editor electronically: kevinclemens@mac.com Dues are due in October: $14.00 mailed to Secretary-Treasurer (Checks payable to: HILBUS CHAPTER, OHS)
Directions: From Washington and Baltimore Drive I-70 West from Baltimore, and I-270 North from D.C. to I-70 West (at Frederick). Merge onto MD-66 N/ Mapleville Road via Exit 35 toward Smithsburg. This exit is about 20 miles past Frederick. Drive 1.6 miles. Enter next roundabout and take second exit on Mapleville Road / MD-66. Drive 3.6 miles. Turn right onto MD-64 / Smithsburg Pike / Jefferson Blvd. Drive 5.5 miles. Turn right onto Ringgold Pike / MD-418, crossing into Pennsylvania. Drive 1.8 miles. Ringgold Pike / MD 418 becomes Midvale Road. Drive 1.4 miles. Turn right onto Buchanan Trail East / PA-16 / East Main Street. Drive 0.10 miles. Turn slight right onto Old PA -16. Drive 0.6 miles. You are at the church. (From Downtown Washington, D.C. it is 81 miles (1 hour and 40 minutes.) Hilbus Chapter Supports Biggs Fellowship The Executive Board consisting of the elected officers of the Hilbus Chapter announces that the Hilbus OHS Chapter will sponsor on the the seven E. Power Biggs Fellows at the 2012 National Convention of the OHS in Chicago. Notably, two women are numbered among the Fellows this year. The E. Power Biggs Fellowship of the Organ Historical Society is awarded to outstanding applicants with a developing interest in the American pipe organ. The intent of the Fellowship is to introduce people to the historic pipe organ through conventions of the Organ Historical Society. Organ builder Patrick Murphy was one of the two fellows in the first year of the program. The alumni of this august group include many who have distinguished themselves in their musical and organ building careers. The ability of the Society to support this program is dependent on the generosity of many donors. Hilbus Chapter is pleased to lend its support on behalf of the membership. The total amount of the gift is $1,000.00 and this will fully support one Fellow s convention participation. Installation of Officers The Executive Board of the Hilbus Chapter will be installed at our June 23, 2012 Organ Crawl which will be in the Baltimore Area. Bob and Barb Hutchins are organizing this crawl. Plan to join us for the crawl, lunch and business meeting. The nominating committee s choices for each office are: Gordon Biscomb, Chairperson; Paul Roeder, Vice- Chairperson; and Carolyn Booth, Secretary-Treasurer. There will be no crawl in July 2012 because of the National OHS Convention in Chicago. Area Concerts Sunday, May 20-14th Annual French Organ Marathon at Grace United Methodist Church, 5407 North Charles Street, Baltimore. Free-will offering. 3:00 p.m. Kathy Metz, 2:20 p.m. Monte Maxwell, 3:40 p.m. Joy Bauer; 4:05 p.m. Kevin Clemens, 4:35 p.m. Ted Davis; 5:00 p.m. David Lawrie, 5:20 p.m. Christopher Schroeder, 5:40 p.m. Paul Carroll; 6:05 p.m. Michael Britt, and 6:30 p.m. Victor Fields. Sunday, May 20 - Recital by Jonathan Hellerman (organist, Church of the Little Flower, Bethesda) Mount Calvary Church, 816 North Eutaw Street, Baltimore. 4:30 p.m. Evensong and Recital at 5:15 p.m. Friday, June 1 - Ken Cowan, concert organist at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Chestertown, MD. 7:30 p.m. Tickets: $20.00
