Home » Catalog » Bruce Stevens, Organist   My Account  Cart Contents  Checkout
Rheinberger Organ Sonatas, Vol. 5, Bruce Stevens, Organist
Sonatas No. 7 in F minor, op. 127; No. 9 in B minor, op. 142; No. 13 in E-flat Major, op. 161 - [OAR-993]
$15.98

Organ Sonata No. 9 in B Minor, op. 142
Präludium · Romanze · Fantasie · Finale (Fuga)
1860 E. & G. G. Hook, Boston, op. 288, St. John’s Roman Catholic Church, Bangor, Maine
restored 1981 Bozeman-Gibson Organ Co., Deerfield, New Hampshire

Organ Sonata No. 13 in E-flat Major, op. 161

Phantasie · Canzone ·  Intermezzo ·  Fuge
1898 Geo. Jardine & Son, New York, op. 1248
St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church, Haverstraw, New York
restored 2011 Andover Organ Co., Methuen, Massachusetts

Organ Sonata No. 7 in F Minor, op. 127    24:16
Preludio. Allegro non troppo · Andante · Finale. Grave – Fuga. Moderato
1868 E. & G. G. Hook, Boston, op. 472
Christ Episcopal Church, Charlottesville, Virginia
relocated 2012 Andover Organ Co., Methuen, Massachusetts

Josef Rheinberger
by Bruce Stevens

Josef Rheinberger (1839-1901), acknowledged to this day as one of the most famous native sons of Liechtenstein, became a leading composer and teacher of composition in Europe in the second half of the nineteenth century. In his post at the Munich Conservatory, he attracted numerous composition students from abroad, including at least 62 from the United States. American composers Horatio Parker and George Chadwick were among the Rheinberger students who became famous, as were German composers Engelbert Humperdinck and Wilhelm Furt­wängler.

Rheinberger was also one of the more prolific and accomplished organ composers of all time, with twenty lengthy organ sonatas and hundreds of shorter organ pieces to his credit. The sonatas demonstrate his proclivity for disciplined perfection, for they unfailingly display his mastery of polyphonic techniques, compact and coherent structures, and richly inventive, noble melodies— the major hallmarks of his style. Although his music was greatly admired in Europe and the U. S. during much of his lifetime, it later suffered a major eclipse due to changing tastes. Thus, when Wagner-mania struck at the end of the 19th century, Rheinberger’s compositions were already regarded as old-fashioned in centers of musical culture. Today, we can assess his works on their merits, removed from moments of fashion, and when we do, we find much that is of the first rank.

Sonata No. 9 in B-flat Minor, op. 142: The composer wrote this 28-minute work in the spring of 1885 and dedicated it to the famous French organist and international concert artist Alexandre Guilmant, with whom Rheinberger maintained friendly correspondence. The work displays all of Rheinberger’s stylistic hallmarks in abundance. There is no rambling. The three contrasting themes of the Präludium—the first theme in B-flat minor and the other two in major keys—could not contrast more, but they gracefully come and go as if they were derived from the same material. The Romanza’s calm, major-key melody in six-eight time is interrupted by a central, more declarative minor-key fantasia featuring an etude for the left hand. Following the Romanza’s serene conclusion, the fantasia idea is taken up again in the form of an extended introduction to the exuberant fugue that comprises the main body of the final movement. Rheinberger is often at his best when working out a noble fugue, and this one in B-flat major is no exception. The Präludium’s minor-key first theme makes two brief appearances against the fugal material, but there is no question that the stalwart fugue theme will dominate the proceedings to the end. Characteristically, Rhein­berger gradually builds the energy level to a great climax, here with the introduction of triplet motion near the midpoint as well as with his customary grandiose modulations that are always so natural as to seem inevitable. The movement concludes with the fugue theme treated as a triumphant melody harmonized with full-fisted, dramatic chords.

