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Nantucket Organ Tour: Five Historic Pipe Organs on Nantucket Island
Peter Sykes, Organist
Peter Sykes plays 11 works (including the first complete recording of the Vesper Voluntaries, Op. 14 (1889) by Edward Elgar) on five organs:
1. 1831 Thomas Appleton, Centre Methodist Church
2. 1831 William M. Goodrich, Unitarian Church
3. 1902 Hutchings-Votey, St. Paul's Episcopal Church
4. 1904 J. W. Steere & Son Organ Co., First Congregational "Old North" Church
5. 1989 Roche Organ Co., Old North Vestry
ELGAR: Vesper Voluntaries, Op. 14 (in 10 movements)
NED ROREM: Views from the Oldest House: Elms; The Nest at Old North Church
J. S. BACH: Concerto in G after Ernst, BWV 592
BUXTEHUDE: In dulci jubilo
JAMES WOODMAN: Little Partita for Epiphany
DURUFLÉ: Prélude sur l'introït de l'Epiphanie
MENDELSSOHN: Prelude & Fugue in G, Op. 37, No. 2
BEETHOVEN: Adagio from 3 Pieces for Clock Organ
BENJ. CARR: Variations to the Sicilian Hymn
SAMUEL P. TUCKERMAN: Introductory Voluntary from A Burial Service
JOHN STANLEY: Volunary in G, Op. 7, No. 7
A Nantucket Organ Tour
Nantucket Island and Its Organs
by Matthew-Michael Bellocchio
Thirty miles off the southern coast of Massachusetts there is a small, wind-swept island in the Atlantic Ocean. The Wampanoag Indians named it "Nantucket" which means "the place far out at sea." Despite its remote location and an area of less than fifty square miles, this island has an incredible wealth of history, elegant
architecture and scenic beauty.
Nantucket was "discovered" by Bartholomew Gosnold in 1602 when he was blown off course on his way from England to Virginia. The first white settlers came to the island in 1659 from north of Boston to escape the Puritans' intolerance. In 1673, their settlement was officially named Sherburne.
The early settlers eked out their living by farming and raising sheep. As the island's wind-swept, sandy soil offered only limited sustenance, it was inevitable that its inhabitants would eventually turn to the abundant sea around them for their livelihood. Whaling began on a small scale in the late 1600's. As these early endeavors met with success, the islanders gradually increased the scale of this enterprise. By 1730 Nantucket had twenty-
five whaling ships. By the 1750's, Nantucketers were shipping whale oil directly to London, without using Boston intermediaries. In 1773, two Nantucket ships which had delivered oil to London sailed into Boston harbor with a cargo of tea that was tossed overboard during the Boston Tea Party.
In the 1760's a storm closed off the harbor of the settlement at Sherburne. The inhabitants moved east to a new site, where the town of Nantucket is today. Because of the scarcity of wood on the island, most of the houses were moved to the new town, which grew with the whaling industry.
Between the 1820's and 1840's, Nantucket developed into the foremost whaling port in the world. Its harbor bustled with activity. Its ships traveled the globe. Fortunes were made from whale oil. Wealthy merchants built imposing mansions on Main Street. Large meeting houses were built or redecorated in the latest style. At its peak, Nantucket was the third wealthiest town in Massachusetts, after Boston and Salem. In 1835, Daniel
Webster described the island as a "city at sea."
In 1846, a great fire destroyed one third of the town, including many of the waterfront warehouses and shops crucial to the whaling trade. Although many buildings were subsequently rebuilt, this disaster was the first in a
series of misfortunes to befall the island. The blocking of the harbor entrance by shifting sands made ship launchings difficult. A decrease in whale catches due to overfishing made voyages less profitable. The California Gold Rush and the Civil War led many men away to seek adventure and fortune elsewhere. Finally, the drilling in Pennsylvania of petroleum, which would replace whale oil as a lamp fuel, sealed the island's fate.
The last Nantucket whaling ships set sail in 1869. By the following year Nantucket's economy was in a severe depression and its population was one third of what it had been in its heyday. The island remained virtually frozen in time until the turn of the century, when steamship travel made it a popular summer vacation spot for Bostonians and New Yorkers. Tourism is now its primary industry. At the height of the summer season the island's year-round population of 6,500 increases to nearly 40,000.
