============================================================================= Volume 44 Number 5 November 2013 Whole No. 396 =============================================================================== Two New Pipe Organs of Bethesda, Maryland Crawl prepared by Carolyn Lamb Booth Saturday, November 23, 2013 10:00 a.m. St. Jane Frances de Chantal Catholic Church 9701 Old Georgetown Road Bethesda, Maryland 2013 Lively-Fulcher Pipe Organ 3 manuals and pedal - 37 ranks DIRECTIONS: Driving South from Northern Montgomery County - drive South on I-270. Move over into the left hand lanes as you approach the spur to I-495, which is marked to Silver Spring. Stay in the right hand lane and take Exit 1. At the second traffic light take the ramp ON THE RIGHT heading South on Old Georgetown Road. Drive approximately 1 mile. Right after you drive under the Beltway I-495 turn left on Ryland. St. Jane Frances de Chantal Church is on the corner of Ryland and Old Georgetown Road. From Northern Virginia, take I-495 across the American Legion Bridge. Continue past the exit to River Road and take the exit ramp to Old Georgetown Road. (It may say something about Bethesda.) Turn LEFT at the traffic light on to Old Georgetown Road and drive under the I-495 overpass. The church is on the left at Ryland and Old Georgetown Road. From the Baltimore Area take I-95 South and take the Capital Beltway I-495 and head West. Take the spur on the right leading to I-270 and move into the right hand lane. Take the first exit. At the top of the ramp, turn right onto Democracy Blvd. At the intersection of Democracy Blvd. and Old Georgetown Road. (Democracy Blvd. dead ends into Old Georgetown Road) turn right. Drive about a mile. Immediately after passing under the beltway, turn left on Ryland. CHAIRMAN: Paul S. Roeder, 15506 Page Court, Cumberland, MD 21502 (301) 268-6308 VICE CHAIRMAN: Glen R. Frank, 4715 31st Street, South, #B2, Arlington, VA 22206-1636 (571) 488-3060 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 EDITOR-ADVISOR: Carolyn Fix, 166 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)
11:30 a.m. LUNCH Hamburger Hamlet 10400 Old Georgetown Road Bethesda, Maryland DIRECTIONS: Turn right onto Old Georgetown Road. Drive approximately one mile. Move into the left turn lane at Democracy Blvd. and turn onto Democracy Blvd. Immediately turn right into Shopping Mall. Hamburger Hamlet is right there with a GIGANTIC sign on the front. 1:15 p.m. Little Flower Catholic Church 5607 Massachusetts Avenue Bethesda, Maryland 2009 Casavant Fréres, Opus 3880 3 manuals and pedal - 38 ranks DIRECTIONS: Drive onto Old Georgetown Road, turn right and head South about 3 miles. (You will pass St. Jane Frances de Chantal Church on your left.) Move into the right hand lane as you come to downtown Bethesda. Turn on Arlington Blvd. which is at a Y. You will be taking the right hand part of the Y. DO NOT make a sharp right hand turn because that will put you on a different road. At the 6th traffic light, turn right on to Bradley Blvd. At the 3rd traffic light turn leftish onto Goldsboro Road. Drive a 7/10 of a mile to River Road traffic light. Continue across River Road. The next traffic light is Massachusetts Avenue. Turn left onto Massachusetts Avenue. Drive about 1 and 2/10 of a mile. You will drive through two traffic lights. Turn left and drive up the hill to the church. (The entrance is just before the Whitetop Tent Fruit and Vegetable Stand.) If you go to the third traffic light, you will have gone too far! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ORGAN RECITALS Sunday, November 24, 2013, 4:00 p.m., FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, 1328 16th Street, NW, Washington, D.C., 20036. Christopher Houlihan, organist. ============================================================================= Please Note: There is no December 2013 Hilbus Chapter Newsletter. There is no crawl for December 2013. The January 2014 Crawl is scheduled for Saturday, January 25, 2014. =============================================================================