Sonata No. 13 in E-flat major, op. 161: This 24-minute sonata was composed in November of 1889, when the composer was 50 years old. The Phantasie opens with a straightforward, harmonized, song-like first theme (somewhat suggestive of the beginning of Vaughan Williams’ famous 1906 hymn tune Down Ampney). However, it is the second theme, which I dub the “rhapsodic theme” because of its upward reaching and yearning, that turns out to be the most important one. It is introduced mezzo forte after 50 measures of forte-fortissimo music, and it returns later to conclude not only the first movement, but also the entire sonata at the end of the fourth movement. The Canzone is Rheinberger at his lyrical best developing a plaintive solo melody against a flowing, beautifully crafted accompaniment. This is followed by an expansive Intermezzo that features two contrasting themes with free rhythms set out in a string of short sections. The middle section of this movement employs arpeggiando chords to accompany a transcendent soprano melody in C major. The sturdy, five- voice Fugue is announced by its tuneful, infectious subject in E-flat minor. Along the way, the counterpoint master provides inversion of the subject as well as stretto (superimposition of the subject upon itself at a close time interval in two voices). The end of this movement sums up the entire sonata with a return of the “rhapsodic theme” from the first movement—a cyclical device that 19th-century composers favored to give unity to multi-movement works. This reappearance of the rhapsodic theme is spun out and extended beyond its original scope to form an exultant conclusion.

Sonata No. 7 in F Minor, op. 127: For the first movement of this 23-minute work, composed in October of 1881, Rheinberger employed four distinctive themes: the first, highly dramatic; the second, rugged and persistent; the third, broad and arching; and the fourth, gentle and delicate. Tying all these together is the simple motive of four notes descending stepwise. The D-flat major second movement, introduced by the four descending notes, features one of the composer’s signature, haunting melodies geared to pull at listeners’ heartstrings. Nevertheless, he interrupts this reverie with a poco animato section, still based on the four descending notes, that generates controlled excitement before allowing the peaceful theme to return. The movement concludes with the four descending notes played pianississimo (ppp). This lovely movement must have proved to be particularly popular, for Rheinberger arranged it as a Rhapsody for oboe or violin and organ in 1889. Back in F minor, the third movement’s introduction consists of yet another appearance of the four descending notes, this time harmonized as four slow chords. After a fantasia section and a long pedal point on low C, the fugue in three-two time begins in the now blissful key of F major. The rising-note subject reverses the descending notes, indicating an evolution. What sounds like the exposition of a second, lively fugue subject involving staccato notes turns out to be nothing more than a rather brief episode, for this second subject is soon abandoned in favor of the main subject. As was his custom, Rheinberger builds the intensity to a grand culmination, and the movement concludes with the four descending notes played one last time as very slow, majestic chords in a low register on full organ.

The Organs and Their Builders
by William T. Van Pelt

Two of the organs heard on this CD were built by the Boston firm of E. & G. G. Hook, and one was built by the New York City firm named George Jardine & Son. The high tonal and mechanical qualities of 19th-century American organs was usual and expected by organ customers and organbuilders, even among second-tier builders, though both the Hooks and Jardine even today rank within the first tier of builders, especially for tonal attributes. A few organbuilders working today have successfully explored and adopted the methods employed by 19th-century builders to achieve these exceptional tonal characteristics. These rare modern builders use 19th-century techniques to relocate, restore, or rebuild a 19th-century organ, and sometimes to incorporate 19th-century characteristics into a new organ. Two modern firms, the Andover Organ Company of Methuen, Massachusetts, and Bozeman-Gibson (since 1983, George Bozeman, Jr., and Company) of Deerfield, New Hampshire, restored or rebuilt the three organs recorded here.

George Jardine (1800-1882) established one of the two major organbuilding firms in New York City, supplying large and small pipe organs throughout the United States and especially in the eastern U. S. and southern states where few organ­builders existed. As a leading New York builder (the other and larger firm was operated by Henry Erben [1800-1884]), Jardine produced organs of clear and brilliant voicing when compared with organs of other builders in New York and elsewhere. Jardine was born in England and immigrated to the United States in 1837, having completed organ apprenticeship with Flight & Robson of London and then having worked for Joseph W. Walker of London. In the United States, he worked briefly for the New York firm of Firth, Hall & Pond and then established a firm involving his sons Dudley, Edward G., Frederick, and Joseph Jardine. The firm was known as Geo. Jardine & Son from 1855 and for most of its existence. After George’s death in 1882, the firm was operated by grandsons Edward D. Jardine (son of Joseph) and Charles Scott Jardine (son of Frederick, whose wife, Sarah E. Scott Jardine, had become owner of the firm for a while before her death in 1885). In 1897, it merged with the organbuilding firm of Carlton Michell. The firm dissolved in 1900.