Thanks to its remote location and long economic slump, Nantucket escaped much of the industrial development and architectural remodeling that the rest of America experienced during the Victorian era. A walk down Nantucket's cobbled, tree-lined streets is like a step back in time. The island has more than 800 homes built between 1740 and 1840, and one of the larger collections of Greek Revival architecture to be found in America. Strict zoning and conservation laws enacted since the 1960's ensure that the elegance of the island's architectural treasures and the beauty of its unspoiled natural spaces will be preserved for future generations to enjoy.
For organists and organ historians, Nantucket holds an additional attraction: within its historic churches one can hear authentic musical voices from the past. In the center of the town, within less than a half-mile walk, one can see, hear, and play upon the handiwork of some of the finest pipe organ builders of nineteenth century New England: Goodrich, Appleton, Hook, Hutchings and Steere. This recording will acquaint you with the wonderful sounds created by these builders, as well as those by two present-day Massachusetts firms, Andover and Roche, whose work has preserved and continued the tradition of fine organs on the island.
The five pipe organs heard on this recording span a time period of 158 years and exemplify the three periods when organ installations or reconstructions have taken place on Nantucket: 1831-1858 (the Greek Revival era), 1893-1912 (the late Victorian era), and 1971-1989 (the Modern era). Despite their various ages and stylistic differences, all five instruments have one important feature in common — their mechanisms. All were built with mechanical ("tracker") key actions which utilize a direct mechanical linkage, via wooden levers and rods ("trackers"), to connect the keyboards to the valves which admit wind to the pipes. Tracker action has been used in organs for centuries, and has been proven over time to be the most musically sensitive and long-lived type of mechanism; there are no electronic components to burn out or become obsolete. The only use of electricity in these organs is for the blower motors which now supply air to their bellows.
Each October the Nantucket Chamber Music Center sponsors an "Organ Crawl" on the Saturday of the Columbus Day holiday weekend, as a part of the island's fall arts festival. These five organs are visited in successive half-hour intervals and a short recital is presented on each one. This recording was inspired by that event. If you have not yet been to Nantucket, the descriptions of the churches and their organs will provide you with an armchair travelogue. So find a comfortable chair, sit back, and let these enchanting voices from the past beckon you to "the place far out at sea."
How These Organs Influenced thehoice of Repertoire
by Peter Sykes
In order to sound at their best, organs historic or new should have some relationship to the music being played on them. Either direct or indirect connections of nationality, period, or musical style help the music to sing through the organ's voice. Though the organs on this disk are of similar size, they are of radically differing design, affording wide variety in choice of repertoire.
The first two organs on this disk originate from the same year, 1831, when organs were built in New England in the style of English organs. These two organs currently reflect contrasting styles of organ design, however, as the alterations done to each come from different periods in the Nineteenth Century. This proved an important consideration in determining repertoire choices for each.
The Appleton organ remains in a much earlier state than any other on this recording; and continues to represent the ubiquitous English-inspired small organ prevalent in English-speaking America before the Civil War. Modern taste might call it the most limited, with its small pedal keyboard, a Swell division of five stops of which only one makes any sound below tenor-F (the Swell division having been carefully added in 1858 and in Appleton's style by his former apprentices, Elias and George Hook), and G-compass manual keyboards that were part of the period English style. Contemporary English and American composers and organists felt no such limitations.
Modest demands on the resources of the instrument do not preclude showing off distinctive colors or exploiting varied textures. The Stanley Voluntary, for example, was written for a two-manual organ, but one without pedal keys. The Tuckerman Introductory Voluntary is indeed a mournful piece, but it is also quite beautiful, featuring the deep tones of the Pedal Sub Bass combined with the softest Great and Swell stops. The Carr Variations on The Sicilian Hymn, a familiar hymn tune, show the various stops in a manner in which they were used when the organ was new.
