Celebrating the Estey Organ - January 28, 2022
The Office of the Chapain
Presents Organ Concert Series
Celebrating the Estey Organ
Virtual Recital Featuring Sondra Goldsmith Proctor, Organ
January 28, 2022
Recorded in Gunnison Memorial Chapel
James Wildman, Recording Engineer
Litanies Jehan Alain (1911-1940)
Prelude Gerald Finzi (1901-1956)
arr. by Alan Ridout (1934-1996)
Adagio in E Major Frank Bridge (1879-1941)
Adagio for Strings Samuel Barber (1910-1981)
arr. by William Strickland (1914-1991)
Toccata und Fuge in d moll, BWV 565 Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Celebrating the Estey Organ
The pipe organ, which is housed in Gunnison Memorial Chapel, was built by the Estey Organ Company based in Brattleboro, Vermont. When the Gunnison Organ was installed, the Estey Company was one of the largest organ companies in the world.
As a young man, Jacob Estey (1814-1890) ran away from an orphanage and began work as a plumber’s apprentice at the age of 17. By the age of 35, he was a partner in a plumbing, lumber, slate, and marble business. In 1852, he sensed a business opportunity and so he took over a share of a small melodeon business. (A melodeon is a mechanical organ with a foot operated bellows that pushes the air out past reeds to create sounds.) Success in the organ world began to follow as the company began to produce pipe organs as well as reed organs.
After Jacob Estey’s death his sons took over the business. They developed the reed organ and pipe organ business equally. By the 1920’s, pipe organs became their dominant product and sales increased.
When a Pipe Organ for the new Gunnison Memorial Chapel was being sought, Owen D. Young, a trustee of the University, invited his friend Charles A. Coffin, co-founder and first president of General Electric, to donate the instrument. Mr. Coffin chose the Estey Company for its stellar reputation of well-built instruments. By January 1, 1926, the Estey Pipe Organ was being installed in Gunnison Memorial Chapel. It arrived in sections by train to be installed in both the large front main organ chamber and the rear gallery and to be played from a console in the chancel of the chapel. By the end of January 1926, the University Organist had prepared a concert for the dedication of the organ.
An interesting historical sidelight, especially during this month when we celebrate the birthday of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., notes that Jacob Estey contributed funds to underwrite the construction of the first building in the United States intended specifically for the higher education of African-American women. It is located at the Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina, the school known as the ‘mother of Black colleges in North Carolina,’ and is the only original building still standing on the campus. Also, as an advocate of equal rights for women, Mr. Estey not only hired women to work in the organ factory, but he also paid them the same rate as the men.
Should you find yourself in Brattleboro, Vermont, it might be worth your while to visit the Estey Organ Museum where you could see the original ‘cash register’ console of the Chapel organ. So called because the stops (ranks of pipes) on the organ were controlled by buttons rather than the more familiar draw knobs and organists thought they looked like old-fashioned cash register keys. The signal that a stop was ‘on’ was a light in the button and if that light failed, as was often the case, the organist was quite literally ‘in the dark’ as to which pipes would sound when the notes were played. That is one of the reasons that the console was replaced sometime in the mid 20th century.
The largest Estey organ that was ever built is installed at Florida A & M.
Litanies by Jehan Alain (1911-1940) is the perfect composition to demonstrate the Estey Organ. Jehan Alain loved experimenting with sounds and the different colors that can be reproduced on an organ. He loved loud sounds and how sounds are altered when the organist plays faster or much slower. His sister, Marie-Claire Alain, a noted organist and one of my mentors, would often talk about his love of trains and how he melded his time of reflection and practice with the train sounds.
Gerald Finzi (1901-1956) was a British composer who was influenced by Ralph Vaughan Williams. His beautiful melodies set many moods through his lyricism, through expressed joy, spiritual reflection and fragility. His more than 100 works for soloist or choir firmly establish him in the top rank of 20th century composers.
Frank Bridge was a student at the Royal College of Music in London. Even though he was a colleague of Ralph Vaughan Williams, Bridge was not as accepted as one of the more traditional composers. Nevertheless, he did achieve financial success with his ballads and solo piano pieces. Frank Bridge’s father was a printer but had a passion for music. During middle age, his father, William Henry Bridge, left lithography and turned to music as a profession, as he taught violin and served as music director of the Empire Theatre in Brighton.
Young Frank began violin lessons at 12, played in the school orchestra and began composing early on. He often served as his father’s substitute in conducting the orchestra. After he completed course work at the Royal College of Music, he was very busy playing violin, conducting concerts whose conductors were indisposed. He so frequently conducted concerts at the last minute that he became known as the ‘ambulance conductor!’
Samuel Barber (1910-1981) is considered one of the most expressive representatives of the lyric and Romantic trends in 20th century classical music. Barber studied piano from an early age and soon began to compose. In 1924, he entered Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where he added singing and conducting to his studies. After graduation in 1934, Barber devoted himself to composition. His style is easily recognizable but not experimental. Many of his works make literary allusions but his music is not programmatic (telling a story).
In 1936, Barber composed his String Quartet. The slow movement, arranged for string orchestra, was performed under the title Adagio for Strings by the NBC Orchestra, under the baton of Arturo Toscanini in 1938. It has achieved great popularity in the United States and Europe. The musical setting for this organ recording is arranged by William Strickland, the noted conductor and organist.
Attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), one of the great composers for organ, choirs and orchestra, Toccata und Fuge in d moll, BWV 565, is one of the most easily recognized pieces of organ music in the world. As was typical in this time period, if you wanted a copy of a manuscript, you sat down and copied it from the original. The only existing manuscript from that time is in the hand of Johannes Ringk. Historians believe that Ringk made the copy between 1730 and 1760. In 1833 Felix Mendelssohn performed BWV 565 in a major concert. From that time, the popularity of the composition began to be recognized and celebrated. During the 20th century the Toccata, Fuge and Coda in d minor (the original name of the work), began to be at the top of the charts in the works of Bach. The use of the work in popular music aided in its recognition.
As you listen to the music, listen also to the beauty of the instrument that Mr. Coffin chose for Gunnison Memorial Chapel. He was forward thinking in his time.
Thank you for listening to this program. Hopefully, by February we will be able to gather in person. On that day I will share with you the music of Florence Beatrice Smith Price, the first African-American woman whose works were performed by a major symphony orchestra.
Sondra Goldsmith Proctor