A British organbuilding firm known as Jardine & Co. was established in 1846 by George Jardine’s nephew, Frederick W. Jardine (not George’s son of the same name), who returned to England as a partner in an older firm that took his name. It remains in operation in the 21st century.

Elias Hook (1805-1881) and George Greenleaf Hook (1807-1880), two of seven children of Salem, Massachusetts, cabinetmaker William Hook (1777-1867) and Abigail Greenleaf Hook (1773-?), apprenticed to Boston organbuilder William M. Goodrich (1777- 1833) in the early 1820s. Elias and George returned to Salem in 1827 and built 19 organs as E. & G. G. Hook by 1832, the year they moved their workshop to Boston. During the next 40 years, they built some 600 organs, then added employee Francis H. Hastings (1836-­1916) to the firm’s name in 1872 as E. & G. G. Hook & Hastings, and turned over much of the tonal and business work to him. The firm became Hook & Hastings after the Hook brothers’ deaths in 1880 and 1881, with Hastings running the firm until his death in 1916. By the time the firm ceased operations in 1936 during the Great Depression, more than 2,500 organs had been produced by it.

Producing fine organs for almost all of its existence from 1827 to 1936, the firm‘s “golden period” from the mid 1850s through about 1876 was achieved through its accumulated voicing and mechanical acumen gathered under the leadership of George Hook. George and the firm encouraged and assimilated the influences of talented organists and organbuilders such as John Henry Willcox (1827-1875) and even the firm’s former apprentice and major competitor in Boston, William B. D. Simmons (1823-1876). These organs have cohesive and compelling ensembles developed through deft scaling and voicing techniques that were practical, reproducible, and adaptable to various acoustic conditions, including non-reverberant churches. Reliable mechanics and robust construction are ubiquitous.

Regional Styles
New England organ­building did not develop substantially until the early 19th cen­tury (though a few organs were imported or built), primarily because churches remained influenced by Puritanic traditions of very limited music in worship and, early-on, no music at all. New York’s more varied representation of worship traditions required some organs in the 18th century; for instance, Trinity Church commissioned a three- manual organ with pedal keys in 1739. That pedal keys were included in Trinity’s 18th-century organ raises the question of how the organ with its pedal keyboard was used, as the church was conducting worship in an essentially Anglican style though the English did not include pedal keys in their organs (or in composed organ music) until well into the early 19th century. Central Europeans had included pedal keys in organs and organ music for at least three centuries before 1800. Thus the mid-18th-century Germanic settlements in Pennsylvania usually included pipe organs in churches where musical worship was highly developed. The builder of the organ at Trinity Church, New York, John Klemm, was a Moravian who immigrated from the Dresden area as a trained organbuilder. Klemm built several other organs and was the teacher of America’s first native-trained organbuilder, David Tannenberg (1728-1804), who built many organs of all sizes, with and without pedals, primarily for Lutheran and Moravian clients in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Virginia.

By the third decade of the 19th century, distinctive and differing styles of organbuilding were developing in New York and New England. As the 19th century progressed, other organbuilding centers evolved, each with distinctive characteristics: Philadelphia and especially Germanic settlements in Pennsylvania, Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis, Louisville, Milwaukee, and a few other places including California by the latter 19th century.

1860 E. & G. G. Hook, op. 288
St. John’s Roman Catholic Church, Bangor, Maine

Parishioners of St. John’s Roman Catholic Church heard the pipe organ for the first time on Christmas Eve, 1860. Boston organbuilding brothers Elias Hook and George G. Hook built op. 288, considered a large organ at the time, with three manual keyboards, a pedal keyboard, and more than 30 sets of pipes at a cost of $4,000. A few years earlier, in 1855-56, the church had been constructed to the Gothic Revival design of New York architect Patrick Charles Keely. The organ and the church building remain essentially as built. Few large organs built by E. & G. G. Hook remain intact, and precious few exist in their original locations.