The alterations done to the Goodrich organ in 1893 reflect mid-century Germanic influence on American organ design; elements include the pedal keyboard of 27 notes, manual keyboards of C-compass, and a Swell containing complete, full-compass stops. These features provide the means for the performance of the works of Bach and other German composers of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, and remain the basis for modern organ design. For that reason German music was chosen for this instrument; the Beethoven Adagio (composed for a self-playing automatic organ) shows off single stops in solo and accompaniment, while the Mendelssohn Prelude and Fugue features the sound of the combined stops with the use of the Swell to produce a crescendo effect. Despite the many changes which have been made to this Goodrich organ, it remains the single example of the important builder's work to retain much of its original tonal character.
The organ in St. Paul's Episcopal Church has weathered the largest number of tonal alterations of any of the five organs on the recording. Since the changes were all done in this century, reflecting more current trends in organ design, the Woodman Little Partita for Epipliany was chosen, a piece that shows off the instrument to best advantage in a set of variations on the hymn How brightly shines the morning star. Paired with it is the Duruflé Prelude sur l'Introit de I'Epiphanie, a free setting of the plainchant for that festival, somewhat reduced
in registration to suit the size of this instrument.
A mixed selection of pieces was chosen to demonstrate the versatility of the 1989 Roche organ. No album recorded on Nantucket can omit the works of Ned Rorem, a longtime resident. His recent suite for organ. Views from the Oldest House, is a musical portrayal of places on the island. Two movements from this suite — Elms, a lyric evocation of the trees in the village, and The Nest in Old North Church, written about the very church in which it was recorded — provide the closest connections between repertoire and place on this disk.
The Buxtehude In duici jubilo and the middle movement of the Bach-Ernst Concerto show solo and accompaniment possibilities, while the Bach outer movements display a sprightly combination of choruses, thus honoring the Eighteenth Century elements of the organ's tonal heritage.
The 1904 Steere in its present state has a specification that is, stop for stop, virtually identical to that of the organ Elgar played as organist of St. Margaret's Church in Worcester, England. It is thus superbly suited for the Elgar Vesper Voluntaries, which are recorded here in their entirety for the first time.
Centre United Methodist Church
Thomas Appleton, Boston, 1831
enlarged by E. & G. G. Hook, Boston, 1858
JOHN STANLEY 1713-1786
Voluntary in G Major, Op. 7, No. 7
SAMUEL PARKMAN TUCKERMAN 1819-1890
Introductory Voluntary from A Burial Service
BENJAMIN CARR 1769-1831
Variations to the Sicilian Hymn
Methodism came to Nantucket in 1796, when open air meetings were held on Mill Hill. The Methodist Society was organized in 1799. The following year its first meeting house was dedicated on Fair Street. Increasing membership necessitated the construction of the present building, on Centre Street at the head of Main Street, in 1823. The massive Greek Revival portico, with its denticulated pediment and six Ionic columns, was added in 1840. The sanctuary interior was also remodeled at that time; the pulpit, which was originally at the street end of the church, was relocated to the opposite end and the pews turned around to face it. The side galleries are still intact, but the rear gallery was walled off some years ago. Like its Unitarian neighbor, this sanctuary, which seats 400, is only used during the summer months.
The organ was built as a one-manual instrument by Thomas Appleton (1785-1872) of Boston
in 1831. Appleton, who had apprenticed as a cabinetmaker, worked for William Goodrich from
1806 to 1811 and later married Goodrich's sister Beulah. In 1858 the Appleton organ was removed
from its (unknown) first home, enlarged with the addition of a Swell division (second manual), and
moved to Nantucket by E. & G. G. Hook of Boston as their Opus 241. The Hooks transferred the
Appleton's Hautboy into the Swell and installed a Viol d'Amour in its place on the Great windchest.
The church paid $925 for the instrument. The elegant mahogany case is typical of Appleton's
work.
This organ is the only one on the island which has the old-style G-compass keyboards and, unlike
Nantucket's other antique organs, has had no tonal changes since its installation. It was moved from
the rear gallery to the front of the church in 1893. The key action, which was altered by a local organ technician in 1968, was restored in 1985 by Robert C. Newton of the Andover Organ Company. The facade pipes were regilded in 1988 by islander Frederick Cook.
In 1977, the instrument was cited by the Organ Historical Society as an organ of exceptional historic merit.