October 2013 Organ Crawl "A Tracker Tour of McLean, Virginia" Reviewed by Glen Frank and photographs by Gordon Biscomb. The October 28, 2013 Hilbus OHS organ crawl, organized by member Jim Baird, featured three interesting tracker instruments located in McLean, Virginia, the first installed in a church, and two others installed in private homes. We began our day at Trinity United Methodist Church on Dolley Madison Boulevard. Trinity is home to an interesting Henry Erben organ from 1850, the beautiful case of which dominates the front of the sanctuary behind the altar. The following text is taken from the informational handout provided by the church: "This 3-manual, 31-rank opus was built in 1850 in Henry Erben's New York City factory for the Monumental Episcopal Church in Richmond, Virginia. When the church installed an E.M. Skinner organ in 1926, it reused the case but moved the Erben organ to Mount Olive Baptist Church (also in Richrnond). Eventually Mount Qlive built a new sanctuary and replaced the Erben with an electronic instrument. When Trinity United Methodist Church purchased the Erben organ in 1975, it was interested in finding the original case; consultant Jim Baird made a trip to Monumental Church and found the case with the Skinner organ still inside it. Since Monumental Church was now part of the Medical College of Virginia (and no longer used as a church), it sold the Skinner instrument to another Richmond church. When the latter church decided the Erben case did not match its architecture, a suitable case was found for them, and Trinity was able to reunite the organ and case after almost 50 years separation. The Erben instrument was in almost original condition and had been well-cared for. Its pipework was almost completely original; the only tonal change was made by Adam Stein in 1897 when the organ was moved from the gallery to the front of Monumental Church. The original Swell 4' Principal was replaced with a Vox Humana; this has since been returned to a 4' Principal using period pipes. Stein also made the following additions: 1) a new console, using the original keys; 2) a 27-note pedalboard (although the 25-note chest was not extended); and 3) a mechanism to add stops by depressing a lever, with three stop-combinations each for the Great and Swell divisions. Trinity Church added a 32-note AGO pedalboard to the Erben organ and extended the chests by seven pipes. It also added 4' and a 2' Principal pedal stops on an electric chest as well as a 16' Trumpet (Trombone) stop. The pitch was raised slightly to A440 in order to be compatible with modern instruments and handbells. These changes were made so as to take nothing away from the organ's original design. For the Trinity installation the Erben console was moved 30 inches away from the case, altering its physical appearance only slightly while giving the organist a clear view of the choir members seated on both sides of the console. In addition, the case's central tower was lowered by six inches to fit in the chancel area. The mechanical action was retained and refurbished. Work was recently completed to restore the case carvings to their original polychromed state."
Here is the current stoplist of the 1850 Henry Erben organ: GREAT (56 notes) 8' 2nd Open Diapason 8' Stopped Diapason 4' Octave 2-2/3' Twelfth 2' Fifteenth III Mixture (2', 1-3/5', 1-1/3') 8' Trumpet (44 notes, enclosed) SWELL (44 notes) 16' Bourdon 8' Dulciana 8' Stopped Diapason 4' Night Horn 4' Octave (or Vox humana) 2' Flageolet III Cornet (2-2/3', 2', 1-3/5') 8' Oboe CHOIR (56 notes) 8' Clarionet (40 pipes) 4' Rohrflute 2' Superoctave 4' Gemshorn (or Principal) 8' Melodia (37 pipes) 8' Stopped Diapason Bass (19 pipes) 8' Viol d'amour PEDAL (32 notes) 4' Principal* 2' Fifteenth* (12 pipes) 16' Trombone (or Trumpet) 16' Open Diapason EXPRESSION PEDAL Swell
COUPLERS Great to Pedal Choir to Pedal Swell to Great Swell to Choir Choir to Great ACCESSORIES 3 iron levers to Swell 3 iron levers to Great Great to Pedal (reversible pedal) Tremulant Zimbelstern *added stops on electric chest
Our next stop was the residence of Ira (Ben) Faidley in downtown McLean. He has converted his garage to be an organ studio, and his current instrument is a 2-manual and pedal, 14-rank tracker instrument built in 1871 by Hall & Labagh. Mr. Faidley graciously provided the following background information about this instrument in his handout: "This organ was built by the New York city firm of Hall & Labagh in 1872 for the First Methodist Church in Greenwich, Conn. lt was installed in the balcony of the church. Sometime prior to 1904 the organ was moved to the front of the church. The Greenwich library has a copy of a 1904 newspaper which has a photograph of the organ in the front of the church. ln the photo there is bunting of various stripes draped over the case pipes, as this was for a town celebration at that time. The church council voted in November 1917 to install a new organ, which was built by the Estey organ company. The Louis F. Mohr & Co, of the Bronx, New York City re-installed the organ in December 1918 in the A.M.E. Zion