After 120 years of continuous use, the organ was restored in 1981 by the Bozeman-Gibson Organ Company of Deerfield, New Hampshire. Their work included the addition of a Pedal 16' Trombone rank, fabricated in the style of mid- 19th-century Hook organs and for which preparations had been made in 1860. A 2' Fifteenth, earlier removed from the Swell, was restored, and the 12 bass pipes of a Quintadena rank added later were retained when the original Viola di Gamba was restored and the Quintadena was removed. The original 25-note pedal was extended to 27 notes. The remains of the hand-pumping mechanism was restored to function, though wind is usually raised via an electric blower. Subsequently, George Bozeman wrote, “Robert Newton, then head of the historic organs department of the Andover Organ Company, successfully corrected some long-standing problems of winding and key-action regulation. This resulted in the organ sounding and performing at its highest peak.” Church musician Kevin Birch, who came to St. John’s as Director of Music in 1992, organized The St. John’s Organ Society with support of clergy and friends who are dedicated to the instrument’s preservation and appreciation by future generations.

George Bozeman wrote extensively about the organ he restored in a booklet published in 1994; the text is updated here via recent comments:
     ”The Bangor Great is a truly magnificent ensemble. It is founded on a noble Open Diapason 8'. The largest common metal pipe is marked ’extra Open,’ probably referring to its unusually large scale. In spite of its size it nevertheless has a wonderful color and refinement. The upper work is beautifully capped by a fine mixture of three ranks, which in spite of its name [Sesquialtera], does not contain a Tierce. (The Tierce rank probably disappeared from Great choruses by the 1860s because of the introduction of equal temperament, which makes for a decided clash between the tempered, quite wide thirds of the musical scale against the pure thirds in the Tierce.) An equally fine Clarion crowns the usual fine Hook Trumpet. The chorus is underpinned by a clear Bourdon 16'. The 4' Flute is a smaller-scaled Melodia.
     ”The Swell is equally well-developed. It has its own Bourdon, and even the low octave is in the Swell box. A curious thing about the Bangor organ is the lack of any divided stops, particularly noteworthy in the case of the Swell Bourdon. The bottom octave of an organ’s Bourdon of the period was usually available on a bass knob so that it could be coupled to the Pedal for the softest possible 16' bass while using the tenor C Hautboy as a solo stop above it. Furthermore, the Swell Open Diapason 8' still has no pipes below tenor C (nor did the Viol di Gamba originally), yet there was never a Stopped Diapason Bass to serve them. The Harmonic Flute 4' was a new development at this time for America, and this is an extremely fine example. The 2' Fifteenth had been removed in favor of a Vox Humana of indifferent quality; when we restored the organ in 1981, we copied the pipes of this stop from Woburn [Hook op. 283 of 1860 remains largely intact in the Woburn Congregational church, for which it was built] to replace it, and thus we are quite certain that its effect is authentic. The Dulciana Cornet is a very useful stop, forming a fine crown for the Swell chorus. It does have a Tierce rank that combines with the slightly lighter character of the Swell chorus scaling to give the effect of an earlier Great chorus. Perhaps this was an intentional thing, to provide the ’old’ chorus contrasted against the ’modern’ tierceless Great ensemble. The Dulciana Cornet is also very effective for playing Cornet voluntaries. The parity of the Swell with the Great is obscured at the keydesk; the Great pipes are immediately above the keyboards and are quite clear to the player, whereas the Swell division is high above and the sound soars out freely to the nave but bypasses the organist somewhat. Coupling the Swell to the Great is more telling than it seems at the console.