1831 Thomas Appleton, Boston
enlarged 1858 E. & G. G. Hook, Boston, Op. 241
Centre Street United Methodist Church, Nantucket
GREAT GG-AA-f3 58 notes
[8] Open Diapason Treble TG, 35 notes
[8] Open Diapason Bass to TF#, 23 notes
[8] Viol d'Amour TG, 35 notes
[8] Dulciana TG, 35 notes
[8] Open Diapason Treble TG, 35 notes
[8] Stop Diapason Treble TG, 35 notes
[8] Stop Diapason Bass to TF#, 23 notes
[4] Principal
[4] Flute
[2-2/3] Twelfth
[2] Fifteenth
Swell to Great
SWELL GG-AA-f3 58 notes
[8] Open Diapason Treble TF, 37 notes
[8] Viol di Gamba TF, 37 notes
[8] St Diapason TF, 37 notes
[8] St Diapason Bass to TE, 21 notes
[4] Principal TF
[8] Hautboy TF
PEDAL GG-AA-c, 17 keys
[16'] Sub Bass (12 pipes at 16' pitch from C, keys GG-B play pipes G at 10-2/3 pitch to B)
Great to Pedal
Swell to Pedal
hitch-down Swell pedal
mechanical key and stop action
Second Congregational Meeting
House Society, Unitarian Universalist
William M. Goodrich, Boston, 1831
rebuilt by George Pierce, New Bedford, 1893
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN 1770-1827
Adagio, from Three Pieces for a Mechanical Organ
FELIX MENDELSSOHN 1809-1847
Prelude & Fugue in G, Op. 37, No. 2
In 1808, land for a second Congregational meeting house was purchased on the south side of Main Street, the direction in which the town of Nantucket was expanding. This meeting house, the oldest of the large churches still standing in Nantucket, was built the following year. In 1819, its proprietors incorporated as the Second Congregational Meeting House Society. Its gold-domed tower, rebuilt in 1830, houses the town clock and a Portuguese bell, cast in Lisbon in 1810, which still rings curfew every evening at nine o'clock. In 1844, the sanctuary interior underwent extensive remodeling and redecoration in the Greek Revival style which included the removal of side galleries, installation of full-length windows, construction of a domed ceiling, addition of a pulpit recess and magnificent trompe l'oeil decorations painted by Carl Wendte, a Swiss fresco artist. The room, which seats 400, is unheated and used only during the summer months. The congregation uses a chapel in the heated lower level during the cooler months. In 1982-86, the sanctuary was closed while extensive structural repairs were made to the building and the Wendte wall paintings were restored.
The organ, which cost $1,400, was built in 1831 by William Marcellus Goodrich (1777-1833) of Boston, who is considered to be "the father of the Boston organbuilding industry." Of the handful of surviving Goodrich organs, the Nantucket instrument is the only one still in its original setting. Originally, its keyboards were recessed into the mahogany veneered case and extended down to GG (third G below "middle c").
In 1844 the brothers Elias (1805-1881) & George Greenleaf (1807-1880) Hook of Boston, who both apprenticed with Goodrich, repaired the instrument and added a Pedal Subbass of 13 pipes. George Pierce (1846-1923) of New Bedford, Massachusetts, who trained in the Hook factory, rebuilt and enlarged the instrument in 1893 with a new Swell windchest, a projecting console, modern C-compass manual keys, and a 27-note Pedal. The stenciled facade pipes are zinc replicas (installed in 1942) of the original common-metal pipes, which were gilded. Robert C. Newton of the Andover Organ Company in Methuen, Massachusetts, has been servicing and maintaining the instrument since 1963, with much restoration in 1966-67. In 1986 he added a Cornet to the Swell division, utilizing pipework from an 1858 E. & G. G. Hook organ. In 1977 the organ was cited as "an instrument of exceptional historic merit, worthy of preservation" by the Organ Historical Society.