April Crawl Review by Carl Schwartz Hilbus Chapter members visited two excellent mechanical action organs located in Northwest Washington, D.C. on April 28. Carl Schwartz organized the crawl and the Chapter wishes to thank our hosts: Ben Hutto of St. Albans School and John Hurd of St. Columba's Church for their hospitality. Members enjoyed a delicious lunch at Café Deluxe on Connecticut Avenue. We began our day at St. Albans (sic) School Chapel on the grounds of Washington National Cathedral St. Alban's (sic) Church and Parish dates from 1854. The organ of that church was the subject of a recent visit and review. Research by Michael Friesen indicates that Henry Berger of Baltimore built an organ for the original wooden church at the time of its construction. The Right Reverend Henry James Satterlee, the first Episcopal Bishop of Washington chose to locate his cathedral on Mt. St. Alban, originally known as Mt. Alban, following his ordination in 1896. The Little Sanctuary, now the Chapel of St. Albans School was first constructed in 1902 as a place where furnishings for the new cathedral could be stored. Bishop Satterlee's office was located in the chapel tower, a location from which he could observe the Cathedral's progress and the United States Capitol. Construction on the Cathedral itself commenced in 1907. In 1909 St. Albans School located at 3001 Wisconsin Ave. NW, Washington, D.C., 20016, was founded by Harriet Lane Johnston, niece of President James Buchanan. One of the purposes for which the school was founded was to serve as a Choir School for the Cathedral. The boy choristers of the Cathedral are students at St. Albans to this day. If there was an organ during the early years of the Chapel it is believed to have been a harmonium. Richard Watson Dirksen, father of Richard Wayne Dirksen of the Cathedral and sometime member of the St. Albans School faculty, built a small pipe organ of unit design for the chapel using pipes provided by Aeolian-Skinner during the 1960s. This organ is now part of the pipe organ at Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Silver Spring, Maryland. The school has a high quality music program and the chapel is the location of many services held for the students. Organ music and hymn singing are a vital part of that experience. When Richard Roeckelein was head of Music at St. Albans School he initiated a project that brought the present Karl Wilhelm organ to the chapel. It possesses considerable resources and has a robust sound that fills the small room. The action is very easy and precise.
ST. ALBANS SCHOOL CHAPEL Karl WILHELM, 1988 2 Manuals and Pedal Compass 58/32 Mechanical Action GREAT 16 Bourdon 1-24 wood 8 Prinzipal façade 8 Rohrflöte 4 Octave 4 Blockflöte 2 2/3 Quinte 2 Superoctave 1 3/5 Tierce 1 1/3 Mixture IV 8 Trompete SWELL 8 Spitzgambe 8 Celeste 8 Gedackt 4 Prinzipal 4 Rohrflöte 2 2/3 Cornet II 2 Waldflöte 1 1/3 Quinte 1 Scharff III 8 Oboe 8 Regal (in "Brust) connected to the key action PEDAL 16 Subbass 8 Offenflöte 4 Choralbass 16 Fagot 8 Trompete (GT) SW/GT SW/PED GT/PED Zimbelstern
St. Columba's Epsicopal Church, 4201 Albermarle St. NW, Washington, D.C., 20016, was initially a mission of St. Alban's Parish established in 1874 and was later elevated to the status of an independent parish in 1924. The present church building was constructed at that time and completed by 1927. Lewis and Hitchcock of Washington, D.C. built their Opus 133 for this new church building One of the missing details in the contract is the wind pressure of the organ. Typically this was approximately 4 inches of water in the company's new work during that period and so it is not often mentioned! The Specification follows: Lewis and Hitchcock Organ Opus 133 (1926) Compass: Manuals, 61 notes Pedal, 32 notes GREAT 8 Diapason (scale 42) 8 Clarabel Flute (scale 1) 4 Octave (scale 58) 8 Gedeckt (Sw.) 8 Aeoline (Sw.) 4 Flute (Sw.) 8 Cornopean SWELL 16 Bourdon ("# Bass, scale 2 Treble," wood) 8 Diapason (scale 44) 8 Gedeckt (scale 2, wood) 8 Salicional (scale 64) 8 Voix Celeste (scale 64) 8 Aeoline (scale 60) 4 Flute Harmonic (scale 2 metal) 8 Vox Humana 8 (prepared in name board) 8 Oboe (common) 8 Cornopean (4 1/2_ scale) Tremolo PEDAL 16 Bourdon (44 pipes, scale 1 16 Lieblich Bourdon (Sw.) 8 Flute (ext. Bd.) 8 Still Gedeckt (Sw.) Standard Couplers (Source: original contract courtesy of Lewis and Hitchcock, Inc.) Washington, D.C. This organ was tonally modernized by the builders and rededicated by organist Garnell Copeland in 1966. Subsequently it suffered considerable water damage and became