      ”The Choir is fascinatingly devised. It is somewhat less powerful than the other manuals, very refined in its effects, yet quite clear and effective. The Open Diapason is the mellowest of the three. The Stopped Diapason is of wood (whereas the Swell Stopped Diapason is a Chimney Flute). There are three Dulcianas forming a chorus, Eolina 16', Dulciana 8', and Celestina 4'. A wonderful three-fold echo effect is possible by playing a passage on Great Diapasons 8', 4', and 2', echoing this with the same combination on the Swell, once again with the Swell box closed, and finally on the Choir Dulciana played an octave higher. The timbre remains constant throughout. The Viola d’Amour is a bell Gamba with pipes of Gems­horn construction surmounted by an inverted bell, a form that increases the power and incisiveness of the keen tone without losing prompt speech. The Celestina 4' works well as a 4' Principal above the Open or Stopped Diapason. The Flute 4' is a very delicate little Chimney Flute, even though the Hooks apparently never could quite get the French spelling right! The Piccolo is a large-scaled, open Nachthorn; it would be hard to find a nicer 2' flute. The Cremona is very nearly a Clarinet and is an unusual example of one with a complete bottom octave. The lowest pipes have rather curious shallots, which imbue it with a wonderful dark color in the lowest notes.
     ”The Pedal is decidedly the most deficient division. It originally had only 25 notes, perhaps on the assumption that backwoods Maine organists of the day were not very demanding. The Double Open Diapason is grand in the usual Hook fashion, although the lowest three pipes didn’t fit on the windchest and had insufficient winding before the problem was corrected effectively by Robert Newton of the Andover Organ Company. The Double Dulciana is exactly the same gargantuan scale but has lower cut-ups and lighter winding to produce a very useful softer bass. It is on a separate chest, which had a spare slider. When we restored the organ in 1981, we had to decide whether this was intended for an 8' Violoncello or Principal, or a 16' Trombone; we chose the latter and copied the Grande Posaune at Woburn.
     ”The couplers deserve some attention also. There are the normal three unison manual couplers to the Pedal and the Swell to Great and Swell to Choir. But the Choir to Great coupler is 16'. This produces several interesting effects. If the Choir 16' Eolina is drawn and coupled to the Great chorus, it provides a beautifully balanced manual 32' effect from middle C. For an even grander effect, the Swell chorus can be coupled to the Great at unison in the usual way and augmented by coupling it to the Choir, and the Choir [16’] to the Great, in effect thus coupling the Swell to Great at 16'. However the action becomes so stiff that one would hardly use it for long or with rapid notes.
     ”With this organ’s limpid voices sounding in the exceptionally fine acoustics of Saint John’s, one has an ideal vehicle for all of the Romantic organ repertory up to 1860, at least. Yet it still retains a firm classical basis that is very rewarding for Bach and other 18th-century German composers. With some imaginative manipulation, one can also do considerable justice to French Classic works. Much of the later repertory is also very effective. The principal lack of the instrument is any celestes and other features of the early twentieth century American organs.”

1898 Geo. Jardine & Son, op. 1248
St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church,
Haverstraw, New York

by Matthew Bellocchio

The Village of Haverstraw, New York, sits on the west bank of the Hudson River at its widest point, 35 miles north of midtown Manhattan. Between 1852 and 1941, the town was home to more than 40 brick-making companies thanks to rich clay deposits along the river. At its height, the industry shipped some 300 million bricks per year to New York City. Brick structures in the village include St. Peter’s Church, built in 1869.

Founded in 1848, St. Peter’s is the oldest Catholic parish in Rockland County. In the three decades between the 1869 construction of the building and its consecration in 1899, the 750-seat edifice was graced with side galleries, stained glass windows, a Carrara marble altar rail, a Meneely (of West Troy, New York) 10-bell chime, and a 2-manual, 28-rank Jardine & Son organ, op. 1248 of 1898. Remarkably, all of these adornments remain in the church, and the organ retains its original mechanical action.

The Andover Organ Company was contacted by the pastor on the recommendation of noted organ historian Jonathan Ambrosino, following an attempted renovation in 2007. An inexperienced organ tuner had left the organ partly disassembled and unplayable. We examined the organ in early 2010, inventoried the missing pipes and parts, and produced a plan for restoration. Fortunately, missing components were returned to the church.