1831 William M. Goodrich, Boston
rebuilt 1893 George Pierce
Second Congregational Meeting House Society, Unitarian Universalist, Nantucket
GREAT C-a3 58 notes
8' Open Diapason
8' Dulciana
8' Stopped Diapason
4' Octave
4' Flute
2-2/3' Twelfth
2' Fifteenth
Swell to Great
SWELL 58 notes
8' Open Diapason
8' Gamba
8' Stopped Diapason
4' Fugara
III Cornet
8' Oboe
PEDAL 27 notes
16' Bourdon
Great to Pedal
Swell to Pedal
mechanical key and stop action
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Hutchings-Votey, Boston, 1902
enlarged Andover Organ Co., Methuen, 1971/1986
MAURICE DURUFLE 1902-1986
[jj] Prelude sur 1'Introit de 1'Epiphanie
JAMES WOODMAN B 1957
Little Partita for Epiphany:
Moderately · Lightly, dancing · Singing · Lively, sparkling
In 1838, a mission of the Protestant Episcopal Church was established on Nantucket. The following year a former Quaker meeting house on Broad Street was acquired and extensively rebuilt in Gothic Revival style. The "new" building was named Trinity Church, in honor of the well known Boston church which had contributed generously to this venture. A plaque next door to the Jared Coffin house marks the site of the church. This building perished in the great fire of 1846, along with the church's first organ, built by Holbrook & Ware of Medway, Massachusetts, "every pipe wailing its distress as the timbers of the loft fell from under it," according to one published account.
Because a heavy debt still remained on the destroyed church, the parishioners reorganized under the new name of St. Paul's. Land was secured on Fair Street and a second church was consecrated in 1850. The present Rorman style building, which seats 300, was built in 1902 — the gift of a summer resident. Miss Caroline French of Boston, in memory of her father. It is built of pink Quincy granite and is particularly noteworthy for its Tiffany stained glass windows in the chancel and at the west end. The side aisle windows are by Connick Associates of Boston. The clerestory and chapel windows are by the Willett Studios of Philadelphia. The church is heated and used for services throughout the year.
The organ was built by the Hutchings-Votey Organ Company of Boston in 1902. George S. Hutchings (1835-1913) started work at the Hook factory as a casemaker in 1857 and eventually rose to become
factory superintendent. In 1869 he left with several other employees to found a new company in Boston. He became one of the leading organbuilders of his day, building many large and important instruments for churches and universities. In 1903 he received an honorary degree from Yale University.
Hutchings and Edwin S. Votey operated the firm as a partnership 1901-1907, Votey having been a principal of the celebrated Farrand & Votey organbuilding firm of Detroit, 1890-97. The instrument, which sits in a chamber on the Gospel (left) side of the chancel, originally had nine ranks of pipes. In the 1960s it was Drastically altered by a local organ technician. In 1971 the Andover Organ Company undid many of these
changes and enlarged the instrument to 12 ranks. Further additions by Andover in 1985 enlarged the instrument to its present stoplist. These additions increased the versatility of the instrument by adding color and brightness, yet maintained the full-bodied tone of the four surviving Hutchings stops (Great:
Open Diapason and Octave; Swell: St. Diapason; Pedal: Bourdon.)
1902 Hutchings-Votey Co., Boston
enlarged 1871/1985 Andover Organ Co., Methuen
St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Nantucket
GREAT 61 notes
8' Open Diapason
8' Stopped Diapason (metal)
4' Octave
4' Chimney Flute
IV Mixture
Swell to Great 8, 4
SWELL 61 notes
8' Stopped Diapason (wood)
8' Gamba
4' Flute
2-2/3' Nazard
2' Principal
1-3/3' Tierce
PEDAL 30 notes
16' Bourdon
Great to Pedal & Reversible
Swell to Pedal
mechanical key and stop action
Old North Vestry, First Congregational Church
The Jose F. Reyes Memorial Organ built by
Roche Organ Co., Taunton, Mass., 1989
DIETRICH BUXTEHUDE 1637-1707
In dulci jubilo
NED ROREM B 1923
(2) Views from the Oldest House:
Elms · The Nest at Old North Church
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH 1685-1750
Concerto in G Major, BWV 592 (after Ernst):
(Allegro) · Grave · Presto
The Vestry is Nantucket's oldest house of worship. It was built around 1725 in the area of the first settlement, west of the present town. In 1765 it was moved and reassembled at the top of "Beacon Hill," overlooking the harbor of the new town. It was moved again in 1834 to make room for the larger new church. It originally had a gallery on three sides and a tall pulpit, as was typical of Colonial era meeting houses. The Vestry's simple, rectangular interior has plain plaster walls, exposed posts and beams, and upper-story windows with interior shutters. The pews, which seat 180, and the modern pulpit were added during a remodeling in 1949. In addition to serving as the congregation's winter quarters, the Vestry is used throughout the year for concerts, due to its excellent acoustics.