unreliable. John Fesperman of the Smithsonian Institution was engaged as a consultant to the church and the Flentrop firm was chosen as the builder of a new instrument for St. Columba's in 1981. At the time the organ was built the acoustics of the sanctuary were greatly improved. The organ is an exemplification of Mr. Fesperman's views on organ design and within that focus is also a tribute to the builder's artistry. The enlarged Lewis and Hitchock organ was moved to a Virginia church, fate unknown. The reader is referred to the writer's article contained in the Convention Atlas of the 2011 Organ Historical Society Convention - Washington, D.C. for greater detail and depth of discussion about the present Flentrop organ and its design. The organ is located in the left transept as one faces the altar. The Hoofdwerk (Great) is in the highest division in the shallow case and contains the borrowed Pedaal stops. The Borstwerk (Brustwerk) is located behind locking wooden doors above the keydesk and below the Hoodfwerk. The newly added Pedaal stops are encased behind the main organ case and against the back transept wall. The organ is winded off of one large reservoir. The key action and stop action are both fully mechanical. There are no registration aids. This Flentrop organ was built under the artistic direction of Johannes Antonij (Hans) Steketee (d. 2010), successor to Dirk Flentrop. Some of the interesting and pleasing tonal features are: the warm velvety Prestant 8 of the Hoofdwerk as well as the dark, limpid flutes of that division. These are contrasted with somewhat more lively toned flutes in the Borstwerk. Initially the Pedaal was almost entirely borrowed from the Hoofdwerk (except for the Octaaf 4). One can easily examine the result today. The builder quite cleverly scaled the Trompet 8, shared between the HW and PED so that it has a crescendo and broadening as it descends to low C. This, in combination with the Bourdon 16 provided the tonal "bottom" to the rest of the organ, perhaps adequately but not profoundly. Further the Trompet stop, so voiced, provides a highly effective register for use in the Classic French Basse de Trompette registration, something that was most certainly on the mind of the designer. The organ has an effective ensemble, both rich and brilliant. In the nave the effect is a bit restrained, it is not a loud organ. Ultimately the Pedaal division was found to be inadequate, especially for supporting robust hymn singing. At the suggestion of David Storey, curator of the organ, the church engaged Flentrop to enlarge the organ with the addition of three new stops: Subbas 16, Openfuit 8, and Bariton 16. This is an organ that is eclectic within a narrower range of musical requirements than most 20th century American organs yet it embraces much repertoire effectively. Opinions abound about the design and concept, pro and con. It seems that the lively conversation will continue for many years as this fine instrument continues to be enjoyed by many who play and hear it.
ST. COLUMBA'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH FLENTROP (1981/2003) Mechanical Action Compass: Manuals, 56 notes Pedal, 30 notes Equal Temperament HOOFDWERK 16 Bourdon 8 Prestant 8 Bourdon 4 Octaaf 4 Fluit 3 Quint 2 Octaaf Sesquialter II discant Mixtuur IV 8 Trompet Borstwerk/Hoofdwerk BORSTWERK 8 Holpijp 4 Roerfluit 3 Nasard 2 Gemshoorn 13/5 Terts 1 Flageolet 8 Kromhoorn Tremulant PEDAAL 16 Subbas (2003) 16 Bourdon (Hw.) 8 Prestant (Hw.) 8 Openfluit (2003) 4 Octaaf 16 Bariton (2003) 8 Trompet (Hw.) Hoofdwerk/Pedaal Borstwerk/Pedaal Many thanks to Gordon Biscomb for the photography in the newsletter.
Sunday, 22 April 2012, Recital by Julie Vidrick Evans at the Birckner Residence.