In January 2011, we removed all except the organ’s structural frame and case to our shop for a comprehensive restoration. The manual and pedal windchests received new crosshatched plywood tables in place of the cracked solid wood originals; their wooden sliders were re-shimmed and the pallets recovered with new felt and leather. The 6' x 12' double-rise, inverted-fold reservoir was releathered. The manual keyboards received new, legally-sourced ivory natural coverings to replace deteriorating plastic that had replaced the original ivory in the 1960s. The badly-worn pedalboard received new maple naturals and ebony-plated sharps. The creaky bench was rebuilt and refinished. All wooden pipes were cleaned, repaired and refinished. All of the metal pipes were washed and fitted with new aluminum tuning sleeves, replacing the rusted steel ones. The 39 façade pipes were stripped of three decorative paint layers. Historic paint conservator Marylou Davis of Woodstock, Connecticut, painstakingly uncovered and documented the original stencil patterns and colors, which we repainted under her supervision.

In the course of restoration, it became apparent that this late product of the venerable Jardine firm bore characteristics differing from usual practices of the firm. Research disclosed that this was the first Jardine overseen by Carlton Cum­ber­batch Michell (ca. 1835-1921), an English organ­builder who enjoyed a great reputation on both sides of the Atlantic. Michell’s best-known work in England is the “Grove” organ in Tewkes­bury Abbey, built for the London Inventions Exhibition of 1885 in partnership with William Thynne. Michell came to America in the 1880s and collaborated with several New England firms before joining Jardine in September of 1897 to assume the artistic direction of the firm. I served as Andover’s Project Team Leader for this restoration and earlier had become very familiar with Michell’s work while I was working at the Roche Organ Company: I oversaw the Roche firm’s restoration of the Michell-voiced 3-manual 1899 Jardine & Son organ, op. 1257, at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Taunton, Massachusetts, the Jardine firm’s last major instrument. I observed similarities in the pipe construction and voicing of the Haverstraw and Taunton instruments, which are only nine opus numbers apart. Dated signatures in two Haverstraw windchests show that they were built in the summer of 1898, just two months before the Taunton chests.

No changes were made to the stoplist or voicing of this highly musical and important historical instrument. The wind line from the blower was re-engineered to permit better access within the organ for tuning and maintenance. A return air duct was installed in the rear wall of the church, behind the free-standing organ, which is located in the rear balcony, so that the organ blower (located in the unheated tower room) will draw heated air from the organ interior to improve the instrument’s tuning stability. The organ was reinstalled in St. Peter’s during the fall of 2011. Donald Glover of our firm directed tonal regulation of the restored organ.

1868 E. & G. G. Hook, op. 472
Christ Episcopal Church, Charlottesville, Virginia

When the three-manual organ built by E. & G. G. Hook in 1868 as op. 472 was carefully removed in 1991 from the fourth church it had served during its 123 years of existence, it had long since lost its original free-standing case and much of its original apparatus. Its musical heart remained: exquisitely fabricated and voiced pipes of metal and wood, standing on the original windchests of robust and precise construction, were professionally packed and stored, ready to play again and speak for the consummate artisans, long dead, who had built them 123 years earlier. When the right situation came along, they had been stored for 16 years.

The right situation existed at Christ Church, Charlottesville, Virginia, where ideal placement of a new pipe organ would require configuration into a space where an existing organ was not likely to be transplated intact. John Whiteside, who became the music director of Christ Church in 2005, helped the organ committee determine that acquisition of a rebuilt, used pipe organ could result in an instrument of equal or superior quality when compared to a new pipe organ, and at lower cost. Whiteside, a native Bostonian, was well familiar with the Andover Organ Company’s reputation for rebuilding and adapting old organs to new spaces, mostly throughout New England, where 19th-century organbuilding reached a zenith of quality. Thus, an inquiry to Andover led to finding that the three-manual Hook op. 472 was available and an ideal match for Christ Church; precisely because of the organ’s inherent excellence and the fact that it consisted of pipes and windchests only, all of the mechanism and casework could be designed specifically for ideal placement in the chancel.