The José F. Reyes Memorial Organ was built in 1989 by the Roche Organ Company of Taunton, Massachusetts, as its Opus 33. Mr. Reyes (1902-1980), a deacon of the church, was the island's best known maker of Nantucket lightship baskets. He was the first to add a lid arid ivory carving to the traditional basket, transforming it into the present-day form which is recognized around the world.
The Vestry instrument is the first new pipe organ to be installed on Nantucket since 1912. It was designed and voiced by Matthew M. Bellocchio of the Roche Organ Company. The painted Greek Revival case was inspired by period examples. Case details and moldings were based upon illustrations in the 1827 edition of architect Asher Benjamin's book The American Builder's Companion. The mahogany console has rosewood drawknobs with inset faces of antique whale tooth ivory hand engraved and donated by island scrimshander David Lazarus. Because of its frontal placement, the Vestry organ was designed for both church and concert use. Its stoplist blends features from 19th-century New England and 18th-century European traditions. To increase the organ's usefulness for choral accompaniment, all of the manual stops are enclosed in a swellbox, which renders them acoustically expressive. This instrument, although the smallest of the tracker organs on Nantucket, has assumed an important role in the island's musical life, and has been widely praised for its beauty and versatility.
1989 Roche Organ Co., Taunton, Mass., Op. 33
The Jose F. Reyes Memorial Organ
Old North Vestry, First Congregational Church, Nantucket
MANUAL I 58 notes, enclosed
8' Violin Diapason
8' Chimney Flute
4' Principal
II-IV Mixture
Manual II to Manual I
MANUAL II 58 notes, enclosed
8' Stopped Flute
4' Spireflute
2-2/3' Nazard
2' Principal
1-3/5' Tierce
Tremulant
PEDAL 30 notes
16' Bourdon
8' Principal Bass
Manual I to Pedal
Manual II to Pedal
Balanced expression pedal controls one swell box containing stops of both manuals
Mechanical key and slop action
First Congregational Church
J. W. Steere & Son Organ Company, Springfield, Mass., 1904
EDWARD ELGAR 1857-1934
Vesper Voluntaries, Op. 14 (1889):
Introduction: Adagio · I. Andante · II. Allegro · III. Andantino · IV. Allegretto piacevole · Intermezzo: Adagio, come prima · V. Poco lento · VI. Moderato · VII. Allegretto pensoso · VIII. Poco allegro
This building has several names. Sailors and islanders call it "The North Church" to distinguish its tower from the Unitarian (Second Congregational) Church's "South Tower," which also rises above the Nantucket skyline. Church members refer to it as "The Big Church" to distinguish it from the smaller Old North Vestry located behind it. Built in 1834 at a cost of $8,000, it originally had three bays of windows along each side. In 1850 it was lengthened with a fourth bay and the ceiling and pulpit wall were painted with trompe l'oeil decorations by an Italian painter. It seats 600 and is the largest sanctuary on Nantucket. Like the other large meeting houses on the island, it is used only in the summer months. In 1968, the trompe l'oeil decorations, which had been covered over by a tin ceiling and coats of paint, were restored and the tower steeple, absent for nearly 120 years, was replaced.
The church's first organ was built in 1844 by Alvinza Andrews of Waterville, New York, and cost $1,100. In 1904, the present instrument built by the J. W. Steere & Son Organ Company of Springfield, Massachusetts, was installed at a cost of $2,500. John W. Steere (1824-1900), who had apprenticed as a cabinetmaker, married the daughter of organbuilder William A. Johnson (1816-1901) of Westfield, Massachusetts, and worked for Johnson for fifteen years. In 1866, he left to start a new company, which operated under the name of Steere & Turner until 1892. The dedicatory concert was played by a Mr. J. J. Bishop of Springfield "who had just returned from the St. Louis Exposition, where he had been playing the largest organ in the world." The manual key actions have traditional mechanical action; the Pedal keys, however, were built with tubular pneumatic action, which was a modern development at that time. Although an electric blower has been added, the instrument can still be hand-pumped.