Church on Penna. Ave, in Baltimore, Maryland, with no changes to the organ or pipework. Sometime prior to 1965, the organ was moved and stored in the basement of a shop in Georgetown, D.C. The organ was purchased by James Baird and moved to his residence in Herndon, Virginia. Upon Mr. Baird's moving in 1980 from Herndon to Bealeton, Virginia, the organ was sold to lra (Ben) Faidley in McLean, Virginia. Opus number 135 is written on several pipes, although opus number 110 is written on the Flageolet. The Great Harmonic 4' flute is TC compass and is wood throughout, no metal trebles. The case is Chestnut wood. The Swell TC 16' Bourdon was re-pitched as a 4 flute at this time with newer metal treble pipes. The company name was changed from Hall & Labagh to Labagh & Kemp in 1872. Thomas Hall b. 1794 (England) George Labagh b. 1810 d. 1892" Here are the specifications of this very interesting organ: Compass of Manuals - 53 notes Compass of Pedals 25 notes GREAT ORGAN 8 ft 8' Clariana 8' Melodia 4' Flute Harmonic 4' Principal 2' Flageolet
SWELL ORGAN 16' Bourdon 8' Clarabell 8' Kereulophon 4' Violin 2' Fifteenth 8' Trumpet PEDAL ORGAN 16' Sub Bass COUPLERS Great to Swell Pedal to Great Pedal to Swell Balanced Swell Pedal Bellows Signal Tremolo Dimensions Width 11' Depth 7'6", plus 2'10" for pedals and bench Height 17'9" front - 12' in rear After our visit with Ben Faidley's wonderful installation, we gathered as a lively group for lunch at the McLean Family Restaurant - highly recommended if you haven't already enjoyed this spot. We concluded our day with a visit to the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Julio Blanco-Eccleston, which is home to a 1954 Walcker tracker. Mr. Blanco-Eccleston provided the following information: "The La Salle Christian Brothers commissioned this organ for the small Roman Catholic church of San Juan de Dios, in the city of Leon, Nicaragua. The date of construction in the blueprint of this organ is March 15, 1954. This small church was part of a small vocational training complex for orphans in the center of this city, 2 blocks from the almost five-centuries old Cathedral built by the Spanish settlers at the beginning of the 16th century. The organ was in the choir in the back of this church. But the school needs grew and the La Salle Christian Brother had to move to a larger and more modern location in the outskirts of the city. Despite larger and modern, the plans didn't include accommodating the organ in the new location. The console and blower were left behind in the small church, and the pipes and rest of the organ were put in storage at their new location. The type of construction for the tropics, with a lot of
ventilation contributed to having a lot of water, volcanic ashes, dirt, etc., to accumulate in the organ. The organ had been actually abandoned, with no plans to put it back together in the near future. The organ had been in storage for about 12 years when l acquired it at the end of 1975 and brought it to the U.S. with my belongings from Nicaragua. There was a lot of damage done to it during the move: a lot of bent, dented, broken, missing pipes, especially the mixtures. Due to the conditions of three sets of pipes, they were replaced by a 2' Fifteenth, an 8' Salicional and an 8' Diapason. ln order to place the Walcker in its current location the house had to be modified and an extension was built toward the back of the living room, taking advantage of the "cathedral" ceiling, prolonging the slope. An additional opening/entrance to the basement was also provided with the purpose of contributing to the acoustical quality. MANUAL I 4' Octave II-III Mixture MANUAL Il 8' Gedeckt 8' Salicional 4' Flute 2' Fifteenth PEDAL 16' Bourdon MECHANICALS II-P l-p II-I 56 keys - 30 pedals We would like to thank Jim Baird for organizing this organ crawl, as well as our hosts: Trinity United Methodist Church of McLean, Virginia; Ira (Ben) Faidley; and Mr. and Mrs. Julio Bianco-Eccleston for their hospitality. Many thanks to Gordon Biscomb for the outstanding photography.
Renewal of 2014 Hilbus Chapter Dues Organ Historical Society Name: Address: City: Zip: Telephone(s): Email Address: 2014 Hilbus Chapter Dues ($14.00) $ Donation to Hilbus Chapter $ Donation to E. Power Biggs Fellows Fund ($10.00 Minimum) $ Goal is $1,000.00 to send a young man or woman to 2014 OHS Convention. OHS 2014 Convention August 11-14 Finger Lakes Region - Syracuse, New York Fingerlakes Wine Tour, August 9-10 TOTAL: $ Make checks payable to: Hilbus Chapter, OHS Send to: Carolyn Booth 9200 LaBelle Lane Gaithersburg, MD 20879