Robert Newton, head of the Andover Organ Company’s old organ department for decades (he retired in 2016) learned that op. 472 had been removed from St. Ludmilla Roman Catholic Church in Chicago and acquired it shortly thereafter. Originally built in 1868 for Grace Episcopal Church, Chicago, the mechanical-action organ was relocated in 1902 to another Grace Episcopal Church in Oak Park, Illinois, retaining its mechanical action. After serving there for two decades, the organ was moved in 1922 to its third location, Third Congregational Church in Oak Park, where it was rebuilt and the mechanical action replaced with electric action by Nicholas Doerr of Chicago. The electrified organ was next moved to its fourth home, St. Ludmilla Church in Chicago, probably in 1937 when Third Congregational Church, Oak Park, merged with another.

Founded in 1893 for a Czech Bohemian parish in Chicago at 2408 South Albany, St. Ludmilla Roman Catholic Church closed in 1989-90. The organ was removed in 1991, and the building was demolished.
In 2007, the Andover Organ Company began restoring the pipes and rebuilding and enlarging the original windchests to include additions to its original 29 stops. They designed and constructed framework, the wind system, and a new case to house the organ at the front of the church, in a reconfigured chancel. The case, designed by Donald Olson, surrounds a rose window placed when the building was constructed in 1898. The organ has a new three-manual and pedal console, new mechanical key action to the original and enlarged windchests, and electric stop action with a fully modern combination action with stop sequencing (“next” function). The organ was completed in the Andover workshop in November 2010, as the firm’s op. R-345. Renovations to the church continued for another year before the organ could be installed in January, 2012. The organ was first used for Easter, 2012, and Bruce Stevens played the dedication recital on October 5, 2012.

This recording is produced In Memory of Martin Weyer
(November 16, 1938 - December 24, 2016)
Faculty of Philipps University, Marburg, from 1966 to retirement in 2003 and briefly thereafter; Professor, Institute of Musicology, and University Music Director; Organist, St. Elisabeth Lutheran Church, Marburg, 1970-1985; Organist, Lutheran Parish Church of St. Mary, Marburg, 2004-December 24, 2016; Editor of the critical edition of organ music by Josef Rheinberger, published by Carus Verlag; Concert and Recording Organist with more than 40 recordings, including Raven OAR-410, Rheinberger, Guilmant, and Their American Pupils; Co-Director 1997-2004 of seven Historic Organ Study Tours of organs in Europe organized by Bruce Stevens and William T. Van Pelt for the Organ Historical Society. Great Teacher, Great Friend

1860 E. & G. G. Hook, op. 288, restored 1981 Bozeman-Gibson Organ Co.
St. John’s Roman Catholic Church, Bangor, Maine

GREAT 56 notes
16 Bourdon
8 Open Diapason
8 Melodia TC
8 Std Diapason Bass 12
4 Principal
4 Flute
2-2/3 Twelfth
2 Fifteenth
III Sesquialtra
8 Trumpet
4 Clarion
Swell to Great
Choir to Great 16
SWELL 56 notes
16 Bourdon
8 Open Diapason TC
8 Viola di Gamba
8 Stopd Diapason
4 Principal
4 Flute Harmonique
2 Fifteenth
III Dulciana Cornet
8 Trumpet
8 Oboe TC
CHOIR 56 notes
16 Eolina TC
8 Open Diapason
8 Dulciana TC
8 Viol d’Amour
8 Stopd Diapason
4 Celestina
4 Flute a’ Chiminee [sic]
2 Piccolo
8 Cremona TC
8 Corno di Basetto [sic] 12
Swell to Choir
PEDAL 27 notes
16’ Double Open Diapason
16’ Double Dulciana
16’ Posaune
Great to Pedal & Rev.
Swell to Pedal
Choir to Pedal

2 Great combination Pedals
2 Swell combination Pedals
Pedal Check
Bellows Signal

1898 Geo. Jardine & Son, op. 1248
Restored by Andover Organ Co., op. R-474, 2011
St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church, Haverstraw, New York