In 1971 the Andover Organ Company, which maintained the organ for many years, changed four of the Swell stops. Two of the new stops (8' Celeste, 1-1/3' Larigot) utilize original Steere pipes at new pitches; the other two (4' Flute, 2' Fifteenth) have new pipework. These changes increased the versatility of the instrument by adding brightness, while maintaining the full-bodied tone of the rest of the original organ. All of the manual stops, with the exception of the Great 8' Open Diapason, are enclosed in a swellbox.
First Congregational (Old North) Church
1904 J. W. Steere & Son, Springfield, Mass.
tonal revisions 1971 Andover Organ Co.
GREAT 61 notes, enclosed
8' Open Diapason (not enclosed)
8' Dulciana
8' Melodia
4' Principal
4' Wald Flute
Swell to Great 8, 4
SWELL 61 notes, enclosed
16' Bourdon TC
16' Bourdon Bass 12
8' Violin Diapason
8' Salicional
8 Celeste
8' Stopped Diapason
4' Flute
2' Fifteenth
1-1/3' Larigot
8' Oboe TC
8' Bassoon (bass)12
Tremulant
PEDAL 30 notes
16' Double Open Diapason
16' Bourdon
Great to Pedal
Swell to Pedal
Balanced expression pedal controls one swell box containing stops of both manuals.
Mechanical key and stop action
Acknowledgements
Appreciation is expressed to the clergy arid governing boards of the four congregations — Methodist, Unitarian, Episcopal, and Congregational — for permission to record their instruments.
Special thanks to three "Nantucket ladies" for their gracious help and hospitality during the recording sessions: Barbara DeZalduondo, historian of Centre Methodist Church; Susan Jarrell, organist emerita of the Second Congregational (Unitarian) Meeting House; and Margaret Krewson, Director of Music and Organist of the First Congregational Church.
The production of this recording was underwritten by Matthew M. Bellocchio in memory of his parents, Michael (1902-1983) and Marguerite (1909-1993).
Peter Sykes was born on Cape Cod in 1958 and received early training at the Cape Cod Conservatory. He studied at the New England Conservatory and Concordia University in Montreal. He is Director of Music at First Church in Cambridge (Congregational) in Harvard Square, Chairman of the Early Music Department and instructor of organ and harpsichord at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, and occasional lecturer at the School of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Active as a solo performer on the organ, harpsichord, clavichord, and fortepiano, he has performed for regional and national conventions of the American Guild of Organists, the Organ Historical Society, the Boston Early Music Festival, and at the Library of Congress. He has appeared with Ensemble Project Ars Nova and has toured the U. S. A. and Puerto Rico with Musica Antiqua Köln. He has served as adjudicator for competitions sponsored by the American Guild of Organists and the Royal Canadian College of Organists, has served as a national councillor for the Organ Historical Society and a director of the Cambridge Society for Early Music, and is a founding member of the Boston Clavichord Society.
In 1978 he was recipient of the Chadwick Medal awarded by the New England Conservatory for outstanding undergraduate achievement; in the same year he was a winner of the annual concerto competition playing the Harpsichord Concerto of Frank Martin. In 1983 he was the winner of the Boston Chapter, AGO, Young Artists Competition; in 1986, winner of the Second International Harpsichord Competition sponsored by the Southeastern Historical Keyboard Society. He is the 1993 laureate of the Erwin Bodky Award for excellence in the performance of early music. He has recorded as a soloist with Banchetto Musicale for Harmonia Mundi USA, and for Telarc, Titanic, AFKA, Centaur, and Northeastern Records.
Peter Sykes dedicates his performance on this recording to the memory of his mother, Edna Lahteine Sykes (1926-1994), his most encouraging listener.
Credits
Organ Preparation: Robert Newton, Matthew Bellocchio, Brian Wicherski
Registrant: Victoria Wagner
Recording: William T. Van Pelt
Recording Dates: Sept. 18-20,1994
Photographs: William T. Van Pelt
Editing: Peter Nothnagle
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