GREAT 61 notes
16     Double Open Diap.
8     Open Diapason
8     Doppel Flute
8     Melodia
8     Gamba
8     Dulciana
4     Principal
4     Flute Harmonic
3     Octave Quint
2     Piccolo
III                    Sesquialtera
8     Trumpet
Swell to Great
SWELL 61 notes
16     Bourdon Bass 12
16     Bourdon Treble TC
8     Open Diapason
8     Stopped Diapason
8     Salicional
8     Aeoline
4     Violina
2     Flautino
III                           Dolce Cornet
8     Bassoon 12
8     Oboe TC
Tremolo
PEDAL 30 notes
16     Open Diapason
16     Bourdon
8     Violoncello
Great to Pedal
Swell to Pedal

1868 E. & G. G. Hook, op. 472  / Andover Organ Co., R-345, 2012
Christ Episcopal Church, Charlottesville, Virginia

GREAT
58 notes
16 Bourdon
8 Open Diapason
8 Stopped Diapason
8 Viol d’Amour TC
4 Octave
4 Harmonic Flute
2-2/3 Twelfth
2 Fifteenth
IV Mixture
8 Trumpet
Swell to Great
Choir to Great
SWELL 58 notes
8 Open Diapason
8 Stopped Diapason
8 Keraulophon
8 Keraulophon Celeste
4 Octave
4 Violina
4 Flauto Traverso
2 Flautino
III Mixture
8 Trumpet
8 Oboe
Tremolo
CHOIR 58 notes
8 Geigen Principal
8 Melodia
8 Dulciana
4 Fugara
4 Flute d’Amour
2-2/3 Nazard
2 Piccolo
1-3/5 Tierce
8 Clarionet
Tremolo
Swell to Choir
PEDAL 32 notes
16 Dbl. Open Diapason
16 Subbass
16 Bourdon
8 Violoncello
8 Flutebass EXT
4 Choralbass EXT
16 Trombone
8 Trumpet EXT
Great to Pedal
Swell to Pedal
Choir to Pedal

Rheinberger Organ Sonatas, Vol. 5, Bruce Stevens, Organist<BR>Sonatas No. 7 in F minor, op. 127; No. 9 in B minor, op. 142; No. 13 in E-flat Major, op. 161
Click to enlarge
Currently, you have 0 quantity of this product in your shopping cart
   Customers who bought this product also purchased   
J. S. Bach: The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080, autograph version<BR>Matthias Maierhofer, organist<BR>1750-1755 Gottfried Silbermann Organ, Catholic Hofkirche, Dresden
J. S. Bach: The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080, autograph version
Matthias Maierhofer, organist
1750-1755 Gottfried Silbermann Organ, Catholic Hofkirche, Dresden
American Impressions, David Pickering, Organist<BR>Organ Music by Purvis, Sowerby, Gawthrop, Lloyd<BR>Quimby Organ
American Impressions, David Pickering, Organist
Organ Music by Purvis, Sowerby, Gawthrop, Lloyd
Quimby Organ
Fantasia: Music for Trombone & Organ<BR>Donald Pinson, Trombone; Damin Spritzer, organ<BR>
Fantasia: Music for Trombone & Organ
Donald Pinson, Trombone; Damin Spritzer, organ
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2, Jeremy Filsell, Piano<BR>Peter Richard Conte, The Wanamaker Organ<BR>Macy's Department Store, Philadelphia<BR><BI>A Sonic Tour-de-Force</BI>
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2, Jeremy Filsell, Piano
Peter Richard Conte, The Wanamaker Organ
Macy's Department Store, Philadelphia
A Sonic Tour-de-Force
Organ Music of James H. Rogers, American Composer, Charles Echols, Organist<BR>1927 Casavant, 108 ranks
Organ Music of James H. Rogers, American Composer, Charles Echols, Organist
1927 Casavant, 108 ranks
Orpheus in the Underworld<BR>Ahreum Han, organist<BR>1998 Casavant 61 Ranks, Davenport, Iowa
Orpheus in the Underworld
Ahreum Han, organist
1998 Casavant 61 Ranks, Davenport, Iowa

Copyright © 2024 Raven Recordings